Chapter 9: The Guest of Honor

The calming breeze of the sea tickled Steven's nose. After raiding Mr. 3's ship and grabbing Genevieve's art supplies (including the painting of Steven that he begged her to keep), the Straw Hats' ship (known as the Going Merry) sailed off onto the Grand Line toward Alabasta using the Eternal Pose the Unluckies provided. Their only hiccup so far was a giant goldfish but now was not the time to worry about such things.

Now was the time to party.

"...so then all of the Gem mutants cornered me, Connie, and her mom! I didn't know if my shield could keep them back!" Steven was entertaining the crew (and guests) with stories from his home dimension, specifically the last major event that happened with him and Connie. The only people who weren't really involved were Nami (who was half-listening while staring at the Eternal Pose), Vivi (who was keeping Nami company), Sanji (who was in the kitchen cooking a meal), and Petrea (who was making the dessert).

"Woah!" Luffy said, completely engrossed in the story. "Did her mom let her use the sword or what?!"

"Well...actually, she kind of just took the sword from her. I popped the bubble and she jumped up on my shield and sliced the thing in half like this!" He demonstrated a sword swipe and fell to the floor as if he were the creature. "Gah!"

"Shishishi! Man, you could really be a great storyteller!" Luffy laughed. "You fit right in with us here!"

"Yay!" Steven cheered. "I'm a pirate!"

"That's right! You are a Straw Hat no matter what!" Luffy promised him. Then he handed him some chopsticks. "Here, put these in your nose and mouth! Let's dance!"

Steven looked at the chopsticks in confusion, but then shrugged. "What the heck? A pirate's life for me!"

The boy, the captain, the long-nosed one, and the duck started to dance in a line while cheering. Watching the scene, Zoro shook his head. "Great. Just what we need. Two Luffys."

"The kid grows on you," Damian told him. "Say...I'm sorry about..."

"Save it; not interested," Zoro dismissed it. "If you're on the ship now, that means that it's water under the bridge. Just don't give us a reason to go swimming."

The bomb-man nodded and went back to drinking his grog. "God, it's been too long since I've had anything other than tea."

"On this ship, we pour beer and sake," Zoro raised his own glass. "Drink up!"

The two drank their beer in delight. However, as Damian wiped away the suds, he noticed he was being watched by the trio of youths and the lone animal. "You can stop pretending that you aren't staring at me!" Damian yelled. "Come out with it!"

Steven took the chopsticks out of his nose and walked over to them. "Well...I was thinking..."

"Your first mistake," he mumbled. Zoro choked in his drink trying to stifle back a laugh.

"You know that my dream is to be back with my family right? And how Luffy wants to be the Pirate King and Usopp wants to be a brave warrior? Even Genevieve wants to be the greatest painter in the world...well, this world," Steven pointed to the slightly older girl, who was painting the party and keeping to herself. She noticed the attention and gave a slight wave before returning to her artwork.

"...where is this going?"

"What's your dream?" Steven asked.

"STEVEN!" Usopp yelled. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO EASE HIM INTO THAT QUESTION!"

"Ahh! Sorry!"

"Is that really all?" Damian shook his head.

Steven nodded his eagerly, flashing a giant smile. The former Mr. 5 kept a solid frown on his face. To counter this, Steven tried to adopt puppy-dog eyes.

"Kid, what I want to do with my life is between me, myself, and I," he finally said. "Don't force the issue!"

"Aww," Steven said dejectedly. He moped back to the others.

"You know that they are going to keep pestering you about it while you are on the ship, right?" Zoro pointed out.

"They'll know when I want them to know," Damian picked his nose.

"Whatever," Zoro shrugged. "If you need me, I'll be training."

"...in the middle of a party after drinking a beer?" Damian raised an eyebrow. "What spurred that on?"

"You did actually," Zoro walked away. "You reminded me of my limitations. I allowed myself to get caught by you and that wax-guy. If I'm going to be the best swordsman in the world, I need to learn to cut more than wax: I need to cut iron!"

The bomb-man blinked and cleaned off his sunglasses. "Damn fool...does he have any idea what he is getting himself into?"

"I do!" Zoro yelled to him. "Stop thinking out loud!"

Damian grumbled and walked away to watch Zoro train. "If he's going to train, he might as well need a partner to spot him..." As he moved past Steven and the others, they immediately stopped talking and looked away. "Ugh, you people..."

Sure enough, the three of them were whispering to each other near Genevieve's work station the second Damian moved out of earshot. "Okay, so 'Operation: Discover Damian's Dream' is a go!" Luffy looked to each of his nakama, who nodded.

"This will be a tough mission, captain," Usopp told him sternly. "I hope we are up to the task."

"We have to be," Steven held his own. "If not for our sake, then for the ship's"

"Agreed!" they all nodded.

"Quack!" Karoo the duck added.

"Do you just want me to tell you?" Genevieve asked nonchalantly from her little station. "I can use my 'Colors Trap' to..."

"No!" the three of them yelled.

She cocked her head. "Why not?"

"It's part of the game!" Steven exclaimed. "That'd be cheating!"

"That's right!" Usopp nodded. "No powers or outside influences. He has to tell us of his own free will...that means you too, Luffy!"

They all looked at Luffy beginning to stretch his ear over in his direction, causing Steven to laugh. Genevieve rolled her eyes.

"You guys are odd," she told them.

*AGITR*

In the kitchen, Sanji tried to perform his typical flare with exaggerating every single action he was doing. It did not matter to him that this woman was his enemy mere hours before: she was a gorgeous sight to behold and he intended on making her feel at home. With him. In the kitchen.

Alone.

"To me, my dear Petrea-chan, cooking is a work of art. Every slice, every bit of preparation is like the steps of a dance. Tell me...do you like to dance?" Sanji tried to hit on her.

The woman raised her eyebrow and chuckled. "I do happen to like to dance...and by dance, I mean cook," she smiled. "I have to say, for pirates you have high quality ingredients here. Would you hand me that marshmallow creme?"

Sanji grabbed the white fluff and handed it to her. "And might I ask what delicacy you are making with my creme?"

She put her hands on her hips. "If you must know, it's my creamy chocolate fudge! I haven't had the chance to make it since I was a little girl." Then she adopted a wicked look on her face. "You know...if you are lucky, I might just let you lick the bowl."

Hearts filled Sanji's eyes as he went back to tenderizing the meat. 'Oh, I know she tried to hurt my Vivi-chan, but how can I stay mad at her?!' he thought to himself in his blissful state.

The former Miss Valentine merely chuckled. 'He's so easy to read and play with.'

"So..." Sanji got up to courage to ask. "Why chocolate? What made you want to be a chocolatier?"

"Me?" she blushed. "Well...when I was young I lost both of my parents to a group of bandits. I was an outcast, especially after I found my Devil Fruit and realized what I could do. Nobody wanted to acknowledge me. After a few years, a kind restaurant owner took me in and showed me how to be his dessert chef. It was the first time in a long time I was really happy..."

"Why'd you leave then?"

Petrea's face grew grim and lost all the playfulness she had before. "A Celestial Dragon visited our town and came to our restaurant. It was labeled the best restaurant on the West Blue, so he wanted to see if it was true," she laughed grimly. "Clearly it wasn't up to his standards. He burned down the restaurant and wanted to take me to be his servant. I managed to escape and started a new life for myself. I became a fierce bounty hunter, targeting mainly bandits to make my way in life. Clearly I was doing something right as Mr. 0...Crocodile sent a representative to me and offered me a place in Baroque Works, promising me an end to the running."

The blonde-haired woman sniffled a bit, trying to hold back tears. "What fools we were...to think that causing more misery to people would end the pain. In the end, I'm no better than those bandits that killed my parents."

Sanji handed her a handkerchief. She graciously accepted it and blew her nose. "You put all of that behind you now. You are a far better person than those shitty bandits. We all have our demons, Petrea-chan. You'll learn to live with them. Besides, you are far too beautiful to put yourself through that."

"Kyahahaha! You are persistent, Sanji," Petrea weakly laughed through her tears. "But thoughtful nevertheless. Now stop it, you! I have fudge to cook!"

The Straw Hat cook smiled at the light compliment and went to finish his meal when he noticed a small red spot on the back of her neck. "Say...do you want something for that?"

"For what?" Petrea asked.

"I think you got a bug bite or something on your neck," he pointed out. "I think we might have some ointment or something...very rudimentary, but it might help."

She felt the back of her neck and found the bump. "Huh, what do you know? I think I'll be fine, Sanji," the woman coughed and chuckled. "What I do need is that vanilla extract you are trying to hide from me."

*AGITR*

Vivi, who had taken the Eternal Pose for a moment from Nami, stared out at the light waves of the sea and sighed. 'We are still so far away from my people...I hope we can make it there in time...'

"Hey, Princess Vivi!" the youthful voice of Steven startled her. Nami, who had closed her eyes for a moment next to Vivi, jumped. "Hi, Nami!"

"Gah! Steven, don't sneak up on me!" she said clutching her heart. She laughed a little bit.

The half-Gem blushed. "Sorry...oh! Did I wake you up from a nap, Nami?"

"...no..." Nami pouted briefly. She folded her arms and then stuck out her tongue at the boy, who laughed.

"And please, just call me Vivi! Princess is too formal a title for me!" the blue-haired teenager added with a smile.

"Okay, Pr...Vivi!" he returned his smile. "So...whatcha thinking about?"

"My people, Steven...we are so close to being able to save them," Vivi looked out to the sea. "I've been away from them for so long. I just want to see peace return."

"What can I do to help?" Steven asked. "Steven Universe is reporting for duty!"

"Hahaha," Vivi laughed. "Oh, Steven. You are helping just by being here. It will take all of us to stop Crocodile's plans."

Steven made a face. "So, just who IS Crocodile anyway? You all keep saying his name but nobody ever told me who he was!"

"Crocodile...is a monster. As one of the Shishibukai, he was once one of the worst pirates ever to terrorize the Grand Line. Now he works for the government and they will look the other way for whatever it is that he does as long as he helps them when they ask him to."

"He's a bad guy pretending to be a good guy?"

"That's one way of looking at it," Nami grumbled. Her face was red and she tried to put her head back on the ship.

The boy curled his hands into fists. "That's just wrong! Why won't the government do something about him?!"

"The government doesn't know, Steven," Vivi sighed. "Baroque Works has been covering everything up and blaming it on rebel activity."

"'Rebels?!' Like Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia?!" Steven asked excitedly.

Vivi had no proper response for that so she shook her head. "Um...no...? Are they from your world?"

"That's right! You guys don't know about Star Wars! I have so much to teach you!" Steven whispered in shock. He shook his head and thought about what she was saying while the two ladies shrugged to each other, assuming that Star Wars had to do with his Gem ancestry. "This sounds really serious."

"It is. If I can't make it back to Alabasta alive...I don't know what my people would do."

Steven gave her a thumbs-up. "Don't worry! I'll keep you alive and in one piece!"

"Well, that is a comforting thought."

"Say...can I ask you something else?" Steven fiddled with his thumbs while he talked.

"Ask away!"

"Are..." Steven started slowly. "Are you still mad at Petrea and the others?"

The princess looked down to the others having their fun. Genevieve was still painting and Petrea and Sanji were bringing out food. It was clear that this was a very hard question for her to answer. "I...I don't know, Steven."

"I know that they all did bad things, but I think they are really sorry for it," Steven told her simply.

"It's very hard...to let that go," Vivi made a face. "They tried to use my country and kill my people."

The boy turned his head up to the sky. He sighed. "Yeah...but they'll make up for it!"

"You are just a barrel of optimism, aren't you?" Vivi ruffled his hair.

"Haha! Cut it out! Cut it out! Nami, save me! I'm being attacked!" Steven laughed. He looked over to the navigator. "Nami? NAMI?!"

Vivi followed Steven's gaze and saw what he was yelling about. The orange-haired navigator had collapsed to the floor and was wheezing. "Everyone, please hurry!" Vivi yelled. "Nami fainted!"

Stretching up to where they were, Luffy (and Usopp, who held onto him) rushed to his nakama's side and tried to wake Nami up. Vivi had to push them away. "What are you idiots doing?! She has a major fever! Yelling and shaking her is the last thing you want to do!"

"I didn't know!" Luffy backed away incredibly fast. "I've never been sick!"

"Me either!" Usopp joined in.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!" Vivi asked shocked. Then she looked over to Genevieve, who had brought up her supplies and started to paint the scene. "AND WHY ARE YOU PAINTING THIS?!"

The girl shrugged and set the paints aside. "We need to bring her to her bed," the girl pointed out.

"Wait!" Steven cried. "I think I know what to do!"

The crew waited for him to speak. Instead, Steven spit on his own hands and rubbed Nami's head. Sprinting up from the lower lever where he and Petrea were still bringing out food, Sanji went to kick the boy away. "HOW DARE YOU SPIT ON OUR SICK NAMI-SAN?!"

"Knock it off!" Petrea floated up to them and blocked the kick. "Rude as he may be, I doubt he is doing that for no reason!"

"COULD EVERYONE PLEASE BE QUIET?" Steven yelled. "My spit has healing powers...but it doesn't work all the time!"

"WHAT?! REALLY?!" Luffy and Usopp were shocked and impressed at the same time.

The half-Gem looked at his hands and closed his eyes. "I'm going to try to make her better, but I need to focus! I haven't been able to get it to work in a while, but I think it's connected to my feelings or something. I just need to be confident...I know I can do this!"

The boy started rubbing Nami's temples and then shoulders. The crew watched in awe, save Zoro (who was training) and Damian (who was with him). As this was happening, Sanji's eyes twitched with jealousy.

After a moment, Steven hung his head with shame. "I...I tried. I really tried."

Petrea put her hand on the boy's shoulder and offered a weak smile after a cough. "That's all anyone could ask, Steven. Come on, boys! Get her into bed!"

"WHY DO WE HAVE TO DO IT?!" Usopp yelled. "Can you use your Devil Fruit powers to float her down there?!"

"YOU DARE ASK A LADY TO DO A MAN'S JOB?!" Sanji retorted back.

"Could you idiots keep it down!" a third voice added. "My head is killing me!"

Vivi nodded. "Yeah, listen to Nami!" Then she paused and blinked for a moment. "WAIT; NAMI?!"

Sure enough, Nami had slowly stirred from off the floor and felt her forehead. "What's on my head?"

"NAMI-SAN, YOU ARE OKAY!" Sanji started to weep tears of joy. "STEVEN, YOU ARE A MIRACLE!"

"I did it!" Steven cried out excitedly. "My healing powers are working! I knew I could do it! This is great!"

"Wow!" Luffy clapped his hands. "I now declare you to be our musician, storyteller, AND doctor! Hip! Hip!"

"Hoary!" Usopp and Steven yelled. Genevieve gave a soft clap and merely gave a weak "Woo-hoo."

Nami proceeded to knock each of them in the back of their heads. "YOU SHOULDN'T BE CHEERING TO THAT!"

"Ow!" Luffy cried. "Why did you hit us?"

"Because this just exposed a major flaw in our crew! If Steven's spit didn't work, I could have died! We have no doctor on the ship..."

"We have Steven!" Luffy pointed to the boy, who waved.

"He doesn't count! What happens when he gets back home? We will be without a doctor!"

"She has a point," Genevieve offered. "You guys would be a mess without Steven."

"Like you contribute a lot," Usopp whispered.

"I gave you treasure!"

"And we are all better off for it!" Nami added hastily. "Now I don't know about you, but all of that excitement is making me hungry."

Sanji stood at attention and offered the lady a hand. "My dear Nami-san, allow me to escort you to the deck, where Petrea-chan and I prepared a full course banquet for everyone to enjoy. Seeing as you are the guest of honor, I do believe you should have the first taste!"

"Hey! Steven was the guest of honor!" Petrea fumed.

"Wait...food...THAT MEANS MEAT!" Luffy yelled as he jumped off the railing to eat as much food as possible.

"My first pirate food!" Steven clapped excitedly. "This is so cool!"

"Come on, Steven!" Petrea offered. "Grab on and we'll beat them to it!"

"Devil Fruit powers!"

In no time at all the feast began and the main courses were all eaten and enjoyed. Steven was a bit wary at first of all of the fancy food Sanji prepared, but it was better than purely eating Genevieve's rice crackers. Thankfully, Sanji truly earned the title of "chef" and everything he prepared was as delicious as Kofi's pizza or Peedee's fry bits.

For a boy so experienced, Steven truly lived a very sheltered life.

Once the dinner portion concluded, Petrea brought out her fudge, which brought tears of happiness to everyone's eyes. The woman was so overwhelmed with pride and embarrassment that she fainted on the spot.

"Aww, she's bashful!" Steven smiled.

"Okay, Petrea. That was funny, but you can get up now!" Usopp told her. "We just had one sickness scare; we don't need a second."

The woman did not respond besides giving another cough. Her coughing then turned into hyperventilation. With each hack and wheeze, the former Baroque Works Agent floated up in the air and then came crashing down. The Straw Hats started to look confused about what was happening before Sanji's jaw dropped.

"My god...that bug bite on the back of her neck...PETREA-CHAN IS SICK TOO!" He grabbed Steven by the collar and pointed to her. "Quick! Do your healing thing!"

"Wah! But how am I supposed to help her?! She keeps flying away with every cough!" Steven panicked.

"What the hell is going on over here?!" Zoro and Damian ran over from their training, each drenched in sweat. "The entire ship is shaking. Are we under attack?!"

Everybody pointed to the sky where Petrea's coughing kept raising her up and down in the air. Damian ran his hands through his hair. "Damn it. Every time Petrea ever got sick, her Devil Fruit powers would go all haywire. We need to get her down here and bind her before she does any more damage!"

"It's okay! I can spit on her if you bring her down!" Steven nodded.

The two men just looked at each other and shook their heads. Zoro leaped up in the air and landed on Damian's hands, who threw him up at his former partner. With the added weight of a second body, Petrea went plummeting toward the ship.

"AHHH! AT THAT SPEED, THE GOING MERRY IS GOING TO BE DAMAGED FOR SURE!" Usopp freaked out.

"I'll get them!" Luffy said, stretching his arms out to them. Damian grabbed them and tied the arms around their waists. Luffy reeled them in and caught them with his rubber body.

Grabbing her paintbrush, Genevieve started mixing colors together. "Colors Trap: Tranquil Green."

The coughing Petrea started to calm down and steadied out her breathing. Vivi took her temperature and shook her head. "This is bad. Her fever is even worse than Nami's. Steven, please try to help her!"

The boy nodded and spit on his hands again. He was clearly worried and under a lot of pressure. Unlike with Nami, he really needed to do this fast. If he didn't act fast enough, Petrea's coughs could destroy the ship. As such, the pressure was all on him to make this situation better. Damian gagged a bit as he picked his nose out of anxiety. He started to rub her throat and stomach and waited for the results. He looked to Vivi, who checked her temperature again.

"Steven...I'm sorry. It didn't do anything this time."

"Noooooo!" Steven started to cry, balling his hands into fists. "I thought I had it under control! Now she's hurting really badly! Are there doctors in Alabasta?!"

Vivi nodded but her expression was dark. "There are, but if we keep going at this pace, she'll never make it there alive."

"AHHHHH! OH NO! WHAT DO WE DO?!" Steven ran around in circles, panicking. Suddenly, he stopped and sat down. "Ah, it will all be okay. I am sure we can find a doctor before Alabasta. Right, fellow pirates?"

The remaining Straw Hats looked to Steven in confusion and then to Genevieve, who put a fudge square in her mouth. "What? What did I do?"