Extra ③
Two years later
Merry reunites with all his companions in the Sabaody Archipelago and lands on Fish-Man Island.
After some chaos, the Straw Hat Pirates entered the New World and arrived in Punk Hazard.
"Tsk, what kind of a hell of a place is this? It's freezing~~~"
"As expected of the New World, this island is so weird."
"Even though I'm just bones~~, the seams between my bones are almost frozen to ice~~~"
"A-choo—"
What no one expected was that they met Luo again.
"Master Straw Hat, long time no see."
"Teraman! You are here too."
Luo's mouth twitched slightly: "My name is Luo."
"I know, Terraman."
Merry waved happily, "Nice to meet you again, Luo. We were so busy last time and you didn't even tell me why you became a pirate."
Luo's eyes flashed, and he said lightly: "I'm not interested in being a navy. Being a pirate is more free."
Merry: "Ah? But I heard you're a member of the Don Quixote family. Don't you hate them?"
"Don Quixote wants to use me, so of course I can use them in return." Law turned to Luffy and said, "Straw Hat boss, are you interested in forming an alliance with me?"
Luffy raised his hands: "Huh? What's an alliance? Can I eat it?"
Luo explained his plan as simply as he could.
Luffy grinned: "That sounds super interesting, let's form an alliance."
"Wait, wait, Luffy, it's too dangerous to form an alliance with this gloomy man!" Usopp shouted anxiously, "Who knows if he'll kill us after he uses us?"
"Danger, danger, danger!" Chopper chimed in fearfully.
"No, Terraman is a good man. He even saved me and Ace."
......
Amidst the noise, the Straw Hat Pirates went deeper and deeper into Caesar's laboratory.
Suddenly, a faint, familiar smell drifted through the air. Merry suddenly stopped and raised his hand to signal his companions, "You go ahead, I'll catch up later."
No one else asked any more questions: "Merry, please be careful."
"Don't worry." Meli made an OK gesture, turned and headed towards another passage. The mimicry function was activated, and her figure gradually disappeared into the air.
In a laboratory, the lights were pale and rows of culture tanks stood quietly.
A tall figure stood in front of the culture tank, and its flexible tentacles looked a little listless.
"Dr. Surina?" A familiar voice sounded behind the empty room. "It's really you!"
"Who?" Su Rina turned around in surprise. Her eyes were dark and her hair was messy. It seemed that she had not slept well for a long time.
What answered Su Rina was an invisible tentacle, which gently rested on her tentacles.
"Merry?" A familiar message came from the tentacles, and Su Rina recognized him instantly. "Why are you here? Aren't you with... that Straw Hat Pirates?"
Ripples appeared in the air, and an octopus mermaid over three meters tall gradually appeared.
"This is our first stop in the New World. I didn't expect to meet Dr. Surina here." Meli glanced at the culture tanks with a complicated look. "Doctor... why are you here too? Have you joined this crazy research institute that experiments on children?"
Su Rina's eyes flickered, and she glanced at the surveillance telephone above her head vaguely, wanting to say something but stopping herself and saying nothing.
Meli's eyes turned cold, and her tentacles suddenly flicked out, and a ball of mucus shot out, wrapping up the Den Den Mushi completely.
"You..." Su Rina couldn't stop him in time, her tone became serious, "Once the surveillance here is disconnected, the guards will rush in soon!"
"Then let them come. The doctor shouldn't stay in a place like this. Follow me and leave."
"Well, wait a moment." Su Rina made up her mind, then turned and rushed to the control panel. Multiple tentacles danced like lightning, and the research data on the screen was quickly deleted.
"You must destroy all this data before you leave," Su Rina raised another tentacle, "Merry, help me destroy all those machines."
"No problem, leave it to me."
Meli raised his tentacles, covered with a layer of black domineering aura, and smashed them hard at various instruments in the laboratory.
Bang—sparks flew.
Bang—the glass shattered.
Bang—the machine turned into scrap metal.
Everything in the laboratory was smashed, and hurried footsteps could be heard faintly outside.
"Let's go!" Su Rina smiled, took Meli's hand and left the laboratory.
The two of them hid their figures at the same time and disappeared in the corridor.
Red lights flashed wildly in the corridor and alarms blared one after another.
The guards rushed over, but they lost sight of Meli and Surina and rushed straight between them, completely unaware.
Meli and Su Rina ran one after the other, hanging upside down close to the ceiling. After they got rid of the pursuers, they landed on the ground.
"Doctor, can you tell me now?" Merry raised his tentacle and poked Su Rina's shoulder, "Why are you here?"
"It's a long story. A year ago, a submarine suddenly appeared..." Su Rina didn't look back. She ran while whispering about her experience.
Su Rina has been in the deep sea, devoting herself to studying the genetic issues of the true octopus clan. She doesn't know how she was discovered and targeted.
Because the other party came prepared, Surina was accidentally captured. They forcibly took Surina to Punk Hazard and forced her to join their research.
"At first, I rejected their proposal, so they locked me up. I tried to escape several times, but was caught every time." Su Rina's expression became complicated and gloomy. "Some time ago, I was forced to compromise and agreed to their demands."
"I see. Only by surviving can we have a chance of turning the tables. The doctor's actions can't be said to be wrong."
Su Rina smiled bitterly: "Thank you for listening to my excuses."
After a brief silence, Su Rina continued, "Their core project didn't require me. They wanted me to be responsible for genetic modification research. I kept dragging the project down and it hadn't progressed to the next stage. It was at this time that I noticed the octopus egg had suddenly disappeared."
Merry's steps paused slightly: "Huh? Did they steal it?"
"That was my first thought, but they refused to admit it and even pulled out surveillance video to prove their innocence. They really didn't capture any intrusion; it just disappeared out of thin air."
"I understand. Let's find a way to get it back now."
As she spoke, Meli released her senses. Countless life pulses flickered in her mind, but she could not sense the existence of the octopus egg.
Her expression also became solemn: "I can't sense its existence either. It seems that it is not on this island."
"Merry, I'm sorry. I didn't expect to lose it. It was about to hatch."
"This isn't the doctor's fault. Now let's reunite with Luffy and the others and leave here together before we make any plans."
"good."
When Merry found Luffy and the others, their team had grown a lot bigger, with a group of giant children following behind them.
Further behind were the guards of the research institute, as well as a large group of navy personnel including Smoker and Tashigi.
"Merry~You're back." Luffy laughed and waved from afar.
"Awesome! That's an octopus mermaid bigger than Merry!" Chopper widened his eyes.
"Wow~~This beautiful mermaid lady~~" Sanji's eyes were filled with love.
"Oh, beautiful Miss Octopus, please let me take a look... Hey, octopus mermaids don't seem to wear..."
Nami punched Brook and Sanji: "You two, is this the time to talk about this?"
Su Rina was surprised by the other party's enthusiasm: "Your friends are quite interesting."
"Hahaha, huh?"
"Now is not a good time to reminisce about the past. Let's find a way to escape first."
Meli and Surina also followed the team and turned and ran.
As she ran, Meli introduced her companions: "This is my enlightenment teacher, Dr. Surina. She was kidnapped and imprisoned here for evil experiments. Now she is one of us."
"Hi, imprisoned mermaid princess!"
"Ah, hi... I'm not some mermaid princess."
“Super welcome~~~”
......
After some chaos, Luffy and others finally succeeded in kidnapping Caesar, and discussed with Doflamingo the time and place to exchange Caesar.
The group left Punk Hazard, and after a hard fight in Dressrosa, Flamingo was defeated and the SMILE factory was successfully blown up.
Merry, Luffy and others continued to move forward and landed on Zou. After learning Momonosuke's identity, they decided to form an alliance with him and go to Wano Country.
——————
Wano Country
As the Sunny climbed the waterfall, the pirate ship of the Big Mom Pirates chased after it.
“Ahhhhh——”
The two sides fought fiercely, and Meli was thrown into the water, which had a familiar smell.
A blurry image flashed through Merry's mind. In the moment she was stunned, the whirlpool swept her away, separating her from the Straw Hat Pirates.
The river water was highly poisonous and Meli passed out.
-
"These tentacles are so thick, they must be great for cutting sashimi."
"It's better to cook what you catch in the river before eating it."
"But this doesn't look like an ordinary octopus. Can it really be eaten?"
"It's okay. I heard that an octopus won't die even if its tentacles are broken off."
There was a rustling sound in her ears, and Meli suddenly opened her eyes, and a cold light was aimed at her tentacles.
"Hey! What are you trying to do!" Meli pulled his hand back in horror, and the tentacles rolled back to his side like a spring. He stared warily at the beautiful woman in kimono in front of him.
"Eh? You're awake?" Kikunojo held the knife in his hand suspended in mid-air, his eyelashes fluttering, his eyes filled with surprise. "Sorry, we're just too hungry."
Meili's pupils trembled: "You want to eat me?!"
"Excuse me, my name is Kiku," Kikunojo politely put away his knife and bowed 90 degrees, his eyes clear. "It's been a long time since I've eaten octopus. Since we saved you, could you please give us a tentacle?"
"Of course... no!!!" Meli's scalp tingled when he heard that. A tentacle swept the ground violently, rolling up the edge of the tatami, and dust flew all over the sky.
Kikunojo tapped his toes and dodged quickly.
Merry took the opportunity to break through the door and escape, leaving behind a roar: "I am not an ingredient!!!"
......
After some twists and turns, Merry successfully reunited with the Straw Hat Pirates, and they all gathered in the Northern Cemetery.
"We are retainers of the Kozuki family." Kneeling and kowtow, Kin'emon revealed the truth to the Straw Hat Pirates. "Twenty years ago, Orochi broke his promise and executed our lord. He also wanted to eliminate the young master and the princess. At that critical moment, Madam Toki activated the power of the Time Fruit and sent the young master and us into the future..."
Meli was stunned.
The Time Fruit, Twenty Years Ago, the White Vortex Tunnel...
Some vague fragments of memory surged deep in Meli's mind, those were fragments of the memory of that tiny octopus egg.
Because the soul in the octopus eggs is still very weak, those memories become vague.
Now these key words suddenly opened the door to memory.
The octopus eggs kept rolling in the violent storm.
Now it seems that it was not a storm, but a torrent of time!
Although there was no evidence, for some reason, Meli had this strange intuition.
The octopus egg was swept into the torrent of time, and in a deep vortex, it seemed to sense some very strange existence.
It was a mysterious force from another world, without any entity, just a ball of light.
Meli no longer had the heart to listen to what Kin'emon and the others had said. She thought carefully, and her mind buzzed. The dream she had when she was unconscious in the Water City was now replaying crazily before her eyes like a slideshow.
In the darkness, the octopus eggs seemed to have accidentally swallowed up the mysterious power.
Could this be the reason why I am different from other true octopuses?
"Hey, hey, Merry, come back to your senses!" Nami waved her hands back and forth in front of Merry's eyes. "Why are you suddenly in a daze?"
"Ah..." Merry came back to his senses, "I just remembered something."
Robin held his chin and said, "What are you thinking about? You're so absorbed in it."
"I saw myself still in the octopus egg, and I knew why I went back in time."
Chopper moved closer curiously: "Huh? Why is that?"
Usopp touched his nose and said, "Oh, right. Why did Merry travel back to twenty years ago?"
"Twenty years ago..." Robin raised his eyebrows in surprise, his eyes shining, "Wait, could this be related to Madam Toki's Time Fruit?"
"Yes. I must have been sucked into a time tunnel."
"Wow, this is amazing!"
"Actually, the reason doesn't matter. What matters is that I can continue my adventure with my friends!"
"That's right. Let's continue sailing together from now on!"
"Ha ha ha ha......"
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