Feelings of regret are only natural… Unbearable feelings are natural as well. Our losses are great, and we have gained nothing. —But this is progress! Regardless of whom you fought, a battle occurred and has now ended!

No one can erase the past! …Stand atop this war! And live! Kingdom of Alabasta!

–Nefertari Cobra, King of Alabasta

Story 2 : The Passage of Ages

Nefertari Cobra sat silently in his throne room. This man was the king of the kingdom Alabasta, and never was there a ruler as well loved by the people as he. Unlike many monarchs, he was not the type to see his subjects and only specified times. There was a specific range of time each day when he sat on his throne, listening to his people if they came to see him and chatting with Igaram, captain of his army, when no one was there. However, if one came outside of that time range, he would never turn the person away. There was one instance (subject to a great many jokes throughout the kingdom) when he had turned a man away: a merchant had come at two o'clock in the morning to ask if he could please borrow a pen—he only had one, which was out of ink, and none of his neighbors were answering their doors when he knocked, for some odd reason. Apparently, it had not occurred to the man that most of the kingdom was asleep.

At the moment, no one was there to speak with King Cobra, but instead of conversing with Igaram as he usually did at such times, he was intently reading a very old, thick book. It was one of the books of The Official History of Alabasta that was written in ten volumes. Every child of the royal family was required to study all ten of the thick volumes, and usually required to read them over once more a few years later.

Cobra had read all ten volumes five times. But this time, he was not reading them over again for requirements, or for pleasure. He was reading about a rebellion that had occurred five centuries ago, and its aftermath. King Horus, king during that rebellion, had managed to calm the people by giving in to their demands, and had worked so hard to please them after that that he had soon become a ruler very much loved by his subjects. Only two years or so after this, however, he had given up the crown in favor of his son, Prince Ihy. Ihy had ruled relatively well, but the people were discontent. Horus was still alive, they said, so why should Ihy be king? He was more strict that Horus, and did not relent to the wishes of his subjects as his father had. It had seemed at first as though such discontent would fade as time went by. The years had passed, Ihy married had a son, and Horus died. But the people's initial discontent had only increased as time went on, unnoticed by their monarch. Even King Ihy's captain had turned against him as time went by. When the uprising occurred, it was entirely unexpected on the part of the king. Ihy had been killed, and his wife took over as Queen Mother for their son, still a child at the time. The Queen Mother, originally a commoner, had known both the needs of the commoners and the needs of the country as a whole. This had enabled her to soon win over the people, and peace had returned to Alabasta.

After reading this over, he flipped to another part of the thick volume. He now read of Queen Nepthys. She had been a good queen, caring for her subjects deeply. She had been a strong monarch. Her problems had begun when she was required to marry to continue the royal line. Nepthys had married a commoner that she had believed had loved her. This commoner, however, had only been in love with her crown. After their marriage, he had ignored her for the most part, and took over the country's rule on his own. Despairing, Queen Nepthys had ended up having an affair with one of the major officials, and bore a son by him. The king realized this as the years went by, for the boy began to resemble his father more and more strongly as he grew. Furious, the king had slaughtered both the queen and the official, but reluctantly kept the son as the only heir to the throne.

King Cobra flipped to yet another part of the book. This part was the rule of Queen Nut and King Geb. Geb had been a prince when the two had first met, and Nut a slave girl. Over the years, the two grew close, and when he became king, the first thing that Geb had done was to abolish slavery, thereby granting Nut her freedom. The second thing had been to ask (or get on his knees and beg, as many accounts said) her to marry him, and she had readily agreed. The two had ruled kindly and justly, and while some were happy with their monarchs, many were not. Those who were discontent believed that it was an insult that they be ruled by a woman who was a former slave girl, let alone of foreign descent, and that had led to an uprising of the people. The monarchs had managed to convince the leaders of the discontented to hold a conference with them rather than start a battle, and they had reached an agreement that King Geb and Queen Nut would relinquish the throne in favor of their daughter Sekhmet with two advisors, both to be chosen by the rebels. However, Sekhmet had been young at the time, and was assassinated after only a few years. After that had come the rule of her sister, Nepthys.

Sighing, King Cobra flipped the pages of the book. There were so many that had ruled Alabasta, whether in this volume or the other nine… Queen Satis, the warrior queen with her peaceful husband King Khnum; the wise King Thoth and his just Queen Ma'at. Those said to be the greatest rulers of Alabasta were King Amun, called the King of Kings, and his wife Mut, called the Mother Queen. It had been the two of them together who had founded Alabasta. What made people respect them as much as they did, even centuries after their deaths, was the fact that they had never used a weapon. They had simply talked with people in each separate area of Alabasta, eventually gaining the entire island's loyalty. Thus they had unified the island and founded the kingdom of Alabasta.

Alabasta was a kingdom that had seen the passage of many ages. But King Cobra was now reading of past ages out of his fear for the next age. His age was ending, and he knew it. But now he was worrying about the next age: his daughter's age.

When Vivi had been younger, Cobra had never seen the need to worry about her time. Her determination and friendliness had won her a great many loyal friends among his subjects' children, and her love for her country and brightness had won over the affection and loyalty of all in the palace from Igaram, captain of the Royal army, to Pell, strongest warrior in the kingdom, to Terracotta, head of the palace's kitchen. Of course, in between those there were the soldiers, maids, guards and cooks that were drawn to the princess as well. So Cobra had never doubted that his daughter would do wonderfully when her age came along.

In fact, Vivi had even further proved her worthiness as queen a few years back when she had snuck out of the palace with Igaram to try and find the source of the trouble that had been spreading through Alabasta. She had returned safely, and struggled and prevailed against almost unbelievable odds to stop the rebellion that had been set up and save the kingdom—her people. Of course, there had been others involved: a group of pirates known as the Straw Hats. However, this was a fact unknown to all but the Marines and many in the palace of Alabasta.

Obviously, there was little to worry about for the age when she who was now Princess Vivi would be Queen Vivi. She had the complete love and devotion of her people, she was just and kind, and she had the love and respect of the Royal army and of all others employed in the palace.

So what had King Cobra to worry of? She was in an ideal position for one who would soon become the sole ruler of a kingdom.

But she would not be the sole ruler. She could not be. For her to be the sole ruler would mean that she would not marry. If she did not marry, the royal line would not continue. As Cobra knew from the ten volumes of the history of Alabasta and the many other books he had read on the histories of other countries, kingdoms had a tendency to collapse when a monarch with neither siblings nor any apparent cousins did not marry and had no heir. If it did not collapse, it at least entered a state of chaos. This could have been remedied if Cobra had had some siblings who had had children to carry on after Vivi. But Cobra had been an only child, as both of his parents had been. Vivi would need to marry, or risk utter chaos upon her death.

And so Cobra worried. There were simply too many examples in the history of Alabasta when a ruler who could have been wonderful on his or her own brought about some sort of disaster through marriage. There were those like Queen Nepthys, who fell to pieces through her personal relationship with the one whom she had married—more often than not because the one that she had married had simply married her out of the desire for the crown. Then there were those like King Geb, who married she whom he truly loved, only to have the people object. Marriage of one of the royal family was a very delicate issue. Cobra knew that Vivi knew that she must marry, and so did not mention his worry. He did, however, recognize that she might choose the wrong man.

It was now two years since the rebellion, and Alabasta, for the most part, had repaired the damage done to it through that horrible disaster. Even people who had once been rebels against him now trusted him devotedly, as though they had not suspected him to be a selfish, thieving monarch only a few years before.

However, this was yet another cause for worry. What if, like King Horus, he had placed too much of the peoples' faith in himself? Vivi was well loved as a princess, but the people had liked Ihy when he was a prince, too. What if not too long after she became queen, there was an uprising?

A page on another ruler caught his eye: Queen Bast. She had been average, and her rule saw significant decline for only a single fault. This fault was her reluctance to punish. If a person expressed any sort of repentance for a crime, she let the person go. This had resulted in an increase in the kingdom's crime rate, and a decline of the kingdom. King Cobra was happy to say that that was one thing that he had no worries about. When Vivi was younger, Igaram had expressed the concern that she was too kind and gentle to make brutal decisions. However, in the midst of the rebellion, Cobra had seen that Vivi had willingly hurt a number of people simply to save the people of her kingdom. He was entirely confident that she would do well where justice was concerned.

"Chaka," Cobra said abruptly, addressing Igaram's second in command. "Send someone to fetch me immediately if anyone comes to see me." And then he stood and strode out of the throne room.

He was heading for Vivi's room—he was going to have a conversation with her that he was sure he should have had long ago. He was going to speak to her about what sort of man she ought to choose for her husband. As he walked, Cobra ran over the list in his head.

He would have to be someone who was well respected by the people, or at least had great potential to be. He would have to be on quite good terms with Vivi on a personal basis, for they would be husband and wife, after all. He had to respect her opinion, and not be the type to take over the crown from her. He would have to be a good father, for would be raising a future king or queen. He would have to be polite and proper, so as to gain respect from the Council of Kings. He would have to be just and wise, and would have to love the Kingdom of Alabasta. He could not take mistresses, for while it was possible, having people running around claiming the right to the throne as a child of the king's mistress had caused many problems in the past. It was often pretense, so it was much easier to have a king that could honestly say that he had no mistress, so the whole concept was impossible.

Cobra smiled wryly. When he lined up the requirements like this, it sounded absolutely impossible to find such a perfect candidate. He knew of one who would do perfectly, but was not about to push the match at Vivi. After all, this young man had his faults as well.

As he walked down the passageway to his daughter's room, he could not help noticing that quite a large number of servants and palace guards seemed to be darting out of the way. Was there something special going on here that he didn't know about?

He reached Vivi's room and knocked, but there was no answer. Puzzled, Cobra opened the door a crack. "Vivi?" he tried calling. But there was no response. Opening the door all the way, he scanned the room. It was empty.

Puzzled at his daughter's absence from her room, he began to walk down the passageway back to the throne room when he heard laughter and voices.

"That's ridiculous!" Cobra's eyebrows shot up. That was Vivi's voice…but why was it coming from the courtyard? He looked out the side of the passageway that was set up like a balcony.

"I know. Will you marry me?" Cobra's eyebrows were even higher now. If he was not mistaken…that was Kohza's voice. But what was Kohza doing in Albana? And that proposal had sounded so unnaturally casual…

"Kohza, I told you—I'll think about it." Ah. That explains it. He's been proposing to her regularly. Then Cobra's eyes spotted Vivi sitting on the courtyard's grass with Kohza at her side. Resisting the urge to laugh, lest they discover him, he simply shook his head and chuckled silently. So this is what she's been doing while I spend my time sitting around in the throne room.

"Please, Vivi," Kohza pleaded, turning to face her fully. The laughter was gone from his voice—their conversation had taken a serious turn. "What's wrong with it?"

"Kohza, do you have any idea how many times this kingdom has been thrown into chaos because a ruler married the wrong person? A queen married a man that she thought was in love with her, but it turned out that he was only after her crown, and he eventually had her killed. A king married the love of his life, a slave, by abolishing slavery, and they both were good rulers, but the people didn't like being ruled by a former slave girl. There was even a queen who married a weak man because she wanted to be the one in charge! I don't want that. When I marry, I want it to be someone who is strong enough to be a good ruler, but at least respects me, and will let me do my share of the ruling, and listen to my opinions. I want it to be someone that can make my personal life happy, too—be a good husband and a good father. I don't want to be hasty and make the wrong decision, Kohza." Cobra gave a wide grin at his daughter's serious speech, and looked down at the book in his hands. He needn't have worried. Vivi was doing more than enough for the two of them. He should have known: a number of ambassadors had come from foreign kingdoms, proposing marriage and alliance, but Vivi had declined every single one. When he had asked her why, she had told him that she knew that such distant oversea alliances would not be very practical, and how was she supposed to know if she could rule well together with someone that she had never even seen before?

"Vivi, I can do that! I can be a good king, and you know I'd let you do your fair share of the ruling." Even from his place above them, Cobra could see that wry smile that slowly spread across Kohza's face. "I know better than anyone how much your punches hurt." Vivi laughed. "And you know I love you. I'm not just trying to get after the crown. I know that marrying you means much more than simply marriage. I'd be king, too. But I love this country, and I love you. I'd try my best to be a good king for the country, and a good husband for you. I'm sure I'll make mistakes along both roads, but I'll learn from them and correct them." Vivi reached up and tucked a stray strand of Kohza's hair behind his ear. He caught her hand and pulled her into a gentle, lingering kiss. Cobra could tell that it was not their first. Kohza had already proven himself a good and effective leader who inspired his people's loyalty during the rebellion, they had been good friends since their second encounter, they were both stubborn enough that neither could ever dominate the other, which was quite rare in any relationship, and they were stealing kisses on what appeared to be a regular basis, and yet Vivi was hesitating about marriage? Good grief! Vivi had been worrying more than enough for the two of them and the rest of the inhabitants of the palace!

Cobra assumed that they had to come up for air at some point, but after he waited for a while, the kiss only got more passionate, and they showed no sign of coming up for breath in the near future, he decided that he didn't really want to watch his daughter fight battle for dominance with a man with her tongue—it seemed quite irrelevant that said man was his future son-in-law and her future husband. Especially with the number of soldiers and servants that he could see standing all over the balconies, trying to be inconspicuous, failing, and going completely unnoticed by the couple in the courtyard (did they just hang around here to watch Vivi and Kohza everyday? He would definitely have to make sure that they got more work). So he called out.

"If you're that comfortable with him, Vivi, why not just marry him?" Cobra remarked loudly down at them. It had the desired effect. They sprang apart and looked up at him, startled.

"Father!" Vivi exclaimed, quite red with embarrassment. "How long have you been standing there?"

"About ten minutes, I think. I intended to wait for you to come up for air, but apparently the younger generations don't see the need to breathe when engaged in a battle of tongues, because you've been at it for…how long?" he addressed a soldier on the balcony opposite him. He seemed to be holding something, and King Cobra was quite sure he knew what it was.

"Six minutes and fifty-seven point eight two seconds, sire," the guard replied, and sure enough, he held up a stopwatch.

"Father, why did you bring all these people here?" Vivi asked, finally noticing the number of people that were no longer trying to be inconspicuous, and instead leaning out of the balconies to look at the couple and each other now that the king had blown their cover. Cobra was quite amused to note that Kohza, while not quite bright tomato red like Vivi, was blushing as well.

"Oh, I didn't bring them," Cobra remarked. He had to admit, he was thoroughly enjoying himself. "In fact, it seems that I was the last to find out that this was the daily time and place for entertainment. I was just coming to talk to you about finding someone suitable to marry, but it seems that you've already found one, so Kohza, you propose again, Vivi, you say yes, and then we can get around to planning the wedding." Vivi and Kohza exchanged a startled look at this.

"I take it that you approve, sire?" asked Kohza. Cobra was even further amused by the young man's sudden use of formality. He had never cared for it in the past. In fact, he could still clearly remember him as a young boy, first coming into the throne room to angrily and rudely accuse the king for his village's drought, and then shortly after getting into a violent fist fight with Vivi, and driving the throne room into chaos.

"If I didn't approve and I saw something like that, your head wouldn't be connected to your body anymore," Cobra said, his tone light. Vivi looked absolutely horrified. Kohza looked slightly unnerved.

"Papa!"

"What? I approve, so he's in no danger. Now come on, Kohza, propose. I take it you've done it quite a few times as of late. I'm sure that you can do it again."

Kohza cleared his throat and looked around at his large crowd of enthusiastic audience. Finally, his eyes lit up and he whispered something in Vivi's ear. Vivi whispered something back.

"All done," Kohza told him with a triumphant grin. Cobra noticed that the audience's heads had turned towards him, waiting in suspense for his reaction.

"Nope, I have to hear it. For all I know, you're just trying to trick me so that you can go your separate ways and Vivi can marry someone who won't make a good king. So say it loud enough that I know what you're actually saying." Now Cobra wore the triumphant grin, and Vivi looked horrified. She buried her face in her hands and he heard something that sounded strangely like a choked out "papa". Cobra shrugged. She had been meeting him in secret, so she would be the one to pay the price. And Kohza too, of course.

The audience was leaning over the railings, anticipating the proposal. Kohza sighed in resignation.

"Vivi, will you marry me?" he asked blandly.

"Yes," she replied, just as blandly.

And then they looked up at him, seeking his approval. There were collective groans of disappointment from the audience. I think I'll go with the audience here, Cobra decided. Yes, even with the prospect of handing over his daughter to another man, protective though he was, Cobra was having fun. Besides, what better man could there be for her to marry than Kohza?

"Nope," he said with a grin. The audience cheered. Vivi buried her face in her hands again. Kohza restrained himself from burying his face in his hands, but he looked as though he sincerely would have loved to.

"What do you want us to do, Papa?" Vivi called up, embarrassed and blushing. You shouldn't have asked, dear daughter, Cobra thought, now even more triumphant.

"Well, just his heartfelt proposal and your consent would have done a moment ago," he told them cheerfully, "but now that you ask, maybe that isn't enough. Kohza, you need to make a heartfelt declaration of love and a heartfelt proposal, and Vivi, you'll need to make your heartfelt declaration of love with your heartfelt acceptance." His daughter and future son-in-law looked horrified.

"You want us to do that in front of half the palace?" Vivi demanded incredulously. Cobra looked down at the two of them for a moment.

"Now that you mention it, that does seem a bit unfair, doesn't it?" he said thoughtfully. He beckoned to a guard a little way down the hallway. The guard approached him nervously. Cobra leaned in and whispered into the guard's ear. "Listen, I want Igaram, Chaka, and Pell all here in the next two minutes. If you see any servants or guards who aren't doing anything particularly important along the way, give them directions to this show." He hesitated for a moment, but then changed his mind. "Wait. Make that five minutes, and take the rout with the most people doing nothing important that you can think of." The guard looked at his king, incredulous, but saluted and ran off.

As they waited, Vivi and Kohza began to feel quite uncomfortable. Was it only their nerves, or did the audience seem to be increasing?

When Igaram, Chaka, and Pell all arrived, bewildered and following the giddy guard.

"I've managed to get over fifty more people here," the guard happily informed the king. Cobra patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you. That was very helpful," he told the guard, just as happily. Unfortunately, this conversation reached Kohza and Vivi's ears.

"You what?" Kohza shouted up at the guard incredulously. The guard looked down and shrugged.

"King's orders," the guard told him.

"Papa…" Vivi sounded rather faint.

"What? You agreed that only half the palace watching was unfair." Vivi was looking rather green. Kohza put an arm around her waist, giving it an affectionate squeeze—the sort that one gives his lover just before they go to meet their doom. "Oh, come on, you've been doing it for how many days now?" Cobra looked among the rapidly multiplying servants and guards for an answer.

"Two weeks and three days," a maidservant said.

"There you go," Cobra told them. "Vivi, if you'd said yes two weeks and three days ago, then you might have had only one or two people in audience—maybe even none."

"So what are we watching?" asked Igaram as he, Chaka, and Pell learned over the edge, surveying the peculiar scene with interest. Instantly, there was an uproar as everyone tried to explain at once.

"Silence!" roared Cobra. And there was silence. He turned to Igaram. "Vivi and Kohza have been meeting in secret for two weeks and three days—always here at the same time of day. They acquired quite an audience. Vivi has been refusing Kohza's repeated proposals because she's too worried about the country for her own good. To tell the truth, I wouldn't have interrupted, but once they started a tongue battle and didn't seem to find it necessary to breathe at all. So, now we're going to watch a heartfelt proposal."

"You mean we'll be able to hear it from up here?" asked Pell, looking down incredulously. Cobra shrugged.

"I could hear fine when they were unaware of their audience. But if we can't hear them, they'll have to do it again. Right?" he called down pleasantly. Kohza had given up looking dignified, and was burying his face in Vivi's hair. Neither of them moved. "Might as well get on with it," Cobra suggested. "But if you feel like waiting, I think there're still about one or two hundred more people that I could call. Or we could just bring in a microphone, and set up the national speakers." This brought the couple's heads snapping up.

"No!" they shouted up at the king, amidst the giggles that broke out among the audience.

"Get on with it, then!" Cobra called down impatiently. He was pleased to note that Igaram, Chaka, and Pell were all enjoying themselves. They were leaning over the balcony with their arms resting on the top of the low wall. Chaka's smile was slightly sympathetic, but Igaram was shaking his head in amusement, and Pell was not even bothering to conceal his laughter.

Kohza and Vivi resigned themselves to the fate that would get worse if they did not carry it out. Vivi gave Kohza a sympathetic hug, and Kohza gave Vivi an encouraging kiss on the top of her head. Then they stepped away from one another. Kohza looked up at King Cobra and Igaram, Chaka and Pell standing beside him. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and nervously descended to one knee.

"Princess Vivi," he began formally, "we've been friends for years. I know our first encounter wasn't all that encouraging"-Kohza found himself giving a small, nervous grin, and heard a number of voices chuckling and giggling at that-"but over the years, I have come to know and admire you very much. I've never seen you as anything less than an equal, and as I learn more about you, I cannot help but admire and love you all the more—the lengths to which you're willing to go for your country, the things you're willing to give up, the love you display to all around you, you're unwavering determination and stubbornness… Even the way that you tend to worry ten times more than you should. I love everything about you, Vivi. I would be honored, and could not possibly be happier if you would accept my hand in marriage. I know that that means taking both the responsibilities as your husband and as king of Alabasta, and I know that it might be hard. But I love this country, and I love you, and I will do the best I can in both parts." He took a deep breath. There. He had spilled his heart out in front of an audience of something hundred. Now, if Vivi would only accept…

"I love you, Kohza. The way that you put your life on the line for those that you care about, the way that you can be so determined and stubborn that we argue on and on until someone brings in a change of topic or drags us apart, the way that I can never seem to win a fist fight against you, the way that you fight for what you believe in, no matter who or what tells you to stop… I know that you made a wonderful leader for the rebels in the rebellion—maybe years from now, history books will say that the rebels still didn't trust the royal family, and that we married as a treaty between the Nefertari family and the rebels. But I know that you'll make a good king, and that you're all I ever wanted in a husband, and I love you—and in reality, that's why I'll marry you. I know that you'll let me do my share of the ruling, but if you don't like something, you'll fight about it. And I'll fight right back. I think we'll make a good pair: both politically and personally." Vivi gave Kohza a hesitant smile. She wasn't really the type to spill out her emotions like that, but perhaps it would be worth it…

"Really?" her new fiancé breathed. Vivi grinned and nodded. Kohza leapt up with a laugh, grasped her around the waist, and spun her around. Vivi laughed with delight, and even as he spun her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him to her in a kiss. She felt him slow and set her down, but did not break the kiss for a few moments.

Then she suddenly remembered where they were. Their arms still around each other, they looked up at the king, pleading with their eyes for his consent. All the laughter went silent as everyone awaited the king's verdict.

Cobra was silent for a few moments, deliberately building the suspense. "Very well," he said finally. "That will do." Vivi and Kohza breathed a unified sigh of relief, resting their heads on each other's shoulders. They obviously thought that their utter humiliation was ended.

Oh, how wrong they were.

"I hope that there's a scribe in this ridiculously large audience!" King Cobra called loudly. Vivi and Kohza looked up in surprise. The entire courtyard went silent. Then one man stepped forward on the second floor.

"I am, sire," he said.

"And I," said another man on the first floor.

"Has either of you recorded the events that just transpired?" he asked. The two men mutely shook their heads. Just when Vivi and Kohza thought that they would be lucky for once that day, another man spoke up. He was scribbling something as he spoke.

"I have, sire. Everything." He sounded very confident as he looked up.

"Good. Go and record it in the official records." The man nodded, scribbling once again.

"Could you just tell me what you were thinking, sire?" he asked. "Throughout this whole event? I think it would be best told through your eyes, king as you are."

"Very well," Cobra agreed. "I shall meet with you later today to discuss that." The scribe nodded, again scribbling furiously.

And so it was that the proposal of Kohza and Princess Vivi literally went down in history.

An interesting note to the reader of this book, The Official History of Alabasta: Volume XI: as you will read in the next chapter, King Kohza and Queen Vivi reigned during the Great Golden Age of Alabasta, and are said to be two of the greatest rulers of Alabasta, even rivaling the King of Kings and the Mother Queen. While in many cases, such great kings and queens are succeeded by not-so-great children, King Kohza and Queen Vivi's four children all grew up to be wise, intelligent, and clever. However, while there is this extremely detailed record of their proposal, almost nothing is known of their personal life after that. It is a fact that many find quite amusing, however, that after their rather humiliating but romantic and humorous engagement, it was nearly impossible to find them at unexpected times. The only cases in which they could be found in a certain place at a certain time were supper and the throne room. It is said that they even relocated their bedchambers every night, although some scoff and say that that is merely a myth.

Author's Note: I actually had quite a bit of fun writing this, if you couldn't tell. I know that the first story was kind of sad, so I decided to make this one more fun. I'm trying to do something different with each story—the first story was told by Gol D. Roger, this one, you find out in the end, turned out to be from the official records… So, what did you people think of it?

A huge huge thank you to Captain-Hina's-Love-Slave and Nehszriah for their reviews! Thanks, both of you!