It was the piercing cry of a seagull that had black eyes opening blearily to peer up at the blue sky. The figures of the circling birds were blurry, distantly silhouetted against the sun and sparse white clouds, and after a moment those dark eyes had to be averted from the bright light.

Days without food and water had left the owner of those eyes slumping on the log that supported them, tossed by ocean waves and stranded without a sign of land. Too much more time out in the baking sun and salt water and this soul would end up as just another lost at sea.

Not that anyone would care much, since the figure clinging to the small piece of drift wood was a simple spider. Eight spindly black legs clung weakly to the rough edges of the wood that supported the little creature as it drifted along aimlessly in the vast ocean with very little hope of ever finding land.

The spider had just resigned itself to its fate and closed all eight of its shiny black eyes when a rather large wake shook its log and nearly flung it into the water. With a flail of all eight limbs the spider managed to right itself and turn to look for the source of the wave.

The spider had half expected a large fish to be there, gaping mouth ready to swallow it whole. What it didn't expect, and what was now drifting by at a slow speed, was the hull of a ship.

The spider stared at the ship, dumb-founded. The size of the craft blocked its field of vision and provided the first shade the spider had seen in... it couldn't remember how long.

But what was it doing just staring? The ship was going to sail away!

Quickly swiping a leg over its eyes to clear happy tears, the spider plunked all of its twiggy legs into the water and started paddling as quickly as its tiny body would allow toward the ship.

~ ;3 ~

It was hot.

This was the shared opinion of the entire crew aboard the Thousand Sunny. It was just damn hot. The sun was beating down on the lawn and had driven even Luffy below to escape the heat. Half an hour earlier, it had been cold. But that was the Grand Line for you.

All of the windows on the crow's nest were opened, welcoming the breeze into the circular room to try and chase away the heat. It wasn't working very well. But this didn't keep Zoro from his daily workout; the swordsman stood near the center of the round room, lifting a ridiculously heavy weight with one arm and counting off reps in his head.

Without Luffy charging around the lawn the ship was strangely quiet, and Zoro had to admit that it as a pleasant change, even if it was only because of the unforgiving heat of the day.

With a faint grunt Zoro set the weight on the floor and grabbed a towel off the nearest bench to scrub over his face and neck. He just had to put everything back in its place and then he could have a shower. But as he turned to start straightening up, something moved in the corner of his vision and Zoro frowned and glanced down at the weight he had just dropped.

On the floor next to the weight, flailing in obvious distress was a black spider about the size of the swordsman's palm.

Zoro stared at it for a moment, and then realized why it was freaking out; one of its many feet was pinned beneath the weight.

"Eck." Zoro knelt down quickly and lifted the weight off the spider's leg in a stroke of mercy. The spider flopped to the floor and brought its injured foot in front of its face for examination.

Zoro frowned at the spider when it didn't just run away. How had it gotten on the ship? Maybe in the last port they had stopped in? Well, however it had ended up there, it couldn't stay.

"Come here." Before the spider could bolt, Zoro nudged it into the palm of his hand and straightened to his feet to study it. It really was a weird little thing; it had bright yellow stripes around its spindly legs and midsection and a dot of yellow on its head. As the swordsman studied the spider, it cowered in his hand and Zoro felt a pang of guilt for scaring it, but he caught himself quickly.

The hell. It was a spider, not a puppy, and it was going to be living in a jar until they reached the next port and he could release it. Sanji had to have some kind of container he could use for the bug.

At the mention of the cook, a thought struck Zoro and he gave the spider he held a quizzical look. Hadn't Usopp told him something about spiders once? Something about when the sniper had been in that forest with Nami and Sanji and a tarantula had just crawled out infront of them...

The spider wasn't sure what to make of the slow grin that spread across the swordman's face, but it certainly couldn't mean anything good.

~ ;3 ~

An hour til lunch, and Sanji was in the kitchen making preparations. Currently he stood by the sink chopping vegetables into neat slices at rapid speed. He would finish this, then start the meat and--

His planning was cut short by the sound of the galley door opening and then the distinct sound of Zoro's booted steps coming closer.

"Oi, Sanji."

The cook made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and set his knife down. "The hell do you want, marim--"

Sanji just couldn't seem to finish a sentence today. He turned around to give the swordsman a glare and came up short when his eyes locked with eight shiny black orbs instead of Zoro's face.

Eight eyes. Only one thing had eight eyes. Which meant that these particular eight eyes had to be attached to that one particular thing and that meant that the thing now staring him in the eye not an inch from his face was a spider.

Sanji gave a rather undignified scream, flew backward, hit the counter, then ended up on the floor in a pile of pots and pans, twitching.

Zoro and the spider both regarded the cook with interested expressions. Then they both tipped their heads to the left to study him some more, and then they looked at eachother.

"That settles it," Zoro said with a nod as he slid the spider off his palm and onto the kitchen counter. "You're getting released in a tropical paradise."

The spider did a little happy dance on the counter, and Zoro helped himself to a bottle of sake. Not like Sanji was in any shape to stop him.

~ ;3 ~

Don't ask. XDDD It's just a break from my other stuff. My braaaaaiiiiin.

Before anyone says anything, yes I know spiders don't have eyelids and that someone might not be entirely inclined to just PICK ONE UP right off the floor. Shush. Usopp did it!! And this spider is friendly. :C Give him a hug. -nudge- And Sanji totally is afraid of spiders. :v I saw it on page number __of chapter __. 8D -forgot-

And this story's called "Stripes" because that's what I referred to the spider as in my head. XD