Chapter 11 – Vivi's Nakama
Ace traveled with his brother's pirate crew for about three days. He helped them fight all sorts of horrible, huge monsters. Giant scorpions and monster lizards that Vivi said were the biggest reptiles in the world were just two of them. He endured Luffy's and Usopp's whining along with the rest of the crew. And most of all, he kept Princess Vivi company.
Nami was very happy that she had found someone else. It wasn't really that obvious to the crew. In fact, Nami thought she was the only one who knew, and she was right. She noticed how Ace told Vivi jokes, and how she laughed at every single one of them; she noticed how Vivi held onto him in fright whenever giant desert monsters attacked them; she noticed how Ace acted truly concerned about Vivi's worries about Arabasta. They had stopped at a town that was basically reduced to rubble. Vivi had found the skull of a dead Arabastan. Ace had then kind-heartedly helped her bury it. His gentle kindness had made Vivi hold back her tears. Also, during their third night together, Nami peeped out of her tent to see Ace and Vivi kissing by the fireside. To Nami, that was the truly dead giveaway.
However, Nami had it all wrong. Well, not completely. She was right about how Vivi felt, but wrong about how Ace felt.
The Straw Hats found a weird man while traveling across the harsh desert. He was a self-proclaimed bounty hunter, and he swore that he would defeat Ace. Ace surprised the crew by telling them that this bounty hunter, Scorpion, was the man he was looking for. Apparently, Scorpion had defeated Blackbeard, the traitor Ace said he was after in Arabasta. Ace was actually looking for this bounty hunter to see if it was true. It wasn't. Blackbeard was not in Arabasta.
Portgas D. Ace looked at Luffy and his crew with a sad smile on his face. "Well, Blackbeard isn't here... so I have to leave now."
Everyone nodded; they all knew it was coming. Well, everyone except for Vivi. Her eyes went wide. "No!" she exclaimed. "D-Don't go! Come stop the Rebel Army with us! At least stay with us for that long!"
Ace smirked. "Stopping the Rebel Army is not the answer... but that's not my problem." He turned. "Take care of my brother for me, okay guys?"
But Vivi was determined to prevent Ace from leaving. She didn't even care if she had to confess her love for him in front of everyone. She ran towards him and flung her arms around him. The Straw Hats looked on in surprise. Nami suppressed a grin.
"I think I love you, Ace... Please, don't go."
Now Ace was at a loss for words. He just looked down at her in shock. "What? What are you talking about?" He backed away from her. "W-What are you talking about?" she whispered. "I... That kiss... I mean... I thought..."
Ace couldn't believe it. He was wrong about her; she was definitely not like all the girls he had ever known. He thought back to all the other girls who played with him like this... He always knew that girls just liked him for his looks. None of them ever seemed to want to get to know him, and yet they would always act like they were going out with him. Ace remembered several occasions where he had intimate moments like his kiss with Vivi. He was always sure they weren't serious.
Even though it hurt him deep down, Ace had always played along with these girls. If they wanted to flirt with him so badly, why not make them happy? Ace shook his head as Vivi hugged him again. How come this girl was different?
"You... you love me?" he said quietly. "For... who I am?" Ace inwardly winced as he realized how awkward that must have sounded.
Vivi looked up at him in surprise. "Of course. Why do you sound so surprised?" "Nothing," he replied calmly. "Forget it. It's a long story." And with that he kissed her. Their kiss was very passionate; they did not even care that the entire Straw Hat Crew was watching them with shocked expressions on their faces. Ace and Vivi finally broke apart.
"So... does this mean you love me back?" she asked hopefully.
Ace sighed and turned away from her. "Honestly, Vivi... I don't know. But I do know this: I have to go, no matter what." She gasped. "No..." she whispered.
"Yes," he responded. "I have to hunt down Blackbeard. The sooner he lays dead at my feet, the better." He grinned. "Perhaps I can come visit you whenever I am not busy."
Vivi fought back her tears as she nodded. "Yes... I would like that..."
Ace turned to look at the Straw Hat Crew again. "All right, bye guys," he said, waving cheerfully. They were about to give him a farewell back, but a loud noise to their left diverted their attention. Luffy looked back to say bye to Ace... but he was gone.
Nami walked up to Luffy and put a hand on his shoulder. He shivered uncontrollably at her touch. "It's okay, baby," she whispered. "We'll see him again, I know it." Luffy nodded solemnly. "Yeah, you're right as usual, Nami."
The Straw Hats were struggling against the brutal desert. They needed to reach Katorea. They needed to get there in time to stop Vivi's childhood friend Kohza and his Rebel Army from attacking the Royal Army. They were all convinced that this was the best course of action to take, that this had to come before hunting down Crocodile. The sense of urgency in the air was almost thick enough to cut with a knife.
They all truly believed it was what they had to do... until that faithful day.
They were trudging along as usual, Luffy and Usopp fighting over water as usual. After a little while, they walked past a palm tree.
Usopp was the first to notice that Luffy was no longer with them.
They turned around to see him sitting down and resting his back on the trunk of the palm tree. His face was hidden in the shadow of his straw hat.
"Oi, Luffy!" called Usopp. "What the hell are you doing?" Vivi looked at Luffy. "L-Luffy-san? What's wrong?" she asked tentatively. Luffy stayed silent for a moment as he sighed in what seemed to be an angry manner. He responded...
"I quit."
"Huh?" they all chorused.
Vivi stepped forward. "What do you mean?" she asked, confused. Usopp sighed in exasperation. "Luffy, we don't have time for your little episodes right now. Get up." "We are going back, aren't we?" Chopper asked. "Damn straight we are!" Sanji answered heatedly. "We're going back to Katorea. We're going to stop that shitty Rebel Army!" He inhaled angrily. "If a million people of this country clash," he yelled, "it's all over! Get it? This is for Vivi-chan." He walked over to Luffy and grabbed the front of his shirt. "So get up, Luffy. We're going."
"Don't care," said the captain stubbornly as he hit Sanji away from him. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?" Sanji screamed. Luffy closed his eyes for a few long seconds. He opened them again with a deadly serious expression on his face.
"Vivi," he said darkly. "Yes?" she replied politely. "I want to beat the crap out of Crocodile!" She flinched at his loud and angry voice. His voice softened up a bit. "If we stop all those rebels, will Crocodile stop? Even if we reach Katorea, there's nothing we can do. We're pirates. You're better off going there without us."
The Crew was surprised yet again. "That senseless idiot can sure make a good point sometimes," Sanji admitted. "Yeah, Luffy can be really surprising sometimes," Usopp agreed.
"That- that isn't-" Vivi started to stutter. Luffy interrupted her. "All you want is for no one to die in this battle. Not the people of Arabasta. Not any of us. You're taking on a Shichibukai! Millions of your people are preparing to fight in that battle." Luffy paused. "And all you want is for no one to get hurt," he scoffed. "Aren't you just fooling yourself?"
At that point, Vivi was trembling with anger. She stormed up to Luffy. "And what's wrong with that?" she demanded angrily. "What's wrong with not wanting people to die!"
Luffy closed his eyes again. "People die," he responded calmly.
Vivi snapped. She still hadn't really recovered from her shock with Ace, and this... this argument was too much for her. How could Luffy push her like this? Was she seeing his true, uncaring nature? Well, it was about time for her to show him her uncaring nature... She drew her hand back and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. The force of the blow sent Luffy flying in the air a few feet before painfully hitting the ground. "Stop talking like that!" she yelled. "I'll never let you say that again! Death is what we're trying to prevent here!" She shook her head angrily. "It's no one's fault. Not the Rebel Army's fault... Not the Royal Army's fault... No one in this country is at fault. So why should anyone have to die!" Her face became contorted with rage. "It's all Crocodile's fault!"
Luffy got up with a grunt, scowling at Vivi rather viciously. He seemed to forget whom he was arguing with. Anger pushed all rational thought out of his mind, leaving only enough room for his instincts. He lunged at her and punched her full in the face. Usopp and Sanji yelled angrily at their captain for this; clearly, in their minds, he had gone too far. He ignored them. "Then why are you risking your life?" he yelled very loudly. She jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. "What needs to be done... in this country..." Luffy struggled to say as she started hitting him, "is clear... even to me!" "WHAT OF IT?" she screamed as she repeatedly punched and slapped Luffy in the face. "You think risking your one life is enough?" he demanded angrily through a bleeding nose. She kept hitting him as she responded, "Then what am I supposed to risk!" Luffy grabbed Vivi's hands to stop her from hitting him anymore. She relaxed and almost collapsed on top of Luffy. An expression of intense sadness and hopelessness crossed her face. "I have nothing else to risk..." she whispered helplessly.
Luffy growled angrily and threw her off of him. "Try risking our lives along with yours! WE'RE YOUR NAKAMA!"
Her eyes went wide with shock. She inhales sharply and covered her mouth with the palm of her hand. Tears started flowing down her face and over her hand. Luffy walked over to her as the tears started to flow. He stroked her cheek gently, wiping away some of the tears. "We are your nakama, right?" he asked gently. She started really crying. She sobbed uncontrollably. He smiled. "What?" he said. "So it turns out... you do cry."
"Oh, Luffy!" she wailed. She flung her arms around him and sobbed hard into his shoulder. He awkwardly patted her head. "It's okay now..."
He got up. She stopped crying. She looked at him with silent tears still flowing down her face. She and the rest of the Crew watched him somewhat expectantly. He picked up his straw hat, which had fallen off during his and Vivi's fight, dusted it off, put it on his head, and pulled it down low to cover his eyes in shadow.
"Vivi... just tell me where Crocodile is. Just point me in the right direction. I'll put a real stop to this bullshit! I'm gonna kick Crocodile's ass into next week! The bastard's as good as dead! Now, tell me where he's hiding."
Hey. I am really sorry about how fast I made Vivi's and Ace's relationship develop, but I just didn't want to have to build up to it, you know what I mean? I mean, it makes perfect sense for a sensible girl like her to fall in love with a sincere guy like Ace, do you not agree? P Anyway... two things I want to pint out. One, it does not seem my Internet access is limited after all. Yay! And two, I said I would have lime content in the last chapter or this one. As you can see, there is no lime in either one. But fear not! There will still be the promised lime in this fic! But who will be in it? Read on find to find out... And also, I have found that a good number of reviews encourages me to work on chapters faster. ; ) So, please, if you took the time to read this, it should be common courtesy to take the very short time it takes to review. You would not believe the number of hits I have... (rambles on) lol
