6.03.18

1663 words

『Chapter 13 | A Favour』

"Toki... Toki no Mi?" Usopp wondered curiously.

Sayua smiled and took a small sip out of the freshly made tea Sanji had made for her. "Yeah. I can basically control the time and space." She explained as simple as it can be before looking down and sighing, "Though, it would've been useful if I hath known about it sooner and I could've save a precious life back then..."

Luffy overheard her but he maintained his goofy smile that she truthfully adores.

Sayua already introduced herself to the rest of the crew and in turn, they introduced themselves. She found them quite amusing and trust-able since they haven't betrayed her little brother—yet. Since she trust them and all, she answered a few questions regarding her connections to the Akagami's and how her fruit works.

The crew were pretty surprised to know about how she hasn't joined any crew or even accept a Yonko's offer. She answered pretty bluntly, saying that she's not really the type to serve under someone yet—but she is planning to join a crew once she fulfills an impossible dream of hers.

She also got to know about their plans of destroying a certain group, a Shichibukai's rebel group in fact. This got her interest which made her eager to stay to give a hand to her little brother in case of danger.

Currently, tired after answering a lot of curious questions, Sayua watched her brother watch Nami's work on his hat—to secure the Vivre Cards she, and the eldest gave him, from the top deck. She also laughed at the bickering and goofiness of the crew, especially the cook who seemed to be out of it when he heard that the ladies will be covered up due to weather conditions.

She soon hopped down when Vivi laid down a map and explained their current situation and route they'll be going through. She watched as the Princess-in-disguise reason with the crew about them not lashing a single fight out but reason with the leader instead.

"Isn't that a bit too ambitious?" Sayua raised a brow and folded her arms, giving the Princess a mocking smile. "It won't be easy to reason with several hundreds of thousands rebels." She shrugged and then placed her hands on her waist.

The princess then gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, clenching her fists before shouting, "I'LL STOP THEM! I'LL STOP THIS NONSENSE! I WON'T LET BAROQUE WORKS HAVE THEIR WAY IN THIS COUNTRY ANYMORE!"

Sayua simply chuckled and watched the crew smile and support the princess. She then walked over next to her and placed her hand on her shoulder, "Don't forget—WE, not only you, will stop them."

The light blue-haired princess didn't know how to react to her words. She felt as though the lady by her side went through the same thing as what she's dealing with now. She felt comfort flow through her body with her touch, yet she felt sadness behind her close-eyed smile.

"Why are you—"

"Let's go and get ready, shall we?" Sayua avoided her question and gave her her cloak.

While they're planning some things and proceeding to walk onto the hot land later that day, the rebels' side are starting to move—gathering into a place to await for the mastermind behind all of the happenings going around the place, Mr. 0, Crocodile, one of the seven Shichibukais scattered across the seas.

Crocodile got a hold of a news of rare visitors that caused a ruckus in one of the port towns of Alabasta. He was quite surprised to hear about a young, blond lady fight back to back with one of the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates. He was really interested since some of his henchmen described her as the absolute meaning of true beauty.

He wanted to see for himself.

: :

As the night sky wrapped around the cold desert, Sayua looked up to the moon while she sat on a flat rock near the sleeping group. The cold wind doesn't seem to bother her and she seemed pretty nonchalant around venomous creatures such as scorpions, snakes and spiders.

She can't stop thinking about the name Ace mentioned. She wanted to ask Shanks, but knowing him, he's probably asleep somewhere far away from his transponder shell due to intoxication. She doesn't know anyone except for—wait, that's right.

There's Benn!

She hurriedly grabbed her transponder shell and used her powers to bend the waves around so it can safely reach the right place since shells like she owns can only reach a certain area. She made a call and a few rings later, someone picked up the call.

"Hello?" A familiar, non-drunk but tired voice wondered, "Who is—"

"Benn-san? It's me, Sai-chan." The girl told the heavy smoker, "I was wondering if Shanks is—"

"SAI?!"

"IS THAT SAYUA?!"

"SAI-CHAN!?"

"GIMME...!"

A small tug-o-war occurred over to the opposite line, causing the girl to pull back the shell to not go deaf, and watch as the poor snail try its best to mimic everyone who started shouting over to her line just to hear her voice. Fortunately, the snail seemed to land on the hands of the person she was looking for.

"Sayua? Ya' missed me already?" The red-haired pirate asked her, sounding a bit drunk.

"Uh, no." She denied which struck through his heart, "I was just going to ask something."

"Dahahaha... Of course..." The man sighed as the voice around him starts to die down when they heard the girl's serious tone. "Go ahead, what is it?" He asked her.

She sighed and stood up on the rock she was sitting on to walk around a bit, "Have you ever mentioned someone with the name of..." She trailed off as she hopped off the flat, sandy rock.

The shell on her hand raised a brow, indicating the person on the other line doing the same. The Yonko became wide awake after she finally finished her question.

"... Blackbeard? Because my brother—"

"Blackbeard?" Shanks cut her words. "Of course—I did tell you about him leaving these scars on my face over a drunk conversation, right?" He asked to confirm but only heard the howl of the winds from her side.

Of course, Sayua thought, now it all makes sense. Her senses were making her worry when Ace told her that he's coming after the said guy. Her mind was telling danger yet she didn't paid enough attention to remember the guy who placed three, deep scar across Shanks' eye, Marshall D. Teach.

"Sayua?" Shanks called her, "Are you there?"

But there was no response.

"Sayua?"

The girl stopped on her tracks and started to bite her finger nails, a bad habit of hers when in deep worry or thought. She can't help but think that her older brother got into something that might be out of his league. She then pinched the bridge of her nose before heaving a long, shaky sigh.

"Can you do me one favour, Shanks?" She finally spoke up, "I know this is too sudden and might be a bit too much but I promise, this will be my last."

The snail that mimics the said man narrowed its eyes. Shanks then coughed once before looking up the same sky they're under, "Sure. What is this favour of yours?"

He knows that this might be a big case since he haven't heard her this serious and quite disoriented since the night she shared her story to him and to his first mate, so he wanted to see if he could help out this damsel in distress out of her serious situation.

"I know you're somewhere around the New World and you have the bigger chance to find Shirohige," the girl started, "so if you ever see him, since he is Ace's captain, please do tell him to stop my brother from chasing after Teach. Tell him it's from me and I am worrying for my idiot and reckless brother who do things before thinking."

Shanks was alarmed after hearing her and was about to speak up to ask her about it but wasn't able to since she started talking as well.

"Also, I'm going to hunt that freckled man down before he gets to Teach." Her voice sounded a lot deeper at the mention of the said name. "And if I can," she added, "I'll stop that Teach myself for my brother's sake after I clean up Luffy's possible mess."

"Oh no you don—"

She hung up angrily and stuffed her shivering den den mushi into her pockets. She gritted her teeth before balling up her fists and because there was nothing nearby to punch, she just kicked a small stone and sent it flying through a bigger rock—it went through it and destroyed the rock, by the way. Blood trickled down her hands as her nails dig deep into her palms, but she didn't notice it out of frustration and worry.

She wanted to shout, but that is not a good choice since she'll wake up her brother and his crew, so she heaved a long, frustrated sigh instead.

Unbeknownst to her, the princess wasn't asleep at all and overheard a few things, saw her frustration and saw her blood trickle down the cold sand. Vivi decided to step out behind the ruins they're resting in but became frightened when she saw Sayua's eyes glow into a bright, red light that beats the moon's soft white light.

She almost screamed but managed to stop herself. She slowly sat down against the stone pillar as the images of the blonde's eyes appeared in her mind.

Bloodlust.

Rage.

Frustration.

Worry.

Mixed emotions lied in the blonde's eyes, but the more extreme ones stood out from the rest. Vivi felt pity yet she can't make herself move to help Luffy's sister.

All she could do was close her eyes and hope for Sayua's calm nature to come back.