Reborn as Vivi chapter 21 (Patreon)

Dialogue “sample”

Thoughts ‘sample’

Author notes -sample-

Disclaimer: One piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.

Chapter 21 : Montblanc Cricket

After an encounter with another primate-looking pirate who claimed to be Masira's brother, they made their way to Montblanc Crickets' home.

From the outside, it looked like a small castle but that turned out to be just a board that covered one side of the house.

“What kind of guy would do that?” Wondered Zoro.

“The actual house looks small and cheap.” Said Sanji.

“What dreams did He speak of to get exiled?” Nami asked Robin.

“He talked about a large amount of gold hidden here in Jaya island.” 

The mention of gold got Nami excited and started to hurry the others to go visit the man.

“Hello!, I'm coming in!” Luffy just barged into the house.

“Hey!, don’t just walk in there!.” Usopp rushed to catch up with Luffy.

Vivi spotted something sitting on top of a tree stump.

“Oh? there is a book here. King of liars, Noland.” 

“Ah, I remember that book. I used to read it as a kid.” Said Sanji.

Nami took the book and studied the cover. 

“How can you know this book?, it says here that it was published in North Blue.” 

“Well, I was born in North Blue, did I never mention it?” Asked Sanji.

“No, you never said anything.” Said Vivi.

“I grew up in East Blue, but this book was very popular in North Blue. People say that is just a kid's story, but I heard that this guy Norland actually existed.”

“So, what is it about?” Asked Nami.

“It tells the story of an explorer called Norland who claimed to have found an island filled with gold. The King got excited and told Norland to bring him to see this island. The King and his soldiers traveled the sea for weeks but when they got there…it was just a normal island without an ounce of gold in sight.”

Sanji sat down and lit a cigarette.

“Norland was blamed for deceiving the King and was sentenced to death. He keep claiming until his last moments that the island was real but no one believe him. After his death, He was known as the King of liars.”

“That doesn’t sound like a kid's story…” Said Vivi.

They then heard a loud sound of water splashing and Usopp came running.

“Oi!!, Luffy has fallen into the water!.” 

Sanji went running towards the place where Luffy had fallen, but then a big shirtless guy came out of the water and attack him.

“You punks have some balls to come to invade a man's property without permission.”

Sanji adopted a fighting pose and stayed in front of the stranger.

“Usopp, go save Luffy, hurry! I'll take care of this guy.” 

“You came here for the gold, didn’t you?.” He then started to fight with Sanji.

“Shouldn’t we stop them? That must the Montblanc Cricket.” Vivi mentioned.

Zoro, who was at her side heard this and rushed to stop the fight but before He could get there, Montblanc collapsed on the ground.

-----------------------------------------------

They go to the man on his bed and let Chopper attend to him.

“This man suffers from dysbarism.” Concluded Chopper.

“Is that a disease?.” Asked Usopp.

“Is not a long-term illness. Just something that happens sometimes to divers when excess nitrogen enters the body's blood and tissue. To get this bad, He must have been diving every day, not letting the nitrogen dissolve properly.” Explained Chopper.

“Why would He do that?.” Nami wondered.

“I don’t know. But if He doesn’t stop…it could become lethal.” Said Chopper.

----------------------------------------------------

A bit later, the two gorilla-looking pirates that they had previously encountered, Masira and Shoujou arrived at the house looking for Montblanc who was their boss.

In an unexpected turn, they listened to the crew and after finding out that they were helping Montblanc, they became very friendly. Especially towards Luffy.

“Thank you for helping me. I thought you came here looking for the gold.” Said Montblanc after recovering a bit.

“So…you really have gold?.” Asked Nami with no shame.

Montblanc ignored her and turned towards their Captain.

“You wanted to ask me something?”

“We want to get to Sky Island. Please, tell us how to get there.” Asked Luffy.

“Sky Island?, you guys actually believe that?” He then started laughing.

“Sky Island doesn’t exist then?” Luffy was starting to get worried at this point.

Montblanc's expression turned serious again.

“I don’t know either…but I know of a man who claimed that it did. He was known as the King of liars and everyone made fun of him.”

“The one from that story? Norland?” Asked Vivi.

Montblanc noded.

“That’s the one. He was my great great grandfather…. The whole Montblanc family was exiled to live in shame after what He did. But my family never hated him for it.”

“Why not?” Asked Luffy.

“Because…unlike what those tales said about him. Norland was a very honest man.” Answered Montblanc.

“He defended his claim that the island existed. In the books, He is depicted with a smile until the end, but in reality, He was crying tears of hate and injustice when He died.”

“So, you are trying to find the island and prove him right?” Asked Usopp.

This seems to enrage Montblanc.

“Quit talking shit!. Whether or not my ancestor was an honest person or a great adventurer has nothing to do with me. Just for being his descendant, I have been humiliated my entire life.”

He seemed to calm down a bit and looked out of the window.

“For the past four hundred years, countless members of my family have been trying to clean our name by finding the missing island. None of them came back. I felt ashamed to be part of a family like that, so I ran away from home and became a pirate.”

“You are a pirate too, old man?” Asked Luffy.

“Humh. I didn’t care for being a pirate. I just wanted to get away from my family's curse. But ten years ago, after a series of events, my ship reached this island by accident…its ironic that the one who hated Norland the most was the only one to reach this place. When I was standing in front of the cliff where the gold was supposed to be in the story, I thought that this was my fate…there is no escape.”

“What happened then?” Asked Usopp.

“My crew left me. They had no interest in looking for missing islands. So I stayed here alone…I didn’t care for the gold or to prove Norland innocent, this was something between me and the man who ruined my life…this is a duel!. Before I die, I will settle this and tell everyone the truth.”