Chapter Text
It wasn’t a peculiar island at first sight.
From afar, on the deck of his submarine, the island looked pretty normal. Big beaches of golden colored sand, enormous palm trees filled with coconuts, some small hills covered in rainforest plants... anyone would pass near it and wouldn't acknowledge it as something special. But not him. Not Trafalgar Law.
His navigator, Bepo, followed the route indicated in that old map they had gained (don’t ask how) a few months ago. Bepo, a talking bear who didn’t really enjoy talking, was his most trusted companion and also very skilled in his task. So he was certain they were on the right track.
He shouted to his crew instructions to get ready to dock at the final destination.
We’re so close , Law thought, while looking at the island, the big splashes of the waves wetting his face and his mane covered in a white fuzzy hat, as the golden shores were getting closer and closer every moment that passed.
His old leather boots touched the wet sand, stepping on some shells. It felt good to walk on a stable floor after weeks at sea.
Law breathed deeply and looked around. Even on the island’s beaches, it still looked greatly common—nothing unusual in sight. He preferred it that way—a lonely island that they could explore every corner of—if it were necessary—without unexpected visitors.
Law waited for a few more crewmates to join him on the shore before getting into the depths of the jungle.
The palm trees above their heads covered the morning sun, making it easier to walk through the jungle on that hot summer day. Even though, after an hour of walking, the exhaustion of the crew was getting noticeable, a couple of them stopped every once in a while to drink water and stabilize their breathing. To their luck, it didn’t take them much more to find the temple in the heart of the rainforest.
This was the easiest part, Law thought while approaching the entrance.
“Watch out!” A crew member shouted while running next to their captain. “It says something about traps in there; allow me to translate it.”
Law nodded while his specialist in ancient runes, the archeologist Nico Robin, stepped in front of him and started reading. “You, who will enter the sacred temple of the god of these waters, beware of the trials you will encounter; only if you succeed in facing the ordeals, you shall find the sound of the divine.”
“We’ll have to be very cautious.” Said the captain. He gave a look at two of his crew members and indicated them to pass in front of the rest of the crew, leading the way.
Zoro and Sanji didn’t seem to get bothered and simply nodded, walking inside of the temple. Law went behind them, and the rest followed their footsteps.
Law blinked a couple of times to get used to the sudden darkness of the temple, failing the attempt. Someone on his back read his mind and lit a torch, showing the interior of the temple, full of plants and moss growing on the stone walls.
In contrast to the hot weather of the summer island, the inside of the temple was cold and humid, making him shiver. He covered himself with his feathered cape and continued walking as they were getting deeper inside the temple’s passages.
Suddenly, some arrows appeared flying to them, startling the whole crew. Some of them tried to run away or hide from the arrows, but Zoro was faster and stepped in front of the crew to cut them all with only one of his swords.
“I could have done it.” Said Sanji while lighting up a cigarette.
Zoro tsked loudly, clearly annoyed by Sanji’s presence. Yet he joined him again to continue with the marked route.
The rest of the crew followed once they recovered from what had just happened in an instant, still fearing for their lives (they should).
After hours of walking and facing countless traps—including more flying arrows, spikes that appeared on the walls, pits under their feet, and even enormous creatures that only Sanji would dare to cook—they got to the main room.
It wasn’t anything fancy or impressive. Maybe hundreds of years ago it used to be a big room decorated with the most expensive gold and shining jewels, but now it was only a reflection of its past. Nami, who was on the back of the group, was hardly impressed, and she had the strange power to find even the tiniest expensive items anywhere she went, just like a needle in a haystack.
But there wasn’t anything worth their attention at first sight. They all looked around, trying to find whatever was mentioned in the entrance. The sound of the divine was read in the text of the entrance, but he couldn’t hear anything... The room was completely silent if he didn’t take the noise of his crew looking around into account.
A sudden rumble made everyone turn their heads to the east side of the room, to Shachi more specifically.
Bum, bum, bum.
“Hey, look at this; it’s a giant drum!” Shouted the man with the sunglasses, even though it was scary dark in the temple.
A drum? Law asked himself, What is a drum doing here?
He approached Shachi to analyze the instrument in question. It was pretty big indeed; Shachi could hardly handle the drumstick, almost as long as his arm.
Law looked at it thoughtfully while Shachi played with it. Even though he begged silently for him to stop and free his ears from that torture, it also helped him assume anything wouldn’t happen playing it without following a marked rhythm.
“It seems it has to follow a rhythm.” He said, looking at Shachi, who suddenly stopped (thankfully).
“Yes,” Robin appeared next to him, but looking on the floor just in front of the drum. “This looks like a score…”
“Please, allow me then,” the voice of the crew’s musician talked next to Robin.
Brook touched with his skeleton hands the piece of floor with the engraved score, “I can do it.”
Law simply nodded and gave the skeleton space to grab the drumstick from Shachi and start playing the music.
Bum, bum, bum .
The sound of the drum filled the room, the acoustic was perfect, and Brook played the instrument magnificently.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Law turned around; did he hear something besides the drum? He could hardly tell, as the music was too loud to even hear his thoughts.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
This time he was sure, someone was laughing. He looked around, but none of his crewmates moved, hearing in silence the sound of the drums. Was he imagining things?
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
The laughter echoed in the room, filling every corner with the intense jiggles.
Brook stopped when some kind of enormous cloudy thing appeared in the ceiling of the room, descending slowly and irradiating light as if it were the sun itself.
“Don’t stop playing the drum!” Shouted loudly. “It’s been so long since the last time I listened to it!”
No one could believe it. If Brook had had eyes, these would be wide open, mirroring the other crewmates who couldn’t even blink, incredulous of what was in front of them.
“Nika?” Said Law, contemplating the enormous god in front of him.
He smiled widely and started laughing once again. Law was sure of it; he fit all the descriptions he had read in books and saw sculpted and painted in various relics he had encountered during his investigation.
White, cloudy hair that danced in the air, big red eyes, and a wide smile that wouldn’t stop showing his teeth. Two scars, one under his eye and the other a big X on his torso, and dressed all in white, except for a purple sash and a straw hat that hung on his back.
He jiggled and nodded. “Shi, shi, shi, what a good-looking human.”
He reached for a flushed Law as if he were the only one in the room and inspected him with his big reddish eyes, almost the same size as Law’s head.
“What brings you to my temple, pretty boy?” He continued while shrinking himself to a human size and levitated around him just like the moon gravitating the sun, jumping and bouncing on a now rubber floor.
Law acted as if he didn’t hear that last comment and approached him a little more to talk to the god, “I want you to come with me.”
“Oh, to some kind of banquet? Or maybe a celebration? Whatever it is, it better have lots of food!”
“Nothing like that. It is…”
“Buuuuu…” The god sighed loudly. “If there's no food, I’m not interested.”
“Listen, it’s just...”
"Oh, I know!” Shouted again, doing a high jump with a couple of flips and spins, “We can party here! There’s more drums somewhere around; if we cook some meat and bring drinks, we can have fun for days!”
The god started listing things they could do, like playing games, dancing until dawn, eating all they could, and more. There were a lot of things they all could do together! Even some of the crewmates were already nodding and commenting between them about how they could return to the ship and grab some booze and meat.
But Law... he wasn’t enjoying the situation. He wanted to do this fast and be done by the time the sun was setting. He was known for being a very patient man, but he had had enough of his playfoolery and wanted to be done with his plans.
“It will have to be done my way then.” Said Law, not satisfied with using the second plan
He raised a hand to his companions and nodded, indicating their next move.
The god looked his way, confused by Law’s words, when suddenly buckets filled with water appeared at his sides, and, before he could move away to dodge them, the water was thrown at him, provoking him dizziness.
Seawater .
“Now you’re mine…”
The last thing the god saw was Law's wide smile, giving him a deep chill before passing out in front of countless eyes.