Ace's Second Chance 10
Enjoy this chapter too :D
Decisions of the Royals
Vivi took a deep breath, then she covered her eyes to process everything that happened to her in the last several hours. The torture was over and she couldn't wait to be liberated but something was bothering her, the people of Alabasta would sure despise her for being associated with pirates, her father would be disappointed of her and her voice would be taken as a joke at the Reverie. "Why would they listen to a princess who was treated as a criminal?" She sobbed, earning confused looks from everyone.
Hina approached the girl to direct her to the exit but she refused her help. "You are free to go once the medics threat your wounds."
"No! As the Princess of this land I command you to leave this room and cut the surveillance so I can make myself look presentable and I want a desert gown to hide the damage you've done to my body." Vivi glared at Akainu. "Once I'm done I will exit this ship without your help, since I've had enough of you. And I don't want this issue to be leaked to the press, otherwise I'll be doomed at the Reverie." She frowned as everyone left taking the snail transmitters from the walls. Tashigi gave her the clothes she requested and followed Hina to the exit.
Vivi turned to the walls and looked for the famous sea-stone that neglected Devil Fruit powers. The girl recognized the material because she had seen it when Crocodile trapped Luffy on a cage and because Kuzan put handcuffs on Ace to make him less dependable of his logia powers. After searching frantically Vivi found some tools that she hid under her new pink desert gown. The girl did not expect to steal sea-stone but it was a tempting opportunity that she could not let pass.
The Princess of Alabasta exited the interrogation room and ignored the marines around her, she was too focused on appearing strong for her people, even though they probably hated her for bringing disgrace to the kingdom. Akainu was standing in front of her, they glared at each other until Tashigi tried to help the princess to walk but she shook her head. "Captain, please let me keep the little dignity I have left, I will return to my kingdom by myself." Vivi said and started to walk. Lucky for her no one touched her or they would realize she was stealing sea-stone items.
Vivi stood on the deck of the marines' ship, the light hurt her eyes but she could bear it, as she could stand the pain on her body. The people had gathered at the beach and were angry, they were shouting and raising their fists. Akainu did not seem amused but Hina was taken aback, the citizens of Alabasta were angry at the marines. Vivi almost cried of relief when she realized she had her people's support and she went on until her feet touched the sand. "I guess keeping the issue as a secret is not an option." She thought. The King approached her and explained that some people witnessed what happened at the beach and summoned a crowd to ask for her release.
"Fleet Admiral Akainu, you are not welcomed anymore. I request that you leave as soon as possible." The King tried to disguise his anger and act as formal as he could but it was difficult to see the man who tortured his daughter and fight the urge to kill him.
Akainu towered over Cobra. "I'm afraid that cannot happen, your majesty. I'm after the Straw Hat Pirates and since they were last seen here I must keep the island under observation." Akainu clenched his fists. He hated that someone had more authority than him.
"Know your place, Marine. An order from the King is absolute and without the Gorosei's document you have no authority over Royalty." Vivi hissed.
"You can observe Sandy Island from your ship." Cobra said coldly. "I command you to leave." He crossed his arms and Akainu gritted his teeth but complied. The marines retired and so did the citizens, after an hour the beach was empty.
Cobra, Vivi, Igaram and Terracota entered a carriage to go to Alubarna, followed by Kohza and the Guardians. The woman comforted the princess while she described what happened in the ship but she surprised everyone when she showed them the sea-stone tools, then she asked Igaram to send them to the Straw Hats. "I will feel better if they have something to protect themselves against logia types." She yawned and fell asleep on Terracota's lap, ignoring how much her body hurt. The king looked at the Princess, he seemed so frail and even after going through a nightmare all she could think of was her pirate friends' wellbeing. He sighed. "During the civil war, before I learned that Crocodile was behind it, I came up with a solution for the problem but I needed Vivi and Kohza for that." He said.
"You don't mean that, your majesty." Igaram gasped. "Why would you bring it up again?" The king told the army commander about his idea when the war ended.
"Because it's time for that solution. I've made the decision for Vivi's sake." He sighed. "Tell Kohza I want to see him as soon as he gets to the castle, he has a key role in this." Cobra said and Igaram nodded.
The night fell on Alubarna and Vivi woke up, she went to her mirror and studied the bruises and the bandages, obviously the doctors had healed her while she was unconscious. She was glad everything was over and she wondered what were her friends doing. "They should be setting sail by now." She sighed. "Enjoy the New World for me." She saw her desert gown on a chair. She forgot about it at the beach but Kohza recovered it, then she remembered that Ace slipped something in a pocked. "I love you Ace." Vivi laughed when she unfolded the peace of paper and saw an autographed poster of Soul King.
"Vivi, the King wants to talk to you." Terracota called the girl and directed her to her father's chambers. She was a little nervous about his reaction.
The girl saw Kuzan standing outside the huge wooden doors, he seemed absent. His only reaction was to nod when he saw Vivi and pat her shoulder as if something horrible was waiting for her. "It's for the sake of the country and for her, will you do it?" The king was yelling, suddenly Kohza opened the doors in order to leave but froze at the sight of Vivi. The Princess looked at both men with uncertainty and sat in front of Cobra, then Kohza did the same.
Kuzan closed the doors and Terracota waited for the Princess for about two hours before she heard a voice. The King's chambers were designed to be silent and keep the issues discussed as a secret, but someone yelling could be heard very clearly. "Are you doing this because I disappointed you?" Vivi was crushed but the King didn't answer so she opened the doors to leave. "Vivi, I won't agree to this unless you do." Kohza was taking her side as always. "I wouldn't want anyone else." she nodded and exited the room.
"Did she have a say on this?" Kohza gritted his teeth as Cobra shook his head.
"Neither do you. I'll go to Mariejois in the morning. The relevant parties need to know about this, so once I settle all the issues with those men you will make the announcement here." Cobra explained and Kohza stood up ready to leave.
The Straw Hats arrived at the Clumsy Hot-Spring Island with the help of Gedatsu. The journey took just a few hours and the pirates were restocking their supplies. Sanji and Chopper took care of the food and medicine. Usopp and Franky bought cola and other things they needed for the Sunny. Luffy kept looking for Golden Mask since there was nothing for him to do. Brook was harassing Robin but she restrained him with her extra limbs. Gedatsu and Nami were discussing the fastest routes to get to Sabaody Archipelago. Ace was helping Zoro to move some boxes around, but he felt like something was wrong and he wanted to be sure that Vivi was unharmed. The image of Akainu attacking them despite having the princess on board made him uneasy.
"Mr. Ace, Miss Wednesday is fine. If something bad happened to her we will know it by tomorrow. The murder of a Princess is always the first thing on the news." Robin gave him and Zoro a glass of water, both thanked her and paused their work.
"Stop that, it isn't funny." The swordsman muttered.
"She's too creepy." Ace dropped a sweat. "Thanks, that's reassuring."
Hina stared at the small object she was holding, she could not believe that a small red pill could cause her so much trouble, but it was developed by Vegapunk so it could only bring success or fatal consequences for his lab rats. The woman massaged her temples, she didn't have a choice, taking that drug was a strict order from Akainu.
"Hina hates that bastard." She recalled bitterly that she was about to lose her position when Bonney escaped but Akainu allowed her to remain as captain as long as she obeyed his every order. Those orders included to use her vacations to research villages supposedly related to the Straw Hats, assist in Vegapunk's sea-stone and devil fruits research, and investigate every single rumor of Luffy and Ace, among others. Of course the pink haired woman rejected the proposition but Akainu made a threat she could not ignore. "Very well, your subordinates will pay for their mistake with their lives. Send them to my office before you sign your resignation." His words echoed in Hina's mind. She was fond of her pair of idiots so she agreed to the Fleet Admiral's conditions.
Hina was putting the pill on her mouth when Tashigi stormed in her cabin. "Vice-Admiral, I request permission to talk freely." The blue haired girl gasped for air.
"Granted." HIna put the pill aside. "What is it?"
"How did you know about the Casino?" Tashigi sat in front of the Vice-Admiral.
"At the beginning of the New Era several pirates targeted Alabasta for the golden Hawk at the Casino and the Straw Hats would not postpone their journey to the New World just to make a small move… not after being inactive for two years." Hina explained and Tashigi nodded. "Call it a hunch if you wish. That aside there's something you must know." Hina decided to trust her fellow marine with her thoughts on Akainu.
By morning the pirates were ready to set sail but Gedatsu asked them to stay the rest of the day on the Spa and they agreed. Usopp approached Ace and told him that he was going to fix his tattoo so he got to work. "I appreciate it, that Jolly Roger is my pride and all I have left from Pops." The sniper grinned and gave Ace thumbs up.
"Everyone, I have good news." Nami squeaked. Zoro shuddered at her mood since nothing good could come if that mischievous woman was so happy. "We will enter the New World as rich pirates. The treasure we have on board is worth at least two times our total bounties." She sighed and had the symbol of beli on her eyes.
"Wow, that's a lot of food." Luffy drooled.
"I hope you didn't get it at Vivi's expense." Zoro frowned, since stealing from a friend, or in this case a friend's kingdom, was low.
"Of course not, I stole every single jewel and Beli from Crocodile's casino and he owes us all that and more for the troubles he gave us." She made a fist.
"I believe Vivi mentioned she was running the casino and that she used all the profit to help the people of Yuba and all the victims of Crocodile." Ace tried to remember the exact moment the princess mentioned that.
"I might have missed that part." The redhead smiled nervously. "Anyway, I also obtained some beautiful and rare black pearls." The beli symbol appeared again.
"I'm sure those are for the Celestial Dragons." Ace said and told everyone that the King gained the favor of the despicable nobles by giving Saint Shalulia extremely expensive presents, so the benefits Alabasta has vary from higher status among kingdoms to the pardon of certain actions. Ace gave them the example of Wapol, who raised from the ashes and became the King of Dark Drum Kingdom after gaining the favor of the World Nobles.
"Even though I hate them, I must admit that having them on your side is pretty clever. If the marines discover that Vivi was hiding you she may be spared thanks to those presents." Nami sighed.
"In that case, the only gift to save Vivi would be my head." Ace laughed.
"Don't move, my master piece will be completed soon." Usopp yelled.
"Hey, bird guy." Luffy waved to the sky when Pell circled the area. The zoan type made an elegant landing and smiled at the crew. "How's Vivi?" Nami went to hide.
"She is ok, thank you for asking." Pell's face saddened for a second but then went back to normal, only Robin and Ace noticed. "The Princess asked me to deliver these presents for you. She really enjoyed her time with all of you and she will miss you so much." He put a small bag on the ground and knelt to reveal its content. "Some knives, knucklers and nets, she hopes these will be useful in the New World…" He was interrupted by Luffy touching the tools and stumbling. "All these are made of Sea-stone."
"Vivi always thinks of everything, but isn't it too hard to obtain that material? Few people besides the Marines are able to put their hands on it." Robin inquired.
"Vivi, my love, can do anything… she's the best." Sanji did his funny dance.
"Well, I guess I'll bid you farewell. Have a pleasant journey." Pell nodded and transformed. The guardian was starting to fly when Chopper came in a hurry.
"Everyone, you'll never believe this." The doctor was crying. "Vivi… something happened to her." He waved at them with a newspaper.
"Luffy, get a hold of Pell." Ace yelled. "I knew something was wrong." Pell tried to fly faster but Luffy's arm caught up with him. Once the zoan type was on the ground all the pirates surrounded him. Chopper told them that he went to look for Golden Mask but that he found Gedatsu in shock, then he saw the Newspaper and read about Vivi's arrest and mistreatment by the marines. "Please explain this." Ace frowned to Pell.
The Guardian of Alabasta's words hit the Straw Hats like knives. Their friend was being tortured while they were preparing to set sail. Pell explained that Akainu managed to get a document signed by the Gorosei, which allowed him to interrogate the princess on the pirates whereabouts, not complying with that request would be considered treason and a sign of rebellion to the World Government. Then he told them that Captain Tashigi discovered that the pirates were on Alabasta to steal the precious stones from the golden Hawk and the rare black pearls. "The Princess was released after that and she is recovering quickly, she didn't want you to know but the newspapers got ahead of us." Pell shook his head. "In any case, the princess wishes you a safe journey and she wants you to keep the treasure you took because it saved her life and she owed you a billion beli for the first deal you made." The guardian vowed and flew away, leaving the pirates with their rage and guilt.
"What will be your next move?" Gedatsu approached the group.
"Isn't it obvious?" Luffy clenched his fists and glanced at his crew.
"We're going to kill Akainu." Ace said through his teeth.
To Be Continued
Excuses so you won't kill me:
Awww Vivi is so sweet, isn't she?
An autographed poster of Soul King, Ace is the best. XD
I always thought Hina was fond of her pair of idiots, why else would she keep them? XD
Cobra's 'solution' is not what you're thinking.