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The first time Luffy saw Zoro, he knew he wasn't a normal guy.

He had heard the stories about him, Coby had been going over all the ones he knew on the way to that island, trying warn him about him being a bad guy, a Demon. Luffy thought he sounded really cool, but he didn't know for sure until he saw the guy himself.

(He didn’t like to judge people he’d never seen from rumours. Knew you could miss a cool new friend (or brother) if you did.)

Even though he could sense his strength, he couldn't stop himself from making comments about the fact he was being held seemingly only by flimsy ropes. Because why would a guy that strong stay there like that.

Luffy learnt a lot the first time he saw that marine yard and knew then that he wanted Zoro on his crew, but it wasn't until the second time entered the yard that he knew what position on said crew the man would probably hold.

Zoro said that he had something he had to do, that he had an ambition, a goal.

But even so, it wasn’t until Luffy entered the yard for the third time that he knew that no-one else would fit the position as well as Zoro would. Zoro had stated that he would be the world's greatest swordsman and if Luffy interfered in that dream that he would kill him, then reacted to unspoken orders to the end the situation in the way Luffy wanted.

He'd found and gained his First Mate.

Of course, there was no reason to say this out loud.

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Zoro didn't know whether to be impressed or annoyed with his new "Captain". Either way it seemed like he was the first member of his crew. How long he stayed on the crew depended on the idiot that had blackmailed him onto it.

Though it did seem as if the straw-hatted boy understood ambitions and dreams. He also didn't seem to care about anything else, so this may work, but only time will tell. Of course, that would be if the idiot didn't end up drowning first. Because living on a small boat with little navigation skills and seeming to have no idea of how to stay in the boat, while not being able to swim, might be a problem.

Though, he did seem strong enough to be able to deal with Zoro taking fights when challenged and seemed happy enough with him doing his thing in that marine yard.

Yes, this might work for Zoro for a while.

Huh, did he just get caught by a giant bird. What! Oh, crap!

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Nami didn't really know what to think of these two. They were either real idiots, or some form of geniuses. Nothing else could explain what happened back there.

She still wasn't quite sure what had happened. Either that, or she hadn't quite been able to process it. She looked over at the two guys in the other boat and tried to work out how they did it.

It wasn't just the strength that defeated the Buggy pirates and how they even had it that confused her. It was also how they seemed to know what the other was thinking or about to do, and seamlessly backing each other up.

When she had asked why their crew was so small a short time earlier, the swordsman had replied that it had only been a crew for less than a week. But that was impossible.

There was no way that could be true, it was impossible for two people who had only known each other for such a short amount of time to work as well as those two did. She wasn't even able to work that well with Nojiko, and she'd known her her entire life.

Nami still couldn't work out how the swordsman had translated run away to move the cannon, or how the boy had known that the other would translate it that way.

Then there was the issue of swordsman himself.

Of course, she had heard of Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter, during her travels. No-one who travelled the East Blue could avoid the name. But why, if this was really him, would he join forces with a pirate, let alone this straw hat wearing boy. She would have thought, given the rumours, that he would be as likely as her to truly join a pirate crew. But here he was, able to interpret unspoken orders and showing a form of loyalty. He had obviously come looking for his "captain" and then decided to save her when he realised she was trying to stop the cannon, when he could have just walked away.

They were an odd sort of pirate, if they chose to fight for the reasons she thought they did, then deliberately leaving half her haul for the village. She guessed she could forgive them for that, after all wasn't that the reason she was stealing in the first place, to protect a village.

They were interesting, all right.

It was almost a shame that she wouldn't be with them long. She would have liked to see what else they would do.

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Usopp still wasn't completely sure how he ended up where he was, or maybe it was that he couldn't quite believe it yet. He was standing on a pirate ship, as part of the crew.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time that the events of the past few days where still a little blurry. It still didn't quite seem real.

There were many things that still didn’t seem to make much sense, but the main one that he kept getting caught on was the swordsman. He was on the same crew as the man known as the Demon of the East Blue.

At first, when they landed on his island he had thought that maybe he had just shared the same first name as the Pirate Hunter, but his capability in battle and his strength convinced Usopp that he was the one the rumours where about. His working so well with Luffy lead him to believe that maybe his reputation as a ruthless loner was exaggerated. (Usopp knew a little about how stories grew after all.)

At least, that was, until those two idiots that ended up on board and started sharing stories of the times when they had followed Zoro while he was a bounty hunter. Those sounded almost too close to the rumours Usopp had heard for his comfort, and yet didn't completely fit with what he had seem during the battle for his village.

Listening to the stories that Johnny and Yosaku told, there would be no way that Zoro would take orders or even leave a tough fight to someone else. But that was what had happened. He had followed Luffy's order to help Usopp save Kaya. This had caused him to leave a fight with a pirate captain, the toughest fighter on the other crew, to Luffy.

Usopp wasn't an idiot. He knew that this difference in behaviour meant something. Even more telling as to what it meant was the way that Luffy's behaviour changed when dealing with Zoro, he treated Zoro differently than he does Usopp and Nami, like he had some privilege they didn’t.

Usopp may brag about being Captain or Vice-Captain but he doesn't think he will ever truly believe it. He can see that both those positions were filled long before he even met the crew.

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Zoro rested against the side of the boat as they followed the missing Going Merry and navigator. He wasn't sure what to think of Nami's actions, but Luffy wanted both of them back. So, he had told them to go ahead while he finished up at the restaurant.

All this while Zoro was still processing what could be have been one most important moments of his life. The duel with Mihawk was the greatest duel he had ever fought, though he had lost. It gave him an idea of how much he need to work to reach his dream.

The other thing he need to think on was the way Luffy had acted during the duel and how he had reacted to it. Luffy had let Zoro choose to challenge Mihawk after seeing the power the greatest swordsman held. During the fight, he had held back, not interfering, while also holding Johnny and Yosaku back with him so they wouldn’t interfere.

Zoro hadn't thought it was possible to find someone who truly understood his dreams and what would have to occur on the road to that dream, but Luffy had managed to prove him wrong. He had proved that he could handle Zoro's choice of who to fight and understood the rules he had about them.

Then, Zoro returned to consciousness after the duel to find Luffy had lost it. After all that, and what he had seen of Luffy's fighting ability during the time they had spent together he had realised that there was no denying it anymore. Luffy was the Captain he never believed he would find. He found he didn't mind working under him.

If Luffy was willing to believe him in his dream, he was more than willing to completely believe that his Captain will be Pirate King. He knew it would happen.

So, why not make sure everyone else knew what they knew.

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Sanji was aware he had only seen a small amount of interaction between the members of his new crew before he had joined. Even now, he had very little idea of what was the usual due to the current circumstances. He had only really spent significant time with his new captain, and even then mostly just during the trip between the Baratie and their current island. While the rest of the crew had gone off following their beautiful lady navigator.

But he had been on the seas long enough to have a basic understanding of various crew dynamics. He had seen enough of this crew to know they weren't exactly what you would call typical pirates.

As an example, take what had just occurred. Their beautiful navigator's equally beautiful sister had offered to explain her sister's story and their captain had walked off, claiming not to care. He just wanted her back because she was their navigator. Then the swordsman, who had stuck around, just went to sleep before she could begin, seeming to care about the same amount as their captain.

Of course, Sanji had had a preview of this diversion from typical back at the Baratie. Luffy had allowed the swordsman to pick a fight with the greatest swordsman in the world without a fuss, just because he had wanted to. That was not something a typical pirate captain would allow. Then there was the fact that Luffy wouldn't allow anyone to interfere until it was over.

It might take some time for Sanji to set the dynamics of this crew straight in his mind.

But first things first, they had a navigator to convince to return to them.

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Nami was still processing what had happened. Something that she thought she might have to get used to, now she had officially joined this weird bunch of pirates. The crazy ideas, challenges and insanely unbelievable accomplishments appeared to be something that would continue in their path to wherever they would end up.

They had done it, accomplished the one thing she had been working toward for eight years. They had freed her village. Maybe not in the way that she had thought it would happened, but they did it, together. That fact alone would have been enough to need time to be able to process but the way they had done it, all her crew working together, for her, was what had left her truly bemused.

Thinking back on her first impressions on this crew, when it was just two weird guys in a tiny boat that didn't quite look seaworthy, she had been sure she would just use and move on from. There was no way she would have thought this could have happened in a million years.
Back then she would have laughed at the thought of two "pirates" fighting so hard for her after she had "betrayed" them. Stealing their ship and leaving them stranded.

Okay, so maybe, she might have had some slight understanding that Luffy was an idiot who would do things for incomprehensible reasons. But Zoro's actions at the Park, she would have had no idea. Well, she might have seen little clues that he could, the understanding between the two for instance, but to do such a crazy thing for her benefit, no never.

Nami remembered her first reaction when she had realised just how badly Zoro had been wounded before the fight with the Fishmen. She could not understand how he was able to stand, let alone fight for her and for Luffy. She guessed now, that may have been the key to it. Luffy was in trouble and unable to do anything for his crew, so Zoro stood up and did what he could in his place. Hadn't she seen it before in other places, in other fights they had seen together. Luffy wasn't able to take a fight, or was dealing with something else, so Zoro took care of it. It seemed that this was true even when he was so injured a normal person wouldn't be able to move.

Her head began to hurt from thinking it over for too long. So, for now she began turning her mind away from the past to the future. Now that they had more crew members, she guessed they should start working out their ranks on the crew amongst themselves, if they were to get very far without turning on themselves in confusion. She had some clues as to the basic gist of who should have what position, but she would have to see what the new guy was like first.

And really did they need to do this all verbally.

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Tashigi was feeling a mess of emotions, the most prominent being angry and confused. She had been going over the day's events continually in her mind and still could not understand how it had happened. Just maybe, if she had done something differently there could have been a better outcome.

The day started off normally enough, until she met the odd green haired man, but it had started to go sideways when she didn't ask him for his name. (She really should have asked for his name.)

She remembered seeing the Wado Ichimonji on the counter at Ippon-Matsu’s shop and being shocked to see such a legendary sword in such a small shop. She also remembered that the man who owned it was looking for two new swords as well. She had even made some comment about how he must break a lot of swords if he needed three of them and that the only other person who she had heard of that carried three swords was the bounty hunter, Pirate Hunter Zoro. (She should have seen the signs then, she had talked about him. She should have put it together.)

She remembered the fuss when the man found Sandai Kitetsu in the cheap sword bucket, and the frankly amazing display that came after. How he ended up without a scratch from such an act involving a cursed sword, she had no idea. (How can some pirate scum have such luck or skill?) And then the reaction of the storekeeper at seeing it, giving him the Kitetsu and his most prized sword, the meito Yubashiri. (How can such a man hold so many legendary blades?)

Tashigi particularly remembered the incident in the execution square. How could she forget a moment of what occurred? Everything had been over in minutes but had felt like it had truly occurred over the course of hours, like it was happening in slow motion. The pirate Straw Hat Luffy on the execution platform. The Pirate Clown holding a sword above his head. The commotion as two men fought through the army of men in the square. Recognising the man from the store, hearing someone nearby mutter "Pirate Hunter" as she saw him using all three swords. Straw Hat yelling that he was sorry, (the name Zoro), smiling as the sword came down. The lightning. The despair of the man (Pirate Hunter) and his companion, yelling the boy's name. Realising that he had been fighting for the Straw Hat while running to help in the fight (to get the meitos), and the Straw Hat boy walking out of the destruction of the platform calmly. Them beginning to fight their way out. (She should have got his name. Should have seen the signs. How could he have such luck and skill? How can one man have ownership of so many of the meitos? He was the Pirate Hunter. Why was the Pirate Hunter fighting for a Pirate?)

She remembered what happen when she caught up to them. She fought the Pirate Hunter who was now a pirate himself. He told both the man and Straw-Hat boy he was with to go on without him and he would be along soon, and they believed him. Trusted him. Even if the man complained about something while it happened (she was focused on the swordsman with the legendary swords, not really listening). She remembered fighting, each stroke burned into her memory, and she remembered losing her sword. She knows what that should have meant in any true fight. She couldn't defend herself, so she should've died. That was what she had been taught would happen. But he didn't kill her. (He was a Pirate, she a Marine. He won, she lost. He should have killed her. Why didn't he kill her?) The only thing that could have stayed his hand was the fact that she was female, but when she confronted him he started yelling nonsense and started running. (What did he mean? Why didn't he kill her?)

She heard the rest of what happened as they left from Captain Smoker and now they had decided that those pirates will be their targets. She will get her answers and those swords back.

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In the time that Vivi had spent with these pirates, she had noticed that they weren't exactly normal. Actually, that was putting it nicely. They were all some form of insane. But, at least in her opinion and experience, two of their members were more so than the others.

The time they had just spent on the island of Little Garden had just confirmed this impression.

It wasn't as if her first impressions of this crew were of a particularly sane group of people. And she had was undercover in Baroque Works at the time, where she had been surrounded by some very eccentric individuals. Then again, what was one meant to think of a group of people when you first glimpse them in the stomach of an island whale, and who certainly hadn't seemed worried by their position. Of course, she had been knocked out soon after making first contact so she hadn't seen them all very clearly.

Then there was the issue about them coming to the Grand Line with apparently no idea how to navigate the sea. Which she had noticed as she had regained consciousness and listened to try and judge her and Mr 9's escape. Also, when they had begged a ride to Whiskey Peak from them, intending to lead them to the bounty hunters there. Vivi felt a little guilty about that, due to them being nice and naïve enough to believe they would not lead them to trouble, but had known that she needed to keep her own cover a while longer.

It was during this relatively short trip that she gained the impression that they may not just be a little stupid, but quite possibly a crew of madmen (and madwoman). With the cowardly liar trying to help where he could but really just running about screaming as a new danger showed itself. The chef falling into a love daze any time either she, or the girl navigator, made any comment. The navigator screaming instructions and threats at the top her lungs whenever she realised that something had happened. And then there were the other two, the boy they had implied was their captain laughing through it all, while the muscular swordsman slept through everything. And she meant everything, the yelling, violence in the attempt to wake him, waves breaking non-stop over the deck, storms and snow piling over him. She had been almost relieved by the time they were close enough to the shore to make a swim for it with Mr 9. It had been that sort of trip.

The events at Whiskey Peak cemented the impression that she had gained on that trip. But it also gave a new dimension to her impression of them. They could be very dangerous when they felt they needed to be.

The evening began as if they were just willing to party, completely without any caution as to why an entire island would welcome a bunch of unknown pirates. Which helped her impression of insanity from the ship, but this had only lasted until after the party had seemingly come to an end. When the bounty hunters were gathering to begin their real task and the swordsman had made his shocking appearance. It was shocking, not just because everyone had believed him to be passed out from the alcohol he had consumed, but he knew who they were. He had also made a comment that implied he knew his crew had had a hard day while he had apparently been completely unconscious. He had then proceeded to fight and take down all the bounty hunters (Baroque Work Millions) on the island.

Then, when Mr 5 and Miss Valentine had come for her after defeating Mr 9, Miss Monday and Igaram, he had come and stood between her and danger telling her that he was there to save her. Which had confused her, even more so when his captain had come and attacked him. This, of course, led to a fight between them that not only levelled the town but had also ended up taking down the two remaining agents of Baroque Works as collateral damage. This fight had not stopped until the navigator stepped in and violently stopped them. Then proceeded to explain everything which cleared up some of the confusion of what had happened and offered their ship to get her home. After everything that had happened they offered her their ship and their protection. She had known then that they weren’t exactly sane.

It was during her second voyage on their ship, this time as herself, that she really began to understand a little more of the way of things on the ship. They did things their own way, and ignored most pirate conventions. Listening to and obeying the captain for instance, not attacking the captain in any way for another, but that worked for them. And despite everything they were fiercely loyal to each other, despite the display on Whiskey Peak which everyone just seemed to ignore, but never openly displayed any of this loyalty (except Sanji-san for Nami). Their individual deviations from sanity made their crew all the stronger.

This led her to accepting the way things were. After an initial period where she may have been a little wary of the crew, due to her own actions and what they could have led to back on the island, but their reactions to the appearance of Miss All Sunday quickly helped to settle that.

Despite learning all of this while on the ship she was genuinely concerned with what had happened while on Little Garden. Mr Bushido had been completely willing during their time in the wax to cut off his own feet to get free. She was well aware at this point in her relationship with the crew that he would do whatever was necessary to win a fight, but the loss of his feet would not be good for his future as a fighter. He had been completely relaxed in going through with this plan. He had even begun to make the cut when Luffy had burst into the clearing. Vivi was relieved that this had stopped Mr Bushido's plan and sword in its tracks, but she was still seriously concerned about his willingness to do so. As grateful as she was for the crew's protection, this was act that was almost too much for her to process.

And what almost concerned her more than Mr Bushido's actions was the reaction of his captain. The one who had seemed to be person on the crew closest to the swordsman, he had seemed in no way concerned for the wounds he now had and implications of what his actions may have led to. It seemed more insane than anything else that she had seen from the crew.

Nami must have noticed that Vivi couldn't seem to stop herself from making concerned glances at Mr Bushido's ankles after everything was over, as she had quietly come beside her and pulled her a little out of earshot of the others. Nami told her with exasperated affection that Mr Bushido was known to do stupid things and get himself injured, but didn't like to be fussed over and that she needed to try and ignore the blood as he figured out how bad the injuries were. He would get help if he thought he needed it. This didn't make much sense to her considering all she had seen among the crew and didn't make her any less concerned, but knew Nami knew the crew better than her.

As much as she knew each member of this crew was slightly less than sane, she had become attached to each of them and couldn't seem to deal well with any of them getting injured. She hoped that their insanity and their commitment each other and helping her didn't get any of them killed.

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Sanji was annoyed at himself. He was not comfortable with the way he had reacted in the last few days, particularly the automatic way in which he had done it. He didn't like it at all.

It had all happened because the most beautiful Nami-swan had fallen ill at the worst possible time in the journey (of course, he in no way blamed her). With things becoming more unstable in the magnificent Vivi's homeland necessitating the swiftest course to Alabasta. Nami-swan had attempted to hide this from Vivi to try and stop her from worrying herself sick, because she was so kind and lovely, but she had been forced to reveal it when the need for a doctor for herself was becoming obvious to the rest of the crew. She knew it was information that needed to be taken into consideration.

At that point Sanji had had no idea what to do, with the conflicting needs to help both beautiful women. It had seemed to help one would destroy the other. He had been consumed with worry of what would happen, even as he tried not to show it too much.

Then, his Captain had made the decision to leave the next course of action to Vivi. That was when his concern became almost overwhelming, knowing that the decision she would have to make and the consequences of it may destroy the caring, beautiful woman.

But what truly annoyed him about the situation, when he took the time to consider it after the decision had been made, was where he had looked for reassurance at this precarious point. His first thought was to look to the moss-head to see whether he was worried about the outcome of the situation where both Vivi's country and Nami's life were on the line.

He had looked to the shitty moss-head for reassurance that it would all end up alright. That this situation would not end up destroying one or both beautiful flowers.

What only made it worse was that when he had seen that he seemed to be unconcerned about such an outcome to the situation, Sanji had been relieved. He had felt like it would all work out in way to save them all.

And now, as they made their way to find a doctor for Nami-swan due to Vivi-chan deciding that that would be the swiftest course to Alabasta, Sanji could acknowledge that his reaction annoyed him. That looking to the moss-head of all people for their reaction and gaining reassurance from it was not something he ever wanted to admit to anyone and hoped none of the crew had seen. He certainly didn't want to acknowledge the reason he had done such a thing.

Sanji had been at sea a long time, had through his time on the Baratie seen a lot of crews and the way in which they interacted with each other. Although it was never mentioned on the Merry, he knew that ranks of crew-members did influence things. He also knew what him looking to the swordsman for reassurance when the Captain had given the choice that could destroy them all to their guest meant. He knew that in his automatic reaction to the situation he had acknowledged a rank that was never spoken of on the Merry at any point.

The problem was that even if he never admitted it to anyone, he would know that his subconscious had acknowledged that the green haired moron held a higher rank on the Merry than he did. This had all made Sanji really annoyed at himself.

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Chopper was still having trouble believing that he was really there. That he was really on a pirate ship as a crew member, let alone that he was the ship doctor. At least, he was now that the Captain and the rest of the crew were aware that he was a doctor. It was almost too much to take in at once.

He remembered Luffy protecting the doctor's flag, his flag, when he knew so little of who he was. The way he wanted to look after his friends, the lengths he went to in order to get them help. The way he didn't care that Chopper was a monster and, in fact referred to himself as one. It was almost too much to believe, but that was only his introduction to Luffy.

The rest of the crew was another issue entirely. Nami seemed nice enough, the first to acknowledge him as a doctor and willing to help him settle in. Sanji was a little scary, with him constantly referring to Chopper as the emergency food supply. Usopp was fun, always willing to play and tell good stories. Vivi was kind and interesting, a princess who was trying to save her country, so different to the only royalty that Chopper had ever known. But Zoro had been the one he had been most concerned about on boarding the ship, with him smelling so like steal, blood and pain.

Chopper's first sight of Zoro may have had something to do with his wariness of the human, with him in the uniform of Warpol's men. Who could really blame him for that after everything Warpol had done? But as they say, first impressions last, even if the ridiculous circumstances behind that outcome was explained as a joke to the rest of the crew.

But over the last few days Chopper had been slowly getting used to the way things were in the crew. Noticing many different things about each of his new crewmates. He knew that Nami could sense a storm before there was any real indication that it was coming. Sanji may mutter about the male crew members, but always ensured that they had more than the minimum amount of nutrients for them to be productive on the ship. Usopp may be a bit of an exaggerator, but was always able to read the emotional state of each of the crew and modify stories to help their moods. Vivi was holding up well, but she was really worried about the situation in Alabasta. Zoro liked to take naps wherever and whenever, often when everyone else thought he should be awake, but would jump in to help when he was really needed. Luffy was often a hyperactive ball of fun and trouble, but could get even Zoro to play when he really wanted.

The incident that Chopper pin-pointed to truly start him feeling comfortable with being a part of the crew and fully accepting the fact that Luffy really accepted that Chopper may be a monster, but they could be friends anyway, was when one morning Chopper had come up to the deck early in the morning, before the sun had risen. He had found a shirtless Zoro easily lifting weights that Chopper's training said should be considered to be too heavy for the human body to lift safely, showing scars from wounds that looked like they could have been life threatening. Chopper had not wanted to distract the man and cause him to drop the weight and so had sat quietly and watched, trying to apply the medical knowledge he had to what he was seeing.

He had continued to sit there until Usopp had come up on deck with his sketchbook and almost tripped over him. He must have noticed Chopper's subject of interest because he had joined him and started telling stories of the Demon of the East Blue, a monster who brutally hunted pirates with his three swords. The sun had risen by the time the stories had changed to tell of how this demon had joined another monster, a rubberman, and saved an island with a witch and a heroic marksman and gained a ship.

It was as Sanji called the breakfast was ready, and Zoro put down his weights that Chopper had realised that the stories that Usopp had been telling lacked his usual amount of exaggeration. These were real stories, tales of the crew before they were the crew.

If they could accept the Demon of the East Blue into their midst, they could certainly accept the Monster of Drum as fully, right?

Maybe Zoro wasn't as scary has Chopper had feared. After all, why couldn't a demon be friends with monsters?

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Ace settled back into the Striker with a small smile. It had been good to see his troublesome little brother again after so long, and to get a glimpse of the crew he had built for himself. It had only been a short reunion for them and he hadn't had a proper introduction to each of the members because both parties had their own goals that needed to be met and time constraints on them, but it had been enough for a rough idea of things.

Ace had always been good at picking up nuances in groups of people and picking up dynamics in various relationships. Blame it on his isolation from much of society and feeling he needed to be able to know the reactions of the people around him in case something slipped. This had served him well not only in his childhood but also in his time as the Spade's captain and even more so as a Whitebeard pirate. It was also the reason why he was so annoyed and had felt so much responsibility about the fact that he hadn't pick up the true danger of Teach until after he made his move. But he refused to allow that traitor ruin his mood from seeing his brother.

Better to think of the odd group that had gathered around his brother and their reactions to him and each other. That was a much better subject to ponder.

The muscular, green hair man with three swords at his hip, the orange haired girl who had spoken most often for the crew-members, the long-nosed boy whose name sounded vaguely familiar, the small, fluffy creature, the sharply dressed blond and refined blue haired girl. Certainly, an interesting group, especially given the size and how far they had come together so fast. It had only been a few months since Luffy had turned seventeen.

But it was the way in which the crew had interacted that had caught Ace's interest, and it seemed almost completely subconscious too. It seemed this crew may be destined for greatness from the brief glimpse that he had gotten. Ace had always known that Luffy was going to do something with his life as a pirate. That when Luffy thought of the pirate he wanted to be it was based on Shanks and his crew, but he didn't think he would be able to find the right pieces for such a crew so quickly, and this was only the outline of the beginning.

It was obvious that Luffy was the Captain of his little crew but that the crew had no problem letting him know if he should have done something or reminding him of simple facts, which as his older brother, Ace knew he needed in order to remember certain lifesaving things. It was also obvious to Ace that, although the orange-haired girl did most of the talking, she was not the next down in the chain of command on the ship. She was a highly respected and positioned crew-member, but she was not the first mate.

Ace may have made the mistake of believing that she was, if he hadn't seen the looks directed at the mostly silent green haired man at the moments Ace had been introduced, had asked them to look after his little brother and asked if Luffy wanted to join the Whitebeards. The kind of looks that he had seen given by the Red-Haired pirates to Benn Beckman when Shanks was saying, or doing, something outrageous, or the Whitebeard pirates directed at Marco when Whitebeard didn't seem to be making any sense to the rest of the crew, or a bit of history was brought up. Glances looking for reassurance of the situation from the next most powerful person on the crew, the first mate.

But what impressed Ace most about the entire situation wasn't that the swordsman didn't once seem to waver but that the seeking of reassurance wasn't conscious. That it was looked for and received without any of the participants seeming to realise what had happened. This was something Ace had noticed on a lot of prominent crews, the making of a crew from just a group of many individuals out for themselves, to a working unit that relied on each other without doubts, without even thinking of it.

Yes, if that crew continued as it was, and any new additions followed on, they would go very far. His brother was going to make a mark on the seas, and Ace wasn't yet sure whether to be proud or concerned.

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Smoker pondered his decision to split from his crew as he continued to travel back to his ship. He knew that it had definitely confused Tashigi, but given all he had found out at Rain Dinners, he knew he had to split the resources he currently had. When he got back he would call in for backup, in case the pirates didn't do what he now knew they had currently been planning. The idea of what that crew wanted to do in this country almost boggled his mind. But having done his research on the little crew after heading out after them, trying to find a way to track how they may move, he knew they weren't joking when they said that they were going to try and stop the civil war that was breaking out in this country.

In the investigations he conducted, he had found unexpected facts about the defeats of Buggy the Clown and Sawtooth Arlong, the facts hidden deep in the reports. The small crew had interacted with the people of the islands who had been conquered by these pirate crews and in their actions during these interactions inferred to them that they would fight the resident pirate for the people they interacted with. There was even hidden deep in these reports on the crew, a small mention of the island that had formerly been controlled by the disgraced Captain Morgan. That Straw Hat and the Swordsman who Tashigi had become obsessed with, had been the ones to deal with the issue, not the former second-in-command as was the commonly reported story.

Not that he felt like letting Tashigi in on this little fact. She would probably do that female thing that interprets a fact as meaning something else. Not that she had a habit of falling into female complexity, but it seemed that it is what she had done in the response to the Swordsman's actions in Logue Town. At least, that is how he understood from what she reported to him the facts of what had happened, compared with how she had interpreted the Swordsman's actions. After reading all the reports on the crew's movements and actions that were available to him it seemed that he was right in his interpretation, but who knew how Tashigi would take the knowledge he had.

This was all information he had gotten from the reports. The most enduring impression he had of the crew as a whole from his own interactions with them was that they were all slightly insane. But this might just be from his interactions with the one they referred to as their Captain, and Straw Hat obviously had at least one screw loose. Though he also seemed to either have the luck of the devil or was more intellectually gifted and strategically knowledgeable than he came across, or both, to have gotten where he is now.

Which led his thoughts to what had occurred in that blasted city to change all his plans about his actions in Alabasta. He would not be able pursue Straw Hat until after this mess was cleaned up, because beside the matter of honour he was currently working under, he needed that unexpected crew of his to hold the line.

At least, until he could get some marine reinforcements to help settle the matter.

Of what had occurred that day, this was what he knew for certain. He had pursued Straw Hat and certain members of his crew, the Swordsman, a red-haired woman and a long nosed boy, into Rain Dinners, hoping to capture the pirate that had driven him into the Grand Line. He had followed them through to a section of the casino that branched off of the main floor and into what was, looking at it outside a pursuit scenario, a very obvious trap. This had dumped all five of them into a cage made of sea-stone in a room made of glass, surrounded by water and banadiles. This had led to them settling into the cage, Smoker sitting in a corner, watching the antics of Straw Hat and his long-nosed mate and the red-haired woman yelling at the both of them. The Swordsman had taken a place leaning on the wall, keeping one eye on his crewmates, another on Smoker and having a general air of perception of the room beyond.

Then had come the arrival of Crocodile and the woman, Ms. Sunday, the crew in the cage with him called her, but he recognised as Nico Robin and soon afterwards the arrival of Princess Vivi of Alabasta. It had been a little bit of a shock to see the believed missing Crown Princess of Alabasta. It had been even more so to see the Straw Hat crew familiar with her, though it did answer some of the questions he had been asking himself. The plan against the country had been revealed and the trap fully set. Water and banadiles set on them as their captors left to deal with a problem of a Mr Prince.

After a few tense moments, a rescue was conducted by a man appearing to be another member of the crew who Smoker vaguely recalled from the Logue Town square and a display of fighting ability by the Captain and the Swordsman ensued.

Then, had come an action that still slightly confused and worried Smoker. As the room had cracked fully and water came rushing in he had known he was in real trouble, without a fellow marine to pull him out of the water that was his enemy. But, although he never heard any speech, orders or decisions being made, in fact the only utterances seemed to be sounds of panic, as the water rushed at him and started to drag him under, he felt a strong grip on the back of his jacket and he was pulled up toward the surface. When he and his rescuer reached the surface, he had looked to them and saw the Swordsman his subordinate had become so obsessed with. Smoker had known in that moment that he needed an explanation of why a pirate would save a marine. He had needed to know whether his suspicions of this man and his crew were close to right, because if they were, he knew they would be more dangerous than anyone had yet to give them credit for.

So, Smoker had made his move as the rest of the crew began to gather itself. He swung his jitte at the swordsman to get his attention. Asking the question and getting the answer, he had almost expected. The answer in itself also happened to answer some questions Smoker had had about the former bounty hunter.

Captain's Orders. Two words that said so much about the green-haired man, Straw Hat and the rest of his crew.

From these events he now had answers, to many of the questions he had developed about Straw Hat and his crew, though not all the answers he could know for certain. He did know this though, Tashigi had found herself an impressive goal, for all her not truly having much understanding of the man.

The Swordsman had been, for all his apparent lack of care about being in a cage, watching over his crewmates and making a point to watch Smoker. Smoker had no doubt that if he had done something that could be taken as a threat to the man's crew, he would have reacted violently. Smoker also knew, from the tone the Swordsman had used in his answer, that he had not wanted to save Smoker but had done it anyway because his Captain had told him to.

But what Smoker found most telling about the man and the situation was that Smoker had not heard any verbal order, or argument about saving him. But both had obviously happened. That spoke of an understanding and a relationship between the two men that could be extremely dangerous to any who stood against their crew.

It was well known among the marines that occasionally there will be a crew that emerges that shows such a relationship between a Captain and a first mate, especially early in a pirate's career. It was also known that if they were left to grow with their crews, they would become very successful. There were rumours of these relationships seen in the Roger pirates, the Whitebeards and more recently in the Red-Haired pirates.

But these were all worries for the future. For now Smoker needed to turn his attention to dealing with the situation in front of him and for that he needed to make use of this rookie crew, that he believes might eventually become legends.

Of course, that would only happen if he didn't catch them first.

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Usopp was not really sure about this plan. In fact, he was very worried about it, especially considering the fact that due to the drawing of straws he was going into what was very possibly a dangerous fight with only a camel as backup. Without even knowing what he would be up against, he had no way of creating any form of plan to of attack. For now, he could only hold on tight as they sped across the desert through the night on the back of these massive, very fast ducks and think of what had led to this not so good plan.

Usopp guessed that it had started with them trying to get away from the marines in Rainbase on a giant sand crab. He remembered his shock at the golden hook that had come out of nowhere and grabbed Vivi. Then again, at Luffy's quick action to jump to catch her and throw her back, keeping hold of the hook in order to get to his opponent. Giving the order as he was carried out of reach to get Vivi to the capital and stop the rebellion.

Easy for him to say, he was their best fighter and probably had no idea what they may have to face to help Vivi.

Usopp remembered his instinctive reaction of fear at the prospect of reaching the city without one of their main fighters, not to mention not knowing how Luffy may make his way there. Then he had turned to the rest of the crew, noticing the solemn air that had fallen over them all at the departure of their captain. He had known that what promised to be a long trip may feel even more so if they remained this tense and that it may affect them in the battles to come. So, with a quick glance at the only man on the crab not to be showing much worry for their captain, Usopp made some comment about none of them needing to worry with the Great Captain Usopp with them, breaking the tension.

This may have gotten him a couple of hits for being an idiot from Nami and Sanji, but it seemed appreciated by Chopper at least. Zoro, as ever if something didn't directly get in his face, completely ignored the ruckus, sitting facing the direction that the crab was traveling with a look of concentration on his face, but he had remained calm, which had helped to settle Usopp's own nerves.

By the time they had reached the river, and the unexpected swim they had needed to take to get across, it had become obvious to Usopp that he had not the only one who had been having their nerves settled by the swordsman's calm demeanor. He had noticed that Nami had also been taking glances at the swordsman after she had started fidgeting with the pieces of her new staff strapped to her thigh. Chopper had also seemed to take glances at the swordsman whenever it had been quiet for a while, though Usopp wasn't sure if he was doing it because he knew that the swordsman was the best read of danger at the moment, or if he was just subconsciously following the other crew members' actions. He thought he might also have caught Sanji doing the same thing, though it might have been a twitch in his case.

It had been after they had been on the ducks for some time, and Vivi signaled that they were getting closer to the capital, that they had stopped to plan that Usopp realised why Zoro had looked like he had been concentrating earlier in the night.

Zoro had laid out a plan to try and lure out the Baroque Works Officer agents that Vivi believed they would be up against in the capital. This had come as quite a surprise to Usopp, he hadn't even realised that Zoro had been paying attention to Vivi's explanations, he certainly hadn't appeared to be. Also, in their time together the sniper hadn't seen much in the way of planning come from the swordsman, he was more a jump in and recklessly fight kind of guy. Sure, he had come up with a way to tell if someone was an actual member of the crew or an imposter, but that was really just logic as far as Usopp was concerned.

But the idea to have the rest of the crew split off into pairs, disguised in cloaks as they traveled toward the city, allowing Vivi to attempt to intercept the rebels was one that made good tactical sense. It was a plan that Usopp had approved of.

At least, he had until he realised that the drawing of straws left him with only a non-fighting camel as a "partner".

Oh, how he hoped that he could outrun whoever ended up after him and this day didn't end up being as dangerous as he thought it might be.

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Nami was enjoying her quiet time in the palace. Despite the fact that she was worried for her captain, who still hadn't woken up. The entire time they had been on Alabasta had been hectic, so the down time while they waited for Luffy was a nice change of pace for the time being. Especially after the last twenty-four hours of their quest to save the kingdom, which had been worse in terms of the sheer number of important events crammed into that small amount of time. The ability to rest after the lack sleep that had occurred due to it all was also really nice.

In all the time they had been promising to help Vivi save her kingdom, Nami hadn't really realised just how much danger would be involved in following through. That had only truly started to sink in at Rainbase, what with the marines (though she could admit that wasn't only an Alabasta-based problem for them), then Crocodile and the seastone cage in the glass room which led them to nearly drown, then the marines again.

Then, there had been Luffy switching places with Vivi on Crocodile's hook, leaving them without their captain hours before they started their own fights. All while they had still needed to get most of the way across the country to reach those fights without getting into more trouble.

For all Luffy is usually useless in terms of plans, his presence was still a comfort to the crew (and Nami) when he was there.

But this was the point that had reminded Nami that just because someone acts in a certain way most of the time, that doesn't mean she should forget some of the important facts that she knew about them. In this case in particular it had been Zoro that very much reminded her to pay attention and remember.

She will admit that she had remembered that she had recognised the swordsman as the unacknowledged first mate of the crew, but due to his general laziness she had forgotten her own reasons for doing so.

So often while they were peacefully at sea, she was the one that took up the traditional roles of the first mate. Controlling the crew when the captain would not (many times for their own safety, she might add), and making sure the chores aboard ship were split fairly. So, she could forgive herself for forgetting that when in combat, where she had very little experience, she was next to useless in keeping that control over her crewmates. Or that in the actual absence of their captain, Zoro had no problem with taking control of the situation, and not one of them would be bothered with it. It was just that he was generally too lazy to.

But that night as they were racing across the desert, first on a giant crab and then on ducks, he stepped up with such decisiveness that Nami didn't even realise she was deferring to him until they were almost to the capital. He'd taken command in what could be seen as a combat situation and made tactical decisions that she could only say were well thought out. Surprising her with his ability to do so.

It was only as they were starting to put the plan into action that she remembered that theirs was not the first group he had led. She had known that he had been the leader of the group with the bounty hunters from the east blue, the ones that had called him “Brother” (she couldn't quite remember their names clearly). She wasn't quite sure how she forgot that, but it was certainly a fact that she was reminded of after this incident.

Then, there were the other things he had done that during the time in the capital. Things that if she just thought of how he usually acted on the Merry, she would not have believed he would do. Like how he had acted as her partner before the fight with the assassins, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger. He had tried to put himself between them and her as much as he could, until he was too busy fighting to help her. Then when it was all over, she thinks he may have somehow stayed conscious while they all collapsed in exhaustion, watching over them until he was sure they were safe after all that they had been through.

She shook herself out of her thoughts, not really wanting to think on such things at this point when she could finally rest, especially when there was so much more that she could think on about their time in the country. She was just going to have to remind herself that everyone had different sides to them and not forget again that Zoro can step up when they most need him.

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The ruckus, of Vivi returning from where she had given her speech, had finally calmed down and now she sat looking out the window of her room in the palace at the moon shining over the city that was slowly rebuilding itself trying to come to terms with everything that had happened.

She should have been exhausted from her run to and from the coast to say goodbye to her friends. Not to mention the sleepless night she had had the night before, watching them leave for their ship and then coming to her decision. But the quiet that had overtaken the palace as it settled for the night left her sleepless once again.

It was too quiet without the sleepwalking and sleep talking that had occasionally devolved into sleep arguments that had, in one case, started a physical fight where both participants had been asleep at the time. That particular incident brought a smile to her lips as she remembered how exasperated Nami had been when she had had to get up to deal with the issue, to stop them from destroying the men's quarters, only to come back grumbling about stupid cooks and annoying swordsmen who managed to fight each other even in their sleep.

Neither would there be any badly concealed giggling indicating a midnight kitchen raid attempt tonight either, Vivi thought to herself before shaking herself and turning her thoughts to less melancholy topics, reminding herself that she had made her decision. One she knew was the right one for her, even if it left her at a loss for now.

Turning her gaze from the moon to the rebuilding city, she still couldn't quite believe they had done it. The crew had promised her repeatedly that they would help her free her kingdom, but deep in her mind (and heart) there had still been doubts that what they could do wouldn't be enough. That a Princess and an oddly small (but definitely a little insane) pirate crew would not be enough to stop something that had been planned and brewing for years.

She had been really worried when Luffy had been carried off by Crocodile's hook in exchange for her. She had feared her worst nightmare, of someone sacrificing themselves for her, had been about to come true. It probably hadn't helped that she had been with the crew long enough to read their tells, despite them putting on what were, for the most part, pretty convincing facades of calm. But she could hear it from the wavering and the volume of Usopp's voice as his stories filled the night, see it in the fidgeting of Nami and Dr Tony and the twitching of Sanji's fingers as he attempted not to chain-smoke his way through the night, that they were just as worried about their captain.

But she also noticed something else. Each time one of them seemed to get close to breaking point, they would suddenly stop. Usopp's voice would settle and his volume would go down, Nami and Dr Tony would still and so would the cook, like they were calmed in some way, at least for a time before the cycle would start again. It had taken her a few rounds of these cycles from each of them for her to notice it was happening though her own silent panic, but as she noticed them calming, she herself had also calmed herself by watching them. After watching them for a time though these cycles, she had noticed that just before they calmed they would glance off in a different direction than the one they had been looking as they worked themselves up. After a few more times, she had noticed that each was looking in the same direction each time. Upon following their gazes, she noticed something that she had not realised until then.

Mr Bushido was sitting there. His gaze turned in the direction they were traveling. Though his back had been to her, she could tell that he was relaxed. Not the relaxed that he often was on the ship as he napped on the deck, but the non-tense way he would settle himself as he waited for the signal for a battle to begin. He was sitting there, concentrating ahead as their captain had been left behind to deal with his own battle, trusting that he would catch up to them when he could. At least that was the feeling Vivi had felt emanating from his silent figure before her. As she continued to watch his back, she too began to feel a calm settle over her that she had not felt since she had felt the hook grab at her and she had realised what was behind the cycles of worry and calm that the other members of the crew had been going through.

She had realised after a little while in the presence of the crew that the relationship between Mr Bushido and Luffy was a little different from those that Luffy seemed to have with the rest of the crew, and that the rest also had a slightly different relationship with Mr Bushido than with each other. It had taken Vivi until after the fight the fight at Little Garden, when she looked back on it after calming from her worry about Mr Bushido's actions, to realise the core of the difference. She found it in Nami's trust that Mr Bushido could get them out of the wax, then in Mr Bushido stopping his actions and leaving getting out them out to Luffy as soon as he arrived.

It had been the trust they put in Mr Bushido, to know that everything would be alright or to fight to make it so, and Mr Bushido's trust in Luffy, to come out of battle the victor, that had been calming them all. It was a relationship between a group of people that she had been living within but not realised she had been living. A type of friendship that she will never forget, and would always hold in her heart, knowing that the tiny crew of laughter and fighters would do the same.

Vivi turned her gaze back to the moon as she had these thoughts. The decision she had made the night before had been a difficult one. To stay and leave her friends to their further adventures without her had torn at her heart and she wishes she had been able to continue with them. But her heart was in the desert that was her homeland.

She knew the sea did not speak to her like she had realised it did to her friends, as much as she enjoyed her time on and with it. She did not hear the laughter and beckoning of the waves as they all seemed to. No that wasn't quite right, she did on some level, but not in the way she heard it from the desert. So, she had made the decision to stay, but she had known she had to say goodbye properly, no matter how the people of Alabasta would react to her odd speech and not being where she had been meant to be.

She was relieved that the fighting was over for Alabasta and she was thankful for her friends for helping to bring that about, she thought as she turned away from the window in order to stand and ready herself for her first full night as just the Princess of Alabasta once again. Stopping for a few seconds before standing to allow her hand to rest over the X on the back of her wrist as the thought came to settle her mind fully for the first time since she watched the Going Merry sail away. She may be a princess, but she was also a StrawHat, as far as her Captain, crew and she were concerned.

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Robin sat up late, her coffee within reach, as she read one of the books she had brought with her onto this odd little ship.

She was not going to lie to herself. She was aware that this crew could lead to her dangerous circumstances for herself. She was aware that she wasn’t entirely sure why she had chosen to trick her way onto this crew. Sure, it had been the captain’s fault that she was still alive to do so, but she could have found another way off Alabasta and another, more prominent, crew to act as her protectors until the inevitable happened.

Instead she found herself on this little ship – made more for calm, short journeys in less treacherous waters than for the Grand Line – with one of the smallest crews that she had ever heard of getting this far into the Line. And she had heard of, or sailed with, a lot of crews in her twenty years on the run from the world.

Maybe she had chosen them because she had had the opportunity to observe them thoroughly when she had been their enemy. Maybe it was the way in which they had stuck together for someone that had become one of their own, never seeming to, at any point, think that just leaving the princess to look after her own country and not getting involved themselves was the best idea.

Maybe it was the fact that they did this, despite the unbelievable fact that they were new to the Line, had only one member of their crew with any bounty and that they had only been a crew for an infinitesimal amount of time. Maybe it was that despite all this, they had won; they had beaten an organisation that had years of planning and outnumbered them to a ridiculous degree.

(Maybe if they could do this for someone they were fully aware would only be with them for a short amount of time, they could do this for her, if she was one of them.)

(Maybe there was a sense in her that told her that instead of just finding the true history, she could also record the extraordinary story of this crew. Someday.)

Whatever it was that drove her to step aboard the Going Merry, she had and – despite the observations she had made of them – they still managed to surprise her. Not the quirkiness, that she had known, she had observed it or heard of it. But the lack of suspiciousness from most of them – after the first few tense minutes – the effortless way that she had talked, bribed and tricked her way onto the crew, leaving just the swordsman the only one who made any attempt to watch her for treachery.

Even after she had made a point to tell them that her specialty was spying and assassination. They still trusted her with their backs, letting her walk the ship as she liked, and freedom in the night. This surprised her, especially given that she had only days ago explicitly been their enemy.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t so blind a decision. She thought of some of the looks that she had noticed over the course of her time among them that day, that she hadn’t quite noticed the day before. Sure, they all seemed to trust their captain’s decision to allow her aboard and had allowed her to bribe them with that in mind but they were not as trusting as they may appear to be at first glance.

Throughout the day, usually just as the other crew members had come within arms-reach of her, Robin had noticed that they had flicked a glance at the suspicious swordsman, just a small glance out the corner of their eye to where he was either training or leaning up against a rail. Something else she had noticed was the fact that although he had gone about what seemed to be a normal routine, he had not been that far from her either. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of all that yet though.

Something to ponder, she mused as she took a sip of her coffee before turning back to her book, she had time to decode this crew yet.

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Maybe it had been everything that had lead up to that point that had caused Nami to explode so much at the incident in that stupid, cheap bar. She pondered on the idea as she sat in the girls’ room trying to calm down a little.

A room that until recently had been shared with the first female friend that she ever remembered having (Nojiko didn’t count, sister before friend). One that she now shared with the woman who had stood to harm that friend. How quickly she had let go of her suspicions after ten long years, where her suspicious nature had kept her safe, allowing her fondness of money and jewels to overpower them.

What had led her to do this? Was it the fact that Luffy said Robin was a good person, had Nami subconsciously learnt that Luffy had a much stronger ability to judge people on their ship than she did in most situations? Or had she subconsciously realised that Zoro would remain suspicious no matter what anyone said until whoever it was that had stepped foot on their ship had proven themselves?

Or was it that she trusted the two of them to react quickly enough to stop anyone from harming the crew if it came down to it?

Whatever it was, her reaction to Robin had caused Nami to hold a low level of frustration at herself, once she had realised what she had done. It was added to the baseline frustration she always held about the fact that they couldn’t seem to travel anywhere for long without something ridiculous happening.

For example, their log pose pointing upwards. Or a massive old wreck of a ship falling from the sky. Or a random salvage pirate crew possibly attacking them.

That level had skyrocketed after the events that had happened in that stupid excuse for a town.

She had only followed them in the first place to make sure they actually remembered to ask for the information they needed. But walking with them may have made her a little nostalgic for the time it had just been the three of them in those two tiny, barely sea-worthy boats held together with only a few badly tied ropes. The first time she had felt like she could have friends since the bastard had shown up.

Even though she had known that the idiots probably wouldn’t take the promise she dragged out of them about not fighting seriously, she made them make it anyway. She just wanted to make sure they didn’t destroy anything until they had what they needed.

She knew from a quick glance at him at the time, Zoro had felt the same way as she had about the insult those jerks had given their Captain and the rest of the crew. But she had verbally held them all back. Even if it was only by reminding herself that they needed the village standing to get information.

Then at the bar, when that jerk had first attacked Luffy, Zoro had reacted so fast she didn’t remember seeing him move. Sword out and threatening the jerk. Retorting to her attempt to stop him that they had started it and he was only defending. She knew he was going to fight, and probably bring the entire building down on their heads.

So, she had done the only thing she could to get the information before she need to get out of the way. And the entire bar had laughed at her, at them.

At this Luffy had stood up, and said one of the most confusing things that she had ever heard from him, and she had heard some weird things come out of her Captain’s mouth.

He had told them that they weren’t going to fight.

And Zoro hadn’t even questioned it. Just re-sheathed his favourite sword and stood there.

Why would they have done that? These jerks obviously didn’t have any information they needed, and even if only one of the idiots had fought they wouldn’t have even had to break a sweat to take them all out.

But instead they just stood there and took a beating. Standing back up after every time they were knocked down. Why?

Then after she had dragged them both out of the bar, after the insults and the stupidity those jerks threw around without knowing a single thing about their crew, they had just stood up and acted as if nothing happened. Being annoyingly cryptic about what they both seemed to know about the weird cherry pie guy as they did.

Maybe she would have just calmed down quickly when they got back to the ship, surrounded by those that understood the truth of their crew. But instead the two idiots insisted in denying that anything had happened. Like it was not even worth wasting breath on explaining what had happened.

She would certainly like them to explain what had happened, because she felt like she was missing something important that explained the entire series of events. And Nami liked to know as much information she could in order to plan for every eventuality should this come back to haunt them.

Also, she didn’t like being confused, especially when she had thought she had finally been able to understand exactly what kinds of choices her boys would make in any situation.

On reflection, she figured that she could be forgiven for finally exploding, considering everything.

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Usopp was a little worried. Luffy was running late getting back and they needed to leave soon if they wanted make it to the place that would take them to sky island in time.

In fact, Usopp was still a little confused why Luffy had gone alone in the first place.

Sure, Usopp knew that Luffy had gone to get the old man’s gold back, but the tension that had been present when he left had been unmistakeable. Usopp knew he was missing something, but he couldn’t figure out what and he had a feeling that if he asked he wasn’t going to get an answer.

Luffy, Zoro and Nami had been acting weird since they got back from asking for information at the port. Zoro and Luffy had been covered in blood and bruises, unworried about their state while Nami had been untouched but furious. It had been so bad that Chopper had abandoned ship rather than face her, a bad idea for a devil fruit user whose original form wasn’t made for ocean swimming in the first place. (Ussop preferred to remember that he had jumped in to save the reindeer, rather than that he had to escape the navigator).

When Nami had stormed off after yelling at the two of them, without even giving details, Usopp had just figured it was just another one of those things that the three of them didn’t feel the need to talk about with anyone else. (Like how the three of them met. Like how they ended up on his island in a boat flying Buggy the Clown’s flag.) So, he was just going to let it be, like he had everything else.

Especially after Nami had calmed down. (No need to accidently set her off again by bringing it up.)

So, he had put it out of his mind as they had moved forward in working out ways to get to the sky.

Until they had got back to the half-house with the bird they needed for their trip to find the old man and the monkeys badly injured, their skip wrecked and the gold gone.

Even under the ruckus of worry that overtook the area at the discovery, Usopp had heard Zoro call out to Luffy. Not loud, Zoro rarely had to be when he used that tone. Anyone who had been with the crew for more than one island, or incident learnt quick to hear it under any level of sound. The swordsman wasn’t a big talker most of the time, but when he was serious, that was usually when everyone needed to pay attention.

All Zoro had done after getting everyone’s attention was point to a symbol that had been painted on a tree and asked if their Captain wanted any help. Nami hadn’t been happy at the sight, even less so that Luffy was going alone but hadn’t said much other than threatening him with what would happen if he was late back.

They hadn’t explained what was so significant about the symbol. But Usopp can guess given the reaction and the fragments of the conversation between Zoro and Nami he had overheard afterwards.

The owners of the symbol had been the ones responsible for the state they had come back to the ship with earlier. Nami thought that Zoro should have gone with Luffy, Zoro thought that the fight would be too easy if he did.

About fights, Usopp was more likely to take Zoro’s analysis as fact than Nami’s, even when it seemed that it seemed not to make any sense. But Luffy was now almost an hour late and he was starting to worry that maybe Zoro had been wrong. (He’d only seen Zoro be wrong about a fight once, but that fight had nearly killed the swordsman, the scar across his chest a constant reminder of that to all who had seen that battle.)

But then again, Luffy’s sense of direction wasn’t that much better than Zoro’s, at least according to Nami who spent time trying to insure he didn’t go anywhere on an island alone. (But maybe that was to stop him from getting them all into dangerous situations, or eating away all their money.)

Or maybe he forgot to take into account the weight of the gold he had gone to collect. (Ussop ignored the fact that he knew Luffy could carry the same amount of weight as Zoro without slowing him down.)

Luffy was their Captain and the one of the best fighters in the crew, but he was a bit of an idiot. (Usopp really, really hoped that Zoro wasn’t wrong.)

Chapter Text

Sanji couldn’t quite believe they had made it. Or even that such a place existed.

They were actually sailing on clouds.

If it hadn’t been for that attack earlier and the conversation with the old guy, Sanji might have believed that the Knock Up Stream had killed them and they’d all gone to heaven. (If the shitty idiots hadn’t also joined them up there, at least.)

It was an amazing sight to take in. Even the shitty Marimo was wide awake to see it.

A quick glance at the idiot to verify this fact brings back all the frustration from earlier. The events that had occurred as they were about to catch the Knock up stream, just added to the long list of things that annoyed the blond about the green-haired idiot.

First, when sweet Nami-swan (and almost every other member of the crew, beautiful Robin-chwan was as tidily composed as ever) was panicking about being sucked into that massive whirlpool, all he said (calmly Sanji might add) was not to bother trying to back out because somebody (their shitty captain) was already excited. No attempt to calm anyone down. No attempt to protect either of the ladies (or the rest of the weaker members of the crew). Not even an attempt to try and reason with the Captain (Sanji knew that this wouldn’t have amounted to anything, but the shitty Marimo had a better chance of it than anyone else). Just calmly pointing out that they were about to be swallowed by the whirlpool.

Then, those crazy guys in the raft showed up, talking about the bounty on Luffy’s head and showed them all two bounty posters. Only two. Luffy’s new bounty and the shitty Marimo’s first.

Sure, the idiot took down the Mr 1 guy in Alabaster but Sanji had taken on Mr 2 and won. Surely, he deserved a bounty too. And how the shitty idiot reacted to his amount, like he wasn’t happy with how much it was. Couldn’t he be happy that he had one at all, let alone one that was twice Luffy’s first one.

Sanji had spent a long time on the seas, dealing with Marines and pirates both, he knew that often times there were many who didn’t acknowledge pirates unless they had a bounty. Sure, having a Captain with a bounty made them a legitimate pirate crew, but unless an individual had a bounty to themselves they would be completely ignored in favour of those that did. It annoyed Sanji that he was not yet an acknowledged fighter but the government but the shitty idiot was.

The only thing that had lessened his frustration before he could find time to pick a fight was the fact that it had taken him the same amount of time to acclimatise to the lower oxygen levels in the sky. They had both been as affected by the change in conditions, the same as him, and they had all recovered at the same time. It showed that he wasn’t that far behind the two idiots, the government was just underestimating him.

Chapter Text

Chopper didn’t think he had ever felt as relieved as he had when he realised that the entire crew was back together again after the trials of the afternoon.

Traveling on the Knock-Up-Stream that morning had been terrifying, and a little exhilarating. While the first view of the sky-sea had been incredible. There had been those few moments of utter terror when the oxygen levels had stopped Luffy, Zoro and Sanji from fighting, but that had passed quickly enough.

It had been fun meeting Conis and her father, new friends in a new place, an adventure learning the way things work in the sky. It had been too bad that he hadn’t been able to talk much about the way they go about healing up here, whether there were any new things he could learn as a doctor.

Then those white hat guys had come and told them that they had managed to break the laws of Sky Island and in order to attempt to get away before something happened they had tried to set off.
Everyone had rushed to ready the Merry while leaving Luffy, Sanji and Usopp to gather supplies.

Then that lobster thing had grabbed them and pulled them away, forcing them to leave the others behind. To Chopper that journey had been a mass of confusion and fear, wondering if the others would be able to find them again.

Chopper could clearly remember Zoro calmly telling Nami, Robin and himself to abandon ship while still close to the beach. Offering to stay aboard and protect Merry, at least, before the sky-sea monsters made it clear that that was not an option. (Probably not the swordsman’s best thought out plan, Chopper thinks back on it now, given that he and Robin were both Devil Fruit users and the “Luffy experiment” back at the beach proved that the cloud sea had the same effect on them as the blue one they knew.)

Chopper remembers the pride and confidence he had felt when he had been left to protect the Merry on his own while the others explored. The trust the others had shown in him for it had been incredible, that they thought him capable of such an important job on his own was a great honour.

He shies from the thought of what had happened after. The guilt and shame he felt for not living up to the trust they had in him still fills a large section of his mind and heart. It had only been slightly lessened by the comments of the rest of the crew about what he had been able to do, and their lack of comments on his weakness. It had still been a blow to his small store of self-confidence.

He remembered the panicked reaction of Nami at the sight of the Merry when the explorers returned. Her panicked calls for him over the space between the bank and the alter. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to answer her, nor the softer, calmer calls of their newer crewmate. But when Zoro had called his name he couldn’t ignore it. It had been against what he had learned of the crew for him to attempt to ignore it.

But it had only been his welfare that they had been able to ask about before the others had joined them and more calls to check on each other had been made. No-one turning to the state of the Merry until after all had been declared well with the crew.

Now they partied together because, for now, all was well and there would be gold for them to find tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Wyper settled into a place near the fire as the chaos that had overtaken everyone when they had realised the Blue Sea dwellers had left without a proper goodbye began to die down. He was still feeling the effects of the injures gained in the fighting of the previous day, though he was not happy to admit it.

He was still slightly in shock that so many had survived the battle. Without taking into account the aftermath and the fact that he and the other warriors no longer had to fight for their heritage. Granted he was aware that it would take time for the Skypieans and the Shandians to leave all the little grudges of the last four hundred years, but the main issues about land and access had been resolved and he was hopeful that that would be enough to begin a new era.

Not that he would ever admit that he was hopeful of such a thing as peace.

Four hundred years of constant war and all it took, for the beginnings of peace to be felt, was a small group of Blue Sea dwellers showing up at the right time, and not care about the war that they had sailed right into the middle of.

Wyper was still not sure what to think about them either and he had done quite a bit of thinking while everyone else had been partying the night before.

He remembers his first run in with them, and they had certainly not seemed to be anywhere near as strong as they had proved themselves to be during Enel's survival game. He had been able to take out the three who had come at him easily while they had needed Gan Fall to save them.

Then there were the run ins he had had with the weird guy with the hat, the one that had eventually been the one to ring the bell that should have been his duty, that had seemed to be the leader of their group of warriors. He was an odd one, not really seeming to understand what they had wondered into, for all that he seemed to go after what he wanted after making his decision, Wyper could not understand the guy.

But the swordsman, the one with the green hair, him Wyper could understand. He was a warrior of his people, one that seemed to have his own code of action, much like Wyper himself in many ways. At least in what he had seen of the man, and he had seen quite a bit after they had ended up on the same platform of the island with Ohm at the end of the main battle and couldn't seem to get away from each other until after it was all over.

The way he had reacted to finding the small fluffy creature, the one that Wyper had later found out was a healer, was very much how he knew he would have reacted himself if it had been one of his own people's healers had been attacked like that.

After having time to think about the incident, he was very aware that they had both reacted exactly the same way to the girl on the waver showing up with Aisa, and then getting eaten. Wyper was a little annoyed at himself that because he didn't know then what he knew now. He had worked against the man, instead of with him, to try and save them. If he had known, he would have.

He should have known they were alike after what had seemed to be an automatic reaction to catch the dark-haired woman after Enel's attack struck her. Something he will admit he would have done himself if he had been able to reach Laki when the same had happened to her.

Wyper knew that he had been harsh to his warriors, to his people during his leadership of the warriors as his ancestor had. But he was a protector, always had been. He had been harsh to ensure only those who were ready would be on the front line of the war they had been fighting for so long.

For all that he saw himself in the Blue Sea swordsman and believed he understood the man, there were things about him and his companions that he didn't really understand. The way they had understood the note on the leaf sent down as trying to reach the bell was one of them. The fact that they knew what the bell meant to the Shandians, to him, without actually caring to understand it in the way of their people but rather what it meant to a friend down on the Blue Sea. The descendant of the man that had been his ancestor's friend.

Wyper shook himself from his wondering and scanned the area to check on the rest of his people. His ancestor's greatest wish has been achieved, it was now time to move on and work out how the two peoples will learn to live together on the one island in peace.

Chapter Text

Nami was glad that the last few days had been quiet, it allowed them to recover after their encounter with the Admiral. It had been a relief when they had seemed to have made it out of the whole situation more or less intact. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if it had gone any worse.

(She was very aware that it could have ended in a nightmare.)

Nami wasn’t sure if there had been any fight in the time the crew had been together that she had been so unsure they would get out of in one piece. It had certainly seemed that they wouldn’t while it was all happening.

(It had all happened so quickly.)

One minute, Admiral Aokiji had been helping them reunite the old guy they’d come across with his tribe, and the next, he had turned on them to try and take Robin.

It’s odd the moments that stick in your mind when events are moving that fast and the thought that flash through along with them, Nami thought as she looked back on those first moments of the fight.

Her memories of those moments seem choppy to her, like a series of photographs, missing movements in between.

She distinctly remembered seeing Zoro jumping between the Admiral and Robin, because of course he did. Despite the fact that Luffy was the captain – and Sanji went on about protecting her and Robin (or any woman really) – Zoro was always the first to get between a threat and a crew member he thought couldn’t yet handle an oncoming threat.

(Even the ones he was only just starting to trust, because Nami knew that Zoro never quite fully trusted anyone until he believed they had fully proved themselves loyal to the crew.)

Then there were the frozen limbs of the Monster Trio and a fully frozen Robin to worry about. Chopper and Usopp carrying Robin off for defrosting, leaving the rest of them to hopefully hold the Admiral off long enough to help. At least, that was what they had planned until Luffy made a decision, ordering Sanji and Zoro off to allow him to fight one-on-one.

Captain’s Orders were Captain’s Orders so the three of them had headed back to the ship to check on the progress with Robin and for the boys to defrost. (Of course, two idiots would decide the best way to defrost would be jumping into the sea.)

That was about the time that her memories returned to seamlessness.

She had gone to help thaw Robin in the bathroom, but she and Chopper had been able to overhear the conversation on the deck, if it could be called that. Usopp had been yelling at the two for leaving Luffy behind, calling them cruel, despite the fact that they had been ordered to do so. Nami had been almost to the door to deal with it (Captain’s Orders may not happen often on their ship but they were followed), when Sanji had evidently lost patience with the sniper, yelling back. She had been at the door, fist ready to intervene, Chopper on her heels when Zoro had cut in stopping them both in their tracks.

She remembered his words clearly, had recognised the tone from the few times the swordsman had been forced to use it. The tone of the First Mate.

“Stop it you two! This is not the time! Now is a critical moment of our survival. Right now, we have to remain calm and prepare for the worst!”

It was those words and that tone that had fully brought the seriousness of the situation down on all of them. It had been a solemn mood that had taken over them all, standing side-by-side with the urgency they all felt to all be together and safe.

She and Chopper had gone back to trying to thaw Robin, joined by a sober Usopp when the others had gone to check on Luffy. Nami couldn’t find the words to describe feeling of relief and worry that ran through her when Luffy was brought back to the ship in one piece but fully frozen. A feeling she knew the rest of the crew also felt.

The flood of relief through all of them when Chopper had announced their hearts were beating again, was another thing that she couldn’t quiet describe.

Though, now that she was thinking back on it, she realised that Zoro hadn’t quite relaxed along with the rest of them at the announcement. He had remained as serious as he had been when dealing with the issue with Usopp and Sanji, as responsible. Checking with her whether that should sail or stay where they were. Checking the conditions of the other boys, even maintaining his napping stance rather than his sleeping one when everyone decided to crash in the kitchen with the invalids for the night. He had remained that way until Luffy had started up and running on deck again.

Yes, Nami was very glad the days of recuperation had been quiet. It had also been nice to hand over some of the responsibility on board while she was worrying. (Though, she kind of wished Zoro could remain responsible when it wasn’t an emergency situation to give her a break more often.)

Chapter Text

Was it possible for a day to be any shittier than this one, Sanji thought as he stared up at the ceiling of the room he was sharing with Chopper at the inn they had booked after the shitstorm that was the day. The tiny reindeer hadn’t moved from where he had curled up on his bed after setting the last of his belongings out of the way. Partially muffled sniffs regularly interrupting the cook’s reflections.

It was hard to believe that that morning they had all woken up happily, following a regular Straw-Hat routine. It had started so well, randomly running into the lovely station lady who was nice enough to give them both directions and an introduction letter to a badly needed shipwright on a nearby island.

The possibility of getting another lovely babe on the crew, to fill the empty place on the crew-roster, had brightened Sanji’s morning even more. Even though the idiot Captain’s ideas of a 5-meter-tall guy and his attempt at sketching who he wanted for their shipwright, which looked part octopus, made the Moss-head’s comments on the subject seem sensible.

“None of that matters. The only thing we need to worry about is that their good at their job and want to join a group of pirates.”

(Thinking about the way that Usopp had acted so nostalgic about the Merry’s many metal plates and repairs just caused another lightning strike of pain and anger to shoot through his chest. How could it have come to that.)

The buoyant feeling had continued, with the people of the island welcoming them and pointing to where they can safely anchor, then the knowledgeable merchants of the market being willing to explain both what their produce was and how to make best use of it. It wasn’t until he ran into Chopper, alone, and realised that he was supposed to be with lovely Robin, that it had begun to fade.

Going back to the ship to hear the Moss-head explain that Merry was dying hit him in the chest. They were losing a nakama here, and there was nothing they could do.

“A person grows stronger with wounds, but for a ship, the wounds only stack up and weaken it more and more.”

Beautiful flower Nami running into the ship to tell them that Usopp was injured trying to protect the money they had gained. Finding only a pool of blood where she had told them she had last seen him had been unnerving, particularly with how injured their flower had reported him being.

The blood trail, Luffy finding them, finding the sniper like that.

The walk with the others to the Franky House from his crewmates battered and bloody form had felt good. Nostalgic almost, like it had felt on the walk to Arlong park all that time ago, when he had still been new to the crew and learning what it meant to be a Straw-Hat. A reminder to himself even in all the chaos of the day that this was the Straw-Hats. They were the Straw-Hats.

(You hurt one, you hurt all of us, and we will damn well show you the door to hell for it.)

And it had felt even better to let loose all the pain, grief, worry, confusion and anger that had been building in the blond since finding Chopper out on the morons who thought they could mess with this pirate crew and get away with it.

Sanji smirked as he remembered the way the idiots had gone on yelling that there were only four of them, that taking them out would be easy. They hadn’t even needed all four to take on that house, any one of the four of them could have taken them all by themselves (he would have been a little more sceptical about Chopper doing so, but the doctor had been sufficiently pissed to do it), but they had all wanted blood at that point and none of them would have stepped aside to only watch the beatdown.

The fact that the Moss-head was capable of having a logical conversation in what they had left of the Franky House after they had finished with it hadn’t seemed odd at the time. He had seemed to be having one of his rare fully logical days, not having his stupidity getting on the cook’s nerves as much, even before the day started to go to shit.

He had thought on the way back to their dying ship – with a badly injured sniper, a missing flower and hard gathered money stolen – that that was the worst that the day could get. Surely, he had thought at the time, there was no way for it to get worse.

He’d been wrong.

Usopp was leaving. He challenged Luffy for their dying home and was leaving the crew.

Just thinking of the events strengthened the storm of emotions again.

Why did the stupid Moss-head just stand there during the argument? Surely, if he had just tried he could have stopped it from getting that far. At least, he should have had a better chance that he, the worried reindeer and the beautiful Nami would have had. But he had only tried once, before Usopp had been told of Merry’s fate, then just stood there silently.

In fact, if he had just taken out all the Franky Family that had come to the ship when he had the chance, they could have avoided the Usopp mess with them to begin with.

No, Sanji shook his head at himself as these thoughts came back to him. This is just emotions taking over and wanting someone specific to blame. You know that they wouldn’t have sent the entire family at the ship, and just because he didn’t try to stop it didn’t mean he wanted it to happen. He probably just realised that there was no way to stop it at that point.

For all his stupidity, the Moss-head had never done anything that the blonde could recognise as wasting effort.

The duel had been hard. Usopp had seemed like the Captain’s best friend for years when he had met the crew, like they had always known each other, even though he had been corrected on that by the other two members of the crew. To watch someone that had been a part of the crew longer than him leave had been difficult. To think that anyone would try to leave was hard. They were going to lose two members of the crew on the one island.

He had stood slightly behind the others on the ship to watch, a position that allowed him to observe not only the duel itself, but the way that the rest of the crew watched. Had seen Chopper and Nami leaning on the rail, crying out to the fighters, looking as if they were one second away from jumping over the side and rushing between them to stop it. The only thing that seemed to keep them there the vague feeling in the back of all their heads at the idea of a serious “Captain’s Order” and the Moss-head standing beside them who they all instinctively knew would make sure to enforce said order if they forgot.

“None of you come down!”

The Moss-head himself had stood there at the rail, arms crossed and eyes forward to the battleground. Not once did the shitty swordsman take his turn his eyes from the fight, moving only to stay steady during the explosion. The sight forced Sanji to do the same, giving the duellers the respect of watching it all, even if he couldn’t keep himself as neutral.

The time the shit-head had spoken was to bluntly call the duel.

“You stupid asshole! There was no way that you would win!”

If it hadn’t for the green-haired asshole, Sanji didn’t think they would have been able to do anything after that. He just calmly outlined what they had to do, then got them moving. Abandoning the nakama that had been their home since the East Blue.

As much as Sanji wanted to be angry at the bastard for the way he dealt with the issue, his conversation with the Captain after it all still circled in his head, even hours later. Reminding him about parts of their way of life he would rather forget.

“Heavy.”

“That’s what a captain is. Don’t hesitate. If you can’t be decisive, who can we believe in?”

Chapter Text

He watched the island disappear into the storm behind them as they sped off after their missing crewmates leaving Chopper both relieved and excited. The couple of days they had had on it had been stressful and confusing, not to mention painful. But they now had a clear direction and goal to work toward, an enemy to fight and a plan to follow, rather than chasing shadows like they had all day.

The first indication he had had that the island would be bad for them was when he had lost track of Robin on the way to the bookstore. He worried now that if he had just been paying more attention he could have helped her as she was taken or he could have at least given answers to the crew before everything decided to fall apart. They could have been ready for at least some of the trouble to come, could have avoided the division that happened by focusing on a bigger opponent.

Instead, he had been so excited for the possibility of some more books, he had not paid any attention to Robin. He wasn’t even sure how long it had taken him to notice that she wasn’t there and when he had, he had panicked.

It had taken running into Sanji to cause him to calm down and think logically about where she might have gone if they had gotten separated. Of course, it made sense to head back to the mutually-known, fixed point of the ship after losing the other and possibly finding another crewmate to warn that they had lost each other in town in case something had happened. It made sense if that was what had happened.

But it hadn’t been what had happened, and going back to the Merry had just begun piling up their bad luck (and news).

Chopper tried not to think too hard on the way that Zoro had calmly informed them that Merry was dying. The way that Zoro had been nice enough to try and explain her condition as wounds to help Chopper understand. He hadn’t had much time after to process the loss he felt for the first home he had had away from Drum. Not with everything else that had happened between then and now.

Nami had returned to the ship too quickly afterward to accept the loss at the time. Bringing with her the worry for Usopp.

He remembered the feeling of reaching the place Nami had told them he was, and finding nothing but a pool of blood. The doctor on in him had sat up and paid even more attention than it had at her description of Usopp’s condition at the sight as Sanji and Zoro both made worried comments of their own. If he had been as bad as Nami had told them he was, then went to try and get the money back again? What condition would he be in when they found him?

Running into Luffy, in a typical Luffy fashion, as they were about to head off after him had only helped to push them after Usopp faster.

Oddly, despite his worry for Usopp, being with the three of them at the time had felt safe. Like there was nothing to worry about. They could stand against anything. He knew that the crew jokingly referred to them as the Monster Trio, and they were the strongest fighters in the crew, but he couldn’t remember another moment he had felt as much a part of them as he had as they had walked up to the Franky House after finding Usopp.

Like he was one of them. Like he was just as strong. Like he had as much the right as any of them to say, “You hurt one of us and we will hurt you just as bad”.

Then there was the craziness of the argument between Usopp and Luffy.

Chopper had known that Usopp had a special connection to Merry, he liked to tell the story of how his friend from his home had given her to them. But he hadn’t really realised how he would take the news of her condition. Though, after a sleepless night, he realised that the way he had been told was probably not the best way to break it to him.

The argument itself was a blur of noise, grief and worry in Chopper’s memory as the rest of them tried to get the two of them to stop. He even vaguely thinks that he heard a deeper, calmer voice once through the noise, and for the first time in Chopper’s time on the ship everyone had ignored whatever Zoro had said.

The way Usopp had spoken to him when he had tried to go after him to help him with his injuries had hurt. He could admit that in his mind, if not out loud, he didn’t want to accidently add to the way the others felt toward Usopp after the split. Both Usopp and Luffy were his best friends on the crew and they were best friends with each other too. Chopper hadn’t had any friends at all before the Straw Hats, just Doctor and Doctorine, he didn’t really understand what happened. Why had it had to happen like that? How could he cut ties with all of them so easy?

He remembered that when the time came for the duel, Zoro had tried to tell him to go inside if he couldn’t bring himself to watch. The truth is, he didn’t know if he could have stayed to watch it from the deck without interfering if Zoro hadn’t been standing right beside him. The solid presence gave him a silent reminder in the back of his head each time he thought to try and jump the railing that Luffy had told them to stay where they were. It had also been a reassurance to him when the world had felt like it was shifting all around him, pulling away what he thought he knew of being on a Pirate Crew out from under him, that there was something steady right beside him.

Chopper understood now why Sanji had tried to stop him going to Usopp after the fight, but he remembered his anger and confusion at the time. He was a doctor, his first instinct will always be to help an injured person, especially a friend.

They had all been emotional wrecks at the time, but he remembered how Zoro had taken charge and gotten them moving before they could fully break. Getting them through packing up their home and to an inn, then ensuring they were settled for the night.

For Chopper it had been a restless one, even after he had cried himself out. Going over and over the events of the day, the what ifs and if onlys, until dawn light and habit had pulled Sanji from his bed in their shared room and out into the day.

Chopper had remained only a short time alone until he had felt he needed company. He had first tried Luffy and Zoro’s shared room across the hall and had almost panicked when no-one had answered. He may have knocked a little harder than needed on Nami’s door in response, but she had just partially opened the door, taken one look at his face before saying, “roof” and shutting it again.

When he had reached the roof, he had been a bit confused at first. He had only seen Zoro leaning on the bell-tower. The swordsman’s eyes had opened as Chopper walked up to him before tilting his head a little to one side. Chopper had followed with his eyes until seeing the Straw Hatted figure on one of the nearby towers, allowing him to relax and just sit beside the swordsman.

It had been Sanji returning to the inn that had begun the events of the day. With Chopper choosing to go with him to continue looking for Robin before Nami had run in with news about the mayor being hurt. So, they had all split up, Nami and Luffy to the mayor, Sanji and Chopper to Robin and Zoro had stayed behind to wait.

After running into Robin and listening to the things she had said, then Sanji telling him to tell the others exactly what she had said, he hadn’t really given much thought to exactly what it could mean, other than the fact that they had lost another crew-member. At least, until he had found the three of them together and relayed the message.

That had been an oddly serious crew meeting, even Luffy had been still as they talked. Chopper had kept silent unless asked a question to clarify what he had already said. Like there was a pressure on him to remain quiet while Nami and Zoro talked over the situation and advised Luffy on the paths that could be taken from there. Even more particularly for the crew, they made a clear plan as to how they would go forward.

It hadn’t been until they were waiting at Galley La for a sign of Robin that he realised what it was he was reacting to with this particular group. Usopp often used to tell stories about the early days of the crew, for all he didn’t know all that much about what happened before he joined. But one thing was clear, the three crew-members he was currently with were the original three, the ones that had started the crew.

It wasn’t until they were moving on Galley La that Chopper was reminded again why they so rarely made any kind of clear plan before jumping into a fight. Luffy never follows them. Also, Zoro and Nami’s attempts to factor Luffy into any plan they makeup to cover for a failed plan tend to backfire just as badly, as evidenced in their rather confusing entrance to the building.

Then, when they got in, there were the crazy Government people with Robin. When they tried to get a clear answer about what happened and whether Robin was really leaving and Luffy had been adamant that she wasn’t. Chopper remembered watching Luffy and Zoro attempt to fight them and he had been terrified. He could only remember one other time they had both been taken down so quickly, back when they had just gotten to the lower sky sea and they hadn’t yet been used to the oxygen levels.

The roof had begun to fall in after one of the attacks and Chopper had been caught under while pushing Nami out of the way. He missed much of what happened after until he was able to get free in the middle of the fire. He had no conscious memories of how he had managed to get out with the two shipwrights and Zoro’s sword.

Then, there was getting free and finding out that Robin had done what she had done for them. Looking for the others to let them know and trying to do it all in time to stop the train.

Chopper remembered his reaction when he had realised that what he had thought was a sea anemone had actually been Zoro’s legs and swords sticking up from a chimney in the Back Streets where the shipwrights helping them had warned him to avoid during the coming Aqua Laguna. Though, he still didn’t quite understand how Zoro had known that he had one of his swords, it was good that he managed to cut himself out in time to allow them to start to head back before the massive wave.

After the terror of the close call with the water, it was even more of a relief to tell both Luffy and Zoro the truth of what Robin had done. Their reaction could only be described as determined, even if they almost fought the shipwrights for a ship to follow them before the lady from the train station the day before offered them another way.

Now, Chopper was helping by shovelling coal in the engine of the Rocketman as they sped after their friends. They were coming.

The Straw Hats didn’t leave anyone behind.

Chapter Text

Nami looked around the carriage and could only sigh in relief. They were finally falling back into the familiar routines of preparation for battle and with it her own emotional equilibrium began to steady.

She wasn’t really sure when she had first unconsciously realised that the crew dynamic had been hit with a tsunami, but they had all been feeling the effects.

She had felt the gut-punch that was finding out about Merry’s condition and not long after the more familiar feeling of a friend in danger after Usopp had disappeared. She hadn’t even really cared about the money being gone by the time she had returned to the ship in search of help for Usopp. Staying on the ship to attempt to protect it and the last of the money had seemed like the best plan of action with no-one able to tell the calibre of enemy they were facing.

By the time her boys had all returned, there had only been a subdued air that settled over them all. The only words spoken hushed instructions for Usopp’s care, a quiet “sorry, Nami-swan, the money was already gone” and even more quiet explanation that “Merry will rest here now” from their usually hyperactive Captain. Then later, as they waited for an announcement on Usopp’s condition, the news of Robin’s disappearance.

The air hadn’t lifted until after Usopp had woken up.

Nami shied away from the memory of the awfulness that had come with that. Usopp’s hope that had been dashed so abruptly played through her memories, almost as often as the duel that Usopp had called as a result.

Zoro had been standing off to the side as everyone had started talking over the Captain and the Sniper to try and calm it down, until even Zoro called in to try and get them to calm, but as soon as Luffy had told Usopp that Merry was going to die he had gone silent for the rest of the argument. This was something that Nami had cursed him for over the course of a largely sleepless night. If he had only kept trying, he might have been able to stop them. The two would have been more likely to listen to reason from him, right.

Those had been her thoughts until just before finally drifting off, her mind kicked in the idea that maybe there was a good reason he tried to reason when he did, but not later. (Even now she feared actually asking what that reason might have been. Knowing that, if he told her, she would probably agree that it was a good reason. At least after she could fully process it, if not immediately.)

The duel itself had been awful.

Nami had been there when the two had met, had the knowledge of how quickly the friends had clicked. To watch them go at each other so resolutely had been horrible. Chopper’s naive inability to comprehend hadn’t made standing there waiting for the fight to start any easier. (Zoro’s calm cadence as he responded to his bewildered questions had been almost reassuring, even as she ignored the conversation.)

That had been the point she had consciously become aware that the crew was on unsteady waves on a ship that was no longer seaworthy.

Nami shook her head to get rid of the ensuing sequence of events. Skipping to what had happened after it had been decided.

She wasn’t sure she had ever been more glad to hand over the reins of the crew to Zoro to deal with. Both she and Luffy had been emotional wrecks and there was no way either of them would have been able to organise themselves, let alone the rest of the crew. Especially with them essentially having to pack to fully leave the home they had made of the ship in the time they had had her, making sure not to leave anything behind, in less than a few hours. Then there was the organising of a berth for them all until they organised a new ship for themselves.

Zoro had quietly tapped her to ask about what they were financially capable of, as he herded them all into the city to search for a hotel. Something that had given her something to focus on until their stay had been settled with the innkeeper.

After Sanji had ushered the still sniffling Chopper into their shared room, Luffy had stood in the hall as his shoulders hunched further in the hall and turned from the room he had been assigned with Zoro, continuing up the stairs. She had only shared a glance with the swordsman before they had followed. About twenty minutes of silence after Luffy had settled on the roof of a nearby building Zoro had indicated that she should head down to bed as he himself had settled into a stance so familiar to her after watching him settle for watch-duty so many times during their time together.

Then there was the chaos that had been that day. From the moment she had heard that Iceburg had been shot, through the city blaming them for it, to finding out that Robin had been involved. Afterwards, there had been running into Zoro, and Chopper finding them to tell them what Robin had told to him and Sanji.

The planning session and the waiting at Galley La had given an even weirder sense of unsteadiness. The group had included her, Luffy, Chopper and Zoro, but, besides Chopper, it was almost as if none of them were really sure who had the right to say anything and when. As if they were back on those two barely sea-worthy dinghies in the East Blue, feeling each other out in an uncertain search for balance. Like they had lost the instinctual passing of control the three of them had had for so long that they hadn’t even realised when they did it anymore, in the new type of situation they had found themselves in on that cursed island.

The fact that Zoro had even talked out his reasonings for coming to the conclusions from the information they had been odd when, as far as Nami could remember, he rarely collaborated plans when he came up with them rather than just straight up telling them what they needed to do. Though Nami was certainly grateful that he had, she probably wouldn’t have been able figure it all herself from as many sides as he had contemplated (it had been interesting to listen to him explain for once how he saw things).

Of course, just the fact that they had been able to plan with Luffy willing to listen to it all had been odd in itself (even if he just ended up running off without them anyway, but at least he waited for the right moment in the plan).

After the ridiculousness that had been getting into Galley La, Luffy and Zoro had tried to do something about the government bastards that had been behind so much of their trouble that day. The rather terrifying exit from the building that had been forced on their two best fighters had not been a good start for answers.

But hearing the truth that Iceburg had managed to get from Robin, while they had been left alone, had brought Nami’s spirits higher than they had been since they first met the shipwright and everything had started to fall apart.

But that had also started a rollercoaster of emotions as she and Chopper had tried to gather everyone and also stall the train long enough to catch Robin. Something they hadn’t managed to do in time, but the note from Sanji that he had stowed away on the train, that not only Robin but also Usopp had been dragged aboard, had left her with a little more hope than she had. Then, there was pulling her crewmates from their ridiculous landing points to safety as the Aqua Laguna had begun to show her teeth and, after they had been told the truth of Robin, the almost fight with Galley La in order to follow.

The unexpected lending of the second sea train to them had led to an impressive scramble to prepare and board to rush after their crewmates.

As soon as they had hit the sea, Nami had begun to feel her stance steady, for all the train’s movements on the waves were so different than the ships she had spent so much of her life on. But they were at sea, on the way to what had been described as a tough battle, and they had a clear idea of what was going on (at least, as close to a clear idea as their crew were ever able to get on anything before jumping in). To top it all off, she now knew where she stood on the shot-calling line, very definitely behind her boys. (The random assortment, of those that in the last few days been their enemies, that had found their way onto the train before, or as, they left, were not her problem.)

(Nope, this was all on Luffy and Zoro.)

The comfort she found in seeing Zoro watch the others on the train warily, could not be understated after the confusing few days they had had. (Not that she will ever, ever, admit that she felt anything close to him.)

The way that the two idiots had apparently casually worked together to get them through the Aqua Laguna while she was explaining the situation to Sanji had added to the feeling of comfort. That despite the recent events, some things never change. The fact that when they were finished and had come to talk with Sanji, Zoro has tried to make sure they regrouped before going on the offensive was still a little different, but could still be considered in the sense that they had all experienced the troubles and he was still probably shaking off his own sense of unbalance. He did concede pretty quickly that he wouldn’t listen to that order himself if he were in Sanji’s position and he made up for the weirdness by being the first to recognise that she had a new weapon.

Yes, things were starting to get back to normal, but it would still take them some more time to come back to proper equilibrium. Maybe after they had Robin back it would be easier.

Still, she couldn’t help but be amused that Zoro was the one forced to try and get everyone to be serious for once.