章 57: Inner Thoughts of a Princess in Distress
|At the palace, Throne room...|
...
"So, you and your friends want to explore the city? I don't see why not..."
Sitting on his throne with a confused expression face, king Cobra caressed his beard with a pensive expression for a moment, before he then looked at Vivi, who was looking at him with expectant eyes, and raised his index finger as he advised her.
"... Though, make sure to tell them to wear some clothes to cover their faces so that the marines don't recognize them... Even if they are my benefactors for bringing you back safely, I doubt I can make the marine not arrest them if they meet them..."
"Yes, thank you, father!"
Nodding her head as a satisfied smile appeared on her face, Vivi turned around and began walking towards the exit of the room at an energetic pace. Thinking about how fun it would be to show the whole Alubarna to the Straw hats.
As she left, king Cobra glanced at her departing back with a soft smile on his face, as he felt that for once in many years the world seemed to be finally smiling at Arabasta.
'It seems like the future is getting brighter...'
...
A few minutes after that, Vivi left the castle and walked towards the Straw hats that were waiting for her at the entrance. Seemingly ready to go and explore the city.
Seeing them, Vivi smiled in joy, before she then waved at them with a cheerful expression on her face, as she walked towards them at a hurried pace.
""Hey, Vivi!""
Hearing her, Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp waved at her back enthusiastically, while the others like Nami and Zoro simply smiled as they nodded at Vivi's antics.
Then, once she arrived next to them, Vivi handed them some robes so that the Straw hats would hide better their faces, and pointed forward. Indicating them to start the visit to Alubarna.
"Everyone, let's go!"
""Ooooh!!""
After that, all of them crossed the big door that separated the Royal castle from the city and began descending the stairs while talking merrily to each other, wondering how a country like Arabasta would be.
...
A few minutes later, amidst one of the bustling streets of Arabasta, the straw hats visited several stalls and stores, as Vivi watched them from afar with a helpless expression on her face.
'Well... This isn't quite what I expected...'
She thought that she would have a pleasant walk with them, acting as a guide to the stores and tourist sites around the city.
However, once they arrived, they became wild and started checking out everything on their own. Leaving her behind as she watched them helplessly from behind.
Of course, they would call for her from time to time, asking her what certain things were. However, most of the time, they would go on their own to most places and look curiously around like typical tourists.
Though, Luffy certainly lacked delicacy as he did so. Often gaining some yells from the owners of the stalls he would visit, as he would start drooling on their products.
And watching him do so, often gained a laugh from Vivi, as she found amusing his silly behavior.
You may wonder, why had they decided to go out to visit Alubarna out of nowhere... And the answer was that Luffy had asked Vivi to do so.
After that day when the Tomb of kings was destroyed, both she and the Straw hats enjoyed the commodities of the Royal castle. Receiving banquets every day, taking hot and relaxing baths, and celebrating parties most of the time along with everyone at the castle.
However, even bountiful banquets and constant parties had a limit on how much they could entertain Luffy. Who, not finding the adventure he thought there was gonna be, began feeling bored.
Who would blame him?
Just a week or so ago he had been expecting to face a Shichibukai, which should have been an amazing adventure. However, by the time he arrived at Arabasta, there was no adventure waiting for him, as everything had been solved already.
All that awaited him, were some banquets and parties. That's all.
Because of that, Luffy began feeling dissatisfied.
Until now, every island that they had visited had an adventure awaiting them. Even if some were relatively small.
However, here, in Arabasta, there had been none.
The closest thing to an adventure he had experienced since he arrived here was when the marines were chasing him at Nanohana, and the fight with Vivi's weird childhood friend. But even those were far from being called a proper adventure.
Because of that, despite all the food and fun, Arabasta had been a slight letdown for him.
Which is why he proposed to Vivi that they would go and explore the city. Maybe that way, they would find an adventure somewhere.
Call it a Luffy-only sense. But he could smell an adventure somewhere... And it was close.
If he was wrong, then his crew and he would simply leave. They were pirates, and as such, they lived to roam the seas without staying at any place for too long. That was what Luffy personally thought.
Which was why they ended up visiting Alubarna. Though, by now, Luffy had already forgotten about his original objective, as his new priority was to defeat the skewers that the owner of a nearby stall was selling by sealing them in his stomach for eternity.
If adventure was somewhere around the city, he would eventually come across it.
As for the skewers, Luffy swore he would make them surrender under his stomach.
...
"They sure are lively"
Watching with a slight smile at the figure of the Straw hats enjoying themselves in the country that she loved so much, Vivi couldn't help but remember how she also used to enjoy herself when all of this city seemed like something new to her during her childhood.
How, when she was still a child, she met Farid after he was coming back from doing his Bounty hunter work, and how both of them became friends a few days after that.
He had taught her a lot about pirate hunting, and he would also from time to time bring her to eat some skewers at this place after both of them were done pirate hunting. Since both would get quite hungry after that.
They played with each other daily, and often, Farid would show her around as if he was an expert on every place in the city. Knowing that Vivi probably had not visited the city that much because of her status, and because of how dangerous it was for her.
It had been really good times, and remembering them now, Vivi couldn't help but smile softly as those memories flooded back into her mind.
In a way, what she was doing now, was similar to what he had done at that time. Guiding her friends around, and trying to act as a guide for them.
Though, her friends now were certainly a lot more free-spirited than she had been at that time when Farid had guided her around.
Noticing this fact, Vivi giggled a little.
However, as she did, the face of Farid at the bar soon came back to her, and her smile soon disappeared.
She began thinking, what had happened to the cheerful and brazen Farid that always used to always make her laugh when he argued with Pell?
What had happened to the enthusiastic Farid, who after coming back from his adventures as the Midget bounty hunter, told her stories about the pirates that he defeated?
What had happened to the bright Farid, who always smiled happily as he learned to fight from Pell?
Remembering those moments, Vivi recalled Farid's words once she asked him why he had disappeared without a trace.
{... I was becoming a weapon...}
'A weapon?' Recalling those words, Vivi frowned slightly.
She knew herself more than enough, and she knew that she never thought of Farid as such. However, when she considered how Pell might have felt towards Farid now that she was an adult and knew more about politics, it was not strange that Pell might have wanted to make him into a Royal Guard because of his great talent. Which was, in a certain way, a weapon raised to protect both her father and her.
Maybe the other Royal Guards, not being accustomed to such an abnormal amount of talent, feared him and thought of Farid as nothing more than a weapon that was being raised for us.
Noticing that, Vivi understood a little why Farid had thought that he was becoming a weapon. The people around him feared him, and one of his closest people had also shown indices of thinking like that. Even if very little.
She also remembered that it had been during those days that Farid had been slightly different from how he usually was. Being much more silent than normal, and often staring at the air blankly.
She recalled that he had begun acting that way after he had saved the kids and the caretaker from the orphanage he used to be in after they were taken hostage by some pirates.
After that incident, the caretaker had been slightly injured, and the pirate captain that had kidnapped them ended up dead. With his face smashed until he couldn't be recognized anymore.
She hadn't thought much of that incident at that time, thinking that Farid would get over it eventually, as nothing really bad had happened, besides the slight injuries that Farid's caretaker had taken.
However, now that she thought about it now... Maybe the fact that Farid had killed a human for the first time had made him start thinking of himself as something dangerous.
... Maybe it had been that, and all the other facts previously mentioned, that had ended up making him leave.
Thinking like that, she remembered the last night that they saw each other, and how, after Farid got a little angry and smashed the doorframe with his strength, she had gotten scared.
His face after he noticed her reaction had been one of realization as if he had come to terms with something and accepted his fate...
'Maybe...'
As Vivi's mind began understanding little by little, her fist began tightening in frustration.
'... Maybe, if I had paid more attention to how he was feeling at that time... he wouldn't have felt like a weapon at that time...'
As her mind wandered on the possibilities of how everything would have turned out if she had landed him a helping hand, suddenly someone touched her shoulder and startled her slightly.
-Tap-
"Hey Vivi"
"Ah!"
"Hmm?... What's with you so suddenly?"
"Ah, it's nothing. I was just thinking about something... What is it that you wanted to ask me, Nami-san?"
"I wanted to tell you that the others have already left. They were too engrossed watching every new thing that they didn't notice how you stayed behind"
"Ah, is that so? I think we should go after them before they cause any trouble"
Smiling wryly, Vivi soon began walking forward as Nami followed next to her. Trying to see if they could catch a glimpse of their crewmates. All the while Vivi swept away her troublesome thoughts, and decided to leave them for later.
However, as they continued looking for the other Straw hats, suddenly Vivi's ears picked up a certain conversation that made her raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
A conversation happening at a mask stall.
"... Hey, did you know? A suspicious-looking guy came the other day to buy me a cow mask! And guess what? Soon after he left, around an hour later, the rain came back to this country as if by a miracle! Don't you think that it's too much of a coincidence?"
"Hmph, too much of a coincidence you say? Then should the ten guys that bought me a skewer an hour before the rain come back also be too much of a coincidence?"
"Tsk, when you put it like that, it certainly does sound very coincidental... But this guy looked too suspicious I tell you...! He had, like, an air around him? One that seemed to say that he was planning to do something big!"
"You are thinking too much old man... -Sigh...- But well, whatever. Let's just say that he had indeed something to do with the rain coming back... Did he look weird or anything? Because just having an "air" doesn't sound too convincing..."
"Well, uh... he was wearing some dark robes that covered most of his body... Oh, and he was very young! Maybe like around 17 or 19? I don't know for sure, but he looked very young"
"Whaaaat...? And you expect me to believe that a 17 or 19-year-old managed to bring back the rain, which if you don't remember has been clarified that was because of that damn Crocodile? Do you seriously believe a youth like that defeated Crocodile?!"
"Uh, well... He had this pretty cool scar on his right eyebrow... It made him look rather imposing... So, maybe?"
-Sigh...-
"Hey, old man, stop thinking stupid things... You are too old for this... If you continue like this, you will get more senile than you are right now..."
"You little...! -Sigh...- Alright, maybe I'm indeed overthinking things..."
"Of course you are! Now tell me, how is the family doing...?"
"Oh, it's very good..."
...
As the two men continued conversing with each other, Vivi frowned slightly at their words, before she then muttered something with a suspicious tone of voice.
"A scar on his right eyebrow...?"
A face was appearing in her imagination at that moment.
As such, and wanting to confirm her suspicions, she walked towards the two men and prepared to ask them a few questions.
...
°
°
°
|At Farid's house...|
...
"Hey mister, how did you get that scar on your eyebrow?"
"This? Oh, it was during a fight between me and a ferocious beast that made even Yonkos tremble in fear when facing it. During our battle, it managed to give me this little scar. However, after that, I defeated it easily using my powerful fists"
"Woaaaaaah"
-Giggle...-
"Hey, Nico Robin, mind if I ask you what's so funny...?"
"It's nothing. I just didn't think that you were so good with kids"
"Me? Good with kids? The fuck you talking about?"
"Mister said a bad word!!"
"Tsk, damn brats, they don't even allow me to have freedom of speech in my own house anymore..."
...
-To be continued...-
°°°
(A/N: Ah, the drama~
Guess who changed his nickname? Me!
I'm no longer Anonymous_Author... Now, I'm Anonyrius, the destroyer of worlds!
Or, just Anonyrius for short. I kinda wanted a more unique name than "anonymous_author", so I just cut the "mous author" and added a "rius" at the end.
Very creative, right?
Don't answer that question, it's rhetorical.
Besides that, I'm almost finished with the next chapter, so give up your Powerstones to me if you want the next chapter to get out by today or tomorrow, depending on how fast and inspired I'm feeling.
Also, I made an illustration of how Farid looks in his mysterious cow disguise. However, since I will be probably sleeping by the time this chapter gets released, you guys will have to wait for a bit until I wake up and remember to upload the illustration.
I will upload it here when I wake up. --->
I already uploaded it to my Ko-fi, though. Here's the link if you want to go and check it out before I wake up: ko-fi.com/anonyrius
There are also the other illustrations of Farid there, in case you want to check them out while you are at it.
You can also leave a donation there if you want... *Wink, wink* ;)
Anyway, that's all for today (maybe?). I hope you enjoyed it.
Good night, I'm going to sleep now.)
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