It had been another eventful day in Albana. Princess Vivi leaned her back against the door to her chambers as she closed it behind her. After a whole day of standing by her father's side while the King sent messengers to all the cities in Alabasta with news about the rebuilding of the country, she wanted nothing but to get some time to herself. Merely four days had passed since Luffy's battle against Sir Crocodile, and yet so much had happened in this time.
Releasing her long blue hair from the ponytail, she rubbed her neck and walked through the room towards her dressing table. She sat down in front of the large, ornamented mirror, looking at her own reflection and almost flinching as she saw the worried look in her own eyes. No wonder the messengers had looked at her like that. Even when she tried to smile, she still looked like her whole world was about to fall apart. Which, in a way, was true.
Sighing, Vivi leaned her face in her hands. She had expected the numbing feeling of bottomless despair to ease once Alabasta was free from Crocodile's tyranny. But it still wouldn't give in, and she knew exactly why it was still clinging to her like a leech. The only trace of the reason to her steadily increasing worry was lying on her bed at the other end of the room. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Vivi got up from the dressing table and slowly walked across the room. When she reached her bed, she crawled up to sit in the middle of it, holding the precious item that caused her so much despair tightly in her hands.
On a stack of pillows next to the bed, Vivi's best friend was sleeping, his spotted bill tucked beneath one of his wings. When Vivi climbed up onto her bed, Carue looked up, blinking sleepily in the still bright daylight. He slowly crawled down from his stack of pillows, shook his feathers and quacked softly to get his friend's attention.
Vivi looked up as she heard the quacking, and she smiled towards Carue, patting a spot next to her on the covers of the bed. As the duck jumped up on the bed and carefully walked over to her, Vivi put her arm around his thin neck, hugging him tightly.
"Oh, Carue…" she said, holding back a quiet sob. "I don't know what to do."
The scene that had taken place a little more than three days earlier flashed before her eyes again. She could see the small guard patrol coming in through the doors to the palace and the troubled look on the sergeant's face as he held up the old straw hat, presenting it as the only trace they had found of the pirate clan that had saved their country. She remembered the sinking feeling of her hope fading as the guards told the King about the Marines who had been seen escorting six odd-looking people out from the town in chains. Later news also confirmed this, plus adding more information about a pirate ship that had been seen getting towed away from the island by the Marines.
Sobbing, Vivi curled up next to Carue, her arms still tightly wrapped around the duck's neck. She smiled weakly as she felt a pair of feathery wings being wrapped around her.
"Please make them be alright…" she whispered, letting her tears trickle down her cheeks. "Don't let anything bad happen to my friends…"
The sound of running steps in the corridor outside her room reached the princess' ears and she looked up just as there was a knock on her door. Blinking, she wiped the tears from her eyes and hurried to crawl off her bed. Quickly walking to stand in the middle of the room, she took deep breaths to calm herself down. A princess shouldn't be seen crying in front of her people.
"Come in." she said, surprising herself by sounding perfectly calm.
Vivi jumped as the door was slammed open. In the blink of an eye, Carue was by her side, shielding her from any possible threat. But the man standing in the doorway wasn't threatening at all. He was leaning against one of the doorposts, trying to catch his breath as he held out a sand-coloured envelope towards the princess. His long, serious face was glazed with sweat and his normally neat curly hair was messy.
"Vivi-sama…" he finally managed to say between gasps that rattled in his chest. "Thrh…" A cough followed by a breathless scale to adjust his voice. "This… just came for you… The messenger-bird is waiting… for you to send a… reply… I believe this is impohrrtant…" Another cough, followed by deep, rattling breaths.
Vivi stared at the letter and hurried over to the breathless man to take the envelope from him. At first she couldn't do anything but stare at the envelope in her hands, and her body started to tremble so bad that she sank down to the floor. She could have recognized the handwriting in which her name and the name of her kingdom was written anywhere. The same neat handwriting had been used to create so many detailed maps over different islands inside the lounge aboard the Going Merry. Down in the bottom left corner, a small caricature of a straw hat-clad skull overlapping a pair of crossed bones was drawn with a drawing style that was all too familiar.
Ripping the envelope open, she pulled out the letter and unfolded it. Her hands were shaking when she looked at the letter, but the shaking eased when she looked at the many caricatures that were drawn in the margins. In the top left corner was a very detailed sketch of the Going Merry, and when Vivi looked closer, she could see seven tiny characters aboard the ship, apparently celebrating. She immediately recognized the six members of the Straw Hat clan, but when she recognized the female character who was standing by the prow of the ship, she couldn't help but blink in confusion. It looked like… But it couldn't be, why would Miss All Sunday be aboard the Going Merry?
"Vivi-sama… What does it say?"
Vivi looked up from the letter. The concerned tone in the man's voice made her decide to look closer at the drawings later.
"Close the door and sit down to rest, Igaram-san," she said. "I'll read it to you."
Vivi smiled as Igaram hesitated before sitting down on the floor in front of her. Feeling Carue settling down to her right, Vivi started reading the letter.
Dear Vivi – or should I write Princess Vivi? It sounds so formal, so I think I'll stick with Vivi.
Anyway, this is Nami writing on behalf of the Straw Hat clan, to let you know that you don't have to
worry about us anymore. We wanted to tell you that in person, but we're unfortunately sailing away
from Alabasta now, because of the Marines and their newly established base in Albana.
I'm sure that you've heard about the Marines capturing us after the war ended, and I'm sad to say that
it is true. But we managed to escape, thanks to our stubbornness, and the super-strong monsters that
make up the majority of our clan.
We're all pretty tired, even if I think that Zoro and Sanji rather would go back and have another fight
with the marines than to admit it, but Luffy is the only one who haven't recovered completely yet. He's
been having a high fever ever since his fight against Crocodile, and Chopper has admitted that there
were times when he thought that our captain wasn't going to survive. That's a scary thought.
Around noon today, Luffy's fever was finally gone and he came out on the main deck, demanding food.
He still seem like he's pretty dazed by the fever. When I'm writing this, he has been sitting on the figure-
head for almost four hours without moving an inch. His hat was lost somewhere during his fight with
Crocodile, but he hasn't even asked about it yet.
There was one episode - about four hours ago – where he seemed to slip out of the daze, but the only
thing he did was hitting Zoro for telling him that we weren't going to Alabasta to pick you up. I don't
know how Zoro could remain so calm after something like that, but all he did was to tell Luffy that it
didn't matter how upset he was, it wouldn't make us go back to Alabasta.
It might sound strange, but we might not have been so lucky to get away from the Marine base so
quickly if it hadn't been for Bon Clay. He guarded the Going Merry for almost three days, posing as a
Marine soldier. It makes me wonder what he had done if we hadn't been able to escape.
We also got ourselves a new nakama, as Luffy would put it, but you probably wouldn't believe me if I
told you who she is.
Vivi stopped reading. She stared at the last sentence for a short moment before looking up from the letter. A new nakama? Then… Miss All Sunday? When Vivi thought about it, her father had told her that the woman had had the antidote for the poison Luffy had been infected with. Shaking her head lightly, she turned her eyes back to the letter and continued reading.
Except for Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were the ones to sustain the most injuries. Those two are real injury-
magnets. Zoro must have lost at least half the blood in his body and Sanji ran around –and is still
walking around - on two broken feet. Poor Chopper has been wearing himself out while trying to keep
Sanji from running around too much and Zoro from working out, even if our little doctor also was
injured during our escape.
Usopp was shot twice during our escape, once in the left arm and once in the right shoulder and he
seemed to suffer from a smaller shock the first hours after we set sail. But when the shock eased, he was
back up on deck, telling new stories to keep Chopper's mood up, so I think he's recovering just fine.
And about myself… Well, I hurt my leg in a fight in Albana, but Chopper has given me some kind of
medicine that he claims is going to make my injury heal faster. So far, it seems like it is working,
because the pain is almost gone, but it's also making me a bit tired. I just hope that I won't fall asleep
while writing.
I was going to tell you more about our escape, but I think that'll have to wait until everything settles
down a bit, and when the Marines aren't hovering about in Alabasta anymore.
Here, Vivi noticed that the ink had been a little smudged, and she wondered if Nami really had fallen asleep over the letter. The next paragraph was a lot neater, almost as if Nami had found new energy to write again. The tone behind the words was also a lot happier.
I think I dozed off there for a little while, but when I woke up, Luffy was sitting here next to me and he
seems to be back to normal again. He wants me to tell you that you'll always be our nakama, even if he
really wants you to give up your place as a princess and come with us. Oh, and he wants me to ask you if
anyone has found his hat, because he wants it back. He can't be Luffy with the Straw Hat without a hat,
now can he?
We still have the Eternal Post to Alabasta, so we'll come by some day, and when we get there, we'll be
expecting a royal feast. Until then, do try to stay out of trouble. We can't come and save you, princess,
no matter how much we would want to. Say hi and thanks you to Eyelash, Carue and all the other brave
animals who helped us
Below that, 'You are my nakama - Monkey D Luffy' was writing with large, bold letters, followed by five other signatures.
'You're worth more than all the Belli in the world – Nami'
'My beloved Vivi-chan, you'll always have my heart – Sanji'
'To protect others, you need to be able to protect yourself. You fight well, princess. – Lolonoa Zoro'
Below the signature made with the swordsman's jagged handwriting was a small note made with Sanji's neat hand.
'Impressive, I didn't know you could write, Zoro.'
That note was followed by another note with Zoro's handwriting.
'Funny, I was just about to say the same about you.'
Then, there were some inkblots staining the paper, and Vivi was pretty certain that they were traces of Nami putting a stop to the unfolding argument. The princess giggled as she pictured the orange-haired navigator knocking the swordsman and cook senseless for what had to be the eight-thousandth time. She was pretty sure that the written argument had been staged to let her know that her friends were going to be alright, but it didn't matter. Now she could just read the letter to remember the time she spent aboard the pirate ship. A few centimetres below the largest inkblots, the two last signatures were written. The first one was made with a slanted handwriting, and the second was very round and carefully written, like a prescription for medicine.
'Good luck with rebuilding your kingdom, Vivi. Did I ever tell you about the time when I helped to
rebuild the Diamond City? Well, I'll tell you about that the next time I'll see you. - Usopp'
'I wish I could have come to Alabasta and learn about your medicine. I'll miss you, Vivi, and Carue as well. – TonyTony Chopper'
Vivi looked at the small caricatures that decorated the margins of the letter. Judging by the many details, Usopp seemed to have put down a lot of work in each of the small sketches. There were pictures of Usopp and Chopper fighting a huge mole, seven people wearing cloaks while riding on giant ducks over the dunes of the desert and Zoro and Sanji arguing about who took down the most Marines during their escape. Down in the lower right corner, a symbol caught her eye.
Once a pirate
X
Always a pirate
Folding the letter and tucking it into the envelope, Vivi smiled and got up from the floor. She wasn't feeling worried anymore. The bottomless despair that had been clinging to her so desperate had vanished. Turning to the curly-haired man, the princess couldn't hide her excitement as she bounced lightly in front of him.
"Igaram-san, would you be so kind and tell the messenger-bird that I will send a reply as soon as possible? And tell him that the reply will include a package. We have to send the hat to its rightful owner."
Igaram bowed lightly and smiled, clearly relieved to have learnt that the real heroes who saved Alabasta were safe. He got up from the floor, brushing some dust off his robes before he turned to walk towards the door.
"I will take care of it immediately, Vivi-sama."
Vivi looked up, suddenly remembering the other crewmembers. She raised her hand towards Igaram, who was just walking out through the door.
"Igaram-san, wait. Can you take some other messages as well?"
"Of course. What are the messages?"
A few minutes later, Igaram walked out from the princess' room, repeating the messages to himself so that he wouldn't forget them. He had to tell the messenger-bird that a reply would be sent as soon as possible, and ask if the bird could take a package along with the reply. Then he was to tell his wife to make copies of her best recipes and to pack some of Alabasta's finest spices in small bags. Then he was to ask the doctors of Albana to write down different ways of treating poison and heat-related illnesses. And finally, he had to find a box to put all the different items in. The day is just getting better and better, he thought to himself as he hurried down the corridor to fulfil his mission.
Owari – End
Heh, I must have been tired when I uploaded this chapter, since I forgot to include an author's comment here in the end. I want to thank everyone who have read and reviewed this story, I've really enjoyed writing this and I hope that you've enjoyed reading it at least a little.
I'm going to rewrite and repost the first chapters to try to make them more detailed and to fix some details that are wrong, but other than that, this story is now complete. Thank you again.
