Protectors [One Piece Fanfiction]

Best Friend in the Whole Entire World

"Irin!" Luffy cried, holding on to the girl, "Where were you?!" he sniffled. His tears flowed out uncontrollably, "Where have you been all this time?" this was the most he had cried in a long time, "I-I missed you! I-I missed you so much, Irin!"

 The pink haired girl began to tear up as she rubbed circles on her childhood friend's back, she didn't know what to say. This was the first time she was speechless in awhile. Guilt swelled up in the girl but Luffy squashed it all away when he said, "I'm so... I'm so happy you're alive!", her lips quivered as soon as he finished his sentence. Irin couldn't help but to start crying to, 'How is it that this was the only thing that concerned Luffy?' she thought, she felt as if she didn't deserve him. "I-I-I'm so sorry, Luffy! I'm so sorry I didn't tell you! I'm so sorry I left!" Irin apologised to him as she choked on her own tears. Tears streamed down the two friend's faces. He couldn't believe that she was still alive and she couldn't believe the fact that he didn't hate her.

 They remained in each other's hold.

The Straw Hat's rushed out to see what the commotion was all about and right on time, Zoro had returned too. What they saw shocked them. Luffy was crying and clinging onto a girl. Actually, no, scratch that, everyone that was present at that moment, including the Marines, were shocked. "Oi, Luffy! What are you doing to the lady?!" Sanji scolded from the holey entrance when he spotted the sight of Irin crying on Luffy's shoulder. The boy in the straw hat sniffled as he released Irin from his hug, placed his hand on her shoulders and rubbed away his tears with his other hand. Luffy gazed at Irin, "Don't cry okay, Irin? I'm so happy you're alive!" said the rubber man with a wide, close eyed smile. The girl reluctantly nodded, "Mm..." , she bit her lips as they quivered downwards while she tried her best to force them back up. Luffy brought his hand towards Irin's face and wiped her tears away with his finger. He grinned at her, face still red from the crying and she chuckled softly.

"Am I dreaming? Luffy is getting a lady before me? And such a beautiful lady too," Sanji asked, feeling bamboozled. 

How is it that his stupid captain has got more female touch than him? The Straw Hat's stared at their captain and they all shot their questions at Luffy at the same time,

"Luffy... Who's that?" asked Nami and Chopper.

"You know this weird woman?" Zoro questioned.

"Is the lady single?" Sanji inquired, winking at Irin.

Luffy's grin widened as he introduced Irin to his crew, "Everyone! This is Irin, my best friend in the whole entire world!"Without sparring any time for the Straw Hat's to respond, he ushered Irin into the building and bombarding her with questions.

 Irin spotted Garp who was just standing in front of the broken wall, observing her interactions with Luffy, "Ah! Garp-jiisan! Are you here to kill Luffy? Did Sengoku-san send you here? You can't kill him, okay? I-I'll stop you!" Irin declared, rapping out her questions and getting flustered at her declaration. 

She was not one to boldly threaten people anyways.

 Garp only laughed, "Hahaha! You can't defeat me, Irin! Anyways, what are you doing here, my cute little granddaughter?" he asked as he patted Irin's head, ruffling her hair in the process. "Ah! That!" Irin huffed, visibly growing annoyed at the thought of why she was here, "You won't believe it, Garp-jiisan! That Kuzan-san, he left me here and then cycled off!" she ranted while waving her arms around which gestured how pissed off she was. The Marine duo conversed, one raging on about her day while the older one laughed at the young one's idiosyncrasies.

Nico Robin, then spotted the pink haired Marine and immediately recognised her, "Luffy... You know this woman?" she asked her captain, "Yeah! She's my best-". He never got to finish his sentence because Robin interrupted him, "She's 'The Navy's Youngest  Vice Admiral, Irin!" she informed Luffy, signalling for him to tread the waters cautiously, "Oh... I see... Irin is... What?! V-Vice A-A-Admiral?!?!" the boy in the straw hat replied, mood changing throughout his sentence as he realised who 'the current' Irin was.

"So that's who that woman we saw on the previous island was a Navy Vice Admiral huh?" said Zoro as he pieced the puzzles together and inspected the pink haired girl from a distance.

"Ah! I knew she looked familiar! She's the lady with nice thighs! Never expected her to be a Navy Vice Admiral though... But still, I like strong women!" Sanji complimented, with hearts in his eyes, as usual.

Chopper made his way towards Irin, footsteps squeaking as he walked, "Vice Admiral- san, can I ask you a question?" the chibi reindeer asked. Irin turned around to reply but couldn't find the owner of the voice, that was until she looked down, 'S-So c-cute!' she thought, "Sure! What's up?" she asked, bubbly, as she squatted down to Chopper's height.

 The reindeer took a step back from the sudden close proximity with the girl and blushed. "Umm... D-Did you protect Luffy in the fight? H-How did you treat his frozen hand and other injuries?" the reindeer doctor asked the pink haired girl. "Protect him?" Irin repeated after Chopper, "When I arrived it was already far too late! Kuzan-san had already frozen his body completely! Haha!" she laughed, thinking that it was unimpressive that she showed up too late to protect Luffy from Aokiji. 

However, the fact that Irin never stopped Aokiji from freezing completely amazed Chopper, "Th-Then how did you treat him so quickly? It's impossible for him to defrost that quickly and safely!" he yelled, shocked and confused. Irin cocked her eyebrow at the reindeer's question and 'answered as a matter factingly', "I just put him in a ball of warm water," which caught the crew's attention, "It's called a water bath, ever heard of it?" she continued.

"A-A water ball?" Chopper inquired, with a confused expression,

"Yep! I ate the-"

"Irin! You ate a Devil Fruit?!" Luffy asked excitedly, jumping up and down in front of Irin, eyes sparkling.

"Yeah! Now we're the same! Except mine was a Logia type!" Irin replied, equally as excited as Luffy.

"Show me! Show me!" Luffy requested while hopping, that was because he was unable to contain his excitement.

"Okay, okay!" Irin accepted Luffy's request and in a flick of a wrist, she conjured up a small ball of water. "Let me show you something!" she grinned. Irin took out the knife that was stuck on the band that wrapped around her left thigh and then proceeded to cut her arm with it. The knife was a Sea Prism knife, hence it was able to make a cut on Irin's body. "Irin! Why would you hurt yourself?!" Luffy panicked as he attempted to grab Irin's arm but only to grab a handful of water, "Shh, just watch," she reassured. Irin brought her uninjured hand and waved it over her injury. Water formed at her fingertips and washed over her wound.

 The injury had disappeared, the cut was gone and completely healed!

Irin's devil fruit had the ability to heal?