Chapter 54 — "The Sky Falls Again"
Bell-mère's POV
The sea breeze had always been Cocoyasi Village's lullaby—gentle, salty, and steady. For the first time in what felt like years, the rhythm of waves against the coast brought something close to peace.
Almost.
Bell-mère leaned back in her chair on the porch, a cigarette hanging loosely between her fingers. The clouds drifted lazily across the afternoon sky.
"A month of peace," she murmured. "A miracle."
The villagers had relaxed. The markets were full. Everything was almost perfect.
Except—
"Aqua!" Bell-mère's voice snapped through the quiet like a gunshot.
A crash came from inside the house. Pots. Pans. A scream that sounded half divine, half disaster.
"It's not my fault! I was testing the limits of mortal cookware!"
Bell-mère groaned, rubbing her temple. "You're testing my patience, that's what you're doing."
From the doorway burst Aqua, dripping with spilled soup and glowing faintly blue, somehow proud of herself. "It almost worked this time! The stew of heavenly bliss was one step away from perfection!"
Bell-mère crossed her arms. "And then it exploded."
Aqua sniffed dramatically. "Exploded with flavor!"
Bell-mère sighed, though a smile tugged at her lips. It was impossible to stay angry at that ridiculous goddess. The woman was chaos incarnate — and yet, somehow, the house felt empty without her energy bouncing off the walls.
In truth, Bell-mère did miss Sunny and Nami. The quiet had grown too strange, too hollow, even with Aqua's antics.
She took a long drag from her cigarette and blew out a lazy plume of smoke.
"Those brats better be doing alright out there," she muttered.
Then the world shifted.
The wind changed — a deep hum rolled through the air like the sound of a thousand storms caught in a jar. Her cigarette froze midair as every hair on her arm stood on end.
A flicker of blue—no, void-blue—lit up the horizon.
Bell-mère's heart stopped.
She'd seen that kind of glow only twice in her life. Once, when a certain reckless idiot named Sunny trained with Aqua on the edge of the world. And once… when he'd torn open the sky itself.
She squinted toward the ocean, shielding her eyes.
High above the sea, something shimmered—something falling.
A ship.
A flying ship with a sheep figurehead — its hull surrounded by a crackling aura of dark blue energy that bent space around it like glass under pressure.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Bell-mère whispered.
The ship was descending fast, leaving trails of warped air in its wake. The sound wasn't thunder. It was something heavier, deeper.
That wasn't just Haki. That was him.
A grin broke across her face. "Sunny, you absolute maniac."
She flicked her cigarette away and sprinted for the beach.
Aqua's POV
Being a goddess, Aqua liked to say, came with certain privileges.
Like beauty.
Like grace.
Like the ability to turn every peaceful day into divine chaos.
She stretched across Bell-mère's couch, sipping juice from a cup shaped like a seashell. "Haaa… life without Sunny is so dull~."
Her legs kicked lazily in the air. "He's probably out there charming other girls. The nerve! My divine heart can't take this!"
She slammed the cup down dramatically—then immediately forgot why she was angry and began humming a tune about herself.
"Oh~ Aqua the beautiful, Aqua the wise, Aqua who makes mortals cry~"
A fish bowl on the table wobbled dangerously.
"Hey! Don't you roll your eyes at me, Mr. Fish!" she scolded the goldfish. "You don't understand what it's like to miss a god-tier hunk!"
Aqua puffed her cheeks. "When he comes back, I'll scold him, I'll punch him, and then I'll make him carry me around like the goddess I am!"
She threw herself back dramatically on the couch, her eyes catching the sunlight. "Sunny better bring presents. Maybe a throne. Or a planet. Or a—"
The room trembled.
The juice cup fell over, spilling across the floor.
A deep vibration ran through the air, making the furniture rattle.
Aqua blinked. "Wait. That energy… no way."
The goddess jumped to her feet and ran outside barefoot, blue hair whipping in the wind. Her pupils dilated, catching the faint shimmer of something massive tearing across the clouds.
A ship.
A flying one — wrapped in the same dark blue Haki she'd once seen swirling around Sunny's body when he lost himself to his own power.
Her lips curled into a delighted grin.
"Sunny…" she whispered, her voice trembling with laughter. "You actually did it again, didn't you?"
Aqua twirled once in joy, light shimmering around her. "He's back! My favorite idiot's back!"
Without hesitation, she sprinted toward the beach, the wind catching her divine cloak.
"Move aside, mortals! The goddess of reunion is coming through!"
Nojiko's POV
The afternoon sun painted Cocoyasi Village gold. Nojiko leaned over the garden fence, humming quietly as she wiped sweat from her brow.
Life had been calmer since Nami and Sunny left. But… maybe too calm.
With Aqua around, "calm" still meant a few kitchen fires and one exploded bathtub, but somehow, Nojiko had grown fond of it.
Still—
she missed them.
She missed Sunny's grin when he stole food off her plate.
She missed Nami's laughter echoing through the trees.
And she missed the chaos of their little family feeling alive.
She glanced toward the kitchen window where a pot of stew simmered. "Sunny, if you're not back soon, I'm eating your share myself."
On the table nearby sat a folded cloak — navy blue with gold trim, hand-stitched. "He's not getting away without wearing that," she said softly, smiling.
Then, a low rumble shook the earth beneath her feet.
The watering can slipped from her hands. "...What the—?"
She turned toward the horizon—and froze.
Up above the clouds, something was falling.
A ship — glowing with that unmistakable, haunting blue. The air rippled around it as if reality itself was bending.
Her heart leapt.
"Sunny!"
Without another thought, Nojiko bolted toward the beach, her cloak fluttering behind her, a wild grin spreading across her face.
"Only you would fall from the sky just to make an entrance, idiot!"
Narration: Mixed POV
The sound of crashing waves roared through Cocoyasi's coast.
The air shimmered — the Going Merry was coming down fast, cloaked in that same void-blue aura like the sky itself was being peeled apart.
Sand flew in every direction as the ship slammed into the shallow waters, spraying salt and light into the air. The shockwave rippled across the beach, sending Aqua spinning, Bell-mère ducking, and Nojiko laughing like a lunatic.
"—HE'S REALLY DOING IT AGAIN!" Bell-mère yelled, shielding her eyes.
The void-blue light dissolved. The ship settled, creaking, and a familiar voice echoed from the deck.
> "Whew! Smooth landing… ten outta ten." "We almost died, idiot!" Nami's voice came right after, furious. "Correction," Sunny grinned as he appeared on deck, "we lived. Big difference."
He stretched his arms wide, hair glinting with faint Haki sparks, eyes bright — the kind of grin that said yeah, I definitely did something insane again.
"SUNNY!" three voices screamed in unison.
Aqua, Bell-mère, and Nojiko came running.
---
Aqua POV
"MY DEAR CAPTAIN!" Aqua shrieked dramatically, light exploding around her. "How dare you descend from the heavens without proper divine warning!"
Without hesitation, she launched herself like a bullet — literally. A blast of water pressure erupted from her feet, and before anyone could react, BAM!
"Ghh—!" Sunny barely had time to turn before Aqua's head slammed into his chest like a cannonball.
"Divine bullet of love!!" she announced proudly as Sunny stumbled backward. "Target acquired!"
And then—
She kissed him.
Right there.
In front of everyone.
Time froze. The world went quiet except for the sound of crashing waves and Sunny's rapidly dying brain cells.
Sunny blinked. Lucy blinked.
Even Zoro stopped mid-sip of sake.
Aqua pulled back, all glitter and sparkles. "UmU~ See? That's what happens when you leave a goddess waiting for a month, darling."
Sunny's face went scarlet. "W-Wait, Aqua—"
"Ara ara~ You're blushing~" she teased, tilting her head, voice dripping mischief.
And that was when it happened.
---
[A/N: our yandere Lucy is here and a big thanks to GoddessAlbedo giving me idea to introduce yandere Lucy]
Lucy POV
At first, she smiled.
Then, something inside her cracked — quietly, but deeply.
Her grin twitched. Her pupils narrowed to golden rings. Her hair shimmered — turning soft white, like clouds drifting in the storm.
The air hummed.
In her hand, a kitchen knife formed — not steel, but cloud. Fluffy, pure… yet terrifying. Her expression softened into a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
> "Aqua…" she whispered, voice sugar-sweet. "You really like touching my captain, don't you?"
A chill ran down Sunny's spine.
[system]: Hmmm~ interesting anomaly detected, beloved. Lucy's emotional output has exceeded 400%. Oh my, she's so cute when she's jealous~♡
Sunny: "...System, now's not the time—"
[system]: I can always *remove* the goddess for you, Sunny. Quietly. Efficiently. UmU~
{ego}: "Oh boy. The yandere program just went live. We're all doomed, folks. Someone hide the cutlery."
In that one second, Lucy looked like a storm given form — hair floating, aura cracking the air like static. Then—
Gone.
Everything vanished.
She stood there again, normal, cheerful, scratching her cheek like nothing happened. Everyone blinked, confused.
"...Lucy?" Nami asked. "You okay?" "Yup! Totally fine~," Lucy chirped, eyes closed, smile radiant.
Sunny, meanwhile, was sweating bullets.
{ego}: "Oh she's fine, alright. The kind of fine that ends with Sunny sleeping with one eye open."
---
Sunny POV
Sunny gulped, his back slick with cold sweat. He definitely saw that.
And so did [system] and {ego} — the only two beings insane enough to make the situation worse.
[system]: Don't worry, darling. I'll keep her calm. Or maybe not. Watching you panic is… cute~
Sunny: "System. No."
{ego}: "He's dying inside, folks. Look at that poker face. I give him 3 minutes before heart failure."
Meanwhile, Aqua stood proudly beside him, humming. "See, everyone's happy I kissed him!"
Zoro scoffed. "Happy? You just broke physics."
Sanji clenched his teeth. "That should've been me— I mean, how dare you assault the lady's captain like that?!" Lucy just smiled sweetly. Too sweetly.
Bell-mère crossed her arms. "Well, he did fall from the sky. A kiss seems like a fair punishment."
Sunny sighed. "Can I please have one normal landing?" Nami smirked. "With you? Not a chance."
---
Reunion Scene
As the chaos settled, laughter bubbled up again. Aqua was already crying happily into Bell-mère's shoulder, Nojiko was scolding Sunny for forgetting her handmade cloak ("You'll wear it or I'll sew it into your skin!"), and Lucy… stood just a little closer than usual.
The tension slowly dissolved into warmth — the kind that came from belonging, from seeing home again.
Sunny leaned on the railing, watching them all with a soft grin.
> "...I missed this," he said quietly.
[system]: I missed you more, darling~♡ But don't worry — I've already prepared training regimes so brutal even gods would beg for mercy. You'll love them. (Lucy, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp are already in the roster.)
Sunny's eyes went wide. "Wait — what did you just say? For them?"
[system]: Training. Hell version. Signed and approved by me and Aqua. Not you, of course. I'm simply organizing. ♥
{ego}: Yup. He's dead. Again. Also, reader, bring tissues. Their screams will be comedic gold.