As of today, my dog Tsuki Hime Serenity is no longer with us. I held her in my arms to the end, but it hurt so much I decided against going to work. It's going to be a few days before I can even think of getting a new job. She's going to be buried with the rest of her family in the unofficial 'pet cemetary' out in my aunt's yard next to her sister and the rest along with her favorite toy.
It hurts like hell losing your fur baby and favorite bed stealing buddy.
Every member of the Straw Hat crew (besides Takeshi and Lambo) had to stare at the way Luffy kept on winning at the 'big' games while calmly losing at most of the minor ones. Every time she went to the machines had big payouts, she won with such regular consistency that it couldn't be natural. The minor ones, well there her luck was pretty normal because the payouts were mostly under the six-figure range.
Nami was already seeing berri signs in her head because Luffy had outright told them she was going to split the winnings with them. So far with an even split (plus a little extra to Luffy because she was the one doing most of the work) they would be making millions.
Best of all the Marines...notably an officer named Hina who commiserated with Luffy over the headaches of being a fighter on a ship where people rarely took women as serious threats until proven otherwise particularly if said female had a noticeable bust and looked like a full figured woman like Hina did...and the security officers had all come to check out her winning streak and had come up empty for all the usual signs she was cheating, thus making it impossible for Crocodile to get any of the money back legally.
After all, it would ruin his reputation as a 'legal' business if he falsely accused a woman of cheating only for it to get out she wasn't and he was just being stingy.
Though there was one very odd moment when a Marine happened to come over to talk to Luffy, only to get the most hilarious expression on his face when she apparently recognized him.
Luffy walked up to a disguised Nami and looked very close to cackling.
"Oh god, the look on Koby's face when he found out it was me..."
Koby had a total pole-axed expression on his face that was mixed with a healthy dose of "WTF" and "HOW?"
Nami grinned and handed over the picture. Luffy winked and hid it so she could show Zoro later.
"Nee-san, we got what you wanted," said Lambo. Chopper was right next to him radiating a strange cold aura that originated around the vest Luffy had given him earlier.
Considering he had been born and raised on Drum Island, which had a winter climate, he would have handled the desert heat of Alabasta poorly.
Ace had a rather odd look on his face when he stumbled across the 'big freezer', but it was nothing compared to the amusement he got when he realized what Luffy did to the vest she gave Chopper. The inside was coated with some lining that had been hit with a modified "Zero Point Breakthrough", and while it might have caused frostbite in a human it was a comfortable cold for a reindeer from a winter climate.
Chopper only had to suffer for a few hours before Luffy brought out the vest, and now he was perfectly fine. His big sister was awesome, being able to pull something like this off so he would feel better!
Luffy planned to either bankrupt Crocodile or gain ownership of the casino itself.
Short term was fine, but if she could pull off gaining control of the casino it would provide the crew with a long term investment and help establish her claim over Alabasta as a whole since it's presence impacted the economy.
Nami and Vivi had both been suitably impressed Luffy was able to think that far ahead.
Luffy was also able to come up with a good way to keep the Marines from bitching too much about the fact Alabasta was going to be flying the colors of the Straw Hat crew when this was over.
Ace had confirmed that Crocodile had claimed Alabasta as his territory, which made it easier for Vivi to explain why they were flying the jolly roger of the Straw Hats on the island to the World Government.
Officially, Vivi had found out Crocodile was the source behind the drought on the island and was stirring up far too much trouble for them to tolerate. So she decided to outsource to the cheapest option she could find to lessen the damage to the royal treasury, in exchange for backing the claim of the crew she hired. In other words she was risking the lives of a group of relative nobodies instead of her own people, which fell in line with how a noble (much less actual royalty) would think about pirates.
Belphegor had snickered and confirmed that no one would bat an eye if the royal family used that story to explain why a rookie crew was allowed to fly their jolly roger on such a large island. Best of all the Marines wouldn't be able to get rid of it easily without pissing off the nobles long term.
After all, the royal family would only need to wait for the Straw Hats to end up as yet another statistic or rise up as major players. Either way, flying the colors wouldn't hurt the kingdom long term except to really piss off the Marines and the World Government which any pirate could get behind regardless.
Claiming the casino would just be bonus and give them a veneer of legitimacy. That and a source of long-term cash they could borrow from later with the banks.
Luffy's intuition pinged, and she gave the signal for Nami, Chopper, Lambo and Takeshi to get to work. Smoothely Belphegor and Fran flanked her, using Fran's Mist to hide the fact that they had disappeared at all. Ace was simply too noticable to act as her back-up, but Bel and Fran were more than enough to deal with Crocodile.
"So you're the girl who's been making my dealers nervous," said Crocodile.
"And you must be the owner," smiled Luffy, putting on the natural charm that came with Sky Flames. She vaguely noticed someone beside Crocodile that she vaguely recognised.
She had to wonder who had gotten stuck with this creep.
He was a young man about her age with sandy blond hair and tired eyes that seemed to see more than most did. He wore a light scarf with a stripe pattern around his neck, but it was rather loose considering how hot it was. He wore comfortable clothing that was suited for the desert, but it was pretty clear he didn't really like the heat all that much.
She really, really hoped she was wrong and Crocodile hadn't somehow managed to stumble across Fuuta. The idea of this jerk controlling her little brother made her rather homicidal.
With Nami and the others...
Lambo and Takeshi stiffened.
"I think she found another one," said Lambo. Takeshi nodded.
"Probably, though it doesn't seem to be one of her old Guardians... more like an outlier like I-Pin or Fuuta."
"It's definitely not I-Pin. She might have managed to stick close to Fon or Kyouya-nii and her power is the sort of thing Vivi would have mentioned," said Lambo.
"Fuuta maybe? I mean it would explain why Crocodile would need the Dance Powder in the first place, if he managed to stumble across him and drew the connection between rain and the Ranking Planet," mused Takeshi.
"And how he became a Warlord in the first place, if he found Fuuta early enough," nodded Lambo.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"Just which one of our old friends is going to become a permanent member of our crew to replace Vivi," said Lambo.
"So far all signs point to Fuuta, but we could be wrong," said Takeshi cheerfully.
Nami clearly had a headache, so she changed the subject.
"Any idea what why Luffy was wearing so many flower pins on her hat?"
"I do!" said Lambo cheerfully. "It's a way to subtly show off the sort of person she is while disguising her familiar hat."
Seeing he had Nami's full attention, Lambo happily explained the meaning behind the flowers and what the combinations meant.
"I think you would suit a marigold...it means 'desire for riches', with some freesia...that one means 'spirited'. There's also gladiolus which means 'strength of character'. All in all it would mean you like money and are a spirited strong willed woman."
Nami was inordinately pleased with that sort of message and made a note to see if Luffy could source her some pins to hold her hair back with.
"What about me?" asked Chopper, mostly to get in on this.
"I'll have to think on that, but I definitely think yarrow and zinnia would be among them. Those are 'good health' and 'thoughts of friends' respectively. Maybe some wisteria, because you are a steadfast little guy?" mused Lambo.
Their discussion of flowers and the 'language' behind them lasted for several rooms, and it was something even Nami could grow interested in learning.
With Vivi and the others
It would take a few days to reached Yuuba and the rebels. Luffy's idea of seperating the group into smaller factions was simple, but brilliant. Especially since Ace was going with them to insure Crocodile didn't have any surprises waiting for the Princess among the rebels.
He was simply too noticeable to be of any real use in the city, but he was the perfect bodyguard since he knew Luffy could handle Belphegor and Fran just fine.
Besides, they were attempting discretion and being sneaky, rather than overt and loud.
Luffy fully planned to have them meet up in Yuuba or even Alburna later once they finished with Rain Dinners. It depending on what Ace could relay through the Den Den Mushi...which still weirded the siblings out, using a snail like a cell phone of all things.
Since they had a lot of time to kill...and the girls were riding a camel Sanji had managed to find while the boys walked... Vivi decided to ask Ace what Luffy had been like before.
Ace snorted.
"Luffy in her past life was a skittish little rabbit, mostly because her shitty father thought it was a brilliant idea to seal her natural talents simply because he didn't want to actually train her or even interact with her. The asshole even went so far as to nearly kill her during a competition and didn't care about the fact she had to go under emergency surgery less than two hours after he fought her. And that's not going into the fact the asshole nearly caused her to become sterile."
Nojiko and Vivi paled hearing that last bit.
"He what?" said Nojiko horrified.
"You know our Flames?" he asked.
Nojiko nodded, as did Vivi.
"Well imagine having all of Luffy's 'firepower' bottled up for over a decade, with no outlet. Worse, she was actively bullied and ostracized by petty children who were allowed to do so by the adults...hell several of her teachers even harassed her because her natural intelligence was forcibly being surpressed by the seal. Apparently the method they used caused her to 'bloom' very late in life and her tutor at the time forced her to see a doctor for women. The seal was slowly cooking her internal organs, and the parts that allow children to be born were extremely sensitive to that sort of thing, so they were damaged," said Ace.
"That's horrible!" said Vivi.
"Want to hear the worst part?" said Ace.
The trio nodded, unwilling to trust their voices. It was no wonder Luffy was so open and kind...she had been through hell in her past life.
"The asshole who put the seal on her didn't show any remorse to what he did at her father's request until after he found out that he nearly caused her to be unable to have kids. She was the last heir he had left and a descendant of the man who started the family and they nearly wiped that line out because of a seal that should never have been put on her in the first place. And when he was confronted with the facts he only cared that he had nearly rendered her sterile, rather than the fact he had put her through literal hell for over a decade."
"Poor Luffy..." said Vivi with open sympathy.
"Will she be alright with you telling us this?" asked Nojiko in concern.
"Why would she care? That part of her 'life' is over and while she got dealt a mildly shitty hand it's still leagues better than last time. Sure, her old man abandoned her but he didn't hide behind a lie or pretend he cared only to ignore her when she needed it most. He gave her a damn good reason why he didn't and actually accepted the fact his actions would have consequences. And while Gramps is an asshole, he still cared in his own shitty way about us even if we did go through his hellish idea of training," shrugged Ace.
Sure, Garp was an asshole and his idiotic ideas of how to toughen them up had been hell to go through, but he did care about them in his own twisted way. He also made no bones about why he was doing it either and gave them a straight answer.
Compared to their last life, when they had to sift through so many lies just to get a glimpse of the actual truth, it was a very nice change of pace. Besides, this time they had each other early enough to lessen the blow.
"Besides... Luffy trusts you all to claim you as family. So long as you never betray her, she won't care if you know what her life was like before," said Ace.
If the mood was slightly somber as they continued onward, well was it any surprise after the emotional information dump Ace had just given them.
Vivi tried desperately to change the subject.
"So how did you meet her last time?"
"I was tricked into thinking I had a chance to claim a title I had been lead to believe was mine, only to find out it was a set-up to force me into following her whether I liked it or not. My asshole of an adopted father never had the balls to tell me to my face that I wasn't his son and therefor unable to actually inherit the position he lorded over me," said Ace. "Luffy managed to calm my rage, but not before I tried to kill her first."
Hello awkward silence, so good to see you again so soon.
"Can we just drop the line of questioning already?" Gin half pleaded. He was feeling really uncomfortable hearing even a fraction of the crap his new captain went through in her last life.
The girls wisely quit asking.