OR, helping a princess wasn't something you'd expect to be doing as a pirate, but oh well
A clean cold cut from a sharp edged knife.
Except it wasn't from a knife, and it wasn't a cut; it was sticks and already coloring bruises, and not at all in the definition of a clean cut.
The bells chimes from the movement, an ominous sound amongst the silence of the cold buildings. You take one look at the sprawled bodies behind you, and returned your weapons on your back.
It was merciless. Brutal.
And you've always done it this way.
Crude silence follows, as cold as the mornight air, and as icy as the unfeeling in your eyes. The moon glisten atop the buildings once more. A breathless sigh leaves your lips as you turn to face Luffy.
"How was sleep?" You greeted simply.
Luffy grins, as wide as it had ever been, and answers just as simply:
"Great!"
The princess can't find the right words to utter to save her life.
— ❐ —
"So you didn't beat them up because they offered you beer?" The aforementioned captain stuck a finger up his nose, having no right to look as serious as he did right now. Explaining things to Luffy was easy, aside from the occasional dumb questions that would be expected to come from someone like Luffy.
You rolled your eyes, leaning your weight on a barrel by a cement wall, "for the ninth time, no I didn't beat them up just because they gave me beer."
You then pondered for a second, putting a finger to your chin.
"Well, okay, maybe that was one of the reasons."
Zoro, who had mysteriously popped up alongside with Nami just a few minutes ago, plopped down to the side of the wall you were at. "Like hell it was."
"Well there you have it!" Nami, who you assumed explained everything that happened to the princess, clapped her hands with glee, "and as compensation, I'd like one billion beris!"
Crickets fill the air, with the three of you, Luffy, and Zoro chatting away behind Nami. She raises her chin, a rare prideful air for others oozing from her.
"You saw how strong these guys are."
"I can't!" The princess cuts abruptly. Her eyes fully meets Nami's, that despite sitting down, it seemed she was eye-to-eye with the navigator. "I do appreciate you saving me. Thank you." She meets your eyes then, and you nodded back to her silently.
Nami, however, wasn't pleased at all. "What? Why can't you? You're a princess! One billion shouldn't be much at all..."
The princess looks around briefly before answering Nami. "Do you know of the kingdom known as Alabasta?"
Something clicks, the wind howls quieter, stone grey walls hits your back, having since fully sat on the barrel as the conversation carried on. Luffy atop another barrel adjusts his position, leaning forward in interest of the new name. Something clicks, and you didn't like whatever it was.
Nami simply answers, "no." And the princess continues.
"It's a peaceful kingdom know as a great civilization and nation." She pauses, "well, it used to be."
"It used to be? What about now?" Nami probes. Zoro, for once, had leaned slightly forward and had been looking at the princess afar, a hand on his swords as usual.
The princess answers back, straightforward and blunt. "It's in the middle of a civil war."
Alabasta...
"For years now, signs of a revolution began to appear. The people revolted, and the kingdom fell into chaos...." The princess hands curled up in her lap, "then, one day, the name of an organization... Baroque Works..."
You don't miss the way Zoro straightened suddenly at the mentioned name.
"I heard that the populace was being manipulated by this group. But there was a tight lid on any other information than that, and there was nothing I could do.
"That's when I asked Igaram, who always meddled in my business since childhood, for help."
Baroque works circles the back of your mind, having for sure heard this name before. It was familiar, easy on the tongue, yet it gives you a headache trying to think more about it. Where was the name from? Why was it familiar?
"That old tube hair guy?" Luffy clarifies, making a motion around his head, of the hair of the do-re-mi guy you had met earlier.
Where have you heard it before?
The princess answers, a glint in her eyes that didn't miss your notice, "I asked him if there was a way I could infiltrate Baroque Works. Because that I could see who was puling the strings... And what their goal was."
"You're a pretty high-spirited princess." Zoro remarks with a grin. "So? Did you figure out their goal?"
The princess nods, but Nami had spoke up before she could.
"The founding of an ideal nation."
Pressure suddenly spikes across your chest, constricting your airflow and leaving you with no room to breathe—a dream crappily written down in one of your worn journals, a dangerous one, a sharp golden object, grains of sand, and an exchange of payment and names—
Who was the one behind those dream?
You breathe again.
Thankfully, no one notices. And the conversation carries on undisturbed.
"The boss says it's to create an ideal nation, but it's all an enormous lie!" The princess does her best to maintain her composure, but you've seen enough to know she was bubbling over with anger. "The true goal is to take over Alabasta Kingdom!"
Suddenly, it all makes sense. The number code names, the bounty hunters, the betrayals (of what was attempted to be).
"I have to hurry back and tell everyone the truth." The princess holds her resolve, managing to find the right words despite her emotions, "to stop the fighting! If I don't do something..."
The princess trails off, her voice dying down. You see her trying to look up and face you all, but somehow, she remained looking at the ground as her fists shakes at her lap.
Nami rubs her forehead, a heavy sigh leaving her lips, "so that's the deal. Now everything finally connects." and leans on the wall with crossed arms, her gaze staying on the princess, who had been fidgeting all the while under everyone's gaze.
"There'd be no money during a civil war, huh?"
The princess is visibly shaken, anything resembling a princess stature leaving every part of her body. She trembles.
After what felt like an eternity without Luffy saying a word, he finally speaks up. He leans even more forward, his body practically falling off of the barrel he sat on. He calls out, a smile pulling on his lips.
"Hey."
And curiosity coming from Luffy never is, and never will be, a good thing.
"Who's pulling the strings?"
The princess shoots up, the crates behind her suddenly tumbling over at the sheer force, shards of wood beginning to fly off and crack. Its splinters fly up and lands by the princess' feet. Her shout carries around the town, but her next words only doomed everyone further.
"The boss' identity?! You shouldn't ask that!"
"You know who it is, right?" Luffy prods further.
"Don't ask me! Anything but that!" The princess' hands flew everywhere, dispelling the air of curiosity about the topic. Of course, an inkling grows in your stomach to who it was, but the name is lost within the pages of your journal-- along with his dream. You pray it wasn't him. "Your lives will be put in danger, too!"
Nami laughs, without even bothering to cover up how fake it sounded. Sweat begins to form above her brow. "I think I'll pass on that! After all, these are guys trying to take over an entire country. They're obviously insanely dangerous people!"
Nami, bless her heart, was trying her absolute best to combat Luffy's notorious need for adventure and fun, dispelling everything that sounded cool with something lame. In hindsight though, she should have known it would've had never work.
"Yes! They are! As strong as you people may be, you'd never stand a chance against one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile!"
.
.
.
A pin drops, the princess shrieks, Nami is frozen, Luffy is confused, Zoro is dumbstruck, you snorted, and the cactus graves called for new spots to be dug for all of you.
Everyone looks after the flapping of wings and the cry of an ugly bird.
You snorted once again.
Nami grabs the princess and roughly shakes her back and forth, with tears streaming down to match the princess' own sobbing, "what was that bird and sea otter?!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Luffy and Zoro looked at each other instantly, a dangerous glint in their eyes, their curiosity satisfied and leaving them hungry for the seas again. "Hey! A warlord!"
Zoro cockily huffs back with a flick of his sword, "not too shabby."
You quickly relaxed your shoulders - when have they gotten rigid? - even before they both turned to you at the same time, waiting for your response to how things have turned out. Nami was still screaming in the background and drowning out the princess' apologies.
They don't notice it, thankfully, and they continued to wait for you. You considered lying for a second, or making farce that you were excited to meet Crocodile again, but the need and pressure of it fizzles away once your eyes meets theirs. So you sigh, uncrossed your arms and laid them by your sides.
. . .
"I've a bone to pick with him anyway."
You can reorganize your thoughts later anyway.
For now, the more concerning thing would be the two that looked like animals, except one had the mental capacity and the capability to draw on paper. But of course, you weren't shocked about this. This is the Grand Line after all, and you have undoubtedly seen much more weirder stuff than this. Like talking cakes and muffins for an example. That was still weird, by the way. They atleast looked yummy.
Nami's crystalline tears shone in the moonlight, turning away and letting go of the princess like some damsel in a theater performance, all the while dramatically crying out: "Why me? We just made it into the Grand Line and I'm marked for death by one of the warlords of the sea?"
Nami had, of course, been the most reasonable and sane one out of all of you combined.
"Well, we're pretty lucky we get to fight one so soon." Zoro disregards Nami's sobbing. You chuckled with a wry smile.
"I wouldn't exactly call that lucky, per se..."
"I wonder what he's like!" Luffy was excited, as everyone just expects from him at this point in time and life.
"To each their own, I guess." You resigned with a simple sigh. There's a saying that if you can't beat them, join them.
"Shut up you three!"
All of you watched the orange head female stomp off towards wherever the hell that alley ends up at, shouting things like it was nice meeting all of you to add to her dramatics, and was promptly stopped by the same animal creatures that was drawing by the edge earlier.
The very same animals that, ironically, Nami was walking away from the start.
"Wow! That's so good!" She sounds amazed when the sea otter and the scary looking bird (which looked monstrous and could probably pluck out anyone's eyeballs) showed four drawings of each and everyone of you to her. It was, from where you could see, drawn with great detail and care. Enough care put into, what you think to be, wanted posters.
Before Nami turns around and screams: "I guess this means there's nowhere to run now, huh?!"
"There's nowhere to run off to from the start, but sure." You stated, fixing your gloves suddenly without a thought. Luffy laughs at Nami on the side.
"Guess that means all three of us are on Baroque Works' Hit List now." Zoro sounds immensely proud of himself for that one.
"Nothing we can do now," you grin, knowing full well how much all this is going to be a headache later on.
"That's exciting for some reason!" Luffy continued laughing, as Nami sulks by a nearby wall, sliding down until she's just crouching with sulk lines around her form. There's an eerie aura around her as the princess tries to console her.
"I...I do have 500,000 beris in my savings..."
Someone appears by your surroundings, with you immediately taking note of his presence. It wasn't that hard as he's not exactly hiding, with his presence and appearance. It was the doremi guy from earlier and he was carrying four sacks with markings - were those faces? - on it. And, most strangely, in the princess' ... clothes as well.
"He even topped it off with a wig!" You giggled behind your hand.
"Don't worry!" The "princess" claims confidently, "fear— blegh, ma, maa, maah! — Fear not, for I have a plan!"
The doremi guy hasn't even started explaining and you already know this plan would be great. The greatest, even. In all your life. The best in all of Grand Line. The Emperors better watch out for this guy, or he's coming to take their thrones.
"What are those clothes for?" The real princess inquires as she approached closer to him. Luffy follows suit, looking all over the guy and invading his personal space.
"Old man! You'll fool anyone wearing those clothes!"
Nami whispers, soulless and lifeless. "My god. I'm surrounded by idiots."
"Vivi-sama, please listen carefully. Baroque Works' information network will soon receive that report. Once they learn we are the ones that know the Boss' true identity," the princess lookalike looks down, a hardened face and determined eyes, "you understand what will happen, don't you?"
The princess continues for him. "As many as a thousand hunter could soon be coming after us." Nami makes a panicked sound at those words, already formulating an escape plan in her mind.
"That is why I have dressed in the manner of the Princess. I will depart with these four dummies and travel on a straight course for Alabasta."
Luffy pokes the sacks, that apparently was supposed to represent all of you, and looks perturbed. "These are us?"
"Decoys." Zoro answers.
"Once they have began pursuing me, Vivi-sama and yourselves can depart safely for Alabasta."
"Now wait just a minute!" Nami shouts to cut in the conversation. She shoots up from her lifeless form earlier and heavily stomps over. "Who said we would take the princess anywhere?! We still don't have a contract."
"Take the princess? What's that about?" Luffy repeats Nami's words, clearly clueless about the situation.
"Weren't you listening to them?" Zoro unbelievably asks right back at him.
"We're supposed to take the princess—" you pointed at the blue-haired girl, "—back to her kingdom."
Luffy leans forward to the mentioned girl, looking her over with simple dotted eyes, almost scrutinizing her, "oh, is that what they're on about?"
Zoro nods as he stands up with his swords in hand.
"Sure." Luffy decides.
"Okay." You echo not a second later, pushing yourself off from the wall, with a resolute at Luffy's word. If Luffy wants to take the princess to Alabasta, then you will. It's a simple thing in the grandest of things. What Luffy says, goes. Nothing more, nothing less.
Sometimes, it scares you, just how far you were willing to go for Luffy. In such a short time of him being your new captain, he had already found his place beside you, and you found yours beside him.
...Well, maybe it isn't so scary.
Sometimes, it just feels right.
"Crocodile is gonna come after us, you know!" Nami, on the other hand, is not at all feeling okay with the decision, crying out in protest. Luffy asks a question, subtly looking in your direction.
"Is Crocodile really that strong?"
"Yep." You flexed your arm, "though I can for sure take him on alone."
Your captain laughs and claps boisterously, "of course! You're super strong!"
"Just kidding."
"He's a legally recognized pirate, and so he has no bounty on his head. However, the bounty he had long ago was 80 million beris." Dore Man explains further, heaving the bags of ... all of you, tighter.
"80 million?! That's four times Arlong's bounty! Say no!" Nami pleads, skin paling even more as the conversation got deeper and everyone was getting more on board with the idea of returning the princess back to her kingdom.
Dore Man looks decided, not a falter or a shred of hesitance in his question. "Will you do it?"
"Yeah. It sounds fun." And Luffy was all the same.
Nami melts into the ground, like an ice cream on a sunny day, "I can't believe this..."
— ❐ —
"I don't think you should go." You spoke abruptly.
The princess, in the middle of handing Dore Man an eternal pose to Alabasta, pauses her action. They both turn to you with an arch of their eyebrow and a downturn of their mouth.
You had no basis on why you stopped them, nor something you can show them why you did, but rather it was just sensing a presence in the waters where Dore Man had planned to sail away onto.
Luffy and the others had the same confusion as well at your sudden opposition to the plan, which they thought was perfectly brilliant, mind you. And here you are, coming in and saying out of the blue it was a horrible idea.
Well, not really, but that's what they thought you said.
Dore Man does not heed your words, shaking hands with the princess, and gets ready to step onto the ship bound to their kingdom. The princess looks even more apprehensive due to your words, and looks like she wanted to say something as well.
It's a ticking time bomb.
Why people never listen to you, you'll never know in all honesty. Did you look so mistrusting that no one ever took your words seriously? Was it a personal attack to you as a whole person? Is there some joke going around that you don't know? Hey, let's not trust her and don't tell her.
"This is getting frustrating, if you ask me." You muttered low under your breath, keeping track of a mental countdown starting from 3 seconds, and once it has reached 0, your feet is no longer in the ground. He only had one foot on the ship boards when there is wind in your ears, and yet there is also nothing in the air, a defeaning silence followed by a loud explosion and soon, blinding light fills your vision.
The rush of water, the cracks of the wooden boards, shards of metal scraps slicing your blouse and cutting the skin underneath clean. You reach out blindly in the white, where the warmth converges into one spot, and reached for the person in the middle of the heat.
And you pulled.
1, 2, 3, you hear your name in the silence that followed the explosion, a ringing in your ears, and a splash in the distant muddled waters. The person you're holding onto grips onto you just as tighter, a frightening feeling coming from him. A warning was a warning, and you were glad you had always been fast on your feet.
Luffy accounts the both of you, and when he looks past you to the Dore Man you pulled away, your vision clears in time as his eyes widened, his straw hat flying in the air he pays no attention to.
"My arm!"
And there was something horrid in looking back to the person you've saved, and seeing an arm floating behind him.
— ❐ —
A/N* lord knows how long this has been in my drafts :D
idc for the short chapter I just need this out so I can start fresh already and keep the flow going 🤟 also bc i think that was a good time to end the chapter
Y'ALL........ IM A 2ND YEAR COLLEGE STUDENT ALRDY.... and the last time I updated was when I was a grade 12 student 😭😭😭
edits will come in next chapter, but slay
See ya~