First off, sorry for not posting on Treasure of Thaun. I lost motivation because the reviews weren't very good. I will be posting to that story at some point soon, but updates won't be often. I have a ton of fanfitions, or ideas for fanfictions, just sitting in my docs (most of which are Nami based), so I thought I'd post one to hopefully boost my motivation for writing. Right now, this is just something on the side, but if reviews are better than ToT, then I'll be posting chapters of this more often, pushing that one to the side more.
Chapter 1: Only Alive
It was a day like any other. The sun shone brightly, providing plenty of relaxing warmth. The waves were calm and steady as it carried the large Thousand Sunny. And of course on this big ship were none other than the Strawhat pirates.
They were all up to their usual antics when the sky was clear and there was no trouble to be had- except for the shenanigans Luffy (sometimes joined by Usopp and Chopper) got himself into which easily brought Nami out of her good mood. Brook was playing a beautiful tune on the lawn deck. Franky was tinkering with a new project with Usopp as assistance. Robin was laying backing on one of the two lawn chairs, book in hand. Chopper was crushing some dried herbs in a sturdy stone mortar. Sanji was happily preparing food for the upcoming feast known as lunch. Nami was sprawled out on the lawn chair next to Robin, taking advantage of the good weather, which seemed to appear less and less the farther they traveled into the New World. Zoro, of course, was taking one of his many daily naps, leaned up against the railing, swords very close by. And finally Luffy was excitedly sitting on the figure head, legs crossed in anticipation as he tried spotting any sign of adventure.
Luffy's back stiffened as soon as his eyes spotted something in the distance. Still unclear to him though, he squinted his eyes, blocking out the sun in the process. It was slow. Most likely a boat. It seemed to be heading in their direction. Luffy couldn't help but let out an interested "oh" as his mind leapt through the large array of adrenaline-inducing adventures this boat could bring. Of course, Luffy's curiosity didn't go unnoticed, as he was soon joined by Nami.
"See something?" Nami asked, glancing over to Luffy as he squinted into the wide and open sea.
"Yeah!" Luffy exclaimed with a big smile. Nami couldn't help but get a little curious. She placed her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun, then squinted, hoping to make out whatever caught Luffy's attention.
"Ah, you're right. I see something." Nami stopped squinting and put her hand on her hip and held her other arm up to examine the log pose.
"Well it's certainly not an island. We may have to use a coup de burst if it turns out to be an enemy ship. Not like every other ship on the sea is an enemy ship" Nami made sure to mutter that last part.
Suddenly, a fast object came flying straight towards the front of the ship. Nami stiffened, expecting an attack from the aforementioned ship. Before she retreated into a defense pose, she saw a familiar seagull with a thick rolled up paper nestled in its beak. Nami loudly huffed when she realized she would have to give up some of her precious money. And now that they were in the New World, dangerous territory for anyone, the fees for a newspaper were now higher, and the arrival of the papers were later now as well.
The seagull perched its feet onto the white railing of the ship in front of Nami, waiting for the money. Nami irritably eyed the bird as she dug her hand into the pocket of her tight jeans. She pulled out a small light blue wallet and undid the zipper, revealing a partially empty wallet. She put her other hand into a small pocket inside the wallet and dug through the small amount of coins in there. She pulled out one 5 beri coin. Her thin fingers held it up, revealing its currency to the bird and slid it into the slit of the box the bird wore on its chest. The coin loudly fell into a pile of other coins from the bird's other successful trips. Satisfied, the seagull opened its beak, letting the newspaper fall into Nami's hand that she had placed under the bird's beak after inserting the coin.
With the transaction complete, the bird happily flew away.
"God. What a greedy bird" Nami commented, resulting in a hearty laugh from Luffy. Nami was a bit taken aback by how thick the newspaper was. Of course that could either mean good or bad news. Either way, it was new information Nami was glad she had access to.
She turned around and leaned against the railing, back to the sea, and unwrapped the paper. The first few pages were common yet irrelevant things (to Nami and the strawhats at least) like the death of an old king or queen, or the coronation of a prince and/or princess being crowned king/queen. There were also some newly printed wanted posters for pirates Nami had never heard of. They were most likely rookies just starting their adventure in the Grand Line.
She skimmed through the pages a bit more. By this point, she had just reached the middle. So whatever was coming up in the later pages better be useful information, otherwise this seemingly perfect day would be ruined, knowing she had wasted a good five beri on nothing but royal gossip (none of the which contained their royalty nakama, such as Vivi or Shirahoshi, or as Luffy and Sanji mentioned, Rebecca.) That is until she reached a certain page.
She stopped at a page with a big picture of what was mentioned as Mary Geoise, with the large title "Upcoming Reverie" Under the picture was the small caption that read "With the Reverie coming up very soon, kings and queens, along with their sons and daughters, start arriving. Many royal families have already started their adventure to Mary Geoise located on the Red Line due to the far distance. Each royal representative, along with their family and other accompaniment is assisted and protected by high ranking Navy officers. They will all be treated with the utmost care and protection during their travel."
"Anything interesting, Nami?" Luffy asked, hopping down from his post on the lion's head.
"Not entirely. It seems everyone is getting ready for the Reverie." Nami skimmed the paper some more, attempting to look for any participants listed "I wonder if Vivi and Sirahoshi are going."
"Does it say anything about them?" Luffy asked, oblivious as to Nami's last comment.
Nami turned the page once more, not too satisfied with the information given on the last page. She skimmed through the page once more and to her satisfaction, Nami spotted a list of kingdom participants, and their representatives. "It says here that Cobra is listed in the participants who are confirmed for their participation in the World Summit." Nami couldn't help but smile.
"Cobra…" Luffy shut his eyes and hummed as he tried recalling the familiar name.
"Vivi's dad" Nami informed, making Luffy's face light up at the mention of their blue haired friend.
"Really?!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Mhm!" Nami looked back down at the newspaper she held in her tight grip so the light breeze didn't blow it away. "It looks like Neptune is also registered to come!" Nami excitedly reminisced about the large merman and her encounter with Shirahoshi.
"Does that mean crybaby is going?" Luffy asked.
A bead of sweat dropped down Nami's head, still not entirely sure why he still called her that disrespectful nickname. "It doesn't say. It only lists the representatives of each location."
"Hmm" Luffy frowned, a bit disappointed that he didn't have any way to know if they were going to be joining their dads.
Nami gasped loudly and a smile once again formed on her face "It looks like Dalton is coming as well!"
Luffy looked over at the paper in Nami's hands, and one of his fingers immediately placed it on the face of an old yet rough looking man with grey facial hair and oddly styled hair. "It's Rebecca's dad!" his smile somehow widened even more.
"Really?" Nami looked at Luffy's bright face and back at the face of the old man.
"Yeah! He's amazing!"
Nami turned the page once more
"Wow! I can't believe so many people are going!" Nami's smile since she had first opened to the first page of the newspaper had grown considerably. The news about the Reverie had taken up only a few pages, less than Nami was satisfied with, but there was nothing she could do about it. She skimmed through the other pages that were left, there was still a good quarter remaining.
It was all still the same, more new about royal families, more rookies, and the occasional news about the navy. However, one page had caught Nami's attention, making her stop her quick reading.
"What's this?" Nami muttered to herself as she inspected the page.
"Huh? What is it?" Luffy asked, curious as to what triggered Nami's curiosity.
"It looks like they found a new World Noble. They had been lost for twenty years ago. Now the Navy is trying to retrieve them" Nami didn't provide too much feeling as she explained, but she couldn't help but let out a tinge of loathing. Luffy on the other hand didn't restrain the anger on his face.
"I hate those guys!" Luffy frowned deeper. After what Nami had seen and heard on both Sabaody and Fishmen Island, it was hard to hold the Celestial Dragons in high regard. They did nothing but abuse their power. They lived the high life, even though they did absolutely nothing to obtain it. They had no good feelings toward others except themselves.
The word 'disgusting' didn't even begin to cover what they were. In fact, it was an insult to the word. How they could kill and enslave people without even batting an eye baffled Nami. Even Arlong had cared about his crew. Nami only shook her head at that notion. It was a waste of time and headspace to even think of them.
She loosened her tight grip on the newspaper, which she had subconsciously tightened in her stupor.
She continued to rapidly turn the pages. Nothing of interest turned up. She swore, if the newspapers continued to contain so useless information, she would start skipping out on payments. Afterall, when you're a straw hat, you burn through money quickly. Specifically food money.
Nami huffed heavily. She was finally done with the useless waste of money they call a newspaper. "Well, there's nothing interesting. Let me know if anything happens with that ship or the weather." She closed the newspaper after relaying the instructions to Luffy, to which he just nodded.
Nami opened the door to the observatory. The inferior newspaper had angered Nami a bit, but she wouldn't let it affect her. Her sandals loudly clacked on the hard floor with every step. It was quiet up there. Peaceful. A smile grew on her face as she pulled out her chair and sat down. She made sure to open a drawer in her desk and slide the thick newspaper in. As much as she hated to keep the paper, she knew Robin would like to have a look at it later.
She closed the drawer thinking nothing of it. She just picked up her pen and continued where she had left off on her map earlier that day.
But little did she know, when she had been skimming through the pages, she had missed one particular page. And on that page was none other than Nami's wanted poster. The picture was still the same, the bounty was still the same. But now, instead of saying "DEAD OR ALIVE" it read "ONLY ALIVE".
A/N: I really hope you enjoy this. If you do, don't be shy and please rate and review! You have no idea how glad it makes me feel when you write about any suggestions (writing or plot-wise).