Next Chapter.

-Going Merry-

If it wasn't for the fact that she felt like her body had just had an entire fleet of Marine battleships dropped on it, she would have been up, knocking the perverted cook clear off of the boat. The man was there everyday, asking her if she wanted anything; food, ice cream, something to drink, a full body massage with some special herbs and oils that Chopper had found. While she was appreciative at first, it quickly became annoying when he started coming in every five minutes. Meaning that her only peaceful moments were at night. She knew he was just concerned for her and was grateful to him. But there was a difference between showing concern, and smothering someone.

Surprisingly, Luffy knew this difference. Whenever Sanji was capable of prying himself away from her room long enough for her to breathe, (or whenever Nami found a way to coax him over to her) Luffy was there, asking how she felt, and telling her about what he did that day, which mostly consisted of him either annoying Zoro, who was in an even worse state than she was after he had tried to start training again, opening up his wounds wider, and going onto the island and training himself.

After her fight with Zoro, according to Luffy, Vivi had passed out. Chopper noticed the glazed over look in his eyes and started screaming his head off, yelling for a doctor. That is until Nami kindly reminded him that he was a doctor, if bashing a fist over his head can be interpreted as kindly. Luffy barely caught her before she hit the ground and laid her on her back. Chopper looked her over and said that Zoro's slash had apparently cut deeper than everyone had thought. He was amazed that she was able to finish the fight as strongly as she did. Luffy, of course, yelled, "I don't care. Help her right now." Chopper said they needed to get back to the ship, as most of his more advanced medicines had been left there.

Wasting little time he picked up the princess and the doctor, told Sanji to bring Zoro, and darted back to the ship, being careful to not further injure her. Chopper worked non stop on her and was finally able to close the wound completely. He had estimated that she would be out for at least a week or two. So you can imagine his surprise when he went to go check on her three days afterwards, and found her awoke.

Fast forward a week, and here she is now, enduring another Sanji outburst of love and hearts and promises. However, right as he was getting out of the blocks, a hand appeared out of no where, grabbed the back of his jacket, and pulled him back out.

She sighed, closing her eyes. "Don't hurt him too bad Luffy."

Outside Sanji had just found himself face to face with his captain. He was about to speak up, but suddenly found that he couldn't find his tongue.

None of the crew had ever seen the captain angry. At least not truly angry. Sure there were the fits that he threw whenever he was denied food, or whenever Nami or Sanji knocked him into next week for reasons he would never understand. But in comparison to the angry that he held in his face at that moment, those time might as well been times where he was in his so called "happy place." You know, that place where the field of flowers stretches for miles, there isn't a cloud in the sky, and in Luffy's case, there was a mountain of meat standing in front of him.

"Oi, Sanji. Chopper has been telling me about how you have been keeping Vivi from resting properly. Leave her alone." He let the cook go.

The cook retreated to the kitchen. He would not be seen for the rest of the day.

Vivi didn't hear anything that went on outside of her room. Even if she could, she doubted that she would have wanted to. The dark, angry aura that she felt outside of the room had made her try to wrap the blanket around her body just a little tighter. However, when the cook didn't come back she was extremely grateful to Luffy for whatever he did. She closed her eyes once again and drifted off to sleep.

- One week later-

Vivi stood on the back of the ship, looking out to sea. She had been cleared to leave the bed by Chopper earlier that day when she proved that she could fully function as a pirate without wincing anymore. She lifted the front of her sweater, running a hand along the scar that would now be a permanent part of her body. Secretly she was rather fond of this, as it was the first battle scar that she had ever received. "Well, at least I still have one thing to thank him for."

"Thank who for what, hime-san?"

Vivi turned around to see the sultry figure of the ships archaeologist walking towards her. She smiled slightly before turning and showing her the scar.

Robin turned her gaze to it. "So doctor-san wasn't able to completely heal it. But I suppose since you like it……"

"Yes. It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. You know how you hear stories about people who use their scars as memories of all of their battles. I look at this scar as, I guess, a symbol of my decision to become a pirate."

"Hmm, however I do believe that there is something else tugging at the back of your mind, no? Or should I say someone else."

Vivi turned to the woman shocked. She knew her observational skills were good, but this just blew her mind. "I- I have no idea what you are talking about." Denial. One of the most basic of human reactions towards unexpected news.

"Hime-san. Please do not take me for a fool. I have seen it twice now, and I originally passed it off as you simply snapping. But after your fight with swordsman-san, I have re-evaluated my observation. You have a split personality."

Vivi started at the woman for a good minute, completely silent. She then turned back to the sea, never saying a word.

"I suppose my hypothesis was not to far from the truth?"

"Her name is Vivian. I was hoping that she would never come out again. I even deluded myself into thinking that she never existed in the first place. I guess I thought that if I believed that she was never really there, maybe it would eventually be true, and she would leave me alone."

She wasn't exactly sure just when it happened, but two chairs had suddenly appeared behind her, though the flower petals that she barely caught a glimpse of gave her the answer. Robin had already occupied one and Vivi sat down in the other. "Start from the beginning, hime-san."

She took a deep breath, digging up a memory she had though was long since forgotten. "It was many years ago, back before Alabasta had been invaded by Crocodile. I was 7 or 8, and I was in Kohza's circle of friends. We had always had fun back then, before I began to take on my role as princess of Alabasta. We also watched each others backs, swearing to protect each other. I believe you already know that much."

Robin simply nodded and motioned for her to continue. "Well, one day we got in a little over our heads. These older boys came and tried to take away one of Kohza's favorite hangouts. Kohza was not one to back down from a challenge so he immediately tried to fight back. The rest of his friends were right there behind him, ready to defend their territory." Her hands balled into fists and began shaking slightly.

"They were beaten. Badly. I was the only one left. And even seeing how easily Kohza had been beaten, I still tried to fight back. "The leader of the older boys saw me and said, 'Oooh, boys look at this feisty little devil. I think we can have a little fun with this one.' " Vivi's fists only got tighter as she repeated the boy's words.

"They grabbed me and held me down. Some of them tried to grab clothes off of me; others began to remove their own. I can still remember what I was thinking then. I was thinking, where was my father, or Chaka, or Pell? Why aren't they here, hiding themselves like they always do? Won't someone please help me? Help me. Then I heard her. The very first word I heard her say was, 'Pitiful.' All hell broke loose after that.

"One of the boys that was standing behind me got a foot to the testicles. I felt both of them break, and I liked it. Then I somehow twisted my body, forcing them off of me. The closest person to me got a foot to the stomach, then a knee to the face. His nose automatically began pouring blood out of his head. Thug number three tried to blindside me. I have no idea just how I did this, but I floated under his punch and, like water, flowed into my next move. A stiff side kick to his back. I would find out later that the boy would end up paralyzed. The last two tried to run off. I jumped one of them, and was…..grateful……to find that this was the leader of their little group. He begged me, pleaded with me to stop. To show mercy. I would respond by taking the knife that he had strapped to his belt, flipping it up, and saying, 'Now who is having fun?' I Laughed. I was about to kill that bastard and I laughed!" She looked like she was on the verge of simply breaking down, but held her calm enough to continue the story.

"Pell jumped in just as I was about to impale the knife right between his eyes. He held me against the wall, yelling at me to stop, asking me what was wrong with me. I didn't care. All I wanted was to kill that boy right then. I had ripped my arm free of his grasp and made a stab at him. He dodged it and then slapped me across the face, Hard.

Suddenly all of the anger that I had built up was gone. That voice inside of my head that had been edging me on during my fight had suddenly left. I stared up at Pell for five minutes, and he just stared back, as if he knew that I never really meant any of what I had just did. I dropped the knife, hurled myself into his arms, and cried, squeezing in an apology whenever I could formulate coherent words. He just held me. Eventually, he flew me back to the castle, took me to my room, and told the guards that no one was to bother me. I was grateful to him for that."

Robin remained respectfully silent throughout the entire story. When Vivi had stopped talking she took her opportunity. "This other you is an intriguing phenomenon. She appears whenever you are in some sort of personal danger, or if there is someone close to you in the same sort of danger. And she doesn't completely take over your mind either. She seems to simply implant very, very strong mental suggestions into your mind. She also appears to be extremely combat oriented."

Vivi simply nodded her head. "My father made up something to take the blame off of me, then asked me what happened. I told him that I didn't remember. Like I said, I tried to simply forget about it all, pretend that whatever that voice was never existed. And for all of these years, it has worked."

Robin looked inquisitively at her. "And then your former friend threatened to kill your nakama and your family. But tell me, why didn't she come back during Crocodiles invasion? I would have thought that to be sufficient motivation for her."

"I think that my denial of her existence did indeed have some effect on her influence. She seems to come up when the matter at hand is more personal so to speak. Where as the Crocodile incident was more of a duty to my country issue, Kohza and even Mr. Bushido were personal matters."

Robin nodded her head. "So why does she bother you so much, hime-san?"

Vivi looked down. "I- I am afraid, Robin. What happens if I let every fight I am in get personal like this, and she slowly starts to gain more and more control? What happens when I can't stop her, and I suddenly go berserk? What-" She was cut off when the fist that had been balled up so tightly that her nails had broken her skin and began to shed blood, was suddenly covered by the archaeologist's hand in a surprisingly comforting gesture from the detached woman. Vivi looked up at her.

"Why fight her? Why fight something that is clearly here to help you? Fighting her will only allow her to think up stronger ways to take you over, until one day she actually will completely envelop you. Instead, embrace her. Accept her help. I am sure that you will find out that she will be much easier to control if you look at her as a partner, instead of a hindrance." Robin smiled at this.

Vivi was somewhat shocked. "Why? You never show any interest in the problems of Luffy, Nami, or anyone else. Why are you spending so much time with me?"

Robin's face grew serious. "I am ashamed of what I did to you and your father when I was working with Crocodile. I may have apologized to you before, but I doubt that it makes up for what I have done. This is just my way of expressing my regret for what I had done."

Vivi smiled, for the first time since the conversation had gotten started. It wasn't big, but you could see the happiness on her face. "I- Thank you so much, Robin."

"Don't mention it, hime-san."

Vivi turned her head, and then decided to take a chance. "You know, don't you? About me and Luffy?"

Robin looked at her with a bemused smile. "That is correct, hime-san."

"How long?"

"Since the first night. I was watching."

Vivi laughed. "I figured someone was going to find out."

Robin smiled. "I can pretty much tell that this infatuation for sencho-san started way before you returned to this ship. In fact, it was probably the main reason you returned in the first place. But I am curious, what is it about sencho-san that drew you to him?"

And with that, she began to explain just how Luffy had completely turned her world around for her.

-Hours Later

Vivi had to admit it. When the woman wasn't eternally wrapped within her library of books, or discovering some new, uncharted ruin on some backwater island, Nico Robin was surprisingly good at lightening the mood and cheering up anyone she talked to. She was an exceptional listener and gave advice as if she wrote the book on it. Plus, it was a great relief for her to talk to the woman about her relationship with her captain. Though she did make sure, numerous times to the archaeologist's humor, to make her promise not to reveal their relationship to the rest of the crew.

She was now standing at the front of the ship, taking in the cool sea air. This day had started out modestly alright, and turned out to be yet another high note on her adventure into piratism. How else could this day get any better?

Almost immediately, a thought struck her head. Something else began nagging at the back of her mind, though she couldn't quite put her finger on just what it was. "I didn't forget about training with Luffy. Chopper says to hold off on training for a few weeks. That kinda sucks since Nami-san said the log pose will be set in a few days. Maybe….. No, I don't owe Nami-san any money. Though, after my fight I'm sure that she could use an extra buck or two." She silently giggled, remembering when Luffy told her about the rampage that Nami had went on after Vivi had beaten Zoro.

It was about at that time when she spotted Zoro coming back to the ship. He took one look at her, grumbled something, and started to head into the men's room.

That was when it hit her. "Oh Mr. Bushiiidoooooo."

Zoro stopped and turned towards her. "What do you want hime? Haven't you already proven that you are better than me?"

She smiled sweetly. "Yes, yes I have. However, I hope you aren't forgetting about our little bet, are you?"

His face suddenly went into shock. 'Damnit, I was hoping that she would have forgotten that part.' "Oh, that. I thought that it was just a joke."

"No, it wasn't. A deal is a deal. And I already know what I want you to do." She had an evil smile on her face. Zoro had only seen that smile on one other woman's face, and he didn't like it.

'This isn't gonna be good.'

-A few days later-

The Going Merry had set out from the island and was moving at a steady pace in the direction the log pose indicated.

Luffy had fallen asleep on his seat once again. When he would awake, he would be treated to a rather strange sight.

Zoro, holding a mop and bucket, wearing a pink apron, just came out of the men's room and had begun to mop the entire deck of the Going Merry.

Luffy bounced over to his first mate. "Oi, Zoro, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm mopping the deck, what does it look like I'm doing?" He said in a more than perturbed voice.

"Why? We never mop the deck."

"Because our little navigator told me to."

"But you never do what Nami tells you."

"Unfortunately, now I have to, until we get to the next island."

"Oi, Zoro. When you are done with than, I want you to dust the entire ship." The voice of the ships navigator came from in front of her orange grove.

"Yes, Nami-sama."

Luffy was, to say the least, amazed. "Oi, Nami, what did you do to Zoro?"

She smiled. "Oh nothing. He made a deal with Vivi. The loser of their fight had to do whatever the winner wanted until we reached the next island. So Vivi told him that he had to be my slave."

"Oh I see. In that case, it's Zoro's fault."

Zoro turned angrily to his captain. "HOW THE HELL IS THIS MY FAULT??!!"

Luffy laughed. "Because you didn't follow the first rule of gambling. Never bet against a woman, 'cause you'll always lose."

-End-

And that is the end of the Zoro vs. Vivi arc. May not have been the best, but it was definitely worth the time.

To all of my readers. Review. I need reviews. I need to know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Help me out here.

To all of my readers and reviews. If you like the story, please suggest it to other readers.

Thank you for your time. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. Now I need to try and find another good storyline.

As always. R&R&have a nice day.