Chapter 8: A Little Respite

April 30, 801 WG

The talks continued for hours more with everyone trying to grasp the full situation and how much time they might have. Pluton was slow and far too big to be towed effectively. It would probably be weeks if not months before it would reach the desert island.

However, no one wanted to underestimate the World Government when it came to finding solutions to inconvenient problems. They planned for merely having weeks.

"We should evacuate our people to different islands. We shouldn't gamble with their lives by letting them stay here with Pluton coming," said Kozu. Speaker of the people, and former leader of the rebel army, he had the best perspective on the view of the citizens of Alabasta.

Cobra nodded his head. "That would be the most practical solution, we'll need to contact our neighbors to let them know. Though, we'll have to find a way to explain the situation that won't result in them turning us away for fear of drawing the World Government's wrath. Still the best results would be to prevent the destruction so that the people could return home afterwards."

"Will it even be possible, given what we know about its build?" asked Pell. Lance had given them as much detail on the ship as he could recall. It was a depressing revelation. The weapon itself demanded a nearly invincible ship to carry it. Even with the addition of the island whale, Laboon, who outweighed the ship by a factor of three at least, they were still grim. Maybe Laboon could drag the ship under by landing on it when he leapt out of the water. Or maybe he would just skewer himself on the masts.

Everything was circling back to Law's idea. Which Luffy despised and made Law's crew anxious. Bepo had choked out the issue with Law's powers with the others agreeing and arguing against their captain taking such risk. He already depleted his life in the fight against Doflamingo and Kaido. Just how many years did Law have left to give?

Lami had pitched a fit at this point and only a promise of seeking out better strategies and calmed the girl down. She had already lost so many years with her brother, she didn't want what time they had together from now on to be shortened by one minute.

Unfortunately, no valid solutions could be found, and the moon was now beginning its descent from its zenith. Everyone was tired from the long debate and they decided to retire for the night so they could attack the problem with fresh minds in the morning. Though, they agreed evacuating the people was a good idea. It would be one thing less to worry about when the fight came.

Vivi was walking toward her room when she heard Luffy's plaintive cry. "Oh please, no, Ann. I just want to sleep!"

She came around the corner and saw Luffy standing in the door of the room he had been provided. The little black-haired girl Luffy had carried off the ship stood before him with a book in her hands and a beseeching look on her face. A toy bear that appeared similar in coloring and clothing as one of the members of the Hearts Pirates was being straggled in the crook of her arm as she held of the storybook toward the pirate captain. Luffy looked down at the girl in weary exasperation, His shoulders slumped in defeat even as he pleaded for peace. Something the little girl sweetly denied him as she raised the book even higher, looking over the top of it with her eyes while it hid her mouth.

Vivi couldn't stifle her giggle at the scene. Both Luffy and the girl turned to look at her, freezing in surprise for a moment. Then two things happened. Little Ann step behind Luffy's legs and eyed her from around his knee while still holding the book. And Luffy turned as red as his shirt. Vivi had never seen Luffy embarrassed before. She didn't think it was possible for him to be embarrassed with all the things he did but there he stood absolutely mortified that she had caught him interacting with his niece.

Which was still a shocking revelation on its own. Nami had explained to her the important changes that had come to the crew since Vivi had last seen them. Particularly changes they were going to try as hard as they could to keep out of the newspapers.

"She's Ace's daughter?" said Vivi, incredulous.

"Yeah, that surprised us, too, but the photo that arrived with her was pretty hard to deny. I mean, I've seen that same look on other men before. That overly goofy grin Ace had splitting his face as he held baby Ann was classic, 'Proud Papa' face. Coupled with his holding her for the camera to see, it screamed, 'Look what I made! Ain't she gorgeous?' No way am I going to question such a claim. Considering Ace's issues, if he's claiming that baby as his, then it is his."

Vivi thought about it a moment then said, "If you are looking for a safe place for her to grow up, then I can think of few places that won't question her parentage around here in Alabasta."

Nami smiled but shook her head. "Because of what happened to her mother, Ann seems to have a hard time warming up to people and once she does, she gets possessive. We already found a place that would have taken her, but she did not want to be left behind. I mean just running out to deal with Law and Cypher Pol upset her. She has huge abandonment issues and even if we made sure to visit as often as possible, it wouldn't be the same. She velcroid herself to Law just in the two weeks she was aboard his ship while he searched for us. And if her mom hadn't been constantly talking about going to Luffy, I don't think she would have allowed herself to leave Law. Law complained that she cried for a week straight after her mother dumped her in his arms and ran off. So, we can't give her up, I don't think her heart could take it."

Vivi knew several members of the Straw Hat Pirates were responsible enough to not worry about Ann's daily care. But Luffy was the captain and he had a habit of wandering into trouble and dragging everyone else with him. While the crew could all defend themselves, it was alarming that they would have a vulnerable child on their ship.

Whatever Ann's issues, it would be far better for her to find a peaceful village to grow up in. The very situation they were in now was not good for her or Lami. Why did Law have his sister with him, anyway? She seemed old enough to be reasonable. Or had they been in the middle of a relaxing vacation somewhere when they found out about Pluton and there had been no time to drop the vulnerable members off at a safe location? That sounded more likely.

The other thing that had concerned her was the second revelation. Luffy's devil fruit was gone, that's why he hadn't responded well when she had hugged him.

"What?! How did he lose his devil fruit?" gasped Vivi as the girls rode ahead of the others.

Nami shifted in her seat and glanced down before answering. "There was an incident. Luffy… got close enough to death that he lost his fruit. It also had some other effects on him, mentally as well as physically. He lost a lot of his strength and he isn't quite the same happy-go-lucky captain we all know and love to be irritated by. He's having to relearn how to fight because of it."

"Seriously? It's that bad?"

"Let's just say if he had to do the battle with Crocodile all over again. He would lose and very quickly. He just wouldn't have the stamina to keep going after being beaten and stabbed like that."

Vivi could only gasp. Luffy had still been at the beginning of his journey when he faced Crocodile. It was really the first time he had a chance to prove to his crew and the world that he had the potential to rise above the rest. If he couldn't win against one of his early opponents, then Luffy was in serious trouble.

"That's why we're dying his hair. The white lock makes it obvious something happened. We don't want people to notice and come after him."

"But he's acquired scars before and…" Nami's shaking head stopped her.

"Luffy either went into hiding right after being injured or showed he was still strong right away. But we can't afford a challenger right now and right now Luffy's still riding the 'I dropped Kaido on his ass', 'I outmaneuvered Big Mom on her turf!' reputation. We don't want people even speculating he got hurt in an unpublished encounter and he might be vulnerable, because he is.

"Honestly, we should have gone to ground right after the incident. Another hiatus so he could get himself back up to speed. But Law's situation turned out to be urgent and Luffy was able to cover his weakness. Anyone who got suspicious didn't escape. Which was more dumb luck than anything else but the raid on Vegapunk's island managed to keep the impression that Luffy is still at the top of his game. And we want to maintain that impression. Now we have this new issue and we have to win. For your sake and for the world's sake."

"And Luffy can't fight," said Vivi realizing how dire their situation was.

Nami nodded. "Lance is supposed to be an ex-vice-admiral of the Marines, but I don't know how good he is. He was telling us a few stories, but he was mostly focused on Luffy's parents because Luffy was complaining he didn't know anything about them, and Lance kept referencing them."

"Lance?"

"The big warrior guy in armor."

"He's an ex-Marine and he knew Luffy's parents?"

"Shocking, huh?" Nami grinned. "When Luffy was having his mental crisis, he called Dragon and told him to get his ass over there and Dragon got his ass over there. It's funny now that I think about it."

Dragon, the great leader of the Revolutionary Army, the world's most dangerous criminal, had come when called. She glanced back at the man, who was talking and laughing with a glowering Luffy walking next to him. Little Ann was riding his shoulders and wearing his hat. Because Law's sister had decided to ride her brother's shoulders and wear his hat and he didn't care. In fact, his expression, when she had climbed onto him, had been the 'I dare you to say anything' type. So of course, nobody did.

"I can't believe he had that much clout with the man," said Vivi.

"More like, they have mutual respect and trust for one another and neither one abuses it. So when one calls on the other, they know it's serious."

That made sense. Still, it was hard to believe that a friend of Dragon's was walking behind her. Then again, the son of Dragon was walking behind her and she was friends with him. Then Vivi recalled what else Nami had said about Lance.

"He knew both of Luffy's parents? Like his mother? What was she like?"

Nami gave an unladylike snort and said, "She was freaking crazy. Lance described Luffy as being calm and rational compared to her."

"He doesn't know Luffy at all."

"After the stories he told, I'm inclined to agree with his assessment."

"No!"

"Yep." Nami then leaned over and whispered, "Luffy does want to ask his father, next time he sees him, just how many blood transfusions he required after the 'Devil's Little Girl' incident." Vivi gave her a questioning look. Nami chuckled and replied to her unspoken question, "Lance told a humorous story, where Luffy's mother, Maryanne, came up with a scheme to capture pirates that involved her strip dancing while singing 'I'm the Devil Little Girl' and the guys would walk around behind the pirate, knock them out, drag them from the tavern and arrest them outside. Very, very, successful tactic but Dragon couldn't participate because he apparently was suffering from a sudden onset of acute anemia due to severe blood loss." She mimed blood shooting out her nose.

Vivi clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from belting out an improper laugh. It took a few minutes to recover while Nami just grinned at her. Finally she said, "I don't think Dragon will appreciate that."

"Especially if Luffy gets the chance to ask in front of all the army. Lance is already anticipating having to go into hiding because of it."

"That's just evil," wheezed Vivi.

Vivi shook her head as she returned her focus to the present. "What's going on here?" she asked in the lightest tone and with a gentle smile. Mostly so Luffy would have a lead on what to say since he seemed too embarrassed to speak to her.

Luffy glanced down at his niece then back at Vivi, still at a loss for words. Was he really that bothered by being caught having a family moment with his brother's daughter? Possibly. Luffy probably had zero experience with the types of moments and didn't know how to act. Or he was just conscientious of his status as a two billion beri pirate. And two billion beri pirates did not have family moments, at least not where anyone could see.

Probably the former. The day Luffy cared about his status as a whatever-beri pirate was the day the world stop spinning. Sure, he'd gloat about it, but he wouldn't change his behavior because of it.

"I didn't think it was possible for you get tongue-tied, Luffy," she teased.

Luffy didn't retort, which would have been out of character for him, instead he ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he tried to sort out how to respond to her. Ann just stayed partially concealed behind book and knee.

Vivi decided to give him a break, she swore she could hear the sound of rusty gears trying to turn. Luffy was not a smart man, anything that wasn't said straight and bluntly generally went flying over his head. Except it now seemed it was beginning to notice the fly overs.

"I see your little niece wants someone to read her a bedtime story," said Vivi as she leaned forward to smile at Ann, who moved to hide further around her uncle's leg. "If you're tired maybe I," she glanced down at the mostly hidden child and added, "or one of the others can do it."

Luffy sighed his shoulders slumping. "She wants me to do it. For whatever reason she stopped accepting Robin as her reader and insisted on me. I can't get out of it. If I try, she gets upset and the others say I'm being terrible. I mean, I can barely read, and Robin acts out the lines. You would think she would want Robin but nooooo, she wants me."

Vivi grimaced at the mention of her former nemesis, Miss All Sundays, covering the expression and the feeling before Luffy could notice. From what she had learned from the others, Crocodile's former second-in-command had been a valuable asset to the Straw Hats ever since they departed Alabasta two years ago. She really needed to move on and accept Nico Robin. Or at least treat her no differently from the other crew members who had joined after she and Luffy had parted ways.

"That's so sweet, though," said Vivi as she looked at the exasperated Luffy. "She likes you this much already."

"More like I'm her security blanket," muttered Luffy, but bent down and scooped the child up who wiggled happily in his arms.

Picking her up must be what he does when he concedes, thought Vivi.

Luffy looked at the book and started trying to read the title. "Sindy- Cinder- Sinda-ray- ree- rel- la?"

Vivi refused to laugh. That would have been mean to her friend and former captain who was here to save her nation once again. Instead she peeked over his shoulder and confirmed the word he was struggling to pronounce. He had gotten pretty close.

"It's 'Cinderella'," she said. "Cinder Ella."

Luffy gave her the most pathetic look she had ever seen anyone make. Vivi smiled at him in reassurance. If the tiny dictator in his arms insisted, she read to him, then he would just have to get better at it.

Besides, she thought in amusement, she doesn't want to be read to, she wants to snuggle up against him while looking at the pretty pictures while she heads off to dreamland. He really is her security blanket.

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This and the previous two had been one huge chapter originally until I looked at the word count and realized the chapter was nearly 7000 words.

Fortunately, I had some natural break points so just used those to break up the chapter. (I try to keep chapter entries below 3000 since it's not like you can bookmark mid-chapter if it's taking too long to read and something comes up.)