Chapter 355: Arriving at Water 7

Vivi was standing on the deck of the Miss Love Duck. She looked at the open sky and saw the stars. She thought how useless she was when he attacked them. She could not do anything. She froze for a second and that second everything almost fell apart. A tear escaped her face. 

NT arrived on the deck of the Miss Love Duck. She had just finished clearing all the ice on deck of the ship. However some of the ice damaged the internal structure as well. It was nothing she and HQ could not fix however they needed some time and not out in the ocean. She looked to see Vivi with tears in her eyes. 

"Is everything alright Vivi?" NT asked.

"No," Vivi replied back, looking at NT. She had the face of her late mum. Her eyes, face, smile, and nose were identical. Her body was different with the tail and horns like BM however if that was covered up you would not be able to tell. "Mum," Vivi cried.

NT opened her arms and let Vivi hug her. "There there," NT replied, gently stroking her hair. "I am not your mum but NT but I am here for you, when you need someone," NT replied. 

"I know," Vivi replied, in between her crying. 

"Now why are you upset? I know you lost the fight today, we all did, but my emperor would not like to see tears from your face," NT stated. 

"I froze," Vivi replied.

"His power is ice," NT replied. NT pushed Vivi back and held her shoulder. She looked Vivi in her eyes. "Setbacks happen, the important thing is to move on and get stronger, for yourself, for my emperor, for your king," NT said. 

Vivi stopped crying and thought she was right. Ben would not like for her to cry all day and mope around. He would want to see her happy and her happiness is with him and the girls. Vivi wiped her tears. "You are right, let's get to the next town and buy supplies and repairs for the Miss Love Duck," Vivi said. She touched the hilt of her sword, Succubane. 

Kaya, Conis, Maya, and Raki walked onto the deck of the ship. "It looks like you're in a better mood," Kaya joked, a light smile playing on her lips.

"It's a good thing," Raki added. Vivi looked at the girls and noticed that their injuries had nearly vanished.

"You all look perfectly fine," Vivi said, her eyes wide with surprise.

"It might be because of our Devil Fruits," Conis explained, glancing at the others.

"Zala and Mikita also seem fine, but they don't have Zoan fruits like we do," Kaya replied. She added, "There must be something else at play here." She thought how quickly all the girls' injuries had healed, even Alvida, who was still unconscious, had no marks on her body. All their skin had recovered flawlessly, like there was no battle. 

Maya's gaze drifted to the sword Vivi was holding. She remembered that Saga had a sword that caused problems, but she had also practiced with a sword after class. She thought about their encounter with Aokiji and felt helpless. Determined, she thought of asking Ben for a sword like he had offered. 

"Are we close to the next place?" Raki asked.

"Yes, we should be arriving at Water 7 soon," NT replied.

"I just hope everyone will be fine," Conis added, a hint of worry in her voice.

"They will be. We have to believe in it, and we have the best doctor in the world," Vivi stated.

Conis and Maya both nodded in agreement. "She is an excellent doctor," Maya concurred.

Kaya blushed. "I'm just doing my part," she said modestly, causing the girls to laugh with her. They kept sailing. Raki thought that even with her generous gift from her Captain, she lost. She thought she would get stronger to make him proud. She felt happy with that thought. Raki chuckled internally, she was falling in love with him. 

Conis looked at the stars. She did not have her lance but that would not have made a difference. If only she could have transformed then she might have been more useful. The flame on her back was there. She thought she would get stronger for Ben, her lover, her Captain and for the rest of the girls. 

"I can see something," Vivi announced, squinting into the distance.

"Looks like the Going Merry," Kaya replied. 

"That is the ship of the Straw Hats," Raki added, her mind flashing back to the man who helped defeat Enel.

"Looks like they made it here as well," Conis said, her thoughts also drifting to their battle against Enel. 

"Should we tell them what happened?" Maya asked. She heard about the Strawhats during the girls' talk. 

"Showing weakness could be bad," Raki warned. 

"It would be the right thing and they are our friends," Vivi replied. 

"I do feel like we can trust them," Conis said. 

Raki also agreed. She thought they didn't seem like bad people. They approached the Going Merry and pulled up near it. 

Kaya transformed into her hybrid form. She took Vivi and Conis. NT had taken Maya and Raki. They both flew them over to the Going Merry. Once they had arrived, they sensed a tense atmosphere. They saw Nami in tears. Sanji had pinned down Chopper. There was another woman crying. Zoro stood there. Luffy was on the land, his voice seemed hurt. 

"Hello, we are here," Vivi said, sensing something was off. 

They landed on the deck of the Going Merry. "Vivi, Kaya, you are here," Nami said, who went towards Vivi and hugged her. 

"I would say everything is fine but it is not," Luffy said, after defeating Usopp, his friend. 

"Usopp is lying on the ground bleeding," Kaya said. 

"What happened?" Conis asked, seeing Luffy injured. His face was covered by his strawhat. 

Raki looked around. It was not a good environment. "We thought we had problems," Raki said. 

They all looked at Raki. "Problems?" Sanji asked. Vivi and Kaya thought Sanji was acting normal. 

"Tell us, is Ben and Nojiko okay?" Nami said. She could not take more bad news. 

"Maybe we should not tell," Maya said. 

Vivi looked around. "No, you have a right to know," Vivi replied. "We encountered an Admiral on the sea. His name was Aokiji, we thought he wanted to talk and congratulate us on defeating Crocodile but it went downhill. The Admiral fought everyone and defeated us all in mere minutes, including Ben and we did not even scratch him," Vivi explained. 

The Strawhats were shocked. There was someone so powerful that could defeat everyone in the Love Pirates without even landing a scratch. "Is Nojiko okay?" Nami asked. 

"Yes, she is resting now, everyone is. Ben and Alvida have not woken up yet since they both got frozen," Kaya replied.

Zoro thought about who he was. He knew Ben`s strength, Alvida power and they both lost together. "We will help you whenever and wherever," Luffy stated. 

Sanji got a bit angry thinking someone could hurt these maidens. As the defender of womens he would beat this Aokiji.

"Thank you but it seems like we both need time to recover," Raki replied. 

"The Going Merry is broken and cannot be repaired, we will find a new ship," Luffy stated.

"We should evacuate it," Zoro said. 

Vivi, Kaya both looked shocked to hear this. Kaya looked at the Going Merry. The ship she had gifted Usopp. It cannot be fixed, she thought. "That can't be," Kaya said. 

"The keel is broken," Luffy stated. 

Kaya knew what it meant. This ship could go down any moment. She nodded. "I am sorry Kaya, we have broken your gift," Luffy apologized. 

"No, it is your ship now," Kaya replied. 

"Usopp duelled Luffy for this ship and lost," Chopper cried. 

Kaya looked shocked. She saw Usopp's battered body. Her best friend. She looked at Luffy who was hurt equally, maybe not physically but emotionally. 

"But," Vivi was about to say.

"Don't be naive Vivi," Raki cut her off. 

Vivi thought Raki was right. "This is a duel between yourself, we will have to respect it," Vivi replied. She had heard about such duels when she was uncover at Baroque Works. Duels are between men and have consequences. 

She looked at Kaya conflicted. "As we are not part of your crew, we will assist Kaya`s friend," Vivi added. 

Luffy nodded and walked off. Kaya flew towards Usopp's body on the ground. She cleaned the wounds and patched him up. She knew what Usopp did and respected his decision. She put a note down saying the Love Pirates are here and left. 

"Let's go," Kaya said. 

"We will stay at a nearby hotel for the next few days," Luffy said.

"Captain, can I go and check on Nojko," Nami requested. Luffy nodded. 

 "Let us know if you need any help, we are an alliance," Luffy added. "Does Vivi have a twin?" Luffy asked himself.