A/N: Hello again!
With a wedding now in progress, what will the Straw-Clown Alliance do about it? What will Luffy do about it? Find out now!
I do not own One Piece, It belongs to Eiichiro Oda
The next morning, Luffy awakens from a better sleep than he was anticipating. He yawns and stretches, careful not to disturb Chopper, who is sleeping on his lap. All of a sudden, there is a loud bang on Luffy's door, which stirs Chopper from his sleep. Chopper hops off of his place on Luffy's knees and sits down on the bed while Luffy stands up.
"Straw Hat! Are you awake yet? Mama wants to speak with you!" Comes the voice on the other end of the door, which Luffy recognizes as Perospero.
"Yeah! Okay, PerrySpare-O!" He says, again making up a nickname to compensate for his difficulty with names. He puts his hat back on his head and goes to open the door. He opens it, and Perospero is standing there, waiting. His yellow coat is rather striking or at least very bright, as Luffy noted yesterday.
"Good, now that you're up, come with me." Perospero says, leading Luffy down the hall of the castle. As they walk, Luffy mentions something he had noticed earlier.
"Hey PerrySpare-O! What's with all the mirrors in this place? I think every room has at lease one. Does Big Mom like to see her reflection or something?" Luffy asks, thinking about how Alvida was quite obsessed with her appearance and vanity when she used to be fat (then again, she is still quite vain).
"Ah, no. One of my sisters uses mirrors as part of her Devil Fruit ability." Perospero says, clearly trying to withhold at least some information on the subject. The idea of a mirror Devil Fruit is intriguing to Luffy, but he decides not to dig any deeper into it. He is more concerned with what Big Mom wants with him, but it's probably more stuff about the Wedding. He will have to try to dissuade her from insisting on the Wedding, he does not want her to get mad and attack his crew or something like Robin had warned about when he was first invited to the Tea Party. Perospero leads Luffy back to the room with the table from the day before, where only Big Mom and Galette are present. With Luffy at his destination, Perospero turns and takes his leave as Luffy approaches the table. Luffy looks like he wants to say something right away, but Big Mom starts talking before he has a chance to,
"Ah, Straw Hat! There you are! I was admittedly concerned that you had slept through breakfast! I was hoping to talk with you, and your crew told me you never miss a meal!" She explains.
"Oh crap! I slept through breakfast?!" Luffy says, regret for missing an ever-precious meal clear in his voice and "shocked" pose.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma-hahaha! You sure are an interesting one, Straw Hat! I can sympathize with your feelings on missing a meal as well! Now why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable in the seat across from Galette!" She says, gesturing to aforementioned seat with her open hand. Luffy complies, but now all he can think about is how hungry he suddenly has become.
"We have many things to discus for the upcoming Wedding, you also need to be fitted for a wedding tuxedo by our tailors, and prepare a guest list for your side, any guests aside from your crew you'd like to attend. Like your father, perhaps.?" Big Mom says.
"Oh, I've never actually met Dad, so I don't know if he would come… Hey! You distracted me again! I was gonna say something!" Luffy exclaims, remembering he came here to try to stop the Wedding.
"I don't like this whole thing! I don't want to just be married off! And I still have to become King of the Pirates!" Luffy shouts out, standing back up and slamming his open hands down on the table. Big Mom seems like she did not even hear him since she does not seem to react, but Galette certainly does. One may expect her to be upset with Luffy's refusal, but she seems to understand his issue with the situation. She looks concerned about forcing him into the whole thing, evident by what she says next.
"Luffy, I don't wish for you to be uncomfortable about this, that's why I think it is important we talk about it all before the Wedding." She says. She still sees no issue overall, but she at least cares about Luffy's opinion, the first of Big Mom's crew to do so thus far.
"Gal-y.?" Luffy says, at this point, surprised to hear someone on his side.
"Yes, of course! We all want you to be happy with the arrangement! We want you two to have a long, happy marriage, after all! That is why we must plan the perfect Wedding! The better the wedding, the greater chance of a successful life together! Ma-ma-ma-ma!" Big Mom says, not missing a beat with her stubborn disposition to get what she wants in the end. While Big Mom is laughing, Luffy gets a bit annoyed about being ignored, and is about to say something when he notices a little slip of paper is now in between where his hands are laid flat. The annoyance on his face is toned down and a look of curiosity mixes into his expression as he picks it up and turns it over. It has something written on it, and Luffy reads it silently to himself,
"I want to have a talk with you about this, without Mama. Meet with me on the island's west coast tonight." It says. When Luffy looks up at Galette, she gives a small nod while keeping a serious expression and extended eye contact for the first time since Luffy arrived. Luffy is sure she can help sort this out, and decides to just sit through this until Big Mom lets him go. Surely, if she will not listen to him, she will listen to her own daughter! Luffy's patience reaches it's limits pretty quickly as Big Mom goes over details about the Wedding for what at least feels like, and what quite possibly is, hours, but he puts on a brave face. Galette answers all the questions about it and even seems quite enthralled by thinking about how beautiful her Wedding could be. Luffy really is not paying attention at this point, which he very much should be, and leaves after Big Mom says he will be fitted for his wedding tux in a few days and dismisses them.
Come nightfall, Luffy opens his window in spite of the syrupy rain, which catches Chopper's attention.
"What are doing Luffy? You'll let the rain in." He says. Luffy turns and smiles,
"Oh, I'm going to meet Gal-y by the shore! She wants to talk about the Wedding! I think she can help me convince Big Mom not to go through with the whole thing!" He explains as he starts to drip poison.
"Oh! I see, okay then!" Chopper replies, glad to see Luffy in a better mood and things seeming to work out after all. Luffy gives him a confident smile before returning his attention to the window and the outside,
"Now, Venom-Venom Road!" He shouts as a massive stream of his venom shoots out to the ground below and he slips through it at incredible speed. In about two seconds flat, Luffy is already on the ground, and goes running for the shores.
After a few minutes of running, Luffy arrives at the shoreline and looks around. He does not find anything at first, but he suddenly can sense a presence approaching him from a ways away, Galette. When she gets close, he turns to greet her with a smile.
"Gal-y! Hey there!" He says. Galette replies with a rare smile on her face,
"Hello, Luffy. I hope you were not waiting too long." She says. Luffy notices her dress is a light pink nightgown (a rather nice one at that), and she has a magenta umbrella with a smiling face hoisted over her head. She continues to approach him with a warm expression,
"I am sorry about this, making you meet me out in the rain." She says. Luffy seem to have no problem with it, but he is grateful that she shares the umbrella with him.
"Thanks, but it's no big deal! I'm just glad to see you." He says, causing her to blush.
"L-let's walk and talk, then." She says as the two slowly start to walk down the shore. They stroll in a surprisingly comfortable silence for a while, especially surprising to Luffy. It's a feeling he has never felt before, he has an urgent thing to say and the person he wants to say it to is right next to him, and yet he finds himself in no rush, enjoying just walking with her and just being with her. As nice as it is, Luffy decides he has more important things to deal with than this "mystery feeling" of his and decides to break the silence,
"Gal-y, I don't want to get married. And I need your help, because Big Mom won't listen to me." He says, getting straight to the point. Galette chuckles a bit, a bit…sadly,
"I understand, it's a big step to take and not one that should be taken blindly. Besides, you have your ambitions…" she starts. Luffy is glad to finally have someone listening to him, but the feeling changes as she continues.
"…All the men Mama has tried to marry me off too have gotten out of it thus far. Some of them ended up marrying one of my other sisters, and some…chose to just run. I never really cared, Mama had yet to actually present a suitor to me I actually cared for, or even could really tolerate. Many of them told me I was 'unfit' to imagine as a wife, and though they all were men with powerful connections, they really were quite unimpressive as people. I could not have cared less when they left, but…as embarrassing as it is to admit, you're different." Galette explains, her smile turning to a forlorn one as Luffy's expression becomes serious and sympathetic. She turns to him and looks him straight in the eye as she resumes.
"I will admit it, even in the short time we've spent together, I have developed strong feelings for you, Luffy. You are not only the first man who has been able to look past my appearance, my horns and my look, I mean, but the first person to like me for who I am. The first person who has truly met 'me,' and who has shown me kindness and love, even if it has been more of a 'friendship' kind thus far. Regardless, I do believe I have finally found 'love,' and because of that…I want to see you live a happy life, even if it is without me. So, if you still oppose this marriage, I will do whatever I can to help you get out of it." Galette smiles and closes her eyes as she says this to him, but stops walking, and her smile is clearly one struggling through grief. Luffy cannot explain it, but he all of a sudden has an unbearably strong urge to make her feel better. He has felt it before with his friends, but it feels…different than what he has felt before, stronger and more sudden. He grasps her hand suddenly, causing her to open her eyes in surprise and her smile to change to a shocked look, reflecting this.
"Gal-y! Those guys from before must've been crazy! Or blind! I don't have much of a concept for 'beauty,' but even I can see you are pretty on the inside and the outside!" He declares. Galette's face shows even more shock, and her cheeks are turning pink all of a sudden, but Luffy is not done.
"And I don't want you to sacrifice your happiness for me! As much as I don't want to get married, I don't want to see you so sad either! I don't know why, but I really really want you to be happy too, so don't look at me with that sad smile! I want to make you happy, okay?!" He states matter-of-factly, causing Galette to cover her reddening cheeks with her other hand. Luffy is still not done, but he keeps his voice down as he finishes his statement.
"I don't know why I feel this way, though, it's a total mystery. But either way, I want to work something out with you. So please, don't look so sad, okay?" Luffy finishes with an ear-splitting grin to try to reassure her. Galette suddenly cannot hold out any longer, tears stream down her face rapidly as she covers her mouth to cover the sound of her sobs.
"Ah! I'm sorry, did I make you sad?! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Luffy says, panicked all of a sudden. Galette suddenly starts to cry outright, but doing so as silently as she can, as she bends down a bit to embrace Luffy tightly, resting her chin on Luffy's straw hatted head. Luffy certainly was not expecting it, and finds himself having some trouble breathing for a moment with her chest in his face, but he does her best to comfort her in between gasps for air. The umbrella lays long forgotten and sitting in the rain as they stayed together, embracing, for quite some time that night.
A/N: A sudden change of heart, and new emotions. How will Luffy respond to these developments, and will he still be able to get what he wants? Luffy's feelings are not powerful enough to want marriage, but he has an inexplicable desire to make Galette happy, so what will he do to keep both parties satisfied? This is one of the major chapters for the story, major importance, so please let me know what you think about it. There will be two more isolated incidents involving how Luffy and Galette will interact given the situation, so look forward to that in the future. For now, don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review!