Vivi sat on the hospital bed across from me as she embarrassingly explained what happened while they were at the baths. I chuckled at the thought of this, surprised that Luffy would do it. I assumed it was because he just wanted to join everyone else, but I was flabbergasted to hear he got a nose bleed still.
I hadn't gone with them as I wanted time to journal everything that happened considering that I haven't had time to, plus I had already used the baths earlier so it didn't make sense to go again.
Vivi sighed with a weak smile, a drop of sweat falling down her forehead. "I don't know how you're able to keep up with all of them..."
I leaned back on the bed I was on, my arms propping me up as I used them for stability, "I barley do, but I think you'd fit in well with us." A small smile plastered on my face, indirectly asking if she would be joining us.
Vivi pulled her knees to her chest with a slightly sad smile, "Yeah, I don't know." She drew circles on the side of the bed, something I found adorable, as she looked to the side in thought. "I truly am torn."
I leaned forward, my arms folding across my chest as I sat up straight with a huff escaping my lips. "Do what your heart tells you."
Vivi bit her lip slightly before sighing and turning to me, scooting forward to get closer to me. "Say Y/n, can I tell you something? Princess to princess? No, friend to friend."
I scooted in as well, intrigued with her secretive eyes and low voice. "Of course."
"I don't think I'm strong enough to join you guys."
My eyebrows shot up in shock at the princess' words, "What do you mean?"
Vivi shook her head slightly at the indirect assumption I had made and explained a little more. "Not physically strong, I mean that I don't think I'm strong enough to move on from here. Alabasta is my home, it's always been my home. How could I leave it?"
Ah. She was just like me.
She looked at me with a questioning look full of adoration, "How did you do it?"
"What?"
She smiled helplessly as small sparkles appeared in her eyes, her hands grabbing mine with excitement, "I mean it's amazing! You're a powerful pirate now! You're traveling the world! I could never have so much courage!"
Oh. She thinks I'm...
"Are you pulling my leg?" My right eyebrow rose in suspicion as I gave her a weird look. There's no way that this strong princess is saying that she could never be as courthouse as me.
Now Vivi was looking at me weirdly, not sure what was so hard to believe. "What? Why would I be?"
I pointed at her accusingly with an unbelieving face, "You just stopped a whole ass war and you're saying I'm awesome?? What are you, an idiot?!"
Vivi jolted back, flabbergasted at my outburst before her eyebrows furrowed and she mirrored my actions, "Says you! Your country was thriving and had a good relationship to their royal family because of you! And now you're a pirate traveling the seas and saving other countries! You're the idiot!"
My jaw dropped at her as my head dropped forward not believing her stupid reasons and how stubborn she was, "Are you kidding me?!"
"Are you kidding me?!" Vivi emphasized the 'you' as she pointed at me with a sassy look on her face.
"You're the great princess of Alabasta! You went undercover for how many years and was surrounded by assassins while being under a fucking warlord! And then you come back here and manage to stop the war and reach your people's hearts! What's more awesome than that?!"
"Hm, I don't know," Vivi put an obviously sarcastic thinking face on before pointing her sass back at me. "Maybe basically single-handedly running a kingdom and being so in touch with your people that they encourage you to leave because of all you've done and on top of that saving another princess' country within the span of less than a week?!"
Vivi and I stared at each other silently as we caught our breath, not letting the other gain the upper hand of this mental battle.
The blue haired princess across me grabbed my shoulders desperately as she smiled at me desperately. "Seriously Y/n, you think I haven't noticed how you've been feeling lately?"
My eyes widened, completely letting down my guard as I forgot that the girl in front of me has known me for years.
Vivi stared into my eyes with a soft, sympathetic expression, "You are here because this is the life you were meant to live. Growing up as kids you've always been reckless and a ball full of life, craving for adventure!" She chuckled, memories seemingly passing through her mind, "Not to mention you have your moms blood in you. It'd be weird if you were content with staying cooped up on that island!"
I sighed tiredly, looking at her defeated as all the emotions I've been trying to push down come rushing back up, "I think you're more like my mom than I am."
Vivi shook her head immediately at this, a knowing smile on her face as she dropped her hands from my shoulder and stepped away, "You're a lot like your mom, Y/n. You just don't know it yet."
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she smiled at me with determination, her eyes glazed over with determination as she spun on her heel and walked out the room.
~•~
"Say, Alabasta had such good meals!" Luffy chewed on a piece of meat as we rode on Karoo's friends back to the ships. He turned to Sanji with a grin, "Sanji! Make them for me sometime!"
Sanji nodded, as he inhaled the contents of his cigarette before letting out a puff of smoke, "Yeah, I was interested in them too so I asked Terracotta-San for recipes."
We rode in silence a little before Chopper began to ask Nami if she was okay, Luffy following in suit.
Sanji spoke out to the ginger who was looking down with a frown, in deep thought, "Nami-chan, you're worried about Vivi-chan right? You guys were pretty close, but there's no use in thinking about it."
My eyes wandered from Nami and onto the blonde cook in front of me. We were down a duck and I knew Nami wasn't in the mood for anything right now so I ended up just asking Sanji if I could ride with him, which he obviously agreed to with no hesitation.
Sanji tried to give Nami a smile, but the girl didn't even glance his way, "Chin up."
A soft smile took over my lips as I watched the man, really seeing how he truly cared about the girl and how it wasn't just lust.
I like this Sanji.
Sanji's woman indicator seemed to go off as he perked up and turned to look at me over his shoulder, "Y/n-swan?"
Before I could say anything Nami started to speak in a low, sad tone. "For the sake of Vivi...I'm willing to...give up the 1 million berries."
"Huh?!"
"It was all cause of the money?!"
"We should've known?!"
I chuckled under my breath at the girls antics and the rest of the crew's reaction.
"Ah! Usopp fell!"
"Leave him be!" Nami snickered as we continued towards the ship.
We had finally reached our ship and Mr.2 called out to us, standing on the railing of the Going Merry.
"Alright everyone unload!" Sanji turned to me after he got off and offered his hand a with a wide smile, "My beautiful lady."
I smiled back at him, taking his offer and hopping off the duck before thanking him with a bow of my head, my stupid die-hard habit.
He seemed pleased about it though as he twirled around yelling things about having a royal wedding with a bunch of food and cake and the usual Sanji spiel.
"You must be the journalist! You are quite fabulous I must say!"
I turn my head to see a tall man dressed in pink and a flamboyant outfit, Mr.2 as he's been introduced, "Hello, my names Y/n. Thank you again for retrieving our ship."
His hand shot to his mouth as he stared at me in shock, "Oh my! This ones polite! You're more than fabulous! You're glamorous!"
I sweatdropped before laughing his strange behavior off and thanking him for the compliment. "By the way, I like your make up Mr.2! You should do mine sometime." Although I didn't think the makeup would look the best on me, it felt only right to give him a compliment back.
He grinned at the compliment, a small pink color on his cheeks as he gleamed with pride, "Oh you! Call me Bon! And as your new friend I am happy to do your makeup anytime, although you definitely don't need it!"
Bon and I talked while the others finished bringing their own stuff on the ship, considering I was already done.
The former assassin was actually a very fun and humorous person to be around. He was the kind of person that was extra weird so that you can be weird as well without feeling awkward or judged. He also quickly won the hearts of people, I could tell, as anyone who talked to him seemed interested and enamored with his personality. Bon was definitely a good person so it made me question why he was working under Crocodile in the first place.
Either way, I probably wasn't going to see him again so I didn't dwell on the thought. We had set sail, making sure to go to the meeting place just in case Vivi wanted to come; Bon became extremely impressed with this action and decided to help us out by distracting the marines.
"Everyone!"
"Vivi!" Luffy jumped onto the railings without hesitation, a big grin on his face.
"Hurry turn the ship around!"
I shook my head slightly, knowing Vivi was the kind of princess who would never abandon her country.
Unlike me...
"I came to say goodbye! I cant go with you! Im sorry...thank you for everything!"
Everyone's faces dropped at the sound of this, their excitement and happiness immediately crushed as they processed what Vivi was saying, except Zoro and I of course.
"I'd love to go on more adventures...but there's no ignoring it! I love this country!" With a smile on her face, no trace of doubt or regret was seen from the blue haired princess. Although this didn't stop her from feeling sad at our departure as tears slid down her face and she asked if we could all still be friends.
Before Luffy could say anything Nami quickly stopped him saying that if he did then the marines would know for sure that she was friends with pirates and that would cause unnecessary problems.
We opted for holding our arm up that held the X, our symbol of friendship, so she could see.
Managing to escape the marines, the rest of the crew laid on the stairs, their heads drooping as me and Zoro stared at them.
"If it was really that big of a deal then you should've just taken her by force!" The swordsman grumbled under his breath, his arms crossed over his chest as he began to get irritated and weirded out by the crew's mood.
"You're a monster!"
"A savage!"
"Moss head."
"Three-sword style."
"Wait Luffy, 'three-sword style' isn't an insult!"
"...Four-sword style."
My eyebrow rose at the label curiously before turning to look at Zoro, thinking for a bit before immediately turning away when my brain came to a conclusion as I choked on my spit and bent over while trying to catch my breath.
"What's your problem?" Zoro watched me with a weird look on his face, probably regretting ever joining this crew.
"Ah, we finally made it off the island," A smooth, feminine, and unfamiliar voice spoke out as the door to one of the rooms on the Going Merry opened. "Good job."
Everyone seemed to become alert as they all jumped up in shock, much to my confusion since I've never seen this woman in my life.
I tilted my head in confusion as Zoro got in a fighting stance with a caught-off-guard look and the others tensed up.
Am I missing something here?
Making me even more confused, the mysterious woman continued on about how Luffy did something to her that was unforgivable and that he should atone for his actions.
I sat down on the stairs, not really understanding anything at the moment and feeling like I missed a few chapters as I just watched the situation go down trying to silently piece it together.
"Let me join your crew."
"What?!" We all yelled—save Luffy—at the woman's request.
At this point they weren't the only one surprised, I jumped up from my spot after figuring out that she was a personal partner with Crocodile.
"...okay!"
We all whipped our head to our captain who had a dumb smile on his face. "What?!"