Free Heart

Ch 57 - I am Not What You Should Be Worried About

After a night's rest, the group bade farewell to Toto at dawn. As a parting gift, he gave Luffy a small barrel of water. The fruit of their hard night's labor. Luffy had promised to drink it with care even without Emmy's prompting. With some discussion between the navigator and the princess, they headed back towards Katorea.

The morning sun had not yet fully warmed the desert, making the journey fairly pleasant. The group joked and laughed with each other as they discussed the potential of Pillow War 2. However, Emmy was surprised to find that Luffy wasn't immediately jumping in on the idea. He was always eager for a fight and equally hated being left out of the action so his silence was out of character. In fact, the captain had been quiet all morning ever since they left Yuba and Emmy could feel his grinding frustration build up and up until finally, he gave in to it.

"That's it!" he huffed, plopping himself down onto the sand and leaning his head behind his hands.

"Eh? Luffy? Are you not feeling well?" Chopper asked.

"Nope," Luffy said with a frown, "I quit."

"You quit?!" Nami repeated, "What are you talking about?"

"Oy, we don't have time to put up with your whims, you know. Emmy! Talk some sense into him," Usopp sighed with a hand on his hip.

That was met by silence and the sniper looked over at the first mate, who was staring thoughtfully at the protesting captain.

"Emmy?" Usopp asked.

"Luffy!" Sanji tried, "If we don't get back to Katorea and stop the revolt, a million citizens here are going to clash and things'll get ugly quick. Do you realize that?! This is for Vivi-chan! So let's go!"

He grabbed Luffy by the collar only to have Luffy grab his arm right back and throw him to the side. "That's boring," Luffy stated.

"B-Boring?!" Sanji cried as he got to his feet, "We're talking about a war here and your issue is that it's boring?!"

"Vivi!" Luffy said, ignoring the cook.

"Yes?"

"I wanna kick Crocodile's ass!" he roared.

Vivi sucked in a breath and took a step back, surprised and alarmed by the harsh tone he was taking with her.

"If we stop the people rebelling, will that stop Crocodile?" Luffy continued, "Besides, we won't be able to do anything in Katorea anyway. We're pirates! Things are better off without us around. Pirates mixed in with rebels? That'll only complicate things."

Sanji sighed and crossed his arms. "He can really get straight to the point without thinking sometimes..."

"Despite being Luffy," Usopp muttered.

"Th-that's-" Vivi tried to explain.

"You want it so nobody dies. None of the citizens and none of us," Luffy said, "Even when there's a Warlord involved...and a million people going wild. You hope everyone will stay safe and sound. Your people...us...Don't you think that's too naive?"

"Hold on, Luffy!" Nami interjected and rushed in to the princess' aid, "Show some sympathy for Vivi. She's-"

Sanji held up an arm in front of Nami. "Wait, Nami-san."

"But..." Nami said but then she saw that he, Zoro, and even Emmy had a similar look on their face. They were all solemn with their eyes glued on the captain. The navigator frowned. What were they seeing that she wasn't?

Vivi took in a shaky breath and pulled down her hood to show Luffy she meant business. "And what's wrong with that?" she demanded, "What's wrong with not wanting people to die?!"