Originally written as an RP sample, I thought this would work as a one-shot too.

I don't own One Piece; if I did, Vivi would still be with the Straw Hats.

Vivi closed the door to her bedroom, still gripping the newspaper tightly in one hand. She could feel her insides somersaulting, and wondered how she'd even managed to make it upstairs, with the amount she was trembling. Biting her bottom lip, she spread the front page on the top of her dressing table, glancing briefly at the reflection in the mirror and taking in her own face, pale with worry, and that of Carue, who had padded silently to her side, the look in his eye showing that he knew something was wrong.

She looked again at the picture that took up most of the page of that morning's paper. There was Luffy, all right. Bandaged, and still looking very worn out, but alive. With the fragments of distorted news that had made it back to Arabasta over the last two weeks, it was more than Vivi could hope for. "Thank goodness," she whispered, a hand flitting to her face to catch the tears she knew would begin to fall any minute now.

Her relief flooded out of her in a wave, now that she knew that at least one of her nakama was safe. There was still so much about this battle that bothered her, though, a feeling that had lodged in the pit of her stomach since before the attack on Marineford had even happened, and had refused to move. So many questions that needed answering. For a start, where were the others? Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper; their faces swam up through her memories, and she knew that they would never have let Luffy go through this alone. Which meant that they had no choice. Were they all right? Were they hurt? She wished so desperately that she had more information, or a safe way of contacting them.

There was something else, though, something that bothered her even more than the safety of her nakama. Something that was not mentioned in the news report she was now poring over, but that had come to light a while ago. According to the newspapers, Monkey D. Luffy had escaped from the supposedly impenetrable prison, Impel Down. And he was not alone. Vivi had refused to believe it at first, when she read that the one man she hated more than anything in the world, the one man she would gladly kill with her own hands, had accompanied Luffy not only in breaking out of prison, but in the attack on Marineford. She'd eventually had to accept it, though: Luffy and Crocodile were allies now. It sent spasms of pain and confusion through her every time she thought of it. She'd felt hurt and confused when Luffy had accepted Miss All-Sunday - well, Nico Robin, as she went by now - as his nakama, but she'd trusted to him, and the rest of them, to make a good judgement call about her. This she couldn't accept. The man was a demon. Luffy must have his reasons, good reasons, she tried to tell herself, but the words sounded empty.

She couldn't stay angry at him though, not now, not looking at the picture in this morning's paper. Despite all of the bruises and bandages, she could see in his eyes how deeply he was hurting inside, how he was mourning for his brother. Vivi had only known Ace for such a short time, but she remembered how kind and polite he had been towards her, and now the tears welled up again in her, too. They splattered onto the paper, onto the picture, drawing her attention once again to the new tattoo that Luffy had. 3D: crossed out. 2Y beneath it. Vivi knew it must mean something, but she couldn't fathom what. A message to the others? That meant that they were still alive, at least. She wished they were there. She wished she were there. She wished Luffy didn't have to go through this on his own.

And in the back of her mind, another spasm of panic shot through her, as she remembered once again that Crocodile was free.