Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
Nao's scowl deepens with each step she takes on the icy path Kuzan has created for the two of them, gaining an amused glance from the aforementioned marine.
"You know, if you wanted a comfortable ride to Flevance, you always could've tagged along with Sakazuki," Kuzan comments dryly, knowing damn well that that has never been a probable option. His expression doesn't betray it, but he's thoroughly entertained by her misery.
Nao shoves hands deeper into the pockets of her coat, cursing herself for forgetting to bring anything else that could keep her warm.
At this current moment, the two them are trekking along the usual makeshift ice-road that Kuzan always used for his travels. This is no issue for the admiral—his devil fruit has essentially given him immunity to the cold—but for Nao's eleven year old body, the temperatures are brutal.
But that doesn't mean she'd give Kuzan the satisfaction of seeing her affected by the climate he'd accidentally created.
"Shut up," she snaps back in response to Kuzan's joke, clenching her jaw soon after the words slip out of her mouth to prevent her teeth from chattering.
Once again, his eyes flit over to her struggling figure, and he sighs. "Here, kid."
He reaches into the inner part of his coat, rummaging through a pocket for a few seconds. His eyes light up ever so slightly as he seemingly finds what it is he's looking for, and Nao pauses their hike to cock her head to the side in confusion.
No explanation is needed, however, as soon after a heavy piece of fabric smacks her face before falling to the ground. She grants herself a few milliseconds to be completely bewildered before she bends down to pick up whatever the hell was thrown at her. Analyzing it in her hand, her bemusement quickly melts into begrudging affection for her callous mentor as the object registers in her mind.
A child's pair of gloves.
Nao can't help but let out the remnants of a barely-stifled giggle. "You packed these for me?"
Kuzan rolls his eyes before turning back around and quickening their pace. "I knew you'd be too daft to realize there's no easy way for us to discreetly get to Flevance while off-duty."
Nao ignores his jab and switches to a light jog to match his longer strides, slipping the mittens on as she does so. "Are we at least near the damn place yet?"
Another soft sigh finds its way to Nao's ears, and she braces herself for a reprimandation from the admiral for being too impatient. They have, after all, only spent a week on their journey so far, and—though few breaks have been taken—traversing an entire ocean probably takes longer than seven days.
To her, surprise, though, Kuzan's lecture on her restless whines never come to fruition. Instead—for what would probably be the first and last time ever—he delivers her the good news. "We're probably a few hours away at this point."
She beams at this, turning towards the horizon to see if she can squint and catch a glimpse of their destination. She—unsurprisingly—can't, though her antics still earn her a rare, amused smirk from her travelling partner. "You're not gonna be able to see anything from here, you know."
Nao flushes in response. "It can't hurt to try."
He hums, acknowledging her reply, and his lack of a verbal response prompts the two of them to lapse into a comfortable silence. As she had been during their trek towards the Marine Headquarters all those months ago, Nao is left alone with her thoughts once again.
She mulls over how odd their predicament is, though she's the only one who knows the full extent of its strangeness. Flevance, by all means, should be a ghost of a city now, but Rosinante's report had indicated otherwise. While Nao doesn't have the heart to say she isn't glad more people survived, she's nowhere near guileless enough to believe that those lives won't create a catastrophic ripple effect on their new timeline.
Her heartbeat quickens as several not-so-pleasant predictions for the future run through her head, ranging from minor, inconvenient changes to the future to a full-blown uprising cause by the publics (well deserved) outrage over the government's cruelty.
Ultimately, she has only one conclusive thought.
Regardless of what happens next, come hell or high water, Law's survival is what she has to prioritize.
Once this decision has solidified itself in her mind, the hours begin to pass by all too quickly, and soon the coast of the island becomes just barely visible to the duo. Immediately, Nao halts her fretting and begins to prepare herself for the horrors that would most likely greet the two of them upon arrival. Flevance, though it might have some survivors this time around, would not be a pretty sight to see.
Little information had reached Sengoku and, consequently, little information had trickled down to reach Kuzan or Nao's ears. The world government themselves had been in charge of the attempted massacre, and—despite the survivors' efforts to expose the wrongs they had experienced—its gory details were still unshockingly buried.
With that being said, though, neither Nao or Kuzan are naive enough to expect anything short of a city in complete ruins. They both are well aware of what the navy is capable of doing—Ohara had proved its potential was something to be deeply afraid of.
And so, when a rather intact city enters their field of vision, it's a shock to them both.
"Strange," Kuzan comments, and Nao nods in agreement.
But they have no time to marvel over the survival of the city's exterior. Now well within sight of anyone guarding the walls surrounding the city, stealth and speed would have to become their new best friends.
Kuzan steps off the ice, only pausing to beckon for Nao to follow suit. She does so without protest, and the two begin a careful walk around the island's surrounding forest, looking for an entrance gate.
Their search isn't a long one, and soon the two find themselves looking at what seems to be an unguarded entry. Kuzan gives Nao a small nudge on her shoulder, indicating that she should be the one to approach the gate first.
She returns his gesture with one of her own—a quick flash of her middle finger—before complying with his order. She doesn't want the admiral to get too comfortable with tossing her into precarious situations; she might be many things, but canon fodder is not one of them.
But this shouldn't be too difficult.
See—getting into the city isn't an issue in and of itself. Kuzan's position as Admiral gives them tentative access to pretty much any area occupied by the marines, and thus no secretive scaling of the walls would be necessary. The real problem lies in how their presence in the city would remain a secret to those they have to stay hidden from—Akainu's approaching fleet and the Donquixote family.
And that's where Nao comes in.
Plastering on a sweet smile, Nao approaches the gate without caution, coming to a stop right before its arches to wait for any guards presumably on duty. From behind her, Kuzan obscures himself from the view of any onlookers, finding himself hidden between a particularly thick bunch of trees.
It takes a few minutes for two marines to reveal their presence, and they mirror Nao's lack of precaution. Though their guns are slightly raised, their droopy eyelids and sluggish movements betray what they'd been doing prior to Nao's arrival—napping.
Nao's smile brightens, and, before the two can question the purpose of her visit, she interrogates them instead.
"Are you two napping on duty?" she asks somewhat accusingly.
The faint blushes that appear on both their faces are enough to convince her of their guilt. The marines teaches its members a lot of things, but a lesson on how to tell a convincing lie is not one of them.
Nao shakes her head disapprovingly.
"Admiral Aokiji isn't going to like this," she says pointedly.
From behind her, Nao can practically feel Kuzan's glare boring a hole into her back as she drops his name. It doesn't take an expert to see why he's upset—the plan was to be inconspicuous, afterall, but a gut feeling tells her that that just isn't going to cut it this time around. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? (She would, eventually, regret asking herself this.)
And so she ignores his look of warning and instead keeps careful watch of the two marines' facial expressions.
Once again, their faces poorly conceal what it is they're feeling—this time bewilderment at her mention of Kuzan.
Nao moves to clasp her hands together behind her back, mimicking a childish movement to hide her gesture for Kuzan to come forward. The soft rustle of leaves behind her indicates that her partner has decided to go along with her plan, and Nao releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
It's strange, really, that Kuzan trusts her enough to go along with an improvised scheme—though he might just think she's nowhere near enough of a fuck up for her to do anything too jeopardizing just yet. (If only he knew.)
But of course, him going along with it doesn't mean he's going to be doing so happily.
Sunlight lights up his face as he leaves the safety of the trees, revealing a obviously annoyed look that would give any sane human being chills. (Nao thanks her lucky stars that she's nowhere near sane anymore) No one wants to be the person on the receiving end of that glare, but—fortunately for Nao—the timing is just perfect enough for the two marines to believe that they're the ones who earned such a peeved stare from the man.
"A-Admiral Aokiji-san," they greet in unison, rushing to fix their postures in a feeble attempt to salvage any remnant of their professionalism.
Kuzan gives them a brisk nod, but the softening of his glare exposes the sympathy he has for the nervous wrecks. Getting caught by your boss for slacking off at work is a universally unpleasant experience, and Nao is certain he had napped just as frequently during his days as a lower-ranking marine.
He refrains from speaking, indicating that all responsibility for making her plan work falls on her and her only.
"We're here on Sengoku's orders. He wants a first-hand update on everything going on in Flevance." Nao isn't lying, per se—the fleet admiral would undoubtedly want a briefing about their trip eventually—but she sure as hell isn't telling the full truth.
The two marines don't look dubious of her explanation in the slightest, too distracted by their fear of angering the admiral.
Nao bites down a small laugh at their unnecessary paranoia. After spending so much time with the man over the past few months, she's come to realize that he's the last person to care about someone lazing around when a situation isn't dire
"We'll only be here for a few days," she adds, and they nod, stepping aside to let the two through.
As she and Kuzan move forward to pass through the gates, she fakes a gasp of surprise. Speaking in a artificially relaxed tone, she mentions the next part as if it were only a mere afterthought. "The visit is supposed to be a confidential one, though, so try not to mention you've seen us just yet. We won't mention you guys sleeping on duty in return."
Nao shoots them another dazzling grin as they walk past, making it obvious to the two marines that keeping quiet is something in their best interests. They don't protest, and—assuming they aren't workout junkies who enjoy being punished by their superiors for misconduct—Nao counts it as a mission accomplished.
But she doesn't have time to gloat about her success, as any and all conceivable thoughts are replaced with pure shock at the state of the town.
It is, surprisingly, still bustling with life, and though the people seem beaten and battered, they are still undeniably alive.
Nao's breathing becomes more rapid, and she begins to feel herself growing faint. (This is not what's supposed to fucking happen. This is not what's supposed to fucking happen.) Her face grows hot, and suddenly she feels a little too restricted in the coat she had adorned for their trip towards the island.
In an attempt to calm herself down, her fists clench and unclench, only serving to just barely halt a full-on downward spiral into insanity.
As quickly as it starts, though, the panic attack is swiftly interrupted by a firm, unexpected grasp on her shoulder.
Nao peers up, meeting Kuzan's gaze as she forces herself to breathe at a slower pace. He says nothing as she mentally pulls herself back out of her fright, and she's aware that he's purposefully refraining from asking any questions. He knows better than to prod her for answers that she'll never give.
She allows nothing more than a slight nod in thanks for his respect of her privacy, and he gives her a quick once-over to ensure her safety. Once satisfied with her condition, he speaks up for the first time since her diversion from the initial plan of stealthily sneaking in.
"I'm going to look around the town to see what I can find. You go talk to Rosinante."
Nao tries to pipe up and protest, but the words catch in the same throat that had felt all too tight and all too dry. She can't even spare a small glare for the aloof admiral, as by the time she looks up at the place he'd been standing, he's long gone. She wants to laugh at the irony in how easily a man of his stature—9'0 on a bad day—slips away when he wants to, but her amusement is cut short by a familiar noise.
She doesn't even have to look to identify what the source of the ridiculously long string of clashes and clangs is, but she glances over anyways, if only to confirm what she already knows.
A tuft of blond hair peeks out from under a wine-colored hood, and though the face accompanying the hair is slathered in poorly applied makeup, there's no mistaking who the klutz on the ground is.
Nao sighs. "Get up, idiot."
It's been awhile, friends!
I can't really make any excuses for my newest absence. I started college, and life just became very hectic, but I'm deeply sorry for not updating in so long.
Forgive me if my writing is not quite up to par yet; it's been a long while. (': Leave a review, please and thanks. It's nice to see who's still all here.
Have a great day!