Ben carried Vivi in his arms. Vivi looked happy she was nestled in Ben`s arms. Her head was buried in his chest. Ben thought she was just a spoiled princess and he intended to spoil her more. Kaya was flying behind him. She looked a little jealous. Ben looked behind and smiled at her. Their eyes locked and Kaya looked away. Ben smiled.
He looked down to see Alvida sitting on top of the tank. Ben noticed she does not have her iron mace with her. He flew a bit down.
"Alvida, where is your iron mace?" Ben asked.
"It shattered during the battle with Mr 1 my love," Alvida said.
"You had that with you since before we met, are you okay?" Ben asked.
"My love it is true I had it before, however I don't regret using it to help our crew mates. If it broke during it then it served its purpose," Alvida replied.
"Okay, let's ensure we get you a new iron mace. I know what that means to you," Ben said.
"Thank you my love," Alvida said. She was smiling.
Ben flew up. They had been travelling for an hour. Ben was amazed that he could keep this up. At first he could not manage a few minutes but now he could do an hour. Kaya could also keep up. However he was feeling tired now. His muscles were aching. He could feel he was about to reach his limit. Ben looked back at Kaya, he could see her breathing heavily. Her speed was decreasing, affecting her pace.
"Kaya are you alright?" Ben asked.
"Yes my King," Kaya replied. Ben thought he heard that before from both Kaya and Vivi. He wondered what that was about. Kaya was breathing heavily.
Mercifully they saw the Miss Love Duck on the horizon. "We are almost there," Ben yelled.
"Yes we are my love," Alvida shouted back. They flew towards the Miss Love Duck. Kaya picked up Alvida and the four of them landed on the deck.
Lexie, the tank went into the water to use the ramp to board the ship.
"Ben I am tired, I am going to bed," Kaya said while yawning. She changed back to her human form.
"Sure, get some rest, we will let you know if something happens," Ben said. Kaya headed down to her room.
"Vivi, Alvida are you both okay? Ben asked. Vivi got off Ben`s arm. She enjoyed being close to him.
"I am okay," Vivi said.
"I am fine as well as my love," Alvida said.
HQ came out of the Bridge`stairs and greeted Ben, Alvida and Vivi. They greeted back.
"Master, glad you are doing well, I thought we will be staying here a few days to allow the girls to recover," HQ said.
"Well, if we stayed back the citizens of Alabasta would have crucified us for taking away their beloved princess," Ben joked.
"I am sorry Ben," Vivi said.
Ben pulled Vivi into a hug. "Don't be sorry, you did the right thing," Ben said.
"Thank you," Vivi replied.
"You just wanted to be with my love as soon as possible so I would have done the same," Alvida teased.
Vivi pushed Ben back a bit and let go of the hug. "I," she muttered.
"Master, we should check on the other girls," HQ said.
"Yes, we do and I need to give an update," Ben said.
"We also need to have the girl's talk," Alvida said.
They headed downstairs to the third floor where they saw the ramp being retracted and into the close position. The tank parked up and the doors opened upwards. Mikita, BM, Honey, Nojiko, Marianne, Zala and Robin left the tank.
"Good journey?" Ben asked.
"It was cosy," Robin said.
"Very cosy," Mikita added.
"Where is Kaya?" Nojiko asked.
"She went to her room, tired from flying," Vivi replied.
"That must have been tiring for her," Honey said.
"She will be okay with some rest," Ben replied.
"My lord, here are the weapons you had asked me to secure," BM said. She held the Mr 7`s Yellow Gun and Miss Father's Day`s Gero Gero Gun.
"Thank you BM, I hope it was not difficult," Ben said.
"It was nothing for me, my lord," BM replied.
"My love, BM picked me and Mikita, Zala and Robin when you told us to get to the outskirts," Alvida said.
"Thank you BM," Ben said.
"It was my pleasure to serve you my lord," BM said.
"What are you doing with those weapons?" Marianne asked.
"It might be helpful to have a collection of weapons for the future for some of our allies to lend or use ourself," Ben said.
"It's better for us to have them than our enemy," Zala said.
"Sounds good," Mikita added.
"Master, the weapon`s room is ready," HQ said.
"We have a weapon`s room?" Honey asked.
"It's the first time I am hearing about this," Nojiko said.
"It was recently created when I and BM faced Mr 6 and took his consignment of weapons heading to the Port Town," HQ explained.
"They tried to arm people for the rebellion?" Nojiko said.
"Yes, more guns means more chaos," Zala said.
"Crocodile did have a good plan," Honey said.
"But he did not think of Ben," Robin replied.
"Thank you HQ and BM for stopping the shipment," Vivi said.
"We will always protect Master`s harem," HQ said. BM nodded.
"Shall we look at this weapons room and put those two there as well?" Ben asked.
"Yes Master, follow me," HQ said.
They headed upstairs to the second floor. "Room 2R3, is the weapons room," BM said.
They all nodded. HQ opened the door. They saw the walls were lined with racks holding an assortment of firearms, and melee devices, each meticulously organised. These included generic rifles, pistols and swords. In the centre there were glass cabinets in a rectangle ship. The cabinets had drawers to hold ammunition or more weapons.
"Wow, this is a lot of weapons," Nojiko said.
"All this from the one consignment?" Mikita asked.
"No, we had some spare guns and rifles from previous counters," HQ replied.
"It will be useful for sure at some point," Zala said.
"Good job BM and HQ on organising," Ben said.
"Master the middle section will have special weapons such as Arlong`s sword, Jitte and those two weapons brought by BM," HQ said.
"Okay sounds good," Ben replied.
BM walked up and placed the Yellow Gun and Gero Gero Gun in the cabinets. "Girls, these weapon are all for our uses, if you need them take them," Ben said.
They all replied yes and nodded.
"Ben, what if we lose or break them?" Marianne said.
"Then Ben will make you walk the plank and feed you to the sharks. I hear they are after cute girls," Robin said. She giggled.
"What," Marianne said in horror.
"She is kidding," Ben said and added, "If you lose or break the guns then so be it, they are just weapons. I care about you all being safe and that is my first priority."
"Kaya is right, he does have his way with words," Nojiko said.
"He is a smoother talker at times," Mikita said.
"He has to be if you joined his crew," Zala said.
"You have as well," Mikta replied. The girls laughed.
"HQ, did we get the cage?" Ben asked.
"Yes Master, I was successfully able to transport it here and placed it on the ship," HQ said.
"Let's see it," Honey said.
"Someone is eager," Zala teased.
Vivi had shivers. Ben looked at Vivi. "if you don't want to see it now Vivi, that is fine," Ben said.
"No, I will be with you all, so it should be okay," Vivi said.
"Why don't you want to see it?" Marianne asked.
"It reminds of him," Vivi replied and added, "If we can use his stuff for the greater good then I am happy."
"That's the spirit," Mikita said.
"We had found another lab in Alabasta and got these two Energy Shields," Ben said.
"Energy shields?" Nojiko questioned.
"I think they will protect against any damage for a certain period and threshold," Ben said.
"That sounds incredible," Marianne said.
"It is and I want you to have one," Ben said to Marianne.
"Why me? Should Alvida or Mikita have one who are stronger than me and can use it," Marianne said.
"You were plenty strong. Marianne was able to dodge attack, use terrain and the enemy to her advantage," Mikita said.
"Damn I missed that. Marianne I don't doubt your capability, they both have devil fruits and you don't so it's just back-up," Ben said.
"My love can't risk such a cutie getting hurt," Alvida teased.
"We should get her devil fruit," Nojiko said.
"No, I like my ability to swim," Marianne said.
"That is fine, not everyone likes devil fruit and you don't need them to become strong," Ben said.
Ben gave Marianne the shield. He put it on her. She smiled back and looked at the gift by her captain and man.
"Girls second one will be in the room, we need to talk to Sumi to see if she can get to the lab to create more," Ben said.
"We need more girls to help us, my love," Alvida said.
The other girls nodded.
"HQ lead us to the next room," Ben said.
"Yes Master," HQ said. The went to the next room 2R4. HQ opened the door and they saw the cage in the centre. It was fully enclosed.
"How did you get this inside here?" Zala asked.
"I was able to put it into 4 sections and did 4 trips to get it here and put it back," HQ replied.
"Okay," Ben said.
"I thought it was incredibly strong metal," Mikita said.
"It is however the hinges were taken off so there were 4 big pieces which were able to fit," HQ added.
"Okay good job," Ben said.
"Master I was able to get more blood injections during my trips," HQ said.