Journey to Raftel Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! With Whiskey Peak beaten down, Vivi now under the protection of the Straw Hats, and a new adventure ahead, the crew plans to head off to the next island. Luffy is looking forward to adventure. Nami and Carina are looking forward to a payday! Will Vivi fit in with the crew or be driven crazy by them? Kek!

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 18 – Adventure: Return the Princess Home!

The next half hour was a whirlwind of activity for the Straw Hats as they dealt with the body of Mr. Five, and began preparations to leave Cactus Island behind. There was no telling how many people would be coming after Vivi, or if the Mr. Five and Miss Valentine pair were the only Officer Agents that had been deployed.

“Princess Vivi!” Mr. Eight showed up as the crew was finishing up preparations to leave, and the large man was dressed in drag for some reason.

“Igaram!” Vivi called out as she ran over to the large man.

“Monkey D. Luffy,” Igaram looked at the Captain. “I beg of you, please take Princess Vivi with you on your ship and protect her! Our country, Alabasta, needs her to safely return! But with Baroque Works after her now, I realize that I can't protect her alone! You’re powerful, far more than I! Please, escort her to Alabasta safely!” Igaram bowed low to Luffy as he begged for his assistance.

“Igaram, what are you going to do?” Vivi questioned the head of the royal guard, a heavy feeling forming in her stomach.

“Princess, I will leave first and head directly for Alabasta.” Igaram explained as he hefted up some dummies that he’d made as well. “I’ll be the decoy for anyone that is currently pursuing you. Please hand me the Eternal Pose.” He held out his hand to the bluenette.

“What’s an Eternal Pose?” Nami questioned as she walked over to stand by Luffy.

“Ah, yes, you’re new to the Grand Line.” Igaram remembered. “An Eternal Pose is a special Pose that always points to the island it was made for. No matter where in the world you go, it always points to that particular island.”

“Huh, sounds useful.” Nami nodded with a thoughtful look on her face. She made a mental note to look into Eternal Poses later. “About how much would an Eternal Pose cost?”

“I believe the going price is a million Beri, but a more obscure or hard to reach island would see the price increase in proportion.” Igaram answered with the best of his knowledge on the subject.

“A MILLION?! THAT’S TOO MUCH!!!” Nami’s teeth were sharp and her glare even sharper after hearing the price of an Eternal Pose.

“Shishishishi! Don’t worry, we'll protect her.” Luffy promised, getting a smile from both Vivi and Igaram. “Do what you need to do and we’ll ship out to start the adventure!” He was clearly excited to get going.

Igaram eyed the young man, wondering what adventure had to do with escorting Vivi back to Alabasta, but he put that aside for now. He and Vivi walked a bit away from the group to talk of the new plan and say their goodbyes.

A short time later and Igaram was sailing away with the dummies that he’d made, heading towards Alabasta directly in hopes of drawing any pursuers towards himself rather than Vivi. Luffy, Nami, and Vivi watched him go until he vanished into the morning mist.

-Going Merry-

The Going Merry sailed out of Whiskey Peak’s port. Vivi was hugging her large duck, apparently, he was called Karoo, and petting his feathers as she tried to keep herself calm. The princess had never been without Igaram at her side in the time that they’d been infiltrating Baroque Works, so she needed a little time to process her new situation.

“What do you mean we're leaving already, you shitty Captain?!” Sanji demanded, barely restraining himself from throttling Luffy. “This town is amazing! We should stay longer! This is the Grand Line! Who knows when we'll get a chance to relax and unwind again! Did you see how many pretty girls there were?!”

The chef went quiet as a powerful chop slammed down atop his head from behind. Reiju didn’t look amused by her younger brother’s antics in the slightest, a cold, flat expression on her face. “Control yourself, Sanji. All of those people were enemies, we’re leaving because of that.”

“Reiju…” Sanji held the top of his head with one hand, grimacing at the pain his big sister could inflict on him.

“Ushishi!” Carina snickered at Reiju pulling the ‘Big Sister’ card on Sanji.

Nami exhaled and shook her head a bit; she needed to get more information. Turning to their new shipmate, she started asking questions. “Alright, what can we expect out of Baroque Works, Vivi? How many agents do you think they might send after us?”

“There are around two thousand Baroque Works members as far as I know. Within these waters, there are other ‘trap towns’ made up of around one hundred to one-hundred-fifty bounty hunters. We might even warrant a thousand of them sent after us.” Vivi answered the navigator, her voice steady as she conveyed the possible threat, even if her expression was worried.

“I'm not so sure… Just think about it. All of the plans are centered at Alabasta. It wouldn’t make sense to move half of Baroque Works’ manpower away from there. Until the Unluckies inform the Boss of what’s going on, there would be no reason to issue such orders, would there?” A woman’s voice countered Vivi’s thoughts.

“Who’re the Unluckies?” Zoro asked, he had no idea.

“That’s right! Nami took them out!” Vivi’s eyes brightened up. “Without the main communicators for in-organization espionage, we should have plenty of time to keep Sir Crocodile in the dark!”

“EEEEEHHHHH?!” Was the response from everybody, barring Luffy, as they all turned bugged-out eyes on the princess!

“Oh no!” Vivi clapped her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It just slipped out!”

“A Warlord?!” Carina cried out, barely holding in her panic. “Sir Crocodile of the Seven Warlords?!”

“I’m sorry!” Vivi bowed in apology.

“Eh, it’s fine.” Luffy shrugged, making everyone turn to face him. “We’d have probably run afoul of one of them eventually anyway.” If anything, the wide smile on the Captain’s face showed his excitement for the situation.

“Knowing Luffy, he’s probably right.” Nami sighed, her hand on her forehead. “Besides, we already agreed to take Vivi back home. But I’m so going to get some damn good compensation for this!”

“If it happens, it happens.” Zoro shrugged; a Warlord would make a good challenge to see how his strength was progressing!

“I didn’t expect to run into any of the Warlords for a while.” Reiju hummed thoughtfully, only looking slightly concerned.

“Shishishishi!” Luffy laughed happily that their new adventure wouldn’t be boring.

“Oh, there’s going to be fog up ahead!” The ship was heading towards a large fog bank as they sailed further along. “It’s always foggy around here near the dawn.” Vivi informed them.

“I’ll take care of it.” Nami assured the princess as she moved to guide the Going Merry through the dense mist. A few minutes of cautious sailing by Nami, and they were past the danger.

“Sanji, make some snacks for our guest, would you?” Luffy asked with a knowing grin. “Also some for me too!”

“You mean Princess Vivi?” Sanji gave the bluenette a suave smile. “I’d be delighted to!” His eyes became hearts.

“I meant her too.” Luffy pointed his thumb over his shoulder at a woman sitting on the railing overlooking the lower deck. “She flew down from the sky earlier… Even talked to us. But none of you noticed.”

“M-Miss Obon…” Vivi’s eyes widened in surprise while she stuttered out the young woman’s codename.

She was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman with reddish-brown eyes. She had long light brunette hair held back in a ponytail, with bangs covering her forehead and two longer bangs partially framing her face. She wore a pink blouse with some frills along the hems, showing off a generous amount of her cleavage. Around her thin waist (starting just below her bosom) was a dark pink waist cape, tied at the front with a bow of the same color. On her legs was a slim, pink dress that matched her blouse and stopped at her ankles, which had vertical lines down the length of it. The young woman (no older than Nami) currently wore an expression of amusement on her face.

“How are we this morning, Miss Wednesday?” Miss Obon’s amused expression didn't change as she held back a giggle at the look on Vivi’s face. “It seems that you’ve escaped danger for now.”

“Who is she!?” Zoro had his hand on Wado’s hilt instantly.

Reiju had dropped into her fighting stance, the skin of her hands taking on a slight purple tinge. She focused all of her attention on the mysterious young woman that had snuck onto their ship.

Carina produced a chain from her hand, ready to lash it at the other woman. “Who the hell are you?!”

“Doesn’t matter, she’s clearly an enemy!” Nami’s hands were engulfed in fire as her eyes glowed yellow and flames mingled with her orange hair.

“Nah, she’s fine.” Luffy chuckled, two of his copied bringing out a table and some chairs and setting them on the deck. “My copies wouldn’t have let her on the ship if she was going to do something bad.” All of the crew looked at their Captain for a long moment, contemplating his words, before they sighed and relaxed a little.

“I knew you were a good Captain!” Sanji praised Luffy with a bright smile and a thumbs up. “I’ll make snacks for our lovely visitors right away!” He noodled his way towards the kitchen.

Vivi couldn’t hold back and spoke. “What’re you doing here, Miss Obon?”

“I decided to kill some time.” Miss Obon shrugged with a little smile on her lips. “Not like I want to hang around my ‘partner’ any more than necessary.” She closed her eyes and shook her head once. “Annoying okama…”

“So, who is she?” Nami looked at Vivi for an explanation.

“Miss Obon, she’s Mr. Two’s partner, but I’d heard that they don’t get along, so they often operate independently.” Vivi answered, not taking her eyes off the other woman. “We only found out about her because she hangs around Alabasta rather often.”

“Not entirely by choice, I assure you.” Miss Obon let out a little sigh and waved her hand. “Sir Crocodile is rather the paranoid type, so some of us aren’t as free to operate as others.” She gave Vivi a knowing look. “Like Miss All-Sunday, who let you follow her and discover Crocodile’s identity as Mr. Zero.”

“Why did she tell him that we knew then?” Vivi demanded angrily. “What’s her game? Is she planning to become his queen?!”

Miss Obon looked mildly disgusted by the words, but her response shocked Vivi. “Because if you weren’t hunted, you wouldn’t have a chance to get back in time.”

“What?” Vivi blinked, looking up at Miss Obon. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said.” Miss Obon hopped down off the railing and gently floated to the lower deck, landing lightly on her feet without a sound. It was almost like watching a piece of paper fall to the floor. “Crocodile plans to act soon, and Miss All-Sunday wanted to make sure that you were back home in time. So, she asked a little favor of me, since Crocodile never lets her leave.” Miss Obon explained her presence on the Going Merry.

“The snacks are ready, ladies!” Sanji came twirling out of the kitchen with a tray in each hand, one holding the snacks, and the other holding empty cups with a coffee pot, a tea kettle, a jug of juice, and a pitcher of water in the center. The cook set the table with the ease of years of expertise. “Please enjoy, your morning refreshments, I’ll have breakfast prepared shortly.” He bowed to the women on the ship.

“There’s some for me too, right, Sanji?” Luffy questioned, his eyes never leaving the plates of snacks on the table.

“Yeah, yeah, yours is right there.” Sanji motioned to the one plate that was stacked higher than the others with the morning snacks he’d made. He clearly didn’t care if Luffy ate or not, only if the women on the ship enjoyed his cooking.

“Yes!” Luffy was sitting down instantly and popped the first snack into his mouth. “Mmm! Is this egg? Yummy!”

“I swear…” Nami sighed as she sat down next to Luffy. She might as well enjoy the snack.

“Ushishi… Luffy doesn’t think she’s a threat, so why worry?” Carina snickered at Nami, sitting beside the orangette.

Reiju sat on Luffy’s opposite side, a little grin on her lips. “Luffy has less to be concerned about than most.” She gently bumped him with her shoulder, making Luffy smile at her.

“Whatever.” Zoro was clearly unconcerned, just sitting down to eat on Reiju’s opposite side.

“Tea, Coffee, Juice, or Water, mademoiselle?” Sanji asked Miss Obon with a smile.

“What type of tea do you have?” Miss Obon was happily playing along at this point.

“Black Tea, this morning, procured from Loguetown fresh just a few days ago.” Sanji answered with a smile, appreciating the relaxed decorum of the woman.

“I’ll have that then.” Miss Obon allowed and Sanji poured her cup. “Thank you, chef.”

“Of course, my lady.” Sanji twirled away to pour drinks for Carina, Nami, and Reiju, making Luffy and Zoro get their own.

Vivi hadn’t sat down at the table like everyone else, still eyeing Miss Obon warily. “What is Crocodile about to do?! Tell me!”

“You know about his little plan…” Miss Obon answered after a sip of her tea. “Why ask me?”

“Damn him…” Vivi’s fists clenched at her sides. “Why does he want to destroy my country?! Why’re you and Miss All-Sunday helping him?!”

“He’s got something on Miss All-Sunday, not sure what it is though.” Miss Obon shrugged as she explained. “I’m just considered useful for something he hasn’t told me about yet. But the way he restricts my movements makes me think he needs me in Alabasta whenever he makes his move.” She wouldn’t tell them that she was hiding from her own past in Crocodile’s shadow. The fact that he’d seemed very interested in her after learning what she was reminded her of said past though. “Oh, these are delicious.” She complimented after eating one of the snacks. “You’re quite the chef.”

“Thank you very much, mademoiselle!” Sanji bowed to her; his eyes heart-shaped at the praise from the lovely young woman.

Luffy had already eaten all of his snacks and was looking at Zoro’s and Sanji’s with sneaky glances. “So, we just need to have an island-hopping adventure and take Vivi back to her country, keeping her safe the whole way. Are we going to have to fight a bunch of these Broke Works guys?”

Miss Obon snickered at the mispronunciation, but covered her mouth with her teacup. “I’m afraid so, you’ll be going up against hundreds, several very strong among them, and you’re only a crew of six. Honestly, it seems like you’re bound to fail, Princess.” She looked at Vivi with a slightly dark smile.

“Don’t you dare underestimate us!” Vivi grit her teeth, reaching for her weapons of choice, her two Peacock Slashers.

“Please don’t swing those things at me.” Miss Obon sighed. In an instant both of Vivi’s weapons were stopped dead, a piece of paper had appeared from seemingly nowhere and blocked both sharp blades without being cut.

“A Devil Fruit!” Vivi gasped as she watched her Peacock Slashers fall limply on the ends of their strings.

“What kind?” Nami questioned as she pointed her index finger at Miss Obon, a bright flame on the tip ready to unleash a flamethrower upon the other woman.

“It looks like paper.” Zoro eyed the single sheet of paper that had stopped Vivi’s small, spinning blades. No normal paper would’ve been able to survive being hit like that though. His right hand was once more on the hilt of one of his swords, Yubashiri this time, given that the light blade would be the fastest to draw.

Miss Obon made the paper fold itself into an origami crane and let it glide to land on the table. “Don’t get excited.” She smiled lightly. “I’m not here on assignment. There’s no reason for us to fight.”

“Let’s all relax.” Sanji poured Miss Obon another cup of tea, clearly ignoring Reiju’s annoyed glare at him. “She hasn’t hurt anyone since she got here. Even Luffy vouches for her.” He gave a small nod to Luffy who was grinning while chewing on one of the snacks he’d swiped form Zoro’s plate.

Carina eyed the ‘enemy’ woman from across the table. She was damn good at spotting liars (a necessity for a thief) and Miss Obon gave off the signs of someone that was telling the truth, but perhaps not all of it. Her hand under the table was aimed at the other woman, ready to tie her up in heavy iron chains in an instant.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome…” Miss Obon finished her second cup of tea and stood up from the table. “I’ve done what Miss All-Sunday asked of me. Making it back to Alabasta alive is now your problem.” She looked at Vivi with a polite smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll be on my way.”

“Are you sure that you don’t want some breakfast to go, Miss Obon?” Sanji asked with a bright smile for the lovely woman. It wouldn’t take him more than a couple minutes to prepare a bento.

Miss Obon raised an eyebrow at the overly friendly chef. “Thank you, but no, chef.” She leaned in, cutting off the rest of the crew’s view of her face, and spoke to Sanji in a darker tone. “You shouldn’t get so friendly with enemy women, chef.” Her bangs were pushed up, revealing a third eye on her forehead that matched her normal two in shape and color. “You might just get taken advantage of by a monster.” Her dark smirk had a wicked undertone as she looked at him.

“Beautiful…” Sanji’s response was not what Miss Obon had expected when she showed him her third eye.

“Eh?” Miss Obon blinked (with all three eyes) in shock. No one had EVER called her third eye anything but ‘weird’ or ‘creepy’ in her entire life! Even her own mother hated it and demanded that she keep it covered at all times!

“The eyes are the window to the soul, and yours is so lovely that it needs to be shown off even more.” Sanji smiled at Miss Obon while unknowingly giving her the first genuine compliment about her third eye that she’d ever had.

“Eh…eh?!” Miss Obon covered her third eye again and stepped back from Sanji. With a flourish of her arm, a wave of paper emerged from the limb and swirled around her. Without a word, Miss Obon flew away from the Going Merry on a large paper plane. The paper construct rose high into the air and headed for the horizon under the young woman’s power.

“Cool!” Luffy exclaimed loudly, watching Miss Obon fly away on the paper plane. He had sparkles in his eyes at seeing another Devil Fruit user that could fly with their powers!

“Was she blushing?” Nami questioned, only having briefly seen Miss Obon’s face before she’d flown away.

Reiju rolled her eyes at Sanji. “What in the world did you say to her?”

“I just complimented her beauty!” Sanji replied, looking slightly offended that his sister would think he’d ever be rude to a woman.

“I’d run away from that too.” Zoro said as he finished off his drink.

“What was that, Marimo?!” Sanji immediately got in Zoro’s face.

Carina cracked up at the instant fight. “Ushishi! Never a dull moment on this ship!”

“You okay, Vivi?” Nami looked over to the princess with some concern, seeing the worry and confusion practically plastered to the other woman’s face.

“I…I don’t know what to think.” Vivi grimaced, her hands still clenched into fists at her sides. “They’re helping Crocodile destroy my country…but they’re also acting against him too? I think? It’s so confusing. I’d thought all of Baroque Works was loyal to Crocodile…or Mr. Zero as they know him.”

“There can be disagreements in any organization.” Reiju joined the conversation, giving Vivi a small smile. “The way that Miss Obon spoke of this Miss All-Sunday makes it sound like she’s more of a prisoner, rather than a partner.”

Vivi nodded in agreement after a long moment to think about what Miss Obon had said. “I don’t understand this though. Igaram and I infiltrated Baroque Works for three years, we learned Crocodile was behind everything that had befallen our country over the last decade. But now he’s going to make his move and that worries me. I haven’t been home in three years. The situation was getting bad back then, but things were still able to be talked out with the discontent. If Crocodile is ready to make his final moves, then I can only imagine how bad it’s gotten since I’ve been gone.” News from Alabasta was rare to come by in the newspapers. The internal strife within the country was masked by reports of the record-long drought that had hit Sandy Island instead. Unless something truly terrible happened, Vivi knew that it wouldn’t be printed in the papers, that lack of knowledge had never hit her as hard as it was doing right now.

“Then we’ll just have to get you home as fast as possible, right?” Nami smiled at the princess. Left unsaid was the reward waiting for them upon doing so.

“I really can’t thank you all enough for this.” Vivi smiled back as best she could through the mountain of worry that was building up in her.

“Nami! Set the course to the next island!” Luffy cheered, no longer able to see Miss Obon’s paper plane. “It’s time to start our adventure!” He jumped over to his ‘special seat’ atop Merry’s figurehead and smiled brightly as they sailed.

“Yes, Captain.” Nami rolled her eyes playfully as she headed towards the bow and lined up the Log Pose by sight.

-Miss Obon-

“What is wrong with that man?!” Miss Obon covered her blushing face as she flew through the sky, staying on course thanks to the Eternal Pose that she had. This specific one had the name ‘Alabasta’ printed on top of the wooden frame that held the sphere of glass that was the Pose.

She couldn’t stop her face from burning red as she recalled Sanji’s compliments about her third eye. How he’d not even flinched when she’d revealed it to him. Instead, the chef had given her a genuine compliment and even said that she had a beautiful soul!

“No, no, no…” Miss Obon shook her head side to side. “He doesn’t know anything about me! He’s definitely just some playboy! He was being friendly with all of the women on that ship!”

Doki Doki

That still didn’t stop her heart from beating wildly in her chest.

Trying to distract herself, she focused on her creation instead. The large paper plane that she was flying on was only possible thanks to the Pasa Pasa no Mi (Paper-Paper Fruit). It was a Special Paramecia Devil Fruit, much like her older brother Katakuri’s Mochi Mochi no Mi. It let her create, control, and turn into paper at will. She’d found it early on after escaping Whole Cake Island with her big sister Lola.

With her Devil Fruit, she could not only create paper and manipulate it, but also alter its properties. Paper as strong as metal, as sharp as a sword, immovable unless by her will, and she was certain there would be more she could do if she ever reached the mastery that Katakuri had with his Devil Fruit.

If she hadn’t been separated from Lola and the rest of her crew back then… She shook her head to drive away the memory. Lola would never abandon her. She was the only one that had ever understood the amount of ridicule and abuse that she’d gone through because of her third eye back home. Being offered a chance to escape, to be free of all expectations and the shackles of control that their mother placed on all of her children, had seemed like a dream to her when she was younger.

“But the sea is an uncaring place…” Miss Obon sighed as she wrapped her arms around her knees and looked out over the sea below as she flew through the air. “I still can’t be happy.” The bad memories were coming back again. The years of mistreatment for her third eye at the hands of her peers and even several members of her own family. “Especially mama…” She refused to cry anymore. She’d shed too many tears over that already. “And now I’m caught up with another crazy person that wants to use my third eye for something.” Miss Obon sighed heavily, still vividly recalling the day that Sir Crocodile had offered her a place in Baroque Works, how his interest in her had noticeably increased when he’d found out what she was…a descendant of the Three-Eyed Tribe.

The image of Sanji’s smiling face appeared in her mind again, quickly followed by his words.

“The eyes are the window to the soul, and yours is so lovely that it needs to be shown off even more.”

Doki Doki

“Shut up…no…” Miss Obon shook her head and hid her face again as her cheeks burned. From her body, paper appeared and started to fold and curl itself into a specific shape. It was much larger than most anybody would ever make origami, but it was incredibly life like when it was done.

A white doge, vaguely looking like a Samoyed, with paper that was split and curled to mimic the fluffy fur that the breed was known for, nuzzled against Miss Obon. The young woman opened her arms and cuddled with the origami dog, not wanting to think about anything for a while.

She didn’t want to remember her past torment.

She didn’t want to recall her mother.

She didn’t want to recall being separated from Lola.

She didn’t want to think about being ‘Miss Obon’ of Baroque Works.

And she especially didn’t want to think about Sanji’s handsome face, his warm smile, or his genuine and kind compliments.

“Stupid…” Charlotte Pudding, the 35thdaughter and 76th child of the Charlotte Family, just wanted to be herself…and be able to be happy while doing so.

-End Chapter-

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Look at me! I am the Canon now!

The Straw Hats leave Whiskey Peak behind as normal, but who meets them on their ship is NOT Nico Robin!

Instead, it’s ‘Miss Obon’, the partner of Mr. Two! And she’s a familiar face to those that have followed One Piece for a while!

But what’s this?! I’ve changed her past a bit! I even changed up her Devil Fruit!

What couldn’t be changed is Sanji having made her heart go ‘Doki Doki’ almost right off the bat! Kek!

Pudding mentions that Robin isn’t allowed to leave by Crocodile…strange, but not out of character for someone that’s been shown to be untrusting in Canon.

Why would this have changed though?

Will the Straw Hats make their way to Alabasta safely? What islands will they run across in their travels? Will it be the adventure that Luffy is seeking?

Keep reading to find out!

Until next time, later!