Chapter Text
Raquel leans against the fountain, she watches a couple with a small child eat lunch at a cafe across the square. The boy is about five and animatedly tells a story to the two women sitting at the table with him. His mother, a short blonde woman with honey-colored eyes, smiles indulgently at him. The other woman, a tall woman with freckles, auburn hair, and striking green eyes rests her head on her hand. She says something to the blond and reaches out and grabs the other woman’s hand and the two of them share a smile.
Raquel’s heart aches as she clenches her fist, the hard plastic crackles with the pressure. It should be her sharing smiles and holding hands with Sofia, not this blonde woman. That’s the life of a toy. Everything that Raquel and Sofia shared has been lost; stolen by Sugar and the rest of The Family. All of the memories that Raquel has mean nothing now. Confronting Sofia will do nothing but harm, so Raquel watches from a distance. Make sure she’s happy and safe. It's about all she can do.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a brown stuffed rabbit run past her towards the table. She springs into action and tackles the rabbit. The rabbit struggles, “Stop it, that’s my wife and son. They need to stop. What’s going on?”
“Not here,” Raquel hisses. “Don’t make a scene, we don’t want to get in trouble with The Family.”
“But–”
“SHHHHH, do you want to end up incinerated in the trash heap?” The rabbit stops struggling and lets Raquel pull them up. “Come on, let's go somewhere we can talk.”
Raquel drags the bunny to a secluded alley. The bunny turns on her and shouts, “Why did you stop me? That’s my wife and child! What is she doing with that other woman?”
“I know what you’re feeling, but–”
“You have no idea what I am feeling,” the bunny roars. “My wife and child have moved on, I have only been missing for two months.” The bunny slumps against the wall and softly whispers as it sinks to the ground, “Was I not important enough to wait for?”
Raquel is stunned. This bunny has been a toy for two months already and still doesn’t know how the Hobi-Hobi no mi works? She sighs and sits down next to the bunny. “You can’t be mad at them. It's not their fault. And for the record, I do understand, because the woman they are with is my fiancée.”
“Your fiancée? How are you ok with her being with another woman like that?”
“Because I know that the moment I became a toy, all of the memories she had of me disappeared.”
The bunny whips their head towards Raquel. “Her memories disappeared? How?”
Raquel sighs, “It's part of how the Hobi-Hobi no mi works. The moment you become a toy, any memory of you disappears, from both humans and toys alike. Dressrosa is full of the forgotten and those who forgot them.”
The bunny stares down at the ground, taking time to process the information. After a few moments it whimpers, “So Isabel and Rafael have no idea who I am? They have no idea that I’m missing?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Just like Sofia has no idea I am missing. It's been a year and a half and it still hurts like hell.”
“But, photos, my stuff, HER RING, how can she just forget me?”
Raquel chuckles darkly, “I have thought the same thing so many times. How could Sofia forget me? Our parents were friends, so we literally grew up together. I can’t imagine my life without her because she’s been a constant in mine. I guess the brain glosses over things that don’t make sense or they ignore it. I have a friend whose wife and son forgot him, but she doesn’t think twice about how she has a son, who she slept with to make her son. She just accepts that he’s her son.”
“That’s so fucked up.”
“It really is.”
“What… what do I do,” the rabbit asks with a raw voice.
“You let them go. To them, you never existed, and for all we know, we may never exist to them again. I know some toys that have been stuck like this for close to a decade.” Raquel looks up to the sky and lets out a deep resigned sigh, “We let them be happy, even if it makes us miserable. Maybe someday a miracle happens and we get our lives back and their memories back, but it would be cruel to stop them from living and finding happiness on the off chance that we get restored to our human forms.” She turns to the bunny and finishes, “We let them go because they were forced to let us go.”
The bunny sits in quiet contemplation. They break the silence, “Fucking four seas this sucks. I can’t even cry about it.”
Raquel lets out a strangled laugh, “Well that’s a mood if I ever heard one.” She looks over to the bunny, and places her stiff plastic hand on their plush fluffy shoulder, “Just know that you’re not alone. Every toy has people who forgot them, and based on what I see, you and I may be in this together. I haven’t seen Sofia this happy since before I was turned.”
“It would seem so… I know how protective Isabel is of Raf, she must really like your Sofia if they are already at the ‘meeting Mom’s new girlfriend’ stage.” They chuckle without humor then sigh shakily, “I’d rather they have someone who cares about them, rather than no one.”
“I feel the same about Sofia, and I can tell, she already cares a lot.” Raquel stands up and extends her plastic hand out, “I’m Raquel, she/her pronouns, though I guess my Germa 66 Poison Pink facade does make that apparent,” she chuckles as she gestures to her general appearance before continuing, “But it never hurts to clarify.”
The bunny takes the proffered hand with their paw and accepts the assist in standing, Raquel pulling her up. “Sierra, also she/her pronouns,” She shakes Raquel’s hand.
Raquel takes in a harsh breath, “That could complicate things.”
“What do you mean,” Sierra asks a bit frantically.
“Your son, is he adopted, or is he biologically one of yours?”
“Adopted, is that bad,” Sierra responds cautiously.
Raquel pauses before answering, “I’m worried about his parents, could they be toys as well?”
“Oh seas, no. They left Dressrosa to be pirates. I remember both of them. They wanted to make sure their son grew up loved, but they couldn’t give that life to him. He was unplanned, and they were planning on setting sail with their friends. They all delayed setting off until she had Rafael. They put him up for adoption and chose us to be his parents. They wanted him to have a safe and normal life, but couldn’t provide that themselves.”
“Oh thank the seas. I know a few people who have kids that have been adopted because they were thought to be abandoned,” Raquel explains.
“That’s awful!”
“Yeah, but it's better than living in a group home or on the streets,” Raquel says.
“I guess,” Sierra concedes.
They head on back to the square to see if they can catch any more glimpses into the lives of the ones they love.
—
As the relationship between Sofia and Isabel and Rafael grows, Raquel and Sierra also become close. They share stories about their loved ones and their lives before being turned into toys. Raquel shares stories of her time training for the Dressrosan Royal Army, but never had the chance to enlist due to Doflamingo’s take over. Sierra shares tales of working on her family’s farm and meeting Isabel because she started running a tavern and got her produce from Sierra’s family farm.
They end up gaming the system so that they are always on the same shifts. Once Isabel and Sofia got married and Sofia officially adopted Rafael, Sierra and Raquel started referring to the three as ‘our family’. They start to check in on them as much as they can, though it is difficult to get to the woods on the other side of Dressrosa where The Morning Dewdrop, the tavern that Isabel runs, is located.
They finish loading their crate to the ship and as they disembark Sierra wonders out loud, “Do you ever wonder how many people we have forgotten? Or if we knew each other before and forgot each other only to find and get to know each other again”
Raquel stifles a giggle, “All the time, Sierra. All the time. On the other hand, it also terrifies me that our family will be turned into toys and we will forget them. Would we forget all that we shared over the past year and a half? I mean we only met because of our family, what would happen if we lost that? Would I lose you too,” Raquel whispers.
“Seas, I hope not.” Sierra walks on over to the next crate they need to load and takes one end of it, Raquel taking the other. “But, let's not dwell on something that may never happen, we have each other now, we can focus on that,” Sierra replies softly.
“You’re rig–,” an explosion cuts off Raquel’s response. “What the fuck was that,” Raquel shouts.
“I have no idea, but it’s coming from the Officer’s Tower.” Sierra pauses then whispers, “Do you think maybe someone’s trying to take down Sugar?”
“Oh, I hope so.”
The next few minutes are the most nerve-wracking of Raquel’s life. Unable to stop working she silently prays to whatever gods exist to let the attack against Sugar succeed. She and Sierra finish loading another crate on the ship and as they are walking down the gangplank, a scream rings out from the Officer’s Tower and suddenly she’s enveloped in a bright golden light.
Raquel blinks and pauses because she actually blinked. She looks down at her hand, and it's no longer the plastic of her Poison Pink toy form, she sees her olive skin has returned. Her hands whip up to her head, and she feels her short pixie cut. She heaves in several lungfuls of air, and she laughs. She never thought that she’d be human again, and here
A familiar voice next to her breathes out, “Raquel?”
She slowly turns and sees a beautiful woman. Tanned skin that’s sun-damaged from her time spent on her family’s farm. Dark brown curly hair cascades down her shoulders. Her deep blue eyes widened with shock. “Raquel, is that you,” asks the beautiful woman with Sierra’s voice.
“Sierra, so that’s what you look like,” Raquel muses, taking in the true appearance of the woman she has grown to love over this past year and a half. “I guess we got the answer to your question earlier, I don’t think I have ever met you, because I don’t think I’d ever forget a face like yours.”
Sierra laughs as she throws her arms around Raquel, “You know, I was just thinking the same thing.”
Raquel holds her close and breathes in the scent of coconut shampoo from the woman who has kept her sane over the past year and a half, their bodies slotting together like two pieces of a puzzle.
Sierra sobs, “I can’t believe this is happening. We’re back. Oh seas, we’re back… Our family. We have to find them.”
“First thing’s first, we have to get out of here.” Raquel sees a Donquixote grunt sprinting towards them with a sword. She puts herself between him and Sierra, with muscle memory that comes back with practiced ease, she slides down the gangplank, and takes the grunt’s legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall into the water.
She turns back to see Sierra’s jaw practically on the floor. She gives Sierra a rakish smirk and says, “Hey, I told you I know how to fight.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t expect it to be that hot,” Sierra responds without at beat. Once her brain catches up to her words she covers her mouth and blushes.
Raquel laughs. She picks up the sword that the grunt dropped and tests it out. “I can use this. Come on, let's go.” She extends her other hand to Sierra, with a dangerous smile, she adds, “We have a family to get back.”
Sierra grabs her hand and follows. But she pauses as she sees a giant holding up a man with an absurdly long nose. The giant bellows that this man, Usopp, is who they all owe their freedom to. Behind them the sky opens and the sun shines down upon him as the giant raises Usopp up. “Wow, he really does look like a god when he’s like that,” Sierra says with awe.
“Well he got our bodies back, and people's memories returned. I wouldn’t be surprised if people would think of him that way, I mean, he has saved this whole country,” Raquel says.
“True. Unrelated, any idea how to get out of here? I don’t think the normal ways will be a good idea, they might lead to an ambush,” Sierra inquires anxiously.
Raquel pauses, “Good thought. I am betting The Family is not happy about this development. We need to be careful. Getting killed right after getting returned back to a human would be the worst outcome.”
“Agreed, but I am not sure of any other–” Her thought is cut off by the ground rumbling, and the SMILE factory raises and bursts through the ceiling. She turns her attention to that direction and sees the ruins of what appears to be the coliseum that creates a slope that leads up. “That could be our answer. It's not enclosed so it won’t be as easy to ambush.”
“I like the way you think. Let's go.” Raquel grabs her hand and they both run towards the rubble.
They ascend to the surface and find Dressrosa in chaos, people are running around screaming, fires are everywhere, and fighting is breaking out left, right, and center. According to the announcement, the people who are fighting against Doflamingo’s regime all have bounties, and even those who swore allegiance to God Usopp are now trying to hunt him down. People are fighting each other in the streets, others are unable to control their bodies.
Sierra gasps, “It’s just like ten years ago when Riku and his army turned against the country. None of these people can help it, it's like they are puppets.”
“I’m betting it’s Doflamingo’s doing. He probably orchestrated the whole thing to take over the country,” Raquel growls. “We can’t worry about that now though. We need to find our family and hope that they are not caught up in all of this mayhem.”
Sierra looks around frantically at the ruins of the coliseum that surround them, “Where do we start looking? If I remember, they were going to the coliseum today. What if–”
Raquel grabs both of her hands, “Hey, hey, calm down. Sofia and Isabel are smart, strong, and capable. They will have escaped from here, they are going to be ok. Ok?”
“Ok, ok, you’re right,” Sierra breathes, “but where do we look? They could be anywhere!
Raquel pauses to assess the situation, “I think we don’t look aimlessly. They’ll head home to The Morning Dewdrop eventually. We head there, and if they aren’t there, we cross that bridge when we come to it. We need to believe in them.”
“Ok. I can do that. Let’s go home,” Sierra says, giving Raquel a watery smile.
Raquel grins back, “Yeah, let's go home.”
With the Morning Dewdrop on the other side of Dressrosa, they have a lot of ground to cover. They have to detour due to the chaos that Pika causes, and then get swept up in the calamity as the birdcage constricts. Afraid that they will lose each other, Raquel and Sierra end up holding each other in the crowd as more and more people funnel towards the center. They watch in awe as Straw Hat Luffy takes on Doflamingo.
Luffy hits Doflamingo with the fist of a giant, and Doflamingo crashes to the ground, his grip on Dressrosa finally slipping from his fingers. The birdcage shudders to a halt and dissolves. As Gyats declares the winner of the battle to be Lucy, Raquel and Sierra look into each other’s eyes, “It’s finally over. We’re free from him,” Sierra cries in relief.
Raquel cups Sierra’s face and kisses her, a year and a half of getting to know each other as toys culminating in this moment. They share a long desperate kiss until Raquel stills and pulls away. She looks to the ground and stutters out, “I’m… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean–”
Sierra lifts up Raquel’s chin and looks in her eyes, “Don’t you dare say you didn’t mean it. You were there for me when no one else was. I fell for you when you were a toy, and everything today has cemented how much I love you. I still love my wife and son, but my heart has room for all of you.” Sierra wipes away the tears forming in Raquel’s eyes, “I am sure that Sofia and Isabel have complicated feelings about this as well. You saw how much they love each other, and we know how much they loved us before this happened. There is a lot to navigate, but we will get through this, together. Ok? I love you, and you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Raquel barks out an unexpected laugh and smiles, “I love you too, and have for a while, I just have been afraid to say it because of everything else.” She pulls Sierra in for a tender kiss. They break apart and Raquel looks Sierra in the eyes and says with determination, “Ok, now let’s go find our family.”
Sierra stills and looks at the pandemonium all around. “Raquel, what if something happened to them? Today with pure chaos, between the puppets, Pika, and the birdcage, so many people died. What if–”
“Hey, remember what I said earlier? They are smart, strong, and capable, and Sofia knows how to fight at least a little bit. My dad did teach both of us when we were younger,” Raquel soothes. “We have to believe they are alright. Until we see something to prove us wrong, they are alive and waiting for us. That’s how we get through the rest of the day. Unwavering belief that they are ok.”
“You’re right, They’ll be fine. They ARE fine. We just have to find them. The plan hasn’t changed.”
Raquel grins, “Exactly. We just need to get to The Morning Dewdrop, and go from there.” She extends her hand out to Sierra with a beaming smile, “Come on, let’s go.”