"Here's your cake Gemma! That'll be 32 berries!" you breathed placed the beautiful three-layer gluten free velvet cake on the counter.

"You never cease to amaze me (Y/n)! Paul is going to love this!" Gemma sighed happily as she admired your work of art.

This was the best part about your job. Seeing your satisfied customers, after all the effort you'd put it. She dug into her bag and pulled out 40 berries.

"Here you go darling" she smiled.

"And that's 8 berries change..." you said as you punched the numbers into your small cash register and pulled out the appropriate amount of money.

"You have to tell me how you've managed to run this place by yourself (Y/n). It's not an easy job but you handle it so well" Gemma hummed in awe

"It is hard Gemma... but I've found that starvation is much harder so I guess i just have the right motivation" you giggled and she laughed. "Well thank you for coming, hope to see you again soon" you called as she walked out of the store.

The little bells on the door jingled as she exited, leaving the shop now empty. The sound was cute at first but with more and more customers coming in and out, the sound faded into white noise. It was weird being able to here it again.

'Well I think that was the last order...' you stretched after you dusted yourself off.

Following normal procedure you quickly started packing away all your equipment. You gracefully walked around the counter and flipped the open sign on the door to show closed, humming to yourself as you grabbed a cloth and began to wipe of the counters. The idea was to close the bakery early today because you had to stock up on some ingredients. Normally you were ok but because you'd been having so many customers recently, you were depleting your supplies much quicker than normal. And now you had to go and top up.

'I wonder if they've imported more exotic berries in the market place' you pondered as you switched from a cloth to a broom and began to sweep.

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You made a list, snatched up your basket and ran out the store, of course after making sure to securely lock it behind you. It wasn't going to be a big shop so you didn't feel the need to bring your little cart (you only ever used it when you needed to top up on booze anyway).

The wind gently blew past. You were wearing a white blouse with a folded navy blue skirt. Your hair was in a loose ponytail with your flowers in a pin, securing your hair. And, just to be colour coordinated you wore a loose blue ribbon around your neck and your bracelet. You wore some brown boots to match your basket just because.

'Remember just in and out... no time for street proposals' you had a determined look in your eyes as you increased the pace.

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Now even though you were a small town it didn't stop the market place from being so lively. People were selling all kinds of things ranging from: fish, meat (alive and dead), dairy, flowers, fruit, home supplies, hand-made jewellery and a lot of alcohol. Each stall fighting for customers, chanting deals and encouraging people over.

"Hey (Y/n)! Long time no see! Do you need to top up on meat again?" Yelled Jim, our local butcher.

Jim was from north blue. A strong burly man with a gentle soul, but unfortunately he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a drunk state he was followed home, attacked and taken away. While he was on the ship they liked to throw him to wild boars. He fought and gutted each one in order to stay alive and stay useful, but mostly to prevent the same thing from happening to his female cell mate. The guy was good with anything sharp and terrifying in the mutiny. And now he's our butcher, a married man and the father of Isaac with another one on the way.

"No thanks Jim not today! But tell me, How's baby (y/n) doing?" You beamed as he laughed nervously and scratched his neck.

"Hate to brake it to you but we just confirmed he's going to be Nate, not (y/n)" he sighed. "Would it kill me to have a sweet girl after having such a messy child like Isaac" he sighed.

You pouted a bit at the fact the baby wasn't going to be named after you but giggled when Jim started to winge.

"Speaking of Isaac, is he around today? I could do with a little body guard." you mused as you tried to peek behind the stall.

Jim laughed "I haven't seen him and the boys since this morning ... said they were gonna play in the main plaza, but I'm pretty sure they meant cause trouble."

You laughed as you walked off "I think you're right Jim, well take care and say high to your wife and son for me!" You waved and he waved back.

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After many run ins with people you hadn't seen for a while you managed to get all the ingredients necessary, except for fruit.

'Ugh this one is going to be the most difficult one' you internally sighed.

You treaded cautiously towards the fruit stall. Trying carefully not to alert the owner.

'Blend (y/n) you just need to blend'

You approached the stall only to find it empty, which caused you to raise an eyebrow.

'He's not here?'

"If you keep creeping around like that people may get the wrong idea about us (y/n)~" A man whispered into your ear.

You flinched and yelped, gripping your basket tighter in surprise. The man behind you just laughed at your cute reaction.

"Hello Axel... I-It's been a while" you stuttered.

'For a guy who's nose was basically smashed by Law... he seems to be in high spirits' you analysed. 'Did he forget?'

"It has been a while hasn't it... and no, I haven't forgotten about what that lazy bastard did to me" he smirked as he read your face. "It just hasn't deterred me from pursuing you" his smirk grew.

"I-I see" you stepped away not appreciating the small distance between you both and turned to look at the fruits.

Even though you tended to avoid people who've proposed to you in the past you weren't exactly able to avoid Axel. You'd made it clear that the reason you wouldn't marry is because you only ever saw him when he came to the bakery. So just over a month ago he started to work upfront in selling fruits. Somewhere you always had to go in order to run a bakery. But he was excellent at his job. No one could get as many rare berries as he could.

"Are these ones new?" You pointed at some lovely star shaped berries in many different colours, effectively changing the topic.

"I had a feeling you might like those... Yeah they are! They're as sweet as strawberries when they're ripe but a tad bit sour just before" he looked over to you and smiled. "I'm sure you could find a way to put it to some good use either way."

"They sound perfect! I'll take three bags of them and my usual please!" You smiled in excitement as you reached for your purse.

"Well then! That'll be 400 berries then" He smiled

"Excuse me?" You paused and turned to give him a very shocked look.

"I don't really think I need to repeat what I said (y/n), but if I must, altogether it the price comes up to 400 berries." his smile grew with every passing second.

"But my usual is only 70 berries... are you really trying to tell me that each star fruit bag is worth 110 berries!" you sighed

'Is he seriously charging me extra out of spite! what is he?! A child !?' you huffed

"Well I guess it is you (y/n)..." he sighed and shook his head, like he actually cared that the situation was outrageous. "How about this!?" He stood in front of you and gave you an amused look.

'I don't think I like where this is going' you clutched your basket tighter.

"You can get your usual and the three bags for 100 berries and a kiss hmm" he leaned towards you, and you took another step back.

"Oh look! I'm over it now!" You smiled as you placed 70 berri on the counter and took your usual fruit. "I'll be taking my leave now!" You casually walked away.

Axel was about to call after you but stopped. But it wasn't just him. Everyone including yourself slowly paused their busy lives to collectively pay attention to that noise.

"AAAAAHHHHH"

A scream coursed through the market place.

"that... that came from the main plaza..." Axel whispered as he started backing away into his stall.

'That's where the boys are!' Your knuckles paled from how tightly you were gripping your basket.

Apprehension took control of your motor functions and steered you directly towards the plaza at full speed. People were calling out to you, trying to convince you to stay but you couldn't even hear them. You raced down back alleys, leapt over boxes and squeezed past gawking crowds of people. After all that you finally made it to the plaza. Your eyes wildly scanning the open area for three young kids. Unfortunately, for you your eyes landed on something far worse.

'Red?...'

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🙂