So hey there^^

another chapter in November;) For December, there is a chance that I won't upload until next year. Because I still have two little One-Shots for a project to write which I started last year but didn't finish (my Advents calendar project which is uploaded only on FF). But I think this chapter is good before a possible longer break as there is some explanation in this chapter which may be a little complex. So I guess it may help to have some time to think about it and ask if you don't understand how I have written it. Just leave a comment or pm me on FF (LazyIceAngel) and I'll try to explain it, maybe using other words, so that you can understand it.

But now on with the chapter^^

~Chapter 18 – The Little Flower on Sandy Island~

"So we will stock up in Nanohana and then we will travel up the river until we are about here. Then we will leave the ship. From there we will travel directly to Alubarna to speak with Vivi-san's father. After that, we will decide how to go on", Ain explained the plan again to Luffy who was looking at the city with big gleaming eyes.

"Don't think about running off, Luffy, or I swear I will get a leash for you", Law threatened the younger one. "Do you really think that would help? Luffy would probably drag you after him because of his speed", Ace said with a grin like he thought that this would be a good chance to tease his mate.

"Don't you mean that he will drag you around? Because since you are his big brother, it would only be fitting that you take the leash. If Luffy would have a mate, I would have given to Luffy's mate", Law spoke with a calm voice. Well not entirely calm. There was the hint of a teasing tone.

Ace became pale, very pale before his face heated up. "No one gets my baby brother!"

"Uhm… Luffy-san has already left the ship while you two are…", Vivi started to say. The princess sounded a bit unsure about what she should call the interaction between the two black-haired men. "While you two are busy to flirt with each other", Ain said dryly.

The former marine looked a bit annoyed, but there was amusement in her eyes if someone looked carefully at her and knew her well.

"LUFFY!"

Both men shouted and Law had to stop Ace from jumping after the young captain.

This town was nice. The stalls had fresh vegetables and some interesting condiments which Sanji hadn't seen in the East Blue, yet. He was greatly interested in the art of cooking this country had to offer.

Jeff might have thaught him a lot. But most of these dishes were just based on ingredients which were found in the East Blue.

It would be a nice change in their daily meals to cook one of Vivi-chan's homeland national dish. This would make the princess happy.

That was his goal. To make a woman happy. Because every tear of a woman which couldn't be stopped was a tear too much.

"You can't do that child. You will be marked as a criminal if this gets public…" "I don't care. I want to be with the person, I truly love and to be forced to choose because of some system."

Sanji looked up. He wasn't one to eavesdrop but since one voice belonged to a woman. But he couldn't really see where this discussion took place.

He needed to help this woman. But someone stopped him by putting a hand on his mouth and pulling him a bit away.

When the blonde turned his head, he saw Law. The surgeon had a serious look on his face. "Be quiet and don't try to make a scene. We don't want to get involved in system-conflicts and this isn't a topic we should discuss in public", Law warned him quietly.

The blonde looked shocked at the other one. The surgeon couldn't be serious. He expected him to stay put when a lady was in trouble!

"You can't be serious. A lady is in trouble!", Sanji protested. He was hit on the head. "Do you want to endanger the plan to help Vivi?", Law snarled at him slightly annoyed.

This was a difficult decision… he had promised Vivi-chan to help her… but he couldn't stay away from a lady in trouble.

Why was this damn woman here?

It crept him out. How similar can two women be? Also, he didn't want her to see him. She would go after his sword again. Stupid woman.

"Are you that scared of this blind marine woman?", another annoying woman asked him from behind.

Zoro turned his head and looked at Ain slightly angry. "I'm not afraid of that damn woman. She is just annoying and I don't want to deal with here", he bit back.

Ain just looked at him without showing too much emotion. But he was sure that she was amused about his situation.

"Well if you don't have anything better to do than hiding from the marine, you could help me with getting some clothes for the dessert for the rest of the crew. Because I don't trust Sanji to buy decent clothes for Vivi and me", she said with a grin.

He grimaced. He knew how this would end for him. He would have to carry all the bags. It made him cringe.

But … Zoro had to give her a point. He knew what kind of clothes this perverted cook of them would buy. That was something, he wasn't interested to see.

"Also, it would give you an opportunity to get away from here without being seen~."

This woman… but she had a great point.

"Did you hear it?" "Hear what?" "Someone at the restaurant. He was there with a younger boy, I think, his brother. Both were stuffing their mouths with food and then suddenly the older one just dropped dead and the younger one didn't even stop eating!" "Didn't the younger one cared?" "No way."

Luffy rolled his eyes. Some people could be so stupid. If they would stop talking, they would hear Ace snoring. So everything was fine.

"Boy, aren't you worried?", the owner asked him with shaking voice. "Why should I? Ace is only sleeping", he answered before he stuffed more food in his mouth. "Sleeping?!"

"What is going on with everyone talking?", the slightly annoyed voice of his big brother interrupted the discussions.

"HE IS ALIVE?!" "Oi, what kind of entertainers did you hire? They are annoying."

Luffy giggled about his big brother. It was always funny when the older one woke up after one of his forced naps. You could describe Ace as cranky in these moments.

"We were worried about you!" "Well, you …"

Luffy laughed when his brother fell asleep again. It was lots of fun. Especially with the reactions of people who didn't know about Ace's narcolepsy.

"Looks like I was right that you pirates would be here", a familiar voice said. Where had he heard it before?

He slowly turned his head. Oh, that was the smoking marine from Logue Town. Luffy wanted to turn his head back and starting to eat again. But he stopped. Wait… the smoking marine from Logue Town.

He turned his head back and nearly spit all the food on the man.

"What are you doing here?!", he exclaimed in shock, before he stuffed his mouth with all the food and dragged his sleeping brother along while running away.

Leaving a food-covered, annoyed-looking marine captain behind.

"This isn't helping the situation one bit", Ain said with her arms crossed. "Well, if the Marines realise what is going on they probably have to revoke Crocodile's status as Shichibukai", Law told them and leant back. "But it isn't sure how it will take them to realise it. It might be too late for Alabaste then."

Vivi looked shocked at him.

"Don't think that is going to happen. Luffy wants to fight Crocodile. So we will probably get to him before that happens and Alabasta will be ave. But there will be some chaos after it. Because the government always tried to have seven Shichibukai active as they are one of the three great powers in the world", Law said with a sigh.

They would probably turn the world a little upside down with their doing.

"But maybe then someone better fitted for the job will raise up", Vivi said softly. "Don't be naive, Vivi-sama. You should know best that this a dream when you look at what Crocodile was able to build up without the government noticing. The position will always be abused for the personal interest because that is the reason why pirates accept the offer", Ain spoke up sounding very angry.

What kind of a problem did she… Ah yes… he remembered what had happened before she and her sensei and some other resigned from being marines. So of course, Ain would be very enthusiastic about the Shichibukai.

"Law, what exactly is wrong with Sanji? He is sulking since he came back with you", Bartolomeo suddenly spoke up.

"He is being a child because I pulled him away from getting in a discussion which would mean even more trouble for us", he said slightly annoyed. "A lady was in trouble! I should have helped her", Sanji spoke up from his corner where he was sulking.

He felt Ain's eyes on him. The surgeon sighed. "No, it is better this way. Because we are on the Grandline. The World Government has more power here due to their strongest fighter are stationed here. If we would have gotten involved in this discussion, we are sent directly our execution. It is a forbidden topic in countries which are allied under the flag of the government", Law said strictly.

This seemed to shock Sanji. "That can't be…", the blonde cook whispered.

"It is. Out in the blues they don't control that often. But here they are very strict towards the system", Law said.

"It is just a system", Zoro mumbled clearly not interested.

"Not really. It is more than a system. It is the base of many laws and influence many businesses especially slavery. But for this, you have to understand the biological basis… which you probably don't have", Law said and a look at Bartolomeo, Sanji, Zoro and the others except Ain and Vivi told him that he was right.

"Okay. Let's start with the basics. Everyone is born is a Beta which means that males develope parts and organs to impregnate someone while the females develop organs and parts to get pregnant. This is until they get sixteen where they enter a presentation stage until they are twenty-one. During this time the body develops depending on your second gender. When becoming a Beta nothing change and you go through a phase which is called puberty during presentation stage. If you become an Alpha or Omega, your pheromone changes. They become stronger and can even influence people around you or show your mood or are used to attract potential mates.

But the biggest change is in your lower body. As an Omega, you are able to become pregnant despite your primary gender. An Omega's fertility is very high because their body is modelled for them to get babies. This brings some shift for males which reduces their fertility rate to impregnate someone. It is the same way the other way around for female Alphas. The changes happen mostly inside the body. But since we are all born as Betas it means that there are rare chances for a female Alpha to get pregnant and also rare chances for a male Omega to impregnate someone.

This chance lead to the system we have at the moment.

The World Government wants to make sure that people, who follow their rules, are having children so they can teach them to follow the rules as well. So it was decided that an Alpha is only allowed to get intimate or get in a relationship with an Omega or a female Beta because this way the chance of success is very good. Also, they allowed that a male Beta is allowed with a female Beta or an Omega since the chances are quite high but not as good as having an Alpha as the one who impregnates someone.

Other relationships are not allowed because the reproduction is either impossible or is at a very low rate", Law explained trying to make it very complicated.

"But… but love doesn't follow rules!", Sanji shouted, clearly upset about this part of the system.

"Yeah, it doesn't follow rules. So the government tries to execute every person, who does not follow it, to make an example of them.

But the system isn't stopping there with just the biological aspects. Because since Omegas are mostly the ones to carry for the children, you don't find lots of Omegas in high position. It is kind of rare to be true. Alphas or Betas are prefered in this position.

Most of the Celestial Dragons, which are viewed as some kind of gods, are Alphas because they think this is the dominant gender. To keep their blood clear from scum in their eyes, the Omegas are mostly swapped around between the families which makes the whole Celestial Dragon a bunch of inbreeding idiots. In some rare cases they use slaves as a way to reproduce. For this specific reason, they choose mostly presented Omegas who have Paramecia as they are a lot more submissive and easier to control. But they don't oppose other Omegas.

Because of this behaviour of the Celestial Dragons, they also made the rule that only an Alpha child or a male Beta can take the crown. If the royal family doesn't have one, they are nearly forced to marry off their child to another king's child which then will take over. So many royal families lose their position in their countries because of their child's second gender", Law explained further.

"So… if Vivi-san doesn't become an Alpha, she would be forced to marry someone who would take over Alabasta?", Bartolomeo asked carefully.

"That is not happening! I won't marry anyone…", Vivi said. Tears seemed to gleam in her eyes. The blue-haired princess turned around and went inside the ship.

Law sighed. The poor girl didn't have a chance to prevent this possible future at least as long as Alabasta follow the rules of the World Government.

That was the November Chapter^^ The title is just a loose interpretation of the city's name Nanohana, in case you are wondering.

Also, just a little happiness. I reached the 60k word mark with this story *-* next goal is probably 80k or 100k words^^

So have a nice Christmas time =)