One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.

-Chapter Thirty-Five-

"What we need to do now is stop Baroque Works—that organization is about to cause a pointless war with their malicious scheming" Vivi frowned. "They're trying to destroy this country and we must stop them, no matter what the cost may be" she rationalized. "I don't care how difficult it is or what the dangers are—they absolutely must be stopped. Crocodile will never get what he wants, not while I'm alive" she firmly stated.

"Well, I guess we should get going now, huh?" Usopp questioned as he pushed himself up onto his feet.

"Usopp, are you sure you're alright?" Vivi worriedly asked.

"Oh please, are you kidding me?" he waved as he puffed out his chest. "I'm feeling so strong right now it almost hurts" he boasted.

"You sure about that?" I chuckled, climbing back on top of Eyelash as I cast a glance back at the sharpshooter.

"Liar" Sanji deadpanned upon seeing the way that the long-nosed pirate's legs started to shake as if they barely had the energy to hold him up.

"My legs are shaking because I got so much energy" Usopp quickly defended. "You haven't seen strong until you see Captain Usopp in action! I won't waver or fall for one second!" he proudly boasted before falling right over when the blond suddenly touched the back of his legs. "What did you do that for?!" he snapped.

"Alright, we should get going" Nami said, already ignoring the two as they started to fight.

"What? But shouldn't we wait for Luffy and the others?" Vivi asked.

"Yeah, if we get too far ahead, they might not be able to find us" I softly frowned.

"You both are such worrywarts" Nami sighed with a small smile. "Luffy is absolutely determined to beat Crocodile—once he has his mind set on something, just let him do his own thing, you know that" she said brushing away our worries as a small smile tugged at both our lips upon hearing her words.

-Later-

"You're falling behind—what happened to all that strength and energy you had, Captain Usopp?" Sanji teasingly asked once he noticed that Usopp was starting to lag behind the rest of us.

"Oh...that...?" Usopp panted. "I meant it more in a metaphorical sense, not literally..." he wheezed, not bashful at all in admitting to his false bravado from earlier.

"Well hang in there, just a little bit longer" Nami called back. "Still worried, huh?" she asked, causing my gaze to flicker away from the open desert.

"Oh, no" Vivi shook her head the minute she realized that the ginger was speaking to her and not me.

"It's written all over your face" Nami quickly pointed out. "You can't hide it that well, just like Skylar can't hide that crush of hers on Zoro."

"I told you we are just friends!" I groaned.

"Sure you are" she nodded, grinning as I gave another groan before bumping my forehead against her back.

"Yeah, I guess it is" Vivi breathlessly laughed. "I'm sure they're okay, really" she smiled, giving my back a comforting pat in the process.

"You guys are jerks..." I grumbled, causing them both to giggle.

"I seriously doubt you'll ever stop being a worrywart, but that isn't always necessarily a bad thing" Nami hummed, going back to the conversation at hand once she finished with her teasing.

"You know, you guys are amazing" Vivi suddenly praised.

"Huh?" Nami questioned.

"Trying to butter us up now, are we?" I chuckled, causing the princess' smile to widen.

"No, it's just that I've been thinking about it since Little Garden" she said, shaking her head. "You all seem to have so much faith in one another and even take care of each other when one of you gets sick or injured—how do you do that?" she asked.

"How?" Nami echoed. "I guess it's something I'm not really conscious of, I've never really thought much about it before" she confessed.

"That's what's so amazing, that kind of unconditional faith in one another is really difficult to come by!" Vivi exclaimed.

"I can't say for sure, but maybe we trust each other because we all do whatever we can to the best that we can" Nami admitted after a moment's thought. "A while back, Luffy said something back on my home island that makes a lot of sense now" she explained, quoting the words that she remembered the rubber man haven spoken to her. "I remember those words well and I thought, "huh, this is something that makes these pirates different—this is how they are." If you're alone, then your strength is limited—there's only so much that one person can do after all" she said. "One isn't enough—you need friends, but at the same time, it amounts to nothing if those friends aren't trying every bit as hard as you.

"Well, I don't know if that was an answer" she suddenly finished, sheepishly smiling once she realized she had started to ramble.

"It's great" Vivi beamed, pleased with the answer she had been given.

"You certainly know your way with words, Nami" I complimented.

"Yeah, well, it's really hard to keep your thoughts straight in this heat" Nami bashfully chuckled.

I wasn't sure how long we walked after that before I felt Vivi patting both Nami and mine's shoulders before pointing off into the distance. My posture straightened as I brightened upon spotting Luffy, Zoro, and Chopper not that far away from us. Excitedly did Luffy wave his arms the moment he spotted us as well as the other two tiredly followed close behind him.

-Later-

"Hey, Luffy" Usopp groaned, clearly tired out from all the walking we were doing.

"Huh?" Luffy perked up.

"What was that thing your brother gave you?" Usopp curiously asked.

"This was a mistake..." I lowly grumbled, already starting to regret my decision to walk alongside the men instead of continuing to ride on Eyelash's back. "I guess it's not that bad..." I soon mumbled, a small smile tugging at my lips the second I felt Zoro grab my hand. Quietly did he hum, his thumb soon rubbing soothing circles against the back of my knuckle as his lips tugged upwards into a small smile of their own.

"I don't really know, it looks like a scrap of paper" Luffy shrugged as he dug out the piece of paper Ace had given him.

"It's just paper?" Chopper frowned.

"I mean, is a unique gift to give" I remarked.

"Let me see" Sanji said as he snatched the piece of paper from Luffy's hand. "Huh? Well, it really does look like just a piece of paper—there's nothing written on it or anything" he said as he examined it.

"Is that all? Really?" Usopp frowned.

"I'm not really sure why Ace gave it to me, but I'm sure it's important" Luffy smiled before his eyes widened the minute the piece of paper slipped from between Sanji's fingers and was swept up by the wind. "Don't eat that, dumb camel!" he snapped when Eyelash snatched up the piece of paper and began chewing on it.

"At least he caught it" I said, getting the camel's side a pat.

"Hey, Luffy, give me your hat" Nami suddenly ordered.

"Huh? Why?" he asked, hesitating for a moment in giving her his hat.

"If it's really that important to you, I could sew it to the underside of your hat ribbon" she offered.

"Good idea, sew it on real good" he smiled, eagerly handing over his hat now that he knew why she wanted it.

"Yeah, yeah" she said, waving her hand as she set to work after digging out some needle and thread. "There, all done" she smiled once she was finished as she handed the captain back his hat.

"Now I don't have to worry about losing it, thanks!" Luffy happily exclaimed.

"If there isn't anything written on it, what's the whole point of hanging onto the thing?" Zoro asked.

"Ace said it was important and I should hang onto it, so I'm hanging onto it—that's all" Luffy shrugged.

"So you're pretty much basing your decision on nothing?" Sanji sweat dropped.

"No, it's instinct—they're right a lot" Luffy defended.

"Sharp as a toothpick..." Zoro murmured.

"Well that can't be the only reason, right?" I asked, quick to step to the captain's defense. "Wouldn't you also be holding onto it because it's a gift from your brother?" I questioned.

"Oh yeah, that too" Luffy laughed, nodding in agreement.

"Will someone please carry me?" Usopp suddenly whined.

"You guys, we're close now—just past those rocks there" Vivi smiled. "One last push and I'm sure we'll make it" she encouraged.

"Yeah!" Luffy and Chopper cheered.

"Yuba!" the captain eagerly shouted, already running ahead in excitement.

"Not another minute to spare" Nami smiled as she followed.

"Yeah" Chopper agreed.

"Come on, Zoro—I'm light!" Usopp now begged as he followed closely behind the swordsman and me.

"Suck it up" Zoro grunted.

"If he won't carry me, then I doubt he'll carry you" I said, rolling my eyes as the sharpshooter lowly started to whine.

A/N: Enjoy

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