Things to know before we get started:

1: This is an AU that takes place in the One Piece world, but has a modern twist: Places like Kuraigana Island, Alabasta, the four blues, the Grandline and New World all exist, but they might be a little different depending on how I want to depict them. The modern twist I am referring to is that some of our technologies will also exist in this AU as well: cell-phones, cars, motor-speed-boats, planes, etc…

2: Family relationships as well as some ages for the characters are subject to change compared to what they are in the actual one piece canon. The straw-hat crew's ages will be intact and will all be post time-skip (unless I am referring to a flashback), but other character's ages will depend on how they fit into the AU, example: Perona plays a big part in this story and since I don't know Perona's actual age she will be 22 for the sake of this story.

3: Devil fruits, as well as some of the wackier animals and things like that will exist: The Humandrills will exist for certain, Chopper will remain a reindeer, Brook will remain a skeleton, etc…

Well those are the main things I may forget to explain throughout this story, but everything else will be explained over time. But I can't help feel like I'm forgetting something… hmmm… Oh yeah!

I do not own One Piece ;}

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Taking in a Stray Cat: Chapter 1

As the mikan-head continued to sail towards her destination she cursed her luck, for if she didn't have bad luck, she wouldn't have any luck at all. She had known how dangerous and unpredictable the weather could get in the Grandline and her great talent for reading and predicting the weather had warned her that the violent thunderstorm that she was now currently traveling through had been coming, but recent information she got on the last island she had left had Beli signs flashing in her eyes and against all reasonable logic, she decided to take a chance and set sail for her destination, Kuraigana Island, and in a tiny sail boat at that.

The girl's name is Nami; she is a beautiful young woman with long vibrant orange hair, chocolate brown eyes, well developed feminine curves, and only the age of 20. She was currently wearing a pair of blue jeans that hugged her hips along with a white t-shirt, now completely transparent from the falling rain, and a bikini top underneath. She was raised in the fairly calm waters of East Blue on the archipelago Conomi Islands on the outskirts of Cocoyasi Village. She is a thief and treasure hunter by trade, mainly stealing from low life thugs and common criminals, the small sail boat she was currently occupying was just one of her spoils that she had taken from a violent group of smugglers who masked it as a small fishing boat when in reality they used it to sell opium out of, the smugglers called themselves the Bellamy Pirates, and have now placed a reward on Nami for her actions against them. She doesn't really like her dangerous lifestyle, but circumstances have led her to need a large sum of money and she found thievery to be one of her most valuable skill sets.

She had spent much of her life on the open seas in search of treasure, as well as the next big score, whether it is from taking from pirates, or manipulating a corrupt noble or politician. She knew she should have stolen a better boat then the one she was currently using, maybe something with a motor and a larger sleeping cabin, but she truly loved the sea and was rarely satisfied with anything other than the wind in a sail pushing her to her next destination. She had been gifted from a very young age with a natural talent for cartography and a great ability to read and predict the weather; a skill, along with a natural cunning, that she used to get her this far into the Grandline alone. She had actually never dreamed that she would have to venture this far across the world alone, but an incident two years prior to this day that caused her to lose all of her previous savings directed her to take desperate actions leading to where she is now.

Her stomach growled and her arms strained to keep the rudder on course as the waves violently tossed the small ship about. It had been three days since she had last slept or ate, three long days, and the fatigue and hunger were starting to affect her, but she knew she had to keep pushing forward to Kuraigana, especially if the rumors about the treasure on the island are true. But there was something that did have her worried, the treasure wasn't the only thing rumored to be on the island: it was well known that the island had a very creepy atmosphere to it as fishermen often described it as an island always covered by dark clouds, strange curved mountains and a dense forest, but the appearance isn't the most disturbing part, it is also said to be the home of many super natural creatures. The local legends say that the lord of the island is a vampire that is immune to crosses and proves it by carrying a large one on his back that doubles as a sword. There are rumors of ghosts that float throughout the island whose presence is always made known by a distinctive loud high pitched laugh. There are also stories of a talking skeleton with afro, violent apes that imitate humans at war, and a blonde imp that is said to be drawn mainly to women. But the worst stories are about a dangerous green demon that carries three swords and is known to cut down anything in its path.

But despite all of the crazy things Nami has personally seen in her journeys, including devil fruit users, she does not believe in the super natural, and the risks are well worth the reward. She had spent an entire day doing research about Kuraigana and had discovered that only fifteen years ago that it had been home to the Shikkearu Kingdom; which was a very wealthy kingdom said to rival the wealth of the celestial-dragons themselves, but it had been completely wiped out in a war, and a fortune of gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables were left for the taking. Nami needed this score, with her recent string of bad luck, this had to be the best opportunity to finally turn her life around… it just had to be.

Finally after over two hours of being in the constant onslaught of the storm; she could make out the dark silhouette of Kuraigana. The night had long set and the island was indeed covered with dark clouds making it almost impossible to see any truly defining characteristic of the island. The only thing she could make out was the curved mountains and what could have possibly been a large castle in the distance. She was genuinely happy to have seen a large wooden dock on the shore of the island and directed her small craft to it. Once alongside of it she, she quickly jumped off the vessel and worked to fasten a rope to secure the boat in place, all while fighting the strong waves splashing over the top of the wooden surface she was standing on that were threatening to take her out to the violent sea. Once the boat was secure she quickly headed for dry land with the storm still pouring down on her. She took a moment to turn her attention back to the dock, wondering why it was in such great shape despite the island supposed to have been abandoned of human life for the last fifteen years, but she would not dwell on the matter for long as she could feel a change in the air and knew the storm over head was only going to get worse, she had to find shelter quickly.

She charged up a small hill, now confident that she had seen the silhouette of a building at the top. She found herself in front of a large castle with a very gothic look to it, the castle seemed to almost have a life of its own and sent a chilling sensation up her spine, or was that just the fact that she was soaked to the bone from the cold rain? Building her resolve she pressed on one of the two large wooden doors leading into the front of the castle and made her way inside. Upon entering she immediately took notice of the large grand hallway and was surprised to find that despite there being a thin layer of dust on most of the nearby furniture, the castle seemed to be very clean and organized, not what she would expect from a castle that should have been looted and ravaged by war. Wrapping her arms over her chest to try and fight the shivering of her still cold body, she started to walk and explore the castle. She immediately walked up the grand staircase to the second floor, knowing that there should be worthy valuables in what would have been the former resident's bedrooms. As she turned down one hallway into a separate wing of the castle she noticed a light shining out from underneath a closed doorway. She moved towards the light, like a moth drawn to a flame.

'There couldn't possibly be someone living here, could there?' She thought to herself as her hand instinctively grabbed for the door handle into the room. She turned the door handle and pushed her way through. Her eyes widened as she walked into the large well-lit room: it had tall domed ceilings and multiple chandeliers hanging from it. The floor was made of pure marble and there were large stone columns sounding the room to support the heavy ceiling, and there were three sets of double doors that Nami could hear the sounds of the pouring rain falling just outside of them, making her aware that they must have led to a large balcony. She noticed that a large part of the floor seemed to be covered with grass mats, and that there was a lot of metal weights and other training equipment over in a corner of the room. It was once obviously a grand ballroom, but has recently been converted into a dojo or training hall of sorts. But what caught her eye the most in the room was a set of three swords leaning against a wall.

She instinctively started to move towards the swords, particularly one with a white scabbard and hilt; before she knew it, it was in her hands and she was inspecting it. She recognized it, she had first seen it in 'Precious Treasures of the World' magazine over 10 years ago, and if her memory served her correctly, which it always did when money was involved, than it was called the Wado Ichimonji. It was one of the 21 O Wazomono grade swords. It was once held by a beautiful female-swordsman, and 10 years ago it was worth 10,000,000 Beli, but it disappeared without a trace shortly after its previous owner died, the current price for it would be 10x what it was back then. She hit the jackpot, this one sword could be sold for the entire sum of money that she needed, and if something like this was just sitting out it the open, there were undoubtedly hundreds of more treasures around for the taking.

She slowly started to unsheathe it to inspect the blade and make sure there was no visible rusting or damage, and was relieved to find that the blade was spotless. She found herself lost in the marvel and shine of the metal; it was beautiful… so much so that she hadn't noticed a figure walk into the room behind until she saw something green in the reflection of the blade. She tried to turn so that she could meet the figure head on, but it was approaching her in a flash. Before the mikan-head knew it the figure was almost on top of her; she tried to swing the sword wildly to defend herself, but to no avail as she felt a strong hand grab hold of her wrist holding the sword, and another wrap tightly around her throat, before slamming her hard against the wall. She instantly saw spots from her violent impact with the stone wall, and desperately started to struggle to breath from the strong grip cutting off her flow of air, but Nami was a fighter, a woman with a purpose and she wouldn't go willingly. With her one free arm she quickly grabbed for the arm that owned the hand wrapped around her throat, digging her fingernails into the arm, hoping that it would be enough to get the hand to release her. But it was not enough; she barely heard a muffled "Hmph" from the owner of the arm, and the grip only tightened instead.

Her vision was finally able to clear, but only just a little to see the face of her assailant; it appeared to be a man, a man with a scar falling vertically over his left eye, and a very menacing look in his other. She wasn't sure if it was just her vision starting to blur again, but she could swear that his hair was green. His strength was unreal, despite how much she struggled under his grip, it would not falter. She could barely see again at this point, as she started to feel her lungs start to burn from the lack of air going to them, but she could still make out his barred teeth, and could hear a sound emanating from him, it was a growl. 'Holy shit; it's true, there really is a demon.' She began to get desperate as her strength started to fade; she was only left with one final option. "Please" Nami was barely able to beg in a hoarse voice, hoping that there was at least a little bit of reason in the demon before her.

Surprisingly enough, his grip did loosen at the sound of her voice, but only enough for her to suck in a miniscule amount of air. His growl finally stopped in order for him to finally speak "Let it go." His voice was very low, and still threatening and dangerous. He tightened his grip around her throat again, getting a small "squeak" from her in the process.

The mikan-head's mind started to race quickly, trying to figure out what the demon was telling her to do, and that was when she finally realized it; still being held in her right hand was the item that the demon wanted, he wanted the sword. Nami quickly released it, causing it to fall to the hard marble floor with a clatter. Letting go of it had the desired affect that she was hoping it would as the demon quickly released his grip on both her arm and her throat, causing her to fall to the floor in the process, desperately gasping for air. Her hand instinctively went to her throat, hoping by holding it she would relieve some of pain that was left over from the demon's monster like strength. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that he quickly went for the blade that had fallen to the ground; she would have been terrified of him now possessing a weapon if it wasn't for the fact that he seemed more concerned for the safety of the blade then wielding it for malicious intent. 'He really is a demon' she thought to herself as she gave him an evil look out of the corner of her eye 'he is more concerned over a damn sword rather than the human life that he almost just killed.' She would have got up and ran while the demon was distracted, but she still couldn't find the strength as she continued to struggle for air.

Nami watched as the demon finished inspecting the blade and then proceeded to sheath it once satisfied. She took a moment to glance over its form: she was genuinely amazed at how human he looked; he had no scales or discolored skin like she would have thought a demon to have, instead his skin was tan and he was very muscular, if not perfectly sculptured. He wore human clothing as well consisting of a green yukata that the top half was hanging loosely over a red sash tied around his waist, as well a green haramaki that was coving his stomach. She also noticed a very large scar that had been stitched poorly running diagonally across his chest and abdomen, just one more proof that he couldn't be human because no man could have ever survived a wound of that caliber, especially if it wasn't treated properly. She would be lying if she said the demon wasn't attractive, but a demon is still a demon, and she was honestly too terrified to even move at this point; afraid that if she did he would attack her.

She continued to watch as he gathered the other two swords that were leaning against the wall, and along with the Wado Ichimonji, he tucked all three of them into his red sash along his right hip. He then took a couple of steps towards her, before hovering over her with a feral look in his one visible eye. She was frozen in place, undoubtedly becoming pale from the fear that she was beginning to feel from his overwhelming presence. She could feel her heart starting to pound in her chest as she quickly scooted back to the wall, feeling very small sitting there in front of him, hoping that the wall would offer some kind of protection. She felt her mouth go very dry, causing her to gulp down a huge swallow of air as she waited for him to make his move.

"My sword is undamaged" he spoke clearly but still dangerously "and that is the only reason you still live woman. That is… if you can survive the fall." The demon quickly reached for her with both of his arms, pulling her from the ground quickly with great force. Before she realized it she was tucked securely under his left arm like a sack of vegetables, with her arms pinned at her sides unable to do anything. She was faced the same way as him, which she wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not because it allowed her to see what was coming next as he started to walk towards the three sets of doors leading to the balcony.

'Holy crap' her mind started to race frantically as his intentions were made clear 'he is going to throw me off the balcony. I'm going to die.' Her instincts kicked in and she quickly tried to free herself, violently kicking her feet and trying to wiggle free from his grasp, but the more she struggled, the more the demon increased his hold on her, causing more pressure to be put onto her ribs and making it hard for her to breathe again. She soon realized that she wasn't going to be able to free herself by physical means, but she remembered he did show at least a little reason earlier when it came to getting her to release his sword, after all; he could have just as easily choked the life out of her, and then just took back the sword afterwards, but he didn't, he showed some restraint, maybe there is hope that he would do it again.

"Hold on a minute. Maybe we can talk about it. This is all just a big misunderstanding and you're just overreacting. No reason to do anything rash."

"Oh…" the demon said in an almost mocking tone as he continued towards the balcony "so you didn't break into my home and try and take my sword, and most likely other items? You're just a common thief, nothing more."

"I didn't break in, the door was open." She defended. "And you still have your sword, so I didn't steal it… yet." She mumbled the last word quietly. "I'm just a young woman trying to find shelter from the storm outside; that isn't a reason to kill me."

"We're only on the second floor, plus there are trees to slow the fall, you might not die…" He said flatly continuing his walk towards the doors. "…at least if you can avoid the Humandrills; they'll rip you to shreds."

'There really are violent apes too?' She thought to herself as she they got closer to the doors, she could hear the rain even clearer beating against the glass, it was really coming down. Almost like an ominous warning, a huge flash of lightning struck just outside the window, close enough and loud enough to shake the entire castle. Her whole body started to shake. 'Oh shit… oh shit… oh shit… this isn't happening… it isn't happening…' She was only left with one choice, something that she rarely used and only as a last result; she was just hoping that the part of the demon that was male would at least have those types of desires. "I'll-compensate-you" she blurted out in one breath.

Her words did at least peak the demon's interest as his pace slowed just a little. "With what, unless you're hiding something under what little clothes you're wearing, I doubt you have anything I want." He scoffed at her.

"I'll compensate you with my body…" She told him nervously as his right hand reached for the door knob, but became hopeful when it quit moving and she could feel his gaze on her. She warily took a look at his face, but her hope quickly vanished when she discovered a look of irritation and anger on his face rather than lust.

"I really hope the fall hurts, a lot." He quickly opened the door, immediately causing a cold wind as well as the frigid rain to enter the room and begin to soak them both with the cold water.

The dangerous weather was like a reminder to Nami on just how desperate her situation was becoming. Despite knowing it would do no good, she began to violently thrash around and again tried to wiggle herself free. Knowing that her life was on the line, she was no longer too proud to beg in a true last ditch effort to save herself from her fate. "NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I…" "Growl"…

All movement and words stopped from both parties as a mortified blush took over Nami's face as she just realized that despite all the excitement of being only moments away from her impending doom, it had still been days since her last meal, and her stomach chose now of all times to start complaining. 'Great, not only am I going to die, but I'm going to die hungry. Hopefully this bastard didn't hear that.' She inwardly pouted to herself, hoping that her captor didn't know her shame, but she could tell by the inquisitive look on his face that he at least had suspicions of it. And then her stomach did it again "Growl"

Nami continued to stare at the demon's face in embarrassment, but was honestly taken aback when he let out what she could have sworn was a defeated sigh. The demon abruptly closed the door leading to the balcony, and turned to face the door leading to the hallway. He made no explanation as he continued towards the door with the mikan-head still tucked securely under his arm, and Nami said nothing more either, just feeling somewhat relieved that her life was no longer in immediate danger. She could only stay still and go along for the ride, somewhat curious of what he now had in mind for her.

-0-0-0-0-

Nearly an hour had passed since the two left the ballroom/dojo; the demon had taken the mikan-head on a small tour of the castle as he seemed to be wandering around aimlessly. They first went up to the third and top floor of the building, which was mainly storage rooms, but Nami was able to notice several items with dust on them that might be of some value… if she ever was able to get away from the demon they might be worth going back for. They then traveled down to the ground floor wandering around for several moments until entering a large library. There were books stacked neatly to the ceilings on shelves. The curiosity in Nami wished she had time to go through them all to see if any of them were on cartography, navigation, weather, maybe even romance novels, or her favorites; books on treasure, but not knowing what the demon had in store for her, she wasn't sure if she would ever even get the opportunity.

The fact was Nami was starting to get quite bored in their little walk around the castle, especially considering he had been carrying her the entire time, but the longer he searched for whatever it was he was looking for, the longer she would get to stay alive and possibly come up with a way to escape the demon's grasp.

Finally they began to descend down another flight of stairs leading into the basement of the castle. It was a little cooler and damp down there, but not uncomfortable. They walked into a large wine-cellar that was completely stocked with all types of wine and other alcohols. Nami could really go for a drink right about now, in fact; she even tried to wiggle one of her arms out of his grasp to try and reach out for a bottle as they passed it, but he must have sensed her intentions because he tightened his grip around her momentarily to stop her from doing so. They continued to search the basement before coming face to face with an old looking wooden door with bars on it. Nami gulped as they approached it, she had a feeling that she didn't want to know what was behind that door, and as the demon opened it and stepped into the room… she was right.

The room looked like a typical medieval dungeon: there were sets of chains along the stone walls, a full size torture rack in the middle of the room, different sizes and heights of stockades, and one wall was covered in neatly hung whips, floggers, hand cuffs, mouth gags, and even a gimp mask… That's when the mikan-head realized that it wasn't a dungeon, or even a torture chamber, it was an S & M chamber. "I… I know I said I would compensate you, but this is even too much for me, I'd rather be thrown off the balcony." She admitted with a look of pure horror on her face.

The demon's face quickly flushed red with embarrassment, and he quickly backed out of the room slamming the door shut in the process. His gaze met hers and she was surprised to see the same look or horror on his face that was on hers, for whatever reason, that room scared the hell out of the demon. "Just try… just try to forget you ever saw that room." He told her in a slight stutter.

"How the hell am I supposed to forget that?" She practically yelled at him.

She heard him let out a defeated sigh before he answered her with "Regardless of how hard you try, you honestly can't. It stays with you forever."

Done with their basement tour; they eventually made their way back to the stairs leading to the ground floor, but not before the demon grabbed a bottle of sake from the wine-cellar. She heard him pull the cork off with his teeth and take a hard swig from the bottle. A small pout fell over Nami's face because she felt like he was drinking just to spite her, but he let up his grip just a little with his left arm before putting the bottle in front of her face; she hesitantly wiggled one arm free and reached for the bottle, surprised that he let her take hold of it. She wasn't sure what had changed so suddenly, but the heavy atmosphere between her and the demon almost seemed to completely disappear instantly as she gratefully took a swig from the bottle before passing it back to him. Once the bottle was back in his hand, he made his way for the stairs and tightened his grip around her waist before attempting to ascend them.

She took notice of this action because it wasn't the first time he tightened his grip around her while they approached a flight of stairs, he had actually done it for every set. The thing was that it didn't really feel like he was doing it out of worry that she would escape, but more like out of worry that he would lose his grip. 'Is there actually a caring part to this guy?' She questioned inwardly.

Once completely up the stairs and several feet from them; he paused again to take another drink before handing her the bottle. She accepted with ease and took a drink herself. They fell into a small pattern of doing so, until she noticed he was heading back towards the library. "You're lost aren't you?" She finally asked him, feeling less and less afraid of him the more they continued on their little tour. "Do you even really live here?"

"Of course I live here, and I'm not lost." He spat at her defensively. "It's just they are always remolding this damn place without telling me."

"Uh huh…" The mikan-head said sarcastically, she was honestly curious to know about who he was referring to, but at the same time didn't want to get into too much detail about the demon's life, after all; she would be gone the first chance she got. But seeing how letting him continue to wander aimlessly around was getting them nowhere, she decided to at least try and point him in the right direction. "We haven't gone that way yet." She pointed out with her free arm.

The demon swordsman started to move that way without complaint, almost as if he was used to being told which direction to walk. They finally came to a set of double doors that he pushed one of them open with his free hand before walking into a grand dining room. In front of them sat a large dining table at least 10 meters long, but only had four chairs around it. There was another set of double doors at the back of the room that Nami could tell led to a court yard or sorts, as well as a single door at the side that she assumed must have led to a kitchen. "See; I told you I wasn't lost." The demon said in a triumphed voice.

"Yeah… yeah…" She told him mockingly. "So what the hell are we doing here anyway?"

"Hmph" he sounded off, slightly irritated because of her cocky attitude. "You'll see woman."

He then walked them towards the single door at the side of the room before pushing it open and flipping on a light switch to reveal that is was indeed a kitchen. Unlike the rest of the rooms which had an old and outdated feeling to them, a thin layer of dust on most of the furniture, or cobwebs hanging from the corners of the ceilings, this room was very modern with only the best new cooking equipment on the market. It was completely spotless and organized, and could rival the kitchen of even five-star restaurants, except for a lone ashtray sitting in the middle of a medium size round wooden table with a few cigarette butts sitting in the bottom of the tray.

The demon walked over to the table, and then finally lowered the mikan-head to her feet. "Sit" he commanded her while pointing at one of the two chairs surrounding the table. She looked at him skeptically at first, but only got a stern glare from him, before finally taking her seat. She watched as he walked over to the perfectly clean double door fridge and reached inside of it. The demon then began to pull out several items from the fridge: sliced cheese, mustard, mayonnaise, some lettuce and other miscellaneous vegetables, and a blood red container with a lid on it. He piled them all on a nearby counter, before crossing the room and reaching for a large knife hanging on the wall.

Nami's eyes started to wander around the room when she noticed a large hook hanging from the ceiling that could easily hold a large animal, and a drain underneath it. She watched as the demon swordsman inspected the knife, running one of his fingers across the blade to check how sharp it was. Her mind started to race a mile a minute as thoughts of her being hung upside down from the hook only to be butchered and eaten by the demonic figure in front of her. She quickly scanned the room again, but this time for the exit. Maybe she could make a run for it. She slowly started to lift herself off the chair, but was stopped by the sound of his voice. "I told you to sit." He was watching her in the reflection of the blade. She found herself gulping down a big swallow of air as she lowered herself back down into the chair. Her breathing started to increase rapidly as he walked back over to the counter he had left his ingredients on and began to cut the vegetables in little pieces. "Mustard or mayonnaise?" He asked her without turning around to meet her gaze.

"Oh come on…" She said in a pleading voice. "It's bad enough you're making me sit here and watch you, now you're going to make me choose what dressing you use." The demon turned around to look at her with a confused look on his face. "How cruel can you be? I know I'm beautiful, but I assure you that I won't taste good at all, so please don't eat me…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" The demon swordsman screamed at her with a look of pure shock on his face. "I'm not going to eat you, you crazy witch. I'm making you something to eat."

"You're not going to eat me?" She asked sheepishly.

"Why in the hell would I eat you?"

"Well… I thought demons ate people."

"I'm not a demon you baka. I'm a man." He glared at her sternly; offended by her accusation. "Now do you want mustard or mayonnaise?" He barked out at her.

"Mustard" she answered while blushing heavily after the realization that she had been letting her over active mind get the better of her. She continued to watch him pull a loaf of bread from a nearby cupboard and proceed to slice some pieces off of it and continue to make several sandwiches. Her stomach started to growl fiercely now at the prospect of food. She watched as he opened the blood-red container and started to pile meat onto the pieces of bread, she found herself licking her lips in anticipation. Finally the demon… no; the swordsman walked over to the table with a plate full of sandwiches before moving the ashtray and placing it in the middle of the table.

She looked at the plate skeptically, not sure is she should just help herself. Realizing her restraint he gave her the go ahead "Well… go on." He told her with a nod of his head.

Nami quickly reached for a sandwich, ferociously tearing into it, she heard the swordsman chuckle at her actions, before he turned around to grab a couple bags of potato chips from another nearby cupboard and another bottle of alcohol from the fridge, returning to the table and grabbing a sandwich himself. The two sat there for several moments, neither saying a word to the other, only eating and sharing the bottle of alcohol like it was a normal interaction. But something still bothered the mikan-head, and she couldn't continue to ignore it. "You know I'm not going to have sex with you right?" She asked in-between bites, not really caring about any type of table manners.

The man nearly choked on his food from her sudden and abrupt question. "You're the only one who has even brought up sex witch!" He spat at her, embarrassed by the subject.

He had a point there, but the fact is she never intended on going through with her proposed compensation, regardless of how attractive he was. "Well if you're not feeding me to have sex with me, why are you feeding me?"

"Because you were hungry" He answered her simply.

"Well yeah… but you still had no reason to. I was planning on stealing from you. You know that right?" She admitted with a slightly ashamed look on her face, feeling guilty because of the kindness he was now showing her.

"Yeah I know" The swordsman confirmed. "But if the damn cook found out that I sent someone away hungry, he would never let me hear the end of it."

"You have a cook. Where is he?" Nami would never admit it out loud, but she was actually starting to enjoy the conversation she was having with the man in front of her, it had been quite some time since she had been able to be so casual with someone, even if he was a stranger that she thought had been planning on doing harm to her only a short time ago.

"He's not my cook" He answered almost defensively "He is just "the cook", and he's off on like his 16th or 17th honeymoon with my sister, or something like that."

"So you have a sister. Than you don't live here alone do you." She stated more than asked, only getting a nod from him in response. Nami decided to quit asking questions; despite how much she was enjoying their conversation, she didn't want to pry too deep, she still had every intention of leaving the first chance she got… the only problem was the storm raging outside didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon and the fatigue was starting to get the better of her as she felt her eyes starting to get heavy.

"How long has it been since you slept?" His voice broke their current silence. She didn't answer, she only looked down to the now empty plate where the food had been. This man that she didn't even know had already done more for her than anyone else had done in a long time, there was no way she could ask for more… but she didn't need to. "You'll stay here tonight. There are plenty of guestrooms and the storms usually last all night, it will clear by morning, so it will give you some time to get some sleep before you decide to sneak off." Her eyes widened at his words. He had known the entire time that she planned on sneaking off the first chance she got, but he didn't seem to be mad about it at all. "Just don't steal anything on your way out." She could only nod to answer as a genuine smile crossed her face.

-0-0-0-0-

After finishing their makeshift meal and cleaning up. They proceeded to the second floor, with Nami leading the way, to the living quarters. They first stopped by a large room that acted as a walk-in-closet to get Nami something dry to sleep in, before proceeding to the room that she would be staying in. The swordsman gave her some privacy in the room while she changed into the oversized t-shirt with a skull wearing a crown* on it that she had picked out from the closet, and a pair of olive-green gym-shorts that she assumed belonged to the swordsman, it wasn't the best or most fashionable choice of clothing, but it was dry and would work to sleep in. Once finished changing she stepped back out into the hallway to hand her host the pile of her wet clothes which he promised her he would wash for her before he walked off to somewhere in the interior of the castle, despite having only met him only a few hours ago, she was already aware of his terrible sense of direction and wondered if she should go with him to show him the way, but she no longer had the energy; she would just have to leave him to find his own way.

After returning to the inside of the room, Nami took a quick moment to look around it. Though large, the room was nothing special, and it only had the bare necessities of furniture inside of it: A small dresser with a mirror and a sitting stool in front of it, a single reading chair next to an end table, and a queen sized bed with clean sheets on it. Despite none of it being special, the sight of the bed nearly brought tears of happiness to Nami's eyes, it had been 3 days since she had last slept, and probably months since it was actually in a bed. She hadn't even realized she had crossed the room until she found herself falling on top of the mattress; she couldn't help but wonder whether it was the most comfortable bed she had ever lain on or not. She felt so happy and content at that moment, but at the same time sad and disappointed… because she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay for long, and that the man's kindness would only be for one night, a man that she had just now realized that she didn't even know his name, but it was better that way, because she would be gone first thing in the morning. But the least she could do is enjoy the happiness for at least a few hours, and allow herself to get just a little sleep.

The very moment the mikan-head finally closed her eyes, she drifted off into a comfortable slumber.

End Chapter 1

*I think you can all guess whose shirt Nami is wearing, if you can't here is a hint: Thriller Bark.

So… what did you all think so far?

Just a fair warning: I'm still really busy right now so this is a project that may take some time to complete, and even though the rating is T right now, it may go up to M depending if I decide to put Lemons in it or not.

As always; thanks for taking the time to read and please review ;}