Chapter 14 – Dealing With The Pain

A little warning before we start: there is some lime in this chapter. Can you guess who it will be between? Lol.

Rap-Masta- Yeah, I know it is really obvious, but we rebels do not really care. : )

Wild Gamer- She will join at the end of the story. And I will send you an email explaining the best way to get One Piece episodes. That is, if you have not figured it out already. : P

karen12- Whew! I am relieved. I was hoping that was what people were thinking about the spoilers. You cannot really tell, can you? And as for Zoro/Tashigi... not until the sequel. ; )

Enula- Oh, cool, how was your vacation? And thanks for all the compliments!

Realsmartz- Yay! I feel proud! I have inspired you! Lol, glad to hear it. ;)

Dust-in- Do not worry... You will see soon enough...

Aztec Goddess- Yes, it is! You read my mind! Lol. No, I know it was really obvious. Trust me, if I wanted to truly surprise the readers, I would. But I do not see a need to yet!

Lipana- Yeah, I know, but I just did not feel like going into that. Plus, it would be just more unnecessary spoiling for those who still want to read this. : P

sara haruko takenouchi kamiya- Yeah, I really hope it ends well, too! Thanks for having so much faith in me!



"W-what are you doing here...?"

"I told you I would come visit you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, when you weren't busy... Wait! Does that mean... you found Blackbeard?"

"No, but I found another clue, and it just so happens that following it made me come past this island again..." said Ace, finally turning around to look at her. He had had his back to her until now. His freckled face broke out into a big, almost arrogant grin. "Miss me?"

Vivi turned her face away. "Well, yeah. We have all missed you, especially Luffy."

Ace chuckled. "You know what I mean."

Vivi sighed and looked at him again. His smile faded when he saw the grave expression on her face. He had expected her to be overjoyed to see him... "Come on," she said. "I have to get changed. Walk with me to my room."

The two of them started walking to her room wordlessly. Ace walked close behind her, constantly turning his head in different directions to take in the beauty of the palace. He really seemed genuinely interested. As they went up another flight of stairs, Vivi spoke up. "So, really... what are you here for?"

She turned and saw the frown on his face. "To visit. Nothing more. And, well... I do have something to say to you."

Vivi already started feeling happier. (Is he going to tell me he likes me? Or maybe he'll compliment me on saving Arabasta... a job well done... Hee hee! Or maybe he is just going to apologize for abandoning us like that? Either way... I'm glad he's here!)

"Well, Vivi... I am sorry that you have fallen in love with me. It's hopeless."

If there was one thing Vivi thought he was going to say, that never would have been it. She couldn't believe he just came here to tell her that! She froze for a moment and then turned to glare at him. "Oh. Is that all?"

"Yeah," Ace sighed. "I mean, look, you didn't know who I really am. Truthfully, I am just too-"

"Too what? Too good for me?" she suddenly shouted. "You are a jerk! I was expecting something a little nicer. I was expecting at least a little concern about my well-being! I almost died at the hands of a Shichibukai, for God's sake!"

"Um... no need for a pity party..." said Ace.

"PITY PARTY?" she positively screamed. Ace quickly ran the length of the stairs. He watched her from the safety of the upper landing. "Oi, oi, I was just kidding! How did this conversation turn so bad so quickly?" he asked. (Hmmm... must be that time of the month again...) he thought dryly.

"Because you made this conversation go bad!" she said angrily. "I mean, I could understand that you would want to talk about it, but right away like that? You think I've just been worrying about you, about how much I want you? No! I just saved my people from a horrible crisis! I think that was more of a priority than being lovesick over you!" "Um, could you please just let me fin-?" "AND, for your information, I'm over you! I like someone else!"

Ace sighed again and shook his head. "Back off, will ya?" "No, I will not!" she retorted. "Anger and frustration have been building up in my chest for quite some time now. It's not my problem if you're the one who triggered its release upon yourself!"

"No, not me," said Ace, waving his hands frantically. "I mean Luffy; back off of Luffy."

She froze at that comment. Her eyes went wide in horror as she stared at him. "Why...?" she was able to whisper.

Ace frowned and tilted his head. "You didn't know? Wow, I thought you were a smart girl... He and Nami are together. And it looks to me like they've been since before coming here."

Vivi just stood there in shock for a little while longer. Then she bowed her head so her wet hair covered her eyes in shadow. "I hate liars... Don't lie to me, Ace..." "I'm not," he said, almost feeling sorry for the princess.

"But Nami..." she breathed, "...Nami would never lie to me."

Ace laughed. "Are you sure about that? From what Luffy told me about her, she would seem to be the most likely crew member to deceive you."

"Shut up," she said quietly. She pointed behind her to the bottom of the stairs. "Go."

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Can I at least see the oth-?" "No," she interrupted him. "Go, now. I don't know if I should believe you, but I do know this: Arabasta and its people have just been saved, and this should be a joyous, carefree time for celebration. I do not want you here ruining that." "Hey, I'm not ruin-" he started to say defensively, but once again, he was interrupted. "Go!" she said a bit loudly. He wordlessly started to walk down the stairs. He turned to make sure that she wasn't going to attack him or something. However, he ended up tripping over his own feet and tumbling down the stairs. She didn't respond. He slowly got up, rubbing his head, and looking at her one last time, went down the rest of the stairs and left.

Vivi listened to his footsteps as he went further down. Eventually, she couldn't hear them anymore. However, she didn't move. She just stood there rigid as a board, looking down at her feet and holding back tears.

After what seemed like an eternity, she heard footsteps above her. She looked up at the landing to see an Arabastan royal guard walking down the stairs. He stopped. "Princess Vivi... What are you doing here?"

"Who, me? Nothing!" she replied very quickly. She gave him a very forced smile as she continued to walk up the stairs and to her bedroom.

"Sure you don't need anything, your Highness?" asked the guard, bewildered. "No, that's okay," replied Vivi. "I just want some clothes right now." She forced another smile and was soon out of the guard's sight as she reached the top of the stairs.


Nami sighed contentedly and sank lower into the water. Ah, this was bliss... Nami personally felt that she deserved this the most, besides Vivi, of course. Nami thought about how all the guys were much better than her at fighting. She assumed that she had had the roughest time fighting Miss Doublefinger. Not only did Nami actually have to fight someone, she had to do it by herself and she had to fight one of the top 2 agents in all of Baroque Works. (Well, Usopp's no better than I am,) she thought. (But at least he had Chopper with him. When that reindeer gets serious with that Rumble Ball, he can be just as strong as Sanji or Zoro...) She shivered uncontrollably as she recalled some of the more painful moments of her battle against Miss Doublefinger. She instinctively rubbed her injured foot with her other foot. One of the female agent's needles had stabbed her foot all the way through... It was among the most painful things she had ever gone through. She suddenly chuckled as she recalled stabbing Luffy in the forehead with a needle one time...

Quick Flashback

"STOP BEING STUPID!" Nami shouts. She takes the sewing needle she's using to patch Luffy's hat and stabs Luffy in the forehead with it.

"OW! What was that for?" Luffy yells, gingerly rubbing the tiny bloody hole in his forehead.

"It's the only way I can hurt you!" she says in a frustrated tone of voice as she goes back to fixing his hat. He tilts his head to the side. "Oh, yeah. You're right, aren't you?" He laughed.

End Flashback

Strangely enough, that was one of Nami's fondest memories of being with the Straw Hat Crew.

Her reminiscing was interrupted by voices from the other side of the wall.

"All right, we've been here a long time, let's go." "Yeah, I'm bored!" "And I'm hungry!" "I just wanna go to sleep..." "NAMI-SWAAAAN! VIVI-CHAAAAAN! We're leeeeaving! Would you like me to scrub your back one last time? Perhaps I can help you dry off...?"

Nami shook her head. "Pathetic..." she said to herself. "I'll be right there, guys!" she called over the wall. "And Vivi already left!"

The room got quiet. Nami sighed and stood up. She was about to get out of the bath and get her towel, when-

"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!"

Luffy came flying over the huge wall dividing the two baths. Nami squealed in embarrassment and anger as she quickly tried to cover herself with her arms and sink back into the water. When she was sure only her head was visible, she glared at him. "What the hell are you...?" She stopped in mid-sentence as she took a good look at Luffy. He was standing in front of the hot tub and facing Nami. He was also butt-naked.

"GAH! Would you... cover yourself or something?" Nami yelled as she averted her eyes. Luffy tilted his head to the side. "Huh? I didn't think you would care. It didn't look like you would've cared that night on the Going Merry..." "Yeah, well, I was just in the heat of the moment!" Nami retorted. "Do you even understand what that means?" Luffy chuckled as he stretched his arm out to grab Nami's towel and wrap it around his waist. "Nope, and I don't really care, either."

Nami turned to face Luffy again. He sat down on the edge of the hot tub. He idly kicked his feet in the water. Nami double-checked to make sure Luffy couldn't see any more than her head and then she glared at him. "What do you want?" "I just wanna talk," Luffy replied. "Well, okay," said Nami, "but do we have to do it here? I mean, there are... um... a lot of less uncomfortable places to talk." Luffy shook his head in response. "No, I'll forget if I wait too long. You know that."

Nami didn't like it. She couldn't really understand why she felt so uncomfortable being naked in front of Luffy, especially since he couldn't even see anything below her head.

"Nami," he said innocently, "why don't you like me anymore?"

Nami's eyes went wide in surprise. "What? What makes you think that?" She just didn't feel like talking to Luffy at the moment. She felt... angry with him all of a sudden.

"You've been treating me differently," he continued. "You don't talk to me. You only talk to me when we're alone."

"Well, Luffy, I don't want anyone getting suspicious."

"I don't care what other people think," said Luffy a bit angrily, "and neither should you! So I'm guessing that's why you shoved me off you on that crab-thing?"

Now Nami was really angry. "Yes, Luffy, that's exactly why!" she retorted. "And don't you start telling me what I should or shouldn't do. You have no right to tell me what to do and you never will! I don't care if you're the captain or not; the only time I will always listen to you is when you are making decisions on what the crew should be doing. That's it! If I don't want the others to find out about us, deal with it! That's my personal decision! In my opinion, it's only gonna work between us if we keep it a secret. Don't tell me otherwise just because it's inconvenient for you!" "But, Nami-" "And what is that wasn't even the reason I pushed you off me? What if I just didn't want to cuddle with you at the time? Hmmm? I'm not always in the mood for it, you know. You better not think you can just force me to do anything to do anything with you just because it would make you happy!"

"Hey, Nami, calm down. Why are you so mad all of a sudden?"

"Why do you care?" she demanded. "What's it to you if I'm angry? I have a right to be angry whenever I want, too!"

Luffy was starting to get very upset. Why was she yelling at him like this? What had he done wrong? He was so confused and upset.

Nami was confusing herself, too. Why was she exploding on poor Luffy like this? Perhaps she was venting anger...? But if that was the case, what was she truly angry about?

(Well, I know I'm angry at myself for lying to Vivi,) thought Nami. (I even vowed to myself that I would tell her the truth after the whole crisis was over... It's been over for three days now and I still haven't told her! So do I really have a reason to be angry at Luffy here? ... Well, yeah! He's being a jerk!)

She finished her thought out loud.

"Luffy, why are you being such a jerk?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me! You don't just come flying over the bathroom wall to see me and expect me to perfectly happy with the fact that we're both completely naked! As much as you think it's okay, it's not; it's very rude! It's called invasion of privacy!"

"Um-"

"Hey, I am not finished yet!" she snapped before he could say anything. "Not only did you invade my privacy, you did so to talk to me about the most asinine thing in the world! You came here to complain about how I don't smother you with love and affection every waking moment of my life! There are other things I have to worry about, Luffy. I might say that I love you, but that doesn't mean that you're the only important thing in my life!"

"Nami, I know that..."

"Yeah? Then start acting like you know it!"

Luffy's eyes were intently fixed upon Nami's angry, yet beautiful face. He sadly shook his head. "Nami... why are you so angry? Something else has you pissed off, I know it..."

"God damn it, Luffy, why do you have to be so stupid?" she yelled. "Why can't you accept the fact that you don't always make your friends happy? Sometimes, you can really piss us off! No, Luffy, I'm angry because of you. Just deal with it." She knew deep down that she was not angry because of Luffy. She was angry with herself, and she was taking it out on poor Luffy.

However, Nami did not care how badly she was hurting Luffy at the moment. Not even caring anymore about how much of her Luffy was seeing uncovered, she got out of the bath, stormed over to him, ripped the towel off his waist, wrapped it around her own body, and stormed out of the gigantic bathing room.

Luffy was utterly speechless as she watched her leave. He didn't even care that he just saw a completely naked girl for the first time in his life, which he had had come to believe would be one of the most amazing moments of his life.

What had just happened? He had no idea what he did to make Nami explode like that. Luffy just couldn't believe that he could make someone that pissed off at him. Something in the back of his mind kept telling him that she didn't mean to treat him like that, that something else was bothering her. However, he was feeling too hurt to listen.

He Gomu Gomu Rocket-ed himself back over to the boys' side of the bathing room, dried himself off, got dressed, and left the room moping. He came out into the corridor. He could either turn right or left. He looked in both directions with extreme disinterest. He couldn't remember which way he had come from, but he really didn't care, either. He decided to go right.

He came to a corner and turned right there. He came to yet another corner and turned right there, too. He walked past a door. He looked at it. It was the entrance to the girls' side of the bathing room. He scratched his head, or rather the top of his straw hat, and just kept on moving forward.

He came upon a flight of stairs. He sighed as he looked up the stairs. He felt so depressed...

"Up is good," he mumbled miserably to himself.

He found another flight of stairs at the top and a door. He decided to keep going up. His pace quickened at the thought of leftovers from the feast they had had earlier. He went up quite a few floors before the stairs finally stopped. He had reached the top of the palace. There was just one door. He went through it.

When he saw that the door only brought him to another nondescript corridor he moaned in despair. "Stupid palace..." he muttered. He looked to his left. There, at the end of the hallway, was a really big, old-looking, ornate door. "Cool," he mumbled without enthusiasm. Then a hopeful thought suddenly struck him. "Maybe there's some meat in there..." he said with some enthusiasm.

He walked over to the ornate door and opened it without even knocking.


Vivi was looking at herself in the mirror hanging over her dresser as she absently brushed her hair. She felt so depressed despite the fact that her country had recently been saved. She would get over it soon, though. As soon as she got Ace completely out of her mind, everything would be okay again...

She stopped brushing her hair. It was finally dry and it looked nice. She took off her towel and changed into a simple white gown. She sat down on her bed and sighed. "Maybe I should go see if everyone's out of the bath yet..." she said to herself.

That was when Luffy suddenly burst into her room.

"Luffy!" Vivi gasped. "W-what are you doing here?"

Luffy didn't respond at first. He looked around the room, and then his head suddenly drooped in disappointment. "Oh, it's just you," he said sullenly, pouting.

Vivi frowned at his words. "What, you're not happy to see me?" she asked. (Why is he so upset to see me in my own bedroom...?) she thought in bewilderment.

"Oh, sorry, Vivi," he apologized, sounding slightly more cheerful. "I didn't know this was your room. I just thought there would be some meat in here. Guess I was wrong." He smiled sheepishly.

Vivi giggled. She then took a good look at his face. Her eyes widened as she looked into his eyes. They were filled with such a deep sadness, Vivi suddenly felt very sorry for him.

"Hey," she said gently. "What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I'm just really sad."

" 'Just really sad'? Well, Luffy, that certainly isn't nothing!" She forced a cheerful smile as she patted her bed, inviting Luffy to sit next to her. He obliged. He sulked as he sat next to her in silence.

"Come on, Luffy," Vivi said bracingly. "Tell me what's bothering you. I can tell you really are very sad." He didn't answer. "Go on," Vivi pressed on. "You'll feel better after you talk about it."

"You're sad, too," he said suddenly, turning his head to look at her. "What's wrong?"

Vivi was about to answer when an idea suddenly struck her. "Listen, tell me what's upsetting you first, and then I will tell you what's upsetting me. Does that sound fair?"

Luffy didn't even bother to convey his agreement. "It's Nami," he started. "She hurt me."

"What?" Vivi gasped. "What do you mean? What did she do?"

"Well, when everyone left the bathing room, I visited Nami on the other side of the wall. She got mad 'cause we were both naked or something like that. She asked me what's wrong, I told her that she hasn't been treating me the same around the others. She said she wanted to keep our relationship a secret, I told her that was stupid, and then she just kinda exploded."

"Wait," Vivi interrupted. "What relationship?" Then Ace's words started echoing in her mind...

"You didn't know? Wow, I thought you were a smart girl... He and Nami are together. And it looks to me like they've been since before coming here."

"Oh, yeah," said Luffy. "Nami was probably trying to keep it a secret from you, too... We're together. We even kissed on the boat one night. It was amazing..." His voice trailed off as he thought back to the kiss he had shared with Nami.

Tears of anger and hurt started to form in Vivi's eyes. "I don't believe it," she breathed. "Nami really did lie to me..." "She did?" asked Luffy, surprised. "Yes," Vivi replied. "When we were on that crab... after you left to fight Crocodile... I asked Nami if you she and you were together. She told me 'no'."

"See what I mean?" said Luffy. "She hasn't been very nice lately, has she?" "No..." Vivi agreed thoughtfully, "...no, she hasn't..."

They sat in silence for a little while as Vivi furiously wiped the tears out of her eyes. She refused to cry in front of Luffy again.

"Well?" said Luffy expectantly. "What's bothering you?"

Vivi looked at him in surprise again. She had forgotten their little deal. Nami's lie had driven it out of her mind.

"It's your brother, Ace," she explained quietly.

It was Luffy's turn to be surprised. "Ace? What about him?"

"Well, I don't know if you noticed," she continued, "but the two of us... um... kind of had something going on. Or, at least, I thought we had..." "Something going on?" Luffy repeated, confused. "Like what, a party?" Vivi blinked at him, then burst into giggles. "Oh, Luffy, you are so funny... No, we had something going on like you and Nami." "Oh, yeah!" he said. "Now I remember. We all saw how upset you got when he left... Did you two kiss and stuff?" She nodded. "Heh," Luffy chuckled. "I can't believe he didn't tell me."

Vivi went into detail. She told Luffy all about the conversations that had taken place between her and Ace. She told Luffy about her conflicting feelings. She was surprised to find out that he already knew about her feelings for him. Unlike Nami, Vivi did not know about Sanji's part in the whole thing. Luffy didn't even bother telling her about it. There was no need.

Vivi kept going. She started to tell Luffy about Ace's surprise visit that had happened not too long ago. However, at this point, Luffy was barely listening to her anymore... He was too busy staring at her lips...

Luffy suddenly found himself wondering what those lips would taste like. He never got to find out since he had no idea what to do when she first tried to kiss him. He once again thought back to his kiss with Nami. He wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Vivi like that. He kept watching her lips... They glistened in the lamplight as they continually moved up and down while she was explaining her problem with Ace. He was starting to find her more and more irresistible...

(What the hell is going on?) he thought wildly. His heart was still aching from his encounter with Nami... The pain started to come back in full force. Judging by Vivi's tears, she was currently feeling just as hurt as him. She finally stopped talking. She smiled as she sniffled and wiped her tears. "I'm sorry, Luffy, I'm trying hard not to cry here..." she said softly, giving a little giggle.

"It's... okay," he mumbled distractedly. It was undeniable to him now... He wanted her. In just a matter of minutes, his feelings for her went from nakama to lover. But they weren't the same feelings as the ones for Nami...

"Luffy?" Vivi asked, frowning. "Are you okay?"

Luffy slowly raised a hand to her face. He gently stroked her cheek. Her eyes went wide in shock. "Luffy, what are you-?"

"I just... I just wanna..." he muttered. "What?" Vivi whispered in confusion. Luffy didn't say anything in response. His free hand came up to take the other side of her face. Vivi thought her heart was about to pound through her chest... He pulled her in for a kiss.

Their lips met and parted pretty quickly. Vivi licked her lips and pulled Luffy in for another kiss. Their tongues met and it quickly became a very fierce and passionate kiss. It was much more intense than the one Luffy had shared with Nami... He and Vivi were quickly finding it extremely hard to breathe. She moaned into his mouth. The images suddenly came back to Luffy's mind... However, instead of disturbing him, they were exciting him this time, encouraging him to go further.

It all happened so fast, especially for Luffy. Before he even knew it, he was on top of Vivi, hungrily tugging at her bra as she was throwing his boxers off the bed. He knew deep down inside that this was very bad, that he was meant to be with Nami, not Vivi... However, his immediate instinct was telling him to ease the pain in his heart and that doing this with Vivi was currently the best way to do so. Plus, his hormones weren't exactly helping.

She helped him take off her bra. It joined the pile of clothes on the floor at the foot of her bed. He bent his head down and kissed her again, his hot tongue vigorously plunging into her mouth. They momentarily broke apart to breathe. (This is my chance...) Vivi thought desperately. (Right here is where I need to stop this... This isn't right. I mustn't let him cheat on Nami like this. I have to tell him to stop...)

However, all Vivi heard from her breathless voice was, "Luffy... the door... still open..."

Without taking his eyes off her, he stretched his arm across the room and shut the door. "Now what?" he asked, almost completely out of breath. Vivi couldn't stop herself. She told him exactly what to do next.

He went down the length of her body and pulled her thong off. He threw it off the bed and straddled her. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked into his eyes again. They were hungry and needing... but behind that she could still see the deep sadness. "Okay, Luffy, I'm ready..." she whispered.

This was it... Neither of them could stop it now...


"Nami-saaan, what's the matter?" Sanji asked adoringly. "Why do you look so down? But not to worry! I am here to cheer you up!"

Nami sighed. "Not now..." she said quietly. She looked around the room. Usopp was telling Chopper wild and obviously false tales about his grand adventures. Chopper listened with bated breath, stars in his eyes as he stared at the liar in amazement and admiration. Zoro was doing one-finger pushups with a large sofa balanced on his back, sweat pouring down his face as he softly counted. "1,378... 1,379..." Luffy and Vivi weren't in the room.

Making sure no one was listening, she whispered to Sanji, "It's Luffy."

Sanji looked at her in surprise. "What-?" he began kind of loudly. She quickly covered his mouth with the palm of her hand, shushing him. "Sanji-kun, not so loud!" she hissed. He barely took notice. Her hand was touching his lips. She saw the look on his face and quickly withdrew her hand.

"I took out my anger on him..." she whispered. "I lied to Vivi about our my relationship with him, and I've been angry with myself ever since. I finally exploded on poor Luffy... I'm afraid I really hurt him... I really did say some very harsh stuff to him. He didn't deserve it."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Sanji whispered. "So, what, you want me to find him for you?"

She thought about it, and then nodded. "Yeah, good idea. You search around the palace. He's probably around wherever there's food." Sanji laughed. "Yeah, I had already guessed that myself."

"While you look for him," she continued in an undertone, "I'm going to go find Vivi. I need to tell her the truth before anything else. The guilt is really killing me..."

So, Nami and Sanji went off in different directions to find Luffy and Vivi.

Nami soon ran into a royal guard. "Excuse me," she said politely. "Do you know where Princess Vivi is?"

"Yeah, I just saw her recently," the guard said, frowning. "She looked really stressed out about something... She was headed to her bedroom."

He gave Nami directions on how to reach Vivi's room. She thanked him and quickly walked to find the staircase that led up to Vivi's room.

She soon found it. She went up 6 floors before finally reaching the top. There was one door. She opened it and looked to her left. There was the ornate door the guard had described to her. She approached it and lifted her hand to knock...

Nami froze as she heard noises coming from the other side of the door. She recognized those noises... She prayed to God that it wasn't who she thought it was...

Her face pale, her eyes wide in terror at the prospect of seeing what was going on in that room, she slowly opened the door...

All right, I really try not to be hard on myself, but this did not come out as well as I thought it would. A majority of the chapter was so... boring. Anyway, I hope I slightly surprised all of you with that lime part in the end and who was in it. How many of you expected it to be Luffy and Vivi? I guess that was pretty obvious, too, but whatever! So, yeah... until next time!