Chapter 1- The straw hats arrive

~Rena~

I gently laid Tsubasa down in her bed and took a step back, smiling at how peaceful she looked. I nodded my head and smiled as Kazue walked through the door. Leaving the sleeping child in her care, I grab my sword and head out off to work, wondering where my other bundles of mischief are and what trouble they're getting themselves into this time. Nozomi was probably out practising with her sword with the boys down at the dojo, Sayuri was probably in a field somewhere picking flowers, and who knows where Moriko is, I don't think I'll ever be able to tame that child. I smile as I think of them, pulling on my cloak and hiding my face deep within the hood.

~Zoro~

A loud crash woke me from my nap, I opened my one eye and looked around to see Luffy in a heap on the floor. Typical, I think as I close my eye, about to go back to sleep.

"LAND" Usopp shouts, disturbing my peace. Sighing, I get up and join everyone on deck as we pull in to land next to this forest.

"Do you think it's inhabited?" Chopper asks.

"YAHOO! I can't wait to see what monsters are on this island," Luffy shouts as he leaps off onto the grass and takes off into the forest. We all hurry after him, we don't know what kind of trouble he could get into in the new world.

When we catch up to Luffy, he seems to be having some kind of stand-off with a little girl with long black hair and blue eyes that dart between our faces. She's crouched low, in almost an animal like position, tensed and ready for someone to attack her. Her clothes are dirty and covered in mud and moss, her hands the same and she has bare feet that look like they haven't been washed in months.

I rest my hands on the hilt of my katana, she doesn't look like she can do much damage, but you can never be sure, she certainly sees us as a threat. Luffy doesn't see anything wrong with her and he walks forward towards her, ignoring the way she shuffles back away from him.

"I'm Luffy, I'm the man who's going to become the pirate king!" he says loudly, smiling brightly at her, "who are you?"

She looks petrified, her whole body tenses for a second before she sprints away in the opposite direction, faster than I was expecting. Luffy, of course, runs after her still smiling and laughing like he has no care in the world. But to be honest, that's probably true. The kid runs on all fours, using her hands as front legs in an animal way.

"OIIII! WAIT, COME BACK" he shouts as he runs through the undergrowth, the rest of us trailing behind. This idiot, he's going to scare the kid to death.

The kid comes to a stop in a clearing, running (or maybe crawling) up to another girl, who looks slightly older, with brown hair and brown eyes that held quite a fierce look about them. We stop in front of them on the other side of the clearing. The first kid grips the leg of the other, who stares at us with accusing eyes that almost make me want to apologise for being there, almost.

"I'm Luffy, I'm the man who will become the pirate king," Luffy tries again, "who are you?"

"What do you want?" The older girl demands, frowning. Luffy replies as he usual cheery self acting like there's nothing wrong. The girl frowns more, pulling the other girl, still clinging to her leg, behind her, "You should know our mother's very strong, she'll get mad if you hurt us."

Strong, huh? I thought to myself. There is a small silence until a young girl who looks about 16, with brown hair and blue eyes, comes out of the door of a house I didn't notice on the other side of the clearing. this can't be who she means, she doesn't look like she can hurt a fly.

"Oi, Nozomi, Moriko, what are you doing?" She asks in a delicate voice, coming out from the doorway. She notices us on the other side of the clearing and addresses us, placing a hand on the brown haired girls shoulder, "Hello, I'm Kazue, can I help you?"

They're all so different, this Kazue girl was completely different from the other two. Luffy said his line about being pirate king again, as usual.

"Pirate King, huh?" Kazue says, thoughtfully. After a moment of consideration, she smiles kindly, "would you like to come inside?"

We made our way into the house, following the three girls into a spacious room, to find two other kids already in there. What the hell is this place? A nursery? We sat around and Kazue offered us tea and snacks. The girls already in here were more like Kazue, one looked around a similar age, if not older, than the feisty girl with brown hair, and the other was barely older than a toddler, I would say around 4 years old. Nozomi and Moriko sat near the other girls and glared at us warily.

"Here's your tea,"Kazue says as she kindly brings round cups of tea, I'd much prefer sake but I'm not going to say anything. "That's Sayuri and Tsubasa," she pointed to the two kids with blonde hair that were sat playing together, "and you already met Nozomi," she pointed to the brown haired girl, "and Moriko," she pointed to the feral child, still clinging to Nozomi. Luffy and the others started chatting to them, being their usual friendly selves, while I watched the two kids who continued to stare untrustingly at us. What is their problem?