Ok, here it is. Chapter 9
Nami was almost done with her part of the decorating. The problem is that the last ribbon was to be put in sort of an awkward spot. So when she climbed over to the spot, she quickly saw that she would probably end up back on the deck if she tried to tighten down the ribbon. However, she was a part of the straw hat crew, which gave her access to certain utilities.
"Hey, Robin. Can you give me a hand up here? Or should I say a few hands?"
Robin giggles lightly before sprouting a few hands on Nami's body and making them grab the mast to hold her steady.
'Man, we've been together for so long yet I still can get used to that.' "Thank you."She finished tying down the last ribbon and climbed down from the mast.
Elsewhere, Usopp and Chopper had been putting out the last of the tables and chairs that the Alabastan crew had with them, though they were unsure just why they had so many. "Oi, Chopper. Do you think they were expecting to have a party or something, you?"
The blue nosed reindeer simply shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe Vivi planned it that way and maybe not, but I don't really care. Vivi is coming back to us."
"Yea I suppose you have a point." Usopp placed the last of the chairs with its designated table. "Alright. We're done here. Let's go see if Igaram needs help with anything."
Igaram was currently barking out some orders to the other crewmen. They were moving quite fast, a lot faster than one would expect. Obviously, they were adamant about making sure that Vivi's sending off was as good as it could be. One way or another, she was leaving with a smile on her face.
"Oiiiiiiii, Igaram. How are things going on your end? Anything that we can help with?" Usopp yelled from the ground up to him.
"Tha- Mah Mah Maaaaaaaaaaah. Thank you there, but we are almost done anyway." He was almost right, too. By the time he was finished speaking, they had already lined up. "Mission complete, sir."
"Very well. Go ahead and change over. The party starts once everyone else gets back." Igaram walked off the ship to the pirates. "Is Robin still on the ship? I would like to have a word with her, if that's ok."
"Uh, sure. I think she's still up there somewhere." Usopp looked up to the ship.
Igaram nodded and walked over to the Going Merry. He climbed aboard and looked around for her.
"Oh, hello there. Can I help you?" The red haired navigator called from her grove.
"Yes, I am looking for Miss Robin."
"Oh she should be up there on the bow deck."
"Thank you." He walked up the stairway towards the front of the ship. Sure enough Robin was sitting in her lawn chair, reading. He slowly walked up to her, her back to him. He was standing a few feet behind her. He was about to speak up when she did it for him. "I wasn't the second best operative in Baroque Works by letting people sneak up on me without my knowledge."
Needless to say, he was rather surprised. "How did you-?"
"I ate the Hana Hana no mi. I can sprout any part of my body on any surface." She held up her book to reveal an eye resting rather naturally on a page of the book.
"Hmm." He watched the eye disappear and then continued to watch her.
"You are being very cautious right now. You still don't trust me do you?"
"You nearly sacked our country, and you tried to kill me. I think I have a right to be a little bit cautious."
"I'm not saying that you shouldn't. For all you know I could still be deceiving everyone here. Just setting everyone up so that I can take over where Crocodile left off."
This actually caused him to tense up in fear for a few seconds, until she broke out in to a light laugh
"Don't worry, curly-san. I don't plan on stabbing the man that saved my life in the back. The man that made me live when I didn't want to."
"Yes, Cobra told me so."
"Well there is another reason for me joining, no staying, with this crew. He has revived my dream."
"I don't think I understand."
"I'm sure Cobra has told you what I am looking for. I had been searching for the Rio Poneglyph ever since I could read them. Alabasta was the only lead I had and it proved to be a false lead. I was content to simply die in that tomb, but he made me live. When we went to Skypiea I found another poneglyph, and a clue towards reaching my dream. Now, with a renewed resolve, I move forward towards my dream, and towards helping sencho-san reach his goal, because he is the reason that I am here today."
Igaram could only stare in awe of her. Behind all of the cruelty and all of the maliciousness that she showed in Alabasta, there was a real human being. Well one that could sprout any number of body parts she wanted anywhere she wanted. "I… I … You have earned my trust. I am now comfortable with leaving Vivi with you."
She simply gave her trademark laugh and turned toward him. "Well, I am glad that you think so, but let us conclude this conversation now." She closed her book and stood. "The princess is on her way back and I believe navigator-san will want us to hide right about…."
"Alright everyone, find somewhere to hide." Everyone went to various places around the area, making sure that they were out of sight.
"Eye Fleur." A few dozen eyes sprouted in the area in places where Robin could see everything, but where they could be easily hidden. "Now we wait."
Vivi was still lost in her own thoughts, which had decided to turn back to Robin, when they made their return to the ships. Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy had already returned with their own catches and were waiting for her.
She immediately picked up on the fact that no one was around the ships, and bean to look around for someone. "Hey, where did everyone go?"
Luffy was wearing a big toothy grin on his face, but she passed that off, as that was something he always did. Sanji also had one on as well, but she was used to that with him so it didn't mean much. However, the slight grin that the swordsman had alerted her that something was up. "Ok you guys what's going on?"
"Now!" Luffy called.
"Usopp Wagomu (rubber band)." Usopp fired his rubber band. It flew a good two feet from where he was standing.
"Aww, I was sure that it would work this time." The guys weren't amused.
"USOPP!" Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro all yelled at him.
"What? Oh, right." He took out his slingshot and took aim.
"Hissatsu Party Pachinko Stars!" Usopp shot three of his pachinko balls at the ribbons that held up the giant banner, which hung on the mast of the Merry. It unraveled to reveal a giant banner with the words 'Welcome Back' in giant letters on it. Afterwards, everyone jumped from their hiding places to yell out. "SURPRISE!"
Vivi was at first shocked and then became very happy, almost to tears. The soldiers started passing out drinks and the straw hat captain spoke up. "Alright, in honor of our newest crew member, let's party!"
Everyone, with the exception of Usopp who was on the ground nursing a rather large bump he had on his head, courtesy to Nami's fist, yelled in agreement, "AYE!"
Ok I had to watch an episode to remember how Usopp's attack was spelled and I saw the rubber band in it, so I just had to put it in as a little comic relief. Hope you like it. If you need to, look up episode 191. It has quite possibly the funniest moment of that arc.
