Sorry for the late update life is getting a little hectic. AP Exam week is just wrapping up and I recently just got a job so I have a lot less free time on my hands. On the upside summer is coming up soon and that means I get to start college applications. Yay!

Anyways hope you enjoy this next chapter. Thank you so much for all the support, your likes and reviews mean a lot.

-Y.H Night


Little garden was filled with more green than Miki had ever seen in her entire life. It was beautiful and so different than the boring ice and snow of the North Pole that it made her want to explore. She wanted to see the trees and flowers she'd only caught glimpses of in the spirit oasis.

"It's amazing!" She whispered, beside her Luffy laughed.

"Shishishi, we should explore!" The rubber captain grabbed her arm, dragging her to the side of the ship.

"You shitty captain!" Sanji yelled. A kick to the head sent Luffy flying, "Don't drag Miki-tan with you on your dumbass adventures!" The cook finished angrily the cigarette in his mouth burning with an orange ember.

"Its alright Sanji," Miki said placatingly, "I wouln't mind seeing more of the island."

The Cook's face screwed up in conflict, warring between instantly agreeing with Miki and continuing to beat up his captain. Luffy took the opportunity created by his distraction to bounce back up with a laugh.

"Sanji, we need pirate lunchboxes!" Luffy cheered and Miki smiled as Sanji agreed with a defeated sigh. As much as the blonde postured and complained about his captain she could tell that like the rest of the crew Sanji would eventually cave to the straw hats whims.

"Do you mind if I come?" Vivi asked nervously making her way towards them.

"Vivi you want to go to," Nami looked aghast at the other woman, "I mean Miki is one thing but…"

"It seems interesting," Vivi shrugged shooting the navigator a small apologetic smile.

The three of them set off from the ship treking through the lush jungle. It was amazing, beyond anything she'd ever seen before and Miki marveled at the sight. So much was new to her, and she felt herself reaching out to touch everything. She stroked the waxy feeling leaves and marveled at the rough texture of tree bark beneath her palms.

Miki was observing a particularly interesting flower when the earth shook. Thrown off balance she reached out to steady herself, yelping when her fingers landed on the thorns of the flower bush before her. A spark of hot pain had her instantly recoil from the plant whirling around to face the new danger.

"What was that?" Vivi asked panicked. The princess's eyes darted around in fear.

Miki was to stunned to answer as she stared at the massive creatures roaming before them.

"Dinosaurs!" Luffy cheered stretching out an arm to grab the nearest beast's neck.

"Wait Luffy!" Vivi shouted. Ignoring her the rubber captain swung into the air with excited laughter.

"Spirits." Miki whispered in awe as the majestic beasts lumbered by

"Miki-san!" Vivi turned towards her frantically, "Shouldn't you stop him?!"

Miki looked at the frantic girl, "Why?" She asked, "Is he doing something wrong? Luffy looks like he's having fun, and it doesn't seem like the creatures are to dangerous."

She'd spoken to soon though because in the next second one of them opened their gaping mouths and swallowed Luffy whole.

Eyes widening Miki gasped in shock, Vivi screamed.

What happened next was a blur, one moment the boy had disappeared in the gaping mouth of the giant lizard the next the neck of the creature was severed and Luffy continued his path shooting out of the newly formed hole.

"Giants," Miki said faintly staring at the large man who was talking with Luffy, "Of course this place has giants."

-o-

"I fear that I've lost my mind." Miki deapanned, "Are we actually standing on a wax cake slowly becoming wax sculptures?"

"Afraid so." Zoro answered gruffly.

Miki sighed, "I miss the good life, living on ice with the turtleseals. It's too warm and confusing here I want to go back home where life was simple and understandable." She threw her hands up in frustration.

"That whole sentence literally made no sense!" Nami cried out hysterically as she glanced fearfully at the spinning contraption above their heads.

Vivi just gave them odd looks, "You are the craziest pirates I have ever met." The princess declared flatly.

It was a depressing thought that their adventure would end this way. Miki had met giants, seen giant lizards the size of fabled dragons, and now she was about to become immortalized in wax by a man with an outrageous hairstyle.

"You do realize we're going to die if we don't do anything."

Miki knew Nami was right despite the hilarity of the situation. The wax cloud raining down on them was already making it hard to breathe.

"Miki can't you use your water powers to get us out?" Nami turned towards her desperately.

She bit her lip looking nervously at Mr. 3. Crocus had warned her about using her bending and while she'd been okay with using it around the crew who already knew about it, she was hesitant to use it around strangers. Besides it would do little good. "My water bending can't help us Nami, this wax is too hard and not to mention waterproof." She explained apologetically.

"Damn it," Nami cursed, Vivi looked worried.

She stared hard at the man who had forced them into this predicament. Like most other inhabitants of this world he was eccentric, his hair was curved into an odd shape and was burning at the end like a windy candle wick.

The haze of wax was blurring her vision and she blinked furiously rubbing at her eyes to remove the wax gathered in her eyelashes. This wasn't good at this rate they'd be dead in an hour. She had to find a way out of this.

"What about you Mr. Bushido can you do anything" the princess asked Zoro.

Zoro looked contemplative for a moment before he unsheathed two of his swords.

Miki stared wide eyed as the man brought the swords closer to his legs.

"Zoro what are you doing?!" Nami asked.

The swordsman looked up with a neutral expression, "I'm going to cut off my feet."

Miki stared at him in horror.

Nami seemed to share her sentiment. "That's a horrible idea!" The navigator screeched at the swordsman, fingers twitching like she wanted to throttle the man.

Miki agreed with Nami, cutting off your feet was an insane idea. Not only would someone probably die of blood loss from the injuries, but there would be no way for Zoro to fight on two bloody stumps.

"It's better than doing nothing. I'll still have two arms to fight." Zoro scowled

"O-oh I guess that makes…." no sense! Miki wailed internally as words failed her, she couldn't believe he was actually going to do something so stupid.

Zoro smiled, teeth gleaming threatingly as he refused to back down, swords still hovering at his ankles. She let her head fall into her hands in defeat. What was wrong with this world?

-o-

Miki winced as her burnt shoulder brushed on the side of the doorway. Hissing in pain she glanced over the angry looking red skin. While she was gratefull for Usopp's intervention, she hadn't escaped his blaze unscathed. The burn on her arm was ugly and painful, but burns were the easiest injuries for a waterbender to heal.

"Hey Miki!"

She let out a small yelp, jumping slightly.

"Luffy! you startled me!" She exclaimed heart racing as she looked at the vest wearing captain on Merry's figurehead.

In the darkness of the night he looked almost supernatural, seated in a lazy crosslegged position and smiling with gleaming white teeth.

"Shishishi, sorry Miki!"

She made her way towards him coming to stand near him. It was a dark night and she found herself looking across the dark oil slicked waves.

"Did you need something, Luffy?" She asked him after a moment of looking.

Luffy cocked his head, "Huh?"

She giggled at his bewildered look, she reminded him of the children who often visited the clinic, "I just wanted to know why you called out to me."

Luffy's face stayed confused, "Isn't that obvious, you're interesting!" He looked at her in disbelief, incapable of understanding why she didn't think the same.

"Oh I didn't know that." She said softly, a fond smile snuck upon her face.

"Wha! You're super interesting Miki!" Luffy cried out in offense, "You make water do all this weird swirly stuff, and you have all those really neat hair thingies, and you wear fur," His eyes grew wide enough that she could almost sees stars of awe glinting within them as his arms gestured wildly.

An old feeling of warmth swirled within her. Luffy, was blinding in a way. Miki had spent all her life at the icy North Pole. The snow, the wind, even the glacier on the surrounding sea had a way of seeping into the people's soul hardening them, and making them cold as their surroundings. Until today she'd never known people could be so warm like this. It made her want to envelop Luffy, in a desperate attempt to warm her own icy heart.

Instead she asked, "Would you like me to make you a coat of fur?"

Luffy's delighted look was all the answer she needed.

"You can make that?!" He asked, voice louder in his excitement.

"Of course," She gestured at the fur cuffs of her current outfit, "I made all of my clothes."

"That's so cool!" He crowed leaning in to get a better look.

Miki obligingly spun so he could get a full view.

"And you can make me an awesome captains cloak with our jolly roger, ooohhh and tiger fur all around it, and make it with gold skulls!"

Miki grinned, "Of course, it's the least I could do for you."

Luffy's blinding smile was all the thanks she'd need.

-o-

After talking a little longer with Luffy Miki made her way towards the girls quarters. It had been a long day and exhaustion was starting to take hold.

"Sit still." She heard Nami's stern voice from inside the main cabin. Curious Miki peeked inside. Zoro was on the couch stretched to reach for a nearby sake bottle while Nami glared at him. holding a needle and thread above his ankles.

"A-ah wait!" Miki cried out as Nami made a move to bury the needle into his skin. Both pirates looked up at her call, and she suddenly felt self conscious under their stares.

"Um I can help, I-I mean I can heal Zoro." She stuttered out nervously fiddling with the hem of her dress. Nami arched her brow suspiciously as she approached taking a seat besides Zoro. Glancing at the fearsome swordsman she bent out water from her pouch.

"What are you doing?!" Nami asked eyes widening as she poured healing energy into the water until it began to glow.

She placed her hands on the wound sites wincing at the damage. Her own healing skills were superficial at most and she doubted she could completely fix Zoro's ankles. Shaking off her doubt she concentrated harder, she had to do this. Sweat beaded at her brow as she willed the skin to close.

The skin knitted together slowly the deep cut slowly shrinking. After a few minutes the strain got to be too much, her vision danced with spots and she swayed dizzily, but she held on, hands firmly fixed to the swordsman's ankles.

"Stop" she fell back at the push at her shoulder. Pain flared up her burnt arm and her vision whited out for a moment. When she came back too, she was lying on a couch looking up at a worried looking Nami, and a scowling Zoro.

"Hey Miki are you okay?" Nami asked.

Miki blinked confused at why she was lying down. She attempted to push herself up.

"Oh, I think so."

"Don't get up." Zoro said harshly, "You're injured."

Miki opened her mouth to protest, but Zoro just glared harder. Sitting back down she held the swordsmans eyes until his angry look was replaced with a mildly appeased one.

"What was that?" Nami asked as she shifted a pillow under Miki's head.

"It's healing, its the standard waterbender education for women in my tribe." She explained smiling gratefully at the navigator.

"That's a useful skill, especially on this crew." Nami sighed.

Miki giggled at the harsh truth in her words, "Yes it is, but I'm really not that great at it." She glanced at Zoro's ankles which were still red and inflamed, though, the cut was no longer visible.

"Really?! Wow I thought that water thing was amazing."

"My sensei would be dissapointed," She frowned at the idea of the scolding she'd get for such a poor job, "They'll scar." She murmured drowzily.

Nami's face screwed up in a funny way, "I still think that's a useful skill."

Miki blushed at the compliment, "Thanks Nami." She said quietly, the navigator replied with a bright smile of her own.

Zoro grunted from the side, "It was stupid to overexert yourself like that."

Miki looked down and Nami turned towards Zoro, "Zoro don't be rude!" The Navigator yelled reaching out to smack the swordsman in the head.

"Oi stop hitting me," Zoro yelled, "I'm just saying she shouldn't have tried to heal me if she didn't even have the energy to heal herself."

Miki looked at the swordsman in confusion, "What do you mean? I'm pretty sure I got all of my burns."

"Burns?!" Nami yelped turning away from Zoro, "You got burned."

Miki blinked, "Yeah didn't you?" She asked. Miki thought everyone in the fire must have had some sort of damage. Her eyes widened as that realization sunk in, "Oh my spirits I'm so sorry, I totally forgot I have to heal your burns." She reached out only to be waved away by Nami.

"No don't worry I don't have any serious injuries." Nami said quickly.

Miki looked up at Nami skeptically, but it was hard to discern if the other girl was lying especially since her vision was blurring.

"I wasn't talking about burns," Zoro interrupted, "I was talking about the cuts on your fingers."

Glancing down at the mentioned appendages, she blinked at the sight of the visible cuts on her hands. They'd scabbed over, but looking at them she realized they throbbed.

"Oh I forgot about those," She mused aloud yawning, "I...I think I fell on some thorns when I was running from Mr. 3."

"That's not important right now." Nami said sternly pulling up a blanket to cover Miki's body, "You're obviously tired Miki, you should get some rest."

The waterbender wanted to argue, but her eyelids felt heavy. Before she could say anything else she felt herself drifting off to sleep.

-o-

The next few days on sea were calm. Vivi had begun to relax amongst the crew, the tightness in her smile fading into something softer. Despite her new found ease the worry in her eyes never left.

Miki herself had become accustomed to the colorful personalities of the pirates. In Nami she had found a companion for stargazing, the two comparing constellations from their own worlds. Miki shared the stories she'd learned from elders and Nami helped her learn how to navigate by the new stars.

Luffy and Usopp had the most energy. They'd drag her into games or make her stand by in case Luffy fell overboard while fishing. The duo made her laugh and smile as they engaged in foolish antics. Usopp was curious and clearly an intellectual asking questions about waterbending and her home, while Luffy brought an air of levity to the gloomiest of days.

Even Sanji who still occasionally flustered her with his shameless flirting, had managed to grow on her. His flavorful and diverse dishes were amazing, beyond the spices of the limited diet she'd been raised on. Whenever she inquired about his cooking, a serious air seemed to settle over the cook, changing the excitable man into an engaging conversationalist. It made him far easier to be around, as Miki was still uncertain on how to deal with his bold affections.

And whenever everything became to much she sought out Zoro. He was quiet and calm and simply sitting near him in silence seemed to bring everything back into perspective. The rough exterior and resting scowl that had initially frightened her were now strangely comforting especially as she began to realize how protective he was of the others. He was usually the one to jump in after Luffy if the captain ever fell overboard, and he always seemed ready for danger, prowling like a wolf defending his pack.

It had begun to feel comfortable, and it was terrifying how easily Miki let herself relax in their presence. Home had been filled with rules and expectations. There was a certain way to talk, a certain way to sit, a certain way to eat. Everything was scripted, controlled by years of tradition. Even though she knew the danger, she couldn't help but embrace the freedom and spontaneity of this new life.

If only mother could see me now, she thought spitefully lazily gazing across the endless sea. If she focused hard enough she could envision the dissapointed look, from those icy eyes, cutting deeper than any words. The familiar feeling of guilt at her actions that her mother's look never failed to bring up, settled heavy in her gut.

"Miki-san?" It took a moment for her to register the sound of her name being called, startled she turned towards Vivi.

"Oh Vivi! How can I help you?" She asked shaking away the haze of bitter memories.

The princess looked at her strangely. Face pinched with an unreadable emotion. A moment passed as Vivi seemed to search Miki's face looking for something, eventually the princess let out a defeated sigh.

"Nothing really, you just looked a little lost in thought."

"Oh, apologies," Miki smiled sheepishly, "I just got a little carried away thinking of...home." She kept herself from flinching at the white lie.

Vivi looked intrigued, "Pardon my curiosity, but if you wouldn't mind I'd like hearing about your island? I'm sure a land filled with waterbenders must be a fascinating place."

Miki cocked her head, "I doubt it's as interesting as you imagine, but I don't have an issue explaining a little more," She gestured towards the empty space beside her, waiting until Vivi was comfortably seated to continue talking.

"Well…" Nervously she licked her lips, she'd so easily complied with Vivi's request, but now that she thought about it she wasn't quite sure where to start. "My homeland is very cold." Miki started, smiling slightly at the understatement.

"Everywhere you look there's ice, and if it's not ice than it's snow." Miki gestured in the air imitating the fluffy flakes of snow that piled all around the village. "My people are called the Northern Water Tribe, and we've lived on our land for centuries. The village is carved into a glacier, bridges and homes made from the ice itself. When the sun sets it's beautiful."

She sighed closing her eyes to remember the sight of the sparkling ice homes catching every color of the fading light.

"Every home is alight with fire, and the ice just seems to freeze all that beauty in time."

"It sounds wonderful." Vivi's said awed staring out across the ocean like she could see the tapestry of colors emblazoned in Miki's memory.

"It is." Miki said quietly, remembering the last time she had watched the sun set over her home.

Nalan and her had snuck out, taking some seal jerky from the storehouse to climb the glacier cliffs. It was an activity forbidden by their mother, but Nalan had been swayed to help her with the promise of healer training. The icy winds on the top of the glacier had made her shiver wrapping the thick parka she'd just finished making tighter around her shoulders.

Nalan had finished bending their path and pulled himself up to take a seat besides her.

"It's beautiful" She breathed out watching the first crimson colors of sunset bleed across the ice.

Nalan's silence was agreement enough.

"I wish we could stay here forever," She continued wistfully staring down at the village, where she knew their mother was looking for her no doubt ready to introduce her to another family for a betrothal match.

Nalan glanced at her eyes downcast from the glare of the setting sun, "She still trying to set you up with Tanloq?"

"Probably," She said bitterly.

Nalan sat in silence looking back out across the ice and the sea, "You know she's only looking out for you." He shifted awkwardly glancing at her from the corner of his eyes.

Miki snorted in a rare show of misconduct. A wave of furious anger swelled up in her chest, burning against the biting cold. "No she's not, Mother's looking out for herself, she knows how a good marriage will further the status of our family." She spat out bitterly.

Nalan bit his lip obviously uncomfortable with the topic. Sometimes Miki envied him for that. As the firstborn son and waterbender Nalan trained under the best master and joined father on his hunts and patrols, the only time he dealt with mother was when he came home for dinner and even then Aput never had a harsh word. Not for perfect Nalan who was bringing honor to his family.

Miki wasn't proud of her envy and she knew none of it was Nalan's fault, but it didn't stop the feeling of jealousy that reared it's head whenever mother smiled kindly at her brother and praised him for being such a good son, while she turned to glare at her daughter.

It hurt. And at times Miki felt like breaking down crying or screaming and throwing the stewed prunes on her plate into her mother's face. Despite that she wouldn't allow herself to take out her astringent feelings on Nalan, he was still her younger brother and no matter her own struggles she'd always love him.

She wrapped her arm around his shoulders smiling at his startled look, "Come on brother, no need for the long face, lets just enjoy this moment." She gestured out in front of them.

Nalan's face melted into a hesitant yet genuine smile. He let himself lean into her side, "You're still going to teach me a new healing technique right?" He muttered into her coat.

"Of course my little King, I promised didn't I." She whispered back.

The two of them had sat there, leaning against eachother for warmth.

"My brother loved the sunset." She said quietly, the familiar feeling of tears dripping down her face, "He was always afraid that we'd get in trouble, but whenever I asked he'd still come with me to watch."

Vivi startled reaching out tentatively "Miki, are you alright?" She asked concerned

Miki sniffled, reaching up to rub furiously at her eyes. "O-Of course, I apoligize Vivi I'm just a little homesick." She lied.

"I understand." Vivi said gently, "I miss my home to." The princess reached out and wrapped Miki up into a hug.

Tense for a moment the water bender let herself relax into the comforting embrace. For just this moment she'd let go, let go of the responsibility, let go of the rules. It was okay for today, because tomorrow she'd stop letting herself be distracted, she had to. There was too much at stake for her to forget.

Too much at stake to give into her selfish longing for freedom and warmth.

There was just too much at stake, and despite all her failures, all the disappointments to her honor, to her mother, and to her father. Miki refused to fail her little brother.