"C'mon, lass," Varin muttered, pacing along the deck.
The wood creaked under his boots as he moved back and forth along the railing, eyes fixed on the distant stretch of harbor beyond the rocky mouth of the cove. The ship rocked gently with the tide, sails loose enough to move the moment the wind caught them. Everything was ready. Everything except the one thing they were waiting for.
They had left during the night. Easier that way. Less noise, less attention, no crowds watching them sail off into the sunrise.
It also meant fewer goodbyes. Bon Clay had made that possible. The strange shapeshifter Varin had knocked out earlier had apparently decided that counted as friendship. Somehow, he'd held the merry with his crew and drawn the marines away, giving the ship enough time to slip through the blockade and into open water. As far as Varin knew, he'd even stayed behind to keep the soldiers busy.
Varin couldn't help but respect it. The man went down fighting, and if he ended up dead from it. Well, he hoped Odin made an extra place for him in Valhalla.
Right now, it was exactly noon. The time they'd agreed on the night before.
The ship floated just beyond the eastern harbor of Alubarna, tucked into a narrow rocky cove where the cliffs blocked most of the view from the city. The water was calm here, the wind light, but the tension on deck had a weight to it. Everyone kept glancing toward the harbor entrance, even if they pretended not to.
They couldn't stay long. The marines were maybe a minute behind them now, already too close, ships almost within cannon distance.
Time was running out. Varin paced again, slower this time, one hand dragging along the railing. He didn't say it out loud, but he was hoping Vivi would come.
He'd told her before they left. Quietly, where the others couldn't hear. From one person who left a sort of royalty… freedom has more merits than a golden crown.
He knew what it was like to walk away from something people told you was yours. Something you were supposed to carry whether you wanted it or not. Sometimes the chains were made of duty instead of iron.
He also wouldn't mind having someone else on board who tried to keep the idiots from destroying themselves.
Someone who argued with words instead of fists. His eyes drifted briefly across the deck.
Nami leaning against the rail, watching the harbor with quiet intensity. Usopp pretending he wasn't nervous while adjusting a sling that didn't need adjusting. Sanji lighting another cigarette and staring toward shore like a knight waiting for a princess that may or may not arrive.
Then there was Luffy. Standing right at the figurehead, hands on the rail, completely still.
Varin stopped pacing for a moment and looked towards his captain. "…You think she'll come?" he asked.``
Luffy didn't turn around. "Don't know." A simple answer. Varin wasn't sure what he expected, but it was relieving in the same breath.
The wind shifted slightly, carrying the distant sounds of the harbor toward them. Voices. Movement. Varin looked up again toward the rocky path that led down to the water. "C'mon, lass," he muttered again under his breath.
"Guys!" Her voice cut across the wind, clear as a bell, as if she were thought into existence. Every head on the ship snapped toward the sound.
She came tearing down the rocky path from the left side of the cove, Karoo's webbed feet slapping wildly against the stone as the giant duck skidded down the slope like a feathered avalanche. Vivi clung to the saddle strap, half standing in the stirrups to keep her balance as Karoo launched the last few feet and landed on the sand below with a frantic QUACK that echoed off the cliffs.
For a second, nobody spoke. Then Varin saw it. She wasn't dressed like a princess. No royal silks, no crown, just travel clothes, sturdy boots already dusty from the run, and a bag slung over her shoulder that looked heavy enough to matter. The kind someone carried when they didn't plan on turning around anytime soon.
Varin couldn't help but smile. It was small, crooked, and a little tired around the edges, but it was real. "Well, I'll be damned," he muttered. The rest of the crew figured it out about the same time.
"VIVI!" Usopp shouted.
"She's coming!" Luffy yelled, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a kid who'd just spotted lunch.
Sanji practically vibrated where he stood. "Vivi-swan!"
Even Zoro pushed himself upright from where he'd been leaning against the mast, one eye opening properly for the first time that morning.
Nami cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted toward the shore. "Hurry up!"
Down below, Vivi waved both arms at them. "Wait for me!" Karoo squawked again like he fully supported the urgency.
Varin leaned against the railing, watching her close the distance along the narrow strip of sand toward the waterline. The marines were getting louder in the distance now. He could hear metal and shouting carried faintly on the wind. Cutting it close. Of course, she was. "Reckon you just made it under the wire, lass," Varin murmured.
Luffy stretched his arms over the side of the ship without hesitation, rubber limbs snapping outward toward the shore. "Grab on!"
Vivi didn't even question it. She leapt from Karoo's saddle as the stretched arm reached her, grabbing hold with one hand while clutching her bag with the other.
Karoo flapped his wings in outrage as his rider suddenly vanished skyward. "QUAAACK!"
Luffy slingshotted her upward in a smooth arc, sending her flying over the water toward the deck. Sanji was already sprinting to catch her. So was Usopp. They collided with each other instead.
Vivi landed between them with a thud and a burst of laughter as both men tumbled across the boards. "I made it!" she said breathlessly. The crew erupted into cheers.
Varin just watched from the rail for another second before pushing himself upright and walking over. He stopped a few steps away from her. "You sure about this?" he asked quietly. "No crown waiting where we're headed."
Vivi looked around the deck. At the crew. At the sea stretching beyond the cove. Then she smiled. "I know."
Behind them, cannon fire cracked faintly from the harbor entrance. Zoro cracked his neck. "Well," he said, resting a hand on one of his swords, "guess that answers that."
Luffy shot toward the mast like a rocket. "Let's go!" he shouted. Sails snapped open. The ship lurched forward as the wind finally caught it.
Varin glanced once toward the harbor where the marines were getting even closer, their ships beginning to spill out past the stone arms of the harbor mouth like ants from a cracked hill. He looked away from them just as quickly. Not worth his attention anymore.
Instead, he looked back at Vivi. Dust on her boots. Hair windblown from the ride. Bag still slung over her shoulder like she'd packed it in a hurry and refused to look back once she stepped out the palace doors. The grin that spread across his face was wider than the one he'd worn earlier. Before anyone could react, he stepped forward, grabbed a fistful of the back of her shirt by the scruff, and lifted her clean off the deck like she weighed nothing.
For a split second, Vivi just blinked in surprise. Then Varin raised her high over his head like a war trophy. "WE GOT A NEW CREWMATE!" he bellowed across the ship. The shout echoed off the cliffs. And then he tossed her straight up into the air.
"WHA—!" Vivi's startled yell cut off halfway as she shot upward, arms flailing for a moment before instinct kicked in and she tucked slightly midair.
The crew exploded instantly.
"YEAH!" Luffy shouted, throwing both fists into the air.
Usopp nearly fell over backward laughing. "That's one way to announce it!"
Sanji's heart practically stopped. "VARIN, YOU CAVEMAN, PUT HER DOWN GENTLY!"
Zoro snorted and leaned against the mast, clearly entertained.
Nami pinched the bridge of her nose. "Idiots…"
Vivi reached the peak of the toss and began dropping back down.
Sanji launched himself forward like a missile, sliding across the deck with his arms outstretched. "I'VE GOT YOU—!"
Varin caught her first. He snagged her cleanly out of the air by the waist and set her back on her feet like he'd done nothing unusual at all. Vivi stared at him for half a second. Then she burst into laughter. Not polite royal laughter. The kind that bent you over a little and made your shoulders shake. "Well," she said between breaths, brushing stray hair out of her face, "that's one way to welcome someone."
Varin shrugged.
"Figured it'd set the tone."
Behind them, the sails snapped tight as the wind filled them properly, the ship beginning to surge out of the cove toward open sea.
Cannon fire cracked faintly in the distance. A handful of cannon balls falling just short of the merry.
Luffy jumped onto the railing, pointing dramatically toward the horizon. "Next adventure!" he shouted.
Karoo's furious quacking echoed faintly from the beach as the shoreline began shrinking behind them.
Vivi walked to the rail, resting her hands on it as she watched her homeland fade into the distance. There was a quiet moment there, not sad exactly, just heavy.
Varin stepped up beside her, resting his forearms on the railing. The wind coming off the sea tugged at their clothes as the ship carved steadily away from the coast. "You alright, lass?"
Vivi nodded slowly, though her eyes stayed on the fading shoreline. "I think so." The wind pulled strands of her hair loose around her face as the city shrank behind them. "…This is a little terrifying, though. Leaving my home. My people."
Varin let out a quiet huff of laughter. "But ya still came," he said. "Even left the duck. Didn't expect that."
Vivi huffed in return, a softer imitation of his own sound. "Karoo… he's loyal," she said. "But he got really hurt getting me to the palace during everything. If it wasn't for the other ducks pulling him away, he might've died. I…" She paused a moment, fingers tightening slightly on the railing. "I don't want him dying because I was too weak."
Varin's grin faded a little at that, not gone completely, just less sharp to fit the mood. "Aye," he said after a moment. "That's fair." He scratched at the back of his neck. "But you'd have better odds winnin' with the poultry than without."
Vivi let out a small laugh at that, the tension easing just a bit. Her eyes stayed on the horizon, though, watching the pale strip of desert coastline shrink further away. The marines were visible now only as tiny shapes trying to close a gap that was growing with every minute.
"I want to be strong with my own power," she said quietly. "Like you. Like Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. I don't want to rely on others… even Karoo… just to be strong."
Varin glanced down at her. Their eyes met. For a moment, he didn't answer. The sea wind whistled through the rigging above them, sails snapping softly as the ship picked up speed.
"...Is it really our own power?" he asked after a pause. "Me and Luffy I mean. Take away our fruits and what are we?"
Vivi blinked slightly at that.
Varin leaned his forearms on the railing, watching the waves slide past the hull. "Back where I'm from, there were beasts bigger than ships and stronger than storms. Some of 'em had claws like scythes, some had hides thicker than iron. You could say their power was their own. Born with it. Never had to earn a bit of it."
He tilted his head slightly. "Still died the same when someone smarter came along."
Vivi tilted her head a little. "That sounds… harsh."
"Aye," Varin said simply. "World usually is." He looked back toward the horizon for a moment, then glanced sideways at her again. "You think Zoro's strong because he's got swords?" Vivi opened her mouth slightly, then paused. "Or Sanji, because he can kick through stone?" She thought about it a second longer this time. Varin continued before she answered. "Luffy ain't strong because he's rubber. If that was the case, every stretchy idiot in the sea would be a monster." He shrugged one shoulder. "Power's what you do with what you've got."
Vivi leaned against the railing beside him, thinking. "So relying on something doesn't make it… not yours?"
Varin snorted softly. "Lass, if relying on something meant it wasn't yours, nobody in this world would be strong."
He gestured vaguely behind them toward the deck. "Usopp relies on his gadgets. Nami relies on that brain of hers and the stick she's always smacking us with. Sanji relies on those ridiculous legs. Zoro relies on his swords."
He tapped the railing once with his knuckle. "And I relied on that duck of yours earlier when he kicked a man twice his size in the chest. Just so you didn't get trampled by some morons on camels. Because someone decided trying to stop two armies by herself was smart."
Vivi couldn't stop the small smile that slipped onto her face. "Karoo does have good kicks."
"Aye. Vicious poultry."
She laughed again, softer this time. The wind shifted slightly as the ship angled farther from the coast, the desert shrinking into a golden blur behind them. After a moment, Vivi spoke again. "…Then what makes someone strong?"
Varin was quiet for a second. Then he nodded toward the shore behind them. "You ran away from a throne," he said.
Vivi frowned slightly. "I didn't run away."
"Exactly." He pushed off the railing and started walking back across the deck. "You chose something harder. Could've lived a life of bliss, and you chose—" Varin pointed to Nami currently beating Ussopp with her staff for something the man probably didn't do "—this." He paused halfway across the boards and glanced back at her. "That's where strength starts."
Vivi stood there for a moment watching him go, the words settling somewhere deeper than she expected. Behind her, Luffy suddenly shouted something incoherent from the mast. A small smile crept onto her face. "…I think I like those odds."
Varin grinned again and gave Vivi a lazy backhanded wave as he turned away from the railing. The doorway leading below deck was still too small for his liking, same as always, and he had to duck like he was bowing as he headed through it. He had just reached the doorway when the voice carried across the sea. Not shouted like it should have been for them to hear it. Yet every word cut cleanly through the wind and the creak of the sails like the ocean itself had decided to deliver the message.
"Bróðir svikari, þú mátt hlaupa en þú mátt eigi leynast fyrir reiði várri. Þú lifðir af ísinn, en þú munt eigi lifa af ættina, hvers blóð þú spilltir fyrr."
Varin stopped. Cold. One hand braced on the top of the doorframe as he paused mid-duck. For a second, the ship kept moving, the crew still laughing behind him, ropes creaking, waves slapping the hull.
He turned on a dime. In two long strides, he was back at the railing, one hand gripping the wood hard enough that the beam groaned under his fingers.
Behind them, the marine ships were still chasing, their sails snapping hard as they pushed for speed.
And standing at the very front of the lead ship, balanced on the narrow point of the bow like it was solid ground instead of cutting through waves, was a man.
Young. Maybe mid twenties. But huge.
Nine feet at least, broad-shouldered in a way that made the coat hanging from his frame look almost small. The marine captain's cloak snapped behind him in the wind, white fabric whipping like a banner. His stance was perfectly steady despite the motion of the ship beneath him.
His head tilted slightly upward, and Varin met his gaze. And his eyes…Silver. The exact same shade as Varin's. For a moment, neither of them moved.
The wind carried the distance between the ships, but the silence between the two men felt much smaller. Zoro noticed first. He pushed himself up from the mast, eyes narrowing as he followed Varin's gaze toward the pursuing ships. "…You know him?" he asked.
Varin didn't answer.
Luffy leaned over the railing next to him, squinting. "Whoa. That guy's huge! Just like you, Varin!"
Usopp climbed halfway up the rigging and immediately regretted it. "WHY ARE THE BIG ONES ALWAYS AFTER US?!"
Sanji stepped away from Vivi and turned towards the marines, and froze when he saw the man standing on the bow like some kind of statue carved from iron. " Another marine captain?" he muttered.
On the distant ship, the silver-eyed man took one slow step forward along the bow. The sea spray broke around the hull beneath his boots. He raised one hand in acknowledgment. Like he had found exactly what he had been looking for.
Varin's fingers tightened slightly on the railing. Behind him, Vivi stepped closer to the edge, eyes flicking between the two figures. "…What did he say?" she asked quietly.
Varin didn't take his eyes off the man. When he finally spoke, his voice came out low and rough, more a growl than anything else. "He called me a traitor." The words hung in the air for a moment as the wind snapped the sails overhead. The distance between the ships wasn't small, but the presence of that man standing on the bow made it feel like the gap didn't exist at all.
Varin stared at him for another second. Then he did the only thing that came to mind. He raised his fist slowly. Turned it. And lifted a single finger. Right at the towering marine captain.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then Luffy burst out laughing. "Shishishishi! Yeah! Show him!"
Usopp nearly choked. "VARIN, YOU CAN'T FLIP OFF A MARINE CAPTAIN!"
"Watch me," Varin muttered.
Zoro leaned one elbow on the railing, watching the distant figure with mild interest. "Pretty sure he just did."
Sanji exhaled a long stream of smoke. "…You've got a real talent for making enemies."
Out on the lead ship, the silver-eyed captain didn't react right away. He simply looked at the gesture. Studied it. The wind whipped his coat around his massive frame as the bow cut through the waves. Then, slowly, his expression shifted as he laughed. The sound carried across the water, low and deep, somehow reaching them even over the rush of the sea. The man raised his own hand. For a second, it looked like he might return the gesture. Instead, he lifted two fingers to his temple in something closer to a mocking salute. Then he spoke again, voice calm and steady, the strange language rolling easily across the waves. "Flýðu meðan þú getur, bróðir."
Varin's jaw tightened slightly.
Vivi glanced up at him again. "What did he say this time?"
Varin watched the man as the marine ships pushed harder through the water behind them. "…Run while you can, brother."
"The family part was obvious," Zoro said as he stepped up beside Varin, resting his arms on the railing while he studied the distant marine ship. "You've slipped into that language before." He scratched the back of his head, squinting toward the massive figure standing on the bow. "Guess that means your warning about your family coming after you wasn't just talk," he added. "That it?"
Varin snorted. "Aye," he said, eyes still fixed on the man across the water. "Seems that way."
The wind pushed their ship forward, but the marine vessels behind them were pushing hard as well, sails stretched tight as they cut through the waves.
Varin tilted his head slightly, studying the silver-eyed captain. "That one ain't the worst it could've been," he added after a moment. "He's a swordsman of sorts."
Zoro's eye sharpened a little at that. Varin jerked his thumb back toward the approaching fleet. "So I'll let ya have first dibs if you want."
Zoro's mouth twitched upward. "Hnh. Generous."
Up in the rigging, Usopp slowly climbed down, very carefully keeping the mast between himself and the direction of the incoming marine ships. "Uhm… question," he said cautiously.
Varin glanced up. Usopp pointed toward the towering marine captain.
"What's his Devil Fruit? Your family all has one, right?"
Varin rolled his shoulders once before answering. "Ushi Ushi no Mi," he said. "Model Gloson."
Usopp blinked. "…That doesn't sound comforting."
Varin gestured toward the distant giant. "A boar," he explained. "Specifically, a Demon boar from old stories. Hundred eyes across its hide."
Sanji leaned against the railing beside them. "…Hundred eyes?"
Varin nodded once. "And spines along its back are sharp enough to cut steel."
Zoro hummed at that, his hand settling loosely against the hilt of one of his swords as he watched the distant figure standing on the marine bow. "…Yeah," he muttered. "I'll take first dibs."
"It attacks travelers," Varin continued, calmer now, "Likes to run straight through their legs. Spines do the rest. Splits people clean in half."
Usopp made a quiet choking noise somewhere behind them. Varin ignored it and lifted a hand and pointed toward the towering man at the front of the marine ship.
"That right there, though… that's one of my older brothers. Rolf Styrnvald." The name came out flatter than Varin intended. "He's been a captain since before I got exiled," Varin went on. "Ten… eleven years now, I think."
He scratched at the side of his jaw as if doing the math bored him. "Promoted when he was… sixteen, if I remember right."
Usopp's jaw dropped. "Sixteen?!"
Sanji blew out a slow stream of smoke. "…Marines don't hand out captain coats to kids."
"They do when the kid is killing sea kings with a spear, besides, family backing and all that," Varin replied dryly.
Zoro's eyes narrowed again as he studied the giant standing across the waves. The marine captain hadn't moved much, still planted on the bow like a monument carved from stone, coat snapping behind him in the wind.
Varin leaned forward on the railing, elbows resting against the wood. "Probably easier to deal with than Smoker, though," he added.
That made Sanji pause mid-drag. "…You say that like it's supposed to make us feel better."
"It should," Varin said.
Usopp pointed wildly toward the approaching fleet. "THE MAN IS NINE FEET TALL AND HAS A DEMON BOAR FRUIT WITH A HUNDRED EYES!"
Varin shrugged one shoulder like the whole thing barely registered as a problem.
"I'm nine and a half," he said casually. "And I've got a god killer fruit." His thumb jerked lazily over his shoulder toward the pursuing ships. "Besides… what's a captain to a warlord?"
For a second, the deck went quiet. Not because anyone disagreed. Mostly because of the sheer confidence of the statement.
Then a sound broke the silence. It wasn't Luffy laughing. It wasn't Usopp panicking more, which was a surprise. It wasn't even Sanji making some dramatic comment about fighting for love.
It was Vivi. She snorted first, trying to hold it back, shoulders shaking as she turned slightly away from the railing. That failed immediately. The laugh that came out of her was loud, bright, and completely unrestrained. She bent forward slightly, one hand over her mouth as she tried and failed to get control of it.
Varin blinked. "…What?"
Vivi waved a hand at him, still laughing. "Sorry," she managed between breaths. "I just… the way you said that." She straightened up again, wiping the corner of one eye where the laughter had made it water. "You said it like it was obvious."
Varin frowned slightly. "It is." That only made her laugh harder. Behind them, Luffy joined in instantly without even knowing why.
Usopp pointed accusingly at Varin. "You can't just say things like that like they're normal!"
Sanji chuckled quietly, cigarette tilting upward as a small grin pulled at the corner of his mouth. "…He's got a point, though."
Zoro gave a short huff of amusement, still watching the approaching marine ship. "Yeah."
Vivi eventually managed to get her laughter under control, though the smile stayed on her face.
"You know," she said, glancing up at Varin again, "I think I'm starting to understand how this crew survives things it probably shouldn't."
Varin raised an eyebrow. "How's that?"
Vivi nodded toward Luffy, who was now leaning halfway over the railing, trying to shout insults across the ocean. "None of you seems to believe losing is even possible."
Varin glanced around the deck. At Luffy. At Zoro. At the rest of the crew. Then he looked back at the pursuing ships. "…Well," he said simply. "Aye, it has to be."