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Vivi’s first impression of the Goa Kingdom, the very first glance at the Dawn Island once it appeared on the horizon, prompted a fairly simple reaction: it was green.
There was greenery back in Alabasta, of course, but never quite this much. It seemed like the entire island was covered in leaves and grass, leaving scarcely any space for the town nestled on the shore.
She disliked it on principle.
“Why do we have to do this?” She asked — not whined, as some might have been tempted to call it — leaning back from the railing so far that she was looking at her father upside-down.
“They’re a new Kingdom,” he didn’t even look up from the documents he was reading, sipping on a cup of tea. It wasn’t the first time Vivi had asked this question, but with the vicinity of their destination, it would likely be the last. “We’re one of their closest neighbours, thanks to the Calm Belt. It’s only good manners to formally welcome them.”
He didn’t mention the trade opportunities this time, which Vivi pouted at, turning back towards the island. She still didn’t see what opportunities there could be. What would Goa give them, wood?
Another thing she couldn’t understand was why she was coming along. Her father was perfectly capable of brokering whatever deals on his own; In fact, he had been doing it for longer than Vivi was alive!
But it was too late to try and persuade him now. She’d simply go along with this whole ordeal and hope not to die of boredom.
The couple waiting for them at the docks with an entire entourage hardly looked regal. Their clothes were different from what Vivi was used to, and there were large crowns resting upon their heads.
“Are we to attend their coronation?” Vivi whispered to her father urgently. “Are we late?”
But the king just shushed her with a slight wave of his hand, and Vivi petulantly dropped her line of questioning.
They were ushered into a carriage — the couple was a bit rude when she asked about the horses pulling it, like they thought she'd never seen one before — and driven to a fancy townhouse somewhere in the middle of the city.
It was no royal palace, but she wasn’t rude enough to say that out-loud.
There was the bustle of servants rushing to undress them, stumped briefly by the fact that there was nothing to take off. It was a nice, warm day, with no need for thicker clothes.
In the ensuing chaos, Vivi had only barely managed to catch the blonde boy sneaking in from a side passage, coming to a stop near the stairs. Another blonde boy had soon barrelled down said stairs, almost crashing into the first one and catching everyone’s attention.
“Ah, those are our children!” Queen Didit — she had insisted they call her that every time — said with a weird titter. “My darling Stelly! And…” Her voice turned significantly colder and less enthusiastic. “Our firstborn, Sabo.”
…No favourites in that family, Vivi thought dryly.
There was the implicit “let the children play together” in the way the adults left the room. With a (mostly internal) sigh, Vivi made her way over.
Raising her hand in a greeting, Vivi opened her mouth, but Stelly cut her off before she could even say a single word.
“Can you even talk normally?” He sneered, crossing his arms together. “Well, I suppose at least you’re not ugly to look at.”
…All of which Vivi understood perfectly because she was, in fact, able to “talk normally”.
At least the other boy, Sabo, looked both mortified and exasperated at the words.
He bowed towards her, and she was surprised to notice the bow mimicked the proper apology one from Alabastian customs. It was a bit stiff, like he had learned it from a book, but it was correct, nonetheless.
“On behalf of my parents, I apologize for the insult,” Sabo said. “I assure you those opinions are not ones shared by the rest of our kingdom. I kindly beg you to disregard whatever other nonsense the little gremlin says.”
“Apology accepted,” Vivi smiled only to, once again, get cut off by Stelly.
“Gremlin?” He screeched at Sabo. Although, Vivi noted, he didn’t dare approach him. “I take offence!”
When Sabo straightened, he was rolling his eyes so hard his pupils hardly showed. “Do whatever you’d like, as long as you do it silently,” he retorted.
Puffing up in indignation, Stelly had run off in the direction where the adults had disappeared.
“Off to tattle, no doubt,” Sabo muttered, just loud enough that Vivi could make out the words. Then, visibly switching gears, he turned towards her. “It is my pleasure to welcome you into our house. I hope the rest of your stay will be more pleasant.”
Vivi nodded in response, before hesitantly asking what was on her mind. “So that was your… brother?”
Other than them both having light hair, she couldn’t for the life of her see any sort of a resemblance.
“Absolutely not,” Sabo denied vehemently. “That little turd is someone my progenitors decided was more to their tastes; They’re merely tolerating me until such time that Stelly learns courtly manners.”
Based on the display she saw… “That will probably take a while.”
Sabo cracked a smile at that, his whole face brightening with it. “Well, I’m not obligated to wait that long,” he offered cheerily, before offering Vivi his elbow. “If you follow me, there are refreshments prepared for you in the garden.”
She accepted his arm easily, letting him lead her out to the garden. As promised, there was a table laden with various drinks and snacks, and Vivi was quite curious to see what differences there would be between Goan cuisine and what she was used to.
Sabo was a pleasant conversation partner; Certainly a better one than Stelly had been, though that wasn’t a particularly high bar to clear. Even if her dad didn’t manage to secure any sort of a trade deal, Vivi thought this trip would not have been a waste of time.
And then someone fell through the walls to the garden, and Sabo’s smile became strained.
“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, quickly getting up and retreating under the cover of vegetation.
…Vivi was far too curious to leave the matter at that.
Grabbing a pastry, she made to follow him, remaining carefully out of sight.
She heard Sabo first — an urgent whisper-yell of “What are you doing here? I told you I can’t today-” — before she saw him, pushing a dark-haired boy of similar height towards a small gate.
“Luffy got kidnapped!”
The words stilled Sabo instantly. Vivi had no idea who Luffy was (a pet, perhaps?) but whoever it was, they had to be important.
“You had one job,” Sabo forced through his teeth.
The other boy turned, unimpressed, his face speckled with freckles. “You know how he is!” He protested, temper flaring. “He disappears on us both, and you expected me to keep him on track all by myself? While trying to hunt? And he was good today, too, but these guys took him-”
Vivi saw Sabo’s perfect facade crack, his teeth worrying his lip as he glanced towards the ajar gate. For the first time since Vivi met him, he looked less like a picture of a noble and more like a…
Well.
A child.
“I can’t leave,” he said, hesitant. “There’s the delegation- Ace, I can’t leave.”
Well, that wouldn’t do. Vivi quickly finished the last bite of her pastry, dusted off her hands, and stepped out of the bushes.
Both of the boys startled at the sight of her, although Ace seemed more angry, while Sabo’s expression was closer to resignation.
“Princess Vivi-” He started, but Vivi had no interest in his excuses.
“Which way do you need him to run?” She asked as she passed by Ace.
He pointed wordlessly. Vivi didn’t waste any more time, in case Sabo figured it out. She just slipped through the gate and started running as fast as she could manage.
The logic was simple: Sabo didn’t feel like he could leave Vivi alone. But he was equally unlikely to just let her tag along on an excursion to free the kidnapped Luffy.
So she’d take herself there, and “force” Sabo to follow her, taking him right where he wanted to be anyway.
That was how you caught two ducks with one carrot, Vivi thought smugly.
Running through the streets was pretty fun. Oh, people yelled at her as she slid underneath their groceries and jumped over the carts, but as long as she didn’t damage anything, they didn’t seem interested in following.
By the time she reached the edge of the town, Vivi decided this was far enough to make turning back not be worth the effort. Ace and Sabo caught up within moments, stopping beside her. Sabo leaned with one hand on his knee, the other tugging at the collar of his outfit as he gasped, while Ace seemed entirely unaffected, grinning at her wildly.
“You’re alright,” he told her.
Sabo tilted his head solely to glare at both of them.
“This wasn’t alright,” he seethed. “This is going to get me in trouble later!”
“Well, Luffy’s in trouble now,” the grin slid off Ace’s face. “You can complain about this once he’s safe.”
Sabo sighed, but seemed to concede the point. “Tell me what happened,” he ordered.
Honestly, Vivi was quite interested in that, too. Kidnappings were pretty much unheard of in Alabasta, pet or otherwise. If it was something that happened regularly in Goa, her father would like to know.
“We were passing by the Grey Terminal,” Ace started. “He was trailing after me, whining because I wouldn’t let him run off. I had the boar on my back, so I didn’t even see- I just thought it was weird he’d be so quiet, so I looked back, and the fuckers were already almost gone, but I recognized one of Bluejam’s. I went to get you straight away.”
Vivi felt like she had finally put together all the clues. “Is Luffy your puppy?”
Both Ace and Sabo snorted at that.
“In a way,” Ace started, but Sabo interrupted him with a punch to the shoulder. “He’s our brother.”
Ace passed over one of the pipes he was holding to Sabo. Vivi had been quite curious as to why he had them, or where he got them from (he wasn’t holding them in the garden, she was sure) or what use would Sabo make of it.
Before she could ask, though, Sabo eyed her consideringly.
“Do you remember the way back?”
Oh, no, he was not forcing her to miss out on this adventure! She already got them so far!
Sticking her nose in the air, Vivi puffed out her cheeks. “No!”
Ace sniggered at that. “Think the princess wants to have a go at being the knight,” he said. “Let her, ‘Bo, we don’t have time to argue.”
And that’s how Vivi ended up trailing behind them through piles of trash. Both of them seemed to know exactly where to go, beelining for the hidden entrance Vivi hadn’t noticed until they were already passing through the threshold.
There was no indication, no words, not even a look. One moment, they were sneaking in. The next, Ace and Sabo were launching themselves forward, attacking any and all people in sight.
She supposed the small kid in a strawhat tied up in the corner was their brother.
Sticking close to the wall, Vivi made her way over, pressing a finger to her mouth when the boy noticed her. She cut through his bindings with the small knife Pell insisted she carry and held his hand on the way out, since Vivi had a strong suspicion Luffy would have wanted nothing more but to join the fight.
Once they were in the clear, she whistled sharply, catching the others’ attention.
And, tugging Luffy along, she started to run.
Getting them out of the garbage dump would be easy enough. But where to go next?
Thankfully, Luffy seemed to have an idea, overtaking her and leading them straight into the forest. Vivi’s clothes weren’t really ideal for running through thick vegetation — branches kept catching on the fabric, and she was certain she tore it in a few spots — but she persevered.
She couldn’t hear anyone following them over the blood rushing through her ears, but she was pretty sure Ace and Sabo would know where to go.
When Luffy stopped at the feet of a tree that looked exactly the same as every other tree to her, save for a treehouse high up above, that certainty reached 100%.
Luffy seemed entirely unconcerned with her presence. He stood there, staring into the distance, one finger up his nose. Vivi worried he might be concussed or otherwise injured.
Sabo and Ace join them before long, tearing through the bushes with twin smiles on their faces.
They’ve clustered around Luffy immediately, pulling at his cheeks and clucking in concern.
Sabo turned towards Vivi once he remembered her presence. “We appreciate the assistance,” he offered.
“We could’ve handled it,” Ace scoffed immediately.
Their words, in turn, made Luffy notice her, as well. He turned to look at her for a moment, eyes squinted. “Join my crew!” He finally declared, earning twin punches to the head.
“Hell you mean your crew?”
Vivi couldn’t stop herself: she laughed. Their antics reminded her of Koza, a little bit, and of the Sand-Sand clan. When they acted like this, there was no doubt that those three were siblings.
“We’ll be missed if we stay much longer,” Sabo said eventually. “Wash properly, you two. That means behind your ears, too, Luffy. Ace will make sure of that, won’t you? I don’t wanna come home to stinky brothers.”
“You’re hardly better!” Ace protested instantly, nose scrunching in offense. His face was very expressive, Vivi had found.
“I know,” Sabo tsked, looking critically over himself, then over Vivi. His expression turned thoughtful. “But it might work out in our favour. We’ll swing by a tailor; Disappearing for no apparent reason is suspicious, but disappearing to show Princess Vivi some of our local fashion… Yes, that might just work.”
Ace nodded at that, then grimaced. Vivi couldn’t understand why; Wasn’t this an elegant solution to their troubles?
“The treasure-?” He cut himself off. “I guess we could call it payment for helping save Lu…”
Sabo lasted all of a second before snickering. Vivi, still riding the tail of her precious amusement, didn’t hesitate to join him.
“Wow, that sounded like it hurt,” he said, to Ace’s immediate shut up! “No need to worry about that. I’ll put it on my parents tab; Highest time they were useful for something. It would have been unusual if I paid, in treasure no less, but nonetheless it was kind of you to offer-”
They started brawling about it. Vivi doubted if that’d help the state of their clothes.
“Bye!” Luffy offered, darting in to hug her. “I’ll see you when I set sail! And then you’ll join my crew, okay?”
“Okay, Luffy,” Vivi agreed with a laugh.
At least the mention of his crew united Sabo and Ace again.
“We better get going,” Sabo said, sending one last longing look at his brothers before straightening up and offering Vivi his elbow again. “Let me introduce you to the dubious pleasure of corsets.”