One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Thirty Five [Rewritten]

-Chapter Thirty-Five-

"What we need to do now is stop Baroque Works—that organization is about to cause a pointless war with their malicious scheming" Vivi frowned. "They're trying to destroy this country and we must stop them, no matter what the cost may be" she rationalized. "I don't care how difficult it is or what the dangers are—they absolutely must be stopped. Crocodile will never get what he wants, not while I'm alive" she firmly stated.

"Well, I guess we should get going now, huh?" Usopp questioned as he pushed himself up onto his feet.

"Usopp, are you sure you're alright?" Vivi worriedly asked.

"Oh please, are you kidding me?" he waved as he puffed out his chest. "I'm feeling so strong right now it almost hurts" he boasted.

"You sure about that?" I chuckled, climbing back on top of Eyelash as I cast a glance back at the sharpshooter.

"Liar" Sanji deadpanned upon seeing the way that the long-nosed pirate's legs started to shake as if they barely had the energy to hold him up.

"My legs are shaking because I got so much energy" Usopp quickly defended. "You haven't seen strong until you see Captain Usopp in action! I won't waver or fall for one second!" he proudly boasted before falling right over when the blond suddenly touched the back of his legs. "What did you do that for?!" he snapped.

"Alright, we should get going" Nami said, already ignoring the two as they started to fight.

"What? But shouldn't we wait for Luffy and the others?" Vivi asked.

"Yeah, if we get too far ahead, they might not be able to find us" I softly frowned.

"You both are such worrywarts" Nami sighed with a small smile. "Luffy is absolutely determined to beat Crocodile—once he has his mind set on something, just let him do his own thing, you know that" she said brushing away our worries as a small smile tugged at both our lips upon hearing her words. 

-Later-

"You're falling behind—what happened to all that strength and energy you had, Captain Usopp?" Sanji teasingly asked once he noticed that Usopp was starting to lag behind the rest of us.

"Oh...that...?" Usopp panted. "I meant it more in a metaphorical sense, not literally..." he wheezed, not bashful at all in admitting to his false bravado from earlier.

"Well hang in there, just a little bit longer" Nami called back. "Still worried, huh?" she asked, causing my gaze to flicker away from the open desert.

"Oh, no" Vivi shook her head the minute she realized that the ginger was speaking to her and not me.

"It's written all over your face" Nami quickly pointed out. "You can't hide it that well, just like Skylar can't hide that crush of hers on Zoro."

"I told you we are just friends!" I groaned.

"Sure you are" she nodded, grinning as I gave another groan before bumping my forehead against her back.

"Yeah, I guess it is" Vivi breathlessly laughed. "I'm sure they're okay, really" she smiled, giving my back a comforting pat in the process.

"You guys are jerks..." I grumbled, causing them both to giggle.

"I seriously doubt you'll ever stop being a worrywart, but that isn't always necessarily a bad thing" Nami hummed, going back to the conversation at hand once she finished with her teasing.

"You know, you guys are amazing" Vivi suddenly praised.

"Huh?" Nami questioned.

"Trying to butter us up now, are we?" I chuckled, causing the princess' smile to widen.