Ink's Notes:
I managed to finish this up when I was at the doctor's office today, so here's the next chapter! I admittedly don't really have any comments to add up here, so let's just get right to it!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bepo watched in awkward fascination as he sat across from Sakura while she held her hands over his wounds, a gentle green glow emanating from them. His fascination only increased as whatever it was she was doing was somehow healing his wounds, and it wasn't long before they had closed and he was starting to feel much better.
"That should do the trick," Sakura smiled as she stood up, dusting herself off. "How are you feeling?"
Bepo experimentally moved his arms and legs, before hopping to his feet and jabbing the air a few times. He smiled widely, turning to face Sakura. "I feel much better! Thank you!" He pulled her into a tight hug, and much to his surprise, after a moment she ended up hugging him back, and her grip was much stronger than her small stature let on.
"Yoi!" Marco, in phoenix form, called from a nearby tree branch he was perched on to keep watch for anyone who might be passing through the area. He flew down and changed back to his human form, landing gently as Sakura and Bepo let go of one another. "We should head back to town and get some rest. We need to keep traveling."
Bepo blinked a few times, largely out of confusion. "Why?" he asked. "Where are you going?"
"We're on a mission," Sakura began, and Bepo turned to her for further explanation. "The leader of our village wants us to explore the lands and find anyone else who may have been sent here from the Grand Line."
"Anyone else…" Bepo repeated under his breath as crossed his arms in thought. "Did that Devil's Fruit user teleport anyone after you?" he turned to Marco as he asked.
"After me? No, my crew would have been able to contain him after the beat down that I gave to him, yoi," Marco recalled. "Why do you ask?"
"He mentioned how many people he'd hit before me," Bepo clarified. "And he said he was going after the Whitebeard Pirates when he was done with us. So…" The bear tapped his foot as he hummed in thought. "He said… he'd sent seven people away already. So… including me and you, that's nine of us in total," Bepo concluded.
"Nine…" Sakura frowned. "So with you two, and Vivi and Carue, we have four. That means we have five more people to find," she determined, then sighed out of exasperation.
"On the bright side, that puts us about halfway there, yoi," Marco pointed out in an attempt to comfort her. "That should be plenty of time for Tsunade to figure out how to get us back home."
"I hope," Sakura sighed. "She doesn't know you guys are from another world, remember? She thinks you're just from some faraway country."
"So someone from your home is trying to figure out how to get us back home?" Bepo asked Sakura, who nodded in response. "That's great! I can get back to my crew, and the Captain!" Bepo thrust his arm into the air out of excitement in what Sakura recognized as the 'Cha!' pose she used to strike.
"I hope," Marco sighed, pressing his palm into his head. "That lack of knowledge may mean they can't figure it out, yoi."
"I'm sorry," Bepo hung his head. "I'm getting too excited…"
"Oh- no, don't worry about it-!" Sakura quickly cut in, waving her hands back and forth to further emphasize that it wasn't a big deal. "We'll figure something out. But… how are we going to put you into our cover story…"
"He could be Vivi's summon animal," Marco pointed out. "Carue can't talk, so he's a 'pet', but Bepo can, so he could be a summon."
"Summon?" Bepo asked, the expression on his face displaying just how confused he was by the term.
"Oh boy," Sakura sighed. "Let's start walking. We'll explain on the way back."
The trip back had been largely uneventful, aside from a rather long-winded explanation of anything Bepo would need to know about the world he was in and for the sake of their cover story. By the time they'd gotten back, the group had been exhausted and decided to get some well-earned rest, and so it was only the next morning that Sakura had a chance to explain to Vivi and Carue what had happened last night. She'd been expecting some sort of surprised reaction, so when Vivi had simply responded by saying "Okay," and going to meet her new 'summon animal', Sakura had been left dumbfounded.
It was only when they'd left the village after eating breakfast, and the group was walking down the dirt path towards their next destination, that Sakura got an explanation as to why Vivi had been so calm about the entire situation.
"When I was traveling with my nakama, we saw all sorts of things that were much stranger than this," she explained. "So I've learned to take these sorts of things in stride."
"Your nakama?" Sakura asked, and Vivi held her left wrist as she nodded.
"Yes, the Straw Hat Pirates," she explained, and Carue quacked and lifted his wing with what Sakura assumed was a smile. "I traveled with them for a few weeks. They took me from the Twin Capes all the way to Alabasta, my home. They helped me save my country, and invited me to keep traveling with them, but I had to turn them down so I could help rebuild and run my country." Vivi smiled. "But no matter what, we'll always be friends."
Sakura smiled gently at her, only to jump slightly when Bepo suddenly exclaimed, "You traveled with the Straw Hats?!"
Vivi blinked in confusion and turned to face him. "You know them?"
Bepo nodded. "We met on the Sabaody Archipelago," he explained. "Captain and I were at the auction house to see if there were any slaves we could free, when they came in and tried to free a mermaid friend of theirs, and then Straw Hat punched a World Noble in the face."
Sakura found herself extremely lost, and Marco sighed. "I guess we'd better explain to Sakura, yoi." Bepo and Vivi nodded. "We'll go into it when we stop for lunch."
A few hours, an ordered 'to-go' lunch, and a finding of a nice, quiet spot where the group could eat and talk freely later, Sakura found herself staring blankly at Vivi, Marco and Bepo. She'd just gotten a crash course in the politics of the Grand Line, and was quite frankly left speechless by the whole thing, especially with the earlier knowledge that Straw Hat Luffy – who was the Captain of the crew that Vivi had been traveling with – had punched one of these "World Nobles" in the face. She sputtered, blinked a few times, and bonked herself on the head to make sure she wasn't dreaming, but still found herself unable to form a coherent response.
"If it helps," Bepo offered. "The World Noble had just shot his friend because that friend was an octopus fishman."
More blank stares courtesy of Sakura prompted Marco and Vivi to sigh. "At this rate, we might as well tell her everything about our world, yoi," Marco groaned.
"I'm sorry," Bepo apologized, hanging his head.
One lunch, long-winded explanation, and departing to keep going towards their next destination later, Sakura found herself quietly wondering just what she had gotten herself into by taking the mission to help gather up the remaining people from the Grand Line who had been sent to her world. The remaining five people that were still somewhere out there doing who knows what.
Sakura cradled her head in her hands and sobbed quietly, vaguely noticing Marco patting her back to try and comfort her. At this stage, she could only hope that the list of the victims of the Devil's Fruit user didn't include any of the sorts of people who would harm others, be it physically or mentally. She could really only hope.
Poor Sakura. Poor, poor Sakura. She has to deal with these nutjobs. Anyway, responses!
peppymint: Bepo has joined the party!
Allykrau: Eh, I figured it'd be a nice way to apologize for the delay.
Krazyfanfiction1: Animals and zoans seem to have a consistent theme of being assigned as 'summon animals' here. ;3
CrystalHeart27: It's going to be terrible, because she's going to get ambushed by all of the Grand Liners at the same time, since they're taking a circular-ish path around the continent. She's going to need all the world's headache medicine.
rainwolf024: Thank you~! It's always nice to know people enjoy the story! As far as meeting the Straw Hats... well, none of them are here, but it's a possibility if she heads back to the Grand Line with Marco~ Also, sorry for not updating daily, writing can take time, y'know? u_u;;
The Keeper Of Worlds: Thank you~ And yup, the very same (though I dunno if 'scared' is the right word...)
Skipper917: Thank you!
Shadowmage97: A bear!
Cyricist001: We'll have to see what happens to them at the end of this arc to see if that's even a possibility, y'know?
moon so bright: Thanks~
And that takes care of that! I'll see you guys next time~!
-Ink