(One Piece) Someday, I Suppose -- Prologue
Title: Someday, I Suppose
Fandom: One Piece
Pairings: Vivi x Kohza, Zoro x Sanji, Nami x Usopp, Luffy x Usopp, Luffy x Vivi
Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters do not belong to me.
Rating for Prologue: PG
Prologue-
The six best carrier doves that money could buy sat on the sill of a large palace window, cooing patiently as the gentle fingers of the Alabastian princess attached tubes that held delicate, rolled-up wedding invitations to their legs. When she was done, she gave them each a destination-the greatest library, the biggest medical center, the All Blue-Baratie, the weapons workshop in Syrup Village, the mikan groves of Cocoyashi, and the large sails of the Thousand Sunny. A smile spread across her pretty face as she watched them fly away from the window, wings fluttering in the desert sun.
“And now?”
The princess turned to approach the man behind her, falling easily into his outstretched arms.
“Now we wait,” she said through a pleased sigh.
“For them to show?”
“Yes.”
“Not exactly the most concise way to make a wedding date…”
“Perhaps not,” she tittered lightly, “but it has to be done this way. I can’t get married without them.”
He looked down at his fiancée’s blissful expression, and sighed in resignation. If this was how it had to be done, he’d do it. No matter how long it took.
The first dove landed perfectly on long, slender, extended fingers that belonged to the fourth hand of an elegant librarian. The first hand was flipping through a large and important-looking book, the second was bringing a cup of hot coffee to her lips, and the third was already unrolling the invitation. Her eyes moved from the pages of the book to the words on the thin paper. She chuckled lowly; she was going to need a boat.
The second dove flew in through the window of a medical research center, went over the heads of curious doctors, and dropped down onto a desk, upsetting some papers and scaring a little body of fur out of his chair. Once the creature righted himself again, he exchanged a few pleasantries with the bird, took out the invitation and promptly turned a little pink and wriggled happily in his chair.
The third dove drooled a little at the delicious smells coming from its restaurant destination, but it managed to pull itself together long enough to fly into the kitchen and perch on the shoulder of the head chef, hard at work at the stove-who paused occasionally to tug at a black bandana that fit loosely on his arm. The dove was fed a crouton before the chef retrieved the invitation, his lips forming a grin around a cigarette.
The fourth dove barely missed being hit by a colorful firework explosion. It circled over the heads of a group of cheering children until it spotted a mess of black curls. It tried to wait until the man was finished with his story of the trials he went through in order to create the fireworks, but the tale was starting to get ridiculous and its wings were started to get tired. It watched as olive-toned fingers unrolled the paper and didn’t leave until it heard a whoop of merry laughter.
The fifth dove swooped through citrus-smelling groves to find two beautiful sun-tanning bodies. It landed on the grass between them, took a moment to admire soft flesh-was compared to some blond chef-before agile fingers, slightly stained with traces of ink, removed the message. The girl partly laughed and partly smiled, but mainly wondered aloud what made for the best and cheapest present that said “I-love-you-and-I-love-my-money-please-don’t-make-me-choose”.
The sixth dove was overwhelmed by the large crew it had to maneuver itself through and once it finally found the rim of a straw hat to land on, it heard a remark about being dinner and ruffled his feathers crossly. It flew off and landed instead on a bare, sweaty shoulder; the ship shifted slightly as a heavy weight was placed on the deck so a bronze hand could take out the invitation-and then pass it to someone in the crew who could actually read. A chorus of cheers and laughter rang out through the ship, and a loud, eager, excited voice announced that the ship was turning around and heading to the desert kingdom of Alabasta.