Chapter 12

"Arabasta?" Everyone, except for Franky and Brook, exclaimed.

Sora looked at the pirates with confusion. "Yeah, Arabasta. Hab ya been here?"

All the men shook their heads with their jaws dropped. Even when Crocodile "ruled" over this kingdom, it didn't look this bad. But the people were all missing and there were constant sounds of fighting in the distance.

"What happened?" Robin asked, remembering her last moments at this kingdom. She hadn't done a good job with this country but she still felt sympathy for its people.

"Yeah, are you sure that this is Arabasta? The last time we were here it wasn't like this." Nami told the boy.

He clenched his fists as he tried to remember the day when pirates invaded his home country. "Pirates came when Whitebeard died. My mom told me dat when I was one, pirates came and started ta hurt our people. But a great pirate like Whitebeard came for food and water and saw how hurt we were. She said dat he said dis land was now ruled by him and no one was ta touch it." He bit down on his lower lip.

"Arabasta turned into a territory ruled by Whitebeard?" Nami asked, still surprised at the news.

Sora nodded silently.

"Gramps…" Luffy muttered under his breath as he remembered the great pirate.

"But when he died, bad pirates came and hurt our people again. Dat's when my mom said I couldn't play wif da odder kids." He ran to Luffy and started to grab hold of his leg. "Pwease, take me ta see my mom! I need ta know if she's okay!" He started to cry.

Everyone stared at Luffy as they waited for their Captain for his orders. Vivi was a great nakama of theirs and if she needed their help with these pirates, then they would more than happy to take care of them for her, like in the past. Luffy placed his hand down on the boy's head and smiled at him. He looked at his crew with the same smile, but his eyes changed to curiosity and excitement. Everyone knew this look of his and smiled back at him.

"Hey, Sora, are you ready for an adventure? Shishishishi," Luffy laughed and looked out toward the once great kingdom of Arabasta with excitement and anticipation.

They docked in the lonesome harbor and saw that no one was living in this town. Only dust rolled by as they split up to search for more information, but when they all met back up at their rendezvous point, a.k.a the ship, no one had found anything. They were running low on food supplies and they needed to get more cola for the paddles if they were going to continue their original mission. So, seeing this town as a lost they went back on the ship and continued up the river that split the country in two.

If they wanted the correct information, they were going to have to see Vivi and that was only possible on foot. So, they used their ship as far as they could go and docked in a remote area so that no one would steal it or destroy it.

"Alright, someone needs to stay with the ship just in case, so…Who's it gonna be?" Nami asked, since Luffy was busy stocking up on canteens in the galley with Usopp. (They gets very thirsty in the desert, in case anyone forgot.)

"I will, Nami-san." Robin volunteered. "I don't think this would make a good reunion." She smiled lightly.

"Right, so once Luffy comes back, we'll be off. Sora," she crouched down to his level, "we'll find your mom once we talk with an old friend of ours, okay?" She smiled at the boy and tried to smile too, but his lower lip wouldn't stop quivering.

"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy yelled as he came barging from the galley with ten canteens all strapped his body. He jumped from the ship and started to make his way into the desert but stopped when he realized he didn't know where he was going.

Zoro jumped down next along with Sanji. Usopp was a little reluctant but was pushed by Franky who also carried Chopper, who was already tired from the heat, under his arm. Brook floated down and Nami took Sora into her arms, like a protective mother, and jumped down into Sanji's waiting arms. Luffy looked back and saw Nami land in Sanji's arms with Sora in hers, but this time he didn't feel mad towards the chef since he knew that Nami liked him a lot more than the cook. But, he did wait impatiently for his nakama to catch up.

"Luffy, we have a long walk ahead of us, so please be patient." Nami told him as soon as she caught up with her Captain.

"We don't hab ta walk." Sora told them. They all looked at him with confused looks but he simply smiled and pulled out a silver whistle that was strung around his neck. He took the whistle and placed it between his lips. Blowing on it as hard as he could, there was no sound to be heard, but Chopper did moan as he tried to clasp his ears.

"Sora, I don't get what you're talking about," Nami told him.

"Just wait. My mom gave me this whistle." He pointed out into the distance and everyone followed his gestured. On the edge of the horizon, they could just see a small dust cloud making its way toward them. But as the figure approached, they were able to see that the dust cloud was being caused by a creature and it wasn't any ordinary creature, but a very familiar nakama of theirs.

A large duck stopped in front of Sora as he saluted the young boy. Sora was very happy to see his friend and gave him a huge hug while the other pirates stared at the duck. Luffy cocked his head to the side, trying to remember where he had seen him, but everyone else knew right away who the duck was and to whom it belonged.

"Cawoo! I'm so glad ta see ya!" Sora smiled at him and turned around to face the others. His grin widened as he saw the shocked expressions on their faces. "Everyone, this is Cawoo; Cawoo, this is everyone."

"Quack!" Carew saluted the crew as their smiles finally appeared on their faces.

"Hey, Cawoo, we need some help so we can go and see mom." He blew on the whistle six more times and just like how Carew appeared the other six ducks appeared as well. "Alright, gang, we need ta go ta da palace! Everyone get on," Sora jumped onto Carew's back and Nami joined him, just in case he was to fall off.

"Yohohohoho! This is very exciting!" Brook laughed as he made his way onto one of the ducks.

"I've never ridden a duck before…" Franky muttered as he weighed down his duck. To the rest of the crew, it was like riding a bike.

"Alright guys, let's go!" Sora took control of Carew and led the duck squad toward the horizon.

In record time, they were able to see the raised plateau were the palace's city resigned. But, all around the plateau, there was rubble from carriages and weaponry lying around where a battle must've taken place. The scene wasn't pretty as bones of the country's people surrounded the outskirts and the entrances of the palace's city.

They raced through the city to get to the palace and came across half burned down homes and businesses, and very few people were living in the streets. Those people that they passed were also skinny and looked dehydrated from several days without rest. The sun also looked like it hadn't been turned off since the last time the crew had been there. The duck squad was approaching the palace steps but instead of climbing them, they took a right down into another destroyed alleyway.

"Oi, kamo! What's going on?" Luffy called ahead to Carew, even though he knew he couldn't understand what the duck would be "speaking" of.

"Ebber since da pirates came, da royal family moved below!" Sora called back to the others.

"Nani?" Luffy cocked his head to the side, trying to imagine an underground city.

"You'll see!" Sora smiled as they approached a dead end in the alley while everyone else prepared for a collision, but nothing happened except for the stopping of the duck squad.

After they opened their eyes, the Straw Hat crew saw that there was no entrance that looked like it could lead underground. All that was standing in front of them was a solid brick wall. Their eyes never left Sora as he hopped down from Carew and made his way over to the wall with his hand outstretched while holding his silver whistle. He placed his hand on the wall and moved it across the stone until he found a small nick in the patchwork. Placing his whistle in the crevice, he turned it to the right one hundred eighty degrees before turning three hundred sixty degrees to the left and spinning it once again to the right two hundred seventy degrees. The wall shook and split down the middle as dust started to seep into the alleyway, nearly blinding everyone except for Sora who seemed used to the entrance.

As soon as the dust exited their eyes, everyone stared as a new path stood before them. Nami hopped off of Carew and walked up beside of Sora who turned around and smiled at the pirate crew. She took a peek inside and saw nothing but darkness ahead of them, causing her to turn around and see everyone else hopping off of their ducks. Luffy stretched his arms above his head as he made his way over with a huge grin upon his face, as if he was excited for whatever seemed to be ahead of them. Without letting Sora lead the way, Luffy made his way into the dark pathway.

Seeing as there was no other way to see Vivi, everyone else followed after their Captain leaving Nami in the back with Sora marching proudly beside the timid Chopper. Chopper was glad to be out of the heat and under whatever was shielding them from the sun, but the thought of entering a blackened pathway without any knowledge of what really lay ahead of them gave him the chills, just like Usopp who flanked his other side. Sora placed his whistle around his neck just as the entrance started to block them in with the ducks following closely behind the crew.

"So, uh, Sora, how did you know where this place was? Do you live in the palace?" Chopper asked after the entrance closed behind them.

"Ya could say dat. My mom gabe me dis whistle for my birdday abter dis wall was made." He explained.

A bright light was starting to shine in the distance and as they got closer, they could hear people's voices talking in the light. Sora raced ahead so that he walked a little bit in front of Luffy, and as they crossed the threshold into the underground city, they were greeted with a blinding light as bright as the sun itself. When their eyes adjusted, the whole crew had to stop in their tracks so that they could take in a better look at what they were seeing. Lights streamed the walls of the city, creating a day-breaking sight, as houses, larger than their usual measures, lined beside the walls. The city street lined with bustling people as if they were at a market without any acknowledgment of their earth-closed walls all around them. A large fountain decorated with a familiar king who seemed to be holding the hands of small children sprayed water ahead in the center of the town, but Sora didn't pay any attention to this at all. He ran pass the fountain and all of the people who seemed to stop to let him through while they blocked the pirates' path to follow the young boy.

If Chopper hadn't found his scent, the crew would've lost Sora in the city but Chopper sensitive sense of smell led them to where Sora seemed to stop. He stood before iron gates that blocked a large, airy space from the rest of the city. Behind the gates and beyond the open space, they could see a large palace beautifully decorated with bright colors and stone statues in the garden as two fountains flanked the side of the great building. Guards blocked off the gates in front of them, and Sora only looked pass them as if they weren't there at all.

"Sora, is this the palace?" Nami asked as she tried to catch her breath after running through the city to keep up with the little boy's eagerness.

"Yup, and my mom's on da odder side of da gates." He smiled at the crew and everyone except for Luffy stared at the burly guards who stood in their way. The guards overhead the young boy's comment and looked down upon the dirtied "creature".

"No one is allowed beyond this point." One of the guards said with his booming voice, which rang in their ears.

The very sight of the guards made Usopp quake in his boots and made Chopper take cover beside Zoro, who tried to get the reindeer off of him. Franky simply lifted his shades to get a better look at the "tough" guards while Brook cocked his head to the side. Nami felt a cold shiver run down her spine, but as long as the monster three, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, were there, she didn't really feel that afraid. Sanji took in a deep puff of his cigarette before letting a gray cloud of smoke escape from his lips. Luffy stepped beside Sora and prepared himself on "getting" through the guards, but Sora held out his hand and caused Luffy to pause and stare down at the boy.

"I got dis one." Sora told him. He pulled out his silver whistle once again and held it up at the guards. The same guard that warned them took the little whistle in his meaty hand and spun it around so that he found the small insignia on the back. His eyes bulged from their sockets as he saw the little engraving and knew that he had made a bad mistake.

"I-I'm so sorry. Please, right this way." He opened the gate for Sora, but stopped the crew from joining him. "Unless you have something significant to show me, then you will not be permitted beyond this point."

"Dey're wif me." Sora pointed at the gang and told them to pass. As they passed through the gates, Usopp stuck out his tongue at the guards when they resumed their post. "Come on! Dis way!" He ran up the stoned path that led to the palace without waiting for the others to follow closely behind. Sora knocked on the great wooden doors that sealed off the palace from the garden.

Once the others had caught up and there was no answer from within, Sora pushed open the doors and entered. It was especially grand inside with marble columns holding up the fortress and the floor wasn't made of stone like some of the other places but instead it too was made of marble that reflected the lights from the outside. A grand staircase circled upstairs on their left, leading to a balcony decorated with banners that held the Arabasta insignia upon them. The ceiling rose highly above their heads with a single chandelier made of crystal or diamonds.

"Sugeeeee!" Luffy awed as his eyes spun from looking up at the chandelier, and his voice echoed from the high ceiling to all throughout the palace.

"Uh, Sora?" Nami smiled at the boy, getting his attention.

"Hm?"

"How do you know about all of this?" She asked.

"I'll show you." He took the lead once again and started to clamber up the grand staircase, since he was still small to climb up the stairs.

Chopper transformed so that he looked like a regular sized reindeer and scooped the boy up so Sora could ride on his back. Sora thanked the deer and told him to go to the top of the staircase and make a right onto the balcony so that they got a better view of the parlor that they had entered from. Nearly everyone looked down, except Usopp since he didn't like how far up they were, and gaped at the size of the palace. He gave more directions to Chopper and he obediently followed them until they reached a narrow hallway with many doors lining the walls.

"Da palace is also a hotsipital where we helped wif da hurt from up on da ground." Sora told them. "My mom likes ta help out da sick people so we'll look for her here first."

"What does your mother look like?" Sanji asked.

"She's really pretty with blue eyes like mine." Since Sora was only four, he couldn't give a really good description.

"Yosh, let's go," Luffy ran ahead and opened the first door, but there weren't any women in there that gave the impression of Sora's mother.

Nami opened up the closest door to her and saw nothing in the room, so she continued down the hall. Usopp stuck close to Chopper, but when they opened their first door, Chopper saw all of the injured and couldn't help but lend a hoof to the young nurses who were treating them. Franky stuck with Zoro since he knew that he would get lost in this palace and they opened door with only more sick and injured. Brook only opened one door and after being called the devil, he didn't open anymore doors so that they patients wouldn't get scared of him.

Sanji opened the door at the end of the hall and stopped in his tracks when he saw a beautiful woman with long blue hair. She wasn't looking at him, but there was no way that he could mistake that blue hair for anyone other than Vivi. Relieved to find the princess and their nakama, he entered the room. He took one last puff on his cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stomping out the smoke. Vivi smelled the smoke and thought there was another burn patient but was surprised when she saw Sanji standing in the doorway with a large smile on his face.

His smiled quickly faded as he saw her for the first time in about four years. Her hair was shorter than he remembered but that wasn't the thing that stopped his joyous smile on his face. Running down from the tip of her left ear to the base of her neck was a long and jagged scar, obviously done from a knife. Her smile, though, didn't falter as she ran up to the old nakama and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her deep ocean blue eyes found his stunned ones and smiled up at him along with her pearly whites. She lifted herself up onto her tip toes and placed her lips to his as they were nearly alone in a room with a comatose patient.

He remembered the touch of her lips on his as he regained himself and interacted with her lips. They were soft and there was a hint of salt left upon them as if she had been crying, but he kept on anyway since it had been a long time since they've last held each other like this. She broke from him first, gasping as she tried to regain her breath, and continued to smile up at him, but the more she looked into his eyes and re-memorized his face, the more she felt a pain tug at her heart. Tears started to flow from her eyes and Sanji understood that her decision put her through a lot of pain, so he only held her in his arms, seeing that was the only solution he could do for now.

"Sanji, I've missed you." She blubbered between gasps.

"I'm sorry that I left you, but they needed me. You understand, right?" He moved one of his hands from her waist to the base of her head and cradled it for a bit before placing his lips to her forehead in apologizing.

"Of course I understand, but that's not why I'm crying." She took a deep breath and wiped her tears away before continuing, "I've lost someone very important to me, and I can't seem to find him."

"Him? Who is he?"

"Well-"

Before Vivi could continue on, the door that was closed behind Sanji's back was flung open with surprising force. It caught Sanji by surprise but he did manage to throw Vivi onto an unused hospital bed while his face got implanted on the floor. After checking to see if Vivi was alright, he turned around and saw Franky with his hand still on the knob. He looked down at the chef and then up at Vivi who was sitting on the bed with a confused and terrified expression upon her face.

"Oi, could you knock first?" Sanji complained to the cyborg as he rubbed his bloodied nose.

"Sorry, but, uh, curly-brow, is this her?" He pointed to Vivi who seemed to look a little less frightened.

"Well, this is someone who we were looking for but I don't think it's her. I'll escort Vivi-chan to Luffy." He brushed himself off while Franky only shrugged his shoulders. He had left, muttering something about losing a swordsman, but the door was still wide open. After Sanji was cleaned, he held out his arm for her to take and with a light giggle, she took it gladly, shutting the door behind them. "Oi, Luffy!" He called.

"Sanji! Did you find her?" Luffy ran from the opening of the hall down to where Sanji was with Vivi still on his arm. His smile widened as he saw Vivi's shining blue hair and petite figure. But, when he was only a foot away, he stopped suddenly. His eyes widened in shock and he clenched his fists as he laid eyes upon Vivi's newly found out scar.

"Sanji, did you find her?" Nami peeked her head out from another empty hospital room as she heard him call for Luffy. But, just like Luffy, her eyes widened as her jaw dropped to the sight of Vivi's face.

Everyone heard Sanji's call and started to find their way back to the crew, but one after the other they all stopped at certain spots to gape at Vivi's new identity. Her eyes along with her smile never faltered as she saw her nakama all return to her, and then some. She smiled wider as she saw Luffy's new nakama and thought of them as her own as well, but when she laid eyes on a small blond haired boy, she burst out into tears and fell to her knees. Everyone's eyes, except for Luffy's, moved from her scar to her sobbing figure as her shoulders heaved up and down. The only one who wasn't stunned was Sora who was also starting form tears at the corners of his eyes.

Vivi held out her arms for the boy and like a magnet, Sora raced over to her with his arms wide open as well. She squeezed him close to her body as he tightened his embrace on her. No one spoke a word as Vivi was reunited Sora, her son.

"I'm so sorby, mom! I pomise dat I won't leab ya ebber again!" He cried, staining her shoulder with his tears.

"Mom?" Sanji muttered as his eyes focused on the boy's shaggy blond hair.

"Oi, did he just say mom?" Usopp whispered to Chopper while he nodded with a gaping jaw.

Vivi kissed the top of Sora's head and wiped her eyes from her joyful tears. When she got to her feet, beside Sanji, she picked up the boy who pouted from being treated like a "little kid". She held on tight to Sora as she shifted him to her hip and smiled up at Sanji who still looked confused.

"Sanji, this is Sora," her smile widened even further as he finally noticed that both the boy and Vivi had the same ocean blue eyes, "your son."

So, if the initial shock of Vivi having a child didn't grab their attention, then this sure did. Sanji had blacked out after hearing of his offspring and crashed backwards onto the marble flooring. Zoro also crashed to the floor as he couldn't control his laughter and Brook looked over to Franky to see if he knew what was going on. Usopp looked at Sora to Vivi and down to Sanji who was still passed out on the floor and finally noticed the resemblance of the pair while Chopper transformed back into his normal self and walked over to Vivi, holding out his hoof, and congratulated her on having a healthy son. Nami did awe at Vivi's pride in her arms and smirked at Sanji's "episode", but when her eyes looked upon Luffy's unmoving body, she couldn't help but drown her nakama and focus upon one thing and one thing only, Luffy.

"Vivi?" Luffy muttered and it was a miracle that she even heard his whisper over all the commotion.

"What is it, Luffy?" She asked, her smile never leaving her face.

"How did you get that?" He pointed at her scar with eyes filled with anger, curiosity, and pure hatred at whoever did that to her while he watched closely as her smile faded and her eyes saddened from the repressed memory.

She held Sora with one of her arms while her opposite hand ran along the scarring line from the tip of her left ear to the base of her neck. He looked up at his mother and couldn't remember the exact moment of when it happened but he felt an incredible amount of anger as he clenched his fist, digging his nails into his palm. She wrapped both of her arms around Sora as she let out a sigh she had been holding in for quite some time. "His name is Akuma ko no, Hageshii Senshi." A small tear escaped from the corner of her eye.

I would like to thank all of my readers and reviewers that have stayed with the story for this long. And for those who think that this is nonsense drabble stuff, you know who you are, I would like you to still sick with it because you'll find out soon enough that I'm not just a great writer when it comes to romance but my action skills aren't half bad either.

Lately, I've been reading the manga Fairy Tail and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm in love! I'm also thinking about making a fic about Natsu and Lucy despite how early I am in the manga. But if I keep up my pace I should be able to catch up before I even put my fingers to the keys.

Thanks again to all of my readers and supporters and I hope you liked this next installment. (I can't believe how fast I was with it!) Keep on spreading the LuNa, ZoRo, and SaVi love! (^-^)

P.S Akuma ko no means Demon of Steel. And T-Biggz, I hope that you understand why I couldn't tell you right off the bat. (I don't like to spoil my own writing. :D)