Wishfull-star: Thank you!
Kae Membrana: I hope I keep him close enough to canon behavior. He was fun to write when I had assistance, since I'm not very good at keeping Luffy in character for most of my other stories. Yeah, Vivi is the best for Nami.
Shorter chapter this time! Enjoy~
"Sanji, how much treasure did we get?"
Usopp, who was distraught over the current and future situation, said they got three large bags. Nami squealed in happiness. Luffy suddenly ran to the side and looked down at the floating turtle. "Wow! A turtle boat!"
"Congratulations on your escape," a female voice said, sitting on the cabin roof. She had a purple cowboy hat on (not as cool as Ace's) and revealing clothes. A straight nose and blue eyes, too. "What a nice ship this is." Luffy was confused. He just looked at her with a blank look. But then his initial impression of her seeming not like an enemy was shattered when she made it clear she was the one that blew Igaram up, and she knew all along that Vivi was who she was.
"Who are you! Why're you on my ship?!" Luffy demanded.
"What are you doing all the way out here, Miss All Sunday?!"
"Who is she now? What now?!"
"She's the boss's partner! Mr. 0's partner! I followed her with Igaram!"
Miss All Sunday smoothly said, "Because I let you trail me." Luffy thought she was a good guy then. Right? She helped Vivi. "But you're the one who told the boss his identity was leaked!"
Luffy scowled. "She's a bad guy after all!" Vivi demanded to know what her objective was.
"Now, now, no need to get all upset. I only let you follow me because you looked so desperate," she said, taunting Vivi. "And it was just too amusing to observe, a single princess who foolishly thinks she can take on the entire Baroque Works organization and take back her kingdom."
Vivi was furious, and distraught. Luffy was very angry with Miss All Sunday's presence on his ship. She didn't sound like she was lying, so she really did kill Igaram. "Don't you underestimate me!" Vivi shrieked. Everyone drew their weapons. Luffy was shocked when Sanji pointed a gun at a woman, enemy or not!
She then used a devil fruit, clearly, to knock Usopp and Sanji off, as well as somehow make Zoro drop his sword, even from a distance. "What?" he asked angrily, that someone somehow made him drop his sword.
"It's devil fruit!"
"Oooh!" Luffy couldn't help say. He was excited to meet others with some and hear more about them. He was one of the very few in the East Blue with one, so he didn't really get to hear about or meet others with them. All he knew were Smoker, Buggy and possibly Alvida.
Sanji just noticed the woman he pointed a gun at was beautiful. Which was strange. "Fufufu, no need to get so riled up," she said calmly. "I haven't come here on any orders nor do I have a reason to fight you people." Luffy felt his hat come off of his head, and end up in her hand. "Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat pirates."
He raged. "GIVE ME BACK MY HAT! SO YOU ARE TRYIN' TO PICK A FIGHT WITH US, HUH?! I'VE NOW DECIDED TO SEE YOU AS MY ENEMY! COME AT ME!"
She ignored his rage. "You're more interesting than I knew. Scaring away the Unluckies. I wonder if that was the right thing to do. But how unfortunate. A small time crew escorting a random princess to her kingdom, going against a huge organization. Having a princess only able to use a pirate crew. It's kind of funny, really. But most unfortunate is where you're headed. Your route may not have been the best one. The name of that place is Little Garden.
"Even if I laid a finger on you, you would most likely not even make it to Alabasta after going there. Even without meeting Crocodile, the curtain would close on your journey before you even got to your desired destination."
Luffy shouted, "As if we'd roll over and die easily! Idiot! Give me my hat right now!" Usopp nodded his head as he hid behind the mast, barely peeking around it at the stranger, Miss All Sunday. He asked Luffy if he thought the woman was lying. "I can't tell! That's annoying!"
His hat was tossed back to him, landing on his head. He pressed it down hard, angry, still. She said to stop making a fuss. They would die there, and were all foolish. She was really annoying because Luffy couldn't tell if she was lying. If she was, then she was very good at it. But when she pulled out an eternal pose to a place called "Nanimonai". Nothing island?
Knowing this had to be a lie, Luffy didn't hesitate to take it from Vivi and crush it before Miss All Sunday even explained it. Nami yelled at him. "She could have been helping us!"
Zoro said, "That island's name is 'nothing island'. You stupid?" Nami blushed and said a lot of islands had to have weird names. Luffy added he didn't think she was telling the truth, even if he couldn't outright catch her at it. Miss All Sunday just looked interested.
"And you don't decide the course of my ship!" he yelled. He wanted to punch her stupid, condescending face. How annoying! She just smiled, still amused. "I see. How unfortunate." Luffy hated her. He hated that she killed cinnamon roll head. "I don't dislike bold men." Zoro bristeled. "Let us meet again soon if you survive."
"No! I don't want to see you again." She got off the ship and onto the turtle. Luffy longed to ride on it. It looked so cool. He didn't like that lady, but almost immediately moved on, and told Sanji he pointed a gun at a woman! Sanji gasped in horror and fell to his knees, putting his hands in his hair, eye wide.
Usopp asked, "You just realized?" Zoro walked to Luffy, asking if he was okay. Luffy nodded, and Zoro kissed his cheek. Vivi, however, did not move on like they had. She was very upset. Miss All Sunday was unpredictable, and mocked her. "It's not like this is fun or easy! It's her fault!" she cried angrily, her fists bunched so hard they were bleeding.
Nami walked to her and helped her up. "Then it's a waste to think about it if you have no idea what she thinks. She was just here to bother you and lead us to a nonexistent island."
"Hmm, I wonder how you make a fake eternal pose?" Usopp mused thoughtfully.
"Magic," Luffy said simply. Usopp asked Vivi to explain in more detail. They knew about Alabasta's situation loosely, but the story had been told in a rush. Not many details. Well, not enough to sate everyone. The duck on deck was scared of Luffy. He had nearly forgotten about his presence as he hid.
Well, if he was there long, hopefully Luffy could make him not afraid. He decided to try, and hurried to the duck. He squawked in fear. "Hey, I'm not bad. I just smell scary! And we're letting you and Vivi on our ship, right? And taking you home." He walked closer and Carue charged.
He was shaking, but wanting Luffy to go away. Luffy crouched and stuck out his hand before Carue hit in. "Shishishi, you're pretty soft, aren't you?" Luffy asked, petting his head gently. Carue didn't move. "Well, you can be afraid of me if you want. But I'm not gonna hurt you. Vivi is upset, you should go to her."
The duck ran around him and to the princess. He bounced back to where everyone was again. "Are you sure it's okay being on your ship? I'm just putting you in more danger…" Vivi said sadly, not making eye contact.
"Luffy's the one who beat up the messenger things. They seemed pretty important. Besides, they probably already have our faces. At least me, Zoro and Luffy, right?" Nami asked. "You're here whether you feel like you're welcome or not. And you better not have that attitude you had as Miss Wednesday! You'll help around the ship, get it?"
She nodded her head. Nami sat next to her. "Now explain more," she said, but this time it was in a friendly voice. Everyone sat around her, Zoro pulling Luffy into his lap, with the youngest not protesting.
-x-
"Hey, do you think it'll snow? I want it to snow," Luffy said, sitting on the railing.
"Why would it snow?" Zoro asked.
"You were asleep when it was snowing the other day." He turned to Vivi and asked her if it would snow.
"Well, it's not like it never snows. But the conditions from the Red Lineto the first island are different from the rest of the Grand Line. The seven magnetic lines coming from Reverse Mountain crash together, making things more unpredictable. So you can't let your guard down for even a minute. Even if it would be rare to encounter such bizarre conditions in the rest of the sea."
"Yes! That hell will not be repeated!" Usopp exclaimed. Nami gave a relieved sigh as well. Zoro asked what they were talking about, and all but Luffy glared at him. The captain just laughed, but was disappointed about it not snowing a lot randomly.
Vivi said, "Even so, the Grand Lineis still by far the most difficult sea to sail in. So it's absolutely imperative that you don't underestimate it."
By now the boys were a bit bored with the story, and Sanji asked if they wanted drinks. "Ooh, ooh, make my fruity one!" Luffy said. Sanji made the best orange juice, blood drink ever. Sanji jerked his head in Vivi's direction, and he pouted, crossing his arms. Now he had to hide it again!
"Well, I'll get everyone the same drink," the chef said, and hurried into the galley. He was no doubt excited to have another girl on the crew, though Nami would benefit the most by having a friend, or at least a fellow female. Sanji came out quickly with drinks for everyone, even the boys.
"Sorry I can't get your regular drink," Sanji said sympathetically. Luffy said it was to be expected. "At least the eyes aren't a problem so far," he offered. The youngest smiled and agreed. They all started joking around and playing with cards, the drinks, the duck. He had grown to like Luffy in only just a day.
Luffy wasn't inherently scary. He just seemed to give off a scary aura for most animals. Vivi didn't like or wasn't used to this easy going attitude, and worried about it, sounding irritated and angry. "Don't worry, they work hard when push comes to shove. Here."
Luffy looked up from his drink, and said, "We're fun here! Shishishi, get used to it." Nami smiled in agreement. She offered Vivi a drink, who still looked uncertain as Luffy went back to Carue downing drink after drink. When Vivi still looked uncertain, Nami assured her her worries would melt away there.
"I don't want that to happen."
"Just because you don't worry yourself to death doesn't mean you don't care, you know?" Nami pointed out. Luffy stopped paying attention and continued with his friends and nakama. And boyfriend.
Vivi asked how long Luffy and Zoro had been together, trying to be quiet, but Luffy could hear, and now he was interested! "Since the beginning. They were a pair before I joined," Nami said. "I'll tell you everything. Come, let's go to my - our - room. Time to gossip." She turned to Luffy sternly. "Luffy, no eavesdropping!"
"Nami-san, I'll keep him from doing that!" Sanji said. Nami nodded, and she and Vivi went into their room. Luffy jumped up. Now he could go drink! He went to the kitchen and opened the cupboard where they were now hiding the ice chest from Vivi. He opened the top where a tube would go in and drank it like a juicebox.
Then he disposed of it and hurried back, now feeling very energized. He had many. They would last for awhile. And now that he and Zoro were open to drinking again now, he wasn't so scared. He returned to Zoro's lap, and had some more juice.
When they saw a dolphin, they were in awe and then terror when it was huge! Bigger than their ship, but not Laboon. Vivi didn't know how to help them when they were all zipping around the deck, trying to run away from it, not knowing if it would crush or eat them! Luffy laughed, and they rode the wave it made when it reentered the water, heading quickly towards their second island.
Vivi apprehensively asked Luffy if he could tell anything was on the island. "Big animals! Really big!" Luffy said simply, easily hearing it when there was no strong wind. "There are a lot of scents, so they're kind of jumbled up right now." Usopp and Nami were not happy about big animals.
"I call being with Luffy!" Usopp exclaimed. Nami said they could just stay on the ship. Luffy would get into trouble. He had to know that. "Oh, you're right. Zoro, Sanji, one of you stay!"
"Hell no! I'll prove I'm the strongest. Oi, curly brow, we're having a hunting competition." Luffy cleared his throat and pouted. "Okay, who is tied with you." Luffy nodded in approval, and then giggled. He heard all sorts of interesting things, and wanted to explore all of them. Sanji mentioned they should go hunting regardless. They didn't stock up enough at Whiskey Peak, for obvious reasons.
"Sure is lucky about Luffy," he said casually before pursing his lips. Zoro glared at him, and he looked away, taking a drag of his cigarette. Vivi calmly and sincerely said she wasn't a nosy person. She may have been undercover, but she wasn't nosy.
She added, "I won't butt into any personal business. Promise." Luffy knew she was telling the truth, and grinned. Nami smiled, too, her arms crossed, expression of approval. Luffy was glad he decided to bring Vivi along at first. He was right about thinking she was a good person, it was just impossible to explain why.
The ship sailed inland through a river, and Luffy could hear animals all around him. They were at the coast, watching them. But Luffy noticed they weren't running from him. Interesting! He would definitely explore this place, find the most interesting noises. Usopp noticed this. "Yeah, they don't look afraid. Cool."
"Not cool!"
"Sanji, make me a pirate lunch box!" Lufy said with a grin. "I smell adventure!" Sanji wordlessly got one and Luffy ran off the moment the ship stopped. Usopp called him back, begging him. Luffy kept running.