Wonder | Sanji

12

never feel guilty for starting again

It was as if the entire world shattered around Finn. Everything grew silent, and although she could hear Nami and Luffy mumbling to each other, along with Usopp snapping his fingers in Finn's face - she couldn't hear it. It was just silent, save for the sound of everything else coming through as muddy or as if she were underwater.

"Oh, my baby girl, how I've missed you!" Vera exclaimed, wrapping her frail arms around the brunette.

Finn didn't react, and instead just stood there emotionless. It was obvious to the crew that something wasn't right, their suspicions were only confirmed when they saw the glance that Kaya and Usopp shared.

Luffy began to speak up, but Nami was quick to stop him. Zoro watched how ghost-like Finn looked, her face frozen as the two older adults began to poke and prod.

"I'm so glad the rumors were true," Vera chuckled, holding onto her husband's arm. "I can't believe you're finally home!"

"We have so much to talk about, so much time to make up for," Terrance added.

"Finn, who's this?" Luffy then asked, ignoring the slight glare from Nami afterward.

Finn didn't say anything. She stood there, frozen, her mind hurting from everything going on in her head. She didn't expect to see them - she'd done her best to avoid them. She'd never forget the looks on their faces the day she was taken away; the day they gave her away.

They weren't heartbroken, they didn't even look sad. They were relieved that the pirates were glad to take Finn and move on without another thought. They were glad they owed no more debt to a lowlife pirate that didn't even have a face on a Wanted poster. They were happy she was gone, and happy they could continue with their lives as if nothing had ever happened.

All while breaking their daughter, whose life changed forever after that day.

"You must be some of Finley's saviors!" Vera then exclaimed, putting her attention to the others. "You have no idea how grateful we are that you've returned our beloved daughter home!"

"Home?" Luffy asked, looking at Finn.

As if it hadn't been bad enough already, it was now worse. She drew in a deep breath, her hands beginning to shake. She began to feel hot and as if she were in a tight enclosed space, despite being outside with as much air as possible.

"Of course!" Terrance shouted out this time, "Those terrible, terrible pirates stole her right from us! We never thought we'd see her again."

Finn's head began to move, her eyes on the ground. "No," She said. It went unheard, however, as Luffy was already asking a million questions.

"She was stolen? When was this? Was it by Binky?"

"No," She said again, looking up.

"I don't know! Those horrible men came and snatched her away!" It was theatrics, and Vera was an amazing liar. She even had tears glistening in her eyes, making the story more than believable.

Usopp and Kaya looked at each other, before looking at Finn. The brunette stood there as tears began to stream down her cheeks, her head moving back and forth quickly.

"Oh, I thought she'd be joining our crew," Luffy spoke with disappointment. Even though Finn had openly admitted her parents gave her away, it seemed as if he didn't remember the story. He believed Vera's story of her getting stolen, and if Nami and Zoro believed or not - they didn't say.

"Nonsense!" Vera waved her arm back and forth, "Now that my little Finley's back home, I'm never letting her out of my sight again."

Nami then looked at Finn, noticing her reaction. She glanced at the two adults before back at Finn again, everything clicking in her mind. Not that Finn had tried really hard to hide it, but the whole reason she began acting weird wasn't because of any hidden intentions. She just simply didn't want to have to deal with this - her parents.