Hi readers, hope you like this chapter. The "excuses so you won't kill me" section is at the end. By the way, I screwed up the excuses of the last chapter… something weird happened and I posted the incomplete version (without the names of the reviewers), but I fixed it. You can take a look now.
Enjoy
The Straw Hats on the Move
After two years the Straw Hat Pirates met again at Sabaody Archipelago. Every member of the crew looked expectantly at their captain while he took air to give an extremely short speech. "Thank you guys for keeping up with my selfish decision." Luffy smiled. "But I must ask you to take a detour before entering the New World."
"Yes, Captain." Everyone yelled as the Thousand Sunny submerged.
Luffy approached Nami with an eternal log pose and smiled widely. "Alabasta." The navigator read.
"Ace and Vivi are waiting for us." The captain nodded and the reactions of the crew were varied. Chopper and Sanji jumped in happiness, Usopp and Nami hugged with excitement, Franky and Brook tilted their heads in confusion, and Zoro smirked but Robin's expression was undecipherable.
"It'll be all right." The swordsman reassured the archaeologist, who replied with a discrete smile.
"Let's go to Alabasta." Luffy yelled and the ship started to advance.
In a dark interrogation room at the prison Impel Down, formerly known for its flawless security, Fleet Admiral Akainu was enraged. The logia type observed an inmate who was being questioned by Chief-Guard Domino.
"What is Straw-Hat Luffy's relationship with Princess Nefertari Vivi?" Domino was losing her patience, she had been interrogating Bentham, alias Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, for hours… again.
"Give me a break! They never met, Straw-chan passed by because his log-pose pointed at Sandy Island and Princess Vivi was busy trying to not get killed by me." The Okama laughed.
"This is impossible." Hannyabal, the Chief-Warren, thought. Nothing seemed to break that man… Sadie-chan's punishments made him sing, the warren's tortures resulted in the prisoner smiling stupidly and Domino's mind games did not work either. "I'll go kill him… he is not saying anything." Hannyabal said but Akainu stopped him.
"Not now, you can kill him once you extract the information I need. Increase the torture." The fleet Admiral commanded.
"We've been doing this for two years and there are no positive results. I want to recover the honor of Magellan, he didn't have the chance to kill that Okama because Blackbeard showed up." The Chief-Warren explained.
"I don't care about stupid pride issues, do as I say." Akainu commanded, earning a glare from Hannyabal.
"Fleet Admiral, we received a call from the base at Sabaody Archipelago… the Straw Hats are back." A marine said on the edge of a nervous collapse.
"My visit is over, Warren. I'm going back to the New World." Akainu smirked and exited the interrogation room. "If I put 10 battleships at Raijin Island, Risky Red Island and Mystoria Island, we'll ambush the Straw Hats before they reach their next destination." He thought.
Vivi went from one city to another for the last two years, she had several projects in mind and she managed to complete most of them. The Princess loved to spend her free time in the hideout at Rainbase, but this time she decided to go to Nanohana, just to make sure the pirates' attacks were over. According to Chaka, the weakest crews perished and the strongest entered the New World several months ago, and Nanohana was practically unscratched.
"I have great news, I received a letter from Mr. Rayleigh and it says that Luffy will arrive at the aquarium in a matter of days, a week at most." The princess was walking by the coast with her loyal soldier, Golden Mask.
The pirate turned around and held the girl's hands. "Thank you… I guess our time is up." He sighed. "You can still come with me." He suggested as a joke, since he knew Vivi would reject him.
The blue haired girl only smiled with a hint of sadness.
Fire Fist looked around to see if they were alone and removed his mask to kiss the princess. The pirate embraced the girl and bit her lower lip, so Vivi could not help to giggle and respond by caressing his neck in a sweet way.
"My, my… Princess, keep your hands to yourself." Kuzan separated Vivi from the pirate. "Ace, put on the mask, we don't want anyone to find out about you." The former marine reminded him. Vivi was used to Kuzan scolding her for supposedly seducing Ace so she just sighed. The former admiral meant it when he said that the princess and the pirate were not allowed to be alone, he showed up every time they kissed.
"I have some issues to attend, so I'll stay for a few days. You can head to Rainbase and wait for Luffy, though; I'll catch up with you as soon as I can." She explained and walked in front of the Devil Fruit users.
"Yea right, as if I'd leave you alone." Ace shook his head. "So what happened to your date?" The pirate mocked his sensei while putting his mask on.
"Girls are complicated, that's all you need to know." Kuzan responded.
"What will you do once you get to the new world?" Vivi asked out of the blue.
"I'm going to visit Pops, I have many things to tell him even if I just talk to his grave." Golden Mask looked up. "I'll get my tattoo fixed and reunite with my crew." The pirate omitted his intentions to kill Blackbeard and Akainu to avoid preoccupying the Princess, but she already knew.
In the Florian Triangle Hina and her subordinates, Jango and Fullbody, stood on the deck of their ship as a bigger vessel approached them. The pink haired woman clenched her fists when she remembered her current situation. "Damn Akainu, after the Bonney Issue he allowed me to keep my title of Captain. Then he made me Vice-Admiral but now I owe him a big favor and after endless days in this ugly area, I'm being sent to Alabasta on 'vacations', which means I must look for pirates while I pretend I'm having fun." She thought.
"Vice-Admiral, stop thinking about that… it's bad for your health." Hina's subordinates said at unison. "Even though, you look beautiful with flames coming out of your head." Those guys knew exactly what Hina was thinking.
"I've spend my vacations of the last two years in places that Akainu thinks are related to the Straw Hats. I don't see the point of going to Alabasta since those pirates are on their way to the New World." Hina kept thinking with fury. By that time, all the marines knew about Luffy escaping from Sabaody Archipelago.
"She's ignoring us." Jango cried. "At least she doesn't want to kill us anymore."
In a matter of seconds, both ships were parallel to each other. From the deck of the biggest vessel a familiar silhouette appeared. Smoker gave his friend a cocky smile. "Are those two ready, Vice-Admiral?" He asked emphasizing the last word.
"Take them already and send Tashigi to Hina's ship." She rolled her eyes.
"What? We are going to G-5…" Fullbody cried. "You still hope we'll get killed." He said as Smoker used his logia powers to grab the pair of idiots, as Hina called them.
Tashigi jumped from her ship to Hina's. "I'm glad to see you, Ma'am."
"Hump" The pink haired woman responded. "Man them up." She turned her back to Smoker and waved as the ship started to move. The Vice-Admiral just smirked at her.
"We are having vacations." Tashigi smiled, earning a glare from Hina.
Five days later, Vivi and her escorts reached Rainbase. Crocodile's former casino was closed in order to have a total make over, at least that was the excuse Vivi gave to the gamblers, so she could wait for the Straw Hats at the hideout. In the building Kohza and Chaka were playing cards, and invited Kuzan to join as soon as they saw him.
Ace took off his mask and looked at Vivi, she nodded so the pirate approached the former Admiral. "Kuzan, I want your permission to spend time with Vivi, without you." He said a little embarrassed that the other two men chocked once they heard him.
"Where are you going?" The sensei asked. "You know I'll show up anyway." Kuzan was doing his job by keeping an eye on the princess, he always knew where they were and what were they doing. He didn't get his title of Admiral for nothing.
"We'll stargaze on the giant bird." Fire Fist pointed at the ceiling. The golden crocodile at the top of the pyramid had been replaced by a hawk and they went there every time they could just to talk for hours.
"Ok, have fun." The princess' bodyguard kept playing. He knew they only talked while stargazing so he wouldn't bother to check on them this time.
"Thank you." Vivi smiled and pulled Ace's hand, she loved to look at the stars with the pirate because he always had a cool anecdote to tell her, from the childhood adventures he had alongside Luffy and Sabo to the dangerous battles he fought with the Whitebeard pirates. "What's the story for tonight?" Vivi asked eagerly.
"I'll tell you a really funny story." He chuckled.
They climbed up the ladder that ended in the hawk statue. Once there, the pirate stared at the sky and hugged the princess. He knew their time was up and he thanked Kuzan for not allowing them to move forward in their relationship, otherwise he would have broken Vivi's heart by now. It was better to leave her with the cute memory of a crush and not with the resentment a lover leaves behind after he is gone for good. "It's better this way." Ace thought with sadness because he had strong feelings for the princess, and after their first kiss he considered to return to her once his enemies were defeated. However, that thought was dismissed as soon as it came. It would be too selfish of him to ask Vivi to wait for him. Besides, she told him that her future was already decided.
"I could stay like this forever." Vivi said. She felt safe when she was with Ace, but most importantly she felt loved. Suddenly, the girl's heart started to beat faster at the memory of the day they confessed their feelings for each other, at first she thought she was ready but she was acting on instinct and that was unacceptable. This time she wanted to say she loved him but it would be a bad idea due to Ace leaving soon.
The Straw Hat Pirates were doing the usual while their ship travelled to Alabasta. Brook was singing his favorite song, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper gasped in excitement every time Franky showed them a new weapon, Zoro was sleeping on deck, Nami and Robin read a newspaper and a book respectively, and Sanji approached the girls with delicious appetizers and cocktails. Suddenly Brook walked to his Captain.
"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, noticing that the music stopped.
"I've been wondering about the persons who wait for us in Alabasta. I know Ace is your older brother but I don't think I've heard of Vivi." The gentleman asked. "Is she a pretty girl?"
"She is a Straw Hat, but she can't travel with us because she is a princess." The Captain smiled widely.
"Vivi is a beautiful princess." Sanji imagined Vivi in the dancer outfit he chose for her and his nose started to bleed. "I wonder how much she grew…" The cook suffered a severe blood loss and Chopper had to prepare a transfusion.
"Princess Vivi, you say? Ow, sounds super." Franky made his signature pose.
"Yes, we have quite a story with her." Usopp grinned and told Brook and Franky everything that happened at Alabasta, making emphasis on his and Chopper's battle with Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas.
At the end of the story Franky was crying. "So she decided to stay… that must have been a hard decision to take." He sobbed. "A princess' heart divided between her friends and her Kingdom. And I'm not crying, idiots."
"I understand the decision she took, a good ruler would die before turning his or her back to their kingdom." Brook said in a solemn tone.
"I miss her, I'm glad I'll see her soon." Chopper smiled, still helping Sanji.
"Did you meet her, Miss Robin?" Brook asked and all the crew minus Franky and Luffy gasped. The Cyborg didn't know about Robin being a former enemy and Luffy was poking his nose.
"Why don't you sing a song, Brook?" The archaeologist smiled and the musician complied with pleasure.
"How fast are we going?" Luffy asked seconds later. He was getting impatient.
"We have an amazing speed, we'll get to our destiny in one hour at most." Nami smiled. The navigator flipped the pages of Rayleigh's manual and several pieces of paper fell. "A letter?" Nami looked closer. "From Silvers Rayleigh?" She stared at the long letter. "Instructions to Arrive at Rainbase." She read.
45 minutes later Pell arrived at the hideout and saw Kuzan without Vivi and Ace.
"Hey, join the game." Kohza said but the zoan type refused.
"I'm glad you are not spying on them as always, you finally trust the Princess and Ace." Pell smiled at Kuzan. "I bet you just remember when you were their age and you realized there is nothing to worry about." Obviously Pell was an angel when he was 22.
"Yea, back when I was 18…" Kuzan started to recall his youth but then he froze, he didn't behave that well. "Damn" The former admiral rushed to the princess, he was at the edge of a heart attack but he felt relieved when he reached the final part of the ladder. Vivi was laughing at some story the pirate was telling her.
"…and that's how I stopped trying to make Marco lay an egg." Ace nodded.
"Is something wrong, Kuzan?" Vivi asked after noticing Kuzan's altered state.
The former Admiral was speechless but when he felt 9 auras at the aquarium he gave her a smile. "The Straw Hats are here." After Kuzan's words the princess cried of happiness and climbed down the ladder to the hide out, followed by Ace.
To Be Continued
Excuses so you won't kill me:
Saveme57: Thank you, I'm happy to read you like the chapter.
Amazon: Thanks, I'm glad you like the story. In the last chapter Vivi and Ace's moment was spontaneous and instinct driven, that's why I had Kuzan interrupting them (hinting that they would not go any farther for the next 2 years). :D
I love Mr. 2 and I didn't want him to die XD
I have no idea how long it would take to reach Alabasta from Sabaody Archipelago, so I made it five days at full speed without stopping.
Poor Hina, Tashigi is clueless… I like her anyway XD
I always imagined Pell as super respectful with women and Kuzan no so much… when he commented on Nami's boobs (chapter 226).