1,440With no longer having a ship to go back to, the Straw Hats were only able to go to Galley La for a place to sleep in. And now that Usopp is back in the crew, he's bunking with Chopper and Zoro in their room with Zira tagging along.
As soon as everyone got to a bed, they didn't hesitate to sleep off the exhaustion they had from the fight at Enies Lobby.
The only one that couldn't sleep that night was the wind girl herself. Not just because Luffy's arms are coiled around her body six times so that her back is glued to his chest.
So many things have happened in just one day, that she barely had time to process it all. All the battles she faced, the crew's acceptance of her, and even meeting her brother, was so surreal that it's almost hard to believe it all happened.
Lucky for her, the occasional squeeze Luffy gives her, along with his warm breath hitting the back of her neck, helps her to accept that this is all real.
The joy from knowing that she's able to stay with Luffy like this brings a small smile on her face.
But that leaves a new question for her.
What now?
Enies Lobby is done, but there's a few more adventures left before they reach the Red Line. And after they make it there, comes the separation, and the war...
Her smile falls at remembering that Ace's battle with Blackbeard is approaching. She knows that she gave him some notes back in Alabasta, but if he still loses, she doesn't know how she's going to handle everything.
She promised Luffy that she won't spoil the future, but she can't just stand on the sidelines while he's fighting for his brother's life. She needs to be at Marineford with him.
If she manages to save Ace though, she needs to make sure that Luffy still does his 2 year training with Rayleigh. Can she even do that?
She lightly sighs at the new problems that seem to be growing in her mind by the second, just when a poke on her cheek brings her back to reality.
She twitches when she finds a single hand waving to her on the nightstand next to her, and then points to the window.
Even if she didn't look, she would tell that Robin is perched just outside the window, beckoning her over, with a small frown on her face.
Rose returns the small frown, but nonetheless answers the call with a nod.
Robin patiently waits on the roof, while watching Rose roll out of bed, with Luffy's arms still attached to her. She had to suppress a smile when watching Rose phasing out of Luffy's arms, and the limbs ricocheting back to their owner.
A smile forced itself onto her face though when she saw the limbs reaching back towards the wind girl, much to the target's shock. She's quick to open the window to let Rose have an escape when she runs for it, flies out the window, with Robin shutting it right after for the hands to hit the window.
Rose sits down in front of the closed window, and tiredly looks at the hands that chased her to see them reeling back to Luffy. "I swear, his hands have a mind of their own."
Robin giggles at the comment as she stands up, and offers a hand for her. "Are you alright?"
Rose sees the hand, turns away from it, and stands up on her own. "I'm fine, what exactly do you want?"
Robin loses her smile at the coldness, but doesn't blame her after the way she treated her. "Sorry for bothering you, is it ok if we talk?"
The wind girl is cautious, but she knows that she can't keep things as they are between them if they're staying in the same crew. "Alright, but let's get away from the window. I don't want Luffy's hands coming at me again."
The archaeologist nods to this plan, and doesn't say anything when Rose flies the both of them up to the rooftop of the building.
Once their feet hit the roof, Rose takes a cautious step back, just in case anything happens.
Robin can sense that, and deeply frowns at how she must've really hurt her. There's no way just an apology can fix this.
Nervous about how to go about this, she has an idea that could help even things out. "Hit me."
Rose drops her guard at the request, and can tell that she's being serious. "The fuck are you trying at?"
"What I did to you throughout this ordeal was horrible. I was trying to keep you away, so that you'd be safe, but I took it too far, and I apologize. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I want to make this right-!"
Bam!
The sound of Rose punching Robin in the nose, and knocking Robin onto her butt, rings in the air with the archaeologist in shock.
She puts a hand on her nose to make sure it's not bleeding, just before Rose walks up to her.
She cautiously looks up at her, expecting her to hit her again, but instead finds a small smile on Rose's face.
Rose reaches a hand out to her to help her up. "I'm sorry too, and thank you for talking to the others while I was unconscious."
Robin widens her eyes at how quick Rose forgave her, but returns the smile and takes her hand. "It was the least I could do."
Once they're both up, Rose realizes something was never cleared, so she looks up at the taller woman. "Now that we're ok, mind if I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"What got you so suspicious of me in the first place? I'm kind of curious now."
Robin widens her eyes at the question when she remembers the eternal pose that she took. "Do you remember the first marine base we invaded? The one where we took that pocket watch?"
Rose nods to the question, so she continues. "I found out that you took an eternal pose, and kept it from Nami. It got me suspicious."
The wind girl widens her eyes at the answer, before a giggle starts to escape from her from all the trouble it caused. "Pfft hahaha, of all the things, it was that?!"
Robin grows confused by that reaction when Rose settles down and explains herself. "That was an eternal pose to Marineford. I kept that just in case the crew ever needs to go there."
Robin is surprised by this. "You mean I was suspicious of you because you were being overcautious? None of us got taken there?"
"Yes to both questions."
After a few seconds of silence before Robin begins laughing at their craziness with Rose following suit. With their laughter ringing the air, both of them felt a large weight fall off their shoulders of the tension between them fading away.
Throughout the rest of the night, both girls talked everything out. They didn't return until dawn with a clear conscience and renewed friendship.
"So, can anyone explain to me what this is about?" Franky asks, because once he reaches Galey la's dining area, where his new friends are, he's welcome to the sight of Luffy eating a mountain of food.
That itself wasn't weird, but when you add the fact that he's still sleeping while he's eating, and one of his arms has a loop around Rose's waist, to have her cuddled up next to him, it definitely raises questions.
Rose blushes in embarrassment at the situation, with some of the pirates snickering, so she rests her forehead in one hand, while pointing to Luffy with her other hand. "He's figured out a way to eat while sleeping. Luffy also didn't want me leaving his side, so I'm stuck..."
The cyborg lifts his sunglasses at the sight, but still doesn't fully get how she's stuck. "But your body's air right? Can't you just slip away."
"Gee, why didn't I fucking think of that?!" She sarcastically answers, with some of the guys snickering.
She huffs at their laughter before she looks back at the cyborg. "Watch this."
She phases out of Luffy's arms, and flies a few feet up into the air, but Luffy's left arm drops the chicken leg he was going to eat to loop an arm around her waist, and reel her back to her original spot.
Franky's eyes pop out at the sight when Rose tries again, but flies towards the entrance, but Luffy's left arm catches her by the waist again, and puts her back by his side.
Zoro, Nami, and Usopp break out in laughter at what they saw, but Sanji gets tempted to kick his captain to give his friend some peace. "Just say the word Rose-chan, and I can kick him away from you."
"It's fine, I'm used to it by now." Rose answers, while going to grab an apple for herself, but can't hide the faint blush on her cheeks from being held by Luffy for so long.
Franky is still amazed at the sight and looks to Sanji. "Are you sure Straw Hat is actually asleep?"
The cook calms down by Rose's assurance, and answers the cyborg's question. "Trust me, we're sure. This isn't the first time Luffy did this to Rose-chan, but he's added eating to the bizarre sight."
The others could only grunt in agreement before Usopp speaks up. "Anyway, what brings you here Franky?"
"Oh right!"
He looks around to see that all the non-sleeping pirates are paying attention to him, so he voices his offer. "When I stole your money, I did it for a reason. My dream is to create a ship that can travel across any ocean. To do that, I needed a special kind of wood from the adam tree. I managed to buy enough of it to make the ship, so when I finish it, will you guys set sail on it?!"
Everyone brightens up at the offer with Nami speaking up. "You got it Franky! Thank you!"
"You're such a great guy!" Chopper says and he and Zira cling onto the cyborg to hug him in gratitude.
"Hey get off!" He tries to get them off him but to no avail, which gets the others to start laughing.
Rose releases a few chuckles of her own at the sight, before she remembers what place in the manga they're getting into.
And with that, who she's gonna deal with. "FUCKING HELL!"
Everyone, but Luffy, flinches at her shouting when Rose stands up, with Luffy's arm stretching to still hold her, and looks around the room frantically.
"What's the matter, Rose?" Zira asks as she lets go of Franky to fly over to her.
She realizes which place their new guest is going to pop out from, and points to the wall where the front entrance is. "I just remembered from what's gonna happen, we're going to get a-!"
BAM!
The entire wall that she pointed at was blown back from the sheer force of the wall being punched through!
"Holy crap!" Usopp, Nami, Zira, and Chopper yell as they rush to the other side of the wall, with Nami and Usopp's weapons at the ready.
Once the dust smoke from the hit clears, it reveals to be a bulky navy officer in a dog mask, with a small army of soldiers standing behind him.
"Dammit! We have to deal with this now?!" Zoro asks with him and Sanji rushing in between the marines and their captain, who's still sleeping in the chaos.
The dog masked marine widely grins at the band of misfits, and finds the captain on the table. "So, you guys are the Straw Hats. I'm here for your captain."
Zoro and Sanji don't give him an answer as they charge at him. Once they get close though, it's like their target disappeared because in a matter of seconds he was past the boys to attack his target.
He wasn't the only fast one though, because just when he appeared before Luffy and Rose, the wind girl sprung into action by creating a powerful gust to rocket the Vice Admiral to the ceiling!
"VICE ADMIRAL GARP!" The marines shout in fright when they watch the upper half of their leader's body crash through the ceiling, and stop halfway to show his legs kicking around.
At the sound of the vice admiral's name, Luffy immediately wakes up, takes his arm back from Rose, and looks around in fear. "GRANDPA'S HERE?!"
"GRANDPA?!" Everyone, but his girlfriend, shouted in disbelief that the infamous pirate captain is the navy hero's grandson.
Rose, on the other hand, is giggling at what she accomplished before she looks at him. "Yea, he's up there."
She points to where his grandpa is just before he falls back down, and lands right in front of the couple.
Before a word can be said, he punches Rose in the face to send her crashing to the wall! "DON'T INTERFERE!"
"ROSE!" Luffy cries out when she stumbles on the floor.
Chopper rushes to her, while she's staggering and helps her up. "How can he hit you when you ate a logia fruit?"
"Two things, one, he got me by surprise. And two, this guy's a beast." She steps away from her doctor once she gains her footing to see her boyfriend pissed off.
He completely forgets who he's facing and throws a bunch of punches at the vice admiral. "YOU BASTARD!"
Garp is easy to dodge the hits, and while he's impressed with how much stronger Luffy's hits are getting, he still hits him for the disrespect. "Knock it off!"
"Ah!" Luffy flies off to the same wall that Rose crashed into, but the wind girl catches him with a gust and lands him right next to her.
"Thanks." Luffy mutters while caressing the lump on his head.
Zoro couldn't believe what he just saw and gets annoyed. "What's wrong with you two?! A normal punch shouldn't affect either of you!"
"Shut up Zoro, his punches are the last thing from normal!" Rose shoots back at him just before a large shadow looms over her.
She's cautious to look up to see Monkey D Garp giving her his full attention. "The outsider, huh?"
Rose scowls up at the taller man, before she flies just a few inches to his level to show she ain't scared of him. "That's right you fucker. And if you don't turn around and leave, I'll show you what I can do."
"Oh yea?!" They stare each other down, with sparks flying around them, which gets both pirates and marines frightened of what's going to happen.
Thankfully, Luffy gets up to Rose and pulls her behind him to keep her safe. "Don't pick a fight with him, Rose, he's a monster!"
Garp grows annoyed at the insult. "Hey, don't call me that!"
"What do you call a guy who nearly killed me so many times?!'
"I didn't do that! All those times I pushed you off a cliff, threw you in the jungle, and tied you to a balloon to send you flying was all to make you strong!"
As soon as that explanation was done all the pirates, and even some marines, were in disbelief of how he treated his grandson.
"I understand why Luffy's so stubborn now..." Sanji mutters, with the others nearby quick to agree.
Garp could care less about the stares and keeps going. "I did all that to make you into a strong marine, and you ended up being a pirate! YOU OWE ME AN APOLOGY!"
"I ALWAYS SAID I WANTED TO BE A PIRATE! IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT LISTENING!"
"ARE YOU TALKING BACK TO ME?!" He grabs Luffy by the collar with a fist ready to punch him.
"AH! I'M SORRY!" Luffy yells in fear while covering his face with his hands.
"Luffy's been captured!" Chopper cries out in fear while others are getting ready to fight.
Rose, being the most ready, by turning her arms into air and a cyclone starting to form around her.
"Get your shit covered paws off him, you..." She trails off, with her wind halting, when both grandfather and grandson decide to fall asleep while standing.
"THEY FELL ASLEEP?!" Everyone cries out with no understanding of what is happening anymore.
Rose is just tired of all this shit, so before they wake up, Rose pulls Luffy out of his grandpa's grasp, and wraps an arm around his torso to keep him standing. With her free hand, she picks the geezer up with her power, and throws out the window like a piece of trash!
At least she tried to, because just as the soldier was about to reach the window, he wakes up, and catches himself by using his limbs to grab the edges of the window to keep himself in the building. "What the hell?"
"Crap..." Rose mutters in frustration when Garp lands on his feet, turns around with realization of what Rose did, and glares at the disrespectful couple.
Rose tries to fly off with her captain, but Garp was quick to catch up to both of them. "HOW DARE YOU FALL ASLEEP WHILE I'M SCOLDING YOU?! AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN THROW ME OUT OF A WINDOW SO EASILY?!"
Luffy wakes up from the first punch, and yells in fright, along with Rose, as they get the crap beaten out of them.
The pirates don't know what to do about the ridiculous situation. Zoro's the only one ready to act by rushing to aid them.
Garp stops attacking from sensing the swordsman approaching, steps away from Rose and Luffy, and steps to the side to dodge Zoro. He keeps moving to dodge Zoro's assault, but is quick to smirk at the change of events. "Go stop him."
"YES SIR!" A blond marine soldier with kukri knives rushes to Zoro, who stops aiming at Garp, and blocks the attack.
Zoro smirks at the weapons, and jumps at the chance to fight the new guy.
Luffy grows concerned by how things are going and speaks up. "Zoro, don't over-!"
He stops when another marine soldier rushes at Luffy, and is quick to dodge his punches. After regaining his footing, he rushes to fight back against his assailant.
Rose giddily grins at the sight of Helmeppo and Coby's arrival, but freezes when she hears something coming towards her from behind.
She turns around and rushes to use her wind to stop sea stone shuriken from flying at her. "What the-?!"
She freezes when she hears something behind her, and quickly used her wind to push back a masked marine girl who was just about to hit her with a sea stone sword. She didn't stop there as she kept swinging at the wind girl with her dodging or pushing her with her wind to get her out of reach.
The girl's face was covered in a ceramic mask, with the top half of the face in navy blue, with the eye holes outlined in black, and the bottom have ruby red with the lips encased in red glitter. Her brown hair is wrapped in a bun, which keeps it out of the way for her to continue her assault on Rose.
"Who the hell are you?!" Rose asks in the middle of her dodging, but doesn't get an answer.
One cut landing on her arm, and the short term weakness during the impact, tells her that the sword is made of sea stone.
Lucky for her, she doesn't need to deal with it any longer, because at the start of her dodging she had snapped a small tornado while the marine wasn't looking. Just as she was about to make another swing at the wind girl, the stray twister grows to her height, and sucks her inside.
Rose takes control of the twister to spin it faster until it throws the enemy face first to the wall, with the mask shattering to pieces. Rose dissolves the tornado she made while she watches her slump to the floor with her back to her, just as Luffy and Zoro defeat their opponents.
While Zoro and Luffy find their opponents to be Coby and Helmeppo, Rose goes up to the marine girl to check if she's alright.
Before she can even touch her though, the marine girl sits up with her back to her, just as her straight, brown, hair falls out of its hair tie to fall just below her shoulders.
"Dang it, that was my favorite mask..."
Rose widens her eyes at the familiar voice, and couldn't believe her eyes when she sees her doppelganger getting up and turning around to face her. "LILY?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Chopper's eyes bug out at the sight of two versions of his friend as he looks from one girl to the other. "There's two of you?!"
"What the hell's going on Rose?!" Nami asks because she and the doctor never met Lily in Navarone.
Rose looks to her doppelganger before looking back to her friends tiredly. "This is Lily, she's this world's version of me."
"So it really is true." Coby comments when he gets closer to them.
Once he's closer, he looks from one girl to another and is amazed at the similarities with a bright smile. "This is so awesome!"
"Why are you so excited about this Coby? I told you about this already" Lily asks in wonder of why he's so impressed by this.
Coby freezes when he realizes how much he's staring and he steps back with a shy smile. "Sorry, sorry, it's just when you told me how similar she looked to you, I had a hard time believing it. But..."
He trails off when he looks at the two one more time then looks at Lily. "Now that I have a better look, I'm starting to see differences. Like Lily, not only are your eyes a different color, but they're bright, and starry."
Lily blinks at the offhand compliment, and shyly smiles at him. "O-oh, thanks."
Coby realizes what he just said, and lightly blushes as he rambles on what he was trying to say.
Helmeppo almost rolls his eyes at the exchange, because ever since Lily has joined them, Coby and her have been having weird interactions almost everyday.
Even so, their team has also gotten a lot stronger too. With him now having a sparring partner so good with weapons, his own sword skills have gotten sharper.
And while seeing Coby like this can get annoying, he's fine with it as long as he's happy.
Rose on the other hand, almost gushes at the sight of the cute interaction.
She smirks at the fun idea of them getting together, but stops when she remembers that she was never on their team in the manga or anime. "Wait a minute, what got you out here?"
Lily calms down from the question, puts her sword back in her sheath, and looks at the pirate. "What got me here was you. I got placed into Garp's unit because we share the same face."
Rose is shocked by this, and goes to apologize when she sees Lily wearing a giant smile. "And I'm loving every minute of it! I'm getting stronger every day!"
Rose feels relieved by the news, and gives her a small grin. "Good to hear the old man's not too much of a hard ass for you."
That comment got her another knock on the head from the Vice Admiral. "Shut up you brat!"
Luffy grows annoyed by the hit and yells out to his grandpa. "Leave my queen alone already!"
All the soldiers including Garp drop their jaws at the declaration "WHAT?!"
Rose is also in disbelief of how he could say it so easily to his grandpa with a heavy blush on her face, while the other pirate women are giggling at the situation.
Garp is the first to snap out of it, and looks to his grandson. "What the hell?! You're saying you're dating the outsider?!"
"That's right!"
Rose snaps out of it from the sound of his voice, and glares up at the old man. "You got a problem with that? Because I'm ready to fight you about it any time."
Garp looks from the wind girl to Luffy then back at the girl to stare her down. Seeing the determination in her eyes, he sees a shadow of his former friend in her.
As soon as he remembers her attitude, and how he and her would fight like this over anything, he starts to give her a toothy grin.
Everyone grows confused by his change in demeanor and flinches when he starts laughing. "Bwa ha ha ha! You're just like old Ruthie! You two really are related!"
All the pirates grow confused but Rose, who is shocked by the comparison and remembers Sengoku telling her about her great aunt with a photo of him, Garp, and her were in.
Seeing this as a chance to get to know more about her, she happily grins at him. "You mean Alun D Ruth right?! What was she like?!"
"Yea, your great aunt was a real firecracker. We'd train and work together constantly. Whenever we didn't agree on something we'd duke it out! I could never beat her though."
"Whoa seriously?!"
"Yea, I got so many stories!"
"Please tell me!"
While Garp and Rose are in their own conversation both marine and pirates alike have no idea what to say about the weird interaction.
"Weren't they about to kill each other a second ago?" Zoro asks, with Zira nodding.
After a moment of processing that they won't fight anymore, Sanji breathes out in relief. "It's fine since now there won't be an in-law battle."
Chopper looks up at his friend in confusion. "In-law battle?"
"Don't worry about it." Usopp reassures him while they continue watching the strange bond forming.
Rose and Garp have just finished laughing at a random topic about Ruth when Garp roughly pats her on the back. "Hahaha, you're alright kid. You and Luffy make a good match."
Rose awkwardly chuckles at his approval, before she takes a moment to see if she can find out more about her family. "Umm, besides Ruth, do you know anyone else in my family?"
Garp widens his eyes at the question, before he thinks hard. "Hmm, well, she never had a kid of her own, but she would mention her nephew, your mother's brother, from time to time. He was the only one that didn't vanish, so she took him in after the Spiriting Night. The name escapes me though."
She brightens up at the fact that she has an uncle somewhere in this world, and smiles in gratitude. "That's alright, thank-!"
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE WALL?!" Paulie, who just came back from grocery shopping, is horrified by the damage to her place.
Garp looks at the massive hole he made, and casually laughs. "Hahaha, guess I got carried away. Alright men, fix the mess we made."
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID IT! WHY EVEN MAKE THE HOLE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!" The soldiers yell out, but one look from their leader forces them to get to work on gathering the materials to fix the mess he made.
Lily looks from Rose to her commander, who's going to work on fixing the wall. "Sir, would it be alright if I head out first?"
Garp casually waves her off. "Go ahead."
She nods before she grabs Rose's wrist, and half drags her out the door. "Let's go."
Rose is surprised by the forceful attitude, but she knows that she can take her if she tries anything, so she waves the others off. "We'll be back soon."
"Wait!" Nami calls out to her to try to at least make a plan but they already took off. "Dammit that idiot..."
She shakes her head before she and the other pirates stay wary of Garp for the remainder of his stay.
"Of all the places, I was not expecting this..." Rose comments because she was expecting her to take her somewhere remote to fight more.
Instead, she was filled with dread when they stop in front of a beauty salon. "What the hell Lily?"
The marine girl rolls her eyes at the pirate's cursing before she looks at the window poster of different hairstyles. "We need to start looking differently so that we don't get mixed up. Especially with your crew getting more famous. It's fine if you don't want to change, but at least help me pick something that's not your taste."
Rose widens her eyes at the request, but she can see her point. Wouldn't want to go through the trouble of changing just for both of them to choose the same thing.
Speaking of which...
She looks at her reflection from the glass door and sees that, while her hair may have grown a bit since she's been in this world, it's been the same hairstyle for as long as she can remember.
Now that she's accepted by the crew, and working to accept herself as one of the Straw Hats, maybe now is a good time as any to change her look a bit to mark the new start.
With that set in her head, she follows the marine's gaze to the poster. "Works for me. What did you have in mind for your look?"
"Something practical, but I need it to look good too."
Rose blinks at the comment before she gives her a devilish smirk. "Oh? Good for a certain marine boy by any chance?"
Lily freezes at the question, before she looks away from her. "Shut up. Can't I look nice without it being for a guy?"
"Of course, I'm just teasing." She pats her on the back before she continues to search for a new look for her.
She freezes when she sees the style of a girl with her wavy hair just ending at the shoulders, parted on the left side to give the other side more volume, with overgrown bangs kept to the side to frame her face. "I'm gonna pick this one."
Lily looks at the style, before nodding. "Perfect, let's see..."
Lily looks through each photo one last time, before she points her finger at the photo. This one holds a style with the same hair length as her current hair, with a slight wave, and a chunky braid wrapped from the front to the back of her head to meet at the middle, and flow down the back of her hair. "Do you think you would ever be interested in this style?"
Rose narrows her eyes at the look, then smiles at her. "No way I can make those braids. I'll keep out of this style as long as you stay away from mine."
"Deal!" She opens the door for her pirate counterpart for them to get started.
Lucky for them, the salon was empty so they were seated really quickly to get started. As soon as the stylists started working on the two girls, an awkward silence emanated from them.
Rose has no shifts her eyes from the mirror, to Lily, then tries to start a conversation. "So, how long have you been training with Garp?"
"About a few days after you guys left Navarone."
"Wow, that was quick."
"Yea, well, Vice Admiral John worked really fast after what happened..."
Rose can see a soft frown on her face, and started feeling guilty for what she put her through at the base. "Yea, I'm sorry about that-!"
Lily raises a hand up towards her to cut her apology off. "You have nothing to apologize for. If anything I should be thanking you."
Rose knits her eyebrows at the comment because of all the times she's beaten her up in Navarone. "Thanking me for sending you flying?"
"Of course not! You know what, forget it..."
Rose is confused by the dismissal but ignores it for the stylists to finish their work.
"What do you think dearie?" The young woman working on Rose's hair asks just as she puts a crescent moon hair clip on to the side to keep her bangs out of the way.
Once Rose looks at her newly cut hair, she grins at the refreshed look. "I love it."
"I love mine too!" Lily says just as her middle aged stylist puts the last white ghost clip on her new braid around her head.
Once the girls pay the stylist and leave, the girls start walking back to Galley La.
Rose looks at the neat ghost pins on Lily's braid, and can't help but smile at them because they remind her of Thriller Bark. Not only will she be seeing real live zombies and ghosts soon, but she'll get to meet her favorite skeleton!
Lily looks at the excited grin on her pirate counterpart and is getting weirded out. "What's going on with you?"
Rose snaps out of her excitement, and chuckles awkwardly. "Sorry, your ghost clips are reminding me of something good about to happen. By the way, what got you so interested in the supernatural?"
Lily feels one of her clips, and can't help but chuckle. "You see, my mom's not from Water Seven. She's from an island where ghosts and humans inhabit the same island together."
Rose widens her eyes at the explanation, and can't help but laugh. "We really do have more in common than I thought."
"What do you mean?"
"Well..."
After a minute of explaining about her family, Lily was in disbelief. "What? Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense!"
"You're standing in front of someone who literally shares your face, and it's weird that my mom's from this world?"
"No, not that! I know for a fact that my mom is from this world, so if a part of you is from this world then how are we doppelgangers?"
Rose blinks at the question for a bit before she shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe doppelgangers are based on where you're born instead of bloodlines. Like since I was born in my dad's world, I became that world's version."
She knits her eyebrows at the theory, but it can't be any weirder than anything else that's happened. "Fair enough. So, what are you going to do now?"
The wind girl looks back to the direction of Galley La, that's coming into view from a distance. When she sees the pool area right by it with everyone, but Luffy, enjoying themselves in the newfound peace, a soft smile forms on her face. "I'm going to live my life with the people who saved it. Once they reach their dreams, I'll be travelling to other worlds with any of them that want to join me."
Lily is a little surprised about that sentimental answer, but once she remembers all the times Coby talks about how amazing Luffy is, and they were a lot, she's glad to know he wasn't just exaggerating.
"And what about you?"
Lily snaps out of it when Rose comes back at her with a question of her own. "What do you mean?"
"You're training under the strongest son of a bitch in the marines. From what I know, his training methods are torture. Anyone would want to quit after a day with him, so what gets you to stay?"
Lily stops walking from that question, with Rose following her suit. The marine turns around, and looks towards the city that's been her life. "Growing up in this city, I've seen all sorts of violence from pirates invading the city. I wanted to be a marine that would take down all the pirates to keep people safe."
She quietly sighs at the one track mind that she used to have before looking at the twin that changed it. "Then I met you and your crew, and everything I knew about pirates got flipped. And when I was travelling with Coby, Garp, and Helmeppo, I saw so many new things that the only thing I know is that nothing is simple. I want to learn everything I can about this world, and be as strong of a Vice Admiral as Vice Admiral Garp to help anyone who needs saving."
She freezes when she realizes that she overdid it, and scratches the back of her head. "I'm sorry, I guess that's too high at the moment."
Rose chuckles at her shyness before she pats her on the back. "Relax, you got this. I'm not going to slouch on my training either though. Next time we meet, I want a rematch."
Lily's emerald eyes widen at the challenge, before a smirk forms on her face. "You're on!"
"LILY!"
The girls flinch at Coby's voice and look to see both him and Helmeppo rushing towards them. "WE GOTTA GET GOING! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR GARP'S TRAINING SESSION!"
Lily grows mortified at the announcement because she knows that he's right, and that Garp's training becomes ten times worse if they're even a minute late. "SNAP, LET'S GO! BYE ROSE!"
The three marines run for their lives to get to Garp's ship and leaves the wind girl in the dust.
Rose had to take a moment to register what just happened before she giggles at the funny sight of the three of them running with a dust cloud following them from how fast they're running.
Once she settles down, she heads back to Galley La. Just when she reaches the courtyard, Luffy rushes over to her. "There you are! Come on, the party's getting started!"
She happily lets Luffy lead her by the hand to company's pool area where the biggest bash that she's ever seen is waiting for them. Mountains of food has been grilled up by Sanji, with champagne and soda fountains that are taller than Franky are pouring for everyone's delight. Topped with a tall stage laid out for musicians to rock out for everyone to enjoy while they're swimming, eating or dancing.
Not only are the Straw Hats and the shipwrights having a blast, but the Franky Family are partying with them like they never had any beef with anyone.
Hours on hours have passed with the crew having as much fun as possible, from Luffy eating up a storm, Zoro outdrinking the shipwrights in a drinking contest, Nami swimming around with Sanji serving her a drink with a flirtatious smile.
Franky, Usopp, Zira and Chopper dance to the groove of the music with Rose playing her guitar with the band to give the party a fun beat.
Robin on the other hand relaxing by the outer wall, while enjoying a drink in her hand.
Rose spots Robin over there, and sees her losing her smile while clenching her drink. She knows that she's currently talking to Aokiji, who's on the other side of the ten foot wall, but she doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, so she keeps her focus on the music.
Once the song finishes, she sees that Robin sighing in relief of Aokiji leaving. To get her back in a good mood with the others, Rose looks back to the band. "Hey guys, I have a song that's kind of unheard of. Would you be able to improvise?"
The boys nod in interest, because they're curious about the new song, so Rose grins in response as she steps up towards the front, and starts playing the chords to "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons.
The band mates start nodding along to the rhythm to understand the tempo while she starts singing.
If you love somebody~
Better tell them why they're here 'cause~
They just may run away from you~
Robin and the rest of the party guests freeze at the lyrics smile at the new song and starts swaying to the new melody.
You'll never know what went well~
Then again it just depends on~
How long of time is left for you~
I've had the highest mountains~
I've had the deepest rivers~
You can have it all but not til you move it~
Now take it in but don't look down~
'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
Waiting on this for a while now~
Paying my dues to the dirt~
I've been waiting to smile, 'ey~
Been holding it in for a while, 'ey~
Take it with me if I can~
Been dreaming of this since a child~
I'm on top of the world~
When Rose starts getting to the new verse, the pianist and bassist pick up on the melody. With the new sounds filling the air, Rose gives a smile to the bandmates before she grins at her crewmates.
I've tried to cut these corners~
Try to take the easy way out~
I kept on falling short of something~
I coulda gave up then but~
Then again I couldn't have 'cause~
I've traveled all this way for something~
Now take it in but don't look down~
'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
Waiting on this for a while now~
Paying my dues to the dirt~
I've been waiting to smile, 'ey~
Been holding it in for a while, 'ey~
Take it with me if I can~
Been dreaming of this since a child~
I'm on top of the world~
'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
Waiting on this for a while now~
Paying my dues to the dirt~
I've been waiting to smile, 'ey~
Been holding it in for a while, 'ey~
Take it with me if I can~
Been dreaming of this since a child~
And I know it's hard when you're falling down~
And it's a long way up when you hit the ground~
Get up now, get up, get up now~
And I know it's hard when you're falling down~
And it's a long way up when you hit the ground~
Get up now, get up, get up now~
'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
I'm on top of the world, 'ey~
Waiting on this for a while now~
Paying my dues to the dirt~
I've been waiting to smile, 'ey~
Been holding it in for a while, 'ey~
Take it with me if I can~
Been dreaming of this since a child~
I'm on top of the world~
She plays the last chord to the song with the crowd roaring in applause. Rose chuckles at the fun song, sees Robin back in a partying mood, so she looks back to the band in satisfaction. "What do you want to play next?"
They start playing another song with her following along to keep the party going until the next morning, where the crew will prepare to return to their adventures on the Grand Line.
TO BE CONTINUED