~Dragon's POV~
We made it safely back to the island where our headquarters was finishing up renovations. I felt somewhat awkward returning back to work after exchanging vows and taking Lily as my wife. She was rarely honest or forthcoming with her true inner feelings making it impossible to tell how she felt. Would she be upset if we didn't do the traditional thing that most newlyweds did and take a trip? There was so much to do, I didn't think we could afford to take any further breaks and in her current medical condition, I wasn't sure it was such a good idea for her to move around too much.
She must have been more injured than I'd originally thought as she didn't protest when I told her she was restricted to bedrest. This worried me. Halfway through the day as I was talking with various officers about what needed to be done and our next course of action, I noticed several people slowly start to go missing. By dinner time, I was completely alone in the strategy room. Where did everyone go?
Deciding it was time to check on Lily and thinking I might find some of my men along the way, I headed off in the direction of our bedroom. I saw no sign of anyone along the way, headquarters was eerily quiet. As I drew nearer to our room, I heard the sound of voices and laughter. It sounded like there was a party in our bedroom.
I pushed open the door and shook my head, everyone who'd gone missing throughout the day was piled into our bedroom sitting around the bed listening to Lily tell stories, about me. My face reddened at this, "What's going on here?!"
Everyone jumped, save for Lily who just kept prattling on. Her bright summery green eyes flicked in my direction and a coy smile twisted onto her lips. She knew I was going to barge in and didn't care in the slightest.
"Lily was just recounting your beautiful love story." Ivankov sniffled dramatically and wiped at his eyes.
"I haven't even got to the wedding ceremony yet!" Lily giggled.
"Was it romantic?" Ivankov asked her with a wink.
"The most romantic." She grinned.
I cleared my throat from the doorway as everyone slowly began to forget my presence, "You're supposed to be resting, Lily."
"I AM resting, see, I'm in bed." She indicated her current set up, blankets piled on top of her and pillows around her keeping her propped up and comfortable.
"This might be a little too much excitement while you're recovering." I frowned.
"But they all wanted to hear about it." She folded her arms in front of her chest but winced at the effort. She was still in a lot of pain.
"Fine, but after you're done everyone needs to get back to work and you need to get back to resting." I sighed and took up my post at the door.
Lily launched into a dramatic retelling of the day's events of our wedding starting with her near execution and the run in with Whitebeard and Gol D. Roger. "Even the marines were happy to celebrate our love, they sent us off with a military salute with cannon fire and gunfire."
"No, they were just shooting at us." I shook my head causing a few people to chuckle.
"I think they were supporting our marriage." Lily giggled.
"Believe what you want, nutcase." I shrugged.
After Lily finished her dramatic retelling of our unconventional wedding everyone cheered. They all offered us their congratulations before going back to work. Once everyone had left, I turned to Lily. She looked so small and fragile wrapped in bandages and cocooned in blankets in the giant bed.
I walked across the room and sat on the edge of the bed fixing her with what I hoped was a stern look. She cracked a smile. "Don't push yourself too much, you were stabbed remember."
Lily giggled at this, "It's not a real wedding unless there's at least one stabbing."
"Let's revisit your wedding standards another time." I chuckled as I checked her bandages to make sure she hadn't aggravated her healing wound with all the excitement. Her smile suddenly fell as a daze look crossed her face for a moment before a single tear slipped down her pale cheek. "Lily?" I caught the single tear that had fallen on my index finger. She disappeared in a vision. "What did you see?"
She blinked a few times as she came back and bit her lip, "Captain Roger...he gave himself up...so the marines wouldn't pursue us..."
"What?" I gaped, "Why would he do that?"
Lily struggled for composure, "He's sick...he's already dying so he thinks it doesn't mater..."
I gently wrapped her in my arms. "Do you want to save him?"
"He told me not to." She cried.
I frowned at this as I struggled to keep hold of her trembling form. Captain Roger knew about her ability, it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility that he would talk to her when things he expected to make a big impact happened. I didn't have to ask her what would happen, I already knew the answer. He was the King of the Pirates, he'd been skipping dates with the executioner for years, they'd want to make a big public showing. They wanted to put an end to the age of pirates for so long. Their main goal was to take down the King and Queen of Pirates. That meant Lily was next.
My heart clenched at the thought. I'd come close to losing her too many times already. "Lily..."
She turned her tear filled summery green eyes to me and looked up at me curiously, "What?"
"I don't think you're going to like what I have to say." I grimaced. "I think I need to get you somewhere safe...make a safe place for you, somewhere nobody else can find you."
A look of panic crossed her face, "No..." more tears spilled down her cheeks. "I've seen it, it's lonely and awful and I don't want to be alone."
"Alright, I'm sorry. It'll be a last resort." I tried to reassure her, but it was hopeless. She'd already seen it, it was going to happen one day.
She reluctantly agreed, though it was probably just to appease me and make me feel less guilty about it. The desolate look in her usually bright summery green eyes was enough to wound me. I had to do something to bring back her radiant smile, to hear her heavenly laughter.
"What's our son's name?" I asked her curiously. Our son was the only topic that never failed to cheer her up.
Her eyes lit up. "What?"
"You know what it is, right?" I mused.
She smiled, "I do."
"So, what is it?" I smirked.
"Luffy."
I chuckled, "That sounds silly."
"It's perfect." Lily jabbed me in the ribs with her finger, "Monkey D Luffy...King of the Pirates." She smiled proudly.
"If he takes after his mother and gets her uncanny ability to befriend anyone or anything, then he won't have any problem getting that title." I chuckled.
Lily wiped away the tears in her eyes and grinned.
"So, what does he get from me?" I pondered.
"Your ability to eat three times your weight in food without keeling over." Lily shrugged.
"How on earth would you know about that?" I frowned, I'd never eaten like that in front of her.
She tapped her temple with a mischievous smile, "I know everything."
I rolled my eyes at this, "You're unbelievable, nutcase." Her smile started to fall again as her mind began to wander back to Captain Roger. "You know, maybe Monkey D. Luffy isn't such a bad name...it has a nice ring to it."
Lily giggled at this and wound her arms around my neck, "I knew you'd love it."
I kissed the top of her head, "I love you." Worry began to worm through me at the thought of her being captured again. "Get some rest."
Reluctantly she did as I bid, too tired to fight with me. I tucked her in and left the bedroom in search of Ivankov. He was in the strategy room pouring over some of the maps I'd marked. His painted lips pulled into a smile.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you." It was still hard to believe I'd married Lily. "Can I ask you a favor?"
"Of course, is it a wedding present for your cute little bride?" Ivankov winked.
"Not quite...its more like a back up plan...just in case...I'd like to find Lily a safe haven of some kind that I can take her to, if things get hectic. An island that cannot be found by a log pose would be ideal."
Ivankov frowned at this, "Does Lily know about this?"
"She's seen it in a vision, I'd really like it to be a last resort measure for her safety."
"If she's seen it, then that means it was utilized." Ivankov grimaced. "I'll see what I can find." He straightened himself up before fixing me with a stern look.
"What?" I looked around to see if he'd been meaning to glare at someone else. "What did I do?"
"You just got married, you should be with your wife." He jabbed at me.
"She's sleeping and I have work to do." I sighed.
His glare intensified. "Well, when your cute little bride is healed, you should take her on a romantic outing since you've cheated her out of a honeymoon."
I chuckled. "I might need help planning such a thing."
Ivankov's eyes lit up, "I'll take care of everything!"
"No, no, no, just help, don't take over." I corrected him with a laugh not sure I wanted to see the kind of romantic outing he'd plan. There would be lace everywhere.