sorry i didn't update for so long my laptop was in repair and it's kind of hard to type on the phone. anyway here is the next chapter. hope you enjoy. and please let me know your reactionsa dn reviews in the comments. I'll fix the mistakes I do and try to make this story even better.
3 weeks. it has been 3 weeks since i stumbled into strawhat pirates and 2 weeks since I officially joined. we haven't come across any problems yet, and the journey was going smoothly. Rose spent most of the time playing with chopper, ussop and luffy. with chopper and ussop I don't have to worry about her seafty as they both very well know how to handle her.
luffy too surprisingly was very gental with Rose. he spent most of his time with her. at the end of the day when its time for her night routine of brushing, taking a bath, changing her pajamas, Rose told her all about what she did the whole day. though i saw most of her activities i still loved to hear her talk and talk about her adventures all day in her crooked sentences.
she would talk about how big the fish was which luffy or ussop caught with hand gestures, how fun it was to ride chopper in his raindeer form, how luffy made funny faces, how luffy told her about his childhood adventures, specially how much she got to know about her dad from him. i told her as much as i could about Ace. it is still hard to talk about him, to see that hope and sparks in Rose's eyes when she asked questions about her dad, the sadness that hope turned into when she missed him. it hurt to see how much she longed for her dad. everytime the topic comes up all i think about is the what if's. what if Ace was here, what if he saw Rose smiling like this or laughing like that, what if he saw her crying or witnessed her tantrums? how would he react to all this?
but for luffy, it seemed easy to talk about him. i could tell luffy had finally if not completely but still mostly come over that traumatic day. he had to some extent accepted Ace's death, unlike myself. i guess that is one of the reasons he is so easily able to talk about him, and tell Rose the stories she deserved to hear. that was the reason the two had formed a special bond. even during meals now Rose had started sitting on Luffy's lap as the two practically inhaled the food.
Rose had also gotten very comfortable with the whole crew. everyone adored her and loved to spend time with her. Robin had undecidedly taken up the responsibility for Rose's learning. when Rose spent time with Robin the older wise woman would make the little Rose recite alhpabates, numbers and basic rhymes while playing and having fun. i had taught Rose numbers and alphabets but for quite some months i wasn't able to take her practice but Robin had started doing that.
as we got closer to the next island nami got more and more excited. apparently she had made a huge list of things she wanted to buy for Rose, specially clothes. she was very excited to have a little girl she could drees up in cute pretty clothes.
Franky had made some very interesting toys for Rose. i had to confiscate some of them as they weren't really suitable for a 2 year old. actually i had to confescate most of them in the beginning but Fraky had improved with each new toy and had eventually made some safe enough for Rose to play.
now not a single day went by when Rose didn't sleep without Brook's song. he had written several great songs which described the adventures they had till now. the stories turned into delicate threads of words and weaved into beautiful music that made Rose fall into the land of sweet dreams.
sanji had asked me every detail about Rose's likes and dislikes in terms of food. according to that he planned her meals and she absolutely loved them. the little devil refused to eat veggies and loved meat, very much like her father and even luffy. sanji had found a way to feed her the necessary veggies without her even noticing them. i wonder why I hadn't thought about it when i started feeding Rose solid food.
Rose loved to sit with jimbe at the helm. she would just sit on his lap as he steered the ship and giggled when the warm sea breeze hit her face. she would ask random questions to the former warlord and he would be happy to answer them all. he too told her the stories of his adventures and some stories he knew of the whitebeard pirates.
again it was hard for me to talk about them too. Oyaji and my brothers. along with Ace i wasn't over their death too. somewhere in the back of my mind i was prepared for the dreadful day when fate would take my father from me as he was already sick, but i hadn't expected it to happen so soon and like this. everytime when things got hard for me which was almost always, i wished he was here. everytime i had any kind of trouble i would go to him and vent it out and he would help me guide me to the right path. now that he was no more i felt lost most of the time. unable to find the right way. i missed the safety i felt with talking to him. though the whole crew took care of me Oyaji was the major one who made me into the confident woman i was. well at least two years ago.
i am not sure if am that strong now, or even confident. i don't even know if i deserve the high bounty of 500 million berries anymore. i am not even sure how will i do when we face any enemy. how good will i be able to fight. yes i practiced on amazon lilly but practice was way different from the actual fight. and the practice was on stable land and no Rose around me. fighting while on the ship and also keeping Rose safe was something i wasn't sure i could do or not.
but i guess I'll find that out soon. as tomorrow my bandages will be removed as i have finally fully recovered.