Chapter Text
"Darling, dearest, dead."
Observinghis men, who are carrying food and furnishings into the pirate's ship, Dalton smiles graciously at the woman with black hair who is standing next to him.
"Dalton-san," Umekui says quietly, standing together with him.
"Yes, Umekui?" asks Dalton, peering at her (her eyes seem to be fixed on the sea in the vicinity of themas if the ocean captured all of the warmth she once felt).
"Do you realize what it means now that Wapol and his men have been killed?" she inquires carefully.
He stays still but his grin never fades (he had been waiting so long for the freedomto bring his smile back so it would not go now!).
"Yes," he says quietly, his fists tightly closed.
"I know a way to avoid the trials," she claims, glancing up at his dark gaze, then smiles as she observes her captain playing in the snow with Usopp and Chopper.
"What?! How?" he screams, staring at her with broad eyes.
"Listen to me carefully," Umekui said. "After I and my nakama depart Drum island, you will need to dial the nearest marines office-"
Dalton gasps, looks at her with panicked eyes, and cuts her with a shriek.
"The Marines! They are the hounds of the world government; why would I call them that? The intent is to avoid the trialsof the world gover-".
"Shut up," Umekui cuts him off abruptly. She turns her deadly crimson glare on him, causing him to shiver and squeal (after all, this woman slaughtered a king and a knight in the blink of an eye). "I'm the one who is making the instructions."
Nodding, Dalton lets her know that he will now pay attention to her.
"You will call them and repeat the exact words, "Dazai had murdered the king and his entire army.""
Dalton froze and took a step back from her, his body shaking with fear.
"You-" he extends a shaky finger, "you are 'the Dazai'?"
It is impossible. She cannot be her, right? She can't be the woman whose mere mention causes every nation to panic. She can't be the world's monster, submerged in the blood of all the wars, massacres, and disappearances she cause.
She doesn't appear anything like he expected her to be; when he was by Wapol's side, he remembered his king pursuing this woman whose head could elevate him to the position of aworld ruler.
A woman whose mysterious and tremendous abilities make all greedy men salivate at the prospect of capturing it in their grasp. She cannot be the woman who hails from an organization that makes childrenflee from fear and elders to weep out in terror.
Dazai, the devil's child, the prodigy mafia—Dalton heard an abundance of names and titles concerning her. But how come she's there with a crew of nameless pirates? How can she be the promised one Odasaku informed him about? (yet Dalton knows absolutely nothing regarding this man who promised himthe freedom of his kingdom in a future Dlaton never conceived).
Umekui, or Dazai. Dalton doesn't know what to label it anymore. Smiles and winks.
"Yes. Don't I look monstrous enough to be Dazai, for you?" she asks.
No. Not all.
Dalton did not have a description of Dazai. Only his king and Shiki were aware of her because it was highly classified information.
However, Dalton wonders why, if Dazai is the monster that the world fears, his cowardly king does not fear her. Why shouldn't he tremble in fear at the sound of her name?
It's strange as if he knew things about her that only those in his circle knew. (All the royalty who coated in the gold of the poorest and smiled with fangs engrossed in the shed blood of the innocent!)
But. Between the woman smiling before him, her gaze tinged with darkness and Wapol's wicked laugh and cruel eyes. Dalton is aware, that Wapol would be the sole monster in his view.
He tries desperately to quiet his erratic heart, and the dread strikes him (how could he be terrified of the woman who freed his homeland!
("She killed him! Slaughter a king before your eyes! You should be afraid!" yells apart of his consciousness)).
"Do they know?" he enquired.
"They know the name but not its meaning," she calmly responds, her gaze shifting to her nakama frolicking in the snow.
"So, as I previously stated, you'll need to inform them of this. Of course, if they question you if I was alone, you will say, "Yes, and Dazai informed us that Crocodile ordered herto kill the king of Drum Island". Andclaims that you have been chosen as the next ruler to ensure the land's well-being and future," Umekui states.
"Crocodile? The sea warlord who chased Princess Vivi out of the Alabasta kingdom?" gasps Dalton.
Umekui merely nods.
"Your accusation will be confirmed by false testimony of your people and doctors. You're going to tell them that I killed Wapol and gave Crocodile the head, of course, but you have no idea why, and the Marines will take care of the rest. They will send a swarm of marines to check the area and, of course, discover the hidden corpses of Wapol and his men, but the head will be missing, certifying your claim," adds Umekui, her voice sharp and serious.
"How are you so sure that I won't betray you and tell them the truth?" Dalton wonders.
"I know you're not stupid, Dalton, so avoid asking stupid questions," she states, giving him a displeased expression before answering with a sigh. "Do you honestly think they would believe you if you revealed tothemevery atrocity that Wapol inflicted against you and the citizens of Drum Kingdom? Do you really think they'll believe that Wapol, who comes from a royal heritage, could do such atrocities against humanity?" she scoffs. "Don’t be a fool, Dalton. If they learn that you have started a revolution against your own king, they will murder you and slaughter all of the residents on this island, eliminating all witnesses."
His fist trembles beside him, as he absorbs the reality with bitterness. She gave him a sideways glance and smiled (so void and mournful).
"Dalton, did you already forget what world we dwell in? Did you forget who truly rules this hideous world?" She chuckles idly. "Those who reside above us are incapable of delivering forth justice. Accept it, Dalton."
He knows.
He had accepted it a long time ago. From the cries of the innocent resonating through the miserable cells of Wapol's castle. From the blood that stained his hands and Wapol's face as he laughed, mocking him for flinching. From the voices begging him to save their loved ones and the children imploringhim to save their fathers.
He bit his lip. He already acknowledged that justice would never be brought to his land by those who rule over them with avarice and wickedness.
"But," she whispers again. "Remember, Dalton, in our world, justice is a weapon. Justice could only be served against a monster through a bigger monster. Sometimes we can only thrive blood through blood, fire through fire, and evil against evil. So, if you wish to protect this kingdom over which you have fought so long, keep him out of the hands of the world control. You're going to follow my instructions to the letter. Do we agree this time?" she asks, staring hard at him, indicating that if he lies to her, she will find out.
"It's a deal," Dalton replies with a nod.
He stuck out his hand for Umekui to shake.
She smirks and looks down at his hand, "Do you know what it means to shake hands with the devil to accept a deal?"
He chills and withdraws his hand, staring at her with terrified eyes, waiting for her to demand something like his soul or life (Dalton can't since he has a kingdom and a future to preserve!).
She laughs lightly, making Dalton blush. He can't help himself since Umekui's laugh is so soft and lovely, and it's unusual to hear such a wonderful laugh from someone like Dazai.
(But when he looks at this woman, whose smile may melt the ice on his country. And, whose eyes are filled with tenderness and devotion to her nakamas and captain, heis unable to view her as the Dazai that the world dreads. She can love and protect, which a monster like Wapol could never manage!)
"Don't worry, you are not selling your soul to me," she quips, then smiles as she gently takes his hand in hers. "After all it has waited long years to be free from the suffering that plagued your home, right?" she says softly.
Shaking her hand slowly, he lets his fingertips learn every line on her hand and fingers because it was her hands that killed the king and set them free (
).
He smiles warmly at her. She withdraws her hand and prepares to walkwhere her captain is calling out her name excitedly.
"Protect your home at any cost, Dalton," she started marching down the snow before pausing to stare up at a particular hill with a slight smile, "A new kingdom deserves a new name, don't you think?"
She gave him a wink and started marching down the cliff, waving to her nakamas to let them know she was coming. She looks back at the castle and smiles. But this time there was a sense of tragedy surrounding it, as if she had accepted something that kept weighing on her.
She shakes her head lightly and keeps strolling.
"COME ON UME!" smiles Luffy, with Chopper on his shoulder and waving cheerfully at their first mate.
The remaining nakamas and Princess Vivi have already boarded the ship, waiting for the rest of their nakama to join them.
But as Umekui got closer to her nakama's spot. A flying broom and Kureha's loud blasting laugh resound as she soars over Umekui's head, grabs her by the waist, tosses her over her lap, and then rapidly flies to her castle with Umekui in her arms.
Dalton's mouth drops open and he blinks to ensure that this is not an odd nightmare.
The pirate's mouth drops wide, and Usopp yells in panic. Kureha cracks up loudly from her broom, speeding toward her castle with the first mate on her lap.
"THE WITCH HAS KIDNAPPED UMEKUI!" Usopp cries out, dashing all over the deck in distress.
"DOCTORINE!" Chopper shouts, taken aback by his mother's behavior.
Luffy's face turns bright red as he sprints across the cliff in pursuit of Kureha.
"OLD HAG GIVE ME BACK MY FIRST MATE!"
Zoro and Sanji jump off the deck and follow Luffy with a curse.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM OF THIS WITCH!"
"UMEKUI-CHAN! WAIT FOR ME, I'M COMING TO RESCUE YOU!"
Nami shouts a frustrated screech before jumping from the deck, grabbing Chopper, carrying him in her arms, and sprinting after them. With a panicked shout, Usopp leaps off the deck and pursues his nakamas.
"WAIT FOR ME GUYS! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Vivi blinks from her seat on the deck, alone, and stares upward at the screaming outraged pirate.Dalton motions for her to come to his side, and she hops from her spot and approaches him with a smile.
"You've discovered a particular group of pirates," Dalton admits.
She looks to the far back of the sprinting pirates in the snow and smiles gently, "Indeed they are."
"You have approximately fifteen minutes until Luffy breaks through the castle's doors. Seventeen minutes before Zoro curses you, causing Sanji to punch him in the face. Nineteen minutes before Nami and Usopp yell at you, although the latter will undoubtedly be hiding behind Nami's back. And Chopper to cry because the poor boy was pulled into this mess," Umekui states, sitting on the floor with crossed legs and peering at the imaginary watch on her wrist.
"Shut up," Kureha grumbles as she searches through her belongings in her chamber.
Umekui tilts her head and rests it on her hand, supported by her leg.
"What are you doing?" she inquires.
"Shut up, question later, brat!" grumbles Doctorine from beneath her desk. "There!" she cracks madly as she leaps from beneath the desk, a red book in her hands.
She quickly opens it and, seeing the page she was looking for, flashes a smile, jumps over Umekui, and puts the book on her lap.
"I have found a way to save you, Umekui!" Kureha smiles, her hands on her waist, gazing down at Umekui.
"If it's some jock, I'll cut your tongue," Umekui said, looking up at her.
Kureha raises her leg at Umekui, but she dodges it. "Read it before glaring at me like a mad dog, brat!"
Umekui sighs then looks down at the book, reading the words as her eyetwitch. She glances back at Kureha with a terrified expression, as if whatever she has read is both absurd and unbelievable.
"You're implying that a devil fruit can save me?" Umekui asks, her voice dense and odd as if something was growing within her throat.
Kureha brightens as if she has discovered the key to her elixir, "The Ope Ope no Mi can save you, Umekui!"
"Do you ever hearwhen a patient speaks to you about his issues?" Umekui growls, getting up and dropping the book to the floor.
"Of course,I'm the greatest doctor in the region!" Kureha scoffs.
"Then what don't you understand that another power can't work on me since it will be nullified ?!" She grabs Kureha's coat with shaking fingers and snarls, "Is this some game that you're playing, Doctorine?"
It's been so long that rage hasn't marked her mind.
(The last time she felt it, fire burst from her body, her madlaugh dripped in blood, and the abyss of sorrow raged within her in chaos).
But now she's f*cking enraged, and the thing is urging her to burn to death Doctorine. How could she mock her like that? How could she laugh at her despairing hope? After all, Umekui confessed through hesitant eyes and a thick voice.
The way she has peeledout her flesh and every layer of the lies she feeds to her nakamas, toDoctorine.
( HOW DARE SHE? HOW DARE SHE??!!!!)
She wants to scream and cry. She can't because Umekui is cursed. She has been doomed to bear this hole inside her for the rest of her life, and this maddoctor mocks it as if it were nothing! That a silly devil fruit could save her?!
She confessed. She sold to Kureha something she had once held dear and a portion of herself that disappeared with Odasaku.
(TO ONLY BE MOCKED BACK LIKE A FOOL !?)
(She wants to murder her, kills her, and laughs as she swallows her dreams, goals, and every f*cking memory!).
She peeled her rottenflesh in front of Kureha, thinking that the woman Odasaku had chosen would be able to help her. (Hahahaha, what did she think? Did she honestly believe that a monster like her could be helped? Umekui Dazai deserves to be burned in the fire of Hell and punished for her crimes! Help is not sold to miserable creatures like her (who lick their deadly blood in the dark).
Layer by layer, she has revealed the thousand agonies she is going through in the darkness, only to have her hope crushed by the voices mocking and laughing at her like a circus beast.
(THE VOW WAS BROUGHT, AND YOUR BLOOD WAS CURSED, FOOLISH GIRL!) DAZAI, DAZAI! DAZAI! DAZAI!)
"Listen to me, brat!" Kureha yells, the veins on her forehead shaking with rage over Umekui's idiotic outburst.
She grabs Umekui's hair and brings her face closer to her to ensure that this foolish brat listens to her.
"Did you really expect me to give you an absurd solution?! Do you honestly think I'll let you down like that?" Kureha croaks, her eyes swelling with unshed tears.
She tightly grips Umekui's shoulders, her nails piercing into her flesh.
"A hundred people died by my fault because I let them down," she confesses, guilt coursing through her veins. "Hirikuk! Roger! A hundred names and faces followed them into the arms of death because I could not save them!" she shakes Umekui's shoulders, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Kureha cannot fail again.
She would never forsake those who seek her help again.
(She can't even sleep at night without remembering the cries and sobs of her citizens yearning to be saved by a doctor! She couldn't even save them since Kureha was still hiding from the hunt that Wapol had led,his wicked voicecursing her name!)
She failed to save Hiriluk.
(Oh, dearHiriluk, whose hope was the embers that kept Kureha going all those years!).
She let him die, sacrificinghis life for Chopper's better future. He died alone, his laugh the only thing she could hear through her tears and grief. (And this night, she drank everything she could find in thehope maybe in her dreams, the warmth and smile of her kind friend would be there to cradle her shattered heart).
She failed him, with time conspiring against her as death hooksdraggedhim apart from her and their son.
She was powerless against Roger's disease, gazing with broad pupils as he accepted his demise with honor (where is the honor, she wanted to shout as she learned about his death through a f*ckingpaper?!
The fall of the pirate King;they have written.
Where is the fall when his legacy is carved on the hearts of pirates like Luffy? Where is the fall when Roger's smile shines and reflects in Luffy's smile and laughter? Where is the fall when the will that flows through his veins boils through Luffy's soul?)
She is tired of letting people sink into death's arms. She is tired of ignoring how her blood roars at her and ridicules her for her mistakes.
(How can the world regard her as the greatest doctor it has ever welcomed when her hands are covered in the blood of innocents?!
How is it possible for someone with her level of intelligence and medical skills to be among the best doctors in the world and still be unable to save the lives of those who seek her help? How could she be the greatest when thepain creeps into her bones and heartbreak rattles her soul?)
So it is selfish on her behalf. If she's being selfish by seeking solacein Umekui Dazai. To find redemption in Umekui, then let it be. If, in the end, she can embrace the loss of those she failed with a light heart and bring back to life her dead heart through Umekui Dazai'sgrin and laugh of acceptance.
Then Kureha is willing to do anything for her. She is willing to turn her back on the entire world to help Umekui Dazai.
(How could she not? How can she not grasp Umekui's hands when agony grips her flesh and twists her inside in the deepest torment possible?
And she thinks,how many people had hit away the hands that Dazai held out in the past?).
"I CAN'T LET YOU DOWN LIKE I DID TO THEM! I PROMISE THAT I WILL HELP YOU UMEKUI! SO PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!" Kureha shouts through tears, shaking Umekui's shoulders in the hopes that this brat will listen to her.
Umekui stops, watching Kureha's tears-stained cheeks and the desperation in her voice, her rage slowly fading away from her.
She falls back on her buttocks, causing Kureha to tumble to the floor with her. She blinks down at the floor and returns her gaze to Kureha, then laughs quietly. It has a bittersweet yet pleasant tone.
"I'am listening to you, Kureha." She gazed at her with her ruby eye, fascination in it. "Tell me your genius solution,"
Kureha let out the breath she had been holding. She smiled,matching Umekui's.
"So I am not going to lie, but there will be a risk," she began, her hand twitching slightly before squeezing it in a fist above her lap. "First, here's my theory on the two hearts you're carrying. You told me that 'no longer human' steal abilities and soulsfrom their victims, correct?"
Umekui nods, intrigued by Kureha's theories.
"So, let's see," she says, moving her hands as if to form a sphere. "If we assume that no longer has consciousness and a drive to devour and feed on souls and powers, as you claim. It acts like an organism that requires feeding to grow, it must have a core, right?" Kureha asks, and Umekui nods again.
"This core is undoubtedly the heart that you are carrying. So we need to extract it," Kureha says. Umekui's eyes widen at the proposal and she nods to show Kureha that she is listening.
"You told me thatpowers do not affectyou because they'll be nullified by your ability-your blood," she says, her gaze narrowing at Umekui. "You lied to me about it," Kureha states calmly, her gaze scolding Umekui.
Kureha cut Umekui off before she could say anything to defend herself.
"Wh-"
"Your injuries and scars," Kurea started, narrowing her attention on Umekui's body, "were lethal wounds, particularly those on your chest above your heart. Any surgeon or doctor could see it, and a simple surgerycould never have savedyou; it is impossible." She reacts bluntly, "So how is it possible?"
Umekui's voice comes to a halt in her throat; she takes long breaths before uttering the truth.
"I have a possibility of 1% for an ability to work on me-" she said, her hands twitching. "The requirement it's for the bearer to have his heart stopped, allowing the patient todie."
Kureha freezes. Umekui revealed a method that knocked out her breath.Her throat rumbles as a sudden bitter fear strikes her to the core.
"You are telling me that you died-" Kureha cries out.
"If only," Umekui chuckles as something empty fills the air. "No. We merely destroyed me tofix me, as he used to say. If only it had healed the scars so that I was the only one who knew about them, hidden beneath my skin. Hell, I'm sure she could have done it, but he preferred to watch me hide them, cowering behind my scars and wounds like an abused doll. It gives him joy to see me like that," Umekui concludes with a blank smile.
"Mori," Kureha whispers, spitting at the word with fury and hate.
Umekui's eyes widen at the name, and then she smiles, wiping the surprise from her face because, after all, the entire world knows this name. He held a few impressions of the world.
(To know that something like her curled at the feet of this man like a ruined beast makes her want to scream and rage).
"Akiko's ability, 'Thou shall no die'. is the one that mended my wounds and retrieved me to life every time," she reveals. "Being a corpse is the sole means for a power to operate on me, and the 1% chance of survival is only feasible for onlyfive minutes.When the brains die, it'll be too late," she states.
Kureha confirms, "It's a cerebral embolism. A blood clot plugs an artery, starving tissues of oxygen. The brain is extremely hungry for oxygen, and the heart is the sole structure that gives it oxygen through the blood; after five minutes at room temperature, brain cells die, and you pass away. I had my notion, which is why I told you that it had risks-"
Kureha glances out her windows as she hears Luffy yelling and sprinting through the rest of the cliff. She rushes to her desk, pulling out a few lettersand twobags from beneath it.
"In the bag, you will find a few medicines that I prescribed to you, as well as the precision written on paper. Those medicationscould be fatal to you if you do not follow my instructions, so I trust you to read and apply them correctly!" She throws the red bag on Umekui's lap. Then squat in front of her and hold out the letters. "There. Odasaku wrote and sent me letters; some were addressed to me, while the remainder were dedicated to you." She takes Umekui's icy palm in her old hand, lays the letters, and puts her warm palm over them, smiling softly at the shocked Umekui. "He wanted you to read them. That was probably the last thing he wanted to offer you before passing away because he knew you were coming," she muses.
"I will not ask you how he died until you are ready to tell me, and I will listen to you. Always." She grins affectionately and reaches her hand to pat Umekui's head.
"But I know he died by your side because that's what he always wanted to do. To die in the arms of someone he unconditionally loved." She grabs Umekui's arms and pulls her on her feet, forcing her to stand up high.
Zoro and Sanji's screams could be heard outside, followed by Nami, Usopp, and Chopper's cries.
"In the bag, you will find a Den Den Mushi, as well as my phone number, which is written on all of the papers I gave you. Your annoying nakamas arrived, so I couldn't continue our conversation, so call me if you're ready to hear the rest of the plan. Call me, and I will answer. Always."
She drags Umekui over to the window by her shoulders.
"Now go, brat! Set sail with your nakamas! Please look after Chopper! My son's heart is fragile; he has already been hurt enough, so please protect his scars from our cruel world, Umekui."
Kureha's hands quiver over Umekui's shoulders as she speaks about Chopper.
Kureha's leg breaks herimmense window opens. Umekuiturns and firmly wraps her arms around Kureha's waist.
"Thank you for everything, Doctorine," she whispers softly.
Kureha sniffs out the tears that are about to fall, grabs Umekui's shoulders, and throws her out the windows.
Arms stretch and curl around Umekui's waist.
"I HAVE FOUND YOU, UME!" Luffy raves, embracing Umekui in his arms.
"Go, brat!Go and take your annoying nakamas with you before I capture you all!" Kurahe yells from her windows, throwing all of her scissors and blades at them.
Luffy laughs loudly, dodges a knife, turns around, and sprints away from Kureha's castle.
In his arms, Umekui grins.
Kureha hops on her broom, knives and swords in hand, and chases the pirates, flinging her weapons at them.
Zoro and Sanji stop short in their pursuit when they see their captain and his first mate reaching them. They scream and turn back, racing quickly in the direction of their ship, upon seeing the sparkling swords and knives that the witch is hurling from herbroom.
"THE WITCH IS ATTACKING!" Zoro yelled, fleeing Doctorine's wrath.
Nami yells as she sees her nakamas running toward her at breakneck speed, then immediately turnsback on her feet to flee toward theirship, cursing her bothersome nakama under her breath.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MAKE HER ANGRY LIKE THAT, UMEKUI?!" yells Usopp, with Chopper crying from his mother's wrath.
Umekui burst out laughing, her head tilted back and shoulders shaky. Luffy, who adores his first mate's laugh so much, bursts into further laughing.
She leaps from his chest, rushes to Ussop and Chopper's sides, carries them in her arms, and sprints at their ship. She smiles as she stares at Chopper's teary face.
"You are so cute when you cry, Chopper!" she saysas flowers flutter aroundher.
He flushes red and glares, "Who makes weird compliments like that woman?!" while smiling back at her and dancing.
Usopp, from Umekui's second arm, side-eyes him and mumbles, "For such a weird compliment, you are rather happy!"
Then they both scream in panic as their first mate jumps high toward the deck ship. Her and Luffy's laughter drowned out their cries and screams of fear.
"WE ARE GOING TO CRASH INTO THE FLOOR, UMEKUI!" Usopp shouts, wrapping an arm around Umekui's neck to protect his eyes from their deaths.
"AHHHHH UMEKUI!" yells the terrified Chopper, burying his face against her chest.
She laughs again, accompanied by Luffy's laugh.
Chopper's stiff and motionless form looks up from the rough deck at the smiling faces of Luffy and Umekui.
"They are crazy...," he mumbles in a heavy breath.
("Run, Chopper hahaha," laughs Hiriluk before carrying him in hisarms; "If Doctorine catches us, she is going to kill us and use our bodies in her experiments!" Chopper sobbed louder in his arms, terrified of the witch that his father enjoyed pranking so much. "But it's your fault!" Chopper shouts as he wraps his arms around his father's neck, "Why did you replace her paramedic powder with gunpowder!" "Because it's funny, hahaha!" laughs Hiriluk as leaps to the side, avoiding Kureha's knife.)
But. They remind him so much of his father. From their laughter and smiles to the way they hold him and promise to keep him safe forever.
He riseson his little feet and approaches the balcony to wave goodbye to the people of his homeland (even if they didn't treat him the way he always wanted, he couldn't hate them because, after all, they'd suffered enough by Wapol's grips).
Chopper promised his father that he would always save and help others, even if they feared or despised him.
("To cure hatred and fear, the antidote is simply love and kindness," grinsHirikuk, pointing to his own heart andthen to Chopper's own. "And this heart of yours, my son," Hirilukadds as he tenderly places his palm over Chopper's chest. "It'sproof that you are far more human than the rest of the world," "So smiles, my dear reindeer," exclaimshis father.
Chopper smiled. For the first time, he smiled at the man who treated him like he was his own flesh and blood and loved him despite his hideousappearance. He smiled broadly despite the tears and sobs suffocating him. He grinned for the first human who cared for him, the first to cherish and protect him.)
"WAWW WHAT IS THAT?!" beams Luffy from Umekui's shoulders, extending his palms to catch pink snow.
Pink snow?!
Chopper freezes and looks up at the sky. The brilliant blue sky is marred by a huge pink cloud; comingfrom the mountain where his father and home dwell.
The pink cloud brushes and paints the entire sky above Drum Island in pinkish and reddish tones. The white snow eventually vanishes, giving way to a flurry of pink snow. Chopper extends his paw, his eyes widening and tearing up as he gazes at the pink snowflakes in his paw.
"It's so pretty!" Nami marvels as she scoops pink snow in her palms.
Zoro nods alongside her and looks up into the sky with grey eyes.
Sanji smoked his cigarette and gazed peaceably at the breathtaking snow falling from the sky.
"It's so cool!" enthused Ussop, his eyes sparkling.
Umekui looks at the pink snow and smiles affectionately, 'Did you know that pink snow could exist, Chuuya? It's as beautiful as you.'
Vivi smiles broadly and awes at the rain of pink snow, "It looks like Sakura blossom!"
Chopper shudders at Vivi's comments, stifling his loud cries.
("Even if people mock my dream and call me careless fools, I will keep going until my dreams come true!" chuckles Hiriluk, hoisting Chopper on his shoulder and looking up at the full moon.)
From above the cliff, Kureha looks up with a huge smile and tears in her eyes, revealing the admiration and affection she has been holding out for a long time.
("Listen! I'll stick this red clay into the snow till it reaches the atmosphere and paints the sky pink, allowing the sakura blossom to descend into the country! Isn't that a brilliant idea?" Doctor grins as he swings Chopper in the skies.)
He gripped his teeth so hard that they may break, his shoulders shaking, and the hat on his head fell over his tearing-up eyes.
("Even after I am gone, my dream will come true. Believe me!" Hiriluk cracks up into the sky.)
"DOCTOR!" Chopper lets out a loud cryand breaks down to his knees.
He yells his father's name while he sobs. The greatest doctor thatChopper has ever known!
("Tony Tony Chopper, it's a lovely name, right? That's what I'm gonna call you!" Hiriluk brightens as he healsChopper's injuries).
"FATHER!" he wails clutching his hat tightly over his eyes.
A hand touches his back as he tears aloud, allowing his grief to spill out. Chopper recognizes Umekui for its peculiar coldness. He lets her hold him, knowing that in the end, she will catch him.
("This has been truly a wonderful life!" grins Hiriluk, his warm voice reverberating in the hearts of people who admiredhim.)
Kureha raises her fist high toward the sky, her heart saying farewell to her precious son and the pirate woman who has reignited her hope and the dying flame in her heart, which had been stifled by her regret and shame of the past.
"Goodbye, my dear son. Goodbye, brat," whispers Kureha into the wind as he propels the ship of the straw hat pirates far away from their kingdom.
Daltonsmiles, tears streaming down his cheeks, "The old man will always amaze us, right Doctorine?"
Kureha laughs and looks up at the sky lovingly, "He is too eccentric to be bound down by death!"
("A new kingdom deserves a new name don't you think ?")
Dalron beams and gazes up into the pink sky. "What about the Sakura kingdom?Isn't it a lovely name for our new age?
Kureha nods and pats Dalton's chest, chuckling, "Hall hail to the king,"
She returns her sight to the sea. "It appears that my son has followed a pair of dangerous captainand first mate."
"Did you know about her?" Dalton gasps with wide eyes.
"Of course!Who are you taking me for? I remind you that I am a decade old!" Kureha huffs.
"I understand that you saying that she is dangerous but why the captain?" Dalton inquiresbecause while Luffy ispowerful, he does not appear to be in any way dangerous; he looks too careless for that.
"Do you know about Gold D. Roger?" Kureha asks, mischievously smiling.
"The previous king of pirates? Isn't his name Gold Roger?" asks a dumbfounded Dalton.
Kureha laughs and smirks as she turns and heads toward her castle, "That's what they call him. But they could never erase the will of D."
"The will of D?" Dalton says, blinking. What the hell is that?
He sighs, scratches his head, and departs for his village. He still has a lot of work to do. After all, he struck a deal with the Dazai itself.
"KANPAI!" yell the straw hat pirates and Vivi, banging their beer cups against one other.
They're all gathered around their kitchen table; Sanii has prepared a feast to celebrate Nami's recovery, and Chopper welcomes to the crew. And, as always, Luffy has proclaimed a party.
Chopper's red, swollen eyes stare down at his beer butbefore he can gulp itUmekui grabs it swiftly and replaces it with apple juice. He pouts, grins at her, and sips.
"You are behaving as if you are his mother," snickers Usopp.
Umekui simply winks at him and brings her glasses of whiskey to her lips.
"Karoo! Are you okay?" Vivi asks worriedly, picking up her duck off the floor.
"He must have eaten something bad," Zoro snickers behind his beer.
Sanji laughs and covers his smiles behind his cigarette and coffee.
Chopper leans toward the duck, who is screaming furiously in Vivi's arms.
"He is saying that the green-haired and blond hair did something to his meal this morning, and now it's making him want to farta lot," Chopper translates, grimacing at the end.
Before Zoro and Sanji could laugh at their trick, Nami's fist struck them hard.
"Tony-kun, you can understand what Karoo is saying?" asks Vivi.
Chopper nods proudly, "Yes, I am an animal by nature, so I can communicate with and understand them!"
"That is great, Chopper!" Nami beams as she takes a seat near him, "To be able to do that while also having medical skills."
"Dummy! Praising me in that way would not make me happy! You jerk," Chopper blushes, dancing strangely in his chair.
Umekui chuckles, and her heart melts at Chopper's adorable dance.
"He sure looks happy," mumbles Luffy, his mouth full of food, before immediately swallowing from the glare of Umekui.
She didn't like it when he spoke with his mouth full of food; 'ughh she is like Makino', thought Luffy.
Zoro blinks from his seat and stares at Nami, "What do you mean by 'medicalskills'?"
Nami huffs and stares at him, as ifhe posedher the stupidest question in the world: "Chopper is a doctor!A first-class one! He was trained by Kureha herself!"
Chopper blushes and murmurs, "By Hiriluk, my father, too."
"What?! Chopper, you are a doctor!" exclaim Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp. Well, Luffy simply beams while being fed by his first mate.
"Good Lord! Why are boys so stupid?" Nami scowls at them and asks, "Why did you think Chopper was when Luffy asked him to join us?"
"A seven-form transforming interesting reindeer," responds Luffy from his chair, having swallowed his food of course. Umekui smiles and pats his head, smiling pleasantly at him.
"Emergency food," Sanji and Zoro say simultaneously, glaring at each other.
"What?!" Chopper exclaims, falling off his chair.
"Our mascots?" Usopp says, gulping a spoonful of rice.
"An adorable reindeer," Umekui states, her hand resting on Luffy's head.
"You are impossible," Nami says as she falls back in her chair, chuckling.
Chopper slides back to his chair and gasps, remembering something, "Crap!I did not bring my medical bag!"
Before he can lamenthis stupidity, Umekui reaches beneath the table and pulls out a blue bag with Chopper's name stitched on it.
"There," she places on the table before Chopper.
He gasps, hugs his bag, and looks up at Umekui. "How did you know?"
"The old hag prepared it for you-" she continues as she elegantly sits back on her chair beside Luffy, "she was too scared to bid you farewell without bursting into tears and so she ended upgiving it tome."
"Why did she even kidnap you like that?" Ussop inquired, both interested and frustrated at his fear of Kureha's wrath.
"To give me Chopper belonging," she responds, returning her whiskey glass to her mouth.
"What about the other bag?" points out Zoro to demonstrate that they are not stupid for not noticing the second bag.
Her drink of whiskey thaws in her palm, and she murmurs over her glasses, "Just some papers and books;"
"About?" Ussop inquires, brown up.
"Secret," Umekui declares.
"A secret?!" Luffy gasps, then smiles and turns to Umekui, "Tell me! Tell me."
"If I tell you, it will no longer be a secret, my captain," Umekui says as she smiles at him, puts her glass on the table, and curls her ring fingers over Luffy's lock of black hair falling on his forehead.
"No! I wouldn't tell anybody!" Luffy pouts.
"Who thinks that Luffy couldn't keep a secret even for one minute, lift his hand!" shouts Nami.
All of his nakamas, including Vivi, lift their hands. Luffy pouts and crosses his arms, "I'm your captain, how could you vote against me!"
Chopper giggles, "You guys are funny!"
"Yes, of course! ButZoro, on the other hand, no!" Nami says, snickering at the swordsman.
"I second that!" Umekui adds as she raises her hand.
"I third that!" Sanji adds from behind the counter, where he is preparing strawberry pastries.
Luffy and Usopp snicker as Zoro's brows twitch.
"Why?" Chopper asks innocently, his lovely eyes fixed on Umekui, waiting for her response.
Umekui smirks and throws a devilish smile at Zoro, "Because he eats children. Don't approach him alone, okay Chopper?
"Okay!" Chopper nods seriously and casts a curious glance at Zoro. He gasps and rushes to Umekui, grabs her kimono, and hides behind her legs.
"YOU MORON! STOP FEEDING HIM LIES! HE IS AFRAID OF ME NOW!" screams Zoro, brandishing his katana and bracing himself to charge at Umekui.
A pot smacked him in the face, knocking him off his chair and crashing on his back on the kitchen floor.
"Don't talk like that to Umekui-chan! sh*tty bastard!" Sanji yells.
Luffy, Usopp, and Nami laugh hysterically, squeezing their stomachs as they point to Zoro's funny bloody face.
Umekui smiles and winks at Sanji over her shoulder, "Thank you, Sanji dear."
"Anything for you, Umekui-chan!" raves Sanji.
Chopper looks at Zoro and grins at his bloody face.
'They're so hilarious,' he thought, hiding his giggles and grins behind Umekui's legs. The latter looked down and smiled warmly over her glass.
"Welcome into the straw hat pirates, Tony Tony Chopper," she grins.
"So Vivi is the princess of the kingdom of Albasta and a man named Crocodile is conquering her kingdom into deception to create a new nation?" Chopper repeats the information Vivi and Nami have given him.
Usopp nods from his position on the living room floor, testing upon a new invention.
"Yes, and Crocodile is also a warlord of the sea!" Luffy says his feet bursting in the air as he lies on his back on the floor.
"A warlord of the sea?" Chopper asks, confused by the title.
"The Warlords of the Sea, or simply the Seven Warlords, are a selection of seven powerful and notorious pirates allied with the World Government. Some pirates call them the traitors of the sea or the world's government dogs," Umekui states from her seat on the sofa next to Zoro.
"Oh, I see," Chopper responds with a straight face.
"How many days are left before we reach Alabasta ?" asks Zoro as he cleans his blade from the blood of those he slaughtered on Drum Island.
Nami glances up from her maps on the table and informs Zoro, "Two days. In two days, we'll arrive in Alabasta's first port town, Nanohana".
Zoro nods at the information and mentally prepares new training for him till they get to Alabasta. He must be stronger than he is today at all costs since they will be fighting a strongcriminal organization; his blood boils and his heart skips a beat at the prospect of battling more powerful opponents.
"Princess," Umekui speaks coolly.
Vivi freezes in her seat, and Karoo in her lap looks up worriedly at his master.
She shifts her focus to the first mate sitting on the sofa alongside Zoro, her head resting against the sofa's head so she can look up at the ceiling. Umekui does not even glance at the princess, implying that she does not merit her attention or time.
Vivi suppresses her fears and answers, "Yes, Umekui-san?"
Chopper gives Umekui and Vivi a confused look. Umekui and Vivi interact like strangers. Yet Usopp told him that Vivi had been with them for about one week and a half! Even the rest of the team interacts with Vivias if shehas been their friend for a long time. However, the first mate and the princessare in complete contrast, and Umekui evenseems to dislike Vivi.
"We both don't want the Little Garden incident to happen again, right?" Umekui says, tilting her head to narrow her red eyeat the princess.
("Listen carefully, Princess. If any of my nakamas are harmed, or worse, killed, by the group that is hunting them down because of you. I swear I would be so much worse thanCrocodile and Miss-All Sunday reunited.")
Vivi's body trembles and hugs her duck as she remembers the first mate's bloodlust and threats.
"Yes, of course," Vivi says hurriedly.
"Then I'd like you to describe to us the agents of the Baroque work with whom we'll be fighting. From the lowest hierarchy to the strongest, tell us about them," Umekui requests as she places her hand on the head sofa and lays her hand over it, "Don't tell me you want us to help you without you revealing us informationregarding our enemies? You aren’t this foolish princess, right?"
"Umekui," Usopp frowns.
The first mate ignores him and continues to stare at the princess with a cold expression, "Well, princess?"
Umekui's use of the title princess appears to mock and humiliate her every time she uses it. It was as if she was mocking her title and all the strings that entailed royalty.
Vivi gulps and looks at Umekui, then at the pirates. "We have already fought off in Little Garden, the agents, Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, Mr. 3, and Miss Goldenweek. In the Officer Agents, it's all left, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, and Mr. 4, Miss Merry Christmas," she began, her hands curled on a fist above her lap. "All Frontier Agents, which I was part of myself and Igaram," her voice shakes slightly at the name of her deceased companion. "You have already defeated them inWhiskey Peak. Then we have to count foot-soldiers assigned as the agents' subordinates around200Billionsfor the Officer Agents, and 1,800Millionsfor the Frontier Agents."
Usopp gasps loudly in horror at the number of subordinates. Anxiety and fear were begging to crawl into his blood and head, making him shake from dread.
"And, of course, the head of this organization, Crocodile, Mr.0, and Miss All Sundays," Vivi concludes, her tone slightly angry at their names.
Sanji exhales his cigarette smoke and casts a worried gaze at his first mate at the mention of Crocodile (A goddamn warlord is after her head, and she doesn't want him to inform their nakama! If Luffy discovers this, he will kick his ass--even the crappy swordsman will chop his legs).
Nami stares at Umekui with a sad expression, recalling that the woman was once Umekui's friend (Nami is terrified to see her first mate face off withMiss All Sunday; she does not want to see the lifeless gaze and trembling frameof her first mateagain).
However, Umekui's cold veil remains static when the names are mentioned. She keeps her starepointed directly at the princess as if she were waiting for her to lie.
“Nami dear, Can you give the princess some papers and a pen?" Umekui says, turning to face her navigator.
Nami blinks. "Of course!"
She grabs some paper and a pen from her notebook and stands up to hand them to Vivi, smiling kindly.
Vivi accepts them with a puzzled expressionbut smiles back at Nami. She casts a questioning look at the first mate.
"You are going to write us down, All the officers agents, powers,and the head of the organization."
"We don't need this!" groans Luffy, rising from the floor. "All I wants is tokick Crocodile's ass and bring Vivi to her home!"
Umekui shifts her focus on Luffy and asks, "Do you want our nakamas to die, captain?"
Luffy frowns as she asks him the most stupid question in the world, "Of course not!"
"Then, if we don't know even the tiniest bit about our opponents. It would be lethal for our nakamas," she stands up from her seat and stares directly at Luffy, "when you chose me as your first mate, captain. You chose me to be the first mate of our entire crew, so it is my responsibility to look after them, do you understand?
Luffy pouts, then nods to his first mate.
"The princess will write down the information and give it to Sanji, who will pinit in the kitchen fridge. You all have two days to memorize the names and powers," she looks around the living room before asking again, "Any objections?"
They all shake their heads, except Zoro and Luffy.
"Let's go, Chopper," Umekui says as she departs the living room.
Chopper blinks and stands up on his small feet, asking, "Where?"
She smiles.
"To show you around the going merry? It's your first time on a pirate ship, right?"
Chopper nods and cheers before promptly following her out of the room.
Usopp let out a breath as his first mate and Chopper walked out of the room.
"Umekui is scary when she is serious," mumbles Usopp (but herealizes thatshe is doing this for their safety).
"She's not wrong," Zoro adds as he finishes cleaning his blades. "We're all up against a criminal organization. It's not a game; it's something serious which puts our entire lives in danger."
Luffy lays back on the floor and looks up at the ceiling, listening to his nakama's comments. Zoro is right, but Luffy doesn't like Umekui's solemn demeanor; she appears to be carrying the weight of their lives on her back.
Indeed, when Luffy chose her as his first mate, he also chose her as his first mate for their nakama. But Umekui is also their nakama, and she appears to forget it often, making him frown. Then again, she appears to believe that their lives are more important than hers as if they deserve to live and dream while she does not.
(Like Ace, who repeatedly stated that his and Sabo's lives are more significant to him than anyone else's. Crying and shaking his shoulder, screaming that Luffydeserves to live more than him andachievehis dreams.
And Luffy recalls the way the rage caused him to shake and beat Ace until his fists werebloody red and white, (because he can't allow his precious older brother tospew such nonsense without beating sense into his rock head!)
He wonders if Ace is still engulfed by the sorrow and remorse of Sabo dying in the flames while he survived?)
"Don't forget that Umekui is going to fight Miss All Sunday, an old friend of hers," Nami comments as she packs her stuff.
Vivi's eyes widen and freeze; "Umekuiwas friends with Miss All Sunday?"
Usopp turns to Vivi and asks, "You weren't there when Umekui shared it?"
She shakes her head with a nervous expression.
"Your first mate does not like me. Well, it seems likeshe hates me," mumbles Vivi.
"If she hated you, she would have already killed you," Zoro scoffs, standing up from his seat, annoyed by the conversation.
Vivi freezes in fright.
"Zoro!" Nami gasped, glaring at him.
"It's the truth," Zoro replies with a shrug. "Well I'm going to train, so don't bother me,"
"This bastard!" grumbles Sanji, glaring at Zoro as he exits the room.
"Don't worry, Vivi," comforts Usopp, "Umekui would never hurt you,"
Vivi nods with a dismissive look, not believing Usopp's remarks. She wonders if Usopp is lying to himself or to her when he reassures her like that.
She wonders if the straw hat pirates are too blind to notice how dangerous their first mate is, or if they simply trust her and believe she will not harm her. Vivi witnessed Wapol's execution; excuse her if she is not terrified of dying under Umekui's blade, as he was.
Now that she thinks about it, Umekui committed a major violation against monarchy and the world government! All members of the crew will be targeted as soon as they find out. So, did she truly slaughter a royal without considering the ramifications on her nakama's back?
Well, she appears to look down on the world in a way that causes it to hide from her. So, did she truly let her arrogance win and disregard the crime she committed?
She is, indeed, a pirate, one of the world's most horrific crimes and sins, but she is a member of a crew, so her actions and crimes will all be held liable, countingthem as heraccomplices! They now all carry Wapol's blood on their hands, even though it'sUmekui whokilled him.
(However, a part of her knows that if Umekui hadn't killed Wapol, Drum Island wouldn't have been freed. Dalton and his people's sacrifices couldn't have been honored by themselves (how canthey when the onewho made them suffer and murdered their loved ones is stillliving, wreaking havoc in his path?!)
Killing royal blood is treachery of the highest sort. So Vivi wonders if it isn't Crocodile destroying and snatching her home from her trembling clutches, but rather another royal. How might the world's balance work in her favor?
At the simple inquiry, Vivi realized something that caused her bones totremble from disgrace.
She is still not capable enough to take back her homeland.
She grittedher teeth, grabbed Karoo, and bolted from the room. The despair and self-pity mocked her inside her mind and flooded through her blood making her realize that no matter the amount of blood she bled, it would never leave her.
"What is this room for?" Chopper inquired, pointing to her painting room.
Umekui looks down at the inquiring doctor, smiles, and responds, "It's my painting room"
(She remarked that she smiled often around Chopper. But how could she not when he was so adorable that every ugly and filthy thing inside her softened-).
"Painting room.." murmurs, then gasps and peers up at Umekui with sparkles in his eyes, "YOU PAINT?!"
Umekui looks at the entrance to the women's rooms instead of meeting his gaze, dreading that her cursed gaze will steal the light from them.
"Yes...It's something that helps me to keep my emotions in check,"
Chopper nods, realizing that she does the same thing ashe does while endeavoring to create a new batch of medications.
"But do you love it?" he questions.
(From the darkest to the deepest corners of her mind and heart, Chopper wants to know everything about his first mate).
Love? Does she love painting?
Maybe before;
(When Odasaku's warmth was still on her back, murmuring promises that no longer have value. Chuuya's blue eyes were once her favorite color, so she would paint all of her canvases with that colorso that she could stare at the reflection of his gaze indefinitely.
Before his blue eyes grow darker than the ocean abyss, and hatred hanging in his heart makes him ill to the world around them-.
But now all she could remember was the blood and ashes that had destroyed the only frame of love she had ever known. Theblood-stained paintings she once produced, as well asMori's words,tugged on the strings of madness inside her brain in such a way that the world around her disintegrated);
but now she doesn’t think.
Umekui is unwilling to concede the perils of acquiring feelings of love for things.
(LIAR!
She is lying! How selfish and cruel can she be?! Isn't she beginning to love Luffy and her nakamas in ways that no love or devotion could describe?! Isn't she endangering their lives because of her dreadful nature?!)
(Dazai, keep in mind that whatever you attempt to love will be condemned to death, it laughs madly)
She freezes for a second as she hears the voice. Clenches her fist and turns to smile at Chopper. "I don't think."
Chopper blinks at the response; it appears so far awayas if she were reciting a mantra that her mind had learned to believe.
Her smile is tinged with sorrow, and it makes Chopper's heart rate rush for a split second. There are questions on his tongue that he would like to ask his first mate, but Chopper knows she isn't ready to answer them or hear them.
(After all, in Umekui's red eye, Chopper recognizes the pain and despair that he observed in so many patients (the saddest of all is that they are dead, their misery absorbing them alive and sucking their final breath).
Yet; she embodies the care and tenderness that Chopper experienced in his father's arms(that was stolen from his quivering palms because of his own mistakes).
"I want to see your painting someday," says Chopper, smiling softly at Umekui. "I am certain that they are as pretty as you-If you want, of course." He mumbles, his cheeks flushed, and shifts his gaze to the floor, avoiding the attention of thewoman in front of him.
Umekui's eyes soften as she chuckles softly, crouching down at his height so she can gaze at him properly.
"Of course, anything for my pretty reindeer," grins Umekui.
"YOU DUMMY! STOP YOUR COMPLIMENTS, THEY DO NOT MAKE ME HAPPY!"
He blushes even more and moves his body uniquely as he dances.
Umekui laughs behind her scarred hand, bringing her face closer to his with a smirk.
"Are you sure?"
He hides under his hat at her closeness, and looks up for a second before murmuring timidly;
"No..but don't say it to the others, okay?"
Umekui smiles sweetly and adds, "It will be our secret then."
Chopper nods, his ears crimson, and then smiles brightly.
"Aww, you are so adorable. I'm going to die from all your cuteness," Umekui exclaims, gripping her heart over her chest and slowly collapsing to the floor.
"AHH UMEKUI ARE YOU OKAY!" cries Chopper.
"What the hell is going on?!" Nami shouts, descending the stairs.
She looks at Chopper, then at her first mate, who is lying on the floor, squeezing her heart. Her heart stops for a second and rushes worriedly toward her.
Nami shouts, "Umekui?!!" as she kneels alongside her first mate.
Umekui lifts her gaze and laughs, causing Nami to halt.
"It is Chopper!He is so adorable that my heart can't take it!"
Nami sighs with a faint smile and gives her first mate an intense look.
"Don't scare me like that," Nami grumbles before staring at the petrified Chopper. "And don't scare the poor boy like that!"
"Aye Aye!" Umekui chuckles, then winks at Chopper. The latter passes out from all the blood rushingto his face.
"UMEKUI!" scolds Nami as she hurries to pick up Chopper from the floor.
The first mate simply laughs and heads back to their chambers.
Nami's eyes soften as she staresat the back of her first mate, glad that Chopper can make her grin and laugh so easily. It appears that Umekui has a tender spot for cute things.
(If it can keep her like that, Nami will not hesitate to steal and seize all the cute things in the world and give them to her first mate.
If she could continue to wake up despite the emptiness in her gaze and the sadness on her face andstill grin at Chopper or them and sparkle at cute things.
Then it all matters to Nami; if in the end she can see her first mate alive and grinning.
(She sometimes wonders. If Noriko saw her that way when her urge for vengeance and the pain of grief were the sole thingskeepingher alive.
She wonders if her sister's heart accepted her descent into vindication and heartbreak because it was the only thing keeping her alive and the only reason she got up every morning.
Perhaps Noriko accepted her change for only one reason: to see her sister surviving andstill breathing, even if it was for vengeance).
She smiled regretfully at the thought, the claws of grief still digging into her heart and thoughts.
(Nami has never learned how to quit grieving; she has only learned to survive, steal, and run and run over and over, believing that her legs will carry her far away from grief).
Even if grief follows her around on a sunny day tanning on the deck, a starry night drinking with Zoro and Umekui, a shopping trip with Sanji and Usopp, or a party dancing and singing with Luffy.
She learned a difference that changed everything: ever since she joined Luffy and Umekui, she has never been alone in her sorrow.
(It causes her to turn her back on all the nights when she was drowning in her own misery, with Asura's claw covering her neck, forcing her to succumb and let the sorrow swallow her forever).
When Luffy and Umekui rescued her, they burned away all the monsters' dark shadows that pushed her to flee from her grief. But now that Nami is free, alive, dancing, and basking in the light's sun,the seawater drenching her hair, she accepts to face her pain without fear and embraces it in her blood.
(Because if she turned her back on the sorrow that keeps her awake at night. She is turning away from Bellemere. So, if her mother's love flows through the recessions of sorrow, Nami will embrace it with a wide smile and hearty laugh-)
What matters is the truth that she is no longer alone and realizes that her nakamas will always catch her if she falls.
She gently stares at Chopper in her arms, hoping that hernakamas will take care of his scars as they did tohers.
'Don't worry, Kureha, your son is in good hands', Nami reflected as she entered their quarters carrying Chopper in her arms.
Dark blue, shocked eyes looked up at her. The rain soaked her entire bodyand her short black hair; as she focused her gaze on the younggirl sitting in front of her.The blood dripping from her gloved hands blendedwith the rain that dropped from the grey skies.
The dark lane is paved with corpses, their blood scoured away by the rain pouring on their heads.The foul odor of death lingers around her, as the blood that drips from her face enables her scarlet eyes to glow and blaze as the darknessconsumes everything around them.
"Men as disgusting as ever, attacking a girl alone-" says the child as she raises a gloved hand and wipes away the blood from her chin, "but well, this is war."
Red eyes stare back at the older girl in front of her. "You-" Blue's eyes widened. "You are not from here, right?" The long black-haired swallow pushes on her knees and rises, looking at the young child in front of her while shaking her head.
"No-" she says, clutching her injured arm. "I am not from there-" Red's eyes narrow as she takes in the girl's appearance, taking in her flawlessly sculpted face, radiant blue eyes, and golden skin. Even her attire was weird, honestly, who would wear a dress to war? Huffing, Dazai takes off her dark coat and throws it in the direction of theblue-eyedgirl, who stares at her disoriented.
"You are from the sea, aren't you?" she asks, analyzing the girl. The young girl nods cautiously holding the coat tightly in her hands. "My name is Dazai," the red-eyed childintroduced herself, her empty eyes fixed on the girl waiting for her name. The young girl's blue eyes widened as ifshe recognized or heard the name before. She grabs the coat tightly, pulls it against her chest, and murmurs, "My name is Nico Robin."
"Robin, huh?" Dazai muses out loud, staring into blue eyes. Nico Robin flinches, fearful that the young girlbefore her may recognize who she is. But if Robin came here, it was the only way to avoid recognition. She squeezes her fist firmly and stares at the ground, ready to activate her demon fruit and kil-. "Doesn't Robin mean Nightingale?" the crimson-eyed asks, curiously.
Robin freezes and gazes up with startled eyes at the weird girl in front of her. (Yet the name of this girl cannot be a hazard--from the red scorching glow blazing from her pupils to the pallid face that appears to have never seen a ray of light--this girl. She may be the one she-). "So, little bird, what are you doing there?" Dazai wonders, peering up at the sky as another explosion falls a million feet distant.
Robin chuckles gently at the nickname and looks at Dazai with wonder. Dazai appears younger than her, although their heights are very similar, and she calls her little. "Running away from the world," Robin admits truthfully. Laughing, Dazai looks up at Robin through gleaming red eyes that shine in the alley's darkness as her short hair flows in the cool wind.
"You chose the worst place to hide from the world, little bird," Dazai states. She turns her head swiftly as she detects and hears loud voices shouting and rushing toward them.She runs up to Robin, grabs her waist, and throws her over her shoulder, ignoring Robin's loud gasp. She jumps from wall to wall before landing quickly on the stable roof of a building. She gently places Robin on her legs and turns to look at the burning horizon ahead of her.
Robin's eyes freeze, and her entire body trembles at the devastation that lies infront ofher. Screams and cries could be heard all across the area. Men race around with weapons in their hands, shooting in all directions, dead men and women lying at their feet. Children weep and sob, choked in strangled dying gasps, as an explosion falls from the sky and destroys everything
'It can’t be possible!' thought Robin as terror gripped her organs.
Dazai walks and stands up before her, and extends her arms, to show her the destruction going on behind her is indeed the reality.
"Welcome to the roots of the world, Nico Robin!"
A face emerged from under the water, a loud gasp echoed in the bathroom. Her black long hair sticks to her cheeks, neck, and breasts as her chest jumps and falls back and on-her breathing is harsh and fast as she puts a scarred palm over her chest.
A slight pain grasps her heart and pushes her to throw up, her hands curl over her stomach griping her rotten flesh, digging her nails in it hoping that it will stop hurting.
Something twists inside her, as she coughs over and over. The heavy familiar feeling of blood splashing on the water of the bathtub, she is lying in it. The cold water turns red from the substance of blood, splashing her naked body with the awful substance as more blood gushes out her mouth as she coughs.
She stares at her bloody naked frame sinking in the cold water, her tongue curling over her teeth tasting the blood in her mouth(it makes her quiver from disgust-wishing she could tear apart her throat and tongue).
She inhales and looks up at the ceilings(thescreams and indignation echo in her head, as the ghost's nails claw her ankles to blood and mind). The wounds of darkness on her body shining over her flesh, devouring her flesh as if it was their favorite meal, they sting and burn even the cold water she is bathing in doesn’t ease the burning.
The small window in front of her, is open, letting her gaze up at the starry night as she sinks back into the bathtub. Not even minding that the dirty red water covered her body ( after all it always began and ended in the same way, her rotten flesh and herbones only painted blood. That's why it rots beneath her emptiness and nothing could ever wash away the price of her sins).
"Oh, Robin," she whispers sadly into the starry night.
Dear little Robin. Dear little bird, whose wings were broken from the world cruelly.
('It's your fault! It's your fault! You ruin everything Dazai!' yells a familiar voice full of rage).
She knows, that the last few feathers of Robin's wings were burned down by her fault. She is conscious that she is the last string that has broken the wings of her little bird.
(The ghost image of a fifteen-year-old Nico Robin cradled by her younger one causes her bones toache and scream from the missingfeeling, and her palms yearn to get torched and sliced down because Robin's magnificent face is no longer there to embrace in-).
'She hates you as much as the rest of the world!'
She knows while her heart sinks even deeper.
She desires for the world to witness your demise!'
If she can hold her one final time, so be it.
'When the truth comes to light, your nakamas will also despise you!'
She realized and accepted the harsh reality the moment she clutched Monkey D. Luffy's hand.
But-
She truly wanted to see them accomplish their dreams. She craved to feel their warm souls inside the emptiness consuming her alive.
She arched a hand toward the radiant nightas if she could catch all the stars within her palm.
She sincerely wants to keep the flame of hope burning within her through their souls. Umekui can't help but smile sadly as she recalls Kureha's tears and smile to help her. Her eyes ache, and her throat tightens.
She wants to stay with them, learn to adore themand feel their warm frame against her icy one. She wants their voice to be the sole reason, whispers, and religion that keeps Umekui sane(she fears the ruin that will result from her cursed existence if her nakamas abandon her-).
("One day, you will find those who will be by your side till the end of time. I promise you, Dazai." murmurs Odasaku, her head on his lap as they stare at the night sky, his hand caressingsoftlyher short hair).
She swallows the bitter taste of blood, her crimson irises tragically staring up at the stars.
'Because of me, I didn't let you become a star, Odasaku.'
She has been selfish enough, with her greed eroding everything to dust. (And whenthe brisk breeze of the past blew through her consciousness, clearing the dust away. The memories chained within her wreak havoc on her heart to the point where she turns to suicide for solace).
But it's been enough. This time, she will not let her nakamas pay for her sins; she has reclaimed so much from them that she cannot let greed triumph over her heart's desires.
She stood up from the red water, putting one leg and asecond out of the bathtub. She grabs her bandages and hastily wraps them over her entire body (all her life, she had hidden her ugliness, her deceit of being something vile beneath layers of white. It blooms in her mind as a seed of hatred).
She grabbed her purple kimono from over the sink and put it on, her muscles and limbs shuddering in pain. She crunches and sits down, her back against the door, pulling the red bag Kureha handed her into her lap.
The letters of Odasaku were the first thing she noticed; she lifted them with shaking hands and laid them beside her.
Then she grabs two wooden boxes from the bottom of the bag. She opens the first and discovers five syringes filled with blue fluid; she places them in front of her and grabs the other wooden box, her hands twitching from the pain.She opens it and discovers five sachets, each with five yellow pills inside.
She looks down at the new, odd medication. She looks at the bag and unfolds the pieces of paper, where the instructions have undoubtedly been scribbled.
‘Dear bothersome brat, 'If you opened this letter, it means that your pain is worse than ever, right?'
Umekui snorts softly, still hearing Kureha's scolding voice in her head.
'So listen to me, you little sh*t; those medications are valuable and dangerous. If you don't follow my instructions, I'll hunt you down and kick your ass. Okay?
Umekui nodded, as if Kureha were in front of her, scowling while menacing her with a knife.
'You can see the five syringes in the first box. This substance is known as xenis, and it works to prevent aching muscles and regulate tremors and spasms by promoting blood circulation and heat in your veins. And help you maintain normal breathing! One day at a time will suffice, okay? Two will be harmful to your organisms and risk blowing up your arteries and veins.'
Umekui grabs one of the syringes and staresat them, hoping that it will at least enable her to alleviate the pain for a bit.
'The yellow pills are called oxolium and are extremely harmful. It's a rare drug, but due to my advanced age and lengthy existence, I am familiar with the prescription and have a few of them. The central amygdala is affected by these drugs.These pills can prevent cells in the central amygdala from repeating pain signals sent by your neurotransmitters. In brief, they will prevent your brain from feeling any pain that your body experiences. Those medications were commonly employed in battles, so soldiers were unable to feel pain. I used to give it to some of my patients in their final moments so they could die painlessly-'
She looks at the yellow pills with astonishment. Can those medications actually accomplish that? Umekui has taken several drugs in her life, but they have either caused her to experience euphoriaor put her to sleep for days.
'You take two per day. One in the morning, one at noon, okay? I am not joking when I say that those medications are harmful. The side effects remain mysterious. I didn't risk trying them on anyone because, as I previously stated, I exclusively use them during my patients' final moments of death. You stated to me that you are dead yet still alive, so I trust you not to overuse the doses.'
She clenches the wooden box tightly in her grasp, preventing the dark thoughts from giving her suicidal impulses.
'I truly hope they can alleviate your pain, Umekui. On my side,I shall continue to look for a cure for your "illness." So don't give up hope, Umekui; Odasaku would never have wanted you to lose hope after all you've been through. The den moshi and my phone number are available, so you can call me at any moment and on any day. I will always listen to you, Umekiui, always.Call me when you're ready to hear the plan that I shared with you.
You must discuss your condition with my son at some point so that Chopper can make your medication when they're finished (I can make it and ship it to you, but it will take some time). In any case, it is up to you to figure out the situation and determine whether or not to speak with him. But I know my son, and I do not doubt that he will find out sooner or later, even if you do not tell him. Some people love you and want you to live despite everything. Stay safe and alive, brat! Your favorite doctor witch.
Her hands trembled, causing the letter paper to crumple; Kureha's words, not the agony this time, were what made her tremble.
Do people truly love her? (The inquiry makes her heart shake because Umekui knows the people who loved her are gone, dead--and their memory makes her lugs quake and her lips flutter from ghost wails-).
But those who survived their past love, hate her now (Robin is a raw wound within her that will never stop bleeding from remorse and sorrow).
But if the price of survival for people she cares about is hatred? Then Umekui will accept it with a crimson smile and sorrowfularrows through her back.
If her nakama's future survival rests on her palm, yet the price is hatred that would ooze from their hearts and darken their faces, she shall pay it.
She takes one pill and dissolves it under her teeth. Takes a deep breath and stands on shaking legs. She collects her belongings from the floor, stares intently at Odasaku's letters, places them in the bag, and quickly seals them.Opens the bathroom closet and hides the bag inside.
With one last look at the closet, she turns and opens the door. Green hair and a steely gaze cause her to halt at the door.
"You took your time. I wonder why a woman spends so much time in the bathroom," Zoro complains as he stares intently at her face.
"Doesn't Usopp scream at you every morning because you take hours in the bathroom?" Umekui smirks as she muses aloud.
Zoro glares at her: "Usopp yells practically every morning. Who claims it was because of me?
Umekui only smirks, aware that he is obviously lying.
"Shut up, now come on-" growls Zoro, holding out a hand for his first mate to grab.
She raises an eyebrow, intrigued by his actions.
"You didn't sleep for almost a week--between night shifts and taking care of Nami," he says, grabbing her hand in his palm and pushing her closer to him. "Let's go sleep under the stars tonight."
Someone like Zoro, who wields swords until his hands bleed, fights with fists and bones till they drip and break, and carries resolve and ferocity in his veins, appears to have the sharpest palms in the entire world.
But.
His palm feels strangely tender. His hand feels searing hot in her cold one. Burning, scorching away the cold and darkness that was creeping into her veins and making her want to hide from the world.
Yet. For a brief period in Zoro's hold, she feels light, as if all the ugly and evil things have been reduced to ashes by the simple embraces of Zoro's hand.
"Is Luffy asleep?" Umekui wonders as she glances around the deserted deck.
"Yes. He danced all night with Chopper until they passed out from exhaustion," Zoro explains as he sits and rests beside Luffy's favorite spot.
He glances up at Umekui, expecting her to lie near him, but she surprises him by deciding to lie over him. Her head lay on his chest, her hand on his abdomen, and her thighs were getting in the way of his right leg and thigh.
"It's cold tonight, and your body is hot," she explains before he can shout at her.
(She's lying. The cold never troubled her, but Zoro's heated body felt so comfortable and safethat she wished she could enter his bones and lie between them forever (maybe Zoro's warmth would keepthe nightmare at bay, stopping her from yearning to slit her throat out of disgust).
"So you are using me as your blanket ?" He groans as he raises an arm to rest his head on it to glance at the stars.
She doesn't answer and keeps cuddling into him. Zoro lets her; how could he not, given that her look was so empty and dark that his touch seemed like the only light inside her?
The sea churls sway the going merry toward Alabasta.The warm pleasant brize is finally surrounding them, letting him sigh in relief from the previous weather he had faced on Drum Island.
"How is your eye?" Zoro says, looking up at the brilliant night.
(He tried hard to keep the worry out of his voice since he knew how much his first mate opposed it. (He sometimes pined to hit her skull hard, as he does with his dumb captain, in the hopes that it would knock some sense into her and cause her to stop flinchingat the typical things that he offered her. (Yet it appears normal to them, but to their first mate it appeared like the most valuable treasure in the world).
Umekui lifted a finger and stroked it over her bandaged eye, "Kureha, give me some medicine for it so it doesn't scar. In two days, my eye will be like new."
Lifting a hand, he runs it through Umekui's long hair, feeling it with his palm as he would with seawater. Her hair feels silky and light against his brush, allowing Umekui to snuggle further into his chest.
"Tell me Zoro, how did your first kill feel?" murmurs Umekuias she runs her fingertips along the lines of his abdomen over his white shirt.
Zoro pauses, blinking down at his first mate.His first kill? The question seems weird. No one had ever asked him that, and for a brief minute, he wondered why his first mate would.
"I was fourteen, and this was my first time hunting pirates as a bounty hunter. The pirate I killed was still a lone pirate, but he was known to steal, destroy, and murder plenty of citizens in the villages of Cascara Island. He was a fierce competitor, a spearman. I determined that he was too bothersome for me to capture and deliver to the Marines, so I sliced down his neck and chest, killing him instantly. But if you asked me how I felt, I'd say I was excited to defeat someone and come a step closer to becoming the world's greatest swordsman," he stated, stroking his first mate's hair.
"I see," she says quietly, her finger hoveringand tracing over his chest.
"And you?"How did your first kill feel?" Zoro contemplates aloud, his gaze following the path of a fallen star.
(He wonders if Nami believes in the legends surrounding falling star wishes. She appeared to be the kind of it, especially when she showed him and spoke for hours about all the stars and constellations she could recognize in the night sky-)
Umekui remained motionless, and for a minute she felt like an enormous slab lying on his body. He hums and raises a brow, tilting his head towards Umekui, but her lifeless and vacant gaze causes his muscles to clench (he's unclear if it's from anger or sadness).
"My first kill.." she muses aloud, as his first mate's eyelids close, preventing him from gazing long into her dark void gaze. "I don't remember," she lied.
Zoro wonders if it was because it was someone unworthy of rememberinglike he had done with his other kills, or if she simply forgot. Yet the memory of this murder seemed as dark as her lifeless stare.
Then she opens her mouth to pose another thought that has been on her mind,"Do killings feel different if they were executedin the worth of dreams?"
"Yes," Zoro replied without hesitation. Then he moves his palm down her drowsy face, brushing against her forehead, nose, and back to her hair. "Killing someone to achieve your dream is somehow more worthy than killing nameless and faceless people. Some people kill for love, others for their ambitions, some for faith and conviction, and some for their dreams."
Umekui feels and hears Zoro's heartbeat under her ear as his words and voice resonate throughout her body. His warm palm stroked each part of her headas if he were wiping away those awful memories that had emerged from the graveyard of her mind.
'Kill for love?'
She doesn’t think.
Every time this cursed emotion was acknowledged and felt by her. All those she once cherished in her twisted manner were drawn into the web of his curse, and they all died, their dreams disintegrating with them. So she wonders how the concepts of dreams and love could ever coexist. Onethat dreams cannot love and one thatlove cannot dream.
She feels like a parasite, a devourer of dreams and hopes, surrounded by the warmth of her nakama, which radiates dreams, hopes, and love. They are everything she cannot be, and she wonders how Luffy could possibly love something like her(There is nothing in her to adore other than a void that swallows everything and everyone around her).
("Dazai, you are a void. You are empty and dark, and what you are will destroy the entire world. You're an empty vessel that will devour everything," )
(I know, Kana.)
Kana serves as proof that love ruins dreams, that love is a disastrous master who rips your wings from the back, letting youfall to your demise.
("Dazai, avenge me!Kill him, the one who wrecked me! Kill the fallen noble and avenge me!")
She hopes to die before meeting him.
‘I love you, Ume!'
She wonders if the dreamer of this tale, whom she has revered and sought for so long, will not hate her from the moment the war in Alabasta begins. Because what is awar without Dazai herself?
(After all, Odasaku's ultimate breath in her arms confessinghis love and grinning painlessly at her isn't a death fit of her tragedy?)
With those last thoughts, she closes her eyes and lets Morpheus lead her to a space where loneliness is an echo of madness, hoping that Zoro's warmth can at least partially preserve her sanity.
Chopper searches around the deck for his first mate.
He wonders how he slept without worrying that his new lifewas a dream that would vanish in the morning. His captain's hilarious dances surely exhausted him, while Usopp's stories lulled him to sleep.
Seriously, he had no idea that Usopp was a knight who defeated numerous giants and dragons before becoming a pirate. He is so cool and strong!
It's already afternoon, and Chopper has finished all ofhis medical checkups with all of his crew members, including Vivi. Umekui is the last person left, but Chopper didn't find her at all; he last saw her this morning at breakfast before disappearing.
He looks down at his notebook. He did not inform his crew mates that the exam was to assess their physical and mental well-being. Unexpectedly, Nami, Usopp, and Vivi were the ones who were least keen to talk about the mental health part.
On the other hand, Luffy,Zoro, and Sanjiresponded to all of the questions without hesitation, althoughLuffy, Zoro, and Sanjishared some disturbing facts with him.
Seriously, Luffy did not hesitate to reveal that he was kidnapped and tortured by bandits when he was seven years old. Since he was eightyears old, Zoro has been training and adhering to a regimen meant for soldiers and oldermen. At thirteen years old, he started his journey as a bounty hunter.
Even thoughZoro appeared to be rough and crude, he was awkward and kind to him, even when he retrieved him after breakfast while training on the deck.
Luffy entered their quarters first to start the visit; his silly captain assumed it would be amusing and entailed some sort of game (I mean, it was like the first time in Luffy's life that he had a doctor's appointment. Was he raised in the jungle?)
Well, He also told him that his grandfather beat him and his brothers and called it a 'fist of love'. Chopper has concluded that Luffy's DNA and family are utterly insane and ridiculous.But after fiveminutes, Luffy stated that he was hungry and fled the room.
Zoro had some difficulty answering his questions.
Chopper has noted that Zoro has a difficult time expressing his feelings; all of his responses focused on training (as if he was running away from his emotions by practicing like Chopper does with his books and knowledge of medicine). So Chopper simply signed and released him to complete his training after ensuring that all of his wounds had healed properly.
Sanji's tour was so normal and perfect that Chopper grew suspicious of his cook. Sanji gently answered all his queries while keeping a warm smile. Even though he disclosed that he had been stuck on a rock amidEast Blue as a kid and suffered from starvation for two months along with his adoptive father.
He reluctantly admitted that his adoptive father gave up his leg to feed him so he wouldn't die of starvation. (Again, even Sanji could disguise the guilt in his eyes; Chopper would always notice it, from the tick of fingers or minor tremors in a voice-).
But before Chopper could demand an examination of his cook's body. Sanji quickly rose from his chair, warned thatLuffy'smeal would burn if he lingered, and raced out of the room.
But thenUsopp's tour arrived,his nakama was so anxious that Chopper feared he was going to pass out.
Chopper has noticed a few characteristics regarding his nakama. The first concern was Usopp's low self-esteem.
The way his shoulders lowered whenever he spoke about him, the way his voice trembled as though he was terrified of his own voice, or the way he was unable to stare him in the eyes and had to look down instead.(He recognized it well; after his father's death, Chopper never went a day without feeling like everything he had accomplished was a series of failures and mistakes. (He was soscared of killing someonelike he did with his father.)
Usopp suffered from anxiety. How his emotions felt like ticking bombs for him, exploding in a single sense of terror, how he was bothered by a lot of sounds and change, with no sting of steadiness. Or how many nights couldn't he sleep because his emotions were so overwhelming and evasive that he couldn't close his eyes and sleep.
Chopper had promised him that he would prepare something to help him relax and sleep, especially during his emotional crisis.
Then there was Namitour. His navigator was receptive and on her guard; Chopper wouldn't lie, but he was uneasy by her stern gaze. Her physical health had improved since she recovered from her infection, but when Chopper started asking her questions regarding mental health, she turned so cold that he thought he had offended her.
However, after a few minutes of examination, Chopper realized Nami was shielding herself, not from him, but from herself. (As if she was too terrified to admit her feelings, fearful that if she fell in front of him, he would pity her--but Chopper would never. Above all, he is a doctor who relishes helping and caring about others).
After several questions that made his tiny heartbreak at her answers, he couldn't help but tear.
How could he not when she told him she was a victim of slavery by a crew of fishermen who took her hometown and murdered her mother because she didn't have enough money to pay for her place?
(And even though Nami tried to hide theguilt from her gaze, Chopper recognized it. The shame of believing that your existence was the fruit of someone's death, who took and reared you as his own flesh and blood).
His heart ached and trembled as she hesitantly revealed that she had suffered from abuse of any sort over eight years. Chopper is not naiveto grasp how abuse destroys a victim's mind and heart, nor is he ignorant of the fact that abuse can take many forms, including mental, sexual, and physical.
He asked her if she had insomnia or nightmares as a result of this encounter, and she hesitated before answering, stating yes. So he told her that he was going to prepare a few things to help her fall asleep.
(He didn't mention the nightmares since Chopper knows that no treatment can erase the ghosts that have lingered in your head for so long-).
Before she left, Chopper asked her if she was comfortable with doing a session once a week so she could talk about her thoughts in a way that might liberate her from her nightmares. Surprisingly, she accepted him with a broad smile before complimenting him and leaving.
Princess Vivi was overly stressed; her body hopped and jumped slightly whenever Chopper asked a question or directed her to perform anything so he could check her physical health.
Yet Chopper didn't mind; her attitude seemed understandable given that they were on their way to her kingdom. Chopper couldn't image being hounded to death from your own kingdom, as well as being the subject of rejection and accusations from an entire kingdom.
(In some ways, he gets it from his birth father's ruthless beats and the way humans chased and sought his death).
A civil war awaits her in the name of her royal family, and he is aware that Vivi is terrified of it. She reluctantly responded to certain questions, while others she remained mute, as if she accepted that this was her only reality, that she was alone against a whole army and an organization. (But Luffy agreed to help her; couldn't she feed some of her concerns into him and his nakamas?).
When she stopped replying to his question, he decided to let her go with her duck.
So now all that remains is Umekui, but Chopper looked into practically every inch of the deck and found no sign of a red eye or a bandaged first mate.
"Did you finish all of your appointments, Chopper?" Nami wonders as she steps out on the balcony.
Chopper looks at her with a sad expression, "No. Itonly misses Umekui, but I've been looking for her for hours and haven't found her."
Nami smiles weakly as her eyes sadden and responds, "If you haven't found her, it means that she has locked herself up in her painting room."
"Locked herself?" mused out loud Chopper. "Does she do it a lot?" He asked.
"Yes." Nami admits, "The longest that she has done it was an entire week without eating anything,"
"What?!" gasped Chopper choked. "But why?"
"I don't know," Nami replies helplessly, crouching down before him and softly grasping his shoulder. "But please, could you go see her? Perhaps she will leave the room to attend your appointment. I don't like it when she walls herself off and locks herself in her room, painting alone without seeing anyone or eating what Sanji has cooked."
Chopper gives a solemn nod and runs to Umekui's painting room. He takes a deep breath before knocking at the door.
He knocks once again and says, "Umekui, it's Chopper.Could we talk for a few minutes, please?"
"Chopper?" calls on a drowsy voice from behind the door. His eyes tremble at the worn-out tone in her voiceas if his first mate had been drained of life.
He waits for a few moments until he hears his first mate walking and doing something behind the door. Then she pulls it open. It was so dark that Chopper could not see anything in her secret painting room, so she swiftly shut the door behind her.
His first partner sat on her bottom and leaned against the door, allowing her to gaze into his eyes. The bandages covering her right eye vanished, leaving behind an identical ruby eye, a stained scar, and a mole beneath it. Her crimson eyes are so dark that they overshadow the customary dazzling brightness of her red pupils; his first mare appeared drained and consumed.
"You wanted to talk, Chopper?" Umekui inquires, looking worriedly at him.
Is she stupid? How could she look at him worriedly when she could barely stand up without collapsing from exhaustion?
"Yes. I've already had a medical appointment with all of our nakamas and Vivi, and all that's missing is you," he says, quickly displaying her the notepaper in his paws.
She quickly looks down at it before glancing at him. "Is refusal an option?"
Chopper blinks, as if he didn't hear the question clearly, then glares slightly at her. "No." He sighssoftly at her. "But if you want, you can optnot toanswersome questions and don’t dothings, okay?"
Umekui considers it for a few seconds before nodding. She stands up, tells him to wait a moment, goes into her painting room, and returns immediately with a sketchbook and a pencil.
"How about I draw you while I attend your appointment?" Umekui offers while showinghim her red sketchbook.
Chopper accepts with a broad smile and heads into their quarters, where his meetings with his first mate could start.
He sits in the chair, facing the sofa, and allows Umekui to sit on it. She looks around their accommodations and grimaces at the sight of Zoro and Luffy's clothes lying over the room.
"A personal cabinet for your work is a good option," she suggests.
He smiles, "But the Going Merry is too small for me to have a personal cabinet and I don't think we might replace our boat since Usopp told me that it was a gift of his childhood friend from his homeland-"
Umekui smiles gently. "You are right.Then how about I offer you my painting room so you can use it as a cupboardfor your work?"
Chopper exclaims and shakes his hands in front of his face, "No!"I could never! It's your own private room!"
"I wouldn't mind if I gave it to you," she says, drawing intoher book.
Chopper furrows his eyebrows as he peers incredulously at his first mate.
"Do you always give your things away to people?"
"Not really.I just do it for my nakama, and I don't have the right to own many things.I don't care to get attached to them," Umekui shrugs.
"What do you mean by you didn't have the right to have a lot of things?" Chopper observes as he writes down on his paper.
Umekui does not answer and keeps silent while sketching in her book.
Chopper sighs and glances over her right eye, where the wounds are receding.
"Your eye seems to heal right." He says to himself, "Doctorine potion would never stop fascinating me."
She smiles at him and says, "I'm sure your potion is just as good as hers."
Then she raises a scarred hand over her right hand, "But I'll disappoint you if I tell you that it wasn't just doctrine medicine that healed my eye, but also my ability."
"You are an ability user?!" Chopper shouts, delighted at his first mate. He has, however, seen her powers used against Wapol and his men.
"Yes. It's no longer human, and it can negate any powers or demon fruit within its reach or touch-," she adds as she continues to sketch on her book.
It? Chopper wonders if her first mate realizes she is talking about her ability as if it were living and distinct from her. Since powers and users are inthe same spheres of reality, it appears unthinkable that there could be something that exists with a consciousness and a purpose.
(Just as his blue nose identifies him as a monster and an anomaly in his pack. And his devil fruit divides himbetween the human and animal species (so what is he? Who is he?).
"You don't have any firepower?" Chopper wonders, recalling the flames bursting from her body and sword as she slaughtered the wicked king.
The pencil stops in her fingers, halting her progress, and she lifts a weak smile to look at him through exhausted red eyes. "No. It's not 'no longer human' power."
Again the it.
She doesn't go into detail about the firepower, instead blinksas if her eyes were shutting down and return her attention to her drawing.
"Do you sleep regularly at night, Umekui?" he states, observing all the signs that his first mate is sleep-deprived.
"I am an insomniac Chopper."
It's all she says without looking at him.
"Do you want me to make you some things to help you sleep well?" he seeks out.
"No.I don't need it," she admits blankly.
Chopper chewed his upper lip and stared intently at his first mate. He can't read her, unlike his nakama and Vivi; she appears to be devoid of any emotions. Yet, it is impossible because Chopper can see that his first companion is extremely exhausted and worn out by her empty, weary gaze (but from what? Who, and why?).
It makes his little heart shiver from sadness.
"Nami told me that sometimes you isolate yourself in your painting room for days. Is this true?," inquires Chopper, concerned.
The response is nothing but absolute quiet. After five minutes, Chopper considered that it was again another question that his first mate refused to answer.
But he is shocked that his first mate replies to him.
"Yes," she says honestly, remaining concentrated on her drawing.
"But why?" asks Chopper quietly.
"To protect them," she says.
"From what?" he says, narrowing his eyes.
She does not answer, instead casting a glance at him before returning to her sketch.
"Are you afraid, Umekui?"asks Choppercarefully as he moves his chair closer to Umekui's side.
The pencil froze in her fingers, and she chuckled subtly, as if whathe'd told her it was a joke. She looks at him through a motionless gaze, as if a curtain of lies and secrets had settled.
"Me, afraid?" She smiles and looks up, peering attentively at him. "Why would I be afraid when it's the world that is afraid of me?"
"But one doesn't cancel out the other, does it?"
She avoids responding againbut continues to stare at him, forcing him to ask another question (he needs to understand his first mate.That she is so much more than this frozen facade. He needs to see that she is not someone whose nothingness emerges through her red eyes.).
(How could she when she burnt like a solar eclipse in his homeland, restoring the freedom of the grievers? How could she when she was the wings that prompted him to fly into the seas and fulfill his dream?)
"But our nakamas aren't afraid of you, right?"
The smile fades as the pencil falls from her grip to the floor in a single sharp sound, making him wince.
"If our nakamas feel an ounce of fear toward me..." she whispers, her breath thinning. "If you-if one day you all learn to fear me.." she smiles bitterly as her eyes darken from hopelessness, "then it's the fateful day that I will die."
She rises from her seat and glances at him before leaving the room.
"You don't have to work yourself up to auscultate me. Doctorine has already done it," she stated, her smile wide and mourning. "Everything is absolutely fine, Chopper."
With those final words, she exits the room and quietly closes the door behind her.
His papers shake under his firm grip.
'then it's the fateful day that I will die.'
What does she mean by this? Isn't that what he is thinking?
("Hiriluk wasn't killed," says Doctorine through the door when he locks himself up for days with grief and sadness poisoning his heart. "You didn't kill him, Chopper," she adds gently over his choked sobs. "He killed himself. He has committed suicide as an ultimatum, my son," his mother announces, revealing the truth that Dalton witnessed and shared through a heartbroken gaze.)
Even if it hasn't been two days since Chopper met his first mate, he knows there isa truth before his eyes thathe's too terrified to admit.
But from her vacant exhausted eyes to the bandages covering her entire body and those scarred hands (he knows the scars are from self-harm. He is not stupid enough to mention it, but he is too afraid to accept it.)
She demonstrated it by offering her room as if she was willing to lose everything in just one instance. She declined his help as if she was ready for death at any second, and helping her was a losing cause that'd fatigue him.
'Sometimes doctors can't help everyone.'
She once told him, but he failed to comprehend the actual significance of her despair.
Neither he nor his mother were able to help Hiriluk.
(He is dead, gone, and committed suicide to avoid succumbing to his disease.
(Or did he do it to prevent the poison Chopper had given him from killing him? (It's a lot like his father; he's so stupid, so selfless, and so caring that he will inflict more wounds on himself to soothe the guilt that's eating Chopper alive).
Before he realized it, Chopper was crying. Silent tears stream down his cheeks and fall onto his notepaper.
She is too much like his father. And Chopper is afraid of it.
He despised it as much as he loved it (he lovesthe tenderness flowing from her and his father's palms. He adores their unique eyes. He loves how they see him as someone. How theyregard himas asoulrather than anugly monster, yet he despises their selflessness. How stupid they are to sacrificethemselves for those they love. How their eyes are filled with adespairthat he tries so hard to heal. How death seemed to linger around their souls continuously, eager to take them awayfrom him-).
His little shoulders shake as he raises a paw to wipe away the tears in his eyes.
"Chopper, why are you crying? Are you hungry?" his captain's familiar voice asks.
Chopper lowers his paw from his teary eyes and gazes back at his captain.
Luffy is crouching before him, gazing at him with his large brown eyes. The scar beneath his right eye creases as he smiles broadly at him, his white teeth sparkling from the sunset's rays passing through the small window ( or is it simply his wide smile that is beaming back at the sun?).
He beams as he tilts his head and waits for his response.
Chopper sniffles and wipes away the tears.
"No..." he says with a little smile, "I'm not hungry."
"Then why are you crying ifyou're not hungry?" Luffy pouts.
"Do you only cry because you are hungry?" questions Chopper with amusem*nt, sniffing the tears.
Luffy frowns. "Of course not."
"Then it's the same for me," chuckles Chopper.
"Oh, I see," answers Luffy, extending his tongue and causing it to spin over itself. Luffy's tongue becomes trapped and slaps him, causing him to fall on his bottom.
Chopper laughs and giggles wildly, his eyes staring amusingly at his captain's funnyexpression. Luffy blinks and beams at Chopper, relieved to see his nakama laugh loudly, letting him forget the previous tears resonating throughout the room.
(Above all, Luffy chose his nakama so that he might make them happy and hear their laughter forever. Their smiles and laughs are what keep Luffy beaming at the world every day; they are the sparkles of the dream he is chasing, the future fulfillment of a promise he gave to Shanks).
"What is your dream, Chopper?" Luffy asks, grinning.
Chopper marvels at him with abroad gaze and exclaims, "To become a doctor who can cure everything in the world!"
"Shi shi shi it's a cool and awesome dream!" Luffy grins brightly as he stretches his arms around Chopper and drags him closer, hugging him tightly.
He stretches his hands, lifts Chopper by the waist into the air, spins around with him, and laughs wildly.
"Chopper, we will fulfill our dream together! The future pirate king and the world's greatest doctor!"
Chopper giggles in his arms, curling his smooth paws around Luffy's neck. (He is so warm that it burns the pain and suffering in his heart to ashes). And the conviction that springs from his captain's soul urges him to believe in Luffy and himself, to not give up,and toembrace this dream, this wish that gives him hope for a world free of illness and sorrow.
For Hiriluk, for his father.
For Umekui. This sorrow consumes her alive, whichshe desperately tries to hide from them. But they can never turn a blind eye to her pain, especially when it reveals itself in an empty gaze and a readiness to die.
As long as Chopper lives, he would do anything to save his first mate from the pit of despair she is sliding into.He will never be a great doctor if he cannot save his first mate.
As long as Umekui suffers in the dark, Chopper's dream of a world devoid of illness and grief can never be achieved.
If it came down to Umekui or the world, Chopper would choose his first mate over a thousand choices and lifetimes.
How could he not, when the same world resents the one whom he is growing to love?
"Tenderness is a virtue."
