A/N:Partial credit goes to EvanderAdvent.
The next day, everything was peaceful on the Going Merry. Chopper told me to go easy on my trainings. My injuries have healed due to my Cure spell, but he was worried that I might overdo my body while training in my Dive to the Heart, reopening my wounds from last training.
Right now, I'm practicing wielding Miraculous Blossom. When I got Warrior's Pride, I noticed how different my Battle Style was when I fought against those ice cube Heartless. Assuming that my Battle Styles will change as I switch my Keyblade around, I decided to some training on its physical power.
"There's no doubt about it," I heard Nami speak. "The ship's headed straight for Arabasta." Hearing that makes me happy that we're getting close to Vivi's home country.
"Luffy, don't lie to me!" came Sanji's voice. I stopped my training for a bit to see what the rubberboy did this time. "Tell me what you know!" Luffy was avoiding eye contact with our chef. And if he's doing that, it should mean one thing.
"Oi. What's with you turning your face away? Look at me!" Sanji asked him, forcing our hopeless captain to look at him in the eyes.
"No, no. I really don't know what you're talking about," so the rubberboy says.
'He's terrible at poker face,' I thought as I sighed.
"Okay, then I'll ask you straight," the chef spoke. "How is it that the rations I prepared to last the nine of us until we reached Arabasta suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night?"
'I thought I told him that he didn't need to prepare any food for me.'
"Don't give me that attitude! You'd be terrible at poker!" After a couple of seconds of silence, Sanji let go of Luffy and stood up. "Oi, there's something around your mouth," he then said.
"Crap! Leftovers!" And he gave himself away, that rubber idiot.
"SO IT WAS YOU!" Sanji kicked him away.
"Idiot," I muttered, as he was knocked unconscious. How is it that a person with a rubber body cannot stand up to Sanji's kicks? I'll never know.
"Ahh, Nami-san. Did you see that?" Oh dear. Not that mode again. I looked away and saw that Luffy wasn't the only one who took something from the fridge.
Sanji seemed to have noticed it and walked closer to the three fishers on the side of the ship.
"Well then, we have to catch some fish for Sanji-kun," Usopp said, swallowing what he was eating.
'Agreed,' Carue said.
"Oh? Is it going well?" he asked them. And by the looks of their reaction when he got close to them, I'll take that as a no.
"O-of course!" the liar of our ship lied, as he, Chopper-kun and Carue looked away. When they looked back at the sea, Sanji hit the three upside their heads.
Seeing that he also injured Chopper-kun got me to being the overprotective big sister again. I jumped over to Sanji and wacked him upside the head with the Keyblade, forming a large bump on it.
"Xion-san?"
"Sanji... Please tell me what you just did to Chopper-kun," I demanded as calm and sweet as possible.
"Uh..."
"He hit me in the head with Usopp's and Carue's," Chopper-kun answered for him, rubbing his head.
"That's what I thought I saw," I said with a menacing look. The next thing that happened... Let's just say that we formed a new rule on the ship and leave it at that. I don't want to say that I turned Sanji into a bloody human, literally with the blood part. Oh. Too late for that.
Time later, I was training in my Dive to the Heart. As Voice promised, he was teaching me about the Shotlock skill. We already went over to what it was about and its abilities. Now, it was time for practice. At least, that was what I hoped.
"Tell me again why I have to fight against so many Heartless!" I demanded, for I was surrounded by Shadows.
"This is the only way to charge up your Shotlock," Voice explained. "Your Shotlocks are like your magic, only that they can be charged up if you fight against your opponents."
"And how would I know if my Shotlock is completely charged?"
"You will know. You can feel your Keyblade's power, can't you? It will give you a sign that it charged enough power for a Shotlock."
I didn't know what he meant by that. However, it doesn't mean that he was lying. As he said, I can feel Miraculous Blossom's power. Not just Miraculous Blossom; Warrior's Pride and Starlight. I can feel power coming off from those two Keyblades as well, especially from my very first Keyblade. I don't know why. Maybe it's because of the time I spent with Starlight, or that I'm more used to using it than with the other two Keyblades, but I feel more power coming off from it.
After a short while of defending and fighting, I heard some kind of melody. It was a beautiful melody, unlike one that I ever heard of. 'Is this-?!' I began to think.
"Yes. That's the sign," Voice said, reading my thoughts. "Now concentrate all your power into your Keyblade, more that you did when using magic," he then instructed me.
"Got it." I focused all of my inner strength into my Keyblade and saw some kind of ball of light being formed from the tip of it.
"Good. That's it. Now all you need to do is release the power." I did as instructed and fired the energy ball at the Heartless, only to have it get sent back to me. Therefore attacking me instead. And many does it hurt.
"That smarts," I muttered, getting up.
"You mustn't forget to concentrate and focus on your enemy. Think of nothing else but your enemy. Lock on to your enemy."
'Easy for you to say,' I mentally said, going back to charging up my Shotlock by defeating Heartless. When I heard the melody again, I tried to use my Shotlock. One small problem: It's hard to the Shotlock when I'm being surrounded by Shadows. How did I get into this situation? I do NOT want to know!
Just when I got the power through my Keyblade, I had to cancel my Shotlock to block an attack.
"What are you doing?" Voice asked me. "You almost had it."
"In case if you didn't notice, I almost got hit by one of them!" I pointed out, starting over my Shotlock.
"You're too slow! Hurry up!"
"What do you think I'm doing?!" That made me lose my focus and get hit by one of the Shadows. I clutched my back as best as I could to endure the pain.
"Idiot! This is what happens when you're not fast enough!" Voice scolded me, which ISN'T helping me at all!
"Will you just... SHUT UP!?" I snapped, lashing out my anger at the attacking Shadows. "Don't you think that I'm already doing the obvious!? Stop acting like I'm an idiot!"
"Behind you!" I looked behind me and saw that I was about to be assaulted by less than a dozen Heartless.
"Reflect!" I put up a barrier to protect me from the attack as well as having them bounce away from me. "That was a close one," I then stated, getting ready to use my Shotlock again. As I did, my vision got weird. I'm not talking about blurry; more like my eye sights completely changed. It's like I have night-vision goggles on and that I've locked on to the Heartless. I dodge-rolled when one of them were about to attack me, causing me to lose my focus and returned my eyesight to normal.
'What was that?' I wondered. An idea popped out of my head when I realized what that probably was. 'Let's try that again.'
I slashed at the Heartless until I heard the melody again. Once I heard it, I distanced myself from the Heartless and got ready to use my Shotlock. As I suspected, when I did, my eyesight changed again, and my targets were locked on. The moment I blinked, Miraculous Blossom got ready to fire the Shotlock.
"Time for the finisher! Meteor Shower!" I declared, launching small, star-like projectiles at them while spinning around a bit. I felt more power rise within me as I did so. "This is the end!" I then shouted. Somehow, I then shot out the star-like projectiles from my body, taking out the rest of the Heartless.
"Well done, Xion. It seems you have some kind of gift for the Shotlock," Voice complimented me.
"It just came to me," I admitted. "I don't know how, but it just came to me. Both the name and the attack."
"Heh. Well then, let's stop our training here. Later, we will be doing the Limit Break."
"Ah, come on! You're just going to have one of those Heartless attack me from behind again!"
"Do you or don't you want to help Vivi save her country?" Now, I hate this person/spirit. Making a point like that. "Now move along. You have company."
"Company? I don't know what you mean, but okay." With that, I left.
*REALITY*
I was back in my body to hear the sound of cheers. Opening my eyes, I found myself in the women's bedroom. I walked out the room to see what the cheering was about and saw a weird guy in a female ballerina's clothes, in other words an okama (gay man), on our ship. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper-kun were both cheering like crazy at him.
"Oi. What's going on?" I asked Vivi.
"That guy, we don't know how, but he was on Carue when we found him," she answered.
"What do you mean by 'on Carue'?"
"Luffy and Usopp used him as bait to catch something from the sea. They even hoped that a shark or a sea king would come and eat him," she growled. I could see dark energy coming out of her when she answered my question.
"Okay... Forget that I asked. Anyway, about that guy." I looked back at him to see that his figure changed. And by figure, I mean his WHOLE appearance! The clothes were still there, but his face and skin color... They've completely changed! His face constantly changed when he touched his face with his right hand. Eventually, when he touched himself with his left hand, his appearance was back to normal.
"What the hell was that?" I asked. "A devil's fruit power?"
"Oh? Who are you?" the okama asked.
"That's just Xion," Luffy just replied.
"Xion? Where have I heard of that name?" our weird guest asked himself.
"Don't know. Anyway, back to my question. Just now, your face changed so many times. Was that a devil's fruit power?" I asked again.
"That's right~!" he replied, spinning around like a ballerina. "That was the power of my Mane Mane no mi (Copy Copy Fruit). I just need to touch someone's face with my right hand and, thanks to my amazing memorizing ability, I can change into that person. And, by touching myself with my left hand, I can change myself back~." As he was explaining, he was touching his face with his right hand and changed into Luffy, Zoro, Chopper-kun, Usopp and Nami respectively. "Even the body's the same." As the okama said that, he just unbuttoned his shirt and revealed his, or Nami's, figure. Because of that, the said navigator, gave him a hard punch in the head.
"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO KNOCK IT OFF!" she yelled, her teeth as sharp as a shark.
'He should be happy that he didn't touch my face,' I mentally said. "I would give him a good pounding a good round of shotlock if he did," I unknowingly then said out loud, pinching the bridge of my nose. Looking up, I then saw our okama guest dancing with our rubber idiot, our lying sniper, and Chopper-kun. Even though they just met, they're acting like they've been best friends for a long time.
Looking to the side, I saw a boat with a swan-like appearance coming towards our boat. Our guest saw this and jumped up to the railing.
"My. The time has come for us to part. How tragic," he then said.
Hearing that had the three boys to gasp in shock and disappointment.
"Please don't go!" Usopp pleaded.
"Don't be sad. Journeys and partings go hand in hand," he reasoned with our sniper. "But remember this: To true friendship, how long you've known each other means nothing." Saying something that lame with a supposedly cool-looking face does not go hand in hand at all. "Don't cry for me!" As soon as his ship was near our's, our guest just jumped onto his ship.
"YEAH! WE'LL SEE YOU AGAIN!" Luffy shouted, as he, Usopp and Chopper-kun were crying.
"Now, let's go guys," the okama said to his own nakama.
"Yes! Mr. 2 Bon Clay-sama!" they all replied. Hang on... MR. 2?! As in part of the Baroque Works Mr. 2?!
"WHAT?!" the rest of my nakama gasped in shock. "MR. 2!?"
"That was... Mr. 2, Bon Clay?!" Why is Vivi shocked about this?
"Vivi! Didn't you recognize him!?" Luffy questioned.
"No... I've never met Mr. 2 or Mr. 1 pair before..." Oh. That's reasonable. "I don't even know their abilities. But I did hear rumors."
"Rumors? About what?" I asked.
"Mr. 2. They said he is a flamboyant ballerina with a loud voice, who wears a swan coat with the words 'Bon Clay' on the back." EVERYTHING YOU HEARD FROM THAT RUMOR WAS ENTIRELY TRUE, DUMMY PRINCESS!
"You should've noticed," Zoro, Usopp and Luffy stated, airslapping at her.
I just noticed how pale she is. "What's wrong, Vivi?"
"Just then... among those memories he showed from memory... my father's face was in his memories!"
'What?!'
"The face of the King of Arabasta, Nefertari Cobra..."
"If you could impersonate a king, you could pull of some pretty nasty things," Zoro stated.
I was in a really deep thought about this situation. If what Zoro said is true... I have a really bad feeling about this. And I also need to extend my training time, as well as the level. It would also mean that I have to get started on my Limit Break training. Not only that but-
"Xion?" a voice called, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked at the one who called me and saw that it was Nami, with a worried look on her face. "What's wrong? You had this serious look on your face. And it didn't look like it was about the situation either."
"Oh. It's nothing really," I lied. "I'm just a bit tired. All that training really wore me out."
"I see. Then why don't you get some rest?"
"I will." Just when I was about to enter the women's bedroom, the ship was shaking. Something came out of the water from the back of the ship, revealing to be a big cat.
"Whoa! That thing's HUGE!" Luffy stated.
"Isn't that a...?" I began to speak, knowing what that sea creature is.
"A SEA KING!" Chopper-kun shrieked, as he and Usopp jumped at the sight with their mouths wide open and tears coming out of their eyes.
'Oh? Hello there, humans,' I heard the cat say.
"OUR FIRST MEAL IN FOUR DAYS!" Zoro shouted, his swords in his hands and mouth as he got ready to kill the cat.
"FOOD!" And it seemed that Luffy is also getting ready to fight.
With the direction that we're going and where the Sea Cat is, the creature is safe from our hungry soldiers.
"FOOD." Okay. And now I think the rubber human is losing it.
'Y-... You're scary,' the Sea Cat said, backing away from our ship.
"Ah! It pulled back!" Zoro shouted.
"Reverse the ship! Back! BACK!" Luffy ordered.
"L-l-l-l-like I can do that!" Of course Usopp can't do it.
"Don't let it get away! Make sure you kill it!" Sanji yelled, running up to the back to join the swordsman and the Devil's Fruit User.
Before they tried to do anything that can upset Vivi or her country in any way possible that involves the Sea Cat, I summoned out Miraculous Blossom and used the Stop spell on them.
"It's all right. You can go now," I told the poor creature.
'Oh? Thank you,' it said, taking its leave.
"Xion! You jerk! What are you doing?!" Luffy demanded when my spell wore off.
"Xion-san... Why?" Sanji asked.
"You guys really are hopeless," I muttered. "In Arabasta, Sea Cats are sacred creatures. I'm sure you all know what that means, don't you?"
"Even so, we haven't eaten in four days! We're not like you Xion!" the brainless captain complained.
"Oh? And can you please tell me again what happened to the food supply that Sanji prepared for you guys that's enough to last you all until we reached Arabasta?" Luffy went speechless when I asked that. "If you have anyone to blame, it's you yourself."
"Vivi-chan. Is it true? About that Sea King?" Sanji asked the princess.
"Yes. It's just as she said," she replied.
"There sure are a lot of things in the ocean, huh?" Chopper-kun stated.
"You still have a long way to go if that scared you," Usopp laughed it off.
'You say that, but you legs are shaking,' I mentally noted, looking at him in an embarrassing position for the "Brave Man of the Sea".
"Anyway, I'll be in the women's room if you need me," I told them, walking away. Just when Nami passed me to tell Vivi about the climate, I had a strange feeling. Every bone in my body was screaming out danger for some reason. Looking back, I saw something far from the Going Merry. Returning to the back, I saw that they're all ships.
"Look at all those ships! When did they...?" Luffy began to question.
"Oi! They all have Baroque Work marks on them!" Usopp announced, looking through a telescope.
"The employees have started to gather," Vivi said. "Those are probably the Billions. The subordinates of the Officer Agents."
"200 of them will be tough," Nami stated.
"And if I recall, those 200 are the elites in Baroque Works," I said.
"That's right," the princess agreed. "They're on a different level from the bounty hunters at Whiskey Peak."
As she said that, Usopp prepared the cannons. "Okay. Let's open fire while we still have the chance!"
"No. It's best if we don't," I said.
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! WE HAVE TO HURRY UP AND FINISH THEM!"
"No! It's faster to just go over there and kick their asses!" Luffy protested.
"That's not what I'm getting at, you idiots!" I snapped, whacking them both with my Keyblade.
"Oh! You're right! I need to eat first!" HOW IN THE WORLD CAN HE RECOVER THAT FAST?!
"AGAIN! THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M GETTING AT HERE!" I whacked him harder that the first time. "Tell me now! What is our main objective here?!"
"To kick their asses!"
"WRONG!" This time I whacked him so hard, he will have trouble breathing if he says or does something stupid if I did it again. "Our main objective is to bring Vivi safely to Arabasta! Everything else that involves the Baroque Works will have to wait until they come across our path! Right now it doesn't seem that they noticed us! Meaning we don't have to worry about them!"
"Y-... Yes ma'am," Luffy weakly replied.
Time later, we were all tying up bandages on our left arm.
"All right. Make sure you tie it tight," Zoro said. He was the one who thought of this plan. "There's too much we don't know about our enemy."
"I see," Vivi spoke, tying up a bandage on Nami's left arm.
"If we use these to confirm our identities, we don't have to worry about doubting our nakama," Nami said.
"Did he really look like you that much?" Sanji asked, being the only one who didn't see Mr. 2's devil's fruit power. "When he used the 'Mane Mane no mi' transform thing?"
"The problem was he didn't look like us. He was us!" Usopp corrected. "Too bad. You really should have seen it!"
"That may be. However, there are also some faults to his transformation," I added.
"Like what?"
"The way he act. And how he can change back. He acts like a ballerina he is and he can change back if he touch himself with his left hand. Not only that. Since he hasn't yet touched Sanji or me, there's a chance that he will realize his mistake and try to pose as us then."
"I see."
"Since we know that kind of guy works is among the enemy, we can't go around acting carelessly on our own," Zoro said.
"Hey Xion-nee," Chopper-kun called me. "What can I do?"
"Whatever that can help the crew. Well, that would've been the case. However, in this kind of situation, you just need to do whatever you can. If you face an enemy that's too strong for you, just try and think of a strategy on how you can beat them. Take advantage of your surroundings and your opponent's abilities," I answered.
"I see. Just need to do whatever I can. Got it, Xion-nee."
"I see the island!" Luffy shouted.
"We're going to stop at a port called Nanohana," Vivi informed. "We have to hide the ship."
"Yosh! Whatever happens from now on, this left arm is the mark of a nakama!" We all moved into a circle on the deck, putting our left arm into the circle. Chopper stood on a crate as he did this. "Now let's get on dry land! TO EAT! Oh, and Arabasta..."
"STOP THINKING ABOUT YOUR STOMACH!" I scolded.
"Sort out your priorities," the rest of the crew said.
I walked over to the front of the ship to get a better look at the island. As I did, I began to have this weird feeling like I've been to Arabasta before.
'No that can't be,' I convinced myself. 'If that was true, Vivi would've already know who I am.'