𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙒𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙? ☆ [ONE PIECE]

4. Pink Feathers

About two weeks have passed since her best friend got adopted and Jenny was beginning to hate the silence her absence brought. Sure, at first, it helped her get some sleep or finish a book, but what was once peaceful turned deafening.

Without the girl who used to occupy all her time, Jenny had begun reading the books that scattered around the orphanage.

Despite how they seemed in her eyes, the books told real tales of real history. Nonfiction, 100% factual books that told stories of this universe's history, such as the infamous pirate, Gol D. Roger. Or ones of dragons and islands in the sky. As unbelievable as she viewed them, she knew they were real.

Rather than thinking about the ever-growing absence in her room, Jenny, instead, picked up another book that happened to be laying around their room.

"Jenny?" Isabella knocks before opening the bedroom door and allowing herself in.

"Yes?"

Isabella enters the room completely and closes the door behind her, smiling softly at the child.

"I just thought I'd let you know, someone filed a request to adopt you and is on their way over here."

Jenny adjusts her glasses as if they're the source of her hearing.

"On their way? How far are they?" She asks, folding the corner of the page before closing her book entirely.

"According to them, Dressrosa."

Her body stiffens and her skin pales. Dressrosa? As far as she knew, nobody was even sure that place was real. Only Gol D. Roger has explored it.

"Where...is that?" Jenny questions despite knowing exactly where that is.

"I...I don't know." She attempts a nervous smile. "It'll take a bit though, just in case you expected them tomorrow like Alastor's."

"How long are we talking?"

"Uhm, when the application was filled out, they mentioned being only a few islands over." Isabella smiles nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "I know, it sounds weird, but it was a real application. Try to be optimistic, please?"

Jenny eyes her caretaker up and down, almost judgmentally before resuming her book, not bothering to dismiss the woman at the doorway.

"Look, I know it's probably weird for you to be alone. I'm here if you want to talk." Isabella persists, despite knowing the child had no intentions of speaking to her. She sighs in defeat after a few seconds of silence, opting to close the door instead.

Her head shoots upwards at the sound of the door closing, breathing a sigh of relief as she immerses herself back into the silence.

Jenny skims the words of the pages, though they don't register as she repeats the same few lines over and over again. Rather than focusing on her reading, her mind begins to wander and the wandering happens to lead to the thought of Alastor.

She wonders when she'll see her best friend again.

Not necessarily 'if', Jenny had faith in her best friend. She knew better than anyone that Alastor wouldn't forget about her, she just wants to know when.

Nevermind that, though. Jenny knows she'll see her eventually, no need to fret.

-

Footsteps echo off the walls of the hallway leading towards her room. She clutches her stomach with each step leading her closer and closer to her room, listening to the chatter of her best friend walking by her side.