Opavia

74.

within the middle of a jungle sat a low waterfall, spewing faint mist above the cool waters. exotic birds cried in the distance, a large man standing just below the fall. his head tilted down, the water falling over his long black curls. he had feathers and beads implanted in scatter braids, his eyes closed. his right arm, decorated with beads of various colors, gripped a large sword. He was a brownskinned man, wearing an orange shoulder guard on his left shoulder. He had a belt around his waist with a a guarded brown skirt and a decorated orange cloth infront of it hanging from his left side. his calves were wrapped, a gold-beaded necklace around his neck.

"masento." his hazel eyes cracked open at a voice although he did not flinch. vitani stood at the bank of the pond, staring forward.

t'kai straightened up slowly and looked back as her, water dripping from his curls. he blinked.

"why have you come here" he turned to face her, his voice a low rumble. she stepped into the water slowly, approaching him.

"we've been looking for you." she started shakingly. "i found ma. and oboiye and kendrick and kierra... you should see her she cut her hair and-"

"why have you come here." he repeated. "do you not think there is a reason i have not been found?"

"why are you avoiding us?" she whispered. t'kai's gaze narrowed.

"i am a warlord vitani." he snapped. "i raised you to become an intelligent young lady, you are not looking at things from a broader perspective outside of your own. if we were to meet in person, i would have to kill you."

"so you chose a tittle over family?" she stepped forward. "over your people?"

"this position is more than just a tittle."

"no." she snapped back. "it's a goddamn tittle-"

"vitani-"

"i have fought crocodile, and gecko moria and now kuma is trying to take me and my crew while you sit up here, relaxed. no worries in the world. kendrick is hiding with damn near a hundred ships carrying opavian families in the sky." her voice had risen. "koko is somewhere with opavian women and children, out searching for any other opavian and kierra and i are out looking for you and here you are."

t'kai's body dripped with droplets of water. "and where i am, popia(little one)?"

vitani stared forward thoughtfully as her gaze pierced through him. "you're a coward." she hissed. "it doesn't matter where you are, you're hiding when opavia needs you, your children need you, ma needs you."

"i'm dealing with bigger things, vitani." he responded coolly.

"what could you be possibly dealing with when you're sitting here eating grapes?!" she roared, picking up the bowl. she threw it for his head although he quickly moved to the side.

"the moon." he looked up.

"what-"

"there's a group of opavian who are not like you or the others. they will kill you if they find you. my brother..." he closed his eyes. "beware of Amari."

"what are you talking about- you can't just change the subject-" t'kai turned and began to walk back toward the waterfall, vitani following after him. "come back-" the ground disappears below her as her body sunk into the water. surrounded by the darkness she choked, closing her eyes.

vitani opened her eyes, sitting up and gasping for air. usopp crawled back in alarm, watching her cough.

"vitani!" he nearly tackled her in a hug. "you're alive!"

she winced as he pulled back, looking around the castle. "how long was i out?" he handed her a bowl of water which she immediately began to sip on.

"about a week." he watched the water fall from her chin.

"you all waited here for me?" she asked. "but wait, where's zoro? and kuma??"

"kuma left before we all woke and zoro's fine. he went to get us something to eat with kierra."

"and the others?"

"they're working on getting the ship ready. luffy wanted to set sail as soon as you woke up so he'll be excited to hear you're up." he urged her to stand. "come on!"

usopp lead vitani out the castle and through the forest until they made it to the dock.

"hey! everyone!" he waved. "vitani's awake!"

"vitani!" chopper leapt over the ledge and latched onto her leg as nami also joined her on the dock.

"i'm glad to see you up and moving!" nami admitted in relief.

"yeah, you were out cold for a long time." franky smirked from where he held a large piece of wood.

"we didn't know how much longer it was going to take for you to wake up." robin smiled from the ship.

"now we can set sail!" luffy announced.

"what about kierra and zoro?" chopper hummed. luffy whined and sat back down, vitani looking back at a faint bellow. she turned and smiled as zeze erupted from the forest in a sprint, zoro clinging onto her back.

"what the hell?!" he gritted as she ran forward, nuzzling vitani. he looked up and locked gazes with her, his eyes widening.

"zoro." she whispered, enveloping him in a hug. "te challa (are you okay)?"

"i'm fine." he assured her. before he could mananage another word, eos bounded out the forest. kierra leapt down to embrace her sister, rocking.

"kaya's will." she breathed as vitani chuckled.

"geez, you're such a sap."

"you almost died!" she snapped. luffy joined them on the dock and presented a piece of paper, slowly burning in his hand.

"is that a vivre card?" kierra asked.

"it's ace's." luffy responded softly. vitani stared at the burning paper then kierra.

"so what now?" she looked up as they lifted the anchor.

"are you sure you're okay?" nami insisted. luffy shrugged simply, offering a smile.

"we can take a detour if you'd like, i don't mind." brook had paused his violin-playing.

"yeah captain, do whatever you like!" usopp beamed.

"i wanna meet luffy's bro!" franky grinned.

"seriously, it's okay. even if ace was in some trouble, he wouldn't want his little brother to come bail him out."

"yeah it'd drive him crazy." kierra smiled. "he doesn't like to show his weak side and he never asks for help."

"if i saved his life, he'd probably just get mad." luffy added.

"well, keep your hopes up." sanji smiled.
vitani caught a mug as they cheered over brook's acceptance into the crew.