Yay for the anonymous reviews! Idk who you are, but I love ya! This chapter really kinda made me think about Kimi's character in relation to Luffy and the others. And I love the not-so-subtle interest Zoro has in her with this one. The next chapter is really exciting (I already have more than half done!) So check back soon for it!
-yesiamweird
Humming softly to herself, Kimi walked down the brick stone path throughout the shopping district of Water 7. So far, she had bought a few supplies for her experiments and a leather arm band from a clothing store. She didn't really want anything from the clothing store but the adorable daughter of the owner had convinced Kimi to buy it and so she did.
Taking a slight break from her walk, Kimi moved to the side to take the arm band from out of the paper bag. The black leather seemed just to be plain from far away, but up close it had stitched detail of flowers and vines that Kimi couldn't resist as the young girl held it in front of her.
Sliding the object up her arm and securing it around her bicep, Kimi couldn't even try to remove the proud smile as she admired her newest piece of jewelry. She lifted her head up from her arm and then continued to walk down the path standing a bit taller, and prouder, as she passed the townsfolk.
In just the few short strides she took, Kimi observed that people were starting to disappear from the streets and more shops were starting to close due to the setting of the sun in the distance. Noticing an open and somewhat busy coffee market still open, Kimi decided to stop and have a moment to listen to what the townspeople said.
After ordering a small coffee and sitting down at the table with her father's journal open to a random page, Kimi pretended to look down at the writing when instead she listen to the random conversations of a trio of teenage girls to her side.
"That crazy ass Franky was on the move. I saw he had a suitcase in his hand…wonder what he's up to?..."
"That crazy Speedo wearing pervert! Ew. Can we please talk about something else."
"The Aqua Laguna is coming in tomorrow. Can't believe it's time for it already."
"Aw darn it. I forgot all about that!"
"Looks like we better gather all of our stuff huh?"
"Yup…bring lots of nail polish. I need to repaint mine."
Kimi watched as the three girls stood from their table and exited the area. Finishing the rest of her drink she stood noticing the orange tint in the sky. "Guess it's time to head back…" She thought walking off with her bags in hand.
After a good twenty minute walk, Kimi arrived back at the ship area where Merry was docked and she stopped looking towards the pirate ship gleaming in the sun set.
"Poor Merry…" She sighed looking to the goat figure. "I only wish I could have realized how hurt you were from the beginning." She bowed her head, "I'm so sorry."
The wind blew slightly causing Kimi to freeze. It was a natural self-defense mechanism to pause when the wind blew that harshly. Being out on the sea, the wind blew naturally and it was something Kimi had to learn to become used to. After all, no wind, no force to push the sails and the ship to their destination…where ever that may be.
Lifting her head back to the Merry, Kimi motioned to take a step further when she stopped noticing a small black figure in the distance. Actually, it was sitting on Merry's neck.
It wasn't Luffy, or anyone else from the crew, Kimi squinted looking at the person but then it suddenly turned its head to look towards her- the only facial feature she could make out was a large smile from the shadow casted with the sun in the background.
"W-what?" She gasped a whisper looking to the smiling figure. "Who are you!" She called out.
"I forgive you…" and echo rang through her head. The voice seemed to resemble a child, or rather a girl in a way.
"What?" Dropping her bags, Kimi could feel her body shake from the nerves of the unknown. If she didn't calm down she might go into a panic attack, she feared.
Suddenly the door to the kitchen opened and out walked a smiling Sanji. "OIIIIII Kimi-chan! I thought I heard your sweet voice and I was right! Did you miss your prince! I have missed you so dearly!"
Looking to the cook with hesitation, Kimi leaned down and picked her bags back up into her hand. "Hello Sanji…" She turned her head to look back at the shadowed figure seeing nothing in return. "Huh?"
"What are you looking at, Kimi-san?" The blonde man leaned over to the edge of the ship and then looked to the mast that she had been gawking at. "Have you seen Robin-chan anywhere by the way?"
"Oh…uh, nothing I guess…and no. She's not with you?"
After climbing back onto the Merry, Kimi had learned that Ussopp had accidentally lost one of the briefcases of money and the Franky Family had been the ones to take it- the same gang of bandits that had invaded Kimi and Zoro before. Feeling ashamed of his failure to the crew and Merry, Ussopp invaded the Franky House only to be beaten to a pulp in return. Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper then destroyed the Franky House looking for Franky but he was gone.
In the meanwhile, Robin was missing since she and Chopper went into town earlier and no one had word of where she was.
"We were really worried about you!" Nami muttered as her hands rested on her hips while the others watched Ussopp awake back to reality.
"You could have gotten yourself killed, charging in there like that." Sanji added. "We're just glad you're alive."
Zoro opened his mouth to speak, "Think things through before you act!"
"You're not one to talk!" The cook retorted back adding to the never ending fight between the two making Luffy laugh hysterically.
"I've been nothing but a burden…I'm so sorry, I really am!" Ussopp sniffed as he stood. His wounds would heal, Kimi thought, but his pride was already so deep she wasn't sure if he'd ever recover it. "I'm so ashamed!" The long nosed man hugged onto Zoro's leg crying and muttering about the money they had lost. Meanwhile, Zoro was trying his best to pry Ussopp off of him.
"Ussopp!" Chopper tried to calm him down. "You should be in bed!"
Kimi nodded, "You should listen to what Chopper says, Ussopp."
As he calmed down, Ussopp had a question for Luffy and the others. "So is there any way to get this money back?"
Luffy smiled confidently- or dumbly…Kimi wasn't sure what to call it. "Well, we won't know until this Franky guy gets back. But even if it's gone, we still have 100,000,000 Berri! Don't worry about it!"
"Money is ALWAYS something to worry about!" The navigator yelled. Then she stopped realizing how much worse she made the sharpshooter feel, "Oh sorry…"
Ussopp waved her apology. "Don't worry about it…but Luffy, what about the ship? Is a hundred million enough to fix him? We're at a first-class shipyard, so they can do it, right?" Kimi lowered her head remembering the words from the shipwright before when she and Zoro were the only ones on the Merry. Poor Ussopp still didn't know about his precious ship, "They'll make the ship stronger than ever and she'll be as good as new, right Luffy?"
"Well the thing is, about the ship… I've decided to get a new one." Luffy responded with a smile making Ussopp gasp, "I'm sorry about deciding while you weren't around. Going Merry has been great with us, but it's time to say good-bye!"
Everyone, and Kimi included, fell silent and their faces solemn and frowning from the words of their young captain. However, Luffy hadn't seemed to notice as he continued on. "I got this catalog from Ice-Ossan to buy a new ship! Well, with a hundred million, we could buy a really big used ship-"
"Wait." Ussopp responded calmly much to Kimi's surprise, "Wait, wait. Come on. That's a pretty tasteless joke, not to mention ridiculous. See look, even Chopper thinks you were serious. Jeez, our Captain's such a kidder." He looked to Kimi with a smile but she only kept her frown. "Wait, if this is because we don't have enough money for the repairs than it's my fault! I let them take the other two hundred million, that's the real reason right Luffy! You can tell me the truth!"
"No that's not it!"
"Oi, then what is it? Spit it out!"
"Losing the money had nothing to do with it!"
"Then why are you spouting this shit about a new ship?"
Zoro took a step forward breaking up the fight, "Stop it, both of you! What good is arguing going to do? Calm down and talk it over!"
"How can I be calm about this? This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life!"
Kimi continued to look down while the rest of the crew argued for the sharpshooter to calm down. Even though she was included in the crew and had been on quite some adventures with them already, she didn't feel morally right to tell Ussopp the truth of his friend's ship.
He told Kimi one day about his friend Kaya and how she had been nice enough to give Luffy and him the ship when he, Luffy, Zoro and Nami first began their pirate gang. To know the background of the Merry proved to the brilliant scientist just how much beyond the shelter Going Merry gave him.
Merry was a friend. A memory. A promise.
"The Captain simply says we're changing ships and I'm supposed to roll over and accept it?" Ussopp yelled standing up.
"It was not simple! It was a hard decision!"
"You make a hard decision and this is what happens!" Snatching the magazine out from Luffy's hands, Ussopp proceeded to throw the pamphlet to the ground and stomp on it repeatedly. "I don't want to see that! If this is not because the money was stolen, then what's it about, eh Luffy? Come on tell me! Why aren't you saying anything? If you think I can handle it, then don't hold back! If you don't give me a reason, I'm not gonna listen to another word-!"
"THE MERRY CAN'T BE FIXED!"
Ussopp gasped leaving the room still as an abandoned house. "What did you say?" He uttered.
"Don't make me repeat it again!" Luffy's voice was hard, probably the sternest Kimi had ever heard the boy-captain say. "No one can repair him."
Falling to his knees, Ussopp wouldn't drop the issue. "This is our ship! Our home we are all standing on!"
"This ship is gonna sink! That's what they said at the shipyard. It won't reach the next island.
"Oh, it won't reach it, huh? So you let some guys you just met feed you a line and you were happy with it?" Ussopp growled making Kimi uneasy from his tone. "Some so-called first-class shipwrights said it can't be done and YOU believed them! He's a nakama who's been with us through thick and thin and you're just going to let him die here!"
"That's enough, Ussopp." Chopper leaned over to help his sick friend as he coughed, "If you keep yelling like that-"
"Thanks," He pushed him to the side, "Now move. I'm not done yet. I'll just repair him like I always have. Oi, you guys come help too. Go buy some wood from the town, we've got a lot of work to do!"
"YOU'RE NOT A SHIPWRIGHT, USSOPP!" Luffy yelled causing more retaliation between the two, "Oh yea, well those workers won't go out on a limb to repair someone else's ship! I don't give a shit what some irresponsible shipwright who gives up after just one look says. This just shows us that we have to take care of our ship ourselves. I won't abandon this ship, have you all lost your minds?"
Standing up, Ussopp reached for Luffy's collar pulling him to look into his long-nosed face. "You're just spouting some oversimplified, senile bullshit while putting on airs about being a captain! I've misjudged you, LUFFY!"
"Wait Ussopp, Luffy feels the same-" Nami interrupted when Luffy interrupted her back, "Stay out of this, Nami! I've made my decision! I won't change my mind no matter what you say. We're getting a new ship!"
"Don't give me that shit!" Ussopp pulled the rubber boy closer, "Listen to me, Luffy! Not everyone can tolerate following someone like you forever! I'd never keep sailing if it meant leaving a wounded nakama behind."
"You're talking crazy! You can't treat a ship like it's a person even if it's our nakama!"
"Merry still has the power to go on! I know what you're thinking; you're hyped up about getting a new ship!"
Sanji had walked towards the two hoping his words would break them out of the fight, "Oi, guys! Let it go!"
"Everything you said about loving Merry was just empty words!"
That last sentence had pushed Luffy too far over the edge. Gasping and taking a frightening step back, Kimiko watched as Luffy threw the injured Ussopp to the ground. "That's ENOUGH out of you! Don't make it sound like you're the only one who's suffering! We all feel the same way!"
"Then how could you even think about changing ships!"
Luffy's brows narrowed to the center of his face while a vein popped outwards from how strong his frown had been. "Have it your way then! If you don't like how I do things, then you can just pack up-"
Luffy's yell was cut off from a black boot to the face pushing him into the wooden table and shattering it in the process. Kimi looked to the side at the fuming face of Sanji.
Never had Kimi seen his face so livid- as if his eyes were shooting Luffy with bullets from within. "You jackass…" He growled through his short breaths. "What were you about to say? Get over yourself, don't talk so carelessly! You hear me, Luffy!"
The tension continued to thicken as Sanji's breaths continued. When Kimi had first joined Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats she had a small conversation with the cook in the very same room she was standing in. He had made a comment about him and the crew each having different pasts and lives before Luffy came along. Now that they were together, their dreams (besides the ones they had before Luffy) were now to help him become the best.
Knowing how much Sanji and the others admired their Captain, to hear Luffy begin to say such a thing didn't seem real. As if he was replaced by someone else.
"I'm sorry." Luffy broke away from the rubble, "It just slipped out…"
"No, its okay, Luffy…" Ussopp began to say still lying on the ground. "That's what you really want, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Any nakama who can't pull their weight gets cut loose and left behind…If you're going to do that to Merry, then do it to me too!"
"Oi, Ussopp, don't say such stupid things!" Sanji snapped back.
"No, I mean it. I've done a lot of thinking about it. To tell the truth, I've known that I could never be as incredible as you guys. Just today, I couldn't even handle guarding some money. Where you're headed, I'll be nothing buy a burden!" Standing up, Ussopp turned to face Luffy still sitting in the pile of ruble in the corner of the room. "You don't need weak nakama, right? You're the man who'll be the Pirate King… well as for me, I don't need to go that far so there's no reason to sail together knowing we have different purposes!" He turned walking out the door.
"Where are you going, Ussopp?" Sanji questioned.
"I'll go wherever I want. It's none of your concern now. I'm leaving the crew." And with that he walked out of the threshold closing the door behind. Nami, Sanji and Chopper all ran after him while Kimi and Zoro continued to stand, Luffy still sitting in the rubble.
With her chin down on her chest, the blue-haired woman tried her best to contain the tears from seeping out of her eyes. It was hard- she had to be honest, but knowing how to hide her emotions as a child proved to work in her favor.
"What are you waiting for, Luffy?" Nami yelled, "Are you just going to let him go? Go after him!" After a pause and no response, the navigator continued, "We've come so far together. Are you sure you want to part ways like this? He is one of our nakama, right?"
Still Luffy refused to say a word.
"You're the captain right? STOP HIM! Please…Luffy? Why won't you say anything?" Standing and running out the door Kimi could hear Nami begging for Ussopp to return.
Sanji and Chopper followed suit yelling for their nakama's return as well.
A subtle movement forced Kimi's curiosity to look up at Luffy walking from out of the broken table. "Luffy…" She whispered but her thought drowned away as she followed him out of the door to the others, Zoro silently following behind her as well.
"Luffy…" Ussopp stopped walking from the unclaimed land docking the broken ship. "Because you're the Captain, the ship belongs to you. That leaves me only one alternative." He turned to face the crew on the ship. "Monkey D. Luffy, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"
With eyes widened and horrified, Kimi placed a hand over her mouth disbelieved by Ussopp's words. There was no way Ussopp could take Luffy on. Especially not in the poor condition he was in. Heck, Kimi doubted she could really even take on her captain.
"I'm going to beat you and take back the Merry. That will be the end of our relationship!"
With a nod, Luffy jumped from off of the ship, "You guys stay on the ship and don't come down! Got it?" He walked calmly to their fallen nakama. Kimi watched the two face each other down remembering the few favorite memories she had of Ussopp.
Inventing along side of him, examining the dials from Sky Island, fighting alongside of him in the first round of the Davy Back Fight, and just all the joking and fun he and the others had along her short time of the crew.
The crew was falling apart bit by bit…and Kimi only hoped it wasn't her bad luck that was forcing the Strawhats to disband.
Kimi couldn't sleep. She opened her eyes looking into the dark hotel room and sat up from her spot on the bed.
After Luffy and Ussopp's gruesome duel and the sharpshooter's formidable defeat, the crew gathered up their supplies and rented a room in the town. Sanji had insisted he go keep watch on the ship in case Robin would return, so he was not in the room.
Luffy hadn't offered the others a single word since the fight. As soon as they gathered in the hotel room, he climbed out of the window to the roof above. Sitting against the wall that faced the widow, Zoro slept in his usual position, most likely keeping a watch on the door and window in case they were attacked.
Accompanying her on the bed lie a motionless Nami tucked underneath the blankets, while Chopper slept on the small lounge chair in the other corner.
After Kimi placed her trunk of belongings down, she fell onto the bed not even bothered with the sheets, clothes or shoes. She was upset, they all were. But now in the still darkness of the night her body would no longer allow her to rest soundly.
Sitting up and walking to the window, the blue-haired woman stood looking out towards the dark sky. The moon only offering her any sort of light. In the distance she could make out a figure -she assumed Luffy since she could see his hat- sitting on the roof of the building in front of them. Kimi attempted to spot her stars, Orion, but her eyes couldn't seem to focus on the sparkles in the skies.
Rubbing her eyes with a groan, Kimi hadn't known her vision was blocked by big salty tears until they rolled down her cheeks and her fingertips exposed from her gloves. Sniffing her tears away Kimi turned slowly back to her friends, Nami in the bed, Chopper on the couch, and Zoro on the floor.
And then she looked to her trunk…her father's notebook contained safely inside of it.
Tip-toeing carefully, Kimi made her way over to the trunk and retrieved her wallet, her father's notebook and her own, and a pen.
As she passed by Zoro sitting next to the door she braced herself for some type of questioning from the man. Sure enough a gentle tap of his sword on her shin stopped her in the moment.
With her fingertips frozen on the doorknob and the handle of his sword on her legs, Kimi only offered a gaze of her eyes to the swordsman. "I can't sleep…" her voice a gentle whisper, "I'm going down to the Lobby…"
Turning the rest of the knob, Zoro removed his sword from her leg silently allowing her to pass. "Don't worry…I'm not leaving either, I promise." With her last statement, Kimi walked through the threshold of the door closing it gently behind.
"Extra, extra! Read all about it! There was an assassination attempt on the hero of Water 7, Mayor Iceberg-san! This is an exclusive report on the incident!"
Kimi picked up one of the used papers on the street reading the headline: The City of Water is Shaking, Mayor Iceberg Targeted!
As she read the report silently standing in the streets along with other citizens, she couldn't help but listen in on some of the conversations.
"Is Iceberg-san okay?"
"This is horrible! Why would anyone do such a thing?"
"Who would do this? Who was the assailant!"
"There's no useful information in here! Hey paper boy! There is nothing helpful!"
"Mark my words, only pirates would be brazen enough to stoop this low!"
"Yea, we'd like nothing more than to catch them."
"Oh, there were some pirates causing a ruckus at Dock No. 1 yesterday, it was probably them!"
Hearing the false acquisitions about the pirate crew, Kimi used her best judgment to remove herself from the area as discreet as possible. She needed to bring back this information to the others quickly before the Strawhats were wrongly accused.
Adjusting her strides so that she walked down the street in a quick but non-suspicious manner, Kimi thought about Robin… She only hoped and prayed the reason she had not returned to the Merry yesterday evening was not due to this criminal act that would place the Strawhats in a compromised position.
A loud siren roaring from the streets of the vertical island stopped Kimi dead in her tracks. "Attention, this is the Water 7 weather forecast bureau. An Aqua Laguna warning is now in effect for all districts. Landfall at Water 7 will occur at half past midnight. Thank you."
Kimi moaned remembering the trio of teenagers yesterday talking about the Aqua Laguna. Whatever this incident was, it didn't sound promising if an official weather forecast declared a warning for all of the areas. "Now I have to get to Luffy and the others!" She began to run hoping she could make it in time.
As she turned the corner about two blocks away from the hotel, the young scientist stood still for a moment taking in a harsh and lapping breeze from behind. Frightened from the intense wind, Kimi fell into the side of the wall trying to contain her spinning thoughts from the past. "It's just from this Aqua Laguna…" She tried to reason an explanation for the wind so calm her irregular breathing. "It's not her…just the weather…" Her mind was beginning to meditate avoiding a panic attack in her already panic state of mind.
With her hand on her heart, Kimi took one last huff before she stood straight up to continue on with her journey. Just before she took another step forward, a hand snaked around her waist while another forcefully pulled her mouth and head back into the corners of the alley.
For a moment, Kimi didn't breathe. The thought that her sister had caught up to frightened the very core of the woman as she gave into the pulls behind. Her only thought was to hope for a miracle as she succumbed to the force.
But then a thought and crucial observation flash through Kimi's mind as the person behind her pulled her into what she could make out as a strong manly chest from behind her. This was a man dragging her back into the alley!
Proceeding now to kick and scratch at the man's arms and legs to fight off the attacker, Kimi kicked into survival mode and was about to bite the man's hand when she felt him pushed her up against the brick wall. His fist that was once around her waist now slammed on the side of her head while the other hand still covered her mouth. This man, though, he seemed familiar…as if he wouldn't harm Kimi despite the troublesome position she was placed in.
"I think he went this way!"
"Hurry, we need to find that dirty pirate!"
"Yosh, men! For Iceberg-san!"
Opening her sky blue eyes behind her glasses, Kimiko looked into the stern and tense face of the green-haired swordsman in her crew. In that moment, everything around the two became still as they looked into each other's eyes, waiting silently for the men to pass.
"Those men…they are after us…" She nodded looking beyond her pinned position to the wall. To the men running pass the alley the two looked like a shadowed kissing couple that would not be of interest to the preoccupied men.
As their shuffling footsteps passed, Zoro released his hand over Kimi's mouth and his position from her all together. "Yosh…they are gone…" He muttered looking out the corner of the alley.
Kimi stood with her back still to the wall as if she were frozen in time. Feeling terrified, confused, and overall mentally strained was more than a mouthful to take in. After not even getting one ounce of sleep since she left the hotel room this morning and believing for a moment her sister had located her…it was taking a lot out on her mental and physical self.
Kimi bowed her head down trying her best to calm her shallow breaths while her blue bangs fluttered from her gasps. Zoro looked back at her feeling a bit guilty. "Oi. Sorry…I heard your voice and they were chasing me…why the hell are they chasing me?"
Looking up, Kimi nodded. "No, its fine…the Mayor of Water 7. He was attacked last night and they think we are the ones who hurt him. I guess they are chasing you because of your wanted ad…I was on my way to warn you all but I uh, got distracted." She pushed herself off the wall to look around the corner. "Where are the others?"
"Nami and Luffy went to investigate Iceberg. Chopper and Sanji went to look for Robin."
"Oh. Come on let's go back to the hotel and see if the others are there." Kimi insisted forcing Zoro to follow alongside. Whether he wanted to or not, Kimi was determined to let go of their little incident on the spot. "Why did you leave the hotel anyways?" She asked curiously trying to avoid any other type of apology.
Zoro only shrugged. "I was thirsty." His answer gained a soft giggle and smile in reply. "Oi, where did you get that?" Removing one of his hands from his pocket, Zoro pointed to Kimi's arm band stationed around her left arm.
She smiled, "I bought it."
"Oh." Was his only reply before the two were walking in silence again. Every so often the strong wind would blow causing Kimi to tense as a defensive reaction to her past. "Okay, the hotel is-"
"Oi! There he is!"
"Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!"
"She must be an accomplice to the Strawhat pirates as well."
"Get them!"
Zoro and Kimiko turned their heads to look back at another group of men trying to capture the infamous pirate. "Oi, this way!" the swordsman pulled Kimi's wrist to the left running down the alleys and corridors of the streets.
"Wait a second!" Kimi smiled as they ran, "Clone Clone distraction!" Two sets of Kimi and Zoro clones ran off in different directions to help spilt the men and distract them from the real targets.
"Heh, great job, Kimiko." Zoro let her hand down as they continued running until eventually they stopped in a very shadowed back alley.
Just like earlier another alarm sirens began to ring announcing more information on this weather phenomenon. "An Aqua Laguna warning is in effect for the entire island. Accordingly, the docks on shipbuilding island have been designated as a public shelter. Crowding is expected. Please seek shelter as soon as possible."
"Oh no…" Kimi rested on the brick trying to catch up to her breath after their sprint. "I hope…Ussopp…heard that warning…" She looked to her side at the uncaring man peaking from the walls. He was about to wave her forward when suddenly a newspaper flew into his face.
Startled from the piece of paper, Zoro backed slowly into the depths of the alley and removed the article from his face gasping as if it was suffocating him in the process. Kimi couldn't help but to giggle from his flushed façade.
"Oi, is this what you were talking about?" He ushered the article to the scientist for an explanation. She groaned in reply. "Well no…this is a new paper." She looked to the three wanted posters of Luffy, Zoro, and Robin and the reason they and the rest of the Strawhats were being targeted. "Great…they think we are band of assassins."
"Oi, I heard something in there!" A voice called.
"There they are! Get them!"
"Oi! Run!" Zoro clutched Kimi's wrist once again pulling her into what seemed to be a never ending chase for their lives. Miraculously, the two ran into Luffy and Nami running away as well.
"Yo, Kimi, can't you trick them using your clones!" Luffy yelled with a hand over top of his hat. "I tried and they are just too smart! Keep running!"
Luffy and Nami turned down a corner while Kimi followed suit. With the stretch of Luffy's arm to pull Zoro down the right path the four neared an empty neighborhood.
"I have an idea!" Kimi smiled, "Luffy hide us underneath the bridge! I'll use my clones to pull them down another path while the coast is clear."
"Yosh!" The rubber captain smiled pulling the three into a sort of hug and then stretching his arms and legs to attach to the back side of the wall. Kimi, Nami, and Zoro rested still and quiet on his stomach.
The men's shuffling of feet could be heard from the hidden pirates as they entered through the opening. "Look there they are! After them!"
Kimi sat with her eyes closed concentrating on her duplicates of Luffy, Nami, Zoro and herself. It wasn't like she hadn't done something like this before in the past, it was just the fact that combined with the intensity of escape that made the moment frightening.
"Are they gone yet?" Luffy whispered strained from his task.
"Not yet." Zoro muttered.
"Just a bit longer…" Nami responded as the men ran above their heads over the bridge. Kimi kept a good connection between her and the clones as they ran pulling the men away from the area. She split the four of her clones down four different alley ways forcing the men to split up as well.
"Ah!" Luffy gasped releasing his grip on the bridge and forcing the four into the water. Of course, both Kimi and Luffy being devil fruit users, the two began to sink helplessly into the deepening water below.
Feeling that strong grip around her waist once more, Kimi felt her head somehow make it to the surface. With Luffy contain in Zoro's other hand and Kimi kept close Zoro chest, she couldn't help but blush at her rescuer. With an annoyed groan, Zoro flung the rubber boy out of the water and onto the street.
"Oh I thought it was you guys! Yay!" Chopper stood on the bridge with a smile. "I was looking for you all!"
"Are you alright?" Zoro asked swimming with Kimi to the side of the brick street helping her out of the water. Nami already had made her way to pounding Luffy for letting the bunch fall.
"Yes, uh thank you." Kimi looked into Zoro's eyes. The look he gave her as he pulled her onto the street made her heart beat faster for some reason.
"Odd.." Kimi thought turning her head as the swordsman began to wring out his white shirt, "I'll have to experiment with that emotion…that is when we aren't dealing with this madness…"