Best Friend in the Whole Entire World
Actually, no, it was not that Irin didn't want to see Luffy, she just felt too ashamed to face him. Why? Well...
When the two were younger, they were best friends. He was her first friend and she was his too. They met before Ace was a part of their lives, Garp brought the abandoned Irin home, sheltered her and took care of her which, of course, meant that she met Luffy. He was the friendliest person she had ever met and she would still say the same thing at aged 19, there truly was no one friendlier than Luffy.
Irin always knew that Luffy wanted to be a pirate and she always supported him. They ran through jungles together, sprinted through fields and got lost together. Even after Garp left the two of them at Dadan's place and even after they met Ace, they were still just as close. They even met Sabo together! Luffy and Irin had all the fun in the world but one day, she suddenly disappeared. The Straw Hat boy cried for days, thinking she was kidnapped or that she fell down somewhere and was unable to escape. He thought she had died even after Ace tried reassuring him that she was probably fine.
Irin disappeared? No. She had left with Garp to train for the Marines. Being a part of the Marine's was her goal even though she admired pirates like Shanks. Irin had left without telling Luffy, not even leaving a note for him and she felt very bad for doing so. Ace, on the other hand, knew of Irin's goals because their age gap was closer and they spoke about their ambitions more than when she was with Luffy. So when Irin disappeared, Ace knew but he didn't know whether to tell Luffy or not. 'What if she had a reason for not telling him?' Ace thought. In the end, he never told his brother about Irin.
In short, the pink haired girl felt ashamed to meet Luffy because she left without telling him when he thought she had died all this while and that she was a Marine. Irin was afraid that Luffy would despise her because she left him so she could become a Marine. A Marine of all things she could've been.
Back to the current situation.
Luffy thought she was dead. He thought his childhood best friend, Irin, was dead but there she stood, well and alive. His eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape from when he gasped at the sight of her. Irin had grown. Her hair was a lighter shade of pink now, she was taller now and she just looked different overall, her face had matured along with her body. Though she was much different compared to how she looked as a child, Luffy was sure that this was the same person he used to chase butterflies with.
The two made eye contact and stared at each other wordlessly. Luffy took a step towards Irin and called out to her, "Irin...". His brows were raised, he couldn't believe his eyes. Írin opened her mouth to speak, "Luf-'' but she was cut off when Luffy was engulfed into a hug. Her eyes widened because she did not expect Luffy to hug her, let alone recognise her.
The boy held her in his arms tightly to make sure that she was real and not a ghost. Luffy's arms were wrapped around Irin's body, his head resting on her shoulder as his eyes remained wide while tearing up. Irin was tense in his hold because she had not expected Luffy to hug her. The sudden human contact and the fact that Luffy was hugging her was what made her tense but once she got used to the heat, her body relaxed. Irin slowly brought her arms towards Luffy's back and hugged him back. Her actions surprised the teary eyed pirate and he hugged her even tighter than he did before before he started to allow his tears to flow out. Luffy was so glad to see Irin alive and well.
He was so happy she was alive. He missed her so much. He missed her so much that he couldn't contain his tears. This was the person he had ran in fields with, the person he grew up with, the person who encouraged his dreams, the person who always believed in him, the person he shared his meat with and the person he had longed to see again. She was right there in his hold, his best friend who he missed so very much.
"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?