Happy Island was very different than it normally was. It had been that way for several days. The aura was altered in a terrible way, even though the residents chatted and smiled as they always had. People were obviously worried about something. They were worried about something grave.
Happy Island was once an isolated place. Nobody really cared about it—it wasn't known for anything. It didn't even have its name until a certain fourteen year old girl ate a Devil Fruit and went around changing everything. They were all so happy to have her there with them all the time. They all cared for her so much. So, when they saw her cry for the first time in almost a decade, it shattered the ideal veneer they had all been living under. And the shards that fell remained stuck in their hearts.
They learned what had happened. One of the men from Captain Shinkotu's crew had escaped during the brawl to get to Hisoka. He took one of the small row boats from their ship and fled back to where he came from, where he informed these pirates, much stronger than his own crew, of the power that Hisoka had. And so they came. They came to take her, to look at her, to defeat her, and to keep her if they couldn't. And they didn't care that in the process they were going to destroy the village. The villagers didn't stand a chance against them, it was obvious. Captain Shinkotu's crew was knocked out from alcohol intake. So, everything went by in a blur. They were left to fend for themselves. The villagers would protect their saint, no matter what, though. Yet, when knives were pressed against their throats, they panicked and tried to buy time. They told them the location of Hisoka's home, and they raided it. She wasn't in there, though. She was in her house. But they didn't know that, and nobody would tell them. So when Hisoka came running, and saw her treasure in ruins, they laughed. And Hisoka changed. And she was hurt.
Suki had informed the village that Hisoka was in need of some alone time for a while. And that alone time had already lasted several days. Hisoka remained in Suki's secluded home, which was surrounded by her herb gardens. It was hard on Hisoka, the sudden change. A change in her world would have been different. But a sudden change in her personality? It made Hisoka feel fake sometimes. Like she had been given a new body to live in and she still wasn't used to all the parts.
Hisoka had grown accustomed to her routine over the past couple of days, though. She would wake up early every morning and go out and pick herbs. Then she would clean the produce that Suki brought home. Then she would help clean the house and the lawn. Then she was left to be by herself until dinner time. After which, she would once again be left alone until she decided to go to bed. It was a calm, relaxing, and slightly boring schedule, but a necessary one.
It had been an hour since Hisoka had finished weeding the garden and raking the lawn of the petals from nearby blossoming trees. Now all she could do—all she had the will to do—was sit there on the porch and just stare. She had a few bandages on her face, hands, and feet. Her left shoulder and elbow were wrapped, along with her right knee. She had never fought anyone before. Maybe she was overreacting, but her injuries freaked her out. Part of her thought that if she covered them up, she could just ignore them, forget about them. But it wasn't that easy. Nothing was ever easy anymore. Hisoka had never realized how much she hated change.
She had cried and sobbed and broken down in front of everyone that counted on her. That ruined everything she had worked so hard to build up—she ruined it all. She burnt down her own safety net. She knew they all relied on her, she knew she had let them all down, and she hated herself for it. But, crying over such a horrific loss was expected, right? They all knew how much her home meant to her. They all knew. Maybe that made what she did a little bit more forgivable. Yet, now she was here, hiding away from her fears. Was she always this avoidant? It was hard for her to remember. She needed time to think. She desperately, desperately needed it. But what was she supposed to think about? No matter how clueless she was, she knew that if she returned to those she held close right now, she wouldn't be able to smile properly. This island relied on a proper smile.
Hisoka let out a loud sigh and let her forehead rest on her knees. Whenever she felt this way in the past, she always had her treasure to go home to. It was her secure place. Now what would she do to feel safe? Now where would she go? It was silly, Hisoka knew, but she felt as though when her home was knocked down, all of her happy memories ran away. She shouldn't have needed material objects to remember her mother and father, but she wanted them badly. She wanted to feel them. She wanted to hold them. She wanted to smell them. She wanted to touch them. She wanted to see them. She wanted them back. She wanted everything back. She was being so selfish. She felt so materialistic. Hisoka had always turned to that home for happiness, though. Always. It never let her down. But, now Hisoka couldn't remember anything. She couldn't remember the way the home smelled—her mother's perfume and her father's cooking. She couldn't remember the way her parents' voices sounded. She couldn't remember the feeling of the fabric on the couches. She was forgetting it all. She was forgetting everything.
And the clothing. All of the clothes she had ever made were in that house. All of it. Her fabric, her needles, her thread, her buttons, her zippers…. How would she ever replace them all? She missed them. She missed everything that was gone. Hisoka stared at the step where her feet rested. She didn't cry. "Oh, Mama," she whispered. "Where do I raise my family now? They will never be as happy as they would have been…."
Hisoka jerked her head up, gasping when she heard someone sit down next to her on the steps. It couldn't have been Mama Suki. She always spent a long, long time preparing dinner. She managed to look long enough to realize it was Luffy before he dropped something on her head and it covered her eyes. "H-Huh?" she muttered, reaching up slowly and removing it. She pushed herself back from him, suddenly shy. Yet, she forgot her shyness, for she recognized the feeling of the fabric immediately. She brought it into her lap, only to gasp again and have her eyes fill with tears. Her lips quivered. She could hear her heart throbbing. Her trembling hands clutched the clothing to her chest. The light pink onesie with long sleeves, meant for an infant. The light green sun dress with light blue flowers on the hem and three light blue buttons, meant for a preschooler. The gray wool footsie pajamas with an attached hood and a light pink cotton heart sewn onto the left breast, meant for a toddler. Hisoka remembered making all of them. She remembered it perfectly.
"Those were the only ones I could find," Luffy explained.
Hisoka lifted her head, not really caring that there were tears in her eyes as she smiled at him. "T-Thank you so much!" she exclaimed wholeheartedly. She turned back and covered her face with the clothes, biting down on her lip to keep in her sobs. Luffy watched her silent struggle with an interested expression on his face, which consisted of a slightly smug grin. Her smile was similar to the one he saw when she was talking about her home. But it still wasn't the same. So, the two sat in silence for a while, until Hisoka finally revealed her face again. She slowly folded the three garments neatly, placing them in her lap. She was obviously happier than she was earlier. She was obviously in love with what Luffy had given her.
"It took me this long to get someone to give me directions on how to find this lady's house, you know? Everyone here seems to have a problem with me," Luffy whined. "I don't know why. I didn't do anything. They just have attitude problems."
Hisoka had trouble bringing herself to laugh softly and keep her lips twitched slightly upwards. "Don't let it get to you. They are just taking out misplaced anger on you, I'm sure."
"Yeah," Luffy said, "Attitude problems." Hisoka didn't give him a response. She just went back to staring down at the clothing in her lap. After a few minutes of silence, Hisoka was back to her lip-quivering expression.
"Thank you, so very much. Really, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Luffy. Thank you. Thank you." She wasn't sure why she was crying around him. She could no longer honestly tell herself that he was going to be a temporary person in her world. She just didn't know any more. Hisoka covered her mouth with her free hand, bowing her head lower and squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to hold in her emotional tears. She forgot what it was like to cry from happiness. She had forgotten what it was like to cry at all. It was so different.
"Not a problem!" Luffy snickered, crossing his legs Indian-style and resting his palms on his knees. Luffy waited until Hisoka had calmed down again to speak in a curious voice. "Do you have split personalities?"
"W-What?" Hisoka asked, taken aback. It was a weird question. Maybe she had misheard.
"Or, uh," Luffy paused, scratching his head as he forced himself to remember, which took thinking, which was difficult. He finally perked up again, smiling as he completed the sentence, "Bipolar disorder?"
Hisoka stared at his smiling face, her head cocked to the side, her mouth hanging open only slightly. "Split personalities? Bipolar disorder?"
"Yes, parrot," Luffy said with the same grinning expression.
"Um," Hisoka mumbled. She wasn't sure how to approach him. She was never really sure how to approach him. He was odd. "No, I don't." Did she apologize? Was this expected of her for some reason? Hisoka considered the boy's personality for a minute before deciding on a response she was comfortable with. "Why are you asking? Where did you get that idea in your head?"
"Oh, Nami and Usopp came up with them, and I wanted to see if they were right," he said plainly. Hisoka continued to silently stare at him. "What?" he asked her cheerfully.
"Continue on with your explanation," she requested. A silent response and an expectant stare from her were generally meant to carry that message. Was it really a confusing habit of hers? Most everyone she knew understood.
"Why?" Luffy squawked. "I answered your questions." Oddly enough, the boy sitting next to her wasn't pressing Hisoka's patience at all. She was very tolerant of him, as if she dealt with frank and simple-minded people all the time, which she didn't.
She asked normally, "What were you discussing that lead Usopp-san and Nami-san to come to those conclusions about me?"
"The way you beat up those guys," Luffy informed. Hisoka's shoulders twitched before tensing. She turned her head away from him, looking back at her lap. She wished her hair was bigger. She wished it would hide her face.
"Well, no, then," Hisoka said before swallowing, "I didn't do what I did because of a disorder of any kind."
"Well, then, why did you? It was so unexpected and cool!" Hisoka realized that Luffy probably expected her to say everything that was on her mind because that was how he dealt with things. She could understand it.
Hisoka bit down on her lip, not giving Luffy any sign that she had even heard him. This should have been easier. She had imagined herself explaining it to someone over and over again during her time alone, but now she suddenly felt like a newborn and these were to be her first words. Hisoka hadn't forgotten that things were no longer easy for her, but that didn't stop her from wishing they could be. Hisoka's entire body tensed as she forced her words out. She felt like she was pulling each one, one-by-one, kicking and screaming from her mind into the real word. It was a painful process. "M-Mama Suki is a…brilliant scientist. When she saw me on that night…she gave me a special serum…that ch-changed me a little bit. They made me…enjoy things that I…normally don't."
"Oh? How so? Does it make you enjoy stuttering?"
Hisoka suddenly felt her patience grow weary as annoyance seeped through its barrier. This was hard for her. She couldn't help but think that he was being cruel, saying such things in a sincere voice while he smiled at her. He was a very contradictory boy. "No," she said with a slight grumble, forcing herself to widen her smile. She reached up and ran a hand through her hair, tugging it to shield her expression from him further. It was even harder to get all of the words out when she was forcing herself not to stutter or hesitate. "Let's just say that they…" Hisoka bit her tongue to force out the rest of her explanation quickly—possibly a bit too quickly. "Gave me the attributes necessary to fight for my treasure."
"Oh, cool," Luffy said. He didn't comment on the way she wouldn't look at him. He didn't comment on the way her voice sounded so strained.
"…If I stay here… Isn't it true that more people will come, just like those men?" Hisoka asked in a faint voice. She honestly only wanted him to tell her that she was wrong, that nobody else would come and she would never be forced to face these new parts of her.
But Luffy didn't really care, or know, what Hisoka wanted. He just answered honestly. "Well, yeah, of course. A bunch of them, probably." He thought it was pretty obvious. Even if Hisoka did have insight into the hearts of the people on this island, to him it seemed like she lacked a lot of common sense. Hisoka's only response was complete silence. Her heart and soul and the logical part of her brain all engaged in a battle, and everything inside of her was flipped around until a mess was made. A mess of everything.
"Are you going to leave soon?" she inquired. She was happy that he couldn't see her face. There was no way she could smile at him with how she was feeling right now. If she decided to say her next words, she didn't want to realize what she would be confessing. She was willingly leaving everything she loved and everything she knew. She wasn't going to be comfortable anywhere other than this island. She wouldn't know what to do out there. But, she had already admitted to herself that she would never be able to find a secure place here on Happy Island. If she just stayed here, it would be like that forever. She'd be like this forever.
"Maybe," Luffy said. "I'll think about it tomorrow."
Hisoka let her head rest on her knees once again. She had to raise her voice to make sure Luffy could hear her clearly. She really didn't want to hear another comment about stuttering or parrots. "What are you going to do once you leave?"
"I'm going to go to the Grand Line, of course! And I'll find a chef and a musician. Because every pirate crew needs those, right?" Hisoka didn't answer him, once again. She wasn't that fun to talk to when she was like this. Mostly because she didn't really talk at all.
The words that Hisoka said next felt similar to her agreeing to her own death sentence. "You know how I said that as long as my home stood, I could never join you on your adventures?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember that," Luffy said in a care-free voice.
Her voice wavered. "So, can I come with you?" Hisoka knew that she probably should have elaborated more. She was probably going to need to explain things further. She probably shouldn't have expected Luffy to just understand her. There weren't many times that he did throughout the short while that she had known him. But, Hisoka didn't know if she would be able to. She was afraid that if she was to say what she really meant flat out, she would turn her back on the idea and go hide under her bed and tell Luffy to never speak to her again.
But Hisoka's meaning reached Luffy. He finally got her. "Well, of course. You're my nakama, and my seamstress, you kind of have to." And with those words, more changes were made in Hisoka's life. The role that Luffy and the rest of the visiting pirate crew, that joked and didn't really get along with anybody, played in her life changed. They went from temporary people, to permanent people. And everything that she had ever said to them was going to be with her forever. But Hisoka didn't really care, for some reason. She felt free. She felt like she was running away and escaping everything that worried her but doing something good for all those people she called her cherished ones at the same time.
Luffy couldn't notice all of those changes. It wasn't possible. But he did notice one big change that made him feel a little bit happier. Hisoka was looking at him again, and she was smiling widely, and it didn't look like she was having as much trouble doing so. And when Hisoka spoke to him, her voice wasn't strained at all. She sounded happy. She sounded excited. And when she laughed, her laughter sounded honest and heartfelt. She looked back at her lap, but looked right back up at him again, holding the clothes in her hands tightly.
"Do you know why I made these?" she asked cheerfully, her eyes shining with animated enthusiasm.
"No. …Why?" he asked. Hisoka's smile widened into a grin as she indulged in the explanation of the things that she loved doing. And Luffy listened. Of course he didn't understand half of it, and of course she had to go back and put things in simpler terms frequently, but once again, Hisoka didn't mind. Because she was smiling. She didn't feel so vulnerable. Sure, there were still thousands of unanswered questions in her head, but she could ignore them for now. Although, there was one that was sticking out more than the rest.
How could a boy with a goofy grin and a straw hat change so many things with just one sentence? And, of course, that was followed by other questions that branched off of that one. How did he ever manage to give a new meaning to the word 'change'? A meaning that Hisoka didn't hate? Hisoka didn't care if she never got an answer to those questions, though. She knew she would be happy no matter what the answer was. Because now she was a pirate. And she didn't really understand what that meant, but she was happy about it.
Hisoka faced everything that she didn't really want to see the next day, by leaving her hiding place and venturing back into the center of Happy Island. Everyone was so delighted to see her. She was so proud that she was able to smile back at them when they ran up to her and hugged her and screamed of their joy. They told her how much they missed her, how sorry they were. They promised to rebuild her home; they would make an exact replica. They presented her with brand new sewing materials, everything she had lost and missed. Fabric, buttons, ribbons, zippers, lace, needles, and spools of thread in every color of the rainbow. Those things brought tears of happiness to her eyes as she hugged everyone back. She had missed them. She would miss them. She couldn't deny it. But she was also unable to break the news of her decision to them just yet. Hisoka wasn't that strong. So she didn't say anything, and for a little while just pretended that she would be there forever.
Luffy sat with his crew, minus Hisoka, and chatted away with them about the random things he always talked about. He was hungry, he was bored, he was tired, and he wanted to go to the Grand Line already. And while practically everyone in the village surrounded Hisoka, creating an air of pure rejoice that filled the entire island, Suki slowly approached the group of pirates. She stood next to them, her eyes lingering on Hisoka's face when Misoa approached her with a baby Sakura, who was squealing with glee when she saw her godmother. Hisoka accepted the child into her arms without hesitation, without faltering, without a bit of fear or worry. She looked honestly happy. It touched the woman's heart.
Suki turned and addressed the pirates that were gathered next to her. "Hisoka will probably be joining you on your adventures."
Nobody could get in a word before Luffy interjected, "Of course she is. I have to repeat myself a lot around here." Suki gave him the same response of silence that Hisoka had given him so often. She looked at him with a wise expression before smiling softly. She stole a long glance at the happy crowd before sighing and looking back to the group beside her.
"Be patient with her," Suki said. It didn't sound like she was giving them advice. It was like she was demanding it. "I made her life difficult. If you ever see her and think that she is crazy, know that she is feeling extremely unsure about her standing in this world."
"What?" Luffy asked after a second of just staring at the woman with a completely confused expression.
"Don't question me," Suki said, her voice taking on a stern edge, suddenly feeling a bit of hostility for the people that would be taking away the saint. "Just remember that! Can you do that?"
"Yes, we can," Nami answered, glaring at Luffy when he tried to respond. He quickly forgot about Suki and looked at Nami, questioning her as to why she was looking at him like that. Nami rolled her eyes and ignored her captain, looking back up at Suki's expectant expression. "I'll make sure he remembers," she confirmed. The older woman nodded, turning and facing away from the group once again.
"She doesn't know a lot," Suki said, still eyeing crowd around the brunette. "She's never ventured off of this island. Keep her on the boat and out of the sea, okay?" Suki didn't even wait for a response. She just walked away from the group and returned back to her home, where she sat and prepared dinner for one.
She had to admit, it was different when Hisoka wasn't around. Suki considered herself to be as much as a mother to that girl as Hinari was—if not more of a mother—if not her real mother. So, it wasn't as fun preparing a dinner for one. Suki was sure Hisoka knew that. That was probably why she wanted such a big family. She would never get lonely.
Suki was going to miss her daughter. But, she knew that she would always have memories of bringing that perfect angel into this world. She would just have to get used to not having her around. Everyone would. If Hisoka had learned how to live without her parents there to make her happy, then they could all go through the pain of learning how to live without their saint.
It was three days after Hisoka had rejoined the village that she loved so much. Three days after Hisoka had made Eri give back the treasure she had stolen from Nami. It was two days after she had told them all of her decision. Some cried and shouted, others blamed Luffy and his crew, but sooner or later they all came around to the idea. They didn't have any other choice. Hisoka just wasn't changing her mind. Hisoka was so lucky that she was so strong. Otherwise, she knew that she would have been in tears when the children of the village ran up to her on the day of her departure and clung to the skirt of her dress, screaming and crying into it. Hisoka only had three bags that she was bringing with her. They were filled mostly with materials to make clothing and the clothes that she had already made. Suki had given her a letter, but she had made Hisoka promise not to read it until she was on the boat and departed from the shore.
"I love you guys, you all know that. You're all so strong; you'll be fine without me. I know it," Hisoka said softly, running her fingers through the hair of the children surrounding her, trying to hug them all back at once. They threw different scenarios at her. What if they lost their favorite toy? What if they fell down a hill? What if someone called them a mean name? What if they were crying?
"You all have amazing parents," she reminded them. "They will be able to make your tears go away in ways that I never could. And it's not like I'm going away forever. I'll be back." They all shook their heads and sobbed some more. "How about this, then? Why don't you all write down all of the problems you have in a little book and when I come back I will go over each and every one with all of you. Okay? That's a promise."
The children sniffled, still sobbing and screaming as their parents were forced to come and take their children away from Hisoka. Even as they did so, they looked regretful. There was still such a wonderfully kind smile on her face, even as she was saying her goodbyes. Nobody knew how much her heart was hurting. She felt like it was pulling itself out and trying to escape her chest to stay on this island with everyone it had grown up with. Misoa approached Hisoka, patting her face with a handkerchief as she sobbed softly. She put Sakura into her arms, backing away slightly.
"I—I was hoping she could grow up with you here for her," Misoa said through her sobs. "You're her godmother, you know."
Hisoka gazed at her lovingly before looking down at the child in her arms. Sakura knew that her mother was crying. She knew that something was going on. Her expression told Hisoka that, the way she looked up at her and reached for Hisoka's face with her tiny hands and a desperate look on her face. Hisoka pulled her closer, allowing her to dig her tiny fingers into her cheeks and tug at her skin. For the first time during this ceremony, tears loomed in Hisoka's eyes. She gave the child a wider smile, laughing out softly. "It'll be okay. You'll be okay. Don't worry, don't worry. I'll come back. Really, I will. How could I ignore such a precious face?" Hisoka just gazed down at the child, who suddenly broke into sobs. Misoa came and fetched her infant from Hisoka's grasp.
Hisoka looked at the mother and child pairing, her smile still visible. "You're an amazing mother, Misoa. She'll be fine without me."
"Don't say that!" Misoa begged, crying openly with the child as she patted her baby girl on the back. "I'm going to miss you so much!"
"And I'll miss you, too. I'll miss everyone. But you'll all be fine." Throughout the entire ordeal, her posture was perfect and her presence was elegant. Hisoka dealt with a few more goodbyes before approaching Captain Shinkotu, who was standing strong with all of his men. They would depart from the island in a few days.
She placed her hand on the captain's chest before looking up at him. "Are you ready for that favor I asked of you?" The man nodded. He looked so confident. So strong. So brave. So happy. Hisoka was overjoyed that she could help him reach the point where he could hold such an expression sincerely. "Once you leave this island, I need you to spread a word far and wide. Have all the men that you say this to repeat it to all of the men that they know. I want all of East Blue to know this about me."
"What is it you want me to say?"
"Tell them that this Devil-Pleasure Goddess they are all looking for no longer resides on Happy Island. She abandoned it. Tell them that she is now a…pirate, out on the open sea."
"Where should I tell them to look for you?"
Hisoka paused. Luffy saved her the trouble of coming up with an answer. "Tell them that she is on the crew of Monkey D. Luffy, of course!" Hisoka nodded. Captain Shinkotu agreed.
"You know that that means that those after her will come looking for us, right?" Nami asked. Luffy was an idiotic person. He may not know what he was getting himself into.
"So? We're strong! We can take anyone on!" Luffy laughed. And the thing that made Hisoka smile was the fact that he was completely serious. So, she patted the captain on the chest and thanked him from the bottom of her heart. She showed everyone the smile that they had all grown to know. The smile that they had grown to depend on. The smile they weren't sure they would be able to live without. As she turned to board the ship, Luffy and everyone else already waiting for her on the deck, she looked up at their smiles and felt something inside of her grow warm. This ship would be her new home. She would have to find a safe place on it somewhere. Hisoka felt that it wouldn't be as hard as she thought it would be. Suddenly, familiar hands wrapped around Hisoka's legs. She almost fell, but managed to catch herself.
"Don't go, Hisoka-chan! Don't go! Just stay, please, just stay! I don't care what you say, just stay here with us! It won't be the same without you! Hisoka-chan! Hisoka-chan!" Hisoka gazed down at the sobbing Eri. She gently pried the child from her legs, and turned to look back at the sea of the villagers. They were all there to see her off. And they were all looking at her with the exact same expression on their face. They all agreed with Eri, they just couldn't bring themselves to say it out loud.
She drew in a deep breath, her smiling softening slowly. She spoke in the loudest voice she could. "Four years ago, when I ate the Devil Fruit that the merchants brought here, I vowed to protect this island forever. So, please. Allow me to protect you all my way." Hisoka finished off her short speech with a wide, wide grin. She turned and rushed on board, clutching the letter that Suki had given her to her chest as she heard many of the villagers sob softly. She never could have prepared herself for this. Never.
"We're going to pull up the anchor, okay, Hisoka?" Nami informed, giving her a hesitant glance. Hisoka couldn't bring herself to verbally respond, so she just nodded, keeping her head bowed. As the ship slowly started to move away from the shore, Hisoka turned to wave goodbye to everything she once knew and to everything she still loved. But what she saw made it almost impossible for her to hold in her tears. They were all smiling at her, even those that were crying. They were smiling and waving. Chisoya was waving the handkerchief that she had yet to return to Hisoka in the air.
"You better come back so I can return this to you!" she screamed.
"You better come back and make Sakura more clothes!" Misoa shouted.
"I still need you to make Goro a suit!"
"You still have to make me a wedding dress!"
"And I still want you to host my next birthday party!"
"And I want you to be my bridesmaid at my wedding!"
"You have to come back and smile at us again and look us in the eyes!"
Hisoka's shoulders were shaking as she used all she had to hold in her sobs. "Of course!" she shouted in a wavering voice. "I'll see you later!"
"Good luck!"
"You'll be the best pirate ever!"
"Hey, wait a second, that'll be me," Luffy whined from behind Hisoka.
"We'll all be here to say congratulations when you return, Hisoka!" Hiro cried out with a fatherly smile. Hisoka was looking forward to it. She turned her back on them as her tears threatened to overflow. She tore open the letter that Suki had given her, and what she saw had her frozen for a mere second. Waterfalls were pouring down her face automatically, and she didn't care. She dropped the letter on the ground, turned around, and screamed at the top of her lungs, leaning over the edge of the ship as far out as she could.
"That's dangerous," Zoro warned.
"MAMA SUKI!" Hisoka screamed, catching sight of the older woman pushing her way to the front of the group. They all looked so far away, but that was proof that they could still hear her if she screamed. "Mama Suki, I am going to come back with the perfect husband, and you better help me have the best children ever!"
She squinted through her tears in time to see Suki grin and say something to Hiro, who stood next to her. His loud voice managed to reach her. "FOUR, RIGHT!?"
Hisoka sobbed loudly, screaming, "OR MORE!" And then all Hisoka could do was wave at the fading image of her island and her loved ones until they were gone from her sight. Nami led her to the chambers where she would be sleeping along with her, Zoro having already carried her bags into the room.
"What made her cry so much?" Luffy asked randomly.
"Whatever was in that letter, apparently. I bet it was something touching!" Usopp said, tears pouring down his face. Luffy walked forward and picked up the letter that Hisoka had dropped to the floor.
"So? What does it say?" Zoro asked after a few moments of Luffy's silence.
"It doesn't make any sense," Luffy complained with a frustrated frown.
"Just give it to me," Zoro said with an annoyed sigh, swatting it out of Luffy's hand. He wondered if the boy could even read. He read it out loud, "I will perfect the process while you are away. So, come back with a good man. If it isn't someone that I approve of, I refuse to help." Everyone was quiet.
"You're right, that doesn't make any sense," Usopp said.
"Then why are you still crying?" Luffy asked. Usopp sobbed something about being a sensitive captain of the sea. Zoro just stared down at the letter he still held in his hand. Their new seamstress was a very weird woman.
