Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, okay? 'kay.
Vivi sighed for what must've been the millionth time since they set out. Igaram stood brooding next to her, looking at the vast ocean as if it could give him all the answers. He was worried; she was too. She had been ecstatic to return home to Alabasta and reunite with her father. She'd spent over a year away from home at the Going Merry while she waited for the pirate situation to die down. She lived in one of the few areas that still had pirates, and a group of them had invaded her country, forcing her father to send her away for her own safety.
Cobra had a friend who worked at a mental facility quite a ways from Alabasta, and sent her there in the hopes that she could get away from the pirates. Vivi had easily made friends there, most notably Luffy. The boy was charmingly excitable, and they quickly became good friends.
She'd returned home a while later—after a bittersweet goodbye with Luffy and the others—for her coronation. Everything had been going so well, until the day before her coronation. Rumors had been flying for a while about the King keeping rations all for himself and the occupants of the palace. The citizens of the country were upset and starving. At the time, Vivi had believed it was only harmless gossip, and would pass soon enough.
Unfortunately, she was dead wrong. An uprising occurred, and a man used the opportunity to take a place as King. He rallied people together, giving speeches about King Cobra's apparent misdemeanors. The people followed him, believing every word. This man, Crocodile, soon took over the country.
Vivi's father helped her escape in secret one night. She and Igaram snuck aboard a ship heading over to a faraway country. Their destination was the Going Merry; she had friends there.
They had been traveling for weeks now, and thoughts of flaming palaces and enraged citizens flooded their mind. They had never expected something like this to happen.
Vivi put a hand on the royal guard's arm and smiled encouragingly at him. "It'll be alright, Igaram. Father will figure something out." The man smiled back at her, and they both turned to stare out across the sea. Vivi wished she could believe her own words.
The princess braced herself, already expecting the crushing force of Luffy's hug. He squeezed her tightly, and they nearly toppled over. Marco laughed in the background and she caught sight of an amused smirk on Smoker's face. Crocus erupted into happy chuckles. Even Law and Kidd were there, trying to suppress any changes in expression. A small group of people she didn't recognize stood watching, and one of them, a blonde man with a funny eyebrow, scowled at Luffy and pulled him away. He looked as if he were about to say something to her, but was interrupted by Luffy.
"Vivi!" he exclaimed eagerly. "What are you doing here?" He looked back and shouted. "Ace, Sabo, it's Vivi!"
He looked at her, and just how she used to, she greeted Luffy's brothers. Luffy seemed pleased, then tilted his head in curiosity. "You said you wouldn't be back for a really, really long time." She couldn't resist a grin. Luffy's presence wouldn't allow for it. "Something happened back home." Her smile grew smaller and the other's excitement dimmed. "I had to come back."
Before Luffy could ask anything, Marco spoke up. "Why don't we take this into my office? It's more private."
Kidd was called to fix a broken circuit in one of the therapist's offices, and he excused himself. Crocus also left, saying he had an appointment to do a check up on a patient. Marco, Smoker, Law, Luffy, and the group of strangers were the only ones left. They walked to Marco's office, and Vivi took the opportunity to observe the others.
Within the group of those she didn't recognize was the tall blonde who'd pulled Luffy away from her. He kept stealing glances at her, smiling flirtatiously whenever he caught her eye. Histrionic, she decided. There was an orange-haired woman who was reprimanding Luffy for something or other. She looked angry, but Vivi could see the fondness in her eyes when she looked at the teen, who was pouting and mumbling under his breath. Perhaps she had anger issues? A long-nosed boy, about the same age as Luffy she guessed, seemed to be doing everything in his power to escape being close to her and avoiding eye contact. Anxiety, probably. The last one was an intimidating man, with hair an abnormal shade of green. His face showed disinterest, but he stayed close to Luffy—almost protectively, as if she could be a threat. Vivi had no clue what disorder he could have.
They reached the office and made themselves comfortable. "Tell us what happened, Vivi," Smoker ordered.
She did. She told them everything; she told them about the rumors, the rebellion, and Crocodile. At one point, she suddenly realized that she had tears running down her face. The blonde—Sanji, she'd learned his name was—immediately kneeled next to her, cradling her hand in his.
"Don't cry, mademoiselle. I'll beat that shitty bastard down for you, don't you worry." He continued on for quite some time, insulting Crocodile while somehow throwing in compliments for her. Vivi was too stunned to say anything, and Nami eventually urged him away and Luffy grinned at her.
"So all we have to do is kick his ass, right?" Luffy asked.
In the corner, Zoro snorted. Vivi could tell he was holding back an amused chuckle. "You can't just go to some foreign country and beat up its new king, moron."
Usopp snickered while Luffy crossed his arms and pouted. "Why not?" Without any real force, Nami punched his arm.
The conversation went off on a new path, and Vivi forgot about her country's situation. It was still there in the back of her mind, insisting she do something, anything. However, she ignored it, and let herself be happy and carefree for just a moment. The princess knew she wouldn't be able to relax like this too often. She'd be too worried. So she let everything go, just for now.
The others were easy to talk to, and she easily fit in to their little clique. Marco, Smoker, and Law left, leaving them in the office to their own devices.
She told them that she was a councilor at the clinic before, and would most likely become one again. Vivi learned a lot about them in those first few hours. Usopp had DID, and his other personality was interesting, if nothing else. Nami was a kleptomaniac, and Vivi had to stop herself from putting her hand over her pocket guardedly. Zoro fell asleep just minutes after their conversation started, and they told her he had hypersomnia. Luffy promptly sat on the man's belly, using him as a couch. Zoro opened an eye to glance at the teen on top of him, only to close it again and continue snoring. Vivi was surprised he had woken up—she had heard stories of the disorder—and chalked it up to being another of Luffy's miracles.
She was correct about the blonde. He was a histrionic. Sanji was constantly questioning her and Nami to ensure their comfort, only to turn and insult the boys whenever they asked for something.
The entire situation made Vivi want to laugh. She wasn't surprised Luffy had made such oddly interesting friends like these. As she watched them interact, she couldn't help but notice how comfortable they all looked together. It seemed so natural for them to be a group, a family.
She smiled. Luffy had found his home.
Luffy grimaced as Law probed at his side. Trafal-guy smirked at the reaction. "It's your own fault, Luffy-ya."
The hatted boy had been messing around with the others in their tree house when he'd stepped too close to the entrance and fallen down to the ground. He hadn't been injured too badly—only a few scrapes and bruises—except for a gash on his side. He'd somehow inexplicably landed on a sharp rock when he landed, and received a large cut in the process. Stupid rock.
The others led him to Law's clinic and the man promptly ushered them out and got to work. He'd cleaned the wounds and applied bandages on the few cuts that were deep enough to draw blood. Luffy had childishly insisted that Law use the Band-Aids with jolly rogers on them.
Then, the gash. Law needed to apply alcoholic disinfectant, and it stung like hell. Luffy hissed as the solution touched his skin, and Traffy chuckled at the other male's pain.
"Sadist," Luffy muttered.
"Too right, Luffy-ya," Law responded.
Luffy laughed. Just last year, Luffy had discovered that his doctor had sadistic personality disorder. Tyrannical sadist, to be exact, whatever that meant. It wasn't all too surprising considering the man's personality, and it wasn't uncommon for the employees to have mental illnesses themselves.
Luffy had never questioned the oddity of the faculty at a mental institution having mental problems too. The Going Merry wasn't an orthodox facility by any means, and Luffy figured that this was just another of its quirks. Marco once told him that the employees were tested to ensure that their disorders were under control and not dangerous to the patients. "Also," he'd said. "It helps us be more empathetic to the patients, since we know how it feels to have these conditions." Of course, the tests weren't always accurate, and they'd had experience with a faculty member whose mental state wasn't as good as they all thought. Luffy shook his head. He was not going to follow that train of thought.
Marco himself had congenital insensitivity to pain. It took ages for them to explain what the hell that was to Luffy. Smoker was a nicotine addict, and Thatch had night terrors. Only a few employees, such as Crocus and Kidd, had no disorders.
Luffy yelped against his will as Law poked his injury. Traffy, the bastard, nodded in satisfaction and informed him, "You're free to go."
The teen stood up and made to leave, but was stopped by Law. The man was holding up Luffy's shirt. Luffy grinned at his friend and grabbed it. He put it on over the bandages around his torso, and thanked him. He would've had a lot to explain if he'd shown up around his friends without covering his scar. While the bandages blocked a portion of it from view, scarred red skin still peeked out from above and below the white medical strips.
He'd gotten the large scar in a bear attack, a year before he and his brothers came to the institution. It wasn't too bad of a memory, but he'd honestly rather not tell it. He used to be so weak.
"Kidd!"
Eustass instinctively stepped to the side to avoid Luffy's enthusiastic tackle. Luffy landed face-first on the floor.
"Luffy!"
The new councilor, Vivi, came running. She grabbed Luffy's arm and helped him up. "Are you okay?" At Luffy's nod, she reprimanded him. "You shouldn't do those sort of things, Luffy. Your wound is still healing."
Kidd chuckled at princess's motherly demeanor. He remembered her from when she had worked here years before. If he was honest with himself, he liked her. She was friendly enough, but she also had a backbone. She certainly wouldn't take any shit from anyone. Luffy ignored Vivi's scolding and grinned at Kidd.
"I broke the computer again!" Luffy exclaimed without an ounce of remorse.
The red-head's eye twitched. "Again? You're not even supposed to be using that thing, brat." Luffy blinked and Kidd sighed. The kid never learned. "Idiot," he mumbled. Now he had to go fix the damn thing again before old man Crocus came to nag at him about it.
Before he could walk a single step, Luffy jumped onto his back like a koala. Kidd felt his eye twitch once more. That little brat—
"Giddy up!"
That was it. Kidd threw Luffy off and stalked away, fuming. He ignored the boy's loud chuckles and Vivi's suppressed giggles.
Moron.
You can consider that last little scene a bonus, I guess, since it wasn't really relevant to anything. I just wrote it because I had the urge to write Kidd. Because, you know…it's Kidd.
So, Vivi! :D I know some of you have been waiting for her, and here she is! This chapter didn't turn out as Vivi-centric as I planned, but I think that's okay. She'll be around for a pretty long time, after all. I've got time.
As for Luffy's scar, he did not get it in a bear attack. That is only what Luffy believes, and it was in his POV. I won't tell you why or how he came to think that, though. Not yet.
I have a lot of disorders to explain…damn. Okay, here we go.
Sadistic personality disorder (tyrannical): Law is a tyrannical sadist, which means he enjoys intimidating others, and takes pleasure in making others cower and releases frustration by terrorizing others. Law doesn't have this to an extreme extent, but he shows signs.
Congenital insensitivity to pain: Pretty much what it sounds like. Marco can't feel physical pain. Fun Fact: Smoker calls him Phoenix because he can't feel pain—much like how a phoenix isn't really affected by pain since they heal.
Nicotine dependence: Again, the name says it all. Smoker is dependent on smoking. He keeps doing it, even though it hurts him. He can't do it within the facility, but unlike Sanji, he can leave the institution to smoke.
Night terrors: Thatch experiences feelings of great fear upon waking. He has terrible nightmares. About what, I can't say. They aren't too frequent, though.
That's all, I think. If I didn't explain the whole Vivi situation clearly enough, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll attempt to explain it better.
-Spoons