"Keep climbing trees and you'll get more bruises." Izo said as he watched the little girl climb the branches of a huge tree situated on the hill. (Name) laughed and continued climbing higher.
"Who was the one who kept saying 'the only one you can count on is yourself'?" (Name) recited, pitching her voice as low as she could. She burst into another form of laughter before finally settling down on one of the widest branches and facing the pinkish-purple hues of the horizon.
Izo sighed, smiling a little, and sat down at the base of the tree - "That's what you get for telling her a bunch of nonsense. Shut up, I don't need to hear it from you." He looked at the two baskets next to him, both full of blueberries. Earlier in the day, (Name) pulled him to pick these ripe fruits. He agreed, thinking it would only take thirty minutes or an hour at most.
He certainly didn't expect to spend the whole afternoon picking blueberries and talking about whimsical little things. Izou sighed for the second time. In fact, he never anticipated spending much of his time with a little girl. The situation was almost laughable.
"Izo-san, you saw that butterfly in the bushes, right? Did it break out of the shell? Why did that happen?" (Name) questioned.
"That butterfly was that caterpillar you befriended a while ago. Remember you said he disappeared and all that was left was that 'weird thing'. The caterpillar turned into that shell before becoming the butterfly." He looked up and saw (Name)'s face full of astonishment.
"Amazing..." she murmured. She leaned back against the bark and looked at the green leaves above her. (Name) reached up until her fingertips felt their waxy surfaces.
"Izo-san, are you happy?" He tilted his head to the side as he crossed his arms, thinking.
"...I don't know. I wasn't meant to be happy." (Name) didn't know why, but her answer made her heart feel sad. She sat still on that tree branch for a long time before putting on her best smile.
"Well, I'm happy, Izo-san!" she hissed. She slowly began to climb down the tree with Izo watching her closely, making sure she didn't fall.
"Oh?"
"Yes! I'm happy all the time! I can spend all my time with Mom, Dad, Oden-san, Rakuyo-san, Jozu-san, Vista-san, Thatch-san, Fossa-san, Marco-San, and you, Izo-san! I love everyone and I'm so lucky to have wonderful people in my family! I don't care what people say about you!'' She was already halfway up the tree when Izo raised an eyebrow.
"What do people say about us?"
"When I went to get groceries with Thatch-san, there were these guys who kept talking about 'Whitebeard,' saying that they're no good' and that they're 'horrible people' and they're 'monsters,' but I know that's not the case. It's true!" (Name) was now firmly on the ground with her small hands balled into fists. His face was red with anger and his eyes were absolutely furious.
"Why do people have to talk bad about you?" she exclaimed. Her voice was growling at the end of her sentences: "Why do people say they hate you? They haven't even met you before, so they shouldn't be saying such mean things!" Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and, for the first time, Izo felt a slight panic and wondered what to do. He squatted down and wiped the tears from her eyes with his sleeve.
"...Y-you don't need to cry..." he tried. (Name) sniffed.
"B-But why do they have to do this?! You're not bad people, I know you're not...Everyone is nice, why can't anyone see that?!" It's been a long time since Izo felt any kind of guilt. And now here was this naive girl crying about how good people they were, even though it wasn't entirely true, and he couldn't bring himself to tell her anything different.
She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand to try and make them stop while Izo went to get the blueberry baskets. He held out his free hand for her to grab. She looked at him, her eyes red and swollen.
"Let's go home. Let's make a blueberry cake for everyone to eat. Would you like to do that?" A wobbly smile emerged from her tear-stained cheeks.
"Yes." As they walked home together, Izo couldn't let that feeling of guilt leave her stomach. He knew that Whitebeard's crew were not good people, including himself. They didn't deserve those tears from her.
And they certainly didn't deserve your unconditional love.
YOU ARE READING
Pink Carnations (Whitebeard Pirates x F!Child!Reader)
Fanfiction(Name), a tiny little girl who carries a very big meaning, she was always smiling and happy and was never afraid of anything, she always likes to play and look at flowers. Your affection made flowers bloom in their hearts, forming deep roots like me...
