Back to Marineford
"So what exactly is going on?" Zerina asked once Luffy got done talking to Rayleigh and Jimbei about returning to a place called Marineford.
"I'm going back to Marineford," Luffy said.
"The place where your bro-" Zerina flinched when Luffy's eyes saddened. "I'm sorry, Lalu. I didn't mean t-"
Zerina stopped talking when Luffy placed his finger over her lips. She tired to ignore how his action made her heart pound erratically and focus on his words instead. "It's all right, Rina. Yes, it hurts that Ace is gone. Yes, it hurts that I'm willing returning to that island, but I have to go there. I have to get a message out to my crew to meet in two years instead of three days like we planned. It's going to be fine. I'm going to be fine. This is me after all."
Zerina felt unsure, but nodded. Luffy grinned wildly. He added, "I have you with me now. So happiness with return soon."
"Yeah," Zerina said softly once he removed his finger from her lips. He put his arm around her and pulled her to his side. "I guess you're right."
"Ya know," Sandersonia said, "If you're going with Luffy, you're going to need better clothes. A dress like that isn't fit for this endeavor."
"I didn't bring anything else. I kinda left in a hurry," Zerina said looking down at her ripped dress.
"Not a problem," Marigold said with a smile. "We can fix you right up. We have plenty of shops in our village."
"Uh." Zerina shifted uncomfortably. "I'm afraid I don't have any money either."
"Can't you just give her some clothes?" Luffy then asked. "It would make me happy."
Zerina turned to him to protest, but Hancock cut her off. She said, "Of course, Luffy! Whatever you wish! You!"
Hancock pointed at Nyon. "Take her to the village and fit her with clothes!"
"Why me?!" Nyon shouted.
"It's fine. Just tell me where I should go. I'm sure I can find it," Zerina said.
"We can show you," Sandersonia said with a smile.
"I don't want to be any trouble." Zerina shifted uncomfortably again. She wasn't use to receiving charity from anyone. Back on Hydra, getting something only met the person giving her something just wanting something from her. It was never a good thing.
"Don't worry about it, Rina. They don't mine." Zerina pulled her eyes back over to Luffy's. He was smiling brightly at her. Her heart raced again. "You're my girlfriend."
Instantly, Zerina felt Hancock's glare without even looking at the blacked haired woman. She sighed. "All right. If it's really not any trouble."
"It's not," Sandersonia insisted. "Let's go."
"I'm going to head for the ship with Jimbei and Rayleigh," Luffy told Zerina. "Come there when your finished."
"Right." Zerina nodded. She then stood up and followed after the women, not noticing that Luffy's eyes remained on her until she was out of his sight. Zerina's eyes widened when she took in the village. "Wow! You all sure have a thing for snakes."
"I guess so." Sandersonia shrugged.
"Where are all the men?" Zerina asked when she noticed she was seeing nothing but women.
"With the exception of Luffy, no man is allowed on our island," Marigold explained.
"I didn't know there was an all female island," Zerina muttered.
"You've never heard of Amazon Lily?" Sandersonia asked.
"No, I'm-uh-I've kinda been sheltered my entire life." Zerina rubbed the back of her neck. She wished she didn't say anything.
"Over protective parents, huh?" Marigold questioned.
"Something like that." Zerina shrugged.
"So where are you from?" Sandersonia asked.
"Hydra," Zerina replied carefully.
"Never heard of that island before," Sandersonia said. The woman then chuckled. "I guess we're even then since you've never heard of our island."
"I guess so." Zerina shrugged but smiled. She noticed she actually like these two women. They somehow put her at ease. Her smile quickly faded when they led her into one of the shops. It suddenly became clear to her that all of the women on this island were also wearing revealing clothes. Clothing that would reveal the scar on her back. She was going to have to come up with a solution to this problem, quick.
"Go ahead and pick out some outfits. Take as many as you'd like," Marigold said while pointing to the clothes.
"Okay," Zerina mumbled. As she filtered through the clothes, she had to force herself to not complete pick out all of the longer, more shirt like style clothes. Once she had picked out six outfits, three of them bikini styled, she stepped into the changing station.
"How's it going in there?" Sandersonia's voice asked her a few minutes later. "Do the clothes fit you fine?"
Zerina bit her lip before answering. Yes, the clothes fit just fine. They just don't cover up my scar like I need them too. She wanted to say just that. But she couldn't. So she pealed back the current a bit and looked at them. "Sorry. They're fine, but, um, I'm really not feeling very comfortable in such revealing clothes. My style is more conservative."
"I'm sorry," Sandersonia said with an apologetic smile.
"It's no problem. If you have a sewing kit I could borrow, I can fix it right now," Zerina said. Marigold waved her hand at another woman who was minding the shop. The other woman walked over to her with a small sewing kit. She took it from her. "Thank you."
Zerina pulled the curtain closed before quickly settling in to fixing one of the outfits that she had. She grabbed her ripped dress and cut a piece off to use to cover her back. Ten minutes later the maroon bikini top was fixed. It looked a bit weird, but at least the white of the dress didn't clash with the maroon. She put it on and the bottoms. She glanced into the mirror in the room with her. The back part was now longer and fell down to her hips. It should keep her scar covered. As long as she didn't end up hanging upside at some point.
She decided this would have to do for now. She'd fix the others later. She gathered up the remaining outfits, including the rest of her ripped dress and stepped out of the dressing room. "Would it be all right if I kept a needle and some of the thread? I don't have time to fix all of these right now."
"You can just take it with you," Marigold answered.
"I'm sorry. I feel like I'm taking so much from you all. I really should pay you for all of this." Zerina lowered her eyes. She looked back up with a hand placed itself on her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. It's just clothes. And you need them." Sandersonia smiled sweetly at her. "We're glad to do this for you. Luffy's a good friend to yours, right? And if you're his friend then you're our friend too."
"He is. Thank you." Zerina nodded.
"You should probably take a quick bath before heading to the ship," Marigold said.
"Uh." Zerina looked down at herself. She had gotten quite a bit dirty during her fall and run through the forest. "I guess I have enough time to at least wash off this dirt off. And the makeup too. It's really annoying me."
"Just follow us then," Marigold said. Zerina nodded. She placed her clothes into a bag that Sandersonia was holding out before taking the bag and following after the sisters again. They led her to the stream that they used as a bath. Zerina sat the bag down and quickly washed off the dirty and makeup. "That was fast."
"I don't want to make Luffy and the others wait too long." Zerina picked up the bag. She looked at the two sisters. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate this. And I will return the favor one day."
"That's not necessary." Marigold waved her hand. "Let's just get you back to Luffy now. I'm sure they're ready to leave any minute."
"Right." Zerina nodded. She could worry about paying them back later.
…
"Rina!" Zerina looked up when Luffy called her name. He was standing on the ship waving to her. She raced up onto the ship. Before she could say anything, she noticed Luffy's eyes turn sharp with anger. "What?! Happened?!"
"Huh?" Zerina blinked in confusion. She almost back away from him as he approached her. She held back a flinch when he reached up and grabbed her chin. She expected his grip to be hard, but it was surprisingly gentle despite the hard look in his eyes and the dangerous aura he was emitting. She didn't resist him as he turned her head.
"Who hurt you?!" Luffy demanded.
It took another minute for her brain to register he was talking about the cut on her cheek. "Oh! No, no! It's nothing like that, Luffy! I, uh, just cut myself in the garden back home before I came here!"
"Really?" Luffy's eyes soften a bit. He pulled his eyes from the cut and looked into her eyes, making her twitch from lying to him.
"Yes." Zerina nodded. An extreme amount of guilt hit her for the lie. "I'm a bit of a klutz. I got too close to a rose bush. A thorn caught on my cheek. It's no big deal. It really doesn't hurt anymore."
"Okay!" Luffy sang happily, naively, so accepting of her words. More guilt hit her when he accepted her lie so easily. "Let's get going then!"
Zerina shifted on her feet as she watched Luffy walked away from her. She jumped when she noticed Rayleigh starting at her intently. Before she could do anything, the old man turned away from her and walked away. Does he know that I just lied to Luffy? No. There's no way he could have known. He might have known me when I was a kid, but he doesn't know me now. There's no way he could possible know I lied. It's just my imagination running away from me.
"So, uh, how exactly, or, um, what exact are we doing?" Zerina asked, shaking off the feeling of lying to Luffy and the feeling that Rayleigh knew it. "Who's ship is this anyway? It doesn't match the decor of the village, so…?"
"It's actually a Navy ship," Jimbei answered.
"A Navy ship?" Zerina raised an eyebrow. That's when she noticed all of the statues on the deck. She tilted her head and inspected them carefully. She noticed they all were carved in odd positions. "Who made those statues? The ones back home are more, um, delicately carved."
"There's aren't carved statues," Hancock said. She flicked her finger on one of the statues. "These are soldiers. I frozen them in stone when I took over this ship to follow after Luffy after the battle at Marineford."
"Frozen them in stone?" Zerina blinked. "And a stolen ship?"
"You really have led a sheltered life," Sandersonia said.
"Yeah." Zerina nodded. "My island doesn't get news from the world. I think I'm going to need a serious explanation to what has actually been happening."
"Not a problem." Zerina brought her eyes back to Luffy when he walked back over to her. Her hear skipped a beat when he took her hand and started pulling her farther into the ship. "I can explain it now. We have a little while before we reach Marineford anyway."
"Luffy," Rayleigh called. Zerina lifted her eyes to him at the same time Luffy did. "Jimbei and I will handle sailing the ship there. It's okay for you to catch up with Zerina, but you need to rest too. Go on inside and lay down now."
"Right." Luffy nodded. "Come on, Rina."
"Make sure he lays down, Zerina," Rayleigh ordered.
"Sure," Zerina replied, even thought she wasn't sure Luffy would actually listen to her even if she did tell him to lay down.
"Let's go!" Luffy cried. Zerina followed after Luffy without another word. He lead her into a living room like space inside of the ship. There were two couches, a couple coffee tables, a few pots with plants that looked like they hadn't been watered in a while.
"This is actually kind of nice," Zerina commented.
"Wait until you see the Sunny!" Luffy said proudly.
"The Sunny? That's you're ship, right?" Zerina asked, recalling Luffy telling her about the ship. "I don't think I remember everything you've told me about it."
"I can tell you again," Luffy said.
"Later, Luffy. You need to rest right now like Rayleigh said," Zerina said with a sigh. She got the feeling Luffy wasn't going to mature about this.
"Aw, I'm gonna rest. But I don't have to be silent about it. Come on!" Before she could protest, Luffy pulled her over to one of the couches. He all but shoved her down on the couch then laid down, placing his head on her lap.
"Uh, Luffy?" Zerina blinked. She could feel the heat rising on her cheeks.
Luffy grinned so cutely at her. "I haven't done this in years. Remember?"
She didn't remember at first, but soon did. Luffy had used her lap as a pillow a couple times when they were kids. The first two times it happened was just an accident. Luffy had fallen asleep and just fell over on her. The rest of the times, Zerina couldn't recall how many it was, Luffy did it on purpose. The corners of her lips twitched into a light smile. "I do remember, Lalu."
"Good," Luffy said before promptly taking off his hat and placing it on her head. The two then settled into the distant, but familiar, feeling of each other as Luffy started to tell her about his recent, fun and painful, adventures.
"Wow," Zerina said softly after Luffy stopped talking. Tears pressed against her eyes. "I knew you were having trouble, but hearing it like this…I finally see how much danger you really were in. Even though it's over, I feel scared."
"Don't cry, Rina." Zerina jumped a bit when Luffy placed his finger tips to the corner of her eye. She looked down into his pure, child like eyes. "It's okay. I'm okay. I'm right here."
"Yeah, I know." She nodded.
"I'm really glad you're here, Zerina." Her hear skipped a few more beats when Luffy said her full name. He only did this when he was being serious and really needed her to know that.
A couple tears leaked over her eyelids. She pressed her hand to Luffy's. "I know, Lalu. I'm really glad I'm here too. I've really missed you."
"I've really missed you too," Luffy said. There was a few seconds of silences before he added, "Can you stay forever? I'm mean, you don't have to leave anytime soon, right?"
Zerina flinched. This wonderful moment of just being with her best friend was completely shattered with the fears of being discovered missing back on Hydra. Her eyebrows turned up in worry. "Rina? What is it? You're not leaving soon, are you?!"
"No, Luffy," Zerina said softly. She tighter her hold on his hand while placing her right hand on his hair, stroking it gently. "I'm not going anywhere just yet. I'm going to stay with you."
"Great! I'm glad you're a part of my crew now!" Luffy laughed happily.
"Part of your crew?! Wait a minute, Luffy! I'm not a pirate or a fighter! I never said that…" Zerina let her voice fade off when Luffy instantly fell asleep despite her still speaking to him. She sighed heavily. "Yup. You're still the same goofy kid I knew who always got what he wanted no matter what anyone else said. Well, at least your resting now. We can discuss this pirate thing later."
Zerina sighed again, contently this time. She leaned back into the couch. She flinched lightly at the pain the cushion caused her injured back, but quickly adjusted to it. She let her fingers dance a couple more times in Luffy's hair before closing her eyes.
…
"Why exactly am I writing three D and two Y on your arm with the three D crossed out again?" Zerina asked as she drug the marker over Luffy's arm. She tossed a look at all of the marines they had tied up. It felt weird doing that.
"The crossed out three D is meant to represent the three days my crew promised to meet up on. The two Y is, hopefully, going to tell them we're meeting in two years," Luffy explained.
"And you're sure they're all going to understand this? It's not to vague?" Zerina asked, concerned. She then went over everything Luffy has told her about his crew. "Let's see…If I remember them correctly there's Cat Burglar Nami, the navigator, lover of oranges, bounty 16,000,000, smart enough to figure it out. Sniper King Usopp, cowered but reliable, designed Straw Hat pirates jolly roger, bounty 30,000,000, smart enough to figure it out. Blackleg Sanji, the cook, incurable flirt with constant nosebleeds when sees beautiful women, bounty 77,000,000, smart enough to figure it out."
"Tony Tony Chopper, crew's doctor mistaken as a pet, devil fruit user, bounty 50, smart enough to figure it out. Demon Child Nico Robin, archeologist, devil fruit user, bounty 80,000,000, definitely smart enough to figure it out. Cyborg Franky, built The Thousand Sunny, shipwright, bounty 44,000,000, smart enough to figure it out. Soul King Brook, devil fruit user, skeleton, musician, bounty 33,000,000, smart enough to figure it out…And then there's Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, swordsman, constantly and hopelessly gets lost at every turn, bounty 120,000,000…Are you sure he's going to be able to understand the message?"
"Hey!" Luffy cheered. "You remember my crew!"
"Yeah, I guess." Zerina shrugged. "Only because you've talked about them so much."
"They'll all be fine, including Zoro. You'll see! In two years you'll finally get to meet them all! I can't wait to see them! And to introduce you to them! They're gonna love you!"
"Two years, huh?" Zerina mumbled. She let her eyes drop from Luffy's arm. I don't even know if I'm still going to be here in two days let alone two years. Maybe I should just tell Luffy about what happened? But what good with that do? I'm not even sure what happened. And Luffy does have a lot to deal with right now. I shouldn't bother him with this. Maybe Mari really did have a plan. Maybe they won't even know I'm gone. Zerina sighed. She lifted her eyes to find Luffy staring at her. At her body. And she wasn't quite sure, but she thought she saw red spots on his cheeks before he turned away from her.
"Luffy, we're almost there!" Rayleigh called out.
"Right!" Luffy nodded. "Come on, Rina."
"Are you sure you want me to come with you? I'm mean, this is the place you just waged war against. Won't the soldiers be angry to see you there again?" Zerina asked as Luffy pulled her to the edge of the ship.
"Don't worry about it. Most of the soldiers won't even be there," Jimbei answered.
"Besides, I want you with me," Luffy said as he jumped upon the railing of the ship.
"I'm not a fighter though," Zerina pointed out. She barely registered Luffy's arm wrapping around her waist. "I won't be able to help you."
"We're not really going to fight anyway," Luffy said. Zerina gasped lightly when Luffy pulled her to his side. She wrapped her arms around his neck to stabilize herself on the rail. "I'll protect you if we do get attacked by soldiers. Plus, will have Jimbei and Rayleigh with us. They'll protect you too."
"I suppose your right," Zerina said. Once she felt stable on her feet, she raised her eyes to Luffy's.
"I know he's right!" Rayleigh then laughed. "I surely can't let Shanks' daughter get hurt in a place like this! He'd kill me!"
"He was very protective of you back when we were kids!" Luffy laughed as well. "He's probably the exact same now! You really should go see him sometime soon!"
"I might. But I'm going to stick with you a while first. I can always go see him later," Zerina said. She bit her lip. She wanted to see her dad, but not right now. She wasn't sure what she would say to him. Besides, she had a feeling he already knew she was back down here, off Hydra. Even if he didn't, he would know soon enough. Surely there were reports running around at Marineford taking pictures to report on the damage that the war had caused. And Luffy was purposefully going to put himself in those pictures. And she was going to be with him.
Nerves wracked her chest. If nothing happened between now and then, she was going to meet Luffy's crew in just two years. She wondered how they would act around her. Would they like her? Would they hate her? How much has Luffy told them about her? Luffy knew about her wish granting abilities, but did he reveal that to them or did he keep it a secret?
"Time to go!" Luffy's voice suddenly broke into her thoughts. She barely looked up before he pulled himself, her, Jimbei and Rayleigh onto the island.
"Ah!" She screamed and wrapped her arms around Luffy's neck. She felt his chest vibrating with a chuckle.
"Don't worry, Rina," He whispered to her, tickling her ear with his breath. "I will never let anything happen to you."
"Lu-" She froze when she felt Luffy's lips on her temple. All she could do in response was nod against his neck. She trusted him. She always has.
"Go ahead, Luffy," She then heard Rayleigh say. "Tear it up!"
"Right!" Luffy nodded. Zerina found his hand in hers once again just before he pulled her farther onto the island. He only released her hand when he needed to attack then would quickly reclaim it again. "Gum Gum Whip!"
Zerina glanced around as Luffy drug her through the rumble of Marineford. She couldn't believe how much damage had been done. But then, she's never seen a war or the aftermath of one. And, from all the damage that had been done, this 'War of the Best' was some intense battle. She suddenly found it hard to breath. She finally realized how much danger Luffy was really in. And how close she had come to almost losing him. She tightened her hold on his hand. When she did this, Luffy glanced back at her. She figured she must have had a worried look on her face or something when Luffy brushed his thumb over her skin and winked at her. She felt better. Those two, no matter how small, actions reminded her that he was still alive. He was still with her.
"Finally here," Luffy said once he jumped them up to the Ox Bell. She waited patiently as he walked away from her and rang the bell the sixteen times. While he did this, Zerina looked down at the gathered crowd. Like she had thought, a lot of them held cameras. But they all held confused expressions as they watched Luffy ring the bell. She pulled her eyes back to Luffy when his arm returned around her waist. "Let's go."
"Right." She slipped her arms back around his neck just before he jumped them down from the bell. He reclaimed her hand and took of running again.
"Stop right there!" A soldier cried out.
"Luffy!" Zerina gasped when she noticed the soldier was pointed a gun at them. She cast a panic glance at Luffy. She found he was just glaring harshly at the soldier. It confused her to find the soldier responded to the glare and froze.
She remained quiet after that. She just ran along with Luffy and stopped with him when he stopped at the largest crack in the ground. He released her hand for a second to pull out a small bouquet of flowers he had with him. He dropped it into the hole, reclaimed her hand, then removed his hat from his head. She followed his lead and closed her eyes. She listened to the sounds of the reports footsteps racing across the other side of the crackle then to the multiple sounds of shutters clicks from their cameras before Luffy rushed her back to the ship.
"Well, that was interesting," Zerina said.
"At least this parts over," Rayleigh said with a slightly mischievous smile. Zerina looked at him questioningly. "Now we can head for the island you two are going to be training on."
"What?!" Luffy shouted happily. "Rina's gonna train with me too?! Yeah!"
"Wait a minute!" Zerina gasped in shock, and a bit of fear. "I'm not a fighter! I don't know anything about it!"
"That's why you're going to train," Rayleigh said as if her concerns were no big deal. "With the blood of Shanks running through you, it's guaranteed you're going to be a wonderful fighter."
"You have got to be kidding. Just because my father ended up being an emperor doesn't mean I'm meant to do the same. I'm not gifted! In fact I'm…" Zerina's voice trailed off. …I'm not gifted. My magic doesn't work like it should. I'm a defect. I'm imperfect. I'm not worthy.
"Come on, Rina! You have to train with me!" Luffy's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked to find he had already taken her hands in his and was giving her a heart pounding, stomach twirling, soul soaring, puppy dog pout with his big, beautiful black eyes. The exact same look he use to give her when they were kids. Yup. The exact same Luffy as always.
"But, Luffy," Zerina whispered, dropping her eyes from his, "You know about my…issues. How can I?"
"How can you not?" When Luffy said that she raised her eyes to his. She stiffened lightly when he wrapped her arms around her. He whispered, "Maybe this training can help you with that? Don't you want that to happen?"
"Lalu." Zerina wrapped her arms around his waist. "I want to. I want to get better control over this, but I don't know how. Physical training won't effect my magic."
"You don't know that. No harm in trying, right? And I won't make any wishes while you're a round. Well, I'll make meat wishes. Those never turned bad, right?" Zerina nodded slightly. She had forgotten about that. For some reason, Luffy's wishes for meat never did end with bad results. She never could figure out why. She never has anyone to ask why, but for Mari. But the woman never knew either. "Please, train with me."
Zerina continued starting into Luffy's pleading eyes. She didn't want to do this. But what harm would it do? It clearly was going to make Luffy's happy. She sighed. "All right, Lalu. I'll train with you."
…
Author's Notes: Hi everyone! I agree about redoing that first chapter. Definitely the right choice. I've a better handle on the story now too. And, yeah, I couldn't help but giving Neo a cameo appearance. It was screaming "Do it! Do it!" So I did! ^.^ Hee hee