One Piece Goda belongs to. Author's notes bottom at.

Chapter Titles The Beatles belongs to.


Chapter Twelve

I Saw Her Standing There (Pt. 1)

When Robin said she was going out to go window shopping for potted plants and flowers, Usopp asked if he could tag along, hoping to get fertilizers for his pop green plants as well. They took one of Galley-La's two-seater Yagara bulls off downtown, where there were more of those regular shops rather than fancy ones. The street was merry, as usual, but Usopp noticed that Robin did not seem as vibrant as her usual self - she wouldn't be the one to stay quiet and hum at response, she would be all criticizing with hints of gore instead.

He thought maybe because the woman hadn't slept at all last night. Maybe.

They found a shop for gardening items between one of those rows of grocery shops, which had a rather beautiful sun-roof modified for the plants itself. She strolled through the aisles of potted flowers of many colours, while Usopp went through a catalog of fertilizers by the counter under the shade.

"I just realized there weren't many plants on the streets around this island," Robin commented, as she examined a reddish poppy flower plant.

"Now that you mentioned it, I just realized that too," Usopp replied. He recalled plenty of places with gardens, yards and turfed grounds - besides further uptown and further downtown, the middle levels of the gigantic water fountain island consists of mostly water and concrete. "I mean, I don't wanna comment on how this island is structures but- Ah, why is this too expensive?"

"Nami gave you little pocket money?"

Usopp slapped the catalog back to the counter. "700 Bellies! Ne, should've asked more from her today!"

Robin chuckled. "I have a thousand, you can have some of mine," she offered.

"Ah, thanks!" Usopp smiled gladly. "Okay, I lied. I have only 500 Bellies-"

"Don't push it," Robin said quickly with rather dark tone, Usopp could imagine evil eyes sliding down her eye sockets. It made him sweat a little.

"Right, right." He gave her a nervous smile and a monotonous 'gomenasai'. "Well at least you're less stingy then Nami. Why does she had to be the one in power for our money and treasure, anyway? Luffy should assign me to do the job! Not sure if I told you before, Robin, but I happen to have a qualified cert in accounting when I was still in Syrup Village-"

"Impressive," Robin nodded, as she turned to another aisle of potted flowers.

Usopp sighed, he realized that the woman doesn't look very well. She sounded as if she was worrying over something, furthermore, she wouldn't be the one to easily respond positively to his lies and made-up facts of his life. Usopp abandoned the catalogs of fertilizers, and walked towards the archaeologist, who lifted a little pot of chrysantemum flower plant, two golden flowers blossomed majestically. "Ne, Robin, is somethin' bothering you?"

Robin replied with a lifeless smile. "I'm alright, Usopp, don't worry."

Of course, Usopp remembered that it is Robin after all, and Robin isn't the one to tell anyone anything much - hence, that was how they ended up setting war with the government and strutting on the streets of Dressrosa with several Revolutionaries as allies. She definitely was bothered by something, but she wouldn't admit it. Somehow he knew he wouldn't dig it out of her, so he decided to recheck his balance of cash in his bag.

"Let's buy that flower. Use my money. But I have no idea on tending flowers, so you'll have to do it!" Subtly, it was a little gift to cheer his nakama up.

"Your money? But I thought you wanted to buy fertilizers?"

Usopp placed both hands on his hips proudly. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure I'll manage to shake a thousand or two Bellies from Nami! Hohoho!"

A smile was drawn on Robin's face, this time, it was sweet and genuine.


Koala was just about to knock on the front door of the Straw Hat Pirates temporary residence when it opened swiftly. Nami's dumbfounded face greeted her, but she replied with a smile, causing Nami to laugh nervously and checked her breath for any traces of alcohol smell left by Zoro's sake. Sniff sniff, no smell of sake? Good.

"Good afternoon, Nami! I'm sorry for being a little late," the brunette smiled. She would rather not elaborate on it, though, because it would be rather embarrassing to have Nami know of her difficulties of standing up straight after last night, at dawn, and this morning... Nevermind. On the other hand, Sabo had accidentally burned the hotel sheets again, and she had to hide the burn marks before the hotel housekeeping department noticed anything. Now, imagine doing that with post-orgasm tingles.

"You're on your own?" Nami asked, snapping Koala out of her own monologue.

Koala nodded. "I have my Yagara boat, so we'll go and get your maid-of-honor dress fitted and tailored. Where's Robin nee-chan?"

Nami flinched at the question, and smiled nervously. She stuttered for a second or two, trying to find the right words to say. Being criticized as an 'asshole' by Zoro alone is enough - not that she mind his opinions though - but Koala? She'd rather not be labelled after an uninteresting body part by such a sweet, sweet bride-to-be. "She's out with Usopp... I was about to go look for her."

"Oh." Koala looked puzzled. "I thought she would join us. That's alright. We'll see her in town then... Does she have her Den Den?"

Nami shook her head and bit her lip. "Koala... I accidentally offend her. I don't know... I was selfish for a bit."

She thought the brunette would respond with a displeased expression, with a side dish of removing her as the bridesmaid. Koala would probably do so. Koala ought to do so. If Nami was in Koala place, she would do so.

But instead, Koala smiled. It was probably her habit of smiling-through-hard-times again, the one she found hard to shake off even after leaving the Sun Pirates. "It's alright," she told her, and cling onto Nami's arm as she took Nami to the Yagara boat parked by the riverbank. "Let's go get you fitted, and then, we'll go look for her."

Nami was surprised, but she complied. They took off for uptown with her Yagara boat, passing through several wet markets before they finally reached there. The wedding boutique they were attending to was located between a row of branded fashion lines, including Crimin. The interior of the boutique was lovely, very designer-like with a little bit of luxury thrown here and there. Nami was astounded by the amount of lovely white dresses that surrounded her - she had never thought being surrounded by wedding dresses would be overwhelming. She blamed them all on hormones. The owner of the boutique was a middle-aged woman in a very Meryl Streep-like persona, if not Edith Head.

Koala ended up with a familiar scenery of Nami standing in the middle of the room with Edith Head taking her measurements. Nami had briefly went through the selection of dresses which aren't too much of a bride - "maid-of-honor, hmm," said Edith Head, "we definitely have several choices of dresses without much fanciness, perfect for a redhead like you" - and picked a few she would favour. Still, she was contemplating on whether she should just wear the ones she have, that would probably fit with the wedding theme... Wait, what was the theme anyway?

"White, baby blue-ish," Koala said.

"Perfect." Edith Head left to retrieve her dresses she would recommend on Nami, leaving the two downstairs. Nami flailed her hands, not that she was bored or anything, but she was still overtaken by the guilt of offending Robin.

"Maybe Robin should remain your maid-of-honor," she suggested.

"Maybe, but she insisted to have you as the maid-of-honor." Koala crossed her legs, and took a bite of the cherry-topped brownie Edith Head's assistant had presented to her and Nami.

"Well, maybe we could both be your maid-of-honor? Might not be such a bad idea after all, wouldn't it?"

"Sabo probably wouldn't permit it," Koala pouted, as she leaned back on the luxurious couch in the middle of the room. "He only has Luffy alone. You're a better pairing of Luffy, you know."

Right. Nami slapped her forehead. "Why does everyone kept saying that? It hurts my brain and my pride."

Koala simply chuckled. The orange-haired woman in front of her was apparently wearing her captain's straw hat, a bonus point for Koala to tease her back. "The straw hat looks good on you, Nami."

Nami immediately blushed. She quickly turned away and pretended to check if Edith Head has returned with their dresses, avoiding eye contact with Koala. "I hope she doesn't bring the ones with halternecks, ugh, that'd look weird on me," she tried changing the subject.

"Don't worry, Nami," Koala said reassuringly. "Are you still worried about Robin?"

Nami glanced back at Koala. She hesitated a 'yes', but she ended up giving her a nod. "Nee, Koala. She's like an elder sister to me! Plus, I don't want her to get mad at me, let alone hurt her feelings..."

Koala laughed a little, leaving Nami to wonder what was she so amused about. "Do you wanna know something, Nami? I too, have hurt her feelings in the past. Well, when she first joined the Revolutionary Army. Hate is a strong word, but I really, really, really don't like her."

"Eh? How so?"

"I convinced myself that she might be a double-agent, to justify. Until Bunny Joe convinced me that I was only jealous that Sabo paid attention to her a whole lot," Koala continued, and Nami chuckled at this. "I was really cold to both of them, yeah. Until Sabo had the chance to explain that he was just excited over meeting one of Luffy's crew mates. It was embarrassing, really."

"Such a cute tale," Nami chuckled again. "Is that how you found out you, you know, have feelings for Sabo?"

The adorable brunette shrugged. "Maybe..."

"So, how did you met Sabo?"


Koala was so tempted to answer the question with "kids, in the summer of 1999..." but she battled the temptation as Nami probably have never read any of the 'How I Met Your Mother' book series just yet. Nami sat down on the couch beside her, as if expecting a lengthy story ahead. And Nami was right as well, the story was pretty lengthy. Koala took a sharp inhale, her cheeks reddened as she recalled the highlights of their relationship in her head. She was all ready to tell the story of how she met Sabo - she'll try to shorten it, at least - and they both gazed up into an imaginary cloud bubble containing their own visualization of her flashback.

Koala was about twelve years old when Monkey D Dragon, the leader of the Revoutionary Army - also, the most wanted man in the whole world, whichever sounds more badass - took her in and recruited her. The little girl was found to be alone in the streets, in the corner, with a crumpled newspaper in her hands and tears streaming down her cheeks, nevertheless, she was smiling a forced smile. The article, as Dragon discovered, was a newspaper article on the death of Fisher Tiger simultaneously with the so-called victory of the World Government eliminating the man who caused 'chaos' at Mariejois.

By the time she was thirteen, the girl showed interest in fishman karate - it probably reminded her of the Sun Pirates so much - so Dragon had set her to train with a fishman member of the Revolutionary Army, named Hack. She would train all day, ever since, and at night, she would spend her post-dinner hours at the RA's library. Sometimes Dragon would be there, if he weren't so busy updating himself with the RA's missions, having strategy meetings with the top officers, or staring dramatically into the dark horizon on the deck. And while he was there, the man would tell her stories of his adventures while he was younger. She enjoyed those stories, and he enjoyed telling them to her.

One night, she had a pillow propped at the corner of the library and a couple of books by her side - fishmen folk tales, some of them. She would love to listen to more of Dragon's adventures that night, but it was already about eleven, and she assumed that he would not come down to the library, anyway. She walked through an aisle filled with adventure log books, possible of Ivankov or Dragon, and spotted an interesting binder of the top shelf.

But oh, of course, top shelf. She lifted herself on her toes, but still, the top shelf is out of her reach.

Until she saw a hand hover over hers, taking the book she aimed for off the shelf. Noticing the sudden shadow laid against the bookshelf that wasn't even hers, that came with a strong whiff of Sean John's 'Unforgivable' and, pardon her, testosterone. She quickly turned around to find the blonde boy with a top hat and a messy button-down white shirt untucked - the choice of clothing too mature for his age - only an inch or two taller than herself. She recognized the boy. Sabo. She often had seen him during meals, or on the training grounds of the Revolutionary Army Headquarters, and sometimes playing combat battles with several other young revolutionaries.

Yet, she had never once talked to him, nor he had ever talked to her.

"Thanks," she told him - it was the first word she had said to him. He simply nodded, and passed the book to her. They stood there in awkward silence for a short moment, before she went off to her pillow and sat with her book. She assumed that Sabo would resume to whatever matter he has in this very library so late at night, but to her surprise, he came by and sat a few feet away from her with an unopened book in his lap. He leaned against the wall by the bay window of the library.

She would want to start a conversation, but he didn't seem like he wanted to talk, anyway, so she resumed her own affairs - the book containing Dragon's handwritten adventure logs in the South Blue. Once in a while she would glance to Sabo, who had spent the entire time shifting glances between her, the cover of the book in his lap, and the ceiling.

Odd, she thought, but she took it that he just might want to keep her company. They both fell asleep in the library that night.


Man, that had been one hell of a week. But I endured it, and I only have two more weeks to endure. Wish me luck in my real life affairs, I'll pray for you too, loves! The one thing I love about being a writer on the FF is that I could come here if life's stressing out too much. Your reviews made me happy. I appreciate them a lot.

No LuNa in this chapter, but I hope you will still stay and look forward to the next chapter.

As always, arigato gozaimasu Shiningheart of Thunderclan, AquaTitaniaMiyuki, LuNa, LawNa and scatteredPhilosopher for your lovely, lovely reviews! To readers, thanks for the reads, reviews, favourites and follows. I love you like I love fried chicken and ramen and teh tarik and shrimp dim sum and tom yam and roti Butterscotch Gardenia.