I DID it. I fucking did it! I've finished the story that put a stain on my record! As of now, all of the stories I post are finished beforehand. It took me 2 years to finish this story, my writing has changed and I think it's noticeable. A warning is I butchered the timeline to pieces and then glued them together how I wanted them to be. So very obvious canon divergent. There are plot holes about the past since Robin is the captain, so don't think too hard about that. Luffy is OOC, and a bit OP. Lots of Sanji bashing later for obvious reasons. I will be reposting the chapters from the start, so original readers, I'm sorry it's taken so long to finish it and that you won't get a NEW new chapter for a couple weeks. There are sexy times in this one, so for those chapters I'll put an "E" for explicit. It's my longest fic, 155,000 words. Romance is the biggest aspect, but there are multiple fight scenes with canon characters, humor and drama. There is also a lot of violence in this, but most of it is mutual (fighting battles willingly). Enjoy!~

Five very small women walked down the path leading to the town's market, all carrying large paper bags with the goods they bought that day. They each had black hair and fair skin. But their faces all looked distinctly different, though they also each had eyes in a shade of blue or blue-green. They didn't speak, or make any sound, though they seemed to interact with each other. But they made no sound. Their feet also made no sound as they walked.

Everyone ignored them. The citizens gave them a wide berth, and didn't even look at them as they walked in opposite directions. The small women made no eye contact and gave nothing away that they even knew there were people around.

Though the people avoided them, animals constantly went up to them. The people just let their pets walk up to them and be pet. The little, simple dressed women smiled at them, and gave them the attention they seeked. Their owners looked uncomfortable and quickly hurried away once their animals came back to them.

Even the children avoided them, except for infants, who waved and giggled at them. They smiled back at the babies. So, the silent girls smiled with animals and babies, but gave no attention to the adults or older children. And they gave none back.

Zoro watched this from a bench in the market. It was strange to him. Something was off with the lack of interaction between the humans and the small… things. He could tell the creatures were not human based on the feeling that came off of them. Something about them, small as they were, radiated a warning of danger.

Zoro was waiting at the rendezvous point for the crew, drinking from a sake bottle as he watched quietly. It was as if they could feel his eyes on them, for all five of them turned at the same time and stared blankly at him, stopping walking. He wasn't gonna lie; the look was creepy. He looked away, and the girls turned away as well, walking forward once again.

"You really shouldn't make eye contact with them," a passerby told the green haired pirate, gone before he could ask for any elaboration. Zoro frowned, but when he looked back once again, the five creatures were out of sight, having turned a corner to wherever they were going.

Zoro finished his sake just as Robin walked up with a thick book in her hands. "Robin, I got a question," he said, voice sounding disinterested.

"Oh?" she replied, bookmarking her page and sitting next to the swordsman on the wooden bench.

"Is there anything out of the ordinary at this island?" he asked.

"You mean the small nymphs?" she questioned back, having already read much of the book about the island, and most of the information on the little people Zoro had observed. He nodded, assuming that those were what he had seen. "Did you see any?"

"Yeah. It was strange. Everyone just ignored them, or looked scared of them. They're tiny, what's so scary about them?" he questioned, looking at the corner they'd disappeared around. "They were a bit creepy," Zoro added. Robin gave a small smile.

"Well, according to the lore of this island, the nymphs are untouchable. No one interacts with them, because they don't take well with humans, except for small children. They aren't especially violent, but if someone offends them or they feel they are threatened, that person disappears not long after the confrontation, however short it had been.

"They have powers, but no one knows what they are. Those who have followed them to see, foolishly, have vanished and never returned. Another fascinating thing about the nymphs is that they can't speak," Robin explained, a light behind her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Zoro asked.

"They don't have the necessary body parts to be able to speak or make any sort of vocalization. No one knows how they communicate with each other, though it is obvious they communicate somehow.

"Many think it's telepathy, but that's just speculation. Many pirates or newcomers harass them in some way, since they are all on the smaller size and don't react too much to the mistreatment. But after the sun sets, and everyone is asleep, those that bothered them are gone. So no one touches or risks interacting with them, except one. The only one who is allowed to speak with them is the king of this island. But even he doesn't boss them around. They are peaceful creatures, unless provoked, so there is no reason to fight with them.

"The king speaks about the market, and what kinds of crops are being grown for that season. Besides that, the nymphs are their own race. They live somewhere in the forests. They are a mystery. Oh, and they like to steal."

"Steal? Why?" Zoro questioned. If they all kept to themselves, then why do they steal?

"They like shiny objects. That's why no one wears jewelry in public on this island. Weapons often disappear, so you should be careful with your swords while we are here," Robin replied with a smile at Zoro's angry face.

"They aren't taking my swords or they'll regret it," he growled.

"I wouldn't say that out here," Robin suggested. "They could be anywhere. I wish I could interact with them. They are amazing creatures, but I don't want to possibly die painfully," she said lightly.

Zoro scoffed at her comment. "Do they have any weaknesses?" If they ever threatened any of the crew, he'd need a way to fight back. But what could win against something so powerful? If they stole weapons, could they not be cut?

"They can't swim in salt water, similar to the effects of a Devil Fruit. Of course, they are hard to kill because they live far inland, and if you were to take one to the ocean, you'd most likely die within the first five seconds of touching them."

"Hmm. They'd be interesting to fight," Zoro mumbled with a dark smile.

"You will not fight or provoke them," Robin commanded harshly, surprising Zoro. "You could get all of us killed or our ship burned down." Zoro grunted in a surrendering way. Fine. He wouldn't mess with them, unless they messed with him first. Or if they tried to take his swords.

"Have any of them ever been caught?" Zoro questioned. How did anyone know so much about them if they were never studied in some way? Surely just watching them in town wouldn't give all the information in the book Robin had read.

"Yes, but that lead to the 2nd Great Massacre of 1109. There had been a first, but there are no records about what happened then. During both, most of the people living on this island were brutally killed. No one has ever picked a fight with them after that. They just coexist with the nymphs as peacefully as possible," Robin said, smiling slightly. Zoro didn't know if the smile was with the information she knew, or if she was the thinking gruesome thoughts again, like usual.

Sanji came over to them, wondering what Mosshead and Robin had been talking about, because he'd seen them speaking on his way down the road, dragging a cart full of food behind him.

He didn't see the nymphs walking to the side and behind him. They were carrying cakes in pink boxes carefully in their small arms so they didn't drop them. One of them, named Luffy, with shoulder length black hair and big round eyes with a scar under her eye was carrying the biggest one.

"You should have waited for someone else to carry it," the girl next to her told her.

"No, I can do it!" Luffy insisted, clenching her hands tighter on the bottom edges on the cake box. She wasn't going to drop it! She moved to the side, becoming irritated with the slow human in front of her. Some of his food looked really good. If she weren't carrying the cake, she'd swipe some of the bread she could see.

"If you insist. But everyone won't like it if you drop it, and it will be all your fault," Luffy's sister said, carrying her own box, but this one had cupcakes. Luffy couldn't wait for the desert feast the nymphs were having that night for the birth of a new baby. It was always a celebration when a new baby nymph was born, since it didn't happen often.

"This man is really getting annoying," Luffy's friend, Vivi said, looking at the blond haired man with irritation. "We should make him drop all of his food," she said with an inner smirk the other two could hear.

"Not today, Vivi. There is no violence or provoking today. You know this. Well, unless they hurt us. Then we can do whatever we want," Luffy's older sister, Makino, said, though she was itching to knock this irritating man's food down as well.

The three moved away from him, angry with having to do that.

Sanji didn't notice everyone looking at him in fear. He was getting too close to the nymphs, and they were visibly getting angry. Sanji only noticed once everyone scurried away from him and the three irritated nymphs.

Robin watched the nymphs coming closer to her and Zoro in fascination. They were beautiful. Small and delicate looking, each wearing a plain, very light blue, sleeved dress. They had little white slippers on their small feet, and glided across the ground gracefully. They had childlike features, with small noses and big eyes, but they were easy to tell apart.

Then she noticed Sanji getting too close to them on accident. They became visibly irritated, narrowing their eyes in annoyance. Robin hurried over to Sanji, pulling him away from them quickly, telling him quietly to be silent.

But he didn't mind, Robin-chan was holding his arm! Zoro watched the three females as they passed Sanji, losing their negative expressions and going back to their blank faces, only tiny hints of smiles on their faces. He had a hard expression when the one on the far right eyed him, her eyes traveling down to his hip with the three swords resting against it. A small mischievous smile flashed across on her face before it disappeared. Zoro frowned.

"Look at those swords!" Luffy exclaimed. "They're so pretty…" she said. "I want them."

"No, Luffy! You know about today!" Makino scolded. Luffy looked away and to her big sister.

"Then I'll take them tomorrow?" Luffy asked. "Then it won't be against the rules."

Makino sighed. "Yes, if you can find him again tomorrow, steal them if you want." Luffy loved stealing weapons. It didn't matter who owned it. If she wanted it, she'd have it. Regardless of the consequences.

Then Luffy looked up at the human man's face. "Hey, look at his hair. It's green! Why?" Luffy said, extremely interested in his unique hair. "He has a scary frown, though," she observed. She looked at Makino and back to the green haired human man. "Isn't his hair weird?"

"Yes, Luffy, it's strange. But stop staring at him and watch where you are going," Makino said sternly, bumping Luffy away from a big rock she almost tripped on. "Honestly, pay attention! Don't drop this cake! It's special, and I don't want to have to go back to bakery and ask for another right then, because humans aren't good with making cakes on the spot, you know."

"Banishing the last human baker made them afraid of us. But at least they made better cakes for us after that!" Vivi said.

The three passed the man on the bench and turned the corner, walking home through the woods quietly.

Zoro watched the three nymphs carrying the boxed desserts, which were big for their tiny bodies to carry. He frowned darkly when one of them looked at his swords with a small smile. When that one almost tripped, she was bumped to the side. Based on their movements and the way they looked to each other, it was apparent they were communicating somehow, though they didn't open their mouths or make any sounds at all.

"Oh, they're so - !" Sanji started, only to have one of Robin's hands smack over his mouth, silencing him.

"Do not look at them, or bother them at all," Robin warned him darkly. Sanji nodded, then asked why once Robin's hand left his face. She told Sanji she'd tell everyone once they were all together, not wanting to have to explain five more times.

Sanji went to the ship to put the food away and Zoro continued to sit in the same spot while Robin sat next to him, reading the book about the nymphs some more. She had a smile on her face as she read the interesting content. Zoro had his swords sitting in his lap. While they were here, he was going to pay more attention to the swords. He wouldn't let them get stolen. No way. Especially by a tiny, child-like female.

-x-

Nami, Chopper and Usopp were walking around the island, Nami charting, Usopp and Chopper looking for herbs. There were a lot of completely empty areas that were overgrown with plant life. There were some herbs Chopper had never been able to get anywhere else. He was ecstatic. He wondered why none of these herbs had been picked before. They were all untouched. It was strange. Maybe no one had found this place? But it wasn't a super big island, so that would be strange if it were the reason.

The three didn't know they were being watched by angry, small creatures. This place was for the nymphs! Why were there humans here? And they were taking the medicine that the nymphs use for sickness and injuries. But they weren't supposed to be hostile that day, because it was a celebration day. But they couldn't just have people and a strange creature picking their precious resources.

"Humans are picking our herbs!" a male nymph shouted to his friend, Marco. "What do we do?"

Marco frowned, thinking of a solution. "Well, we can't banish them, because it's a celebration day. We could try and scare them off, but if they're here, then they don't live on this island. Though, we can't have them picking our plants… We could use Chouchou to scare them off," Marco suggested.

"That would work!" Ace said, impressed with the quick thinking. Ace shouted Chouchou's name, knowing he was sleeping somewhere close. He must have been very deep asleep, because these humans were very loud. And violent! The red haired woman hit her companion often. The nymphs never hurt one another. Humans were terrible.

Chouchou the wolf came up, yawning. "What is it?" he asked. Nymphs could speak to animals like how they spoke to each other. Marco told him the problem, and the wolf agreed to scare them off.

As Chopper picked the herbs, he suddenly heard angry voices about humans taking their precious plants. There were people somewhere watching them. According to these voices, Chopper was stealing. He frowned. These voices sounded strange. Almost similar to how speaking to another animal sounded.

But these voices were not animals. He could just tell. Chopper sighed in disappointment as he put the bundle of picked plants back on the ground.

Then he heard the voices wanting to send a wolf in to scare them. Chopper didn't want that to happen, so he spoke to whoever was talking to the wolf.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, unsure about where the voices were coming from. "We didn't know this place belonged to you! We will leave now!" Usopp and Nami looked at him strangely.

"What are you doing?" Nami asked, confused as to who Chopper was talking to.

"Didn't you hear those voices? This area belongs to someone else," Chopper said, confused as well. Usopp asked what he was talking about again.

"We just need to go. They don't want us here. We'll buy medicine in a town or something. Let's go," Chopper insisted. Usopp and Nami grudgingly agreed, and as the three left, Chopper called that they wouldn't be coming back.

Ace and Marco watched from the trees as the two humans and one animal left. They both looked at each other.

"He could understand us. And he spoke out loud! Should we follow it?" Ace asked with a smirk. Chouchou had left with a huff, irritated his nap had been interrupted.

"No, not today," Marco replied to his friend. "At least he won't be coming back to pick more. He heard our warning."

-x-

All the pirates had met up, besides Sanji, who was now guarding the ship, at the meeting point. Chopper, Nami and Usopp were all still a bit confused about their experience. Nami had to stop her charting on the island because Chopper insisted it was a bad idea. He didn't want them to piss off any more of the creatures the voices belonged to. They seemed pretty hostile.

But as they walked back to the ship, Robin telling them she'd explain about this island back at the Going Merry, Chopper continued to hear voices from nowhere. He was starting to think he was crazy. But he said nothing. If no one else could hear it, what was the point? And it's not like the voices were doing something bad. They were mostly talking about a birthday party.

Nami had been the only one of the coward trio that had noticed some of the little people and the strange behavior from the villagers.

When they all finally reached the ship and went to the galley, Robin explained what she had read. Sanji looked shocked, thoroughly glad he had not interacted with the small women. Chopper finally spoke up after Robin's explanation was over.

"I've been hearing voices in the village! But I never see anyone talking!" he exclaimed. "They got mad at us for picking plants from their area… are they gonna kill us all?" Chopper asked in horror. "I mean, I apologized and put everything back, so we should be okay, right? Right?!" Usopp and Nami shivered.

"I don't wanna go back onto the island!" Usopp shouted. Nami seconded this. But then she frowned.

"There's still eight days until the log pose is done… I guess we can just stay on the ship? It might be boring but it would probably be safer for some of us." She looked straight at Sanji. Nami saw a handful of nymph females and they were all beautiful. Sanji would end up killing them all.

"I'll be fine, Nami-san," Sanji assured as he cooked. But everyone narrowed their eyes at him, not believing him. "I bet Mosshead doesn't want to go back because a little girl wants to steal his lame swords," Sanji said with a smirk.

Zoro just gave a scoff. "No little girl is gonna get the best of me. Robin had to cover your stupid mouth so you didn't hit on them and get us killed. Dumbass," he replied.

"Want me to spit in your food?" Sanji asked casually.

"Then Nami won't ever trust your food again." This shut Sanji up.

"Usopp, you're on watch," Nami said casually as she ate what Sanji just served. Usopp almost spit out his drink.

"I am not on watch! There's scary monsters out there! And they saw me! I don't wanna die!" he screamed.

"Shut up!" Sanji and Zoro both shouted, glaring at each other for talking at the same time. Robin put down her drink.

"I will stay out with you, Usopp," she offered. "I never finished the book." Usopp looked greatly relieved, and went back to his meal, knowing Robin was strong and good at negotiations; she was the captain after all. She would probably be the best to diffuse a sticky situation with one of the small, scary nymphs. Robin secretly hoped to see some during watch.

I'm so happy I finished. I know from before that this fic never had a lot of attention or followers, but I'm just happy it's finished. It'll be awesome if it's popular, but I'm fine if it doesn't catch on. I just hope everyone enjoys it enough to stick through it. See you next week!