Zoro sighs. After defeating Miss Monday and cleaning up every other bounty hunter on the island, he found some booze and was just about to take a break.
He ties his bandanna back around his arm.
Then he turns around and meets eyes with a large vulture perched two buildings away.
For a second, he wonders if Kinoko got a growth spurt and found sunglasses. Then he perishes that thought as dumb, because this bird's not exactly the same colour.
Then the bird caws, loud and shrilly and-- damn that pierces his ears-- it takes flight, coming straight for Zoro.
He notices the holsters on its back, round and like cannon barrels-- shit, are those machine guns?! Zoro drops onto the ground just in time to avoid the gunfire.
He draws Kogatana, but the bird is too far away. A ranged fighter, huh. Troublesome one, since Zoro's disadvantage has always been range.
Swiftly, he runs past two more attempts at shooting him, and leaps off the corner of a building, swiping wide forward into the air.
But alas-- the butter knife is a butter knife. It didn't have the range to fight a bird in the air. With a single flap of its wings, she'd gained even more height than before.
And that's when the bird drops something.
It's a paper package, with a lit fuse at its end.
Falling, his instincts scream. So he throws Kogatana, straight forward like one would a dart-- he blade sinks into the bird's wing, and holds up an arm to block the explosion.
It's not too damaging at all-- in fact, he's passable as unharmed. A little burned, but just as bad as a sunburn, to be honest.
He lands on the ground, coughing.
The bird falls down beside him, rolls, and after chucking Kogatana out of its wing, it flies off in a hurry. It leaves behind the sack it was carrying, only focused on escape.
Well, that was fine.
"Yeah, you better not come back, you damn bird!" he spits. He'll punch that thing the next time he sees it. If it wanted a drink, he could've asked! Not that Zoro would have shared or anything.
Zoro picks up Kogatana, wiping away the blood with the edge of his shirt. Heck, that was more effective than anything else he's tried. Maybe he should just throw it from now on.
("Swordsmanship without grace is a weak sword.")
(He scoffs. This is more like clownery than grace, though.)
"What's with my luck with birds these days?" he mutters, irritated.
Something gleams from the baggage it was carrying around. Curious if it was another weapon of some sort, he looks through it.
"What's this? An hourglass? Oh wait, there's no sand in it…"
He frowns.
"Some kinda weird compass?"
"Why did you protect me? You idiot!"
As soon as she could, Nami made a rain cloud. The buildings in the area were charred and licks of flame still peppered the area-- but the worst was over. So she was going to force a cloud into existence and douse them, and make sure they didn't ignite again.
Then she pulled Gin off the ground and began to walk.
Her metal arm was now a colossal of heat, so Gin had to reach down and pick up Kinoko, cradling her within his arms in the gentlest way he has ever held anything.
She sees his wounds-- which, strangely enough, weren't as bad as she thought they would be-- and she quickly ran the first aid details in his head.
"Seriously, all the boys in our crew are reckless! Do you even think?!" she snaps.
"Yeah..." Gin mutters, his voice weak, "...ruined the jacket Sanji got for me."
"That isn't the--!!" Nami bites back her words, turning away. As idiotic as he was, Gin had always been the most careful of them.
(And that jacket, though seemingly insignificant, meant a lot to Gin.)
"We'll get you a new one," she promises. "As long as you stay awake until we get somewhere safe."
Gin scoffs at that. He holds Kinoko close to his chest, the bird's unmoving figure much more worrying than his own state. She was breathing, though, so that was a relief. The stuff she was wearing is all broken down…
This was such a mess.
But if he didn't jump in front of Nami…
"Your mark…" he says, and Nami looks over, not sure if she'd heard right. "Your Whitebeard mark would've been burned away."
He doesn't see Nami's expressions.
But her voice was shattered as she spoke again.
It's a heartbroken voice he hasn't heard her use, ever-- and he almost looks up, wondering if she was hurt after all. He dismisses it, the numbness taking over as his mind struggles to remain conscious.
"Yeah," a sniffle she tries and fails to hide. "Thanks, Gin."
The explosions interrupt tea time.
"There's an awful lot of them," Sanji notes, "think the gunpowder stores are blowing up? I'd say Gin's up to something but he's not the wasteful type."
Miss Valentine sips on her tea again. "No, my partner just spent a lot of time setting up traps over there," she informs, mindlessly, "he's a Devil Fruit User."
Vivi stiffens.
(Traps?)
"A Devil Fruit User?" she asks, her voice cold.
Miss Valentine smiles, "yeah, Mister Five, the bomb human," she says, "y'know, everything about him blows up? From a booger to spit to sweat. Leave that on a wall or a carpet, give it just a little scratch, and BOOM! Kyahaha!"
"So if you're here…"
"Then Mister Five should be cleaning up on Mister Eight, right?" Miss Valentine suggests. Her eyes weigh down strangely, as she watches the teacup on the table, tracing the edge with her nail almost in fascination. "I'll have to deal with you soon, too, but I suppose I'll wait for… huh? For some reason…" she sways, "I'm a little… sleepy."
When she collapses unconscious on the table, Sanji panics.
"Huh? Miss Valentine??"
"It's fine," Vivi says, her face steeled. "Don't lean over, you'll breathe it in too."
And she stands up, pulling her coat over her clothes to mask the perfume until it wears off. A combination of truth serum and sleeping intoxicant always worked wonders in these situations, and she almost hates that she took this safe route this time.
Because it took too long to knock her out.
"Igaram's in danger. We need to go," she bites her bottom lip, looking down. She can't falter, this is important. Too important. "We need to go, now. Carue!"
In danger was the optimistic outlook here. If he's already been hit...
Sanji drapes a blanket over Miss Valentine. "Understood, Miss Wednesday. The meeting spot Nami-san decided on is just up ahead. Shall we go?"
The hastened steps were answer enough. They begin running, Sanji carrying a bag of pilfered food as they make their way forward.
And what they see isn't great in any sense of the word.
Luffy had brought them out to a clearing right by the pier. It's out in the open and hard to miss, so they had decided on this area to be the meeting spot rather than the Going Merry itself.
Luffy didn't particularly know this was the meeting spot-- it was just an open area that seemed convenient and lacking bomb traps, so he made his way over.
Usopp immediately lays Igaram down, and begins working on the worst of the wound-- the leg. The possible wood and glass shards blown into his burn would have to come later-- Usopp couldn't see enough to even dare try with those.
(He ignores the ever-growing burn under his feet. A bit of char won't faze him.)
Usopp had just been done binding up Igaram's leg stump when Miss Monday and Mister Nine shows up.
He'd immediately raised his slingshot-- because he'd left Kabuto on the ship like an idiot-- but he pauses when Luffy's figure comes in between them.
"She's fine! She's not going to fight us," Nine warns quickly-- "I'm sorry, but she's got medical knowledge. Please let her help."
Usopp slowly lowers his slingshot. Any help now is better than none.
"I heard the situation," Miss Monday says, sounding more out of breath than she should be-- she must've been running this whole way, then. "Please let me help."
From a slight rustle in her hands, and the smell of something distinctly chemical-- Usopp guesses that she's brought medical supplies.
(Is she worried for Igaram? Well, they were partners.)
"Help Usopp too," Luffy says, to the sniper's surprise.
"Wha-- Igaram's in more danger right now!" Usopp snaps.
"Usopp!" Luffy raises his voice, and Usopp winces. Miss Monday rushes forward, and crouches down before Usopp to look over Igaram's wounds. "Just stay there until everyone else gets here."
There was really no way Usopp could have said anything but a weak "yes Captain" in response.
Mister Nine takes Usopp's hands, warning him before peeling off the gloves to reveal the burns underneath.
"Damn that Mister Five," he hisses, retrieving the burn salve. It's not as bad as Igaram's, so it should be fine. "He's the biggest menace in this situation. Who knows how many more traps he's got laid out for us all around the island."
"There was a particularly big explosion over there just a moment ago," Luffy points out. "Did this Five guy cause it too?"
"Most probably."
Mister Nine moves to wrap Usopp's hands with bandages, but Usopp refuses.
"Save it for Igaram," he says.
Luffy doesn't say anything. His voice is solid, resolved-- and deep in contemplation. It's a stark difference from the jolly atmosphere from before, and Usopp hates it.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Frustrated, Usopp punches the wall. "I'm sorry. If only I saw this coming a little earlier and prepared instead of playing along--"
"No… this oversight was mine."
"Nami! Gin!" Luffy's eyes widen, running forward as they emerged from the alley. He takes over to shoulder Gin forward. "Hey, are you alright-- Ennosuke's hurt, too! Hey, Nine and Buff lady! Help them!"
Usopp looks up at the mention of Kinoko-- and his voice pulls toward Nami's.
Nami sees them-- and she winces terribly. "Igaram," she whispers, the horror seeping deeply into her voice. "Is he…?"
"He'll be fine," Miss Monday says, "but he's not waking any time soon." She then steps forward, walking past her to take Gin and lay him down so she could see his injuries.
"I'm fine. Weren't you trying to kill us just a while ago?"
"Yeah, things have changed. Stay down!"
Gin is almost too easily coaxed into getting treated, and Mister Nine scrambles quickly to get the bird into his arms.
All the stuff Kinoko used to wear was charred, bits stuck in fur and flesh. Nine winces, knowing it'll be tough-- but he's had to treat Carue's injuries before, so he knows how to go about this to some degree.
(This was all in all, a terrible situation. It was supposed to be quick-- slam some agents down, and run. There weren't supposed to be casualties like this.)
All of these injuries are from land mines around the area, but the perpetrator, Mister Five himself, is already taken down. This was a battle won but war lost, and Nami and Usopp only had themselves to blame.
(After making that confident proclamation to Vivi, this is what happens? What a joke.)
Her knees losing all energy, Nami falls to her knees, swearing under her breath.
"I'm sorry," she presses her hand into her face, "damn it, if we'd just-- if we'd just spent a moment taking this situation seriously, then this wouldn't have--"
"Nami!" Luffy interrupts, almost furious. "And Usopp too! You just listen, both of you."
When they turn to their captain, his eyes are wide and stern. Usopp couldn't see it-- but he felt it. The wave of something more authoritative than that, in the way Luffy always spoken to them in the most important of situations.
"A pirate doesn't regret what he's decided to do!" Luffy says, "so don't you dare feel guilty about any dumb thing!"
Somehow, they feel like they've heard this before.
So, so long ago-- at some point-- it was common sense to their cause. But Usopp and Nami had both forgotten it.
(Maybe that part of them died along with Luffy back then.)
(And here, Luffy was giving it back to them.)
"He's right," Gin says, already sitting up, to the ire of Miss Monday who was still trying to get the bandages around his shoulder. "Last I heard, this is the future Pirate King's ship," he says, gesturing in Luffy's direction. "If a dozen or two bombs are enough to take us down, we wouldn't be here."
(This is the ship of the future Pirate King.)
(We go forward, no matter what happens. You know that.)
(Remember it now, you idiots?)
Nami's smile is shaky, but it's not at all false. "Yeah," she says, picking herself up. "I guess I'm just being stupid. My bad."
When she looks at Usopp, there's that half-smile on his face as he buries his eyes behind his forearm with a dry laugh.
"Yeah. Sorry about that captain," he promises, feeling dumb all of a sudden for even being frustrated at something so superficial, "won't happen again."
(The crew may never understand the weight of the guilt that plagues Nami and Usopp.)
(This burden is theirs to carry and theirs to hold.)
A pirate doesn't linger on their regrets. They take them, haul them forward, no matter how many fingers they lose and how much blood they cough up on the way. They take everything in their lives and carry them onward, believing.
Usopp and Nami will have to learn how to do that all over again.
But really, everyone's learning. They're not alone.
(They're not alone anymore .)
Usopp cradles Kinoko in his lap, the bird's wings bandages and her breath shallow but stable. The ring hung around her other foot now-- the one it used to be on was broken, the poor girl-- the gold was a little charred, so he'll have to apologize to Kaya one day.
But Kinoko's alive. Igaram is alive. Everyone's a little battered, but they're alive.
And that's what matters the most now.
(Forget about everything else and just move on forward, because they will have time to cry when it's over, right? And then they'll have a banquet and they'll laugh, and things will move on. And the world will go on.)
(With everyone in it this time.)
"Nami-san!"
"Everyone!"
All attention turns as more people come by, the most unharmed of their group. It's great news, but not from their perspective.
Vivi comes in on Carue, Sanji right behind them. She gasps at the sight of her guard, "Igaram!" she runs forward, crouching down quickly, "Igaram!"
She doesn't touch him, in fear of hurting something0, anything.
"He'll be fine, Miss Wednesday. He's stable," Miss Monday assures her, finishing the wrap on Gin's injuries.
Vivi's shoulders ease a little-- but she bites her bottom lip, her demeanor strained.
"Nami-san! Are you okay, are you hurt?" Sanji says, quickly finding Nami first-- then his attention swirls.
"No, I'm fine," Nami says.
Usopp sighs. Then, with his best imitation of a deep tenor, he goes, "oh Usopp and Gin! Are you alright?" then back to his normal voice but in a happier pitch, "of course we are. Thanks for worrying."
Gin fixes him a judgemental look. Sanji's similar glare is unimpressed in all standards."If you can joke around, then I'll assume you're fine," Sanji concludes. He then finds Kinoko and cringes, "even the shitty bird got hit? She's not dead, right?"
"Nope."
Luffy laughs at that interaction. Then he notices the super spot-billed duck. "Ooh! Ennosuke got all big!" he exclaims, excited. Carue stares at him, completely offended.
"Luffy, Kinoko is over here," Usopp deadpans.
Luffy looks at Kinoko, then at Carue. Then at Kinoko, and at Carue again. Like he needs another moment, he looks at them again.
Then he realizes, like a genius, "Ennosuke's mom?!"
Nami smacks him right over the head, and Carue does so with his bird wing a second after that. Vivi watches them, and a resigned smile lifts her spirits just a little.
It was so ridiculous.
She holds Igaram's hand in hers, and holds it close to her face in prayer. He'll be fine-- he's breathing, he's alive-- he's injured, but it'll be alright.
Now, there's something more important to do.
"Please take care of him, Miss Monday and Mister Nine," she says. They look at her, and she lowers her head. "I'm so sorry it's come to this. And thank you so much for still helping us. We don't deserve your aid in the slightest."
To her surprise, they smile back at her.
"Well, we were going to be killed anyway, since we failed our mission," Mister Nine says. "I'd much rather go down helping you, you know?"
Miss Monday is much the same. "I owe Mister Eight a great deal from our starting days. This is barely enough to make up for all he's done for me."
Vivi feels like crying. How is it that these people, working for a criminal organisation, are making themselves sound like the best, most kind-hearted people she's ever met?
She sniffles, but wipes away the tears immediately.
"So you're Vivi right?" Luffy asks. When she nods, he hums in acknowledgement, "Well, I kinda promised the Chikuwa-Ossan that I'd take you home. It's what we were planning anyways, but we're serious about doing it this time, alright?"
He aims the last part at Gin particularly.
It's a clear callback to their previous conversation-- and Luffy was asking for his approval. No-- Luffy was asking for his acknowledgement, because he wasn't going to accept any form of a refusal now.
Gin shrugs. "I'm reduced to this, Captain," he says, making a show of all the bandages on him. "Go to hell if you think I'm running before I get them back tenfold."
"I already took down Mister Five, though," Nami reminds him.
"Then I'll take down whoever's higher up, obviously," Gin seethes.
Luffy grins at that. Looks like everyone's on board now, at least in the crew! Their aim now was clear-- they were going to bring Vivi to Alabasta, no matter what.
For some reason, when Vivi sees Luffy's smile, all her worries seem to fade to a back-burner in her mind.
She looks at Miss Monday, and then Mister Nine-- they're resolved, having nowhere else to go. Of course they would stay-- they would take care of Igaram. And they were, wordlessly, assuring her that Igaram would be safe in her hands.
Finally, she turns to the captain.
"I'll be counting on you, Luffy-san," she says. "And everyone else on the Straw Hat crew as well. I'll pay you back however you would need me to-- but please take me back to my kingdom."
She would go on without Igaram, because that is what she should be doing now.
The crew grins back at her, determination rising in their hearts. After being injured this far, there was no way they were going to go down without a fight.
"We're already targets, anyways," Nami says in a teasing manner, "if you still weren't willing, we'd have just kidnapped you!"
Vivi stares back in horror as the navigator giggles.
"Can we go now?" Gin asks, as if he isn't mortally wounded, "we're still being chased."
"Of course we're being chased, Gin," Usopp says. "We're leaving openly on purpose so they'll come after us. We're drawing them away from this island."
Because otherwise, they would attack Igaram. So they had to escape in haste and make them think all they had to pursue was Vivi. There's a great chance they think Igaram's dead, anyways. What better way to throw them off the rails?
"Since Gin looks medium rare now, I'll go steal a jacket somewhere. Gimme a second."
"Who did you just call medium rare you asshole?!"
"Ah Sanji-kun! Get some medical supplies too if you find any!"
"And sake, please."
"I only listen to Nami-san's orders. And since when were you a sake drinker, Usopp?"
"It's a painkiller. Don't overestimate my pain tolerance. The adrenaline is running out."
"Usopp, no."
"Well then Sanji-kun, no smoking either."
"Ehhhhh?!"
Luffy laughs at the crew's bickering in the background, and Vivi can't help but sigh. They were so nonchalant that it was frustrating, but she supposes it helped her calm down, so she couldn't even be mad.
"Ah, please take this," Vivi says, taking out a compass and setting it on the ground. "When Igaram awakens and becomes well enough to sail, he can use this to return to our country."
"Ohh, an Eternal Pose!" Mister Nine says, "I'll take care of it for sure."
"That won't be soon, though," Miss Monday says. "And how will you guys make it there?"
"It's fine, we'll follow the log. I've heard from Igaram before, that it should be just a few islands away," Vivi assures, "please make sure he's fully recovered."
(And hopefully, the war will be over by then, too.)
Luffy beams at that. "Chikuwa-Ossan's a strong guy, so he won't die from just this!" he says. "Hey Nami, can we go?"
Nami, who was in the middle of bickering over how recovering patients shouldn't drink sake and burn victims shouldn't be near cigarette smoke, gets distracted. "Oh right, the log is set, so we can set off any time!"
Luffy raises his hands happily.
"Alright men!" he declares, "time to set out!"
With a proclamation of agreement from all of them, and a fond look of slight envy from Miss Monday and Mister Nine, they get ready to go.
"We'll take Mister Eight to the safehouse," the two former Baroque Works agents say, turning toward the now-ruined town. "Godspeed, Miss Wednesday."
Vivi bows in gratitude once more. "You as well, Miss Monday and Mister Nine."
They turn around, and they walk away.
(They have nowhere else to go. That's the kind of organisation Baroque Works is, after all-- you don't run away, you work there, die there. There's no quits.)
(They failed, so there's no helping it. They would've lost their place someday.)
(But in hindsight, if Vivi was never an element of this situation, they would still be working, and succeeding. So Vivi's responsible for their failures, in a way.)
"If--" she speaks abruptly, desperation in her voice, "once all of this is over…"
Her voice is stuck in her throat. But she braves through it.
"Come to Alabasta, when the war ends," she tells them, the promise and authority seeping through her voice. "I will do everything in my power to repay this debt to you."
They face her, a confident smile on their faces.
"I'll hold you onto that, then," Miss Monday says.
Mister Nine cheekily adds, "a warm meal would be nice. You're a princess, so I expect one grand feast at our welcome!"
Vivi chuckles at that. It was so obnoxiously optimistic, but it was fine. As low as they were on the luck scale, there was nowhere to look but up.
"Consider it done," Vivi promises, more hopeful than anything she's had the liberty to say recently, "come on at any time. The gates of the palace will always be open for you."
Almost like a dam on the other side of the road had finally broken, they sob, running forward for a parting hug.
"Stay safe, alright?"
Vivi doesn't cry, but she holds them as close as her small arms can bring, and prays.
"Wait, where's Zoro?!"
Almost like whiplash, everyone synchronously realized that they were missing a member of their crew. No wonder the anchor wasn't raised. Where's Zoro?!
"Do we have time to go look for him?" Gin mutters defeatedly. He was sitting down by the stairs, too numb to move. Kinoko lay on his lap, because he's immobile and thus sentenced to bird perch duty.
"Can't we just leave him?" is Sanji's unheard input from the crow's nest.
"He's probably lost again," Nami sighs. She can't sense him anywhere at all-- where did Zoro go? Where even can he have possibly gone? And what the hell was he doing instead of coming back to the ship? "Usopp, can you find him with Haki?"
The sharpshooter makes a whining sound, "can't, I'm at my limit," he presses his face into the bow, seemingly in the midst of a very bad migraine.
Nami pinches the bridge of his nose. Guess they have to do this the slow way.
"Uhm, if possible," Vivi offers, "Carue can run really fast." The bird looks at her, scandalised at the aspect of being nominated for work.
Instead of taking that suggestion, Usopp beckons his captain over. "Luffy?"
"What?" Luffy looks over, along with every other curious head in the crew.
Usopp doesn't even look up as he points in a random direction toward the island. "Just run really hard that way," he says, "and keep yelling something."
Luffy blinks for a second. Then he jumps off the ledge, "okay!"
"Okay?!" Nami and Vivi echo at the same time.
But Luffy is gone in a whirlwind and a trail of dust, screaming "ZOROOOOOOO!!!!" as he went, "ZORO WHERE AREEEEEEEEEE YOUUUUUUUUUU?!"
Nami deadpans, very impressed, "well, that works."
Gin doesn't bother to retort. "What were you trying to do there?"
Usopp finally stretches and stands up, ready to face the world again as his headache dies down and he gets used to the dull throb. "Well, haven't you heard?" he says, exuding the air of more regality than he has any right to be, "the easiest way to find a lost child, is to become a lost child."
And he leaves that sentence there to explain itself.
Gin manages an exasperated, "ah."
Sanji makes a face. "It makes so little sense, that the unbelievability is exactly why it works."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Usopp returns.
"Well, you know what they say," Nami shrugs, resigned, "let the blind lead the blind and you'll find your way to Raftel and back."
Gin judges her very hard. "I have genuinely never heard of that idiom, Nami, and I do not want to understand what it means."
They already have no idea where the captain is. Look away for a second and he's already vanished, not even a speck in the distance. Usopp had told him to run in a vague direction, so why did he make turns?
"Huh? Luffy-san's not shouting anymore," Vivi notices, turning to the city.
Right on cue, Luffy's very loud screaming starts again. "EVERYOOOOONE!!! I FOUND ZOROOOOO!!"
Jaws drop.
"You are kidding," Gin denies reality.
Nami pinches the bridge of her nose for just another long minute. Then she turns away, deciding she'd rather not think about it.
Sanji, already tired of this, follows to help her as they begin to navigate along the cove.
Vivi and Carue, for one, are absolutely speechless.
"What are you guys waiting for? Go get him," Usopp says, "why do you think I told him to keep shouting? He doesn't know the way back."
"Oh hey, Ennosuke Mama!" Luffy greets as Carue finds them.
The spot-billed duck, seemingly at the end of his-- HIS-- patience for this awfully deliberate misnaming, smacks the captain right across the head and into the pavement.
"Ennosuke Mama?" Zoro echoes, confused.
They both flinch back when Carue hisses sharply, expressing his very specific feelings with large wing flaps and threats of a body slam that would probably hurt a lot more than Kinoko's ever did. The boys are not a fan of that idea.
"It's a huge Ennosuke!" Luffy explains.
"It's an ostrich," is Zoro's very confidently wrong statement. "They're like, cousins."
Carue, seemingly giving up on explanation in the rush, hurriedly points at the ship, which is already sailing away in the distance.
Luffy and Zoro gawks, "they're leaving without us!"
So they start sprinting again.
Carue, realizing they don't know he's here to be a steed, has to chase after them with an undignified squawk of 'you're not supposed to be faster than me?! HELLO?!' but in bird.
(Then a second later, Carue has to double back and grab Zoro because for some reason he turned left on a straight road.)
The next, furious part of the race is a loud and screaming mad dash for the ship between Luffy and Carue, who has Zoro in his beak. Like rabid animals, they just screech and run like there's nothing else they know how to do, at an abnormally equal pacing-- then they kick off the harbor and try to jump their way thirty feet onto the ship.
Obviously, they don't make it.
Bird and monkey (plus one Zoro along for the ride) smack right into the side of the hull, and in idiotic tandem, they fall into the sea.
Two minutes later there's a fuming, very annoyed Zoro on the deck as he drags two near-drowned cretins out of the water. There are little things that make him feel more humiliated in his life.
The crew's next trial is finding ways to stop Zoro from slicing them to utter bits.
"Move aside Nami I swear to hell gonna make bird stew out of it!"
"No Mosshead, you'll ruin the meat," Sanji says, "just butcher it. I'll do the cooking."
"We are NOT cooking Ennosuke Mama!" Luffy protests.
"His name is Carue, and he is not a mother bird!" Vivi corrects him, because that misnomer is really getting on Carue's nerves and she would like her bird to be respected, thank you very much.
"Emergency food supply," Gin offers vaguely, to which Carue makes offended noises.
And the banter goes on. Nami checks the log pose, wondering when would be a good time to tell them to cut it out so they can actually start adjusting things to start sailing toward their course.
She doesn't need to, though.
A new voice interrupts their atmosphere, speaking in a suave, feminine tone that sounds painfully familiar for her, and strangely foreign to the others.
"Try to watch out for the rocks on the way out. The fog makes it rather tricky to navigate, I hear."
All movement on the deck freezes.
Nico Robin smiles down at them from the ledge. "And of course, congratulations on your successful escape. I must say I'm rather impressed."
Nami thought she was prepared to see her again.
(She wasn't.)
Things only went wrong after Luffy's execution. There was a moment of peace, of course. Then chaos burned through the ropes that held the balance of the world, and everything began to turn.
(More than half of them were lost to the waves of the new era, and each step was only a bigger ripple in the endlessly growing madness of the world.)
(Countless times, Nami wondered if some being up above could just throw the rains over the sea for years, until the world was rid of life. That would be preferable, wouldn't it?)
The Strawhats all had places they wanted to be in.
Jinbei stood firm at the gates of Fishman Island; Zoro lingered in suburbs of Wano; Usopp led the troops of Elbaf; Robin planted the seed to a new Tree of Knowledge, and watched it grow with a tribe of people she had grown to love.
But in the new era, the existence of those that could read the Ponegylphs were even more of a threat than before. Needless to say-- they couldn't allow her to live.
Robin was burned, like a witch hunt.
The civilians of the very island she had proudly spoken of each time they were in contact-- the people she gave her very scarce love toward, and spent the last of her life with-- they were the ones to do the deed.
(Robin had probably seen that sort of ending to her life from the start.)
(Just like how Sanji never managed to escape the stigma of Germa-- some things will always haunt you, even if the nightmares have long gone away.)
The interaction with Miss All-Sunday is cathartic.
Nami finds herself listening. And listening-- and, for some reason, she didn't feel like she was there at all.
"She's Mister Zero's partner…"
"It's one hell of a pretty lady!"
"Huh? So she's a good guy?"
She was just listening, and things were happening, and she wasn't responding to it at all. Her eyes were fixed on the young and cheerful, carefully masked expressions on Robin's face, and Nami's breaths were suppressed by a pressurizing weight.
"Oh, so she's not a good guy."
"Miss All-Sunday! What a beautiful name."
"Sanji, be quiet. Someone get me my tonfas."
"Medium Rare should just sit down."
"Stop calling me that!"
"Miss All-Sunday… what are you planning?!"
"This sure is one lively crew, isn't it?" Miss All-Sunday chuckles at the sight. "Now, now… Miss Wednesday, it won't do for you to get so worked up. I don't come here on orders, nor do I have reasons to stop you here or fight."
Robin's smile was pulled firm, and yet it held no joy at all. Just the amusement of things going well or not, and the even stable look in her eyes that always meant she was internally calculating the advantages and disadvantages of a situation.
From all the time she's spent with Nami and all the time she spent screaming for Luffy from beyond the grave, she wants nothing but to run forward and engulf her in a hug.
(Hold her close and tell her to promise, emptily, that she'll never lose her place to be again. That she'll stay with her to the end of time and she will stick to that vow this time.)
(But Nami can't do that now.)
(She has to wait, again.)
A gun clicks behind Miss All-Sunday, and all eyes turn in horror to see Usopp, standing by the open door of the galley, a pistol pointed right at the woman's head.
Nami snaps back into reality.
They have no idea when the sniper got around them or where he acquired the gun, but there was genuine alarm in all of them, almost more so than for the intruder herself.
(If that had been anyone else before the barrel of the gun, would Usopp have hesitated?)
"Common pirate code has it that you should always ask for the captain's permission before you board a ship, miss," Usopp says. His finger isn't on the trigger, but the barrel is still aimed right at the back of her skull. "You've got terrible manners, if I might say. Don't you think so as well, Nami-kun?"
Nami is almost taken aback, then she realizes what he's doing.
(The deep, confident snark, just a step away from sarcasm-- and the honorific, of course-- those were plays of Sogeking.)
(Usopp, too, wanted nothing more than to have her by their side again. Like Nami-- he couldn't hold back. But in the off chance that this wasn't their Robin-- they could ruin everything forever. So they had to make sure, first.)
(And as always, turning to his alter ego was his way of acting strong.)
Miss All-Sunday, understandably, is entirely unimpressed.
"Would you mind not pointing such dangerous things at me?"
Usopp knew it was coming, but nothing could have prepared him for the way the gun was slapped out of his hands, soaring high into the sky and landing somewhere-- judging by the crunch of leaves-- in the midst of the tangerine trees.
And then, his arm is taken, bent-- and his feet leave the ground.
A moment of frightening vertigo, a horrifying loss of his bearings-- and Usopp crashes awkward and painful against the deck right by everyone else.
"A devil fruit!" Zoro realizes immediately.
"What sort of power is that?"
"It's not like Luffy's or that Marine's back in Loguetown…"
Nami is less concerned about those things. "Hey, Usopp!" she hurries over.
Usopp clambers quickly to his hands and feet, fearfully orienting himself with the horizontal line of the deck once again. He doesn't look up for a moment, having been completely thrown off his acclimatization.
"Ah my," Miss All-Sunday says, lightly surprised, "I was expecting you to break your fall. My apologies, I didn't mean to do that."
To anyone else, that would sound like the sarcastic snark of a witch.
(And perhaps, that isn't far from the truth at all.)
And Luffy doesn't take that lightly. "Hey!" he says, voice raised, "I don't know what you're trying to do or who even are you, but--"
He doesn't finish that sentence.
In the next moment, his hat lifts from his head, and flings over the air, landing smoothly in Miss All-Sunday's hands.
Something inside of him snaps, but he suppresses it, feet planted firmly on the ground as a glare tightens around his eyes. "Hey! Give that back!" he yells, fists tight against his side. "Are you trying to pick a fight?!"
"No, not at all," she says, contradictorily placing the straw hat on top of her own in jest. "In fact, I came to warn you. If you follow the direction of that Log Pose, you and your ragtag crew will never reach Alabasta. I won't have to do anything at all."
"Wha-- that's not true!" Vivi exclaims, "if we follow the log, we should reach Alabasta in due time. Even if the road is tough--"
"Tough won't be enough to describe the island just ahead of you," Miss All-Sunday tells her, amusement rising past her lips, "it's called 'Little Garden', and I'm sure you've heard of it."
She directs the last part specifically at Nami.
"Little Garden?" Vivi asks. She hasn't heard of that place at all.
"It doesn't sound so dangerous," Sanji says, "little and all."
"Somehow, I feel like I've heard of it before…" Gin mutters.
Nami stands up. Usopp holds her forearm in a way to get himself back to gravity, and he's careful as Nami hands him off to Sanji. The Navigator, hands on her hips, sets her eyes firmly on the woman above.
"Sure, I've heard of it. It's more trouble than it's worth taking now, so we'll definitely meet some trouble. We might even die," she says, to the horror of a few crew members who react loudly.
Luffy, however, fixed a stern eye on her. He's not afraid-- he's patient, waiting for her next words.
So Nami delivers, knocking a fist at her own chest. "But if we weren't prepared for that much, we wouldn't be pirates! One scary island or a dozen is nothing to be afraid of!"
She's well-rewarded by Luffy's responsive grin.
"Uhm Nami, I think I'll be scared of a dozen," Usopp supplies, to which Nami hisses at him to be quiet.
Gin sighs in the distance, and Zoro scoffs. Sanji is mere steps away from proclaiming his undying love once again-- but Vivi looks on, in awe.
(She doesn't think she'll ever stop being impressed by these pirates.)
Miss All-Sunday's expressions, just a little, mirrors Vivi's. Muted awe, a faint hint of doubt-- and a stunned demeanor. Unlike the princess however, she gathers herself, retrieving an Eternal Pose from her side.
"Well, here is a token for your rather daunting performance," she says. "A penny for your troubles. This leads to Nanimonai Island, located just two logs before Alabasta."
Vivi catches it with surprise. She hadn't heard of this island either, but if this was a shortcut-- then it was vital. They needed all the time they could get, after all.
She looks hopefully at Nami, who, upon catching her gaze, simply shrugs in a rather impartial manner.
(She's right-- Nanimonai Island, according to Nami's future charts, would only need one more checkpoint to reach Alabasta's waters. If they followed the Little Garden route, they would need a few more, not including the year it takes to even set from there.)
(But the objectively correct matters don't count here.)
Zoro hums. "Sounds like a trap."
"Like hell we can trust that," Gin hisses. "You have nothing to gain from giving us anything that could help us. For all we know that could just send us somewhere with more traps laid out than here."
"Oh, I wonder?" Miss All-Sunday challenges. "I'm sure the girl in the metal arm might have something to say about your doubts."
They click their tongues. Nami, for one, shrugs in defeat. She isn't wrong, after all, and she tells them all the same.
Vivi bites her bottom lip. Maybe they should eat their pride here and--
Luffy doesn't hesitate. Snatching the Eternal Pose from her, he makes a show of proving its position within his hand-- before shattering it.
As every other man on deck reacts with sheer aghast horror , Nami bursts into laughter. Usopp chuckles as well.
("Huh?! You broke the Eternal Pose to Raftel?!")
("Yeah, I did!")
"Wha--!! Luffy! What are you thinking?!" Sanji exclaims.
"It doesn't matter!" Luffy declares, his glare spinning forward and firmly burning into Miss All-Sunday's figure. "I'm the Captain of this ship-- don't for a second think that you have a right to decide our course!"
And it's just like the first time they've heard it. Well, for Nami, this felt like the first time, since she never really appreciated it the first time around.
His proclamation spills a warmth right into their chests, filling them with a bursting sense of joy that they can't help but reciprocate.
It's so addictive, and yet people wonder why they stay with him.
(Who wouldn't stay, really?)
"Well, I don't dislike bold men," Miss All-Sunday returns, highly amused. She takes the straw hat off her head and tosses it back toward Luffy, who catches it with controlled anger. "Let us meet again, then, if you should survive."
"I don't wanna!" Luffy says, annoyed.
And so, Miss All-Sunday leaves the ship, riding on the back of a large sea turtle as they casually make their way across the vigorous seas of the Grand Line.
"That woman… I have no idea what she's even thinking!" Vivi despairs. "She's so unpredictable, I"m just losing my mind!"
"Well, sounds like someone I know," Zoro scoffs.
Nami chuckles at that. "Well, it's probably a waste of time to try and think about it, then."
"Hey Nami, is Little Garden really dangerous?" Gin says, slowly sitting down again.
"Yeah, but the island itself shouldn't be a problem," Nami checks the Log Pose. "There's a copy of Brag Men in the women's room if you want a refresher."
"Brag Men? You mean, Louis Arnote?" Gin asks. Then it clicks. "Wait a second, that book only has logs of outrageous islands!"
Usopp nods, "that's why we call this the Grand Line, Gin!"
Gin stares for a moment before he slumps against the railing, "she was right. We're all going to die."
Usopp smiles, "now that's the spirit!"
Vivi, collapsing to her knees, breathes out in a conflicted mixture of relief and weak-kneed fear. "I… I'm sorry to have gotten you guys caught up in this. I've done nothing but cause trouble."
"We don't care about that, Vivi!" Nami grins at her. Shrugging in the general direction of Luffy, "look at our captain. It's the last thing on his mind."
Luffy huffs, not even registering the conversation as he makes his childishly angry way up the steps toward the galley. "It's morning! Sanji, food!" he demands.
"Right, right," Sanji says.
"Let's at least get out of the islands perimeters, everyone!" Nami announces, "don't forget that we're trying to lead them out of the island before we lose them."
"Aye Nami-swan! Heard that rubber bastard? Get the sails first."
"Ehhhhh?! Okay…"
Zoro sighs, leaning against the mast in a sort of resignation. "What a day," he mutters, looking as if he was ready to go right in for another nap.
Seemingly remembering something, he retrieves an object from his sash. It looks identical to the thing Luffy just destroyed, so do they not need this either?
(Hm? There's something written on it. Ala… ba…)
"Wait wait wait WAIT!"
Nami's sudden loud exclamation catches the entire ship off guard.
Zoro looks up, only to flinch back as Nami marches, wide eyed and stiltedly up to him like some sort of long-legged zombie.
Then she points, arms trembling so hard it's jumping, "wha-- ZORO!" Her hands, both of them, juts right out and grabs Zoro's with all the determination of a shrewd businessman finding an unheard-of antique.
(Zoro will deny that he flinched.)
"Where did you get this?!" Nami barks.
That's when the rest of the crew sees it, and they all let out similar exclamations of shock at it. "No way!" is Sanji, "is that a--?!"
"What is it?" Usopp asks, but no one answers him. "Guys, I'm blind," he reminds the air, to which no one replies again. A second later, he mutters defeatedly, "okay then I'll just stay here and be confused. Don't worry about me."
"What are you so heated up for?!" Zoro exclaims defensively, absolutely not because Nami is freaking him out. "I fought some bird on the roof and it dropped it! That good enough an explanation for you?"
"Yes you absolute glorious bastard," Nami grounds out, in the most impressed sailor slang Usopp has ever heard her use. It sounds more like something Sanji would say. "Consider this half of your debt to me paid."
"Huh?" Zoro doesn't think he heard it properly. "HUH?!"
And she takes the object from him, happily showing it off to Vivi, "look! Zoro found us an Eternal Pose to Alabasta!"
"Woooah!" Luffy exclaims, awfully impressed.
"The stray moss actually did something useful?!" because Sanji obviously sees this as a chance to pick a fight.
"Wait, WHAT?!" Usopp yells, equally confused and shocked all at once. "An Eternal Pose to-- wait, what?!"
"You are kidding," Gin hisses to the background. "What the everloving fuck kind of luck is this crew blessed with?'
Vivi, however, is tearfully over the moon. "I can't believe this! We can make it to Alabasta after all…"
"Seriously, why didn't you take this out earlier?" Nami asks, though she's not expecting an answer. "Now we've got our route problem fixed! All that's left is to lose our pursuers, and we can head straight to Vivi's home!"
"YEAH!"
It was splendid news.
"Wait, how are we going to lose them?" Usopp asks. "They can't know that we have the Eternal Pose, right? They'd just head straight to Alabasta if they knew."
"Yeah, we have to actually defeat them or we'll never get anywhere," Sanji sighs. "Not here though. Too many bombs."
Vivi nods. This would be an away game for them. "And they'll be sending stronger agents after us, too." Making a chase would give them time to convene, but would also give us time to recover. "We can't just head straight for Alabasta-- we'll be surrounded and outnumbered instantly."
(Even last time around, they only made it there safely because Sanji did something to throw them off their rails. If they skip Little Garden, none of that can happen.)
"Obviously, we're going to go to the next island and confront them there!" Luffy declares. "We're following the log, everyone!"
Terror befalls the ship for, not counting anymore how many times that hour, Gin's a second away from fainting and he's not sure if it's just the pain of his wounds anymore.
"But we just found a way to avoid going there!"
"Isn't it like, super dangerous? We might die!"
"So?" Luffy challenges, "it smells like adventure. Let's go!"
"I give up…"
Nami punctuates with a loud laugh. "Well, you heard our captain!" she says, taking the Eternal Pose and setting it aside.
"Captain's orders!" Luffy declares, almost cheekily at this point. Everyone despairs, but the smiles that grace their faces right after is fond, even from Gin.
Vivi finds herself joining in the resigned smiles as well, if only out of exasperation than anything else. Maybe just a little, she found herself enjoying the madness of the situation, too.
(And that was fine.)
Usopp leans against the mast, and the ease in his shoulders is strained, but full of fondness. The words escape him like a breath after a run, his head tilting just a little in Nami's direction, his haki curling toward her almost needily.
"Terrible, isn't he?"
Nami looks over, and her eyes soften in an almost bittersweet way.
"No," she says, the words they both had been starved for, yet probably won't have the chance to hear much of ever again. "He's the worst."
("I'm here with you.")
(And though it's hard to remember sometimes, everyone else is with you, too.)