Chapter 171: Party
Dialogue "sample"
Thoughts 'sample'
Author notes -sample-
Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter 171: Party
After having an informative talk with Hancock, during which, both Robin and Vivi tried to come up with ways for the Empress's feelings to get through their Captain's thick skull.
They came back to the marine ship with a big group of Amazonians who were caring enough food for everyone on board, including Luffy.
"Huh? What is going on there?" Asked Vivi.
It seemed like her Captain and Ace were arguing with someone else while others were watching with worry.
"Mister Luffy, I assure you that he is been with us for years now." Said Inazuma.
"No!, that's Sabo!, that's our brother. I'm sure of it" Shouted Luffy.
"Do you really not remember us at all?" Asked Ace to the man wearing a black coat and top hat.
"I-I…dont know…" Sabo seemed to be struggling and grabbed his head.
Ivankov, who had been observing, decided to intervene.
"I was there, the day our Commander found this boy in the ruined slums of the Lulusia Kingdom. I personally attended to his wounds, which were extremely severe. After regaining consciousness, he could not remember anything from his past besides his own name. So we decided that he could stay with us until he recovered. Just a year later, Sabo formally joined the Revolutionary ranks out of his own free will."
Sabo looked at Luffy and Ace's painful expressions.
"I'm sorry…I wish I could remember. I only have some vague memories of a big fire before I woke up in the revolutionary's ship and met Master Ivankov and Commander Dragon."
Vivi frowned after hearing this. She had hoped that seeing Luffy and Ace would stir his memories up but that didn't happen.
'What does the future hold for Sabo now.'
She could not answer that anymore. Only time will tell.
"Well…" Ace realized that this must be hard for Sabo too. "It's okay, Sabo. I'm sure that you will remember us one day. I'm just glad to know that my brother is still alive and well… that's enough for me."
"Yeah!, Ace is right. I'm just happy to know that you are alive!" Said Luffy with a bit of a forced smile.
"Well then…" Ivankov started. "It has been lovely to finally meet you, Strawhats, but we must go now."
He turned to look at Ace.
"I guess we can consider our old debt to Whitebeard paid off. Although it was mostly the Strawhats who are responsible for your rescue. I wish we could have done more."
"Nonsense, Inazuma, Morley, and Bon Chan helped a lot!" Defended Luffy.
Ivankov laughed.
"You are too kind…you got more from your mother than your father in that sense."
"You knew my mother?!" Exclaimed Luffy with surprise.
"I did…but this is something that you should talk with your father the next time you meet him. There are some important matters that…sorry I can't say more." Ivankov looked genuinely apologetic at seeing Luffys disappointed expression.
The revolutionaries got into their ship and left. Leaving the mood a bit down.
Vivi gave Hancock a signal of 'go ahead'.
"Go cheer him up!" She whispered.
The Empress moved forward with confidence.
"My dear Luffy, I know you are somewhat disappointed at the moment, but look!"
She moved his gaze so he could see the many giant trays of food that the amazons were carrying.
"Ohh!!, meat!" His eyes regained their shine.
"That's right, this is no time for feeling down. We came here to save Ace and succeeded!. It's time to party!" He rose his arms in the air and shouted.
"Yohoho!, allow me to play some music then." Offered Brook.
Moments later, a big party started. With music and food a plenty.
"Is it okay for us to stay here like this?" Asked Nami with concern.
Vivi came to her side.
"Why not?. It would take many days for the Marines to send any kind of reinforcement, by then, we will be deep undersea."
She grabbed Nami's hand and held it, making the navigator blush.
"What are you doing?"
"You need to relax a little. Let's go dance a bit." She then proceed to drag Nami to the center of the deck, where people were dancing and Brook was playing music.
Chopper brought up Smoker and Tashigi. They were allowed to remain on the deck as long as they behave, but Smoker had to keep wearing the seastone cuffs just in case.
Eustass Kid was left in his cell, as he could not be trusted to be civilized at the moment.
Smoker remained looking grumpy, at least at first, but after the fifth beer jar, he started to calm down.
Tashigi was sitting down between Smoker and Zoro, who was also drinking like a professional.
The two only exchanged a few words but remained silent for the rest of the party.
"Let's make a big fire!" Suggested Luffy.
"Don't you dare lit a fire on my ship!" Shouted an enraged Smoker.
After dancing for a while, Vivi and Nami sat down with the rest of the crew.
"So, what happened? Why did you guys come here?. Not that I'm not grateful." Asked Nami.
"We were about to dive underwater, but then, Empress Hancock approached our ship…." Started Robin.
"Yes, that was quite the surprise!" Interrupted Usopp.
"She explained to us that she was looking for Luffy to say her goodbyes before we-"
"Not that I was scared of anything…" Interrupted Usopp again
A hand appeared out of nowhere and covered his mouth.
"Where was I…" Continued Robin.
"Yes…well, we explained to her what happened with Portagas D.Ace and she offered to help us get here."
"Yeah. We didn't think you guys had planned your escape that well, so we figured that we could come and help with that." Said Franky.
Nami gave Vivi a look.
"We didn't plan the escape at all, I would say…"
Vivi laughed.
"Hey!, it worked!"
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