(no subject)
In this memory, Sniper aches even more than he did in the memory where he was struck by lightning. It is an impressive amount of pain, he gathers, and has to wonder how much time of his previous life was spent covered entirely in bandages. He is standing on top of a building, and though he cannot see what it looks like, he can feel the mask on his face and a cape billowing behind him in the wind.
He sees a group of people: his crew, he knows. He sees the familiar faces of Chivalry and the orange haired girl and other, less familiar faces that still manage to evoke the sensation of longing deep in his chest. A slight boy wearing a strawhat. A large, furry man-beast with a pink hat and a blue nose. A muscular green haired man, three swords hanging by his side. He cannot gaze upon the faces of his comrades any longer, though he longs to. There is a man across the way speaking, with greasy, purple-pink hair and a leather facemask strapped to his twisted face. He points up at the flag, and yells.
"Look at that symbol, pirates! It represents the unity of more than 170 nations allied across the four seas and the grand line. It represents the world! Do you realize how frivolous your resistance is?! Do you understand the sheer power of the organization that is after this one woman?!"
The boy in the strawhat speaks, voice low (Sniper tries to memorize that voice, and ]memorize it well). He says, "I know who [ ]'s enemy is. Sogeking..."
"Uh huh," says Sniper.
"Shoot down that flag." The boy's voice leaves no room for argument, and he doesn't argue.
"Roger." In response to the man in the face mask's sound of confusion when he prepares his staff, he says, "My new weapon, a giant pachinko shooter I call Kabuto. Witness its power! Firebird star!"
The flame shoots out in the shape of the bird and spirals as it hurtles through the air and impacts the very middle of the flag which immediately begins to fiercely burn.
The man in the face mask goes pale, and the beautiful dark haired woman in cuffs beside him is the same. Behind them, there is an entire army of people, renegades and marines alike and they all begin to shriek in their confusion. "They...they did it!" They scream and clamour. "Do they realize what an attack on this flag means?? The pirates have made a declaration of war against the World Government!"
The noise is intense. It feels like everyone is screaming at the time with one voice, and there's still fighting going on, but the boy in the strawhat can raise his voice above even this din. He screams, "BRING IT ON! [ ]! I still haven't heard it from your lips! Say that you want to live!
Tears begin to run down the dark haired woman's face, slowly at first, but then she begins to sob in earnest. After a moment of struggle, she steps forward to the edge of her own building and yells, "I want to live! Take me to sea with you!"
Behind her, the man with blue hair and the hawaiian shirt begins to sob as well, out of empathy, Sniper supposes. He shouts - everyone in this place shouts, he notes - "Damn it...! I like you guys!"
The drawbridge below, between the two buildings begins to slowly move down and into place, which the man-beast points out with a shout. There is some commotion below them and some commotion from the crew itself (though Sniper's contribution to this is to simply sound terrified). The boy in the strawhat (the leader, the captain Sniper gathers) cries out, "Let's go!"
There are several people behind the man in the leather mask, all clad in black. Sniper tries to memorize their faces, which is not a difficult feat when they're as odd looking as his own crew is. There is a scantily clad woman, a cat-like man with flowing pink hair, a menacing looking man with a thin mustache, a man with a pigeon (why a pigeon?) and long flowing hair, a man with a square nose and something that looks more creature than human with a zipper for a mouth. They mumble amongst themselves, but Sniper cannot make out their words.
There is an explosion that shakes the foundation of the building, and the drawbridge halts. The man in the leather mask seizes this opportunity to gloat, but though his mouth is moving, Sniper is unable to hear what he's saying. Then, the blue haired man whips out a piece of paper that Sniper can barely make out, but the man in the leather mask says what it is out loud. "That... you... that can't be! That's the blueprint of the ancient weapon Pluton?!"
The man in the leather mask demands that the blue haired man hand it over, but the other man refuses, explaining the purpose behind the weapon, explaining that the weapon must be kept out of the hands of fools. He says, "With [ ] around, that weapon can certainly be resurrected. She is a dangerous woman. However, she has friends who will protect her. That's why I'm going to make a wager. If I'm to fulfill the architects wish in this situation... there is just one thing to do."
With that, the blue haired man lifts the weapon plans high into the air and breathes out a flame that encompasses the blueprints until they are nothing but ash. The man in the leather mask shouts his dissent, but is duly ignored. The blue haired man explains that the weapon plans must be destroyed now that they have been found, and then adds, "If the Strawhats win, you will have nothing left! I'm gonna bet on them winning!"
There is a rush below them, and a large group of men and women surge forward and begin to cheer on the blue haired man, who weeps at their arrival. It doesn't take long for he boy with the strawhat to snap at them to be quiet and lower the drawbridge already, but before they can do that, the man in the leather mask pushes the blue haired man down into the falls.
From the orange haired girl's hand, a den den mushi speaks with the voice of an old woman. She says, "Hey, pirates... I heard everything. What are you waiting for?"
"The drawbridge is only half--"
"Half is plenty. I'll be there in four seconds! Go for it and jump toward the waterfall!"
Sniper's too confused to make heads or tails of anything right now, but somehow that doesn't matter anymore, because his captain's arms stretch around the crew and they begin to hurtle downwards into the foaming falls. Sniper feels fear, a moment of dread, and then--
--then the memory is over.