Chapter 7: Sad Farewells and a New Goal

The last chapter of Alvida's Adventure. I'm so grateful to all those who have read my work, and especially grateful to XXxxDemonsRampantxxXX who got me started on fanfiction. This story has been my way of testing the waters of fanfiction. Please continue to read my future works, and please comment so I may use your advice to become a better writer. Until next time. ^^

The sun shown down on the white sands of the beach as the glorious sounds of the sea sounded in the background. Alvida laid tanning on the beach, her eyes closed as a smile of peaceful serenity played over her recently changed face. It had been three days since she had changed into her latest form. When she got back into the village, the first thing she did was to walk over the village spring, and look at her reflection. She stared at the slender, smoothed skin woman who gazed back at her, and smiled. She was just as beautiful as she had ever been. The only visible difference that she could see was that she no longer had freckles.

Unfortunately, the rest of the villagers didn't see it that way. They all apologized profusely, but said that since she no longer bore a resemblance to the giantess, she could no longer bear the title of most beautiful woman in all the land.

'Who knew freckles were such a big deal?' she had thought to herself. Fortunately, because of her actions, which showed that her inner beauty was nothing like that of the kind giantess's, Onaku could not become the most beautiful woman in all the land either. She was instead was named by a new title, most foul hearted in all the land. She, Fubito, who had been deposed as chief of the Gokibaka tribe, and all the other Gokibaka tribe members who had helped in the foul scheme had been sentenced to toil day and night as servants to the new Gokibaka chief, the great, wise, and talented golden cake baker Kinobaba. They were forced to work the garden, clean the village, chop wood, clean all of the dishes and implements that the new chief used in her baking, and do anything else that the new chief felt they should do until they had repented for their crime, which was estimated to take a very long time.

A shadow fell over Alvida's slender figure. Since the clothes she had word previously no longer fit her, the villagers had made her new clothes consisting of a white bikini top, pink and red stripped ankle-length pants, a long flowing purple coat, and a blue blouse, which was currently tied around her waist. She lifted one finger to push her hat, the only thing she had kept, to see what had blocked her sun.

"Alvida-sama," said Haryuu as he loomed over her. "The preparations are complete. Everything is ready." he said bowing deeply. He extended his hand to help her off the ground. Alvida put her arm into the air, and stretched before reaching down to pick up her great iron club.

Alvida and Haryuu walked down the length of the beach in silence. "So, are you sure you want to leave?" asked Haryuu with a slight crease in his brow.

"Yep." said Alvida simply.

"The offer for you to stay and be a member of the Bihoshi tribe still stands. The entire village has been requesting it."

"Nah, it's been fun, but I have other places to be. Being on your island helped me realize something. I now have a new goal, and no one is going to stop me." she said smiling. As they rounded a bend in the beach, they could see both of the assembled tribes waiting for them. Floating in the ocean next to the tribes was a large pink, heart shaped ship, decorated to be a picture of elegance on the sea.

As they walked up to the villagers, the Bihoshi male who had first greeted Alvida on the island walked up and bowed. "Everything is prepared. The very best rations our village could provide has been stocked upon this ship which both villages have worked together to create as a tribute to your beauty." he said, not adding that it was a tribute to her former beauty.

Alvida smiled. "Thank you very much." Some crying children ran from the crowd and grabbed onto Alvida's legs.

"Don't go Alvida-sama! Don't go!" they cried. This cry was soon taken up by all the surrounding villagers, and soon everyone was begging her not to leave. She bent down to the crying children, and rubbed their back.

"Don't worry. I may one day return. After all, it would be a shame if I never got to see the finished statue of me they're making in town." she said smiling, referring to a statue of her old self that had been commissioned in the village right next to a statue of the giantess and a statue of the last winner of the contest of strength.

The children wiped their teary eyes as they let go of Alvida. "Good kids." she said to them as she rose, and began walking towards the ship once more. As she neared the Gokibaka side, Chief Kinobaba stepped out.

"Well, it's sad to see you go, but you gotta do what you gotta do." she said smiling a warm smile. She grabbed a surprised Alvida in a warm hug. "I loaded some of my special golden cakes onto the ship, and I made sure no of those morons so much as laid a finger on them." she whispered quietly into Alvida's ear.

Alvida smiled once more. "Thank you very much." she whispered back. They embraced a few more moments before pulling apart. Alvida walked toward Haryuu who was waiting at the plank leading up to her new ship. Haryuu grasped her hand gently and kissed it.

"For the record, you will always be the most beautiful woman in all the land, nay, the world to me." he said quietly.

"Thank you." she said as she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Haryuu bowed once more before Alvida walked up the plank onto the ship. She quickly and expertly set the sails to catch the wind. As the ship began to make its way away from the island, shouts of "Good-bye!", "Come back soon!", and "Alvida-sama!" rose from the island. Alvida stayed and waved to the island until it was completely out of sight. She continued to stand at the back of the ship for a time until finally turning away. She went into her new ship's pantry and looked around. The villagers had stocked it extremely well. She grabbed a bottle of Bihoshi fruit juice and a piece of one of the Gokibaka golden cakes, and went outside to a small table set on deck. She set down the saucer with the cake, poured a tall glass of the juice, and sat facing towards the sunset in front of the ship.

As she sat there swirling her juice in the glass, images played through her mind. She saw all the past events that had happened on the island, and then saw the events that had led to the island. She saw the straw hat pirate in front of her. She saw him as he beat up her entire crew. Then she saw him as he wound back and threw the blow that had sent her flying. She placed her hand to her stomach, and felt where the blow had landed.

'Yes, that's my new goal.' she thought to herself as she stared onwards. 'I discovered something while I was on that island. I was surrounded by the most beautiful men ever to be seen, but you were the only man who ever left such a great impression on me. You, the only man ever to strike me. None of those men could ever hope to compare to your strength. I could have had any of them, but you were the only one I truly wanted. Mark my words straw hat,' she thought smiling. 'I will make you mine.' And with that, she took a long drink from her cup as she sailed into the distance towards her new goal.