Hello dear readers! Thank you for your patient with this chapter, I know this is the longest wait between chapters yet, but it was very hard for me to write. If you are not aware already from reading the tags, Tani is part OC part SI, and I decided to include a part of my own past as Tani's, it seemed fitting after all. Everyone in One Piece has a past, experienced loss in some way, and had to learn how to move on, like most of us in this world. If you recall in previous chapters its been hinted at that Tani has lost someone close to her, and now were finally getting an answer as to who.

I hope you enjoy the chapter, it starts off with a lot of fun and more drinking games, which I know a lot of you enjoyed. Also, at the time I am posting this I am unable to go back and reply to all the comments I recieved on the last chapter like I usually do. I read all your amazing comments and I love and appreciate each and every one, from the in depth analysis and questions to the simple statements of enjoyement, they all make me so happy and give me motivation to keep writing and sharing this story and not to give up on it. Thank you guys so so much. And even if you are not a person who comments but is still reading this story, thank you too! It means a lot, especially if you have made it this far!

Finally, ONE PIECE IS ON NETFLIX! Yay! Its episodes 1-130 (East Blue up to Alabasta) and they say they will be adding more too. I'm excited as I usually go rewatch whatever arc it is I'm writing at the time before I post the chapter. Anywho, thats enough from me. Please enjoy!

Foreboding of a New Adventure! The Puzzling Girl, Apis

Sanji broke out some alcohol with dinner, and after we finished we went out on deck to drink some more in the open air. It was still bright out, and I wouldn't miss this small party for anything, even sleep.

"Tani! Let's play one of those games with the drinks!" Luffy said, and I grinned at the idea. Zoro perked right up, he enjoyed the last game night, as did Nami. Usopp groaned though, and I don't blame him. He got really hungover last time.

"Games with drinks?" Sanji asked, and I quickly explained what Luffy meant. We all got situated in a circle on the deck.

"Okay, this ones called 'most likely to.' We take turns filling in the phrase "the person most likely to-" I pause, indicating this is where to fill it in. "So I'm going to say the person most likely to go overboard. And as soon as I finish, you all point to who that is."

Everyone pointed at Luffy, who pouted. "Awe come on it's not that bad."

"You go over nearly every day. Sometimes twice!" Nami accused.

"And you can't swim. One of us has to go get you!" Usopp complained.

"Luffy, you take a drink. Okay Nami your turn."

She didn't even have to think, just going for it.

"The person most likely to fall asleep at a critical time."

I pointed at Zoro, and I wasn't the only one. Zoro pointed at me! What an ass!

"Drink." I told him smugly. Usopp was next.

"The person most likely to have a plan."

Every finger was pointed to me, and my cheeks flared red in embarrassment, so I took a big gulp of my cold drink to cool them, but instead the alcohol just warmed me further.

"The person most likely to cook!" Luffy said, and we all rolled our eyes and pointed at Sanji, who was next.

"The person most likely to blow themselves up." And now everyone pointed to Usopp.

Then it was Zoro's turn. "The person most likely to bet on a fight."

We continued for a few rounds of this before it naturally wound down and Nami requested the next game.

"I want to do that other one. Never have I ever!" She said, a wicked smile that was slightly scary but I shrugged and agreed. I explained the game to Sanji and he left for a moment, coming back with a tray of shots and some new drinks for everyone. I started the round with an easy one.

"Never have I ever eaten durian."

Sanji and Nami both took a drink, and Luffy continued the game.

"Never have I ever uh… oh I know! Been to the Grand Line!"

All of us looked around at each other, no one stating the obvious. Usopp continued.

"It's rare that the great Captain Usopp hasn't done something, but, uh, I have never taken out more than fifty men at once!"

"Have you ever even taken out twenty?" Zoro asked before downing a shot.

Everyone looked to Nami, who didn't even bother waiting a round before getting right to the personal stuff.

"Never have I ever had sex."

Sanji choked on the drink he was casually sipping, while Usopp let out a squeak as his face flared red quickly. Zoro made no sound but like the others his face was getting hot, while Luffy looked confused.

"That thing Tani explained?" He asked.

"I'm sorry what?" Sanji asked, his head snapping over to glare at the Captain. I shook my head, knowing this wasn't going to go well, and Nami sat back, clearly getting the show she wanted.

"When it was just me and Zoro,-"

"Oi! Don't drag me into this again!"

"- Tani told us about how sex worked and how to be treat a girl or a guy really nice and -"

Sanji's foot connected with the rubber man's head. Over and over again.

"Idiot. A lady shouldn't have to teach you those things! You should have known that already! You're the captain of a pirate crew!"

"Leave him be Sanji it's not his fault." I said, waving him back to his spot.

"Yeah, let's get back to the game. It's my turn-" Zoro said, trying to breeze past the question. Unfortunately Nami was not having it.

"Hold up. Did everyone answer? Did no one take a shot?" She asked.

"No, no one took a shot. We're all loveless virgins." Sanji sputtered at Zoros words, but the swordsmen tried to plow onwards. "Now let's just keep-"

I made sure the glass made a loud thunk as I put it upside down on the deck and met Zoro's surprised eyes. Sanji immediately fell backwards from the nosebleed he got. Zoro started sputtering, redder than ever.

"You've had sex?" The swordsman managed to sputter out his question.

"You think I told you all that info and didn't have any experience to back it up?" I was grining wickedly, enjoying the chaos Nami had created a bit too much. "You think I told you everything I know?"

"Can we move on?" Usopp asked, shifting around clearly uncomfortable.

"Theres more?" Luffy asked, his voice sounding odd because of his swollen, bruised face.

"How many times have you had sex, Tani?" Nami asked sweetly. I shook my head, knowing she just wanted more drama.

"I'll share that with you later. This isn't twenty questions. This is never have I ever, and it's Zoro's turn."

The man in question still seemed to be flustered, and I shook my head.

"It's just sex. Lots of people do it. Well, expect you guys." I eyed Sanji as he was sitting up, recovered from the nosebleed. Nami seemed a bit disappointed this was going to be over, so I indulged her once. And maybe I indulged my own curiosity.

"Sanji, you really never had a woman try to thank you for your wonderful service with some service of her own?"

He coughed, and brought his napkin up to pinch his nose, shaking his head. "I would never take a lady up on such an offer. I don't expect anything in return when I give them my attention."

I eyed Zoro up again. I really couldn't believe it, and when was I going to get a chance to ask again? And just how strong were these drinks?

"And you. You really expect me to believe you traveled the East blue for two years, bar hopping more often than islands, and never once had a woman come onto you? Offer you a night of fun?"

"I..they… there were some… I didn't have time for sex!" Zoro finally got out.

I snorted and shrugged. "Just say you don't want sex, it's fine."

"No! Wait yes! I don't want sex!"

"Will you say why? It'd probably make you a better swordsman if you loosened up every once in a while." Nami cut in, and Zoro practically yelled his reply.

"What do you think the sake's for?!"

"You seem like a healthy male, and you clearly don't believe in a God that's going to punish you for doing it, so why no sex? Do you just not have the urge to do it?" Not wanting sex was a perfectly valid reason for not having it, plenty of people had no desire to ever do the do and they was nothing wrong with them for it.

"Because sex leads to feelings and relationships and love and they just hold you back." Zoro started out sounding harsh, but his voice tapered off, and though he didn't seem as sure of himself he finished his statement. "Makes you weak."

Love makes you weak. That was a less valid reason.

I felt all eyes on me, waiting for my reaction. And to be honest? I figured that dumbass would have such a stick up his ass mentality about love and relationships and sex.

"Nah, you got it all backwards." I said, giving him a soft smile. "Feelings, relationships, love...they give you something else to fight for, it gives you more motivation, another reason to stand back up after being beaten down. Real love makes you stronger."

"That's why our crew is the strongest!" Luffy cried, breaking the tension as he threw his arms in the air. "Nakama is family and family loves each other and I love all of you guys!"

"Ah, Captain. We love you too." I told him, and that effectivly ended that conversation. Never have I ever went on for a few more rounds just like the last game until we all decided to move on.

"What's the next game Tani?!" Luffy asked. I smiled but shook my head.

"I have a surprise. I'll be right back."

"A surprise?!" Luffy started vibrating with excitement, and he turned to Usopp to discuss what it could be. Usopp told him it could be anything, there were so many treasures in the shops of loguetown, and entertained Luffy long enough for me to slip away and come back easily.

"Okay, now this is going to be really cool, but you can't touch it. It can not be fixed if broken or replaced if lost. So when I bring it on deck I'll clip it here." I reached for a nailed in eye hook, and slipped the carabiner glinto it, hanging the small blue speaker from the mast.

"What is it?" Luffy asked, shoving his face right in front of it.

"It's a speaker. I'm going to play music out of it."

Luffy frowned, which was the reaction I was expecting.

"It's kind of small." He said, and I snorted. "Is it going to be loud enough?"

I pulled out my phone, and pressed play, turning the volume up all the way on a special made playlist just for this night, filled with classic party hits from earth.

"So cool!" Luffy was able to be heard over the music, it wasn't that loud obviously, but the sound traveled far and with no other noise pollution, it was impressive for the small device.

The phone rings in the middle of the night -

"These songs are from my home. Some of them are older, from thirty or forty years ago, and some are newer. But they're all fun to dance to."

Nami was already doing just that, and I danced my way towards her, step clapping and sliding my phone in my pocket.

"Cause girls they wanna have funnn oh girls just wanna have fun!" I sang along and Nami smiled, catching on in the next verse to the catch lyrics.

The next song, YMCA, I taught them all the arm movements. Zoro didn't participate, and I frowned. I asked Sanji if he would grab me a bottle of alcohol, Luffy and Usopp had Nami doing the dance, and Sanji joined when he came back. I took the bottle and went over to Zoro, who eyed me up as I approached.

"Come dance with us." I said, making sure to make it more of a statement then a question. Still he shook his head.

"I don't dance."

"I say you can." I said back so quickly I had to bite my lip from laughing at the end, continuing the song from high school musical in my head.

"No."

"Come on, they're fun dances. Just learn a few of the main ones with us. They literally tell you what to do as they sing."

" Sounds like a shitty song."

"They're like traditional songs from my home." I mean could I really count cha cha slide as a traditional earth song? Doctor who claimed Toxic as a traditional earth ballad specifically. It's also not like anyone else is here to stop me... "It would mean a lot if you just tried. Think of it as training your footwork." I said, a bit over excited as I thought of that last argument just in the moment.

He still didn't look convinced, which is when I held up the bottle.

"Come dance for a few songs and you get this."

"Proof?"

I grinned. "160"

He stood up, grabbed the bottle, pulled the cork out with his teeth, spat it away, and took a deep swig. Then he swept his hands out.

"Gotta show us the dance if you want us to do it."

I went back over to the group just as the song changed. Of course, the familiar beat of the macarraian came on, I thought the macarrania would be perfect next, because really it was just more arm movements. But it was odd to look around and see not excited faces, or exasperated faces, but confused faces, the face you make when you judge a song the first time you hear it.

"Okay this one has a dance the whole time. It's mostly arms. I'm gonna go slow."

Usopp did very well at the Macarena, adding some head bobbing and extra steps. Nami and Sanj followed along with me great, but Luffy and Zoro constantly turned the wrong way. I was in tears laughing by the end of it, and we took a break for a drink. I planned this, throwing in a random party song. Moving around made us thirsty, which made us drink more alcohol, which made us thirsty and drunk. I showed them the Cupid shuffle next, and after another drink break we did the cha cha slide, and the song switched to a newer one, with a smooth deep beat.

Open up the champagne- Pop. It's my house come on.

"Okay, that was the last song with full dance for a while. These next ones are just fun songs we all dance however we want to."

"I like this one a lot. It's really weird, but fun!" Nami said. And I was drunk enough to really want to dance to this song, and my hips rolled to the beat as the chorus hit and I sang out.

"Welcome to our ship, play that music too loud, show me what you do now, we don't have to go dock. Buh da da da, Welcome to our ship."

Everyone was laughing and having a great time. My face hurt from smiling so much. Luffy was wiggling wildly, with Usopp doing some equally odd moves with him. Nami and I swayed to the beat together as Sanji laid on the deck, overcome by a nosebleed when I dropped it low. Zoro was watching us all, drinking with a huge smile on his face.

It was exactly where I wanted to be.

"Usopp, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Tani."

I held up the two ends of my staff, and before I even finished explaining what I had in mind he grinned and nodded, disappearing for a few hours before reappearing right before dinner.

"Finished! Tani, this was awesome! I have so many ideas with this, and I was-"

"Usopp. After dinner. Eat first, before the food gets cold." Sanji said.

"But… but it-"

"After. dinner." Sanji said, a warning tone in his voice. Usopp swallowed and nodded, sitting and quickly eating dinner, for the first time getting to eat most of his meal because he ate so fast Luffy didn't have time to steal any of it.

"So, Tani, could I add some other modifications to your staff?"

I looked down at it, very happy with the additions he made and really didn't want anymore. I didn't want a clima tact after all, that was...Nami weapon.

Huh.

"What if you started from scratch. I mean if you're going to build an awesome weapon, the base has to be right. There could be so many more unique designs and modifications you can add if you made the pole itself first. Like mine breaks in two. But what if it broke into three?"

Usopp's eyes grew wider and wider as I talked, and really I think I said a bit too much, but he jumped out of his seat and cheered.

"Yes! Tani you're a genius! Three pieces would fix everything! Thanks for dinner Sanji but I have to go." Usopp left, muttering to himself about it.

"What was that about, Tani?" Nami asked.

"Look what Usopp did!" I held up half of my staff excitedly and pressed the button which released a blade from the end on the pole. "Both sides do it. I have so many more options now." I said, very excited about the staff now.

"That is pretty cool. I wonder if Usopp will upgrade my staff?" Nami said as she inspected the new additions.

"You know, I think if you give him some time he might have something even cooler for you." I told her with a huge smile.

"So next is a cup of sugar."

Sanji nodded, watching me mix the butter and sugar together in the bow on the counter. He was taking this very seriously which I found adorable, after all it was just an old family recipe. I had asked him at breakfast if he knew how to make placek, a polish coffee cake my grandmother used to make. He said he had never heard of it, and became very excited when I asked if he would be interested in learning how to make it.

"Then I add the eggs." I cracked each one against the edge, and only relaxed when I didn't get a single shell in the bowl while he was watching me. Although I loved cooking and baking, doing so under Sanji's watchful eye made everything more stressful.

I rinsed my hands and grabbed the measuring cup again. "Now the flour."

One everything was combined I smiled at Sanji. "Would you pass me that." I asked, pointing to our yeast mixture from earlier. He passed it over, and I started kneading everything to combine.

This shit is a lot easier to make with a kitchen aid.

"Tani, I can do that for a little bit." Sanji said, and I paused, blowing a loose piece of hair from my eyes.

"Nope. I'm good."

It was ten minutes later, and Sanji had swapped in to help, that I finally deemed it good enough, and set it off to the side. We made the crumble topping while we waited for the dough to rise with the remaining butter, sugar, and flour. Finally it was time to put the bread into pans, put the topping on, and put it in the oven.

"Okay and now we wait until it's baked." I told him. He smiled back at me.

"You said this was called placek?" He said, scribbling something in his notebook.

"Yep!" I said, and got started in the dishes.

"And it's from your home island?"

I hummed in sort of confirmation, and added "It was my grandmother's recipe. And her grandmothers before it." In an attempt to steer conversation away from my home.

"All the best recipes I've found are passed down like that. There's something about the history that adds to the dish." Sanji said, still scribbling on the paper.

"Well hopefully it lives up the expectation you've set." I said, trying to play it off as teasing him but I guess he sensed my worry.

"I'm sure it will taste amazing, Tani."

Thirty minutes later and he was confirming his early suspicions.

"This is incredible. It's so fluffy and sweet, but the best part has to be this topping." Sanji said. He sat across from me at the table, both of us with a buttered slice of placek on our plates.

"Thank you, my grandmother would be very happy to hear that."

"FOOOOOOOOOOD!" Luffy's voice grew louder as he drew closer to the galley, slamming opened the door and instantly in his seat. Sanji, being prepared for this, grabbed the plate he prepared specifically for this and set it in front of the Captain.

"Now this is a special sna-" It was gone before Sanji could finish talking.

"Yummy! More please." Luffy said, holding out his plate. Sanji sighed, and I giggled.

"Awe come on, Tani. Please?" Luffy was pleading with me, and it really broke my heart that I had to tell him no.

"If this gets broken before Bro- before we get our musician, then he will never hear these songs, and be able to recreate them for us. I'm sorry, but I can play the music for you. And you can pick it out, what style of music do you want?"

His attitude flipped as he tilted his head in thought. "Well I dunno? What styles are there?"

"There's country, and pop, and rap, and Elyria, and swing, and folk." As I continued to list the music genres Luffys face twisted more and more. This was too much for him, so I tried a different route.

"Do you remember any of the songs you liked from the other night?"

"Uh. I really liked the one that went like bop. Beep bop. Beep beep bop bop doooooooooo."

Okay that got me nothing. Lucky for me Spotify had the perfect solution.

"Okay, forget everything else. Would you like happy songs or sad songs?"

"Why would Anyone want sad songs?"

I shrugged and answered honestly but I knew he wouldn't really understand. Not unless you've experienced it.

"Sometimes you need to intensify the sad feelings you have to help them move through your body and get them out."

Luffy nodded, surprisingly, telling me that made sense, but he wanted some happy music I found a playlist of fun upbeat songs about having a good time, and Luffy danced until the sun went down.

I eyed Zoro from across the deck. I was sitting, legs crossed as I tried meditating. Zoro was doing push ups, I could hear his short pants as he counted out loud. Deciding to go for it because I always wanted to try, I got up and made my way over to him, stopping just at his head. He didn't stop, and I didn't need him to, so I just told him my idea.

"If I climb on your back and do my meditation it adds weight resistance for you and an extra balance challenge for me."

He did two more push ups before he stopped, no- he paused, holding his body just an inch above the ground, waiting. I took that as an invitation to climb on and got comfy, smirking as I closed my eyes and attempted to not fall off as Zoro resumed his push ups, which was more difficult than I anticipated.

"What the hell-"

Startled at Sanji's voice, I lost my balance and tipped backwards and off Zoro, crashing to the deck.

"Ow. What the fuck, Sanji." I complained, rubbing my side where I landed. It was so gonna bruise.

"Oh Tani my darling I'm so sorry! Are you alright?! Let me help you!"

"Help her? This is your fault shit cook." Zoro said, halfway to crouching next to me when he rounded on Sanji, who got angry.

"My fault?! You're the one who let her fall off your back!"

"She was perfectly safe on my back until you walked up and scared her!" And they were full on fighting now.

"SHUT UP!" Nami screamed. "I'M TRYING TO WORK HERE!"

Nami stood across from me on the deck. Both of us wore form fitting clothes, had our hair pulled back, and were ready to fight. Zoro's weights clanked in the background, accented with shouts from Usopp or Luffy as they took turns finding each other blindfolded. Usopp was in charge of getting Luffy if he fell off the edge in the process.

"Okay Nami, you ready?" I asked. I had shown her a few moves before this, and although she seemed a bit hesitant she nodded.

I slammed into her and brought both of us down onto the deck. The idea was to let herself be taken down into a vulnerable position before practicing breaking free. Although we'd like to never be in that position in the first place, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

I straddled Namis hips and shoved her hands up besides her head. This brought our two faces ridiculously close. I gave her a smile and she huffed. A piece of hair fell across her eyes and she went to move it only for her hand to be held down. Her eyes flashed at me, and she tried to blow the hair out of her eyes to no success. Her face scrunched together as she concentrated and tried to remember the sequence of movements to escape, she was determined now. She bucked her hips and sent me forward, getting her arms free, but she didn't move to the next position. I didn't blame her though. It was hard to show Nami the move without a third person to demonstrate.

When she couldn't break free again she huffed and sagged against the deck, giving up.

"This clearly isn't working. I have to show you the move better. We need another person."

"Nami! Tani! I know you ladies are working hard! I brought you-oh."

I rolled off Nami and popped up, walking over to a frozen Sanji and grabbed a drink from his tray. The burst of cold strawberry across my tongue was amazing. Nami joined me and grabbed her own.

"This is incredible Sanji." I told him. Honestly this man's skill in the kitchen could not be oversold. This boy was talented.

"Delicious!" Nami added. Then she got the smile. That smile made warning bells go off in my mind. This was either going to be hilarious or terrible.

"Sanji-kun we could use your help." She said sweetly.

"Of course! Anything for you ladies! What do you need?"

Nami's smile grew and she looked between me and him.

"Tani is trying to show me a move, but it would be easier if she had someone to do it on while I watched. Can she -"

"Say no more, Nami!" Sanji went and stood where we had been a moment before, suit jacket draped over a lawn chair and already rolling up his sleeves to show his forearms, one of the hottest things a person could do in my opinion.

"Go." Nami gave me a tiny shove from behind, making me stumble forward. Sanji mistook my nervousness for an unwillingness to attack him.

"You won't hurt me, Tani. Even if you do I wouldn't mind. So attack me anyway you'd like." He said, arms opened.

I glanced at Nami, who waved at me to continue. I turned back to Sanji, trying to stop my face from blushing any deeper and licked my suddenly dry lips.

"Well, the move is to break free from someone. If they were holding us down. So…"

Sanji blinked, and I'll give him credit he nodded after.

"That's a good idea. Breaking free from a hold could save your life. How would I be holding you for this?" Sanji asked, stepping forward. He actually seemed serious, I expected him to gush about being able to hold me but he just waited patiently for instruction.

"Well i would be, uh," I laid down onto the deck, and was oddly satisfied when I watched Sanji turn tomato red as he realized what was about to happen. "I'd be here. And you would be, well you would need to, uh, sit across my waist and hold my hands above my head." I said the last bit so quickly I was surprised he caught it.

He nodded, and took a deep breath. Then another. Then he nodded again and finally walked over so he was next to me, but at no point would he look at my face. His left shoe made a loud clack as it hit the deck on the right side of my hip. He kneeled down, sitting just above my pelvis. He grabbed each of my wrists lightly, they were at my side so he had to bring them up above my head. It brought our faces close, and finally his eyes met mine. He was close enough I noticed his breath hitch. He seemed completely mesmerized, and his eyes quickly stole a glance at my lips.

I bucked my hips, throwing him off balance and sending him forward, then I grabbed his left arm, forced the elbow to fold, wrapped my legs around his left one and rolled, knocking him off to the side. I scrambled away and got up, looking at Nami who was staring at me with huge wide eyes. I had no idea why she looked like that.

"Did you get a good look at the move?" I asked her. "Would you like to try it on me again?"

She pointed and I looked to see Sanji unconscious on the deck from a bloody nose. I snorted. Poor dude was never gonna be able to live through having sex at this rate.

Something clicked in the back of my brain and I realized I hadn't heard any clanking from Zoro's weights in a few minutes. Looking over I saw Zoro had a similar wide eye look that Nami had, arms hanging at his side in his hands. His expression turned to anger when we made eye contact, surprising me. What was he angry about? His anger quickly rounded onto Sanji.

"Oi! Quit being a pervert shit cook!" He yelled at the unconscious man. Then he moved, going to strike but Sanji as if sensing it roused from his state and blocked the blade with a leg.

"I think that's enough for today." Nami said to me. "We need to go freshen up. Come on." She dragged me into the bathroom as Sanji and Zoro fought on the deck.

As soon as the bathroom door slammed shut she turned and gave me that wide eyed weird look again.

"What?" I said, dying to know what this was about.

"What? Don't what me! I should be what-ing you! What was that?"

"What was what?" I asked, now nervously about where this was going and wondering if I could stall somehow.

"You know what! What was that! Out there! With Sanji! I thought you had a thing for Zoro!" Nami was doing that whisper yell thing, and I didn't know what she wanted from me. My brain was shutting down at being confronted which didn't help. I managed a helpless shrug and some stumbled out words.

"I do.. I mean I maybe have a…thing for Zoro."

"Then what was that!" Nami jabbed out to the deck and I gave her another helpless shrug.

"I maybe have a thing for Sanji too?"

"Do you? Is it a question? Or a fact?"

"I… I have a thing for Sanji. And Zoro. I like them both...but, uh, if you like one of them...

Namis' whole demeanor changed when I spilt that particular tasty tea, no longer angry but relaxed.

"Oh no, I'm not interested in either. But which one do you want?"

Both.

"I don't know."

Nami hummed and looked thoughtful for a moment before she brightened and gave me a smile.

"Well. Thanks for the talk, girl friend!" She said, and then left me in the bathroom that she dragged me into.

What the fuck was that.

Most of us were hanging out on the deck, the exceptions being Luffy, who was in his Captain Seat, and Usopp who was up in the crows nest. Zoro was asleep near the rail as usual, Sanji and Nami sat in the deck chairs we had, and I was laying on the deck itself, something I taught Sanji to do because I insisted I preferred it.

Luffy has been sitting for all of two minutes so naturally he was bored. "Nami! Shouldn't we reach the Grand Line soon?"

"What do you think? We just left loguetown two days ago." Nami said, rolling her eyes but sounding more fond of the rubber man's antics then annoyed, and I wondered how long that would last. "It'll take some time before we get there. Just be patient."

"Kay." Luffy said, laughing and turning his attention back to the horizon.
Sanji sighed. "Feel that sunshine! With weather like this it almost seems that storm was just a bad dream."

"Hey!" Usopp called down from the crows nest. "I see a flock of birds starboard."

Luffy stretched forward, searching the seas. I sat up, worried he might fall overboard. Sanji had the same idea, but luckily our Captain stayed put as he looked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. And they're surrounding something." Usopp called back. "I can't make it out exactly but it's big. I wonder what it is."

"Maybe a fish." Luffy suggested.

"Maybe." Usopp said, pausing occasionally. It sounded like he was distracted up there, hopefully focusing on looking at what it was. "Or a small boat. A fish. I don't know."

I sucked in a breath, throwing myself at the starboard rail to get a look, unable to see what Usopp did.

"Which is it, a small boat or a fish!" I called out, stretching over the rail as if that little distance would make the difference. This was reminding me of something, and if I was right, it wasn't good.

"I don't know!" Usopp called out, and I huffed.

"Well, it could be a fish, right?" Luffy asked.

"I've heard it's common for seabirds to flock above fish and even trail them." Sanji said.

"It is?" Luffy asked.

"That's right. Sounds like lunch to me." The chef replied, and that's all it took for Luffy to stretch back, throwing his arm out to grab whatever it was.

"Woah! Thats a stretch!" I rolled my eyes at Usopp's sort of pun.

"It never gets old." Sanji said cheerfully, giving me a wink, and I snorted realizing Sanji said that on purpose.

"I caught it!" Luffy called out, and I squinted, trying to make out what he caught. This whole thing sounded way too familiar. I had hoped it wasn't even going to come up.

"Luffy, bring it in slower!" I said, but he didn't listen.

"It seems pretty big!" He cheered. As he brought his arm closer I made out the small figure of a child, and I inhaled sharply.

"SLOW IT DOWN, NOW!" I yelled, and ran over to where it looked like she would come in from.

"You heard Tain, dial it-" Sanji ended up having to duck out of the way, and I screamed as I attempted to dive for her but was still too far away. Lucky for her the girl crashed into Zoro, sending him rolling across the deck, but not overboard.

When I got a good look at the small lump that had landed on deck, my eyes widened. I barely remember her name. Asha? Maybe. I don't remember much. The government was hunting her, and I do vaguely remember it was because of immortality and a dragon. She was just a young girl and they wanted her for such selfish reasons. It made me sick that she was on this deck right now, because there was a chance that this didn't happen. This was only in the anime, not the manga, and the fact that she was here just lowered my already ground level opinion of the marines.

And then she lifted her head, and a roaring filled my ears.

She looked…

She looked…

She looked like her.

She had her dusty blond hair pulled back into a long thin braid. Her eyes were large and brown, face rounded, her nose small. The girl in front of me now was older than she was, by a few years. This girl was maybe 6 or 7?

She was 2. She was only 2. She was-

"Tani."

I blinked, moving my head slightly, but I couldn't look away. Not yet.

"Tani." Zoro called my name again, and I blinked. The roaring fell away, and I sucked in air as I realized why my chest was burning, and finally I managed to rip my eyes from the girl.

Zoro was frowning, he was reaching for me, and as soon as I noticed he let it fall back to his side.

"You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I didn't know what to do. I wanted to run to this girl. We wanted to protect her, help her, save her. But she wasn't her.

Every bone and muscle in body screamed at me to go, to see if she was okay, but when I froze up Nami had swept in. Nami had ordered Usopp to carry her inside the galley and to put her on the sofa, Luffy following after. I didn't realize my eyes were still locked on the closed door until Zoro spoke again.

"Tani?"

"I think I understand how you felt, looking at Tashigi." My voice was steady, which I didn't expect. I thought I would be shaky, I thought I'd be on the verge of crying. "She looks like my little sister if...if she had aged..."

I was surprised when instead of my expected emotional reaction, a sort of cold numbness washed through me instead, head to toe.

I didn't have to say anything else though. Zoro understood. He understood more than most. The only other person who would get it more than Zoro was sailing in a submarine somewhere in the North Blue.

"Do you want to go inside?" Zoro asked. Always practically. And it was good, he was giving me an option, a choice.

Face it head on, get it over with. Stay out on deck, ignore it. My choice.

I nodded.

Sanji led the way, I didn't even realize he had been on the deck too, and he held the door open as we all went Inside the galley where Nami was treating the little girl, cleaning and bandaging a few scraps she had from when she hit the deck. Usopp and Luffy were arguing if she was a fish girl or just a regular girl, which somehow made me feel more relaxed. That was my normal now, believe it or not, and it was comforting somehow. When the door opened, Nami glanced our way and looked relieved to see us.

"Sanji, could you make something for her to eat? I'm sure she will be hungry when she wakes up. Who knows when the last time she ate was."

"Of course, Nami-swan!"

I went over and stood next to Nami, taking another look at the girl. It was uncanny, and slightly bothersome. It had been years, almost sixteen of them, since the accident. I had processed it, moved past it. But seeing an older version of the person long dead, it stirred some emotion in me. I wished she could have made it to this age, but was I envious or jealous about this girl's life? Angry that she didn't even get 3 years?

None of this was towards the girl who was laying on the couch. It was more directed towards the universe. Because how could I feel anything but protective towards the little girl who looks just like my long dead sister.

Nami stood up, startling me.

"Do you know her?" Nami asked, and my heart leapt into my throat. "Do you know what happened? Did you see this happen?"

Oh. She meant did I know her because I saw the future. Not because she looked like-

"Yeah. Corrupt Marines kidnapped her, and she escaped them." I said, forcing my voice to work.

"Really?" Almost everyone in the room seemed surprised and impressed by that, but only Nami voiced it.

"Ah. She just needs a bit of help. Perhaps we could take her home, Luffy?" I asked, looking over to him. Luffy smiled and nodded.

"Of course! Nami, set sail to...wherever her home is!" He cheered, and Nami stormed over to whisper yelled at him about being too loud. She sat down and stayed at the table, so I took her seat next to the small girl, waiting for her to wake up.

The only noise that drew away my attention was the clanking of swords, and I looked to see Zoro propping his swords next to him while he laid against the wall and shut his eyes.

The first smell to hit the air in the cabin was the earthy, tangy aroma of fried onions and garlic. Every time I smelt it, I remembered her mom and my dad. They would be in the kitchen, making sunday dinner, which always started the same. My step mom loved it, making a big show of inhaling the aroma. My dad would laugh at her playfulness. And I grumbled, absolutely hating the smell, hiding in the farthest room from the kitchen to escape it.

It was a weird memory to associate with a smell I now love, but I found it funny that I once hated it so much. The smell meant good food was coming, and I loved good food.

Soon the smell turned heartier, and I recognized some kind meaty soup would be served for lunch.

As soon as I came to that conclusion, the little girl's nose started twitching. I wanted to lean in, but I knew crowding someone's space when they just woke up was pretty rude. I was glad I didn't when she shot straight up, gasping for air, eyes wide and arms flailing. I grabbed her shoulders, getting in her vision.

"Relax. We saved you. You're safe."

The little girl shakily nodded, and I backed off, again to give her air. We were strangers, though to me she felt like anything but. I had to remember that. I had to keep my distance.

Nami spoke up next. "You're awake! That was quicker than I expected. Don't worry, Tani's right. You're safe here."

A loud rumbling sound came from the small girl, and she hugged her arms across her stomach, checks turning red. That was Sanji's que to chime in.

"Nothing that some grub won't cure. I'm cooking some soup if you're hungry."

"Lucky!" The little girl said, making a smile twitch on my lips for just a second.

"I'm guessing you were shipwrecked? You are lucky. What's your name?" Nami asked. Her tiny face scrunched up, frowning at Nami and glaring. It was absolutely adorable.

"Before asking a stranger questions it's polite to give them your name." Her voice is airy, and I realized it had been so long since I heard my sister speak that I couldn't tell if they sounded anything alike. It had been years. How many years? Fifteen? Sixteen?

Nami laughed, and gave her a wink. "Good point. I'm Nami. The chef cooking that delicious smelling soup is Sanji-"

"Hi!" Sanji said with a wave of his spoon. Nami pointed behind her.

"That's Zoro. Despite his scowl, he's a good guy."

"Shut up." He said, not even opening his eyes, giving away he's been awake this whole time.

"This is Usopp, he's the one that spotted you."

"It was nothing! My eyes can see farther than any mans!" Usopp said, puffing out his chest and making Apis smile just a little.

"And Tani is right in front of you."

I gave a smile and a tiny wave of my hand when the young girl's eyes swiveled over to mine. But they were quickly drawn back to the table as Luffy took over to introduce himself. It hurt, that casual dismissal. I was no one to her.

"I'm Luffy, and I'm the captain of this pirate ship."

Immediately the girl's whole attitude shifted.

"WHAT!" She screeched, her young voice unreasonably high. "PIRATES?!"

"That's right." Luffy said cheerfully, completely ignoring her fear. "And we're on our way to the Grand Line!"
"What's wrong?" Nami asked, frowning at the small girl, but her eyes sparkled with mischief. I shook my head at them.

"Guys, quit teasing." I said, and the small girl looked at me with hope.

"You guys were just joking? This isn't a pirate ship?" She asked.

Oh, it was hope I immediately had to crush.

"Well, no. We are pirates." Oh no that face! She looked so scared and crushed, I rushed to explain that she had no reason to fear us. "But I mean, we're friendly. My captain already agreed, if you tell us where, we can drop you off at home."

She seemed suspicious, which was a good quality, and she eyeballed each one of us. She looked at Zoro's swords almost as long as she watched Sanji stirring the pot of soup.

Finally she looked back at me with her nose in the air and her mouth shut tight in a firm line. Defiant. She even acted like my little sister did.

"Okay, that's fine. The longer you wait to tell us, the longer it will take for you to get back." I pointed out. She continued to stare at me, searching for something, but the Thunk sound that broke the silence drew her attention back to the table, where Sanji was setting out bowls, bread, and drinks.

Her stomach noisily growled, and her cheeks went red. Still, she didn't move.

"Would you like to eat? I'm going to." I said, and got up, taking a seat at the table as Sanji laddled food into bowls.

"Something wrong?" Sanji asked her, frowning as she stubbornly refused to move. "You're hungry too. How long were you out at sea? Hours? Days?" Sanji switched his tactics, his voice taking on a teasing tone. "What, are you going to go on a hunger strike? Think the big bad pirates are gonna poison you is that it?" He set a bowl in front of the last empty seat, right near where she was laying down. Nami and I took a big gulp of our food, making a big show of how delicious it tasted. Usopp joined in too, Luffy just ate with his usual gusto, and Zoro…. Well Zoro gave some sound advice.

"If you just sit there like that, he's going to finish everything." He said to Apis, giving a nod in Luffy's direction.

"That's okay, more for me!" Luffy said, and reached for the last unclaimed bowl.

"Get back!" The girl cried, and lunged forward. She didn't even bother with a spoon, bringing the bowl up to her lips and rushed to eat every last drop, the dish obscuring her face until she lowered it, a huge smile on her face.

"Yummy!"

"Yeah I know it!" Luffy agreed. "Was there any doubt? I picked Sanji personally." Luffy told her.

"I've never had anything this good!" The small girl looked down at her bowl and then back up at Sanji, a huge smile on her face, but then it was as if she remembered what we were and she was frowning again, though she looked a lot less scared.

"Do you really think we were evil?" Nami asked, and the little girl hunched in on herself and shrugged.

"Well, I don't know. I was told that pirates are all bad but… you guys seem nice." She said hesitantly. Nami nodded at her answer.

"Well, there are still bad pirates out there, just not us. But it's a common sentiment these days to think we're bad. We're getting used to it."

"So you're not gonna sell me off?" She asked quietly, looking around at each of our faces to see if we were telling the truth.

"Never." Sanji promised.

"Not at all." I told her.

"No." Nami said firmly.

"No way!" Usopp added.

"You kind of do have an evil look." Zoro cut in, inspecting Usopps face closely. I could see the small smirk playing on his lips. "I can see her point."

"You're the expert on bad looks!" The sniper snapped back, pulling on Zoro's face.

The two started bickering, exchanging insults and eventually even punches.

"Why are they such morons." Nami asked with a roll of her eyes. The girl giggled at the two, which I think was the whole point because usually those two never fight. Sanji leaned in, smiling and offering to pour more soup into the bowl.

"We have plenty more to eat, Mademoiselle."

"He's serious, and if you stick around you you'll see that these pirates are more friendly and fun then scary." Nami said. "I promise."

The girl smiled, and held out her bowl. "More please!"

"How about we try introducing ourselves again." I suggested. "I'm Tani."

Everyone went around, and finally we all looked at the girl.

"I'm Apis! Thank you for the fo-" Her expression of gratitude was interrupted by a yawn.

"How about I show you the bathroom where you can get cleaned up, and then I'll let you take a nap in my bed." I said, standing up and offering a hand. She pursed her lips as she thought about it.

"Hm. I would like to use the bathroom but I don't need a nap." She grabbed my hand, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest, and together we left the galley. "I'm not a child."

"Of course. But naps aren't just for children. I love naps! I think they're great, but if you don't want to nap too I'll just fall asleep by myself." I said.

Twenty minutes later she was softly snoring, tucked into my bed. I made sure she was properly tucked in, and forced myself to leave. It would be very creepy to watch her sleep, so I went back and found everyone else on deck.

"So?" Nami asked. I gave her a look that told her I had no idea what she wanted. She huffed and added. "The girl. Where did she come from? What happened? What's her story?"

I shook my head at Nami. "We should really ask her that, it's only polite."

Nami's eyes squinted at me. I shifted under her gaze as she leaned in more. It was a whole minute of a nami stare down before she leaned back.

"You forgot, didn't you." Nami accused.

I bit my lip, I seriously couldn't believe she figured that out, and Nami threw her hands in the air. "Oh my God did you really forget?"

"No. No, I know why the marines want her, it's just… I don't remember the island where she came from. And I don't remember the whole story, what's going to happen here. I just...I remember one thing really, and it's not something I can share."

Luffy was surprisingly happy about this. "Yay! It's going to be an adventure for all of us then!" He cheered.

"We'll have to wait for her to wake up to tell us where her home is then." Usopp added.

"Might as well anchor for the night here, we don't know if we'd be sailing away or closer to her home if we continued. Should be fine here." Nami said, and we set to work getting Merry ready for the night, even though it would be hours before night fell.

The next morning, I saw Apis walk into the galley all by herself, Sanji was off doing some general shop chores so I knew it was empty, and when she didn't come out after a few minutes I went to see if she needed some help.

I am so glad I went and checked.

Apis was going to try and make us breakfast, as a thank you for saving her, and as a responsible adult I offered to help her, I couldn't in good conscience leave her to her own devices. Especially since I didn't know how much she knew about cooking, which turned out to be zero things. She seemed reluctant at first to have me there, but I did my best to make it fun while also ensuring our breakfast wasn't burnt food scraps or spiced beyond edibility.

And to me, it was a chance to do something I never got to do but always wished I could have done with my own sister.

"Okay, Apis. Why don't you go call everyone, let them know the food is ready."

She had a huge smile as she nodded and scurried to the door, throwing it open and shouting as loud as her small lungs could.

"Everyone! Breakfast is ready!"

Sanji was, surprisingly, the first to get here after food was called, followed closely by Luffy. Sanji's panicked look faded when he saw me dishing out eggs, and the nice spread of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and fruit that was put out.

"Apis wanted to make us breakfast, I think she did a lovely job." I said to him, as he came closer to look at the oddly cut fruit, brown and dry eggs, and slightly burnt bacon, but everything was recognizable and only slightly overcooked. I didn't take over after all, only assisted.

"Yeah! Food!" Luffy was the only one who arrived excited for the meal, everyone else was mildly concerned and hesitant, which led to pleasant surprise when they saw what was there, and resigned sighs as they saw the state of the food up close.

"Not only did you guys rescue me but you've given me food and shelter as well." Apis said to the group once everyone was seated around the table. "I've finally found a way for me to pitch in and help!"

"That's really thoughtful. Thank you." Nami told the girl, and I knew she was being honest.

"But curly brow is going to cook the next meal, right?" Zoro asked, inspecting a burnt piece of bacon. Nami picked up his plate and shoved it into his mouth, telling him to shut up and be grateful.

Usopp slowly raised a bit to his mouth and chewed.

"Hey! Not bad!" he said, and continued to eat much more quickly.

"Yeah! Taste good!" Luffy said. I rolled my eyes, and I don't think I was the only one.

"You think anything and everything tastes good." I pointed out.

"Nuh uh, Tani. There were these weird mushrooms back home that tasted terrible and made me feel really weird."

As Luffy joyfully kept shoving food into his mouth I looked from Nami, to Usopp, to Sanji, and to Zoro, who had all frozen in different stages of eating. Sanji recovered first and lowered his fork back down to his plate before speaking.

"Weird how? Were you allergic to them?"

"Uh, like Tani was talking about with the egg things? I don't know?! It made me feel dizzy and like I was stretching but I couldn't control it, and I saw lots of fun colors which was cool. Is that how eggs make you feel Tani?"
"Nooooo." I said slowly, elongating the word as I thought of how to deal with the information that Luffy had tripped on some mushrooms back on Dawn island. Seriously what could I even say, especially in front of our small guest? There really wasn't anything to say, other than to just change the subject for now and talk with him later about eating weird things.

"Uh, we don't have time to unpack all that, because we should be focusing on the scrumptious food in front of us." I held out more cut up fruit to Nami, who snorted and grabbed some.

"That's right, Apis took the time to make us this incredible feast. We should be savoring every crumb!" Sanji said, accenting his statement by taking another bite of the food, wincing a bit as he got a particularly crispy piece of bacon.

"I'm sorry." Apis spoke up from her seat, and I frowned, not understanding why she was apologizing. "I know it's a little burnt. It would have been really bad if I didn't have help too. I'm just not a very good cook. All I wanted was to do something nice."

"Apis, don't worry." Nami told her, putting a hand on her shoulder as comfort. "Nobody's mad at you. And this isn't that first time my sister tried cooking for me she nearly burned our house down!"

Nami helped, but she still looked a bit down.

"How's this, you leave the cooking to me from now on. I'm sure that there are many more interesting things that you could do to help out." Sanji told her.

"Sanji's right, there's lots of odd jobs to do around here. Maybe after breakfast you'd like to help me?" I asked her. The girl smiled and gave me a hum with a small nod. .

"Are you sure? This is good stuff." Luffy cut in, talking around a mouth full of food. "Why don't you make some Barbecue next time I haven't had it in forever. And meatloaf with roasted potatoes after that. And those Tacos Tani made, those were good too."

When everyone was done, Sanji insisted on doing the dishes while everyone stayed at the table and asked questions to Apis.

"What's your story? Why were you adrift at sea? Were you stranded or was someone after you?" Nami had experience in the real world, and her assumptions weren't far from the truth of the matter.

"I escaped from a marine ship, they were holding me prisoner." Apis told us.

"A marine ship!" Usopp exclaimed.

The girl nodded. "I got away three nights ago."

Nami frowned at her. "Three nights ago? That was during the storm. Your little boat didn't stand a chance."

It was Zoro's turn to speak up, and for having barely said much this whole time he was suddenly very talkative.

"How'd you get in trouble in the first place? They had to have held you prisoner for a reason? What could a little girl like you have possibly gotten into that got the attention of the marines? Everyone knows they're a bunch of twits but I still can't imagine them labeling you an enemy."

Apis grew more and more nervous as Zoro spoke, shifting and fidgeting in her seat. "Well I...uh.."

"What's wrong? Are you hiding something?" Luffy leaned forward as he asked. Apis shook her head quickly.

"No! It's nothing like that! You have to believe me! But still...I can't talk about it."

"You can't tell us?" Usopp asked, sounding a bit put out.

"Easy, easy." Sanji cut in before I could, and I wouldn't have been as nice about it. "What's the big deal? She must have her reasons. If she doesn't want to say we shouldn't press her."

"Yes I agree, but it would be helpful if you at least tell us where you're from." Nami said.

"Oh! Yeah, um, i'm from-It's a place called Warship Island."

"Warship!" I exclaimed, throwing a hand into the air, and then freezing as I realized I startled everyone else at the table with my outburst. But the name was bugging me this whole time. I coughed, and looked over at Nami. "So, uh, do you know of Warship island Nami?"

She shook her head, and pulled out a map from seemingly nowhere, opening it and laying it out on the table for us to see. "No, but it should be labeled on the map."

"Why's it called Warship Island?" Luffy asked Apis.

"Uh, well, because the shape of the island looks exactly like a warship."

Luffy gave her a large grin. "Ha! I like it!"

"Look." Nami pointed at the small island on the map for everyone to see. "There it is."

"It's close to the Grand Line." Usopp pointed out.

"We're here," Nami pointed at a different location just slightly right and down from the tiny plot of land on the map. "The distance between us and Warship Island is reasonable. So, Apis. What do you want to do? We can take you back to your island. We're headed to the Grand Line, but it's no problem for us to drop you off."

"Thank you. You were all so nice to save me and I feel bad for having you go out of your way, but I want to go home more than anything!" Apis shook her head, her mood shifting. "I'm sorry, I'm being selfish, maybe you could hand me to a ship that's heading west on your way to the Grand Line. I'm sure I can handle things on my own from there."

"Absolutely not. No way. A pirate ship can't even get close to another vessel without them attacking in blind fear." Nami said firmly.

"And who's to say this other ship would be kind to you? You got lucky with us, there are some very mean people in the world." I said, thinking of the auction houses in Sabaody and shuddering slightly as a chill went up my spine. No way was I going to let anything else happen to this girl.

"Yeah. You're right." Apis said, hanging her head.

"But still, we're not on anyone's time table other than our own, and Warship island isn't that far off, so, we can do it." Nami said, reaffirming her first offer, which seemed to surprise the girl as her head shot up.

"What? Really?"

"Well I'm fine with this either way. And you, dear Captain?"

"Sure, sounds great to me." He said with his signature grin.

"It's actually really close to where we're going." Usopp pointed out again, bringing his face so close to the map his nose nearly touched the thing. Luffy laughed as he looked at the little island drawn on the paper that they would soon be visiting.

"I know! And it looks like a warship." Apparently that was the part he was looking forward to most. He didn't even know what wonders awaited him there. Awaited us there.

"Think it's a yes." Sani said to Apis, the girl growing more and more excited.

"It's definitely a yes." I told her.

"Really?" Apis stood up, looking around at each one of us. "You don't mind changing course and taking me back home?'

"Nope." Luffy said with a laugh. Apis cheered, jumping in the air with her hand held high.

"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you I'm going home! You have no idea what this means! I didn't ever think I'd make it out of the ocean let alone back to Warship Island! You're amazing, all of you!"

Most of us moved out to the deck after that, to get some things done around the ship. Except a flock of odd birds I don't think I ever saw before stopped and perched on the galley, not making a single sound. The fact that I was expecting to hear something from them made me feel extra crazy. I tilted my head, and to my suprise the birds did the same. I tilted my head the other way, and they did that too.

What weird bird's. Wait… Apis speaks bird or something, right? Are these important birds?

I was interrupted from my thoughts by Usopp calling out from the crows nest about an approaching marine ship, a whole fleet of them actually. I felt a growing anger flare up as I went to join the rest of the crew on the starboard side, all looking out at the ships closing in.

"What's going on? Are they here to claim the bount on my head?" Luffy asked, bringing his hand up to shade his eyes.

"They wouldn't send this many just for you." Nami said, shaking her head slightly so as to not take her eyes off the enemy.

"Maybe the marines feel they need an entire fleet to capture me." Luffy said, and coming from anyone else it might have seemed a bit smug but this boy was all honesty.

"Not quite yet, Luffy." I told him.

Nami of course didn't think we were being serious. "Shut up! This isn't a joke."

I turned back to Apis, and saw that she was gasping for air, her hands twitching as she glanced all around, about to cry and clearly panicking.

"Apis, you should get inside." I said, coming over to comfort her.

"Wait, what's wrong with her?" Sanji asked, noticing the girls distress as well.

"Those ships belong to branch eight. What am I going to do." Apis whispered. She was paling rapidly, her breaths becoming shallow. I crouched down, lighting grabbing her shoulder and getting in her line of vision to try and bring her focus back to us.

"We need you to get inside, before they spot you on the deck." I said, but she didn't pay me any mind, leaving my grip to back away, eyes only on the ships. I looked to Sanji who simply nodded and went forward to grab her.

A whistling in the air, getting louder and louder, let us all know it was too late, and Usopp unhelpfully called out that the enemy was now firing on us. As the waves crashed into the haul and the ship tipped, Apis screamed and fell over, caught by Sanji.

"ATTENTION PIRATES YOU HAVE TRESPASSED INTO RESTRICTED WATERS AND ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO STOP AND SURRENDER."

"Watch her, Sanji." I growled, fully pissed off at these dishonorable marines, and quickly went to Usopp who had come down from the crows nest, grabbing his spyglass to take a look at who we were dealing with exactly.

"There's no way we're going to stop for marines." The sniper said, though it also seemed like a question. Zoro on the other hand was calm, and deadly. I didn't have to look to know he had drawn Wado slightly from the shealth.

"How are we handling this? Because I wanna fight em."

"Then I say let's fight." Luffy said, giving a nod.

"You're crazy! Why must we always fight against impossible odds!" Usopp yelled. "What makes you think we stand a chance against an entire fleet!"

I snapped the spyglass shut, vaguely recognizing the marines but not enough to be useful to us. If we were going to fight them, which I actually did want to, then we couldn't have a child on deck. I went back over and crouched down next to Apis again. "Go inside." I told her.

"Go to the girls cabin." Sanji specified, and I nodded. Apis shook her head, her arms closing around herself but still not moving. Zoro and Usopp argued on behind us.

"A raid."

"A raid isn't gonna work!"

"Well make it work."

"We're doomed."

Apis looked up, and I followed her gaze to a flock of birds perched on top of the galley.

There's a wind, a strong one. It's coming. Strong wind is coming. There's a wind, a strong one.

"No ones saying you have to come along." Zoro told the whining sniper. "You can back us up with the cannon."

"Really? So I'm staying on the ship? Usopp's voice had reached hysterical level. "I can live with that."

"Apis. What is it? Tani, what's...Tani?"

I blinked, looking away from the talking birds, letting Apis speak up first.

"A wind is coming." Her small voice said with more confidence than I expected. "He says it's a strong one."

"Tani?" My head snapped over to Sanji and our eyes met. I gave a single nod.

"She's right."

Nami heard everything and got right to work, breaking up the fighting duo and started directing us on getting the hell out of here. She told Zoro to lean the sail pointing south, and Usopp and Sanji to adjust the rudder.

"What's happening?" Luffy asked his navigator.

"A gust is coming. We'll ride it out and move on. If we try to take out the fleet head on we'll end up losing no matter how well we fight."

"Somebody sound chicken." Luffy grumbled. His tune quickly changed when the large gust of wind arrived, catching in our sail and sending us hurtling across the sea.

"Whoa this is fast!" Luffy cheered, holding onto his hat and grinning. "We got a good wind, huh!"

"We did it Luffy, look! The Marines are falling behind! I'VE SEEN SNAILS MOVE FASTER!" Usopp shouted, mocking them. "They aren't following us! See! Old Captain Usopp can even scare a marine ship away!"

"That was great! Another awesome move by our navigator. Can we do it again?" Luffy said, giving an unexpected compliment to the orange haired girl, who blushed and seemed a bit less annoyed while she explained she couldn't summon a wind.

"Well done, Nami. incredible how you detected that wind before it hit." Sanji added his praise to the mix as well.

'Oh all I did was pay attention to my gut instinct." Nami said with a wave of her hand. I shook my head, but said nothing. Apis was getting better the farther we got from the marines, so I felt comfortable leaving her to join Nami on the upper deck. We needed to talk about how long it would actually take for us to get to Apis' island. Speaking of which-

"Shall we continue on to Warship Island?" Luffy asked everyone.

"You mean you'll still take me?" Apis said, standing up taller.

Luffy nodded. "Of course!"

"To warship island it is!" Usopp cheered, and the four danced and celebrated down on the lower deck.

"What wrong, huh? You've had that brooding look on your face for a while." Nami said, and I looked over to Zoro, the only other person on the upper deck with us, who was frowning up at the sails.

"Yeah. I guess I hoped I was dreaming."

"About what?" I asked. What was going on?

"This may sound crazy, but it seems to me that we're not even moving...Do you feel that?"

My stomach dropped, and I held my breath, trying to feel the movement of the ship, praying that I'd feel that familiar rocking, and when I didn't the next thing I did feel were my legs going weak.

When I realized I was screaming, my hand slapped against my mouth to cover the sound, and for the half a second it continued I thought I was going extra insane, but it was only Nami also screaming.

"What's wrong? Are you girls hurt? Zoro what did you do?!" Sanji yelled up to us.

"We're screwed. We've entered the calm belt!" Nami said.

THIS is the Bad Place.