"Finally! Luffy will come back in 10 seconds! He should be listening somewhere! Call out the name of the star!" the Colosseum announcer yelled to the entire country.
"Lucy! Lucy! Lucy! Lu.." the crowds shouted. "Three! ...Two! ...One! ...ZERO!"
I could feel the spike of my captain's haki. "THERE HE IS!" the announcer cheered. I couldn't see him myself, but that confirmed that he was definitely up again.
"Jeez, I was worried for a second there," I heaved, my hands pressing against a slab of metal that I put onto the side of the SMILE Factory, since I can't directly touch it. I had found out from the crowd at the New Plateau that people were trying to at least stall the birdcage from closing in on us. I went to the SMILE factory since that was one spot where people were supposed to be pushing, finding that Franky, the fairies, and the people of the island were trying to keep the factory from being dragged inward by Doflamingo's trap.
"Pah! You thought he wouldn't show up?!" Franky asked from beside me, pushing against the sea prism stone building.
"FINALLY! FINALLY! LUCY CAME BACK!" another yell from the den den mushi speaker.
"No, I just didn't know if the countdown would allow enough time for him to get up," I sighed, pressing my back against the piece of metal and digging my feet into the ground. leaving a deep trail of messed up pavement in my wake. This birdcage was impossibly strong.
Upon turning around in this new position, I could see Doflamingo attack Luffy with sharp string things covered in haki, breaking the side of the plateau the teen was stuck in. "(y/n)land... Luffyland will win right?" one of the fairies asked, having heard the crash.
"Of course he will, it's just a matter of time," I assured, "He's one of the most reliable people I know, trust me."
That got a smile out of him and we went back to pushing the factory. My eyes scanned where the main fight was taking place, soon seeing Luffy in his ball form once again. Doffy met him in the air, and then after what looked like a bit of talking, Luffy inflated his arm more, similar to his elephant gun. His fist launched forward into a bunch of string spike things that Doffy counterattacked with, and the clash of haki sent sparks flying. My hair was being tossed around violently by the storm-like weather that they created from the collision.
"LUFFY!" Franky and I shouted, trying to cheer him on. A second later, Luffy's attack finally broke through all of its obstacles, hitting Doflamingo right in the face, followed by the rest of his body since Luffy's fist was so big. Doffy went flying into the ground, effectively making the entire area fold up from the impact, some of it flying into the air with buildings and all. He must have been punched into the underground port that Franky told me about. I could hear the frantic running of the people in the island, trying not to be crushed by the huge pieces of land.
"Gyats! What happened?!"
"Gyats!"
"Gyats! You saw right?!"
People were yelling to someone for answers. After a second, the voice of the Colosseum announcer started up again. I guess his name is Gyats. "Look at the sky, Dressrosa! What's fading? The birdcage or Doflamingo's domination?!"
Right after he said that, I was sent forward as the entire factory was flipped onto it's side. I had to stop myself from falling onto the little guys who were pushing with me. The cage had faded.
"I-is the scenery that was outside the cage... a town that's been sliced up? Or... a free land where no one will manipulate us anymore?! The 'Dressrosa Defensive War'! 2,000 members of the Donquixote Family, the pirate group... versus... the fateful warriors who happened to arrive! The duel between their leaders... The Shichibukai- Donquixote Doflamingo... versus... the gladiator- Lucy..." Gyats started sobbing into the mic as he tried to continue his speech, "Dah...vinner.... Dah vinner... Dah vinnerrr.... Dah vinNER.... THE WINNER IS...! LUCYYYY!" This was followed by more crying and cheers from around the area.
"YES!" all the fairies cried out.
"SUUPPPERRR!" Franky yelled, doing his signature pose, along with all of the little guys around him. "LUFFYYYY!" he sobbed.
I laughed and wiped the blood and sweat across my brow, relieved. "Fraland! (y/n)land!" A bunch of fairied jumped on me, and I almost swatted them away from habit. It was sudden, ok? They were clinging onto my dress that I forgot I had on.
"Ah man, you guys are cute- WAIT!" I stopped patting them when I realized something, "Isn't Luffy in critical condition somewhere? Or passed out in some random alley or building? Where do you think he crashed, Franky?"
Franky wiped away the tears he had on his face and held his chin in the little yellow hand that came out of the palm of his big hand, "Hmmm, good question. I'm sure he's SUPERRR okay! People have probably found him, at least."
I took the little people off of me and put them down, "I'm sure you're right, but I'm gonna go check! What if the people were marines or something?"
"Are you sure that you should be running right now? You should-" I sped off. Learned that move from Luffy himself.
Just as I was about to round another building to get where Luffy was last, I heard some gruff laughter. I stopped and looked around a corner. It was Sabo and a really big guy; the big guy was the culprit of the laughter. He must have been the one that Sabo said was as big a problem as Doffy. The big guy, who looked like he got his ass served to him by Luffy's brother, started crawling toward the victor as he started talking, "If 'Fire Fist' Ace got caught by the Navy, the news would spread all over the world! The Navy would make 120% use of his pathetic life...!" Sabo cut him off by grabbing the man's face.
"Stop talking," the blond demanded. "How he felt when he passed away... I've thought about it repeatedly every single night since that day! So you don't have to tell me because I know it all!" I could hear the uncomfortable crunching that was caused by the grip Sabo had on the guy's head.
"You're regretting it, aren't you?! Because you didn't go rescue your brother even though you had the title and the power! You weren't there, were you?! Were you taking a nap or something?! HAHA! You couldn't get there when he needed you the most and you call yourselves brothers?! How pathetic!" the man punctuated his little speech by trying to swipe his knife at his attacker, but the blond dodged.
"That's why I don't want any more regrets! Fire Fist!" the large guy was blown back by a huge blast of fire that Sabo released onto him. He answered a den den mushi once he was done with that, and started walking in my direction. I couldn't hear the conversation because he wasn't yelling anymore, but he abruptly hung up on the girl who was on the other end. I could only tell that much because by the time he hung up, he was standing near my building. "(y/n)! Are you here or am I going crazy?"
I peaked my head from behind the building, "You're going crazy! You can't get me outta your head, obviously!"
He turned to me and grinned; the two of us met each other half way so we were standing on the side of a destroyed street. "Are you suggesting that I should be thinking about you?" he asked in amusement.
I shrugged and rested my hands on my hips, "It wouldn't hurt for you to. Unless the girl on the other end was your girlfriend, of course, then don't mind my casual flirting."
This got a laugh out of him. "No, she's not."
"I hope not. You just hung up on her when she was in the middle of talking," I mused, shaking my head at him.
"Well the main point was made," he reasoned with a shrug. "What are you doing out here?"
"Oh, I was looking for Luffy. He's probably sleeping somewhere right now," I said, looking around when I remembered what I was doing. "By the way, thanks for that satisfying show. If you didn't fuck that guy up, I would hav- whoa!" I almost fell on the floor, but Sabo quickly grabbed me before then.
"You alright?" he asked.
I nodded, trying to stand up. He held me by the waist with one arm while his other hand was holding mine. "Yea, I just suddenly feel reaaallllyyyy exhausted. I think that weird fuzzy yellow thing might have worn off or something," I replied before taking some really big breaths of air.
He was staring at my face. I was about to ask him if I had something on it, but he started talking before I did. "I think this is the first time I've seen you without your devil fruit power," he commented. I looked at the hand he was holding, seeing that he was right, I did deactivate my devil fruit. I kept it activated so long because I needed to keep the bleeding from getting too bad, even if the fuzzy thing was activated.
"Oh... isn't that great. Do you have any idea how to do first aid, blondie?" I asked. I was now looking at my forearm, which was gushing blood, and the wound in my side was bleeding as well.
His face hardened at the sight of my wounds. He laid me down and sprinted to the nearest building, which was followed by a bunch of crashing. He ran back out and skidded to a stop beside me, quickly wrapping my arm after cleaning up the blood. He used a little bit of fire to help it stop bleeding, but it wasn't enough to scar. His eyes shifted to my side. Before he could even question what to do, I reached for the fabric of my dress and ripped it, pulling a strip of it off my stomach to expose the wound.
"Don't start being shy now," I joked, pointing to the three bleeding spots with bruising all around it, "Get to it please."
"...Right," he mumbled, cleaning me up and then wrapping bandages around my stomach. Eventually, he was done, and I was able to sit up.
"Thank you, kind sir," I hummed patting my bandages in content. "So anyway, where you heading?" I asked, trying to stand up from my laying position. I wasn't able to, however, because Sabo picked me up bridal style and just started walking down the street. "Um...?"
"You obviously shouldn't be walking around right now," he said.
I shrugged and just relaxed, looking up at his face, "Alright, I will take this free ride. Really, though, where are you going?"
"I'll be heading to where your group is and helping out whoever I pass, so you don't need to worry about being taken away from your crew," the blond answered. I was satisfied with that.
There was a moment of silence as he walked. "....Sabo, is what you said earlier true? About regrets? About thinking about Ace every night?" I mumbled, rethinking what I overheard earlier. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, it's really none of my business if you don't want it to be."
He took a deep breath through his nose and replied, "No, I'll talk. It's true. I wasn't able to be there for Luffy and Ace all because I lost my memories when I was a child. I can't help but blame myself for that. I met Luffy in the Colosseum earlier, expecting him to punch me for not showing up earlier, or anything like that, but he didn't."
I leaned my head back and stared at the sky, "I think that if you didn't smash your head to forget your past on purpose, you shouldn't be blaming yourself. I know it's hard to recognize that, but really, no one blames you. I'm sure Luffy was very happy to know that you're even alive."
The revolutionary sighed and I could see his head turn. He must be looking at me now. "You were there at the war, weren't you?" he questioned.
"Yes, I was," I confirmed, still looking up absentmindedly.
"Did you..." he didn't finish his sentence. I knew what he wanted to ask.
I still couldn't look at him. I just kept staring up as the scene replayed in my head. Then, I responded, "Yes. I saw him in his last moment. He was crying... but not in pain. He looked... relieved, if you could believe that. Like something was finally answered for him. I wish I could have asked him what he was so happy about when he turned to smile at me even as he cried." I finally met eyes with the blond above me. He was biting his lip harshly, his eyes watery. I smiled at him, "He wasn't upset or cursing the world for who he was born to and what he went through. So rest assured, what he was feeling wasn't disdain when he passed."
"Is that so..." he whispered, somehow being able to keep the tears from rolling down his face. "Thank you."
"No, it's fine. I haven't really been able to talk about him with anyone so you're a relief. I'm sure he'd be smacking us over the heads right now for being so messed up over him," I laughed at myself and then looked at him, "You're allowed to cry, you know. I know I shed my fair share of them."
He sighed and shook his head, blinking away the water in his eyes, "No, it's fine. I was just told something good. There's no reason to cry.... Ah. Wasn't there a story I was supposed to be told, too?" He changed the topic as we came upon someone who was stuck under a wall. He kicked the wall off of them and they stood up, thanked him, and then ran away.
I respected his wish to move onto something more light-hearted, "Oh, you wanna hear about how he burned down a bunch of plants after kidnapping me from my workplace?" I asked.
"I knew he was bad with women, but to do that? How does that happen?"
"Weeellll..."
~~~
"So you're telling me that he talked you up for a week or so, took you out on a date, and then tried to save you from that date's disaster, but you still don't want to count it as him liking you?" he asked in disbelief.
I put up a hand, "Look, I was getting mixed signals! I think... ANYWAY! He didn't SAY he liked me, so how would I know for sure?"
Sabo groaned, "You really are dense. Don't you know how to take a hint?"
"Hey! I didn't come here to be disrespected!" I shot back.
"What do you mean? I've been carrying you this whole time, I think I deserve to be able to say what I want," he countered.
"... You've got a point," I muttered. The sun already went down and we were now at the top of a hill thing, where a single house was. He said that this was where everyone was, and I believed him. What is there to doubt? Certainly not this pretty blond man.
Sabo nodded as he wondered through the flowers and grass, "I do. I might just have to take over his legacy now. I have his fruit, after all."
I rolled my eyes and pulled his cheek, "Don't mess with me. I have enough people joking about that stuff."
He raised a brow, "Enough people? How many, exactly?"
I blinked in confusion, letting him go, "Uh... I don't know? Too many? Why does it matter?"
He scrunched his face in concentration, saying, "So more than 10, at least. You're definitely gonna be troublesome but I think I can do it. Do you think you can stand now?"
"No other way than to find out," I replied, forgetting to recognize what he said just before that last sentence. He set me on my feet carefully, and I managed to stay upright so he removed himself from me. At that, I sprinted to the door of the little home, throwing it open when I was close enough. Half of them were asleep, but everyone was as healthy as could be after a big fight like that.
"Hello, (y/n)," Robin greeted.
"Where the hell were you?" Zoro huffed, seeming out of breath.
"What's your problem?" I grumbled at the shitty greeting he gave me. "Hello back at ya, Robin."
"I don't have a problem."
Robin smiled and crossed her legs, "He was running around until 10 or so minutes ago, looking for you with Kinemon. He was forced to come back by the samurai. We were worried that you had been crushed to death by a building." Zoro gritted his teeth and his ears turned pink upon the exposure.
"Aw, that's so swee-" I almost fell as all the blood rushed to my head. I guess the run that I just did took a second to catch up with me, ironically. Those who were awake lunged forward upon seeing me loose my stability, only to be stopped because I fell back against someone's chest first. "Oh, thanks Sabo."
"You shouldn't run like that after not moving for so long," he scolded. I gave him a shrug. I was swiftly picked up again after he threw a bottle of alcohol towards Zoro. I already drank the other one, which I had to convince Sabo to let me do.
Robin seemed to recognize him right away. "Sabo!" she called out with her gentle smile.
"You know him?" Zoro asked. He wasn't even looking at her. He was just straight up eyeing the two of us at the door. Sabo looked between Zoro and I as well. What kind of thoughts are going through their heads?
"He's... Luffy's brother!" Robin revealed.
"Yo," Sabo greeted.
The revolutionary set me on the bed that Luffy and Usopp were sprawled across. I sat next to him. Robin began explaining how she knew him, and then Sabo informed everyone of the fact that CP-0 would be here soon. First time I'm hearing of it, but I guess we talked about more important things anyway. The blond told his story: how he lost his memory, how his memories reawakened after seeing Ace in the papers, and how he met back up with Luffy. Everyone was emotional about it, and Kinemon even ate all the dried meat along with Zoro's booze. Zoro was pretty much just irritated about the fact that his bottle was gone, and so was the food. Sabo continued the story after the two samurai agreed to get food in the morning for us.
"I'm leaving now," Sabo said as he stood up, almost making me fall from the shift in the bed.
"Already?" Robin asked.
"I got to see his face again so..." he walked up to Zoro, "Here, I made a Vivre Card of Luffy's just in case." He handed the paper to the swordsman.
"Oh? When'd you have the time for that?" Zoro questioned rhetorically.
"I'll take a piece of it," the blond said as he tore off a piece of the sheet of paper and then put on his top hat. "All right. Luffy might be a bit much for you to handle, but take good care of him." He turned to me and smiled with a wave, "Thanks for the stories." Then he left, closing the door behind him.
Zoro smiled when the door closed, "He said the same thing Ace said."
"Wow, why don't you smile like that more often?" I genuinely asked, resting my chin in my hand with my elbow on my thigh.
His eyebrow twitched and he faced me, "Wait a minute, is that where you were this whole time? With him?"
"Aw man, the smile is gone."
---
Have you guys ever found a fanfic, and u love it like so much. And then when u finish catching up on it, you wish there was another book that was pretty much that book so you could read it over again, but in a different font just because it was so good?
That's me and Dream Seeker right now. Someone PLEASE help me. I just went through this with Eternity of Love a while ago. WHY ARE THERE NOT MORE ONE PIECE FANFICS PLS I JUST NEED MORE!!!