Note1: Apologies for any grammar mistakes and/or strange phrasings that might slip my eye, english isn't my first language.
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1. beginning.
The first time he met Vivi, she was a mess of blown cover and loose mouth and strong enemies hot on her heels; but it was when she stood tall on Merry's deck, requesting them to sail in the direction of their navigator's cure and smiled, uncomplainingly, determinedly, with the weight of a crumbling country and two hundred thousand lives of warring men quietly held in her closed fists, that it truly begins.
2. accusation.
"Not like that," she hangs her head down under Kohza's prodding stare, cheeks heating up to a helpless blush as she mumbles, "Yes, I do miss him, but it's not like that."
3. restless.
Ever since Usopp told him one of a princess' duties is to marry another royal there's been something else inside of him; another gear he doesn't know existed, shifting.
4. snowflake.
The people are a crown's duty, she had said to him, the flame in her eyes burning through the frost on top of the Drum mountain, through the white specks caught in her lashes; and he is a cruel man for abandoning his—so it's good that you sent him away.
5. haze.
It's a rare occurrence, the thought of him, kept at bay with all the undertakings one should do in order to restore a country; but when it does come it nearly threatens to sweep her away—a sudden deluge of old memories and a sort of melancholy that she hasn't quite located the source of, bits of madness where she wishes his laughter is at an arm's length instead of oceans away—the absence of a friendly captain driven home by the silence of her study.
6. flame.
His little brother has always got a good eye when it comes to people, but it still baffles Ace that he somehow manages to pick up what seems to be the only redeemable royal on this side of Grand Line by pure accident.
7. formal.
Some days, when the Alubarnan sun is low and she is finally allowed some private time to read about the crew's newest ventures, she would think about the future and wonder about the weight of his crown; for there must be a burden too, in being freedom personified.
8. companion.
There's an odd familiarity in the way Vivi talks about her childhood friend that makes Luffy absolutely confused as to how she's only ever been a princess her whole life—Vivi speaks of Kohza the way pirate captains speak of their first mate.
9. move.
She ignores Igaram's pleas for her to take a break in lieu of remembering how a rubberman looks in motion—the angle that made the replication of a gunshot possible, the calculation it must've taken to control those elongated limbs, how most of his attacks are merely an extension of a fist—and swings her peacock slasher one more time.
10. silver.
It's hard to concentrate on the rare times he takes up the night watch; partly because solitude in a sleeping ship doesn't offer much entertainment, and partly because the sight of moonlight bleeding molten silver into the dark blue waves makes him think of how her hair looks in the darkness.
11. prepared.
"You don't have to be so surprised, Carue," She gently chastises, opening the newspaper now that she's finished reading the front page, "He's going to become the Pirate King, of course he's bound to have a fleet along the way."
12. knowledge.
She knows what sort of man the world would paint him as when his crew's stories morph into a legend, and so takes bittersweet comfort that she is one of the lucky individuals who got to know the boy underneath the hat: one who has a hunger for adventure so big that sometimes she's afraid the whole world couldn't satiate it, who is as defiant as he is kind, who likes to eat and laugh and sing; who is first and foremost a pirate.
13. denial.
Igaram's horrified voice echoes through the palace walls, "WHY IS THERE A WANTED POSTER BETWEEN THE PRINCESS' SUITOR PHOTOS?!"
14. wind.
"I got it!" Vivi yells, breathless as she pinches the very edge of the blown straw hat between two fingers, the upper half of her body hanging capriciously over Merry's railing and the open sea in her haste to save it, "I got the hat!"
15. order.
Adjusting to the crew should be done with a sense of decorum, but Brook can't help the sudden burst of curiosity every time his gaze lands on the foreign name squeezed between the fifth and sixth slot in their dishwashing roster, which is why he ends up blurting during one of their less-clamorous dinners, jokingly gesturing at the piece of paper tacked on beside the sink, "May I ask who this Vivi fellow is? Are they perhaps… no longer with us?"—only to be met with Nami's fist and an enraged chorus of "SHE'S ALIVE! SHE'S VERY MUCH ALIVE!"
16. thanks.
His first few nights after Alabasta were haunted with murky dreams, most of them ugly memories of fights, except for one: a blurry glimpse amidst feverish haze, of cool hands brushing his hair away, tender and careful, the weight of a wet cloth on his forehead, wisps of soft hair tickling the back of his palm; a shaky whisper of thank you for taking back the rain, Luffy-san.
17. look.
She knows that he is both shameless and honest, in a way she has seen no pirates but him can—but the roguish way he tilts his straw hat over his eyes and angles his gaze straight to hers across the partying room, cheek propped on one fist, is definitely something new; a kind of honesty that makes Vivi very aware of her heart beating double-time once it finishes its message (and perhaps it also tells something about herself when she ends up returning it with her own: a tilt of the head, soft blue over her cheekbones, a smile that is slow and a tick too loose on one corner—shameless in a way no princesses like her should).
18. summer.
Vivi smells like the best summer rain he's ever had the pleasure of fighting for.
19. transformation.
His wanted poster is in dire need of an update, Vivi thinks weakly as she stares at the laughing man standing on her docks, Tamarisk's sunray catching at what can only be the beginnings of a goatee as he finally spots her figure and gives an enthusiastic wave.
20. tremble.
The smell of sea battle is still fresh on his skin as Luffy throws his arms around her, gunpowder and salt and burnt rubber and triumph, electrifying and familiar.
21. sunset.
The sun is a golden, capsized ship silently sinking into the endless sea of sand; Luffy flicks his gaze to Vivi's back, who is currently on the lookout for any signs of sandstorm among the dunes, and promptly decides that what makes a good sailor and a desert dweller are one and the same.
22. mad.
Vivi has always been gentle and kind, but when she punches him under the burning desert sun it comes with an unrefined ferocity that doesn't and yet fits her all at once, but also fits Luffy just fine, because watching her all this time—why can't she understand that Crocodile won't be beaten like this, that her own life is both too precious and not enough to save this country, that this will kill her, that stupid, stupid Vivi—has made him itching for a fight.
23. thousand.
She is a beautiful ship—unfamiliar in her magnitude and pomp, but the jolly fierceness of her figurehead bears the resemblance of a sweet caravel that was once Vivi's beacon of hope—and when her hull shimmers under the Tamarisk sun, proud with the salt of all seas she's sailed on, it's clear that this one will have a port in her heart too; across the deck, Luffy sends her a grin, wide and full of satisfaction like he just heard her thoughts, and Vivi bashfully returns it, fingers gently curling into the warm grass (thank you for carrying them back to me).
24. outside.
"BIG NEWS! The Pirate King has officially claimed the Kingdom of Alabasta as his turf!"
25. winter.
The sight of scornful villagers in the face of his rashness, the sound of gunshot, and the smell of Vivi's blood amidst the freezing air; a lesson he will never forget.
26. diamond.
The sunny sky stretches above them, catching the shine of a circular gemstone peeking from beneath the red band of his hat; his method of smuggling treasure underneath Nami's watchful eye (Vivi fights to keep a straight face when, later on, the navigator knocks him upside the head and plucks out the rest of the jewels he's hidden inside it).
27. letters.
The sheer amusement from his perpetually rowdy and unannounced arrivals always makes up for the absence of letters between them; he always comes back, and that's what truly matters.
28. promise.
In the two-year silence that happened before his crew's return to the world, Vivi would often catch herself tracing the back of her wrist, where an X mark used to rest, to quell her anxieties and convince herself that they are alive and will return.
29. simple.
"Sail with me, Vivi."
30. future.
Vivi's smile is a call for adventure all on its own; one he realizes he is willing to follow, now.
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Note2:
I might be one of the fans who champions for no romance in canon but when it comes to fanworks I always wanted to see more of these two, lol.
A little note for #15, in case I didn't get the joke across: the phrase 'no longer with us' can either mean someone who is deceased or someone who left or was let go from a company. Brook was jokingly aiming for the latter (as well as the more obvious meaning of Vivi literally being no longer on the ship), fishing for the story of someone they left behind, but the crew interpreted it into the former, more morbid meaning and got into hysterics for a sec. Also the keeping Vivi's name in the dishwashing roster thing is lovingly inspired by the wonderful fic "Taking Turns With the Washing Up", except I changed her place to between 5 and 6 because Oda said her "number" in the strawhats is 5.5
Thank you for reading!