DID IT! By the deadline just as I said I would in "Enduring Guardian". (thoughididprocrastinateabit.) Wow! And on Halloween too! So I guess soon for me is like a month later. So next chapter might not be done until a month (we/Icanestimate.) However, I'm really unpredictable so it could be longer or shorter, who knows. All I know is I'm getting this story done! No matter what! (Unless I die. IhopeIjustdidn'tjinxmyself.)

I don't own One Piece only my OC.

"?" owned by RecklessRelentless

"Nee-san? Are you alright?" Haruhi asked as she placed a cup of water down on the table.

Rikku gladly accepted it, "What do you mean by alright? I'm totally fine... why?"

Haruhi gave her a worried look, "You mean you don't remember?" She held the serving tray close to chest.

Tilting her head in curiosity, Rikku let out a nervous laugh, "Haha, what are you talking about?" She took a drink from the glass.

"You died." Haruhi looked at her with blank, soulless eye.

The water tasted coppery, and thick. She looked into the glass and choked on the crimson blood inside of it. "N-Nee-san!" Rikku gave her a surprised look. The glass began to overflow and the shadows in the room began moving, expanding and turning the room into darkness. "Nee-san!" Rikku shouted, grabbing her sister as the blood pooled and began filling up the room.

"R-9... R-9... R-9..." Her sister repeated unmoving and unfazed. The blood pooled up faster and was already at their waist.

Rikku's heart began to beat and her throat clenched, "H-how do you... know that?"She forcefully shook her sister, "How?! W-What?!" Words and questions couldn't make it out of her mouth.

Haruhi was silent for a while, "You're nothing but a subject."

Rikku blinked and in Haruhi's place was Luffy, she blinked again and there she saw Ace, and she blinked once more, and replacing them was nothing but a blob of crimson in the shape of a person. The thing grabbed a hold of Rikku and began sinking her, pulling her down into the thick liquid which continued to rise. Her breathing became short and the walls surrounding her had already become pitch black. Panicking, she struggled out of the grip, but the hand stuck like glue. She stared up at the dark ceiling which looked just the same as shutting her eyes. Red began coming in from the sides of her vision and she knew it was the end.

As fast as everything happened, it was gone. In a sudden blink, she was staring up at a painted sea-green, wooden ceiling. "H-Huh?" She finally noticed she was lying in a white bed with a light blanket around her and was tightly gripping the sheets.

The sound of a door opening in the corner across from her right foot was heard. She sat up to see a marine sailor, and the woman she recognized from the Barrage kidnapping.

"Oh, so you're awake." She said and turned to the other sailor next to her, "Tell Sentomaru that she's awake." She told him and the man saluted before shutting the door behind himself. The woman walked over to Rikku's bed and pulled a chair up that was sitting up against the wall. "So... Rikku, how are ya feeling?" The pony tailed woman asked.

Rikku blinked, confused as to what was going on, "Who are you?"

The woman's face showed obvious shock, "Ugha! You mean, you don't remember me?" She pointed at her own face.

The commodore gave her a sheepish smile, "Ahahaha... Am I supposed to?" She rubbed the back of her head. Though she clearly remember the woman from the Barrage incident, she didn't say anything in fear of getting in trouble, as apparently this woman knew her.

The marine woman huffed and crossed her arms, "It's me, Goto Umeko." She looked at Rikku and waited for recognition and a response, however none came. "I fought your partner on testing day!" She stood up and shouted angrily.

It slowly, but finally came to Rikku who slightly nodded, "Oh."

The door opened and in came a larger looking man whom Rikku instantly recognized, "Sentomaru-san!" Her back straightened out of habit.

"Geez. Thanks for remembering me." Goto said sarcastically.

"Haha, sorry." Rikku rubbed the back of her head. 'I do remember you being quite arrogant though...' She thought to herself.

Sentomaru turned to Umeko, "Goto-san, go check with the navigator about our course and see how long it'll be till we reach HQ."

Goto turned and saluted before taking a second to glance at Rikku and heading out the door. Sentomaru watched before turning to Rikku, "How are you feeling? We found you on Pepper Island unconscious under a lot of rubble. Could you tell us what happened?"

Rikku hesitated for a while, almost like a child who didn't want to tattle. "Uhmm, some pirates got into a fight." She simply said.

"Just some pirates? There was a lot of damage done to the town, some of the buildings were even obliterated."

Rikku quickly decided to change the subject, and she knew just what to change it too, "Sentomaru-san, you work as Vegapunk-san's bodyguard, right?"

Sentomaru casually answered though he figured he knew where this was going, "Yes, though I can't tell you anything as I swore secrecy. Such as the fact that you're subject R-9..."

A silence filled the air around them as Rikku suddenly remembered Sentomaru's odd habit of sometimes blurting out things related to himself. "T-That's it! What is up with all this R-9 stuff?" She asked.

"I already said, I can't tell you." He crossed his arms as if it would seal his mouth shut.

'That's a question that has to do more with myself than him... I need to think of something else...' She thought and began devising, "Hey, Sentomaru-san? I forgot, but when did we first meet?"

Sentomaru tilted his head a bit. He didn't know what she was trying to get out of the question but attempted to be careful when answering, "I first met you when Garp first brought you to Vegapunk's lab at HQ."

She just gave him a blank, yet confused look, "Oh, is that so?"

"Oji-san, where are we going?" A small, seven year old Rikku had asked as she followed behind Garp.

Garp pointed to a tower ahead of them, "I have a meeting to attend over there."The tower had red bars criss-crossing around it and had an oriental style to it. "I just want you to wait outside while I'm in there."

Rikku pouted, "Hmm, but that's boring." She said more to herself than to Garp.

He let out a laugh, "Would you rather be sitting for an hour or two listening to old men talk or be able to walk, sit and go to the bathroom?" He asked and waited for her reply.

She looked up at him with a bit of a disgusted look, "You don't get to go to the bathrooms?"

"Bwahahaha, nope! Cause if I get up to leave in the middle of a meeting, Sengoku will get mad!" He laughed again at the thought. He was suddenly interrupted though as someone called out to him.

"Vice Admiral Garp-san." A voice said coming up from the side of them.

They both turned to see who it was. Rikku didn't know the large man, however she didn't know a lot of people in the place she called home. Though Garp obviously knew who it was, "Ah, Sentomaru. What brings you? How's Vegapunk?"

The man known as Sentomaru stopped infront of them, "He's already in the meeting room. I was just making my way over from the lab to do my duty." He suddenly looked down and noticed Rikku standing close to Garp. "Is this her, I presume?"

Garp nodded, "Yep! This is her! The cute little girl I've taken in to become a marine." He looked down at her, "Rikku." He announced grabbing her attention to avert her eyes from Sentomaru to him. "This is Sentomaru. Sentomaru, Rikku." He introduced them to each other.

The small brunette girl looked back at the larger man, "I-It's nice to meet... you." She finally said as Sentomaru just gave her a nod in response.

The three of them walked into the tower together and began making there way to the meeting room. Once there, Garp opened the door and motioned for Sentomaru to step in, however he shook his head, "I will be guarding from out here."

Garp looked at him, "Alright then. While you're out here then, why don't you keep an eye on Rikku too." He nodded in the direction of the girl who was standing in front of one of two guards standing on either sides of the door. She was attempting at making the guard laugh and was successfully breaking his stoic facade as his bottom lip trembled, trying to contain his emotion. "Rikku!" Garp called and she turned to look at him as the guard let out a huge breath he was holding."Stay out of trouble!" He gave her a proud smile before walking in and shutting the door behind him.

"We met... at the lab?" Rikku quietly said to herself. "No, that's not right... we met at the tower... I think..." She furrowed her brows in deep thought. 'Then why is it that I can only recall first meeting Sentomaru infront of the tower?' She shut her eyes and tried to imagine her first time meeting Sentomaru in the lab, but could conjure no image. 'Could he have lied? No. That's not possible. He has no reason to.' She brought her hand up to her head as she was beginning to get a migraine from all the thinking.

"Rikku, are you alright?" Sentomaru asked, knocking her out of her thoughts.

She snapped her eyes open and looked up at him suddenly, "What? Oh! Yeah! I'm fine, I'm fine. I just need some water that's all. I'm just a little dehydrated." She began moving out of the bed and swung her legs over the side but winced as her ribs felt very sore.

Sentomaru noticed, "You probably shouldn't move around. We found you pinned under some heavy debris."

Rikku waved it off, she needed to get away and have some time to think for herself. She didn't want to be stuck and strapped to a bed with all these thoughts, and she really did need the water. "How long have I been out for?" She asked, suddenly reminded she didn't know the time.

"We found you around noon and it's around 9pm right now, you just missed dinner."

"Huh, so it's been that long... I better go get something to eat then so I can recover faster." She eased herself off the bed lessening the pain. Sentomaru looked like he was about to say something but she could easily guess and cut him off, "If you tell me to stay in bed I'm going to have to refuse, I'm fine and I could use the exercise." She was hiding the pain as she bit the inside of her lip and walked with light steps that wouldn't pain her ribs.

Rikku made it to the door and opened it as Sentomaru walked out after her. He pointed the way to the kitchen before telling her he was going to the navigator as he received no word from Goto.

She finds her way through the halls and finally makes it to the kitchen. Now that it was past dinner time, she assumed the crew was resting as the halls were eerily quiet. So when she opened the door she was surprised to see someone there, however it wasn't a marine crew member like she expected.

When she opens the door there is a large kitchen counter a few feet in front of the door which she expected however then she noticed a hand holding what looked to be a gourd, shaking it as if in hope that more alcohol would come pouring out. Her eyes followed the hand to the owner with long black hair, who was sitting on the floor and leaned up against the counter. The shaking of the gourd had stopped and the hand was slowly brought down as red eyes locked onto brown. "...Where's the booze?" He smiles a bit lopsidedly as Rikku was unable to comprehend who this man was and why he was on this ship.

She stands there quite confused and with no response, taking in his appearance. The man had tattoos on his arms, hand wraps and bandages wrapped around his stomach, other than that he was shirtless, while wearing a black, samurai hakama and sandals. A few seconds later she almost has an epiphany. "...I-I-I-Intruder!" She shouts and turns around to run out the door but as she looks down the hallway she notices Sentomaru slowly walking her way. He notices the freaked out look on her face.

"What is wrong? I was just coming to check on you." He says as he continues walking towards her.

She points back into the kitchen, "T-There's an intruder!" She stutters looking back at the stranger who continued at attempting to get drops of alcohol out of his gourd.

Once Sentomaru made it next to Rikku, who had gotten into a fighting stance, infront of the doorway of the kitchen he looked in and when he saw the intruder, his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here, Redwater?"

"Redwater?" Rikku questioned as she turned her head to Sentomaru for an explanation.

Sentomaru never took his eyes off the stranger, "His real name is Ranger, Ahren. He's a mercenary with the alias Redwater for how well he drinks and fights." His next words were for Ranger, "What are you doing here? Get off this ship before I throw you off." He took a step forwards towards the man sitting on the ground.

Ranger pushed himself to his feet, "Hold it big guy. It just so happens I'm here on business." He grinned lazily as he held up 3 wanted posters and patted the counter behind him.

Thumps responded to his pats from inside the counter. Rikku finally noticed that the cupboards of the island counter were all tied and tightly shut. "Don't tell me they're in there..." She finally asked as more banging could be heard. "Why would you put them in there?!" She shouted at him.

He began picking the inside of his ear as if the noise of the banging was the cause of his earwax, "They wouldn't shut up so I stuffed them in there to have some peace and quiet." He answered casually.

Rikku let out a sigh as she walked over to the cupboard, Ranger stepping out of the way to allow her to untie the ropes and open it. Three figures came tumbling out with their hands and legs tied, and duck-tape taped to their mouths. Rikku picked up the wanted posters left on the counter and compared the faces. "They're exact matches." She told Sentomaru as he walked up behind her to confirm the pirates.

He nodded as he picked up all three pirates at once and turned to Ranger, "This ship I headed towards Marine HQ, there will be no pit stops for you to get off at." He stated as Ranger simply waved it off.

"No worries, I'll find a way as long as I receive my reward."

Sentomaru nods once more to Ranger before turning to leave the kitchen, however he pauses and turns his head towards Rikku. "I'm taking them to the prison," He tilts his head forwards just a little bit as he whispers, "be careful around him. Lately he's been making a name for himself."

Rikku nods and salutes Sentomaru as he leaves. After walking out the door, Rikku turns to Ranger.

She studies him for a few seconds as he returned to drinking droplets of alcohol out of his gourd, she lets out a sigh at his relaxed behavior before moving to the sink and grabbing a glass of water. As she's drinking her water, she notices him giving her a blank, almost soulless stare. She attempted at ignoring it, however it continued so she furiously set down her glass and shouted, "What do you want, Redwater?!

"Where do you keep the sake?" He asks finally.

Rikku's jaw dropped slightly at the question, "Huh?" She paused for a moment before answering, "Why would I give you any?"

He smiled, "Think of it as a part of my reward. I did catch those pirates that you all were having troubles with, after all."

Silently Rikku cursed his pompous attitude, but had to agree with the idea of his reward being more sake than Beli. She walked to the storage room in the kitchen where they kept the alcohol and opened the door. The sweet scent spread throughout the kitchen and Ranger made his way, slightly stumbling, to the door. Rikku watched his posture and movements carefully analyzing them finding openings she could use if she needed to attack him. 'He's letting his guard down too much, just because he's a mercenary doesn't mean I trust him. It's obvious he's already had quite a bit to drink already as his movements are a bit sluggish and they leave openings all over.'

She watched as he went over to one of the barrels of sake and pried it open. He dunked his gourd and fully submerged it in the alcohol. Once it was full he lifted it out and took a large swig of it, to the point where Rikku could see sake spilling out of his mouth.

Ranger wiped the sake from his chin and let out a breath of content, "Ahh! That's some good stuff. A bit on the weaker side but it'll do." He began lifting the opened barrel, and Rikku watched as the barrel was being juggled a bit between his hands.

"Here, give it to me, you're going to drop it." She would feel bad if the cooks had to come to a kitchen with a wasted sake barrel and a messy floor. 'The fact that he also just took another huge drink probably doesn't help either.'

When she walked over to take the barrel from him, he declined at first, though she continued to pester him, confident that he would drop it and she could do a better job. However due to a height difference, once the barrel was passed between the two, a splash of sake had jumped from the barrel and over onto the floor behind Rikku. She winced when the full weight of the barrel was in her arms, normally this wouldn't have been a problem for her but her injuries impaired her. Turning around, her foot slipped from under her and with the barrel still in her hands she began to fall backwards. It was then that Ranger suddenly appeared in front of her pulling the sake barrel back up, which she was holding onto, also pulling her back up. 'How did he-?! He was just behind me a second ago!' She thought to herself as she looked behind her to make sure it wasn't a trick.

"Are you okay?" He asked suddenly causing her to turn her head back to him.

"H-Huh? O-Oh yeah, uhmm thank for tha-" she started saying, embarrassed, however was cut off by his talking.

Ranger had filled his gourd again and taken another swig when Rikku had been talking, "Yeah, you're still as good as ever." He said holding up his gourd of sake and talking to it.

Rikku deadpanned, he was talking and asking about the sake...

"So what's your name?" Ranger asked.

Rikku figured he was talking to the alcohol again, however after a few seconds of continued silence, she looked up to see him staring at her, "Huh, oh... Mikazuki... Mikazuki, Rikku."

Ranger gave a grin, "Great. I'm just going to call you Rikku, and you can call me Ahren."

"You're drunk." She bluntly said in response.

"Whatever you say. So what's on your mind?" He asks her suddenly as he downs his re-filled gourd.

She gives him a questioning look and hesitates on her reply, "What do you mean...?"

He sluggishly wipes drops of alcohol from his chin, "Well it's obvious something's got you distraught." He then waved is arm while holding the gourd, gesturing to her, "You know how I can tell?..." He leaned forward and whispered, "You haven't had any booze yet."

Rikku moved in to punch him, however he unexpectedly bent backwards. With his one free hand he placed his hand down and flipped himself back over and up before swiftly appearing in front of her, the sheathed sword that was kept on his side was now held up against her neck. "Your eyes are clouded and confused..." He said as his deep red eyes bore into dull brown ones, he pulled the sheath away and walked slowly back to the barrel of sake.

Rikku bit her bottom and as if sensing her discomfort, Ahren spoke again, "I'm right, aren't I?" He pauses and waits for an answer, however none comes and so he continues, "Well whatever, it's none of my business anyways." He begins drinking more sake from his gourd.

"I just... don't know anymore." Rikku hesitantly began. "There has just been so much going on lately I can't even comprehend." She thought about her meeting with Luffy and Ace and let out a small laugh. "All I can ever remember was growing up and working towards the goal of becoming a hard-working marine but..." Rikku unexpectedly found herself talking more, unable to hold in all her worries. "Apparently there was more to my life than I can remember." She thought about her sister, Haruhi, and smiled though it quickly faded as she voiced another thought that came into her mind, "I can't even remember the times I had spent with her. I couldn't even remember her." She clenched her fists, though calmed herself as she looked down at the ground, her eyes filled with remorse. "There's nothing but a void of memories in my mind..." She look up at Ahren, "Hey Ahren, do you think-"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzz..."

"..."

"Zzzzzzz..."

"...Tch... WAKE UP, B &*%$#!" Rikku yells loudly at him.

Sluggishly his eyes open and he rubs them, "What?" He asks with a bit of an irritated tone.

"I hope you know it's not polite to fall asleep on someone when they're talking!" She crosses her arms and lectures him.

Ahren scrunches his face in annoyance as he raises his tattooed arms and stretches his back, "Yeah, yeah whatever."

This just pissed Rikku off even more, "You just ask about my problems and then wave them off? Well, what a great first impression, Red Water."

He lazily lifts an eyebrow, in a questioning way, "What happened? I thought we were on good terms, I vaguely remember you calling me Ahren before."

Rikku huffed, "That was before, when you seemed like you cared about any words that came out of my mouth."

"I was listening though." Ahren said seriously.

A bit surprised by his words her arms fell to her sides, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, something about your life in the marines or something..." He gave her a tired smile.

"You just repeated two words out of everything I said!" She shouted at him.

"Zzzzzzzz..." She sighed as she watched him sleep, with his back up against the counter just as she had found him, and his arm strewn over the barrel of sake.

She walks to the kitchen entrance and shuts the lights off and just before she shuts the door behind her she whispers, "I have to admit, talking about it really did help me out. Thanks, Ahren."

The door shuts and a victory smirk made it's way onto the mercenary's face.

Wow, there were actually zero line breaks in this chapter, minus the two, beginning and bottom.

Well, I haven't said this in a while cause I kind of found it selfish, but I would like to hear from any of my readers, old or new so...

Please Review! T_T