By Your Side

Chapter 34

"(Y/N)!"

I smiled as Nami ran over and crushed me into a bone crushing hug. I immediately wrapped my arms around her, unable to stop the tears. "Hey, Nami."

"(Y/N) you had me so worried!" Chopper cried as he jumped onto my shoulder, rubbing his tear soaked face into my neck.

I chuckled guiltily, "I'm sorry Chopper, but I had to do it."

I looked past the two, seeing the others were looking in our direction, either shocked to see me or happy, possibly both at once. I gave them a smile, trying to get the two to let go of me.

As they backed up, wiping their tears, I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "I guess I should explain, huh..."

Robin walked up to me with a relieved smile. "From what the others told us, Jimbei had said you had went to sneak into Big Mom's ship."

"Yeah, it shocked all of us honestly. So what made you do it?" Usopp spoke up, sitting down on a nearby rock.

"We asked Luffy-San, but he wouldn't say anything." Brook spoke up, to which I chuckled nervously.

"That's cause... I told him not to." I replied admittedly, staring at the ground to avoid their gaze.

"Why's that?" Franky asked, confused.

I let out a sigh, "Guess I need to start from when we first got to the island." I began to explain what happened from meeting Big Mom, finding out she was my mother, to the events during the wedding we crashed. Leaving out a few details.

"I wasn't expecting that..." Usopp stated, shocked by the information.

"Yeah, no kidding." Franky agreed, turning back to me. "But then why did you sneak onto her ship?"

Subconsciously, I brought my fingers up to my neck, frowning. "Because..."

"Because she had a collar on her neck." I whipped my head over to Sanji as he took a drag of his cigarette, blowing it out. "You know, the ones the slaves of the Celestial Dragons wear."

I let out a sigh, thankful I didn't have to explain. "I climbed onto the ship in order to find a key to the collar, but she found me and threw the key away, causing me to be stuck with her until we arrived here in Wano. Luckily, when going up the falls, we fell in water and we're separated."

"Yeah, it was like that for us too." Chopper nodded, "And I know about Big Mom. I found her washed up on shore." I frowned at the news. So she survived...

"How come you didn't tell us all this earlier?" I turned to Nami as she glanced at me in worry. "We could've helped you."

"I know, but I didn't want to add anymore stress. We had to crash the wedding and get the copy of the Poneglyph, so I figured I could figure it out..." I admitted sadly.

"We still would've helped, but what matters is that it all worked out." She sighed, before giving me a smile. "But next time tell me, or I'll charge you for hiding information."

I laughed at her antics before nodding my head. "Ok, deal."

I turned to the others who I saw earlier, bowing to them slightly. "Sorry for not introducing myself... I'm (Y/N), and I'm in Luffy's crew."

The two smiled at me and introduced themselves as Shinobu and Kiku. Then a young girl ran up to me smiling. "You know big bro Luffy!"

I looked down to the girl, seeing her big smile. I immediately dropped down to her level, crushing her in a hug. "Omg you are so adorable!"

I heard a few of the others chuckle at my antics. After a minute, I let go, looking to her and nodding, "And yes, I know Luffy."

"So cool! One day I'm going to be a strong Kunoichi and he says he will let me join his crew!" She beamed, doing a ninja pose.

"Sounds like Luffy alright." I chuckled at her enthusiasm.

She grabbed a hold of my hand, dragging me in a diffeeent direction. "He also said he would make sure I can eat all I want in the future!"

"Did he now?" I mused, going along with her. Now that she mentions it, she is a little thin. I'm guessing with the short ration of food, she hasn't had much. I frowned slightly at the thought. How can such a sweet innocent girl, have to live in such a drastic situation.

She stopped walking, bringing me out of my thoughts. She sat down on the ground, when I noticed Luffy was lying there, snoozing away. He must've found a way out of that Udon prison.

I sat down beside his head, running my fingers through his hair. "Big bro sure does sleep a lot."

I smiled at her claim, it being spot on. "He does." I then looked over to the girl, who seemd to have admiration for him. "So, you call him your 'big bro', huh?"

"Yeah, because he reminds me of big bro Ace!" She exclaimed happily.

I stopped my fingers at the mention of Ace. "So, you knew Ace as well...?" I asked lowly, frowning at the memory.

"Yeah..." Tama admitted, sounding down. "Big bro Luffy told me he died... is it true?" She asked suddenly, looking at me.

I looked to her, nodding my head slightly before looking back to Luffy, more specifically, his scar on his chest. "Yeah..." I rasped out, voice hoarse. "We were both there when it happened."

It was quiet for a moment, before I turned to Tama. "Hey, why don't we pass the time before we have to leave."

"Yeah!" Tama exclaimed, cheering up slightly.

"Any ideas on what you want to do?" I asked, hoping this would distract her from thinking about Ace.

She tapped her chin, looking into the distance, before letting out a gasp. "I know! Let's make hats!"

...

When we finished, everyone started to gather anything they needed. I watched as Tama went over to Momonouske and gave him the hat she made, making me smile. "Tama, why don't you give the others their hats as well." I held the hats out for her.

"Okay!" She grabbed hold of the hats, walking over to Kin'emon and the others. I turned my gaze back over to Luffy, who was still asleep. Someone's gotta do it.

With a sigh, I walked over to him, and bent down beside him. I took a moment before saying, "Wow, look at all this meat!"

He immediately stopped snoring, shooting up faster than I could see. "Meat? Where?!"

I stifled a laugh by covering my mouth with one hand. "Hey, I came all this way, and you are worried about meat?" I teased, letting out a few chuckles.

I watched as he turned his head in my direction, eyes wide. "(Y/N)..."

I stopped laughing and gave him a smile, "I promised I would come back, didn't I?"

Without a second to waste, he wrapped his arms around me, bringing me into a bone-crushing hug. "Please don't ever do that again..." I ran my fingers through his hair, nodding my head.

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Published: 12/02/2022