"Varin, put him down!" Chopper screamed.
That would have been a reasonable request if Varin had been in any state to listen. Or think. Or do anything other than react.
Instead, Varin had his teeth clamped firmly into Luffy's arm and was dragging him across the dining hall floor like a stubborn animal that refused to let go of its kill. Tables had been shoved out of place, chairs knocked over, and one long tablecloth had been half torn off and was now trailing behind them like some kind of absurd banner of destruction. Plates and cups rattled and fell in their wake while Luffy continued to be hauled along with surprising ease.
Luffy, for his part, did not seem nearly as concerned as everyone else.
The answer to Chopper's question was simple. The person Varin needed to put down was Luffy.
Since Varin was essentially fine again, the king, or Cobra as he preferred to be called, had ordered a feast in their honor. A massive one. More food than Varin had seen in one place in probably forever. Real food, too. Solid food. Not broth or medicine. Not something soft enough to swallow without chewing.
Varin had been ecstatic. He had sat down, stared at the plate in front of him like it was sacred, and for a brief moment, everything had been perfect. Then, within thirty seconds of sitting down, Luffy had reached across the table and tried to steal the entire plate while making direct eye contact with him.
Varin had acted in what he would swear was self-defense. He shifted on instinct. And the rest was history.
Now he was in his wolf form, teeth locked down hard enough that neither of them was having a particularly good time, and dragging Luffy across the hall with the single-minded determination of someone who had been denied food once already and was not about to let it happen again.
"VARIN!" Chopper shouted again.
Varin growled around a mouthful of arm but did not let go. For a second, it looked like he might double down and start shaking Luffy like an actual wolf with something it refused to surrender. Instead, something in his head clicked back into place. He shifted back mid-motion, teeth releasing as his form snapped human again, boots skidding slightly on the polished floor.
He did not hesitate. Using the leftover momentum, Varin grabbed Luffy by the front of his vest, pivoted on his heel, and with a smooth, brutal efficiency that suggested he had thought about doing this before, hurled his captain straight out the open window.
There was a split second of silence. Then the distant sound of impact somewhere far outside the palace walls, but it worked, and Luffy was gone.
Varin stood there for a moment, breathing a little heavier than necessary, hair slightly disheveled, though that was his default state, ache already fading from his own jaw where he had strained too hard. He adjusted his shoulders once, as if shaking off tension, then calmly walked back to his seat. He pulled the chair back into place, sat down, and dragged his plate closer with deliberate care.
The dining hall was silent. A fork clinked somewhere in the distance. Varin picked up his utensil and began eating as if nothing had happened.
"Eat, before he comes back," Zoro said, stifling a laugh.
That was all the permission the room needed. The tension disappeared in an instant.
Plates shifted. Chairs scraped. Someone on the far end of the table muttered something about "natural selection." Varin did not look up. He shoveled food into his mouth with a focus bordering on religious devotion. He chewed with visible satisfaction, eyes half lidded in a way that suggested if anyone tried to interrupt him again, there would be blood on the ceiling this time.
Chopper finally scampered over, hopping onto the bench beside him and poking at his side with suspicious fingers. "You're not supposed to be using that much force yet! Your muscle fibers were still repairing yesterday!"
"They ain't today," Varin replied flatly, not pausing mid bite. "And he started it."
"He always starts it!" Chopper shouted.
Across the hall, a guard quietly began looking out the window. Cobra sat at the head of the long table, fingers steepled in front of his mouth, looking deeply conflicted between horror and admiration. "Is this… normal?" he asked carefully.
"Yeah," Nami said without looking up from her drink. "Pretty tame actually."
Usopp nodded gravely. "One time, he stabbed Luffy through the arm with a fork."
"That was different," Varin muttered. "He tried to eat my arm first."
Sanji exhaled slowly, taking a bite of some sort of meat. "You threw the future Pirate King out a royal window over a plate of roast."
Varin glanced at him, unimpressed. "You woulda stabbed him."
Sanji paused. "… fair."
From somewhere far below the palace came a faint, distant shout that was unmistakably Luffy's voice. "FOOOOOOD!" Every head at the table turned toward the window. Varin did not. He calmly reached across the table and pulled two additional plates closer to himself.
"Smart," Zoro said approvingly.
The guards had just finished looking out the window when something elastic and furious snapped into view from below. Then it rapidly grew larger. There was a split second where everyone in the hall collectively realized what that shape was. Then the rubber man rocketed upward.
Luffy snapped back into the dining wall hard enough to crater stone, ricocheted off the ceiling in a shower of dust and cracked plaster, and landed on his feet on top of the banquet table like he'd meant to do it. Plates jumped. Goblets tipped. One unfortunate roasted bird achieved brief flight before slapping back down into a bowl of sauce.
"I'M BACK!" Luffy declared, grinning like he hadn't just been used as a royal projectile.
Varin was already moving. He simply reached out with one hand and caught Luffy by the face mid-lunge. The impact still shoved him back half a step, boots grinding against polished stone, but he held firm. Fingers dug into rubber cheeks and stretched them sideways like dough.
"Sit," Varin said flatly.
Luffy's arms stretched around him like vines anyway, reaching for the plates Varin had strategically relocated. One hand snagged a chunk of meat. The other grabbed something unidentified but edible.
Varin bared his teeth. The temperature in the immediate vicinity dropped about five degrees. Luffy paused. Not out of fear. Out of calculation.
"… half?" Luffy offered.
"No."
"Three bites?"
"No."
"Two?"
Varin tightened his grip just enough to distort Luffy's grin into something abstract.
Zoro leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying himself. "You know," he said casually, "if you just let him grab one thing, he'll stop."
"No, he won't," Nami and Usopp said in unison.
Chopper was hopping in place again. "No more property damage! You just healed!"
"Still healed," Varin replied without looking away from Luffy.
Luffy suddenly twisted, legs stretching backward to hook around a pillar, trying to use leverage to sling himself free. Varin moved with him this time. His stance was grounded in a way that didn't match the polished marble beneath him. The tug stopped. Luffy's stretch snapped uselessly against him.
There was a brief pause. Then Luffy's eyes widened. "…you're stronger."
"Yeah," Varin said.
Luffy's grin returned, wider this time. Excited. "Oh, this is great!"
Before anyone could react, Luffy's free hand shot sideways and grabbed an entire serving tray. He flung it into the air like a distraction grenade and lunged low for the plate Varin was guarding.
Varin reacted purely on instinct. He released Luffy's face and bit down on his forearm again. Hard. The sound echoed. Chopper screamed. The guards collectively questioned their career choices.
Luffy yelped, more in surprise than pain, and reflexively snapped backward again, this time dragging Varin with him as rubber retracted at violent speed.
They shot through the same window Luffy was tossed out of.
Silence filled the hall. Then from outside:
"LET GO!"
"NO."
A crash. Cobra slowly rubbed his temples. "…is it too late to cancel the feast?"
Sanji stood, brushing dust from his suit. "I'll make more."
Zoro took another drink. "Let 'em burn it off."
Nami leaned back, listening to the distant chaos echoing through palace courtyards. "At least he's fully recovered."
The feast continued the way Straw Hat feasts always did, which meant it barely qualified as a meal and more closely resembled a prolonged natural disaster centered around a table. Plates vanished in stacks, whole trays disappeared when nobody was looking, and at one point, Sanji physically intercepted Luffy mid-air with a kick that sent him spinning into a pillar before he could body slam the dessert spread. It bought them maybe thirty seconds. Varin, having learned from experience, adapted.
Eventually, Luffy was tied. Varin had forced him into a compact ball, knees tucked up, arms wrapped around his own legs, and then lashed him to the chair with enough rope that the end result looked less like imprisonment and more like someone had attempted to store a very angry piece of luggage. Luffy strained against it constantly, the rope creaking and stretching as his rubber body flexed, but Varin had anchored the knots tight enough that every attempt just made him wobble in place.
So Luffy suffered. Forced to watch. Forced to smell. Forced to witness plate after plate being emptied by everyone except him.
"I'm starving…" Luffy groaned dramatically, rocking back and forth. "You're all so cruel…"
"You tried to steal from everyone," Nami said, not even looking up from her plate.
"I tried to share!"
"You tried to take everything."
"Sharing!"
Varin ignored him completely. That was part of the punishment. He ate steadily, efficiently, like someone who had recently been denied solid food and intended to make up for it with interest, which was exactly what was happening. Every now and then, Luffy would roll his entire chair closer in slow increments, scraping loudly across the floor.
Each time Varin pushed him back with one foot without even looking.
Eventually, the feast burned itself out the way storms did. The food dwindled, the noise settled into tired conversation, and even Luffy stopped struggling quite as much, slumping in his rope cocoon with the defeated air of a man who had witnessed tragedy.
Only once the last plates were cleared did Varin finally untie him. Luffy immediately sprinted for the kitchen. Sanji was waiting. The sounds that followed suggested violence.
After that, things calmed. Or at least, they calmed as much as they ever did. Which was how they found themselves standing in the throne room later.
The shift in atmosphere was immediate. The dining hall chaos didn't follow them in here. The ceilings were high enough to swallow sound, the stone polished and unbroken, banners hanging still in the air that barely seemed to move. It was quiet in a way that demanded attention.
Cobra sat on the throne, though he leaned forward slightly instead of reclining into it, hands resting on the arms rather than gripping them. He didn't look like a man trying to loom over them. He looked like someone trying to meet them halfway while still being a king about it.
Vivi stood beside him. Prim and proper, exactly as expected, like she'd snapped back into place the moment they stepped into the room. Her clothes were spotless, layered, and formal in a way none of the crew would ever willingly tolerate, her posture straight and composed. Hands clasped neatly in front of her, that smile in place like it had always been there.
She looked like royalty again. Like she belonged here. The crew looked like they'd wandered in by accident.
They had tried, at least. That much was obvious. Sanji had cleaned up well despite the bruises still faintly visible along his jaw and cheek. The suit helped. It always did. He looked like someone who belonged in a palace, even if he kept glancing around like he was cataloging the kitchen layout in his head.
Nami wore a peach colored dress that actually fit her properly, the fabric light enough for the desert heat but still refined enough to match the setting. She stood straighter than usual, not stiff, just aware. Like she knew eyes were on her and intended to make sure they saw what she wanted them to see.
Usopp looked deeply uncomfortable in a sort of tuxedo that didn't quite match his proportions, his nose still wrapped in bandages that stuck out awkwardly against the formalwear. He kept adjusting the collar like it was trying to strangle him.
Chopper looked scrubbed. That alone was strange enough. Then there were the others. Zoro stood like he always did, in his normal t-shirt, like the concept of formal clothing had simply never reached him. Arms relaxed, posture loose, expression neutral in that way that suggested he was either half asleep or fully alert, and nobody could tell which.
Luffy stood in his vest. Not even pretending. Just… vest, like he'd wandered in off the street and taken a wrong turn into royalty.
And then there was Varin. Still shirtless. The pants were nicer, technically. Well-made, light enough for the heat, clearly meant to help with the desert climate rather than make any sort of statement. But from the waist up, he looked exactly the same as always, scars visible, posture relaxed but grounded, like he was standing on something more solid than the polished floor beneath him.
He didn't care. Didn't pretend to care. Didn't even look like it had occurred to him that he should. If anything, he looked more comfortable than half the crew that had actually dressed up.
There was a faint pause in the room as everyone settled into place. Not awkward exactly. Just a moment where the weight of everything caught up. The war. The death. The aftermath. The simple fact that they were standing in a throne room instead of a battlefield, that the air wasn't full of sand and smoke and screaming anymore. It sat on everyone differently. Some carried it heavier than others.
"Straw Hat pirates. It has been a week since your crew defeated the tyrant Crocodile, once one of the Seven Warlords. But I have been informed his title has been stripped, and he very likely might be sitting in Impel Down as we speak."
Cobra's voice carried easily through the chamber, practiced and steady in a way that made people straighten without thinking. Even Luffy stood a little taller, even if it only lasted a few seconds. The king himself looked tired in a way that sleep wouldn't fix. Lines that probably hadn't been there a month ago sat faintly around his eyes, and his shoulders carried the kind of weight that came with ruling something that had almost died. Still, there was relief there, too. The kind that only came after surviving something that should have killed you.
"Now I ask you all to leave tomorrow morning," Cobra continued. "I do not wish to seem ungrateful. But the Marines cannot be held off much longer. And I would hate for our heroes to be carried off in chains."
There was a shift at that. Small, but noticeable. Nami's expression tightened just slightly. Usopp swallowed. Chopper glanced around like Marines might burst through the walls at any moment. Zoro didn't react at all, which probably meant he'd already assumed this would happen. Luffy just looked mildly disappointed, like being chased out by the Marines was an inconvenience rather than a threat.
Cobra took a slow breath before continuing. "I cannot offer you anything other than my word that you have made an ally for life. Alabasta will not forget what you have done here." He paused slightly, then added, "But the baths have been repaired, and I invite you all to spend your last night using them." His eyes flicked toward Sanji. "Separated, of course."
Varin snorted at that, didn't even try to stop it. The sound came out rough and low in the quiet of the throne room, just loud enough to carry. He didn't bother apologizing either. The whole thing was just… absurd enough to deserve it. War, near death, gods whispering in his ear one day, and now they were being politely invited to take baths before being asked to leave the country, before the Marines showed up to arrest them. Life had a way of stacking nonsense on top of nonsense until it started to feel normal.
Cobra smiled slightly at the sound, the expression small and quick, like he hadn't meant to show it. The kind of smile someone lets slip when they're more relieved than proper. He hid it just as fast, posture straightening again, king replacing man.
"I have nothing more to say," Cobra said. "So if you would like, you may leave."
There was a brief pause, the kind where nobody was quite sure what the proper way to exit a throne room was supposed to be. Vivi dipped into a neat, practiced curtsy. Nami gave a polite bow a second later, dragging Usopp halfway down with her when he didn't react fast enough. Chopper tried to bow and salute at the same time and ended up doing something awkward in between.
Sanji bowed properly, smooth and practiced, like he'd been waiting his entire life for a moment to show off manners. Zoro turned and started walking out. Luffy waved.
Varin just stood there a second longer, then gave a short nod. Not deep, not formal, just an acknowledgment. King to warrior. Leader to leader, in its own rough way. Then he turned and followed after the others, bare feet quiet against the polished floor.
The tension bled off the moment they were out in the hall.
"BATHS!" Luffy shouted immediately.
Varin laughed, low and unguarded, the sound surprising even him. It felt different than the sharp, biting humor he usually defaulted to. Lighter. Easier. Before he really registered how it happened, he was being herded along with the rest of the men, down polished corridors and through heavy doors until steam rolled out to greet them in thick, warm waves.
The bathhouse was massive. Stone floors, carved pillars, wide pools sunk into the ground with water so clear it reflected the lantern light like liquid glass. Heat wrapped around his skin instantly, soaking into muscle and bone. After weeks of desert air and then days trapped in a recovery room, it felt almost unreal.
Luffy was already halfway undressed before the doors shut behind them. "Last one in's a sea king!" he shouted.
"You are literally made of rubber; that insult means nothing!" Usopp yelled back.
Sanji was lecturing someone about proper washing etiquette.
Zoro just stepped forward, stripped down without ceremony, and slid into the water like he'd been doing this his whole life.
Varin followed more slowly.
He pulled his pants off and stepped into the light fully, steam curling around him. For a brief second, there was quiet. Not because anyone was judging. Just because it was… noticeable.
Zoro was built like a swordsman who trained until his muscles carved themselves into shape. Clean lines. Old scars. Blade marks that told stories of steel and near misses.
Varin looked like something that had crawled out of a forest and learned to walk upright.
His chest was thick, broad in a way that didn't quite look human. Dense muscle layered over muscle, crisscrossed with scars that weren't neat slices but ragged tears. Bite marks. Claw rakes. A long gouge across his ribs that looked like something had tried to remove him in chunks. Even healed, they hadn't softened. They just sat there, pale against pale skin, the sun couldn't seem to darken. His shoulders were heavy, his arms corded and thick. There was something about the way he stood that felt less like posture and more like readiness, even relaxed.
He looked like he'd fought animals. And won.
Luffy popped up from the water, squinting through the steam. "Whoa," he said plainly. "You look like a bear."
Varin glanced down at himself, then back at him. "That supposed to be an insult?"
"Nah," Luffy said immediately. "Bears are cool."
Zoro snorted from where he was leaning against the stone edge of the bath. "He does," he said. "Looks like he wrestled half the Grand Line and lost none of it."
"Definitely did, but I see what you mean, the water makes the scars more… noticeable than usual," Varin muttered as he stepped down into the water.
Heat swallowed him up to the waist, then chest. He exhaled slowly as he lowered himself fully in. Muscles that had been tight without him realizing it loosened inch by inch. The weight of the last week started melting off his shoulders. He leaned back against the stone, letting the water cover up to his collarbones.
Across from them, Cobra eased himself in as well.
The king looked older without his robes. Thinner. There were scars on him, too, though fewer. A blade mark across his side. An old wound near his shoulder. Not the marks of someone who hid behind guards. The marks of someone who had stood in front of his people when needed.
He didn't comment on Varin's body. He just settled into the water with a slow breath and closed his eyes for a moment like he'd been carrying the kingdom on his spine and had finally set it down.
Steam blurred the edges of everything. Laughter echoed off stone walls. Luffy tried to swim underwater and immediately got kicked in the head by Zoro. Usopp complained about the heat. Sanji was aggressively scrubbing himself like the bath was a moral obligation.
Varin rested his arms along the edge, head tipped back. For once, nobody was trying to stab him. Nobody was poking him with a syringe. No god was talking in his ear. Just heat. Water. Noise.
Cobra opened one eye and looked at him quietly. "You carry your battles on your skin," he said after a while. Not accusing. Just observing.
Varin shrugged one shoulder. "Better there than in my head."
Cobra hummed softly at that.
Zoro glanced over, one eye half open. "Scars're proof you're still breathing," he said. "Rest's just details."
Varin smirked faintly at that, eyes sliding shut again. "Barely, a few times back on the rock, it was close." He lifted his right hand, turning it slightly, looking at the newer scar between his middle and ring finger where the sand spear had punched through. The skin pulled a little when he flexed. "I wonder if I'm able to beat some of those beasts now."
Before anyone could respond, Sanji suddenly straightened and looked around like a man realizing he'd forgotten something critical. His eyes swept across the stone walls, the steam curling up from the bath, the open space, the doors.
"Where's the girls' side?" He asked it with absolutely no shame. No hesitation. Just pure focus.
Varin opened one eye slowly.
Zoro groaned immediately. "You're in a bath."
"That doesn't answer the question," Sanji shot back instantly, already turning in a slow circle like the answer might be hiding in plain sight.
Usopp sank lower into the water. "Don't encourage him."
"I'm not encouraging him," Zoro said. "I'm stating the obvious."
Sanji ignored both of them completely, squinting at one of the walls like he could see through it if he tried hard enough. "There's gotta be a divider. Royal bathhouses always have dividers."
Varin leaned back against the stone edge, watching this unfold with the quiet interest of someone observing an animal do something predictably stupid. "You're gonna get arrested."
"Worth it," Sanji said instantly.
And then, without warning, Cobra appeared at the side of the bath like he'd been there the whole time. No dramatic entrance. No announcement. He was just suddenly present, standing calmly at the edge of the stone floor with his hands folded behind his back like this was a completely normal situation for a king to walk into.
He looked at Sanji. Sanji looked at him. There was a brief pause. Sanji pointed. "Where's the girls' side?"
Cobra didn't even hesitate. He simply lifted one hand and pointed directly at the wall. "Other side."
Silence followed. Zoro stared. Usopp stared. Varin slowly blinked.
Sanji's eyes lit up as he'd just been handed divine revelation. "Thank you, your majesty."
"You're welcome," Cobra said politely.
Sanji immediately started climbing out of the bath.
Zoro moved at the exact same time and grabbed him by the back of the shoulder before he made it two steps. "Sit down."
Sanji struggled. "For honor!"
"You have no honor!"
"For love!"
"You're naked!"
Sanji paused. Looked down. Then looked back toward the wall. "…Irrelevant."
Zoro dragged him backward and dropped him straight back into the water with a loud splash.
Sanji resurfaced immediately, still facing the wall, still determined. "I can sense them."
"You cannot sense women," Usopp said.
"I absolutely can."
Varin snorted quietly and rested his head back against the stone again, eyes half closed. "If you dig through that wall, they're just gonna throw you in prison."
Sanji crossed his arms. "A prison of love."
Zoro reached over like he was going to shove his head underwater again.
Cobra watched all of this with the calm patience of a man who had seen a civil war and decided this was somehow less stressful. "…Please do not damage the palace," he said mildly.
Sanji gave a respectful nod. "Of course." Then he scooted slightly closer to the wall.
Zoro grabbed Sanji by the back of the collar before he could just stroll off like he'd been invited. It didn't stop him from craning his neck, though, feet practically dragging against the tile as he tried to get a look.
Somehow, that was all it took. Luffy was already climbing before anyone said a word, Usopp whispering something about "just checking security," and even Cobra, who absolutely should have known better, ended up standing a little too close to the dividing wall. Zoro muttered something about idiots while still holding Sanji in place, then, after a second, shifted his grip and leaned just enough to look over himself. Varin didn't bother pretending he had higher standards. He hauled himself up, the stone warm and slick under his palm, and peeked over with the rest of them.
On the other side, the steam hung thicker, drifting in slow curls across the bath. Towels and baskets sat scattered near the edge, voices echoing faintly off the stone. And right near the center was Vivi, towel wrapped tight but doing very little to hide the shape beneath, damp hair clinging to her shoulders. Varin's eyes stuck there longer than he meant them to, the rest of the scene fading out for a second as his brain latched onto that single detail.
He wasn't the only one staring, not by a long shot. That was about the moment it went wrong. Nami looked up first. There was a split second where nobody moved. Then she smiled. "Hey, boys," said Nami sweetly.
And then came the Happiness Punch. There was a blur of motion, a sudden shift as her towel was moved, and steam parted just enough to show far more than any of them were prepared for. It lasted maybe half a second before blood started flying.
Zoro lost his grip on Sanji, Sanji crashed into Luffy, Usopp yelped as someone's elbow caught him in the ribs, and Varin was pulled down by the entire group, hitting the floor with a wet smack as the world rang.
Zoro groaned first, already sporting a rising lump on his head. He rubbed it like it was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. Sanji looked like his soul had left his body entirely, smoke practically rising from him as he lay flat on his back, he managed a weak thumbs up anyway.
Varin stared at the ceiling, blinking slowly, head throbbing in time with his pulse. The last thing burned into his mind wasn't Nami or the shouting or the fall. It was Vivi standing there in that towel. let out a slow breath through his nose. "Worth it," he muttered faintly.
From the other side of the wall came Nami's voice again, sharp and satisfied. "Try that again, and I'll break something important!"
Varin didn't doubt it for a second. And judging by the way nobody even tried to stand back up, neither did anyone else.
Eventually, the men settled back into the bath, most of them nursing fresh lumps on their heads. The water sloshed quietly as everyone tried to pretend nothing had just happened. Sanji stared off into the distance with a dazed smile, Usopp kept muttering about near-death experiences, and Luffy had already somehow forgotten the pain entirely.
That was when Cobra did something that made Varin's ears twitch.
The king stood, stepped forward into the shallow edge of the bath, and bowed. Properly bowed. Head lowered and everything. "Thank you," he said.
The room went quiet. Even Luffy paused.
Varin frowned slightly, leaning back against the stone. "…For what?"
Cobra straightened slowly. "For saving this country. For saving my people. Words are… insufficient, I think. But they are what I have."
Luffy grinned immediately. "We got a feast out of it, so it's fine!"
Usopp nodded quickly. "Y-Yeah! Huge feast. Very heroic."
Sanji waved a hand like it was nothing. "Any friend of a lady is a friend of mine."
Zoro just shrugged from where he sat half-submerged. "We fought. They lost. That's it."
Varin watched him for another second after that answer, searching for something false in it, some rehearsed line polished over years of court life. He did not find it. Just a man standing in steam and stone, crown set aside, shoulders still carrying the weight of sandstorms and rebellion and the fear of losing his only child.
"Aye, that may be true," Varin said, meeting his eyes properly now instead of from beneath lowered lashes, "but men don't usually bow to pirates." There was no heat in it. Just a fact.
Cobra's mouth curved faintly. "Men who value pride above gratitude do not keep their thrones long."
Zoro huffed at that from where he leaned against the bath wall. "Hnh. Fair."
Luffy blinked. "If you're just a man in here, does that mean I can steal your towel?"
"No," several people answered at once.
Cobra actually chuckled again, softer this time. "Titles matter outside these walls. They matter to stability. To hope. But inside this room? You bled for my country. Bled for my daughter. If I cannot lower my head in thanks, then the crown is nothing but decoration."
Varin studied him a moment longer. He had known rulers before. Most of them clung to their authority like starving men to meat. This one… this one had almost lost everything and still chose humility.
"Then keep your crown steady," Varin said at last. "Your people just crawled out of a grave. They'll need something solid to look at."
Cobra's gaze sharpened slightly at that. "I intend to." There was a pause, the steam thick around them. "And you?" Cobra asked quietly. "What do you intend?"
Varin leaned back again, eyes drifting to the ceiling. The stone above was smooth, old, carved with patterns that had probably existed before any of them were born. "Sea's wide," he said. "Plenty left to test."
Zoro's mouth twitched faintly. "He means fight."
"I do not," Varin replied flatly.
"You do."
"…I do."
Luffy grinned like that was the only answer that mattered.
Cobra exhaled slowly, something like understanding settling in his expression. "Then I hope when you find what you seek, it is not something that devours you."
Varin's fingers flexed slightly at that. The scar across his hand tugged when he did. "If it does," he said calmly, "then I'll bite back."
That earned a short, quiet laugh from Zoro.
Cobra nodded once more, then finally stepped back from the edge of the bath. "Alabasta will remember you. Whether you wish it or not."
Luffy perked up. "Do we get statues?"
"No," Nami's voice called sharply from beyond the dividing wall.
Luffy deflated.
Varin closed his eyes again, sinking just a fraction deeper into the water. The steam curled around him, heavy and warm.
He was happy.