Chapter 28 – Stars and Darkness
Princess Helena sat at the mirror of her vanity, eyeing the framework of her new crown where it sat perched on her messy hair. She hadn't exactly had a chance to clean up after the battle in the harbor, but she'd put off meeting with Raqueline for far too long.
It wasn't that Helena didn't like Raqueline; things had been busy, and the crown seemed like a minor detail. Now she realized that the sea prism artisan was putting her whole heart and soul into the creation, and felt a pang of guilt for blowing her off.
"It's phenomenal," Helena told her quietly. "Raqueline, this is quite possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen you create."
Raqueline twitched. She did that sometimes; usually when she was stressed, which was a lot when it came to projects regarding the Princess. Helena felt another pang of guilt and resolved to be more respectful to the artists who dedicated themselves to making her look good.
Raqueline somewhat resembled her father, Agamemnon in build, but didn't dress like him at all. Her clothing was practical and comfortable looking, with an apron of tools for her trade. She reached into the apron, retrieving a small handful of ordinary looking gray pebbles.
"Thank you, Princess. Next time just come to me right away, will you?" she said, glaring at Helena through a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. "You can't be crowned without a crown, got it?"
"Indeed," Helena chuckled. "I do have one question."
"Fire away," Raqueline said. The pebbles melted, molding around her fingers so that she could touch sea prism porcelain without being affected by its properties. She twiddled with the crown on Helena's head and inspected it through an adjustable magnifying lens attached to her glasses.
"I don't mean to complain, but does it have to be so…big?" Helena asked. "I mean, Father's crown was simple and…"
"Oh, take that up with the people who designed your coronation dress," Raqueline told her.
"Wait…" Helena said nervously, suddenly overcome with a vision of drowning in tulle. "What's going on with my dress? It's just a chiton right?"
"Trust me; a small crown would look really weird," Raqueline went on noncommittally, employing her Pebble Pebble powers on the minerals within the sea prism to adjust the crown's size to better fit Helena's head. "And besides, didn't you notice I'm running with a theme?" Raqueline asked, indicating the points of the crown, which fanned upward like the sun's corona. "That's right, Sun Queen; and it'll look even better once I've set it with fire opals and orange sapphire."
"Gracious, are you all playing dress up with me again?" Helena asked, flushing. "Look, I understand that to an extent a Princess has to represent the prosperity of her country, but I'd really prefer function to fashion. I can hardly move my head."
"If it makes you feel better, these points are sharp," Raqueline told her, tapping the spines on top of the crown with her stone-covered fingers. "You can use them as a weapon!"
Helena gave her a pitiable look, and Raqueline patted her on the shoulder. "Aw, don't give me that. You know you won't have to wear this thing all the time. –Your old laurel one will do for everyday affairs."
"Right, right. So, tell me about what happened aboard that submarine? I hear you were the one who fired those torpedoes," Helena said, deciding to change the subject.
Raqueline twitched again. "Well, they're our family's mines. I figured I was the one with the right to make the decision."
"Well, it's a good thing you're a terrible aim," Helena joked. It was a well-known fact that Raqueline, who could be calm and collected when working with her craft, became emotional and trigger-happy in other situations. There was a reason the young woman dedicated her sea prism powers to art rather than fighting.
A knock on the door soon brought Gloriadne into the Princess' chamber as well. She and Raqueline high-fived; a common greeting for the two friends.
"Ah! Gloriadne, you weren't wearing your gloves!" Raqueline commented, rubbing her hand.
"Oh, does it hurt when she does that?" Helena asked, intrigued.
"Nah, just feels weird."
"Sorry – I needed to Omega your power again," Gloriadne said. "Robertus and I are still working on structural damage within the palace. We've got our work cut out for us, but we've cleared out anything that needs immediate attention for tomorrow's coronation. - I also wanted to remind her majesty that our special guests have not received any instruction in the minuet or other court dances. They're going to look ridiculous if they don't know what they're doing."
Helena sighed. – more silly details, but she knew Gloriadne was right. Dancing was a long standing tradition in the palace; those who attended royal affairs without knowing how to dance were usually laughed out of town. She couldn't imagine Luffy or Zoro dancing a minuet, however. It just didn't fit the pirate persona. They had an image to worry about as well.
"Perhaps I could arrange for them to remain in town for the coronation," Helena mused aloud. "I think the parties down in Mycenae or out around the city would be more to their taste."
"They're your special guests, Princess, and this is your party," Gloriadne pointed out. "I don't think it would be appropriate for them to attend elsewhere…"
Before the discussion could continue, another knock came to Helena's door. It was General Hector, Nysa, and an entourage of other officials, all clamoring for her highness's attention.
"Princess, I'm sorry to disturb you. I come to report that…"
"Straw Hats. Wardrobe. Your thoughts!"
"Thespecialguestshavenotsignedupforathirdroundofgames!"
"…Nico Robin and Dr. Tony Tony Chopper have returned and seek an audience with her highness…"
"…Krieg's men have not returned. We have confirmed that they have fully left the surrounding sea. What is your command?"
Raqueline started to twitch again as stressful tension built in the room. Helena stood, removing the crown and carefully placing it in the vanity. Her counselors fell silent.
"Raqueline, are we finished with the fitting?" Helena asked Raqueline politely.
The artisan nodded, carefully retrieving the crown framework and placing it in a special, velvet lined case. Helena gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. The princess smoothed the hair from her face, and turned that smile onto her counselors, trying to keep her cool.
"Friends, I am going to step out for some night air. When I return, I will see each of you in turn. Expect me in the throne room in half an hour."
Helena sought solace near her father's new grave. Sitting cross-legged beside the little mound of earth, she took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.
"I don't know how you did it all, Papa," she said. "I suppose it helped that you had a fully delegated staff. Half of our people are missing or dead. Including…including you. I have to make so many decisions so quickly. If I'm not careful about how I organize this, I won't be able to find time to keep honing my swordplay. –honing myself in general. What do I do?"
She stared up at the stars. This part of the pomegranate grove was still pretty sparse, so she had a pretty good view. She started to lay down only to startle back up in surprise when she realized she wasn't alone:
"Make time for what's important," Zoro advised. "Put your foot down. You're good at that."
Helena shot him a weak smile. "Yeah, I suppose it's not as hard as I'm making it out to be. I've just been a bit overwhelmed lately."
"Sorry to interrupt your conversation," Zoro said, making to leave.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Helena asked; almost called out to him really. She didn't mind his company. She was glad when he took the hint and turned back to her.
"I just finished sparring with Troy," Zoro said. "He's looking for tips to beat you."
So she wasn't the only one trying to take advantage of Zoro's knowledge and skill before he left. She was glad they both got along now, but for some reason she felt betrayed.
"I'm glad to hear his injuries weren't too serious," Helena said, successfully hiding the hurt from her voice. "And…?"
"And what?" Zoro asked.
"Do you think he'll be ready to take me on tomorrow?"
"No," Zoro replied with a grin. "But you've got to let a man dream, eh?"
"Maybe I should let him win," Helena sighed, gazing up at the stars again. "It'd save everyone the embarrassment when Father's Will is read tomorrow evening." After all, she couldn't convict Quintilian of anything. The document remained official.
Zoro sat beside her in the silence to follow. He didn't say anything. What could he say? He knew the position she was in.
"Would you think less of me?" she rasped, repressed emotion scratching at her throat in an attempt to escape.
"Yes," Zoro replied with straightforward conviction. Well, no one could accuse him of beating around the bush. She knew that was just the way he was, but it still stung. "You made this vow. You have to see it through."
"But I can't go against my father's wishes…" Helena started.
"To hell with that," Zoro said flatly. "You're the queen. You make the rules."
"You don't understand," Helena pleaded. "There are customs and laws as old as the country. Even when I become queen I can't just change what I don't like. That would make me no better than a tyrant!"
"You could always become a pirate," Zoro suggested. He wore a smirk, but he didn't look like he was joking.
"I see the appeal," Helena said. "You are free to follow your convictions, regardless of law or societal expectations. But what would happen to Ilium if I left?"
Zoro remained silent.
Helena lay on her back so she could better look at the stars. "Thanks for the invitation, but I will have to respectfully decline."
Zoro looked down at her with a light chuckle. "I don't make the invitations. That's up to the captain."
"I thought pirates could do whatever they wanted," she joked.
"I chose to follow Luffy," Zoro told her. "I suppose I could choose to leave him. We all operate under that understanding."
"I don't suppose I could convince you to stay here, then?" Helena ventured.
He shook his head down at her, not losing the smirk. "And be chained down by those societal expectations you were talking about? No thanks. Besides: I made Luffy a promise when he saved me, remember?"
She remembered. He'd told her how he'd promised Luffy he'd be with his crew so long as it didn't get in the way of his dream to become the world's best swordsman. If she remembered right there was a threat in there somewhere of cutting Luffy down if he did get in the way, but she doubted the Captain would ever pose a problem to Zoro's dream, intentionally or otherwise.
"Define your code as you will, but as for me, I prefer to live without regrets, so I keep my word."
"If you don't trust your own word, whose word can you trust?" Helena put in.
"Exactly," Zoro replied. "I say you don't go easy on Troy tomorrow. If in the end you have to marry him anyway, at least your integrity will still be intact."
Helena nodded, turning from him briefly to catch a few tears before he saw them. What he said made sense, it was what she wanted to do, but it was nice to have someone back her up. It didn't make it any easier, however. She felt she was being selfish somehow.
Silence settled between them, but she was grateful Zoro didn't leave. In fact, he joined her in her star gazing, laying down beside her. First he took out one of his swords and purposefully placed it on the earth between them; for all he pooh-poohed her 'societal expectations,' he had a traditional flare that she appreciated.
She knew she would have to go back soon, but she didn't want to get up. She was tired and enjoying present company far better than she would that of those awaiting her in the throne room. Maybe if she kept talking she could claim she lost track of time, but she had nothing more to say.
Something about it all made Zoro's chest ache. He couldn't put his finger on why. – or maybe he just didn't want to admit that he was going to miss her when they left.
She had a few butterfly bandages on her face from fighting Kuro. Her messy ponytail hadn't seen a brush, and hung loosely over one shoulder. Her clothes had dried encrusted in sea water in the aftermath of the battle, and she had been so busy getting everything back in order that she hadn't changed. Yet for all that, she looked every inch a princess. - weird that his idea of a princess had changed drastically since knowing Vivi.
A princess was way more than a pretty dress and a castle. As such, Helena lived with a constant duality of what she needed and what her people needed. He understood her position and didn't envy it; he just hoped she wouldn't give up her pride as a swordsman for the sake of what everyone wanted from her. It would be hard to respect her if she did.
Turning his gaze heavenward, he wondered if Cygnus were watching and regretting his idiotic decision to choose who Helena would marry.
"Berry for your thoughts?" Helena asked.
"It's just weird," Zoro said.
"Weird?" she prodded.
"Weird that people up there can have so much of an effect on people down here."
"Up where?" Helena asked, turning on her side to look at him.
"Heaven," Zoro said, indicating the sky with a little nod.
"Heaven is up for you? Like up among the stars?" Helena asked. "That's so odd."
"Where else would it be?" Zoro asked.
"Down! Elysium is down. Up…up seems so far away and dark."
Helena shivered. Apparently she still feared the dark. She probably wouldn't be out here if the moon weren't so bright. Zoro wondered if she had always been that way, or if it were all Nemo's doing.
"How is down in the ground brighter?" he asked, nonplussed.
"The gods only know," Helena said with a yawn. "Anyone who's seen Elysium says it's like a field of flowers."
"That doesn't sound like it's up or down," Zoro observed. "Maybe it's here and we just can't see it."
"I like that thought," Helena said sleepily. "Makes death seem less lonely. I'm glad we found a compromise."
She'd yawned again as she spoke. He turned to look at her, mouth open to respond, but found her with her eyes closed. She looked exhausted. Maybe she had someplace to be, but the kingdom wouldn't burn down or anything if she caught a few winks. He wasn't about to wake her.
Sitting up, he went to retrieve his sword and was struck with a feeling of déjà vu. He'd dreamed this conversation! Or rather, he had dreamed looking at the stars with her like this, with a sword between them and everything.
The main difference was the sword: in the dream Sandai Kitetsu had been stuck in the ground, unsheathed and ready for him to, well, murder her with. Here he'd very particularly chosen Kuina's sword to lie between them, not the Kitetsu. And he didn't have the remotest desire to kill her. That the conversation was about death seemed significant, but he couldn't wrap his mind around why he would dream something in the future like this. Was Athena trying to mess with him some more?
Chopper's distinctive voice interrupted his musings:
"Robin, she's this way!" he called. "Her scent is here in the grove."
A moment later his two crewmates appeared, stopping to catch their breath. Zoro quickly held a finger to his lips, glancing at the sleeping princess.
"Zoro, it's important," Chopper pleaded. "This can't wait."
Robin took in the Princess' haggard appearance, and that she lay by her father's newly planted tree. Kneeling, Robin placed a hand on Chopper's shoulder.
"Let her sleep, Doctor-San," she said quietly. "She's not in immediate danger at least. This is something she may prefer to face at full strength, and in the safety of daylight."
"What?" Zoro asked.
Robin shook her head at him. "Later," she mouthed to him as the Princess stirred in her sleep. When Helena again lay still, breathing steadily, Robin continued sedately:
"For now, we should probably take her highness back to the palace before anyone thinks anything untoward was happening between her and a certain swordsman here in the pomegranate grove. Her courtiers have been waiting for her for almost an hour."
Zoro felt his cheeks grow hot. "What?! No, we were just…!"
"Don't worry. We'll say we all just found her like this," Robin told him with a wry grin.
Though they didn't tell Helena about their findings right away, Robin and Chopper did tell the crew as soon as they had everyone gathered at the end of the evening.
"Princess-Chan needs to know about this," Sanji pointed out. "The sooner the better."
"For once I agree with the idiot cook," Zoro put in. "You should have told her when you first found us."
"Does this mean we're all in danger, staying in the palace?" Nami shrieked. "We could get trapped in here, just like Helena was!"
"That's what I thought too," Chopper added nervously, "But Robin says…"
"Nemo's playing dead for now," Robin finished for him. "If we can figure out what his endgame is, we can try and pre-empt him before he does attack; however, I think it unlikely that he will attack the same way he did before."
"But we're sitting ducks in here! What if something does happen!" Nami pointed out.
"Easy. Then we fight," Luffy said with a grin.
"Helena and I had a plan to beat him," Zoro put in pensively. "There's a type of mushroom spore that makes you glow, which means Nemo can't harm you directly with his powers."
"…the same mushroom that made you sick?" Chopper asked. "Yes, we've been researching its properties. I even brought some with me."
"Did you bring the kind that can make the antidote?"
"Yes," Chopper said with a nod. "I'll see what I can put together so we're all prepared."
"Who do we tell?" Sanji asked. "Princess-chan obviously, but who else can we trust? If Nemo is a man with some kind of evil darkness fruit power, than who is he?"
Robin and Chopper exchanged glances. "We do have a suspect," Chopper said. "But we can't tell Helena until we know for sure. It'd break her heart…"
The crew waited in silence for either Robin or Chopper to speak, but both seemed disinclined to say anything.
"Well?" Zoro asked at last.
"Lieutenant General Troy," Chopper said quietly.
"That guy?" Nami asked. "But he's head over heels in love with her! He wouldn't hurt her or her family."
Zoro refrained from informing them that Troy could have a grudge; after all, Cygnus sacrificed Troy's actual father to the Mask of Zeus eighteen years ago. And the way he'd acted when he'd found out he'd paralyzed Helena was far from compassionate. Then there was the conversation he'd overheard Troy having with Sakasuke; Troy had apparently claimed to the World Government that he could bring Ilium to its knees single-handedly.
"Think back to when the false Nemo was defeated," Robin pointed out. "Think of how Troy was the only one who could go in and out of the palace without any problems. Even General Hector was stopped at the door. – Now think of the moment Troy fought the beast after it had supposedly captured the Princess. What happened right before he struck?"
"The darkness disappeared," Chopper continued for her. "Like he wanted the world to see him defeat it. – like it was an act in a play."
"Was it to impress the Princess?" Sanji asked. "She was unconscious. So why…?"
"It was to impress everyone," Robin said. "Troy can't defeat her as a swordsman, so this was the next best thing; defeat an enemy even she could not fight. –Something that brought her country to its knees, that took her father and everything she loved from her; something that utterly conquered her."
"But that didn't work, so why hasn't he attacked?" Usopp asked.
"The Will," Robin said. "He must have some connection to it. He's made himself a hero in the eyes of the country. No one will think twice about his claiming the Princess' hand with King Cygnus' endorsement; in fact, they will welcome it."
"Welcome it?" Sanji asked. "But she doesn't love him back, and he hasn't defeated her…"
"Of course. Why do you think everyone hates our Swordsman so much?" Robin asked. "Troy has long been a favorite for her highness' hand; that another man defeated her, and has potentially captured her heart can't sit well with the subjects who adore her. –Even if he rejected her. –Perhaps especially because he rejected her."
Zoro started at this. "Now wait a minute…"
"The main problem here is if the Princess refuses to follow her father's Will," Robin continued. "It seems likely that if she does not lose to Troy in tomorrow's tournament, and refuses to marry him anyway, 'Nemo' is likely to return."
"We can't let her marry that jerk!" Sanji fumed. "We need a plan to take him down before he does any more damage than he has already done!"
"We have a contingency plan with Chopper's glowing mushroom thing, but it would be better if it didn't come to that," Usopp said. "Can't we just explain all this to Helena and have her arrest Troy? – slap him in sea prism cuffs before he has a chance to try anything?"
"That would be a great plan, but there's one problem," Zoro said quietly. "Troy is innocent."
All the Straw Hats turned to look at him; except Luffy. He'd fallen asleep a long time ago.
"You said Nemo is someone with some type of darkness fruit," Zoro went on. "Troy can't be him. He already has a devil fruit, and it doesn't have anything to do with darkness or blackness or whatever it was that Nemo was doing. He's got the Dodge Dodge Fruit; I've seen it in action. It makes it so he can dodge attacks. He can't control shadows or stretch people with it."
Everyone paused to contemplate this for a moment. No matter how anyone looked at it, the Nemo they had seen didn't match Troy's power.
"But…But he's…" Usopp started.
"He's…trying to take your girl!" Sanji finished. That may not have been what Usopp was trying to say, but it's what the cook inferred.
Zoro snorted. Ridiculous. "You guys came up with this theory because you're worried about me, huh? Well, I'll tell you the truth; for the most part, I like Troy. He'll take good care of Helena. Also; Helena is not my girl."
"You keep telling yourself that," Sanji muttered.
"The Will is legally valid," Robin went on slowly. "It didn't look like it had been altered. Perhaps I jumped too quickly to conclusions. Perhaps…perhaps her Father did want her to marry Troy after all."
"So we're back at square one then," Chopper said, looking downcast. "Who is Nemo and what does he want?"
"We'd better hang on to that contingency plan until we find out," Zoro replied. "We don't know when or why he will attack again. Stay on your guard. We'll talk to Helena in the morning."
