Hi there.

I hope you are all safe and still healthy.

It has been quite some time since I uplaoded. To be true, I have wanted to update earlier, but with everything going on my interest shifted a bit. First thing that delate wirting was me watching some animes and I tend to watch them subbed. So my attention is then mostly on episode I am watching instead of writing. The second one was Pirate Warriors 4 came out and I had to play. So yeah, these are two reasons why I couldn't focus on writing. There was another reason which was directly involved with this chapter, but to avoid spoilers, I will tell you in the notes at the end.

And now on with the chapter~

~Chapter 20 - A country is its people.~

My dear daughter,

I know when you'll read this, I'll be no more.

But I let you know that I have taken care of everything that might stop you from taking the throne. Even if someone thinks about taking over because of whatever your second gender might be.

I did sign papers some time ago which gave Kohza a high position in our country as soon as he presented as an alpha. This position qualified him as a potential partner for marriage.

I know you want to marry for love and I would have loved to make this possible for you. But as the time might run short so I decided to prepare an engagement between you and Kohza for the worse case. I have spoken with his father and you can also show him this letter, too.

I didn't do it to make your lives miserable. But it was the best, I could think of.

Because both of you hold our county very dear and put the people above wealth. Also, I know despite you having a different opinion on some subjects that you two will trust each other and have each other's back.

Also, you can call off the engagement if you present as an Alpha, so no one will throw you into jail for being together with another Alpha.

I'm sorry if I messed everything up for the future of you both, but I wanted to make sure that the people of Alabasta get a leader they deserve when I'll be there no more.

Also never forget. A country is not its buildings and riches. A country is its people.

Your father who will always love you

She cried a lot while she had read this letter over and over again. She knew that her father had told her that he wouldn't arrange an engagement for her and she would have been mad at him for doing that… but at this moment… she appreciated it. She appreciated that her father had put up a back-up plan for the future.

She wouldn't have liked it if some nobles from another country would have come here and robbed Alabasta of all his wealth which are left after this horrible civil war.

"Vivi, the funeral will be starting soon. Are you coming or do you want to stay here? No one would be mad at you if want to be alone."

Vivi looked up to the door to see Kohza. The man had been with her for most of the time but also had taken care of the most thing that had come up because she hadn't felt well enough to be there for the people around her, yet.

"I'll come…", she said softly and hold onto his arm when he offered. "Thank you for being there for me."

Luffy stood at the back of the ship and looked back at the small hints of Sandy Island which he was still able to see at the horizon.

He… he felt bad that they disappeared so quickly from the country and just had left Vivi a letter when she was mourning the death of her father.

But Ain had made this decision because the longer they would have been in Alabasta the more problem they could have raised for Vivi.

If there had been any indication that Vivi had connections with them, they would probably put her into jail and some tyrannic person or so would take over Alabasta. Also… the Marine would be in Alabasta until they would have left or caught which did mean that the country wouldn't be able to regrow again in peace because of the Marines hunting them.

He sighed.

"It feels bad… doesn't it?"

Luffy turned his head to see Bartolomeo. The green-haired man had been very quiet since the battle had ended and they had left the island.

"Yeah, because I feel like we are leaving a friend behind…"

"I know… I feel like I let you all and Vivi down by not being careful with the barrier… I mean I was there. I should have kept the barrier up the whole time to protect our friend… but I let it down…"

Luffy turned his head to see the guilt in the face of the other.

"Did she said it was your fault?" "No, she… she didn't say anything… she just cried… but I still blame me…" "You let the barrier down so that Vivi could reunite with her father and you would be able to protect him, too. There was no way that someone can tell you that it wouldn't have happened if you kept the barrier up. Maybe they wouldn't have target Vivi then…"

"Your captain is right. The plan involved that they would lead Alabasta into chaos by killing all possible leaders of the country so that Crocodile could take over after he found about Pluton. That would have been quite a blood bath, which isn't good for the skin", another voice spoke up.

Nico Robin. She had been part of Baroque Works but had developed a side plan during the civil war. She had let King Cobra go free after she had read the Poneglyph while giving her word that she wouldn't try to find Pluton and use it. The black-haired woman than had met up with Bon Clay and left Alubarna. They had arrived at Shippy earlier when Bepo had some trouble with bandits to help out and also hide Shippy when the Marine started to look for the ship.

This had been quite a surprise to see two members, well former members of Baroque Works on board.

But they weren't bad people. He felt it, so it was fine. Even if he didn't know much about them, but that had been the case for nearly everyone on the ship when they had come to board except Ain.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is some kind of strange humour, you've got there, Nico Robin?"

Speaking of the former marine. She seemed serious and quite unamused. Well, she was stingy since Robin was on board.

"Maybe it is, Strategist-san", the older woman mused with the hint of a smile, which made Ain wrinkled her nose in annoyance.

"Hey, no changing the topic. Barto still isn't feeling good about the death", Luffy said seriously. He did want to help first, but he felt like the other one didn't listen to him. So maybe it would be helpful if Ain or Robin talked with him. They were both more experienced than he was. But also he didn't want to talk about Sabo.

"Death happens. You can always ask yourself if it was your mistake and die from that because you don't focus any longer or you can learn from it. Death is a tragedy which happens in life but only if you can overcome your guilt, you can become stronger", Ain said with a serious look on her face.

This got him an idea.

"Hey, let's train", he cheered and pulled the others with him to train. That would be fun to train with Bartolomeo, Ain and Robin.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Vivi-hime, and I'm also sorry that I had been so blind…"

Vivi nodded her head and said her 'thank you for condolence and that it was fine because everyone had been tricked. But now everyone will work together for a better future'. She didn't remember how often she had said it. She had lost count.

But she was thankful that Kohza, Chaka, Pell, Igaram and Carue who had stayed by her side the whole time and had even intercepted when they noticed that she wasn't comfortable any longer.

She loved the people of Alabasta, but at the moment it got too much for her.

Some minutes quiet between speaking to people was nice because she felt a little hot and it felt like her head was swimming.

But she also felt kind of bad that she kept people waiting even if the four told her that it was fine. That she shouldn't push herself if she didn't feel up to it any longer. That people would understand if she wants some time alone. After all, before she was the princess of Alabasta, she was now an orphan who had lost her father recently.

"Vivi-hime, I know that saying sorry won't make it better, but I want you to know that I want to help as much as I can with rebuilding everything", a young man said who had his arm bandaged. She remembered him as being one of the Rebel Army who had been around when she met up with Kohza.

"Thank you. But please heal first, before you get hurt even more", she told him softly with a smile. She was thankful for his words. Because they were different and felt more optimistic about the future. They gave her hope, too.

The hope that Alabasta will recover.

"Vivi-hime is everything alright? Your face looks kinda red."

She turned her head to look at Igaram who looked at her with worry written all over her face. Vivi blinked. What exactly were they talking about? She only felt slightly dizzy now. But there was nothing to worry about.

"Vivi-chan, I think we need to get you out of here", Terracotta, Igaram's wife, said when she brought them some food and drinks, she had prepared for them and also the people.

"But…", she tried to protest but her body started to feel weaker. What was happening? Also, some people started to look at her strangely, in lustrous kind of way.

Strange smells hit her nose. But they weren't pleasurable to her. "Don't worry about Vivi-chan, I will take care of everything that will happen during her presentation."

This words hit her hard.

Presentation? That was a bad timing… she didn't need to deal with her presentation as Alpha or Omega.

Sengoku was started to get a headache.

What were these kids thinking? Picking a fight with a Shichibukai.

These kids didn't know how much trouble they gave him. Because the Shichibukai should be undefeated pirates who would be feared by Rookies to keep them under control. So the world could be a bit more peaceful, even if it was mostly a facade.

And now he had to deal with one of them defeated so he had to find a new one and he also had to deal with some nobles who thought that it was their right to put their freshly presented Alpha-kids in charge of Alabasta. Despite whatever will King Cobra had written or that there was the chance that the princess would present as an Alpha which would make her the ruler.

"Will you start to calm down and think rationally? Just because some of your kids are Alphas and not the heir to your countries, doesn't mean you can let them walk into Alabasta to take over. The people there don't need leaders who they aren't familiar with after going through a civil war. None of your kids have an idea of what is going on there right now. Also, King Corba had already made preparations in case something should happen to him. I have some qualified people in Alabasta who are helping with the reparation and also informed me about the situation. It is under control. The princess, the royal guards and the rebels are working together to get the country back into shape. So it is best to not interfere by demanding ruler changes. Now if you excuse me, I still have an appointment dealing regarding the open Shichibukai position."

With that, Sengoku stood up and left the room. "Brannew, handle everything that will go on in there and please stop them from trying to put their kid in charge so they can advantage of Alabasta." "Yes, Sir."

Good. Now that was taking care. Now on to the next annoying thing to do.

"Fleet Admiral, they sent me to brief you on the new bounties."

He stopped and looked at the papers, he had been offering. "Give me a quick overview. I still have to go to a meeting."

"Hai. First Strawhat Monkey D Luffy. There has been clear evidence that he is the one who had beaten Crocodile. Meaning that he had some greater power than suspected when he first surfaced. Also, sources told that the fight was relatively one-sided in the favour of the boy. It also seems like the boy is the captain and quite unpredictable. So the decision was to raise his bounty to 150,000,000 Berrie."

150,000,000 Berrie for Luffy?! That sounded too much. Did these idiots make a mistake when they discussed the bounty raise or had the protocolist been drunk again and no one had checked if he wrote down the correct numbers? Well, after second thought, the protocolist wouldn't be drunk after the debacle with 'Pandaman Incident'.

Now that left only the first option. And it was highly possible that they made some mistake there because they didn't know the kid personal.

Luffy probably only had beaten Crocodile because the man had done something to him or Luffy's friends. So there should be no reason to place such a high bounty on a kid who just recently came to the Grandline from the East Blue. But… he couldn't change it. He kind of feared that the two others would get a raise, too. Corazon would be ranting over the den-den-mushi if he was correct.

But this also made him think. If the others could get a raising then maybe he could convince Luffy to become one of the Shichibukais. That way they would be a bit protected. At least, the government wouldn't be going after them if they didn't do anything stupid.

"Firefist Portgas D Ace. He did cause quite a scene by taking out multiple fighters during the civil war. Also, he and another member of the crew did seem to make two of the higher-ranked members of the Baroque Work looked like amateurs. They decided to raise it to 120,000,000 Berrie because of the destructive power the boy has with his devil fruit. The others thought that maybe it should be higher but they didn't want it to be higher than the captains. If he was a captain of his own, they would have probably given him around 150,000,000 Berrie, too"

Well... he shouldn't be surprised about the amount. If Luffy was so clearly about 100,000,000 Berrie, Ace would be, too. After all, the two were too similar. So similar that many believed they were brothers by blood. So there was no surprise to the trouble both could get into. He suppressed a small smile. Ace would have a field trip when he heard that the only reason the bounty wasn't higher was that he wasn't the captain. He was already expecting a call on his den-den-mushi because now the difference between Ace and Luffy was even bigger than when they had their first bounty.

"Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law. We can now confirm that he has the Ope Ope no Mi which we had wanted to buy years ago. So they decided to put an 'Only Alive' on his poster so we would be able to get the devil fruit and not have to get 5,000,000,000 Berrie to pay some pirate for it. He was shown to be the partner of Firefist Ace in the fight and also some kind of strategist. They raised him to 115,000,000 Berrie. There might come another raise to make sure that the bounty hunters will go after him."

Sengoku felt his stomach clenched. So they hadn't given up on this devil fruit. Like it was useable in their hands. He knew why some would want it because of this eternal surgeon or whatever it was called. But he wasn't going to risked Law's life or another person's life so one stupid idiot with too much power could be immortal.

He definitely should make a call to suggest Luffy becoming one of the Shichibukai. It would keep them safe for a time being and they could grow a little more.

"Also there are two new additions of the crew who are given bounties. Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro. He was the one who defeated the person known as Mr 1 or better known as "The Killer" Daz Bones, who has a bounty from 75,000,000 Berrie. We haven't much information about him, yet. But the others fear that he will be kind of troublesome, so they gave him around 90,000,000 Berrie, as he was able to still fight after the battle with heavy wounds and still taking out opponents. The other new addition is former marine member Ain. We don't know what she had been doing in the time that she left the marines. But we can be sure that she hasn't lost any of her knowledge. Especially since she was a student of former Admiral Zephyr. 70,000,000 Berrie is the discussed bounty for her, because of the secrets she might know."

This was starting to get troublesome. Five out of eight people, as far as he knew had a bounty on their heads. That was quite some record for such a small group.

Now with the bounties, they also should be more feared by some Rookies. That was good. So he should ask carefully for Luffy to consider to become a Shichibukai for a bit of time.

Vivi was panting. She was starting to envy every Beta over the age of twenty-one. Because they hadn't to go to this torture.

Her whole body was aching. She was tired and sweaty. She never wanted to go through that again.

Terracotta came into the room with water and some food.

"You should eat and drink a bit before you take a bath and then go to sleep. I know it is hard for you but when you are rested enough, you should be able to go out again tomorrow and help the people as you want to."

Vivi lifted her head and nodded. Slowly the princess set herself up and took the glass Terracota was offering her.

"Oh, a letter from your friends?"

The blue-haired princess followed the glance before she nodded. "Yeah… they did leave quite fast after the fight, so Alabasta wouldn't get into trouble because they are pirates…"

Terracotta smiled softly. "They sound like good people despite the pirate part."

"They are…" Vivi mumbled and she felt like crying. "I know that they left me the letter so I wouldn't worry… but… but I hope they still call me their Nakama when we meet again."

The elder woman touched her head gently. "I'm sure they will, Vivi-chan."

Vivi sighed. The comfort was nice. But she should focus on those feelings first? Her eyes wandered to the letters.

The X, the sign for Nakama, on the letter from Luffy and the others were directly next to second to last line of her father's letter.

Also never forget. A country is not its buildings and riches. A country is its people.

She would never forget.

So yeah, the reason for the delay is the last part and the bounties. I had trouble to came up with somewhat reasonable bounties. I hope they work out for you, too. If they don't sound logical for you, I can give you my reasons for putting them that high (even if some reasons are also in the chapter).
The other thing with the last part, I wanted to end with Cobra's line how a country is its people. Because for me it is the most memorable line during the Alabasta Arc. It is somehow even more memorable to me than the famous scene with Vivi's goodbye to the Straw Hats, even if it is just a few words. So I had some trouble to finish it.
But now it is done.
I wonder where my mind will take Luffy and his crew next. But you have to wait until the chapter is written^^
I hope that I will get it up in Mai, but no promises there.
So stay healthy until next time^^