Chapter 27

It hadn't taken long for her identity to be confirmed and subsequently for the revolutionaries to welcome them in their midst. They'd been allowed to roam freely in certain areas as a result and the surveillance in their rooms had been tuned down, only limited to the doors and windows. She'd also requested a check-up first thing and her little ball was still doing great.

The library had easily become Raiju's favourite place in the two months the siblings had spent in the base until now.

It was quiet, full of knowledge and people knew not to disturb her when she was here since she'd retreat there when her hormones were acting up or she was in a temper. Yea, the first time the vice-commander had come to drag her out and help him with something had not been pretty. Like, at all. Even Itachi had given her a weird side-glance after the episode. And we're talking about Itachi. The guy who was never creeped out by anything.

Seriously, he'd been annoying though. He'd avoided her completely for 3 days after she arrived and then randomly asked her to help with a procedure. After that, he'd been… clingy.

He was around constantly, pulling her into discussions on one thing or another, asking her views, and yes, also teaching her something.

She was glad he was including her like this, and furthering her education, she really was. But… once in a while, she needed a break. Just… quiet.

She had lived alone for a long time and just wasn't used to the constant chatter. So… she had snapped, to her shame.

She'd apologized of course, and the man had done so in turn, sheepishly agreeing to respect her need for some quiet if she retreated to the library. And promptly recommended a list of 20 books for her to read.

The man was a true sweetheart, with a real passion for his work, just like her. Most importantly, neither of them had any qualms about sharing their expertise or knowledge. Thus, they usually got along like a house on fire.

Oh, they had disagreements and defended their own opinions passionately but those never escalated beyond their discussions. Plus, they were open-minded in their pursuit of medical knowledge and thus weren't unreasonably stubborn about their own standpoint.

Raiju quietly emerged from the library thoughtfully, having just finished reading a journal about experimental lung disease treatments. Lost in contemplation over one of the articles, she didn't even notice Coco until she nearly bumped into him.

"Woah, Raiju, good evening."

"Oh gosh, Coco! Good evening. I'm sorry, I wasn't really looking where I was going."

"Ah, don't sweat it. It's about dinner time, want to come? Itachi just finished showing us yet another, in hindsight rather obvious, flaw in security. I swear, the brat is enjoying this…"

"Hahaha, sure. Why not. He probably is. I mean even I think the looks on your faces when he does are amusing", she teased.

"I'm glad you enjoy our suffering", he shot back dryly.

"Aww, you know we love you"

"Yea… yea we do. Seriously… thanks. Are you sure you don't want to join?"

"You're welcome. I was glad to be of help. And yes, Itachi said there wouldn't be an issue with an alliance though, once we're ready for that kind of thing."

"Aaaah, I expected it but still… too bad. I won't give up though."

The man had asked them the same thing every day for the last month or so. It was really sweet, but their answer wouldn't change, since their goals were just too different.

Suddenly, Raiju gasped and stopped walking, holding her stomach protectively.

"Raiju!?", Coco rushed to her side in worry, Are you alright? Did something happen? Should I call the doc?"

"Ah… No… I'm okay…", she sounded breathless and slightly shocked, not assuring Coco in the slightest.

She was now staring down at her stomach, wonder written all over her face as she gently rubbed over the ever-growing bulge of her stomach.

"It moved", she finally said, marvelling over the strange but amazing feeling the action had caused her. Her eyes were burning with emotions. This was… this was the best feeling she'd ever had. Her situation really hadn't felt real, had almost felt like a dream until now, but… now… now it felt real.

Coco was staring at her in bafflement and relief.

'What, it just moved, don't get me scared like that… wait, it moved!?'

"Congratulations", he said with a bright grin.

She sobbed.

"Huh?"

He started to panic for a moment before comprehension dawned and he smiled once again instead, patting her on the shoulder in silent support.

Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down his back.

Before he could react at all, a vicelike hand gripped down on his own shoulder, closely followed by the familiar emotionless voice of the woman's younger sibling.

"What's going on?"

Coco gulped. This… really looked like he'd done something to make her cry, didn't it.

Shit. He was dead. He was so dead.

"Itachi!", Raiju cried in tears, easily shaking off Coco's now limp arm and throwing her arms around the teen in a tight hug, completely oblivious to the predicament the panicked Coco found himself in. He was now sweating buckets and praying for all that was holy that she'd clear everything up before he died for real

"It moved, it moved! The baby moved", she gushed in excitement, still crying but very obviously not due to distress.

Finally, the grip on Coco's shoulders disappeared and the older man could breathe a sigh of relief.

'Safe', he thought, shakily wiping off the cold sweat that had gathered on his forehead in those few seconds.

Itachi was smiling ever so slightly and returning her hug, patting her head all the while. He understood now. That was great news. Even for a foetus, moving was important. He was glad to hear the news.

Since that was the case…

"Check-up after lunch?", he asked.

"Ah!", she let out in realization at the question. Right. The doc had said they may be able to tell the gender once the tyke started moving. They'd positioned themselves in a way that had hidden the indicators until now.

"Yes!", she chirped energetically.

"Hn. Let's eat then."

After having nearly choked on her food twice, she was inhaling it that quickly, Raiju finally dropped her dishes off and excitedly pulled Itachi along towards the doc's office.

"…", half amused at her excitement, and half exasperated that he hadn't been able to finish his meal, Itachi let himself be dragged along. He didn't really know how else to support his sister but to just indulge her, for now.

She had better not get used to it though.

"Raiju! How come you're back so quickly, and with Itachi, too? That's rare.", the doc greeted them cheerfully as he opened the door to his office.

"Doc! It moved earlier, so of course I had to come right away. Would it be possible to check and find out what gender they'll be?"

"Oh! Congratulations, Raiju. Of course, we can, we were going to do a regular check-up tomorrow anyhow, so might as well do it a day early. Since you're so excited, did you have names in mind already?"

The doc was only disappointed they wouldn't get to discuss medicine for a moment, before getting excited for his new friend instead.

"Oh, actually… I don't. He… before he died, we had wanted to wait to decide until after we knew about the gender. 'That way we wouldn't get disappointed if the one we like more doesn't fit.' He said."

Itachis grip on her hand tightened for a moment and the doc gave her a sympathetic gaze.

"I see"

The silence that followed was only slightly awkward.

The blood clone was staring at the small village outside in concentration.

As he'd thought. It didn't fit.

"Coco", he started saying to the slightly frazzled-looking man standing behind him on the landing platform, scribbling down Itachi's earlier criticism and already frantically thinking of ways to fix it, "that village alone sucks as a cover."

"Huh?", the smith asked owlishly.

Itachi jabbed in the direction of the 'stone age' village vaguely visible as a dot below.

"Nobody will believe they have advanced knowledge of medicine. There are rumours about this island already, I don't doubt someone will come to investigate them soon."

"Rumors?", Coco could only parrot him, stunned

"Hn. Raiju and I heard of you even before Jason told us."

Coco swallowed hard, dread settling in his stomach.

"But…"

"The how isn't important now. Use it to your advantage instead and fix it."

"Huh?"

Itachi huffed. Seriously, did he stutter?

Coco was really starting to panic now. It had been 2 months and Itachi had never thought to mention this!? What next, the birds were common knowledge, too?

"They are"

He must've asked that out loud. 'Shit, shit shit shit', was now all that repeated inside Coco's head.

"It's not a hard thing to fix.", Itachi said dismissively.

Which effectively brought Coco out of his panic attack. He focused on Itachi with the look of a starving man when he saw a feast.

"How!?"

Even one of those getting out was already disastrous for the base, not even mentioning both, yet Itachi said they were easy to fix?

Coco was already used to the teen's brilliance and ridiculous observation and analytical ability since he'd been surprised by them again and again over the past two months as they slowly fixed up the base but… these two issues they'd already spent years and years thinking of contingencies on.

"Hn. Will you use the second advice on it?"

"Fucking hell, yes. Just tell me, please.", Coco sounded hysterical now but couldn't care less. This needed fixing as soon as possible or they'd be dead. Most of the progress they'd made on South Blue depended heavily on this base.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the display, unimpressed and raised his hand, palm up in silent demand.

Coco stared at it for a moment, before fumbling with one of his pockets, hurriedly removing one of the two 'advice certificates' they had insisted Itachi issue them with the contract and stuffing it in his hand impatiently.

With a single glance, Itachi pocketed the paper in satisfaction and explained his thoughts.

"There's a unique herb growing on this tree. The villagers are experts on it, which opens venues of medicine to them previously unknown. They dress as they do due to culture and not because they don't have technology or brains. Give them an advanced but traditional weapon to show for it, like spears that can launch their tips like a cannon for example. As for the birds, they love shiny things so have them gather some precious metals and gems in their nests. Have a small flock settle on the tree permanently and pretend to guard their treasure against humans who seek to steal it constantly. They think the villagers want to steal it too, so they attack if they see them climb up to collect the herb. They hate humans as a result."

This… just summed up perfectly why he both hated and loved Itachi. Stupidly smart genius the brat was. He really hoped Raiju's little boy wasn't going to be the same or the world may not be able to handle it.

"What…?", Raiju asked flatly, dangerously. She fixed Itachi with a 'look'. One he'd never before seen on her face. He looked back questioningly.

"Repeat that again, but slowly."

"Are you sure you want me to be the godfather?", He dutifully repeated.

"No, not that. What you said before that!"

"I never thought I'd be an uncle at 17…?"

"That! Just when did you turn 17!? And how come I didn't know about it!"

"June 9th", he said, not seeing what the big deal was. He hadn't celebrated his own birthday in… ever, actually. Sure, he had gotten a few presents but that had been it, really.

"That was a month ago!", she cried, aghast. "Why didn't you say anything!?"

"… I don't celebrate my birthdays.", he said.

"But… I at least wanted to get you a present or something.", Raiju pouted, "That's like… sister privilege! I am your sister, right? How couldn't you tell me!? Plus, I'm even your older sister, so I get to spoil you on dates like these, even if you are the leader between the two of us"

Tears were gathering in her eyes as she continued badgering him about it, for once not cursing her hormones for making her overly emotional as she saw a flash of something in his eyes before he sighed.

"Then, from now on you'll know."

Right, it's not like he could turn back time and tell her now. He hadn't really expected the day to mean so much to her, honestly.

"No! We have to celebrate now! I'll ask Coco if we can borrow the cafeteria."

"…"

He wasn't gonna get a say in this, was he?

Still, it wasn't a bad feeling, being cared for like this. His lips raised faintly.

The revolutionaries had never once expected to grow to fear the unassuming, stoic teenager that Coco dragged in along with the doctor they'd been warned about.

Underestimating the teen as they had, had turned out to be a mistake as soon as one of the brasher idiots had felt the need to threaten his sister, however, and had only seemed more foolish the longer he stayed on base.

He was quiet, eerily so sometimes, tended to appear from unlikely places and never turned on the lights if he walked around at night. And if he sent you one of his 'looks' when he thought you were acting stupid, it was a miracle if you didn't shit your pants right there.

Seriously, some of them had even had to apply for therapy because the teen was haunting their dreams.

During the last month it had been particularly bad since they had accidentally created 2 more security problems by fixing a single one he'd pointed out. But… moments like these were why none of them could ever hate the stoic teen, even if they feared and respected him.

Itachi was sitting in the redecorated cafeteria, looking uncomfortable as hell as he looked at the cake with a single candle on top as the few revolutionaries who'd gotten close to the siblings stood around them, singing a birthday song.

What… was he supposed to do?

No, they thought, they really couldn't hate this adorably awkward teen, no matter how scary he could be.

"Could you… repeat that?", the revolutionary on den den duty asked in befuddlement.

"A Marine vessel is approaching the island. The figurine is a dog with a bone in its mouth. There's no mistaking it. It's Garp's ship."

"Shit."

Cursing was the only thing he could do right then. He hadn't misheard then. But why was the Vice Admiral here?

The poor sod basically fell out of his chair, only just managing to hang up properly before he was already sprinting for the wall and hitting the emergency button, causing alarms to blare all over the base.