Authors Note: When I started writing this, I'd only just gotten up to the end of the Water Seven section, and so Franky was still quiet a new character to me -and I'd never really read about Brook- but I did try to include him. Hell, I tried to include all of them in little bits but the only one that seemed to have more than the odd line was Robin but that's mostly because -to my mind at least- she's really smart. Of course, now I'm half way through Impel Down and catching up fast so please don't think little of me and try to Enjoy!

BTW, Silk is my own character, so you'll find her no where else except the Soul Eater story I wrote. Feel free to read that one too; Simple Solutions to Stubborn Situations.

She was weak.

Just floating there... lost and surrounded by water.

This wasn't the way she wanted to die.

Clinging to the single piece of drift wood she'd found, she tried once again to move her body.

She grunted and was able to move a little but only a little before she slipped and nearly lost her grip on the slimy broken plank. Gasping in shock, she was rewarded by a mouthful of salt water and a renewed grip on the wood.

Coughing and chocking out water she finally sighed and slumped back onto the wood, resting her head on its damp surface for a moment, her black eyes looking over the endless horizon of water. As she lay there, once more she could feel the tiny fish of the sea coming up to have a small nibble at her toes to see if she was dead yet and edible. But she kicked her feet quickly under the water and then had to stop and rest again, her little energy gone once more.

This wasn't the way she wanted to die.

No one wanted to die, but everyone had a way they would like to go, if they were given a choice!

She assumed at least.

Closing her eyes she managed to doze off again on the slimy plank, the sun beating down on her, the wind tugging at her short hair and the water of the sea lapping at her shoulders and arms over the wooden plank. The rocking of the waves was gently luring her into a death sleep she knew, and she fought it with every part of her mind, even as her body was slowly, slowly starting to give up.

"Is she alive?" Asked a female voice softly. The gentle voice was one of a few that she'd heard coming and going in her dreams, she'd just assumed they had been hallucinations thrown up by her starving, dying mind. Another voice answered it, sounding younger and slightly higher than the first even though she was sure it was male.

"Yes. We found her just in time," it confirmed and she felt gentle hands removing a damp cloth from her forehead and eyes. "The sun burn is easy to sort out, as is the wind burn. The fever will break soon and then hopefully she'll wake up."

"That's good," the other voice had sounded anxious before she realized, now it sounded relieved. "I've brought some more of Sanji's broth for you to feed her."

"Oh good!" Said the first voice happily, "I was thinking of asking him for some more soon, its good that we keep feeding her."

"Well he says its perfect for those that haven't eaten properly in a long time," said the female voice a little nervously, "he should know after all." There was a little nervous laugh and the sound of cutlery and crockery being moved around on wooden surfaces.

Part of her mind was still extremely confused by all of this but the longer she was awake the smaller this part grew. She'd obviously been picked up by someone passing her by on the sea, she'd not floated to some island or other luckily. As she was thinking about starting to move, her mind began to drift off to sleep again, despite the promise of food soon, she was unable to stay awake.

Time was hard to judge as she awoke and fell asleep again several times, but this time as she awoke she felt stronger, she felt able to move her own body at last. Mentally reaching out she was able to contact the symbiote that lived on her body like a silk wrapping, tendrils of it shifted a little as it too lazily awoke at its masters touch.

Listening in the room, she could hear someone breathing but they were awake, so ready to run for it, she opened her eyes and looked straight into... a damp cloth. Starting to shift an arm to lift it and remove the bandage she realized she was also tied to the bed she was laying in, the bonds were padded and comfortable enough for her to not notice them on waking.

Shifting gently she tugged at the bonds as silently as she could, but they felt very secure. Restraining from sighing in annoyance, she commanded a tendril of silk to slip up and tug aside the cloth over her eyes. To her dismay she realized how weak her symbiote was as it was slow to move and could only tug weakly at the cloth before it was finally able to move it to one side. Panic flooded her for a moment when she realized how close to death she must have come!

Trying to be sensible and focus on the situation at hand, she blinked her eyes a few times to get them used to the soft candle light in the room and realised she was looking up at a wooden beamed ceiling with wooden planks behind the beams. The air was still even if the place seemed to rock a little, she was on a boat obviously but low down in the boat, in a crew quarters of some kind.

Turning her head, she saw that she was being watched over by a calm woman with long black hair just past her shoulders, her dark eyes were trained on the book in her lap. She watched the woman carefully for a few moments until at last the book was closed with a soft sigh and a smile and the woman looked over at her.

"I'm sorry," she said in a warm voice, "I knew you were awake, I just wanted to finish my chapter."

"S'ok," she croaked, shocked to feel her throat so sore and dry despite the constant meals and fluids she knew she must have been having. The young male voice from before had sounded like he knew what he was doing, unless he'd been relaying a message and this was the doctor?

"I'll untie you now your awake," she the woman with a smile, not moving an inch but she could feel hands on her, on the restraints. Looking down, she stared in shock at the hands that had risen up from the bed and were now untying the restraints around both wrists and ankles, there were four pairs of arms.

"That's a strange trick," she croaked once she was free, moving her arms slowly and carefully, testing her strength and dismayed to find herself weaker than she had originally believed. "Why was I tied up?"

"You had a fever," explained the woman as calmly as ever, resting her chin on her hand, her other hand resting on the closed book in her lap. "You had hallucinations because of this and some of those were quiet violent. We had to tie you up so you didn't injure yourself or anyone else. You trashed poor Chopper's medical room."

"I'm sorry." What else was there she could say?

There was silence a moment, the two women watching each other carefully until at last there was a knock on the door only moments before a small figure entered it. She assumed it was an animal of some kind but one that was human enough to wear pants and a hat. Judging by the hoofs, muzzle and antlers, she summarized that the creature was part Reindeer and left it at that.

"You poked me Robin?" He asked in the familiar young boys voice, looking at the woman and not at herself. The woman, Robin, nodded and with another smile pointed towards the bed.

"Oh your awake!" The little figure was happy it seemed and he moved quickly to her bedside, one little hoof coming up to her forehead to check her temperature she assumed. "That's good. My name is Chopper and I've been your doctor for the past week while you've been with us." He said moving on to check her pulse, pupil dilation and ear canal.

"I've removed the restraints," said Robin it was still casual and calm but there was an edge of warning in that tone.

"I'll be careful," said Chopper cheerfully, "can you go tell Luffy and the others?"

"Sure." And with that, Robin gracefully got up and moved out the small room, shutting the door behind her. She watched the woman leave before her dark eyes returned to look at the small reindeer before her, Chopper.

"Can you move?" He asked, stepping back and allowing her to do so. "If you need help, please tell me, it'll help me work out how long left until your well again."

She nodded and swallowed before shifting her arms and legs around a little first, stretching tortured muscles and remembering she'd been in a fever and a bad one by the sounds of it. Taking a deep breath she started to push with her elbows, shifting the weight slowly to her hands as she was able to lift herself up into a sitting position. Grunting a little with the effort she was even able to turn herself and lean against the cabin wall next to the little bed, breathing hard and faintly shaking once she was done.

"You should be careful," scolded Chopper, hoping up on the bed and taking her pulse and temperature again. "If you push yourself too hard, you may relapse back into a fever and all that hard work will be for nothing."

"Sorry" she whispered in her frog voice.

"Alright," said Chopper as if letting her off with only a warning. "I'll get you some water, just a moment." He hoped off of the bed and was back again in a blink, a jug and cup in each hand, "I want you to drink as much as you can but do it carefully. Your stomach is still bruised from starvation."

She just nodded and sipped at the water, taking bigger and bigger sips each time and wincing a little as her stomach shifted and moved, letting her know how bruised and sore it really was. Holding the cup out again mutely, little Chopper just filled it right up again, this time she drank it properly but after drinking half of it, she held it in her lap and mentally called on her symbiote again, waking it up once more. The silk wrappings around her body seemed to shiver and several long ribbons seemed to come to life, slithering or lengthening and moving until the cup in her lap had seven or eight long strips of cloth hanging out of it apparently.

Choppers eyes were wide in shock and shivered a little, managing to stammer out, "i-is that n-n-normal?"

"Yes," she said quietly, her throat was feeling better but a little sore all the same, she assumed she must have been screaming at some points in her fever. "Its okay, its my symbiote. It won't hurt you, but it needs a drink too."

As both pairs of eyes watched, the water in the cup was slowly drained away and the tendrils slithered and slipped out, disappearing or seemingly becoming just part of her clothing again. She smiled a little at the emotional feed back, "it is happier now." She said to the small doctor, "thank you for saving us."

"Oh! Oh, it wasn't me," said the little reindeer nervously but she could see he was happy about it too, he seemed to be doing a wiggly little dance. "I wasn't the one that spotted you that is, that was our Captain, Luffy. You'll get to meet him another time when your a bit better."

"I feel alright now." She said and started to move towards the edge of the bed and was stopped by Choppers little hoofs on her shoulders.

"No," he said desperately, "you can't get up yet, your not strong enough. Please, just wait until you've slept once more at least." She could feel the earnest honesty coming off him through her empathy and sighed, leaning back against the wooden wall again. Chopper sighed and relaxed, "you just sit still and I'll go get some food for you!"

With that he disappeared out the door, closing it quietly behind himself, she was left alone with her thoughts in the little cabin. Closing her eyes and opening her mind as well as her ears, she stretched out her senses and tried to feel how many people were on board this ship and how big it was. Collectively she could feel nine fate lines on the ship but it was hard to work out what they were exactly but then she remembered what world she was in. The world of the Red ling and the Grand Line, the world of ocean's and islands, going through its Grand Age of Piracy! That would explain the tenth fate line she could faintly feel, it obviously belonged to the ship, growing in strength and awareness with each passing week these people spent aboard it. But also, inside of that fate line was one that went further back, extended past the birth of this ship, the ghost of a spirit that longed to continue on this journey. An older ship...