"UTA!"
Luffy's voice rings down the hollow halls of the Elegia castle. He tears from corridor to corridor, hopelessly lost. Somewhere else in the maze, Atlas, Lucky Roux, Bonk Punch, and Monster are every bit as lost.
"LUFFY!"
They pound up staircases and down again. They race along hallways. They cut through a cavernous chamber hung with dusty portraits and broken chandeliers. Luffy skids around a corner, sandals sliding on polished marble, and slams into a suit of armor. It crashes to the floor in a clatter of steel. He doesn't stop.
Atlas sniffs the air. "He went left!" He bolts, the others on his heels. They tear through a kitchen, sending pots and pans clanging across the floor. Monster snatches a banana from a bowl, crams it into his mouth, and keeps going.
They burst into a library where shelves tower overhead. On the far side, Luffy is scrambling up a ladder. "UTA!"
"LUFFY!"
They charge through a gallery of paintings, Luffy's reflection flickering across the glass of each frame. He catches his foot on a rug, tumbles, and comes up running. The others stream after him, a ragged parade of fur and flailing limbs.
At last, Luffy skids to a stop. He has reached the throne room.
Uta lounges on the throne, legs crossed, one hand dangling over the armrest. Her red-and-white hair spills across her shoulders.
Luffy grins. "Uta! I found you!"
Uta tilts her head and smiles. "Hi, Luffy. This is unexpected. You made it all the way here."
Luffy laughs, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, well..."
He stops short. His fist drops into his open palm. "Right! I came to bring you back! Everyone is here! Shanks too! We came to save you."
Uta laughs behind her hand. "Luffy, you are so funny. Who said I wanted to leave?"
Luffy's head tilts, his face scrunched in puzzlement. "But that is what we came here for."
Uta rises from the throne and descends the steps toward him, unhurried. "You are such a sore loser."
She raises her hands and wiggles her fingers at him in mockery.
"You could never beat me."
Luffy's brow furrows. He jabs a finger at her. "Because you always cheated."
Uta closes the distance between them. "That's what losers always say."
Heat floods Luffy's cheeks. His hand curls into a fist. "Uta, if you want to stay, then you should tell Shanks yourself."
Uta laughs, low and soft. The air around her darkens and thickens like ink spreading through water. She spreads her arms wide, and her feet leave the floor. When her voice comes again, it echoes from every corner of the room.
She sings.
🎵
(whispered, music-box, a child counting down for hide-and-seek)
Ten, nine, I've hidden somewhere good
Eight, seven, as quiet as I could
Six, five, they'll find me by the sound
Four, three, two, one…
(silence)
Ready or not?
🎵
The notes plink from nowhere—thin, tinny, a music box buried somewhere inside the walls. Luffy's grin falters.
🎵
(low, breathy, almost speaking)
I was found once in a chest of gold
A laugh at a joke, a hand to hold
They carried me out of the dark and the cold
Then I learned how far a sail can go
🎵
Her voice sinks so low that Luffy has to strain to catch it. For one breath she is nine years old again, and the throne room smells like salt and sunlight.
🎵
(rising, the second voice sits under her)
Counted to a hundred, counted to a thousand
Hummed my own name so someone would follow
Every sail on the horizon sails on by
(Keep humming.)
Hid so well I can't find me either
(Hum louder.)
🎵
Beneath her, a second voice hums along—deeper, older, a half-beat behind. Luffy's eyes dart around the room. No one else is there.
🎵
(scream-belt, the sleepers answer in unison)
Come out, come out, my sing-sing soldiers!
Find me, find me, find me!
I hid so well, I hid so long
That nobody came looking
Rise up, rise up, fill the room
March till it's not so empty
Ready or not, ready or not
Won't you come and find me?
🎵
The chorus detonates. Thousands of voices answer from somewhere beyond the castle walls—the lost souls of sleepers, singing back in perfect unison. The chandeliers shiver on their chains. Luffy digs his sandals into the marble.
🎵
(rapid-fire, sarcastic, tempo doubles)
The whole world knows every word that I sing
And nobody knows where I live
Everybody's got my name in their mouth
And nobody's got a key
They clap for a ghost through a Den Den Mushi's eye
Call it love, call it company
Fine, then, I'll make my own, march them in time
The ones who can't leave, who can't leave me
🎵
The words pour out faster than breath should allow, each line clipped off with a bitter twist of her lips.
🎵
(breathy, then snarling)
Counted to a hundred, counted to a thousand
Hummed my own name so someone would follow
Every sail on the horizon sails on by
(Keep humming.)
Hid so well I can't find me either
(Hum louder!)
🎵
The humming swells beneath her, no longer polite. Now it snarls right along with her.
🎵
(scream, choir joins)
Come out, come out, my sing-sing soldiers!
Find me, find me, find me!
I hid so well, I hid so long
That nobody came looking
Rise up, rise up, fill the room
March till it's not so empty
Ready or not, ready or not
Won't you come and find me?
🎵
The choir crashes in. The marble thrums under Luffy's feet, and the glass in the high windows buzzes in its frames.
🎵
(stripped back, music-box, the voice splits in two)
(Uta) If I close my eyes, they all go home
If I close my eyes, I'm alone
So I won't, I won't, I won't
(Tot Musica, low, warm, almost tender) Shh.
I found you.
(Uta) Who's there?
(Tot Musica) I found you the very first time you sang.
🎵
Gooseflesh crawls up Luffy's arms. That second voice did not come from Uta's mouth.
🎵
(key change, full scream, orchestra, choir and double kick)
Come out, come out, my sing-sing soldiers!
Find me, find me, find me!
(They can't.)
I hid so well, I hid so long
That nobody came looking
(I did.)
Rise up, rise up, fill the room
March till it's not so empty
Ready or not, ready or not…
🎵
Uta screams the final chorus over the din, her hair whipping around her face. Then the orchestra cuts out, and only the music box remains.
🎵
(music-box returns, the countdown now counts up, in the demon's voice over a flat hum)
(Tot Musica) One, two, three…
Found you.
🎵
Uta's eyes burn into his. "I am never leaving. And neither are you."
Luffy holds her stare. "UTA!"
BOOM! CRASH!
Uta and Luffy whip toward the noise. Ember and Shachi stumble from a hidden passage beside a heap of smoking rubble.
Ember pops up, humming. "Ten in the window, nine in the street,
Make them all fall down at my feet.
Six for the static, seven for the sparks,
Bullet in the chamber always hits its mark."
She shoulders Helltide, aims, and fires at Uta. Then she giggles and bounces on her toes.
"BOOM! BOOM! TIME!"
Shachi fumbles out after her, coughing, and looks around. His eyes land on Luffy. "Oh, Straw Hat! We finally found you!"
Luffy tilts his head, bewildered.
Atlas, Lucky Roux, Bonk Punch, and Monster file in through the main entrance.
Atlas grumbles, "That was a pain in the ass."
Lucky yells, "Luffy!"
---
Uta hangs in the air above the center of the throne room as the smoke from Ember's sparkler thins and drifts apart.
Her face starts to warp. Tot Musica's features surface through her own—one crossed eye, one empty socket of void, a grin stretched far too wide.
Her gaze sweeps across the group. Her voice reverberates off the stone. "THE SING SING POWER BELONGS TO ME! I WILL NEVER LET IT GO!"
Atlas, Lucky Roux, Bonk Punch, Monster, Shachi, and Luffy all crane their necks upward.
Ember's lower lip juts out when she realizes her explosion did nothing. She mutters, "Tick, tock, tick, tock, running out of time,
Everybody dancing to my little rhyme."
Luffy scowls and stabs a finger at her. "YOU'RE NOT UTA! GIVE UTA BACK!"
Atlas sighs and walks over to Luffy. "Uh, I don't think that is going to work."
Ember shoulders Helltide. She mutters, "No more players left to play,
Blow the little smoke away."
She lets loose a barrage of sparklers.
Shachi shouts, "NO!" He lunges for her, one step too slow.
Smoke floods the throne room. A roar follows, deafening and deep enough to rattle teeth. The castle shudders. Dust rains from the ceiling, then chunks of stone.
The group scatters, dodging the falling rubble. Luffy yells, "GUM! GUM!" and punches boulders into powder.
When the haze finally clears, Tot Musica's colossal form towers over the ruins of the castle.
Bonk Punch says, "I think we found it!"
Sing Sing Soldiers flood into existence by the thousands.
Luffy roars, "GEAR FIVE!"
His body ripples and brightens, reshaping itself into his white celestial form.
---
Another hundred clones of Uta and Gordon pour onto the beach. They skid to a halt at the sight waiting for them: sand strewn with the mangled remains of Uta and Gordon clones.
In the middle of the wreckage stands Marya. One brow lifts as she surveys the new wave. She exhales, bored.
"How tedious."
Galit appears at Marya's side. "We can handle them. You should focus on that thing."
Marya tips her head back toward the towering form of Tot Musica. Her gaze sharpens.
One of the clones floats up before the Demon King. From that height, it gazes down on Galit, Bō-Zak, Penguin, Howling Gab, Rockstar, and Jelly as they gather around Marya.
Bō-Zak asks, "Any word from the other group?"
Galit shakes his head. "Nothing yet."
Penguin asks, "How long are we supposed to stall?"
Galit replies, "Until we know that the demon king has manifested in the dream world."
Howling Gab gestures toward the fresh wave of clones. "I assume those are reinforcements."
Marya inclines her head. "That is a reasonable assessment."
Howling Gab chuckles. Marya arches a brow at him. "You sounded just like your old man," he says.
Marya sighs.
Jelly bounces. "Bloop! Fight time!"
The clone hovering before Tot Musica opens its mouth and sings.
🎵
Left, right, left, right, everybody in line
Smile for me, soldiers, you're doing just fine
🎵
The cadence carries across the water, bright and brittle—a drill sergeant's chant sung in a little girl's voice.
🎵
(sing-song, manic cheer)
Welcome to the show, the show that never ends
Free admission, no exit, bring your friends
Nobody's tired, nobody's sore
Nobody remembers what they came here for
🎵
The melody bounces along, cheerful as a carnival barker, and somehow that makes it worse.
🎵
(breathless, tempo creeping up)
Stuff your ears with wax and tin
Sleeping hands will pull them out again
Everybody wants to save the girl
Nobody asks if the girl wants saving
🎵
Rockstar jams a finger into each ear. It doesn't help. The song is already inside his head.
(shouted chant, the lost souls of sleepers answer "hey!")
Lost cause, lost cause, march in time! (hey!)
Lost cause, lost cause, you're all mine! (hey!)
Rise up, my sing-sing soldiers, one, two, three
The door is painted on, so you will never leave!
(Never leave! Never leave!)
🎵
From every corner of the island, the lost souls of sleepers bellow back on cue—thousands of throats shouting as one.
🎵
(rapid-fire, sneering, clipped and percussive)
Here comes a hero with a speech and a plan
And a friend, and a friend, and a friend
Every time they lose, they come back again
Asking me how it ends
I swallow the night so the dream stays lit
I can't sleep, I can't quit
Hey, Luffy, you'd come for me, wouldn't you?
Lost cause, lost cause, I hope you do
🎵
The clone's smile slips at Luffy's name. Just for an instant. Then it snaps back into place.
🎵
(faster, giggling)
Stuff your ears with wax and tin
Sleeping hands will pull them out again
(shouted, orchestra enters)
Lost cause, lost cause, march in time! (hey!)
Lost cause, lost cause, you're all mine! (hey!)
Rise up, my sing-sing soldiers, one, two, three
The door is painted on, so you will never leave!
(Never leave! Never leave!)
🎵
An orchestra no one can see swells over the surf. Jelly quivers in time with the bass.
🎵
(music-box, whispered, the cheer drains out)
(Uta, whispered) Sorry. I'm sorry. Don't be scared.
If I close my eyes, the dream goes dark and you wake up
So I won't.
(Tot Musica, low, a lullaby) Good girl. Keep humming.
(Uta) They can leave when I sleep. I don't sleep.
(Tot Musica) Neither of you ever leaves, little one.
🎵
Marya's jaw tightens. Whatever is speaking to that girl, it is not the clone.
🎵
(key change, full scream, choir and double kick, the cheer broken)
Lost cause, lost cause, march in time! (hey!)
Lost cause, lost cause, who's the lost cause?
(Mine.)
Rise up, my sing-sing soldiers, one, two, three
The door is painted on, so none of us will leave!
🎵
The scream tears across the beach, raw and furious, and the surf hisses back from the shore.
🎵
(the count-in returns, off-key, over a flat hum)
Left, right, left, right, everybody in line
Smile for me, soldiers…
(Tot Musica, low) Nobody leaves the parade.
🎵
Sing Sing Soldiers swarm into being by the thousands, shoulder to shoulder with the clones.
Marya's eyes go cool and flat. "It looks like they have stopped holding back."
Her body goes rigid. Then she blinks.
Through Luffy's eyes, she sees Tot Musica's form looming in the Sing Sing World.
A slow, wicked smile curls across Marya's lips.
Rockstar asks, "What is that look for?"
Penguin glances over. "I know that look. That is not a good look."
Marya tells them, "Looks like Luffy is not as much of an idiot as I thought. He woke up Tot Musica in the Dream World."
Howling Gab mutters, "About time." He smacks a fist into his open palm. "Now we can cut loose."
Galit says, "Marya will handle Tot Musica. The rest of us deal with the clones." He jerks a thumb toward the Sing Sing Soldiers overhead. "And whatever those are supposed to be."
The group nods once. They split apart.