As the Strawhats sail to Whiskey Peak, the climate suddenly change from warm and sunny to cold and chilly. Gray clouds covered the sky and snow fell from the sky, covering the Going Merry in a white frozen blanket. Nami, who was dressed in a green coat, pink and yellow plaided scarf and pink ear muffs, was looking out at the snow with a frown on her face.

"Can somebody please tell me why it's snowing? It was hot and sunny just a few minutes ago." She said

Umiko, who was dressed in a blue coat with a gold colored hat on her head, sighs from her place in front of the stove and turn towards her "Nami, I keep telling you this isn't the east blue anymore. Things work differently here in the grand line and the weather is just the beginning."

"Don't say that!" Nami cries "You might jinx us!"

Umiko just shook her head and return to what she was doing "You really should have done your research before coming here."

She frowns at her comment "You act like you know this sea like the back of your hand."

"Nami, I may not know everything but at least I know the basics."

She huffs and turns back to the window to see Luffy and Usopp having an aggressive snow fight on the deck "How they can be so freakin energetic in the freezing cold is beyond me."

"Considering the fact that they went out there without any coats on, their energetic spirits are what's keeping them from freezing to death." Umiko said as she turned off the shove.

She pours the sweet brown liquid into a cup and hands it to the navigator "Here, this will keep you warm. It's my take on hot chocolate."

Nami nodded in thanks and her eyes widen as she took a sip "Wow, this is delicious! It's better than the one Sanji made when you first came here."

Umiko smiles "I knew you'd like it."

Sanji calls out from outside "Nami, shall I shovel more snow for you?!"

The girls looks out and saw the deck was clearing up a bit with Sanji in the middle looking at them with hearts in his eyes.

"You're doing great! Keep going!" She replied unenthusiastically

"Thank you, my pleasure!"

Umiko looks out at him with sympathy "I made some hot chocolate, so come back in soon to warm up!"

"OH MY SWEET UMIKO! GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY AND RISK INJURING YOUR LOVELY HANDS JUST TO MAKE ME SOMETHING!" Sanji gushed as hearts floated around him. Then a fire of determination replaced the hearts "I'll finish this quickly so that I can taste the labor of your love!"

Umiko sweatdrops as she watches him shovel like a manic "I don't think I'll ever get use to him acting like that."

"Yeah, I admit I was weirded out at first but you'll get use to it" Nami grins "And it's a great way to get him to do whatever you want."

The bluenette shook her head again and went back to the shove. She glanced at the criminals sitting at the table, shivering under the red blankets they were provided.

"Excuse me, Doesn't this ship have a heater?" Mr. Nine asked "This environment is inhumane"

"I'm cold!" Ms. Wednesday whined

"Shut your mouths!" Nami snapped at them "You're not guests here. You wanna warm up?! Go shovel snow or something!"

"Here you go." Umiko placed two cups of her hot chocolate in front of them "This should keep you warm."

"Oh thank you!" Mr. Nine cried, taking a sip of the chocolate, his face showing blissful "Your kindness knows no bounds!"

"Yes..." Ms. Wednesday had the same blissful expression on her face "You're much better than the loud orange head over there."

"Shut up! Umiko, why the hell are you giving them hot chocolate? They're criminals, we don't owe them a damn thing!"

She looked at Nami, deadpanned "This is coming from a criminal herself."

Nami blushed

"Besides, I'd rather deal with them the way they are now than deal with them when they're sick. They'll be much more of a hassle if they catch a cold from this weather."

She blinks "That's a good point, way to think ahead."

The orange haired girl flinched as she heard a boom outside. She looked up at the sky and saw flashes of lightning. "Lightning? First snow, now lightning?! What's doing on with this weather?!"

Right after she said that, the wind starts picking up. "I've never seen anything like it. One minute, it's a cloudless sky, the next,it's a blizzard. It's like the normal rules of nature don't apply." She looked at Umiko "Just like you warned us."

She nodded "We have to be ready, if I remember right, whenever the weather starts changing like this, all hell will break loose."

A gloomy cloud appeared over Nami's head "Oh joy"

Ms. Wednesday smirked as she overheard their conversation "So what do you think? Ready to turn back yet?"

"You and your friends have no idea how to survive this place." Mr. Nine said

"I've noticed you haven't been steered for a while. Is that wise?"

Umiko eyes widen "Nami, did you ask Sanji to steer while he was shoveling the snow?"

"N-No but that's because I know where we were heading. I checked it a while ago."

The bluenette opened the door and stepped out "Well, you may want to check again."

Nami followed her and checked the log pose and screamed.

The boys except Zoro looked up from what they were doing.

"Huh?! What's wrong?!"

"Sounds mad."

"Don't be afraid! I'll save you!"

"Make a hard turn! 180 degrees, hurry!" Nami commanded

"A 180?! Why wound you want us to turn back?!" Usopp asked

"Did you forget something?" Luffy asked

"It's because we're sailing in the opposite direction of Whiskey Peak." Umiko said "But it's my fault, I didn't tell you guys how the elements work here. The sea, the sky, the winds act as if they have a mind of their own. Nothing is as it seem when it comes to the Grand Line."

"If it's anybody fault, it's the navigators. She should know the only way to navigate through this sea is by log pose." Ms. Wednesday commented

That comment earn her and her partner a swift kick by Nami sending them out of the kitchen "Shut your condescending mouth! And do something useful around here!"

She turned her attention back to the boys and said "Brace the yard, force the wind starbre, turn the ship 180 degrees to the left! Usopp, man the sails! Sanji, the helm!"

She turns to the criminals "Work you two!"

Usopp looked at the sky and the clouds parting "Hey, wait! Looks like the winds changed!"

A bright sun shined through the clouds as a warm spring air blows. Nami and Umiko took their coats and continue to help.

Umiko heard Usopp shouting and turned to him "What's going on?! We need to focus!"

"I know that! But that lazy idiot is still asleep" He complained, pointing at Zoro

Her eyes widen and jaw drops at the sight of her childhood friend "How can he sleep through all this?!"

She gasped at the sight of the waves "Nevermind him for now! The waves have become very high!"

Usopp climbed up onto the ropes and saw a big obstacle in their way "There's a iceberg at 10 o'clock! This isn't good!"

Then a sudden fog sweep the sea, covering the surround around them.

"A fog rolling in!" Sanji shouted

Nami was in a panic "This is crazy! What's going on?!"

As they were panicking, they were getting closer to the iceberg.

"Calm down! If we don't do something, the ship will hit the iceberg!" Umiko yelled

"It's too late! This is the end!" Usopp screamed

Umiko gasped as she saw how close they were to iceberg "Someone, hurry and get to the rudder and steer the ship away!"

Sanji ran to it and tried to move to ship away "It's stuck!"

"What?!" Nami and Umiko shouted

Nami ran into the kitchen and helped him move it "It's not moving!"

Everyone screamed as they braced themselves for the impact. However the impact never came. Usopp opened his eyes and looked around "Um, not that I'm not grateful for still being above water but what happened?"

Nami opened her eyes too and saw they were ok "But the iceberg?"

"Hey, look!" Luffy pointed to the left of the ship.

Everyone turned to his direction and saw that they were at least 4 meter away from the giant block of ice.

"But that's impossible!" Sanji said "We were in range! How did we get so far from it?"

"Does it matter?" Umiko said, getting on her feet "We survived, the ship's not damaged. All I have to say is let's leave it at that." She felt a change in the wind "And I'll say it now because I think another storm is coming!"

"Another one?!" Usopp cried

Nami looked up and saw how the clouds were passing by "She's right! The wind is picking up." Ahead of them, huge dark storm clouds began to cover the sky. "We have to hurry!"

"Big time!" Luffy said

Zoro woke up yawning and stretching his arms "I'm rested."

He got up and saw everyone except for Luffy, who was on the ship's head, Umiko and Nami, who were laying near the kitchen door, scattered around the deck on their stomachs or backs and thought they were relaxing.

"Hey, come on. The weathers nice and all but that's no reason to be lazy." Zoro said

A certain bluenette twitched at that word.

Lazy? Did he just say lazy?

"We better be on the right path, that's all I can say."

Shut up, you bastard! Nami, Sanji, and Usopp thought pissed that he had the never to say that.

Zoro saw both Mr. Nine and Ms. Wednesday in front of him "What are you doing here?"

"You fool!" Mr. Nine exclaimed

"We're on a side mission to take them home. Their town's called Whiskey Peak." Luffy explained

"Since when did we become a transport service for thugs?" The green hair man asked "We don't owe them anything."

"I don't know."

He rolled his eyes "Why did I even asked?"

Nami got up and started walking down the stairs, ready to beat Zoro to a pulp. A hand gripped her shoulder, she looked behind her and saw Umiko making her way to him with her bangs covering her eyes and her other hand gripping her sword. Nami immediately knew what was going to happen. I guess even if she likes him, she won't put up with his bull. She nodded in approval. "Give him hell."

Zoro sat there, interrogating the criminal partners unaware of the danger coming his way. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you two somewhere before or maybe I haven't."

WHAP!

Something hard collided in the back of his head causing to launch forward, hitting his forward on the floor. He gasped in pain, then turns to glare at the person who guts to knock him over head only to turn pale as he saw a very pissed off Umiko.

Now he knew Umiko was one of the sweetest, kindness and most reliable people he's ever known. But he also knows that when she's pissed, it's like dealing with the devil. And judging by the tight closed eye smile, the dark blue menacing aura around her and the way she's holding her sheathed sword, he knew he was going to pay hell.

"U-Umi..."

"Lazy? You think we're laying on the floor because we're lazy?" She asked, angrily gripping the sword in her hand.

He slowly backed away "I-"

WHAP!

"The lazy one here is green haired moron on this ship, who slept through: Strong winds,"

WHAP!

"Heavy snow,"

WHAP!

"Booming thunder,"

WHAP!

"And Huge waves while the rest of us were running around the ship trying to keep it in one piece!"

Everyone reacted differently to Zoro's beating. Nami had a pleased smirk on her face, Sanji was gushing over how hot he thought Umiko was when she's pissed, Usopp was shaking in his boots while watching the whole thing. Luffy was smiling, thinking about how well they got along and the criminals couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the swordsman.

After the beating, she returns to her sweet and shy self and smiles down at him "Now, promise me you won't sleep through something like that again, ok?"

Zoro laid on the down, his head covered in bumps and his face beaten black and blue "P-Promise."

Nami steps down and claps her hands "Ok, now that that's done. We need to stay alert! There's no way to know what's going to happen next. During the terror, most of us just experienced, I came to an understanding of why this sea is named the Grand Line. My navigation skills are worthless here, anything can happen but mark my words I will guide us through!"

"Um..." Usopp said "Ok, you sure about that, Nami?"

She smiles " Without a doubt, we're gonna be fine just wait and see."

As everyone gathered behind her, she points ahead "Speaking of which, we're here our journey on the Grand line comes to an end!"

Ahead, the crew sees the island of Whiskey Peak.

Luffy sits on the ship's figure head, excited "An island!"

"So, this is Whiskey Peak?" Sanji asks, taking in the view "The landscape is like nothing I've ever seen."

"Oh, those cactuses are humongous!"

"And where are you two going?" Umiko asks

The others turn and see that the criminals had jumped onto the rails of the ship.

"Thank you but we must be leaving." Mr. Nine said

"It's be an interesting ride to say the least." Ms. Wednesday comments

"Perhaps, we'll meet again someday."

Both of grin "Bye-Bye, baby."

With that said, they backflip into the sea and swam away.

"That's a quick exit." Nami said

"Those two are interesting but in a weird way." Umiko said

"They were weird alright. I guess we'll never know what those two were up to." Usopp said

"Who cares, we're landing!" Luffy announces

Nami looks at their path "Well, there's a water way right up to the shore line. It looks like we can go in by ship."

Next to her, Usopp begins to tremble "Um...I'm weighing the possibly of monsters out there."

"That's definitely a possibility. This is the Grand Line." Sanji said

Luffy turns to them with a grin on his face "No problem, if we find monsters we can just leave.."

"That's not true!" Nami said "According to what Crocus said, it's imperative we stay on on this island, at least for a little while."

"But why?" Luffy asks

"The log pose needs enough time to record the island's magnetic field, so until that's done we stay put. The log pose could require a different amount of time for each island, some will take a few hours, others will take several days."

"Suppose this island is crawling with monsters but we get stuck here waiting? That's stupid, we'd be done for! What's the point in gathering navigation coordinates if you're dead!" Usopp said panicking a little

Umiko walks up to him, patting him on the back "Come on, a few days won't hurt."

"Won't hurt?! Did you forget the possibility of monsters?! Monsters eating us alive will hurt!"

She turns serious "This is how navigation works on the Grand Line. Once the log pose has logged onto the magnetic field of this island, we can go on to locate the next island. If we don't to stay until the log pose is done then we risk wandering out at sea for days. I think it's better if we stay here than go out wandering this sea."

Nami nods "See, you just heard it from a native of the grand line, so we're staying."

Their long nosed friend looked miserable.

While the girls were talking, Luffy had a blank look on his face. After hearing that they had to stay, he grins "Let's not think about the monsters unless we have to. They're not even there."

"Good attitude, I like that." Umiko smiles

"I agree, there's no need to worry yet." Zoro said

"Now that that's settled, lets get going! I'll keep you safe, Ladies!" Sanji grins

Umiko sweatdrops while Zoro looked annoyed.

"Would you knock it off, you Romeo reject!"

"Huh?! You say somethin', moss haired bastard!"

"Umiko can protect herself!"

"What's wrong with a little extra protection?"

Usopp starts shaking as he uses both of his hands to hold his neck "I don't think I'll be able to make it with this cold. It's a condition, really. You guys should just go on without me."

Usopp's whining and the others fighting was starting to get on Nami's nerves, before she could step up to end the chaos, a loud whistle rip through the noise. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the sound.

"That's enough of that!" Umiko stood with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. "Sanji, Zoro enough fighting already! I appreciate the concern really, but I can protect myself thank you. If I need back up, you two will be there. Ok?"

"You can count on me, my sweet!" Sanji coos

Zoro shoot him a nasty glare before sending a smirk Umiko's way "You know I'll be watching your back."

She nods and turns to scared long nose "And Usopp, man up! You're the Great 'Captain' Usopp, remember?'

"Y-You're right!." He does a brave pose, though his legs were still shaking "O-Onward!"

Nami stood there, impressed with how Umiko handled things. Normally, I'd have to beat these guys to a pulp to get them to stop. But with her here, I may get a break.

"Ok, now that you guys can stop acting like idiots, get ready and make sure you're prepared to run as well as fight."

As they entered, a fog starts covering the area, covering the crew's view. Despite the fog, thanks to her father, Umiko eye sight could see through it. Feeling like someone was watching them, she turned in the direction fast enough to see three figures duck from her view. She lays a hand on Zoro's arm, getting his attention. Zoro looks at her both share a silent conversation and nodded.

The fog clears a bit and the crew saw more figures on the land. Everyone was anxious and alert as the fog started to clear only to be surprised at the crowd that was cheering and waving at them like they were heroes.

As they set anchor near the shore, large man with the big curly blond hair wearing a blue suit and holding a gold saxophone greeted them. "My name is Igarappoi and it is my honor as mayor to welcome you to Whiskey Peak."

"Oh, great. My name is Luffy, nice to meet you. Nice hair, I like the curls." He said casually

"You'll find that this place thrives on making liquor and music. Hospitality is a matter of pride in our town. The smile is run long and the liquor flows as bountiful a seawater. Would you permit us to throw party in honor of your arrival so we may hear..." He clears his throat and makes strange noises before continuing "your tales of adventure?"

"We'd be glad to!" Luffy, Usoop and Sanji cheered.

"Idiots" Nami said

Nighttime came and the whole town was quiet, all except for one house where the welcome party was being held. Inside the citizens and the Strawhats were having a great time. Usoop was enjoying the praise and awe he got from his made up stories, Luffy was putting away plate after plate of food in his belly, Sanji looked like he was in heaven enjoying all the girls attention, and the rest was competing in a drinking contest except for Umiko.

"You don't have to join in!"

"Oh yes, he does! He needs the money!"

Umiko looks at orange haired friend, confused "What are you talking about?"

"He owes me!"

"At the risk of getting alcohol poisoning?!"

"Then you join in!"

"Keep me out of it! What is wrong with you?!"

"You should start getting use to this, when it comes to money she's always get like this." Zoro explains. He sighs and holds his cup up "Fine, lets do this."

"Yeah!" Nami and the others cheered

"Zoro!"

"I'll be fine, Umi. I can hold my liquor."

As the drinking competition began, one of the towns folk came up to her and offered her another drink "Come on sweetie, lighten up! Have another drink, this party is in honor of you and your friends!"

She pushes the cup away "As nice as that is, I'm good with one cup thank you. But can you point me to where the rest room is?"

"Down the hall, second door on the right."

She nods in thanks and makes her way there. After closing the door, she looks around and finds a window that's just the right size for her. "Perfect."

She climbs out of the window, grabs the edge of the ledge and starts climbing to the roof. "Now I just wait."

As the hours pass by, she heard the party slowing down a bit.

"Should have known you'd be up here."

She turns and sees Zoro standing behind her with a smirk on his face "You alway knew when something wasn't right with people. So with tip you off about them?"

Her cheeks turn the tint of pink and she giggled "Well it's kind of obvious, I mean really a town welcoming pirates? Even on the Grand Line, that's silly."

He sits besides her "Yeah, I guess you're right there."

"I'm kind of surprised that the rest of the crew let their guard down that easily."

He shrugs his shoulders "I think it's because of Luffy, that guy trusts people too easily. Oh, speaking of the crew, how are you liking things so far? You getting comfortable being a pirate?"

She looked at him for a second then up at the sky with a thoughtful expression in her eyes "To be honest I'm a little uncomfortable."

"Why?"

"I've been hiding my face underneath my cloak for years and now here I am without it. I trust you guys but I feel like I'll be a burden if I stay like this."

"Don't think like that." He said with a stern but determine tone in his voice "I'll make sure nothing happens."

"You can't promise that." She whispers

He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off

"So I noticed you have two new swords, what happened to the two you had before?"

He frowned at her for changing the topic but decided to continue it another time "I fought against a powerful opponent and they were destroyed."

Umiko glanced at his swords and run her fingers across Wado Ichimonji's sheath, giving him a pained smile "At least this one survived."

"Yeah..."

"So who were you up against?"

Zoro tensed up, hesitating to reply knowing she wouldn't like the answer.

"Well?"

Better get it over with..."I was up against Hawkeye."

At the mention of that name, Umiko tensed up, her heart pounding hard against her chest, and her skin grow pale "W-What?"

He looked away ashamed at his lost and guilty for her reaction "Yeah..."

She looks at him, frantically and concerned "Why would you go up against him so soon?! The East Blue is consider the weakest sea among the four seas! Doing something like that is consider suicide!"

"I know..."

"So why?!"

"I HAD TO KNOW!"

She flinches at his risen voice.

He sees this and takes a few breaths calm himself down "I was arrogant and impatient, I had to know if I had what it took to take him down but..."

She gasps as he lifts his shirt and reveals a long scar that ran diagonally across his chest.

"Now that I know how far ahead of me he is, I have to train harder than I did before." He smirks "Then when I face him again, things will end different."

He heard a muffled noise and his eyes widen as looks up to Umiko crying. Her cheeks rosy pink with thick tears running down them, her eyes shut unable to look at him and her hands covering her mouth, muffling her cries.

Zoro panics and brings them to the middle of the roof so cover won't be blown. He brings her to his chest and holds her tight, it was what he did to calm her when they were young. "I'm sorry, I promise I won't to my opponent again. So please don't cry."

What he didn't know is that what happened was only half of the reason why she was crying. The other half was because she was afraid. Ever since joining the crew, she was thinking about finally telling him, telling all of them the truth about who her father was but...

I can't tell him...I can never tell him...if I do, he'll hate me, they all will.

She had no choice now. She didn't know when or if she should reveal her other secret but she knew one thing: despite her guilt from keeping from him and the other, her parentage must remain a secret if she wants to keep her friends close.

She leaned into his embrace, burying her face in his chest and he held her tighter. They stayed that way on top of the roof until the party ended.