Chapter-3

Luffy woke up to the sound of loud screams. Which wasn't really that unusual, if he even bothered to think about it.

What was unusual however, was the distinct lack of snores that accompanied his brothers' sleep. So it was only natural that the first thing he did when he woke up was ask for his brothers.

"Ne, Ace, Sabo, where are you?" Luffy then noticed the group of cool -weird-people who were crowded around something.

"ha? who are you people? what are you doing here?"he asked, a bit miffed that other people had invaded his and his brother's ship.

"Uh...I'm pretty sure that's not the question you were supposed to ask" the one with the funny long nose said waving a hand in front of his face to emphasize his point, as he stared blankly at the boy in front of him.

"It's not?" Luffy blinked owlishly.

"No" the rest of the funny people chorused together.

"Shishishishishi, you people are funny!" the tiny boy said proudly.

The crew sweat-dropped.

"Ne, funny people, do you know where Ace and Sabo are?"

The gathered group looked at each other nervously and finally a pretty lady with dark hair and skin, spoke up.

"We don't know where they are...Regardless, Captain-san do you recognize where you are?" she asked calmly.

The boy looked a little crest-fallen that the gathered group didn't know where his brothers had wandered off to, but instantly brightened up at the question.

He made a show of looking around the cabin and then turned around to face the gathered group.

"Nops, no idea!" he cried out brightly.

A collective sigh of exasperation could be heard all through the grand line.

Any lingering doubts of the child not being their captain was promptly demolished.

"Well then, what's the last thing you remember captain-san?" The pretty lady asked once more.

"Hmmm..Aha! me 'n' Ace 'n' Sabo were fighting this mean 'gator 'cause it ate me 'gain after I ran into the river 'cause there was this really cool beetle and then! and then! Ace was all 'Whaaaa' and Sabo was like 'Whooosh' and BAM! we had 'gator meat for dinner and then we played pirates and...I think we fell asleep!" the child said brightly swinging his legs and letting out a loud giggle.

Robin chuckled softly at the childish way her captain just narrated the story and couldn't help but think how very fitting it was that he was fighting alligators in his childhood. A monster indeed. She laughed softly as she caught sight of her crewmates dumbfounded faces.

A loud gurgling sound emitted from the tiny black haired boy.

"Do you have food oba-san? I'm hungry!" he said with a pout and jumped down from the galley table. his near nakedness seemed to not bother him in the least.

Nami sighed and gave the boy a bundle of clothing. "Change into this first and i'll make you something to eat , deal?"

"Thanks oba-san!"

Nami could feel a vein throbbing in her temple.

"Who are you calling old, you brat!" she growled out and hit him on the head.

"Iteee!" the boy crowed out and stared at her in fear.

"My name is Nami and I'm not old, we clear?" she said threateningly.

"Che, witch" the green haired child muttered under his breath.

"Did you say anything, Zoro-chan?" she said sickly sweet.

The boy felt a shiver crawling through his spine.

"No, nothing at all ma'am" he said stiffly.

"Shishishishishi! you people are funny! i like you! "

The crew sighed, it was going to be a very troublesome month...

...~~~~...~~~~

Chopper stood silently over the last prone figure, he really wanted to take Sanji into the infirmary so that he could perform a more thorough check. he recognized the signs of a starvation victim, and it worried him immensely.

He didn't even tell Nami the full extent of what plagued the last member of the monster trio, and it really pained him to know that a person he now considers family has gone through such a terrible thing at such a young age.

Chopper could hear the ruckus of the crew and he really wanted to go see what it all was about...

but somehow leaving Sanji now felt so...wrong...

Chopper sighed and tugged on the brim of his pink hat anxiously.

finally he straightened his back determined and took a sterile syringe out of the medical bag that he had so conveniently stashed at the kitchen and proceeded with extracting another volume of blood from his prostate patient.

It won't do for him to dwell on that. What he could do however is develop another formula to make the transition Sanji's body would go through easier.

With a goal in mind, the young doctor left the galley to store the blood safely in the infirmary and see what the rest of the crew was doing.

But before he stepped out of the galley, he turned to check on Sanji one last time only to find a pair of tired blue eyes staring at him, calculating.

Chopper couldn't help but let out a startled yelp.

...~~~~~...~~~~~~...

"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed stars in his eyes as he caught sight of the ocean. realization finally hit as he saw the black flag swaying proudly in the wind.

"You guys are pirates! that's so cool! but you're like good pirates like shanks right?"

"Idiot, there's nothing called good pirates " the boy with green hair (green hair!) said with a scowl.

Luffy ignored the insult with practiced ease.

"'course there is! shanks is a cool pirate he's not mean 'n ' he's fun 'n' he's strong too! he glared at a sea king once and it swam away! 'n' then there are mean, bad pirates like Porchemy, 'cause he kept on hitting me and it hurt! 'n' it wasn't supposed to hurt, 'cause I'm rubber but it had spikes and there was lotsa blood 'n' I didn't speak 'cause he wanted to know where the treasure was 'n'- SO COOL!"

A dazed Zoro stood still as the rubber boy suddenly sprinted towards the lion figure-head and perched there grinning like an idiot, and swaying dangerously from the edge.

Robin blinked at the barrage of information the young child had just puked out, it seemed like her dear captain had a rough childhood.

Robin couldn't help the protective feeling that surged through her at the thought of those who dared to harm her cute captain, cold anger ran through her veins and she had to consciously stop herself from emitting a vicious aura

the crew was still frozen in place before Usopp and brook ran behind their rubber captain in case the child fell into the ocean.

"Luffy-san please be careful, we don't want you to fall into the water, you might get sick!" the skeleton said worriedly

"Meh...I don't get-" luffy cut off as he finally realized he was actually talking to a live skeleton.

"SO COOOOL! Do you poop?"

"Yes I do." the skeleton stated calmly.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ANSWER HIM!" Nami, Usopp and tiny Zoro chorused, while the rest of the crew laughed.

Luffy laughed and bounced over to the group.

"So who are you people?" he asked.

"That's what I would like to know as well." Zoro said darkly.

"We are the Strawhat pirates zoro-bro" Franky said proudly, raising his sunglasses with a thumb to get a better look of the tiny swordsman.

"Strawhat?" he asked as he stared meaningfully at the black-haired boy's hat.

Usopp nodded gravely. "That's right! for I the great Usopp-sama has decided to name my crew after that young man's brilliant straw hat!" the long-nosed man said pointing at himself.

Zoro looked at him skeptically while Luffy stared in wonder, stars in his eyes.

Nami bonked him on the head and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Idiot, don't go lying to them, they might actually believe you." she said with a shudder.

"Nami! you're so mean!" Usopp said as he inched behind Franky to hid from the navigator's wrath.

The young woman rolled her eyes and stared at the two young boys.

"Look it will be better if we wait for Sanji to wake up so that I won't have to explain it all again. Just trust me on this, you two are actually a part of our crew, you Zoro, are the first mate, and this idiot over there is the Captain." She said it all with the air of someone who has long given up on trying to understand the mysteries of the world.

Zoro stared at the woman, trying to gauge out if she was lying to him or not.

Finally, after a long moment of scrutinization the green-haired child saw something akin to sincerity in her brown eyes and decided that the red-headed witch wasn't lying to him.

He then turned to stare incredulously at the child who was currently picking his nose.

What in the name of all that was holly caused him to join a crew captained by such an idiot? Zoro wondered and then a though struck him.

"Hey, if you say that we are actually a part of your crew, does that mean that we are supposed to be older?" Zoro asked curiously, a gnawing feeling was forming at the pit of his stomach, his heart started beating a bit more wildly and his palms were feeling sweaty.

"Uh, yeah, that's right." Nami said, not seeing where this line of conversation was going.

"Did I defeat him? Am I the best yet?" he asked eagerly.

Nami bit her lip as she stared at the boy's sparkling green eyes, hope was shining brightly in them, along with some other emotion she couldn't really identify.

"...Sorry Zoro, but, you haven't gotten there yet." she said and as the boy seemed to deflate, she hurried to add.

"But you are one of the strongest people I know, you've only lost once in all the time I have known you and that was to Mihawk." she said gently.

Before Zoro could formulate a response a red blur wedged itself between the two.

"Wait, if we are like pirates, n' I'm the captain does that mean that I have a bounty?" Luffy asked eagerly, seemingly vibrating with the intensity.

"Fufufufu, indeed Captain-san, you have the highest bounty of us all." Robin said, amused.

Before any more conversation could take place, a startled yelp was heard throughout the ship and the group quickly ran towards the source of the noise, back to the galley.

There, Chopper was huddled behind a table, hiding the wrong way.

Sanji was looking around confused an edge of panic creeping into his eyes.

"Old Man! Zeff-old man!" he cried out, then noticing Chopper he said

"Tanuki?" he said, wondering. then a little bit lower "I have never cooked Tanuki before" '

"I'm not food you bastard! And I'm a REINDEER" Chopper shouted back.

"E...Eh! You can speak! Do you know where am I, Did the shitty old man get rid of me?" He asked quickly trying to conceal the panic behind his tone.

The door then swung open to reveal the ragtag group, they all crowded inside.

Both Zoro and Luffy were staring at Nami expectantly , now that the final child was finally awake, while the blond boy simply looked on confused and dare he admit it, a little scared.

Nami sighed a readied herself for the long explanation ahead.

A/N

I have no excuse for my long absence. I can only say that I'm extremely sorry to have kept you all waiting for another update. But i have finally gotten my head out of my arse and wrote this chapter. I can't guarantee consistent updates, however i will try my best.

Thank you all for your brilliant support. Reviews are greatly welcomed.

Diva~