Usopp and Nami followed Ace, Sabo, and Luffy through town, the palace looming ahead. Usopp looked over at Nami and found her shaking so much her teeth appeared to be clattering.

"It's okay," he whispered, grabbing her hand. She clenched it tightly. "It'll be fine. We can escape if things get horrible."

"I do . . . have another way out," Nami whispered.

"What?"

"But th-there's no telling when I will end up."

Her meaning sunk in and Usopp's eyes widened.

"Don't you dare," he whispered fiercely.

"What are you two whispering about?" Sabo asked, glancing back.

"Nothing," Usopp said. "We're just . . . worried. Y'know."

"King Sanji looked pretty stressed, but he's not gonna hurt you guys," Luffy said with a shrug. "He doesn't hurt girls, and again, Usopp's Usopp."

Usopp didn't bother asking, and Nami was silent.

They reached the steps at last, and the climb seemed so much longer than previous nights. Nami was shaking harder than ever by the time they reached the doors. Ace opened them up and led everyone inside, locking the doors with a bar across them before heading through a hall.

Outside a door waited Sanji himself, playing with his hair and staring at the wall. When he heard them, he looked up and immediately avoided looking at Usopp, instead focusing on a spot behind the group. Usopp, too, focused on Nami instead of him, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"Good work," Sanji said at last. He turned his gaze to Nami, who stared at the floor. "Ms. Nami?"

Nami flinched.

"I need to speak with you alone. Will you come with me?"

Nami hesitated, unmoving. Sanji waited patiently, still avoiding looking at Usopp.

"Okay," she said at last. She and Usopp slowly let go of their hands.

"Thank you," Sanji said. "You three, please take Usopp in there—" He gestured to the door. "The other two are waiting."

"Alright," Sabo said with a worried glance at Nami.

"Please follow me," Sanji said, ever-polite, and set off down the hall with Nami following, her steps heavy.

The guards brought Usopp into the room—the study—where they found Robin and the girl waiting as promised.

"I heard everything," Robin said before they could say a word. "So you're Usopp. It's nice to see you in the flesh."

"Hi again," Usopp mumbled, eyes darting around. The guards sat at the table with the women, and at a gesture, Usopp sat with them.

"I'm supposed to restrain you if necessary," Robin said, holding up the rope Sanji had given her, "but . . . will you run?"

"Only if I'm threatened, or my companion is," Usopp said, voice growing stronger.

"That's fair." Robin stowed away the rope again. "Oh, we haven't met—my name is Robin. I'm the King's advisor."

"Yeah."

The girl smiled. "So you're Mr. Usopp. I've heard much about you."

Usopp frowned. "Have you?" He looked around. "Does anyone know why Sanji . . . why this is happening?"

"He said it had something to do with Sogeking," Robin said. "But I can't think of why."

"Ah!" Sabo leaned forward. "Speaking of him—when we went to their house—" He glanced at Usopp. "Usopp and his housemate answered the door, but—"

"They shut it again, and when they opened it a minute later, only Sogeking was there," Ace finished with a yawn. "He left, and we looked around the house for that back door . . . he said they'd left through . . . but . . ."

"The house didn't even have another door!" Luffy exclaimed. "So we went to find Sogeking again, and we spotted him going into a house, but when we went in, we found Usopp and the girl again!"

"Odd," Robin murmured. "Speaking of her, I got a look at her, and she seemed . . . familiar . . ."

She looked to the girl at the table but allowed her sentence to trail off without explanation.

"So what happened there?" Sabo asked Usopp.

Usopp gulped. "I . . . have a confession."

"You broke the law after all?" Ace said in surprise.

"No! I don't think so—it's just, with all this, and with Sanji probably knowing—" Usopp stared at the table. "I'm Sogeking."

A moment passed, and then a chorus of surprised "Oh's" was heard.

"Goodness," Robin said with a smile. "That explains quite a bit."

"Wait, how come Sogeking doesn't have ears but you do?" Luffy exclaimed. "And you've got the same nose! Why didn't me n' Ace n' Sabo realize?!" He looked at his brothers. "Are we all just dumb?!"

"I—no, it's just—"

"I'm keeping an ear out," Robin said. "King Sanji and your friend haven't started talking yet."

Usopp gulped. "She's a witch. The mask was magic. Even my best friends didn't know it was me. I dunno how Sanji figured it out finally . . ."

"Witches are a real thing?" Ace said. "Huh."

The girl hesitated. "I'm one," she admitted quietly. She drew out her wand. "I only began living here because . . ."

"If a witch dies by means other than fire, their body reappears at a different point in time," Robin completed. "And dear Vivi happened to appear in my room."

"Oh, so the thing about finding her outside was a lie," Luffy said in understanding. "But . . . Robin, are you a witch, too?"

"Part-witch," Robin corrected, sprouting an arm from the table and making the guards jump.

"Is that how you always know what's going on?" Sabo said suspiciously.

Robin smiled as two eyes sprouted below her real ones and winked.

"Did you say Vivi?" Usopp said as the eyes vanished again.

"Yes, that's my name," Vivi said with a smile. "Oh, dear, you never did learn it . . ."

"That's . . . well, no, it can't be," Usopp muttered. "One hell of a coincidence, though . . ."

He looked to the door in agitation. "She's so scared," he said. "She was shaking all the way here. I told her about the law, that witches can still be put to death for what they are—she told me she died a really long time ago right after a witch friend of hers was caught, and—" He hugged himself. "It'll have been for nothing if she gets burned now, right?"

He looked around and was surprised to find Vivi's eyes welling up.

"I should have done the same," she exclaimed. "This whole time—I should have been trying to get King Sanji to remove that law, instead of doing nothing—"

She rubbed at her eyes. "I came here because of a similar situation," she burst out. "But—my friend was being chased, and I was about to be put on the stake—I didn't even wait for her. I just took the easy way out."

She tugged down her choker, revealing thin scars across her neck.

"It was so cowardly," she finished in a whisper.

"Jeez," Ace said awkwardly. "I never knew. I'm sorry."

"It was really over a hundred years ago," Vivi murmured. Usopp frowned at this, but let it go.

"So, why'd you come here in disguise, anyway?" Sabo asked, turning to Usopp as Vivi composed herself.

"Part of . . . the deal was learning about that law," Usopp said slowly. "To see if it still existed, and if it did, to convince Sanji to remove it."

"Makes sense," Ace said. "And the other part?"

When Usopp hesitated, Vivi spoke up for him. "He loves the King, it seems."

"Oh, we figured," Sabo said.

"What?" Usopp exclaimed.

"You're so obvious," Luffy said, picking his nose and flicking away a booger. "Every time we came to that tavern—but why the disguise?"

"Because he didn't love me like this," Usopp said, gesturing to himself. "So—I thought if I pretended to be someone else, someone cooler—"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ace said. He yawned. "King Sanji's been in love with you for a pretty long time."

Usopp frowned. "Huh? No, he hasn't."

The expressions of the others turned to sympathy.

"Oh, Usopp," Sabo said gently, coming around the table and hugging him. "You poor idiot."

"Get off! What are you talking about?!" Usopp pushed Sabo off him. "He doesn't love me! How could he?! He told me himself last night, when I was Sogeking, that he likes me but not in that way because he still has a crush on someone else!"

"Who did you think that someone was?" Vivi said curiously.

"It can't have been me! I'm way cooler and confident as Sogeking, right?" Usopp said in exasperation. "If he didn't like that, how could he like this?"

Robin gave him a pitying look, but said nothing.

"What're you doing, Robin?" Ace asked, dropping the subject.

"Eavesdropping," Robin said, distracted.

"How're things going?" Usopp asked quickly. "Is she gonna die? She's not, right?"

Robin frowned, and then pinched the bridge of her nose and cursed under her breath.

"Our ruler is a bigger idiot than we thought," she announced, standing. "I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense."

She strode out of the room, shutting the door quite firmly behind her.

Sanji and Nami entered the library, and Sanji shut the door behind them.

"Sit, please," he said. Nami seated herself and clasped her hands tightly in her lap, but Sanji remained standing for some time, pacing and looking at her occasionally.

Finally, he spoke up.

"You can use magic, can you not?"

Nami flinched.

"I'm sure you can."

". . . Yes," she whispered.

"Did you . . . make that disguise for Usopp?"

"Yes."

Sanji ran his hands through his hair, sitting in a chair across from her. "Why?"

She was silent.

"I mean . . ." He looked a bit sad now. "I know Usopp doesn't love me . . ."

She looked up at last with a frown.

"So why? Why would you conspire to have him come in disguise, and pretend he has feelings for me?"

Sanji appeared more agitated than ever, and Nami was only confused.

"Is that . . . why I am here?" she said slowly.

"Well, yes," Sanji said. "What other reason is there?"

Nami's hands shook before her. "I am not here . . . to be executed?"

"Executed?" Sanji said in alarm. "Why in the world would you—? I'm only asking for some kind of confession for this. I don't know if I'll assign some sort of penalty, but it certainly won't be death."

Nami narrowed her eyes. "Permission to curse you out, Sire?"

"What? Er, if you'd like—"

"You are a moron. Why do you think Usopp doesn't love you?"

"He loves you, doesn't he?" Sanji said. "I realized that earlier . . . you stayed so close to him, and you two were holding hands—not to mention you live together. I really can't blame him . . . you're very lovely."

Nami groaned and leaned back in her chair.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Yes, Sire."

Nami and Sanji looked over to see Robin entering.

"I had to eavesdrop," she explained. "Just in case. Usopp is still in the study, don't worry."

She approached Sanji, raised her hand, and smacked him upside the head.

"Do forgive my transgression, Sire," she said politely as Sanji rubbed the spot, blinking, and Nami stared at her in wonder. "But you're being almost as much of an idiot as Usopp. He told us everything," she added to Nami. "It's okay. They're fine with it."

Nami nodded slowly.

"What do you mean?" Sanji said blankly.

"If only you could have heard him," Robin said. "He loves you, Sire."

"What?"

"Usopp loves you," Robin repeated. "But he doesn't think you love him. We even told him, and he still thinks it can't be true."

Sanji's eyes widened while Nami muttered, "I knew it."

"He . . ." Sanji looked at Nami. "But you . . ."

"Trust me, we're not like that," Nami said. "He's not my type."

"He thought he wasn't good enough, so he disguised himself." Robin folded her arms. "And when you rejected him like that, he thought it was all over."

Sanji's leaned against the back of his chair, staring at the wall.

"This whole time," he murmured. "This whole time, he's—and I've—" He jumped to his feet. "Shit, I have to tell him—is he still there?"

"Yes," Robin said with a smile. "But there's one other thing we need to address."

Sanji, ready to head for the door, hesitated and turned back. "What is it?"

Robin looked at Nami, prompting her, and Nami stood.

"Oh, of course—" Sanji bowed low to her, surprising her greatly. "My dear, I'm so sorry for all this, I've frightened you for nothing. Please forgive me."

"There is . . . something you can do in order to make it up to me," Nami said slowly.

"Name it," Sanji said, straightening up again.

"Remove the law which puts witches to death."

"What?"

"I am a witch," Nami said. "And . . ."

"I'm part-witch," Robin said, showing off several ears, eyes, and arms sprouting upon her body, making Sanji jump.

"Oh, shit," he said. "That explains a lot."

Robin smiled. "Our young charge is a witch, as well."

Sanji raised an eyebrow in surprise. As her extra parts vanished, Nami said, "Usopp told me there is a law which still exists. It states that anyone found to be a magic-user will be put to death without trial or court."

"Something like that is still around?" Sanji exclaimed.

Robin sprouted a chain of arms, and Sanji watched in fascination as they took the book of laws from its shelf and brought it down. She opened it up to the page Usopp had found the previous night and pointed it out to him.

"Wow," he said, first reading this and then flipping through more pages. "So many of these are unnecessary nowadays—this calls for a complete overhaul—" He looked up sheepishly. "I am so sorry, mesdames. I should have known about this, being the King."

"So that law will be removed from the book?" Nami said hopefully.

"Yes, of course," Sanji said with a warm smile, setting the book aside. "I won't stop you from practicing magic, if that's what you like."

"One more thing," Robin said, stopping him again. "How did you know it wasn't Usopp who used magic? He was the main character, so to speak."

Sanji paused. "Well . . . can't only women be witches?"

Nami clenched her hands, and Robin closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Er . . . is that wrong?"

"Go see Usopp," Robin said in exasperation.

Sanji excused himself and hurried out. Nami leaned against Robin for support, her eyes filling with tears.

"Finally," she whispered, smiling broadly. "Vivi would be so happy."

Robin held her shoulders in thoughtful silence for a moment.

"I thought so," she said at last. "You were so scared at first, I wasn't sure . . . but you really do fit the description. 'Her name was Nami . . . she was brave and fierce and beautiful, quick to jab, but so soft and kind once you knew her well.'"

Nami frowned at her. "Usopp said all that about me?"

"Not Usopp," Robin said gently. "Come with me."

"He was trying to make you jealous," Luffy explained. "By telling you about the ball, I mean."

"He was not," Usopp insisted. "Stop making fun of me! He was just trying to tell me about his night! Besides, it was really me that time, so—"

Usopp, Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and Vivi looked up as the doors to the study flew open and Sanji ran inside. Usopp flinched and ducked his head, but Sanji pulled back his chair, yanked him to his feet, and grabbed him in a hug.

"Usopp, I'm so sorry," he said into his hair, oblivious to the eyes upon them.

"Huh?" was all Usopp could get out. He was too confused to even hug Sanji back.

Sanji pulled back with a huge smile. "I messed up, I was stupid, I'm sorry—Usopp, I love you, can you forgive me?"

Usopp's eyes widened. "You—what? Why?"

"Do I need to answer that? You're amazing, with or without that mask!"

Usopp looked to the guards and Vivi, who gave him "Told-you-so" gestures.

"Oh," he said at last, eyes watering as he turned back to Sanji. "But—why were we arrested?!"

"I was stupid," Sanji said again, hugging him, and this time Usopp hugged back, smiling. "I'll explain later. I'm so sorry."

"Of course I forgive you," Usopp said, shaking in relief.

Luffy and Vivi started applauding.

"Oh, Vivi?" Sanji added, looking at her over Usopp's shoulder. "Robin explained. I'm having that law about witches removed at once."

Vivi stood, nearly knocking her chair over. "Really?! Oh, Sire, thank you!" She clasped her hands in front of her with a big smile. "Nami would be so happy!"

"She was," Sanji agreed absentmindedly.

"Yeah, I bet," Usopp said with a grin.

A pause.

"Wait, how do you know Nami?" Usopp said, looking back at Vivi in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Vivi said. "I told you she—oh, I did not mention her name. That seems to be a problem with us, doesn't it? Nami was my friend I mentioned."

"Wait, wait, hold on," Usopp said. "See, that's really weird, because Nami told me almost the exact same story you did, except her friend was called—"

"Vivi?"

Everyone in the study looked to the doors, where Robin stood aside to allow Nami to step in. She stared at Vivi, lip trembling and eyes wide in shock.

"Nami?" Vivi whispered, covering her mouth, fingers shaking.

A moment's silence hung in the air before both women burst into tears and flew forward, only managing to not fall over from the force of which they knocked into each other by how tightly they held on.

"Oh, my gosh," Usopp exclaimed, laughing in delight. The guards and Sanji appeared confused but pleased for them, while Robin covered a happy smile with one hand.

"We have so much . . . to catch up on," Nami said at last, drawing her head back from Vivi's shoulder, but not letting go of her. Vivi could only nod through her tears, clutching Nami's torso like a lifeline.

"I'm glad this turned out well," Sanji said at last. "Once again, I apologize for . . . everything I did. My stupidity."

"Don't mention it," Sabo said.

"Oh, easy for you to say, you weren't affected by it," Nami hissed. Vivi couldn't help but laugh at this familiar display of temper.

"I'm glad it was you all along," Sanji added to Usopp, hugging him again. "Sogeking, I mean."

"Yeah," Usopp said. "Forget that. I never have to do that again. I can just be me, right? No more lies."

"No more lies," Sanji agreed.

Luffy frowned. "Hey, wait a second. If you're Ace, and you're Sabo," he said, pointing to his brothers in turn, "and I'm Luffy . . . then who's guarding the door?"

"No one," Ace said. "I locked it. It's fine."

An enormous BANG came from the entrance.

"Is someone trying to break in?" Vivi said in worry. She and Nami drew their wands, still holding each other.

Another BANG met their ears. The guards jumped to their feet and Sanji let go of Usopp, turning to the doors with a frown.

"Go see what's going on," he ordered, but then a huge CRACK was heard, and the storming of footsteps heading their direction.

"What the—?" Sanji exclaimed. Robin stepped aside as a crowd burst into the study: Franky, Chopper, Koala, Zoro, and Brook.

"We're here to rescue Usopp!" Chopper yelled, raising tiny fists. "Give him back!"

"Usopp, bro!" Franky exclaimed. "You're not hurt!"

"Get away from him!" Koala yelled, charging Sanji and seizing him, using an arm throw to slam him to the ground.

"He looks fine," Zoro pointed out, still standing by the door.

"Hey, hey, cut it out!" Luffy exclaimed, hurrying over to Koala with his brothers and grabbing her, holding her back. "King Sanji, you okay?"

"What's going on?" Sanji said weakly.

"We're getting Bro Usopp and sis outta here!" Franky exclaimed.

"But he looks fine," Brook said. He and Zoro hadn't moved from the doors. "I told you this was an exaggeration, Mr. Franky—"

"Koala, calm down, everything's fine," Sabo exclaimed. "Everything worked out!"

Nami and Vivi, startled by the sudden entrance, had hidden themselves behind a table.

"Guys!" Usopp yelled, startling everyone into silence. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"We're here to rescue you!" Chopper exclaimed. "'Cause you didn't do anything to get arrested and Franky said we needed to save you!"

"Damn right!" Franky said firmly. "Now come on! Where's your housemate?"

"I'm not in trouble," Usopp said.

"What?"

Sanji struggled to his feet. "I arrested them by mistake," he explained weakly. "Everything's already taken care of. Now please leave me and my sweetheart alone."

Usopp's face flushed at the term, but he couldn't help smiling.

"Sweetheart?" Brook repeated after a moment.

"Oh, they finally worked that out," Zoro said in understanding.

The guards slowly released Koala, who sheepishly apologized to Sanji and stood by Sabo. Nami and Vivi peeked out from behind the table and came back up, still holding each other.

"The doors are . . . very much broken, Sire," Robin reported. She hadn't intervened in the fiasco at all.

"Right. Okay." Sanji brushed off his clothes and looked around at the intruders. "You're all under arrest."

After much protesting and pleading, Sanji allowed Zoro and Brook to go free, but detained Koala, Chopper, and Franky in a single room for the night, since Franky had organized the break-in, Koala and Chopper had been the ones who destroyed the doors, and Koala had thrown him to the floor a bit unfairly. Much to their disappointment, Sabo and Usopp were forbidden to visit them.

To the amazement of the others, Nami and Vivi easily fixed the broken doors with waves of their wands. Both appeared tired afterwards, but repairs had never been a taxing task in the world of magic. When it was brought up, Nami promptly admitted that she'd lied about her disguising spell containing a confidence boost, leaving Usopp indignant but a bit relieved.

Usopp nearly burst into tears when Sanji offered to let him and Nami join him in living at the palace. But while he accepted, Nami and Vivi shared a look before refusing, deciding instead to live in what was now Usopp's former residence. For that night, Usopp and Nami returned to their house and Vivi stayed at the palace, all three preparing for new living conditions.

The following afternoon, when the three invaders had been released and apologies were exchanged between them and Usopp—Nami welcomed Vivi into the house with open arms, and Usopp officially moved into the palace, where he was welcomed not only by Sanji, but by Robin, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy.

Usopp was given a bedroom near Sanji to stay in for the time being—"Until our wedding," Sanji said with a wink, at which Usopp promptly lost the ability to form coherent sentences. Though they occasionally complained that they missed Vivi, the guards were happy to have an addition to the palace family and frequently badgered Usopp for games.

Having officially quit his position in Koala's tavern, Usopp decided that Koala should have whatever revenue was to be gained from selling his final paintings. He continued to paint with those old supplies in the palace—not quite as often as he used to, but enough to occupy himself and impress the others.

Nami and Vivi, safe to reveal themselves as witches, started a home business of using magic to perform tasks for the town: Minor repairs of item or wound, cleaning, potions or temporary creations—the more complicated or exhausting a task, the higher price the customer would pay, and Franky would have joked about running out of customers had Nami or Vivi known the first thing about repairing vehicles and electronics.

And so, time marched on . . .