Resonating Words

The bright sun was setting in the distance, illuminating every sand dune so that they glowed a bright golden color. The few white clouds that remained in the sky stood out against the ombre mesh of dark shades of magenta, fuschia, and red. The extreme temperature began to tame as it readied itself for the extremely chilly nights.

Leaving a completely delusional and hallucinating Luffy to the weary newly recruited reindeer and the poor blackmailed swordsman, Nami and the others continued on with their endless trip, trusting the three to reunite with them somehow.

Their original plan had been to wait for them once they found a cool place to rest, much to Usopp's excitement. After stopping at some ancient ruins, Vivi had deducted that from that checkpoint, Yuba was only a few hours walk away and they would arrive by night.

"Usopp, you're falling behind." Sanji mercilessly said as he watched the sniper trudge on with shaky legs. The only thing keeping him upright was the large walking stick he had picked up and continued to use since the first day of traveling through the desert. "What happened to showing how gutsy you are?"

"Huh?" He lifted his tired head up. "I only said that out of spirit." He truthfully spoke with his mouth wide open so his tongue could hang out.

"Hang in there! Just a little further!" Nami comforted from atop Lashes, feet ahead of both Sanji and especially Usopp. Her vision went from the burning sun that seemed several times larger on the horizon than it did when its entirety could be seen in the sky to the back of Vivi's head.

"Still worried?" Without missing a beat, she whirled her head around to look at Nami's face. The smirk she wore on her face wasn't pert or cheeky, it was sincere and comforting.

"Oh… no," She said in a quiet voice, though she couldn't hide the dismality that tinged her words.

"It's written all over your face"

"I'm sorry" Vivi lowered her head to dejectedly look at her feet as they delicately swung with each step the camel took. "I do have faith in them, but…"

"I guess you'll never get over being a worrier." Nami turned her head back to look at the miles upon miles of sand ahead. She let out a brief yet relieved sigh "But that has its good points too". Her friendly words eased her worries slightly and gave her the confidence to look back at Nami.

"You people are amazing" The pale princess complimented out of the blue.

"Eh?"

"I've felt that way ever since Little Garden. How can you have so much faith in your friends?"

"How..?" Nami repeated, wondering the same thing. "It's not something I'm conscious of. I've never even thought about it."

"That's what's amazing! Having unconditional faith in someone. That's not very easy to have" She said in awe. Vivi didn't need to point that out. Upon first meeting Luffy, she was skeptical about everything about the confident straw-hatted boy. Even after having complete confidence in his ability to get over every obstacle that came in his way, he was still a complete mystery to her.

"Hmm. I'm not really sure, but maybe it's because we all do what we can as best as we can?" Even without looking back, she could tell Vivi's curiosity was rising. "A while back, he said something on the island I lived on." She thought back to the day where her marvel of a captain defeated Arlong and completely freed her. She thought back warmly to that moment and retold it all to Vivi.

"I don't know how to use swords, you bastard!" Luffy angrily shouted as he looked over Arlong's collapsed body that quivered in pain. "I don't know how to navigate either! I can't cook! And I can't tell lies!"

"Oi" Usopp deadpanned and smacked the air at the lack of acknowledgment of his own sniping skills.

"I know I can't live without help from others!"

The princess's eyes widened in surprise. To hear that Luffy had said something so profound shocked her speechless.

"I remember those words very well…" The mellow smile on her face disappeared into a focused stare as she continued to inwardly recall the event, his words looping through her head. They resonated with her. "I thought, 'Oh, this is how these pirates are…' Alone, there's a limit to your strength. Sometimes things you really want to do are too much for one person. You need friends. But it amounts to nothing if those friends don't do everything they can."

It wasn't until she explained his words to Vivi that she truly understood what he meant. Before meeting him, she would have never even considered relying on others as an option- after all, there was no one to trust but herself- but he was the one to save her and most importantly…

"Whoops! Sorry that wasn't an answer!" Nami said. Vivi shook her head though.

"Thank you" Vivi simply said with a smile.

"I can't seem to keep my thoughts straight in this heat!" The navigator heartily chuckled an awkward laugh to fill the silence.

Nami felt a light tap on her shoulder and directed her attention to Luffy who happily bounced up and down with a bright smile on his face that seemed to shine brighter than the golden sun behind him. His cavorting brought a small smile to her face.

…free her.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please R&R!

Nami4Life:

Personally, I don't see Sanji as "sad". Of course, Luffy is the reason both he and Nami are still alive, but that's just how the crew is. It's like they say, old habits die hard.

forgottensongs:

Thank you so much for your review, I love your fics and your review really gave me tons of motivation to write this chapter. Since I don't exactly love the Alabasta arc, I've been struggling to go through it.