Author's Note:
This arc, "Shin Tot Musica," will obviously break from the Original Work, and I plan to go full throttle with fabrication, personal interpretation, and all sorts of other runaway creativity. Please assume there's virtually no resemblance to the Film RED version. Probably. The author has an incurable condition where they can't help but write down whatever pops into their head...
---
The next morning. Things moved fast.
"Hey, Lady, got a minute? So, um... a request for a meeting came from Uta-chan first thing this morning, through Gordon-san. Any idea what that's about?"
"...I do."
"You do?!"
Honey seemed thrown. Uta-chan had been shut up in her room refusing all visitors for the past few days, short as that was, and now she was asking to see someone of her own volition.
On top of that, the person she'd asked for was me, and the fact that I, the one she'd specifically requested, had just said "I do" seemed to cause a bit of a pileup of surprises.
But what could I do? I really did have an idea. Obviously.
'Nine times out of ten, it's about yesterday's "dream"... No, that probably wasn't just a regular dream after all.'
Showing up at the crack of dawn would've been a bit much, so I at least had breakfast first before visiting Uta-chan's room.
And when I heard what she had to say... just as I'd expected, Uta-chan had the same dream I did yesterday.
No, it wasn't just that the content of the dreams happened to match. We really were in the "same" dream. Both of us, Uta-chan and me.
Most likely... inside Uta World.
But for Uta-chan to pull someone else into Uta World, she needs to make them hear her sing. I certainly had no memory of hearing her sing that day, and since Uta-chan had been shut up in her room, there was no way I could have heard it. And of course, Uta-chan herself said she had no memory of doing anything like that.
Now, the "shut up in her room" part alone could potentially be worked around. Apparently Uta-chan's singing can take effect even through a Den Den Mushi, as long as the audio quality is maintained to some degree. But since Uta-chan herself denied it, that wasn't it.
She'd been feeling down for some reason and had shut herself in her room, and apparently she'd been in a state of mind where she didn't even want to sing. That's what she'd just murmured, her words trailing off in quiet fragments.
So it really wasn't Uta-chan's doing. That much was clear. But more than that, what hit me harder was what she'd just said.
'She didn't want to sing? Uta-chan, of all people...?!'
As far as I knew, this girl in front of me, with her red-and-white two-toned hair styled up in a butterfly shape, truly loved singing from the bottom of her heart. She loved to sing, she loved listening to songs. And of course, she absolutely loved seeing people smile because of her music. A girl you could genuinely call a born Songstress. That was Uta-chan. ...Or so it was supposed to be.
For someone like her to say she "didn't want to sing"... that shouldn't be possible unless something truly terrible had happened. What on earth happened to her?
...No, it was probably... related to that mysterious Monster from the dream.
Maybe that's what I was thinking, and maybe it showed on my face. Uta-chan, who had been looking downcast with her eyes lowered, murmured,
"...You're curious, aren't you? About that Monster..."
"Yeah, well... honestly, yes. Would you maybe be willing to... tell me about it?"
"..."
Silence. Gordon-san, sitting beside her, must have grown worried, because he spoke up.
"Uta, if it's too painful, you don't have to push yourself... I can explain to Sue-dono..."
"No, it's okay, Gordon. ...If I were just keeping a secret, that'd be one thing, but I'm the one who dragged her into this. I have to... tell her properly."
With that, Uta-chan stood up and disappeared into the back room. She returned almost immediately.
In her hand, an unfamiliar Den Den Mushi.
"Sue-san, I've told you before, right? That I'm the daughter of Red-Haired Shanks... and that one day, in a certain country, I was suddenly abandoned."
"And you also said you had no idea why and it ticked you off. Then a few years later you met Tesoro and everyone, and ended up coming here, right?"
"Yeah. ...But, you see... just recently, I was able to... find out."
"? 'Find out' what...?"
"Why Shanks abandoned me. And what really happened that night, in Elegia... the whole truth. All of it."
As she spoke, Uta-chan's complexion grew worse and worse. She looked like she might collapse, bad enough that watching her made me worry.
And it wasn't just Uta-chan. Gordon-san too. His color was terrible, and he was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Wait... the way she said "that night" and "Elegia"... Oh, could she mean that incident? The one where the Red Hair Pirates supposedly attacked and destroyed a country called Elegia?
It was quite a while ago, but I remembered it well. I happened to read a top story in World Economic News about it, and knowing what kind of pirate he actually was, the content was utterly unbelievable.
I remembered not believing it at all, being more exasperated than anything.
'Come on, Morgans, what are you even writing?' I'd assumed the World Government had pulled one of their signature information manipulation stunts and Morgans had lent them a hand or something.
But what did these two know about that incident? And it was connected to this "dream"?
Uta-chan, forcibly suppressing what must have been a deeply unsettled feeling, activated the Den Den Mushi in her hand. It turned out to be a Visual Den Den Mushi, and moreover, one that had recorded some kind of video data on its own. A type that could both record and play back was fairly rare, but... well.
What in the world was on this thing?
----Viewing in progress----
"..."
...As always, "backstories" in the One Piece World tend to be heavy.
Having finished watching what was on the Visual Den Den Mushi, that thought hit me anew with painful clarity.
Fortunately, just about everything I'd wanted to know was now clear. But this was a bit much...
"It was all my fault. That Elegia was destroyed... that Shanks abandoned me. It was all because of me..."
"Uta, that's not true! If only I had disposed of Tot Musica's Sheet Music... As someone involved in music, the fact that I couldn't bring myself to destroy it even after what happened, all the way up to now... it's my fault..."
So. A Song Demon King, huh... What a thing to come crawling out of the woodwork.
Like the Seven Star Sword that was now my beloved blade... no, clearly on a larger scale... one of those rare occult elements even by One Piece World standards.
Impossible to control. It wouldn't stop until it had destroyed and slaughtered everything in sight. And in fact, that's exactly what happened to Elegia. No mercy, no discrimination, no questions asked... Scary stuff. What is this, some kind of Dark Dream?
For the record, to be precise and technically accurate, the Demon King itself doesn't have a name. "Tot Musica" is strictly the title of the piece written on the Sheet Music. When a Sing-Sing Fruit Ability User sings it, the Demon King revives and goes on a rampage. ...Well, since singing it causes the Demon King to appear, the two are more or less treated as one and the same, and the Demon King has come to be known by the name Tot Musica.
So Shanks, not wanting Uta-chan to bear the guilt, took the blame himself and left Uta-chan there... Sounded about right.
However, the truth had been exposed, because someone had recorded the tragedy that night in Elegia on this Visual Den Den Mushi. And just as Shanks had feared back then, once she learned the truth, she blamed herself and sank into depression.
This wasn't something an outsider could casually toss empty words of comfort at.
...That aside, though... while listening to Uta-chan's story just now, something had suddenly occurred to me...
"Uta-chan, Gordon-san... hey, could it be that..."
---rustle---
"This Sheet Music for 'Tot Musica'... is this it?"
"...?!"
The ancient set of four sheets of music that I suddenly pulled from inside my body and placed on the table. The two of them nearly jumped out of their seats.
"That's... th-there's no mistake... Why do you have this?!"
"Sue-san, that... Gordon was panicking a while back saying he'd 'lost it!' But... wait, why does Sue-san have this?!"
You lost it? Don't lose something this dangerous!
Well, I suppose without a Sing-Sing Fruit Ability User around, it's just old sheet music. Sure.
And as for why I had it...
"...Sorry, I don't know."
"Huh?"
"No, I really don't know... Before I realized it, it was inside my body. I just noticed it now."
Not a lie. This was the honest, genuine truth.
Just now, when I heard Uta-chan and the others talking about Tot Musica... I suddenly felt a strange presence inside my body.
It felt exactly like the sensation I got from the Seven Star Sword, which I normally kept stored inside me. That thing has a will of its own, after all. So I was able to recognize it. Right now, something other than the Seven Star Sword was inside me. No, not something. Someone was "there."
Maybe it was because Uta-chan and the others talked about Tot Musica and I became aware that such a being existed, which let me finally notice it. If that was the case, did that mean this Sheet Music had been lurking inside me since long before? Now that's scary.
...Could this have been the source of that strange presence in the middle of last night, too?
"Tot Musica's Sheet Music possesses its own will... and can move freely on its own to a certain extent. That night was the same... it slipped out of storage on its own and appeared before Uta..."
"Wait, this paper moves by itself? ...Let's test it."
I left the Sheet Music on the table and stepped back a bit. Waited.
Then, after a few dozen seconds, the Sheet Music floated gently upward... and fluttered through the air toward me like a dancing butterfly. I dodged on reflex, but it tracked me and kept coming... then went right inside me. I hadn't even tried to absorb it. It just went in on its own.
"It went in... Oh right, Sue-san is a Paper Human, so..."
"The Sheet Music was drawn to that and flew in of its own accord, you're saying...?"
"...No, I don't think that's all there is to it. Just now, when the Sheet Music entered me... there was something I noticed. Something I felt."
This Sheet Music was connected in some way to my Paper-Paper Fruit Powers themselves. It wasn't just because it was paper. There was some kind of bond, some kind of fate tying us together, and that was what drew it to me. I couldn't put it into concrete terms like "it's specifically this," but intuitively... that's what I felt.
And besides, the Demon King itself awakens through the song of a Sing-Sing Fruit Ability User. That's a clear connection right there. So it stood to reason that there was something between the Sheet Music and the Sing-Sing Fruit's Powers as well.
The Song Demon King.
The Sing-Sing Fruit.
The Paper-Paper Fruit.
The Sheet Music.
Something was definitely going on between these four...
Information from the past, important information, that even Gordon-san and Uta-chan didn't know about. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say it was never passed down to them.
The Song Demon King was apparently a legend from Elegia, so maybe if I went to Elegia, there'd be historical records or something...?
...Actually, more pressing than that was something else on my mind.
"Hey, Uta-chan. About that 'dream'... let me ask again, but you really didn't do anything to cause it, right?"
"Huh? Oh, right... I didn't do anything, I truly have no idea what caused it."
"But yesterday, both you and I were pulled into a world that was most likely Uta World. And we were able to wake up by passing through the Sheet Music Door..."
If what happened yesterday was deliberately triggered to target Uta-chan, the Sing-Sing Fruit Ability User, and me, the Paper-Paper Fruit Ability User who also happened to possess the Sheet Music... or if it was something that was simply fated to "happen"...
"That dream... there's a chance, just maybe, that we might have it again tonight, you know? And not just tonight... from now on, maybe forever."
"...ah..."
Uta-chan went completely white.
The realization hit her. That she might have to face the Demon King that destroyed Elegia every single night after falling asleep. That she might be attacked by it. Fear and despair visibly welled up inside her.
And honestly, it was a real possibility. If Uta-chan and I had been drawn there for some reason, and we didn't know why we'd been called, then we had no way of knowing whether it would end after just one time, or if it didn't end, what we'd need to do to make it stop. We knew nothing.
If whatever called us had a purpose, then maybe it would continue until that purpose was fulfilled, or something like that.
If there was no particular purpose and we were simply being summoned as an inevitable consequence of certain conditions being met... that might be even worse.
But either way, the only way to find out what would happen was to actually go to sleep. It didn't have to be nighttime; even a nap would work. What do you think? Want to try it?
...Oh, scared but willing. OK, I'd go along with her.
Gordon-san, could we borrow that long sofa or something?
...Yep, just as I thought.
Good morning, giant Clown. Long time no see, about six hours or so.
To be continued...