One Piece 1. The Scientist and a New Crew Mate!

"Island just up ahead you guys!" Nami called out to the Strawhat crew. Luffy started to cheer happily as they approached the rather small island ahead. The rest of the crew stood out on the balcony of the Merry starting to prepare for their dock onto the shore. "Alright! Docking positions boys!" Nami commanded again to the crew.

Both Zoro and Sanji jumped off the ship to the island and put a stoke into the ground. Chopper transformed into his human form and threw the anchor overboard while Ussopp threw a rope to the two on the island for them to tie down on a stoke so the ship would stay in place.

Sanji looked out at the island. They had docked near a part of the island that had lots of trees so that if there happened to be a marine base nearby the crew and the ship would be safe for the moment while the log post set itself. Sanji noticed a road through the path of the dense forest. "Look Zoro, there's someone walking out there." Sanji ducked and pulled Zoro to the ground in case it was a marine.

Zoro looked out where Sanji had pointed. Besides being absolutely pissed off about Sanji touching Zoro, he saw a person with a white shirt walking very slowly. The person looked old since they were hunched over. "I think we are fine." Zoro stood up and called to the others to comedown as well.

Sanji continued to watch the person instead of focusing on the two beautiful crew mates climbing down the ladder. As he watched the person he gasped and ran towards the road when he saw the person collapse on the ground. Zoro noticed his partner running and looked for the person that was currently on the ground.

"What's Sanji doing?" Luffy asked laughing. "A person just collapsed over there. Come on guys let's see if we can help." Zoro pointed to the collapsed person and followed after the cook.

Sanji ran passed the branches and thorn bushes and finally made it to the road. He looked over to the person that had now gotten up and continued to walk slowly again. "Hey are you alright!" He called out, the rest of the crew following behind him.

"Hey who is-" Luffy stood in front of the cook and stretched out his neck to get a glimpse of the person. But he stopped as he noticed the person's hair and face. It was a girl around their age with bright blue hair. "VIVI!" The whole crew screamed.

The girl gasped and then started to run away from the crew. "Wait Vivi!" "Come back Vivi!" the crew screamed out to whom they believed to be their princess friend and chase after her. "Guys that can't be Vivi! Isn't she in Alabasta? We would have seen her ship along the way somehow!" Zoro yelled out as the crew ran ahead while he stayed in place.

Suddenly the girl stopped and turned to face the crew. She had on a white coat with a grey undershirt showing and black shorts, shoes and black fingerless gloves on both of her hands. She held her hands up making a triangle in the middle of her palms and suddenly more and more figures of the girl surrounded the crew.

The strawhats stopped and gasped as they found themselves face to face with an entire mob of this girl. "Whoah! Definitely not Vivi!" Luffy screamed out and punched a clone of the girl. Zoro quickly drew all of his swords and ran passing the clones of the girl. However, she was a crafty girl because when he came into her sight she quickly made some more copies confusing the swords men into who was the real copy.

"How the heck is she doing this?" Chopper called out fighting off some of the clones. "She must have a devil fruit of some kind!" Sanji replied kicking one. As he did it disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Hey once you beat them they go away guys!" He called out to the crew. "Okay!" They responded and continued to fight.

As Zoro looked around the five copies of the girl trying to decide which one was the real one, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a figure going into the forest. He quickly avoided the clones surrounding him and made his way over to the girl escaping from his path.

She stopped running and screamed out as Zoro lifted his swords ready to attack. But it wasn't him that she was screaming at. The girl fell suddenly clutching her arm and stomach as she landed. Zoro pointed his two swords in his hands to the girls head warning her from attacking but she hardly even noticed.

The rest of the crew made their way to the swordsman and looked at the girl. She panted heavily and attempted to pick herself up but fell once again with her body going limp. "Hey what's the big idea attacking us!" Nami yelled at the girl but she continued to breathe heavily.

Chopper pushed Zoro out of the way, "Wait wait! Move she's hurt!" He transformed to his human form and lifted her back to the ground holding her torso in his big furry arms. As her limp arm fell from her stomach to the ground, the crew noticed blood staining her grey undershirt. "Oh no, is she okay Chopper?" Luffy asked looking at the painting girl. She moaned in pain and opened one of her eyes. "I won't let you take me." She whispered softly trying to free herself from Chopper's grip.

"Hey wait, we won't hurt you. Please rest, you are badly hurt and I can heal you!" He yelled as she tried to move.

"Geeze wonder what happened." Zoro put his swords back and crossed his arms.

"Damn. I thought she was Vivi." Luffy pouted.

"Me too..." Nami sighed.

"Whoever she is, maybe she was running away from them." Robin stood away from the group and pointed down the road. The crew surrounding the girl looked up at Robin and what she pointed at and noticed a group of people charging down the road.

The crew screamed and ran into the forest. Chopper continued to carry the girl in his arms trying to hide her from the mob that ran passed the area they had just been in. "I need to get her to the ship, guys!" Chopper whispered and started to pass through the forest to the ship. "Guys, we still need to try to find the market to get supplies." Nami ordered the crew making a circle once everyone made it out of the forest.

"Here's what we are gonna do! Chopper you take care of the girl as best as you can without wasting any of our good medicine. Zoro and Robin you guys stay and guard the ship just in case. Sanji, Luffy, Ussopp and I will try to find the market area and try to see what the heck that mob was about. Got it?" She barked to the crew. They all nodded in agreement and followed through with Nami's orders.

Once Chopper, Zoro and Robin made it on the ship, Chopper wasted no time in helping the girl so he liad her right on the deck instead of in his medical room. Chopper got out from his book bag some medicine and bandages and pulled up her shirt where the cut tore into the side of her ribcage area on her stomach.

"It seems odd that she would just start to attack random people doesn't it?" Robin stated to the two sitting across from Chopper looking at the blue-haired girl. She had her blue hair pulled into a bun but it was so tangled and messy Robin knew that she had not designed it to be a messy bun. She had even noticed some debris and blood in parts of her hair. She then looked at her face. She looked to be around 18 or so, if she had to guess and she had a few scrapes and cuts bleeding on her pretty little face. Being compassionate, Robin wiped off some of the blood off her face with her thumb causing the girl to moan from the sting of the cuts.

"There! That's as best and as quick I can do!" Chopper smiled. He looked over to Zoro, but he had already been sleeping against the mast of the ship. "Do you think maybe she's a criminal?" Chopper asked Robin. She smiled, "I don't know, but we are considered criminals as well so she can't be that dangerous." Just then the girl started to move her head from side to side. Robin not wanting to take a chance held down the girl to the ground with her Hana Hana fruit power in case she decided to attack them again.

The girl opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of chopper and Robin in front of her. "Calm down! We won't hurt you if you don't hurt us!" Chopper calmed her down. She stopped fighting against Robin's power and nodded to the two. The girl coughed and tried to sit up but fell due to the pain in her side. "I'm sorry." She spoke softly. "Don't be sorry. You didn't really do anything!" Chopper smiled turning back to his original form. The girl gasped at the sight covering her eyes. "Oh sorry! I'm a reindeer, but I ate a devil fruit and can talk and have many different forms to fight and stuff. My name is Chopper by the way! And this is Robin and over there is Zoro! We are pirates!" He smiled pointing to the two people.

The girl nodded this time and picked herself up. "Nice to meet you. My name is Tomoko Kimiko, but you can call me Kimi." She smiled at Chopper and Robin. "I didn't mean to attack you and your pirate crew. I was being chased after by a mob that attacked me earlier." She scratched her head.

"Your lab! Are you some sort of scientist or doctor or something?" Chopper smiled. Kimi smiled back. "Yes actually I am a scientist. My father and I work in our family lab. But our village became upset about- um- something and attacked our home."

Robin looked concerned at the girl. "What do you mean they became upset?" She questioned. The girl frowned and looked at her lap. "It's best you not get into it. Thank you for helping me, but I'll be on my way now. I have to get my father back." She stood up shaking.

"Your name is Tomoko huh?" Zoro's voice stopped the girl in her tracks. She turned around and looked back at the crew. "Y, ye...yes?"

"I know that name. How do I know that name?" He smiled evilly. Chopper looked upset. "Wait what do you mean! Is she bad!" He ran behind the green-haired man.

"Tomoko Yukiko is the name of a former warlord from a few years back. The girl was removed when she killed and destroyed an entire marine base." Robin answered. Kimi gasped and looked like a deer in headlights.

"Yeaaa. But that's not me. That is just a cousin of mine. I have no relation to that woman!" She yelled defensively.

"But that name is also famous for a family of inventors that have created multiple inventions for various types of the government and organizations." Robin stated again.

Kimi leaned against the railing of the ship. "Yes, that is the family I am from. But I promise I am not a part of the government or anything! You see the whole reason I'm in this situation is because of the government! They became upset because my father and I refused to build another request and they raided our house and took my father with them." This caught the three crewmate's attention.

"The government took your father?" Chopper asked the girl. She nodded with a frown. "Yes, and they tried to take me too, but I tried to fight them off as best as I could. I couldn't save him, but I somehow got away. And the angry mob was after me as well. The government threatens that if I didn't build their device I would lose my father forever and the village would be taxed until I died. They are trying to kill me so that my poor village isn't taxed." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"I'm sorry, but I wouldn't want you all to get in trouble too, so I'll be on my way. Thank you Chopper for your care." Shesmiled and went to jump off the ship but stopped when she heard a voice. "HEEEEEEYYYYYY! The girls awake!" Just then Luffy stretched his arms out and hopped onto the boat. Kimi stood shocked at the sight of the boy's arms stretching, while Luffy continued to smile at the girl. "HIIIIIII THERE!"

Kimi took a few steps back. "Sorry don't mind him." Nami climbed up the ladder to the ship along with the rest of the guys. "HI, I'm Luffy, the captain of this ship, this is Nami our navigator, Sanji the cook, Ussopp our marksmen, Chopper the doctor, Zoro my first-mate and the swordsmen, and Robin our archeologist! Who are you!" Luffy stretched his neck to Kimi's face. She yelped and took another step back. "Would you stop scaring this beautiful young lady!" Sanji kicked Luffy on the head. "Hey I thought you guys were going to get supplies." Zoro asked the crew.

"We tried," Nami started, "But we couldn't find the town." She frowned. "That's because we are on the opposite side of the island." Kimi stated. The crew looked at the girl. "I'm sorry. My name is Kimiko, but you can call me Kimi. I can take you to the village if you'd like."

"But Kimi, wouldn't you be attacked by the people of your village if you lead us there?" Chopper asked. "Why would you be attacked?" Luffy questioned the girl.

"Well, you see...the government wanted my father and I build them a new weapon and we didn't want too. So for the refusal, they attacked me and my father in our lab and took him away. Then they told the village that they would continually tax the people until I had died. That's why they were trying to kill me while I was walking down the road." She made her way back to the edge of the railing. "I'm sorry that you had to use your supplies to help me, but thank you so much. I can try to help you guys find the village if you like-" Luffy stomped on the floor of the ship.

"You're trying to help us even though you're the one that needs help! I can't have that!" He punched his fist. She smiled.

"No no, I'm fine. I really must try to go back to my home and try to get my father back. Maybe they would take me instead of him-"

"NO!" Luffy yelled.

"We can help you, Kimi. Don't risk your own life!" Sanji held Kimi's hand.

"No, I wouldn't want you guys to get hurt. Honestly I'm fine...I just really need to find and make sure my father is okay." She looked down.

"No, we will help you! Besides I just love to beat up marines!" Luffy smiled. "Yea! Come on let's go help Kimi!"

Kimi shook her head. "No. Please. I. I can do it. Please don't get involved. I wouldn't want you all to get hurt. You guys have been so nice already." She sighed. "Please just let me take you to the village and then you guys can go on your pirate adventure!" The crew looked at Kimi with their mouths dropped.

"Well you heard the girl. Let's head to the village." Zoro stood up and walked by the girl. "Besides, we don't want to get involved with some meaningless fight anyways. Let her solve it." He patted her shoulder. Kimi looked like she would cry at any second. "Isn't that what you want? To do it all by yourself, even though it didn't work out that well the first time."

"Zoro!" Ussopp and Nami yelled at the swordsmen.

Kimi sniffed, "All right. You win..." She looked up with tears in her eyes. "Can you guys please help me and get my father back!" She cried. Zoro smirked, his plan working. "OF COURSE!" The whole crew cheered. Kimi smiled through her cries. How lucky was she to have so many people want to help her.

After the crew and Kimi ate and talked over a plan to get her father back, they all headed out around midnight. Kimi had said that her father had been taken aboard a Marine ship that was about to set sail the next morning. Their plan was risky but Kimi was assured and reassured by the strawhat's that they could help and recover her father.

Kimi and the crew used a back door entrance to her lab on the edge of the village. As they entered the lab area the crew was amazed at the wreck of her home. How this girl was still standing they would never know. "Kimi where is the-" Nami asked but was cut off by gunfire.

"She came back! Fire at will!" The group heard. Luffy pushed Kimi out of the way and reflected the bullets back to the men.

Kimi found the object she was looking for. "Got it guys! Let's get out of here!" She yelled. Luffy, Sanji and Zoro all rushed to the men blocking the entrance attacking them with each of their own special attacks.

"What is that, Kimi?" Nami pointed to the small rectangular box she was holding. Kimi simply just smiled and opened it revealing a small pair of black glasses. "I'm near sighted and very badly far sighted so when it comes to fighting, I've gotta have these!" She smiled putting the glasses on her face. She quickly readjusted her gloves on her hands, put on the important pair of glasses and placed her hands in the triangle position she used to activate her devil fruit power.

Clones of Kimi appeared next to the men fighting them off so the three boys didn't need to. Once all of the marines were knocked out, the group headed out of Kimi's destroyed home and sneak through the shadowy areas of the village to the bay where the marine ship that held her father docked.

"Your father is most likely to be held captive in a cell of some sort," Robin started before the group split up and attacked the ship. "So on most marine ships, the holding area for prisoners is in the middle of the ship. But each ship is different on a holding cell location specifically." She ended. Kimi didn't feel too good that her father may be locked in a cell onthat terrible ship.

"Okay guys, Kimi you go with Luffy and Robin. You guys try to find her father at all cost and try to be quiet Luffy!" Nami reminded her cheerful captain. "The rest of us, Sanji, Chopper, Zoro, Ussopp and me will distract the ship if needed."

Everyone nodded understanding the master plan. Hopefully the second group would not be needed, but just in case, they had backup.

Kimi, Robin and Luffy hoped onto the ship and cautioned that they might have been spotted. Robin used her devil fruit and sprouted multiple eyes around the ship to look out. "We are un detected." She smiled to the worried Kimi. "Let's hurry!"

Luffy grabbed Kimi's wrist and pulled her across the deck and into the stairwell area. Once the three were inside, Robin used the same fruit power to try to find the correct area to go. "It's down this way." She whispered pointing to the end of the hallway they were in. "But there are two guards blocking the room in the inside." She warned the two. Kimi nodded and sneaked down the hallway with the other two behind her. "This is it." Robin stated as they approached a door at the end of the hallway. Kimi looked at the big metal door and hesitated for one or two seconds, but quickly pushed the door aside revealing two big muscular men on either side of the door.

Luffy sprung into attack attacking the man on the right while Robin held down the two men so they could not alarm any one and covered their mouths so they could not scream out. Luffy continued to fight the men while Kimi ran passed and to the cell on the side of the wall.

"Father!" She cried and ran to him holding onto the cell bars. "Father, please tell me you are okay?" She looked at him through tears. He appeared to not be moving and she could see that his hands were bound in front of him by chains on each of his wrists. "Kimiko?" A soft voice whispered. The old man stood up and walked over to the edge of the cage. The man looked very beaten up, he had cuts and lashes all over his body and face, his clothes (similar to Kimi's grey undershirt, white coat and black pants) were torn up as well and he had dusty blue hair that was similar to Kimi's also.

"Father!" Kimi smiled and hugged the man through the cell. "Don't worry me and these wonderful people are going to help you escape." She cloned herself and each of the clones worked on trying to pull the cell walls apart. After about five minutes, the clones succeeded and Kimi's father escaped through the opening.

"Kimi, who are they? They look like those people on the wanted posters...Pirates?" He looked very confused. Kimi just smiled.

"Yes father they are pirates, but they offered to help me and healed me from the attack earlier. They are nice."Luffy and Robin had finally knocked out each of the guards and turned around to face Kimi and her father. "Good to see ya old man!" Luffy smiled. "We must hurry if we are going to be escaping." Robin noted excusing the introductions for later. Kimi nodded, "Come on father let's go!" She cloned her body again and the four clones she created lifted her father off the ground and ran away from the cell.

Luffy lead the group followed by Robin, the clones caring Kimi's dad, and then Kimi. They ran up the stairs and to the edge of the boat where they had jumped on. "Hurry up you guys!" Nami yell-whispered from below. Robin jumped down first followed by Kimi's clones caring her father. Just as Luffy and Kimi were about to jump they heard a noise from behind them. Quickly turning around they came face to face with a huge orange haired marine captain man with soldiers all behind him.

Luffy put his arm out in front of Kimi blocking her from attacking. "Run Kimi, I'll deal with them." He said sternly. Kimi stood completely stunned; no one had ever helped her before in her life. Why all of a sudden were these people helping for no reason whatsoever?

"So Tomoko, you rounded up some pirates to help you?" The man boomed. Luffy wasted no time for small talk, "Gum Gum rocket!" He punched the captain and some of the men behind him out of the way. "Hurry Kimi, run!" Luffy motioned for her to jump off. She tried but just then a crouched Zoro and tall standing Sanji stood on each side of Kimi both ready to attack anything.

Kimi still stood in shock. "Why are you helping me this much? We can just-" She looked back at Luffy. "You're a good person." Luffy cut her off. "And you're my friend." And the boys ran into action attacking the men. Kimi stood in absolute shock.

"Friend?" She whispered.

"Kimi! Look out!" Chopper's voice ran through her ears. While she had been distracted by Luffy's words, one of the side generals ran passed the boys and ran to Kimi with a strange pair of cuffs in his hands. He twisted Kimi's arm behind her and clamped the cuffs on her wrist. Completely caught off guard Kimi tried to fight back with her devil fruit but she felt suddenly weak. Sanji noticed the oddly shaped handcuffs from a previous adventure. "Hey those are sea prism stone cuffs. Kimi can't use her fruit power." He informed the others. "Luffy be careful in case they-" But it was too late, Luffy became cuffed as well from another general.

The general grabbed the now weakened Kimi by her wrists and threw her over to the other side of the ship in a pile of cannon balls. The heavy balls crumbled on top of poor Kimi crushing her for the moment. "Kimi!" Sanji yelled and ran over to the girl. "Don't get distracted crap cook!" Zoro blocked the marine captain from attacking Sanji with his giant sword. "Thanks Marimo." Sanji replied and continued to help recover Kimi from the crushing balls.

"Hey guys..." Luffy stuck his tongue out. "I don't feel so gooooooooddd." He complained from the sea prism stone cuff on his arm.

"Damn fool." Zoro groaned out trying to figure out a plan to get the group out of the mess.

Kimi's clones eventually disappeared leaving Kimi's father still handcuffed but now sitting on the ground. "Please miss." The man looked up at Robin. "Is there any way you all could release me so I can save my daughter and your kind friends." He asked very tired yet very protective towards his daughter. "I don't know what she's been going through since they took me, but you all have seemed to have taken care of her. Please let me offer any supplies you all may need for your quest. That is if you-" He tried to reassure the group but Ussopp already jumped at the offer. He plucked the lock with one of his fancy gadgets.

"Ah thank you sonny. That is a very interesting craft you have there." He rubbed his red wrists and stood up. "After this I'd love to chat with you about that object." He smiled. Just before Ussopp had a chance to respond, the man disappeared.

"How did he just jump up there? I thought he was hurt?" Nami asked puzzled. Robin smiled. "Apparently Miss Scientist and her father are strong devil fruit users."

"WOW!" "HE'S SOOO COOL EVEN THOUGH HE'S OLD!" Chopper and Ussopp's eyes lit up at the old man.

Meanwhile up on the ship Sanji recovered Kimi from the pile of cannon balls and stood her back on her own two feet. "Thank you so much Sanji." Kimi thanked and brushed off the dust off her lab coat. Their attention quickly drew to the other side of the ship where Kimi's father had just joined the fight.

Kimi gasped, "Father! Please do not fight. You are in no condition to go against them!" She tried to yell over the crowd to her father. But the captain of the ship stood in the way.

"Tomoko! You dare to try to fight the marines after you and your daughter deny the government yet another invention to make! You are owned by the government have you forgotten your place! And now you bring some low life pirates into the situation!" The captain yelled.

The strawhat boys watched closely. Even though they didn't understand the whole story, they at least wanted to make sure Kimi and her father would be okay. "You two are no good than these disgusting, PIRATES!" That was the last straw for Zoro and Sanji, just as they were about to attack, a bright red light lit up the area around Kimi's father. The red light came from the man's hands and he hit marine soldiers in the face to blind them from the light.

"What is your father doing?" Sanji asked as he tried to take off the cuff on her wrist. "He ate the Element element fruit, so literally he controls all of the elements of the periodic table." Kimi smiled at her father's ability. "What the-?" Sanji looked flabbergasted at what she had said. "That's different." He looked back at the old man.

"NOW! Elle elle, Fe!" The man yelled out and his arms turned into Iron. He used this to attack the men instead and when all of the men on the deck were defeated, he struck the captain. "Got it!" Sanji yelled out using a pocket knife to unlock Kimi's cuff. She rubbed her wrist, "Thank you so much Sanji!" She smiled. He nodded and then rushed over to Luffy who was lying on the ground. "Ughhhhh Sanji. I'm soooooo tireeeeedddd." Luffy groaned. Zoro had been trying to take off the cuff but he had been unsuccessful. "Move outta the way marimo." Sanji pushed Zoro and used the same tool that worked for Kimi's cuff as Kimi ran to her father.

"Father, please be careful!" She called out to the old man. He nodded blocking the Captain's sword with his Iron arms. He pushed off and the captain fell back. "Kimi take your friends off the ship quickly! Elle elle, CL!" He called out and Kimi gasped in horror.

Quickly she ran over to the boys, "We have to go now!" She pushed the finally un-cuffed Luffy off and onto the ground.

"Hurry!" She pushed the other two off and jumped as well landing on top of Luffy's rubber bouncy body. She looked up and saw the air around the ship turn green yellowish followed by sounds of coughing and screams. Nami ran over to the group. "Kimi, what did your father do?" She asked looking up.

"My father ate the Element element fruit, meaning he can use all of the elements of the periodic table. Right now he just used chlorine, which is a very toxic gas. He hasn't used that element in a very, very long time." She explained. A few seconds later, her father jumped from the ship next to the group.

"Father!" Kimi ran off and hugged her elder father. "Kimiko, I'm so glad that you are safe." He hugged and kissed his blue-haired daughter. "Father, what are we going to do? The government is really going to be after us now. We are in so much trouble..." She cried looking down.

The Strawhats regained their composure looking at the father and daughter. "Don't you worry sweetie. We will be fine. Somehow we will make it work in the end." He assured her one last time with a hug and then looked back at the Strawhats. "Please, I have made a promise. Come back to my home for the rest of your stay here in our small village." He smiled.

Luffy grinned. "Hey thanks old man! Kimi you and your dad are soooooooo cooooool!" He yelled. Nami hit him on the head. "Shut up, it is still late you know! We don't want to wake up the village that is after Kimi!" The group nodded and followed the two back to the destroyed lab that Kimi had brought them to earlier.

The group settled in the living room telling stories of the Strawhat adventures while Sanji made an entire feast for the group in their small kitchen. Once Luffy and Ussopp stopped their hilarious story, Nami looked at Kimi and her father. "So what all do you guys do here in this tiny house?"

Kimi's father smiled, "I am sorry my friends, but I have not introduced myself. My name is Tomoko Kazuhiro and of course you know my daughter, Tomoko Kimiko. We are scientist as you can see from my now very messy laboratory, but for the last five years we have been forced to work and create for the government." Kazuhiro explained while the group ate various foods Sanji created.

"Why are you forced to do that?" Nami asked confused. "Well you see my oldest daughter worked for the government and ratted me and Kimi out in our town. The government wanted us to live on some sort of palace, but this is me and Kimi's home. There was no way for us to leave it." He smiled rubbing Kimi's back. Nami noticed that Kimi looked like she was about to throw up from the story but her father continued anyways.

"So whenever they want something from us, they pretty much beat us into a corner until we did. The last invention they wanted was too much. I'm tired of them bossing around me, a 50-year-old man, and my beautiful, 20-year-old, daughter. So we fought back. But in the end we failed and I was taken captive." Kimi looked down and tears formed in her eyes.

"Father we should be packing instead of telling stories." Kimi cried. "They will find us and this time force us to live at their command." She looked up with a beat red face. The old man just shook his head smiling. "My sweet, we will, but for now let us relax. We never have company." He smiled to the group. Kimi stood up and shook her head.

"No father." She looked at Luffy. "Luffy, I'm sorry. Thank you for all that you have done for me! Please take what you need from our home because it will most likely not be here tomorrow." She started to cry but continued to look at the crew. She cleared her throat and sniffed, "Good night everyone." And she walked away into a room.

The air seemed very thick and Kazuhiro leaned over in the chair and rubbed his temples. "That girl of mine..." He sighed.

"Old man!" Luffy stood in front of Kazuhiro with his arms folded. "I want you and Kimi to join my crew!" He commanded. The old man laughed.

"WHAT!" The strawhats screamed.

"Luffy, we can't just make them abandon their scientist stuff and become pirates!" Nami hit him once more on the head.

"You are so quick to make decisions like that!" Ussopp yelled.

"I will not join you or your friends. However, I want you to drag Kimiko by her feet to your ship." Kazuhiro looked up and smiled. This made the crew extremely confused. "What?" They all asked again. "I'm serious Captain Luffy." He stood up and put his arm on his shoulder. "I have never seen my daughter so happy until you all came to this island. Never in her life have I seen her smile that much in one day. Or laugh." He said with a heavy heart. "Please, take her. She needs to get out into the world. I've had my adventure before and now she needs one." He smiled at the young captain.

"But do you think she will go Mr. Kazuhiro?" Robin asked, "She seemed very intent on staying with you." She noted.

He nodded."What father says, happens. No questions asked." He winked and looked back at Luffy. "You must promise me, though, there are people out in the world that will stop at nothing to kill or hurt Kimi. Please promise you will take care of her and your crewmates, Captain..." He looked to all of them.

"Of course old man, I never leave a mate behind or down, I guarantee it. These are my best friends, and I protect them with my life as they do for me and the rest of the crew!" He nodded. Kazuhiro smiled along with the crew, "Then take what you need Captain Luffy and set sail tomorrow for the world!"

The next day, Kimi woke around the afternoon and walked out into the living room. No pirates. She became a little sad by this thought because she at least wanted to say goodbye to her 'friends' before they left. She went to wake up her father but he was not in his room. She searched the lab area and again he was not in there either. Frustrated, Kimi walked outside to look for him out by the deck or something and she still didn't see him. Confused, she decided to check the area of the island that the strawhats had docked their ship.

As she walked down the road way and through the forest, the voices of the strawhat pirates grew stronger as she got closer to the shore. She made her way out of the forest and smiled as she approached the pirate ship. "Ahoy up there!" Kimi called out to the arguing pirates on the boat. They all looked over the rail and waved. "KIMI! HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET ON THE MERRY!" Luffy smiled.

She waved back. "What's the merry?"

"Our ship! Come on I'll pull you up!" Luffy stretched out his arm and pulled Kimi up to the boat. "Wow, that's useful!" She laughed but stopped as an arguing voice caught her attention. She looked and found her father arguing with Ussopp about some sort of crazy invention thing that Ussopp held in his hand. "Father, why are you here and not at home getting ready to leave?" She asked walking up to the two.

"Kimi, I'm leaving, but you're not going with me." He walked over and placed both of his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "You are going with these wonderful people and are off to see the world. I've even brought all of your stuff onto the Going Merry already." Kazuhiro explained. "But father you she-" Kimi started but was cut off by her father, "Your mother would not be upset with this decision, she would have wanted you to be free and to explore and conquer the world. Besides, you are going to be lead by the man who's going to be king of the pirates. Isn't that right, Luffy?" Kazuhiro looked back at the boy.

Luffy laughed, "You got it mister!"

Kimi looked stunned. "Father, I...I just. Well. I. I guess..?" She looked back at the smiling crew and then back to her father. "Okay! You've convinced me! But I'm going to miss you so much!" She hugged him with a smile. She looked up at him, "I'm going to miss you too, but always remember me, my beautiful daughter." He looked down at her crying and hugged her tightly.

"You will be happy. I know it." He whispered as held her hands. Kimi still had on the same black gloves that she had worn since the crew meet her on the first day. She actually had on the same outfit as when they first met her, but she changed into a clean pair of the exact same clothes.

"Goodbye my daughter. Here are my most important notes that I would never let you look at when you were little. Now they are yours!" He pulled out from his jacket a thick brown book with papers sticking out of it. Kimi looked at the book and held it close to her chest as Kazuhiro kissed her on the forehead and walked away from her. "Goodbye Strawhats! Take care!" He waved and jumped off the ship.

"Bye old man!" Luffy smiled and waved as Kazuhiro used his devil fruit powers to give the Going Merry a boost. Kimi stood still holding the book and looking down remembering everything she had done in her life on the island. It was going to be sad to leave it all behind but it would also leave behind many painful memories as well.

"Goodbye Kazuhiro!" Ussopp, Luffy, and Chopper all waved.

"Hey Kimi, go say goodbye to your dad." Sanji shook Kimi's shoulder interrupting her thoughts. She looked up and smiled even

with tears in her eyes. "Yes, thank you." And she ran to the side of the ship. Still holding onto the book with one hand Kimi waved goodbye. "I miss you already!" She called out and then handed the book to Ussopp. "Hold this for a second." She then cloned herself with one clone by her father and made it hug him. "Be safe father! I love you!" She waved and made her clone disappear.

The crew watched as Kazuhiro became smaller and smaller on the island until eventually the island was out of sight. Kimi refused to move from the side of the deck, even after Ussopp handed her back her father's book. After about twenty minutes or so Nami walked over to the blue-haired scientist, "Kimi are you okay?" She asked patting her back. Kimi looked at her. "Yes, thank you. I'm sorry."

"You've got to stop being so sweet." Nami said agitated. "Come on I'll show you where your things are." She led her around the ship and then brought her to the women's quarters where Kimi's suitcases were stacked in the small room. "Thanks Nami.

You're so nice," she smiled and sat down by the boxes putting the book in a small bag. "No problem. Now since you're the newbie you get watch duty tonight!" She winked. "Until then, do what you like and then be in the kitchen for dinner quick or you may not get food due to our Captain's rubber belly." She walked out of the room.

Kimi smiled and decided to grab her normal notebook that was packed in the same suitcase and her favorite note taking pen and walked out to the deck of the ship. "Hey Kimi! Come over here! Look at my favorite spot!" Luffy laughed and pointed to the goat head on the front of the ship. She smiled and walked over to where Chopper, Ussopp and Luffy were playing.

"I see it. It looks very nice." Kimi smiled and sat on an empty chair. She flipped through her notes and found the last place she had stopped at and read her notes before it. She looked up and noticed the crew. Sanji working in the kitchen, Robin and Nami talking together while picking the tangerines that were on the ship, Zoro was laying down across the dock sleeping, and the three playing by the front of the ship.

"Hey Kimi whatcha reading!"

"Kimi do you like to read! I like to read, so does Robin!"

"Hey there Kimi you've got to check out this idea I have!"

The three laughed and tried to distract Kimi from reading. She smiled and closed her eyes forgetting about her notes. _"I'm so happy and I've only been here for about an hour or so."_ She thought. She looked up at them and laughed at the silly faces Luffy, and Chopper made. _"Is this what it is like to have friends? I never want this moment to end. I love being a pirate. And a Strawhat Pirate at that."_


	2. Finding a Balance on the Ship

The seagulls cawed overhead of the Going Merry early at dawn the next morning. Kimi looked up from the fifth page of her father's journal to the annoying birds overhead of the crow's nest. Even though she had been awake keeping watch the night before, she had only gotten through five pages of her father's journal. Most of the time during the night, she tried to decipher the words and what formulas were used while coping it down in her own journal.

Deciding to take a break, Kimi looked down at the ship's bow for any sign of movement. None. Sighing, Kimi looked up at the seagulls floating over head and then looked out at the sea. It was such an amazing sight, the deep blue of the sea and the glittering reflection of the sun hitting the waves. Never had Kimi felt this calm before. Everything was peaceful.

"I only hope this isn't the calm before the storm." Kimi situated herself back in the nest sitting Indian style. All throughout her life she was always on edge whether it was the marines knocking at her door or her sister.

_There was a knock at the door but unlike the knocks Kimi had heard from the marines this one sounded meaner, harder, almost to the point of knocking the door down. As a 15 year-old girl, Kimi became frightened by the person on the other side of the door. _

_"Don't worry Kimiko, I'll answer. Stay behind in the lab sweet girl." Her father got up from their experiment and answered the door. Staying as still like a statue, Kimi could hear everything her father said as he answered. _

_"Hello- oh. You are not welcomed here. What do you want?" He sounded calm and collected as he always was, but then his tone was deadly. Kimi shrunk down in her chair. "I've come for a visit of course." The female voice answered. The women's voice was cold as ice to her father. _

_"You sold us out. Now because of you, we have to do all of your dirty work you promised you would do for the marines. How they gave you that title, I will never understand." Kazuhiro spit back. "Move outta the way father!" The women yelled and groan from her father made Kimi even more nervous as she heard footsteps walk to the lab. _

_Kimi looked up at the women staring at her across the room. Like Kimi and her father, she had blue hair, but hers was a darker/greyer shade of blue. She wore a long blue trench coat and a tight fitting black strapless dress with matching boots. The women with her evil, cold blue eyes stared at Kimi like a hawk does to its prey. "Hello sister dear. How have you been?" She smirked reaching for a sword resting at her right hip. "No. Please don't do it. I haven't left the house since you left. I've done everything that the marines told me. I even have the calculations to that cyborg you are working on. Please don't hurt me again. Please…" Kimi begged walking backwards. But her mind was made up, and there was no stopping her. The last thing Kimi remembered that day was her sisters hawk eyes and her cruel laugh._

Kimi screamed from the memory but covered her mouth quickly so she didn't wake anyone. She waited for thirty seconds or so and sighed in relief no one heard her. "Oi, you okay up there!" Zoro's voice called out from the deck. Kimi panicked and thought of a quick excuse.

She looked down and saw the swordsmen with a bunch of weighs all around him. "Yes, I'm sorry. There was a bee and it stung me." She lied. "That sucks. When he wakes up you should get chopper to look at it to make sure everything is okay." He nodded and then picked up a small weight lifting it up and down.

"Oh no. It's fine. Luckily the stinger isn't in it so I think I'm okay." She lied again. Zoro just nodded again, but counted to himself. Kimi sighed again and picked up all of her supplies and folded the blanket that stays in the nest. "Zoro I'm done with watch duty right?" She leaned over asking him.

Zoro placed the weight down and looked up, "No you have to stay there all day with no food or water. That's how it works." Kimi groaned. "Maybe I don't want to be a pirate then…" She said to herself but Zoro obviously heard because he laughed. "What's so funny?" She asked below.

"I'm just kidding. Yea you're done but don't go anywhere fast or you may not get breakfast when Luffy gets up." He picked up a bigger weight. Relieved, Kimi climbed down the tiny rope ladder and down to the deck where Zoro worked out. From up high his weights didn't look very big but once she saw them up close they were enormous. All she could do was gasp at the sight and try to imagine how in the world a human being could lift them, let alone work out.

"What you wanna work out too or something?" Zoro asked annoyed. Kimi shook her head and recovered from her train of thought. "No. How in the world can you lift that?" She asked. "Someone your size shouldn't be able to…but I guess it's possible since you did?" She was totally confused.

Zoro became angry this time, "What underestimating me? I'll show you strength." He then somehow threw up the heavy weight and landed it on his feet while he did handstand pushups. Kimi's jaw dropped. "That's amazing! I've never seen something like that! Clearly there has to be some laws with physics and the muscles in your body that are allowing this to happen." She sat down and jumped to a clean page in her journal and started to write.

Realizing that she had moved onto something else Zoro stopped and looked over at her page. She had already scribbled and drew a picture of him with the weights and the accurate size and weight along with his mass and size. "What the hell is this?" He grabbed her notebook and looked at the picture in more detail. Although it was a rough sketch the picture of him didn't look bad. "Are you stalking me now? What is all of this?" Kimi stood up and smiled.

"I want to understand why this is happening. It may sound creepy, but if I observe you maybe I could figure out what laws of physics are working here. And I could also tell you how to better your training session." She smiled and took the book from him. "Can I?" She smiled closing her eyes.

Zoro couldn't say no, "Sure why not. Just don't get it the way." He walked back and picked up another weight. Kimi smiled and ran over to the stairs and spread out her journal on her lap while writing away at the blank sheet of paper. She looked up occasionally to see what he was doing, but really she didn't need to watch. After what seemed to be only a couple of minutes ending up being a whole hour and Zoro started to put his things away. It snapped Kimi out of her thought and she looked over at him putting his things down in the men's quarters. She stood up and stretched and popped her back.

"Get anything done?" Zoro walked back up this time with a shirt on. Kimi didn't even realize that he hadn't had one on earlier. "Oh um yes! But I think my eyes are starting to cross over from looking at the pages for so long." She didn't wear her glasses since she only needed them to see far away, they were stored safely in her coat pocket in the case.

Just then the two were interrupted by a curvy tall glass with a orange liquid and a fancy mini umbrella attached with a straw. "For you lovely Kimi! This is Nami's special tangerine juice with a bit of rum added to it! I hope you are hungry because I've prepared a feast for you my darling." Sanji's visible eye was in the shape of a heart. Kimi smiled and took the drink. "Thank you Sanji." She took a sip and looked at the glass. "This has rum in it? What's rum?" She asked as Zoro started to laugh hysterically.

"Rum is alcohol Kimi. How do you not know that?" Nami appeared from the top deck. Sanji ran off to the kitchen and came back only seconds later with another drink for Nami. "Here you are Nami-swan!" He said with a heart again in his eye.

"Oh, I've never drank before. That's why I asked." She responded taking another sip. "Really? How old are you?" Zoro crossed his arms confused by why she had never had booze. That was one of the things he lived on when he was pirate hunting.

"I'm 20." Kimi smiled and took another sip and walking away towards the women's quarters with both her and her father's journal. "Don't run off Kimi-swan! We are about to start breakfast!" Sanji called out.

"She's weird. Older than all of us except Robin and hasn't had a drop of booze before." Nami commented and walked into the kitchen with Sanji. Zoro simply smirked.

After the crew all had breakfast they scattered themselves all around the ship like they did the day before. After taking a bath and changing into another set of her usual outfit and gloves, Kimi walked onto the deck.

Zoro was taking a nap again; Nami was sunbathing, Luffy, Sanji and Ussopp were on one side fishing and Chopper sat in the middle of the deck grinding down some medicine. Curious Kimi walked over and sat by Chopper.

"What is this that you are working on Chopper?" She smiled. He looked up and smiled, "Just some pain reliever medicine. We always need some it seems."

"Why is that?" Kimi looked confused. "Because we fight a lot of bad guys!" Luffy cheered raising his fists in the air. Kimi smiled and looked at Chopper's unopened books. "I've always wanted to know about medicine." She responded reading the first page that introduced the study.

"Really? But I though you are a scientist. Don't you know some stuff already?" Chopper asked and stopped grinding. Kimi shook her head. "No, my father never understood it when he was younger, so I never learned it when he homeschooled me." She answered back. "You were homeschooled by your dad? Wow he must be pretty smart!" Chopper smiled.

Kimi laughed, "Well then again I only learned science things. My father never liked history or English, so he pulled me out of school when I was 8 and from then on I only learned math and science." She continued to the next page. Eventually the two talked and Kimi learned a beginning perspective of medicines. She loved it so much that she insisted that Chopper teach her more and more every day.

Around the time that the two picked up everything, it was sunset and Sanji called the crew in for dinner. Kimi and chopper sat next to each other and even though they were eating, Chopper managed to give Kimi another medicine lecture.

"Would you stop it Chopper, you're making my head hurt." Zoro commented since Chopper was in the middle of Kimi and Zoro. "We'll talk more tomorrow Chopper." Kimi smiled and sipped on another rum drink Sanji made for the girls, while the boys all drank ale, well except for Chopper.

Just then a knock at the head of the table came from Nami who pointed to her log pose on her wrist. "Okay guys, the next island is coming up early tomorrow morning. Chopper, you're on watch for tonight, but Zoro will also help you since we will need to hoist anchor around dawn. Don't wake us up because some of us need our 'ahem' beauty rest!" Nami commanded.

"Yea, yea." Zoro groaned and folded his arms. "Thankfully, Kimi and her father gave us more than enough supplies, so we really don't need anything except for meat of course." Luffy stood and raised his arms up. "MEATTTTTTTTT!" He yelled with a mouth full of it. Nami nodded, "Anything thing anyone else needs to say?" Everyone was silent. "Meeting adjourned then!" and Nami finished the rest of her drink.

"Nami-swan! Let me get you another please! Robin and Kimi would you like one as well?" Robin nodded as well did Kimi and instantly another glass appeared in front of the three. Kimi laughed since she hadn't even finished the first, but she quickly sipped it through the straw and replaced the straw in the new glass.

Once everyone finished their meals, Kimi walked out and down to the women's quarters. She didn't feel too good and she had a dizzy feeling. "You okay?" Nami asked as she changed right in front of Kimi not even hesitant about modesty. "Um, I'm not sure. I can't tell if it's the motion sickness of the ship or the alcohol." Kimi sat down on her bed and rubbed her temples.

"Probably both." Robin replied, "You may want to ask Chopper for some motion sickness medicine, after sometime, you will get used to the ship." She smiled at the girl. Kimi nodded and took off her lab coat and changed into a pair of black sleep pants and a cotton-grey v-neck shirt. Kimi didn't bother putting on shoes since her plan was to ask Chopper for some medicine, he was probably out on the deck since he had duty, and then grab some water and go to sleep.

As she walked out on to the deck, she noticed all the bright stars even without her glasses on. She stood in amazement at how bright they were. "Kimi are you okay?" Chopper's voice pushed her out of her gaze. "Oh yes, Chopper I came out here to ask you if I could have some motion sickness medicine, I'm not feeling too well."

Chopper nodded. "Of course, I'll be right back!" And he walked away. Kimi looked up again and walked out to where the mast was in the center of the deck. "This is incredible!" She whispered.

"I know. Who'd a thought you could see so much even though there is nothing around." Zoro walked next to Kimi looking at the stars too. "Well since there is no light in the background it is easier to see the stars." She replied. Zoro looked at her confused. "Light pollution." Kimi smiled.

"Here Kimi take two of these and you'll feel better in the next hour!" Chopper handed her the two pink pills. "Well I'll just sit and stargaze since it'll take an hour for me to feel better. I can't sleep not feeling well." She smiled and sat down.

"You need to take it with some water though. I'll go get it for you…" Chopper started to walk off but Kimi stopped him. "No need too." She smiled and cloned herself. The clone walked to the kitchen and then came back out with a glass walked across the deck and handed it to Kimi.

"Hey that's pretty useful." Zoro smirked at her fruit power. She nodded, "My father and I always tested out our experiments on clones. When a clone disappeared from an experiment, we realized it was a failure and could kill someone." She laughed.

Zoro noticed how innocent her laugh was. It almost reminded him of Vivi's, but Kimi had sadness to her laugh as well. Something definitely happened to her whether it was the marines or something else, Kimi seemed very sad all the time. He then noticed she still had on her black fingerless gloves. Even in her pajamas she wore them? He noted it down in the back of his head and then yawned. "Chopper I'm going up." And he climbed to the crow's nest.

Kimi and Chopper talked for a good hour or so, Zoro noted, but shortly after the talking stopped and Zoro imagined that Kimi had gone to bed leaving Chopper probably sleeping on the deck. He looked over and saw just the opposite. Both Kimi and Chopper were leaning on each other sleeping against the mast of the ship. "Well at least they are quiet." He though aloud and continued to look at the stars. "Light pollution, huh?"


	3. The Island of Discovery

"Hey Chopper, get up! The island is near!" Zoro's voiced boomed through Kimi's sleep. Both she and Chopper jumped from their position against the mast. "Oh man, I didn't even realize I fell asleep." Chopper quickly changed into his heavy point and ran over to where the anchor rested. Kimi rubbed her head.

"I slept out here?" She giggled and stood up but the harsh waves from the nearing shoreline rocked the boat and she lost her footing falling on her but. Zoro ran past her and helped Chopper undo the anchor and dropped it when they came to an appropriate distance from the island.

Kimi looked out from the side and noticed all the trees and greenery. "It doesn't look inhabited." She stated. Zoro and Chopper walked over to Kimi. "No it doesn't." Chopper agreed.

Zoro yawned, "That's good, now we don't have to worry about thieves or angry village people." He sat down placed all three swords in front of him and leaned on top of them falling asleep. Kimi smiled and crouched down next to Zoro.

"Hey Zoro, would Nami be upset if I look around the island for a bit?" She questioned. Zoro opened one eye and then closed it, "Probably not but you can never tell with her mood swings. If you go, don't expect me to come and rescue you though." Kimi smiled and then walked away delighted. She sneaked into the women's quarters, put on her usual outfit and black boots and grabbed her notebook and a pencil to observe while on the island.

She got back out to the dock and noticed Sanji was up and taunting the swordsman. "Ah Kimi-swan, would you like for me to-"

"No, not now, Sanji but thanks." She hoisted the rope ladder off the side and started to climb down it. "Kimi-swan don't you need a traveling buddy to help you!" Sanji yelled out but Kimi didn't answer, she was too busy treading through the water to get to the island.

"She's fine, go make breakfast love-sick cook." Zoro groaned hoping he would leave him be. Sanji kicked the top of his head. "Marmio!"

As Kimi stood on the island she noticed many strange and interesting plants growing right along the shore. She took out her notebook and sketched the plants and tore off and kept a few. After she sketched the tenth plant she noticed the crew all walking through the island towards where she was in the woodsy area.

"Kimi! Whacha doing all out by yourself?" Luffy ran over and looked at her drawing of a big red flower. "Wow, that's really good! You should draw me and then we can hang it up on the mast for everyone to see!" He laughed and cheered.

"NO!" All of the crew demanded.

"Awwwwww you guys are no fun."

Kimi smiled but just as she finished she went to pick the flower like she had done to all of the previous plants. As she reached for the root of the flower, the mysterious flower somehow opened up revealing it had fangs and was about to chomp down on her head.

Thankfully, Zoro was quick enough on his feet and sliced the flower's stem killing it and stopping it from eating Kimi. Kimi just looked up shocked by the plants ability and responded, "Thank you Zoro." She then smiled and frantically wrote in her notebook about the plant. "That's one you probably shouldn't put in your notebook." Nami smiled and passed by Kimi looking into the forest.

Kimi laughed, "Yea, I'm not." She stood up and looked back at Luffy.

"Come on guys! Let's go exploring!" Luffy jumped up and ran into the forest. Ussopp crouched down.

"Ugh Luffy, didn't you just see Kimi's head almost get bitten off! I think my case of I-can't-go-into-the-scary-jungle is acting up again. Kimi smiled and followed after the captain.

Eventually everyone was walking up some sort of path. Robin noted that they should stay along the area that had water if they wanted to retrieve some meat because animals would need water eventually.

It seemed like the group was going up a mountain since there were many rocks that they had to climb to get through their path that Robin and Nami lead. Kimi would stop once and a while to write down something about a plant or a tree or anything she thought was interesting.

She stopped at one rock that seemed to be abnormal. She kneed next to it and picked it up. Even though it was muddy she wiped off the rock on her gloves and noticed that it had a weird feel to it.

"Oi Kimi, don't get lost out here." Zoro stopped from the group and walked back to her."

Kimi stood up holding the rock in her palm. "Zoro, do me a favor and cut open this rock. But be really careful I don't want it to shatter." She threw it to him and he quickly took out his white sword and cut the rock in two halves.

"Why are you so interested in the rock?" He placed his sword back at his hip and looked down at the girl as she gathered the two halves.

She then showed the inside of the rocks and Zoro gasped. It was glittering gold inside. "Dang." Kimi muttered and then placed it back on the ground.

"Hey what are you crazy?" Zoro yelled picking the rock back up. Kimi just smiled and readjusted her journal, "Its fool's gold. It's not real, sadly, but I wanted to make sure." She walked past him. Zoro smiled and then threw the rock back next to the other one.

The two caught up with the group, even after Kimi repeatedly reminded Zoro he was heading the wrong way from the group. "OIIIIIIIIII Zoro, we need you cut down these plants right here!" Luffy called him to the front. Nami looked through the forest and then screamed when she heard a low growl.

"What is it Nami sweet?" Sanji ran over next to her. "I think I just heard something growl over there…" she pointed. Zoro finished clearing the path and looked back at the group surrounding Nami. "Hey, the path is clear." He called out and some of the group continued on.

"Come on Nami-swan," Sanji placed his hands in his pocket and followed the group. Nami continued to look over through the forest and noticed something odd. She shook it off and ran over to the group.

Just then, Nami started to lose her footing and in order for her to not ruin her clothes she fell into Kimi hoping she would hold the two up. However, with Kimi unaware of Nami's fall she also lost her footing falling to the right.

"Nami!" Kimi yelled out and then screamed. The whole group looked back but it was too late, even though they didn't know it, they were climbing on top of a mountain and when the two fell they fell off the hill the group had been climbing.

Zoro and Sanji were about to leap in after them, but Robin's arm blocked the two. "You wouldn't want to put yourself in danger, or them if they in a dangerous position." She calmly stated to the boys. She placed her hands over her chest closing her eyes.

"What do you see Robin-chan? Is Nami-swan and Kimi-chan okay?" Sanji cried looking down the area the girls fell. Robin opened her eyes again and plainly stated, "They have landed very far down in a river somewhere. Kimi seems to be knocked out but Nami is up and looking for us."

"Okay we gotta go find them! Gum gum-" Luffy started to command attempting to punch down to the bottom of the hill. "No Luffy, there are a lot of rocks down there and if you hit one it may cause a landslide killing the girls. It is amazing they didn't cause one when they fell."

"Not helping, Robin." Ussopp commented.

"Oh no! What do we do? Are they okay, Ussopp?" Chopper cried.

Ussopp beamed, "Don't you worry Chopper. Captain Ussopp will be there to rescue the lovely ladies from harm!" Sanji started to kick him over the head constantly. "Like hell you will be the one to rescue Nami and Kimi-swan."

"We are close to the waterfall that falls down to the river that the girls are near. If we keep traveling towards it, we may have a clear path to the river and hence to Miss Navigator and Miss Scientist." Robin pointed straight.

"No time to waste! Let's go!" Luffy ran in the wrong direction.

"Kimi, Kimi wake up! Please don't die. I need you to save me." Nami nudged Kimi awake after she pulled her out of the water. Kimi moaned and opened her eyes to see a frantic Nami crying over top of her. "KIMI! You are alive! Now save us!" She hugged the blue-haired girl.

Kimi smiled and then sat up. "I guess we fell a long way huh?" Kimi looked up and saw an opening in the landscaping from the cliff. "Yea. I can't believe we didn't cause a landslide or something." Nami stood up and brushed herself off.

Kimi stood up, picked up her notebook that had fallen a few feet near her in her coat pocket and looked around noticing the water was flowing east down the river.

"Nami, let's travel up the river." She started to walk along the river side.

"Why do you think that?" Nami raced after her.

"Just have a hunch." Kimi smiled and continued to walk ahead.

The two girls walked in silence, trying to avoid the wildlife and nature that stood in their way and eventually they found the start of the river. It was a huge waterfall and from what Kimi could see, the cliff they had been climbing on lead straight to the top of the waterfall.

Nami sighed and took off her shoes, placing her tired feet in the water. "Where the heck are we going? We should just go back to the ship." Nami pouted.

Just then Kimi heard a voice and she quickly turned over her shoulder to the area the sound came from. "Nami. Stay still." She commanded and of course Nami stood up in a panic. Kimi rolled her eyes and then looked out in the jungle. "Who's there? Don't make me hurt you!" She yelled.

With no answer, Kimi used her Clone-clone fruit to search and find the people who caused the noise. The clones sneaked up on the two people in the jungle and blocked them from attacking up on the girls. As the clones dragged in the two tiki-masked men the girls heard a familiar voice from above.

"KIMI! NAMI!" It was of course their rubber captain calling down to them from the top of the waterfall. Nami waved and Kimi smiled up at the crew now relieved that they had reunited again. But her moment was short lived as the two men used Luffy's call of distraction to attack Kimi's clones and hold Kimi captive.

Nami screamed and looked back at the commotion. Kimi was being held down by one of the jungle men, and the other covered her mouth. "LUFYY HELP! THEY GOT KIMI!" Nami started to scream and run after the men that ran back into the jungle with Kimi still in their arms.

Luffy and the others heard what Nami said and without thought Luffy stretched his arms down to a giant rock by the river and held onto it to help bring him down to the ground. Sanji and Zoro jumped after falling into the river but running out and following Luffy and Nami in the jungle.

"Aren't you going to jump as well?" Robin smiled to Ussopp that was down in a fetal position by the edge of the cliff. "Yessssssssssss…." Ussopp stood up shaking and crying. "For Kimi!" He said as he jumped off and landed in the deep water end of the lake.

Robin laughed, "Chopper climb on my back and we will land in safety." She smiled and the two gracefully hopped down the cliff using Robins devil fruit.

Kimi struggled to get free from the jungle men, but the two combined made it twice as hard. She could hear Nami yelling after and also Luffy screaming to let her go. Kimi felt a strong gust of wind towards her right side and then felt the men's grip loosen and then completely let go forcing Kimi to fall to the ground face first.

Quickly sitting up, she saw three swords pointed at one of the men and a foot on top of the other man's head. "Guys! Luffy!" Kimi smiled at Luffy offering a hand for her to stand up.

"Don't move a muscle, masked freak." Sanji threaten the man as he tried to remove Sanji's foot on his mask. "You all fell into our trap." The one next to Zoro laughed. Annoyed, Zoro hit the top of his head with the back of his sword, knocking the man out.

Kimi dusted off her clothes and then looked behind her noticing the entire crew had now been surrounding on one side of even more half-naked masked men. "Oh great." Kimi muttered and held her arms up to form the triangle she used to create her clones. "Clone-clone ally!" She yelled out and hit Luffy's arm with the triangle she made with her hands.

"Kimi what are you-" Luffy asked stunned that she would hit him at such a time, but then stopped as a hundred clones of Luffy started to appear and attack the jungle men. "Whoa Kimi! AMAZING!" The real Luffy had stars in his eyes.

"That's a pretty cool trick." Zoro smirked and then leaped into the battle field along with Sanji and the real Luffy. "Kimi! Are you okay?" Nami ran over to the girl and panted trying to catch up to her breath. Ussopp, Robin and Chopper followed after. "What is going on here?" Chopper asked.

"I'm not sure to be honest. Maybe they thought we are trying to take over or something." Kimi walked over to the unconscious men that took her captive. She took off the man's mask and looked at the sleeping man. He didn't look that interesting or dangerous, but just then his eyes opened and the color of his eyes had Kimi screaming.

He started to stand up with his red eyes staring straight at Kimi and growling. "Uh guys, we gotta problem." Ussopp cried to the three fighting. They looked back at the crew and then noticed that the men that they had beaten all stood up with their eyes glowing red.

"What is going on here?" Kimi wondered aloud kicking the man back down.

"You all try to steal the gold on me island, huh?" Boomed a voice in the distance. The crew looked over at a giant fat man in the distance. He wore a loin cloth and had one of the weird masks on his head as well. In his right hand he held a giant stick with a skull at the end of it. Everyone stopped fighting and looked at the man.

"Who all you be?" The man yelled. Luffy calmly walked over to the giant and stopped about twenty feet in front of him. "My name is Monkey D. Luffy. I'm going to be king of the pirates."

"I never hear of you. You gonna die now, monkey man!" The man yelled and waved his stick in the air. The jungle men's eyes stopped glowing and they continued to attack the crew.

"ENOUGH! Duck down you guys!" Luffy yelled out, "GUM GUM PINWHEEL!" Luckily Robin had dragged the amazed Kimi down to the ground to avoid Luffy's pinwheel attack. All of the jungle men, including the giant had fallen down all knocked out from Luffy's attack.

"That's how you do it!" Luffy cheered out laughing. Kimi smiled and looked at the damage. Nami stood up right away with Berri signs in her eyes. "Did he say treasure?" She reiterated. The group gathered together and Kimi let go of the mind control of the clone Luffy's.

"I say we get outta here while we still can!" Ussopp shook trying to hide behind Kimi. "I agree. I've had enough of this island." Kimi smiled at Ussopp cheer.

"I want that gold!" Nami pointed towards the jungle. Luffy cheered. "GOLD! PIRATES LIKE GOLD!" He laughed.

"Why don't we split up? Nami-swan and I can find the gold on the island and the rest of you can get the Merry ready to leave before the jungle men wake up!" Sanji smiled with a heart in his eye.

Luffy shook his head, "I wanna go Sanji!" He pouted.

"Good thinking Sanji, Ussopp, Kimi, Zoro and Chopper, you guys head to the ship and get ready to set sail before the jungle people wake up!" Nami started to head off still with Berri signs in her eyes.

The two groups separated and Kimi lead the way out of the jungle. "Kimi were you scared that they were going to kill you!" Chopper asked excited for some reason. Kimi just laughed. "No, I just wanted to get free." She stopped holding her arm out to block the guys. "I think this is quicksand right here." She stared at the odd color of the ground.

"I'll test it." Ussopp shot a firestar at the ground and indeed it sank into the Earth. "Whoah! Good job Kimi! You saved us." Chopper smiled. But his smiled faded when he noticed that the quicksand pond was a giant circle that blocked the four's path. "Um, how are we going to cross?" He asked puzzled.

Kimi placed her hands on her hips. "I'm not sure. I guess jump." She started to walk backwards. Zoro had already jumped across as she suggested and landed right before the quicksand missing it by just a hair.

Kimi took a deep breath and ran at full speed to leap across, but as soon as her momentum started to fail, she held out her hand hoping Zoro might be able to catch her.

Zoro looked behind and noticed Kimi reaching out and pulled her across to safe ground and into him knocking him down with her on top of him. Kimi felt her head against the dirt and grime with her but in the air.

"Would you two stop rolling on the floor and help meeeeeee!" Ussopp cried. Kimi pushed herself off of Zoro's stomach and on her knees. She laughed at him. "Sorry about that."

Chopper, who was in his jumping point, walked past the two following along the path while Zoro sat up smirking at Kimi, "Glad I could help." Ussopp continued to shake, "Guys. Help meeeeee….." He cried biting his lip.

Kimi took off her lab coat and removed her notebook from her pocket resting it on the ground, "Jump across Ussopp and grab onto my jacket. I'll pull you across."

Ussopp nodded, "Just don't tackle me." He started to run back as Zoro picked himself up. Leaping as best as he could, Ussopp cried in the air and when he was close enough held a death grip on Kimi's coat as she threw him onto the ground.

Zoro laughed as Ussopp flew through the air pulling Kimi with him. Ussopp landed against the trunk of a giant tree and because he still held onto Kimi's coat, Kimi landed in his lap. "Ahh. That was a better landing."

She laughed and looked back at Ussopp's crushed nose. "Sorry Ussopp. But you got across." She stood up and took her coat out of his grip. "Come on silly. Those jungle men may try to attack us again." She whispered and in an instant, Ussopp was running down the trail.

Kimi giggled and looked back at Zoro staring at her. "What?" She titled her head at his weird glance. Zoro just shook his head. "We better hurry up." He continued to follow Chopper and Ussopp.

Kimi tried to take a step forward, but her ankle gave out on her causing her to fall back to her knees. Zoro heard the girl fall and looked back over his shoulder. "You all right?" He asked.

Kimi tried to stand up again, but her ankle said otherwise. "I'm okay, you go on ahead." She tried to stand again. Zoro walked over picking up her notebook off the ground and gracefully pulled her onto his back, holding onto her legs to support her on his back. "You'll just slow us down." He walked trying to follow the other two and handed her the notebook.

"Thank, thank you, Zoro." Kimi smiled putting the notebook back in the pocket and pulled on her now dirty torn up lab coat. She tried to move her right ankle that hurt but it must have twisted when she fell on Zoro or on Ussopp.

"Um, Zoro, you are heading off the path." Kimi noticed and held onto his neck and pointed to the correct direction. "Go that way." She giggled. Zoro groaned annoyed that he went the wrong way in such little time. "Oi, it's your fault, you are slowing me down and I can't find the others." Zoro tried to blame his lack of direction on the girl.

Kimi just laughed, "Sorry."

When the two meet up with Ussopp and Chopper they arrived back at the Merry. "What's wrong, Kimi?" Chopper noticed her on Zoro's back. "I think my ankle might have twisted. Nothing serious." She smiled continuing to hold onto Zoro.

Once they climbed up and gathered on the deck Zoro sat Kimi down on Nami's infamous tanning chair. Chopper ran over to her with medical tape from his bag. "Hold still, Kimi, it doesn't look too bad, just swollen."

After he finished, Zoro and Ussopp were just about done getting the Going Merry ready to set sail. "Thank you Chopper!" Kimi hugged him and stood up from the chair. "Can we help with anything?" Kimi looked up putting on her glasses.

"No, we pretty much got everything done now." Ussopp jumped down and patted her on the shoulder. Kimi smiled. "Well then I'm going to change out of these dirty clothes then. Have Nami or Robin come and get me when we are ready to go." She walked carefully holding onto the railing so that she didn't put too much pressure on her hurt foot and eventually made it to the women's quarters.

Not wanting to waste too much time, she opened her suitcase and looked at the sea of blacks, whites and blues in her wardrobe. Kimi never really liked too much color, since she and her father only usually wore black shorts and a grey top with their lab coats. But with Kimi's coat almost being torn to bits, she needed to wear something else until she could fix it.

She pulled out a black turtle-neck short-sleeved shirt, dark blue jeans, and black sandals. She removed her outfit, pulled on the new clothes and then tossed her dirty ones in the dirty hamper in the room. She looked in the mirror and readjusted her bun. Her father never liked for her to have her hair down. It caused too much problems in the lab when they worked so Kimi always kept it up and in a bun. When it wasn't in a bun, it was medium length with layers that shaped and curved naturally towards her face.

Kimi also didn't wear makeup. It was too much effort, and honestly she had never thought she needed it since she only worked with her father. Now was not the time to try to experiment with such delicate tools. She noted that she'd have to ask Nami about it later.

As Kimi made her way back to the deck, feeling refreshed after changing into a new outfit, she noticed that the rest of the crew had made their way back to the ship and they were about to lower the sails to leave.

"Look at this gold statue that we found!" Nami smiled not letting the small golden mask statue out of her grip. Kimi walked up and stared out at the island. "So you guys got away without being noticed?" Chopper questioned Luffy jumping on top of his head.

"I think not." Kimi laughed and directed the crew's attention to the island where the masked men started to appear angered on the shore. "I'd say we'd better get outta here fast!" She laughed as the others went to their stations to get the ship out of the bay leaving the tiny island in the horizon.


	4. The Ridicule of the Town

"Well that was a cool place!" Luffy declared as he sat on Merry's head. Nami walked over to the captain annoyed by his enthusiasm, "Really? We were attacked on that stupid island. The only good thing that came out from it was getting the gold! It was a terrible place besides that." She placed her hands on her hips. Kimi noticed that both Nami and Robin had changed from their dirty clothes in their quarters while Kimi came back out to the deck to talk to Chopper.

"Yea, it was a terrible place, but I'd like to go back." He laughed and held onto his straw hat as the wind started to blow.

"We better start to be careful whenever we get close to towns now that we have three wanted criminals on the ship. The marines and bounty hunters will stop at nothing to intercept our ship." Nami warned the crew on the deck.

Kimi and Chopper sat on the deck together chatting about the basics of medicine but Kimi's ears perked up when Nami talked about criminals. "I thought only Luffy had a bounty on his head." Kimi whispered interrupting Chopper. He shook his small furry head, "Both Robin and Luffy have bounty's. Robin's had a bounty for a long time. But then again she is older than all of us."

Kimi looked over at the mature woman. She could tell that there was an uneasy aurora that shrouded her, but Kimi had only just met her along with the other members of the crew and she didn't want to judge any of her new friends. Her thought ended as a piece of old wood fell into her lap. "What?" She picked it up and noticed a rusty old nail in the small piece of wood.

"Rain?"

"This ain't rain…"

"Hail?"

The crew all looked up and became astonished by the sight. A giant ship was falling from the sky right next to the Merry!

As the ship hit the water, a huge waved pushed the Merry off course and splashed the crew on it. Kimi held onto Chopper and braced herself on the rail so that the two of them, both being devil fruit users, wouldn't be helpless if they had accidently fallen in.

"Brace yourselves, hold onto the ship!" Zoro called from the mast.

"What? What is this? How in the world is this happening?" Nami cried as she held onto the railing for dear life.

Kimi looked up at the remains of the falling wood completely studded by the event. _"This is impossible. I wouldn't have believe it if I hadn't seen it!" _She thought.

"A dream! Yea this must just be a bad dream!" Ussopp tried to fool himself so he wouldn't be as scared.

"Oi, there is still a lot of stuff coming down. Be careful!" Sanji yelled out to the crew. Kimi continued to hold onto Chopper and the rail as the splashing water rained down from above.

"Try to turn the helm! Do it now!" Nami yelled out.

"That won't work in these powerful waves!" Sanji replied back, "Luffy we have to protect the ship at all cost! It is in bad enough shape as it is."

"Yosh!" Luffy nodded wrapping his rubber arms around the mast. "Oi, Ussopp what are you?-"

Ussopp was in a meditating position with his eyes closed in the middle of the deck for some odd reason. "To ease one's fears, become calm and close your eyes. And then slowly lift your eyelids and- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed louder than anyone Kimi had ever heard in her life.

She looked at the marksmen and noticed a skeleton on top of the poor guy. He frantically tried to throw it off of him and in doing so threw it near Nami. "IDIOT DON'T THROW IT OVER HERE!" She screamed.

After what seemed like forever, eventually the waves calmed and the pieces of broken wood ceased to fall from the sky anymore. Kimi laid down the now unconscious Chopper and walked over to side to look at the ship beginning to sink in the water. "That is impossible…" She whispered.

"Why'd a ship fall from the sky!" Luffy yelled out looking back up.

"It's a total mystery. There's nothing in the sky." Sanji replied.

Kimi felt something shaking on her leg or rather someone holding onto her pants leg for dear life. "The….the….the grand line is soooooooooooo scaryyyyyyy!" Ussopp cried. "First a island of scary attacking men and human eating plant monsters and now a ship falls from the sky."

Kimi patted his head, "Don't worry there's got to be some logic to this." Just then Nami screamed and everyone focus turned to her.

"What is wrong Nami-san?" Sanji asked.

"The log pose is broken! It's pointing up and it won't move!" She franticly shook it trying to fix the pose.

"No that's not it. An island with a strong magnetic field is causing the needle to point to a new log. And since the needle is pointing up, the log seems to be pointing to Sky Island." Robin looked up at the clouds.

"SKY ISLAND!" Everyone, including Kimi, yelled out.

"What is that?"

"Is it a floating island?"

"Th-th-that ship and those sk-skeltons fell from there?"

"But…there is nothing in the sky that looks like an island."

"I wouldn't say that." Robin corrected Zoro's statement. "To be more precise, what's floating up there is a sea."

Ussopp leaped off of Kimi's leg and towards Luffy and somehow Chopper ran to Luffy as well. "A SEA!" Their eyes sparkled.

Kimi walked down to the rest of the group. "This is getting harder and harder to take in." She crossed her arms looking over at Robin.

Luffy pointed to the sky, "Ah haaaaa! So there's an ocean in the sky with an island on it! Yosh let's go!"

"Okay men, steer up the helm! Hard turn skyward!" Ussopp suddenly gain a burst of courage all of a sudden. Annoyed, Robin covered both of their mouths with her sprouting hands.

"In any case captain, we can't turn the helm up." Sanji lit a cigarette taking a deep breath in and blowing a big cloud out.

"Actually, to tell the truth, I've never been to Sky Island. And I don't know much about it." Robin remarked.

"Of course not! It's all impossible! Island and seas floating in the sky! The Log pose is broken that's all." Nami shrugged the thought away and looked at the small band on her arm.

"No, Miss Navigator. What you should think of now is not how to fix a broken Log Pose, but how you are going to get to the sky. No matter what bizarre circumstances your ship should encounter, no matter what panic should befall you, you must not doubt the Log Pose. On this sea, if there is something to doubt, it's your own common sense." Robin explained to the crew.

Kimi honestly couldn't believe that such a thing could be real. But like Robin said, when the needle points to something you would find an island. She took a deep breath and looked back out at the sinking ship. "We should probably find some information about the ship in regards to Sky Island." She thought aloud.

Luffy apparently heard her and stretched his arms out and climbed aboard to the ship along with Ussopp. She walked off to see what the other's were up to and to her surprise Robin had opened the casket with the dead skeleton and was putting his shattered skull back together.

"Robin you sure do have some weird hobbies." Nami groaned as she hid behind the mast.

"Will you find anything out?" Zoro stared at the women strangely. Kimi walked next to him, "Forensics. You can actually tell a lot about a dead body if you have the right clues." Kimi responded and Robin smiled up at the girl. "You are correct Miss Scientist. How old would you say this body has been dead?" She placed the now reconstructed skull on the deck.

Kimi knelt down and examined the skull, "For a very very long time. Probably about 150 years plus." Kimi stood back up.

"Oi, where's Luffy?" Zoro noticed their loud mouth captain hadn't said anything recently. Kimi pointed out to the ship in the distance.

"Look, these holes in the skull are artificial. As a result of a medical treatment, Burr hole surgery don't you think so Mr. Doctor?" Robin declared pointing to two small holes in the back of the skull.

"Yea, to remove brain tumors, they used to drill holes in the skull. But that's an archaic practice." Chopper hid behind the mast with Nami.

"Yes, at least 200 years have passed since he died. He was in his early 30's. During his voyage, he collapsed and died from illness." Robin concluded about the skull and opened a book that she happened to have nearby. She flipped through the pages and found the exact ship from a picture in the book. "Here, the Bliss Kingdom in South Blue. That ship, the St. Bliss, originated from there. It sailed 208 years ago. So for at least 200 years, this ship has been wandering around in the sky."

"Finding all that from some bones, that is so interesting." Nami kneeled down suddenly curious about the process Robin constructed on the bones.

"If it was an exploratory vessel, there must be other forms of evidence and documents still on the ship." Robin stated like Kimi had earlier.

"But with the ship sinking that will be hard to do." Nami walked over to the completely sunken ship. "AH! LUFFY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" She yelled as Luffy started to drown.

Ussopp swam in the water and retrieve the drowning rubber boy and swam back to the Merry. As they arrived back on the deck Luffy got really excited for some reason. "Oi guys! I found something great! Look at this!" He took from out of his pocket a piece of old tattered paper and unrolled it in front of the crew.

Kimi looked at the paper but couldn't see it from far away without her glasses. She took them from out of her pocket and just as she refocused on the paper, the crew had already shouted out what was written on the paper.

"A MAP OF SKY ISLAND?" Kimi looked at the map and noticed in bold letters the word: Skypiea on the upper left corner.

"See? See?" Luffy smiled as Nami snatched the map out of his hands.

"So there really is an island in the sky?" Kimi looked up at the clouds hoping to get a glimpse of an island of some kind.

Luffy, Ussopp and Chopper all began to dance, "We did it! We did it! Sky Island does exist! A dream island, we're going to a dream island!"

Kimi walked over to Nami peaking from over her shoulder looking at all of the details of the map. It was very worn and tattered. Kimi didn't want to touch the dingy paper because it looked like it would rip at any second.

"You guys are celebrating too early. The world is full of fake maps." Nami busted the trio's bubble and they started at her with their hopes and dreams drained from their face. "Ah, sorry. It exists, but I don't know how to get there!"

"You're the navigator! Figure it out!"

"There are things I can and can't do!"

"I don't care we are going to Sky Island!"

Angry Nami finally finished the argument by hitting him square in the face. "In any case, we can't possible continue on like this. What we need now is exactly what Robin said. Information! If that giant ship really was in the sky, then there must be a way for our ship to get there too. We need to get onto that ship and pulled out any documents or records left."

"But the ship is completely sunk by now." Ussopp blankly stated.

"If it's sunk, we'll salvage it! Kimi start to make us salvaging diving equipment!" Nami pointed at the girl. Kimi titled her head. "Me?" She asked blankly.

"Kimi, you're a scientist right? You can tell Ussopp how to make it and he'll do it!" She smiled. "Why are you bringing me into this!" Ussopp yelled at the boasting girl.

Kimi looked around and noticed the empty barrels on the deck. "Yea, I guess I could figure out a salvaging diver suit. Ussopp go grab us some nails, tubing, plastic, and some cloth." She gathered the four empty barrels with her clones.

Ussopp returned with the supplies shortly after and spread out all of the tools. The two began to work with Kimi instructing Ussopp on the design she quickly sketched in her notebook. After they finished a few hours later, Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro all put on the suits ready to dive under the water.

"Luffy, be careful, the water will make you somewhat weak since half of your body is in it." Kimi warned the ecstatic captain. "This is so cool! You make us do some crazy things, Nami!" He laughed.

"NAMI-SWAN! I'm absolutely going to find you a clue about getting to Sky Island!" Sanji jumped up and down.

"I'm counting on you!" Nami lied.

"Don't worry about a thing. Our design is flawless!" Ussopp smiled looking at the guys as they walked over to the edge of the ship. "Good luck!" Kimi smiled waving the three off.

The remaining five members of the crew watched as they dived down the depths of the ocean. Kimi watched nervously, praying that her design would keep the guys safe but her thought was cut off when she heard strange music blasting off in the distance. She looked up on the horizon and saw a giant yellow banana looking boat coming towards the Merry.

"What the heck is that?" Ussopp pulled down one of his binoculars from his scarf at the top of his head.

As the ship anchored next to where the ship had originally sunk, a monkey man of some kind started to declare that he had found the ship and that he was going to salvage it.

"And just when we need it least, some weirdo's show up." Nami sweat dropped.

"Oi, you guys! What're you doing there? This is my territory!" the monkey man yelled out to the crew.

"Territory?" Kimi yelled out.

"Yes any ships that sink in this territory are mine. You better not be trying anything over there!" He yelled back.

Kimi noticed something strange. "So has this happened once before? He might know something about Skypeia." She whispered to the others.

"Excuse me! May I ask you a question?" Nami yelled out to the monkey man.

"Fine, ask me whatever you like!" He yelled out.

"Are you going to salvage that ship?"

"You bet I am! There's no question about what I'll do! If there's a ship sunk, I'm the man to salvage it! And if it's still floating, I'll sink it and then pull it up!" He yelled back.

"Then would you mind if we watch?" Kimi smiled at the man.

"So you've never seen a salvage before?" He laughed, "Fine! Go ahead and watch all you like!"

"Okay, Chopper and Ussopp, take note of what he does guys." Kimi smiled at them.

As the monkey men crew started to prepare for the salvaging, Kimi noticed that they had such advance equipment to perform the task. "So they have done this many times before. Or else they wouldn't have as much stuff." She noted.

"They take a lot of pride in this." Ussopp stared at the crew while pumping air through the tubes of their crewmates.

"I think they are trying to show off for us…" Nami whispered.

Just then the monkey figurehead started to descend in the water. "Wow that is really awesome!" "That is really awesome!" Ussopp and Chopper beamed at the money. Kimi noticed that the monkey man was about to blow into a strange tube. "Is he trying to blow a bubble underneath the water?" Kimi wondered shocked. "That's crazy!" Nami replied to her comment.

There must have been a problem with the boys down in the ship because all of a sudden the monkey man started to yell about how they had hurt his men. "Looks like Luffy and the others met up with our new friends." Kimi said under her breath.

"I'm going down! Continue with the salvage men!" the monkey man yelled and jumped into the ocean. He was gone only for a few minutes but just then the ocean started to shake. "What the heck is going on now?" Kimi thought holding onto the railing. She looked over the ship and noticed a giant shadow forming underneath the ship and the Monkey ship. Just as she was about to speak again, her question was answered by a huge oversized turtle popping out from the water.

In the mouth of the oversized turtle, were both the air tubes from the Merry and the Monkey crew. "This can't be real!" Nami yelled out. "Yes, it must just be a dream. Nothing but a bad dream." Ussopp laughed. Nami, Chopper, and Ussopp all turned around ignoring the turtle.

"Um guys, this isn't a dream and we gotta do something or else the guys are gonners." Chopper started to run around frantically screaming while Ussopp and Nami cried, "Don't bring it up!"

The force of the turtle chewing the boat made the tube pull the ship under and towards it. "If we don't cut the ropes then the ship will be pulled under the water." Robin calmly stated. "Robin you are strong, do something!" Ussopp yelled at the woman. "I can't." She simply replied. "Kimi! You do something then!"

"Ussopp! Cut the lines and lead us to safety!" Nami yelled out. "You are the devil." Ussopp cried.

Just as Kimi was about to open her mouth to respond the sky suddenly turned to nightfall. Kimi looked up in confusion. "It's night time now?"

Nami looked at a pocket watch she had on hand. "It's not even close to evening." Ussopp cried out his fallen members names to the world. But Kimi and Robin heard something interesting on the other ship.

"Sudden night fall is a sign that monsters will appear. The ship is going to be sunk! We need to save the captain!"

From out of nowhere, Luffy mysteriously flew from out of the water and onto the ship with a filled up bag on his back. "Luffy! What's wrong, are you dead?" Nami ran over and smacked him in the face. Zoro and Sanji then hopped on the ship with bags on their backs as well. Kimi smiled at the green-haired man as he stood from his crouched position.

"Set sail. We gotta get away from this position!" He told the rest of the crew. "Zoro, Sanji! Good thing you guys aren't dead! Yea we gotta get away from that turtle!" Ussopp ran over to the boys.

"Turtle? No there was a monkey. He a Luffy became friends, but then he started to rampage when we gathered our treasure." Zoro explained. Kimi looked over at the turtle and noticed it had its mouth open and look horrified at the sky. Kimi looked up and screamed at the sight falling backwards from the shock.

"What is wrong with you?" Zoro let go of the treasure on his back and looked back at the massive turtle. "Oh my gosh! What the heck is that!" He yelled out. "NOTICE THESE THINGS!" Ussopp yelled back at the absent minded swordsman.

Just then the monkey man appeared on the ship and started to yell about treasure, but Kimi couldn't take her eyes off of the horrifying event she saw in the sky. _"How-How is this possible? There is so much that I have seen today…I don't think I could take much more."_ She thought.

Then the rest of the crew finally noticed the phenomenon in the sky. Three warrior looking shadow men covered the entire sky. It almost looked like they were looking down on the spot that the Merry was in.

"MONSTERS!"

One of the shadows started to raise a spear and suddenly the Merry took off in an instant. All of the boys ran to the emergency paddles and rowed the ship away from the darkness in no time flat.

Kimi laid on the ground trying to forget the horrifying image from her memory. That was probably the scariest thing she had ever seen in her life, even scarier than a surprise visit from her horrible sister.

"That couldn't have been real."

"Those things…were too huge to be real…"

Kimi lifted herself up sitting mermaid style and noticed the crew forming in front of the mast. "Man, the Grand Line is just a big parade of one mysterious thing after another…" Sanji lit a new cigarette and blew out the smoke.

"Yeah, that sure was scary. I can tell you." A weird voice chimed in. Everyone looked and noticed the Monkey man had still been on the ship. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji all ran over and kicked the man off the ship and somewhere far off in the distance. "GET OFF!" They yelled and watched him fly away.

The crew regained their composure and Nami set off to explore what types of treasure the guys had brought back. Kimi had enough with the falling ship from the sky and went to the kitchen to grab a drink of water in order to clear her mind.

As she searched the kitchen for the water jug and a glass she thought about her father. _"Father, if only you were here with me. I'm not sure I can be as brave as you think I can."_ She sipped the refreshing water and sat down at the table. _"I miss you so much, father. I wonder if you miss me. I wonder if you left the Village." _She hated the fact that she had no contact with him, but she needed to learn how to grow up. Ever since she was little, her father always protected her, cared for her and he was her only friend. It was time for her to grow up; she was 20 after all, and take responsibility for herself.

She finished her water and washed the glass out and placed it in the drying rack. "Oh Kimi-chan. Are you hungry?" Sanji walked into his work place and smiled at the girl as he removed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

"Well, I am a little hungry." Kimi sighed feeling a bit embarrassed for some reason. Sanji walked over and washed his hands in the sink, "Well what would you like my sweet?" He smiled.

"Whatever is available, I'm not picky." She smiled back. Sanji nodded and walked over to the pantry, "You know Kimi, there always seems to be something your upset about? Are you happy being on the Merry?" He gathered some food and began to work on the meal.

Kimi sat down and sighed. "I just feel like I'm getting in the way." Sanji looked back surprised by her reason. "Well out of everyone here, Kimi-san, you are not getting in the way of anyone. No one in our crew is. We all have a different reason to be together and our ultimate goal is to help Luffy become the pirate king along with completing all of our own dreams." Sanji started to cook the food. "What is your dream Kimi?" He looked back at her.

Kimi thought about this and finally thought of something, "I want be recognized as the most brilliant in the whole world." Sanji laughed and started to plate the food on separate plates for each of the crew members and even gave Kimi a plate at the table. "That's perfect. Go for your dream no matter what." He walked back over and made some more food.

"Sanji, what is your dream?" She took a bite of the food.

"To find the all-blue. It is an ocean with every single type of fish in the world. It supposed to be the most beautiful thing in the world and I want to find it and catch all the fish and creature in it." He finished cooking and started to clean up.

Kimi finished her plate and handed it to him as he washed the rest of the dishes, "That sounds amazing! I want to see it too!" She smiled. "I'm sorry if I seem upset. This is all new to me, being on my own. My father always took care of me, he was my only friend and now I have you all and it's just…different."

Sanji looked back at her concerned. "Don't get me wrong, I love having you all as friends. You guys are so nice." She bowed her head. Sanji walked over to her and lifted her chin up looking into her blue eyes beyond her glasses, "No matter what you can always count on us, and more importantly, Luffy. Whatever has happened in the past is in the past now. We all have pasts, some good, most of us not so good, but we have move forward and reach our dreams now." He let her go and picked up the plates, "Would you mind opening the door Kimi-sweet?" He smiled.

Kimi smiled and nodded much happier now. "Thank you Sanji." She entered out into the ship and walked out to the railing that looked over the deck of the Merry. Next to her was the infamous swordsman but he seemed too into his thought to talk to her.

Kimi started to laugh as Luffy and Sanji argued over the food he had just made. "Is there really an island in the sky?" Zoro thought allowed. She looked at him and shrugged, "We've seen so much today. If I hadn't seen the ship fall from the sky myself, I wouldn't have believed it."

"Regardless of the fact that it goes against common sense, there's no reason to doubt it." Robin interrupted. "That is the common sense of the sea." Kimi stared at the woman and the back at the front. Smiling, Kimi walked off to the women's quarters to refresh herself before the crew arrived at the next island.

When the Merry docked at the harbor, Kimi noticed that there seemed to be many pirate looking ships docked in the harbor too. She noted that the crew should be careful if they walked around the town. It could be trouble.

Eager, Luffy and Zoro hopped off the Merry and into the town not even asking anyone else of the crew what the plan of action was going to be. "Do we honestly think those two can make it back without causing trouble?" Nami pouted watching the two walk in the town. "This place is pretty rough to being with. Have a little faith in them, Nami." Kimi walked over watching the two walk off.

Nami laughed. "Kimi-san, you are so right! Go with those two and make sure they don't do anything stupid. Oh and ask about Skypeia if you can!" Nami pushed the girl to the ladder. "Nami, what-?" Kimi wasn't too thrilled with the idea. "Nonsense, you are much more reliable than those two. Now go!" She pushed her forcefully down the ladder.

Kimi sighed and chased after the two, "Hey Luffy! Zoro! Wait up for me!"

"Do you think she'll be okay if she's with those two?" Ussopp asked the navigator. "Of course. She's smart right? She can do it."

"Nami said I had to go with you guys so that you wouldn't get in trouble. But we also need to find more information about the sky island so we should probably stop somewhere where a bunch of people will be." The three walked around in silence trying to find someplace that would have information. Eventually they came to an oasis resort area.

"Wow, this looks so peaceful." Kimi smiled looking around and breaking from the boys. "Oh-oh no, you must not be in this area. A-an-and because of this, we must ask you to leave." A weird man ran up to Kimi looking very frantic. "T-the Tropical Hotel is being rented out by the Bellamy party!"

"Oh so this is a hotel?" Zoro looked around at the hotel. "I-if Bellamy-sama saw you here, matters would be terrible! So I must ask you to somehow-"

"Oh come on. We can at least take a look inside!" Luffy groaned. "Who is this Bellamy anyways?" Zoro asked again. "Come on guys, we should leave-" Kimi started to saw be two other figures appeared at the entrance they had come through.

"Hey where did these grubby little kids come from?" The man yelled out. He was a pretty tall guy, with light blue hair and had on blue sun glasses. He wore a fur coat and a weird face tattoo on his chest. The girl on his side was a blonde slender girl with sunglasses on and a red bandana on the top of her head. "How much do you think we paid to rent this place out? Kick them to the curb!" She girl rudely yelled to the poor old man. The two walked over and glared at Luffy. "Go home you little shit!"

Luffy looked over at Kimi, "Oi, is it okay if I kick his ass?" He pointed to the man. Kimi shook her head. "No, Nami would not like that Luffy."

The man laughed, "Kick my ass? We got a funny guy over here. You little kids look pretty shabby." He dug into his pocket and threw out some money. "Here go out and buy you some new clothes." He smirked.

"Sarquiss, you're just wasting it on a lot like them." The lady laughed and so did the man, "Maybe it would do more good if I threw it in a ditch." Kimi felt like she was about to beat some manners into this guy but Luffy thought the money must have been some sort of offering because he went to pick it up.

"No Luffy!" Kimi snapped and reached for his hand. "We are leaving, now." She dragged him pass the two. "Oi, Kimi! I can walk on my own!" Luffy protested but Kimi continued to hold his wrist. "Let's check out this bar right over here. I saw a lot of people through the windows." She let go of his hand as soon as they reached the bar.

"What's wrong Kimi? They were giving us some money!" Luffy asked and followed the girl. "Luffy, he was insulting us. You don't take something when they insult you." She sighed and shook her head. The three walked into the bar and headed towards the bartender in the back.

"Mock Town has become a place for pirates to unload their riches." The bartender explained as he poured the trio their drinks. "Because so many pirates come into the town every day, brawls and murder have become an everyday occurrence now. They usually won't kill the townsfolk though." He handed Luffy and the guy next to him their house special, cherry pie. "Here you guys go. Enjoy."

The scientist sighed, "I still didn't like that. He was not appropriate, even if he was a pirate." She took a sip of her water. The bartender laughed, "Sorry to tell you this, but you won't find any ordinary people in this town." Kimi nodded and just when she was about to ask him about Sky Island both Luffy and the man next to him call out to the bartender.

"THIS CHERRY PIE IS SO TASTY/NASTY I COULD DIE!" The two spoke at the same time. They looked at each other and growled. Then simultaneously the two drank their drinks, "THIS DRINK IS ESPICAIALLY DISGUSTING/DELICIOUS!" The man looked down on Luffy. He was a giant of a man with curly black hair similar to Ussopp's and a scraggly black beard.

"Jerk, you got something wrong with your tongue?" He asked Luffy. "You got something wrong with your head?" He responded back.

"Well, I'm not the cook here, so I don't care what you say." The bartender replied to the two. "Ossan, I want 50 pieces of meat to go please!" Luffy smiled.

"I want 51 cherry pies!" The other man declared.

"No I want 52 pieces of meat!"

"No, I want 53 pies!"

"60 pieces of meat!"

"70 pies!

"80"

"100!"

The two looked at each other, "WHAT, YOU WANNA FIGHT?"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU FIGHTING OVER?" Zoro yelled back at them. "No Luffy! We don't have that kind of money and you said that you wouldn't fight in this town. Remember, Nami will get mad at me that I let you fight." Kimi tried to break up the ridiculous fight.

"Come on now! I'll thank you not to fight in this pub!" The bartender placed a bundle of boxes in front of the other man. "Just take this and leave, 50 cherry pies." The man quietly picked up his pack and walked out of the bar.

Kimi sighed relieved that she had avoided a fight yet again but the moment was short lived as a man entered the pub yelling out for a man wearing a straw hat in the bar. Many of the men gasped saying, "Run, its Bellamy!"

Luffy turned around looking at the man walking over to the three. He had blonde hair a crooked smile and wore a pink shirt with white trousers and a blue captain's coat over his shoulders. "So you're the one with a 30,000,000 Berri bounty, Straw Hat Luffy?"

"It looks like he is calling you out, Luffy." Zoro casually stated. "Hey isn't Bellamy the one who rented out the hotel? Be careful Luffy…" Kimi whispered.

"I'll have the most expensive liquor you have and give the shrimp here something he likes." commanded the tall man known as Bellamy. Kimi could feel that there was something not right about this man. He seemed so arrogant just like the other he they had met back at the hotel.

"What is with this place?" "It's full for some reason." "And they're all drinking cheap rum." More pirates, Kimi guess Bellamy's crew and the two from the hotel, arrived behind the man. By now, most of the people already in the bar started to run away. Some crying and others completely terrified.

The bartender brought Luffy and Bellamy their drinks. "You better drink up." Bellamy smiled evilly. "Hey thanks! You are a nice guy!" Luffy started to drink his glass full when all of a sudden Bellamy turned and smashed Luffy's head into the bar breaking it in half. Kimi screamed for a second and hoped to god Luffy was alright, some of Bellamy's friends however, laughed hysterically enjoying the prank of their captain.

Zoro rushed into action holding one of his swords to Bellamy's throat. "What are you doing?" He laughed. "That's a question you should answer." Zoro spat out back to the man.

"Wait Zoro! We still haven't gotten any information and-"

"This guy asked for a fight and I'm giving it to him!" He yelled back shutting Kimi up. Luffy started to stand up wiping his bloody face off from the attack. "So you can still stand huh?" Bellamy laughed at Luffy. "Yosh, I hope you have prepared yourself then." Luffy threatened.

Kimi knew she was about to run out of time, panicking she looked over at the bartender, "Please Oji-san, we came seeking information on Sky Island. Do you know anything about it?" Suddenly everyone was quiet and looked over at the blue-haired girl.

"What did that woman just say?" "She's kidding, right?"

She ignored the bar and continued on, "Because if you know the way to Sky Island then-" The entire bar erupted into laughter, _"Great, now I look like a complete fool…" _She started to blush completely embarrassed by her question.

"Oi oi oi, you guys believe that old cock-and-bull story about there being an island in the sky? Man what era are you living in? There are many unique ocean currents on the Grand Line. One of 'em's called the Knock Up Stream." Bellamy looked back at the Strawhats, "I'm guessing you haven't heard of it? Ships that get caught in the current are blasted up high in the sky but only fall straight back to the ocean. A bunch of dumb sailors saw ships falling down from it, and imagined an island in the sky! Even crazy stuff like that has a rational explanation!" He continued to laugh.

Kimi sighed and looked at the ground, "I should have known…" She whispered. "Listen up," Bellamy looked at the trio, "The age where pirates dream is OVER! The city of gold? The Emerald City? The great treasure, One Piece? Fools with their eyes on dream treasure don't notice the REAL treasure all around them! Looking at dream-chasing idiots like you really makes my stomach turn!" He ran over and punch Luffy in the face, but to Kimi's surprise, Luffy didn't even block or fight back whatsoever.

The people in the bar started to throw things at him and the rest of them. "Luffy, please get up and fight!" Kimi cried begging down by Luffy's side. Luffy sat up, "Zoro, Kimi, we aren't going to fight." Kimi gasped at Luffy's statement. "Luffy, what? He'll hurt you, that guy is crazy." She looked at Bellamy who started to walk over to her and Zoro with an even crazier look in his eyes.

Bottles and chairs flew over at the three and Kimi did her best to avoid them but most of the bottles smashed into her exposed ankles cutting her legs and staining her pants. One bottle headed straight for her head and when she ducked it smashed into some of the bottles behind the bar. Kimi looked over at the bartender that hid behind the counter. "I am so sorry sir." She cried, a few tears escaping her eyes. When she looked back at the two boys, blood and bruises covered their faces. But they just stood there enduring the punches and bottles being thrown at them.

"Please, do something!" Kimi spoke softly looking at her friends.

"It's no use babe." The blue haired man from the resort laughed. "They know when they're up against someone they can't beat. They won't fight anyone they can't beat. It's pathetic really." He smirked at the young scientist.

Kimi bent down and picked up Luffy's fallen straw hat from the floor. She felt scared, tired, and embarrassed. Too much had happened in just one day and all Kimi wanted to do was head to the ship and take a nap. "Why are you two doing this?" She whispered.

Bellamy sat at the bar and chugged his ale. "On top of being weak, you have no pride! You won't accept any fight and yet your heads are full of dreams!" He wiped the drink from his face, "You all are worms." He laughed hysterically along with the entire bar. Bellamy got up from his seat, grabbing a bottle from the bar, and walked over to Luffy.

"I wanted to see how good of a pirate you were with that 30,000,000 Berri bounty and then you turned out to be a disappointment, not worthy of my interest. I've never seen two bigger cowards." He took a sip of the bottle and then spat it out at Luffy. Luffy continued to stand still facing the man. "They are eye sores." He then ran over and kicked Zoro in the face and threw him to the other side of the bar.

Kimi was about to run over to help the swordsman when a hand caught her wrist. "You need to ditch these so-called Pirates and come to a real crew babe." Bellamy took over her personal space.

Not wanting to go against Luffy's orders, Kimi snatched her hand away and glared at the man. "Never." Bellamy gave her a strange look and then ran over to Luffy and threw his head threw the window next to Zoro. Kimi ran and pushed past Bellamy and kneeled down at the two men. "Luffy, Zoro, please stop this. Let's go. We aren't going to find any information here." She cried still holding onto Luffy's straw hat.

"Woman, you aren't going to survive the new era with these losers, I'll buy you off them." The blue haired man snickered. "How much do you go for?"

That was it. Kimi looked down, furious at this point, and cloned herself. The clone walked over and pulled the man to the clone's mad face. The real Kimi stood up still looking down, "I am not something to be bought. And besides, I would never join this pathetic crew." The clone threw the man's collar back and disappeared. Bellamy laughed, "She's feisty and a devil fruit user apparently. Come on doll, it'll be fun!" He smirked eyeing Kimi's body.

"Fine then, get those two out of my sight while you still have your lives. Weaklings!" Kimi quickly clones herself twice and the two picked up each of the boys and dragged them out of the bar while the men inside laughed at her. Kimi held onto Luffy's hat and followed her clones, "And don't come back!" Some threw a bottle out the bar.

She followed down the road leading to the merry trying not to cry as she looked at all of the townspeople whispering at her. "Sky Island does exist!" Kimi stopped and look at the person who spoke. It was the man in the bar that Luffy had argued with earlier. "Why the long face nee-chan. Those two won that fight. And the tongue lashing you gave them was pretty impressive too." He took a bite of his pie and sipped on a bottle of rum. "You got some guts woman!" He laughed.

Zoro pushed away from Kimi's clone dragging him on the floor and stood up brushing himself off, Luffy did the same. "This 'New Era' they talk about is shit. The age where pirates dream is over?" He laughed even harder. Luffy walked over to Kimi and took his hat from her hands.

"PEOPLE'S DREAMS NEVER END!" The man slammed his bottle of rum on the ground. "AM I RIGHT?" He looked dead straight at Luffy. Kimi almost felt like the man was staring through his soul.

"Oi oi, hey nutcase, what the hell are ya screamin' about?" "What was that about people's dreams?" The townspeople laughed at the giant man but he obviously did not care and continued to laugh. "He's most likely drunk." Kimi whispered to no one in particular.

"Let them laugh, if you seek the Summit, you'll find fights your fists alone could never take you to. So follow it! Hahahaha!"


	5. I'm Stronger Than You Think

"Let's go." Zoro started to walk back to the ship. Kimi nodded, "Yea, come on Luffy." But the straw hat boy just stood there ignoring his crewmates and staring at the man. The giant man then stood up, "Oh it looks like I kept you waiting. I see you're in a hurry. I hope you make it there, to Sky Island!" And with that final statement he turned his back on the crew and walked away into the crowed street.

Luffy turned around facing Kimi following his first-mate. "Hey wait; he might have known something about Sky Island…Who was that guy?" Kimi looked back as he disappeared in the crowd. She feared Nami's wrath when they came back to the ship with no clues.

The three walked in complete silence on their walk back to the Merry. Kimi looked down thinking about what to tell Nami about why the boys were bleeding half to death. She looked over to her left at the two. They had serious faces even as the blood from their cuts ran down their faces. She felt so bad that she couldn't help her new friends. But then again, Luffy even told her not to fight and she didn't want to disobey her captain. She sighed and looked back down at her feet.

"Luffy! Zoro! What the hell happened to you guys!" Ussopp yelled from the ship. "Kimi-san! Are you hurt!" Sanji yelled out worried. "D-D-Doctor!" Chopper cried out. "That's you!" Ussopp laughed at the reindeer. "Oh yea."

As the three climbed up the rope ladder, Chopper ran to the two with his kit and quickly cleaned up the blood from their cuts and bandaged them up. "Kimi! I told you to keep watch on them!" Nami fumed at the girl. "I know, but these guys wanted to beat them up and Luffy told us not to fight."

"What the hell? You men are supposed to take on whoever wants to fight and beat them up! No! This whole town should be razed to the ground for pissing me off!" Nami started to yell at the boys. Her mood swings kicking in. Kimi gracefully sneaked off and walked towards the Women's Quarters hoping to clear her mind from the situation. She was embarrassed, tired, and hungry. Not a good combination for a girl or let alone any human being.

The door opened and Robin walked in the room. She wore a new matching outfit complete with a matching purple cowgirl hat. "Oh hello Miss Scientist. How was your information gathering?" She smiled. Kimi sat on her bed and sighed. "Not good. I was laughed at and then Luffy and Zoro got beat up." She looked back at Robin. "I'm not a good pirate am I?"

Robin unloaded all of the clothes from her bags and put them in various places in her drawers. "You are doing quite well actually. Many people by now are usually dead or have limbs missing." She smiled sweetly. Kimi giggled, "Yea I guess…I just feel like I can't do this. I want to. But it's scary."

Robin finished and looked back at the girl, "I can see that you are a strong girl. After all, you have dealt with the marines all of your life. This should be similar." Robin walked over to the door. "We are heading to the out skirts of Jaya. A man named Montblanc Cricket may have the answers for Sky Island. Are you coming?" She opened the door. Kimi took a deep breath and stood up following the woman out of the room.

However, the girls felt the ship rattling and covered their ears as a horrible sound filled the air around them. "What the heck is that noise?" Kimi tried to yell over the noise. "I'm not sure." Robin replied hoping the noise would go away. They felt the ship rocking back and forth and the wind blowing through their hair. Luckily, someone was trying to steer the crew out of the noisy sound waves and eventually the noise stopped.

Eventually the ship made it to the X on the map. "Woah it's a palace!" Luffy yelled out, on the edge of the island stood a huge decorated white palace. Kimi shook her head. "That's really pathetic. Take a closer look, Luffy. It's fake."

Ignoring Kimi's remark, Luffy jumped off the ship and onto the island. "Whatttttt! It's fake! It's a board!" He cried.

"What kind of dreams was he talking about that got him kicked out of town?" Nami asked Robin. "I don't know the details but apparently, he claimed that a mountain of gold resides somewhere on Jaya Island."

"You mean like some pirate's treasure or something?" Nami smiled evilly. "DIG CHOPPER!" She pushed the reindeer off the boat and to the island. The rest of the crew jumped off as well and explored the island. Luffy knocked on the door of the half house. "Hello is anyone here?" He walked into the house. Kimi walked by a tree stump and looked at a picture book that rested on top of the stump. "A picture book? 'Liar Norland?'" she read the title of the book looking at the front cover.

"Oi, I know that story. It's just a fairy tale for kids now, but I heard this guy Norland was a real person." Sanji walked behind Kimi looking at the book. Kimi looked through the pictures of the story and read aloud the book to the crew. As she finished the story her attention turned to Luffy and Ussopp on the edge of the island. Luffy had been pulled into the water and a big muscular man stood in an attack position looking at the crew.

"You've got guts, relaxing in another man's home! This stretch of sea is MY territory. You are after the gold, aren't you?" The man yelled out at the crew. Sanji ran towards him, "Ussopp go get Luffy, I take this fool." The two fought hand and feet and then out of nowhere the man pulled out a gun and shot at the cook.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami yelled distressed. But Sanji missed it just by a hair. The man continued to shoot at Sanji and missed with each shot. "Idiot, that's what you get for underestimation him." Zoro mocked and pulled out his white sword and ran towards the man. But suddenly the man fell to the ground gasping in pain. Luffy and Ussopp then appeared from out of the water. "And then he pulled me into the water- oi ossan! Are you okay?" Luffy ran over to the man and flipped him over. Chopper ran to him and took his pulse. "I need to treat him. Can someone-" Chopper was about to ask if someone could help the man but Kimi stood in.

"Clone clone ally!" She cloned Zoro and ten Zoro's picked up the man and brought him into the house. Kimi looked back at Zoro who looked completely confused. She giggled, "Sorry, it would take about thirty clones of me to pick him up, so you were the better option." Zoro just smiled.

Chopper examined the man and taught a little lesson to Kimi as he did so. "Decompression sickness?" Kimi questioned Chopper reason for the man being sick. "Yes it's an ailment that sometimes affects divers. It's not a permanent condition, but the drop in pressure during the ascent from the ocean floor to the surface causes the nitrogen in the body to fall out of solution and form bubbles. The bubbles strain the blood vessels and the surrounding tissue, impeding blood flow, muscles, and joints." Kimi nodded understanding everything Chopper spoke of.

"Ah yes, a mystery!" Luffy nodded completely off the topic. "Depending on the condition, Decompression sickness can lead to death…"

Just then two voices screamed into the doorway of the room. "OYASSAN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Kimi noticed one of the faces, the monkey man from the salvage just only from this afternoon. "AHHHHH THEY'VE COME TO KILL US!" Chopper and Ussopp screamed running around the house.

"What did you do to our Oyassan!" They yelled out. "We're taking care of the Ossan. Get lost." The two started to cry. "You guys are so kind!"

Eventually the two monkey men explained that Cricket had taken in the two and they were very loyal to him. They heard gunfire and rushed to make sure he was okay.

"Luffy! The man woke up!" Chopper ran out from the room. Kimi sat by his side and watched Cricket look around. "Are you okay?" She asked sweetly. He looked over at his desk and grabbed a cigarette and a lighter from it. "Diamond-head Ossan, we've got something to ask you!" Luffy smiled walking into the room. "Sorry for the trouble. I thought you were after my gold like the other idiots." He puffed the smoke out of his mouth. Kimi stood up and looked down at the man.

"You have gold-?" Nami smiled but Ussopp quickly stopped her. "Ossan, we want to go to Sky Island! Tell us how to get there!" Luffy ran next to Kimi. The man started to laugh, "You guys believe in Sky Island? I know one guy who said it existed, but he's famous for being a great liar. And his family has been a laughing stock ever since."

"Liar Norland." Kimi spoke. "What?" The man looked up at her. "You're a descended of him, aren't you?" She looked blankly at the man.

"Oh yea, now that you mention it, I remember his full name was Montblanc Norland." Sanji backed up Kimi's response. "He's my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather or something. A very distant relative, but his story has given me a lot of problems. At the time, the Montblanc family was exiled from the country and forced to live in shame. The abuse we got from the public still continues today. But no one in our family hates him." Cricket explained.

Kimi smiled understanding the story, "He was honest wasn't he?" The rest of the crew's mouths dropped, "But the book, Kimi?"

"In the picture book, Norland's last words are: 'That's it! The mountain of gold must have sunk into the ocean!' They drew him with an idiot smile in the book, but he died in regret, with tears flowing down his face. The island they had landed on was Jaya, the same island where Norland first discovered the City of Gold. Norland asserted that changes in the Earth's crust must have sent the city to the bottom of the ocean. But to everyone else, he was just a sore loser trying to justify himself. Norland was executed before a huge crowd of onlookers, laughing and hooting. Only the name 'Liar' remained."

"So you've been searching the ocean floor for the City of Gold to exonerate the Montblanc family name then." Ussopp put the piece of the puzzle together but apparently Cricket did not appreciate Ussopp's conclusion as he shot at the long nosed boy missing him by a hair.

"Whether or not my distant ancestor was an honest man, has nothing to do with me! Do you know what it's like for a kid to be jeered at by everyone just because he had the blood of an idiot in his veins?" Cricket yelled and Kimi frowned knowing the same pain as a child.

_Kimi walked through the hallway of her school on the first day of 1st grade. She smiled from ear to ear excited to learn and to get away from her sister at home. She then noticed something odd. All of the school children were pointing at her and whispering. Kimi looked around holding her books tightly to her chest. "What? What did I do?" She asked a boy who threw a paper ball at her. _

_"We all know you're a mom killer and you have special powers from the devil himself!" He yelled pointing at the 6-year-old girl. "Stay away from us!" Another girl pointed at the blue-haired girl in the middle of the big hallway. Even the teachers looked down on the girl. _

_Kimi wiped away her tears and rushed to the classroom holding onto her science book. 'I didn't do it on purpose.' She thought as she ran down the hallway and into the class room, room 207. The female teacher stood from her desk. "You are Tomoko Kimiko, correct?" Kimi nodded. "You sit in the back of the classroom. Do not talk to the other students." She sat back down and ignored the girl. Kimi walked to her desk and organized her supplies. 'I am here to learn not to make friends.' She thought as the bell rung. She opened her science book and smiled looking at all the pictures. 'I can't wait to learn.'_

"…I had to grow up with that!" Cricket yelled. Kimi opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it as Cricket continued his story. "Countless members of our family have come to this ocean trying to restore our honor and we lost them all. I became ashamed of my family. So I ran away from home and became a pirate. Before long, I'd built up my own pirate crew. After I entered the Grand Line, my life was full of adventures. 10 years ago, my ship landed on this island by what seemed like coincidence, but how ironic that the one man who hates Norland and the Montblanc family the most, would end up here. There was nowhere else to run after that. This is a battle with the man who ruined my life. I just want to settle things with him before I die."

"Well then what about the other two?" Luffy questioned about the monkey men. "It happened about five or six years ago. They heard about me and came to me and said, 'We think Norland's gold really exists!' Day after day I would dive down and search, all alone and then they barged into my life. They really saved me, you know?"

Kimi sighed, the memory of her past kept her from concentrating on Cricket's story any longer. She bowed at Cricket, "Excuse me please." and walked towards the door. She looked down still upset at her memory but looked up at Zoro who stood cross armed next to the door. She gave him a distressed look but continued on her way to the fresh air. She took a deep breath and sat on the stump with the Liar Norland book.

'Why is the past so terrible?' she wondered resting on her elbows on her thighs. 'I know his pain, I was tormented as a kid as well. But I actually did kill my mother…but it's not like I had meant too-' She thought trying to stop her tears. She looked up and watched the two monkey men fight each other, why they were fighting, she didn't know but they seemed to be really into it. She then looked over at the Merry. It was so patched up; it almost looked as fake as the palace on the half of the house did. She sat up and calculated some things in her head on how to patch the Merry correctly. Why this finally struck her mind at a time like this, she really couldn't understand.

She then noticed Cricket stopping their fight, "So it looks like they really want to go to Sky Island." "Sky Island? Well, if they're going there's only one way to get there, but that'd be instant death for them."Masira commented. "That's why I asked you guys, what do you say to giving them a hand?" Cricket smiled and looked over at Kimi.

She noticed the three looking over at her and she stood. "Please help us." She smiled.

Cricket explained to the crew that the Knock-up stream was the only way to get to Sky Island. But with the Merry in such terrible shape the monkey brothers would have to re-build the ship. Kimi insisted that she should help them as well just to make sure that everything was correct and to also use her mathematical brain to fix up the patches properly. Sanji made food and as the sun settled the crew, Cricket and the Monkey men all had a very fun and delicious dinner. Robin sat in a corner reading Norland's log book when all of a sudden Cricket spoke, "'The skull's right eye is where I saw the gold.' That same day Norland was executed. Even after coming here to Jaya, I still don't understand what he meant by that. The blank pages that follow tell us nothing."

After the dinner and drinking finished, Cricket told another story about Norland and a golden bell. Cricket then brought out three small golden bells that he had found on the ocean floor while he was diving. Nami, of course, groped one of the bells with Berri symbols in her eyes. Then he brought out a piece of solid gold in the shape of a strange bird. He explained that it was in the shape of a southbird and then started to freak out.

"You all have got to go in the forest and find one of these birds!"

"Huh? Why would we need a bird?" Sanji questioned Cricket.

"Listen, tomorrow you are going to sail for the Knock-Up Stream! It is going to be directly south of here, and how are you going to get there? The moment you stray from your course, you'll have no idea which direction is which!" Cricket explained.

"I see, since we're going to be sailing towards an area of water instead of an island, then we won't have anything to tell us if we are going the right way. Then how do we tell?" Nami concluded.

"Certain species of animals have an accurate internal sense of direction. The southbird is the most extreme example of this. Its body will always point to one direction and without that bird; you'll never be able to set out from here and ultimately not reach Sky Island!"

"WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THIS NOW!" Luffy and Ussopp ran out the door. "It's the middle of the night and you want us to go tramping around in the woods!" Ussopp yelled back at Cricket. Kimi walked outside and looked out into the forest. Thank goodness she was staying back and helping Cricket and the other's with the ship. Cricket threw three nets out to the crew, "You forgot these, we are gonna get to work on your beat-up ship. You have until morning to catch a southbird and bring it back here!"

Kimi waved to the other's and walked over to the Merry. "Hey Cricket what type of supplies do you need?" She cloned herself and they walked into Ussopp's tool room to find supplies. "Oi, just the usual, wood, nails, a hammer." Cricket smiled. The clones brought out the supplies and then disappeared. Kimi continued to examine the patch work Ussopp put on the Merry.

"How did I not catch this sooner?" Kimi thought picking at one of the boards. "He loves this ship." Cricket stood next to the girl. "Yea but it's terrible. Mathematically, none of this is balanced making the ship slower than it should be." She frowned, "I should have noticed this before…I feel terrible." She took a step back and looked at the head of the Merry. It even had patch work on the neck that Kimi somehow mysteriously did not see before.

"You should be glad that we are going to fix it." Masira smiled at the girl and picked up a piece of wood. She cloned herself and the clone ran into her room to bring back her lab coat with her glasses in it. The clone threw the jacket at Kimi and she put in on over her black short-sleeved turtle neck shirt.

"Just so you know," Kimi walked over to the wood speaking to Cricket, "I do know what it is like to be taunted for something you didn't do. Or rather something you didn't mean to happen." He looked over at the girl and titled his head, "Oh really?"

Kimi looked back with her glasses on, "Yes. It is an awful feeling. Isn't it?"

The wind picked up and the four looked over on the other side of the Merry. Another ship had already docked and the crew started to jump off of the extravagant boat. Kimi looked up at the pirate flag and recognized the face. It was the same thing that was painted on the blue-haired guy in Bellamy's crew.

"Oh no, Cricket! This guy is trouble! We met him before, he's absolutely crazy!" She warned the three. Just as she said that the two Monkey men stood in front of her and Cricket stood in front of the two making a diamond shape but hiding the young girl from the view.

"Hey Nii-chan, Nii-cha, don't make us angry." Shojo yelled out. "You come in the middle of the night and expect us to give you some gold huh? We won't so leave cuz we've got work to do." The Monkey's yelled at Bellamy and his crew, Kimi stood completely still hoping they would leave peacefully.

"I heard the little bleeding-heart story of the Montblanc family at the bar. It moved me to tearssssss." Kimi heard Bellamy's voice, "I find the fruits of another man's labor have an exceptional taste." The wind picked up and Kimi closed her eyes tightly so that the dust would not damage them.

"Since you're looking for a fight, we'll give you one!"

"Don't underestimate us!"

"Kill them!"

Kimi could hear footsteps running towards the group and suddenly Mirasa shoved Kimi behind Shojo. Luckily, Shojo was a bit bigger than Mirasa and therefore Kimi could be hidden easier. She peaked and watched Cricket beat the blue-haired man from before without hesitation. "It is not safe for young kids to be swinging that around." He kicked the sword out of his hands. While the monkey men stood still beating up the crewmates while hiding Kimi.

"Well, it's about time I gave my performance for the evening." Kimi heard Bellamy laugh. "SPRING SNIPE!" He yelled and Kimi watched Mirasa fly behind her. She took a step to the side as Bellamy sprung and hit Shojo forwards. Now out in the open, Kimi gasped and watched as Bellamy pushed off the side of the Merry and attacked Cricket. With the force of Bellamy's spring devil fruit pushing off the Merry, it broke in half.

"Stop this!" She yelled as Bellamy landed next to Cricket on the ground. Everyone's eyes looked at the girl. "So, how do you like the Captain's Bane bane abilities?" The blue-haired man stepped on Cricket's back. "Speachless huh?" He laughed putting all of his weight on the man.

Bellamy walked over to Kimi with the crazy look in his face, "So did your crew leave you all alone?" He laughed. "No, I'm trying to fix my ship! And you broke it even more!" She yelled now completely pissed off. "You are going to pay for that." She held her hands out, "Clone clone, 100!" She yelled out and 100 clones surrounded Bellamy.

"Fine then, now you wanna fight little girl? SPRING SNIPE!" He yelled again and started to spring back and forth beating the clones into thin air, after about the 30th clone, he hit the real Kimi and she flew back ten feet into the ground. She spat out some blood that filled her mouth and stood up to see Bellamy face-to-face, not a clone in sight.

She growled and tried to punch him in the face but he stopped her fist and squeezed it. "You are too weak. I'm not even going to offer to buy you this time!" He laughed and punched her with his other hand. Her glasses flew off her face in the middle of the field.

Bellamy still continued to hold onto her wrist even as she squirmed in pain on the ground. "Hey we found it Bellamy! This has to be the gold!" One of the men yelled from inside Cricket's house. Kimi tried to push herself up, but like Cricket, Bellamy put a foot on her back digging her into the ground. "Open it!" Bellamy yelled out and the crewmate opened the bag in front of Kimi's face.

It was the gold statue of the Southbird, "Wow, this is amazing!" Bellamy smiled and the crew ran over to his position. "And there's more too!" The blonde girl with the red bandana opened and took out one of the small golden bells.

"Stop!" Kimi tried to stand up again but the foot on her back said otherwise. "You have no right to touch that!" She gritted her teeth. She wanted to make a clone, but with Bellamy holding her arm in the air, she couldn't.

"I've had enough of you!" Bellamy threw her arm to the ground and then quickly lifted her body off the ground from the collar of her jacket. He then threw her to the side of him and she tumbled out of her coat and to the ground this time knocking her out cold.

Cricket lifted himself up. "Leave her alone and give me back my gold you punks!" But the blue-haired man ran towards him with his sword. "I'll save you!" Masira stood in front of Cricket and the sword went through his back instead of through Cricket.

"You…you idiot…why?" Cricket looked at his friend. "Oyssan! Watch out! Havoc Sonar!" Shojo yelled and then screamed.

"Don't worry. I can finish him." Bellamy threw Kimi's jacket to the side and used his spring fruit to hit Shojo in the stomach and stop him. "Shojo! Why?" Cricket stood up horrified at the defeat of his friends.

"Let's get going. Bag the gold, oh and grab that girl. She's ours now." Bellamy laughed and the crew walked by the defeated three. "Old man, you should grow up! The city of Gold was just something that Liar Norland made up. If you want to be a pirate in the new Era, you gotta realize that dreams never come true!" The crew laughed.

"Hold it kid," Cricket stood and took a cigarette out and lit it. "A little boy, who doesn't have the guts to fight against something he's never seen, shouldn't be telling me about pirates."

Bellamy looked back, angry as all get out. "What was that?" The last thing Cricket saw was the angry face of Bellamy.

"Ossan! We got the bird- Diamond-head Ossan! Masira! Shojo!" Luffy and the other made their way back to the group.

"What the hell happened!" Sanji yelled and ran over to Shojo floating in the water. "Shit, who did this?"

"Look! The Merry!" Ussopp cried and ran over to the now broken Merry. "Who did this to her, Damn it!"

"Hey, um, guys…" Nami looked petrified as she held a piece of white cloth in her hands, "Wh-where's Kimi?"

Zoro looked over his shoulder and recognized the material in Nami's hands, it was Kimi's lab jacket and by the looks of it, she was also in the middle of the fight. Her once white coat was now brown, red and green. Zoro only saw red, how dare someone hurt her and then take her away, but his thought ended when he heard a strange crunch underneath his foot.

He crouched down to examine the object and then frowned when he picked it up. "Kimi's glasses." He stood and whispered to himself. Not wanting to make the crew even more on edge, he quickly put her glasses in his pocket and examined the rest of the wreck.

"So…rry…" Cricket coughed. "Ossan!" Luffy looked down at Cricket. "I'm really sorry…we were here but we couldn't do anything…But, still… there is still time." He coughed again and tried to stand up.

"KIMIKO! Chopper called out looking around for his friend. "Guys, I can't find her…" he frowned.

"Hold on, Ossan! What happened to Kimi?" Luffy stopped the man from standing.

"I'm- I'm sorry. They took the gold…and they…they took your friend." He cried and sank his face into the palm of his hand.

"They took her! You mean someone took your gold and Kimi and did this to the Merry?" Ussopp yelled.

"Who did this?" Luffy asked with no emotion. "Oi Luffy!" Zoro walked over to the back of the fake palace still with the southbird in his hands and pointed to the clue of who took their friend. It was the Bellamy symbol that they had on when Luffy, Zoro and Kimi had met them earlier that afternoon.

Luffy stood up without a word. "Need a hand?" Zoro hid his anger from the crew. He couldn't believe Bellamy had taken her even after she had yelled at him for wanting to buy her at the bar. Then again, a sick man like Bellamy may have wanted her even more that she had denied him.

"Nope I'll be fine." He readjusted his hat. "Luffy, don't do anything stupid! We have three hours until the stream occurs. So hurry up!"

"If I follow the coast will I reach that town from this afternoon?" Luffy asked Robin. "Yes, you will reach it." She replied.

"Hey kid, you can't! You won't make it in time!" Cricket yelled out but a sword stopped him in his tracks. "If you want to stop him," Zoro offered his white sword to the man, "You'll have to use this."

"I made a promise I would protect Kimi, and you worked all that time to find that gold. I'll be back before dawn!"

Kimi sat at the bar from earlier this afternoon. The only difference was this time her feet and arms were tied down, she had bruises and blood everywhere and she was being forced to drink. Kimi sniffed her tears away while looking at her reflection in the mug of ale. She didn't like whatever the hell this drink was and she wished that the bartender would just stop refilling her drink.

"Man, we had a good laugh at those big monkeys!" One of the men laughed and mock Cricket and the monkey's.

Bellamy sat next to Kimi and took a sip of his drink. "You need to drink!" He smirked and shoved the rest of her drink down her throat. The crew laughed at his action while Kimi sat still drenched in head to toe of alcohol. "Please stop…" She whispered.

Just then a man ran into the bar, "We got trouble! Those guys who were at this bar…oh Bellamy! You should get out of this bar right away! Those guys they- oh, that girl! Did you kidnap that girl from them!" Kimi looked back at the man. "You, you are in danger Bellamy!" He yelled out and then showed the bar Luffy and Zoro's wanted posters.

Kimi smirked through the pain and turned back around. "Those guys from this afternoon both have higher bounties than yours, Bellamy! You gotta get outta here!" He cried out.

Bellamy turned back around and hunched over, laughing hysterically. Kimi stared down the man, what was so funny she thought to his weird nature. "Oi oi oi oi! You morons! Getting scared over two pieces of paper." He pulled Kimi to sit on his lap.

"Let me-" She squirmed but he covered her mouth, "Haven't you heard of pirate who do this? Some pathetic guys make their own wanted posters and gain fame by bluffing. You saw him with your own eyes, there's no way he has done something that horrible to gain that amount of a bounty." He cupped Kimi's chin, "You're stupid captain thought he had us tricked huh? He's pathetic and so are you!" He then threw Kimi off of him and down to the floor.

She moaned in agony but kept her best to keep the pain hidden. "You all are the idiots. Haven't you ever heard don't judge a book by its cover?" She laughed. Bellamy walked over and picked her up by the rope that bound her arms behind her back. "Oh really?" He smirked evilly.

**"BELLAMY! WHERE ARE YOU!"** Kimi smiled, she knew that voice and laughed, "You're done now."

Bellamy and the other's got quiet and even some hid under the tables. Bellamy picked up Kimi and dragged her out of the bar.

"Oi!" Luffy's voice came from above and both Bellamy and Kimi looked up and saw Luffy on the clock tower in the center of the town. "We were just talking about you." Bellamy laughed and cupped Kimi's chin, "You want something?"

"Yeah! Release Kimi and give me back Diamond-head Ossan's gold." Luffy stared down the man. Kimi felt her body against the ground and screamed in pain. This was the last hit she could take before her body gave out on her completely. Bellamy had used his power to jump next to Luffy.

"I stole them, as a real pirate should and being a pirate yourself, you shouldn't have any objections to that." Bellamy laughed claiming Kimi as property.

"But I do, so I'm stealing the treasure and my friend back."

Kimi couldn't hear the two other than Bellamy's annoying laugh, but the blue-haired man lifted Kimi off the floor and sat her down on the steps of the bar. "Don't say anything girl." He snapped. "Oi, I was right. That is him." the man from before cried at Luffy's wanted poster.

"You still got that stupid thing? Rip it up already, it's fake."

"Bu-but what if this wanted poster _is_ real! If he really is worth 100,000,000 Berri then there is no way Bellamy would be able to-"

"Just look at that kid, that's no vicious killer, no matter which way you look at him. I'm starting to doubt that 30,000,000 poster now too!"

Kimi shook her head in disgust. She knew for a fact that Luffy wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to create a fake wanted poster. He couldn't even figure out how to fish properly, let alone do something that tedious. Zoro wouldn't either. She knew that Chopper had told her on the ship earlier that day that both of them and Robin were wanted by the marines but she didn't know for sure how much they were wanted for.

Kimi noticed that Bellamy jumped with his spring fruit and knocked down the tower just as he had with the Merry and threw Luffy to the ground.

"You've finished him already? What a shame!"

"There's no way that brat could be a match for Bellamy!"

Luffy stood up after the dust cleared and said nothing. "You are finished now! SPRING HOPPER!" Bellamy yelled and then franticly jumped all over the town. Kimi couldn't even keep up with where he was, he was nothing but a blur.

"Those idiots are your friends? Oh I see, that old man and his monkeys are the same species as you! A pack of idiots who believe in the lies of some 400-year-old ancestor! What city of Gold? What Sky Island? THE ERA OF DREAMS IS OVER! YOU'RE A DISGRACE OF A PIRATE!"

Luffy snarled and raised his fist. "Do I know how to throw a punch?" Luffy asked rhetorically cracking his knuckles. Kimi nodded, "Do it Luffy…" She whispered.

"NOW YOU DIE STRAWHAT!" Bellamy charged for Luffy, but it didn't matter. Bellamy didn't even have a chance against an angry captain, Luffy punched Bellamy right in his tracks and the force of the punch threw Bellamy through the wood of the streets. Blood covered Luffy's single fist, but it was none of his, only Bellamy's.

The entire town became very silent as they stood in horror at Bellamy's lifeless body in the floor. Kimi smiled and tried to free herself from the ropes but it was no use. "Oi, quit with the jokes, Bellamy. Come on, your just playing around right? SAY SOMETHING!"

"S-see, I told you!" The man with the bounties yelled out.

"The gold, give it back. And untie my crewmate." Luffy commanded.

One of the goon's cut the ropes tying Kimi's hands together and then ran off to fetch the gold for Luffy. Kimi rubbed her wrists and then untied her legs quickly so she could feel her feet again. "Luffy, are you okay?" She stood up and pushed passed the remaining pals of Bellamy. Luffy ran over and hugged his scientist crewmate. "Oi, did they hurt you?" Luffy looked at some of Kimi's bruises and scratches on her exposed arms and face. "I'm fine captain." She smiled her usual sweet and innocent smile.

The man returned handing Luffy all of the gold in a sack. "Okay that was easy. Here Kimi need a lift?" Luffy offered his back for her to ride on. "I hate to say yes," a wave of complete exhaustion overcame her tired body. "But yes. I'm so tired." Luffy smiled and nodded, "We have to hurry, the Knock-Up stream is going to happen soon." Kimi climbed on his back and he held her up by holding on the back of her legs and held onto the gold in the back with both hands.

"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy started to run ignoring the worthless threats coming from Bellamy's upset crewmates. "Oi, Kimi. I'm sorry that this happened to you." Luffy whispered as Kimi closed her eyes.

"Luffy, its fine. I'm just glad I got to see you shut up that Bellamy guy once and for all. Dreams will never not exist. If there is a will, there is a way." She yawned, "And a dream to follow along the way…" She then dozed off into much needed sleep.

"OIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Luffy's voice ran through Kimi's head. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the Merry and the crew on the edge of the island. "Moring already?" Kimi yawned as Luffy laugh at her, "Yea you were out cold the whole time. Did you sleep okay?" He smiled.

"Luffy hurry, we are past due to set sail!" Sanji yelled out. Luffy ran over to the group and cheered when he saw the new look of the Merry. "Woah! Merry looks so cool!" Luffy laughed. "Going Merry, Flying Model!" Ussopp pointed to the new features. It looked more like a chicken to Kimi.

"Oi Kimi, you okay to stand up?" Luffy nudged her tired eyes back open. She nodded yawning and grounded her feet firmly on the ground before Luffy let her go completely.

"Thanks again." She smiled at Luffy as he walked and placed the sack of gold on the big tree stub in front of cricket. "Get on your ship, you don't have time. Don't lose your only chance to get to Sky Island." Cricket simply responded. "Right, thanks for the ship!"

Kimi made her way to the rest of the crew. "Kimi! Are you hurt? What did they do to you?" Chopper ran over to the girl. She stopped and patted his head, "I'm fine Chopper." She picked him up and walked to the rest of the crew. "What did I miss?" She smiled.

"Oi, Kimi we made sure all the calculations to the ship were correct like how you talked about! Doesn't the Merry look great? Maybe once we get to sky Island you could look at Merry a little bit better." Ussopp smiled from ear to ear pointing out all the new features of the ship. Kimi just laughed and followed the rest of the crew on the ship.

"Alright guys! Let's set sail!" Nami yelled out once Luffy arrived on the ship. "Oh Kimi, here we found this." Nami handed Kimi her very dirty coat. Chopper hopped out of Kimi's arms and she took back her coat. "Thank you, Nami. I guess this thing has pretty much bit the dust huh?" Kimi unfolded it. "Yea it looks pretty ugly. You need to wear cuter things, Kimi. I'll take you shopping once we get back from Sky Island." Nami smiled and walked off.

She refolded her coat and headed to her quarters. "Oi, you may need these." Kimi turned around to Zoro. In his hand he held out her small black framed glasses. "Oh thank you, Zoro-san."

"I'm surprised they didn't break." He commented as she wiped the frames off with the inside of her shirt. Kimi just smiled, "They have a good frame so it would take a lot of pressure for them to break. The same goes for the lenses." She placed them on her smiling face.

The two felt the ship setting sail and Kimi leaned over on the rail on the side to wave good-bye to Cricket who stayed behind. "So what happened?" Kimi felt Zoro leaning over the railing next to her. "Bellamy wanted gold that's all." She sighed and started to walk away. "I'm sorry." Zoro spoke behind her.

Kimi stopped and turned around. "Why? You didn't do anything…" She smiled.

"Exactly." Zoro had his arms crossed and nodded. Then turned his back and walked away. All Kimi could do was watch the green-haired man walk away, _"Why would he be sorry?"_ She thought and then shook the thought away.

Kimi and Sanji worked in the kitchen but ran outside when they heard commotion from the crew. "Nami-san what is wrong?" Sanji asked with a frying pan in his hand. Kimi could see that darkness was just to the southwest of them, "That's weird, it's only 10, didn't they say it would happen at 11?" She asked aloud. "The Cumuloregalis cloud showed up earlier than they expected and we still don't know where the current is going to be!" Nami answered.

Just then a diver popped out from the water. "Echo confirmed! Strong ocean current at 12 o'clock! Large creature detected at 9 o'clock! It might be a Sea King!"

The ship headed for the area while the waves tossed and turned the crew. "The explosion's about to happen! Stay alert!" Masira yelled from the left of the Merry.

"Miss Navigator? What does the log pose say?" Robin yelled out. Nami examined her wrist, "It's pointing straight at that cloud!" She replied confirming that they were just under Sky Island. Kimi looked over the railing at the biggest whirlpool she'd ever seen or could imagine!

"WE HAVE TO GO IN THERE!" Ussopp cried out. "We will take to you it!" Masira and his crew attached a rope to the dock of the Merry. Just then a Sea King monster jumped from out of the water knocking the Merry a little bit off course and then sank underneath the water into the current of the large whirlpool.

"Is this real?" Kimi held onto the railing tight as the Merry sailed into the current of the whirlpool. "This is where you guys continue on!" Masira and his crew waved. "Enjoy Sky Island!" Shojo and his crew waved too.

Nami, Chopper, and Ussopp tried their best to convince Luffy to change his mind, but it was too late. Luffy was dead set on getting to the sky, even if that meant getting crushed by the enormous whirlpool. "Stop whining and hold onto something," Zoro pointed out, "we've entered the pool."

The Merry started to fall into the depths of the pool but within a split second, they were back on the normal sea. "What?" Kimi rubbed her eyes, "What the heck happened? I thought we were supposed to be shot up?"

"Oh no, it's happening already. The whirlpool was stopped by the bottom of the ocean floor." Nami screamed. But the crew's attention drew to another ship approaching the Merry. It looked like four giant tree logs tied together and the ship had three black sails guiding it to the Merry.

"Hold it!" A faintly familiar voiced yelled from it. "We've caught up to you, Straw Hat Luffy!" It finally hit Kimi, "Luffy, that's the man from the bar in Mock town!" She pointed.

"I've come for you 100,000,000 Berri head! Now come quietly!" He laughed.

"My head? What do you mean 100,000,000 Berri?" Luffy replied back to the man.

He raised up the two bounty posters of Luffy and Zoro, "Monkey D. Luffy, you are worth 100,000,000 Berri and Pirate Hunter Zoro, you're worth 60,000,000 Berri!"

Ussopp confirmed the papers, "Oi its true they are new wanted posters." Kimi had already known that they were wanted, but she had no idea that they didn't know they were wanted. She giggled at their absent-mindedness.

Luffy and Zoro didn't seem to mind though, they started to cheer over their price, "I guess they got upset over what we did in Alabasta." Nami quivered, "Hey this is no time to celebrate!" She hit them on the heads.

But the moment ended once they felt the Merry rising up from the water. "THE SEA IS GONNA EXPLODE! EVERYONE HOLD ON TIGHT!"

Kimi held back onto the railing and before she could even think to herself, the wind shot in her face and the Going Merry flew into the clouds.


	6. Angels and Dials

**Hey guys! Sorry this took so long. I'm taking summer classes and I got caught up in studying and seeing my friends and hanging out. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"WHAT'S GOING ON!" Ussopp cried out.<p>

"The ship's sailing straight up the surface of the water stream!" Sanji blankly pointed out.

"Yay this is fun! Go Merry! Take us to the Sky!" Luffy laughed.

"Hold on, it doesn't look like it's gonna be that easy!" Kimi stood on the wall of the kitchen. It was a weird feeling, but since the ship was tilted 90 degrees, straight up, it felt normal. "The hull is starting to come loose! At this rate, we will be thrown off the current and fall back down!" She examined the situation.

"What are we supposed to do, we can barely hold ourselves up!" Ussopp replied.

Just then the crew's attention turned to the Sea King from before falling down from the current, "That's what will happen if we don't do something!" Kimi yelled out.

The crew argued and screamed, and finally Nami yelled out the solution, "Unfurl the sails, right now! This is an ocean not just some column of water! And the wind that's blowing us up it was caused by the explosion of geothermal heat and steam! A vertically blowing air current!"

Kimi nodded confirming Nami's idea, "Someone grab the hull in line with the current!" Nami yelled out. The Merry rose out of the water and started to fly along the Knock-Up Stream.

"THE MERRY IS FLYING!" Luffy laughed "GO MERRY!"

Kimi closed her eyes as a bright white light that pierced through them but then felt her body covered in water and started to feel weak. _"Wait, are we back in the water? I feel as weak like I do when I'm in the ocean." S_uddenly, a roar of splashing water and the rocking of the Merry made Kimi fall to the side towards the edge of the stairs.

Breathing very heavily, she sat up and looked down at the deck to the rest of her friends. They all seemed to be soaked just like her and breathing just as hard as she was as well. "Damn. What the hell happened? Is everyone here?" Zoro called out.

Everyone continued to breathe in and out, except for their rubber captain. "Oi, look out! It's all white and cloudy!" He smiled from cheek to cheek.

"What is this place?" Kimi stood up and walked down the steps holding tightly to the railing. Everyone gathered on the side looking out at the clouds. "We're on top of the clouds?" Chopper screamed out. "How are we floating on them?" Nami asked aloud.

"Sure we can float on them!" Luffy answered back, not the answer Nami was looking for though. Some commotion occurred surrounding Ussopp and Chopper and Luffy as usual but Kimi decided to ignore them and lean over the railing.

"Kimi! What are you doing? Don't fall!" Nami threw her back from her collar. Kimi looked back at her and rubbed her neck, "I'm not trying to fall in. I believe that what this cloud we are floating in is like some type of sea or something. After all we are all soaking wet and I remember feeling weak right before we stopped moving. The same feeling I get when I am in the ocean due to my devil fruit." Kimi leaned over again looking once again at the clouds. They did in fact look like water.

"So this is like the sea of the sky or something?" Zoro added to Kimi's statement. Kimi nodded trying to pull herself back up but in the heat of the moment her hand slipped. As her hips were about to fall in, Zoro wrapped his arm around her falling waist and pulled her up in one swift motion.

Kimi pushed a hair behind her ear and smiled, "Thanks for that." Zoro simply grinned and walked off as Nami frowned. "Hey look, the log pose is still pointing up." She distracted Kimi's almost drowning situation.

Robin seemed to understand the situation. "We seem to be in the middle layer of the Cumuloregalis cloud." "Well how do we get up more?" Chopper ran over to the girls. "That I don't know." She smiled.

"For his first adventure in the sky, Captain Ussopp is going for a swim!" Ussopp had taken off his shirt, with the top of his overall unbutton leaning on the edge of the rail. Luffy and Chopper cheered him on.

"Oi, oi oi oi, don't do anything stupid. We still don't know the nature of this sea." Sanji attempted to stop the long nosed man but alas, it didn't work and Ussopp dived in.

Kimi looked down for a moment and thought about the situation. "Hey guys, we went up and through this sea right?" Everyone looked over at her and nodded. "Well um… do you think that it's possible there's not a bottom to the sea?" She looked over at them with concern all over her face.

Everyone ran to the side, "That idiot!" Zoro looked for a way to help Ussopp back up. But Luffy had the situation covered. He stretched his arm into the water. "Stretch your arm as long as you can!" Robin yelled to Luffy. "But I can't see the bottom!" Luffy cried back. "I'll handle it." Robin closed her eyes and used her fruit power to grow eyes on Luffy's arm to find Ussopp.

After a moment or two, "I see him!" Robin said with her eyes still closed. "Okay I got him. Pull him up!" She smiled and opened her eyes. Luffy pulled up Ussopp but as he did, monsters started to arrive from the sea. "They want to eat Ussopp!" Luffy screamed and threw him on the deck.

Zoro sprung into action, "You don't have to be afraid of these creatures." He jumped off the ship and attacked the octopus creature. Sanji did the same attacking another creature coming from the opposite side.

"Man…this place…sure takes the breath out of you…" Zoro huffed. "What is this thing? It doesn't even look like a fish." Sanji kicked the unconscious fish off of the side. "So we really should think of this more as an ocean than a cloud with all of these creatures." Robin nodded.

Everyone ignored their situation and looked over at the screaming Ussopp. "For the love of. What is it now, Ussopp!" Sanji clenched his fists. "Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary… Sky Island scary…" Was all he could say.

Kimi ignored the rest of the group and headed to the side with Chopper. He was on the broken wing of the Merry looking through binoculars. "What are you looking at Chopper?" Kimi smiled and leaned on her back on the side of the railing. Her body faced the rest of the group.

"Look! I see a ship and a person and-" suddenly Chopper started to scream frantically. "Hey what's wrong?" Kimi turned to the little reindeer. He fell backwards, but Kimi luckily caught him, as the binoculars fell to the ground.

"Chopper, you see a ship? Is there a ship over there?" Sanji turned his attention to Kimi and Chopper. Chopper hopped out of Kimi's arms and onto the side, "NO! I mean there was but now-" He yelled, Kimi picked up the binoculars and searched where Chopper had been looking.

As she cleared up the vision in the device she saw a weird masked man floating right towards her. She screamed and ducked down dropping the binoculars once more. "Oi, Kimi-san is everything-" Sanji started to asked but her scream was answered as the masked man hopped over the Merry. "Oi hold it! What do you want!" Sanji yelled out.

"I shall reject you!" The man screamed out.

"He wants a fight!"

"Fine by me!" Sanji and Zoro got ready. But it was no use. The man was too fast and kicked Sanji square in the face along with Zoro. Kimi followed the man and watched him spin in the air and then kick Luffy in the face too.

The masked man jumped into the air and then he started to point his bazooka gun at the ship, "Guys, he's going to shoot the ship!" Kimi stood up pointing.

"That's enough!" An unknown voice yelled and then attacked the man. The masked guy fell into the cloud sea and then an older man in metal armor stood on the side of the Merry. "I am the Knight of the Sky." He stated.

"What is going on here! Where did that guy go?" Nami yelled out. "What's wrong with you guys? All three of you together couldn't handle him!"

"Thank you for saving us!" Chopper bowed to the Knight of the Sky. "No need to thank me. This is a service." He stated.

"Dammit. I'm disappointed." Sanji huffed. "Somehow, my body…won't move that well." The three boys breathed in an out.

"It must be because the air is so thin." Kimi stated. "Are you all blue sea dwellers?" The Knight turned Nami. "Blue Sea dwellers? What do you mean?" She replied.

"'Blue sea dwellers' is the general term for those who live beneath the clouds. So I presume that you traveled up from the Blue Sea." The knight explained "Yea that is right!" Luffy nodded.

"This is the white sea, 7,000 meters above your Blue Sea. Furthermore, above this sea is the White-White Sea, 10,000 meters above your own. Ordinary Blue Sea dwellers bodies cannot handle the air."

"Yosh, I think I'm getting used to it!" Luffy started to hit his chest. "Yea I think I'm getting better too." Zoro nodded.

"No, that is not possible! But I'm sure you have many question for me, but we must first talk business." The Knight sat down. "I am a mercenary and this is a sea of many dangers. Since you know not the battle of the sky, you will be easy targets for the guerillas or the skyfish. One whistle and I will rescue you for a price of 5,000,000 extols." He finished.

Everyone leaned their heads in confusement. "What are you talking about Ossan?" Luffy wondered aloud.

The Sky Knight started to wave his arms in the air. "You fool! It's a small price to pay! I will not take one extol less. I have to make a living, you know!"

"What do you mean by extol and what is this whistle thing you are talking about?" Sanji asked aggravated at the lecture the man gave the crew.

"You mean you did not come by way of the High West? But you must have at least stopped by one or two islands!" He yelled again.

"Ossan," Luffy had a mad face, "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Hold on! You mean there are other ways to get to this sky sea? And do you mean there's more than one Sky Island?" Nami calmed the heating argument. "We rode up the knock-up stream to get here." Robin stated as well.

"Riding that monstrous current? To think there are still souls brave enough to dare to do that…" The sky knight laughed to himself.

"I knew this wasn't a normal route! I THOUGHT WE WERE GONNA DIE!" Nami ran over and shook poor Luffy. "IF WE'D CATHERED MORE INFORMATION WE WOULD'VE HAD AN EASIER TRIP!"

"Have you lost any of your crew?" The knight asked.

Luffy looked over at him even though Nami continued to hold him by the collar. "No we all made it."

"The other routes would not have been so merciful. If you had brought 100 people, it would be a gamble as to how many would survive. But by using the Knock-Up stream, either you all die or you all survive. There are few left willing to risk losing everything. Especially in recent years, I have great respect for your brace and trustworthy navigators."

Ussopp miraculously stood from his once fetal position. "Well, it _was_ the course I picked, after all!" He smugly lied. "At the time, these guys were crying and had given up on their lives, but I told them: I'm the navigator!" Nami pulled his face in annoyed by the big fat liar.

"One whistle means blowing sharply into this." The knight threw a small silver whistle towards Nami. "I will descend from Heaven itself to lend you aid. I normally ask 5,000,000 extol for future visits, but I shall give you one whistle as a present." He started to walk to the edge. It was then that Kimi noticed a strange pink and black polka-dotted bird behind him.

"But wait, we don't even know your name!" Nami picked the whistle up off the floor.

"I am the knight of the sky, Gan Fall! And this is my partner Pierre!" The bird cawed. "I should have mentioned that my partner, Pierre is a bird who has eaten and gained the ability of the Uma Uma fruit and can transform into a winged horse!" The bird suddenly transformed into a Pegasus type of horse. The man hopped on his back, but the whole picture just looked silly. The bird/horse still had his polka-dots and his weird face.

"Brave souls, may luck be with you!" The knight then left into the sky.

"Well that was strange." Sanji bluntly stated.

"In the end…he didn't really tell us much." Robin walked over to the edge.

"How are we gonna get out of here?" Zoro asked.

"Yosh! I'll ask the Ossan!" Luffy took the whistle and attempted to blow into it, but he was stopped by Nami and Ussopp. "That's only to ask for help in an emergency!" Nami yelled. "What if that weirdo in the mask shows up again!" Ussopp cried.

"Anyway, we should move the ship somewhere." Zoro stated to crew that did not attack the captain.

Chopper looked over the side of the Merry, "Hey look over there at those weird clouds!" Robin walked over to the creature, "It looks like some kind of waterfall." "

Yosh, that's that then. We will take the Merry over there." Zoro walked off to his station.

The Merry started to move towards the waterfall looking area and the crew stood in silence out on the deck. "Wait! Stop, stop, stop! There are clouds that are blocking our way!" Nami ordered Zoro who was steering the ship.

"What do we do Nami?" Ussopp cried. Kimi looked at the strange thick clouds, the fact that you couldn't see anything through them unlike some of the other clouds that surrounded them made Kimi think that it would be really dangerous for the Merry to sail through it.

"Yosh! I'll touch them and see!" Luffy stretched out his hand to touch the grey cloud, but his hand simply bounced back right as he touched it. His eyes started to sparkle and quickly Luffy ended up on the top of the cloud bouncing around like it was a trampoline. "Look everyone! I'm bouncing, not sinking!" He laughed bouncing on top of the cloud.

"What a strange phonemon." Nami gasped.

"Quite mysterious indeed." Robin chimed in.

"Very interesting though." Kimi smiled.

Before they knew it, Chopper and Ussopp joined Luffy bouncing on the top of the cloud.

"This means we can't take the ship through and place where these clouds are though Nami-san." Kimi thought aloud. "Hey Luffy! Try to find another route for the Merry to travel."

Luffy nodded at the blue haired girl and searched, "Hey there's a huge gate underneath that fall-looking thing!" The crew navigated through the clouds out to the big giant gate with the waterfall behind it.

"Ah look! Those clouds that looked like a waterfall really are a fall! It's flowing over that new type of cloud we just saw." Nami smiled.

"Look it's called Heaven's Gate! Is this a joke! Are we going to die!" Ussopp cried.

Zoro snickered, "Or what if we are already dead."

"Oh, that would certainly account for all the weird stuff here." Sanji included in with Zoro to torment the frightened Ussopp. "WE ARE DEAD!" Chopper cried and Kimi laughed at the joke the two had played on the gullible members of the crew.

As they passed through the gate an old woman appeared from two doors on the side and took pictures of the crew. "Look on her back! She has w-wings!" Chopper cried out and clung to Kimi's leg.

"So that's a real angel! She looks like a prune!" Luffy yelled out.

"I am the appointed lookout of Heaven's Gate, Amazon." The woman softly spoke. "Sightseeing? Or Fighting?" She asked.

"S-sightseeing would be closer, I guess…" Nami started but of course Zoro interrupted. "What do you mean by fighting?"

"It doesn't matter which. Just pay the immigration fee, 1,000,000,000 extols per person and be on your way. That's the law." She responded.

"We are only going in. Why does it cost that much to enter?" Ussopp sweat dropped. "Excuse me, but if we didn't have enough money-" Nami started.

"You can pass. Or you can also not pass. I am neither a guardian nor a warrior. I only listen to your will." She responded.

"Granny! We are going to sky island!" Luffy yelled out.

"Fine, I see. Eight of you then."

"But um, how exactly do we get there?" Luffy asked but his answer quickly came. Two huge claws grabbed the broken wings of the Merry and started to race up the waterfall. Kimi grabbed hold onto the railing once more as the huge shrimp carried the Merry up the spiral waterfall to the bright light in the sky.

"Look! It's Sky Island!" Luffy yelled out. Kimi regained her composure and looked out at the island her captain pointed to. "That ship that fell on us really did come from here! They saw this same sight 200 years ago!" Nami smiled. The scientist couldn't believe what was happening. It was all too amazing and so intriguing.

As the Merry landed on the edge of the island, Kimi noted that the ground of the Island was a cloud but her deep thought ended when Luffy ran off the ship to explore. As usual, Kimi thought and giggled as Ussopp fell into the shallow water and pretended to drown.

"I wanna explore too!" Chopper jumped off. "I think I'm going to change!" Nami ran off. "Oh, Nami-san! Would you bring me my grey v-neck shirt on my bed please! Thank you!" Kimi smiled. Nami turned back around. "You're already wearing a black turtle neck…you are so boring." She sweat dropped and then ran back off.

Kimi just smiled and pulled out her notebook writing down all her observations of the island.

"Man, this scenery is a real eye opener. It's like a dream." Kimi continued to write pretending not to hear Zoro talking to her and Sanji. "Yea, you got that right and the way they're enjoying themselves…you just can't help it." Sanji walked to the front of the Merry taking off his shoes and placing them near the railing. Kimi then heard a loud whooping noise and then realized that Sanji had jumped off the ship just as Luffy and the others had.

This time, Sanji's random action made Kimi loose it completely. She had never laughed as hard in her life as she was now; she even had to hold her stomach in pain dropping her notebook in the process as well. Zoro just tilted his head at her, "Oi, what is so funny? That crap cook fall on his face or something?" He just stood there confused until she stopped and gathered her notebook back in her arms. "That was just so unexpected. That's all." She giggled again and looked out at everyone on the island.

"OW OW OW OW! I'M SORRY!" Kimi turned around and noticed Nami had fallen to the ground and the south bird that led the crew to the area of the knock-up stream fluttered passed Kimi. "We brought the Southbird with us." Nami pouted. "We forgot to release him."

"It looks like people live here too. But he can probably take care of himself. He is a bird and there are other birds here as well." Zoro focused on Kimi instead of the girl he was really talking too.

Kimi felt something hit her back and she turned around to see her grey shirt on the ground. "Ah, thank you so much Nami!" She smiled and pulled it over her black sleeveless turtle neck. "There are so many things that are hard to believe here. But at least we know we've arrived at Sky Island." Nami had put on a very revealing bathing-suit top and a pair of brown cargo pants. Robin appeared besides here with a new outfit on as well. A gold tank top and purple Capri's with a very stylish arm band on her left bicep.

_'I can only imagine who is going to flip out when he sees Nami and Robin in their revealing tops.' _Kimi thought as she second guessed her own outfit. Nami jumped off as well as Robin afterwards.

The scientist took a deep breath and then sighed. She closed her book and placed the pen behind her ear, "Are you going to explore the area as well?" Kimi looked back at the swordsman as she was about to jump off the side like the others. "Hm? Yea, I'll be there is a bit." He nodded sitting on the railing.

"It's so exciting! The smell of adventure. I wonder what types of things we will discover." Kimi jumped off the ship and landed in the cloud. It was so soft and fluffy even as she stood in the water with her sandals on. Holding onto her notebook tightly, she ran to the others on the shore.

"Kimi-Chwan! Here is a sky island flower for you my love!" Sanji ran up and placed the flower in the top of her bun. "Oh, thank you Sanji-san!" Kimi awkwardly smiled as he ran passed her screaming for Nami. "Look at all of this! It's amazing!" Kimi sat down talking to Robin who was only a couple of steps away.

"It is incredible. Wonderful indeed." Robin turned her body to the girl smiling with a matching flower also in her hair.

"But how do you get wet in a sea of clouds?" Zoro mumbled impatiently walking next to Kimi's left. Kimi opened her notebook scribbling away at the pages. "I'm not exactly sure, Zoro-san, but I'll try to understand…" She squinted trying to write down as many hypotheses as she could think of.

"What? Ah, perfect!" Kimi could see Zoro leaning down in the corner of her eye and picking up something white. When she stopped writing she noticed the thing in his hand, or rather the creature. "Um, Zoro-san…that's um…" She pointed at it. When he finally noticed the creature he dropped it in shock and the white fox looking creature ran into Kimi's lap. He leaned down noticing the animal. "What is that? A fox?"

Kimi was about to answer when a beautiful noise came from their far left. Zoro stood and noticed a person in the distance, "Oi, there is some over there."

"Oh no! Is it that guerilla from earlier?" Ussopp screamed and Zoro flipped out a small portion of his sword. Kimi stood up with the small white animal in her arms and her notebook in her left hand.

"No wait. It's an…angle!" Sanji gasped.

Kimi readjusted her eyes and noticed a young pale blonde girl with wings on her back. She stopped playing her harp and looked at the crew. "Heso." She smiled softly.

"Heso?"

"What's heso mean?" Chopper asked the questioning crew.

"Suu, come here." She smiled looking at Kimi. The white fur ball jumped from Kimi's arms and ran up to the girl. "Are you all from the blue sea?" She asked meeting Suu halfway.

"Yea, we came up from down there." Luffy responded. "Do you live here?"

"Yes, I do. Welcome to Skypiea's Angel Beach. Would you like to drink that?" She pointed to the giant fruit looking object in Luffy's arms. "Yea." He handed it to the angel. "The top of a conasshu is as hard as steel. You can't bite it, so from the underside…" She cut the bottom of the fruit and put a straw in it and gave it back to the captain. "IT'S SOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Luffy raved and Ussopp also agreed with him.

"My name is Conis, this is Suu a cloudfox. Should you need anything, please let me be of service." The girl picked up her pet and introduced herself to the crew.

"There is a lot we'd like to ask you, this place is just full of mysteries for us." Nami walked up. "Of course, just ask me anything."

Zoro turned over his shoulder and interrupted the two. "Oi, something's coming."

"Ah, my father." Conis nodded, "Conis-san, heso!" the man yelled in the distance. "Yes, heso father!"

"Er…what're you guys talking about?" Luffy sweat dropped.

"What is that thing he is riding?" Nami asked. "Ah, you mean the Waver?" Kimi walked over to the girls. "What is a waver?" She asked.

"Yes, I will stop now!" The man yelled out but ended up crashing on the beach. "Is everyone alright?" The man asked.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU!" Zoro yelled back at him.

"That's what Norland wrote about in his diary-a ship that sails without wind!" Nami thought aloud.

"Are these your friends, Conis-san?"

"Yes, we just met. They came from the Blue Sea!" Conis and her father spoke to each other. "I see, that must have been a difficult journey. This is the white-white sea. I am sorry. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Pagaya. I'm sorry." "Father, did you catch any fish?" "Yes, a good catch. Oh yes, would you care to stop by my house? I'll treat you to a little of the happiness of the sky." Pagaya asked the crew.

"Yea! Let's go! Let's go!"

"Sky Island cuisine!" Sanji's ears perked up. "Will you let me help you prepare it?"

Nami walked over and examined the waver. "Wait a minute can you answer this? This…doesn't have a sail to catch wind…and you weren't rowing it…how was it riding on the sea?"

"Oh you don't know about Dials?" Conis tilted her head.

But the conversation turned to Luffy who took off with the waver so quick that no one could even tell him to get off. Eventually the speed of the waver sent Luffy flying in the air and in the White-white sea.

"Oh no! Is he alright?" Conis gasped. "I'm sorry for lending him my Waver!"

No one in the crew moved. "Come to think of it, what happens to people with abilities in this sea?" Sanji asked what everyone was thinking to themselves. "Oh yea, this sea is different. Maybe he can handle it." Zoro crossed his arms watching Luffy sink into the water. "He sank. No good, eh?" Zoro then replied once Luffy sank completely underneath. Zoro and Sanji then took off to save their drowning captain.

"Well at least the rest of us know that we have the same effects in this sea as in the Blue sea." Kimi nodded to Chopper and Robin at this valuable information.

Nami had already gotten her hands on the waver and began to ride it like a pro. "Nami-san! You're the greatest!" "Oh my I can hardly believe it! It usually takes about ten years to learn how to ride it and she only took ten seconds!" Pagaya gasped.

Mad that she could ride the waver better than him, Luffy yelled at Nami, "Oi we are going to the Ossan's house. Get off now!" Sanji kicked him in the head.

"Ojisan, can I ride on it a little longer?" Nami yelled out. "Yes! Take care!"

The rest of the crew left Nami on the beach and followed Conis and her father up a white giant stair case towards their house on a section of the island cloud clusters.

Sanji and Pagaya prepared their lunch for the rest of the crew while the other's and Conis sat in their living room. "Conis, you mentioned something about a Dial. Would you tell us more?" Kimi sat next to Zoro on the white couch made out of clouds. She opened her notebook and pen in hand.

"Of course, well then how should I explain?" Conis walked over towards her. "Huh? What is this? You have seashells here?" Luffy picked up a shell off of a countertop.

"Yes, please try saying something into it." Luffy thought for a moment and then spoke, "Ussopp stinkssssssss!" Conis laughed, "Now try pressing the apex of the shell." She pointed.

"What's an apex?" Ussopp walked over and pressed the top of the shell. "It means highest point brainiac." Just then the shell spoke out 'Ussopp stinkssss! Now try pressing the apex of the shell.' In Luffy's and in Conis's voice.

"Well that's interesting. It recorded the sound." Zoro then noticed Kimi scribbling frantically in her book.

"Is that shell a Dial?" Robin asked. "Yes, this is a Tone Dial. It is able to record and replay any sound. It is one of the shells of the White-White Sea."

"I don't see how that could move the Waver then." Robin crossed her arms still not convinced. Conis ran over to another counter and picked up a purple Shell. "Yes, the propulsion of the Waver is this one. This one isn't very large, but the principle is the same as the Tone Dial." She walked over to Luffy and Ussopp out on the porch and raised the shell to a wind chime on the wall. The Shell then started to blow wind to the wind chime. "So wind comes out of that one!" Ussopp declared.

"It sucks in wind and releases it freely. The capacity varies depending on the size, but by putting this on the aft of a ship, it can move light ships."

"Ah, and if you put one of those on a small boat you then get the waver!" Kimi looked up from writing. Conis nodded her head and walked over to Luffy and Ussopp. Kimi and the other's listened as Conis explained that even though the crew had found a waver from the wreckage of the 200 year-old ship it would most likely still work as long as the shell was not broken.

"These Dials are so fascinating!" Kimi smiled and looked up from her book. "I bet there are other kinds as well." She then pointed to a shell on a stick in the middle of a coffee table. "Is this one too Conis?" Kimi pointed examining it a little closer.

"Yes, that is a lamp dial." Chopper pressed the shell and it started to glow. He laughed and cheered at the sight of it. "There is also one which stores fire, the Flame dial. And one which stores smells and aromas, the flavor dial. And still another which reflects images, the vision dial. There are many different kinds!" She explained. "They are an integral part of our livelihood in the sky. So, Skypedia's culture has evolved with the Dials' energy."

Kimi scribbled all that Conis had explained but her train of thought was interrupted when a snore came from her side. She looked up and giggled as Zoro had fallen asleep in no time at all but then shook her head and continued to write down.

"Alright! It is all ready! A full-course sky island special catch with fruit!" Sanji yelled out from the kitchen.

Robin and Chopper stood up and followed Luffy and Ussopp (they had ran into the room). Kimi also stood but then realized she still heard snoring behind her. "Oi, Zoro-san…" She tapped his shoulder. Zoro stopped snoring and opened his left eye. Kimi smiled. "The food is ready." And she followed the others into the room.

Zoro stretched his arms and legs out and then opened both eyes. He sat there for a moment and watched Kimi walk off. Even though she was not dressed like the other two female members of the crew, there was something very attractive about the fact that she did not flaunt her goods. He then noticed the love-cook watching him, watching Kimi. Sanji gave Zoro an evil death glare and kept watching him as Zoro stood up and walked to the kitchen.

As the group started to eat Sanji noticed something, "Oi. Where did Nami go? I can't see her anywhere." "She probably went exploring." Luffy brushed off his comment.

"Father, will she be okay?" Conis asked worriedly. "Yes, Conis-san…I also feel a bit unsettled."

"What? What's wrong?" Luffy asked chewing on a piece of meat.

"Here in Skypiea, there is a place where you must never, ever set foot no matter the circumstances. That place is adjacent to this island and could easily be reached with the Waver."

"Never set foot on…what does that mean?" Ussopp wondered.

"It is sacred ground we call that land, the land where God resides, Upper Yard." Conis looked down and folded her arms one on top of the other.

"By 'God', you mean _the_ God?" Chopper asked. "God lives on sky island?" She nodded, "Yes. Because Skypiea is God's land, it is ruled by the almighty God Enel. God Enel knows everything that goes on in this world. He watches over us, always."

"W-what? Always?" Ussopp started to freak out. "Even now?" Luffy wondered. "Yes. Of course!" "Eh! He's watching over us at this very moment?" Chopper added. "Hm. God, eh?" Zoro sighed not bothered in the least bit. Chopper looked over at him, "Zoro, you don't believe in God?"

"Dunno. I don't care whether God exists or not. It's never mattered to me one bit. Well, not that I have anything against anyone who wants to believe."

Kimi moved Zoro's conversation away, "So Conis-chan, have you ever seen this God, Enel, was it?" She shook her head and hands, "No I have never seen him. We cannot set foot on Upper Yard. Ever…"

Luffy suddenly started to have glitter in his eyes, "A place we must never, ever set foot, huh?" Ussopp started to shake his captain. "Oi Luffy, what the hell are you thinking right now? Listen to what she is saying! 'Must never set foot on' means you ABSOLUTELY must not go there, Luffy!" But the daredevil captain still continued to laugh and sparkle his eyes.

_'He definitely wants to go there…' _ The entire crew thought.

"So, what are the consequences' of entering this forbidden Upper Yard?" Robin sipped on her wine.

"You will not return alive, we believe." Pagaya replied. "Y-you're worried about Nami-san, aren't you? It's best if she does not get too close to Upper Yard." Sanji ran to the balcony. "NAMI-SWANNNNNNN! WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU! STAY THERE!" he looked back and Luffy nodded, "Hurry up and stop eating you buffoon!" Sanji yelled running to the door. "What if something happens to Nami-san while you're standing around worrying about eating! Forget the food! We'll be back soon anyway. Conis-chan, tell us how to get there."

Conis groaned, "You don't even know if she is there or not. Incurring the wrath of God Enel is a terrible thing."

"It doesn't matter, Nami-san is most likely out exploring and if that island is close by she is probably there!" Sanji ran out. The rest of the crew followed as well.

Everyone and Conis included gathered onto the Merry. "Alright! Set sail to the place we should never ever set foot on!" Luffy climbed up the Merry head pointing to the sky.


	7. Criminals Even in the Sky

**Yay! Next one is up only because I had over written for the last chapter. Won't make any promises about the next one coming soon!**

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><p>"I'm sorry, but there is a headwind right now! With this wind, it would take a considerable amount of time to reach upper yard! I'm sorry." Pagaya called out on the shore. "It wouldn't take as long if your ship were one powered by Dial energy though."<p>

Kimi thought and jotted down her idea in the book and then turned to Conis. "By any random chance would you all have a Dial that goes on a ship like this?" She shook her head, "Personally, no. But they may have them in the market." Kimi nodded but her thought then focused to Luffy attempting to make a getaway in the broken waver. However, it ended up with Zoro having to retrieve a drowning captain.

Pagaya looked at the broken waver. "So this is your old waver?" He wiggled the squeaky steering wheel. "It is really worn out. If you wouldn't mind, may I take a look at it? If it can, I shall fix it for you. I am a Dial ship engineer." This really caught Kimi's attention and she hopped off the Merry and ran to Pagaya.

"How does this work? Do you have to take it all a part?" She opened her notebook and looked up at Conis's father. Luffy ran over too asking the same questions. "Can you fix is Ossan?" He smiled his usual ear to ear smile. But their conversation would have to wait, because just then a group of people started to walk down the stair case towards the crew on the beach.

"Ossan, who're they?" Luffy adjusted his hat.

"Suspicious-looking ship! Stop right there!" Kimi put on her glasses and blinked a couple of times. "Are they?" She wondered. "Why're they all crawling toward us like that?" Sanji asked.

"Troops, Halt!" The man in front of the crawling men yelled from below. They stood and put two fingers on top of their heads making them look like Conis's and Pagaya's antennas. "Heso!" They all replied. "You are the eight illegal entrants from the Blue Sea, correct?" The leader had a blue cape and a weird object on his back that made him stand out from the others. "We are here to bestow Heaven's judgment upon you!"

"Illegal Immigrants? What does that mean?" Luffy turned and faced Kimi. She noticed that Conis and Pagaya started to freak out, "I-is that true?"

"There's no use denying it. The Heaven's gate lookout, Amazon, has sent us these photos, take with her Vision Dial." The Leader of the group pulled out a set of photos and the one on top had a picture of Luffy on it.

"There must be some mistake, Captain McKinley! They are not bad people!" Pagaya tried to convince the man. "What's he calling us illegal entrants for?" Sanji walked up behind Luffy and Kimi. "Perhaps he's talking about the 1,000,000,000 immigration fee we were each supposed to pay. We certainly didn't pay it." Robin declared.

"B-but, that old woman said we could pass without paying!" "She did!" Chopper and Ussopp persuaded the leader.

"Please no excuses. Just accept your guilt. However, there is no need to worry. Illegal entry is a minor, Class-11 crime punishable by Heaven's Judgment. Once you have received your punishment, you will be returned to the status of peaceful tourists. "

Sanji huffed, "Well why didn't you tell us earlier. I'm still not happy about it, but what's this punishment?"

"It's a simple solution, pay 10 times the immigration fee. If you pay the fee immediately, your crime will be written straight off. So that's 80,000,000,000 for all eight of you. I believe 10,000 Extol is equal to 1 Berri. So for you all it would be 8,000,000."

Sanji didn't like the sound of that, "That is too much! I could buy tons of rice with that! Why do we have to pay such a ridiculous amount after risking our lives to get up here? It's unacceptable!"

"What are you saying? You should have just paid the original 800,000 immigration fee at the gate. Let me warn you that we, the White Berets, act under direct order from the priests. Refusal will increase the severity of your punishment."

Sanji didn't care; he pulled Kimi and Luffy into a circle with the rest of the crew. "I'm worried that something might happen to Nami-san if we don't find her soon. She could be crying her little eyes out somewhere at this very moment!" "Alright! Let's go searching for Nami!" The strong head captain declared.

"Oi, oi! Luffy," Ussopp ran over to Luffy and then turned to the White Berets. "Well, if Nami's only out for a little walk, she should be back soon." He lied crossing his arms. "Nami not out-" Chopper went to correct him but Ussopp ran back over and shut his mouth. "Don't you see, Luffy's only using Nami as an excuse to go out and explore. We just have to ignore him into not going!"

"He is set on going." Kimi nodded and Robin and Zoro nodded as well. "Yea he is."

"Listen guys," Ussopp grouped everyone but Luffy together, "We won't get into any more trouble than we're already in and wait until Nami comes back. Besides, Nami's probably got 8,000,000 Berri lying around she could lend us!"

"Hey what are you guys discussing over there. That reminds me…if an illegal entrant cannot be found then they will be treated as an escaped criminal." The Leader of the white berets yelled out. "W-w-wait! Wait a sec! Then we can pay you the full amount! You will find that we are reasonable people. Just take it easy and wait!" He gave a thumbs up to the man. "Everyone, just chill out for a second and hang out until Nami comes back!" Ussopp commanded taking complete control of the situation.

Kimi started to yawn and stretch out her arms. "Kimi and Robin-chan. Would you lovely ladies join me for some tea?" Sanji patted the girls backs. "Yes please." Robin smirked and Kimi did the same. "I guess I could let my notebook take a breather for a little bit since we are going to wait around anyways." She tucked her pen in the spine of the book and walked with Sanji towards the pavilion area.

The three made their way towards the shaded area and both Kimi and Robin sat down next to each other in the soft cloudy chairs. "These seats are so comfortable!" Kimi sighed placing her notebook on the stand table next to the two.

"Here you are ladies." Sanji placed two hot cups in the middle of the same table. "Thank you Sanji-san." Both Kimi and Robin thanked. Robin took her cup and then examined Kimi's notebook. "Kimi, would you mind if I read your notes? I would like to know what types of things you have examined on the island."

Kimi felt hesitant at first. After all, the only other person that ever looked at her notes was her sister when she would take the notes Kimi had worked on for the government. "Um, yea…" She looked down and turned her head to Sanji that sat in the next chair next to her. Robin noticed the hesitance in Kimi's body language, but she nodded it off and took the book flipping through the pages. Kimi sighed and closed her eyes. The chair was so soft, and after this long morning she then realized the extreme exhaustion that overwhelmed her body. She ignored the commotion going on in the background and rested her eyes.

"THAT'S TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE!" Kimi sat up after she heard Nami screech and then a booming sound afterwards. "Hey, what happened?" She looked over at Robin.

She turned and faced the 20 year-old girl. "Nami has hit the Leader of the White Berets." Kimi stretched her arms again and then stood up. Her notebook flashed in her eyes. "Here is your book back. You noticed a great deal of information. It was almost like I was examining archeologist notes." She smiled at Kimi.

Kimi took the book from Robins hands and stood in shock as she followed Sanji out of the pavilion. _'No one has ever complimented me on my notes.' _ She thought and tried to hold back her tears at the memory she flashed back to.

_"You are such an idiot! Anyone that only goes to school until they are 8 years old can never do anything in the world productive." Kimi's sister threw her notes in the air. Kimi held her head in her hands tucked in a ball in the corner of the lab. "Father! Make her stop! Please!" She cried out as her sisters heels clicked away. "You will never make it in the world Kimi. The only thing you are good for is making school grade volcano projects." _

_Kimi opened her eyes and then cloned herself to stop her sister from walking away. "No I'm not! I'm the one doing your project! Why do you have to treat me this badly? Please stop treating me this way-" But her sisters anger took over. She ran over to the real Kimi and pulled her to her face by the collar of Kimi's shirt. "Don't you ever talk that way to me again you stupid girl! You're notes make no sense! Go back to school and learn how to write properly!" _ _Kimi felt herself being thrown back into the wall._

_She slid down and landed on her bum sitting with her legs tucked. "I…I can't- I can't go back. You know they won't let me." She looked up, but her sister was already walking away. "Fix this shit." Was all her sister said as she walked away. _

Kimi snapped out of the memory by Luffy calling out her name. "Oi Kimi! You coming out from there?" He laughed. "Luffy! This isn't good! That guy is out cold!" Ussopp yelled back.

Kimi shook her head and took a deep breath. She ran over to the group. "This is not good. This is probably a class 5 crime now." Conis seemed very upset.

"Class 5 doesn't sound too bad."

"It is, it's cloud drifting and it is a death sentence!" Conis replied to Luffy. "Cloud-drifting is when a ship is set upon a piece of Sky Cloud. It drifts through the sky endlessly, until everyone on board has perished!"

"Ah, I see. So that's how that ship fell out of a clear sky." Robin recalled the ship from yesterday. "What do you mean, Robin?" Ussopp asked nervously. "That galleon that fell on us from the sky, the Saint Bliss, perhaps that ship suffered the same fate 200 years ago. "

"Hey you punks!" Everyone's attention turned to the rest of the White Berets. "Do you have any idea what you've done to the Captain!" Nami walked ahead, "Sorry about that. It was just an unintentional reflex! An accident really!" She tried to play it off with her cuteness. Pagaya tried to also distract the men. "I'm sorry, but shouldn't we try to take care of the Captain. We can take him to my home to treat him!" The men agreed and picked their leader up. "The eight of you stay there and don't move! Understand!" One of the men yelled out.

The White Berets did their weird crawl to the staircase. Conis stayed for a second until the group was out of sight. "I know that you are not bad people. So please go back home!" Then she ran off in the same direction.

Everyone stood their silently trying to decipher what she'd meant. "She's right. I saw it with my own eyes. An island filled with terrifying people!" Nami faced the others. "Oh so you did go to the island." Zoro replied. Luffy started to sparkle again, "The place we must never, ever set foot?" Ussopp quickly covered his ears.

"I'm not sure if they're Gods or Guerillas, but I am sure they're nothing but trouble! We are leaving right now! Besides we don't want to cause any more trouble for Pagaya and Conis. We don't' want them to think that they are our accomplices. " Nami commanded. Kimi held her notebook close to her chest. That memory of her sister and her notes hung over her head. _'I want to take more notes. We just got here. I want to learn more…' _She sighed not wanting to revolt against Nami's wishes. However, she and the others headed onto the ship waiting to leave the Legendary Island that they worked so hard to get to.

Kimi continued to hold onto her book as she sat down on the base of the stairs on the deck. "Kimi-san? Are you alright?" Sanji looked down on the girl. She just nodded, "Yea, I just wish we didn't have to leave…" She lied and pushed her loose hair behind her ear. In doing so, she noticed Robin standing on the side looking down on the shore. _'Did someone really think I'm good enough?' _ She thought and placed her book on the steps and walked over to the women.

Just as she was about to confront Robin her attention directed to Luffy and Nami arguing with the now conscious White Beret Leader. "At any rate, for repeatedly directing abusive language towards us, and for the obstruction of a public servant these Class 5 criminals are sentenced to cloud-drifting! AREST THEM!" He yelled out and the men behind him pointed arrows at the two. When they shot them a thick blue cloud appeared from the path of each arrow and suddenly the men jumped on them and rode the clouds. With ease, Luffy defeated the group and shocked Conis and her father with his devil fruit ability.

"You fools! There's no going back now! You should have just obediently followed our orders. The White Berets are the most gentle and understanding of all the guardians in Godland. But they will not be so forgiving. Beg and plead all you want, the priests of Upper Yard will be the ones to judge you! Heso!" The leader and his men then crawled back from their defeated positions.

Everyone jumped down off the ship and towards Luffy. "That women told us we could pass. Now we're here and they're calling it illegal entry?" Nami complained. "And we won't mention the part where we would've gone through even if she said we couldn't." Ussopp added. "Nevertheless, this is certainly a terrible predicament. Now that you are class 2 criminals we cannot be of any help!" Pagaya yelled from across the shore. "It's not bad, we are used to being wanted criminals anyways." Luffy smiled.

Nami and Luffy started to argue about going to Upper Yard and at the end of the argument Nami still claimed that they should leave Sky Island. Ussopp then stated a very valuable point. "Hey is there any safe way to get back to the Blue Sea? We worried so much about getting here that we forgot about getting down. " He asked Conis. She just bowed her head. "I can't really call it safe given your situation, but there is a way. You must go to the edge of the cloud, Cloud End. It lies at the far East side of the cloud but to get there you will first have to descend to the White Sea."

"It doesn't matter where we go. Those guys will find us no matter what." Nami started to push the crew towards the ship once more. Kimi walked in silence upset about leaving the amazing island. "Oh yea, I forgot! Ossan! Can we take the rest of the food you gave us earlier?" Luffy ran to Pagaya. "What oh yes of course!" He nodded. "Yay! Sanji come on let's get the food!" Luffy ran to the staircase that led to Pagaya's home.

Ussopp smiled, "In that case, there's something I've been meaning to ask. Ossan, you're an engineer, right? Can I bum some ship-repair materials off of you?" Pagaya agreed once again. "Oi, Kimiko! Come and help me pick out some of the supplies for the Merry!" Ussopp led her away from the group walking to the Merry to Luffy and the others. "Oh yes! I promised I would help you with the Merry didn't I?" She smiled.

"You guys, get the ship ready for an adventure!" Luffy pointed at the others as the four of the pirates headed to the home of the two angels.

Kimi and Ussopp searched through all kinds of tools while Sanji decorated each Nami, Robin and Kimi a lunch box while Luffy picked at the food. Suu, Conis's cloud fox ran over and jumped into Kimi's lap. "Aww, hey there little guy." She smiled and patted his head.

"Oh I'm sorry, are you the shipwrights of your crew?" Pagaya asked Ussopp and Kimi. Both shook their heads no. "Huh, no way! I'm the gunner. Kimi here is our brilliant scientist! And she's the newest member of our crew, huh Kimi-san?"

"Oh that is most impressive!" Pagaya stated, "Yea, we don't have a shipwright in the crew yet." Ussopp patted Suu's head. "That's no problem though because it means that they have to depend on my almighty resourcefulness to fix everything!" Ussopp laughed and Kimi giggled at his boastfulness.

Kimi lifted Suu into her arms and then stood up. "I'm pretty sure this is all we need Ussopp-san." She noted to her pile. "I'm not exactly sure, I left my notebook on the ship or else I could tell you." She started to walk over to the balcony with Suu still in her arms. The wind blew through Kimi's blue hair even though most of it was pulled into a sleek bun, her bangs and short layers that hung down were victims of the wind. Suu started to purr at her petting him and she giggled at him. "You are too cute." She stated to him.

"Aww thank you Kimi-san! My love for you is held within this beautiful piece of art that is fit for your heart!" Sanji sang in the living room. Kimi turned around and smiled, "Sorry Sanji-san, I was talking to Suu. But it does look beautiful- the food I mean."

Luffy started to laugh at Sanji, "Ahaha, you thought you were a pet!"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" He yelled back.

Kimi smiled and then turned back to the sea. She could tell that someone had just raised the anchor and that the rest of the group had made their way onto their precious ship. She then heard footsteps behind her and then Ussopp at her side. He stood fixed on the Merry too.

Just then the Merry started to rock back and forth and she could hear screaming. "Oi, something is wrong with the Merry!" Ussopp yelled and Sanji and Luffy ran to the ledge along with the other two. Sanji looked through a small looking glass, "W-why? Why is Nami-san wearing a T-shirt?" His face turned blue.

"Oi! The ship is moving! Where are they going?" Luffy hopped onto the ledge.

"Look there is a giant shadow underneath the Merry!" Kimi pointed out.

"Whoah and the ship is going backwards! How is it doing that!" Luffy smiled.

"Guys! Look!" Kimi then noticed a dark red creature climbing out of the water. Just then a giant red crab holding the Merry with the word 'God' written on its head took the Merry further and further away.

The four watched in silence until there was nothing left. "I-it's g-gone." Kimi stood there with her mouth open. "Nami and the others…" She held onto Suu harder. "W-why? Why a t-shirt?" Sanji gasped. "Are you still talking about that?" Ussopp hit him. "Where did they go?" Luffy asked. Then he looked over at Pagaya. "Where did they go?" He asked again.

"The super express shrimp is a servant of god. Whatever it transports, it becomes an offering. It can only be heading to Upper Yard to the sacrificial altar. "Sacrificial? You mean to tell me that Nami-san and Robin-chan and the others are going to be sacrificed? You wanna mess with me!" Sanji yelled at the poor man. Frightened, Suu hoped out of Kimi's arms and into a corner.

"I'm sorry, please wait! I have heard that those who are to become sacrifices receive one of two forms of Heaven's judgment. Sacrifice or the Ordeals. They are now in God's hand, so to speak. Consequently, the ones being judged right now, are you four right here."

Kimi gasped realizing the sudden twist in the sequence of the events. "We are the ones being judged?" She asked. "Yes, I wish I had a map to show you how to get to your friends." Pagaya said. Kimi faced the sharpshooter, "Hey Ussopp don't you have that old map of Skypiea that we got from that ship?" Ussopp did and the group gathered around the coffee table in the living room.

Everyone listened to Pagaya's directions, but Kimi noticed a very shameful look upon Conis's face. "Hey Conis? Is everything alright?" She looked across the table at the blonde girl. "Oh yes, I'm just afraid for your friends." Kimi blew it off for the moment, but something told her that Conis had something she was hiding from her and the others. She would tuck that under her belt just in case she would need it for later.

The four decided to head out to save their Nakama. Conis and Pagaya offered them back bags, supplies and food and a boat for them to reach their friends. Sanji had borrowed a shirt from Pagaya and rolled up his black pants to cool down. Conis had also agreed to take the group to the wharf in Lovely Street.

As the four of the Strawhats followed Conis through the town, each of them all stared at the beauty and landscape of the buildings. "Lovely Street is the only shopping district on Angel Island." Conis explained continuing to walk.

Kimi looked up, "Look they even have some shops in the clouds!" She pointed. She had fallen a bit behind the group looking at the beauty of the town, but then she noticed something odd. Once there had been many people walking and talking on the street and now they were all silent and had started to back away from her and the crew ahead of her. _'Something's not right? I feel tension from these angels and from Conis…' _She frowned.

"Oi, Kimi? What are you doing back there?" Luffy stopped and turned to face her. "Oh, sorry!" She jogged over to him holding onto the strap of the bag on her back. Ussopp slowed down too, "Are they avoiding us?" He whispered to Kimi. "I believe they are, but I can understand. We are criminals after all." She continued to look forward almost to avoid the street people in revenge. "The wharf is this way." Conis smiled and turned to the right.

"What we are leaving the town already?" Luffy pouted. "Of course we are leaving! This isn't where we're heading, right?" Ussopp reminded their captain. "We should just take it easy here."

Kimi giggled, "Luffy, don't you want to go to the land we should never ever set foot on?" She reminded him. "Yosh! Let's head to the Warf!" He then raised his fists in the air. "Kimi-chan, we should just escape from these two and go on a romantic adventure together! Conis-san would you like to join too?" Sanji had a heart in his one eye. "No thanks, I think we should meet up with the others, Sanji-san." Kimi smiled.

They soon arrived at the dock. There were many different gondolas and boats floating in the cloudy sea. "There are many kinds of boats anchored here. From hotel boats you can sleep on to high-speed types with large Dials on board." Conis explained. "Whoah! This one is awesome!" Luffy ran over to a big red boat with a bull on the front and a bright green roof to block the sun. "Idiot. We are going to save Nami-san and Robin-chan. Not relax on a boat." Sanji angrily argued with Luffy.

"So Conis-san, these boats are also used by the same power as the Waver, correct?" Kimi examined the ships as she walked passed. "Correct. These are just a bit bigger than the waver's dial." She nodded continuing to walk ahead. "Your gondola is this way."

Kimi tilted her head at Conis. _'There is defiantly something she and the rest of the angels know that we don't...'_ "The Little Crow!" Conis presented the small ship smiling. Kimi started to giggle at the boy's reactions. They had apparently thought that it would be a giant extravagant ship by the look on their faces. "I used it all the time before I learned how to use a Waver. It might not go as fast as a Waver, but it had two onboard Breath Dials. Please use it."

"No, I'm not going." Luffy said with a blank face. "I like that one better!" he pointed back to the red bull boat. Conis looked at the boat he pointed to, "Oh, you don't like it? I'm sorry." She apologized.

Sanji started to kick Luffy repeatedly, "Apologize! You shitty excuse for a man! Pay no attention to his selfishness." Luffy turned with a swollen face, "I'm sowrry."

"You can exit through the No. 2 Gate. You will emerge on the wide Milky Road which leads to Upper Yard. Y-you just have to follow it." She looked down at the end of her statement.

"Oi Conis? Why have you been trembling ever since we left your house?" Surprisingly, Luffy had also picked up on Conis's strange behavior. "Does it look like something is wrong?" She placed her hands together.

"Yeah, almost like you're afraid of something."

"Sanji smiled, "Conis-chan! You must be worried about us! That's so sweet of you!"

"But, will you and your father be alright? The other people in town got all red-faced and avoided us. But you're lending us your boat and you even told us the way. Isn't that gonna make you look like our accomplice?" Ussopp concluded.

"If you were scared, we could have come here by ourselves." Luffy added.

"No…I…it's not what you think! Telling you the way and telling you about the ordeals-"

"STOP! DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!" The leader of the White Berets had followed the group and shouted from a distance.

Kimi looked back at Conis's face. She was now biting her lip and tears were starting to form in her eyes. Just then she fell to the ground bowing at the four of them, "Will you please escape from here? I'm so sorry!" She cried.

"STOP!"

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!" Some of the angels yelled out.

"The one who called the Super-Express Speed Shrimp…was me!" Her tears ran down from her face. "That shrimp that abducted Nami-san and the other?" Sanji yelled at the girl. "I lied and told them there was a current they could travel on. I made them raise their anchor and that was the signal for the Super-Express Speed Shrimp to come! After discovering criminals, we must guide them to the Land of Judgment or we will be killed!"

"STOP TALKING!"

"Do you realize what you are saying!"

"You're committing sacrilege against God!"

"I'm sorry." The tears poured out of Conis's eyes and then a wave of sadness ran down Kimi's spine. "You didn't have any choice…right?" Kimi shook with her words. Conis nodded. "Then, WHY DID YOU TELL US!" All four of the Strawhats yelled at her. Luffy ran and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Now they're gonna come after you!" He yelled furious at the girl.

"It's too late!"

"Everyone get away from the girl!"

"The judgment is coming!"

Kimi looked around at all of the angels running away. Then she saw a white light from the sky that started to grow brighter and bigger with each passing second. "Luffy! Save Conis!" Kimi cried out but Luffy had already picked her up and begun to run away from the spot she had sat in. _'They aren't going to make it. That beam is getting too big!' _Kimi thought and cloned herself to aid Luffy along.

The light started to blind Kimi and the others and from out of nowhere the ground started to shake uncontrollably causing Kimi to lose her balance. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but clouds. "Luffy! Conis!" She cried out noticing the giant hole that the beam had cause.

Sanji ran over to Kimi, "Kimi-san are you okay?" He picked her up onto her feet. "I'm fine, what about them!"

"It's no use, the almighty God Enel is watching us." One of the angel men answered her.

"N-no…" Kimi thought only wishing she had been quicker with the use of her devil fruit.

"They are both safe!" A somewhat familiar voice answered. From out of the hole the familiar pink and polka-dotted horse and an armored Knight riding the flying horse flew out. He threw the conscious Luffy towards the group but kept Conis on the back of the horse. "I will see to the girl. Enel will not be able to attack her again while she is with me. You have unveiled the real feelings of this land. As well as God's power. How will you handle that?" He asked.

"We are going to find our nakama no matter what." Luffy adjusted his hat. "May luck be with you then!" And Gan Fall flew off.

Kimi nodded and walked to the crow, the other's following. She threw her bag in the back and then reached out to take the other's bags. "Please let me handle it, my sweet Kimi-san!" Sanji smiled and then did the job for her.

Luffy unbuttoned his red vest and then took control of the wheel "Yosh let's head to God's land!" He yelled out. Kimi sat across from Sanji while Ussopp sat cowardly in the back of the small ship. "Remember Luffy, head to the 2nd gate, Conis-san had told us before she was attacked." Kimi lead. "Yosh!"

Kimi didn't have her notebook to write on since she left it on the ship and she started to have withdrawals. "Do you guys think Conis and her father will be alright? She's a criminal now because she tried to help us right?" Kimi hugged her knees.

"That Knight of the Sky Ossan said he'd take care of her…" Ussopp added.

"We have no choice but to trust him." Sanji lit a new cigarette. "I'd like to protect her myself, but there's no way we could've taken her with us."

"Man this thing is slow!" Luffy complained from the front. "This boat is several times heavier than a Waver. We just have to take it as it is. At least we have a boat." Kimi looked out at the land. "I just want those two to be safe. Away from this awful God." Kimi sighed.

"You miss your own father, don't you?" Ussopp concluded. Kimi looked up surprised and then thought about it. "Yes, I guess I do. I look at Conis and her father and see me and my father. I just want them to be safe." She smiled sweetly.

"My precious Kimi-san is so loving!" Sanji sang. "You are ridiculous." Ussopp sweat dropped.

The crow picked up some speed as they fell down a waterfall. "Whoah! Look at that big forest! It's huge!" Luffy smiled.

"This map does have a forest on it, but it's not _this_ big…" Ussopp unrolled the old map he had and examined it. Kimi leaned over his shoulder and looked at it as well. "The guy who had that map was over 200 years old, and even then, that map might've already been old." Sanji concluded.

They eventually made their way to the entrance of the forest. Burring torches with the word "God" written on them filled the area. Statues faced the boat as it entered through. It was quite creepy. Soon pieces of different ship wrecks filled the path way. "Look! There are broken ships this way! Let's go back!" Ussopp cried. "What's more is that all of these ships look like they have been split in half." Kimi stated.

"Quick! Start paddling!" Ussopp threw an oar to Sanji and the two started to paddle the ship a bit faster. Kimi heard a weird noise and then behind them and then a giant swinging sword hit an old ship behind them.

"Here comes another!" Kimi noticed the noise from ahead. "PADDLE AS HARD AS YOU CAN!" Luffy screamed. Kimi took control of the ship while the boys started to paddle. She maneuvered passed two swinging scythes. "Enough of this! Gum Gum Bazoka!" He pushed off of one of the swords making the crow shoot off into the air. Once the crow landed back into the water everything just started to get worse. This time spears started to attack the crew on the tiny boat. Kimi screamed but tried to focus on maneuvering through the deadly objects, but just as before Luffy pushed the ship away from the area.

"I hope that's all, dammit." Ussopp cried.

But of course, that was not the end. A circular sharp boomerang started to attack the small crow. "It doesn't matter how many lives we have! This place is gonna do us in! Kimi turn us around right now!" Ussopp tried to turn the ship's wheel.

"Yosh I had enough! Gum gum…" Luffy was about to hit the sharp weapon but then realized it would hurt him if he did. "I can't." He blankly stated. Ussopp screamed and turned the ship just in time but also knocked Kimi down off of the chair.

"Oi why did you hit Kimi-san?" Sanji kicked Ussopp in the face. "What? I didn't mean too! We need to survive this crazy place!" He cried back. Kimi waved it away, "I'm fine Sanji-san, no problem!" She smiled and looked back. The momentum of the boomerang hitting and slicing a giant tree stopped the object from attacking them again.

"This forest is cool!" Luffy smiled and sat down. "It is not cool! Everything here is trying to kill us!" The scared sharpshooter yelled. "Look there is a giant face up ahead now!" Luffy pointed to the front.

"There's four different entrances. Does that mean each one leads to different locations?" Kimi wondered aloud.

"Ordeal of swamp. Ordeal of Iron. Ordeal of string. Ordeal of balls." Ussopp read the entrances.

"We get to pick any door we want!" The captain smiled without any worry whatsoever. "So now God wants to play a game with us?" Sanji started to get aggravated.

"Which one should we choose?" Ussopp needed to know quickly before he chose one by himself. "Do the ordeal of balls!" Luffy pointed to the last one on the right.

"Why that one?" Kimi wondered aloud.

"It sounds like fun!"

"That's your reason! They're not supposed to be fun! These are ordeals!" Ussopp yelled back. Hesitant, he did as he captain said and turned the wheel to the right. They entered the dome but it was pitch black inside.

"Hey you know what this reminds me of? You know how there were four doors, one of them is a prize door, and the rest are all losing ones." Luffy didn't get the fact that he was saying.

"Luffy! What if we picked the wrong one?" Kimi giggled not thinking it was possible. "Oi what would happen if we chose the wrong one!" Ussopp screamed.

"If you choose wrong…well…we'll probably fall off Sky Island." He laughed.

"BAKA! YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES YOUR LIFE WOULD FLASH BEFORE YOUR EYES DURING THAT FALL! WE ARE 10,000 METERS ABOVE THE BLUE SEA! THAT'S CRAZY!"

"Enough of this shit! There's no way-" Sanji started but as the light started to grow meaning they were out of the tunnel the ship started to fall. It was like they had picked the wrong door just like Luffy had said.

All four screamed their lungs out, completely scared to death by what Luffy had just said. Thank goodness, the crow had landed back onto a path that lead further into the forest. "We…are…alive…I really thought…we were falling 10,000 meters…" Ussopp gasped soaking wet from the fall.

Luffy couldn't stop laughing even as Sanji kicked him over and over, "IT'S BECAUSE YOU MADE UP THAT DUMBASS STORY, LUFFY!"

"I was scared! I thought we were gonners!" He laughed.

Kimi wiped off the water from her face giggling from the scary thought that crossed her mind. "That was so scary." She smiled and Sanji ran to her aid. "Kimi-san? Are you alright? Do you need mouth-to-mouth? A little kiss to clear your mind?" Kimi just pushed him off of her kindly. "Thanks, but no thanks Sanji-san!" She looked out at the area and noticed a swarm of white cloudy balls surrounding the environment.

"What are these?" She asked standing up to take a better look.

"They are balls?" Luffy stood next to her. "It looks like they are made out of cloud?" Kimi noted. "They look like huge snowballs!"

Kimi laughed at her captain. "You really don't have a care in the world, do you, Luffy?"

"Well, you're gonna die somehow, why not have fun!" Ussopp stood up, "DON'T MAKE IT SEEM LIKE WE ARE GOING TO DIE HERE!"

Luffy and Ussopp started to complain about wanting to eat, while Sanji attempted to distract them from not while he steered. Kimi kept looking out at the many cloud balls that floated in the air. It was then that an odd shaped ball on top of another one. Somehow, Luffy and Ussopp started to play ball with one of the clouds but from the inside a snake popped out and tried to bite Ussopp's head off.

"Sanji! Watch out there's another one in front of you!" Kimi pointed to him. "Shit! So all these floating things are snake eggs?" He yelled and then kicked the ball. However, it was not an egg at all, but rather a bomb that exploded as soon as he kicked it. "What the hell is up with these balls?" Ussopp screamed.

"It's fun to see what pops out!" An echo called out from the forest. Kimi looked over at the noise and noticed the strange ball again. _'I knew it. That's a person!'_ She saw the man's face. He had a body of the white balls, but wore an orange hat, gloves and shoes and had dark red hair with circular glasses on.

"I call them surprise balls!" He smiled sitting on top of a ball. "Thank you for choosing my Ordeal of Balls, I am Satori of the Forest!"

"Stop dancing! So your one of the priests eh?" Sanji yelled out to him.

"What the- he looks stupider than I expected." "Didn't Nami and that Ossan say they were really strong?" Luffy and Ussopp whispered to each other. "Excuse me, but how do we get out of here exactly?" Kimi asked Satori. "You're going to have to defeat me before you go any further!" He continued to dance.

Satori jumped off of the ball and towards the four. "Yosh! I got 'em!" Luffy started to ball up his fists. "Oh you're going to stretch!" Satori yelled out and just as Luffy attacked he moved just in the nick of time. He then reached his arm to Luffy's face and blew Luffy away from the crow. "LUFFY!" Kimi and Ussopp leaned over and watched him fall to the forest floor.

"Oi, Luffy, you're alright huh? A weak punch like that shouldn't hurt you! LUFFY!"

"A punch? No it's a little different than a punch!" Satori laughed. "Why is that?" Kimi yelled pissed off. "Oh I could tell you but it wouldn't matter!" He smiled and raised his arm to her face.

Kimi's eyes widened but it was too late. The move he had just used to knock Luffy off had just then knocked-out the blue-haired girl. "KIMIKO!" Sanji ran and held her before she could fall off the crow. "You bastard!" He laid Kimi down on the side of the boat and then went to attack Satori with a kick, "An upper kick using the right foot!" Satori said and avoided Sanji's kick and then blew him with his odd hand punch off the crow. As well as Ussopp too.

"Shit. We are in for some trouble."


	8. A Plan for the Gold

While Luffy and the other's battled Satori in the ordeal of balls, Kimi laid silently knocked-out on the moving crow. The three boys needed to save and protect Kimi from falling off the boat and to protect their boat from getting too far away.

Sanji had even introduced an ordeal of love that he and the others used in order to save Kimi and the Crow. They used their full talents together instead of separate and defeated Satori. In order to get back onto the Crow, Ussopp used a new invention of his that had a string attached with an iron grip to the head of the crow from a belt around his waist. "Even you have some good ideas every once in a while! Hold on Kimi-san! We are going to save you dear princess! Just think, poor Kimi-san is just lying there like sleeping beauty!" Sanji imagined in his head Kimi in a princess dress lying down on a bed. "I must be her prince charming to wake the princess up! Hold on Kimi-san!"

"I don't think she'll appreciate it…" Ussopp sweat dropped.

All the commotion started to wake up the girl on the ship. She moaned and held her aching head in her right hand. "What the hell happened?" She opened her eyes and saw that she was the only one of the boat, but yet she could hear her friends talking. She sat up and looked around.

"Oi Kimi! You aren't dead!" Luffy waved to her. The three of them clung to Ussopp and it was then that she noticed that Ussopp had attached themselves via rope to the crew. But the crow seemed to go further and further away resulting in the rope from Ussopp's belt lunging the trio into all sorts of trees. "Oh no!" Kimi cloned herself and helped the three get back on the boat. Once they all made it, she noticed just how bad they looked.

"Did you all defeat that ball guy?" She wondered and noticed she had a bit of dried blood coming from her nose. She reached over and wetted her fingertips to wash off the blood. "Yea we beat him! It was really fun! I can't wait for the next Ordeal!" Luffy smiled.

"Oi Kimi-san! I used my ordeal of love to rescue you! I think the prince deserves a kiss from the princess!" Sanji wrapped his arms around Kimi's waist. "Um, thank you Sanji-san, you are very brave, but no." She pushed him off and then sat down next to Luffy while a very depressed Sanji took the wheel.

They talked about beating the ball guy and about what was next to come. Kimi stated she hoped the others were okay as well to Sanji as Luffy and Ussopp goofed off in the back of the boat. "Yosh! Watch this! Ussopp tell me to wake up!" Luffy got all excited and then crossed his arms and put his head down as if he was pretending to sleep.

"Hey! Wake up, you dimwit!" Ussopp laughed. Luffy lifted his head up and pushed the piece of hair from his forehead to resemble Zoro's hair. "What? Morning already?" Luffy imitated Zoro's deep voice and then pretended to go back to sleep just as Zoro would do. Ussopp and Kimi both started to laugh, Ussopp a bit more than she. "That's great! It's just like Zoro!" He yelled holding his stomach from the pain of laughing so hard.

"Would you cut it out Luffy! We don't know what's happened to Nami-san or Robin-chan-"

"Zoro is with them!" Luffy reminded the cook but he pretended not to hear. "There's still three priests out there, they may be enduring one of their Ordeals right now."

Luffy got excited again but this time he pushed his hair over his left eye and imitated lighting a cigarette. "This is the ordeal of love!" Both Ussopp and Kimi laughed at their captain. Sanji stood up and in the blink of an eye beat up the two boys. He sat back in the chair and lit a new cigarette, "For now, we have to keep heading towards the Sacrificial Alter. Agreed?"

"Bes…Be're sowwry…." The two apologized. Kimi finished her laugh, "I'm sorry Sanji, you're right we need to focus on trying to find the others." She nodded.

The Crow drove throughout the cloud river for a good hour or so. The four almost thought they were going to have to face another ordeal as they passed a grassy field with skulls on wooden posts. Luckily nothing happened. Kimi realized that they were going to need to find the others soon. It was beginning to turn into night fall as the sky turned from sky blue to a deep orange and pink. "I didn't even know there could be a sun-set in the sky." Kimi smiled looking out.

"Oi, look! We have to go over top of that huge tree?" Ussopp started to shake as the Milky Road started to get very steep. "Come on Ussopp! This'll be fun!" Luffy held onto his hat and the mast of the small ship.

The crow went to the top of the arch of the cloud and then fell down it extremely fast. Kimi held onto the edge and onto her bag Conis gave to her. "Hey what's that down there?" Luffy pointed to a lake below them.

"Oh no! It's the priests!" Ussopp cried. "No, they are Skysharks." Kimi examined the creatures more. "What do we do?" She asked the men.

But Luffy was already on top of the job. "GUM GUM, GATLING GUN!" He knocked out all of the hungry Skysharks wanting to eat them. They crashed down on the cloud-like water and soaked the four even more on the small ship. "Ahhh! We are soaking wet, Luffy!" Ussopp shivered.

"Hey look!" Kimi pointed ahead at a very welcoming sight.

"We found 'em! The Going Merry, and that must be the alter!" Luffy cheered. Kimi examined the area they had landed in. In the center of the lake, there was a giant alter platform with the Merry on the top of it. She hoped the others were okay because from the looks of it, the ship was not.

Sanji started to wine like a dog, "Robin-chwan, Nami-swan! Did you miss me?" He had a heart in his visible eye; Luffy and Ussopp waved as well while Kimi stood up and looked to the edge of the land. There stood Nami, Robin and Zoro on the land of the forbidden ground. 'W_here's Chopper?' _She thought thinking of her favorite little reindeer.

They picked up the others and then parked the Crow next to the steps of the alter. Ussopp, Nami, Sanji and Luffy all ran out and up the stairs. Robin walked gracefully out of the ship and Zoro hoped out of it. Kimi gathered Ussopp and Luffy's bags along with hers as well. She jumped out and looked over at the Skysharks. Some had still been floating on top of the water, others become conscious and were now swimming in the cloud water.

"Need some help?"

Kimi looked above her at Zoro. She nodded, "Just take Luffy's bag. I guess the two forgot about them." She giggled throwing the bag to him and then looked back at the water. She gasped as she watched one of the Skysharks attack and eat an unconscious shark.

"Come on genius before it decides to eat you too." Zoro grabbed her wrist pulling her away from the last step. Kimi blushed and pulled her hand away. "This place just keeps getting better and better." She mumbled. She looked up at the swordsman and noticed his change of outfit. Instead of wearing his white shirt and green belt thing (She didn't know what it was called) he wore a dark blue tank top that showed off the muscle definition in his arms.

She looked down at her feet, feeling awkward admiring him and climbed up the stairs in silence. The two hopped onto the Merry and joined the others. The ship's mast had been ripped off and most of the deck looked like it had been burned and attacked. "What happened?" Kimi placed the bags on the ground.

Robin looked over at the two. "Mr. Doctor had an encounter with one of the priests. Luckily, Gan Fall had saved him, or else we would not have the ship or Mr. Doctor." She crossed her arms and sat down on the steps of the deck.

"Poor Chopper…" Kimi examined the broken mast. _'At least he is alive…' _She thanked her lucky stars. Ussopp walked over, "Kimiko, do you think we can fix it?" He questioned. She took off her glasses, cleaning them and then put them in her pocket. "Anything can be fixed if you work hard enough on it." She smiled.

The door to the kitchen then opened. "For the time being, let's go into the forest and set up camp near the shore." Sanji and the other's walked out. "Why?" Luffy jumped off and to the deck.

"If a fight broke out here, we'd end up damaging the ship even more." Ussopp explained. Luffy and Chopper started to jump up and down, "Whoo hooo! Camping! Party!" Kimi crossed her arms and shook her head smiling at how enthusiastic the two acted.

"Hey Sanji, do you think we could barbeque one of those sharks?" Luffy looked over. "Yea, why not?"

"Come on everyone. Grab what you need for the night and let's go to the shore." Zoro declared and everyone scattered. Kimi was about to head out for the women's quarters but then she remembered her notebook. She walked over to the steps where she had last placed it and luckily it was still in one piece. She picked up the book and sighed in relief. '_Thank goodness it is okay!' _ She continued onto her quarters and gathered some belongings.

The crew set up camp and gathered around the fire roasting a Skyshark while each member talked to one another. "Alright everyone, give your reports of what happened while we were separated." Ussopp declared.

Sanji started first, "We went to the Lost Forest, where we met a Priest named Satori who used these Surprise Balls. But what got us the most was this Mantra technique he used to predict our movements."

Chopper was next, "A Priest name Shura appeared out of nowhere, using a lance that burned everything. He could predict my movements too."

Nami sighed, "You guys sure had a rough time. But we discovered that this island is actually a piece of Jaya. The City of Gold didn't sink into the ocean; it was shot into the sky!" Luffy finished the roasted skyshark and gasped at Nami's statement, "GOLD!" His eyes got bigger.

"So, what's that Mantra thing?" Zoro asked Sanji. "No idea, maybe it's something like an instinct or something."

Luffy stood up, "I've been waiting for an adventure like this!" Nami smirked, "That's the spirit! Then everything's settled!" Robin giggled, "Sound's very interesting."

"Well, pirates can't pass up a chance to steal some treasure." Sanji took a puff of his cigarette. Zoro rested his head behind his arms leaning against one of the tree roots. "There are lots of enemies out there. This is gonna be about survival. Sounds like fun!"

Kimi smiled after jotting down all of the things everyone mentioned, "I'm up for it." She looked at the crew. Luffy stood and raised his fists to the sky, "Yosh! Gold, here we come!" He laughed.

The crew decided to split up to gather supplies and to get ready for the night. Nami and Robin worked on figuring out where the City of Gold could be. Sanji and Luffy worked on getting dinner ready, Zoro and Chopper went into the forest to gather food for dinner, and Ussopp pulled Kimi to the side to work on the Merry.

"Ussopp-san? Do you think it is a good idea to work on the ship now?" Kimi sat down on a large tree root and sketched out a picture of the ship and what should be done to fix it. "Yea why not?" Ussopp took off his shoes and examined the materials to fix it.

She heard footsteps coming towards the two but she continued to draw on the pages. "What're you up to, Ussopp? Kimi? Dinner is almost ready." Zoro had his hands in his pockets and walked passed Kimi to Ussopp.

"I was just going to bring these supplies to the ship so we can repair it tomorrow." He smiled at the swordsman. Zoro placed his right wrist on the top of his swords, "You were planning to swim across right?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah." Ussopp blinked.

"So you're not worried about the giant man-eating Skysharks?" Zoro asked again. Kimi looked up from her notebook and giggled as one of the sharks jumped from the water.

"Repairs can wait 'till morning! Let's go eat dinner, Kimi!" Ussopp ran off. Kimi wiped a tear from her cheek. "Don't worry, I was going to warn him just before he jumped in." She stood up and faced the green-haired man.

"What are you writing this time?" Zoro asked pointing to her book. Kimi looked down in her arms and smiled, "Oh I just drew a picture of the Merry and some formulas to fix the mast and the siding." She flipped the pages and showed him the picture.

Zoro nodded with his blank stare and then bent down to pick up Ussopp's shoes. "You sure you're a scientist or an artist?" He slung the shoes over his shoulder. Kimi smiled and closed the book holding it to her chest. "Both." She giggled and walked back to camp.

"Do you think this God is as scary as everyone makes him seem?" Kimi looked to her right focusing on Zoro's face. He smirked and looked down at her. Even though she was a year older than he, she was about three inches smaller, "Nah, I don't believe in him. In any case, he's gonna bow to me when I'm finished with him." She looked ahead and smiled closing her eyes. "I just want to learn about this place. It is so interesting." She opened her eyes as her nose twitched at the heavenly smell.

"I'll pass out the plates, so eat up before it gets cold!" Sanji yelled out. Kimi and Zoro continued to walk side by side as they entered the camp area. "Okay, guys! I'm gonna explain how we should plan to move tomorrow!" Nami yelled out.

"Yosh! Kimiko! Where have you been? Robin and I could have used some of your notes to further explain our conclusions." Nami placed her hands on her hips at the swordsman and scientist approached from the trees."Oh, sorry Nami-san!" Kimi smiled and then sat down next to Robin.

"Anyways, Norland first discovered the City of Gold about 400 years ago but when he went to visit it a while later it was gone." Chopper walked over to Kimi and handed her a bowl of stew. "Thank you, Chopper-san!" She smiled. "So in that short amount of time, Jaya broke apart and this part of the island was shot into the sky."

Zoro got a bowl from the cook and then sat near Kimi on a branch he focused on the conversation and then noted, "From the looks of it, this forest is completely different from the one we went to on Jaya though."

"That's probably due to the composition of the Sea Cloud and Island Cloud here." Kimi went from looking to her left at Zoro and then to her right at Robin's reply, "Right, the environment seems to abnormally affect the rate and degree of growth of the plants and animals." Kimi nodded and agreed with the raven-haired woman.

"If that's the case, it would explain how the forest had overtaken that civilization." Robin smiled to Kimi. Kimi smiled back and then took a bite of the stew. "That would make sense since the southbird that saved me was huge!" Chopper added across from the others.

"What I want to know is, why would the southbird save you?" Sanji sat next to Zoro. "I'm not sure, but all of the Southbirds were calling the Knight of the Sky, 'God'."

Everyone gasped and looked at the unconscious sick man. "Then I should kick this Ossan's ass?" Luffy yelled with a mouthful. Kimi laughed, "No Luffy!" She smiled.

"Yosh! Enough, does anyone remember what else Norland wrote about the City of Gold?" Nami asked. "I do! It's a city of gold!" Luffy raised his hand.

"You are such a dumbass sometimes! Do you ever think before you talk?" Ussopp yelled. "If I remember correctly, there was something about a huge bell made of gold." Sanji answered Nami. "But there was a rather peculiar statement on the last page of the book. The final words spoken by Norland, 'The skull's right eye is where I saw the gold.'" Robin also answered.

"Exactly! Look at these everyone." Nami waved for everyone to circle around her. "It's a little rough, but if you bring the coasts of the two maps we have together, this is the topography of Jaya, 400 years ago!" Nami made a skull from the lands on the two maps. Everyone smiled realizing they had figured out where the city of gold was! "Tomorrow we'll split up into two teams! There's no doubt about it, there's gold out there waiting for us!"

Everyone cheered and then started to get ready for bed. "Since it is getting late there's no need for the fire, so we should put it out." Kimi stated to Luffy and Ussopp dancing around it. They started to laugh. "What?" She crossed her arms, confused by their laughing. Robin walked over, "We wouldn't want to give our location away to the enemies." She agreed with Kimi.

"Did you hear what they just said? What a stupid idea, huh Ussopp?" Luffy chuckled. "Don't be too hard on them. They haven't been exposed to this type of thing before." Ussopp pointed at them. "What do you mean?" Robin asked completely puzzled.

Luffy and Ussopp burst into laughter. "You're supposed to have a campfire, that's the point of camping!" Nami started to yell at Luffy agreeing with the other girls that a fire would be a bad idea, but in the middle of her yelling, Zoro and Sanji appeared with even more fire wood. "Oi, don't worry Nami-san. Animals are afraid of fire." Sanji laughed.

Kimi smiled and then walked over to Gan Fall. "Hey there Pierre." She sat down next to the pink and polka dotted bird. "Did you get enough to eat?" She asked hugging her knees. It cawed and then looked down at the old man. She leaned over and examined all of the supplies Chopper had around him. "Thanks for saving Chopper." She whispered and then her attention turned towards a bunch of wolves dancing around with the crew. She giggled, "They are all too funny." She smiled and pulled back one of her strands of hair out of her eyes and walked over to Robin.

The two of them laughed as the crew danced and drank with the wolves. After a while or so their attention turned to an old voice congratulating them on taming the Sky wolves. "Oh, you're awake!" Kimi stood and looked over to the Sky Knight. "Are you sure you should be moving already?" She asked.

"I have been such a bother to you all instead of helping you." Gan Fall looked down at the fire. "What, you have done plenty." Zoro walked over to the group and sat down next to Kimi. "Thanks for saving Chopper and our ship." He took a sip of his ale. "There is some stew left. Would you like some?" Robin offered.

"No, no. I appreciate it, but I think that I had best not." He sat down with the others.

"Oh the Ossan is awake! Come on and dance with us!" Luffy yelled at the old man. "Oi Ossan! How is Conis-chan? Is she safe?" Sanji yelled out. "Yes, she and her father are at my house. You need not worry." Gan Fall replied.

The other's continued to dance and throw Chopper into the air while the four of them watched in silence. "Excuse me for asking, but I believe I heard you say that this island used to be called Jaya and was a part of the blue sea?" The old man asked continuing to look ahead.

Robin nodded, "That's correct."

"Well, you have not yet heard why this is considered holly ground. For you Blue Sea dweller, the earth here must seem natural." He started to dig his fingers into the ground. "Correct it is." Kimi nodded at the old man.

"You are lucky, this is something that does not naturally exist in the sky. We call this Vearth." He picked up some dirt and played with it in his hands. "This is what everyone is fighting about." Kimi and the others continued to watch the rest of the crew dance and drink with the partying wolves and eventually everything started to calm down.

Nami handed Kimi a tent from her bag and Kimi used her clones to build the tent quickly. "Kimi, you're powers are so useful! We don't have to do work, you're clones do it for us!" Nami smiled and got situated in the tent. Kimi just smiled but didn't know what to take of her statement, "Uh, thanks I think." She started to walk away from the others.

"Where are you going, Miss Scientist?" Robin asked her. "Oh, just going over to the lake to wash off a little bit. Be right back!" She walked back to the edge of the lake with Ussopp's materials. She reached her gloved hands into the water and splashed her face. She did it again and rubbed her tired eyes.

_'I hope all goes well tomorrow.' _She thought about their plan and hoped they could reach gold before they were caught by God. She looked around making sure the area was secure and once she decided it was she quickly took off her right glove and washed her hand in the water. She dried it off with her shirt and then did the same to the other hand.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked walking over to the girl. She quickly threw on her left glove. "Oh just cleaning up a bit. What are you doing?" She looked back at him but he traveled behind a tree. "Taking a piss." He calmly stated.

Kimi giggled and then turned back around. She let her blue hair down from her usual bun and combed through her hair with her fingers. Zoro stopped and walked backed over to her kneeling down to wash his hands. She dumped her hands back into the water and combed her wet fingers attempting to wash her blue hair.

The two kept quiet as they continued working on their jobs and finally Zoro stood. He looked down at the girl and noticed how good her long blue hair looked. Of course, he'd never admit it. "Good night." He muttered and walked away from the girl. "Night Zoro-san!" She shook her head and stood up.

He looked back and smirked. "You can just call me Zoro." Kimi blinked a few times confused by her courtesy and then blushed. "Oh okay. Good night Zoro." She restated as he walked off. She looked back at the Merry and then back at the forest. Sighing, she walked through the trees and into the campfire area.

"Oh, Kimi! You're hair looks really pretty down!" Chopper smiled from the ground. Kimi smiled and continued to walk. "Thank you Chopper-san, good night everyone!" She climbed into the tent and into her sleeping bag.

She closed her eyes and thought about the green-haired swordsman. He was a very handsome, but a very mysterious guy. She smiled as she thought of his comment before she went to bed but sleep overcame the tired girl's body and she soon found a peaceful sleep.

Kimi heard some ruffling from next to her but she tried to ignore it as best as she could. "Ugh, get her up, Robin!" She heard Nami groan. Kimi then felt three hands start to tickle her stomach. She laughed and twisted in her bag, "Okay, okay I'm up!" She sat up holding her stomach.

"Come on, Kimi! Let's go!" Nami picked up her bag and walked out of the tent. Kimi sighed and pulled her hair back in her bun. "Is she always this friendly in the morning?" she laughed. Robin smiled and picked up her bag too. "Some days."

Eventually everyone got together and went over to the Merry with the Crow. But to their surprise the Merry's damages had been fixed. "How-how did this happen?" Ussopp gasped. Kimi ran over to the mast. "Even this has been repaired!" She admired the patch work. "It won't last too long. But it will work for our mission." She noted to everyone.

"I'm telling you! I saw a ghost last night! Tell them, Zoro! I saw a ghost or someone, or something at least!" Ussopp ran around. "And what puzzles me the most is how did the person who did this know what the Merry was supposed to look like!" he scratched his head.

"It doesn't matter! Are you going to go out of your way to find him?" Nami put her hands on her hips. "We still have a lot to do! Come on you guys!"

The boys figured out a way to get the Merry off the Alter and into the water. Once they did Nami gathered the group and told them the entire plan. "All right, look at the map and pay attention! The route the exploration team will be taking is directly south. Here to the right there should be some ruins. Beware of all the enemies along the way and bring back the gold."

"You make it sound so easy!" Zoro muttered. "If it involves ruins, you can count me in!" Robin declared. "You want the gold, but you don't want to travel and get it?" Luffy asked. "Of course not! It's scary there!" She yelled back. "Meanwhile we will take the Merry through the Merry. It'll be dangerous for us too. We'll be heading towards the coast as fast as we can so we can escape from Sky Island!" Nami drew their plan on the old map of Skypiea.

"Well let's get going then! Luffy, Zoro, Robin and Kimi will head towards the City of Gold while Sanji, Ussopp, Chopper and I sail on the Merry!" Nami rolled up the map and gave the teams thumbs up. "Good luck guys!" She winked and the crew parted ways.

* * *

><p>As the four of the Strawhats headed out, Luffy yelled over at Zoro. "Oi! You are going the wrong way Zoro! We have to go east!" Luffy pointed and headed to the direction he thought was east. "Um, Luffy, that is west." Kimi sweat dropped at her captain.<p>

"Didn't you hear Nami? We have to go to the Skulls right eye. So we should go right." Zoro reasoned his tact tics. Robin crossed her arms. "We are supposed to go south." She looked over at Kimi. Kimi nodded back, "That's what I thought. Hey you guys, we are supposed to go south!" She called out to the captain and first-mate.

Robin started to lead the way while the other three suddenly became distracted. Luffy had picked up a stick and started to sing. Zoro and Kimi walked side by side as Kimi wrote and sketched in her notebook. "This is lame. Yesterday we walked around this whole forest and didn't see a single thing. We didn't even meet a Priest!"

Robin looked back, "Are you so eager to meet such danger?" Robin looked behind her and smiled. Kimi stopped and noted in her book how giant a normal plant had grown from the presence of being in the clouds. "Oi, Kimi!" Luffy yelled above her, "You're gonna get left behind!" He laughed. Kimi closed her book and stood up, "Coming!" She went to take a step and then noticed a weird striped tree root in the distance. She tilted her head but ran over to the group so make sure she didn't separate from them.

She still saw the root and opened her notebook to sketch it. "Oi, Kimi! What are you writing in that book?" Zoro looked behind and stopped waiting for her. Kimi looked over and pointed. "Look, isn't that weird?" She then ran over to him.

Zoro looked at the 'root' and nodded, "That is interesting." Just then Robin stopped and a giant snake face stared at the four of them. It opened its mouth and hissed. "Run!" Luffy yelled and everyone followed. "I wonder if this is another result of Sky Island's environment? What do you think, Robin?" Kimi asked smiling. "Yes, probably."

"Oi! Would you two quit it already!" Zoro yelled, "Enough of this." He stopped and attempted to attack the snake. Everyone else tried to hide away from it or avoid it. Just then the snake bit one of the bases of the trees and with its strong venom it burned away the outside of the giant tree.

"Everyone! Be careful! It has very poisonous venom!" Kimi called out to them from the tops of the trees. The group fought against the beast but in the heat of battle, everyone somehow separated.

Kimi looked around the giant forest. "Hmm. Where did they go?" She looked around. "Robin! Luffy! Zoro!" She called out, but no one answered. She opened her notebook and wrote a note in it just in case she died someone could identify the owner of the notebook. She laughed and closed the book tucking it in her left arm. "Well, I guess I should head towards the south." She looked around and could not figure out which way was south. "I need a compass." She declared but without one she picked a path and started to walk in the direction.


	9. Victory in the Sky!

Kimiko smiled through the blood running down from her busted lip to her neck. "It's beautiful." She closed her eyes enjoying the sweet ringing the golden bell made as it chimed throughout the sky. The city of gold had been found and Luffy had been the most courageous of them all to fight and defeat Enel, the God of Skypiea. Well, the dictator of it really, since he had over thrown Gan Fall many years ago causing the people of Skypiea much trouble throughout the years.

"All this time…"

"It's beautiful."

"Ahhh! The bell sounds so pretty!"

Kimi's crewmates responded along with her comment of the golden bells chime. The blue haired girl only hoped that Cricket and his two monkey friends could hear the ringing of the bell from the blue sea below.

"Let's go find the others!" Ussopp had declared once the bell finished ringing. Everyone nodded and traveled along the ruined city to find Zoro, Luffy and Nami.

"Oi! I found him! Zoro please I need to treat you right away, your wounds are severe." Chopper insisted to help the stubborn swordsman.

"No, really, I'm fine." He looked up with his face full of cuts, bruises and dirt. "But him…over there…he needs help." Zoro pointed to the Shandian warrior known as Wiper, who was lying on the ground passed out. He was one crazy son of a gun and Kimi had seen firsthand at all of self-destructing attacks he tried to fight Enel with. It was no wonder that now, after the hard and vicious battle of Skypiea he would be dying or trying to regain his strength as much as he could.

"You're right, Zoro…" Chopper waddled over to the warrior and examined him, "His body is breaking down…he's dying."

Sanji walked next to Kimi, "Yea but he had been trying to kill us. We don't owe him anything."

"I know…" Zoro muttered to the cook trying to compose his own self, "But he was going all out fighting just like the rest of us."

Sanji turned his head to face Kimi, the newest of their crew. "So he's a hero?" He asked while Kimi smiled sweetly through her busted lower lip.

"Chopper!" She walked ahead of the two men towards Wiper and her doctor. "Need any help?" She knelt next to the Shandian warrior thinking about the moments she had fought with and alongside of this Skypiean man.

"There, that's as much as I can do so far." Chopper wiped his head and smiled at Kimi, "Thanks for helping me!"

She finished knotting the man's arm bandage and smiled, "Thanks for teaching me. I really like learning about this type of stuff. It's really interesting." She stood from her position and brushed off her blue pants. "I hope he gets better soon."

Chopper nodded and then looked over his shoulder at the sleeping swordsman who had not moved from his position of leaning against a large piece of rubble from a building structure. "Give me the rest of the bandages, I have to help Zoro." Chopper instructed and then ran over to the green haired man quickly.

Kimi smiled and then took a final look at Wiper below her. '_Get better…' _She thought to herself and then walked over to the rest of the crewmates.

"I'd rather have these dials than gold any day!" Ussopp declared as Kimi walked in on the conversation. "I agree Ussopp!" She smiled standing next to the long nosed man.

"Chopper, would you stop it!" Zoro had woken up as soon as the reindeer tried to bandage his arm.

"Would you cut it out and let me put these bandages on! It won't be too long if you just hold still!" He yelled back and reluctantly he agreed. The crew sat in silence for a moment or two when they heard a screaming voice in the distance moving closer and closer to them.

"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Luffy's raspy voice cheered while two female figures on either side of him ran alongside of the strawhat pirate.

"Look!"

"It's Luffy!"

"And Nami and Conis!"

They had been dragging behind them what looked to be a big sack of food and supplies. "I'm so glad you all are alive! I never thought I'd see any of you all again!" Conis cried in her hands as they finished making their way to the crew.

Zoro stood up to shake Luffy's hand, "I'm glad you guys got some food, where's it from?"

Nami smiled at her prize, "Well we found the priests storage locker on our way back through the forest!"

"Dere wazzza lots of food!" Luffy mumbled through the two pieces of meat shoved in his mouth.

Kimi giggled at her captain and then noticed the very distressed face on Conis, "Hey Conis? Where is your father? Wasn't he last with you?" She wondered crossing her arms.

The blonde angel girl looked up at Kimi and frowned even bigger, "Well he…he protected me…and then Enel…" She stopped talking.

Everyone felt a thick amount of tension growing around the group. "I'm…I'm sorry…" Kimi looked down at her feet horrified that Conis's father had perished. She thanked that she never would feel that type of pain, especially not at a young age of Conis and hadn't known how else or what else to say to her.

"I'm sorry…" Sanji spoke out.

"Yea, me too…" A voice behind the crew spoke.

"Yea, me three…" Luffy nodded.

"Wait a minute…" Kimi looked over her shoulder at the unknown voice, "Hey you're supposed to be dead!" The crew besides Kimi and Robin yelled at Conis's father, Pagaya.

"Oh, sorry! I'm alive!" He sweat dropped holding his crying daughter and then told the story of how he had survived Enel's attack and that the angels of Skypiea had currently been traveling to Upper Yard just as he and his daughter had.

After talking and eating with the provided snacks Luffy and the other's had brought, Nightfall arrived quicker than wanted for Kimi and the others. "Well I guess it's time to head back to the ship!" Nami sighed satisfied by her provided meal.

"Wait! You don't mean that we are leaving do you?" Luffy asked nervous to leave Skypiea already but instead of listening, Kimi had looked up into the night sky only wishing her father had been with her to witness her bravery and victory from this adventure.

She hugged her knees pulling them closer to her body and sighed feeling satisfied by the food in her belly, the victory of Skypiea, and the injuries on her body healing. It was all-in-all, a great day besides the feeling of thinking she was going to die multiple times.

A rustling of bushes in the distance made the crew un-easy, but when they were faced-to-face with Skypieans, both Angels and Shandians, Luffy insisted that they hold a campfire in honor of the victory. It was a joyful celebration making all of the tension from the past disappears as if it had never happened.

Skypiea was a peaceful after 400 years and as Kimi jotted down her thoughts of the victory in her journal ignoring the perusing dance requests and beer chugging challenges, she looked to the sky once again smiling and giggling at the happiness engulfing her.

'_So this is what it means to have friends…I love this moment and I don't ever want it to end.' _ She wrote it down on the page and then set her journal to the side finally accepting a partner dance from a Shandian male.

And just as Kimi hoped, the party didn't stop!

For four whole days and nights, the Shandians and Angels along with the Strawhat pirates, drank, ate, and danced away. It was a wonderful and much needed celebration after living in fear in Skypiea for all of these past years. Kimi and the others had only been there about a week and they could feel the much needed celebration as well.

All in all, the party died down and all the people of Skypiea decided to work and live among each other, not discriminating any one by their past or who they were. While that was being done, The Strawhats had planned to steal the gold from the ancient city and leave quickly so that the Skypieans wouldn't notice.

At this point, Luffy, Nami, Sanji, and Chopper had been searching for gold, while Zoro, Kimi and Ussopp had been asked to stay behind and make sure the Skypieans would not be suspicious. Robin had been asked to stay with Kimi and the others, but she insisted that she needed to travel the rest of the Island that she hadn't explored when they started their journey of Upper Yard days ago.

The young blue haired woman sat on the edge of a piece of rubble writing down some more interesting facts about the island while Ussopp left wanting to trade with some of the locals for their dials. Kimi hoped that he would trade and receive many interesting dials so that she and he could experiment and use them in their inventions, and specifically for Kimiko, her science projects.

Meanwhile, Zoro had been working out as usual with Kimi as his only companion. Even though she hadn't said a word since Ussopp had left, Zoro enjoyed the calm serenity surrounding the two crew members.

She was certainly good company since she usually kept to herself and wrote in her journal the whole time, but there was something about Kimiko that Zoro had uneasiness about her…He couldn't tell if it was a bad uneasiness, or a good, but he pushed the feeling aside and continued to concentrate on his training by slicing a steel brick in half with one swing of his sword.

He was getting stronger, he could tell…but he still needed to be stronger than he was at this moment. He had almost gotten his ass handed to him by that priest god and he knew there were more and stronger enemies out there just waiting for him and his crew.

The wind blew for a moment making the swordsman drop his tense shoulders. The small chime from his three piercing ear made him look out of the corner of his eye to the female scientist.

Kimi had removed her outer grey shirt from her outfit since it had already been torn and blood stained from the battles she faced, now leaving her arms exposed while the black turtle neck continued to conceal her neck. Even though it wasn't the sexy parts of her skin showing, it was very unusual for the girl to show off her body and it made her somewhat uncomfortable.

But she figured if she hung around Nami and Robin more and more, she would probably start to get used to it.

Luckily her scars on her body were healing a lot faster than some of the other wounds her crewmates had obtained. The only injury that hadn't been healing, or rather peeling off as well as some of the others were the dead skin patches that had been zapped by Enel when she confronted him.

She sighed pushing her book to the side and scratched off some of the dead skin right above her gloved wrist. "Darn scab…" She muttered trying to scratch it off.

"You know if you continue to scratch it, Chopper will just wrap you up like me." Zoro responded continuing to face the opposite direction of her.

She sighed removing her digging nails and frowned, "I know but it itches…why did he have to zap me anyways…" She couldn't remember why she had been defiant and spoke out of line, but Enel had rubbed her the wrong way and after fighting for her life the whole morning she was tired of it.

Zoro lowered his sword and smirked at the girl turning his whole body to face her. "You had a lot of guts making fun of him." He nodded.

Kimi blushed lowering her head from her past actions, "I don't know why, but I just had to try to stop his plan. He made me so angry…" She thought about her tone of voice and how temperamental she had been at that moment.

* * *

><p>Before she met up with the others, Kimi watched from behind a crumbled wall as Robin had been electrocuted from the God, Enel, just before he collapsed the city she and the others had been standing on causing them fall to below with Giant Jack in the middle of the city.<p>

She had treated Robin as best as she could, but without Chopper and his medical supplies, she could only do so much. "This man…his power…" She gasped. "How can we beat him…?" She thought holding Robin in her arms.

"Oi! Kimi-san!" Zoro's voice pulled her out from her inner thoughts.

"Zoro! Are you alright?" She noticed how badly he had looked since the last time she had seen him before he fought the priest. "Did you beat the priest?"

The man huffed and Kimi had noticed a certain knocked-out reindeer in his arms. "Of course I beat him! Where have you been?"

She smiled and stood from Robin. "Well I-"At that time, she watched in horror as Enel had zapped the giant snake into a crisp as well.

"Oi! Nami! She was in there!" Zoro panicked.

"What! You never got her or the little girl out!" Kimi panicked as well.

"Huh? Kimi? Zoro?"

A voice made the two turn around, "Nami! What are you doing here?" Kimi sighed and smiled relieved her friend had been safe.

"When did you get out of his stomach?" Zoro yelled back.

"Well, I'm okay but the snake and Luffy…Luffy was still inside of there." The navigator face palmed. "What? Why the hell is he in there? Damnit! I swear he is nothing but trouble, why the hell is he always like this?" Zoro yelled agitated by the carless action of their captain.

Kimi looked behind her as Wiper and Enel started to fight. "Nami, stay here with Chopper…" She nodded and then walked forwards with Gan Fall at her side.

"Oi! Kimi, wait up!" Zoro dropped off Chopper and then ran to her other side along with the others with two of his swords in his hands.

"I welcome you spirited survivors!" Enel smiled resting on a cloud ball. "I commend you for making it this far!" He then proceeded to laugh while the four remained silent carefully eying the God. "What's wrong? I'm just having a little fun…I predicted there would be five left standing in my Survival Game including me and the ones that have fallen." He closed his eyes continuing to talk, "In other words, I cannot end my game in the designated three hours with the six people here."

_'Damn, he realized Nami is in hiding…_' Kimi thought to herself looking behind her only with her eyes and then quickly looked back at Enel eyeing him carefully.

"Now then, who will disappear? Will you fight among yourselves?...Or maybe I should pick one of you myself." Enel whispered just enough for everyone to hear.

"What do you think?" Zoro muttered to his crewmate.

"Well I'm not up for fighting…" She closed her eyes smirking.

"I also refuse." Wiper added.

"I have made my decision." Gan Fall nodded.

At that point in time, Gan Fall had raised his weapon along with Wiper's bazooka and Zoro's swords, while Kimi raised her arms in the air ready to use her fruit power. "YOU WILL DISAPEAR!" They all yelled in unison ready to fight Enel with everything they had.

"That's very funny!" Enel began to laugh hysterically. "I can see how you all have survived my game, but you four do not seem to know who you are addressing." He raised his gold staff in the air making it spark with electricity for a second.

Kimi took a deep breath not taking her eyes off of the man as he turned around. She could feel her heart-beat increasing, making the blood throughout her body pump ferociously. _'I have to stay calm…'_ she thought to herself trying not to shake from how nervous her body was becoming.

Suddenly, Gan Fall brought Enel out from his thoughts, "Tell me where my enforcers are and tell me what it is that you desire!" He spat out.

"Ascension, Gan Fall… When God ascends, he returns to his rightful place."

"Returns? You mean that you are leaving Skypiea?" The sky night questioned.

"Yes, I have a place I must return too, where God really exists. Fairy Vearth, the world of dreams which I desire!" He stood to his feet on the cloud ball and then looked over his shoulder, "Upper Yard isn't even worth my time." He raised his staff making the cloud ball disappear and then floated down to the ground using his Logia Fruit ability. "As God, the laws of nature fall under my jurisdiction, and yes, I must enforce them. I shall rip every man, woman and child out of the sky!" He smiled revealing his real plan of Skypiea.

Kimi gasped realizing he was planning to kill everyone in the sky. She shook her head closing her eyes at the horror he had been planning from the beginning.

While she caught up with her increasing breathe, Enel revealed to Gan Fall that he had killed all of his enforcers causing the old man to attack the lightning God resulting in the electrocution and destruction of the old man.

"The power of lightning…how terrifying…especially as a Logia fruit type…" Kimi nodded to herself.

"Congratulations, there are five survivors now!" Enel smiled holding up his five-fingered hand. "Now you all will accompany me on my journey to the World of Dreams!" He announced.

Kimi huffed crossing her arms from her attack stance, "And if we refuse?" She questioned to the God.

Enel frowned looking at the girl, "Why? If you remain here, you will fall into the abyss along with this land."

"I have no doubt in your ability to drag Skypiea to the blue sea…" Kimi nodded finally fed up with Enel. "But as my dear friend Robin informed me, if you destroy Skypiea you will rid of the real reason you came to this island in the first place." She glared at him evilly.

"The golden bell?" Enel smirked.

"Yes…" Kimi thought of the words Robin had spoke to her right before she had been shocked by Enel. "The golden bell will be dragged down to the sea and you will never have it." The blue-haired woman smirked hoping his plan to travel to Fairy Vearth would be stopped.

"When I think back to your friend's movements, there is only one place it could possibly be…" Enel smirked making Kimiko gasp at his knowledge Robin had revealed to her in private. She opened her eyes wide not believing her ears, "I suspect it is in the same place she told you of." The God smirked evilly.

_'Damn…he knows!'_ Kimi took a step backwards frighten by the look in Enel's eyes. "You should not call yourself a God! You have no respect for the people who abide by your rules!" She spat out feeling scared from the tension.

"Kimi!" Zoro whispered.

"Did you think you could take advantage of me with that information?" Enel raised his blue glowing hand, "I hate manipulative and mocking woman!"

Kimi's blue eyes widened even more as a spark of light grew before her eyes. Pain struck through her head and then traveled throughout her body causing her to not be able to move any longer. She tried her best to keep her mind awake and try to use her devil fruit power…but her body gave up.

Second by second she felt her body shutting down until it blacked out on her completely.

* * *

><p>What Kimi hadn't known, was that as her body began to give out and fall behind, Zoro had jumped in and prevented the blue-haired woman to fall on the ground. Instead she fell into his strong arms. "She's a woman!" Zoro glared at Enel practically throwing his swords to the man with the use of his eyes.<p>

"Yes. I can tell." Enel smiled back understanding Zoro's care towards Kimiko.

Like a speeding bullet, Zoro ran towards the God after placing Kimi carefully on the ground. He was going to defend her honor in the best way he could: By kicking the crap outta Enel's ass.

* * *

><p>"Whoohooo! I'm so lucky!" Ussopp's voice rang stopping Kimi from her memory.<p>

"Well you sure are in a good mood Ussopp…" Zoro muttered without emotion. Kimi jumped from her sitting position and walked over to the green haired swordsman to face the long nosed man. "I'm guessing your trading went well?" Kimi smiled crossing her arms behind her back.

"Oh yea! Just look at all the dials I got!" He pointed to a huge sack tied to his back. "One little press," He held a flame dial in his hands and pushed the apex causing the dial to emit a flame. "And Viola!"

"Oh well, good for you…" Zoro muttered tapping his sword with the dull side on his shoulder.

"Ussopp! This is great! I want to see all the types of dials you've collected once we get back on the Merry!" Kimi jumped up and down giggling at the strange shells only found on Skypiea. Zoro looked over at the two giggling crewmates and simply rolled his eyes closing them once again as he concentrated.

"We can do so many cool things with them! Ohhhhhh! I can make Nami's weapon so much stronger and my sling shot too! Kimi! Are you up for the challenge!" He danced with her in a circle laughing at the ideas he had in his head. With Kimi's scientific abilities, he could really use the best of the dials to their abilities.

"Well of course!" She giggled.

"Yay! The old Ussopp-Workshop is going to be totally revolutionized once we get on the Merry again! Ha haha!"

Kimi nodded and then sighed with a smile as she watched Ussopp come down from his inventor's high. She looked towards the swordsman who seemed to be finishing his workout as well. "So where's everybody else?" Ussopp asked.

"Wel-"

"Luffy and the other's are still inside." Zoro cut Kimi off pointing one of his three swords towards the giant passed out snake the crew had gone inside to retrieve gold from. "Robin is still out exploring on her own." He finished by twirling his sword in the air and then sheathed it by his hip.

Ussopp gasped slightly walking in front of the two towards the snake. "The snake's still knocked out huh? He must be really tired then…"

"You'd be too if you danced for four days straight…wonder what he was so happy about?" Zoro replied walking behind Ussopp with Kimi on his side.

"I hope they come out soon. I wouldn't want him to wake up angry…" She thought aloud.

"Who? This well mattered snake?" Ussopp asked still facing the snake.

"Easy for you to say, you didn't see him when he was mad. He's dangerous..." Zoro muttered looking at Kimi. She too had seen the raw and sheer power from the vicious beast just before she had been zapped by Enel.

"Who? This well mattered snake?" Ussopp repeated his statement.

"Like I said, you didn't see him when he was upset. Just wait till he tries to eat you, you'll see what a pain he can be!" Zoro huffed starting to get angry.

"Who? This well mattered snake?" Ussopp repeated once again, making Kimi turn her head at his repeated question. Had he really not believed how dangerous and mean this snake could be. She had witness Nami and the little Shandian girl being eaten by it with Zoro. It was very frightful and if it hadn't been for the swordsman's agility, Kimi would have been eaten as well.

"Ussopp! Are you even listening to me?" Zoro yelled. The inventor turned around with a tone dial in his hand. He pressed the apex and it repeated his questioning statement. "Hahaha! Fooled you with the tone dial!" He cheered.

Kimi giggled as the flustered swordsman yelled, "Stop being stupid!"

"You're the one being stupid by getting confused over the tone dial!" Ussopp yelled back making the swordsman chase him around the area leaving Kimi to giggle at the two's silliness.

"Hey Ussopp! Zoro! Kimi! Look at all the gold we just found!" Luffy voice rang from the mouth of the snake. The young woman ran to Luffy gasping at the mounds of gold "Wow! That's amazing!" She lifted up a golden pot and smiled at her refection in it. "It's almost like it hasn't been touched in years!"

"Probably because it's been inside of this snake forever!" Sanji replied caring even more.

"Kimiko, you and I will bring some of the gold to the ship and get the Merry ready for sail!" Nami declared returning with Chopper from the belly of the snake. Kimi nodded and raised her arms in the air making her infamous triangle position, "Clone clone!" She smiled and two doppelgangers of her appeared on either side of the girl. "We'll help." She smiled lifting a bag of gold in her arms along with the other clones of her as well.

"That fruit power sure comes in handy!" Nami chuckled realizing she didn't need to carry as much as she thought. "We'll see you guys on the ship! Remember to get Robin quickly! It's time to go back home!" Nami declared.

Kimi smiled to her male friends and then followed the orange haired girl through the forest to their beloved ship, The Going Merry.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! The end of the Skypiea arc! I hope you enjoy my new writing technique. It's just way too hard to write the whole story episode by episode! There's too many! By the way, one of my favorite parts of the whole anime came from this episode. The part with ussopp tricking zoro with the tone dial! hahaha, gotta love it!<strong>

**Look back soon for the next chapter as the Strawhats are captured in the marine base! (forgot the name, bahaha.)**

**-yesiamweird. **


	10. Of Disguises, Schemes, and Memories

Closing herself into an empty closet, Kimiko smiled at the uniforms lining the walls of the small room. "Perfect." She smirked examining the pink nurse's outfits for one in her size. Quickly she threw the fitted dress overtop of her grey tank top and black pants and then rolled up her pants legs to make her outfit more believable that she was a nurse of the marine base.

"I just hope the others are okay…" She whispered putting on the white hat and apron completing the uniform. She raised her hand to turn the knob of the door and then panicked at the sight of her black gloves. "Shoot, what do I do?" She thought retreating her hand.

Kimi turned her attention back to the center of the room looking for any type of gloves she could find. '_If I didn't wear my gloves…I don't even want to think about it…maybe there are some medical gloves somewhere…' _She thought silently to herself. "HA!" Kimi smiled triumphantly raising in the air a pair of latex gloves. As Kimi slowly slipped off her right glove she stopped just before it exposed the tops of her hands. _'Don't look, it will only bring back horrible memories…'_ She thought closing her eyes tightly and then removed and replaced her fingerless gloves for the latex ones instead. She kept her eyes shut as she removed and replaced her left one as well.

_'There…no harm and you can't even see it.' _ She smiled balling her fists to ensure their strength. Not wanting to lose her personal pair of gloves, Kimi raised the nurse skirt and then stuffed them into her pants pocket. "Now to escape…"

She opened the closet door and walked out trying to find her crew members in her disguise. "I gotta find one of the others…" She whispered only to herself. "Or the Merry…"

Just then she heard a ruckus behind herself and frowned. "Oh my goodness!" She tried to protect her body from the many woman dressed in the same nurse uniform as she but failed. They pulled her along with them as they spoke, "Why are you saying? Hurry up! We have many men to treat from the battle ship that just returned to the base!"

Kimi nodded running along with the woman. "Oh okay. Got it!" She nodded entering the infirmary.

"Don't just stand there! Treat the wounded right away!" Kimi heard a nurse yelling to another one. She looked to her side at a very familiar face. "Nami-? Oh um hello there friend!" She ran over trying to hide her friendship with the navigator.

"Kimi!" Nami whispered disguised in the same outfit. "What are you doing here?" She took the plate the other nurse handed to her and walked over to a patient. "Trying to find you and the others. Have you heard anything?" Kimi asked.

"Yea, I heard Zoro was captured! Not a surprise." Nami pouted placing a bandage on the wounded sailor. "We need to be searching for the others and the Merry!" She whispered.

Kimi nodded, "I know…what should we do?" the scientist whispered.

Nami shook her head and then heard a familiar voice giving demands from the other side of the room causing both her and Kimi to turn their heads. "Chopper?" The two whispered at one another and then turned their heads around to see the reindeer in his human form.

"Nami? Kimi? What are you ladies doing?" Chopper smiled at the two crew members.

"We should be asking you the same thing!" Kimi smiled at his fake mustache and oversize glasses disguising his animalistic qualities.

"Excuse me!" The purple-haired doctor walked over to Chopper and the girls. "Could you tell me what's going on? I've seemed to have fainted. Oh wait! You're a doctor! I don't know where you came from but I'm glad you're here so you can save all of the men!" The woman smiled through her glasses similar to Kimi's.

"Well without emergency surgery, these men will die!" Chopper included, "There's no time to lose! We must operate on the wounded now!"

"Yes…well…" the woman smiled faintly and then fell to her knees.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kimi kneeled to the doctor in the hopes of helping her back up.

"I…I can't do it…I can't stand to see people in pain…I can barely administer a shot let alone…"

"Oh just perfect!" Nami pouted, "This is a military base you know, how you can call yourself a doctor if you can't stand the sight of a little blood?"

"Well you see I'm just a pediatrician, I was the only one left after the other doctors were called away…" The woman frowned lightly.

"Well you're in charge of the infirmary right now, right?" Kimi asked trying to persuade the female doctor to work so that they may escape. "Chopper, let's just get the hell out of here!" Nami whispered as Kimi tried to help the woman stand back on her feet.

"I can't…" Chopper shook his head and then looked back at the pediatrician, "Your duty as a doctor is to save patients, right? These patients only have you as their doctor; you are the only one who can help them! You must never say that you can't do it!" He gave the woman a pep talk. "You have to believe in yourself."

"You really think I can help?" She nervously questioned.

"Of course, I'll help you!"

"Hey, we don't have time for that!" Nami tried to persuade the reindeer but instead Kimi held her orange-haired friend back, "We should help." She smiled sweetly and then looked back at Chopper and the purple-haired doctor.

"Doctor, the operating rooms are ready!" Two nurses came in to inform the group.

Chopper nodded and he, the woman and Kimi followed the two nurses to the operating rooms. "Chopper! Kimi!" Nami growled.

"Nami, you can go on without me. Chopper and I will find a way out." Kimi smiled and continued on.

"If I didn't stay, Doctorine would be angry with me." Chopper nodded and then followed as well.

Nami growled, "Ugh, I just can't leave you all by yourselves…" She ran behind following with the other doctors.

* * *

><p>For a constant hour and a half, the Strawhats and the female doctor, Kobato, operated on the injured Marines. They had almost been discovered by one of the Marine leaders but luckily for the intense surgery, Dr. Kobato excused the man from the room and continued on with the procedures.<p>

Dr. Kobato was especially grateful after the surgeries were complete and did not even freak out or question Chopper when he changed back into his regular form. But just before Nami, Chopper and Kimi were about to plan for an escape, a knock came from the operating room doors.

"Yes?" Dr. Kobato answered and listened as the marine guards informed her that Pirates had infiltrated the base and that they could be disguised as doctors. Suddenly the female doctor shut and locked the doors walking angrily at the three pirates.

However, what the three pirates designated as anger, was actually worry as Dr. Kobato held all three of her fellow 'doctors' hands warning them to escape from the mean pirates.

"Well actually…" Kimi sighed.

"We are the pirates they are looking for." Chopper finished.

Nami shook her head, "Listen we are in a big hurry, is there any way you could tell us where the docks are?" Instead of an answer, Kobato screamed loudly causing herself to pass out and the guards on the other side of the operating room doors to knock and try to rescue the woman.

"Nami! Chopper! Quick!" Kimi yelled devising a plan before the marines came in. Nami and Kimi tied a piece of cloth around their mouths while Chopper hid alongside of one of the injured patients. Kimi also cloned herself and made her doppelganger open a vent shaft and crawl through just as the Marine's busted open the door.

"Oi! Are you ladies alright?" one of the men untied Kimi and Nami's bonds. "Yes! The pirates escaped through that vent!" She pointed and then released her control on her clone just as the two men climbed to follow the pirates through the shaft.

Kobato started to push her body from off the ground now awake from her tiring scream from before. She looked at the pirates once again taking a deep breath but luckily, Nami stopped her scream by placing her hand over the woman's mouth. "I know you'd like to scream but I'd rather you didn't." She stuck her tongue out.

"Nami, Kimi, we have to escape quickly!" Chopper peaked out from a curtain.

"Come to think about it…" Kobato titled her head, "You do look weird." Kimi sweatdropped at her sudden realization.

"Yes well, I ate one of the Devil's Fruits, so I can transform." He answered.

"Well we should be getting on our way." Kimi smiled and stood to her feet along with Nami. "Oh, wait Mr. Deer!" Kobata made the three turned around from their position to escape. "Even if you're a pirate, and a mysterious deer, you showed me what it means to be a doctor and I'd like to repay you somehow."

"I'm not a deer!" Chopper twirled around bashfully, "I'm a reindeer!"

"Ah! I'm sorry! You said you needed to get to the docks correct? If you'd like, I can take you there."

"But Dr. Kobato, wouldn't helping pirates get you into a lot of trouble?" Kimi questioned.

She nodded and then smiled, "If they catch us, I'll just pretend to be a hostage!" Nami looked worriedly at the blue-haired woman waiting for a confirmation from the older female. If this plan didn't go accordingly they could be placed in an intense situation. Kimi smirked and crossed her arms, "Let's get going!"

* * *

><p>The young scientist devised a plan to have Nami, Kimi, and Kobato drag a rolling operating cart through the hallway while Chopper lay on the table as a pretend patient. With Nami's conclusion of the ship being on the East side of the base, Kobata led the way to Dock 88.<p>

As they made their way to the entrance of the docks, a couple of Marines blocked the entrance. Kobato simply yelled at the marines, "There's an emergency at the dock! Please let us through!" But Kimi and Nami refused to stop running and they ran over and pushed aside the Marine's blocking the way.

They continued to run, even faster now as the two female pirates realized they were closing in on their destination, until they reached the threshold of the dock room and then collided an object with the operation cart.

"What the hell is going on!" Nami screamed as she and Kimi realized Ussopp had been the object they hit, while Zoro, Sanji and a trapped Luffy were already fighting in the dock. Chopper noticed Ussopp's mangled body in front of him and hopped from out of the sheets to help his fallen crewmember.

Panicking at the heat of the moment, Kimi closed her eyes and thought of a way to avoid the Marines from capturing her and the navigator. She looked over her shoulder, smiled and winked at Zoro and Sanji on her right and then screamed.

Her piercing scream was none like any other scream the men had heard. It was very girly and loud compared to a regular distressed scream, "We've been taken hostage! We can't defend ourselves!" Catching on with Kimi's plan, Kobato and Nami screamed with the blue-haired woman as well.

Kobato smiled and screamed as well, "The reindeer threatened to kill us if we didn't come with him! He is one of the pirates!"

Kimi winked at Chopper while his body blocked her and the other two from the Marines. "That's right!" Chopper turned around slinging Ussopp onto his shoulder, "Crying babies are silent when I am near! I am the Strawhat's most ferocious madman! If my demands are not met then the hostages will face my wrath! Hurry and move aside so we can go through!"

Kimi smiled as Zoro clapped for Chopper during his entire speech and then screamed as he stopped. "Please do what he says!" She screamed holding her hands together, "He is so scary! All the pirates are!"

Finally with the blue-haired woman's statement the Marine general declared for the other's to stand down and let the pirates to board the ship. Everyone walked forward in silence as the Marines reluctantly watched the females and men walk to the pirate ship.

"Nami, Kimi, Chopper, love cook, when I give the signal, run to the ship." Zoro whispered holding onto Luffy who had been weakened by the sea prism stones from before. "Luffy, stretch your arms and get everyone onboard the ship." He finished.

They continued to walk in silence until a simpleton Marine dropped his gun making the group turn to face him. "Oops how careless." He muttered and just then Kobato was taken from the group. Another tried to sneak up on Nami, but she punched him before he could reach her.

"Time to go!" Kimi whispered and smiled looking at Luffy and Zoro, "Come on Captain!" she nodded hoping he could rescue them.

Luffy smiled and then his arm stretched around the group flying the group to the deck of the ship. Just as Kimi and the others landed, the Merry began to fall from off of the docks and into the sea ready for an escape. "Nice going!" Kimi giggled and threw off her nurse uniform revealing her grey tank-top and black skinny jeans. She pulled her fingerless gloves from out of her pocket but stopped just before she replaced the latex on her hands.

She looked around as the others frantically ran about the ship ready to make the ships escape. Nodding to herself, the blue-haired woman walked silently inside the empty kitchen to replace her gloves from before. "There, all better." She smiled throwing the rubber into the trash. A rumble shook the entire ship making Kimi loose her balance momentarily and tumbling to the wood floor. "What the heck?" She rubbed her bottom and then stood to her feet running out of the room to the others.

Robin and Nami were talking with one another with a map of the base in their hands. "Oh hey Robin!" Kimi smiled and examined the map to see the best means of escape. But shortly after she looked at the piece of paper, more cannon balls fired into the sky.

"I thought they wouldn't shoot with hostages on our ship!" Ussopp cried and then noticed Kimi had changed. "Oi! Kimi, you made them attack!" He yelled with sharp teeth.

"Oh, sorry!" Kimiko blushed and then ran to the side of the ship looking back at the three Marine ships following and shooting at the Merry. "We don't even have any cannon balls or gunpowder to counter attack!" Ussopp shouted desperate at the situation.

"Isn't it obvious?" Robin smiled to the two ladies, "The Marines confiscated them when we abandoned the ship."

Kimi thought for a second and then looked back at the gaining ships behind. "Everyone!" She cried and jumped from the first story of the boat to and then ran to the center of the deck. "I have an idea…just trust me on this one…" she looked at Luffy waiting for a confirming nod.

"Yosh!" The young captain smiled holding onto his precious strawhat.

"Clone, clone, illusion!" Kimi raised her hands to her triangle position and touched the mast of the ship. "Wha?" Ussopp, Chopper and Luffy looked over the edge of the Merry and then gasped. "COOL!" Their eyes sparkled at the sight of four similar Going Merry's blocking the incoming cannon balls.

"Kimi!"

"No way!"

"Amazing!"

Kimi smirked at her plan, she had never done this type of thing and she was proud to say that it was working. However, the fact that whenever her regular clones would be destroyed would affect her, the same went for the clones of the Merry ships. Except, these types of clones required more of a strength to mentally control.

One of the Merry clones had been hit and destroyed causing Kimi to gasp in pain at the mental control to keep the others in effect. "Great job Kimi, just a little bit more!" Nami persuaded the girl as the almost reached the dock to freedom. Another one of the ships were blasted away causing the woman to fall backwards from the harsh mental control.

"Oi! Kimi-chan!" Sanji caught her before she tumbled to the floor and raised her back onto her feet. "Thanks. Hurry everyone…I can only keep this up for so long…" but just as she said that the last two clones of the pirate ship had been blasted completely draining Kimi from her mind control. She fell forwards blacking out from the intensity of her Devil Fruit ability.

* * *

><p>"Hey Kimiko! Wake up!" Chopper's high-pitched voice rang through the intelligent scientists head. She opened her eyes sitting up quickly thinking that they were still under attack from the Marines. However, she didn't expect her head to collide with another head in the process of rapidly sitting up straight. "OI!" Zoro's voice called from her side and she clutched her now aching and swollen head.<p>

"Oi Marimo! What do you think you're doing hitting Kimi-swan!" Sanji kicked Zoro's head causing another swollen bump to sprout from his green hair. The woman smiled nervously rubbing her forehead, "Sorry Zoro, what's happening?" She looked to Chopper and then around her surroundings only to realize she and the rest of the crew were in the kitchen.

While Kimi had been passed out, Chopper moved her to the kitchen laying her on the floor to protect her from the Marines. Just as the crew was about to escape, Nami had realized the Marines had not only stolen most of their food and supplies but also the gold they found from Skypiea as well.

They had docked once again in the Marine base in the hopes for stealing back their precious gold. "But with the Merry in this dock how do we know that the Marines won't spot her?" Chopper frowned as the crew devised their scheme.

Kimi placed a finger to her lips thinking of some way for Merry to be disguised. "What if we built a fake ship?" She declared looking at the others.

"Wha-?" Nami started to growl but Ussopp ran over patting the blue-haired woman's back, "Great idea!"

"There were a lot of supplies and materials in the base." Robin confirmed. "Yosh! Let's go!" Ussopp ran out of the kitchen to protect their precious ship. With the help of Kimi's clones the wood base to disguise the Merry as a Marine ship was built, while Luffy and Ussopp insisted they be the one to paint it.

"Nice job." Nami thumbs up the woman after she released her helpful clones. "Miss Scientist, are you feeling better from your attack?" Robin smiled at her.

Not sure how to comprehend the concern from her female counterpart, Kimi simply blinked. "Um well…" She looked at the others, "Yes…It was just the fact that whenever I create a clone it takes a certain part of mental capacity to hold onto it and make it act the way I want to. Whenever they are hit or destroyed, it almost gives a small pinch, so-to-say, in my head." She looked back at the ship and then to the others, "Merry is ten times more the mental capacity to create and when something that large is destroyed-"

"It hurts ten times more than a regular clone." Zoro finished the statement causing her to nod confirmation. "I'm sorry I passed out…that's the first I've ever created something that large."

"Done!" Ussopp wiped his sweaty forehead. "Well at least it will stop them from coming after the Merry for a short while." Zoro crossed his arms looking at the paint job from his crewmates. "But I wonder how long we can keep them fooled?" Sanji finished.

"Yosh! Let's go get our gold back!" Luffy declared but a hit on his head stopped him and the others from venturing out into the base. "Do we even have a plan? All eight of us can't just go rampaging through the base, they will see us!" Ussopp nodded, "And Nami, where is the Waver?"

"Oh, oops! It's still in the tall grass from earlier!"

"Exactly, so we have to devise a plan to get everything together and escape quickly!" He then proceeded to un-roll the map of Navarone, showing everyone his means of attack. "Okay gold collecting team will be Luffy, Zoro, Robin and me, Captain Ussopp-sama!" He pointed to himself, "Next waver recovery team will be Nami and Sanji!"

"Nice plan Ussopp!" The blonde cook smiled and cheered at his female partner.

"Ussopp, do I have to guard the ship again by myself?" Chopper cried climbing onto the swordsman.

"No, that's why Kimiko will be here with you to guard the ship!" The long nosed man rolled the map once again nodding to the scientist. "I'm sure you will be fine with the Merry being camouflaged and all. We just need you two here in case we get back and are hurt!"

Kimi smiled and picked Chopper up from Zoro's shoulders, "Don't worry Chopper, at least we aren't going back into the scary and deadly Marine base like our super brave crewmates are." She smiled evilly knowing her statement would make the sudden burst of confidence deflate from the sharpshooter.

"Stop…" Zoro muttered to the woman while Luffy began to laugh. "Yosh! Let's get going already!" And with that the crew left.

"Come on Chopper." Kimi placed him down and then walked in the secret entrance of the ship. "Let's start to get everything ready for when the others return." She smiled sweetly and then placed her glasses on her face.

"Kimi?" Chopper squeaked from their chores once they arrived on the deck, "Why is it that you constantly wear those gloves?" He pointed at her hands asking innocently his question. "I noticed you wearing latex gloves when we were in disguise too, you even double gloved when we were operating…why?"

The woman lowered her head and her shoulders not knowing how to answer the reindeer's question, "Well you see…" She took a deep breath, adjusted her glasses and then looked back up at the reindeer, "When I was little, I was experimenting with some harsh chemicals. I wasn't paying attention and the chemicals burnt the top layer of skin off of the back of my hands."

"What? That's horrible! If you want I can-"

"No!" Kimi defensively yelled before Chopper could finish, "We…we went to the doctors and they said they did as best as they could but…they told me I would always have this terrible scaring." She looked down at her gloved hands and frowned. "I don't like the way it looks and honestly I am embarrassed by it…so I designed and created these gloves to work in the science lab and for daily life." She looked back at smiled slightly. "Sorry…I didn't mean to yell at you earlier it's just that-"

Suddenly a motor sound came from below making Chopper and Kimi run to the edge. "Nami, Sanji!" Kimi whispered at the two on the small waver. "Are Luffy and the others back yet?" She asked making Kimi shake her head. "Don't worry about us! Kimi and I are bravely protecting the ship!" Chopper yelled tying to sound valiant.

"Sanji, stay here with these two, I'm going to check on the others." Nami kicked him off of the waver and then drove off. "Nami-san is so cute when she is plotting!" Sanji muttered with a heart in his visible eye. "But now I can have a date with Kimi-san!" He ran to the ship and hugged the woman causing her to push out of his arms. "Enough of that Sanji-san." She shook her head and then walked off continuing on with her duties before the others arrived.

* * *

><p>With the help of everyone in the crew, the Strawhats escaped from Navarone using the octopus as a hot air balloon to travel away. Kimi smiled as their friend, the floating octopus, deflated once again, this time as a shorter distance from the sea compared to the distance of falling into the Marine base. After taking care of the small octopus's minor injuries, Luffy released him into the sea below.<p>

"Thank you!" Kimi waved to the pink sea creature as a good-bye then walked off as the rest of the crew said their good-byes. Despite the feeling of wanting to see how the rest of the night played out, Kimi couldn't shake the waves of pure exhaustion rippling in her body.

She entered the girl's room and laid on her small twin sized bed. "Things sure have been interesting…father." She placed her gloved hands behind her head and crossed her legs trying to get comfortable. "I wish you could see all of the battles I've faced while I've been out at sea." She yawned and then closed her eyes thinking of the thoughts her father would tell her. _'I miss you…'_ She thought and then faded into a dream, or rather, a memory of her past.

_"Kimiko, look at this wonderful chemical composite you have created!" Kazuhiro smiled widely at his youngest daughter. "You are truly a genius, my child! If only your mother could see-"_

_"STOP THAT FATHER!" A dark blue-haired teenaged girl balled her fist. Like Kimi and her father, the girl wore a similar white lab coat. "Mother would not have loved Kimiko as much as you do and you know it! Stop telling her lies!" The girl screamed and took the glass beaker from out of her father's hands and smashed it into the wall. "I hate her! Do you hear me, Kimiko? I HATE you!"_

_The young blue-haired child cried behind her oversized glasses at the attitude of her stubborn sister, "But sissy…" _

_"Don't but sissy me!" The girl stormed out from the lab leaving Kazuhiro and Kimiko alone. "Ah Kimi, Kimi, Kimi…" The man smiled pulling the small child into his arms. "Your mother would have been proud of you, I just know it." He kissed her forehead and then placed her back on the chair. "Excuse me, I must have a word with your sister…" He closed the steel door leaving the young Kimi alone in the basement laboratory. _

_"I didn't mean to do it…" The girl looked down at her black gloves as her tears spattered on the leather. "Mommy…I'm sorry…" She shook her head making the tears roll off of her face. "I will just have to try harder!" she raised her hand in the air frowning confidently._

_"KIMIKO!" her sisters voice rang from behind the doors making the girl fall from off of the top of her chair. "KIMIKO!" Her sister yelled furiously once more…_

"Kimiko! KIMIKO!" Nami's voice seemed to fade from her sisters. Kimi screamed sitting straight up panting from her dream/memory.

"Finally! We've made it to the next island. How in the hell you slept through all of the storms, I'll never know." She walked away from Kimi's bed to her own to put on her shoes. "You're just like that good-for-nothing drunken swordsman!" She pouted and then stood. "Well?"

Kimi shook her head and then stood from her comfortable bed, "Time to go?" Kimi asked making Nami roll her eyes. "Come on Miss smarty-pants, you know your outfit is completely hideous?"

Kimi looked down at her skin-tight black jeans and grey tank top. "What should I do?" She frowned not having an ounce of fashion sense in her bones. The navigator's eyes lit up and she quickly dug in her clothes for something Kimi could wear. "Yosh! This should do it!" Nami smiled and then left the room.

Kimi frowned at the yellow crop-top placed on top the pile. Now way was she about to show off her stomach, it was just something the people of her village just didn't do. Continuing to look at the rest of the pile, Kimi pulled on the cropped blue jeans and converse tennis shoes. Instead of wearing the god-awful crop-top, Kimi dug through her own drawer of clothes finding a perfect 3/4ths length baseball shirt. Like the rest of Kimi's dull wardrobe, this shirt had been white and black and did not show off any part of her skin whatsoever.

"Miss Scientist? Are you coming?" Robin's voice called from the other side of the door. She jumped at the woman's voice and quickly pulled her glasses from off of the nightstand into her pocket. "Of course!" She opened the door smiling, "Ready to go!"


	11. The Infamous Groggy Ring!

**I hope you all are enjoying the story thus far! I would gladly appreciate your thoughts and reviews! Thanks! **

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>After Kimi was pulled out from the water with the help of Sanji (and not from her partner in the boat races, Ussopp!) the woman un-did her hair from its bun and ran out the water swollen inside of it. "Oi Ussopp! You know Kimi-san can't swim! What the hell were you doing letting her drown?" Sanji repeatedly kicked the long-nosed man.<p>

Kimi coughed and smiled, "I'm fine, Sanji-san…really!" She twirled her hair back into a bun and then eyed the mysterious Captain Foxy carefully as he laughed at the group. "You, girl…you can't even swim. You are useless to your crew!" He continued to laugh.

"Oi! Don't say bad things about-"

"Enough Sanji-san…" Kimi smiled. Foxy obviously didn't realize she had the power of the Devil's Fruit in her blood. Despite Ussopp's constant remarks for her to reveal her ability, Kimi had just smiled wanting to keep her secret from the opposing pirate crew just in case…

"Tell us how you made Nami and Robin's boat slow down?" Luffy demanded at the weird man.

He continued to laugh and then demonstrated the power of his Devil Fruit ability, the Noro Noro beam, which made everything in the beam's path slow down for thirty seconds. He used the beam to slow Robin and Nami just before they crossed the finish line and won the race.

In return for the Foxy pirates winning the first round of the Davy Beck Fight, they had picked Chopper from the Strawhats to join their crew. Kimi practically feel to her knees when she heard Foxy call Chopper's name. He was, after all, the closest friend she had on in the crew after being on the ship for only about two weeks.

"Oh no, Chopper was supposed to be in the next round with Zoro and Sanji-kun!" Nami cried as the match moved forwards.

The announcer of the games flew over top of the Groggy ring, the next game to be played, and spoke "This just in! Because the Strawhats have lost a member that was supposed to be in the second fight, our beloved Captain Foxy is being generous and allowing another Strawhat to join the two gentlemen." He screamed throughout the arena.

"Another one of us?" Nami looked around at the remaining crew and gasped terrified. "Please don't be me!" She crossed her fingers.

Kimi stood with her arms crossed as she watched Zoro and Sanji walk towards the open area of grass the next game was to be played in. "Those two are going to need a miracle to get along…" Ussopp sighed and then turned as Foxy walked up to the remaining five Strawhats and then smiled.

"You!" He pointed devilishly towards the blue haired girl. "Join them if you want your crew to have a fighting chance!"

Kimi blinked through her solid rimmed glasses and looked behind her shoulder at the two men stopped in their tracks. "Alright then." She calmly nodded and walked to the field.

"The rules of this game are simple…" The announcer continued on but the three players seemed to already know the rules as they talked through his explanation.

"Kimi-san, you must stay back and be protected by your prince!" Sanji hugged Kimi's waist with a heart in his eye as usual. "I have risked the Ordeal of Love for you before and I will do it once more."

The scientist smiled and pushed the cook off of her body, "I'm fine Sanji-san…plus I don't think Foxy realizes something…" She started to continue walking in front of the boys.

"And what would that be?" Zoro wondered. Kimi looked over her shoulder, "They do not know the power the Devil himself has granted me…" A black aurora surrounded the woman while fangs seemed to sprout from her teeth. "Oi, she's scarier than Nami!" Zoro muttered making Sanji growl.

"This should be fun!" She smiled innocently as the aurora faded and continued to listen to the rest of the rules. "One of players must be the ball, so who's it going to be?" a ref from Foxy's crew asked. Zoro simply pointed his finger at the blonde cook behind him and the ref placed a hat with a red and white ball on the top of his head.

"What! You have to be the ball you Marimo bastard!" Sanji yelled back.

"Hell no! You're the stupid one, so you're the ball!" Zoro threatened.

Kimi sighed and walked over to the boys smiling, "I can be the ball. I don't mind." She watched as the two men's faces looked stunned. "No way!" Zoro pulled the ball back onto the cooks head.

Suddenly their opponents walked onto the field and Kimi had to take a step back to even see the monstrous creatures they were about to face. "Is this even permitted?" Kimi wondered. "Too bad I don't have my notebook, I'm sure I would have-"

"Oi, oi, oi, Kimiko, could you pretend to not be so smart for an hour?" Zoro groaned causing Sanji to kick him across the face at his rudeness towards the girl.

"Oh, I'm sorry…Am I annoying?" She frowned.

"The three of our fabulous Foxy pirates will be fighting the violent cook, Sanji, a man worth 60 million berri, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, and a weak innocent girl, Tomoko Kimiko."

"I prefer to be called first class cook, AND KIMI-SAN IS NOT WEAK!" Sanji stood up for the blue haired girl while the announcer taunted her. Zoro eyed Kimi silently watching intently as her face went from innocent to planning out a strategy. "What are you thinking?" He asked.

Kimi grinned and then looked back at the three giants, "I'm thinking they are about to have one killer of a game…I think we need to get into position though to start." She nodded to the two.

"Oi ballman, get into position!" the infamous pirate hunter demanded.

"Hey, I have not agreed to be this ballman!"

Kimi sighed, "I told you, I can be the-"

"NO!" both boys yelled and then ignored the girl. "Whoa, that ball looks good on you!" Zoro attempted to convince the cook. "That's not going to fool me, dumbass!" Sanji yelled back. "Oh, Sanji-san!" Kimi smiled placing and innocent hand on his shoulder and then walked behind him and Zoro, "That ball looks great on you!"

Sanji held both his hands in the air after Kimi's comment, "I'LL BE THE BALLMAN! No one is more worthy than me!"

"Oh yea you do look good, you look like the prince …of Dumbass Kingdom." Zoro replied causing the young scientist to sweat drop as the tense duo continued on with their ever going fight. She looked up at the three giants laughing as the two fought.

"They are never going to win."

"No! We have this match in the bag!"

"Heh, heh, heh!"

Kimi picked up two small rocks from off of the ground and threw them at the fighting men, "Come come! Let's start this game already!" She declared and the two nodded.

"Oi! No weapons allowed! You must take off your katana, swordsman!" the ref called out.

Kimi panicked for a moment not knowing how Zoro would react or how their game would be won without the use of his weapons. "Okay, minor setback, but we can do this…" She sighed to herself. As she finished giving herself a pep talk silently in her head, she opened her eyes and frowned as the two continued to fight once again, this time without Zoro's swords. "Oh please…give me strength…" Kimi cried.

"Sanji has entered into his opponents ring and is waiting patiently as the Groggy trio entertain themselves as usual!" The announcer declared.

Kimi took a deep breath as she and Zoro remained in their ring starting to feel nervous as she watched the many faces booing her. No matter how many times she told herself she would be okay with Zoro and Sanji by her side, the Foxy crew had cheated dangerously in the first match…who's to say they wouldn't do it once again in this match?

"So to win all I have to do is knock that thing's big head into the ring?" Zoro asked the girl as he stretched out his legs. Kimi looked down adjusting her glasses at the green haired man, "Um, correct. But be careful, I wouldn't doubt that these three have a few tricks up their sleeves…"

Suddenly the whistle blew indicating the match had begun. Not wanting to reveal her devil fruit power to the crowd right away, she stood standing straight while Sanji moved in to attack Big Pan, the opposing ballman. However, he or the others hadn't expected for Sanji to slip on the giant's slippery skin causing a huge set back in his attack.

"What is he doing?" Kimi wondered releasing her arms from her crossed position.

"Of course! Crap cook!" Zoro muttered and then the two gasped as Sanji had been hit and then sent flying in the air. Just then, Pickles, the middle-size of the three giants, ran pass Kimi and Zoro towards their ball ring at the end of their territory. "No! They are trying to end the match already!" the swordsman ran while Kimi remained to stay standing straight.

"What is the girl doing? She can't help her teammates by standing there! She must be frightened!" The announcer taunted Kimi once more. "Kimiko! Kick their asses!" Luffy shouted from the side lines.

The girl looked up from her dazed thought and giggled, "Don't worry captain! I will!" She turned her back and watched in regret as Zoro had been thrown into a whirlwind Pickles had managed to make and then thrown in front of Kimi's feet. She turned her attention back to Pickles as he managed to hit Sanji in the same whirlwind thus causing the ballman of the Strawhats to be thrown in the air.

"Kimi! Do something!" Luffy and Ussopp continued to cry while she continued to stand straight watching the men work their magic as she expected. The two had gotten a hold onto Pickles and Hamburger and using both of their strength they threw the two into each other.

Sanji had landed from the air in front of Kimi while Zoro landed next to the girl. "Oi! What are you doing just standing there!" The swordsman stood up sweating profusely after thinking they were about to lose the match.

"Don't worry, Sanji-san," Kimi giggled adjusting her glasses and then removed them from her face. "I wouldn't have let them throw you into the goal." She winked, "I figured you two had it under control and I didn't want to get in the way." She nodded while the two agreed.

"I don't need your help, marimo!"

"You were being thrown into the air, crap cook! At least I don't have a curly eyelash!"

"Maybe you should just shut up and do as Kimi-chan and I say! You green dumbass!"

Kimi rolled her eyes and turned to face their opposing ballman, '_If I can use my clone fruit to pull him into the ring then we would be finished in a heartbeat._' She nodded and raised her gloved hands in front of her body ready to reveal her Devil fruit ability while the men of their team bickered. Instead, Big Pan had raised his foot in the air underneath Kimi and the boys.

"Look out!" She cried pushing them to the side and running back avoiding the attack.

"Kimi-chan!" Sanji cried and then yelled as he and the others avoided the stomps from Big Pan.

"Seriously? They are so cheating!" Kimi cried looking over her shoulder at the spikes on the bottoms of the monstrous giant's shoes. She and the others ran away from the stomps Big Pan was making in the hopes of stepping on the three Strawhat pirates.

"Oi ref! He has weapons!" Sanji yelled out and then ran from Kimi and Zoro trying to understand the rules of the game. "I told you they had a few tricks thrown in this!" Kimi panted as she and Zoro were being chased.

"Run over there, Kimi, see which one he chases, then whichever one he leaves alone will help the one he is trying to step on!" Zoro nodded to the girl. "Okay!" they split apart and as Kimi and he figured, Big Pan had been trying to attack the infamous swordsman.

Kimi looked back taking a defensive stance as she watched Zoro try to outrun the giant. She hadn't been expecting Sanji to run into Zoro's path, however, causing saving for the two men. She sighed and raised her hands to their triangle position to create a few clones to trip the giant. "Clone, clone, 10!" Kimi spoke without feeling and her clones secretively made a wall causing Big Pan to trip over the clones. They disappeared as the giant fell on top of the doppelgangers.

"Big Pan has tripped? But how?" The announcer and the rest of the Foxy pirates had been stunned and hadn't seen Kimi's power. "Perfect!" She smiled to herself but then gasped as her two male partners had been running forwards trying to take down the giant and were now caught on his slippery back. "Loach Racing Circus!" Big Pan screamed and then curled his back making Zoro and Sanji rotate in a repetitive circle.

"Dang it!" Kimi muttered not anticipating the attack and quickly she tried to think of a way to use her clones to stop the giant from keeping her friends captive. "And look! Pickles and Hamburg have returned to the field with some updated equipment! Surely this is against the rules but look! The ref is facing the other way while stretching!"

Kimi looked behind her and growled at the sight of the other opposing team members with their deadly weapons. "This is so not fair!" She growled.

"Loach coaster!" Big Pan pulled Kimi from out of her racing thoughts and towards the two men being launched into the air as Big Pan pulled away from his circular position.

"Here goes nothing!" Kimi shook her head and placed her hands into position once more. "CLONE, CLONE, 100!" She screamed and a 100 of her clones filled the field not allowing Pickles and Hamburg to hurt her friends.

"What is this! The girl we thought was weak is actually a Devil Fruit user! She must have some sort of doppelganger ability because there are about a hundred of her copies storming the field!"

"Yay, Kimi!"

"You go Kimiko!" the Strawhats on the sidelines cheered.

"It won't matter! Let's go!" Hamburg chuckled and the two giants ran towards the clones. "Spinning tackle!" Hamburg yelled and jumped on the green clothes giant as he spun around causing a few clones to disappear from the attack.

"No!" Kimi thought as she watched her clones being hit by the attack. "Zoro! Sanji!" She cried trying to get the attention of the men but it was no use, they were completely dizzy that they had been un-responsive. She watched as Hamburg had been thrown into the air and heading towards-

"It looks like these two aren't even going after the ballman! They're attacking the swordsman, Roronoa!" The announcer confirmed.

"Hurry!" Kimi ran to a group of her clones, "Clone, Clone, bullet!" She cried as her clones threw her into the air in the hopes of blocking Hamburg's attack. "I don't think so!" She yelled catching the attacking Foxy pirate off guard. "Wha?" He dumbly questioned and then cried as Kimi kicked Zoro away in midair. "Hey! You stopped my attack!" He growled and then raised his spiked arms. "HAMBURGER HAMMER!"

Kimi felt the weight of the world being thrown against her front and then in an instant the same force on her back. She could feel the aches instantly build up in her muscles and blood gushed into her mouth running out from the sides of her lips.

"Kimi!"

She couldn't move, nothing in her body would respond to her commands she signaled from her head. The only thing she could do was open her eyes and attempt to breathe.

"The woman has blocked the attack from the swordsman, but it looks like Hamburg is not finished!" The announcer revealed to Kimi the plot of the Foxy pirates. "Big Pan is right behind him and like an arrow he is aiming him for the swordsman once again! With the girl out and not being able to clone herself to protect the teammates, can Roronoa move out of the way in time?"

Kimi felt the ground shake underneath her and the crowd to scream and gasp.

"Ohhhhhhh! A direct hit! Obviously the Groggy Ring has no penalties for killing another player! But it looks like the Foxy team is continuing their relentless attacks!" The blue-haired girl felt the ground shake once more this time closer to where her body had been motionless.

She closed her eyes as the dirt clouded the area surrounding her and the other two and then felt a breeze coming from the left and the right of the top of her head. "The Strawhat team is not getting up and the Foxy team is surrounding them to ensure their victory! All they must do is dunk the Ballman into the ring and the second match is a victory!"

Kimi took a gulp of spit and blood and raised her shaking arms in the air. "Clone, clone…" She whispered and then felt two of her friendly clones help her up. "Sanji-san, Zoro…" She looked into the crowd as the surrounding Foxy pirates cheered for their 'victors'.

"Get up…" Her two clones helped the men to sit up.

"Oi, cook…we work together for ten seconds."

"I'll agree…to that much…" Sanji whispered and then the two stood to their feet standing on each side of the one-year older woman.

"The Strawhat team has stood up! What fearsome endurance they must possess!" The announcer cheered for the underdogs. "But do these three have enough strength to endure?"

Kimi looked up at the three monsters smiling evilly at her and her Nakama. "Do you think that you can beat me this easily?" She growled out at the three giants staring at her while she cracked her knuckles and her neck. "I'm just getting started." She smirked evilly, "Clone clone, 100!" and a hundred clones of her surrounded the playing field. They fought and distracted the giants while the real Kimi turned to face the two men. "I have an idea…Sanji-san, I need you to take out Hamburg and Zoro take Pickles. I've got Big Pan." She smiled looking back at her clones fighting off the monsters distracting them from their planning.

"Once those two are out I'll get the big one into position, follow my lead from there!" She turned facing their opposing team and stood there watching as Zoro and Sanji ran into their positions. She had fire glowing in her eyes at this point, so focused on beating them that she would stop at nothing to see them fall.

As the two took out their targets, Big Pan fell into position with the use of Kimi's attacking clones. "Zoro!" Kimi ran at full speed to the man and then ran along side of him as the two chased towards Sanji, who had just kicked Pickles into the ref (as a payback). "Sanji! Kick us up!" Kimi nodded and he did just that.

Kimi and Zoro flew through the air and just as they began to fall, Kimi used her fruit ability, along with strength, to clone and push Zoro higher into the air. "Hurry! Clone Clone, ally!" Due to Kimi's positioning of Big Pan, Zoro and his clones simply pulled his mouth down to the ground and then landed the ball on top of the monster's head into the ring winning the match.

Kimi smiled as she fell back down to the ground, distracted from the victory of the crew. "Oi, Kimi-san!" She felt her body fall into strong arms and sighed at the relieve of victory. "Are you alright? We did it! We won! Now a victory kiss?" The cook pouted his lips but Kimi simply pushed away from the man and then looked back at the rest of her crew on the sidelines.

As the match whistle sounded concluding the victory of the Strawhats and what everyone assumed to be the return of Chopper in their crew actually became the return for a horse of an old man Luffy and the others had met while they had been exploring the island earlier. Kimi giggled at the insanity of her captain but shrugged it off as the man thanked Luffy and the crew for the return of his beloved horse.

"Oh, your friends don't look too good." The man pointed to the bleeding Kimi, Zoro and Sanji. "Do they need a doctor? I saw a booth in that crowd."

Kimi placed her glasses back onto her face. "No, I figured I'd ask Chopper to-"

"No! You cannot visit with Chopper because he is a part of my crew!" Foxy pointed at the woman making her frown. "If you need a doctor there is one out by the fields in one of the booths." He crossed his arms smiling devilishly making Kimi believe there had been another trick up his sleeve. "You'll have time to get fixed up before you watch your friends lose the next round."

"Oh, but Kimi was-" Nami started to say looking at the blue-haired woman. "Yes she was supposed to be in the next match but because I so generously moved her position…causing you all to win…she can't be in the final round."

Kimi frowned and then turned her back heading towards the carnival booths. If she could make it back in time to see her friends for the next round, then she was sure to take a visit. "Hey wait, do you need help getting there?" Ussopp called out to her.

Kimi shook her head no and continued to head away from the crew in the direction of the market area that had been set up for the fight. She tried to deepen her short breath indicating the possible feeling of a panic attack writhing inside of her chest. She was used to these types of attacks, but this had been heightened with the battle from earlier and would need to be treated right away.

Unknowing to her, Zoro followed a few paces or so behind Kimi. He too was not feeling up to par and if they had to fight cheaters like they had been doing in the fights before, he needed his strength up, even if he wasn't in the next round.

Shortly after walking through the tents, Kimi found the so-called doctor sitting outside of a trailer while smoking a cigar and drinking from out of a whiskey bottle. "Excuse me," Kimi panted holding herself up as best as she could "Is this the doctor's-"

"Yup! This is the place! Come inside pretty lady." The ugly rugged old man sat up from his chair and lead Kimi in the trailer.

"Please…" she started to beg for the pain to be relieved from her body not expecting the man to close the door behind her. "I have a…" but as she spoke, the doctor ran behind her, grabbed both of her arms and pushed her against the wall. Kimi screamed but only for a moment because the doctor covered her mouth with his nasty smelly hand.

"Don't be worried pretty lady; the doctor will take care of you." He smirked closing in on her. Using all of Kimi's strength she lifted her knee up and kicked him in the groin. He yelped only for a second and then using his hand that had covered her mouth he started to strangle her.

"Why you little!" He screamed but then was cut off by a noise Kimi didn't often hear, the sound of bone cracking. She fell to the ground panting uncontrollably.

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><p>Zoro noticed the man's look and his actions. Why would a doctor smoke or drink profusely? He noticed that there had been many ale bottles lying around the surrounding area where the doctor sat. Just then he heard a scream from inside the trailer.<p>

Without another thought, Zoro kicked opened the door but stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of his Nakama. Kimi had been up against the wall with this so called doctor holding her hands above her head and his hand covering his mouth. For a second all Zoro saw was red; red and the burning feeling of anger.

At that moment, Kimi lifted her knee up and hit the man in the crotch admitting to the unknown Zoro she wasn't totally hopeless. But enough was enough.

The man recovered from Kimi's attack and started to strangle her. Zoro took out his sword and doing the only thing he could think of was to hit the man's head with the back of his sword.

The doctor dropped Kimi and she fell to the floor with a hard thud. But his focus wasn't on the woman; instead it was on the scum of a man called a doctor. He reached over picking the scared man up by the collar of his shirt. "Get the HELL out of here!" He growled and threw the man out of the door making him scurry with his tail in-between his legs.

Turning his attention back at the injuried woman Zoro kneeled down as she gasped looking up at him. "Zoro? What are-?" She panted but then gasped clutching her stomach. The swordsman sighed and then effortlessly picked her into his arms and then carried her onto one of countertops. "Kimi? You okay?" He asked holding her close to him. She gasped with a somewhat surprised face and then nodded. "Yea, I...just get panic attacks. The fight before and then…that increased it…that's all." She gasped once again. "Sorry about that."

"You just have to get stronger…you are a pirate now." He placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to tense even more. _'Something is not normal. She is going about as if she shouldn't be hurt…or that I shouldn't be concerned.'_ The man thought and then looked around for some type of medicine. "Oi, what type of medicine do you need?" He looked around. This couldn't have been a doctor's office, there were no medicines or kits anywhere to be found.

Kimi sighed controlling and getting her breathing back to normal. "I just need bandages for the cuts, you need them as well." She nodded.

"But what about-"

"My panic attacks really are a mental thing. The only way I've known how to stop them is by relaxing my mind. Like…meditation or something." Zoro looked back smirking at the woman. At least someone in his crew understood the meaning of a good session of meditation. "Here." He threw the bandages at her and she caught them carefully unwrapping the fabric and then wrapping it around her own body to clot the bleeding. "Here." She handed him the roll and then hopped down from the countertop. "That Foxy has another thing or two coming for him…" She took her glasses from off of her face and cleaned the lenses.

Zoro nodded crossing his arms. "We should probably head back before the others start." He walked forwards to the entrance.

"Zoro?"

The man turned back to face his Nakama, "I'm not used to people looking out for me in the past but…" She smiled sincerely while she crossed her arms behind her back. "Thank you."

"Get used to it. We are all Nakama and we protect and fight for each other." He nodded opening the door.

Kimi walked along side of the swordsman as they made their way to the third and final match. "Speaking of, we need to get back our furry little Nakama." She smiled even bigger at the green-haired man. Beyond that smiled Zoro could see a world of pain hidden deep within Kimi's mind. Whatever hurt her in the past was sure to come out one of these days…but this was not the day to question. Zoro nodded and continued to walk along side of the woman to the rest of their crew ready to play the Davy Back Fight once more.


	12. Orion and Aokiji

**Gotta say I really love writing moments among the Merry. So much fun to write a casual scene! But this is a long chapter because I probably won't update for a while! Vacation timeeeeeeee! Review if you can! I know you all are out there! **

**-yesiamweird**

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><p>Stretching out her fingers, Kimi smiled looking at her temporary lab in the kitchen. "Kimi-swan do you need any help?" Sanji looked over his shoulder while finishing up the dishes from the last meal.<p>

"No! Thanks though…" The woman smiled and then flipped to a page in her father's journal. "I've wanted to try this experiment for years and now I finally can. Plus there is a use for this while we are out at sea." She smiled starting on her project.

Sanji grew a heart in his visible eye cooing about how cute she had been while she talked about her experiments, and before she would have found it extremely annoying but being in the crew for this long caused her to have patience she didn't know was even humanly possible.

She wished that the Merry had enough room with a decent amount of space so she would experiment individually in. When given the choice between the deck of the Merry, Ussopp's small an insufficient workshop closet, Kimi chose the Kitchen instead. Since the deck of the Merry was mostly used for entertaining purposes, Kimi happily agreed to the kitchen for her experiments and note taking. And since Sanji usually took over the room most of the day, he had no problem in Kimi joining him while he prepared the meals.

Carefully examining her father's notes as well as making the correct procedures for the ingredients, Kimi boiled and created the liquid her father created for the marines for an alternative cannon ball firing fuel she thought could be helpful for the pirates while they were on their quest.

"Done!" Kimi giggled standing from her seat taking with the glass jar in her hands. She twirled the liquid inside proud and confident in the experiment she had just surpassed.

"Oh Kimi-swan! You are so amazing! I cannot believe just how beautiful and of course how talented you are! Truly you are indeed a gift from the heavens above!" Sanji pranced around the room and then stopped when he realized she had left.

"Ussopp!" Kimi ran out quickly to the deck far away from Sanji's usual love confession. "Look! I made it! Finally!" She held the purple liquid contained in the glass jar in the air to Luffy and the sharpshooter. "Let's try it out!" She smiled and handed the long nosed man the jar.

"Oi, oi. What are you all blabbering about?" Zoro yawned from his usual spot along the deck railing. Kimi took a step back not used to his position for sleeping. She was slowly starting to get used to everyone's habits but every now and then she would forget and freak out slightly.

She blinked as the swordsman stood and yawned crossing his arms at the three noisy people interrupting him from his nap. "Oh, well, I made an alternative to cannon ball fuel! With this liquid dipped in the cannon it will fire and make the balls shoot a farther distance!" She smiled ready to watch the reaction as Ussopp got everything ready to test.

"Alright! Here we go!" Ussopp lit a match with the fuse covered in the liquid. "One, two-" And on the millisecond count of three the cannon ignited throwing the steel ball twice as far as the regular fuse had.

"Yahooo! That was amazing Kimi!" Luffy cheered up and down and then hugged the blue-haired girl making her tense from his reaction. "Oi, that's pretty cool." Zoro nodded and then walked off.

"Huh?" Luffy looked over at the blue-haired woman sinking into the oblivion of her thoughts. "Kimi? You okay?"

She continued to zone out until Luffy pouted and hit the top of her head. "Ouch! Oh, sorry…I was just…lost in thought." She smiled rubbing her budged head.

"Hey Luffy! Be careful with Kimi's brain! We need her to create more of this stuff so that the Marines won't get us!" Ussopp slapped the captain causing him to laugh. "Oh yea! I forgot!"

Kimi removed herself from the captains hold and then looked over the white railing of the Merry to the blissful blue sea in front of her. The winds blew slightly tickling the stray strands of her pulled back hair on her forehead. _'No one has ever hugged me from something I've created…' _She closed her eyes thinking of the days that she had been beaten and bruised for trying to be defiant from using her talented brain from the Marines and her dreadful and frightening sister.

_'Could I push aside all of the thoughts from my past and be proud of who I am?' _ She smiled and adjusted her glasses. "Sorry Captain…you just took me off guard for a second there!" She grinned and then looked back at the purple liquid. "I'll be sure to make another batch so we can be prepared for an attack!"

"Huh?" Luffy and Ussopp blinked as the woman suddenly and awkwardly turned and walked off in the direction of the bathroom. "Weird?" Ussopp noted but his comment went unnoticed as Chopper ran out from the storage room with three fishing poles. "YAY! Fishing!" Luffy cheered aloud.

Kimi smiled softly while listening to the fun-loving captain of the ship and while walking towards the bathroom. She didn't need to use it, but in the heat of that awkward moment, it was the only place she could resort to without being overly awkward.

However, she hadn't planned for the knob of the door to be locked, indicating one of her crewmates had been inside. She tensed for a moment clenching her gloved hand into fists hearing Zoro telling her to calm her horses. "Oh it's okay…" She walked off as her plan failed miserably with her head hanging low.

"Oi, I'm done…" the man opened the door walking out while Kimi's back had been turned.

"Oh, it's okay!" She turned to face him with a fake smiled plastered on her facade. "I just wanted to wash my hands…But I'm-"

"You never take off your gloves…" Zoro muttered walking as if she hadn't been in front of him. "Why?"

"Huh?" Kimi blinked at his blunt statement and then looked at her hands. "They are my experimenting gloves…I've always worn them…and I never took them off…" her smiled faded. She was lying through her teeth and she even knew Zoro could tell. "Hmp. Fine, forget I said anything." He brushed pass her shoulder leaving her standing in the hallway with her racing thoughts.

She raised her hands in the air right across from her chest. "No one asked about these when I lived in the town…" She whispered not knowing what the big deal about her constant wearing of her black leather gloves. "Why do people care now?" She closed her eyes letting her hands drop to her sides.

Things were different on the Merry than she had been used to…and she wasn't entirely sure she liked it. She missed her father, first and foremost and thought about him every morning she woke up. Next she missed her lab, her lab coat, her experiments, everything that was neat and pretty couldn't be found of the half-broken pirate ship. Of course, out of rage, the Marines had ripped apart her beloved lab before she left. But still the memoires ached…

She opened her eyes and continued to walk back onto the deck.

But there were some things aboard the Merry she absolutely loved. For starters, she loved having friends: people who liked and respected her. That was something she did not have back home. And Luffy's happy-go-lucky personality really brought out the sunshine hidden within Kimi's heart. Yes, it was totally cheesy, but Luffy had an aurora that brought out the excitement and pleasurable moments of being a human being.

"OI! Everyone!" Sanji yelled from the top of the stairs. "LUNCH!"

And of course, Sanji's cooking…yup there were days Kimi couldn't even believed she had eaten the food her and her father attempted to cook. As Kimi raced up the steps hoping to beat Luffy to the room, Kimi thought to herself. _'Definitely, Sanji's cooking is one of the best things aboard the Going Merry.'_

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><p>After the colorful and laughing fest of dinner, Kimi found herself alone in the kitchen in the midnight hour not being able to sleep through the night. "Some tea sounds really good." She smiled reaching for the tea pot and pouring the water into it and then placing it on the stove.<p>

She yawned leaning on the kitchen table while the pot began to boil gradually from the stovetop. The serene quietness of the Merry at this moment was something to be greatly appreciated among the Strawhat pirates. Usually the ship was full of talking, yelling, drunken shouts, and laugher. Uncontrollable, pure laughter, another thing Kimi was not used too but liked.

The tea kettle began to whistle before long indicating the boiling water complete for her wanted tea. Turning off the stove and pouring the water into a coffee cup, a splash of water hit the top of her gloves protecting her from the stinging of the boiling water. "See I don't know why they make such a big deal about my gloves…they protect me from daily carelessness." She spoke softly to herself and placed the hot pot back onto the stove.

Putting a tea bag into the cup and two sugar cubes in the hot liquid, Kimiko sat down on one of the chairs at the table and placed her hot cup on her side. "Father…" She whispered looking at the brown liquid in the small cup. _'I know you would be proud of me if you were here…I love and miss you!' _ She yawned big closing her eyes and then opening them lazily. Her tea still needed a minute or two to cool down so she decided to rest her arms and head on the kitchen table.

_'It's only a few minutes…'_ She thought yawning again as the comforting smell of tea filled the room. A few minutes too long though…with Kimi tucked happily in her own arms and the steady constant sound of her breathing eased her worries from the uncomfortable sleeplessness before in her bed.

With her glasses still on her face, the hot tea cooling down minute by minute and the soft subtle sound of a snore was how he found her the next morning as the cook entered in his workplace to prepare the morning meal for the day.

He smiled at the innocence and beauty of the slightly older blue-haired woman as she slept still in the same position while he began to work. He tried to be as quiet as he possibly could while the woman continued to sleep but there was a limit to how much noise he could contain. As a pot clanked in the room, Kimi stirred for a moment causing Sanji to curse his pot in his head. "Ah…" He sighed as she moaned softly falling back asleep. He continued to cook silently until an unexpected visitor interrupted.

"Oi, Crap Cook!" Zoro yelled walking into the kitchen slamming the door shut. "Why the hell did you put this shit in my shoe?" He threw his boot full of green goo at the blonde man accusing him as he always did.

"You stupid Marimo! I did not do that!" Sanji yelled back but a strained and feminine gasp came from the table as the woman sat straight up still in a sleepy daze. "Huh?" She moaned and then rubbed her eyes behind the black framed glasses.

"Oi baka! See what you did!" Sanji threw a metal pot at the absent-minded swordsman but as expected he had caught it. "Kimi-swan had been sleeping peacefully before you stormed in here."

"What the hell are you doing sleeping on the table?" Zoro questioned causing Sanji to kick his shins, "Like you have any room to talk about sleeping in weird places!"

Kimi blinked through her sleepy eyes and noticed the wooden table in front of her and her cup of tea on the side of her. She titled her head not sure how she was stuck in this spot in the morning and turned to the men fighting in the entrance. "Huh?" she yawned again taking off her glasses making the two sweat-drop at her casual attitude.

"You may be smart Kimi, but you sure are lame." Zoro huffed walking forwards to sit at the head of the table "Marimoooooooo!" Sanji growled and watching him sit.

"Oi, make me food, Curly Eyebrow!"

"Like hell!" Sanji yelled back with the never ending fight Kimi was beginning to figure was NEVER going to end. She looked down at her now cold tea and then placed her glasses back on her head. "I went to sit for just a second while my tea cooled but I guess I fell asleep instead." She smiled to herself and stood from the table.

"Would you like for me to make you a new cup of tea, Kimi-swan!" Sanji cooed as the woman stood to her feet with the cup in her hands. "No thanks, Sanji-san." She giggled and then stopped from her walking. "Uh, have you seen my notebook?" Combined with her confused expression and oversized pajamas, Zoro started to doubt the sanity of the newest crewmate.

"Oi, I saw it in here yesterday…" Zoro looked around but found nothing.

"I didn't see it…" Sanji muttered and then continued to make his food making Kimi place a finger to her lips trying to remember the whereabouts of her precious journal. "Hmmmm…" She thought for a moment and then heard the laughter of their care-free captain. "OI! None of these words make sense! And there are no pictures in this book!" Luffy laughed.

"LUFFY!" Kimi yelled and ran out of the room dropping and shattering the tea cup in her hands in the process. "Hey, Luffy!" She called up to the crow's nest since he had been there all night on duty. "Please tell me you have my journal up there?" She called out holding her hands together.

The rubber man jumped down from the nest with two books in his hands. "Oh, I don't know but they are really boring. No pictures!" He held both her and her father's journal in his hands. "LUFFY!" She snatched the books and frantically flipped through the pages to ensure their safety.

"Oi, Luffy. Did you steal Kimi's books?" Sanji growled walking out from kitchen door.

"No, I found them. I didn't know they were Kimi's."

"BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE SHE HASN'T HAD THEM IN A WHILE?" He threw another pot at the captain.

Kimi sighed in relief. Nothing seemed to be missing and she smiled at the young captain. "Luffy, these books are my treasure just like your hat. If your hat went missing, wouldn't you be upset?" She smiled and walked back to the kitchen.

"Oh! So your books are that important to you?" He smiled, "Yes." She nodded back and stood at the threshold of the room and gasped. "Oh no, Sanji! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break the glass!"

He huffed and smiled at the woman. "Nonsense its fine…I'll clean it." His heart eye popped out. "Oi, Marimo, clean this!"

"LIKE HELL I WILL!"

Kimi laughed and sat down at her chair from earlier. "Not a problem Sanji-san." She cloned herself and allowed the doppelganger to clean the mess. "Ah! Kimiko! We have a new way to do chores!" Luffy laughed entering the room as well. "You make your clones do all the work from now on!" He pointed making Sanji kick his face once more.

Kimi laughed innocently and then flipped to a page in her personal journal. "Sure thing, Captain." She looked pass the laugher tears in her eyes and read the page.

"Hey, you two. Go out and clean yourself for breakfast…" It's almost ready. Sanji declared to the males in the room while making Kimi pull away from her thoughts. "I need to change, Sanji-san, but I'll be back!" She stood from her chair and picked her books into her arms.

"Sure thing, Kimi-swan!" He smiled with hearts surrounding him. Kimi giggled and escaped from his aurora to her quarters to change from her pajamas. "Morning already?" Nami yawned waking from her bed.

"Yes, Sanji-san is almost done!" Kimi smiled walking over to her bed and the chest containing her clothes. _'Today is going to be a great day…' _ She smiled pulling off her clothes and pulling on new ones. _'I can just feel it!'_

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><p>Twirling her wine glass in her hand while laughing at the funny conversations her captain and crew mates had with one another over the dinner table, Kimi thought the day had been one of the best she had ever had in her life. Sure, she and the others simply sat and went about their daily lives while aboard the Going Merry, but it had been one of the most relaxing and calming days Kimi had ever had in her twenty years of life.<p>

After the hilarious dinner had ended, Kimi asked for a final refill of the white wine Sanji picked out for the three females and then walked out on the deck to stargaze the night sky. The other crewmates had resumed in their quarters for the night leaving the female scientist alone only with her thoughts and the stars.

She sighed smiling at the twinkling dots above her head and then sipped the final bits of the white wine. By this point, Kimiko was starting to get used to the drinking and alcohol among the pirate life-style, but that didn't mean that she was immune to it by any standards whatsoever. The sensation of her head slightly spinning annoyed but thrilled the woman. It was such an exhilarating feeling that made her enjoy the numbness of her body while she drank.

Sighing from the final sip of her wine, Kimi closed her eyes letting the wine glass tip over the edge of the rail she leaned on. _'I just love this feeling…the feeling of being…alive.' _She opened her eyes smiling widely at the shinning bright stars and then turned her head to a body on her right.

"Good evening, Mr. Bushido." She imitated Robin's voice and then closed her eyes giggling slightly. The man smiled at her while he too, leaned his elbows on the white wooden railing. "I told you, it's Zoro…" He glared emotionlessly.

She smiled even bigger and then changed her focus from the stars to the wine glass, twirling it in her hands once again. "I've never been this type of rebellious before." She rested her cheek on her hand grinning even wider. "It's so much fun!" The innocent chuckling made the swordsman grin as well while he took a sip from his favorite sake bottle. "Hm. Guess you could say that." He replied after sighing from his gulp.

Kimi lifted her elbows from the railing and gave her glass to a clone that suddenly appeared on her side. "So what is your story, Mr. I'm-so-mysterious?" She smiled titling her head at the green haired man. He raised an eye brow slightly and sighed not wanting to talk while staring back at the night sky. The stars did seem to sparkle just so.

"Hm." Kimi giggled and looked up at the stars just like the man. "Once again being so mysterious!" She leaned on the railing and then sighed. "Ok, well when I was younger I blew up half of the lab over a simple experiment because I was hungry and distracted from my work, one day." She smiled drunkenly and then looked up at the man. "Now your turn!" She hoped the story she told would persuade the man to tell her something from his past. But it didn't work.

"You are dumb. You know that?" He simply responded closing his eyes and then changing his gaze from her to the sea causing her to sweat-drop from fail of her plan. _'I'll never break him…' _ She thought and then turned to her clone that had returned from the kitchen with a prize. "Ah! Thanks!" She chuckled to her own-self and then took out the piece of chocolate held within the clone's hand.

Zoro noticed the object in her gloved hand perked his head making Kimi smile devilishly. "Sh! Sanji doesn't know!" She broke off a piece and held it to the man. "Here!"

Zoro shook his head and cocked his eyebrow at the woman. "You know Sanji will kill you for that."

"Nah!" She smiled nibbling on her piece and then shoving the broken piece into Zoro's free hand. "Sanji wouldn't get mad over me. That's why if he finds out I won't be in trouble. Eat!" She laughed finishing her piece of sweetness bliss and then continued to look back at the sky.

"Do you know anything about the stars?" She looked back at her companion who had still not taken a bite of the chocolate in his hand. "Not really."

She nodded and then pointed to the right. "Over there is my favorite constellation of stars, Orion, the great hunter. You can always tell which one he is because of his belt. See the three stars that make a belt? That's the easiest way to tell where he is! Oh and one of the brightest stars in our sky is on his left shoulder, Betelgeuse!" She made sure to point to each star she explained even though it had looked like the swordsman hadn't even been paying her any attention.

"According to Greek mythology, Orion's life ended when he stepped on Scorpius, the scorpion. The gods felt sorry for him, so they put him and his dogs in the sky as constellations. They also put all of the animals he hunted up there near him. Scorpius, however, was placed on the opposite side of the sky so Orion would never be hurt by it again." She stopped and twirled the wine glass in her hands feeling a bit embarrassed by her obsession over the group of stars.

"Why do you like that one so much?" Zoro questioned casually looking up at the 'great hunter.' He never used to think anything of the stars before then but Orion could be placed in the night sky he could be too. Besides being a great swordsman, Zoro decided he would be placed in the stars as well. Despite if a god or gods allowed him too.

Kimi smiled, "I don't really know. Probably because he is the easiest to find in the sky…" She sighed and then lightly punched the swordsman's strong arm. "Have a good watch tonight!" The woman giggled and then walked off in the direction of her quarters leaving the man behind her without another word.

Watching the woman walk off, Zoro looked up at Orion and then sighed looking back at the small piece of chocolate in his hand. "Strange…" He muttered and then bit off a part of the sweet snack in his teeth. "But cute…"

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><p>"Kanpai!" The entire crew cheered toasting to their picnic on the uninhabited island. As they first arrived on the shore, Sanji prepared his grill while Kimi and the others gathered small animals and plants to feast upon.<p>

"Oi, Luffy! You said you wanted a_ snack_, but you still haven't stopped eating!" Ussopp pouted at the rubber man as he ate profusely. Kimi smiled at his rubber stomach, it had never ceased to amaze her just at how much he could eat. "But I can eat so much more!" He laughed.

"Robin, if you don't hurry up, there will be no food left." Kimi stated looking back at the older woman reading one of her books.

"But I want to finish reading…its fine." She smiled and looked back at her page. Chopper jumped on the stone she sat on, "Robin if you don't stop reading you will turn into a worm!" The reindeer nodded his head making Kimi and Robin confused by his statement. "You've hear of bookworms haven't you?" He pouted and took a bite of his meal.

Robin and Kimi exchange a small glace to one another and then giggled. Chopper may have been smart, but he was definitely naïve. "Sanji-san the food is wonderful thank you." Kimi stood up collecting her journal and backpack in her arms.

"Thank you Kimi-swan! As long as I make you happy my destiny in life is complete!" The cook yelled making the scientist roll her eyes. "Kimi? Are you going away?" Chopper tilted his head as she took a few steps into the forest they had just collected food from.

"Yes, only for a bit though. Don't leave the island without me." She waved looking back and then rolled her eyes at the sight of a giant mechanical crab crawling towards her crewmates. No doubt it was the Foxy Pirates back to try to defeat Luffy once again. It was actually starting to bother Kimi at how much this captain wanted to beat hers but instead of letting it get under her skin she walked away carefully peeling back the branches through the forest.

"So many interesting plants." She smiled to herself collecting a rare plant her father used to make a cleaning solution. If she brought back a bunch of these leaves and grinded them down plus add a little chemical liquid and by-products, she'd have the perfect cleaning solution for the Going Merry. "Speaking of which…" Kimi pushed a branch blocking the sea line from the pirate ship. "Poor Merry…It's in such bad shape…" She whispered looking at the sheet metal that held the Merry together like tape. She sighed thinking of the possible answers to fix the Merry but frowned. She wasn't a shipwright…only a scientist. Of course she could make minor adjustments to the structure of the ship, but fixing it completely was way out of her collected the rest of the leaves into her bag and then continued on sketching and gathering other plants for various purposes.

"Kimiko?" Nami's voice rang through the forest.

"Oh Kimi!" Luffy's voice yelled out as well. She stood up from her position and waved, "This way! What are you all doing?" She smiled looking at the big sacks on everyone backs.

Nami pouted, "Well while you were goofing off, we went ahead and collected food for the remaining time that we will be out at sea. I don't know how long it'll be 'till we reach the next island!" She frowned. Kimi giggled walking over to the others. "Sorry Nami-san. I'll try harder next time." She smiled innocently and continued on the path with the others.

"Chopper did you collect any medicine?" Ussopp wondered. "Yep! I've got all I need, but there might be some much rarer ones on this island!" He smiled back making Kimi look down at him. "Chopper, I don't know if they are rare to medicine but I found a plant back near the shore. It's called the Loea plant. Have you heard of it?" She smiled.

"NO! What is it!" His eyes gleamed making Kimi smile even wider from his enthusiasm. "My father taught me how to make a liquid all-purpose cleanser with it…Hopefully I have the instructions how to make it in his journal."

"Cool, I want to see!" Chopper giggled jumping up and down. "Once we get back to the Merry…" Kimi nodded and continued to walk along. "You know…I've noticed there's a strange line on the ground. What do you think this mystery line could be?" Chopper asked no one in particular.

"I've noticed it too…It looks like a bicycle track though." Ussopp nodded. "Oi! I thought this island was uninhabited?" Sanji spoke. "If that was true, there would be no one to ride a bike through."

"Ha, true…" Ussopp snorted making Kimi raise an eye brow at the line. _'True…this is strange…' _ Kimi nodded thinking silently to herself.

"Look we are almost out of the jungle!" Luffy laughed as they walked through a threshold of trees into an open field. Kimi looked around the open field not seeing anything but a big boulder in the middle of it. _'Something doesn't feel right…' _ She thought standing on her guard at this point.

"Ohhhh!" Chopper ran past Kimi's legs towards the big rock. "What is Chopper doing?" Luffy muttered. "He's going towards that rock. Is there something there?" Zoro titled his head confused by the reindeer's excitement.

"OH LOOK!" Luffy exclaimed running towards the rock. "Chopper is going to eat that big mushroom on top of the rock! All to himself!" He and the rest of the group ran to the rock while Robin and Kimi stayed behind.

"Robin…" Kimi looked to the older woman widening her eyes at the worried look in her face. "What's wrong?"

Closing her eyes and then quickly opening them back while forming her mouth into a fake smile, "Nothing." She nodded and then ran with the others.

"Oi Chopper are you okay?" Luffy yelled as the two women ran behind their friends. From what she saw, it looked as if Chopper had fallen backwards because of something…or rather someone.

"Who's that tall person?"

"What kind of person is he?" Nami and Ussopp questioned as Robin and the scientist made their way to the other side of the rock. Kimi gasped at the man in front of her, almost as if his devil fruit power had frozen her in place. For the woman on her right, however, she seemed to cower away falling behind Kimi and trembling profusely.

It was then the rest of the crew turned around to look at Robin sitting in fear on the grass. "Now, now I am not here on business or orders…" The man spoke freezing Kimi's heart to the core.

She remembered that man from anywhere but of course, she had known most of the Marines. Still, it puzzled her to know how Robin knew him. "The weather was nice, so I was taking a walk." He muttered scratching his head.

"Orders?" Zoro spoke clutching one of his swords. "Who do you work for?"

"The Marines." Kimi spoke clenching her gloved fists, "He is a part of the most powerful force of the World Government…" She trembled like Robin on the ground next to her. "Marine Headquarters, Admiral Aokiji!"

"Ahhh, to what do I owe the pleasure to not one…but two of the most interesting women in the world. Tomoko Kimiko and Nico Robin."

Everyone took a defensive stance as Robin continued to tremble on the ground. "Within the Marines, only three men have attained the rank of Admiral…" Kimi took a step forward looking at the man she knew all too well.

"Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru." Robin stated from behind the blue-haired woman making her nod in confirmation. "They are the most powerful combat force of the World Government…And he's one of them!" Robin whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Just chill out you guys, like I said, I was just out for a stroll. You all are the ones….hm….I forgot." He muttered making Kimi and the other sweat-drop. She knew this was his normal attitude but even then, to have it around wanted pirates was pretty lame. "My motto as a Marine is 'Lazy Justice."

"WE CAN TELL!" Sanji and Ussopp yelled.

"I think I'm going to lie down, standing tired me out…anyway, to make a long story short. I'm not here to arrest you, so just relax. I came to confirm that Nico Robin had left Arabasta following the incident there. As we suspected, she has been with you…however." He closed his eyes positioning himself comfortably on the ground. "I did not expect Tomoko Kimiko to turn join you all as a pirate. It's too bad, visiting you and your father were wonderful trips. Not to mention the supplies we acquired from you."

Kimi looked down at her feet embarrassed by his words. It was true he and the other two Admirals had visited her house many times, but to her they were not pleasant experiences. Whenever they knocked at the door, Kimi would sit silently in her chair looking down into her lap while her father explained their supplies they had been forced to create.

* * *

><p><em>"Hey you…little one…" Aokiji looked down at the young teen as she quietly sat in her father's lab chair. "Why are you so afraid?" He muttered with his pocket in his hands. <em>

_"I…I don't know…" She whispered closing her eyes to stop the tears from falling out. "I just don't like it. That's all…" She gasped as the words slipped out of her head and into the air. _

_"Hmmm?" Aokiji tilted his head and bent down in front of the girl. "But we are the good guys."_

_Kimi opened her eyes revealing the salty tears within them, "Yea but you force me to make things that will hurt people…and if I don't…" Kimi stopped looking back down into her lap. 'Then my sister will make sure I hurt…' She thought silently to herself. _

_"But we need you to make these things so that we stop the bad people from hurting people like you. The pirates these days are cruel and wouldn't think twice about killing a child like you." He patted her back, "We need your help to stop them."_

_Kimi stood up on her chair. "I don't care! I don't want anyone to die! Pirates or Marine!" She then covered her mouth looking at Admiral Akainu and her father's stern face. "I…I'm…" Kimi fell back onto the chair crying. _

_"Ah, so young and yet so brilliant and strong. Your sister tells me you have a Devil Fruit power…" Aokiji smiled patting her back again. "May I see it?" _

_Kimi looked up sniffing the boogers from her nose. "Um. I guess…" She cloned herself three times and they waved nervously to the tall man. "Very interesting! Would you like to see mine?" _

_"Aokiji!" Akainu grumbled. "We have what we need. Now let's get out of here." _

_Aokiji nodded and then stood up towering over Kimi and her clones. "Watch." He held his hand out and froze a chair to the side of him making Kimi gasp. "Aokiji!" Akainu yelled once more. "Good-bye Kimiko. Until we meet again." The tall man smiled and walked out of the lab leaving the chair frozen solid as he disappeared._

* * *

><p>"I think I'll submit a report to Headquarters later…now that you have another wanted criminal on your ship your bounty will go up…and with Tomoko's departure she may be included in your crews total bounty as well…"<p>

Kimi blinked in horror at his statement and then heard a growl from Luffy on her left. "Gum Gum-!"

"What are you doing, baka!"

"Leave him alone!" Sanji and Ussopp held their fuming captain behind. "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Just then a group of hurt and castaway people arrived from the edge of the forest begging for help. Chopper and Kimi helped the troubled people while Sanji and Ussopp helped feed them as well. All the while Aokiji sat in his position lying on the ground not lifting a finger.

One of the men told the story of how their passenger ship had been hit by a giant frog doing the front crawl stroke. Some of the people survived and they arrived at the island they were at now. They watched a man on a bicycle ride on top of the waves to the island when a pirate ship arrived moments later.

Aokiji nodded standing up and then claiming for the people to gather their supplies to head back home. "But they don't have a ship?" Luffy exclaimed while Robin stood. "He has the power to help them." She gasped.

They walked over to the edge of the water ready for Aokiji to help the castaways. Reaching into the sea water Aokiji froze it entirely making the Strawhats and passengers gasp from his Devil Fruit power. Of course, Kimi and Robin had already known the seriousness of the man's ability.

As the Strawhats waved good-bye to the thankful castaways, the group played around the frozen ice for a bit, while the uncomfortable scientist stayed behind to glare at Aokiji.

"Hmmm? You've given me that face many times before haven't you, Kimiko?" He muttered closing his eyes and crossing his arms. "You were such a talented young lady…I never thought you'd join pirates. I honestly believed you would someday take my position. After all, your power is just as strong as your sisters. If not better…"

Kimi huffed and crossed her own arms. "Don't you dare compare me as being a Marine! Out of all of them, you were the nicest, but I always hated and feared the Marines more than pirates!" Their conversation was interrupted as Luffy and the others walked in while she yelled to Aokiji.

"Hmmm…" He opened his eyes staring down the rubber captain. "You're the spitting image of your grandpa, Monkey D. Luffy." He nodded. "Child-like and reckless and yet hard to fully understand." Luffy gasped making a strained face at the word of 'grandpa.'

"Luffy?" Kimi cocked her head to the side, "What's wrong with your grandpa?" She wondered.

"No…it's nothing I- I just…"

"Your grandpa helped me out a long time ago, and I came here to see you and Nico Robin with my own eyes." Aokiji looked into his lap reminding Kimi of the times she had been in the same position when she was a child.

Only when she looked into her lap, it was out of fear…pure and utter fear from the Marines.

"And so…are you ready to die?" the man looked up evilly. "The government still doesn't consider you a threat, but based on your past encounters, we know that you can be a formidable crew. You may be few in number, but with the number of rogues gathered here you will become trouble all too soon. Given the circumstances surrounding your initial bounty, your numerous daring exploits, and the speed at which you are gaining strength…I've fought pirates and outlaws for many years, but you…you all scare the shit out of me."

"But you said you just wanted to see them, not kill us!" Ussopp cried frantically.

"Among your crew, the one I regard as the most dangerous is you, Nico Robin."

Luffy fumed, "See! You are after her!"

"The size of her bounty does not simply reflect her strength, it simply reveals the threat that you can be. That is why a 79,000,000 Berri bounty was placed on your head at the age of eight and you managed to survive. By betraying, sidestepping, escaping and found new partners to make use of. Time and time again you've rebounded and now you've chosen this crew as your next haven."

"Oi you jerk! What do you have against Robin-chan?" Sanji yelled making Ussopp run over to stop him from attacking.

"I don't have anything against her other than she escaped from me once before. But that was a long time ago. You'll learn soon enough that protecting that woman leads to regret. And if you have any doubt, you know that every organization Nico Robin has joined has been brought to ruin. And she had always been the only one to escape. Why is that, Nico Robin?"

"Shut up! The past has nothing to do with us!" Luffy yelled out. "That's right, if it did, then we wouldn't have a former pirate hunter or an ex-thief woman or an ex-Marine scientist on our crew!" Ussopp laughed pointing fingers at the people he pointed out. "That's right, today is more important than the past!" Sanji nodded. "Leave Robin alone! She is our nakama!" Chopper stated as well.

"Hm. They don't suspect a thing, do they…?"

Robin glared holding her hands into position to use her Devil Fruit, "If you want to arrest me, then why not just do it?" with her power, Robin snapped the man in half making everyone believe she had killed him, but for Logia fruit users, it would take a lot more than that to kill him.

"Hm. That was rude." He regenerated as an ice man and then turned to his original form "I wasn't planning on killing you, but…" He made an ice sword in the air and held it in his hands defensively. Swinging it down to slice the woman, Zoro jumped into action blocking the attack with one of his three swords at his hip.

Sanji jumped into action next running over to the two men and kicking Aokiji's ice sword from out of his hand.

"Don't hog all the good shots, you shitty cook." Zoro muttered smiling somewhat. "You're one to talk, moss head."

"Gum Gum pistol!" Luffy yelled hitting Aokiji right in the gut, but instead of flinching Aokiji smiled and held onto Zoro's arm and Sanji's leg in mid air. "What the-?" Luffy fell over backwards screaming as ice engulfing his hand. Zoro and Sanji's also screaming in pain as the body parts Aokiji held onto froze just like Luffy's hand.

"You have some very loyal nakama, Nico Robin. But you will never change." Aokiji smiled turning his body into a frozen ice block ready to attack. In the nick of time, Kimi cloned herself making the clone kick and shatter the Admiral into pieces before he reached Robin.

"Run!" The blue-haired woman yelled at her nakama, "Clone clone, ally!" She created about twenty Robin clones confusing Aokiji as he returned to his normal self.

"Hm…see I always knew you're ability was powerful. Now I don't know which Nico Robin is the real one." He smiled raising his hand out to the terrified scientist. "Ice blast!" His voice rang through Kimi's head.

She tried to take a step back to defend herself from whatever it was that Aokiji was planning, but the damage had already been done. "Wha?" Her feet slid on top of the grass making her lose balance for some strange reason. Then the cold struck her chest and grew wrapping around her torso and arms freezing them in their outstretched position. "I-I can't move my arms!" She cried looking down at the ice that once used to be her hands.

"I've only frozen part of you Kimiko…I just can't bring myself to kill you entirely." Aokiji nodded and then looked to the only Robin in sight. From the surprise attack, the Robin clones Kimi created disappeared leaving the real one the only one standing. Before Kimi and the others could do anything, the ice man hugged the raven-haired woman freezing her like an ice statue.

"ROBIN!" Kimi and the other's yelled out but it was too late. The blue-haired woman felt her warm tears running down her cheeks and then froze on her chin from the temperature swarming around her chest. She tried her hardest to break free from the ice but it was no use, she was useless.

"If you thaw her out, she'll still be alive, but her body is extremely brittle in this state, so you'll have to be careful." Aokiji explained to the worried crewmates. "If any part of her body breaks, she will die." With that, Aokiji raised a fist in the air about to hit Robin but luckily Luffy caught and bent her down just before he attacked. Next Ussopp was the one to take Robin on the other side of the field totally out of harm's way.

"Ussopp! Chopper! Keep running to the ship!" Luffy commanded. "Treat Robin and get her thawed out!" The two nodded and ran with Robin's frozen body in their grasp while the remaining crewmates eyed the Admiral carefully.

"Don't bother; the world would be a better place without that woman in it." He walked to Nami and Kimi on the opposite side of the men. The orange-haired woman had stopped him from attacking her and Kimi just in the nick of time with her metal pole of a weapon. "Doesn't that saying go for just about every pirate though?" She smiled.

"You seem to understand, Miss…" Aokiji looked to Kimi behind her. "That's why I just don't understand why you would stoop so low to be a pirate…Tomoko…"

Kimi clenched her jaw staring down the man. "When I was little, I never looked a Marine in the eyes out of the respect my father made me show towards them." She whispered sternly recalling the memories from her past. "However, the Marines were just as bad, if not worse than pirates could ever be! You all used my family! I've never known anyone to be more scared of Marines than I was as a child!" She looked back at Aokiji as a wave of guilt crashed through her mind. Out of all of the Marines, he was the nicest and the kindest one to her. But it didn't matter.

She was a pirate now. And there was no going back. "I was NEVER meant to be a part of this Government! Nor will I EVER be!"

Aokiji had enough of the screaming woman degrading his profession and was about to do the same he had done to Nico Robin despite his words before. That was, until a rubber hand punched his head smashing it as he had become distracted.

"Guys, head back to the ship." Luffy commanded to Kimi and the other. "I want to fight him one-on-one."

"I don't mind." Aokiji regenerated and looked behind as Kimi and the other woman ran off. "But I don't have any ship to take you in with, so I'll just have to kill you instead.

"Hurry!" Kimi yelled to Nami running behind her towards the ship on the side of the shore. With her arms frozen in place, it was quite hard to keep her balance and run frantically at the same time.

"Kimi-san, are you alright?" Sanji asked worriedly. She nodded once and continued to run panting heavily until she and the others arrived to the ship. "Chopper!" The cook yelled out hoping to get Kimi and him, and the swordsman, treated from the ice.

"Why are you four here?" Chopper cried.

"Not now! We'll go back in a minute but first you have to get this ice off!" Zoro yelled back. "Yes, well we have to douse everything that's frozen in water! But Robin's in the shower room-" the young doctor explained but was cut off from two splashes below the Merry.

"Will this work?" Sanji yelled out from the water. "Yes!" Chopper smiled. "After the heat thaws the ice, start rubbing the affected areas and then come up to the ship!" And with that the reindeer left.

"Nami…" Kimi shuddered feeling numb and sluggish from the ice. At this rate her heart would slowly start to stop and she'd die within minutes. "Throw me in…I can't seem to move anymore." She gasped.

"B-But…Kimi…you'll drown from the water!"

The blue-haired woman turned to look at the navigator. "Just do it!" She screamed terrified from the cold engulfing her body. At this point, she'd rather drown than be frozen to death by the Marine. Nami ran to the woman picking her up by her frozen arms and threw her over the cliff and into the shore. "Sanji-kun! Zoro!" She yelled as the woman sunk no doubt from the effects of her fruit power.

"I got her!" Zoro muttered.

"Marimo. You're arm is frozen! I got her!"

The two dove into the water racing frantically in the water to see who could retrieve the scientist first. For the sake of his manhood, Zoro wrapped his partially frozen arm around the part of her waist not frozen and then swam back to the surface.

"Damn, shitty swordsman! I had her first!"

"It's not a contest!" Nami yelled from the side of the Merry climbing to help Chopper and Ussopp. "She passed out." Zoro muttered making Sanji look over to the partially frozen woman.

"Kimi-swan must have known that Aokiji-guy pretty well. He said he didn't want to kill her." Sanji muttered rubbing one of her arms to break off the ice.

"Makes me think she's not telling us something important about her that we don't already know…like Robin."

"Oi. Don't bad mouth those ladies or I will poison you." The cook glared and then smiled when her arms were finally free from the ice. "Yosh, bring her up to the deck. We have to help Robin-chan."


	13. Bandits and Shipwrights

**To whomever posted the update on my Avengers story, I'm flattered that you wanted me to update this story, BUT that was not appropriate to post on that story. Therefore I have deleted it, sorry. **

**I haven't updated this because no one has reviewed in a _very_ long time so if there are fans of the story out here, PLEASE review! It really does inspire me and other writers when we see a post. Even if it's just a simple "good job" that's HUGE motivation. **

**So to whomever posted for me to update, thanks but from now on, comment on THIS story instead of my OTHER ones. ;)**

**-yesiamwerid**

* * *

><p>"Kimi! Kimi! Kimi! Is it done! Do you have the powder! Please! Please! Please!" Luffy jumped around the storage room awaiting his bag of exploding powder to show off to Chopper and Ussopp what it had been like while he was frozen from Aokiji.<p>

The woman smiled shaking her head at the captain. "Of course, here you are Luffy." She handed him a small bag filled with exploding powder. "Just shake it a little bit and the CO2 will be trapped inside the bag and explode causing you to be filled with powder."

"Yay! Kimi is the best! Yay, Kimi is the best! Yay, Kimi is the best!" Luffy cheered running around in circles. "For been frozen half to death, you'd think you would be a bit more concerned with the issue." She giggled and watched him shake the bag and run out of the room without paying the least bit of attention to her statement.

Seeing Aokiji yesterday after the longest time brought back so many memories from the Marines visiting her and her father. Wanting…no, expecting and demanding the supplies and materials they requested from their brains.

If it hadn't been for her sister, Kimi and her father would have gone about their lives day by day without a care in the world. Yes, it was her sister fault but after the things that Kimi had done in the past she couldn't blame her for selling Kimi out…

"If only I wasn't smart…" She sighed crossing her arms. "Life would have been better…" She shook the depressing feelings away and then stood up to see what the others were up too. Robin had been awake since last night, but she refused to get up and join the others in this morning.

Brushing off the white powder from her skin tight black jeans, Kimi walked out from the storage room and into a sea of laugher from Chopper and Ussopp. She looked ahead to see Luffy covered in white powder just as expected from her creation. "Make sure you clean that mess up, Luffy!" Nami yelled from the second floor.

"Oh, Nami, what are you eating?" The captain brushed his shoulders of the white substance.

"Sanji-kun made potato paille! Would you like some?" She muttered as she slapped Luffy's hand from stealing hers. "Nami! Could you tell Sanji to make some for me as well?" Kimi took off her glasses cleaning them on the inside of her green tank-top. "Sure thing, Kimiko!" The girl winked and then walked over to the cook fighting with the swordsman as usual.

"Will they ever stop fighting?" Kimi pointed her gloved hand to the two men questioning Ussopp. "No…never…" he sweat-dropped.

Minutes later, the crew gathered around the various parts of the deck enjoying their potato meal quietly for a change until a door opened making the crew look towards the sound. "Robin!"

"Robin, are you still feeling cold?" Chopper questioned. "No. Your regiment has helped me fully recover. Thank you. You are a great doctor." She smiled.

The small reindeer danced around the deck, "Baka! Calling me a doctor won't make me happy you bitch!" he giggled. "Don't push yourself, Robin. Luffy is of course bouncing around the ship but you can take your time to recover if you want!" Nami carefully observed the raven-haired woman's sluggish demeanor.

"Robin-chan, would you like for me to make you something. Possibly something warm?" Sanji smiled. "Yes, could I have some coffee?" She smiled back. "Of course! Nami and Kimi would you ladies like coffee as well?" The cook ran towards the kitchen smiling. "Yes. Thank you." Kimi nodded following him and Nami into the room.

"Robin are you feeling better?" Kimi sat down already questioning the injured woman. "Yes, thank you…much better." She smiled. "And you are feeling better as well?" She rested her cheek on her hand while her elbow rested on the table. "The last I saw of you, you're body was being frozen…"

Kimi looked up nervously and nodded. "Yes. I'm fine…no problem…except…"

"Ah, here we are! Thank you for waiting mademoiselles!" Sanji held out a plate with three coffee cups on top when suddenly the ship began to rock un-easily. "What in the world are they doing!" Nami barked and then ran out the room.

"Strange…" Kimi took the plate from within one of Robin's hands that had held down Sanji and the plate of coffee in place. The scientist walked out back to the deck, "We found this huge frog with scars all over his body! We are going to chase him and then eat him!" Luffy cheered making Kimi and the navigator look out into the ocean.

"Nami? Is that a lighthouse in the distance?" Kimi pointed out making the woman frown. "What in the world would a lighthouse be doing out here?"

"But the frog! Tell us where the frog going!" Luffy yelled while paddling the ship. "NO!" The navigator screamed.

"It seems to be heading towards the lighthouse…" Kimi nodded sipping her coffee. "Kimi…." Nami pulsated.

"Frog is first marinated in white wine to dissolve the mucus and then coated with flour and deep fried." Sanji huffed from his cigarette. "Hey, Sanji-kun!" Nami proceeded to growl growing teeth in annoyance.

" If the Captain says we're going, we don't really have a choice." Robin muttered. "Robinnnnnn" Nami turned to the woman crying.

"Yosh! Full speed ahead to the lighthouse!"

* * *

><p>"Miss Scientist, would you like to accompany Mr. Doctor and me into the city?" Robin asked from the threshold of the kitchen. Kimi shook her head turning her body in the chair of the table, "No, I'm trying to get this face scrub for Nami just right. But if you could, Robin, I'd like an interesting book." She turned back to the table and her chemicals in front of her.<p>

"Sure thing." Robin nodded and then closed the door behind her leaving Kimi and her thoughts written in her journal alone. Since she didn't want the ocean breeze to flip the pages of her book or have her glass jars tip over, Kimi thought to work inside the kitchen would be the better option.

Robin and Chopper had left about thirty minutes after Luffy, Nami and Ussopp left leaving Kimi, Sanji and Zoro the only ones left on the Merry. She hoped with the gold they had retrieved from Skypiea they could find a decent shipwright to fix their poor ship. Kimi and Ussopp's repairs could only go so far and just as they had anchored outside of Water 7, Zoro had accidentally broken the mast once again.

"Okay, time to focus!" Kimi smiled to herself trying to carefully read her instructions and create this refreshing facial scrub. She had come up with this idea when her sister was a teenager and one with growing acne all over her face. To please her defiant sister, Kimi created the scrub in order to exfoliate her sister's dirty and oily face.

When Kimi had suggested the outdated product to Nami bickering over a small blemish on her forehead, Nami insisted the scientist to create a supply for the future which Kimi had reluctantly agreed.

"Oi, Kimi-swan…" Sanji opened the door prancing in while she was carefully working.

"Yes Sanji?" She sighed freezing in the moment.

"I was going to venture out into the city and wondering if you would accompany me?" She sighed already aggravated that he had one, interrupted her, and two, asked something that had already been proposed to her before. "Um, no Sanji-san, I'm fine…thanks." She shook her head and then continued on with her work.

Minutes seemed to pass like seconds and quickly an hour fell under the female scientists work alone in the kitchen of the pirate ship. She had created at least two medium sized bottles of the face scrub and now she was working on her third and final bottle for the day.

"In here. I hear something!" An unknown whisper came from the other side of the wooden door.

Kimi perked her head up and turned around just as the men pushed aside the door. "Yes?" Kimi frowned creating a shadow from her forehead blacking out her eyes behind her black framed glasses.

"Heh, pretty woman."

"All alone too."

The two men wore oddly shaped sun-glasses and then weird black pants with a red star in the middle of them. "Please…just try." She said emotionlessly and stood from her chair crossing her gloved hands in front of her chest.

"Who the hell are you?" Kimi heard a serious and stern voice from the swordsman on the deck. "Give your names!" He demanded. Listening to Zoro's warning made Kimi lose her guard for the moment giving the two men the opportunity to strike with their swords but luckily for the woman she was quick on her toes avoiding the swing of their blades.

"You are good woman!" One of the men smirked and then jumped in front of Kimi making contact with the back of the sword to the side of her head causing her to fall to the floor.

"We are a group of bounty hunters, whose name scares children into silence…The Franky Brothers!" Kimi heard another unknown voice from the deck where Zoro's voice sounded. She could feel her arms being pulled behind her back and then her torso being lifted from the floor with one of the bounty-hunter men capturing her from behind.

"Your head is worth 60,000,000 Berri and we'll be taking it, thank you. Now that we've ambushed you on your own ship, we can round up the rest of your crew as well!"

"Oi, Aniki!" The man holding Kimi captive from behind spoke, "I captured this one but I don't think she has a bounty!"

"Ah! It won't matter! She is still a pirate so it's still easy money! How lucky!"

Looking up at Zoro surrounded by other similar dressed bounty-hunters on the deck, she caught his glace looking down at her. She wasn't sure what the look on his face read but if she had to guess it was a cross between pissed-off and concerned.

"Oi, Kimiko…you are bleeding…" He spoke emotionlessly and then blocked the rushing attacks from the opposing men. "Lucky, you say?" Zoro looked down smirking evilly, "Ha, I'd say unlucky." He sliced the one that had been talking the most and then attacked the rest on the dock with him causing them to fall lifelessly into the water surrounding the ship.

Giving the two men holding his female crewmate down, Zoro gave them a frightening death glare that made the hair on the back of Kimi's neck to stand up. "Oi, not worth it Aniki!" The man not holding Kimi cried and then ran off the side of the ship.

"Yea!" Kimi heard the man yelp and then felt her body being released and then pushed forwards. Before she could pull her strained arms from behind her back to catch her fall, stronger arms held her up in mid-air. "You okay?" Zoro's voice sounded above the blue-haired woman's head.

She griped onto the man's well defined and muscular arms pushing herself up non-chalantly. "Yes." She nodded and then released her arms as she caught onto her balance. "What was that about?" She rubbed the side of her aching head watching the men swim away.

"I'm not sure." Zoro walked back to the deck sighing, "Pathetic." He muttered.

"Oh…sorry…" Kimi sweat-dropped thinking he had been talking about her helpless reaction causing him to fall down, "Not you, them."

Kimi removed her glasses and smiled, "Oh. Sorry, again." She giggled and walked behind him to see the astounding beauty of Water 7. She leaned on the side of the railing while Zoro positioned his usual sleeping stance, "Guess we have to watch out for bounty-hunters everywhere we go." She muttered to herself.

The wind blew the strands of Kimi's hair not held back by her bun hairdo. The force of the breeze caused her to tense for a second and then release as it stopped. "Zoro, I'm going to change…" She walked back down the stair care for her room. "Yell if anyone else shows up on the ship." She smiled sweetly and then disappeared.

Not long after Kimi had changed her clothes and re-did her hair did she hear Zoro's voice yelling at a stranger. "Just who the hell are you?" She ran out of the room ready to attack the stranger on the ship.

"Oh sorry! Did I wake you?"

Kimi walked out to the mast seeing a tall man with a long square shaped nose, similar to Ussopp's, examining the deck. After seeing the first bunch of intruders, this man seemed quite harmless making the tension release from Kimi's shoulders.

"Excuse me, who are you?" She walked over to the man smiling her usual sweet innocent smile, "Sorry, your crewmates told me to examine the ship for repairs!" He smiled.

"Oh yes. Thank you…Merry has been in some bad shape and Ussopp and I can only do so much." She smiled placing a soft had on the base of the wooden mast. Zoro yawned and withdrew his swords. "Kimi, watch him…" He closed his eyes and resumed his spot.

She giggled and then nodded to the long nosed man, "Continue please!"

He carefully examined the deck and then jumped below where the men's quarters resigned making Kimi hesitantly follow him into the sleeping room for the men of the ship. "Well everything seems to be in order…" the man traced the floor of the room and then stopped when he reached a squeaky board. "Oh, I want to take the floor apart, don't worry…I'll put it back together." He smiled reassuring the woman.

"Uh, sure." She smiled and then looked around the room the men slept in. It was quite small compared to the room she, Nami and Robin slept in, but then again knowing how head strong Nami was, she could imagine why they had a bigger quarter.

"Oi, what are you-?" Zoro peaked his head in at the sound of so much noise, "Kimi, you're supposed to be-"

"Sh!" Kimi smiled and then bent down to examine the hole the shipwright man had just made a mess of the floor into. "What do you see?" She titled her head and then blinked in surprise.

"Do you see the problem?" He nodded and then rebuilt the floor to its original state. Kimi sighed and stood to her feet nodding at his statement. She looked back up at a concerned and confused Zoro and sighed not sure what to say at the damage.

"What's wrong?" Zoro asked helping the woman back onto the deck. She sighed crossing her arms and looking out at the city once again.

"This ship is un-repairable. It will no longer sail anymore." The shipwright spoke Kimi's depressive actions.

"What do you mean?" Zoro spat back not wanting to believe. "You lie!"

"I do not lie, I am a professional. That ship is beyond being repaired. Ask your female friend. She seems to understand." And with that, the man jumped away.

"Oi, is it really that bad?" Zoro questioned.

Kimi looked back at the green-haired swordsman and nodded. "Yes…its true…" She watched him cross his arms and sit on the white rail of the deck. "Merry…" He whispered while the wind picked up speed causing Kimi to become on edge once again. "Is that true? You really can't sail anymore?" He looked to the goat figure at the front of the ship waiting for an answer.

"Zoro." Kimi spoke softly continuing to look at the impressive city of Water 7, "I know I haven't been aboard the Going Merry as long as you and the others have…" She turned around and looked up at the strawhat pirate flag waving above, "but Merry is hurt…and it would be a shame to have him drown while we selfishly continue on with our journey."

Instead of answering her, the emotionless swordsman simply blinked and then sat in his spot as he had been before without a word being spoken. Kimi looked back at the outside of Water 7 and nodded, She was going to venture off into it by herself the uneasy feeling the shipwright had just given her made her feel sad for her new home.

"Zoro, I'll be back…"A clone brought her book bag and journal from the kitchen. "Be careful." Was the only response she received from the infamous swordsman.


	14. A Disbanding Crew

**Yay for the anonymous reviews! Idk who you are, but I love ya! This chapter really kinda made me think about Kimi's character in relation to Luffy and the others. And I love the not-so-subtle interest Zoro has in her with this one. The next chapter is really exciting (I already have more than half done!) So check back soon for it!**

**-yesiamweird**

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><p>Humming softly to herself, Kimi walked down the brick stone path throughout the shopping district of Water 7. So far, she had bought a few supplies for her experiments and a leather arm band from a clothing store. She didn't really want anything from the clothing store but the adorable daughter of the owner had convinced Kimi to buy it and so she did.<p>

Taking a slight break from her walk, Kimi moved to the side to take the arm band from out of the paper bag. The black leather seemed just to be plain from far away, but up close it had stitched detail of flowers and vines that Kimi couldn't resist as the young girl held it in front of her.

Sliding the object up her arm and securing it around her bicep, Kimi couldn't even try to remove the proud smile as she admired her newest piece of jewelry. She lifted her head up from her arm and then continued to walk down the path standing a bit taller, and prouder, as she passed the townsfolk.

In just the few short strides she took, Kimi observed that people were starting to disappear from the streets and more shops were starting to close due to the setting of the sun in the distance. Noticing an open and somewhat busy coffee market still open, Kimi decided to stop and have a moment to listen to what the townspeople said.

After ordering a small coffee and sitting down at the table with her father's journal open to a random page, Kimi pretended to look down at the writing when instead she listen to the random conversations of a trio of teenage girls to her side.

"That crazy ass Franky was on the move. I saw he had a suitcase in his hand…wonder what he's up to?..."

"That crazy Speedo wearing pervert! Ew. Can we please talk about something else."

"The Aqua Laguna is coming in tomorrow. Can't believe it's time for it already."

"Aw darn it. I forgot all about that!"

"Looks like we better gather all of our stuff huh?"

"Yup…bring lots of nail polish. I need to repaint mine."

Kimi watched as the three girls stood from their table and exited the area. Finishing the rest of her drink she stood noticing the orange tint in the sky. "Guess it's time to head back…" She thought walking off with her bags in hand.

After a good twenty minute walk, Kimi arrived back at the ship area where Merry was docked and she stopped looking towards the pirate ship gleaming in the sun set.

"Poor Merry…" She sighed looking to the goat figure. "I only wish I could have realized how hurt you were from the beginning." She bowed her head, "I'm so sorry."

The wind blew slightly causing Kimi to freeze. It was a natural self-defense mechanism to pause when the wind blew that harshly. Being out on the sea, the wind blew naturally and it was something Kimi had to learn to become used to. After all, no wind, no force to push the sails and the ship to their destination…where ever that may be.

Lifting her head back to the Merry, Kimi motioned to take a step further when she stopped noticing a small black figure in the distance. Actually, it was sitting on Merry's neck.

It wasn't Luffy, or anyone else from the crew, Kimi squinted looking at the person but then it suddenly turned its head to look towards her- the only facial feature she could make out was a large smile from the shadow casted with the sun in the background.

"W-what?" She gasped a whisper looking to the smiling figure. "Who are you!" She called out.

"I forgive you…" and echo rang through her head. The voice seemed to resemble a child, or rather a girl in a way.

"What?" Dropping her bags, Kimi could feel her body shake from the nerves of the unknown. If she didn't calm down she might go into a panic attack, she feared.

Suddenly the door to the kitchen opened and out walked a smiling Sanji. "OIIIIII Kimi-chan! I thought I heard your sweet voice and I was right! Did you miss your prince! I have missed you so dearly!"

Looking to the cook with hesitation, Kimi leaned down and picked her bags back up into her hand. "Hello Sanji…" She turned her head to look back at the shadowed figure seeing nothing in return. "Huh?"

"What are you looking at, Kimi-san?" The blonde man leaned over to the edge of the ship and then looked to the mast that she had been gawking at. "Have you seen Robin-chan anywhere by the way?"

"Oh…uh, nothing I guess…and no. She's not with you?"

After climbing back onto the Merry, Kimi had learned that Ussopp had accidentally lost one of the briefcases of money and the Franky Family had been the ones to take it- the same gang of bandits that had invaded Kimi and Zoro before. Feeling ashamed of his failure to the crew and Merry, Ussopp invaded the Franky House only to be beaten to a pulp in return. Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper then destroyed the Franky House looking for Franky but he was gone.

In the meanwhile, Robin was missing since she and Chopper went into town earlier and no one had word of where she was.

"We were really worried about you!" Nami muttered as her hands rested on her hips while the others watched Ussopp awake back to reality.

"You could have gotten yourself killed, charging in there like that." Sanji added. "We're just glad you're alive."

Zoro opened his mouth to speak, "Think things through before you act!"

"You're not one to talk!" The cook retorted back adding to the never ending fight between the two making Luffy laugh hysterically.

"I've been nothing but a burden…I'm so sorry, I really am!" Ussopp sniffed as he stood. His wounds would heal, Kimi thought, but his pride was already so deep she wasn't sure if he'd ever recover it. "I'm so ashamed!" The long nosed man hugged onto Zoro's leg crying and muttering about the money they had lost. Meanwhile, Zoro was trying his best to pry Ussopp off of him.

"Ussopp!" Chopper tried to calm him down. "You should be in bed!"

Kimi nodded, "You should listen to what Chopper says, Ussopp."

As he calmed down, Ussopp had a question for Luffy and the others. "So is there any way to get this money back?"

Luffy smiled confidently- or dumbly…Kimi wasn't sure what to call it. "Well, we won't know until this Franky guy gets back. But even if it's gone, we still have 100,000,000 Berri! Don't worry about it!"

"Money is ALWAYS something to worry about!" The navigator yelled. Then she stopped realizing how much worse she made the sharpshooter feel, "Oh sorry…"

Ussopp waved her apology. "Don't worry about it…but Luffy, what about the ship? Is a hundred million enough to fix him? We're at a first-class shipyard, so they can do it, right?" Kimi lowered her head remembering the words from the shipwright before when she and Zoro were the only ones on the Merry. Poor Ussopp still didn't know about his precious ship, "They'll make the ship stronger than ever and she'll be as good as new, right Luffy?"

"Well the thing is, about the ship… I've decided to get a new one." Luffy responded with a smile making Ussopp gasp, "I'm sorry about deciding while you weren't around. Going Merry has been great with us, but it's time to say good-bye!"

Everyone, and Kimi included, fell silent and their faces solemn and frowning from the words of their young captain. However, Luffy hadn't seemed to notice as he continued on. "I got this catalog from Ice-Ossan to buy a new ship! Well, with a hundred million, we could buy a really big used ship-"

"Wait." Ussopp responded calmly much to Kimi's surprise, "Wait, wait. Come on. That's a pretty tasteless joke, not to mention ridiculous. See look, even Chopper thinks you were serious. Jeez, our Captain's such a kidder." He looked to Kimi with a smile but she only kept her frown. "Wait, if this is because we don't have enough money for the repairs than it's my fault! I let them take the other two hundred million, that's the real reason right Luffy! You can tell me the truth!"

"No that's not it!"

"Oi, then what is it? Spit it out!"

"Losing the money had nothing to do with it!"

"Then why are you spouting this shit about a new ship?"

Zoro took a step forward breaking up the fight, "Stop it, both of you! What good is arguing going to do? Calm down and talk it over!"

"How can I be calm about this? This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life!"

Kimi continued to look down while the rest of the crew argued for the sharpshooter to calm down. Even though she was included in the crew and had been on quite some adventures with them already, she didn't feel morally right to tell Ussopp the truth of his friend's ship.

He told Kimi one day about his friend Kaya and how she had been nice enough to give Luffy and him the ship when he, Luffy, Zoro and Nami first began their pirate gang. To know the background of the Merry proved to the brilliant scientist just how much beyond the shelter Going Merry gave him.

Merry was a friend. A memory. A promise.

"The Captain simply says we're changing ships and I'm supposed to roll over and accept it?" Ussopp yelled standing up.

"It was not simple! It was a hard decision!"

"You make a hard decision and this is what happens!" Snatching the magazine out from Luffy's hands, Ussopp proceeded to throw the pamphlet to the ground and stomp on it repeatedly. "I don't want to see that! If this is not because the money was stolen, then what's it about, eh Luffy? Come on tell me! Why aren't you saying anything? If you think I can handle it, then don't hold back! If you don't give me a reason, I'm not gonna listen to another word-!"

"THE MERRY CAN'T BE FIXED!"

Ussopp gasped leaving the room still as an abandoned house. "What did you say?" He uttered.

"Don't make me repeat it again!" Luffy's voice was hard, probably the sternest Kimi had ever heard the boy-captain say. "No one can repair him."

Falling to his knees, Ussopp wouldn't drop the issue. "This is our ship! Our home we are all standing on!"

"This ship is gonna sink! That's what they said at the shipyard. It won't reach the next island.

"Oh, it won't reach it, huh? So you let some guys you just met feed you a line and you were happy with it?" Ussopp growled making Kimi uneasy from his tone. "Some so-called first-class shipwrights said it can't be done and YOU believed them! He's a nakama who's been with us through thick and thin and you're just going to let him die here!"

"That's enough, Ussopp." Chopper leaned over to help his sick friend as he coughed, "If you keep yelling like that-"

"Thanks," He pushed him to the side, "Now move. I'm not done yet. I'll just repair him like I always have. Oi, you guys come help too. Go buy some wood from the town, we've got a lot of work to do!"

"YOU'RE NOT A SHIPWRIGHT, USSOPP!" Luffy yelled causing more retaliation between the two, "Oh yea, well those workers won't go out on a limb to repair someone else's ship! I don't give a shit what some irresponsible shipwright who gives up after just one look says. This just shows us that we have to take care of our ship ourselves. I won't abandon this ship, have you all lost your minds?"

Standing up, Ussopp reached for Luffy's collar pulling him to look into his long-nosed face. "You're just spouting some oversimplified, senile bullshit while putting on airs about being a captain! I've misjudged you, LUFFY!"

"Wait Ussopp, Luffy feels the same-" Nami interrupted when Luffy interrupted her back, "Stay out of this, Nami! I've made my decision! I won't change my mind no matter what you say. We're getting a new ship!"

"Don't give me that shit!" Ussopp pulled the rubber boy closer, "Listen to me, Luffy! Not everyone can tolerate following someone like you forever! I'd never keep sailing if it meant leaving a wounded nakama behind."

"You're talking crazy! You can't treat a ship like it's a person even if it's our nakama!"

"Merry still has the power to go on! I know what you're thinking; you're hyped up about getting a new ship!"

Sanji had walked towards the two hoping his words would break them out of the fight, "Oi, guys! Let it go!"

"Everything you said about loving Merry was just empty words!"

That last sentence had pushed Luffy too far over the edge. Gasping and taking a frightening step back, Kimiko watched as Luffy threw the injured Ussopp to the ground. "That's ENOUGH out of you! Don't make it sound like you're the only one who's suffering! We all feel the same way!"

"Then how could you even think about changing ships!"

Luffy's brows narrowed to the center of his face while a vein popped outwards from how strong his frown had been. "Have it your way then! If you don't like how I do things, then you can just pack up-"

Luffy's yell was cut off from a black boot to the face pushing him into the wooden table and shattering it in the process. Kimi looked to the side at the fuming face of Sanji.

Never had Kimi seen his face so livid- as if his eyes were shooting Luffy with bullets from within. "You jackass…" He growled through his short breaths. "What were you about to say? Get over yourself, don't talk so carelessly! You hear me, Luffy!"

The tension continued to thicken as Sanji's breaths continued. When Kimi had first joined Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats she had a small conversation with the cook in the very same room she was standing in. He had made a comment about him and the crew each having different pasts and lives before Luffy came along. Now that they were together, their dreams (besides the ones they had before Luffy) were now to help him become the best.

Knowing how much Sanji and the others admired their Captain, to hear Luffy begin to say such a thing didn't seem real. As if he was replaced by someone else.

"I'm sorry." Luffy broke away from the rubble, "It just slipped out…"

"No, its okay, Luffy…" Ussopp began to say still lying on the ground. "That's what you really want, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Any nakama who can't pull their weight gets cut loose and left behind…If you're going to do that to Merry, then do it to me too!"

"Oi, Ussopp, don't say such stupid things!" Sanji snapped back.

"No, I mean it. I've done a lot of thinking about it. To tell the truth, I've known that I could never be as incredible as you guys. Just today, I couldn't even handle guarding some money. Where you're headed, I'll be nothing buy a burden!" Standing up, Ussopp turned to face Luffy still sitting in the pile of ruble in the corner of the room. "You don't need weak nakama, right? You're the man who'll be the Pirate King… well as for me, I don't need to go that far so there's no reason to sail together knowing we have different purposes!" He turned walking out the door.

"Where are you going, Ussopp?" Sanji questioned.

"I'll go wherever I want. It's none of your concern now. I'm leaving the crew." And with that he walked out of the threshold closing the door behind. Nami, Sanji and Chopper all ran after him while Kimi and Zoro continued to stand, Luffy still sitting in the rubble.

With her chin down on her chest, the blue-haired woman tried her best to contain the tears from seeping out of her eyes. It was hard- she had to be honest, but knowing how to hide her emotions as a child proved to work in her favor.

"What are you waiting for, Luffy?" Nami yelled, "Are you just going to let him go? Go after him!" After a pause and no response, the navigator continued, "We've come so far together. Are you sure you want to part ways like this? He is one of our nakama, right?"

Still Luffy refused to say a word.

"You're the captain right? STOP HIM! Please…Luffy? Why won't you say anything?" Standing and running out the door Kimi could hear Nami begging for Ussopp to return.

Sanji and Chopper followed suit yelling for their nakama's return as well.

A subtle movement forced Kimi's curiosity to look up at Luffy walking from out of the broken table. "Luffy…" She whispered but her thought drowned away as she followed him out of the door to the others, Zoro silently following behind her as well.

"Luffy…" Ussopp stopped walking from the unclaimed land docking the broken ship. "Because you're the Captain, the ship belongs to you. That leaves me only one alternative." He turned to face the crew on the ship. "Monkey D. Luffy, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"

With eyes widened and horrified, Kimi placed a hand over her mouth disbelieved by Ussopp's words. There was no way Ussopp could take Luffy on. Especially not in the poor condition he was in. Heck, Kimi doubted she could really even take on her captain.

"I'm going to beat you and take back the Merry. That will be the end of our relationship!"

With a nod, Luffy jumped from off of the ship, "You guys stay on the ship and don't come down! Got it?" He walked calmly to their fallen nakama. Kimi watched the two face each other down remembering the few favorite memories she had of Ussopp.

Inventing along side of him, examining the dials from Sky Island, fighting alongside of him in the first round of the Davy Back Fight, and just all the joking and fun he and the others had along her short time of the crew.

The crew was falling apart bit by bit…and Kimi only hoped it wasn't her bad luck that was forcing the Strawhats to disband.

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><p>Kimi couldn't sleep. She opened her eyes looking into the dark hotel room and sat up from her spot on the bed.<p>

After Luffy and Ussopp's gruesome duel and the sharpshooter's formidable defeat, the crew gathered up their supplies and rented a room in the town. Sanji had insisted he go keep watch on the ship in case Robin would return, so he was not in the room.

Luffy hadn't offered the others a single word since the fight. As soon as they gathered in the hotel room, he climbed out of the window to the roof above. Sitting against the wall that faced the widow, Zoro slept in his usual position, most likely keeping a watch on the door and window in case they were attacked.

Accompanying her on the bed lie a motionless Nami tucked underneath the blankets, while Chopper slept on the small lounge chair in the other corner.

After Kimi placed her trunk of belongings down, she fell onto the bed not even bothered with the sheets, clothes or shoes. She was upset, they all were. But now in the still darkness of the night her body would no longer allow her to rest soundly.

Sitting up and walking to the window, the blue-haired woman stood looking out towards the dark sky. The moon only offering her any sort of light. In the distance she could make out a figure -she assumed Luffy since she could see his hat- sitting on the roof of the building in front of them. Kimi attempted to spot her stars, Orion, but her eyes couldn't seem to focus on the sparkles in the skies.

Rubbing her eyes with a groan, Kimi hadn't known her vision was blocked by big salty tears until they rolled down her cheeks and her fingertips exposed from her gloves. Sniffing her tears away Kimi turned slowly back to her friends, Nami in the bed, Chopper on the couch, and Zoro on the floor.

And then she looked to her trunk…her father's notebook contained safely inside of it.

Tip-toeing carefully, Kimi made her way over to the trunk and retrieved her wallet, her father's notebook and her own, and a pen.

As she passed by Zoro sitting next to the door she braced herself for some type of questioning from the man. Sure enough a gentle tap of his sword on her shin stopped her in the moment.

With her fingertips frozen on the doorknob and the handle of his sword on her legs, Kimi only offered a gaze of her eyes to the swordsman. "I can't sleep…" her voice a gentle whisper, "I'm going down to the Lobby…"

Turning the rest of the knob, Zoro removed his sword from her leg silently allowing her to pass. "Don't worry…I'm not leaving either, I promise." With her last statement, Kimi walked through the threshold of the door closing it gently behind.

"Extra, extra! Read all about it! There was an assassination attempt on the hero of Water 7, Mayor Iceberg-san! This is an exclusive report on the incident!"

Kimi picked up one of the used papers on the street reading the headline: The City of Water is Shaking, Mayor Iceberg Targeted!

As she read the report silently standing in the streets along with other citizens, she couldn't help but listen in on some of the conversations.

"Is Iceberg-san okay?"

"This is horrible! Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"Who would do this? Who was the assailant!"

"There's no useful information in here! Hey paper boy! There is nothing helpful!"

"Mark my words, only pirates would be brazen enough to stoop this low!"

"Yea, we'd like nothing more than to catch them."

"Oh, there were some pirates causing a ruckus at Dock No. 1 yesterday, it was probably them!"

Hearing the false acquisitions about the pirate crew, Kimi used her best judgment to remove herself from the area as discreet as possible. She needed to bring back this information to the others quickly before the Strawhats were wrongly accused.

Adjusting her strides so that she walked down the street in a quick but non-suspicious manner, Kimi thought about Robin… She only hoped and prayed the reason she had not returned to the Merry yesterday evening was not due to this criminal act that would place the Strawhats in a compromised position.

A loud siren roaring from the streets of the vertical island stopped Kimi dead in her tracks. "Attention, this is the Water 7 weather forecast bureau. An Aqua Laguna warning is now in effect for all districts. Landfall at Water 7 will occur at half past midnight. Thank you."

Kimi moaned remembering the trio of teenagers yesterday talking about the Aqua Laguna. Whatever this incident was, it didn't sound promising if an official weather forecast declared a warning for all of the areas. "Now I have to get to Luffy and the others!" She began to run hoping she could make it in time.

As she turned the corner about two blocks away from the hotel, the young scientist stood still for a moment taking in a harsh and lapping breeze from behind. Frightened from the intense wind, Kimi fell into the side of the wall trying to contain her spinning thoughts from the past. "It's just from this Aqua Laguna…" She tried to reason an explanation for the wind so calm her irregular breathing. "It's not her…just the weather…" Her mind was beginning to meditate avoiding a panic attack in her already panic state of mind.

With her hand on her heart, Kimi took one last huff before she stood straight up to continue on with her journey. Just before she took another step forward, a hand snaked around her waist while another forcefully pulled her mouth and head back into the corners of the alley.

For a moment, Kimi didn't breathe. The thought that her sister had caught up to frightened the very core of the woman as she gave into the pulls behind. Her only thought was to hope for a miracle as she succumbed to the force.

But then a thought and crucial observation flash through Kimi's mind as the person behind her pulled her into what she could make out as a strong manly chest from behind her. This was a man dragging her back into the alley!

Proceeding now to kick and scratch at the man's arms and legs to fight off the attacker, Kimi kicked into survival mode and was about to bite the man's hand when she felt him pushed her up against the brick wall. His fist that was once around her waist now slammed on the side of her head while the other hand still covered her mouth. This man, though, he seemed familiar…as if he wouldn't harm Kimi despite the troublesome position she was placed in.

"I think he went this way!"

"Hurry, we need to find that dirty pirate!"

"Yosh, men! For Iceberg-san!"

Opening her sky blue eyes behind her glasses, Kimiko looked into the stern and tense face of the green-haired swordsman in her crew. In that moment, everything around the two became still as they looked into each other's eyes, waiting silently for the men to pass.

_ "Those men…they are after us…" _She nodded looking beyond her pinned position to the wall. To the men running pass the alley the two looked like a shadowed kissing couple that would not be of interest to the preoccupied men.

As their shuffling footsteps passed, Zoro released his hand over Kimi's mouth and his position from her all together. "Yosh…they are gone…" He muttered looking out the corner of the alley.

Kimi stood with her back still to the wall as if she were frozen in time. Feeling terrified, confused, and overall mentally strained was more than a mouthful to take in. After not even getting one ounce of sleep since she left the hotel room this morning and believing for a moment her sister had located her…it was taking a lot out on her mental and physical self.

Kimi bowed her head down trying her best to calm her shallow breaths while her blue bangs fluttered from her gasps. Zoro looked back at her feeling a bit guilty. "Oi. Sorry…I heard your voice and they were chasing me…why the hell are they chasing me?"

Looking up, Kimi nodded. "No, its fine…the Mayor of Water 7. He was attacked last night and they think we are the ones who hurt him. I guess they are chasing you because of your wanted ad…I was on my way to warn you all but I uh, got distracted." She pushed herself off the wall to look around the corner. "Where are the others?"

"Nami and Luffy went to investigate Iceberg. Chopper and Sanji went to look for Robin."

"Oh. Come on let's go back to the hotel and see if the others are there." Kimi insisted forcing Zoro to follow alongside. Whether he wanted to or not, Kimi was determined to let go of their little incident on the spot. "Why did you leave the hotel anyways?" She asked curiously trying to avoid any other type of apology.

Zoro only shrugged. "I was thirsty." His answer gained a soft giggle and smile in reply. "Oi, where did you get that?" Removing one of his hands from his pocket, Zoro pointed to Kimi's arm band stationed around her left arm.

She smiled, "I bought it."

"Oh." Was his only reply before the two were walking in silence again. Every so often the strong wind would blow causing Kimi to tense as a defensive reaction to her past. "Okay, the hotel is-"

"Oi! There he is!"

"Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!"

"She must be an accomplice to the Strawhat pirates as well."

"Get them!"

Zoro and Kimiko turned their heads to look back at another group of men trying to capture the infamous pirate. "Oi, this way!" the swordsman pulled Kimi's wrist to the left running down the alleys and corridors of the streets.

"Wait a second!" Kimi smiled as they ran, "Clone Clone distraction!" Two sets of Kimi and Zoro clones ran off in different directions to help spilt the men and distract them from the real targets.

"Heh, great job, Kimiko." Zoro let her hand down as they continued running until eventually they stopped in a very shadowed back alley.

Just like earlier another alarm sirens began to ring announcing more information on this weather phenomenon. "An Aqua Laguna warning is in effect for the entire island. Accordingly, the docks on shipbuilding island have been designated as a public shelter. Crowding is expected. Please seek shelter as soon as possible."

"Oh no…" Kimi rested on the brick trying to catch up to her breath after their sprint. "I hope…Ussopp…heard that warning…" She looked to her side at the uncaring man peaking from the walls. He was about to wave her forward when suddenly a newspaper flew into his face.

Startled from the piece of paper, Zoro backed slowly into the depths of the alley and removed the article from his face gasping as if it was suffocating him in the process. Kimi couldn't help but to giggle from his flushed façade.

"Oi, is this what you were talking about?" He ushered the article to the scientist for an explanation. She groaned in reply. "Well no…this is a _new_ paper." She looked to the three wanted posters of Luffy, Zoro, and Robin and the reason they and the rest of the Strawhats were being targeted. "Great…they think we are band of assassins."

"Oi, I heard something in there!" A voice called.

"There they are! Get them!"

"Oi! Run!" Zoro clutched Kimi's wrist once again pulling her into what seemed to be a never ending chase for their lives. Miraculously, the two ran into Luffy and Nami running away as well.

"Yo, Kimi, can't you trick them using your clones!" Luffy yelled with a hand over top of his hat. "I tried and they are just too smart! Keep running!"

Luffy and Nami turned down a corner while Kimi followed suit. With the stretch of Luffy's arm to pull Zoro down the right path the four neared an empty neighborhood.

"I have an idea!" Kimi smiled, "Luffy hide us underneath the bridge! I'll use my clones to pull them down another path while the coast is clear."

"Yosh!" The rubber captain smiled pulling the three into a sort of hug and then stretching his arms and legs to attach to the back side of the wall. Kimi, Nami, and Zoro rested still and quiet on his stomach.

The men's shuffling of feet could be heard from the hidden pirates as they entered through the opening. "Look there they are! After them!"

Kimi sat with her eyes closed concentrating on her duplicates of Luffy, Nami, Zoro and herself. It wasn't like she hadn't done something like this before in the past, it was just the fact that combined with the intensity of escape that made the moment frightening.

"Are they gone yet?" Luffy whispered strained from his task.

"Not yet." Zoro muttered.

"Just a bit longer…" Nami responded as the men ran above their heads over the bridge. Kimi kept a good connection between her and the clones as they ran pulling the men away from the area. She split the four of her clones down four different alley ways forcing the men to split up as well.

"Ah!" Luffy gasped releasing his grip on the bridge and forcing the four into the water. Of course, both Kimi and Luffy being devil fruit users, the two began to sink helplessly into the deepening water below.

Feeling that strong grip around her waist once more, Kimi felt her head somehow make it to the surface. With Luffy contain in Zoro's other hand and Kimi kept close Zoro chest, she couldn't help but blush at her rescuer. With an annoyed groan, Zoro flung the rubber boy out of the water and onto the street.

"Oh I thought it was you guys! Yay!" Chopper stood on the bridge with a smile. "I was looking for you all!"

"Are you alright?" Zoro asked swimming with Kimi to the side of the brick street helping her out of the water. Nami already had made her way to pounding Luffy for letting the bunch fall.

"Yes, uh thank you." Kimi looked into Zoro's eyes. The look he gave her as he pulled her onto the street made her heart beat faster for some reason.

_ "Odd.." _Kimi thought turning her head as the swordsman began to wring out his white shirt, "_I'll have to experiment with that emotion…that is when we aren't dealing with this madness…"_


	15. Burning Flames

**Sorry about the wait on this chapter. I realized that I had forgotten I needed another before I jumped to the one I already had done. Hope it's worth it though! Special thanks to Phoenix and The Silver Oak for their wonderful reviews!**

**-yesiamweird**

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><p>"Robin! I finally found you!"<p>

"Wait a minute…" Kimi ran from behind the swordsman walking into the room he had just cut through with the use of his katana. "Luffy?" She muttered noticing her rubber captain on the other side of the room with another man right behind him.

"Oi, Luffy, where the hell have you been?!" Zoro proceeded to yell while Nami and Chopper joined alongside of the female scientist. "Robin!"

Inside the room of Iceberg's mansion were four people and Robin standing alongside of them. The man Luffy had along with him apparently knew these four people and began to wail about how they had betrayed him and the Gallery-La company.

_"Oh, I see…These people must have worked for the shipwright company." _She thought recognizing the square-nosed man from the Merry yesterday.

"I remember that square nose…" Zoro whispered gaining a confirming nod from the blue-haired woman. "So you mean that there were assassins in the company?" Nami questioned to the woman but Kimi only placed a finger to her lips hoping that their silence would derive answers from the people in the room.

"Paulie," A man dressed in all black with a matching top hat began to speak, "The truth is that we are undercover Government agents. Well, I expect that you'll accept our apologies. We are nakama who have labored in shipbuilding together. Would you like to see me trample Iceberg's face?"

"This is a load of shit! I've had enough!" The blonde man, Paulie, began to yell. "You wanna make a fool out of me!?" He started to run forwards throwing a set of knives attached to a rope at the man. But as if the top-hat man had disappeared to retreat, he was seen in a split-second poking Paulie through his chest.

Kimi gasped for a moment and then held her arm out to protect Nami and Chopper behind her. No way was she allowing her friends to help while the situation was still unfavorable. As much as she knew it was killing Chopper to not help, the best thing they could do was analyze their enemies before attacking.

"Oi! Rope guy!" Luffy called out from the other side as Paulie fell to the floor.

"We have achieved power beyond the limits of human strength." The top-hat man started to say, "We have forged our bodies into weapons through years of training in an advanced style of martial arts- Rokushiki. One who learns all six will attain a strength level of 100 ninriki." Paulie tried to stand once more but was kept down from the man's hand. "In any event, we have to kill you. This saddens me, my friend." He stated colder than ice. Kimi could only stare completely mortified from the similar response she had been told as a child from her own sister.

_"Why are you hurting me? I said I was sorry!" The blue haired girl cried as she attempted to wipe the tears and dirt off of her face. "I only wanted to play with you sissy!"_

_The older girl scoffed striking her fist back down onto her little sisters head. "I don't like you! Can't you get that through your thick skull? You killed mom! How dare you think I would ever love you!"_

_Kimiko fell back into the dirt once again crying even louder. "Fine then…I'll just go back inside and-and-"_

_"No." The girl turned around with a small blade in her hands. "You won't do anything…I'm going to teach you a lesson here and now dear sister…a lesson you will never forget…" She took a hold onto Kimi's wrist with the knife hovering above her hand. "I don't want to do this, but it's the only way you'll understand sister. I'm sorry…"_

"LUFFY!" Nami and the other two screamed pulling Kimi out of her vision. She had apparently blacked out for the moment completely missing the fact her captain and the top-hat man had fought for a brief moment before Paulie was executed.

Shaking her head of the vision completely, Kimi held the top of her hand in the other rubbing it gently through the thick leather gloves. _"It was only a memory…" _She breathed calmly trying to meditate herself out from a panic attack creeping around the corner. _"Only a horrible memory…"_

She closed her eyes taking a deep breath and then opened them to witness Luffy yelling at the top-hat man for wanting to kill Paulie. "Oi Robin!" He redirected his statement towards his own nakama, "If you want to leave then tell me why!" Luffy's voice was stern, almost even sterner than when he and Ussopp had been fighting on the Merry.

"Yeah!" Nami added stepping forwards, "They work for the government, tell us!"The tension was thick. So think Kimi could cut through it with one of Zoro's swords.

"I already told Mr. Cook and Mr. Doctor that I was leaving. Didn't they tell you?"

"Of course we did!" The reindeer yelled back, "But I can't accept this either, why are you doing this Robin!?"

"To make my wish come true, a wish that would never come true if I went with you. If I can have it, then no sacrifice is too great." She responded with no emotion. It was almost as if she had gain the cruelty of Kimi's sister in the brief time they were apart. For a moment, Kimi looked around the room just to be sure her relative hadn't been there.

"Is that why you tried to frame your nakama as assassins?" Zoro spat out through gritting teeth.

"I have no obligation to tell you."

"Are you seriously considering this, Nico Robin?" A scratchy voice called from the bed in the room. It was then Kimi noticed a bloody and injured man lying on his stomach. That had to have been Iceberg-San, Kimi recognized him from the picture in the newspaper. "Do you know what you're about to do?"

"Keep quiet!" Robin waved her hand and with the use of her devil fruit a cluster of hands clutched Iceberg towards the ground causing a few pop's of his spine to fill the room. "I won't let anyone stop me."

"Oi, Robin! What are you doing? Do you really mean what you're saying?!" Luffy yelled back.

The top-hat man began to walk in front of Robin's figure, "I'm sorry but we are done now." He interrupted. "We're about to go looking for someone very important. And we must hurry now that we have no further business in this mansion, and no reason to ever see you again. Califa, how much time do we have?"

The woman on his side looked down at a pocket watch, "Two minutes, Lucci." She calmly replied.

"In two minutes this mansion will be engulfed in flames. We have to destroy the evidence, you see and a fire is the perfect pretense. If you don't want to be burned with the mansion, you will leave immediately. But of course, that may not be so easy."

Kimi almost began to wonder why it wouldn't be easy to escape when her question was answered from the stance the woman, Califa and the other two men, the one with the bull-horns hairstyle and the square-nosed man took in front of the bunch.

Nami raised her weapon into position while Zoro bent down clutching one of his swords in his palm. Kimi merely made a fist feeling the tightened leather wrapping around her hand. "It sounds like they're trying to get rid of us too…" Zoro nodded to the woman on his side. Kimi nodded, "And Robin seems to be in favor of their thoughts."

"Luffy," The swordsman turned to his captain. "Are you ready to let Robin leave the crew yet?"

"NO WAY!"

Lucci shook his head, "There's no need to shout." He calmly replied as Robin began to turn her back to the crew. "Flames will soon begin spreading from several rooms on the first floor. Well, pirates will certainly be to blame since it sounds like something they would do."

"Well then, I'll be on my way." Robin muttered loud enough for the rest of the room to hear. "Yes, you have completed your assignment. You are dismissed." Lucci nodded while she made her way towards the window behind. Both Nami and Chopper took a step forwards calling out to their disbanding crewmate.

"Where are you going?" Luffy yelled running forwards, "We just found you!" He charged towards the man with the bull-horn hairstyle while stretching and kicking him in the face. The man hadn't budged one bit after the attack was done. Angered, Luffy attempted to use his Gatling gun to strike him but no such luck occurred for the captain.

"He's so big, but he's dodging every single punch!" Chopper cried out.

Kimi looked to her side giving a stern look to the man, "Zoro…" Her lips made a thin frown, "Use your head." She warned and then looked back as Luffy attempted to punch the man. Instead, he had disappeared and then reappeared right behind him.

With the attempt to retaliate back, Luffy punched once again this time making the bull-man kick his legs up so that it appeared he was floating in the air. "What!?" Kimi took a step back trying to understand this style of technique. Lucci had said it was a six-style mastery, but what all did that include?!

The square-nose and woman ran behind Luffy kicking their legs simultaneously towards Kimi and the others. "Guys!" Zoro called to the three, "Get down!" He clutched onto Kimi's forearm dragging her down to the ground.

"Why-?" Nami started to say right as a harsh gust of wind ripped the walls in half taking Luffy along with it. Nami screamed loudly while Kimi and Chopper attempted to keep their mouths closed to ward off any thoughts the group would have of them being scared.

"Their kicks cut right through the wall!" Nami stated looking towards the broken door frame. "Our kicks are so fast that they form a blade of wind. That is the Rankyaku." Califa stated.

Kimi felt the warm hand around her arm let go while Zoro charged forward towards the square-nosed man he and she had met before. Defending himself, the man pulled out two square blades while Zoro only chose to attack with two. Kimi would have liked to watch the swordsman take down the fake shipwright but she had other things to focus and worry about.

Like Robin, for example.

"Clone, clone…" Kimi raised her hands outwards creating multiple clones of herself in the room. While the members of the government became distracted for the moment, Kimi chose to place one clone right in front of Robin as she pushed aside the doors to the window.

"Why?" The clone whispered to her nakama. "I know about the poneglyphs...is all of this just because of that?" The raven-haired woman continued walking forwards as if the clone hadn't existed. "I can help you, I can-"

"Achkkk!" The real Kimi cried as a hand tightened around her throat. It was a hand from Robin…her nakama trying to hurt her.

"Pleaseeeeee." Kimi kept her hold on the clone in front of her friend while the other mental control of the others started to fade. "Don'ttttttt leaveeeeeeee…"

A piercing jab at Kimi's arm forced her face first onto the floor. The mental control on her clones faded while she attempted to recover from the blood pouring out of her arm. "Wha?" She looked above at Califa with her one finger raised and a stream of blood pouring from it.

"We will never see each other again." Robin responded back causing all heads to turn to her. "Luffy," Zoro yelled cutting Kanku's swords in half, "Hurry and grab Robin now!"

"Oh, Roronoa, you must be getting overly confident if you're letting yourself get distracted." Kanku quickly applied the same technique Califa had on Kimi's arm to his chest. The swordsman fell in the next instant. "We have no need for bullets in order to pierce the human body."

Lucci held a grip on Luffy's face stopping him from nearing Robin any further. "Go, Nico Robin." He replied and she did just as told. She fell from the window disappearing in a blur of color.

Kimi sat up while Lucci tossed him towards the side. Their chances didn't seem positive at the moment, and worse of all the two minute countdown was expiring to the second.

"How can they be so strong?" Nami wondered aloud.

"We of CP9 have known that our lives exist only for the government to use." Lucci smiled, "And we have undergone the agonizing training required to overcome human barriers for as long as we can remember. That is how we four, who carry out the world government's most critical missions are immeasurable different from a ragtag pirate crew like yourselves."

"Lucci, it's time for us to leave." Califa walked towards the rest of the group away from Kimi and the others.

"Yes, but since they are here, let's show them something interesting before we go." He smiled and then his body began to double in size taking on the form of a monster…or rather…a cheetah? Kimi and the others gasped at the sight, "A devil fruit…" Kimi nodded holding onto her pulsating arm.

"What?! Kimi are you-" Nami started to argue, "Positive." The scientist replied back watching the Zoan-type devil fruit take effect.

"It's the neko neko fruit," Lucci nodded, "Model type: leopard."

Kimi could only stare at the enormously of the monster in front of them when suddenly a dark smoke began to fill the room. "The fire…" Kimi coughed from the smoke settling in her lungs. "We have to go." She nodded to Nami and Chopper and then looked to the opposite side as Paulie stood.

"I don't know what's with this Leopardman deal, but I won't let you lay a hand on Iceberg-san!"

"We have to dispose of you before we're engulfed in flames." Lucci took a step forward as Califa made a statement, "Lucci the shipwrights are heading up the stairs."

The leopard man raised his leg to kick and then a straight line appeared just above the ceiling. "Crap. He's trying to collapse the building!" Kimi stated jumping up from her kneeling position only to feel a strong force push her forwards in the middle of the floor.

"Chopper!" Nami called out as the roof fell on top of their savior. "No!" Kimi looked for any sign of movement from the rubble Chopper was buried underneath while attempting to stand to help her nakama when a call from her captain forced her to turn around instead.

Witnessing the sight in front of her, Kimi wished she hadn't… there was her captain being pierced into the air from one of Lucci's claws like you would do to a marshmallow just before roasting it in the fire. The Zoan-type threw Luffy to the ground licking the blood off of his finger like dessert on a spoon.

"Luffy?!" Kimi called out torn between saving her captain and saving the doctor. Unfortunately, she had no time saving him as Lucci picked the boy from his head throwing him out of the room into the dark sky ahead.

"You bastard." Zoro ran forwards with a sword held in his hand. His attack had no effect as the arm of the leopard remained intact. Kimi was about to clone the swordsman to deflect any attack Lucci would cause but she wasn't fast enough as his leg swung taking Zoro out through another wall and into the dark sky just like the captain.

"Zoro!" Nami yelled as Lucci watched with his back turned and quickly Kimi thought of a plan to escape the same fate. "You too…" the monster turned to Nami and Kimi outstretching his arms to hold onto their foreheads. Using the same force he had on the boys, the girls were thrown out of the window shattering the glass against their skin as it made contact and broke.

"We are finished." Lucci looked to his members of CP9 as they disappeared with the use of their ability to kick and levitate in mid-air.

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><p>"This woman…" Men from around the Galley-La headquarters huddled around the body of a certain red-haired lady. She looked like she had been through hell and back, with bruises, cuts, and debris all around her. "She's part of the Strawhats…I just know it." Another man stated.<p>

None of the men wanted to touch the girl, afraid that she _was_ dead…

"She was probably surrounded by flames and couldn't escape…" One man suggested.

"What should we do with her?" One asked. "Well, when she wakes, we'll make her tell us where the rest of them are!"

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><p>Iceberg's pet mouse cried out towards the tied up man. He couldn't even raise his head to tell the little creature his apologies towards their death. On his back, was his dear friend Paulie suffering just as much, maybe even more than he. The heat was getting to him. The burning in his lungs made it seem impossible for him to even try to stay alive, but then again being tied up didn't exactly help the situation either.<p>

His ears picked up a crashing noise in the distance and as much as he wanted to raise his head to witness his death, his body wouldn't obey.

A cough struck through his ears and for a moment he thought it was a joke, but then another cough ensued shortly after. "Don't-ack-worry…" A female's voice called above his head. A hand pulled his shoulder up and into the air while another hand found its way around his waist. "I-ack-won't-ack, let you-ack-kac- or him…die."

The voice sounded so familiar…where had he heard the voice before? His thoughts dwindled down as he felt the sharp cold breeze slap at his cheeks and then a thud as he and the woman landed on the hard ground.

"Wha?" He gasped opening his eyes as his body rolled from out of her arms and onto prickly soft grass. The blue-haired pirate woman was in front of him and just when he was about to thank her, she disappeared. Iceberg shook his head confused to think maybe she was also a part of the CP9 as well, but then he remembered she had the ability to clone herself as she had shown-off in the room earlier.

"Get them treatment now!" a man yelled.

"They're badly burned!"

"What about this woman? And the reindeer?"

"Treat her too! She saved their lives."


	16. Feelings

**Yay! New update! I'm excited for you all to read this one because there is more of the Kimi/Zoro interaction going on. :) And many thanks to Phoenix, hesmus, and ComicGeek for reviewing!**

**-yesiamweird**

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><p>"Paulie-san…" Kimi looked over the man's shoulder as he slouched forwards. "Are you alright?" She questioned briefly. Already knowing the type of pain he and she endured in the fight about an hour ago she was surprised he was even helping her look for Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.<p>

"Yes." He coughed standing back to an upright stance. "I'm fine."

His clothes said otherwise. Still stained with blood sweat and tears, Paulie stood in front of the blue-haired woman as if his injuries were a simple set of paper cuts.

"Oi! Paulie-san, look this way!" One of the men helping Kimi and the others search called out from the ledge of one of the buildings. The blonde man quickly ran forwards with Kimi tagging along behind.

"Wha the-?" Kimi gasped looking at the sight before her. When she and the others first arrived at Water 7, they only saw parts of the red roofed buildings flooded by the sea. Now, the buildings were completely exposed along with the bottom of the ocean… the tide had receded a couple of miles away.

"How can the tide fall so much?" Paulie questioned with the puff of his cigar.

"I've never seen anything like this!" Kimi gasped leaning over the ledge more. "Does this happen all the time?"

"Actually," One of the men scratched his head. "We've never seen anything like this either."

"What kind of monstrous waves are we in for?" Paulie's face was serious indicating the severity of the situation. Sanji, Zoro and Luffy still needed to be found soon. If not, they would perish in the tide. "The back street district will be wiped out for good…"

"I hope no one is still in there. Or else they are as good as dead." Another added.

Kimi rolled her eyes at that statement. Knowing the thick-skulled brains of her crewmates, it was most certain that they were down there…of course. Kimi went to stand on the ledge to explore the district for a few moments when a hand pulled her back down.

"What, are you crazy!?" Paulie yelled standing her back onto the brick rooftop. "You go out there and you're dead!"

"I know…" Kimi smiled looking over her shoulder towards the area. "And knowing my nakama, that's exactly where they are."

The man made a certain face for a moment and then released his grip on her forearm. Kimi charged forwards once again with Paulie's men yelling for her to stop or for him to go rescue her.

"Kimi!" Nami's voice called out from one of the rooftops. The blue-haired woman placed a hand above her eyes to get a good look at her crewmate. "I think I see Luffy stuck in between the building!"

Kimi nodded already knowing he would be in the strangest situations, "Do you need help?"

"No. Go look for Zoro! Sanji is on the sea-train with Robin so that leaves only Zoro left! Go, hurry!"

Kimi nodded continuing to search for the swordsman. Raising her hands above her chest, Kimi cloned herself in order to make her search more efficient. While her clones searched, Kimiko made her way back to Paulie and the others on higher ground.

"Anything?" The blonde brute muttered with a huff of his cigar.

"No…" Kimi closed her eyes trying to gain control of each and every clone she had created. "Wait!" She opened her eyes as one clone focused in on her reindeer friend.

"Chopper!" The clone of Kimi called out. "Chopper, what are you doing?" He was on another rooftop overlooking the city.

"Kimiko!" The doctor smiled with Zoro's sword still attached to his back. "Look over there…those guys were telling me that's a sea anemone stuck in the chimney…" The clone focused in on the spot he was talking about. "But why would it be stuck, in a chimney?"

Kimi made the clone focus more and more on the spot and the object when both she and Chopper gasped. "ZORO!" Like a speeding bullet, Chopper took off of the rooftop down towards the same district Nami was traveling in.

"Crap." Kimi released her control on her clones standing back on the ledge to watch her friends. "They found them both…I have to go down there and-"

"No." Paulie stopped her once again from going into the district. "Look!" He pointed towards the tide now beginning to wave out in the distance. "In about a minute those waves will come crashing back onto Water 7. You can't make it back in time!"

"Then neither can my nakama!" Kimi ripped herself out of his grasp only to fall back into it once again. "Let me go! I have to save my friends. I have to help! Let go!"

"No!" He yelled back holding his weight upon her shoulders.

"Why do you care!?" Kimi screamed back looking up at the man as rain droplets engulfed her cheeks and forehead.

"Because…" He puffed out a small cloud of smoke to the side in order to not be rude and blow it in front of her face. "You saved my life. I save yours. A life for a life."

Kimi had been struck aback by his comment. Yes, she had saved his life by helping him and Iceberg out of the burning building but if she wasn't already inside, she wouldn't have fought to go back in and save them. She had only been focused on saving Chopper, and retrieving Zoro's sword. Iceberg and Paulie just happened to be lucky she wasn't as cruel of a person as her sister was.

"LUFFYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Kimi turned her head towards Nami's voice in the distance. She couldn't make out the rest of the words Nami and Luffy were exchanging but she imagined she was telling him of the truth of Robin's absence. Surely the truth of their nakama would force Luffy to break free of his captivity from in between the two buildings.

"Damn! It really is several times higher than usual!" One of the men behind Kimi stated distracting Paulie and Kimi from their argument. The wave towering above the decrypted city was nearing. Nami and Chopper would be caught in the fierceness of the beast.

"NAMI!" Kimi called out griping onto the ledge, "CHOPPER!" Her tears were cascading down her cheeks but she couldn't tell from all of the rain wetting her body. "ZORO, LUFFY! WE HAVE TO SAVE ROBIN!"

"Look at the waves!"

"Hold onto something!"

"It's huge!"

"It's too late!"

Kimi just couldn't pull herself to look away. She had to witness the event. And it was a good thing she did, the building Luffy had been stuck between split apart and just on the other side the building Chopper had gone to also smashed into bits indicating Zoro had been freed as well.

"Who the hell are these guys?!"

"LUFFY!" Kimi called out waving her arms above her head as he and Nami attempted to hop on building to building in order to escape the destruction. Chopper had in his arms the green haired man as well. "TO THE BRIDGE! HURRY!" Kimi screamed pushing from underneath Paulie's grasp down the brick stairs towards her nakama.

They were safe, she thought with a huge smile plastered on her face, they would get back Robin and their crew would be complete again!

"Oi, Kimi!" A hand pushed the woman back and onto the ground. Just when she was about to yell at Paulie for pushing her away from her friends once again, she understood why he reacted in such a way.

The waves of the Aqua Laguna crashed on the bridge taking her crewmates with them. But Paulie had been quick enough using the skillful rope technique to pull her friends back to safety. "Run!" He gasped as soon as the four were safe. "Head to Shipbuilding Island!" Paulie's arm wrapped around Kimi's small waist as he and the other's ran up the staircase to higher ground. As soon as they were safe, Kimi fell to her knees. "Damn, you guys sure are reckless." Paulie spat out while trying to light another cigar.

She only giggled with a slight nod while Zoro attempted to pry off Chopper's hold on his head. "Thank you."

"Like I said." Paulie nodded.

"Thanks. You saved our lives, rope guy." Luffy fell to the ground with a sigh.

"I can't believe this. So this is the terrible Agua Laguna?" Nami questioned trying to warm her wet and cold arms.

"If the waves were that large every year, this island would have perished long ago. This year is an exception…" Paulie looked to the navigator.

"You guys sure have impressed me," I strange voice called from the side. "I can't believe you survived that!" It was the woman from the train station, Koroko. "Monster Granny!" Luffy started to say, "You're on the island too?!"

"You bet I am! If I was out at sea, I'd be a floating corpse by now!" She laughed, that smile on her face was just a tad bit too creepy for anyone's liking, but she still made Kimi smile.

"Yo! Pirate Bro!" The little girl and her bunny ran behind the overly-large woman, "That giant push was so cool!"

"Thanks."

"I nearly suffocated!" Zoro yelled finally removing Chopper from off of his face. "You dumbass, you lost consciousness while you were clinging to me!"

Kimi couldn't hold in her giggle but she placed a hand over her mouth in order to be somewhat polite to the swordsman. Paulie looked down at her and then back at the two she was laughing at.

"Wait, I just thought of something, Zoro!" Luffy smiled, "Why were you running from the wave? Were you down there too?"

"Huh?" The swordsman attempted to play off his position, "No, not really."

"He was stuck in a chimney! Kimiko and I saw him!" Chopper replied gaining the said man to strangle him. "Zoro is so stupid! How did you get stuck-" Luffy taunted the green-haired man when Nami began to pull on his face stretching it out.

"You think you're one to talk!?" She yelled.

Kimi continued giggling enjoying the light-heart moment of their desperate situation. As she ended her escapade, she wiped away the wet rain from her face looking into a concerning look from Zoro. She figured he was trying to act tough despite her finding him in a chimney. But then she noticed he was looking to the side of her instead, towards Paulie.

With a quick glance of his eyes, his attention went from him to her and then back to him until Nami started to say something about Sanji.

Not sure why the swordsman would be concerned about her and Paulie, she then noticed how close the two were sitting next to each other. Plus the fact he had rescued her from the Aqua Laguna in front of the crew…was this Zoro's way of being overprotective of his crew mate? She shook the thought away figuring he was probably grateful Paulie had saved them in the first place.

"I have a lot to tell you, and you too, Zoro. Pay attention!"

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><p>Kimi felt uneasy as she, Nami, Luffy, Chopper, Zoro , Franky's family, and Paulie and his friends all gathered in the sea train Kukoru had in her storage area agreeing to be comrades and fight together to save Robin from Enis Lobby. After that terrifying trip to get the train out of its station and then onto the tracks, combined with Luffy and Zoro's slice through Aqua Laguna, Kimi figured she never have the hiccups ever again.<p>

They had been traveling fast in the small sea train to try to catch up to Robin on the other sea train and after talking to Sanji through the den den mushi, Luffy gave him the word to take on the enemies on board.

Kimi sat with her knees tucked to her chest on the floor staring aimlessly at nothing. She and Chopper had found their spot due to the crowdedness in the cart. The Franky crew along with Galley-La workers and the Pirates made it uncomfortably cramped. A shoe kicked Kimi's leg and the scientist looked up to see the navigator with a grey sack around her arm.

"Yosh! I have some new clothes for us!" Nami threw the bag on the floor waving for Luffy and Zoro to make their way over to the area.

"New clothes?" Kimi tilted her head in confusion by the navigator's statement. "What for?" She looked over at the green haired swordsman with an eye brow raised.

"For battle of course, Kimi!" Nami huffed and then examined the three pieces of clothing being held in her hands. "Now change quickly!" The scientist looked at her own outfit confused as to why she would change into a new one. She was still wearing the pair of skin tight black pants, Nami's green spaghetti strap tank, her brown boots, the black leather arm band and her usual black fingerless gloves. Why did she need to change? She looked just fine… then Kimi thought about the fact she had been wearing the same clothes since the day they first arrived on Water 7 two days ago. Plus the added in factor she wore these clothes during the fight at Iceberg's and in the rain looking for Luffy and Zoro.

On second thought, maybe it _was_ a good idea to change.

Luffy handed the bag to Zoro and then he handed it to Kimi as she prayed to herself that Nami had at least picked out a decent outfit for her taste. She pulled out what was left and frowned. "Um, Nami-san?" Kimi held a pair of short (and by short –meaning underwear boy shorts- short!) blue denim shorts in the air frowning. "I am not wearing this-" She looked over at her female crew member and blushed as she watched Nami blatantly change in front of her and the rest of the men and crew in the small single train cart.

"Yosh! I am ready for battle!" Nami declared as she threw on her last piece of her outfit, a blue denim cropped jacket.

"What's wrong with you changing in here? You disgraceful woman!" Paulie yelled at the orange-haired woman after she finished. "Nice and ungrateful!" The other men held their bloody noses along with a thumbs up gesture.

Nami pouted, "I have no other option! There is only one car!"

"Cover your stomach and legs!" Paulie turned to Mozu and Kiwi, "You guys, too! You are the ones that make society go downhill!"

"Shut up, shy boy!" Kiwi pointed to the blushing blonde man, "Shy boy!" Mozu added. The reaction of Paulie was hysterical as the blush burning on his cheeks seemed to evaporate his cigar between his teeth.

"Heh heh heh, maybe I should change also." Koroko laughed. The men that had been infatuated with Nami, bowed respectively, "Please save us the agony."

Kimi shook her head and looked back to the shorts still held in her hands. Her head lowered into her lap. "Why me?" She sighed and then looked up at a soft chuckle from the swordsman. "Having a wardrobe malfunction?" He assumed.

Kimi stood from her sitting position and showed the man her shorts, "I'm not going to wear this!" She looked back at Nami with an even bigger frown, "Why would you pack me this?"

"Oi! Because, Kimiko! You are a woman and you need to show off what you got!" Nami smiled sticking her tongue out. "NO! You are disgraceful!" Paulie argued with an even brighter red blush.

"Well…" Kimi sighed walking pass the swordsman into a corner while picking up the bag left on the ground. "At least I won't be showing off 'what I got' to the cart. Excuse me!" She placed her hands in front of her body and called out the help from her clones to protect her figure from the others while she changed.

"See now at least there is one decent girl on this train!" Paulie snickered and then Kimi heard the familiar sound of a punch. Most likely given from Nami.

After changing, the modest scientist looked down at her new outfit and she almost liked what she had changed into…almost. Instead of wearing the shorts Nami had packed she continued to wear her skin tight black pants and replaced her boots with the black sandals Nami had picked out. For her top, however, she changed from the green tank and into a black corset top with short sleeves. The top might have showed a little too much cleavage for the scientist, but she figured it was better than wearing her dirty and smelly tank top. Plus, by the way Nami and Robin dressed, she needed to catch up- in a decent way though.

Her clones disappeared and Kimi walked out placing her glasses back onto her face ignoring the dumbfounded and smitten looks from the men. She huffed and pulled out her hair from its bun and brushed through her blue strands with her hands.

"Yosh! See Kimi, much better!" Nami giggled and then continued on with what she had been doing before Kimi finished.

"Ugh, I feel so exposed in this outfit." Kimi brushed her wavy hair behind her back and shivered at the cold that exposed her arms.

"Why is that?" Zoro looked over at the girl with his arms crossed. He had changed into a yellow jacket and like Nami and Robin, he was exposing his chest. Unlike the girls, however, Zoro had a predominate scar that spanned his whole torso. Kimi had made a note to ask him how he had gotten the scar, but she knew now was not the time to do so.

"Oh I don't know…I'm not used to wearing clothes that show off everything…" Kimi sighed and twirled her hair and secured it back into her usual bun.

She looked up at the smirking swordsman and didn't know exactly what to call the look on his face. Was it happiness or content? She could not tell…that was until he closed his eyes and crossed his arms, "You look fine." He simply responded and then opened his eyes slightly smiling at the attractive woman.

Even though she was so brilliant and so smart, when it came to human emotions and feelings, Kimiko couldn't understand most of Zoro's hints. He decided it was another thing about Tomoko Kimiko that he liked.


	17. Fight to Save Our Nakama

**Yay, so I've updated! Sorry about the wait my life has been SO hectic! I had to split this chapter in half, so I have the next chapter ready! So make sure you comment to push me to update! ;) Thanks to Phoenix, camierose, MidoriPoet, and ComicGeek for the awesome comments!**

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><p>"What the-?" Kimi looked down at the brick floor that seemed to bugle underneath her feet. Distracted from the nervous feeling of the floor, the guards standing in front and attacking her, Nami and Chopper went to strike when all of a sudden they fell with the collapsing floor.<p>

"This place is so dangerous!" Chopper yelled pushing the two woman back from the hole now turning into a vertical tornado to the ceiling. "What is going on?!" He yelled once more as the swirling wind took over the three pirates pulling them into the swirling vortex now rising them to the broken and many stories of ceilings.

Within a few more moments of chaos, the wind settled down and Kimi had a view of a blue sky and white fluffy clouds. She realized that her and the other two were falling down from the tornado-like wind onto the top ceiling of the tower.

With a twirl, Kimi landed on her feet while Nami landed right beside her crouched down in a fixed position, "Landed it!" She proudly announced just as Chopper fell messily onto his side after the fall.

"And then if you want to die," Luffy's voice pulled Kimi from her giggling of the pirate doctor, "Then you can after we save you!"

"Ouch, that hurt." The reindeer stated sitting up and rubbing his head. "Are you alright, Chopper?" Kimi asked concerned. "Oh yea, I'm fine. But I wonder what that thing was just now?"

"I can somewhat imagine…" Nami pouted crossing her arms. Looking up towards the on-looking tower, Kimi noticed the CP9 members from Iceberg's room yesterday, plus a couple of unfamiliar faces and bodies standing on the ledge of the building. Robin stood on the side of them while a man with an iron mask smiled proudly next to her.

"Ahhh, I should have climbed up this way from the start…" The voice of the green-haired swordsman muttered from the hole behind Kimi's back. Turning her head to look in his direction, she couldn't help but smile as Nami accused him of their torture jut before. Suddenly, another hole broke through on the other side and a black suited Sanji twirled from out of the dust.

"I am certainly the first one here set to save Robin-chan…" Sanji stated as he landed behind Zoro, "I am here to- AH! Marimo! Why the hell did you get here before me!?"

"Ah, you're pretty late getting here. Did you get lost?"

Sanji began to laugh offensively, "How the hell did you even learn _that _word?!"

A screaming yell turned the focus to a person flying through the air. "Sogeking!" Chopper exclaimed.

"He's flying through the air."

"I wonder if he'll land safely."

The enthusiasm and concern from Zoro and Sanji had clearly been non-existent making Kimi nervous for her crewmate. "Clone clone!" Kimi placed her hands out in front of her chest and cloned a pile of soft leaves in the area Sogeking had been landing. On target, the masked sharpshooter fell into the pile scattering the green leaves around the roof. With the opening of her eyes, the leaves disappeared and Ussopp rolled from off the pile.

"Kimi-swan is just so sweet!" Sanji held his hands together raving over the blue-haired woman.

"I don't care whatever you say, Robin!" Luffy's voice pulled the crew towards the ledge. "Say that when you are by our sides."

Looking up from Ussopp on the floor, Kimi stared into the teary eyes of the raven-haired woman on the opposite building. Never since Kimi had joined did she see Robin reveal any type of emotion towards the crew. But now, standing a mile away from her, Kimi could clearly see the love and the fear that Robin really didn't want to leave or die.

"Oi, Sogeking." Zoro muttered. "Can you stand?"

The masked man sat up with a small bit of struggle, "Of course. A small fall like that won't stop me!"

With a nod as he stood, the crew and Kimi walked to the ledge Luffy was standing on. They all walked at a slow and steady pace not saying a word as the joined their captain. Standing next to Zoro on the ledge, Kimi looked up at her nakama with her hands stuffed in her pockets and a confident smirk on her lips.

"Leave the rest to us!" The captain screamed across the way. "Sogeking…" He whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Make that flag burst into flames."

With a nod and a straight dead on shot, the sharpshooter had a direct target on the flag of the world government. "Done." He proudly responded.

"ROBIN! I still haven't heard it from your mouth! SAY YOU WANT TO LIVE!" Luffy screamed so loudly that his voice echoed in the open space. From the way Robin was contemplating her thoughts, it seemed as if she still wanted to die.

And then in the next moment, Robin yelled at the top of her lungs, "I WANT TO LIVE! TAKE ME OUT TO THE SEA WITH YOU!"

Tomoko Kimiko knew in that moment what she needed to do for her nakama… stretching her fingers out in front, the blue-haired woman smiled at the confident feeling of the stretch of leather gloves.

"Let's go!"

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><p>Birds chirped as Sogeking and Kimiko walked into the garden type of room. Their mission: to rescue Robin from her sea prism stone handcuffs with a key one of the CP9 members had.<p>

"Oi, Kimi-san. Go and get the key!" Ussopp now hiding behind the mask of Sogeking commanded in a whisper.

"Yea right!" Kimi whispered back and then looked back at the man sleeping in front of one of the keys. "Fine!" He nodded and began to tip-toe his way over to the sleeping CP9 member.

Kimi watched holding her breath as he walked quietly towards the enemy and then held her breath as his nose bubble popped making Sogeking back away. Jyabura, the CP9 member, turned over his shoulder at the partial sleep disturbance leaving the key wide open behind his back.

Kimi slapped her forehead and then cloned herself right in front of where the key lay behind the man in the hopes of rescuing Robin faster. And put an end to Sogeking's carelessness.

Speaking of, Sogeking had let out a cry as a bumblebee stung him causing the CP9 member to wake from his sleep and attack the Kimi clone about to take the key. Kimi made a point to give the masked Ussopp a death glare and then looked back at the man.

"Ah so you have challenged me huh?" The CP9 member stood to his feet examining Kimi and Sogeking.

"Yes! Now give us the key!" Kimiko yelled getting ready to attack.

"Oh, you're the one who shot the government flag down huh?" the man picked up his sake jug and drank from it while eyeing Ussopp evilly. "You have a good arm!" And then suddenly Ussopp was sent flying through the air to the brick wall. "Sogeking!" Kimi looked behind her back at her nakama and then quickly defended herself from the man. "And you so beautiful. I'm not sure I can bring myself to hurt a woman such as yourself."

Kimi smirked. "You'd better. I'm one tough cookie to bring down." She held her right hand up to defend her face just in case he decided to attack her as well. Just then the man began to transform into a human-wolf form almost similar to Lucci's leopard form from before.

"Well despite the way I look, I don't like to torture." The wolf-man laughed looking devilishly towards the blue-haired woman. "All I have to do is cut your windpipe and it'll be over. If you're gonna die then there's no reason to suffer. It's a shame though. You could make a beautiful wife…but as orders, I must kill you!"

"A wolf?!" Ussopp ran next to Kimi with his slingshot ready. "What's this? You wanna fight?" The wolf laughed just about to make a move when all of a sudden the ceiling began to crumble from above.

"Sogeking!" Kimi ran to her nakama and pushed him out of the way from the giant pieces of brick and debris falling towards them.

"Hahaha Kaku! Your new power is so hilarious!" The wolf laughed not phased at all from the destruction above making Kimi look up at a giraffe man and Zoro falling from above. She was quick enough to clone herself to catch Zoro but it disappeared from the harsh landing afterwards.

Running towards the swordsman and leaving Sogeking behind, Kimi watched as the two Zoan fruit users taunted each other on their power. It was somewhat cruel, but it gave Kimi an opportunity to think about how to defeat, now, two CP9 members. That was, until Zoro directed the attention towards him and her. "Oi, how long do you plan to keep arguing there? I already told you I don't have the time!" He held one of his three swords in his hands and took a defensive stance causing Kimi to sigh at her ruined plan of secret attack.

"Do you underestimate the power of a giraffe?" Kaku smirked and then his body seemed to transform even more in his giraffe form.

"You look like shit!" Zoro yelled out causing Kimi to drop to the floor.

"What!?" Kaku screeched and then Jyabura, the wolf-man, began to laugh even more. "How long are you going to keep laughing at me, Jyabura?" The wolf-man tried to keep his laughter in but he could not contain it as he tumbled on the ground and began to roll around the garden area.

_'Why are all his body-parts square like his nose?'_ Kimi thought crossing her arms, _'Giraffes aren't square?' _ Just then a clanking noise next to her made the woman look to the swordsman.

"Oi! What the hell is this!?" He held his hand up at the pair of steal handcuffs secured tightly on his wrist.

Sogeking screeched from the other side of the room. "Opps! Sorry Zoro-kun! My hand slipped. I thought if I handcuffed those two with the devil fruit abilities they would become weak, but the giraffe's face is so hilarious!" he giggled pointing to Kaku.

"No doubt!" Jyabura laughed once again.

"Danm you! All of you!" Kaku growled and then began to twirl on one of his hands rapidly creating a thick wind in the room.

Zoro ran to Kimi picking her up by her waist and then continued running towards Ussopp dragging them to the ground. "Get down!" He pushed them both on the ground and covered the two with his body causing Kimi to be awkwardly in the middle of the two men. The entire building shook and within seconds the ceiling above titled and slid from off of it base. Kimi gasped at the pure strength of the man; even if he was a giraffe he was very powerful and not to be teased.

Zoro opened his eyes and looked into the woman's opposing sky blue eyes for a moment. Kimi felt strange in that moment that Zoro had been looking into her soul in a way making it hard for her to inhale. With a small shake of his head, he pushed his chest off of hers to sit up and face their enemies Kimi gasped throwing herself off of Ussopp and to a sitting position. "He's so strong! His centrifugal force is aided by his new ability!" She looked at the smiling giraffe man.

"I see." Zoro nodded and then stood to his feet, but as his did so, Kimi felt a pinching feeling capturing her wrist and pulling upwards as Zoro moved. "Ouch!" She cried and then looked to her left wrist and gasped in horror. The added sensation of feeling unbelievably weak could NOT be a good sign combined with the fact she and Zoro had been captured.

"No matter how sharp your blade has gotten that doesn't scare me one bit- Oi!" Zoro felt the same sensation of his wrist behind held down like Kimi's had.

"Ussopp!" Kimi yelled evilly with fangs growing out of her teeth. "Look what you did!" She growled.

"Oi! Kimiko, what the hell!?" The swordsman yelled at the woman.

She hit the top of his head and yelled back. "What!? It's not my fault you got handcuffed in the first place!"

"Well you were just standing there hopelessly during his attack! What was I supposed to do?! Let it hit you!?" he yelled back and then looked to the masked Ussopp, "Fix this! It's your fault!" He continued to yell back and forth with Ussopp while Kimi shook her blue-haired head.

"Listen! In the end, we are in the same situation like Robin. The only way to get us out of this mess is to find the key that will open these cuffs!" She looked to the two enemies before her. "Do you have the key for these handcuffs?" She asked sweetly hoping they could free her and the swordsman.

"Depends. What number cuffs do you have?" Kaku responded.

The woman looked around lifting her hand, and Zoro's hand, to her view. "Number two!" She smiled praying one of them had the correct key. They looked down at the keys in each of their hands and frowned.

"Not mine."

"Mine either."

"Damn it! After getting our hopes up they tell us this!" Zoro yelled and then looked over at the woman. "Can you use your power at all?" He wondered.

Kimi shook her head. "No, I can barely stand…this prism is so strong." She grimaced and then looked back at her enemies.

"So I guess who ever get the kill first wins." Jyabura nodded and then took a stance in his wolf form.

Kimi turned her head over her shoulder, "Ussopp! One of the other CP9 members must have the key! Go find it! NOW!" She yelled trying to intimidate the intensity of Nami. Apparently it worked since he ran off into the shadows of the hallway immediately.

Kimi looked back towards the animal Devil Fruit men and then gasped as she felt something snake around her waist and then pulled her up into the air and onto something sturdy. She blinked twice and then noticed the back of Zoro's yellow jacket below her. "Wha-?" The swordsman had picked her up over his shoulder in the heat of the moment while the two Zoan devil fruit type users chased the two throughout the Japanese garden field.

She gasped and then huffed feeling the oxygen puff out from her lungs at a rapid and bouncy jog from underneath her pelvis. "Zoro!" Kimi tried to free herself from his hold but it had been no use. "Let me down!" She cried and yet more and more attacks seemed to barely miss the two.

He ignored her constant pleas and weak hits from her free arm on his back. There was no way the two could out-run the CP9 men while Kimi had the weakening power of the sea clutched around her wrists. Zoro ran across a red bridge and then noticed the two CP9 enemies had stopped chasing him and began to fight with one another like they had done before he and she had been tied together.

"Zoro!" Kimi whined in a whisper, "Put me down, now!" She sternly argued and he reluctantly agreed after being a safe enough distance from the two.

He and she watched for a brief moment as the two CP9 members yelled at one another until Zoro's attention turned to a now widely grinning Kimiko. An idea had sparked in the heat of the moment her brilliant mind.

"Oh really? You want to see which is stronger? The Giraffe or Wolf?" She yelled causing the two men look towards her and Zoro pausing their argument. "You wanna see them fight? Wow, me too!"

"No, not really." Zoro muttered but Kimi placed her free hand over his mouth. "This coming from the man who used to be the best pirate hunter of the sea, you think the wolf is stronger? Really?" She bluffed feeling like Ussopp in the heat of the moment. If she could make the two CP9 members fight one another than it would just be enough time for her and Zoro to escape. "Well I think the giraffe is pretty strong too, after all, he did cut the building!"

Just as planned, the two Zoan fruit users started another fight, this one over who would win in a fight with the other. "Oh you want those two to fight so that we can escape, huh?" Zoro apparently understood Kimi's plan but spoke aloud his words just a bit too loudly making the CP9 members stop their argument and stare at Kimi and the swordsman.

Slapping her face Kimi shook her head. _'How can he be so powerful and yet so dumb at the same time…just like Luffy…' _ She sweat-dropped and then looked up. "Be quiet this time!" She shushed the man and then looked to the two animals.

"Well, besides being powerful, I wonder which one would win a woman's heart?!" She giggled innocently. "Giraffe are so cute, but wolves are so fierce and strong!? Which one do you think would be better for a girl like me, Zoro-kun!?" Kimi giggled once again this time trying to be sexy like Nami.

The fact of Kimi's innocent and yet, seductive sentence caused Zoro to blush at her while the two animals fought once more. "Hurry, Zoro! Let's get out of here-" She tried to run but instead her left arm being contained in the handcuffs would not budge causing her to be pulled back into her position from before.

"I have an idea, Kimiko." Zoro bluntly responded. "I'll just cut my hand off so that we can be separated from this prison."

"WHAT!?" Kimi hit the top of his head, weakly, "How can you say that with such a straight face!" She yelled at the thick-headed man. Zoro rubbed the spot on his head, "Wait, I'm not done! I'll just run over to Chopper and then he'll sew my hand back on!"

"You're not a doll, Zoro!" She yelled using what was left of her strength to pull his free hand towards her, "Hurry and shut up!"

They ran together for a few paces when Zoro stopped causing Kimi to be pulled back to him just as before. "Wait! I have another idea!" Zoro growled while his face turned black from the ghastly thought rampaging in his head.

"NO!" Kimi smacked his face once again and sweat-dropped. "You're ideas are mental!" She cried.

In a moment, the entire room became still for the blue-haired woman as she felt her breathing, and heartbeat, increase as Zoro held her in position in front of his body. Her cuffed hand had been jerked behind her back while Zoro's similar cuffed hand held her waist protectively. His chest predominantly protected her back making Kimi blush at the close connection between the two.

"Take this." He demanded giving Kimi with his free hand one of his black swords into her right hand, the one free from the cuffs. "What!?" She gasped taking the heavy sword. "I can't-"

"You can." He nodded pulling out the other two swords into their positions. "Just believe in yourself." He talked through the mouthful of his white katana and grinned.

"No…seriously. I can't, Zoro. The handcuff is taking away all of the strength I have. I can barely stand." She looked cautiously as the sword shimmered in the sunlight from the sliced rooftop. It was such a beautiful sword but it was heavier than she imagined and after holding it for a few seconds was already tiring her out unbelievably.

"You don't have to do much." He growled and then took a stance while Kimi stood there hopelessly in front of him.

"You better not cut my neck with that sword in your mouth!" She warned the man and he grinned bigger. "I won't." He simply responded back.

"Ha! You two are ridiculous!" Jyabura laughed while Kaku shook his head. "I didn't want to harm the lady, but I guess I have to now…" he frowned.

Kimi gulped not sure what exactly to do at this point, usually she was good, if not the best, at figuring out plans in her head to escape a certain doom. She got it from trying to avoid attacks from her vicious sister and the Marines that so often visited her and her father. But now…she was stuck in a position she had not one clue how to get herself free.

Feeling Zoro bend his knees and hold his Katana in his left hand just so, Kimi panicked and crouched down holding the sword in her hand as well. "Oni…" Zoro whispered this time making Kimi cry, "You can't be serious!?" But he was and using the hand securely and purposely holding her waist, he pushed her forwards trying to make her run to attack.

But Kimi held her ground despite the pinches from Zoro and the tired feeling almost shutting down her body. Growling through the sword in his mouth, Zoro sighed, "Guess I'll just have to cut my hand off then…that's the only way to be free."

"Don't be an idiot! Please? For two seconds just give me time to think!" She whined once more but her thoughts were pushed aside as Kaku began to spin around rapidly as he had done before when the building split in half. "No time!" Zoro pulled his hand around her waist tightly to his lower half clutching onto her stomach and jumped into the air avoiding the attack.

Although screaming was not the best way to get out of the situation, it was the only thing Kimi could do at the moment as she flew in the room with the swordsman at her back. As they landed Kimi's knees buckled and she fell while her arm hung hopelessly behind her back. "You are so weak." Zoro muttered making Kimi shake her head.

_'I know I am…I just can't seem to catch up to my breath…'_ She tried to breathe deeply, feeling a panic attack from the anxiety and strain of fighting began to latch onto her small body. "I'm sorry…" She held the sword in her hand tightly and using all her might stood back in front of Zoro.

"Just fight." He nodded and eyed Kaku as he begun to twirl around once again. Just as he was about to leap forward, despite if the woman in front of him had wanted him to or not, Kimi dropped his sword causing it to be carried off in the increasing wind behind the couple. "OI!" He yelled and jumped behind to get her to catch the Katana before it broke or ventured too far.

Taking the opportunity, Jyabura punched the ground barely missing Kimi as Zoro jumped backwards. Kaku did the same but missed as well while Zoro pulled the woman back even further. He heard her gasp for a second but his mind was focused on his precious sword.

"Grab it!" He yelled to the woman and she reached her gloved hand to the sword clutching it in her hand. "Don't let go next time!" he muttered and focused back on the fight.

"Zoro…" Kimi gasped and panted. "I-I…"

"Damnit. It would just be easier if I just cut my hand off- and where the hell is Ussopp with the keys?!" He paid no attention to her plea and instead looked around for his masked nakama.

"Zoro!" She gasped again making him turn his head in front of her blue-haired bun. By this point it was almost a ponytail from being thrown about so much.

"What!?" He yelled and then stopped as the worried expression plastered on her face told him the situation had just gone from worse to critical.

"He cut me…m-my leg…"


	18. A Promise

**Yay! Update! Sorry I left you guys with that mondo cliffhanger, but it had to be done! This chapter was just way too long! Hope you enjoy and special t****hanks to hellgirl-fan1, Phoenix, SoraLover987142, camierose for reviewing!**

**-yesiamweird**

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><p>"He cut me…m-my leg…"<p>

Zoro titled his head down to the right side of her lower half making his eyes bulge at the blood spewing out from her upper thigh. This was bad. Combined with this cut soaking through her black pants along with not being able to use her Devil Fruit ability, the woman was useless.

Too bad he couldn't just cut her hand off, but it wouldn't be worth the headache the crap cook would give him for 'harming' a woman. Chopper could just sew it back on. It would be easy for him.

"Heh, looks like I hit your target, Jyabura!" Kaku smirked and then looked back at the two Strawhat pirates with a concerned look. "Oi, you better hurry, swordsman. If she doesn't get treated right away she's in the same boat as Nico Robin."

Kimi gasped trying to hold her own despite the pain oozing from her cut. _'I can make it…just a little while more…' _She bit her lip trying with all her might not to cry or look weak in front of the men. "I'm fine…" She growled defensively trying to hold onto the sword as if her life depended on it. In a way, it did.

"Damn." Zoro growled rolling his eyes. He knew Kimi was weakened just as Robin was from the sea being embedded in the handcuffs, but now she was going to bleed half-to-death making her even weaker.

From what he could remember, Kuenia had always been the one to tell him he was weak as a child. He respected her strength as a child and promised him and her that he would get stronger to protect her and his friends. After she died, Zoro never really thought of protecting anyone else…that was until he met Luffy and they began their quest to conquer the Grande Line.

Tomoko Kimiko, yes, was a woman, and yes, at this bitter moment she was hopeless. But that only made the intensity of the battle so much greater. "Oi, Tomoko." He muttered using her first name. She gasped once more and looked behind with her sky blue eyes hidden behind her glasses. "Don't die on me. If you don't, I swear I'll make sure we get out of this thing alive."

Kimi widened her eyes at his sentence not exactly sure how to respond to his promise. She simply nodded her head once and then looked back to the CP9 men in front of her. "Okay let's-" She started to say but just as the two were about to make an attack the wall from behind split revealing a monstrous howling creature. "What the-?!" Kimi gasped and Zoro picked her waist up once more avoiding yet another attack.

"There was another CP9 with a Zoan Fruit Ability?" Zoro yelled confused while Kimi examined the creature. "No, Zoro, look closely!" She pointed the sword to the top of the monsters head revealing a pink hat with a white X on the top. "CHOPPER!" They both yelled and then hopped away from another attack from their former small reindeer companion.

"That creature is annoying…"

"And it's weakened, badly…" Kaku noticed causing Kimi to become aware of the large amount of gasping Chopper had been taking in. It was almost reminiscent to the amount of gasping air she was retaining as well. "Let's take him out first and then focus on those two." Kaku nodded but Zoro sliced his sword in the air warning the two animal men not to hurt his Nakama.

"Out of the way!" A new voice yelled behind the monstrous Chopper. "I've got him!" Franky held his arms out in front of his body with Kimi not sure what he was about to do.

"Oi, Franky! What the hell're you doing!? These guys are our-" Zoro yelled angered for the robot man to step in on their fight.

"I know. Shut up!" He smirked. "This is the only solution. Devil Fruit users have one weakness…" he muttered and then directed his aim from the CP9 men to Chopper. "Coup De Vent!" He yelled and a blast of wind from his hands shot down Chopper into the wall and out of the building towards the sea.

"CHOPPER!" Kimi cried dropping Zoro's sword and running towards the falling creature. However, Zoro's strong arm pulled her back. "Z-Zoro!" She looked back at the man with tears in her eyes. "He'll die in the water!"

"I know." Was the only response she received and then suddenly Franky ran past her and the swordsman following the falling reindeer into the sea below. "Sorry Kimiko!" Nami's voice rang through the area. "Yes! Sorry to keep you waiting Kimi-chan and Zoro-kun!" Sogeking stated bravely. He revealed in his hands the key with a number two etched onto it.

"Finally!" The calm swordsman muttered and then sighed when the handcuffs were released off of the two.

"Kimi!" Nami cried as the woman fell to the floor. "What the hell did you do to her?" She hit Zoro on the top of his green head and then held the scientist in her bruised arms. Where ever Nami had been, she had certainly gone through a hell of a fight.

"It wasn't me! That giraffe-man cut her…" Zoro bent down and scooped up his sword back into familiar hands. "Nami… take care of Kimi…" He walked forwards to Kaku and Jyabura.

"So you two are finally free, huh?" Kaku chuckled as the swordsman stepped forwards.

"Don't laugh, you should be regretful. A chance to kill me like you could before will never come again." He smirked evilly.

"What the hell have you two been doing?! You should have been fighting all along!" Nami yelled at the woman in her arms and Zoro walking forwards to fight. "N-Nami…" Kimi gasped trying to sit up on her own.

"Are you okay?" The navigator looked at the gushing cut on her leg concerned she might not make it to save Robin in the end.

Kimi smiled, "Yes…I need something…something to stop…the bleeding…" She wheezed finally sitting in a position. Nami looked around for something to tie the wound with and then snapped her fingers figuring out an idea. She clutched the bottom of Kimi's corset top shirt and ripped it right below where her breast hung.

"NAMI!" Kimiko screeched while a flush of red expanded her cheeks. "Oh shush! Would you rather die or have your perfectly cute stomach hanging out!" And she ripped the entire shirt the whole way.

"Um…you could have used my cape…but that's much better!" Sogeking thumbs up while holding his nose from a possible nose-bleed.

The blushing scientist shook her head and then took the black piece of her shirt in her gloved hands, "Thanks…somewhat." She muttered and then tied the cloth around the top of her leg tightly just below the cut. "Hey, don't you have to cover it?" Nami questioned.

"I should, but it's better to have the blood flow stop from the area so I don't bleed out." Kimi nodded and then slowly rolled over to stand up to fight. Zoro had asked her to make it through this battle and she promised him that much. If she believed in herself then she could certainly fight with her Devil Fruit ability.

"Oi here is more to cover your cut!" Nami sparkled after shoving a piece of red cloth in her hand while Sogeking began to cry. Apparently, Nami ripped his beloved cape.

Nodding and quickly ting the cloth to clot the bleeding cut, Kimi took a step forwards to Jyabura while Zoro and Kaku fought one another.

"Heh, sorry I couldn't cut you first…" Jyabura laughed with a blush across his face. "But I like this outfit change."

Balling her fists and cursing Nami silently for degrading her appearance, Kimi crouched down ready for just about anything. "Gimmie your best shot!" She spat out ready for just about anything.

**_"Don't die on me. If you don't, I swear I'll make sure we get out of this thing alive." _**

Zoro's words rang through Kimi's head as she looked through the frames of her glasses. "I'm not going to die." She muttered softly and threw off her glasses placing them in her pocket. She was far-sighted after all and wearing them would affect her fighting. "If anything…I'm going to walk out of here with my nakama at my side!"

Jyabura sat down from his stance and huffed, "Fine then." He revealed his key from out of his pocket and threw it on the ground to the side of him. "Go! Go save Nico Robin." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if he had given up on the fight.

"What? Seriously?" Sogeking looked to the confused Kimi and then to Nami and then walked forwards toward the key. "Thanks-"

"Ussopp!" Kimi cried just as Jyabura smirked and attacked the long nosed man before he reached the key. "You were being baited!" She cried watching him being thrown to the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Don't let your guard down. I'm a wolf. I'll trick you…and then eat you!" He snickered looking at the two women standing in front of him.

"You dirty cheater!" Kimi cried and then cloned herself multiple times. "See how you like it!" the clones snickered tricking him into the question of which had been the real one. The wolf man fought the attacking Kimi clones while the real Kimi and Nami ran to help Sogeking. "That dumbass!" The orange-haired woman mocked and the two crouched down to help him up.

"Sogeking, are you okay?" Kimi held his head in her lap while Nami stood crossing her arms in front of them. Ussopp's wounds were getting serious now that Kimi examined him. His nose was bleeding badly and blood gushed from out of his mouth. Combined with the attacks he had gotten from the Franky family and Luffy's fight, he hadn't healed.

"Oi! Look out!" Sogeking pushed Kimi aside and shot the invading wolf-man in front of him and the girls trying to be heroic for once. But unfortunately, his attack didn't work as Jyabura quickly dodged and then attacked Ussopp and Nami sending them backwards into piles of rubble and dirt.

"Ha, your devil fruit power is very strong. It's too bad you couldn't have used it earlier or else you would have probably beaten Kaku and possibly me…" He raised his clawed paw in the air ready to slash it down to kill the woman but instead she disappeared into thin air. "What?" Jyabura blinked and then turned around at a giggle behind his back.

"Clone, Clone, Enemy!" She had touched his tail and held her hands in the triangle position creating a clone of the wolf-man. "You fight dirty, so let's even up the odds!" She snickered and then controlled her clone to punch the original man from his dazed state.

"Oi! You are good indeed!" He wiped a line of blood from his lips and then smiled. "But you control your clones with your mind right?" He spoke while fighting the attacking replica of himself.

"Yes! Scared?!" She smiled crossing her arms and watching the fight.

"No, but you should be!" He quickly disappeared into thin air causing Kimi to panic. "Where did you go?!" She looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of him from somewhere.

"Up!"

Kimi looked above her head and then screamed rolling to the side as she avoided his attack. Using her mind, Kimi created the clone to protect her form, but Jyabura growled and hit the clone with such a force destroying it and causing Kimi to lose her focus while her brain went into a tizzy.

"KIMIKO!" Nami shouted but it was too late. Before Kimi could get up or move to the side, Jyabura had hit her just like the clone only much harder causing her to become imbedded within the fake grass of the floor.

"Hahaha! Nice try but you are no match for me!"

Kimi felt her body being pounded more and more into the floor and she hopelessly gave into the attacks. Her leg, her head…her entire body ached at the feeling of being punched over and over deeper and deeper into the floor.

"STOP IT!" Nami's scream pulled Kimi away from her attacks for a second and then suddenly the attacks stopped only to be replaced with a booming sound just above her head towards Nami's direction. She heard the clank of metal probably indicating the rolling of Nami's Climatatic rolling on the ground.

_'Just when I think I've won, this happens…I'm too weak…I don't belong with them…'_ Kimi thought as she felt her shirt collar being pulled up further and further into the air. Her feet dangled lifelessly as Jyabura laughed at the bleeding woman in his hands. "Just like I told you, I'll kill you fast! It won't hurt…"

Kimi heaved in the last sweet breaths she would take in this life. _'Maybe…just maybe…'_ She tried to lift her arms to save her body from being ripped to shreds but nothing would respond. _'No…it's hopeless…'_

"You were safer when you were stuck to your shepherd. But since the little lamb went wondering off on her own…" Kimi breathed deeper and deeper but her lungs were just too tired to take the given oxygen in anymore. "Now the scary wolf is going to eat you!" he laughed manically.

"No!" Nami cried out from somewhere behind Kimi… "Ussopp! Zoro!"

Zoro had looked over at the situation to the side of him not sure what exactly to do about the current situation of the woman. At that moment that he looked over, she was clutched in Jyabura's grasp, with blood, so much blood, that just seemed to drain from her body. "Oi! Let her go! Damn wolf!" He yelled through the white katana held in his teeth hoping Kaku would allow him to escape and save his comrade.

"Please! Don't kill her! We don't need your key, please!" Nami pleaded causing Jyabura to laugh once again, "Baka! You're going to die next!" He shouted.

_'Damnit! I at least promised her that I would get us out alive!' _He cursed himself silently in his head. With another heave, Zoro attempted to push the giraffe off of his hold and help Kimiko but again this newly eaten Devil Fruit user was strong. No such luck. The giraffe struck his three katana once again pushing him farther from the group with the wolf.

"Now die!" Jyabura held his claws in the air about to strike the woman, "KIMIKO!" Zoro and Nami yelled fearing the life of their newest crewmate.

Instead of a 'slash' being heard a thud sounded, almost resembling the sound of a well trained kick. Kimi gasped as her shirt released from its grip allowing her to fall in mid-air. "Gottcha!" A smooth voice surrounded and then a safe and familiar grip held her tightly, protectively. "Oi, you have no purpose in life harming a woman." Sanji growled continuing to hold Kimi in his arms.

"SANJI-KUN!"

"I should make wolf-flambé out of you tonight. You no good disgrace for a human being!" He laid Kimi on the ground carefully and then stood placing his hands in his pockets. "Nami-swan, take care of Kimi…I'll deal with this asshole."

Kimi felt the soft skin of Nami and attempted to sit up to watch the fight, but instead her body disagreed and spat up the blood choking her lungs. "Kimi! Stay down!" Nami hushed the pain-stricken woman brushing the stray hairs from out of her face.

"S-San-ji…" she managed to whisper breathlessly while Nami continued to pet her forehead. "It's okay Kimi…sh…."

Nodding at the motherly connection Kimi was receiving, she sunk into the oblivion of the darkness that had been begging her to consume it. **_'Don't die on me. If you don't…'_** Zoro's words rang though the emptiness swallowing her. **_'I swear I'll make sure we get out of this thing alive.'_**Kimi nodded, she wasn't sure if her actual body had nodded as well but that was beside the point.

"I-I won't…" She gasped to herself as the darkness faded into nothing. "I won't die!"

* * *

><p>"Does he really need to sing?" Zoro mumbled after watching the crew's sharpshooter hit his target on the Bridge of Hesitation. Even from this distance the swordsman could see the director that had been torturing Robin fall onto his back from Sogeking's hit. The next part of the plan was simple. Using the attack of Spanda as a test trial, Sogeking aimed for Franky with a red bag full of the keys the Strawhats had collected from the defeated CP9 members. Robin would be free from her sea prism and could aid in helping the rest escape from Enis Lobby.<p>

"We should hurry." He muttered to the cook on his side. "It can be dangerous here." For once, Sanji agreed nodding his blonde head and then turning to look up at the masked Usopp. "Hurry up and come down here, Sogeking!" He yelled up on the top of the tower.

"We're out of time, jump down from there!" Zoro demanded folding his arms over top of his chest.

"How could I?" Usopp started, "I don't have that same super-human strength you have! I am a completely normal superhero!"

Just then a blast came from above lighting up the sky with an orange tint. After ducking for a short moment, Zoro and Sanji looked back up at the Tower of Justice to see that the sliced portion had been blown away taking Usopp with it. "USOPP!" The two announced not knowing the safety of their nakama.

Another cannon ball fired into the water indicating the battle fleets that were perusing the buster call enforcement. Regaining his thought process the swordsman thought of his next move. "That was a pretty big explosion." He bluntly stated.

"This-this can't be happening…?" Sanji's mouth had opened so wide that is cigarette had fallen out. "OI! USOPP!"

Just then a small but growing noise sounded, "You callllllllllllled!?" The sniper fell in front of the men's feet in a pile of dust and rubble while the two waited for the debris to settle. "You guys didn't even try to catch the hero who risked his life to jump down?! Idiots!"

"Oi! Be glad you didn't hit Kimi-swan, baka!" Sanji pouted causing the thick-headed swordsman to glance over to the side at the female scientist still unconscious from her attack earlier. After Nami had tended to her wounds as best as she could, the navigator left to help Luffy. She had instructed for the men to watch over Kimi and so far they weren't doing a very good job.

"We have to go underneath to that tunnel now, right?" Zoro asked walking over to Kimiko. One way or another someone would have to carry her and he'd rather not see that crap cook save her once again. He had tried to find some way of getting out of his fight with Kaku but he had been such a skilled opponent that it was hard to break away from his fight to hers. If it weren't for Sanji beating Jyabura, Kimi would most likely have been dead.

Kneeling down by the woman's side he noticed the dried dark blood staining the sides of her mouth and chin. Even though she wasn't awake, he could tell of the pain she suffered through her sleep. What made the sight worse was the fact he had promised her that she would make it out of their fight alive. Now looking back on his words, he should have never made a promise he couldn't keep.

Carefully, he slid his calloused hands underneath her one shoulder and the other at her leg when Sanji noticed his doings. "Oi oi oi! What are you doing with Kimi-swan, you shitty Marimo?!"

Ignoring the brutal words from the cook's mouth, Zoro continued to slide his hands underneath her back and legs until he had her safely in his strong arms. Rising up, he turned to the cook with a glare. "We have to leave now."

"Get your grimy hands off of beautiful Kimi-swan! She doesn't need-"

"Oi, Sogeking!" Zoro interrupted Sanji's usual protectiveness. "Can you walk?" Crawling from out of his debris, Usopp managed to flip onto his back. "Nooooooo, I need help Sanjiiiiiii! Hellllllp! Just like Kimi…" His voice and body had been shaky to go along with his acting.

"LIKE HELL I'LL PICK YOU UP!" The cook retorted.

"Uhhhhh, Sanji-sannnnnn I can't walk though…really! I broke my ribs!"

Ignoring the two bickering, Zoro looked down at the woman once more. A strand of her blue hair covered her forehead and he desperately wished he could move it from off of her face. At least it could be one thing he could do for her.

Feeling the dead weight of Kimi wasn't heavy but the fact that he'd have to quickly run with her in this position would be a challenge. With a small breath, the swordsman swung her legs behind and split them so that each one wrapped around his waist. Holding her legs while her arms draped down his shoulders, Kimi was securely set.

"Oi, Zoro!" Sanji walked up to the swordsman uncaring of whatever the man had to say to him, "You'd better not get any ideas holding Kimi or-"

"Let's go. We don't have much time. Sogeking, get up. Crap cook, shut up!"

As the three ran down to the underground tunnel with Kimi securely fastened around Zoro's back, the swordsman couldn't help but notice the small things about Kimi as he and the others ran. Like the fact she smelt like something. He couldn't tell what…but whatever she smelt like it was something he liked. He sniffed through his breath and every time he took in an inhale of her sent he felt like a new man. As if he could run even faster than the other two.

Second, he noticed how shallow her breathing was. Yes, being bounced up and down on his back was somewhat difficult, but the fact that he often thought she wasn't breathing at all was starting to worry him. If it was for the fact that her head tilted towards his and he could feel the small puffs of air coming from out of his mouth, he would have assumed she was dead.

And lastly there was one thing about her that he noticed but didn't like. The blood swarming his hip from the inside of her leg was beginning to grow. When he first picked her up, he thought that her injury had been fine, but with the extra movement and position of her body on his back it was agitating and irritating the cut even more. If they could hurry up and find the end of the tunnel he would be sure to wrap her leg once again in the hopes the blood would clot and her leg heal.

"Hurry you two!" Usopp muttered falling behind. "Move quickly!"

"Don't act so high and mighty, idiot!" Zoro snapped feeling anxious. He didn't mean to be a brat, but the fear of Kimi dying on his back was not something he wanted on his conscious at the moment.

"When you speak like that, it hurts my wounds. Perhaps you could carry me?"

"Don't be stupid!" Sanji muttered back not wanting to intimidate Zoro's actions with a man on his back.

"But I am the commander that leads in a thunderous voice and I've been seriously wounded! All of my ribs are broken, all six!"

"You have more than that!" Sanji snapped. "So you're fine! You're really annoying!"

"Anyway," Sogeking continued to talk causing Zoro and Sanji to roll their eyes at the man. "Would you like to know the secret of my new weapon, Kabuto? I'll explain! Sogeking's weapon Kabuto is-"

"SHUT UP OR WE WILL LEAVE YOU BEHIND!" Zoro snapped. After all, they were running at a slow pace because if they ran any faster Usopp couldn't keep up.

"Oh…please don't my ribs are broken…a-all ten…"

"You have more than that."

"Then…twenty? Thirty? How about 100?!"

"More than that!" Sanji and Zoro yelled together clearly not knowing how many ribs a person has.

"You're lying! Besides, if Kimiko-san was awake she would be interested to know how Kabuto works!"

Zoro rolled his eyes; obviously Usopp wanted someone to talk to about his inventions. "Well then ask her when she wakes up!"

"If she wakes up…if Kimi-san hadn't helped me in the fight I would be dead!"

Sanji proceeded to reply, "You should have helped her fight, idiot instead of feeding her to the wolf!" Then he twirled his facial hair at the bottom of his chin proudly, "But of course, Kimi-swan needs a charming prince that will risk the Ordeal of Love for her in the fight and save the princess! Something shitty Marimo can't do!"

"Hmmm," Zoro muttered through a red and angry face, "Be an idiot?"

"Ha, Marimo! You can't even protect the one girl you like, you hopeless buffoon."

Blinking rapidly and with widened eyes, Zoro stared at the cook while the three continued to run. "Why you…"

"Oh please… it's obvious, isn't it Sogeking?"

Usopp opened his mouth pass the mask, "Uhhhh…what?" His cluelessness made the cook groan while the swordsman sigh in relief that his intentions weren't too obvious. Even if the crap cook knew. "Oh by the way, I've been hearing these weird sound for a while and-"

"Shut up you and hurry!" Sanji yelled feeling upset that Usopp hadn't picked up on Zoro's little crush. Tripping over his own two feet, Sogeking fell behind while the two macho-men continued forwards. "Don't worry, Marimo…I won't tell…heh." Sanji smiled proudly through his cigarette in his teeth as Zoro continued to hold onto Kimi tighter.

He didn't like her…he tried to tell himself over and over…he just didn't. She was his nakama and there was nothing more than that. But as a moan left Kimi's mouth ever so slightly so that only he could hear it, a tingling feeling ignited deep in his gut. The same feeling he had gotten when he met Kunia so many years ago… He needed to protect her from this point and for the rest of their journey as nakama. Maybe one day when they weren't in a situation he might act upon his instinctive thoughts as a man…but now was not the time or place to do so. _'Don't worry, Kimi...I promise you now that _I swear I'll make sure we get out of this thing alive.' __Pulling the woman up and onto his hips even higher now so that she wouldn't slip underneath his grasp, he continued to run.


	19. The Most Valuable Nakama

**Hey guys! Sorry about the delay, I wanted to post this before I went on vacation but I guess that didn't happen! lol. But this chapter is a bit of a tear-jearker for me. I hope you guys like it too! Special thanks to Taiski, Phoenix, NamikazeMia, and kage kitsune 14 for the great reviews! I just love how much you guys like it! ;)**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>"Can people die this easily?" Nami whispered after the overhead Den Den Mushi stated the Franky Family and Gallery-La company members had all died. Kimi lowered her head softly only wishing she could do something but already knew their fate had been decided. They were too late...<p>

"You don't see people on a map," Robin pointed out. "You only see the body of land. They wipe out the body but forget the people that inhabit it. That, is the destruction of the Buster Call."

Kimiko nodded knowing Robin was dead right. Humans can die so easily but with the help of an armada of Marine ships, it was even easier to wipe out an entire town without anyone knowing of the remains. She turned her focus away from the brick floor towards the staircase to the bridge of hesitation where faint shadows of the boys stood up at the top. They all had been waiting for Luffy in silence while the blasting and firing of Marine cannons sounded in the distance.

Suddenly a strange blast sounded in the distance at such a sharp pitch that Kimi had to wince from the noise stinging her ears. "What was that?!" Nami questioned as the ringing settled.

"Probably Lucci and Strawhat." Koroko answered still in her bathing suit top she had worn when protecting Kimi and the others from the flooding water. Not that the scientist had been conscious for the event, but after the group surfaced and she felt the chill of the drying water forced her to wake. Just looking at the old woman made the sweet and innocent Kimi shudder in horror. She couldn't possibly imagine what Sanji had to be thinking when he first saw her.

"I've thought about it sometimes," Chopper interrupted Kimi's thoughts, "From the beginning it seems like Luffy always knows who he has to fight."

Nami scoffed while brushing her hair back, "He just goes by instinct. Even more than you." Just then another round of cannon blasts sounded off in the distance and before the group's eyes, the bride of hesitation crumbled into the sea below.

"The first tower has been separated!" The voice on the loud speaker on one of the ships sounded. "In the first tower are both Rob Lucci of CP9, and Strawhat Luffy!"

One of the towering ships casted a shadow on the woman and Chopper resting on the safe ground, "The battleships…" Kimi winced while attempting to stand to her wobbly feet. "We have to leave soon...if we want to escape, that is."

"All ships! Battle formation around the Bridge of Hesitation and convoy the ship! On the bridge are wanted pirates, Pirate-Hunter Zoro and Nico Robin and the rest of the Strawhat pirates. We believe they are the main force responsible for the defeat of CP9 in the tower of Justice!"

Looking towards Nami on the side of the group, Kimi muttered, "They want Robin back." Pulling out her Climatact, Nami shook her head with a frown, "But we won't let them!"

Kimi nodded grimly attempting to fight back her nausea brought on from the loss of blood and wounds she had gained earlier. She could barely make out the boys yelling to Luffy over the sound of her heavy breathing. "Nami…" She huffed out breathlessly. "We have to protect Robin... Chopper?" She looked to the reindeer with her shoulders hunched forwards, "Protect Koroko and the others… as best as you can."

"But Kimiko, I-" The reindeer attempted to argue but Kimi breathlessly yelled back at him, "You can do it, Chopper-san! You are a fierce pirate!"

"I will not let them take me again." Robin stood alongside of the scientist with a sturdy and forceful stare. As soon as the Marines made their way onto the platform, the red-head took the initiative in the attack using her thunder-charge technique leaving the older woman of the crew behind. Not that Robin and Kimi were willing to charge right into battle after their injuries and weakness from earlier. But other than that, Nami seemed to be taking good care of herself. That was until the next wall of Marines took the lead.

Both Kimi and Robin came to her rescue with their devil fruit power techniques of multiplying. With a quick smile as gratitude, Nami and the women continued to run up the stairs towards the boys on the top of the bridge.

The more the woman fought, the more the men would keep coming towards them. Little did their enemies know they were in for a shock…literally! Nami would Thunderbolt all of the fallen Marines after Kimi and Robin would take them down.

"This is fun!" Nami smiled and then looked to Kimi who was fighting off the Marines attacking her real body with her clones while she walked up the steps. "Kimiko!? Where are you going?"

The blue haired woman stopped for a moment to look back at her comrade and then smiled grimly, "Luffy…I need to make sure he is okay…" Even though Kimi could hear Nami's question, the rest of her world was beginning to fade away. In honestly, she was trying to not pass out from all of the blood loss in her leg. If she made it out of this place alive then she would definitely need medical attention immediately.

A couple more men surrounded her and attempted to fight the blue-haired woman, but she only glared at them as her clones defended them off as she walked up the steps untouched. "Luffy…" Kimi muttered under her breath, "You better hurry up…I don't know how much longer we can last…"

As soon as she made it to the top of the steps, the woman quickly took in the situations occurring all around her fellow pirate members. The one that concerned her the most at the moment was Zoro, as a Marine wearing a strange mask and outfit began to rust and decay one of his swords. "What?" Kimi's eyes widened almost as much as Zoro's did after the sword decayed.

"You cannot defeat me. I'll rust all of the swords you own!" the Marine taunted the swordsman while holding his hand up.

"A devil fruit user." Kimi frowned trying to figure out a plan to aid her crewmate. Zoro quickly putt all of his swords into their scabbards and then picked up a Marine sword on the floor charging towards his enemy. Instantly after the attack, the sword decayed just like before causing the swordsman to panic in the moment of desperation.

"Clone clone-!" Kimi commanded under her breath and quickly made a copy of Zoro to intercept the Marine from attacking Zoro personally. Unfortunately for the scientist the rusting ability took over the clone as well as her mind freezing her instantly.

"Wha?" The Marine looked pass the clone of Zoro to the actual man and with one swift movement, looked to the bruised and battered scientist on the side. "Another devil fruit user?" He questioned as the clone rusted completely.

Kimi couldn't move, the rust ability was wearing to her mental capacity and affecting her body from attack of the other Marines. "Ah!" She coughed out briefly as a crusty feeling seemed to engulf her cheeks and neck.

"Kimiko!" Zoro yelled out for a moment running towards the man hurting her. By this point the clone of Zoro had disintegrated making Kimi next. But just before the buff swordsman could attack the enemy, a flame engulfed and threw the Marine to the side. Looking to the left, Zoro noticed Sogeking unmasked with his slingshot in his hand. "Ussopp?" Zoro questioned looking to him with a thumbs up. "Thanks!"

"No problem, Zoro-kun!"

With a moan of relief, Kimi fell to her knees after the crusty feeling of immobility left her body. She attempted to lift herself up onto her feet, but her injuries were proving to get the better of her. Unknowing to her, a Marine with a giant axe was on her back and ready to drop on top of her.

The sound of metal on metal chimed and Kimi quickly looked above to see a yellow jacket protecting her back. "Zoro!" She huffed seeing small black dots. "Thanks!" her smile was confident but admiring.

"Watch out!" He muttered through his grinding teeth and she jumped from underneath his legs. "Clone clone!" She yelled out holding her gloved hands out in front of her chest and copying three clones of the swordsman in front of her. The Marine was quickly defeated and the two pirates shared a smile in the moment of stillness.

That moment was short-lived as more and more Marines invaded and took over their position until a demanding noise in the First tower caused everyone to still. "Luffy!" Kimi smiled knowing her captain had defeated his enemy!

"Rob Lucci, of CP9…" The voice from earlier on the Marine ship announced, "Has been defeated by Strawhat Luffy!"

"Let's go back together," Kimi heard Luffy's voice screaming from the tower on the other side, "ROBIN!"

Her smile couldn't be contained as she continued to fight off the random Marines attacking her on the bridge. "Good job, Strawhat-san!" A voice on the den den mushi loudspeaker yelled out. "You idiots, everyone'll be able to hear us!" Another voice argued causing Kimi to giggle from the fight. "its fine, they need to know anyways...Aniki!"

"We already made 'em think we died while we ran away! Don't give them our position!" She recognized the voice belonging to Paulie and giggled even more until the cut on her leg was began to burn slightly causing her to grimace and wince from the pain. Looking up to her crew mates after settling down the pain to a minimum she noticed their reactions to the voices on the loud-speaker. Franky seemed to be very proud that his friends were still alive, that was until he began to cry profusely.

Zoro seemed to scoff Franky of his tears and instead convince him to continue to focus on the fight at hand. With Kimi still conscious she could still create clones and fight, but the more and more she continued to stay awake and ignore her body's wishes, the more she wanted to crumble into oblivion.

"The Pirate, Strawhat Luffy, appears to be heavily wounded!" The Marine over the other loudspeaker announced causing everyone to turn around and look towards the first tower. "He still hasn't moved from that spot!"

Kimi thought for a brief moment she could clone herself to bring Luffy to their location, but her plan was faulted in the fact of getting Luffy and her clone over the water to them. She blocked an attack quickly and then looked behind at the ship Chopper and Kokoro were waiting on. "Everyone!" She yelled towards her nakama, "Head to the ship, we can set sail and then bring Luffy on board!" But just as she finished revealing her plan a blast exploded the area and the ship engulfed into flames. "No!" She breathlessly whispered falling to her knees.

"Our escape ship!" Nami screamed horrified by the sight, the rest of the crewmates began to panic as well. "Kokoro-san, Chimney and Chopper! N-no…" Everyone stood in silence trying to embrace the hard truth their friends were taken from them in the blink of an eye and not to mention their only way of escaping.

That was, until they heard a scream from a certain familiar voice. "We made it!" Sanji yelled out holding onto Kokoro with one arm, Chopper in the other, and Chimney and her pet bunny holding onto his back.

"Thank goodness! Sanji-kun, where have you been?" Nami questioned as he dropped his passengers by her feet.

"Sorry, I just had to take care of something. But damn this is bad…"

Kimi had no time to pay attention to the two as they chatted and instead continued fighting off Marines that seemed to be twice the size of her figure. "Now now little girl, be good and-" One began to say just before he grabbed her arm but then stopped as the woman disappeared. He looked for a second and then yelled out as she twisted his neck until it popped. Then without a second warning another Marine came behind her, and Kimi had to quickly avoid his turbulent swinging of his sword to protect herself from meeting a deadly fate.

Tripping over her tired and careless feet, the blue-haired scientist screamed for a split second as the man raised the sword into the air but then gasped as she watched him crumble to the cannon fire that engulfed the back side of the bridge. "They are pushing us to move to the edge?" She questioned to herself but quickly scrambled back onto her feet running with the rest of her crew.

Eventually, there was no more bridge…they were surrounded by warships on the platform while overlooking their fallen captain in the next tower.

"Shit! They destroyed the bridge!" Sanji growled.

"We can't do anything else…" Zoro stated as well.

Nami spun her weapon quickly and frowned, "Well then we will just have to fight!"

"Don't be stupid!" Franky taunted the woman, "They will just send more powerful guys after us!"

"Like bait…" Kimi nodded looking around as the group came into a circle overlooking the situation. She could hear the den den mushi system on the boats saying to fire at the first tower. Blocking a hit from a Marine with a clone Kimi looked to the tower with Luffy lying on it, "Luffy! You have to get up!" She attempted to yell and then fell to her knees from the pain engulfing her body.

"Kimi-san!" Sanji yelled out kicking and defending her from another blow. "You okay?" He placed a hand onto her back and then patted her gently.

"They are aiming…at Luffy…" Kimi frowned with tears in her eyes just as the guns on the ships turned towards their new target: the captain of the strawhats.

"No. Luffy!" Sanji stood yelled out towards the rubber boy. "You have to get up!"

"Luffy! Hurry! WE have to GO!" Ussopp continued to cry some more.

"I am sorry," Robin shook her head softly, "but at this distance all I can do is drop him in the water."

Standing onto shaky feet, Kimi stood next to Sanji attempting to take in as much oxygen as her lungs would allow, "If I can just get him to stand…" She held her focus towards the tower while the cook blocked and fended off Marines from the woman, "Then maybe he can come to us."

Holding her gloved hands out in front of her chest while making her triangle symbol, Kimi used as much of her concentration as she could to copy a clone of herself towards her captain lying in the tower.

"Luffy!" The clone ran to the boy and then cupped a hand under his neck, "Luffy we have to get out of here!"

"Ah…" he moaned and winced, "Kimi… I…I just-"

But suddenly in the middle of their struggled conversation, a strange noise sounded. "What was that?" The clone questioned still holding onto the back of his head. "Below?"

"I heard…it too…Look below?" Luffy attempted to move his head but then the voice from the command ship brought them back to reality.

"Five seconds until firing at Strawhat Luffy!"

"No!" The clone wrapped a rubber arm around her neck and used all of her strength to pick him up into the air. "We have to do something! Luffy? Can you stretch at all? Please!"

"N-No…" He frowned trying hard to be tough in this drastic situation.

When suddenly the real Kimi heard from the edge of the bridge, "Jump into the ocean! Kimi can you push Luffy into the ocean below?"

"Four seconds!"

"What are you trying to do? Kill all of us?" Zoro muttered angrily. "There's no way that will do anything!"

"I can…" Kimi frowned and then looked below both with her clone and in her normal body. "But I…" She was about to finish with 'I don't understand why,' until she saw the thing below the broken bridge.

"Three!"

"We'll be okay! He came to save us!" Ussopp cried onto Zoro. "We still have another Nakama!"

"Two!"

With a big smile, Kimi threw Luffy and her clone into the sea while she and the rest of the Strawhats did the same. "TO THE OCEAN!" They all screamed with smiles as the sight of the Strawhat sailed Merry sailed below.

_"Let's go, everyone! To the sea of adventure!"_ The spirit of Merry cheered happily as the crew landed on the deck. "I came to get you!"

* * *

><p>No matter how many times Kimi and the Strawhats managed to escape, the logical brained scientist couldn't seem to comprehend how exactly they all did it every time. It was more than luck or magic, this was the destiny. Luffy's destiny to become the King of the Pirates.<p>

However, at this current moment...Luffy and the others were about to do the hardest thing a crew must perform to a fallen member. And an important one at that.

After one last run though, Going Merry had enough. Once they were out of harms way he seemed to give up so suddenly as if he couldn't bear to take on the pressure of living (or rather sailing) any more. With his head and bow broken in half and drowning in the water, Iceberg stated it was time to let him go.

The crew and their guest all stood side by side in the medium sized dingy watching silently as Luffy rowed in his very small dingy towards their broken ship. In his hand, a torch.

"So," Luffy spoke softly "Are we ready?" No one spoke a word but only Sanji and Chopper offered a 'Mmmhm' as confirmation to the death of their precious nakama. "Merry, the seafloor is dark and scary. So we'll send you off." And with that, the torch connected with the ship bursting into flames instantly.

No one talked. Not even the Galley-La Company men on the large ship behind them. Only Luffy. "It's probably best that Usopp isn't here. He wouldn't have been able to handle this..."

"What do you think?" Zoro muttered to Sogeking on his side.

"That's not true." The impostor admitted. "Farewells always have to come."

The place Kimi called her new home was now a pile of erupting and uncontrollable flames. She didn't have as many memories on board Merry as some of the others, but she still had one too many for her not too be emotional watching it burn. With the smoke filling the air and traveling into the lungs of her and the others, Kimiko wasn't sure if she was tearing up from the smoke or the emotional state she was in.

Stuck in-between Sanji and Chopper, she tried her best to hide her glossy eyes by wrapping her arms around one another but she considered that a complete fail as Luffy spoke again. "Letting us ride for such a long time. Thank you Merry."

Suddenly, something white fell from the sky? Looking up, Kimi and the rest of the crew were puzzled how snow was falling in the warm climate. Her will power wasn't enough as a lone tear rolled down her cheek and then instantly stopped as a single snowflake crystalized the tear on her warm cheek. _"Merry Go..."_ She thought as another tear rolled out of the other eye. _"I know I haven't been here as long as the others...but I will never forget the memories that we have together."_

She thought about traveling to Sky Island and then how they landed from the island in the sky to the Marine Base. She thought about the long nights that she stayed awake in the crow's nest for the late night watch. And then she remembered sitting near the orange groves while she experimented with different chemicals. Usually when that happened, Luffy or Ussopp would be curious and bug her into a million question and answers...she was annoyed at the time, but now hearing the crackle of the massive fire she'd give anything to have that moment again.

"Merry..." The tears rolled from her eyes but not pouring out of them like Chopper and Nami's were. As the mast and the siding of the boat collapsed, Kimi held onto her arms so hard that her small nails dug into the exposed skin. It was a hard sight to witness and Kimi wasn't the only one that knew how emotionally distressing the crew was in.

_"Everyone..." _The voice from before spoke out. It was Merry...Merry knew how sad he was to see them go without him. _"I wanted to bring everyone just a little bit farther. I'm sorry. I always wanted to go onto adventures together."_

"Merry!" Chopper cried out as Kimi watched Nami fall to her knees to the side of her.

_"But I-"_

"If someone's gotta apologize, it's us, Merry!" Luffy yelled out. "I'm bad at steering, so I ran you into icebergs. I ruined your sail too!" He gasped and then continued. "Zoro and Sanji are idiots so they broke a lot of things. And Usopp tried to fix them, but he wasn't very good at it. So if someone's gotta apologize..."

The air was thick, and not because the smoke from the flames filled it. No. It was the tension and sadness from Merry dying. And just when Kimi didn't think she could be any sadder, Merry spoke one last time.

_"But I was happy... You always treated me nicely... Thank you. I was always...so happy..._

_...All because of you."_

And with that final statement, his face faded away into the flames.

**"MERRY!"**

Kimi sighed not even bothering to wipe all of the tears from her cheeks. _"Poor Merry..."_


	20. Onward to Adventure!

**Hey Everyone! So I'm really excited for you guys to read this one! I had a whole bunch of fun writing the flirting and the reveal of the bounties! Anddddddd I already have the next 2 chapters ready to go so hurry and review and then I can post these chapters that I have had for a super long time! **

**Special thanks to Totong, avatoa, Taiski, DinoZilla, and Fanboy316 for Reviewing! And thanks so much fanboy316 for mentioning that Oda should put Kimi in the manga. Sadly I think she's a little too late to be ****involved in the adventures I've written about, but if he put her later in the story I'd be thrilled!**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>The past couple of days in Water Seven had been what Kimi would consider to be the life of a party. It was truly a victorious celebration for the life of a pirate and a Strawhat pirate at that.<p>

After the crew had rested and healed their wounds from their battle at Enis Lobby, the whole city threw a large party for their victory. The party went from the late afternoon until dawn the next morning. Then shortly after their party the Marines paid the crew a visit…but surprisingly this Marine encounter was one Kimi and the others had not been expecting.

Not only was Vice-Admiral Garp of the Marines Luffy's grandfather, but he also revealed the truth of his father. Monkey D. Dragon is one of the most hunted and dangerous men in the world. When Garp told the crew Luffy's family tree, Kimi and the others panicked about this realization. Not only was Luffy a hunted man, but also his own father was even more of a threat.

As Kimi calmed from her shock, her only thought was to laugh. Luffy was so carefree that he hadn't even one ounce of a clue to who his own father was.

At the current moment, Kimi sat at the table of the cottage the Strawhat pirates were giving to live in until their new ship was rebuilt with a smile on her face. Her thoughts had been postponed on her current experimentation project and instead traveled to the memory of Garp leaving his Grandson. They were lucky, she thought knowing that Luffy knew someone high up in the Marines.

Maybe his connection with the Marines would be better than hers…she prayed.

Kimi wiped her forehead and then looked back down at her project. As much as she missed her father and her laboratory back home, she couldn't wait to have her own lab in their new ship. Franky had asked everyone if they wanted a specific room in their dream ship and Kimiko couldn't pass up the opportunity to have her own experimenting room.

With a shake of her roaming thoughts, the scientist adjusted her glasses on her nose and looked to the notes in her fathers journal. After the owner of the Inn granted Luffy and the other's their stuff back, Kimiko had her nose stuck in the book ever since.

"What are you doing?" Zoro's voice echoed through her head causing her to jump from the surprise. Since the battle, Kimi and Zoro had kept a slight distance from one another and until now they had not conversed in a one-on-one chat since their fight with CP9. They didn't even chat during the party…then again, Zoro had found a group of men drinking ale and thus sat in the corner the whole evening drinking.

Kimi shushed the man with a wave of her hand and then smiled, "I think I've created a sub-particle chemical that will ignite a-"

"Oi oi, what in the world does,"

Kimi laughed, "It's a fine powder that will replace cannon balls. I told Franky I was going to try to make some… but this chemical is very unstable so it's going to be complicated to recreate."

Nodding like he understood, Zoro walked up behind her and watched carefully as she took a syringe filled with water and placed it into the sample. With shaky hands, the blue-haired scientist attempted to rid her thoughts of the swordsman looking over her shoulder and filled the tester with too much water as her eyes attempted to catch a glance of him.

Right at the moment of her looking down in horror knowing she put too much in, the liquidly mixture exploded in a cloud of black smoke surrounding both of their faces. "No…" The female sighed not even bothering to wipe off the black soot from her face. "I guess I didn't balance out the atoms before I-"

"Kimi!" Zoro warned her from the intellectual comments once more.

"Heh," She blushed again underneath the soot on her cheeks, "Sorry. I just have been working on this all day and…gah." She massaged her temples and then removed her glasses. "I guess I forgot to double check everything." She lied knowing the real reason. With a saddened sigh she stood and looked to the swordsman.

He attempted to hide back a smile from the woman but she could see it clearly on his lips. Curious to why he would be laughing at her, the thought of the soot still surrounding her face could be the answer.

Quickly she turned around grabbing a paper towel from off the table and removed the mess. "I guess I should go into the town and replace the supplies I used… oh but I have to write down what I did so that I don't make the same mistake twice…" She was rambling again.

Turning over her shoulder she noticed Zoro was already turned around and heading for the door. "Zoro? Are you traveling into the city?"

He stopped walking and turned his head slightly. "Yes."

"Oh, well…" Kimi adjusted her glasses into the pocket of her grey Galley La sweatshirt, "Would you mind if I walk with you? I should replace the supplies."

Zoro nodded slightly and turned around waiting for her with his arms folded over one another. Without another moment's notice, Kimi clutched her wallet on the counter and secured her bun out of habit. "All set."

The two did not speak one word to another as they traveled down the street and into the city. But Kimi didn't mind really. There was an aurora about Zoro that made her not on edge when the two wouldn't talk. Unlike other men, that silence could be driven with anxiety and fear… but not from Zoro. Zoro was different, and she liked different.

Passing by a wood shop, Kimi realized that she didn't even know why the swordsman was coming to town. "So what is it that you are searching for?" She looked to the side at the green haired man.

"My sword…I need to replace it after that sand bastard ruined it." He coldly responded.

Kimi nodded, "I remember that." She thought back to the fight when she watched his sword disintegrate into thin air. "He had some sort of rusting ability, correct?"

Zoro nodded. "You would know." Kimi nodded back remembering now that the man had also taken over her body after she jumped into the fight. "How's your leg, by the way?"

That was a rather odd comment, Kimi thought. She tilted her head not sure what he meant and then realized the bandaged cut on her thigh. Even now it was still bandaged, but she had gotten so used to it that she forgot. The only indication she was hurt could be seen by the edge of her black shorts. "Oh, I'm fine…Worse then than now."

The swordsman nodded, "Good."

Kimiko was about to question him further about their fight with Kaku and Jyabura when she spotted a chemical store. "Oh perfect!" She looked to Zoro with a slight smile, "I'll see you back at the house?"

He nodded once again. "Sure. Don't get into too much trouble." His comment made Kimi giggle, "Okay, just make sure you don't get lost."

The two parted ways with a wave of their hands and Kimi entered into the shop. "Is there anything I can help you with?" A young man informed the scientist. Feeling like she should shop around for a little bit Kimi shook her head, "No thank you. I'm just looking!" She smiled and the man smiled back.

"Let me know if you need anything!"

Kimi nodded and then continued to look up and down the shelves. She wondered about the rest of the crew knowing that they had been out and traveling the city as well. Both Robin and Nami asked the scientist if they would join her in going shopping but she only refused. Nami would most likely pressure the conservative scientist into buying a revealing outfit.

Although, she thought remembering the outfit change Nami tore of her corset, she did have a slim stomach and most of the guys thought it was sexy. As much as she hated the attention, she didn't mind the way a crop-top accented her features. Of course, she would have preferred to see herself without the blood or dirt from their fight.

Maybe she _should_ attempt to find Nami and Robin…

She quickly paced around the aisles gathering the needed supplies she had to replace and also picking up some extra and interesting items to experiment with as well.

"Hello, did you find everything you were looking for?" The old lady at the counter greeted Kimi, "Oh my word! You are one of the Strawhat Pirates aren't you!" She gasped causing the young female to blush and nod.

"Well then! You can just take this! Go on and take it, deary! We owe you so much for saving Iceberg-san and Franky!" The older woman bowed after handing the scientist her bag of supplies. "Have a wonderful day dear!"

"Thank you so much!" Kimi waved a gloved hand to the lady and then exited the shop. "Now where would the nearest clothes store be?" she turned her head from side-to-side looking for a shop.

"Kimiko!" A voice yelled down the street. "Hey Kimi! Come here!" Nami waved up and down with Robin by her side.

Her smile was from cheek-to-cheek as she walked over to nakama. "Good afternoon, Miss Scientist." Robin smiled. It sure was good to have the calm and equally intelligent loving female back on the crew. "Did you find anything interesting in the chemical store?"

"Yea! Actually I found a-"

"Yea yea, that's nice." Nami waved the two, "Now that all three of us are together we can finally all go shopping! And Kimi you are in dire need for a wardrobe change!"

Kimi nodded, "Actually I was kinda hoping I would run into you two so that you could give me advice." Nami's face lit up. "But no skimpy outfits like the one on the train! That was too much!"

"Aw, Kimi! You're so cute and tiny, why wouldn't you want too?" The blue haired scientist glared at the navigator. "Okay…fine. Let's just go, huh?"

They spent a good two hours shopping and just when Kimi had thought she had enough, Nami insisted on more. "Nami-san…I think I've spent enough money for now." Kimi attempted to leave the two. As much as she loved shopping, she would rather spend all of her money on other supplies instead of clothes and shoes.

"Awwwww but Kimi! You didn't even look at jewelry or makeup and-" Kimi glared at her with fans once again. "Ugh, fine! We will see you back at the house then!"

"See you soon, Miss Scientist." Robin waved and pressed forward down the street with Nami by her side.

"Bye!" Kimi waved and turned around walking backwards towards the street that led to the direction of the outskirts of the city. Many store owners attempted to bring Kimi and the rest of the citizen roaming on the street into their shops, yet Kimi only smiled and shook her head no kindly.

She was on the mission to find the book shop right on the corner of the street. As much as she loved to read and analyze her father's journal, every now and then she would love to have a couple of good books on hand. She had read all of Chopper's medical books already in the attempt to be his assistant, and only half of Robin's books were in a text she could read.

Making her way pass an alley that led to the shop she heard a gruff voice passing by.

"Damn, I'm tired…" Zoro had his head hanging low and around his neck three small tiny babies. In both hands he held a set of grocery bags and for some reason his shirt had been changed into one that was entirely too small for him.

Trying not to laugh, Kimi nodded. "It's been a rough day, huh?"

"Yea whatever." He continued walking. "Why do I have to do something like this…" he looked to the side and noticed the woman standing and watching him. "YOU!?" He gasped and then pushed her into the alley.

Kimi couldn't hold in her giggles as he and she faced one another. "Damnit!" He muttered and Kimi caught a glace at a blush spread across his face.

"Please tell me you got lost?" She smiled genuinely and then looked down at the three babies hanging from his neck. On the tight yellow shirt, she noticed the words 'Mama' and a woman's picture across it. That didn't attract her attention as much as the bottom of it did, revealing the last level of his abs and a scar to the right.

At a lost for words, Zoro merely grunted.

She continued to giggle and then patted his shoulder exiting the alley. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." She smiled, "Besides, that look suits you." Kimi walked away continuing onto the bookstore.

Just before she left the area, Kimi could hear two voices talking down the alley.

"Aniki, aniki! Who was that pretty lady?!"

"Is that your girlfriend, Aniki?!"

Zoro yelled, "She is not my girlfriend! Where is your mother? I'm done with this shit!"

Now it was Kimi's turn to blush. She had to tap her cheeks lightly to rid herself of the blushing thought that those kids thought she was dating the swordsman. Just as Zoro stated, the two were not dating whatsoever…nor would they probably ever date. Continuing down the road, Kimi looked down at her feet caught up in her thoughts as usual.

Zoro wouldn't be attracted to a woman like her. She wasn't a good fighter and most certainly had a nerdy geek like personality that couldn't attract a man like him. He would be into someone like Robin, a woman with a figure and curves that wasn't afraid to show off her body. She was also a fighter too…after the Enis Lobby event, Kimi couldn't even hold her own alongside Zoro in a fight.

Why would he ever fall for a girl like her?

Lifting her head up, she noticed the book store on the left and smiled. She decided walking into the shop, if she couldn't be with Zoro, then she was going to just going to enjoy his company as much as possible.

* * *

><p>"Take a look at the most recent newspaper front Page." Kokoro Stated to Nami after placing a rolled up newspaper on the table. Nami read and then gasped. "What is this? 'Once again this month, 14 ships have disappeared.' What does this mean?"<p>

"That triangular zone is the Florian Triangle." Kokoro informed the crew, "It's an area you're forced to pass through to get to the paradise of Merman Island. Every year over 100 ships disappear in that sea for unknown reasons and then much later, those ships are found without any of the sailors." Kimi smiled watching Nami and Chopper's reactions to the old lady's words. Of course she was attempting to scare them, but she was being truthful as well.

She continued, "There are eyewitness reports of a ghost ship carrying those deceased ones who sailed in that sea."

"Ghosts appear?!" Chopper cried. "That's scary!"

"Will we see living skeletons?!" Luffy exclaimed causing Zoro to shake his head, "What're you imagining?"

Nami cried, "No! I definitely don't want to encounter of see them! Such an awful ship, what could happen in that sea?!"

"Who knows… anything could happen there." Kokoro laughed. "Those who enter that sea never come back, that's why I don't know…It's a foggy, deep, dark sea… be careful…Before entering that extremely disastrous, dangerous sea, you better be firmly prepared."

Nami and Chopper hugged one another and cried while Robin and Kimi exchanged a smile. "Ghost ships that are mere shadows of what were once merchant ships or pirate ships are indispensable parts of the legends of treasure ships." Robin stated.

This information caused Nami into a cheer, "Let's search for the ghost ships!" She laughed, "NO! I don't want too!" Chopper cried over Luffy's cheering.

"I intend to stock up with lots of provisions in case we have an accident, so don't worry!" Sanji smiled with his hands on his hips.

Kimi nodded, "Don't worry Chopper, I found an entry in my journal how to make a portable torch light. With the dials from Sky Island, I'm sure I could make my father's invention twice as good so you won't be afraid of the dark!"

"A treasure ship…" Zoro muttered to himself. "There might be katanas as well."

"PIRATE-Neechan!"

"Strawhat!"

Three sets of voices yelled and then entered into the room. Kiwi, Moz and Chimney caught up to their breath, "Franky-aniki told us to come and call for everyone!"

"The dream ship is complete!"

"It looks great!"

Luffy jumped from off the ground, "It's complete already!? That was fast!"

"The five top-notch shipwrights stayed up all night building it!" Moz smiled.

Sanji held a fist out, "Yosh then let's go-"

"STRAWHAT-SAN!" Another voice yelled from outside forcing the pirates to run outside. There in front of the house, were the Franky Family panting just as the three females had don't just before.

"To be honest, we just heard about it!" One of the men gasped. "Did you see the wanted posters?!"

"Wanted posters?" Luffy questioned.

"Yes! You have been given an unexpected bounty, Strawhat-san! Also, everyone else has one as well!"

This bit of information caused Kimiko to panic. "No…" She gasped with a hand over her lips. Zoro paid her a quick glance and then looked to the man scattering out their posters on the ground.

"See it for yourselfves! All eight of you now have bounties!"

Kimi noticed the picture of herself on the dingy brown poster paper and frowned. _"This is bad… very very very bad…"_ She thought looking at her picture. It was one of her adjusting her glasses on her face during the fight at Enis Lobby. A single trail of dried blood gathered near the bottom edge of her lip, and her forehead and cheeks were dingy.

"Strawhat Luffy, bounty 300,000,000 beri. Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, bounty 120,000,000 beri. Burglar Cat Nami, bounty 16,000,000 beri. Cotton Candy Lover Chopper (pet), bounty 50 beri. The Devil's Child Nico Robin, bounty 80,000,000 beri. Multiplying Beauty Tomoko Kimiko, bounty 50,000,000 beri. Black Leg Sanji (attempt to take a photo failed), bounty 77,000,000 beri."

Sanji pouted sadly at his horrible sketch while Nami and Chopper fell to the floor by their bounties. Kimi tried to fit back her tears but instead failed miserably and had to wipe them away instead.

_"Maybe she will never notice. After all, she still thinks I'm home with Father… everything will be okay… I hope."_

"There's also one here for Sogeking!" Luffy laughed.

"I-I know these were your motives and you have many many things to say to each other but, please wait! What we're requesting, is here." The man pulled another wanted poster out of his shirt. "This!"

"Franky?" Luffy questioned looking closely at the picture.

"Cyborg Franky, bounty 44,000,000 beri."

"This is terrible!" Kiwi cried, "Aniki has a bounty on his head!"

"That's right," The man nodded. "We somehow managed to avoid this, but Aniki couldn't… his life will be in danger if he stays in Water Seven and if he gets caught this time we won't have the power to save him! Surely, Aniki must be worried about us and doesn't want to leave the island that's why we want you even if it against his own will…take Aniki out to the sea!"

"WE BEG OF YOU!" The family bowed to the captain. Luffy only smiled, "You don't have to say it! I've already decided to make him my shipwright."

"Seriously!?" The family cheered, meanwhile Sanji still stood over his bounty depressed by the image drawn of him. "Now that we know that there is no use staying! Let's go men, Strawhat, make sure you gather your stuff and head to your new ship!"

The crew waved good-bye and then went into the house to gather their items. Kimi still couldn't get over the fact she had a bounty… and how she was going to avoid her sister…

"Kimi, here's your picture!" Nami handed her the bounty and then continued to hand out the others their own. "Thanks…" Kimi muttered and then sighed pathetically at her picture.

Aokiji had mentioned that she would be included in the crew's total bounty at one point…but she didn't realize how soon it would be. Looking at her picture once again the number caught her eyes: 50,000,000 beri.

That was a decent price for a first time bounty and it made her wonder why…then again. The government knew how dangerous her family and brain were so that could explain it. With a growl, the scientist folded the paper into a small quarter length square and placed it in the back page of her father's journal before joining the boys in the kitchen. With her bag across her shoulder and her rolling trunk in her hands, Kimiko was ready to see and get settled in her new home.

"How long are you gonna stay depressed?" Luffy looked to Sanji still whining about his picture. "Why am I the only one with a drawn picture?!" Sanji cried with fangs.

"That's an amazing amount for a first time." Luffy smiled.

The cook shoved the poster in the captains face even more, "Which part of this picture looks like me?! Where am I in this?"

"It looks exactly like you…" Zoro muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"**LFLKA DJGAS DKGA SDHA FLKH"** Sanji muttered. "I can't understand your words…" Zoro sweatdropped and crossed his arms over his chest.

The love cook fell to the floor face first, "I'll be the laughing stock of the whole world's ladies…"

Nami held her poster in her hands, "I was tricked…that man said he was the town's magazine reporter." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled, "At least the picture turned out cute though and I got a bounty…"

"I'm also a pirate!" Chopper yelled at Luffy with his bounty in his hand. "And I fought like a true man, so I gotta object to these 50 beri!"

"Well try harder next time!" Luffy laughed just before Mozu yelled for the crew to hurry up outside. "As soon as we get the ship and Franky, we depart so don't forget anything!"

"Luffy," Chopper whined. "Sanji isn't moving."

"Then just forget that curly guy." Zoro responded constantly continuing with their fight.

"Wait…" Sanji growled and then followed after the rest of the group.

Kimi and the other's nodded and then followed the girls to Scrap Island after saying good-bye to Chimney, Gobe and Kokoro. "Oh!" Luffy exclaimed after they arrived to the shore. "There's something huge over there!"

"Is that it?" Chopper smiled jumping up and down. "Let's go see!" Luffy ran forwards, "Oi! We came Franky!"

Instead of seeing Franky, they came across Iceberg standing in front of the covered ship. "Unfortunately, Franky isn't around…However, the ship is complete and I will show it to you in his place." He walked over to the blanket and pulled it off swiftly. "If you're going to become the Pirate King someday, Strawhat…"

The blanket revealed one of the biggest and most detailed ships Kimiko had ever set her eyes on. And the best part, was the fact she would live with this ship to the end of the world.

"…You have to ride this King of Beasts!" Iceberg ended with his hands extended in the air.

Everyone gasped and smiled at their ship.

"This is the best!" Luffy cheered.

"Are you really just going to give this to us?!" Chopper cired.

Zoro nodded. "It's double the size of Merry!"

"What a big sail!" Nami smiled as well as Sanji, "Show me the kitchen! The kitchen!"

"What a splendid ship!" Kimi giggled. "It really is wonderful."

"I wonder what kind of big flower is that on the ship's bow." In Robin language, that meant she liked it.

Iceberg muttered shyly, "Well, I was sure it was a lion."

Not wanting to wait any longer, Luffy jumped on the deck along with the others trailing behind. The deck contained a grass bottom complete with trees and a patch of Nami's orange groves. Kimi had to admit, the part of the deck she was going to enjoy the most was a small swing dangling from one of the trees.

When she was younger, Kimiko loved to sit outside on her tree-swing and think. She didn't have to think specifically about science because there was no one around to gripe her to do so. It was her only form of relaxation and she took in every inch of it when she could sit outside and swing back and forth.

Now, seeing the swing most likely made for Luffy and Chopper, she smiled knowing she'd have her fill of the object.

Sanji exclaimed from the inside of the kitchen, "Oh it has a refrigerator with a lock on it that I saw in my dreams! Franky, thank you! This ship is the best!"

"Oh," Kimi traveled up the stairs, "I wonder if Franky put in the laboratory I asked…" She was about to venture for the room when Luffy asked Iceberg for Franky to thank him.

"Oh, it seems he doesn't want to see you." The mayor replied. "Strawhat, you want to invite him as you shipwright, correct?"

"Yea, you got that right, I've decided he will already!"

"That might be the problem." He nodded, "If he was invited face to face then he wouldn't be able to refuse. That's why he went to hide. Well, perhaps his true feelings are to go with you guys out to the sea." Iceberg smiled. "You must know pretty well how much he cares for this dream ship he's giving you. Franky really has a liking for you all from the bottom of his heart, but he's always thought of staying on this island as a duty. To me it's just a stupid obsession, but if you really want him to go with you the only method is to use force to get him."

"By force?" Luffy questioned. "I really want him to come but…is that really okay?"

Iceberg nodded, "It's the only way…"

* * *

><p>Kimi and Nami had to shake their heads at their soon-to-be shipwright. Not only was he not wearing any pants (not to say that his speedo was any better) but now with the use of Robin's Devil Fruit power, she had grabbed his manly parts as their means of 'force' to get him to join the crew.<p>

The boys freaked at the sight, "They have been grabbed! Robin, I want him to still be a man when he becomes our nakama!" Luffy yelled. "They'll be smashed, Robin! It hurts just by looking!" Chopper cried.

After squealing and twitching to the ground, Franky stopped screaming and moaned in pain instead.

"Just like when a treasure is in front of a pirate and he doesn't want to let go, if I don't receive a good reason then I'm not letting go." Robin smiled having the perfect reason for Franky to join the others.

"I want to go, but there are still things I must do here!" The cyborg complained. "I quit being a shipwright to begin with and this is the last ship I'll ever build, that why I gave it to you." He continued to twitch from the pain.

"Franky," Iceberg began walking calmly over to the man, "That still hasn't become the dream ship you talked about. You now have done everything you had to do in the island. On that day you blamed yourself and regretted the capture of Tom-san, but Tom-san has already forgiven you. By showing you a new path! You protected everything Tom-san loved in this Water Metropolis to atone for your guilt…even though Tom-san has forgiven you…even though…I have already forgiven you. It's time… to forgive yourself, Franky. Live your dream now." Iceberg ended with a smile to his long-time friend.

Just then an explosion hit Franky, forcing him to fall away from the hit. "What? A bag?" He wiped his tears.

"It's the luggage for your trip, Aniki!" The Franky Family yelled and cheered for their leader to go along with the Strawhats.

Franky frowned, "Don't but into my life! It's shameful and if you were the ones to think this through then you shouldn't have in the first place!"

"But we care for your happiness!" One of the brothers yelled. "We want you to be happy!"

The blue-haired cyborg began crying and twitching on the floor once again, and honestly Kimi wasn't sure if it was because he was saddened by his friends or if it was from Robin.

"It hurts so much that I can't stop crying! Damn you, Nico Robin!"

Well, that took care of that question, Kimi shrugged to her own question. But when she looked to Robin, the scientist discovered that Robin had already stopped grabbing him.

"He's smart." She smiled resting on the railing. "Blaming the pain for those tears." Her raven black hair blew through the breeze as she turned her head to the captain. "I just started the motion…"

Kimi shook her head with a smile, _"Guess that answers that…again."_ She giggled while Franky continued to cry and complain.

"Aniki we will still test our strength here in Water Seven, please don't cry anymore! Aniki!"

"Even if you go far away, we will always be your followers!"

"Aniki!"

In the distance, Zoro and Sanji ran at full speed towards Franky and the ship. "Luffy! We are in big trouble!"

"Your grandpa came back, Luffy!" Zoro yelled out, "He's at the opposite coast making arrangements to attack and is looking for us!"

"Why? I thought he decided not to capture us?" Luffy questioned without a care as usual.

"How should we know?" Sanji frowned and then passed up Franky. "Oi you bastard, you're not wearing your pants yet?!" And then the two hopped on.

"Here," Luffy threw the speedo to the man and then stood on the railing with his arms folded across his chest. "Well then, get on, Franky. On my ship!"

"Heh, stop talking so cocky." Franky placed his glasses from off of his head and onto his nose. "The only repairs you amateurs are capable of, are cheap ones. If there isn't one shipwright on board, I would pity the ship! So I'll help, your ship's shipwright will be the great Franky!"

"YAY! A NEW NAKAMA!" Luffy cheered along with everyone else on board. Franky clutched the yellow bag packed by his family and climbed onto the deck with everyone else. "We're off!" The crew unrolled the sail heading out of the shore with the tide and breeze.

"But Luffy…" Nami grunted as the captain sat on the round platform seat around the mast.

"Aren't we still waiting for one more person?" Franky questioned causing Luffy to shake his head, "I've waited long enough since I heard from Sanji in the Galley-La room."

Kimi closed her eyes remembering that evening when Sanji revealed his information about Usopp. He had seen the marksmen practicing on the shore and revealed that he was in an attempt to get the crew to want him back.

However, Zoro had another thought about the idea…

* * *

><p><em>"No matter what happens, it isn't you who should behave modestly, Luffy." The swordsman crossed his arms over his chest. "I won't accept him until he comes and begs."<em>

_"Zoro!" Chopper argued, "What are you up to?!"_

_"Hey, why're you being so…" Nami began to walk towards him until he yelled at her and the reindeer to 'Shut up!'_

_"No matter how Luffy and Usopp felt when they started to quarrel, no matter who was right…" He walked towards the captain while pulling out one of his swords, "After demanding a man to man duel, you gotta devote yourself to the outcome of the battle."_

_As much as his words hurt Kimi and the others, Zoro was correct. _

_"And after losing the battle, he left on his own accord… listen everyone!" Zoro turned to the crew and tapped Luffy's head with the handle of his sword, "Even though he's an idiot, he has the title of Captain…The crew would be better without someone who doesn't show respect for this guy."_

_Zoro clutched Luffy's cheek and stretched it, "A crew that loses the respect for their captain, is sure to collapse. You can act easy going as you usually do but, if even for an instant, the guy who is my leader lets others step over him, it is me who will be next to leave this crew!"_

_This bit of information shocked the others, "That won't settle down this conversation!" Nami pouted._

_Zoro let go of Luffy's face causing him to snap back and to the ground. "If that idiot wants to come back, it's fine. However, if he doesn't make a distinction of the current matters, and is acting for self-interest, then I definitely won't forgive him!"_

_Kimi stared at the cup of tea resting in front of her on the table. As much as Zoro's words were painful to hear… the events that had lead up to the fight between Luffy and Usopp had been worse. The swordsman was correct, even though no one wanted to admit it. _

_Luffy would seem like a weak captain if he let Usopp onto the crew without an apology…_

_"If so, it's better for you to leave Usopp on this island!" He finished._

_"Wait up, Zoro…it's true that he made some mistakes but if you just tell him what you said when he gets back-"_

_Angered intensely, Zoro unsheathed his sword into the floorboards. "Is leaving the crew such an easy thing to do?!" He yelled. _

_"No…but…"_

_Sanji puffed a breath of smoke, "Nami-san. It is unfortunate but, just for this time what he's saying is right."_

_"We also can't keep trusting a guy who started such a thing on a whim." Zoro continued to get his point across. "It's simple, if Usopp's first thing to say is a deep apology, then fine. If not, then there's no place for him to go back to…What we're doing isn't a childish pirate game…"_

_Those words struck Kimiko deeply…she knew the consequences of coming out to see with Luffy and the others…but to be told it by a Nakama was more intimidating. She only hoped her past wouldn't come back to haunt her and her friends._

* * *

><p>Luffy's laugh pulled her out of the memory, "We waited for him the entire time in that place, but he didn't ever come. So that's the answer." He smiled but deep down even Franky knew Luffy grin was a fake one. "I think he also will be please with this…it's not like he quit being a pirate, so we might run into him on the coming seas." He laughed again, painfully obvious he was trying to hide his rejection that Usopp still hadn't apologized after all this time.<p>

Kimi looked down at Zoro sitting near the railing. He too, was admitting with his body language that he was upset Usopp still hadn't shown up. The grip on his white katana was strong, stronger than it ought to be…

"Luffy, let's wait a little longer." Nami asked as the breeze blew the ship, "We are in no rush for departing-"

Just then the ocean rumbled and forced the Strawhat Pirates to look out on the edge of the shoreline. "Damn it! The marines already found us!" Franky declared as two more cannonballs fired around the ship.

"OI LUFFY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Garp's voice echoed from the ship. "GRANDPA HERE! GRANDPA HERE! ANSWER IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!?"

"Oi grandpa, what's wrong with you, didn't you say you weren't going to capture us here?!"

"WELL A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENED. I'M SORRY BUT YOU'RE GONNA DIE IN THIS SEA! I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU BY MYSELF!" Vaguely the crew could make out the old man standing on the mast holding something in his hand.

"What is he doing?" Sanji questioned until a black cannonball charged right alongside the ship. "H-He just shot a cannonball at us with his bare hands!"

From that point on the crew's plan was simple, get out of the shoreline area without getting hit by the balls. With, or without, Usopp.

Kimi had cloned a few copies of herself and the crew to aid in the deflection of the cannonballs but still, these weapons were fast…how in the world was he throwing so many as if he were a revolving launcher.

"Everyone!" Chopper declared. "He's here! I can smell him!" Kimi looked out to the land and saw nothing of Usopp's figure…She looked back at the clones fighting and getting destroyed and had to quickly make more.

_"I hope he gets here soon…" _She thought grimacing while another clone disappeared from the hit. The ship was getting farther and farther away from Water Seven and it would only be a matter of seconds before they were too far away from bringing Usopp back on deck.

"Usopp came Luffy!" Chopper yelled again. "He's here!"

Instead of paying attention, Luffy blocked a ball with his balloon figure. "Protect the ship!" He declared.

Kimi looked back and then made a glimpse at a shadowy brown figure running down the shore. His voice was faint over the cannon blasts, but she could hear no apology from any of his vague words.

"You're so happy that you can't stop crying, right?! Everyone, wait! That's it, right?"

_"Apologize!" _Kimi yelled in her head, grunting as she attempted to help Franky block a cannonball.

"You guys, don't tell me you actually believed that joke back then?!" His voice was getting louder, and more alarmed. "We've known each other for a long time now! We argued quite a lot, but we're still nakama! Let's leave the past behind us!"

Kimi and the others held their foreheads low still not hearing the correct words to come out of the marksmen's mouth, "Oi! Say something!" Usopp cried out trying to compose himself. Stop messing around everyone!"

Kimi shook and then decided to fight back with her own set of tricks, "Clone clone, cannonball!" She yelled out and mirrored the attacks of the balls offsetting and disarming them from attacking the ship.

"Oi, your power is pretty cool, twin-san!" Franky grinned.

"Twin-san?" Kimi tilted her head still with her hands positioned in the triangle. "Ow, yea!" He laughed and shot a ball with the gun from his hand, "You have the same hair color as me, so you are Twin-san!"

Kimi giggled softly. "Ah, I see. Thanks." She had to admit, her color of blue hair, wasn't quite the same shade as Franky's but it was about one shade darker. Whereas, her sister and Father had a dark deep rich blue tint to their hair color. She was actually fond of his nickname for her.

"Luffy! Usopp is calling!" Chopper spoke out. "I don't hear him." Luffy replied.

"Zoro!" The doctor turned to the person next to him, "He's calling out to us!"

"I don't hear anything."

Chopper cried, "Liar! You can hear him!" He looked to the blue-haired female, "Kimikooooo!"

She didn't say a word and instead shadowed her face from the reindeer.

"Just fight!" Luffy yelled out, "Protect the ship at all costs!"

Why did Usopp have to be so damn stubborn, Kimi thought glaring past the splashing sea to the shore of Scrap Island. She could barely make out the shore line, let alone could she even attempt to see where Usopp was.

He had about ten seconds to apologize before the ship was out of the sight of the island… They probably wouldn't even be able to hear him if he did say 'sorry' and Kimi wasn't even sure if Luffy could stretch out his arm for him to bring Usopp back.

_"Five seconds…"_ She grimaced blocking another set of fire with her new clone trick. _"Four…three…two…"_

"**I'M SORRY!**"

Everyone looked to the shore, "I'm sorry I'm so stubborn. I was wrong!" They heard Usopp's voice loud and clear.

Kimi smiled from cheek-to-cheek and then continued her attack while the other's listened to the rest of his apology. In the next second, Luffy stretched his arm all the way out despite the cannonballs and stopped his hand right in front of their nakama.

"YOU IDIOT!" Luffy's tears poured from out of his eyes and even from his nose, "Hurry up and grab on!"

Sanji and Chopper cheered as Luffy continued to cry even more. "You're the idiot." Zoro laughed as Luffy pulled their friend onto the ship.

"You two guys are pitiful…" Nami attempted to hide her own cry but failed miserably. When Usopp landed on the ship, he collided heads with the rubber captain forcing the two to land on the ground. "We are finally complete!" Luffy exclaimed triumphantly. "Let's hurry up and get outta this bombardment to go for more adventures, men!"

"OI!"

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Onward crew! Hope you guys liked this, it was roughly 21 pages in my word document! Now, REVIEW and I'll put out the next two chapters asap!<strong>


	21. The Angel of My Soul

**As promised here is the next update! I've had this on my computer since I started the story a while back, so I am super (suuuuuuuuuuuuuuppppper!) excited for you guys to read this. This is based on the mini-arc of the scorching don/flag bandits and it is really detailed thus forcing me to split it into 2 stories. So review a lot and I'll post the next update soon! Special thanks to Totong, Phoenix, Fanboy316, Taiski, and DinoZilla for review. **

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>Tomoko Kimiko sat in her specifically designed science lab Franky had made for her in the middle of the Strawhat pirates new ship, The Thousand Sunny.<p>

It was actually a funny story how they came up with the name for the ship. Literally in the middle of the fight with Luffy's grandfather, Franky declared they need to name the ship before it was to go any farther.

Luffy and the other's came up with some really strange names and Kimi stuck back to listening rather than attempting to think one up herself.

Polar Bear Lion, Tiger Wolf Lion, Dango Gorilla Lion, Lionel Master, Being of Darkness, Monsieur Sunflower and New Battle Franky Lion Gang Champion, were just a few of the names the crew had thought of…mostly Luffy…

But Franky had told them the inspiration for the Thousand Sunny came from Iceberg. The Pirate King need a strong ship as bright as the sun that can overcome and sail a thousand seas.

Of course, everyone agreed on the name except for Franky. He apparently regretted his story of Iceberg by how much everyone seemed to like the catchy name.

Either way, Kimi and the others were delighted by the presence of The Thousand Sunny and by the detail Franky and the Galley-La put into the ship.

Kimi's favorite part was definitely her Laboratory, but she also grew fond of the aquarium and library, as well as the swing on the grass deck.

The lab was not only for experiment but had also doubled as her own private bedroom. Though it wasn't a whole lot of space, she was happy to have her own personal space away from the other two female crewmates.

The young woman sighed lifting up a heavy box onto the black onyx experimental table Franky had also made for her. "Perfect!" She opened the box smiling at the contents, as they had been secure during the move to the Sunny. She thought about her time on the Merry and wished it had seen better days. No matter how much Usopp and she tried to fix the Merry it never seemed to be enough.

Kimi pushed aside the feelings of the Merry and sat in her desk chair and looking down at her perfectly placed experimental table. Feeling like she was back at home, she habitually looked to her left expecting her father to be sitting next to her smiling as he always used to...but he was not. She sighed and smirked feeling as if her father's spirit was right there with her.

She nodded her head and then reached for her father's and her own journal ready to start to finally experiment in peace and quiet after what seemed like decades among the Strawhats. Flipping open to a page she had bookmarked as 'complicated' reading the direction of the experiment and the side-notes her father made and then proceeded to make the liquid known as 'liquid metal.'

After what seemed to be like only minutes, actually became hours and before long the young scientist's stomach began to growl craving substance. She came to a stopping point in her test and sat up from her chair smiling. "This is just perfect." She nodded looking at her table and then around her room. She pushed in her chair and then walked behind towards the door reaching for the knob.

"Oi! There's a ship in the distance. There's something strange about it!" Kimi heard Zoro's voice over the intercom that rang throughout the entire ship. It was going to be a very useful and effective system to allow all of the crew members to know what was going on even when they weren't out on the deck of the ship. Kimi quickly opened her door and then proceeded to walk quickly to the deck of the Sunny.

"What's this?" She held her hand out feeling delicate droplets of snow on her fingertips while her gloves protected her palms from the snowflakes. "Snowing?" She looked to Robin standing by the mast.

"Yea would you look at that!? It doesn't have a sail or a flag!" Usopp used his binoculars to view the ship in the distance closely.

"An abandoned ship?" Sanji titled his head at the strange behavior of the floating ship in the distance. All of the crewmembers gathered to the side of the ship to get a better look at their companion.

"Come to think about it." Franky began, "There is a strange game between pirates called the Davy Back Fight." Kimi and the others frowned recognizing and remembering their battle with Foxy and his crew. "Yes…We know." They all responded simultaneously.

"Oh wait a minute! Someone came out and they are fishing!" Usopp noted.

"Yosh! Let's visit! If they are enemies, we'll beat them right!?" Luffy smiled while Sanji took the wheel of the ship. As the Sunny sailed closer to the opposite ship, Luffy had regained his spot on top of Sunny's head asking if the others on the ship were alright.

Panicked, the opposing crew declared an attack but something about their ship told Kimi and the other's that they would not be fighting for very long against the well-armed Strawhats. As the Sunny got closer to their ship, Luffy, Franky, Robin and Zoro hopped out to examine the people on board.

"What are you guys? A bunch of fishermen?" Luffy questioned.

"Why yes! You see three days ago the ship was attacked, they stole all the food, destroyed the helm and took all the valuables." A crewmember cried.

"That's why even if you attack us, you will get nothing." Another spoke up.

"Nah! We aren't going to attack." Luffy smiled as usual. "You must be hungry, right? We were planning to have dinner soon, so why don't you come with us?"

"What seriously?"

"Of course, our cook can't abandon people like you! Don't worry! Oi Sanji!? Is dinner ready yet!?"

Kimi looked over her shoulder at the blonde cook walking out from the kitchen, "Yeah, it's already done. But before that!" He looked over at Chopper whom had been holding onto Kimi's leg scared from the unknown crew, "They're the patients you've been waiting for!" Sanji smiled.

"Oh, um yes…" Chopper let go of Kimi. "Then if there's anyone injured come with Kimi and me!" He nodded waving for the crew to come up. After that was settled, Kimi and Chopper took care of the pirate men as best as they could.

"Hold still, this may sting." Kimi smiled pressing a cotton ball with ointment to a man's injured arm. "There we are." She smiled kindly and then assisted the next man.

"Well isn't she pretty."

"Yea, just a beauty…" Kimi heard two of the men whispering about her. She smirked and held up another cotton ball with even more powerful ointment. "Give me your arm." She smiled to the man that had called her a beauty.

"OWWWWWWWWWEEEEEE!" He cried as the cotton touched his wound.

"There. You all should all be fine." Chopper nodded after finishing the last man. "Head through that door and the kitchen is on the other side." He instructed and began to put his supplies away. Meanwhile, Kimi had been fixing up a small boy's arms and legs while the rest of the crew left.

"There you are young one." Kimi smiled looking into the boys brown eyes. He wore a blue dotted bandana on his head and had not been dressed appropriately for the cold. "Hurry and go get some food before my crewmates eat it all." She grinned bigger and turned to help Chopper put the rest of his supplies away.

"Um, excuse me…" The boy asked from behind the two Strawhats.

"What is it? Are you hungry? The kitchen-"

"No it's not that, I…" The boy fell to his knees bowing nervously, "Sensei, Miss, I beg of you. After seeing your skills I want you to attend to one more person, please! Will you come with me to our ship?" The young boy raised his head with pleading eyes.

Kimi looked down at the doctor of the ship and nodded. "What do you think, Chopper?" She smiled.

"Um well of course, if someone else is in trouble then we should help."

Kimi giggled and looked to the boy. "Just let me grab a coat. Okay?" She walked through the back of the infirmary to the hallway that led down to her lab. She opened the door quickly and threw on one of the coats Nami had lent to her a while back. She also managed to take off her sandals and replace them with brown boots with her red pants tucked inside. "Yosh! Ready." Kimi smiled looking at the two. They managed to sneak out of the infirmary without letting the others see in case they became upset to Kimi and Chopper's departure.

"This way." The boy pointed after the three made their way onto the deck of the boy's ship. He led them through a passage that seemed to be through the walls of the ship. The small boy pushed aside a piece of the wall and walked through into the darkness while Kimi and Chopper followed behind. Trying her best to see through the darkness of the room became almost impossible, but using her other senses she could hear what seemed to be like a person in front of her moaning.

As a flame shined brightly in the dark room Kimi shifted her eyes, only for a moment, and then turned surprised at the sight. A man had been laid out on the wood frame covered in bandages and blankets. By the looks of it, he seemed to be in a lot of pain as his body shook viciously and sweat beaded around his head and neck.

"Is that him?" Chopper asked as the boy nodded. "He received a terrible wound and he's been under terrible pain for many days." The reindeer doctor walked forward and removed the blanket covering his body. "Oh my god! What's with this wound?" Chopper exclaimed making Kimi nervous as she walked over. He had a huge gash across his chest similar to Zoro's scar except this man's wound was still open and bleeding. "This wound should have been sutured! We can't move him to our ship in this state. I'll have to begin to operate immediately!"

Kimi knelt down by the man's face looking to Chopper. "What can I do, Chopper?" She asked sweetly. "For now try to attend to the cuts on his face. I'll be working on his chest." Chopper spread out the supplies from his backpack.

She nodded and began to unwrap the bandages on his forehead. She pushed his red hair out of the way caressing the masculine figures of his face. He certainly was a handsome man and she only hoped he would be grateful of the medical attention Kimi and Chopper gave to him.

Suddenly the man gasped widening his eyes and latched onto Kimi's slender wrist caressing his face. Kimi yelped not knowing how the man would react to strangers in his presence. "It-it's alright…" she smiled nervously not letting his strong grip on her wrist to affect her tone. "I'm watching over you…you are safe."

The man nodded and then closed his eyes sinking back to his position before. "Wh-who are…y-you?" He managed to speak and then opened his eyes ever so slightly.

The blue-haired girl smiled sweetly and rubbed his cheek with her thumb, "My name's Kimiko. Don't worry… you are in good hands." She whispered.

Unknowing to her, as the man looked up at Kimi with her stunning blue hair and gorgeous facial features plus the fact that she had been wearing a white coat, he viewed her as an angel protecting him from the heavens. "Ki-Kimi-ko?" He whispered and closed his eyes completely letting her wrist go and falling back into sleep.

"Sorry, I had to give him some painkillers." Chopper announced with a shot clenched in his paws. Kimi nodded and then looked back at the red-haired man, "Don't worry…" She whispered once again and then continued to take care of his wounds.

"I did all that I could, all that is left now is to wait…" Chopper wiped his head after completing his operation. "Thank you, Sensei and Miss." Jiro, the young boy had introduced himself to the Strawhats while they were operating. Kimi had asked for his name to make him lose his focus on the attention of his friend being worked on.

Suddenly, the entire ship started to rock violently causing the three to topple on top of the other. "Oh no. Jiro, Kimi, hold his body down." Chopper held the man's chest carefully. "If this keeps up, the wound will end up opening again!" Kimiko nodded and quickly cloned herself twice as the clone female copies held the man as Chopper instructed.

"Oh! A devil fruit user?!" Jiro smiled at the girl. She looked down and winked, "Yes now hold your friend still." The rocking eventually stopped and as it did Kimi released the force of her clones and stood from her kneeling position.

"Oi! Chopper, Kimiko! Where are you?! We came to take you back! If you're there, answer me!"

The doctor and scientist looked at one another at their captain's voice. "Kimi, can you stay here and watch over him while I talk to Luffy." The blue-haired woman smiled, "Of course." And with that he left.

"I should go too!" Jiro stood and ran off leaving Kimi alone in the room with the resting man. Once again she examined his wounds making sure the bandages were protecting the stitching Chopper and she had put in. So far he was healing nicely.

She looked back into his face and smiled. "You are lucky to have a friend like Jiro who cares so much for your safety." She sighed.

"Oi! Kimiko! You helping too?"

Kimi turned her head over her shoulder and waved hello to her captain. "Luffy! Why yes, he was in a lot of pain, but luckily Chopper and I have helped him." Within minutes, Luffy and Chopper sat in a corner attempting to catch up on a bit of their sleep while Kimi and Jiro managed to keep watch on the man, now who she knew as Puzzle, the captain of the Phoenix Pirates.

"Jiro…" Kimi started to whisper while patching up one of Puzzle's arm bandages. "I don't really understand your situation, but it looks like it's a very serious matter. But be at ease. We may be pirates but we are also now your friends. Chopper is one of the best doctors on the seas… if there's a patient under pain, no matter whom it is, he'll do his best to save a life."

Jiro smiled slightly and looked to his captain. "Even if he is all worn out and on the verge of death, he will certainly stand up and rise again…as if he were a phoenix. I, along with everyone else, thought that this man would become the pirate king. But the New World, it's definitely different over there…but I believe in him…Puzzle-san will rise once again!"

Kimi smiled and patted the young boy's shoulder. "He will…" She smiled and wiped a tear from his eye. "Don't you worry." The woman patted his back and then leaned in front of Puzzle's side resting her head on the wooden frame. "Go to sleep, Jiro. You need to rest." She smiled and then yawned closing her eyes.

She fell into a sweet slumber until her body had gained enough energy and then woke her up. She opened her eyes slowly and then widened them at Puzzle's grimacing face. Sitting up she watched silently in confusion as he whispered, "Vigaro…" and then proceeded to raise his hand in the air as if he was reaching for something, or rather someone.

She sat up and pulled his hand back to his side, "Puzzle. You must rest. Please…Listen to my voice." She calmly spoke. "Rest…"

"Puzzle-san!" Jiro woke up and ran next to Kimi, "Is he?"

"He should be fine, it seems like he is having a nightmare…" Kimi watched as he muttered the name 'Vigaro' once more. The small pirate boy rubbed his captain's shoulder hoping to calm him down, but instead the man shot open his eyes.

"VIGARO!" He yelled sitting straight up and then ducked back down as his head hit the support beam above.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Chopper woke up from his position around Luffy and walked to Jiro. "Nothing is the matter! Puzzle-san has woken up! Sensei is truly awesome!" He hugged the small reindeer. Kimi giggled at the two and then looked innocently at the now awakened man she had been taking care of.

"Hello, are you alright?" she asked bewildered and not sure how to respond to his confused face.

"Y-you…" He whispered looking at the woman. "Ki-Kimiko?" She seemed taken aback by the fact he had remembered her name and nodded, "Y-yes."

He looked at her with no emotion and then nodded with her, "You saved me."

"Well actually, my friend Chopper really helped you." She pointed. "I just helped him out."

Puzzle then began to shake his head softly, "No, you were sent from the heavens to help me. My angel…" He responded making Kimi blush. "Thank you. I think…"

He looked to his side at Jiro and Chopper. "What happened, Jiro?"

"We were attacked by some incredibly strong guys in the new world. But thanks to the time Vice-captain gave us, we managed to break free of their hold…" Jiro then proceeded to explain that once they escaped the fight, they caught up with bounty hunters that managed to steal their pirate flag and force them to do their bidding as well. "But everything is better because Puzzle-san had resurrected!" The boy smiled despite his tears.

It was then that Puzzle grunted and attempted to sit up to the side in the process of standing. "Oh, wait!" Kimi stood hoping to help the man through his life-threatening injury. "Don't exert yourself!" Chopper jumped up and down.

The man smiled at Kimi and placed his strong hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, my body is okay." He looked to his crewmate, "Jiro gather the crew on the deck!" The boy nodded and then proceeded to run off.

"Please, let us help you put on some warm clothes." Kimi placed her gloved hand on his back to help him stand straight. "Chopper, Jiro brought down a shirt, vest and jacket for him. Could you hand it-"

"Thank you Kimiko, but I can dress myself." Puzzle cut off her statement.

"But-"

"Thank you." He pushed his body out from her hold and reached to grab his clothing. "You all have my thanks for helping me and my crew." He pulled on a blue collared shirt.

"Oi, he's awake." Luffy sat up with a snot bubble still in his nose. "Good to see you." It popped loudly as he grinned.

"Thank you for your help but my crew and I will no longer need your assistance." Puzzle buttoned his shirt and then pulled on a black vest overtop. He looked for his jacket and then blinked as Kimi handed him the warm clothing article. "Kimiko, you are truly an angel." He smiled taking it from her hands.

"Thank you, but you should know, Puzzle-san, just how much Jiro looks up to you. He kept telling me all about you and your adventures. He truly admires and believes you are a great pirate captain." She nodded looking up at the well built man, "I just thought I'd mention that before you talk to the rest of your crew."

He nodded to her and then proceeded to walk out of the secret room with Kimi, Chopper and Luffy following behind. As they all entered the deck, Puzzle announced to his crewmembers how his return and his thanks.

"Chopper, Kimi…let's go." Luffy whispered as the crew hugged and cheered for the revival of their captain. They tried to sneak out, but little Jiro would not let them go so easily. "Kimi-san, Chopper Sensei! Luffy-san! Thank you very much!" He smiled widely with a coat now on and a long chain wrapped in his arms.

"Don't mention it."

"I'm a doctor, so it was the most obvious thing to do!"

"You're very welcome."

"Someday," Jiro nodded to the three, "We'll definitely repay you this favor."

"Yes, I guess we will see you in the New World." Luffy nodded.

"Oh, well then from now on we shall be rivals!" One of the crew smiled but Kimi noticed the distressed look on Puzzle's face, "Everyone…We are no longer going back to the New World. From now on, we'll remain in the bounty hunter crew."

Jiro's tears broke Kimi's heart as he held onto the red pants leg of his captain, "Damn it. Have you lost your pride?!" he cried.

Luffy stormed off "Oh, wait!" Puzzle stopped Luffy in his tracks, "I'd like to repay you all but I lost everything in the New World. That place isn't to take as light as you may be thinking." He warned.

"Nah, its fine. We will go and find out. Besides," Luffy looked back smiling. "We're strong!"

Kimi looked over at her captain and then back to Puzzle who eyed her carefully and longingly. "Fine." He muttered and turned his back. "Do as you all wish."

Kimi watched as Jiro had almost tripped and fallen trying to follow Puzzle's footsteps. "Poor Jiro…" She shook her head.

"Let's go. Kimi, Chopper. They gave up on their flag and they are no longer pirates. " Luffy pulled the two back to reality and they walked to the mast of the ship preparing to climb back to the Sunny with the thick rope that connected the two. Suddenly, the ocean below started to grow and just as Kimi and Luffy were about to jump off the side of the Phoenix ship, an iceberg rose from the sea splitting the rope from the Sunny.

When the sea settled down, Luffy cheered at the giant iceberg in front of them. "It's a huge block of shaved ice!" He cheered and then stretched his arms to attack and punch the ice block scaring all of the men on the ship with the use of his Devil Fruit ability.

"What? He's a Devil Fruit user?!"

"That is crazy!" The men talked among each other. Kimi smiled and cloned herself twice to fool the men. She placed one by Jiro and the other in the middle of the deck. The clone with Jiro tapped him on the shoulder and smiled while the one on the deck waved sweetly. Then before the men freaked out even more, they disappeared.

"The woman!"

"She's a Devil Fruit user too!"

"No way!"

"They are invincible!"

"Kimiko…" Puzzle whispered making her turn around to look back at the phoenix crewmates. "Aw…my shaved ice went away- oh! And the Sunny's gone!" Luffy and Chopper yelled not seeing their ship in sight.

"Oh no…" Kimi sighed turning back around as her crewmates cried. "It'll be okay…we will find the Sunny eventually." She patted their backs. "Do you all have a small boat or dingy we could use to return to our ship?" She turned back around smiling.

"Why of course beautiful Neechan!" The men melted at the sight of Kimi's innocent beauty.

"Luffy, follow them to the ship, Chopper and I will try to receive any other information about this place." The three nodded and separated. "Oh you there, Stancen, do you know how these icebergs move?" She asked one of the men that she had met in the infirmary earlier.

"Well actually, yes…" He nodded retaining his sitting position. Chopper ran in front of him while Kimi continued to stand. "You see there are Doom Penguins located in this area. They are very strong and they move the icebergs from under the waters helping the bounty hunters to gather their targets. That's the reason why they say that you can't get away from this sea." He nodded.

"Awesome penguins!" Chopper gleamed.

"I see…thank you." Kimi nodded about to ask another question when Luffy called out to her and Chopper.

"Thank you very much!" Chopper bowed and then ran off leaving Kimi behind.

"Oi, wait!" Stancen made Kimi turn around. "Forget them!" Puzzle's voice made the man and Kimi look at him on the bottom of the deck staircase. "After all, it's the same wherever they go."

Kimi eyed him carefully, "What do you mean Puzzle-san?" She frowned.

The captain smiled and stood to walk in front of the small blue-haired woman. He placed a hand on her shoulder about to say something when Luffy called for his female crewmate once again.

"I'm sorry Puzzle-san. I must go." She pushed aside his hand and then walked off not daring to look back. As she entered in the small boat with her two friends, Chopper began to row the boat in his human form.

"I hope those guys will be alright." Chopper looked back at the Phoenix crew. "I'm sure they will be fine, Chopper," Kimi smiled hopefully looking to Luffy. "Right now we need to find the Sunny."

"Yosh!" He laughed as an iceberg attacked the boat from behind dragging the dingy back in the direction they had come from. "Hold on!" Luffy smiled stretching his arms towards the mast of the Phoenix ship. The small boat flew in the air causing the three to fly in the air towards the deck of the ship once more. "Oi! We're back!" Luffy called out as the ship crashed on the deck. He landed on his feet along with Kimi landing next to Puzzle while Chopper fell into an unknown man on the deck.

Kimi huffed trying to catch her balance while Luffy laughed, "Well, we came back here after all!"

"Strawhat-san! I thought you were heading back to your ship?" One of the men asked.

"Well…" Kimi patted her gloved hands together, "We didn't know exactly where we were going…" she smiled at Puzzle and then frowned towards the man Chopper had hit when they landed. "Who is that?" She pointed as he stood from the rubble.

"Ah, well after all, finding a ship without a mark will be hard; don't you agree Strawhat Captain-san?" The muscular man smirked. He was very weird looking and Kimi couldn't help but think what type of clown villain she and her friends would have to face now. "However, I'm really lucky that I ran into three pirates with bounties and two with extremely high ones at that." He smirked looking at the three standing side by side.

"Oh, Kimi-san and sensei have a bounty?" Jiro looked over at the woman while standing in-between Luffy and Puzzle. She smiled at him and nodded then proceeded to look back at the villain.

"Who are you anyways?" Luffy frowned.

"I'm the Atchino family's second son!" the man declared raising his arms. "Brindo-sama!" Ignoring the man, Luffy and Chopper walked over to Stancen, the man that gave Kimi the hint about the penguins lying on the ground unconscious. "Oi! Pay attention!" Brindo yelled. "Listen, we took your flag and added it to the family collection." He boasted.

"What!?" Kimi took a step back not believing the man's words.

Puzzle huffed. "Are they the ones that took ours too?!"

"I don't know what that symbol meant to you, but if it was stolen that easily then you better keep an eye on your underlings, Strawhat." With that comment, Luffy sprung into action declaring battle between the bounty hunter. They fought for a while until Luffy had jumped from the mast to the deck following behind Brindo.

"You caught me off guard last time, but that won't happen again." He boasted combing through his hair. "What a stupid captain! That's the reason why his precious pirate flag was stolen." He smirked making Luffy upset.

"Gum gum, Gatling gun!" Luffy yelled punching his stretched fists more frequently but none of his punches hit the man.

Wanting her captain to put Brindo in his place, Kimi raised her arms making her trademark triangle shape and yelled, "Clone Clone!" Suddenly from behind the bounty hunter three of Kimi's clones kept him still causing Luffy finally land a punch.

Brindo frowned standing up punching the clones and making them disappear as Kimi released her control on the doppelgangers. "Is a flag really that important to you?" He smirked.

"Of course! The flag is our pride!" Chopper yelled. "It's more important than anything!" Kimi held a fist at the man walking in front of the small reindeer. Luffy had attempted to hit Brindo once again but without Kimi's clones, he jumped down to face the blue-haired woman.

"Woman shouldn't butt into these types of conversations or fights. We're having a pirate conversation now." He smirked leaning closer into her face. He was by far one of the ugliest men she had seen since she began her journey with Luffy and with him getting into her personal area she was not going to have it.

"Shut up! I _am_ a pirate!" She yelled but instead of saying anything back, Brindo simply raised his hand and smacked Kimi across the face forcing her to the ground. Angered Luffy retaliated back but as usual he missed his target.

"Kimi-san!" Jiro ran over to help her along with Chopper and some of the other Phoenix pirates. "Are you alright, neechan?" They worried about her.

She nodded sitting up mermaid style and then looked back at Luffy and Brindo. Completely angry at the fact that Brindo had hit Kimi, Luffy had used all of his might and finally latched onto the big bounty hunter punching him into the siding of Puzzle's ship.

"Luffy!" She cried not really sure what to say afterwards.

"You will tell me where the flag is, after your beating of course." He smirked holding up his fist.

Feeling a cold stinging pain deep in her cheek, Kimi rubbed her face with the smooth surface of her gloved hand. "Are you alright, Kimiko?" Puzzle's voice whispered next to her. She widened her eyes looking up and over at the red-haired captain. "Oh, um… yea." He bent down to help her back onto her feet ignoring the red growing on Kimi's cheeks. "Thank you, Puzzle-san." She nodded.

"It is just Puzzle, Kimiko." He nodded back causing Kimi to have a déjà vu moment.

* * *

><p><em>Kimi giggled turning back around letting her blue hair down from her usual bun. Zoro had been peeing in a bush and once he finished he walked backed over to her kneeling down to wash his hands. She dumped her hands back into the water and combed her wet fingers attempting to wash her blue hair.<em>

_The two kept quiet as they continued working on their jobs and finally Zoro walked out from his area. "Good night." He muttered and walked away from the girl. "Night Zoro-san!" She shook her head and stood up._

_He looked back and smirked. "You can just call me Zoro." Kimi blinked a few times confused by her courtesy and then blushed. "Oh okay. Good night, Zoro." She restated as he walked off. She looked back at the Merry and then back at the forest. Sighing, she walked through the trees and into the campfire area._

* * *

><p>Kimi shook her memory away and watched as Brindo was punched once more by Luffy. "W-wait!" He gasped and then pulled a small piece of a white flag from out of his shirt making Luffy respect the symbol of surrender. "The truth is that the flag is here." He stated standing up, "I'll give it to you now-" And with that, the bounty hunter jumped from the ship to a small dingy being pulled by the Doom Penguins.<p>

"LUFFY!" Kimi ran towards the captain as he ran off of the ship trying to follow the man and instead, fell into the depths of the cold water below.

"Wait, Kimiko!" Puzzle pulled the girl back before she too, fell into the water. "Please! Luffy can't swim! Help him!" She pleaded to the man holding her back from protecting Luffy.

"LUFFY!" Chopper tried to run over the edge to help Luffy but Jiro caught onto his legs and held onto him before he too sank. "Chopper-sensei can't swim either right?"

"Please!" Kimi pulled onto Puzzle's shirt collar looking into his eyes almost as if she were reading his soul. Something was troubling him. The death of his crewmate? The loss of his pirate flag? Or maybe it was something deeper, something more intense but Kimi honestly didn't care at that moment. She only hoped he could help her rubber captain.

A strong hand pulled her behind a body and then she felt the wind of a whip from above her head. "Puzzle…" She gasped feeling his body heat in front of the woman. "Thank you!" She nodded and then watched as he pulled up not her captain, but Brindo instead. "Capture him, Kimiko!" Puzzle pulled the man back onto the deck and quickly Kimi cloned herself to tie up the man to the mast with some chain on the ground.

"Not a pirate…hmm?" The clone kicked Brindo's head and then disappeared. Meanwhile, the real Kimi helped Puzzle and the rest of his crew pull up her drowning captain from the depths below. Once Luffy appeared back on the deck of the Phoenix ship, Kimi release her control on her clones and ran towards Luffy with Chopper at her side. "Luffy!? Are you alright?"

"I thought you were done for!" Chopper cried.

"Here, Luffy-san!" One of the Phoenix pirates walked over handing the Strawhat man a blanket. "For the cold."

"Thank you!" Luffy smiled and then sneezed.

"Luffy, you better not get sick…" Kimi smiled standing up and shaking her head. She looked to the side of her at Stancen who had now been sitting from his position on the ground. "Are you alright, Stancen?" She asked sweetly making Chopper waddle over to check if he was okay.

"Yes, thank you Kimiko-san and Chopper-san." He nodded.

Right then, Jiro had a burst of courage and determination as he confronted the stationary Brindo against the mast of the ship. Kimi had stood from her kneeling position from Stancen and looked around the group for the Phoenix captain. She had become somewhat attached to him for who knew what reason, but she wouldn't let it stop her from being a tough female pirate. "You have a sharp tongue kid." Brindo pulled Kimi back to the center of the ship.

"Enough!" Puzzle's voice rang right after that. His crew separated making a path for the man to confront the bounty hunter. "Don't get me wrong, I didn't capture him to hold him here. I want to…negotiate with you." He frowned looking up at the big muscled man.

Kimi walked behind Jiro and held him back from attacking either Brindo or Puzzle, she wasn't quite sure which he had been aiming for. "Easy Jiro…" She whispered.

"I want you to leave these guys and the Strawhats alone." He looked to his right at Kimi and Jiro. "In exchange…in exchange, I'll surrender my bounty."


	22. Contemplations

**Hello everyone! So as promised, here is the conclusion to the flag bandits/Phoenix pirates. I'm actually really happy to see that you guys caught up on the fact Puzzle is practically in love with Kimiko, but the question now is, does she love him back? lol, you'll have to read to find out!**

**Special thanks to my fabulous reviewers, Totong, Phoenix, Taiski, DinoZilla, Kilari G, and Fanboy316! I'm not sure when the next update will be... I know I have a ton of hw and school activities coming up plus I really need to work on my other stories as well. But I'm hoping it'll be soon! See you then!**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>"Enough!" Puzzle's voice rang right after that. His crew separated making a path for the man to confront the bounty hunter. "Don't get me wrong, I didn't capture him to hold him here. I want to…negotiate with you." He frowned looking up at the big muscled man.<p>

Kimi walked behind Jiro and held him back from attacking either Brindo or Puzzle, she wasn't quite sure which he had been aiming for. "Easy Jiro…" She whispered.

"I want you to leave these guys and the Strawhats alone." He looked to his right at Kimi and Jiro. "In exchange…in exchange, I'll surrender my bounty." He looked down ashamed by his own words.

"No…" Kimi whispered letting her grip on Jiro loosen. "If you do such a thing, what'll become of our pirate crew?!" The young boy pleaded.

"Jiro…I…we are no longer pirates…" he frowned looking up at the smirking Brindo.

"Ha! Fine, in return for your bounty, all these guys will be free to go." He continued to laugh.

"No! I will fight!" Jiro raised a fist ready to attack the bounty man until Kimi pulled him back into her lap. "Jiro…please…" She begged and suddenly a rubber hand covered the laughter of Brindo.

"Strawhat?" Puzzle whispered confused towards his approach.

"Return our pirate flag at this moment. I don't care about them or Puzzle's deal." He responded coldly.

"C-calm down, the flag is inside the frozen highway where our family stronghold is, Lovely Land." He smirked and then a strange noise came from his pocket. "Oi, woman, there is a portable Den Den Mushi inside my pocket. Pick it up if you want to retrieve your captain's flag."

Kimi eyed the man nervously and then nodded. Not wanting to put herself in a trap, she cloned herself and allowed the clone to answer the small snail. "Oi, Brindo. What is taking you so long? Papa is getting angry." An unknown voice rang through the system. "Oi, say something if you are there!"

Kimi nodded to her clone and she nodded back, "Brindo has been captured. If you want him back, bring the Strawhat flag with you."

Suddenly the captive man began to laugh, "I take back my words. Niisan is now coming."

"What do you mean by that?" The real Kimi stood up pushing Jiro behind her as she walked to her clone. "Answer me!" She demanded crossing her arms and removing her control on her clone making her disappear. Suddenly he began to glow red making everyone on board nervous.

"Oi! Why are you glowing!?" Luffy dumbly smiled running next to his crewmate when all of a sudden a blast from the side of the ship rocked the boat making the crew fall to the floor. "Oi! Is this a replication technique?"

"Are you like Kimiko-san and have a devil fruit?"

Kimi looked up at Brindo on the side of the ship now wearing a blue shirt. "What?" She looked to the mast and then gasped. "But how?" She looked and saw two similar men. "Brothers…" she nodded as they continued to tell of their twin story magnetic relationship.

"Brother, who are our targets?" the twin asked. "Well brother, first is this guy, Puzzle the Phoenix with a bounty of 100 million Beri, and he over there is Strawhat Luffy with a bounty of 300 million Beri, and then that woman over there is Multiplying Beauty, Tomoko Kimiko with a bounty of 50 million Beri. Oh and Cotton Candy Lover Pet Chopper, with a 50 Beri bounty."

"Ah, well then, let's begin our Combination Play!" The ship erupted into a fight between the Strawhats and the twin brothers. Kimi used her Devil Fruit ability as best as she could to trick the brothers from attacking more, but eventually and unfortunately; Luffy had been thrown off the ship to an iceberg below. With the force of the continuous fighting a lose piece of an iceberg began to fall from above right to where Chopper, Kimi and Jiro had been standing on the side of the ship.

"Chopper! Jiro!" Kimi looked up noticing the large piece of frozen ice and quickly pushed the two ahead of her. Just as she was about to escape from the ice's path, a small piece of the ice fell faster and hit her on the head causing her to trip unexpectedly.

"Kimiko-san! Look out!" Jiro called out to the woman but she was in no position to move. She screamed trying to think of something to do when the clank of a metal chain sounded above her causing the wind from the force to hide her face into the chest of her jacket.

"Kimiko." She opened her eyes to Puzzle's voice and then sighed as he pulled her into his chest as the ice debris fell around the two. "Are you okay?" he asked holding onto her back carefully.

"Captain!" Jiro cheered running over to the two. "Thank you, Puzzle." Kimi looked into the man's eyes and blushed at how close their faces had been to each other. "You know, Puzzle, you are saving me too much. I am starting to look like a weakling…" She grinned and then dropped her arms positioned on his strong chest.

"You have saved me before and Jiro just now. It's only fair." He smiled.

"Oi! Turn back around, we need to help Luffy!" Chopper begged pulling the two out of their moment.

"Impossible. In this sea we can't try to go anywhere without the Doom Penguins changing our direction." One of the crewmates mentioned.

Kimi looked up at the red-haired man's concerned face. Once again, he seemed to be distant as if he were remembering something haunting him from his past. Kimi could relate; her past was a nasty memory stained with blood and tears. But no matter what happened to her in the past, it could not change her course from the future of being a Strawhat pirate…or so she hoped.

"Puzzle…" She whispered touching the bandaged side of his cheek, "You must let go of this pain you carry. Trust me, I know about painful pasts." She nodded and then smiled closing her eyes. "You have a wonderful crew." She then pushed off of her hold towards Luffy and Chopper.

"Kimiko…"

She smiled to herself hearing Puzzle whisper her name. "_I hope my plan is working…"_

"Let's go, Kimi and Chopper!" Luffy announced as the Phoenix crew managed to provide the Strawhat's yet another boat after rescuing the captain yet again.

"Wait! Take me with you!" Jiro held onto Kimi's pants leg not wanting to let go. "Jiro…" She smiled and then frowned at Puzzle's voice. "No! Stay here, Jiro!" He demanded. "There is no reason to go."

"It's alright, if we're able to hold our flag once again, surly the captain will go back to what he used to be!" He smiled.

"Don't talk nonsense, I-I…have already given up."

"I'm still small and I'm still pretty weak, but just wait! I'll bring back the flag of the man I've decided is going to be the Pirate King!" Jiro smiled and then a punch on his head knocked him to the floor.

"Luffy!?" Kimi and Chopper gasped concerned from their captain's action towards the child. "There's no way that guy could become the Pirate King! The one who's gonna be the Pirate King, is me!"

"I've already decided and no matter what you say, you won't step on his dream!" Jiro yelled back making Luffy form another fist. But this punch was light and un-forceful stopping at the boy's stomach. "You're not weak at all, you've got your strength right where it should be." Luffy smiled giving him a pep talk. "Yosh, let's get our flags back from those thieves!" the boy nodded and followed after Luffy and the other's to the dingy in the cold waters.

"I will bring back our flag!" Jiro nodded to himself making Kimi smile towards his crew. She hoped that Puzzle would understand Jiro frustration and become the pirate he once used to be, before it was too late.

Shortly after all of Chopper's hard work of paddling to the ice shore of Lovely Land, the four pirates jumped from out of the boat to the strange yellow shaped house in front of them. "GIVE US BACK THE FLAG!" Luffy screamed at the top of his lungs as a group of bounty hunters walked out of the building.

"Ready to fight, Jiro?" Kimi smiled getting ready; he nodded and then took a stance. Kimi nodded back and then quickly ran towards the entrance of the building. "Where do you think you are going, 50 Million Beri, Tomoko Kimiko?" A man in hockey attire smiled skating towards her.

"Inside to rescue my flag!" She smiled and then raised her hands in the air. "Clone clone, 50!" She yelled and fifty of her clones surrounded the man. "Try to escape from this!" all of her clones responded tricking the man to the true one.

She watched confused as the man shot three hockey pucks past and completely missing her clones. "Where was,"

"That,"

"Aimed too?"

Her clones asked rhetorically.

"Well not to you, Kimiko-san but to your two friends over there!"

She and her clones looked to Chopper and Jiro being frozen in their place. "NO!" She growled and then forced a clone of hers to help the two out from their position. "I won't be so easy to fight." A clone smiled and then attacked the hockey man. Continuously the clones attacked as he attempted to throw freezing hockey pucks. His attacks constantly failed to hit his target and instead hit a replica of the woman and then disappeared and quickly reappeared as if nothing happened.

"Rumble!" Kimi heard Chopper scream and then a giant ball of brown fur began to roll and chase after the man. "Yay Chopper!" The real Kimi smiled and then charged towards the running man. "Missed me!" She smiled and then punched him in the gut causing him to panic and fall backwards. At that time, Chopper bounced in the air and then smashed the man into the ice.

"Great job Chopper!" Kimi smiled and then ran over to Jiro and Chopper. "I'm not finished just yet!" The man sat up and then whistled resulting in many sliding Doom Penguins to surround the three. "Among that large quantity of doom penguins, there are some that are especially hungry!"

A clone got in the way of a hungry penguin and then disappeared from her position leaving the real Kimi in range. "Jiro, stay behind me." She took a stance ready to use her clones to protect her and the others.

"Oh no!" Chopper changed back into his original form once again. "My three minutes must have been up." He muttered.

"Jiro! Kimiko!" A voice yelled in the distance.

"Oh! Captain!" Jiro recognized the voice as Puzzle's and walked from behind Kimi's stance. "Jiro! No!" She blocked an attacking penguin with a clone and then pulled him back in the middle of her and Chopper.

The hockey man must have realized who Puzzle had been and thus whistled once more surrounding Puzzle and his crew with the penguins. Kimi rolled her eyes and frowned, "I have to do everything around here." She nodded and cloned herself to protect the men from the invading penguins surrounding them.

"Kimiko…" Puzzle took a step back confused at her defense of his men and him but quickly looked back to her and Jiro. "Jiro insists on fighting even though he cannot compare to the fighting of these other pirates." He muttered to himself.

"He's just like you used to be." Stancen smiled to his captain. "Vigaro always believed in you too. And now so does Kimiko, a fellow pirate traveling among the sea."

The battle continued on without the dazed and distracted captain. He stood there watching his crew fight, Jiro and Chopper fight and Kimiko's clones fight and disappear as they began to be eaten or attacked by the vicious penguins.

"Jiro!" Kimi's voice pulled him out from his dazed state and he watched helplessly as the blue-haired angel saved his youngest crewmate from being bitten and resulting in her leg being cut instead.

"Kimiko-san!? Are you okay?" Jiro gasped seeing blood from her gash. She pulled him behind her once more and kicked another penguin out of the area. "I'm fine. Don't lose focus!" She smiled and continued to fight.

Puzzle had finally had enough, he ripped off his forehead bandana revealing his phoenix shaped birthmark and then raised his chain whip in the air fighting off the evil penguins from the area. "There." He smiled and then watched the clones of the blue-haired woman disappear.

"Jiro!" He yelled walking over to the three, "Let's go get our flag back!" he smiled at the young boy and then to the woman of the Strawhats. She smiled at him and then turned her head to a noise coming from the building.

"Oi you couple! You stupid stupid, couple!"

"I won't let this go on any longer, you horrible disgraceful man!"

Kimi smiled recognizing Usopp and Sanji's voice.

"Where did you go, Hockey bastard?!" Franky yelled as well.

"This time won't be the same as before!" Nami screamed with her Climatact in her hands.

"Your crewmates?" Puzzle asked as Kimi walked near the Phoenix crew. She nodded and watched as Usopp made up a story as to why Luffy could not go inside until the bounty hunters were defeated. "Our captain is easily distracted and most likely they do not want to hear Luffy yell at them for getting the flag taken." She sweat dropped at the gullibly and stupidity of her crew.

Just then Campachino, Brindo's older twin brother they had fought before, jumped in front of the blue-haired woman. "You are done, woman!" He smirked trying to hit her. Instead she disappeared revealing she had really been a clone.

"How careless of you." Her voice came from Puzzle's side, "After all, I thought it would be easy to fight an insignificant _woman_ like me." She smirked and then a clone kicked him in the back. "Now!" She looked over at Puzzle who then with the use of his chain pulled him father away from the others into the deserted area of snow.

"Why you…" He glared and then cried in pain as another clone of Kimi's kicked him in the face.

"It's over, Campachino!" Puzzle smiled as he watched Brindo being hit by Luffy in to the Lovely Land building. "Your brotherhood weapon is magnetism and if you get separated then you can no longer use that power!"

The man laughed causing Puzzle and Kimi to be taken a bit aback by his reaction, "That's not my only power!" He smiled and suddenly his muscles began to increase.

"What in the-?" Kimi gasped looking at the even bigger man, but had no time as he quickly attacked towards her.

"Kimiko!" Puzzle pulled her out of the way jumping back from Campachino's attack.

"Thanks, I owe you." Kimi smiled after Puzzle had jumped back a far enough distance and let her down from his arms. By now they were very far away from the others and the Papa man that had appeared right before Campachino attacked.

"Damn!" Campachino whispered looking as Puzzle and Kimi surrounded him from the battle. "At least I will have 150 million to take to calm Papa a little!" He growled ready to attack the man and woman.

"Unfortunately, a bounty hunter like you can't take me down!" Puzzle yelled throwing his chain to the man continuously as Campachino dodged his attacks.

Kimi watched from a distance as the men fought realizing what Campachino had been planning to do as he kicked up sheets of ice and snow on the man. "Puzzle!" She ran towards him with her arms stretched out in position to use her devil fruit. "Clone clone, ally!" She called out and thus forcing ten clones of Puzzle's figure to surround the area.

"Oi, what?"

"Ah, so you are going to help a fellow pirate then hmmm?" Campachino smirked not even fazed by the clones surrounding him.

"Yes, now attack, Puzzle-san!" Kimi called out and the real one nodded and then proceeded to do so. Suddenly all of the chains wrapped around the muscular man holding him down. "Do you think you can stop me with these foolish tricks?!" He growled and then proceeded to pull the chains surrounding him off by expanding his muscles causing the chains to break.

"No!" The real Puzzle jumped in the air with his chain ready, "It was just a foolish trick to stop you once and for all!" He smirked and then made perfect contact with the man's face and thus throwing him farther from the Lovely Land building.

Kimi released her control making the clones disappear and then walked back to her nakama while Puzzle decided to interrogate Campachino. "Oh! Kimiko-san!" One of the phoenix crewmates smiled at her.

"Where is Puzzle-san?" Stancen smiled at the girl.

"Right here. And we are getting back our flag." Puzzle attached his chain to the belt on his hip and smiled at Kimi, "Thank you for helping me fight, Kimiko." She nodded in response and then continued on, "Hurry, we don't want to miss anything when Luffy fights…trust me." She nodded and jogged forwards to her friends. "Look, there's Jiro and Chopper!" Kimi directed the men following her towards the two boys on the side of the fight. "Chopper!" Kimi smiled as the reindeer jumped into her arms. "Are you okay?" He nodded, "And you too, Jiro?" she smiled at the small boy hugging Puzzle's leg. "Yes of course, Kimiko-san!"

"Sorry to have you all worried all of this time." Puzzle apologized for their delay.

"No, I wasn't worried at all! That aside, let's hurry and get our flag back!" Jiro nodded. "Captain! Big trouble!" One of the crewmembers yelled out. "Our ship is being pulled away!"

Stancen smiled looking at his friends, "Leave the ship to us! You all go on!"

"I'm counting on you, Stancen!" Puzzle yelled back and then looked to the woman on his right. "Yosh, let's go!" She smiled and ran through the threshold of the building. "Where do we go?" Chopper cried and Kimi smiled running forwards, "One of my clones ran ahead, she told me this way! Follow quickly!" She waved them from behind and they quickly followed behind.

Sprinting forwards, the men and single woman pushed aside a set of doors to a room filled with many colorful and decorative Jolly Roger flags throughout the walls of the room. "Look!" Kimi pointed to a wall causing Chopper and Jiro to run towards their flags.

"Found them!" They yelled together and clutched the flags off of the wall.

"Yes!" Kimi cheered all too soon as the Papa man controlling the whole operation went flying through the building making Chopper and Jiro flying in the air. Like a speeding bullet, Kimi could see pass the debris and smoke what appeared to be a person jumping on the large piece of the wall towards Chopper. "ZOR-RO!" He cried out confirming Kimi's thoughts to who the person could be.

"Oi, Kimiko!" Puzzle pulled the woman into his arms before she became flattened by a piece of the wall Zoro had cut. She smiled at the man blushing slightly, "Guess I owe you double, huh?" She giggled and then looked back as Jiro screamed.

"Hold on!" Puzzle removed his chain and then threw it in the air wrapping around the boy and pulling him into his arms safe and sound with the pirate flag in Jiro's hands. "Nice job, kid." Puzzle smiled and then let his crewmate on the ground.

"Chopper!"

Kimi looked behind her shoulder as Usopp, Sanji, and Robin entered the now destroyed room. "Everyone!" the reindeer cried jumping from Zoro's arms. "I…managed to get it back! Look!" he held a flag in the air but not the right one for some reason.

"Oh no!" Kimi sighed face palming her forehead. The group gathered together trying to think of a way to get back the Strawhat flag. "Oi, Robin, Kimi? Can't one of you do something with your Devil's Fruit ability?" Zoro asked.

Kimi reluctantly shook her head, "My clones can't land on air… they need a base and the floating flags wouldn't work. What about you Robin?" She looked to her side at the older woman. "Yes I can, but I can't tell which one is ours?" She concentrated looking up at the floating flags in midair.

Suddenly a strange call echoed through the sky and a bird with something stuck in its beak nosedived towards the group. Just before it attacked, a black flag fell on top of Chopper and then flew away. "No way!" Kimi smiled realizing what was on the small doctor.

"Look! Our flag!" Everyone cheered as the men pulled the flag straight revealing the Jolly Roger wearing a strawhat.

"I'm happy for you, Sensei and Kimiko-san!" Jiro smiled big as Chopper hugged him tightly. "Thank you for helping us!" Kimi faced Puzzle once again as the rest of the crew members cheered. "Thank you, Kimiko." He smiled back at his blue-haired angel wanting to show his true appreciation in some way.

Zoro had been quiet watching Kimi thank the pirate captain confused by her comfortable attitude towards him. He knew that he hadn't been around because the others had gotten lost from him, but he never expected that Kimi would have been dependent on this man she had just met.

"Come on everyone! We have to get back before Luffy notices!" Everyone nodded and ran towards the battle area Luffy had fought near.

"This is where we split up, Strawhat pirates!" Puzzle smirked running to the left while Kimi and the others continued right. "Thank you for everything!" Jiro waved and continued to run with his Captain.

Kimi stopped to watch them leave when a hand on her arm pulled her back to running, "Hurry!" Zoro frowned pushing her to move forwards. "Look! In there!" Sanji pointed to a crater with Luffy stuck in the middle of what seemed to be lava. "How did he get in there?" Usopp questioned. "Oi Luffy we have the fl-" Chopper began but they all quickly covered his mouth.

"Ah! This is bad he found us! W-what do we do?!" Usopp cried taking the flag from the reindeer's hands. "Everyone! Let's hurry back to the ship!" Nami called out running forwards. They nodded and continued to run, "Everyone, listen, fool him no matter what!" Nami commanded while they ran as Luffy stretched his arm out of the crater and ran behind the crew.

They soon arrived to the cliff of the iceberg and noticed Franky had gotten the ship already ready to set sail. "Sanji-kun, Zoro!" Nami nodded and the two men understood. Shortly after they sent Usopp with the flag in his hands flying through the air towards the Sunny while Franky pushed him further to the mast of the ship.

"Everyone! We gotta hurry to get our flag back or…" Luffy yelled while the crew turned around.

"What? The flag? I wonder what he's talking about." Nami smiled hoping the others would play along. "Oh you must have just had a bad dream!" Sanji laughed nervously while Kimi and Robin smiled. "Luffy, look over there." Robin pointed to the flag flying proudly in the sky.

"Oh! It is perfectly safe. Those guys lied to me! Sorry I doubted you!" He stretched his arms out and then proceeded to bring everyone at once on board the Sunny. "Yosh! Prepare to set sail!" he commanded making the Strawhats cheer.

In an instant, the lava made from Papa's magma ability resulted in the entire ice island melting. "It's gone…all of it." Usopp gasped watching it disappear like the rest of the crew.

Kimi frowned now realizing she hadn't gotten the opportunity to say goodbye to Puzzle, Jiro or the rest of the Phoenix crew. Even though she had just met the bunch about a day ago, she felt like they had been lifelong friends.

"Oi, look! The Phoenix Pirates!" Franky called out from the steering wheel making everyone look on the opposite side of the Sunny they had been standing on.

"Chopper! Kimiko! Luffy!" Jiro's voice yelled out making the three run across the deck to the other side. "Thank you so much for everything!" The young pirate smiled and then pointed to his pirate flag waving in the air.

"Jiro! We will see you in the New World, correct?" Chopper smiled waving his hand in the air while hanging on the railing. "Of course!" the boy smiled and then looked to his side at Puzzle.

The red-haired man walked to the rail of his ship with his arms crossed, "Luffy, I admire everything you have given to me and this crew. From now on, you can count on us as your allies in the New World." Puzzle nodded and then looked over at the blue-haired woman smiling widely.

"Kimiko…" he whispered and then remembered the angelic look she had given him while he was ill. Throughout this journey, Kimiko was his guardian and for his crew when he hadn't been able to perform his duties as captain. It was then he knew how to repay the young woman and despite the many men stationed on the Strawhat crew, he knew if he wouldn't show his appreciation towards him he would never live it down.

"Puzzle?" Jiro commented as his captain jumped from his ship to the Sunny landing on the railing next to Kimi. "Jiro, I will be right back…" Puzzle smiled and then took a step down facing the young lady. "Kimiko-san…" he placed a hand on her shoulder making her face him. "You saved me, and this crew." He whispered leaning into her while making everyone on board the Sunny tense.

"I only wished to help." She smiled closing her eyes hoping the blush growing on her face would disappear.

"And you did." He reached for her delicate cheek pulling her face closer to his, "You will always be my guardian angel." He whispered so only she could hear and then pulled her lips to his.

Kimi couldn't move, her body completely frozen from the cold and the awestruck behavior of Puzzle towards her. Her eyes had been wide open for the first part of their kiss, but slowly closed just as he pulled her away. "Thank you, Kimiko…" He looked back at the jaw dropped Strawhats and smiled. "I'll see you all in the New World, thank you!" He nodded and then looked back at Kimi just before he jumped back onto his ship.

"What the-?" Luffy gasped and then ran over to his scientist crewmate holding her by the shoulders, "Oi! Kimi, are you plotting to go to his crew?" He growled looking up from her completely blushed face and shook her shoulders back and forth. "I won't have that!"

"Oi! Kimi-chan was just violated by that awful and deceiving man!" Sanji yelled just as furious as the steaming and innocent Luffy. "Even when I have created the Ordeal of Love to protect you Kimi-chan, do you not care for me!?" He cried making Usopp roll his eyes, "She never loved you to begin with."

"I'm not leaving, Luffy, I promise." Kimi giggling as he stopped shaking her. She tired her best to get rid of what seemed to be a permanent blush on her cheeks, and then turned to watch the Phoenix crew sail into the sunset.

"Oh, I wonder what Kimi and Puzzle did while they were alone fighting with that guy?" Nami snickered making Sanji even more furious.

"Nothing, Nami!" Kimi pouted and then pushed pass Luffy and Chopper who had seemed to be fighting for some reason.

Robin smiled innocently as Kimi pass by her, "At least we have one ally in the New World we can trust, yes, Miss Scientist?"

Kimi nodded and continued on walking through the deck. "Owwwww Suuuuuuuuupahhhh, Twin-san!" Franky gave her a big thumb up and then went back to steering the Sunny out of the maze of icebergs. Kimi just smiled and continued on her way back towards the direction of her room.

That was, until she passed by swordsman of the band of pirates...

It was a look that could kill anyone but her and yet it had such a saddening figure behind it that made Kimi think he might have disproved of Puzzle's kiss more than Sanji had. She ignored him as best as she could walking down the stairs to her quarters below without uttering a word.

'_Puzzle, you were truly a great captain admired by your followers…' _Kimi thought to herself as she walked, _'Although you were indeed a very good-looking and kind man at heart, I follow under the orders of Captain Luffy…it is he who will become the Pirate King. You can bet your guardian angel on that…'_

* * *

><p>"Oi, Marimo." The cook's voice rang throughout Zoro's sleeping head in the crow's nest or as he liked to call it, the muscle room since Zoro stored all his weights in the area.<p>

"What is it?" Zoro huffed not even opening his eyes for the stupid cook.

"What did I tell you… if you wait, she would be gone…" Sanji smiled sitting down next to the skilled swordsman. "Kimi-san is a very beautiful and powerful pirate in our crew, along of course, with Nami-swan and Robin-chwan. If you want her to be yours, you have to tell her or-"

"Enough." Zoro opened his eyes staring down the blonde haired cook. "Kimiko is not something to be won. She is not a prize. If another man has feelings for her, I can't stop him from urging on them." He muttered and then resumed his resting position.

Sanji stood and shook his head at the insolence from the swordsman, "You really are a baka, Marimo." He kicked his head lightly. "I saw your face, she did too…"

Zoro continued to sit there ignoring Sanji hoping he would leave.

"Fine, if you are going to be stubborn then so be it, but Kimi-san will never know if you don't tell or impact on your feelings towards her." He walked to the trap door and then exited the room leaving the swordsman drowning in his thoughts of the beautiful scientist.


	23. I've Got a Bad Feeling About This

**New update! Wanted to put this one out before I go on Spring Break next week... I'll try to write a bit during the break but can't guarantee when the next chapter will be out. Until then, ENJOY! Special ****shootouts to Phoenix, Taiski, NeitherSaneNorInsane, Fanboy316, Guest-Red, Totong, and DinoZilla for reviewing!**

* * *

><p>"Ah, we made it." Nami sighed.<p>

Zoro only shook his head as he and the rest of the crew looked out into the dark and cloudy sky, "That's good but what's with this place? It's not even night, and yet the fog is making it look so dark."

He was right, they had just encountered a very dark part of the sea after retrieving a floating barrel. As soon as Luffy opened the barrel, a flare shot into the sky and then the storm engulfed the ship into the shady area.

"Maybe," Nami placed her hand on her cheek alarmingly, "We're in that part of the ocean? We are not ready for this!"

Usopp laughed, "Oh are we at Fishman Island already?" Not present during Koroko's talk in Water 7, Usopp did not hear about the ghost sea story.

"No," Luffy bowed his head so that his hat shadowed his eyes, "We are in the Ghost sea!"

"Yea." Franky added looking grim as Luffy, "Don't let your guard down. This ocean is definitely the famous… Floridian Triangle! The outrageous sea where everything mysteriously disappears."

The terrified sharpshooter began to mumble until Luffy laughed, "Yea there's ghosts in this ocean!"

"You're lying!" Usopp attempted to fight off the crewmates teasing while Chopper clung to Kimi's leg shaking at their words. Kimi could only giggle at the situation.

"Yea! There's even living skeletons!" Luffy stated. "Ske-ele-tons?!" Ussop cried.

"That's only your imagination." Sanji muttered while lighting a match for his cigarette. "Stop scaring him with it. Usopp, every year in this ocean, many ships disappear without a trace… They say there's ghost ships filled with the dead that wander…"

Usopp cried out after turning a slight tint of blue, "Tell me that kinda thing ahead of time!"

Suddenly from the dark parts of the clouds an echo sang,"_Yo… ho… ho… ho… yo ho ho… ho…_" Instinctively, Kimi and the others turned their heads to see where the voice was coming from.

"THE GHOST SHIP!" Everyone cried out (except Robin) with horrified expressions. Coming from behind the Sunny was a massive pirate ship. With torn sails and rotting wood, the ship seemed like it had been through hell and back.

The echo got louder. "_Yo, ho… ho… ho…!"_

_"_What's with this song!" Nami cried, "It's the evil spirit's song!" Usopp added. "Don't listen to it, if you do you'll be cursed! He'll drag you out to sea, evil spirits are always trying to make people come to them!"

The echo continued, "_Yo… ho… ho… ho…"_

Kimi squinted through the lens of her glasses to the shadowy figure in the middle of the deck. "There appears to be someone…" She was curious to find an explanation. If it was a ghost, she wanted to scientifically figure out how he materialized.

As the ship continued to sail pass the Sunny, the figure on the boat became visible. "_Going to bring… Binks his drink…_" The tall skeleton's mouth moved up and down to the echoy voice.

"_Yo… ho… ho… ho…"_ The ship sailed passed the Sunny with the skeleton along with it.

"Did you see that!?" Luffy smiled, "A skeleton was singing!"

"Luffy," Kimi placed a finger to her chin posing with questionability, "A skeleton can't sing. It has no lungs or any vital organs to be alive…much less sing."

"Baka!" Usopp cried to the captain, "It was a spirit! A spirit!"

Luffy ran to the scientist with a smile, "But you heard it didn't you!? Hey, let's go!" He turned to Zoro with stars in his face, "There was a living skeleton after all! So cool!"

Zoro pulled out a hand-full of wooden sticks and looked to the crew. "Here, we will decide who's going with Luffy over to the ship fairly." They were used to making group decisions from the short-stick theory, but Kimi seriously wanted to experiment with this situation.

Standing on the ledge of the Sunny, Kimi, Franky, Sanji, Robin and Luffy prepared themselves to embark onto the ship.

"He's fine with the guys who want to go!" Usopp cried. "That's right, let them do it!" Nami growled. "Let them do it!" Chopper climbed onto the swordsman's green head.

"Is that really okay?" Zoro stated.

"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy cried out while Franky shouted his usual, "Ow!"

"Not at all…" Kimi could hear Nami cry.

"Everyone, come here." Zoro walked towards the group on the ledge while Chopper, Usopp and Nami literally dragged behind the swordsman begging to be left behind.

"You guys don't have to go, I can go by myself!" Luffy frowned as he and the others walked off of the ledge. "If we don't hurry, the ship will leave."

"To prevent Luffy from acting stupidly, two will pick to go with him." Zoro continued to hold the sticks in his hand.

By random draw, Sanji and Nami were chosen to go to the ship. And of course, the redhead was not pleased by her luck. As she climbed up the rope ladder to the deck of the ghost ship, the woman screamed causing the rest of the Strawhat crew to worry.

"Evil spirits stay away… Luffy rest in peace." Usopp prayed. But his prayers weren't needed as the three brought back a friend from the ghost ship. . . .

"YO HO HO HO! How do you do?!" The very tall skeleton took off his top hat to greet the rest of the Strawhat pirates. "I'm afraid that, while traveling, my ship ran into quite a bit of trouble! Now I am "Just Dead Bones" Brook! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Kimi didn't know if she should laugh or be terrified or angry. Brook was definitely a character, with a large poufy afro and a personality of a clown it seemed like. But then again, he was a skeleton… only bones.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Franky, Zoro, and Usopp yelled. "Who is this guy?!"

"Oh my, oh my! How harsh!" Brook squealed with a laugh and Luffy followed suit. Still not saying a word, Kimi and Robin analyzed the skeleton in their heads. That was, until he walked over to the both of them. "Oh, what beautiful women! Would you allow me to see your panties?"

Kimi raised an eyebrow while Robin continued to stare, "Stop it, you perverted skeleton!" Nami threw her boot at Brook's head. The scientist turned her head towards her female navigator friend but then caught a glance at the swordsman behind her. Zoro seemed to be fuming at the actions of the skeleton but he did nothing to attempt to stop Brook from terrorizing the women.

"Usopp! You got all your exorcism stuff!" Chopper cried out turning all the heads on the ship to look towards him.

"Skeleton, g-get out of h-here!" He was dressed oddly, but by now Kimi was used to his weird attire. "Evil spirits be gone, evil spirits be gone!"

"Evil spirits? Where? Where are they?" Brook looked around the ship.

"ITS YOU!" Chopper and Usopp yelled causing Brook to scream. It almost seemed like he forgot he was a horrifying skeleton.

"Skeletons can't talk or walk or have afros! This is a dream! It's gotta be!"

Chopper smiled, "Really?! Good… a dream!" He fell backwards with his eyes closed. Brook quietly walked overtop of the small reindeer, "Hello? Please wake up. Good morning!"

As soon as Chopper opened his eyes, his view was that of the skeleton head of Brook staring down at him. He screamed bloody-murder finally causing Zoro to yell at Brook to stop terrorizing his nakama. "Oi, Luffy! What's with this guy?"

"Isn't he funny?" Luffy smiled, "He's part of our crew now."

Zoro firmly placed his hands on his hips, "I don't care, I won't let him be!" He defiantly claimed and then looked to Nami and Sanji, "Why the hell did you guys go with him? Wasn't it to stop him from doing something like this?!"

"We're sorry…" The two muttered ashamed.

"Yohohoho! It's nothing to get worked up over, we can have dinner!" Brook nodded while stepping towards the stairs. "YOU CAN'T DECIDE THAT!" Zoro, Nami and Sanji yelled at him. Kimi smiled, the more she listened to Brook, the more she was beginning to like his personality. As far as the skeleton-thing, she was very curious how he came to be.

"He's too funny!" Luffy laughed. "Come on let's go eat!" The crew nodded making sure to follow far enough away from Brook and Luffy.

When the crew arrived in the kitchen, they all took to their usual seats while Luffy gave Brook his head seat of the table. "What a wonderful dining room!" Brook exclaimed, "And the kitchen! This is such a marvelous ship!"

"Yeah, that's 'cuz this super guy made it! You've got an eye for quality." Franky smirked taking the compliment to heart.

Sanji scoffed while frying up the last of his meal, "Oi, don't get attached to him Franky."

"Oh but what I am really looking forward to is the food. I haven't had any good food for so many years…" Brook fell onto the table as if his bones had caved in on him, "I've lived so long with these hunger pains that I feared I was just skin and bones…"

Kimi looked to Zoro on her left with a confused glare. It was a look that said, "How can he be hungry if he doesn't even have a stomach?"

Suddenly, Brook sat straight up in his chair and pulled back his coat to expose his ribs. "Although I'm a skeleton and don't have any skin at all! YOHOHOHO!"

Luffy was the only one who laughed back.

"SKULL JOKE!" Brook threw his hands into the air almost with a smile. Although he had no lips to prove it. "SKULL JOKE!" Luffy mimicked.

Kimi rolled her eyes at this point. It seemed as if Luffy and Brook were best friends for the lonest time. "So anyways, Korobrook-" Luffy started to say when Brook waved. "Oh no, it's _Brook_! Oh and I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't yet have your name…?"

"Me? I'm Luffy. So anyways, what are you?"

Kimi and the other's fell down at the fact Luffy had never introduced himself to the Skeleton. He must have just seen Brook and decided to have him join the crew without thinking. "You two didn't even ask that kinda thing?!" Zoro yelled.

"We will deal with the skeleton later, now it is time to eat!" Sanji declared placing everyone's plates on the table. With stars in his eyes, Luffy turned to Brook. "Oi, make sure you eat a lot! Sanji has the best food ever!"

They all ate to feed their starving bellies in a matter of a few minutes and afterwards Kimi couldn't take the mystery of Brook's appearance any longer.

"Brook-san, why and how are you a skeleton?" She bluntly asked causing Chopper and Usopp to squeal at her straightforwardness. "Kimi! We don't want to know! He'll curse us like him too!"

She ignored them and continued to speak looking at the skeleton face, "You don't have any organs or flesh… but you still talk and eat and think. How?"

Brook calmly sipped on his cup of tea, "What do you think?"

The others puzzled at his question while Kimi nodded, "You must have been in some type of horrible accident. In which it caused you to become a skeleton. Were you mixing with Hydrofluoric Acid or injected a Clorstridum Botulinum into your body which caused your skin to fall off?"

Zoro slapped Kimi lightly on the top of her blue head, "Oi oi oi, he doesn't seem that smart…"

Ignoring Zoro, she continued on with her conclusion, "The only other observation I have made of you, Brook, is the fact that your clothes are torn just as badly as your ship…"

Her statement caused everyone, including the skeleton, to straighten. "What happened to you? What happened to your ship? And why are you the only one left?"

Quietly placing his teacup on the table, Brook folded his bone fingers into one another. "Simple." He responded, "I died once years ago."

Nami growled. "And how is that simple?!"

"Have you ever heard of the revive-revive fruit?"

The crew looked at one another confused until Franky stated, "So you ate a Devil's Fruit then?"

"That's correct… The fruit that I ate grants the ability to resurrect, so as a "resurrection human" you have the promise of a second life. It's quite a mysterious ability."

The words Brook stated had the scientist's mind buzzing. With a gleam in her eyes, she smiled widely thinking of experiments to test on the "resurrection human".

"Oi…" Zoro muttered, "You're starting to act like these baka…" He turned his head to Luffy, whom exactly like Kimiko, had stars in his eyes.

"So you get brought back to life after you die once?" Franky stated. He, like the others, was not impressed as much as the scientist and captain were.

"Yes, that's right. Excuse me," Brook nodded and then burped very loudly. "Yes, at that time, I was a pirate just like you."

"Oh! You're a pirate too!?" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yes. Oh, excuse me." Brook nodded again and then farted just as loud as his burp just before forcing Sanji to growl,, "I just wanna beat some manners into you…" he shook his fists.

Brook continued with his story, "Long ago when I was a pirate, my crew and the ship I've been sailing on had been attacked by incredibly powerful foes. Our whole crew was killed in battle. I, of course, died as well. While I lived the revive-revive fruit simply made me unable to swim. However, on that day my soul returned from the underworld to this one! If I was able to find my body quickly, I would be revived, but the fog made the sea difficult to navigate! I became lost searching for my body an entire year! When I did find it, my body had been reduced to nothing but bones…When I saw it, my eyes widened very much in surprise. ALTHOUGH I HAVE NO EYES! YOHOHOHO!"

"You're so stupid! You got lost just like Zoro!" Luffy blurted out causing a slight chuckle from the scientist. Her fondest memory of Zoro getting lost had been just recently in Water 7 when she encountered him with three children and groceries in his arms. The swordsman frowned at both the Captain and woman on his side, "Hey!" he sternly muttered forcing the two to stop.

Franky continued to scowl. "I didn't know a Devil's Fruit could even bring someone back to life." Sanji nodded as well, "But even after you come back you still can't swim."

"And normally hair can't grow on bones…" Zoro stated. "I've never seen a skeleton with an afro before."

Brook bounced his large hair, "That because I have very strong roots!"

"So, this means you aren't a ghost?" Usopp and Chopper held crosses in their hands still not sure of Brook. "I dislike ghosts very much! If I see one, I cry out in fear!" He squealed.

"_You're _afraid of ghosts?" Nami pulled out a mirror sarcastically. "Have you ever looked in a mirror?"

"NO! Not a mirror!" Brook attempted to shove the object away but the damage had already been done. Looking through it, Chopper and Usopp made the chilling discovery that Brook did not have a reflection.

"VAMPIRE!" Everyone exclaimed causing Zoro, Sanji and Franky to stand ready to fight off the enemy.

"Come to think about it, you don't have a shadow either!" Usopp pointed to the ground where Brook's shadow should be. Indeed, there was none.

Calmly, the skeleton sat down in his chair folding his thin legs over the other and sipped from his teacup without a word.

"Why are you so damn calm!?" Sanji yelled. "We're all really scared of you right now!" Usopp replied.

"I've been traveling on the sea for many years, me being a skeleton and having no shadow are two unrelated matters." He paused causing everyone to tense. "To be continued…"

"NO! Tell us NOW!" Sanji screamed.

"Yohoho, my shadow was stolen from me years ago."

"You're shadow?" Robin questioned. It was the first thing she said practically the entire day.

Zoro sank back into his chair, "After seeing you, I'm really surprised by anything you say… but can that really happen?"

Kimi blinked as if she should know the answer to Zoro's question. There was something from her past about shadows that she was attempting to remember, but she couldn't think fast enough by the time Brook began talking again.

"Having my shadow stolen from me means that I am no longer able to exist in the sunlight. Right now, I live because the thick fog blocks out the sunlight.

"If you were to be in the sunlight, what would happen?" Robin questioned for a second time today.

"If I were to be hit with the light of the sun… my body would…my body would disintegrate!"

The whole crew gasped, "Disintegrate?!" They doubted.

"Yes, I watched someone with this same curse disappear when bathed in sunlight, it was enough to make my hair stand on end. Although, I'm a skeleton!" He stood from his chair. "I'm so very happy right now! I have been alone on my ship for so long now and to meet such nice people, I would cry if I could!"

His story made everyone feel a bit more sorry for the poor guy. He was alone on his ship, remembering every day when his nakama were alive, and couldn't go into the sunlight for the fear of disintegrating.

"You asked me to join your crew, which made me so very happy," Brook bowed to Luffy, "But I must refuse."

Luffy threw a fit, "What?! Why!?"

"As I said, my shadow was stolen, and I am unable to return to the light of the world. Right now the fog is protecting me and if I were to leave this ocean with you it would only be a matter of time before my body disappeared. So, I'll stay here waiting for the joyous day when I can regain my shadow!"

"If you need your shadow, I'll get it back for you!" Luffy walked over to the tall skeleton. "You said someone stole it, right? Who was it? Where is he?"

Again, Kimi frowned feeling like she knew something about people stealing shadows… it must have been her father telling her about it in the past… but no matter what she attempted to think up, the answer wouldn't reveal itself to her puzzled brain.

"You are a very kind person. I'm surprised… however, I won't tell you. I can't tell you, who I've just met, to go and die for me. I don't know if I'll meet him in my second life, but if I do I have decided that I will fight him. For now," Brook turned around reaching for his case he had brought along with him. "Let's sing a song!"

He stood back up with a small violin in his hands ready in position to play. "Music is my pride! I was the musician on my crew!"

"AHHH! REALLY!? Now you have to join us!"

Brook laughed at Luffy, "Let's sing a fun song together-" And then his mouth widened a bit too much for him to sing. He paused, gasping at something right ahead of him and screamed loudly to the point of falling down.

"Oi! What's wrong?!" Sanji stood looking at Brook's pointed finger.

"G-G-Ghost!"

Chopper cried, "There's something there! Help, I'm scared!"

"Cool!"

Suddenly the ship began to rattle, as if they were caught in a bad current. "No, this can't be possible!" Brook ran past the others to the door, "Please look!" The crew ran out to the deck looking at what appeared to be a decrypted castle on an island.

"What is it?" Luffy questioned.

"Did you, perhaps, pick up a floating barrel?" Brook questioned causing Kimi and the others to remember the item they had picked up just a few hours ago. "This ship has been targeted since then…"

"What do you mean? We've been right here the whole time…" Luffy questioned. "Why is there an island there?"

"This is the wondering ghost island… Thriller Bark."

Now Kimi was sure she had heard her sister talking about Thriller Bark before. When her sister would come back home for "visits," she would tell their father about some of the things happening in the world. One that Kimi could briefly recall was the floating island of Thriller Bark.

Her sister had visited the island only to have stated the man that was in charge of it was a Shichibukai, but that was all the scientist could remember her sister stating.

"The log post isn't reacting to the island." Nami claimed. "Yes that is because this island travels all the way from the West Blue." Brook answered while walking back into the kitchen.

"Oi, what are you doing?" Sanji replied.

"Today is truly a lucky day! Not only did I see people once more, but my deepest wish has come true as well." He grabbed his cane and then jumped from the entrance of the kitchen towards the mast.

"Woah! How'd he jump that far?!" Luffy exclaimed.

Brook turned to the group with his hat raised from his afro, "I am light since I am only bones! Now please, find a way to go through that gate behind you and leave this place! Do not drop anchor here!" He bowed, "I was so happy to meet you. I will never forget your delicious food! I hope we will meet again!"

He turned to the sea and then jumped off, frightening everyone of his devil fruit curse. But that didn't stop Brook. Instead of sinking, Brook had discovered his light as a feather ability of being just bones and learned how to walk on the water.

"Anyways Luffy, we should do what he said." Nami looked to the smiling captain. "What? Did you say something?" His smile was larger than it should be.

"He's going!" Chopper, Nami and Usopp sweatdropped.

"I know Brook told us to leave but how can we?" Kimi adjusted her glasses looking out into the thick fog. "It looks like that gate shaped like a mouth 'ate' us. Unless there is another exit I don't know if we will get out."

"Oh yea, that must be why skeleton told us to hurry and get outta here!" Usopp agreed. "But then that means that someone purposely wants us to stay here…" Nami added.

"Well whatever the reason, what matters is that we're in the middle of the ocean, we can't drop anchor here." Franky nodded causing Usopp to yell, "Oi! We can't stop here anyways! We will all be cursed!"

"Ready to go!" Luffy opened the door to the men's quarters with a net and a box ready in his hands. While Usopp attempted to reason with their adventure-seeker captain, Kimi tried to figure out a way to open the gate.

Under her breath, she created a clone to appear right on top of the gate levers. "Damn." She muttered again, disappearing the clone.

"What's wrong?" Robin questioned causing Zoro and Sanji to pay attention to the females. "The lever of the gate. It requires a key to unlock and combination code."

"So we really are stuck?" Sanji puffed out his smoke.

"Yes." Kimi nodded, "It would appear to be… I can try to see if I have something to attack the lock with, but the code is what is the hardest to figure."

Robin smiled, "It appears we are stuck then."

"Robin, Franky!" Luffy yelled, "Let's go explore!" The raven-haired woman giggled. "Robin! You're going too?!" Nami pouted.

"Yes, I love thrills."

Franky adjusted his sunglasses onto his face. "Anyways, you guys still haven't seen my present! I have a surprise for you in the Channel 2 system! Come with me!"

Nami, Chopper and Usopp followed after the shipwright while the other crewmembers waited for the surprise on the deck.

"Kimi-swan, where are you headed?" Sanji noticed the blue-haired woman attempting to sneak away from the others. She smiled sweetly, "I was just going to grab my journal from my room! There could be interesting discoveries on this floating island!"

"Oiiiii, Kimi-swan is so smart and adorable!" The cook began his usual rant, but Kimiko quickly avoided it. As she walked down the staircase to her lab she couldn't stop thinking… maybe, if she was lucky, her father had wrote something down in his notebook about Thriller Bark.

Or if she was really lucky, there was something in her father's journal that could repel or weaken ghosts. But she doubted that.

As she made her way into the dark room, Kimi reached out towards the book positioned perfectly in the corner of her desk. She sat on the small twin-sized bed and flipped through the journal skimming the pages for anything with ghosts or spirits. As expected, there was nothing of the sorts written in it.

"Well so much for that…" She sighed and placed the object back into position. Next to that was her own journal, which she reached out and placed into her hands. The thick leather binding of the book brought a smile to her face. After all, the book was made from her hometown: a large producer of cattle goods to the entire world.

She stood brushing off her pants and then noticed her reflection in the mirror. As usual, Kimi was dressed in her black capris and grey shirt with her lab coat around her shoulders. "I think…" She smiled placing her journal and coat jacket onto her bed, "I think it's time to have a go at my new wardrobe." She smiled to herself and opened the trunk positioned at the base of her bed.

She pulled out a pair of blue jean shorts, a dark blue collared shirt and then a white crop-top for underneath her shirt. After placing the items on, she looked around for her brown boots and knee high socks. "There," She smiled at her reflection and then noticed something.

"If Nami-san were here, she'd say to unbutton the shirt more…" Kimi had already unbuttoned the first two revealing her white undershirt, but knew her overly exposable crewmate would say to unbutton the shirt more.

With a heavy sigh, Kimi unbuttoned the shirt fully and blushed at the sight of her stomach. It was certainly a sight she wasn't used to seeing, but having her stomach exposed during the entire fight with the Marines on Enis Lobby must have boosted her diminished confidence. "Okay… hopefully no one will notice." She nodded to herself and then sweatdropped.

Of course they would notice. Kimi usually wore her scientist outfit most of the time. She shook her head and then walked over to her bed while picking up a brown backpack she bought on Water 7. After placing her valuable items into the bag, she exited the room and made her way towards the deck.

"Franky! I like the way you think! You are a genius!" Luffy had a huge smile on his face while he patted Franky's back. "SUPPPPPPER!"

"What's going on?" Kimi asked Robin.

"Franky built us a Mini-Merry steam boat for us. Nami, Usopp and Chopper are testing it out right now." Robin smiled with her own backpack on her shoulders.

"Really!?" Kimi smiled with a gleem in her eyes towards Franky. "Franky-san! I remember you asking for my help with the piston cylinder, but I didn't know you could build something that complicated that quickly! You're a genius!"

"OW! Twin-san, you make a good point! I _am_ a genius!" He cheered in his usual star-studded pose.

Sanji scoffed at Franky. "Oi, Kimi-swan is the smartest one here…not to mention more of a genius than you… anddddddd she's lovely in her new outfit! I love that you changed just for me!"

Kimi attempted to hide her flushed face from the crew but it wasn't hard because in the next second an echo of high-pitched screams sounded. "Oi! Nami-san!" Sanji called out while everyone ran to the ledge of the ship.

"What are they up to? I can't see anything with this fog." Zoro muttered with his hands folded across his chest.

"It came from the direction of the island." Kimi stated while Luffy proceeded to jump up and down, "You jerks! Hurry and let me ride of Mini Merry too!"

"Perhaps she screamed as she was cursed by a ghost?" Robin offered while Zoro turned his head to the woman, "Stop it. That's not funny."

Just then the anchor of the ship lowered… the action caused the crew to puzzle at the deed. "It's still brand new," Franky wondered, "So the gears shouldn't be that worn out yet…"

"Hurry and bring it up or the ship will-" Zoro commanded but then stopped suddenly as the manhole in the grass portion of the deck opened.

"Hmmm?" Franky and the others looked at the hole, "Did someone do that? Kimi, are your clones messing with us?"

She shook her head, "No. I promise…" The crew stood in the silence watching for someone or something to reveal itself. After a good bit of silence, Luffy began moaning.

His cheeks were expanding, as if someone was pulling them from each side. "LUFFY!" Sanji yelled, "Stop screwing around at a time like this!"

"Nop, dat's not wit… Vi svear viam not doin wit-" He tried to speak and then fell backwards as if someone pushed him. Then from out of nowhere, one of Zoro's swords rose into the air ready to strike down on top of Luffy. Luckily, Franky kicked the captain out of the way.

"Bastard! What the hell was that for?!" Franky accused the stunned swordsman. "I don't know… my swords just did that not me…"

"With the exception of us, there's no one else here…" The cyborg declared. "Maybe a ghost did it? Or a devil fruit user, or somethin' like that?"

"Yea," Luffy stood, "It felt like someone was grabbing me…"

"And I just heard the growl of a wild beast…" Robin frowned more than usual. The cook jumped onto the ledge, "I'm worried about Nami-san! I'm gonna go save those guys!" He jumped into the water – or so they thought. Instead of splashing, Sanji face planted on the side of the ship and then floated in mid-air.

"What!? How's that possible?!" Franky questioned as Sanji's body was thrown down by Zoro's feet.

Ready to figure out this mystery, Kimi attempted to raise her hands up to clone herself and the others to confuse the invisible person. But her hands wouldn't move. It felt as if a person had wrapped their arm around her waist immobilizing her hands from leaving her sides.

Terrified, she attempted to sound off to the others but found that like her arms, her mouth had been clamped shut… with an invisible hand.

A low and deep growl sounded at the back of her neck causing chills all down her spine. Like Robin, Kimi had now heard this animal noise too. Then suddenly… a wet slimly…thing… ran down Kimi's ear towards the base of her neck.

She attempted to kick and squeal at the force, but the hand covering her mouth was also holding onto her nose. While Zoro and Franky began to tease Sanji for looking uncool in his rescue, Kimi's lungs were burning.

"Kimiko. What is wrong?" Robin noticed the struggling scientist causing the others to glance her way. She tried her best to moan or grunt or make some kind of noise to her captivity, but the more she tried the more her lungs were deprived.

"Kimi-swan! What's-" Sanji and the other looked for a reason why she wasn't talking but had a tussled look when suddenly she fell to the ground face first. "Oi!" Zoro attempted to catch the woman but failed at the speed of the event.

"Twin-san, are you okay?"

Kimi felt a hand on her shoulder attempt to sit her up. As she did so, she took in as much of the foggy oxygen as her lungs could allow. "What were you doing?" Zoro questioned being the one who helped her to a sitting position.

"I-I-I don't know… It felt like someone was holding me back. It also tried suffocating me, hence why I couldn't respond." She replied as he helped her to stand.

"If they wanted us dead, they could've done that by now…" Zoro examined the area for the potential reason why the group was being tormented when Robin gasped suddenly.

"Something's… grabbing me…" She tried to fight against the invisible force like Kimiko. Then they watched in horror as something wet seemed to slide from her breasts to her cheek. It was the same sensation Kimi felt just seconds ago.

"How dare you do something like this!" Sanji was about to run to aid Robin when she was released and the blonde cook tripped to the floor.

The growl from before sounded but was louder than when Kimi had heard it. So loud that the rest of the guys looked around for the source, "There really is an animal!" Luffy said as the noise died down.

The Sunny Go began to rock violently causing the crew to fall into one another. Luckily, Kimi fell into the strong arms of a certain green-haired swordsman. "Oi, are you okay?" He whispered holding onto her waist.

Instead of responding like a normal human being, Kimi only nodded with her mouth agape. She was still stunned from the invisible person hurting her earlier, and stunned now from her current position of being entangled in Zoro's grasp.

"Look a giant wave!" Franky pointed, "It's gotta be an artificial one done inside this place."

Zoro let go of Kimi and ran to where the anchor was docked. "We gotta raise this or we will capsize!" He stated. His absence left the scientist cold and lonely. Quite honestly, she didn't feel safe with this person roaming around their ship.

"Robin-chwan, is it gone?" Sanji asked still holding onto her.

"Yes, I don't feel its presence anymore." She nodded as Sanji left to help Zoro with the anchor and then to steer the ship. The group hoped that the waves would die down soon because at the moment the ship wasn't handling them too well. "Wait, is that?" Kimi looked ahead confused by the sight.

"A spiderweb on the sea?" Zoro finished. With another large wave, the boat stuck onto the sticky source and clung to the freakyishly large spiderweb.

The crew attempted to find a way out of the web, but it was no use. Finding no hope in escaping the Sunny (or controlling Luffy), the group decided to venture out into the castle. As much as Kimiko was excited to venture out into the ghost island there was something that terrified her. "Everyone," She stated as they walked towards the castle, "Be careful. After all, this is the place where Brook lost his shadow...so maybe just maybe, they are after ours as well."


	24. Negative

**Hey everyone! My break was fabulous, just exactly what I needed to get my head back into the game! So this new update is short (I'm sorry!) but there is A LOT of Zoro/Kimi situations! I hope you all love it as much as I do, plus, there is something super important to the whole arc that is going to happen in this chapter, so get ready!**

**Also, I must note that during my break I caught up on my online reading of the One Piece manga... Oh. My. God... why is Oda-sensei a ****genus? Like, really? The whole arc of Punk Hazard had me BONKERS and now that it is over and continuing onwards, I'm dying! I LOVE IT! If any of you are wanting to chat about Oda-sensei's masterpiece please PM me! I don't want to give spoilers to through reviews! ****And speaking of reviews, special thanks to Taiski, Fanboy316, DinoZilla, and Totong for their reviews on the last chapter!**

*** LAST THOUGHT * ****Soooooo, I want to play a game with my amazing fans out there! Read this chapter and then notice my AN at the end!**

**-yesiamweird **

* * *

><p>It seemed like the group had been walking around the dark forest of the island forever. With Luffy wanting to make every Zombie a part of the crew didn't help the time pass anymore. Actually, it seemed to drag it on more since she and the others had to pull him back.<p>

At the current moment, Kimiko walked in between the swordsman and cook. Despite the distraction of Sanji and Franky arguing with one another and Luffy's stimulating off-pitch singing, she didn't pay the men any attention.

No, instead Kimi examined the three-headed dog/fox monster Luffy had tamed earlier. Or rather, forced to be their guide for the moment. With all the bandages, scaring, and sores on the beast, Kimi was smart enough to piece together the fact that this three-headed dog should not medically be alive.

There was also something else intriguing about the creature, the fact that one of the heads was yellow despite the blue of the other two, and the big black numbers engraved on its back.

"You know," Robin spoke from the other side of the dog, "What all of the strange creatures in the forest have in common are bandages, stitches and numbers engraved into their bodies."

Kimi giggled while nodding to the raven-haired woman. "You're right. I noticed too… do you think someone is controlling them?"

She nodded, "Yea…something like that."

"Controlling them?" Zoro questioned to the scientist. "How?"

With a slight shrug of her shoulders the scientist continued, "I'm not really quite sure…but that's part of the mystery we need to solve."

The group walked in the forest silence of humming bugs and cooing birds and creatures… that is until they heard something of the forest that shouldn't normally be heard.

"Neg-i-tive… Neg-i-tive, Neg-i-tive!" The echo sounded and then grew louder with each step the group and Cerberus took. "What? I can hear something?" Luffy questioned.

"Neg-i-tive… Neg-i-tive … Neg-i-tive … Neg-i-tive!" The small ghost from earlier returned.

"THERE IT IS!" Luffy declared with his net ready, "THE GHOST!" Indeed the blunt captain of the crew was correct, but not only was it one ghost but instead the one turned into three. "When it dances it clones itself! Just like Kimiko, amazing!" Luffy continued.

The said Devil-Fruit user frowned, "No… not like me, Luffy." She looked up at the ghosts, "I've got a bad feeling about that chant though." She muttered to Sanji and Zoro as Luffy jumped off the Cerberus's back and attempted to catch the ghosts with his net.

Despite his strength and determination, Luffy failed miserably in catching either of the ghosts. "It's nothing but a soul, huh?" Franky wondered aloud as he walked towards the floating creatures. "Yosh, here it goes: FRESH FIRE!"

He blew out an explosion of flames directly onto the ghosts, but like the captain failed. "It's no good…" The cyborg frowned and watched the creatures float around while continuing to sing their 'Neg-i-tive' chant. "It didn't work-"

One of the ghosts flew inside Franky chest and then appeared out his back with a smile on its face.

"Totally useless!" Franky muttered while crumbling to his knees. "This week I'm really useless… Whatever I do I'm useless…I've got no confidence to live."

He slammed his fists on the ground while crying profusely, "I just wanna die!"

"HOW DEPRESSED ARE YOU GONNA GET?!" Sanji yelled out to the cyborg. It was strange notion for Franky to become so emotional so easily, Kimi thought. But if she had to guess, Franky's change in mood was linked to the ghost flying through his body.

"Yosh!" Luffy yelled throwing down his net and attempting to attack the ghosts up-close and personal. "You bastard!" He screamed as his arms toppled over the ghosts figure but just as before transported right through the other side of Luffy's body.

The Strawhat captain fell to his knees just as Franky, "If I get reborn, I want to become a clam…this sucks…I want to die…" Luffy's statement was actually quite comical since the black-haired boy was not known to be quite so miserable as he was acting now.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS DEPRESSION!?" Sanji screamed again at the moping men.

"Robin," Kimi walked pass the monster to view the woman on the opposite side. "Are you thinking that the ghosts depress your spirit when touched by them?"

She turned and nodded with a blank face, "Yes. That is also what I was thinking."

Sanji puffed out his cigarette, "That's idiotic."

"Hmph! You guys are pitiful." Zoro crossed his arms over his chest. "Because you guys never pull yourselves together you let some ghosts or something break your spirit."

Just when Kimiko was about to retaliate with a hypothesis of her explanation, a ghost surprised the group by flying through the swordsman's back and out through his chest.

"I'm sorry that I was born…" He fell to the floor just like Franky and Luffy."

Blinking once, and then twice, the female scientist had to physically place her hands over her mouth to stop her laughter from escaping out of it. She had never seen Zoro act in this manner during her time with the crew, and as she calmed her giggle-fit she decided she never wanted to see him act so, so, so unmanly.

It just wasn't a course of action the tough swordsman took a part of. Franky, yes. But Zoro, never…

"ENOUGH!" Sanji yelled holding his smoke in his hand to look at the ghosts floating and chanting above the groups heads, "Looks like you were correct ladies."

"They're difficult enemies… not only do they have no real body, but when you get touched, your spirit is crushed." Robin concluded. "What a strange island."

One of the ghosts stuck out its tongue and then started to laugh. As he did so, the others followed and floated into the thick forest treetops. "Neg-i-tive, Neg-i-tive!" they called out just before the disappeared.

"Luffy, Franky, Zoro? Are you ready to go?" Kimi called out adjusting her bag back onto her back as she and Robin climbed onto the Cerberus with Sanji's help.

"Oi, Kimi, forget those guys. They'll get up when their spirits are better." Sanji scoffed taking a spot on the middle head of the monster.

She nodded at the cook but instead cloned herself to help the men up. "We should hurry, Sanji-san. We need to find Nami and the other two. I'm worried."

"YOSH! Hurry you baka! We must find Nami-swaaaaaaaan quickly before something hurts her!" Sanji balled his fists as the clones helped the depressed spirited men up.

"Damn you ghosts!" Luffy yelled as the clone disappeared from his standing. "The next time you show up I won't forgive you!"

Franky cracked his knuckles as he stood and walked over to the group, "They must have a weak point and I'll wipe them out!"

Zoro stood by himself, waving off the aid of the Kimi-Clone until she forced the clone to disappear. Instead of saying anything to the others, Zoro simply ducked his head and followed in front of the moving Cerberus.

Sanji laughed in a taunting matter, "I saw something funny, Kimiko-Swan, didn't you?!" He blurted out.

"SHUT UP!" Zoro turned his head only towards the blonde. A widespread blush on his cheeks indicated the embarrassment he felt of the situation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Sanji patted the air insulating he was going to stop. "'I'm sorry that I was born'!" He mimicked in Zoro's voice from earlier and then began to laugh hysterically on the back of the Cerberus. The monster, believe it or not, laughed just as much as Sanji. It obviously found humor in the situation of the swordsman as well.

Kimiko smiled shyly while attempting to avoid looking at the swordsman walking in front of her. Sanji had brought her into the conversation and she wondered for a moment if it was purposely or unintentional.

Either way, she wouldn't allow herself to laugh at the already embarrassed swordsman once again.

And then she widened her eyes.

Why did she care so much? Zoro was her nakama and just as the rest of the crew, she should be able to joke and laugh at her friend, right?

But laughing at Zoro felt wrong. She didn't want to hurt his already diminished pride anymore… With a quick glance, Kimi noticed the pulsating throb in his head as well as a bright red blush that seemed to cover his entire torso.

Why was he so embarrassed- she thought turning her head curiously to the side… _Was_ it because of her?

When Sanji and the monster finally settled from their hysteria, Robin made another observation comment, "Although one could make generalizations about those numbered patchwork creatures… those ghosts were something entirely different."

"That's true…" Kimi nodded while watching the depths of the forest and road for anything else to come their way, "They didn't have numbers on them at all."

"There was one of those ghosts on the ship as well." Sanji announced. "They are appearing from time to time, observing us…the problem is, who's behind it?

* * *

><p>The hallway the group walked down was quiet… maybe too quiet…<p>

Well, that was a lie, because the sound of footsteps and snickering could be heard from the group. The hostage wall pig Luffy had demanded to be the guide of the castle from the main room couldn't stop laughing at the group. Not that they knew exactly why he was laughing, but Kimi suspected it had something to do with the fact Sanji was missing.

After traveling through the forest and graveyard and taking down zombie after zombie, the Strawhat's gained useful information about the island they were captive on.

First of all, the island was actually a giant pirate ship. They had discovered the black sails of the "Thriller Bark" just before they entered the castle.

Secondly, this ship belonged to one of the seven warlords… Gecko Moria. Both Kimiko and Robin knew of this man's name and the reason of why he was considered one of the seven. He was brutal, and possessed a cruel devil-fruit: the ability to steal shadows. If it hadn't been for the old man without a shadow in the forest to aid in their realization, the group would have walked into Moria's castle blind.

Now that they knew the type of situation they were dealing with, the crew not only had to find their three lost nakama but plus one. Once entering into the castle, they encounter even more zombies and after the battle concluded Sanji was nowhere to be found.

Walking down the dark and empty hallway, Kimiko took the rear of the group as she contemplated all of her findings of their adventure.

"Ya know," Franky started, "If that Gecko Moria saw the old man asking us to go here, the Curly-Cook's disappearance may be related to him, too."

The pig, firmly grasped in Franky's large cyborg hand, continued to laugh even louder.

"That stupid cook, serves him right…" Zoro scoffed resulting in Kimi to give him a frown. He should be worried Sanji disappeared so swiftly. If anything, the group should have heard a scream or sign of struggle. "But, to think one of the Shichibukai was hiding out here…"

"I've heard he's a bit… different." Kimi replied to the swordsman.

"How?"

"Well, they say he's not like your average man. Then again that one of the main reasons why Shichibukai are what they are, right? But from what little I know, it makes sense why he's hiding out in a strange place like this." Kimi finished remembering the description her sister had told of Moria so long ago. Just the thought of her explanation to Kimi as a young child brought shivers down her spine once again as an adult.

A slight noise struck Kimi's full attention forcing her feet to a slow shuffled pace while her head turned slightly behind her back.

Zoro turned his head as well, making sure to walk by Kimi's side in the event that she was falling too far behind the others. When the woman deemed it harmless, she only nodded and then continued to walk forwards avoiding Zoro's glance.

Something about the scientist and swordsman's relationship appeared strained. Despite the small subtle rescues on the ship and the forest earlier, the two attempted to avoid interaction as best as they could.

It might have been linked to the event in the ice just the other day and the Phoenix Pirates (more specifically, Puzzle kissing Kimi in front of the whole crew) but the two seemed to pretend that never happened as well.

"What are we going to do if one of our shadows is stolen?" Franky wondered aloud.

"Now that would make things interesting." Robin smiled in response. Luffy turned to the group with his hands placed behind his neck, "I know I promised that old man I would beat up Moria, but saving our guys comes first, right?"

Before anyone had a second to open their mouths to respond, the small pig laughed harder, "Like I said. Your nakama are no longer safe!"

Luffy slammed his fist into the top of the pig's head, "Stop oinking and guide us, Oinky!"

_Pitt pattttr…_

Kimi stopped walking at the sound of small footsteps behind. As she did, the swordsman by her side proceeded to stop as well.

Without informing Zoro of the situation, Kimi cloned herself down the dark end of the hallway allowing it to examine the room for anyone else that shouldn't be a part of their crew.

"Huh?" Franky noticed the two crewmate's footsteps not following, "What is it, Twin-san?"

Kimi sighed shaking her head defeated. "Nothing. I guess I'm imagining things…"

"No, I think I heard it too." Zoro nodded. The group waited for something, anything to happen, but of course after thirty seconds of waiting Luffy had enough. "Come on you guys! There's nothing there!"

"Seems like it." Franky shrugged with Robin following behind.

_"I swear I heard something…"_ Kimi continued to look into the shadowy hallway waiting for a sign of movement. A warm hand patted her shoulder. "Come on, let's go before we get lost from the others."

Kimi had to laugh at Zoro's response, "If anything I'm sure I won't be the one to get lost down a straight hallway, Zoro."

The man blushed in a frown, "Well fine then!" He continued to walk leaving Kimi to stand waiting. With a roll of her eyes and a defiant crew ahead, the woman paced her steps to keep up with the swordsman. "You know I'm kidding, right?"

He only nodded, making sure to avoid her glance at all costs.

"Zoro? Are you okay?" Kimi whispered finally caving in from his actions. "Listen if Puz-"

"I think we should keep up with the others." He avoided her sentence as best as he possibly could. With a frustrated sigh, Kimi adjusted her glasses on her face passing up the swordsman and following right beside Franky and the pig.

Kimiko attempted to focus on the big problems the crew was facing. Nami, Chopper and Usopp were gone for over two hours now, and now Sanji was missing.

She shook her thoughts away and then concentrated on the sound of Zoro's footsteps right behind her. He had a certain stride to the way he walked, she noticed. Almost as if he put no weight into his steps and only allowed his shoes to make contact.

No matter how much she tried to keep her mind focused on those issues, it seemed to wonder back to the stunned reaction Zoro had when Puzzle kissed Kimi. Was he really jealous? Why? It's not like Zoro like-liked Kimiko or even thought of her that way, right?

She concentrated on his footsteps right behind her once again. One, after the other after the other…

She was just a nakama that often needed saving during their fights. Kimi had never been a fighter, nor would she ever be… but Zoro was and is. Making him the perfect rescuer for the inexperienced woman.

Then, she noticed his footsteps had diminished abruptly.

Turning her head abruptly around, Kimi only saw the dark empty hallway. "Zoro?!" She gasped causing the others to turn around as well. "Zoro?" She called again and then looked to the snickering pig.

"Hey, Oinky!" Luffy proceeded to smack the pig face again, "What have you done this time?! Spit it out!"

"I've told you from the start that I don't know anything!" He chuckled adding to his usual fib.

Franky turned his head towards the pig in his hand, "Oi, you're chuckling! It's so easy to see through you."

"But it's strange…we don't even hear their voice… maybe they were strangled?" Robin sighed with one hand placed on her hand in distress.

"Why must you always say something like that?!" Franky yelled at her.

Kimi continued to search down the empty hallway for any sign of movement, "He was right behind me…how did he disappear so quickly?"

She only wished they would find the others soon…before it was too late for whatever reason they were taken… Kimi glanced back once more before continuing on.

As soon as she turned back to face the group, a dangling spider, thing, covered her limbs and mouth with some sort of webbing. Before she had time to register what was happening, Kimiko only saw darkness.

* * *

><p>A rough banging noise alerted the scientist of her position. In the confined dark space, she could only assume with the theme of this island that she might have been stuck inside of a coffin.<p>

_"What kind of game is Gecko Moria playing at?"_ She wondered while attempting to figure out a way to clone herself small enough in the confined space to escape from the spider's webbing surrounding her.

From the other side of her captivity, Kimi could hear laughter…but not a happy chuckle. No this was an amused screech of laughter. The pitch was so defiant that the scientist made sure to note it in her memory in case she never saw the person.

Then, Kimi panicked.

What if she never got out of this box/confident? She began to thrash the part of her legs that weren't bound together against the thick wood. "Help!" She attempted to muffle out pass the spider web surrounding her mouth.

Just then the lid of the case began to slide open, slowly as if to intensify her moment of justice to her capturer.

"Gish gish gish!" The laugher was loud now. It seemed to be right in front of her. "Tomoko Kimiko!" The voice declared as the lid to the box clattered against the floor.

Kimi adjusted her eyes carefully observing the large figure standing in front of her. He was massive, with pale white skin, a pear shaped body, and fangs sprouting from his purple lips. This was none other than Gecko Moria standing in front of her. She was sure of it.

"Gish gish gish! You don't know me… but I know your family very well! Gish gish, and luckily I have the pleasure of taking my revenge on your sister straight on you! Plus, I can use your talented power and mind on my team!" The man laughed once again as he clutched the woman in the palm of his hand.

Effortlessly, he hung the thrashing Kimiko onto a string in the middle of the room. As much as she wanted to reveal the truth about her sister to the monster, the bound of her mouth wouldn't allow her to do so.

In the midst of her flaying a bright light suddenly shined on her back forcing a large and predominate shadow to loom on the bare concrete ground in front of Moria.

If Kimi could have gasped, she would have. Her eyes sat horrified at the sight of Zoro and Sanji lying on the ground just inches away from the harsh beam of light.

"Gish gish," Moria's laughter brought Kimi back to stare at him in horror. "Now for the fun part…" He proceeded to pinch the head of Kimi's shadow right at her styled bun.

The noise of paper ripping echoed in the empty room and bounced around Kimi's bustling head.

She felt weak as if her spirit was being drained from the top of her head down. The ripping noised continued as well as the draining feeling.

"Your shadow is mine! Gish gish!"

She only had a moment to realize her shadow was literally being ripped away from her body. She struggled against the bonds once again but failed her captivity and diminishing strength nonetheless. A shine glared through the lens of her glasses catching her attention back to Moria. In his hand held an over-sized pair of sliver scissors.

Even more horrifying than seeing Zoro and Sanji lying motionless on the floor was the fact the blades of the scissors were threatening to cut off her shadow from the bottoms of her boots.

Kimiko muffled out a scream, either for Moria to stop or for Sanji and Zoro to wake. Neither worked… and her mute screech wasn't stopping the monstrous villain.

As the scissors chimed shut together, Kimi felt her spirit completely shattered forcing her into a dark stupor.

* * *

><p><strong>Gahhhhh! So Kimi's shadow has been stolen! And here's where you come into my little gamecontest**

**I have NO idea what in the world Kimi's Zombie should look/act/do in the story. I obviously want her and the crew to meet her zombie, but other than that I am stumped! Sooooo, I need all of my amazing readers to post a review describing Kimiko's Zombie and what the Zombie should do. **

**The reader who gives me the best idea will not only get their 'design' included in the story! SO GET TO IT!**

*** EPIC MUSIC THAT PLAYS DURING THE 'TO BE CONTINUED' IN THE ANIME ***


	25. Gahhhhhhh, science!

**Wow, so I literally spent six hours in the library waiting out a really bad tornado warning... ha. What you can accomplish when you are terrified. (Besides the point)**

**Anyways, THANK YOU to EVERYONE that posted a review about Kimi's zombie. I will say that all of your comments gave me the best inspiration and without the help, I'd be lost. I will say the winner is a combination of everyone's thoughts but the three reviews that I really based Zombie-Kimi were : Guest-Red, lillylillyfairfax, and Fanboy316!**

**I hope to ask for more input in the future (* spoiler* one asking for your OC) so make sure to keep reviewing and posting! **

**Also, this one is extremely long to make up for how short the last one was. Hope you enjoy!**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>BEAUTIFUL LADY<strong>_, _**SWORDSMAN**_ just brought _**CHEMICALS**_ and _**SCIENCE**_ and a ton of _**MEAT**_!"

"Beautiful lady?"

"Meat?"

"Swordsman?"

"Chemicals and Science?"

Chopper squealed at the responses after Usopp's brilliant way to awaken the four. "These guys are hopeless!"

Kimiko sat up from her position on the floor and rubbed her aching head. "Ow…Why does my head hurt so bad?" She muttered feeling as if someone had hit her. As she rubbed the sore spot, her fingers graced a large bump protruding from the back of her head.

"Franky tried to wake you guys up!" Chopper ran over to the blue-haired woman cuddling in her lap. "I'm so glad to see you!"

Despite the cute and cuddliness of the reindeer, Kimi's eyebrow twitched from his previous comment. "Franky… did?" She cloned a copy of Franky and proceeded to use his own strength to hit the cyborg across the face.

"Oi, how did we end up back in The Sunny Go?" Luffy questioned holding onto his hat. Indeed the crew was back in the kitchen of the Sunny, but why?

"No… It wasn't a dream…" Zoro stood looking horrified down at his feet. "My shadow is gone! This feels weird…"

Kimi also stood with Chopper in her arms. "Moria… she looked down at her feet. Mine's gone too…"

_"I know your family very well! Gish gish, and luckily I have the pleasure of taking my revenge on your sister straight on you!"_

His words from before rang through her head as she attempted to make sense of the situation. As usual, Luffy interrupted her concentration with a mindless comment. "Hey, this is bad! There's nothing to eat but cheese!" Sanji attempted to reason with the captain. As usual, it didn't work.

Meanwhile, Zoro on the side of Kimi and Chopper seemed to be having an inner battle with himself, "This is dishonorable. I let down my guard…" he smacked his forehead with his palm while grinding his teeth.

Instead of bickering about her shadow, Kimi seemed to focus on the other facts. For example, the biggest one on her mind was Nami. She wasn't present like the rest of the crew was. "Chopper, Usopp? Where is Nami-san?" she questioned innocently but gained two worried looks from the two crewmembers.

In a forceful rage, Sanji held Usopp's collar, "SHE WAS KIDNAPPED?!" he assumed. "WHY DIDN'T YOU CHASE THEM TO THE END OF THE EARTH?"

"Sorry! But we didn't just let her go, things just worked out that way!" Usopp cried.

"Who and where is he!? I'll go right now and get her back!"

"Just wait and listen to me for a second!" Sanji let the marksmen down while cracking his knuckles, "There are two things that we can't afford not to get back!" Usopp declared.

"Food! Nami! And our shadows! That's three things." Luffy declared.

"Oi, one of those things doesn't belong there…" Usopp sweatdropped from the remark.

"Let's focus on Nami and the shadows for now, Luffy." Kimi nodded while a scared Chopper jumped into her arms. She pet his back protectively while nodding for Usopp to continue.

The marksmen explained that the invisible man that had not only wreaked havoc on their ship had also taken a liking into their navigator. They escaped the castle that they were brought to as guests and then ran into a heard of Zombie's. One in particular resembling Sanji-san, since the small penguin zombie refused to attack Nami on account of being a woman.

After the three escaped the zombie's they crawled into a giant stuffed bear own by the woman Perona-sama and watched in horror as Moria cut Luffy's shadow and placed into a giant zombie, the group was caught along with Nami being taken away from the invisible man as his bride.

"He must be quite brave to want to marry Nami…" Luffy thought aloud. "And I'm a gaint!? They could make such a zombie?"

"So that means we know who has Luffy's and Sanji's shadows, right, Usopp?" Zoro questioned with his arms folded over his chest. He seemed agitated, but then again Kimi could understand why since she was in the same situation: No shadow and no idea which zombie did have their counterpart.

"Oh!" Luffy's head perked up, "So if the zombies don't look like the original then I saw Zoro's zombie!"

Kimi sweatdropped, now _she_was the only one who didn't know who had her shadow.

"How was he?" The swordsman kept his head in position while only looking at the captain with his eyes.

"Mmmmmmmmm." The rubber boy scratched his chin trying very hard to find the right words to say. "It kinda felt like you. But because he was wearing wooden shoes I knew it wasn't you!"

Kimi shook her head dumbfounded. Just what in the world did that particularly mean? Zoro had the same response. With a shift of his eyes, he looked back at the rest of the crew. "Well whatever… so if we find that geezer, Luffy's giant, Kimi's zombie and Sanji's Denguin and throw salt into their mouths, our shadows will return right?"

Franky nodded, "Yes, exactly. The one that told us about the weakness and to go get you guys and Twin-san was that skeleton."

Luffy gasped while sitting down by Zoro's side, "Ah! You met up with Brook!?"

"Yea we did and I asked him a pretty rude question," Franky nodded while his sentence caused everyone on board the Sunny to raise an eyebrow. "You know, from the moment you wanted to make him our nakama I didn't want to acknowledge him at all, but even though he's just a skeleton… I talked to him, and he has bones. Not just his skeleton… he's…he's a man!"

The crew was questionably silent persuading for Franky to continue. The only noise that could be heard was Kimi and Usopp's grinding of salt rocks so they could make pellets for the zombies to purify.

"I…asked him a question…'why do you insist on living' and he responded by saying he had left a nakama behind 50 years ago… that he needed to sail through the grand line and new world and back to his nakama, Laboon. And therefore, he has-"

Franky was going to continue when the startled look in not only Luffy's face but also Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro strained the rest of his speech.

"Laboon…"

"No way…"

"It's him."

"Can't be."

For the other four members of the crew that didn't have any sort of clue to what the group was saying, Robin, Kimi, Franky and Chopper gave each other a very puzzled look.

"Of course, you guys didn't know of it." Usopp nodded to the scientist on his side.

"We know him…that whale… Laboon."

"You know him?!" Franky questioned to Luffy as he nodded.

"Wow…" Usopp mused out. He placed his hand on his cheek while looking forwards at nothing in particular. "To think, they both kept their promise for over 50 years…"

Zoro spoke next. "And that Skeleton is the only one left…"

Franky broke out into a fit of tears- completely ruining the moment, "I LOVE BONEY AND THAT WHALE!" He exclaimed causing Zoro, Sanji and Usopp to scream at him to 'shut up'.

"I'm all pumped now! He's a musician, a talking skeleton, an afro, the 'YoHoHoHo', and he was Laboon's nakama! Even if I'll end up dragging him, he'll join us on this ship and become our nakama! Any complaints, you guys?"

Robin giggled, "If we did, would you change your mind?"

"I want him to join! For Laboon!" Usopp cheered.

"COMPLETE APPOVAL!" Franky continued to cry while Chopper imitated the robot, "ME TOO, YOU BASTARD! I'M NOT SCARED OF SKELETONS EITHER!"

Kimi stood from her position while dusting her hands off, "Despite his pervy attitude, Brook is one fascinating specimen!"

"Before something that simple…" Sanji muttered, "I HAVE TO STOP NAMI-SAN'S WEDDING!" He burst into flames.

Kimi giggled but then noticed a certain green-haired someone walking pass her and off the ledge of the sunny. "Oh, Zoro…where ya going?" Luffy cried.

"I'm landing already." He smirked looking over his shoulder to the others, "The number of shadows we have to get back just went up by one, right?"

* * *

><p>Zoro and Franky pushed aside the doors leading up into the entrance of Moria's castle. Now with Usopp and Sanji on Kimi, Franky and Zoro team, the group had to be strategic now that their original plans had changed. "Ladies f-f-first…" Usopp shoved the blue-haired woman forward through the threshold.<p>

With a glare through her glasses, the scientist pouted and waved the men forwards. "Just be sure to not chatter your teeth so loudly, Usopp-san." She giggled in a whisper as the echo of their footsteps traveled down the long brick hall.

With the only female in the group as the lead, the group made their way through the threshold of the room but stopped dead in their tracks in a stunned gasps at the obscurity of it. "Wha?" Kimi blinked looking at the child-like play room. "What kind of room is this?" She observed the toys and over-the-top princess canopy bed surrounding the room.

"This room must belong to someone quite pompous…" Zoro spoke up while taking position next to the female.

"Hada hada hada hada!"

The strange high-pitched laughter forced the group to look over at the lone woman sitting on a purple couch. Above her floated the 'negative' ghosts they had encountered before.

She sat there, with her legs and arms crossed while staring at the group with an obnoxious smirk. By the looks of her outfit, Zoro was correct of his assumptions of the owner of the room being pompous. Not only did she wear a large royal crown on top of her pink head, but also with her bright red boots, striped tights and matching red cape, Kimi would suspect this woman believed she was some type of evil fairy-tale princess.

"Those ghosts…is she the one who's been manipulating them?" Zoro questioned his thought aloud, but really asked it to the smart woman beside him.

The pink-haired woman jumped to a standing position, "Hada hada hada hada hada! It seems that you're already familiar with the fearsomeness of my ghosts."

The group glared at the woman as a thick white bubble floated from each one of her palms, "With the powers given by the Hollow Hollow Fruit, I've become a spirit woman! These ghosts are my clones and they hollow out a person's spirit!"

Kimiko smirked as soon as the woman mentioned the word, 'clones'. With an adjustment of her glasses, she stood to a confident position resting a hand to her hip, "Clones… you say?" She eyed the woman down. "This should be fun…"

This was a change of attitude from the meek and timid scientist, the men began to blink while wondering what sort of twisted plan she was devising in her calculated mind.

The woman glared at Kimi, "This _will_ be fun! _Fun_ for me! Hada hada hada hada hada! This is the end for all of you!" She raised her hands over her head as the ghosts stopped floating randomly and looked to the group.

"To think that the one pulling the strings on those ghosts was the Cutie-chan!" Sanji gasped causing the scientist to scoff. This wasn't the time to be thinking about a cute woman when they were about to fight- she thought.

"We've got no choice but to run!" Franky cried just before Kimi was about to mention to stay still in order for her plan to work. "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" He cried causing Kimi to turn and frown at them.

"NO! Don't move!" She declared.

The four men stopped in their tracks. The look in her deep blue eyes commanded them to listen. "But Kimiko…" Usopp tugged on her arm. "We have to-"

"CLONE CLONE, ALLY!" Kimi smirked while ignoring Usopp's grip while raising her own gloved hands into the air to perform her specific triangle movement to use her Devil Fruit power.

In an instant, four sets of each person surrounded the threshold of the door. "Now," each clone of Kimiko smirked towards the woman, "It's a battle I can fight fairly!"

The real Usopp and his clones jumped in the air, "Whooo! Go Kimi!"

"Nice thinking Twin-san!" Franky and his clones raised a thumbs up.

"Now," Kimi and her doubles nodded, "Disperse!" Like fleeing cockroaches after the lights are turned on, the clones and real Strawhats dispersed.

"What?!" The pink-haired woman cried. "That won't stop me! Negative hollow!" The ghosts dispersed, while attempting to pick a body to float into. Just when one of the clones were about to be hit by a ghost, Kimi used her power to make the clones disappear and then reappear right behind the position the ghost had already floated by.

Her plan was working really well, until the real Usopp collided with the real Kimi and thus causing the two of them to lose focus.

"Usopp! I said _run_! Not into me-!" Kimi pushed the long nosed man off of her but then stopped her complaint mid-sentence. While she was distracted, she didn't have the opportunity to trick the ghosts with a clone of Franky.

As the ghost collided with the clone Franky, instead of depressing the clone's spirit, the depression went straight to the person controlling the clone: Tomoko Kimiko.

Her knees buckled as she gasped loudly from the disheartening feeling surrounding her figure. Just as she became distracted from Franky's clone, two of Sanji's clones were hit along with another clone of each of the group members.

"Oi! Kimiko-swan!" The real Sanji cried out as the woman crumbled onto the floor with a yelp. "Kimi, I-" The cook was about to make a mad dash to the scientist struggling on the brick floor when suddenly a ghost flew through his own chest. "I-I-I am worth nothing…my existence is lower than that of a dead fish…"

"That's right…" The real Franky fell to his knees, "I should be reborn as a stray dog!"

The swordsman had done well to avoid the ghosts up until he watched the scientist fall abruptly to the ground. She was so distraught from the depression that she didn't even have enough time to catch her body with her hands. "Kimi!" He called out distracted from her fall that he didn't even notice the ghost fly through his own chest. "My apologies that I have been treading upon the same earth as everyone else…I am not worthy of-"

_"No! Don't say that!"_ Zoro screamed in his head. _"Don't you dare say that out loud. Don't do it!"_

"I am not worthy of your affection…" he grumbled so softly that he wasn't sure if it was a whisper or said softly in his head.

Hearing her name being called by both Sanji and Zoro caused the woman to open her eyes out from her head resting on the brick floor. "I am sorry everyone… I will never be a strong pirate. I am no worthy of being anything but calcium carbonate or dubnium… I am worthless…"

Besides the fact Kimiko was verbally abusing her own self, the memories of being bullied in her hometown were flooding her through memory:

_"We all know you're a mom killer!"_The voices of the children from her school screamed. _"You have those special powers from the devil himself! You are pure evil!"_

Then the most terrifying voice shrieked through her skull, forcing her into even more of a depression than the children's voices. It was the voice of her older sister:

_"You're such an insignificant worm!"_

_"The only thing you are good for is making school grade volcano projects!"_

_"I hate her! Do you hear me, Kimiko!? I HATE you!"_

_"I don't like you! Can't you get that through your thick skull? You KILLED mom! How dare you think I would ever love YOU?!"_

Now the scientist hyperventilated with the words of her sister causing her to remember the pain…the pain…her hands…

_"I'm going to teach you a lesson here and now dear sister… a lesson you will never forget…"_

"Salt star!" Usopp stood among the lying Strawhat pirates. After the zombies that were instructed to attack and capture the pirates were purified from their bodies, the marksmen glared at the spirit woman. "I won't let you lay a hand on my crew!"

"Damn, wasn't he hit?" The pink-haired woman furiously argued to herself. "I'll make sure to hit you this time." She stretched her hand outwards with a smirk as a ghost floated from out of her palm and through the chest of the man. Instead of falling to the floor like the others, Usopp continued to stand tall. "Why? Why aren't you on your knees?! The ghost hit you!" The woman cried.

"It's no trick." Usopp declared while the men on the ground struggled with themselves to stand. "I'M JUST NEGATIVE ALREADY!"

The woman fell to the floor struggling to accept the fact that Usopp was a negative person and her ghosts wouldn't work on him. With her distraction, the marksmen turned to the others. "Hurry you guys! Snap out of it! We have to hurry and rescue Nami and Brook!"

At the mention of their nakama's names, the group sat up. All except for the one lone woman struggling with inner demons inside her head.

_"You will listen to me and do exactly as I say!"_ Her sister's voice continued. The pain on the tops of her hands burned with every memory of her sister. _"You will ALWAYS listen to me, because YOU are the reason why I am so miserable!"_

Usopp continued to speak to the men, "You're strong powers won't work against this woman! So go on ahead and I'll take her on!"

"Wha- what is this reliable feeling?" Sanji gasped.

"It didn't affect him?" Zoro gasped as well.

Usopp nodded. His pretend-to-be-pirate Captain attitude in full swing, "Just defeat the surrounding zombies. I cannot defeat those!"

The blonde cook nodded to both Usopp and the other men and then to the female- "Oi! Where's Kimi-swan!?" He questioned looking around the room for the woman.

Franky and Zoro looked as well for their scientist until eventually catching sight of her behind Franky. From the distressed look swarming her pretty face, it seemed that she wasn't going to recover from the ghosts as well as they faired.

"Oi! Twin-san!" Franky stood and ran to her worried beyond belief. Unknowing to the other men, Franky believed that Kimiko was the perfect little sister. More than his Franky Family or Kiwi and Mozu back home on Water 7. Not only did she have the same color hair as he, but the way they bonded over his knowledge of experimenting and building new things brought the two closer together during the past few weeks he had been on board the Sunny Go and it was refreshing to see a woman, like Kimiko, genuinely appreciate him.

As the half-cyborg bent down to pat the suffering woman on the back, he noticed her thick breaths. They were too fast to be normal from running, and too short to be able to stabilize enough oxygen in her lungs.

"Her panic attacks…" Zoro muffled out above the cyborg causing Franky to raise an eyebrow at his statement. "She told me about them a while ago." He shrugged.

"Oi! Kimiko-swan!" Sanji panicked while making sure the zombies surrounding the group didn't get too close to the woman.

"Franky," Zoro pulled out one of his swords while defending a zombie from the two of them. "Pick her up. There's no time."

The cyborg nodded and turned to look down at the woman. With a soft tug on her shoulder, he figured he could at least wake her from the attack gracefully. Unfortunately, his 'nimble' thought-process actually caused the woman to yell in a panicked shock.

_"If it wasn't for your brain, I would kill you here and now. Right in front of them! Those Marines mean nothing to me! Do you hear? I didn't get this title because I was an angel of mercy! I am the reason why so many pirates are dead now! I am the genius the World Government praises! Me! ME!"_

The voice of her sister continued to shriek.

_"I am the law! And I wouldn't hesitate to-"_

"Twin-san!"

The unaware hand on her shoulder caused the frightened woman to believe that her terrible sister was striking on her, forcing Franky's hand to pull away as if he had hurt her from his light touch.

"Kimi!"

"Kimiko-swan!"

Those warm blue eyes looked up towards Franky now with a paled tint within. What she was suffering from was more than he could even think, but with the enclosing zombies in the room, he couldn't waste a minute to question her. "I'm sorry Twin-san!" He pulled her hips into his giant hands and then pulled her overtop of his shoulder so that her head faced the front. "Guys, let's go!" Franky nodded to the cook and swordsman while the scientist continued to hyperventilate.

"Oi Franky!" Zoro scoffed as they ran, "You'd better not shake her up as much as she is!"

"Baka!" Franky frowned, "Why do you think I would hurt Twin-san!?"

The swordsman only glared while continuing to slash the zombies out of the way.

* * *

><p>When they made their way outside of the castle onto a balcony, Franky proceeded to place the girl against the wall so she could take a moment to recollect herself.<p>

"Oh, Kimi-swan? Do you need your prince to-"

"Shut up!" Zoro yelled at the blonde cook. He knew that the woman needed to fix her situation on her own. There was nothing really they could physically do to help her.

Zoro and Sanji knelt by her side while Franky stood overtop watching out for anything to strike while the group was venerable.

_"You're worthless…"_

The words wouldn't fade from her memory.

_"I hate you!"_

"S-stopp…" Kimi moaned placing her head in between her knees as her back rested against the brick wall. "I-I-I…"

_"No one will ever love you. You will never find another person in this entire world that won't ridicule at your betrayal!"_

"No…I-I-I have…I-"

Concerned by the tone of voice the scientist was mumbling in, Zoro placed a light hand on her forearm. The unsolicited touching caused the woman to flinch once again forcing her to look in the direction of her attacker.

She mumbled incoherent words through her blurry vision. This attack was affecting more than just her breathing; now the rest of her senses where on the edge. "I…I-I…ah…" She winced feeling the lightheaded affect while placing her neck on the cold brick wall behind.

"Remember what you told me?" He nodded looking to both Sanji and Kimi worried. "You're meditation, relax your mind!"

The woman nodded with her eyes closed. "Re-re-relax…" She heaved.

Sanji gave a look to the swordsman that almost read, why-do-you-know-that? But from the gradual slow of the scientist breathing, he wasn't about to complain. "Oi, Kimi-swan. Are you feeling better from what shitty marimo said?"

"What the- oi!" Zoro attempted to pounce on the cook but was stopped by a giant hand on his cheek. He looked up at the smirking face of Franky.

"Twin-san, you're breathing is better." He concluded in an attempt to get her to really concentrate on her breath. In order to move forwards, her lungs needed to be a full capacity.

The woman nodded and the tension swarming her hands melted into a loosened into a comfortable placement in her lap. The voice of her sister in her mind was fading and instead being replaced by her nakama's comical argument taking place right in front of her.

"Oi, curly eyebrow! None of your business!"

"It is too my business! I am the prince rescuing princess Kimi!"

"Yea, the prince of dumbass kingdom!"

"You are the shittiest marimo in the world!"

"And you are dumb, crap cook!"

Kimi's frown switched positions to a slight grin, and then grew into a full on smile. "You guys?" The two stopped arguing and forced their heads to look down at the smiling, warm blue-eyed scientist. "Thanks." She responded in a soft murmur. "I feel a lot better now, thanks to you all."

A wave of relief washed over the men, "Oh beautiful Kimi-swan! I am so happy I could rescue you! It pains me to see a woman so beautiful in so much pain and agony!"

Placing her gloved hands on the ground, Kimi pressed all of her weight onto her back while sliding up the brick wall. "Speaking of rescue-" The scientist stood fully while looking to the cook with a heart in his one visible eye. "Nami-san is still in need of rescuing. And Brook-"

With one mention of Nami, the cook began to spark into a pile of flames. "I will continue on to save Nami-swan now that you are better Kimi-chan!"

She nodded with an amused smile while the cook ran off ahead. Zoro crossed his arms while watching the man leave. "Idiot crap cook." He muttered and turned his head to look back at Kimi. Despite the smile on her lips, there still seemed to be a pain in her face. The warm tint of sky-blue had returned to her eyes, but her pupils were still small as if she was still frightened by whatever forced her into the attack. "Kimi?" He questioned looking deep into her pupils. He wanted to know what exactly caused her to go into that much shock, since it was obviously a more terrifying mental experience than the ghost woman's devil fruit ability. "Are you okay?"

The scientist looked to Zoro with a confused expression. _"He cares?"_ She thought remembering her sister's threats. _"Zoro, another human being, actually cares about me…"_The woman nodded both to herself and the green-haired man. _"There are people that care about me…my sister only told me lies and I shouldn't let that try to ruin my life."_

"We need to hurry! We have to save Brook." Franky looked to the two and then turned to look at the bell tower where Brook was fighting. "But we have to cross this forest on the bridge. Why is there a forest on a bridge anyways?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Who knows."

"Zoro?" Kimi's voice pulled the two men to look back at her. She had meant for his name to be said mentally and not out loud, so a timid blush spread across her cheeks as both he and Franky looked to her. "Uh, never mind…" She smiled and pushed herself off the wall.

As she did, a sharp pain in her right knee threatened to force the woman back to the floor. Lucky for her, Zoro was quick to react and pulled her safely into his strong arm and by his side.

Zoro wanted to say something to her. He wanted to tell her to watch out. Then he wanted to say that he'd offer to carry her to the tower. And then he wanted to tell her that despite the sweat and dirt on her face, she looked beautiful…_"Wait. What the hell am I saying? We have to fight. No time for gushy crap cook comments."_Zoro shook while closing his eyes and releasing his grip on her tiny waist.

But his thoughts about the scientist's beauty raced as his coarse calloused hands made contact with the soft skin on her stomach. With Nami always giving the modest scientist complaints of her attire forced Kimi to reveal her torso in the white cropped shirt. As much as he cursed as his hand gracing back onto her waist again, he couldn't help but enjoy the feathery-soft feel on his skilled and worn fingertips.

"Oi, oi! I'm going on ahead." Franky shook his hands while trying not to look at the couple's intimate moment. He knew they weren't a declared 'couple' despite their comfortableness with one another, but from the looks of how cozy the two looked right now made him recognize their fondness for one another. It was weird, he thought, how much they were mysteriously together on the ship. Neither of them would actually speak to one another, Kimi would silently be sitting and watching the swordsman as he worked out as if she was observing him for a particular reason. Then whenever she was working on her experiments with either he or long-nose, Zoro secretively slept close by. Not to mention the appalled expression Zoro had when that Puzzle guy kissed Kimi on the deck last week.

It was almost like the two kept a constant watch on the other while going about their daily ways. Shaking his head, Franky smiled and continued to walk towards the tower without the two.

"I'm sorry." Kimi couldn't hide her blush. The two wouldn't move from one another, and almost instinctively she buried her forehead onto his warm shoulder. The smell of both iron and male-musk swarmed her head while diminishing all thoughts of her evil sister. "Just what I needed." She murmured.

"Wha?" Zoro gasped feeling her arms press on his chest to push her body away from his own.

She looked back up at him through her glasses with a giggle, "Sorry, Zoro-san… I guess I needed to regulate."

"Oi." He glared. "I told you, it's just Zoro."

His comment caused the woman to blink. After realizing her mistake she nodded with a smile. "That's right, Zoro, thank you. We'd better hurry to catch up with Franky-san though…" With a nod the two continued to chase after the cyborg.

* * *

><p>"Well finally! I thought you two would-" Franky went to tease the two when suddenly a black object landed by his feet and distracting him from his taunting. "Hm?"<p>

He bent down to reach for the object when a frightened gasp left Kimiko's mouth. "Franky! Don't touch it! It's-"

She was too late. In the middle of her warning the small bomb exploded, throwing the three Strawhats in separate directions. Although it wasn't enough to cause serious damage to the cyborg, the two humans were no exception.

Kimi landed on her right side with her right arm extended fully and supporting her aching head. "Ow…" She groaned as a trickle of blood flooded from a fresh cut on her forehead. Through the settling dust, she could see Zoro sit up from his position on his back while Franky stood up to look out for their attacker.

"You see anything Franky?" Zoro stood while checking across to the struggling woman as she slowly shifted the weight of her body from her side and onto her back. His protective smile over her resting figure diminished as a shadowed figure in the the trees caught his trained eyes.

His right hand gripped the handle of his katana while maintaining complete attention to the creature lurking in the shadows. "Franky, Kimi, let's-" He began to say until the figure shifted from the forest and ran towards the group at an unbelievable speed towards him.

Lucky for Zoro, his reflexes saved his neck from being chopped off of his body. As the sound of slashing metal rang through the bridge, Zoro focused on the zombie attempting to force his katana out of the way.

The zombie-woman smirked with a slight grunt and then used all of her weight to push herself off of the swordsman's katana. Zoro's only thought was to examine this female zombie quickly before she attacked again.

Standing at the same height as Franky and like the other zombies, this one had been pieced together with different sections of body parts. Her overall tone of skin color was an obscured blue/green shade, and along her skin ran cuts of all shapes and sizes. One significant one was stationed across her right cheek leading up to her forehead. Although it wasn't deep enough to be stitched back or to cause death in her past, it certainly looked intimidating. Her hair was a discolored brownish color and it hung from her head messily all the way to her hips.

What was different from this zombie than the ones Zoro and the others had faced earlier today was the feminine features predominate by the source of attire she had on… or rather, what _little_ she had of it.

A roll of bandages attempted to cover her breasts, but the tattered look of the wrapping seemed to almost oxidize with every step she took. Around her waist hung a deep pink skirt that seemed to be ripped in half. It exposed the full of her right leg and barely covered her hip while the left side covered her leg down to the bottom of her knee. Random rips and tears covered the rest of the garment while an overlaying dingy yellow draping hung over her skirt. She wore no shoes and the only items in her possession seemed to be the ones in her hands, two medium sized daggers. The both were covered with blood stains.

And like all of the zombie's the group encountered, a rather large number was imprinted on her exposed right leg: 4444.

"The muriatic acid didn't mix fully…" The large zombie muttered while twirling her dagger in her left hand. "If it did, then you'd all be dead and Master would be pleased with your dead bodies in a heap of organic matter, mmmmhm science!"

"Uh, Kimiko…" Zoro growled while keeping constant eye contact on the enemy. "I think we've encountered you're shadow."

Kimi sat up from her spot on the ground and gasped horrified at the zombie in their presence. "What the- why aren't you wearing any clothes!?" She pointed a finger at the zombie.

The zombie huffed, "I only wish to find a hair-tie and bobby pins… I feel the need to place my hair into a bun… science!"

Franky nodded with a confident face, "Yup. That's twin-san alright."

The scientist rolled her eyes at her zombie's comment and then stood onto her shaky feet. "Be quiet Franky." She shoved the comment out of the air and then pointed to her opposite, "Uhhh, zombie, me! Why are you following Moria and Hogback's orders? You should be smart enough to know his ways of science are frowned upon!"

Zombie-Kimi snarled at her double, "I only wish to please Master Moria. After all, he is a Shichibukai and I always respect the Shichibukai because-"

Kimiko panicked at the thought her shadow would give away her secret to Zoro and Franky. Without another thought, Kimi cloned herself to kick the zombie's back, but Zombie-Kimi was quick to fight back.

With a twist backwards, Zombie-Kimi avoided the attack and struck the clone with a devastating blow. But being quick to think on her toes, Kimi cloned three other copies of herself and forced them to attack Zombie-Kimi as she struck the first clone.

With one swipe of her blades, Zombie-Kimi rid the field of the clones. Straightening herself to a standing position, Zombie-Kimi threatened Kimiko evilly. "I am a warrior of the Amazon Lilly and even though I was killed in The Battle Ring, I will prove myself a worthy scientist and the world will fear the Tomoko name, science!"

Kimi, Franky, and Zoro sweatdropped. It was obvious Zombie-Kimi was mixing up her bodies past with her spirits ambition. "I will be the world's most respected scientist! Even better than Dr. Vegapunk among the Marines and World Government, science!"

Kimi shook her head and looked to Franky and Zoro. "Guys, I'll take care of my shadow…"

Zoro shook his head to her and then carefully made sure not to lose sight of the swift amazon zombie. "No way. She's too fast and-"

"And I can beat her." Kimiko added sternly.

The ambition in her eyes burned with passion as the scientist took a step forwards, meanwhile, Zombie-Kimi snickered, "You think you can defeat me, puny woman?...science!"

Kimiko was about to open her mouth to respond when suddenly Zombie-Kimi disappeared into thin air. "Where-?" Kimi gasped confused by the quickness of her disappearance.

"OI! KIMIKO!" Zoro shouted catching a glance at Zombie-Kimi right behind the real Kimi with her two daggers raised in each hand. In the blink of an eye, Zombie-Kimi slashed through the scientist bare stomach tearing her body into half. "NO!" Zoro dropped his jaw.

She was dead, sliced in half in one instant.

Kimiko was gone without a single evidence of defeat. Zoro ran towards the zombie with his two swords in each hand threating to attack the creature when his collar choked his neck, forcing him backwards. Turning his head over his shoulder caused the swordsman to blink multiple times.

"I told you," Kimiko smirked, "I can take her. Go, now!"

The swordsman nodded, despite his sub-consciousness threatening him to allow the weakened woman to fight. He personally witness her defeat among the CP9 battle and after her panic-attack by those ghosts, she was in no condition to fend for herself.

Then he saw the spark firing from her eyes behind her glasses. With a stern nod, Zoro ran alongside the cyborg towards the castle.

Zombie-Kimi looked away from her counterpart with a glare as the men ran. "You will not run from me, science!" Raising her daggers, she threatened to hurl the objects towards each man, until a brick wall forced Zombie-Kimi backwards.

Kimiko smirked at how perfect her plan functioned. By creating the wall and surrounding the two within it, Zoro and Franky were free to run away to find their newest skeleton crewmember. "Now," She tightened her loosened blue hair in its usual bun. "Let's fight, science on science."

* * *

><p>Zombie-Kimi roared. The irritation seemed to swarm in her eyes. "You will not defeat me, science!" She commented and then reached into the bandages containing her breasts.<p>

Another small bomb landed by Kimiko's feet and as it exploded around the woman, Zombie-Kimi was shocked to see the real Kimiko right next to her.

"Nice try. But you're too slow!" The scientist grinned while using another clone to distract the zombie as she watched in the shadows of the wall. Zombie-Kimi and the clone fought, and just as the clone was sliced in half another replaced her.

"You are nothing but a coward! Come and face me like a real woman, Tomoko Kimiko, science!"

Kimi shook her head in the shadows. Not only did she not have the strength or stamina to fight but she did not possess the correct skill to fight this amazon warrior zombie of herself.

Her brain used to be able to compile multiple equations and predictions towards fighting and helping her crewmembers in a fight. But at the current moment, Kimiko's mind was preoccupied with the burning sensation stabbing inside her right lung.

No matter how many times she attempted to get the sufficient amount of oxygen, a clone would be defeated causing another mental stab in her brain and forcing her breathing on hold while she cloned and controlled a new copy. This technique was getting her nowhere, she thought, but at least it was buying Zoro and Franky enough time so Zombie-Kimi wouldn't attack.

"I see you, science!" Zombie-Kimi called from behind Kimiko forcing the woman to roll out of harm's way just before annihilation. She flipped back onto her feet as she skidded against the dirt. Zombie-Kimi only stood from her crouched position from the attack. "You are annoying, science."

"So are you!" Kimi pointed a finger. "Why do you keep saying _'science'_ after everything you say!?"

Zombie-Kimi grinned evilly, "Because… I am only a woman of _science_… nothing more, and nothing less… that is why I will keep repeating it, because that is all we are good for…science."

Kimiko widened her eyes. _"Just what the hell is she saying?!"_ She thought while using their pause to understand Moria's control on her shadow. "Why are you only good for science, Zombie-Kimi? We can do so much more…_I_ can do so much more." It almost seemed like the little voice Kimi often ignored in her own head was talking now to her shadowed body.

"No you can't. We are only alive to serve her…sister… without sister; we are worth nothing, science."

This comment took the woman by complete surprise before Kimi could respond, the zombie ran at full force towards her. With a twist and flip to the side she avoided the attack with a huff. Her energy was drained- much more than it should be – she thought to herself.

It was then that the brick wall caught a glance of Kimi's eye. She mistakenly forgot about her control on the unnecessary wall and thus released her control of it while regaining more energy from the liberation.

Zombie-Kimi chuckled as the wall faded from sight, "Now I can move about freely, science." She smirked evilly at the woman.

The two stared one another down for a spilt-second, and in the next instant, Zombie-Kimi hurled herself towards the scientist. With another twist, Kimiko avoided the attack and then cloned a copy of Franky. "Weapons left!" The clone yelled and proceeded in Franky's typical attack.

Zombie-Kimi avoided the attack as well, but with the floor underneath her bare feet causing the zombie off-balance gave the struggling scientist a moment to attack. Cloning herself four times, each of the clones took the opportunity to distract Zombie-Kimi in a rage of attacks.

The zombie fought off each of the clones easily, but _that_ was a part of her plan. Kimiko smiled as Zombie-Kimi was unaware of the clone Sanji impending towards her with his kicking ability at full force.

"Direct hit!" Kimi smirked as the clone fell to the ground. "Now, for a little experiment…"

After the battle of Enis Lobby, Luffy had questioned Kimiko during their period of rest and recuperation. During that time he wondered if Kimi could clone herself to be another person.

She answered reluctantly, 'no' but ever since that day she was working up the courage to try this ability on an enemy. Pushing all of her thoughts away on the clone of Sanji, Kimi raised her arms outwards into their triangle stance. "Clone Clone, disguise!" She called out thinking of the one person whom she wanted to test this ability on the most. It was the person she constantly studied and tested in her notes while watching him workout: Roronoa Zoro.

Zombie-Kimi groaned for a moment and then looked to her counterpart… or rather gasped as she watched the woman take the shape of a man, the same man that just escaped a few minutes ago. "What? Is this even possible, science?!"

Zoro-Kimi smirked, "Of course it is." She held in her hands one of his swords since using all three would be impossible at the moment. Using the quick strength of the swordsman, Zoro-Kimi slashed the cloned white sword of his at Zombie-Kimi.

Of course, the former amazon warrior was quick enough to jump out of the way, but retaliated swinging both of her own daggers at Zoro-Kimi. "I am stronger than you, science!" She screamed as the two made equal contact with their weapons. An echo of "shiiiiiiiinnnng" sounded as the blades met.

"I beg to differ." Kimiko's voice came out of the man's body as Zoro-Kimi pushed out of their equal force and slashed the sword towards the zombie.

Once again, Zombie-Kimi avoided the escape by ducking to the side. With a loud and frustrated growl, the zombie dug her daggers into the dirt and reached once more into her covered chest for another bomb.

"Not so fast!" Zoro-Kimi yelled taking a very closely observed stance. "One-sword style… drawing technique, Lion's song!" Without even realizing what she was doing, the sword in her hand was drawn back into the scabbard. "Heh," She smirked feeling a sense of accomplishment as the sword clicked back into protection.

Zombie-Kimi on the other hand, fell to her knees as her chest and stomach was slashed in one simple strike. Although, it was not enough to kill the zombie, it temporarily stunned the fearless amazon, scientist-shadowed, corpse.

Feeling the burning deep in her lungs sting with every gasp of breath, Kimiko lost the control on her cloning technique of disguise. Before she felt like she was about to pass out, the quick-thinking scientist cloned herself once again right in front of the shocked zombie. "Goodnight." The clone smirked placing a salt pellet into her mouth.

Zombie-Kimi gulped the item and screamed as a black blob wiggled its way from out of her teeth and into the air. As Kimi fell to the dirt on her knees writhing in agony from both her distressed body and weakened mind, a black shadow facing her on the dirt distracted her for the moment.

"M-My- sh-shadow…" Her blood-stained lips formed into a slight and strained smile. "It's good… t-to have y-you back." She waved a hand with her right hand watching as the black figure did the same as her.

But the strength of her shadow returning could not settle the pain writing around the bottom of her lungs. The sensation of vertigo in her brain was allowing her to forget the safety of Zoro and Franky fighting to save Brook.

No, instead, her body heaved in a shaky pitiful motion as she groaned from the excruciation swarming her body. With one convulsed gag, the part of her lungs and stomach seemed to meet forcing Kimiko to hurl what little was inside of her gut onto the ground.

Quickly after the first, she threw up again not even bothering to tell herself to stop. With one last throaty hurl, Kimi pushed herself off of her knees flopping onto her back grimly. "Shit." She muttered the curse while the pungent taste of stomach lining consumed both her mouth and nose. Besides the nasty bodily fluid, she fought with her brain to keep her eyes open. After such an intense battle, she knew better than to allow herself to sleep.

_"One breath in through her nose._

_Another out from her mouth._

_In through the nose._

_Out from the mouth."_

She forced her body to comply to her racing mind and before long, the unsettling feeling in her lungs diminished to a slight pinch. She would wait here for a little while longer – she thought silently as her breath normed. After all, Zoro and Franky could take care of themselves no problem.

At least, that's what she would tell herself…

Finally feeling well enough to sit, the struggling scientist rolled onto her side while her sore and fragile arms supported the weight of her chest.

**BA BOOOOOOOOM!**

With a glance towards the castle, Kimiko could only imagine one person with enough fire to slice the top of the tower down to where she was. "Zoro…" She muttered and looked to the pile of building scraps.

Sure enough, the gleam of a blade caught her eye. Kimiko was too tired to deal with his fight and instead of rushing towards the tower so she simply continued to breathe while sitting in a crossed-legged position. "Never… realized… how strong… he really… is." She muttered while untying her very messy hair style.

The bun she forced back into position seemed to be weak but sufficient for the moment. If there was one thing she hated, it was her hair getting in the way. That's why she always wore her thick, long, wavy length hair it in a bun. The untamed hair made a mess when she was in the lab and now during fights as she became accustom to the pirate lifestyle.

Instead of scurrying towards the tower, she continued to take her time to adjust her gloves around her wrists. More or less, she was wasting time to allow her body to recuperate after puking and her fight.

Looking down at the thick leather gloves made Kimiko grimace, but no matter how many times she wanted to take the damn sweaty ornaments off, she couldn't allow the crew know what was behind them.

The pain. The regret… her hands…

Everything from her past was beginning to invade her cranium once again. In a heated moment, Kimiko threw her gloved hands behind her back. She had just gotten those horrible thoughts of her past out of her mind before the fight with Zombie-Kimi and she didn't need those words of discouragement to flood back into her vulnerability.

"Okay, I should go now…" Standing up as quickly as her trembling body would allow was proving to be difficult. The numbness in her legs- the feeling of wiggling jell-o, and the black spots threatening to cloud her vision brought one thought to her mind:

She needed to be stronger.

In order to survive out with Luffy's pirate crew, the feeble scientist would seriously need to adjust her stamina. _How?_ She wasn't quite sure. Come hell or high water, the scientist would figure out a plan but for the moment, she was more concerned with the booming noise and rumble from underneath the forest bridge.

The rumbling noise almost seemed to be reminiscent of footsteps … The scientist turned her head to the edge of the wall and then ran on top of the ledge to get a better look at the source of noise.

There was nothing… at least nothing out of the ordinary on this crazy pirate ship island filled with graveyards. She was about to turn her head back towards the tower to meet back up with the others when a freakishly large red hand punched through the castle wall.

She let out a rather loud scream as the ground rumbled forcing her to balance herself before falling off the ledge. "Is-is that…Luffy's Zombie?!" Her eyes widened remembering the warning Usopp and Chopper gave the crew before they left the ship.

_"What is thattttttt~?!"_ A high pitched squeal came from the top of the tower. Squinting her eyes, Kimi caught the two figures of the tallest members of their crew, Franky and newly-recruited Brook. Only seeing the two made her worry about the safety of the swordsman, until she noticed his figure stand from a ledge lower than the other two.

"Look, there's Twin-san!" Franky pointed from the distance, "And in the rubble, swirly cook just came out."

This comment from Franky prompted the scientist to turn back towards Luffy's colossal zombie while searching to find the blonde hair of the cook. Indeed, Sanji stumbled from out of the debris.

"Lo-Lo-Look on his arm!" The cry of Usopp sounded from slightly below the scientist. He, Robin and Chopper faced the same direction as she on another bridge that separated the crew from one another entirely. "There's no doubt…it's our wanted posters! That means. His aim… h-his aim is our complete elimination!"

The giant zombie took two more pounding steps, then bellowed with his fists raised, "COME OUT, STRAW HAT CREW!"

Kimi struggled to find any sort of confidence in their situation… they were completely screwed by her standards. The one she was most worried about was the cook down by the zombie's large feet.

"Oi!" Zoro's voice called from the tower, "Usopp is that you? Kimi, did you beat your zombie?"

The marksmen hollered back to Zoro but Kimi left her action of standing still to speak for her. She was alive and standing alone, so he would get the hint eventually. Instead, the blue-haired woman took the time to analyze the current situation and how to avoid this fate at all costs.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing, Luffy?" Sanji spat at the zombie.

The size of the monster was not the only intimidating the crew, but also the way he looked proved to not mess with this monster. Skulls adorned his fat waist, while his ribs poked from out of one side. One portion of his skin was different from the red, and with those massive fangs protruding out from his lips explained the intimidating attitude Moria had towards their crew.

"Luffy?" The zombie growled. "No. He's my enemy… my name is Oz… pleased ta meet ya!"

"Shut up… what do you mean 'pleased to meet you?' Idiot…" Sanji sneered after lighting a cigarette.

Oz snarled at the cook and then glanced to his arm with the wanted posters, "Oh. It's a spitting image of Black Leg Sanji."

"**WHERE THE HELL DOES IT LOOK THE SAME**?!" The blonde screamed back at Oz. Everyone knew that hand-drawn poster looked nothing like him, but still it infuriated the cook to no end that the world knew him with this awful face.

"_'Where?_' Everywhere…" Oz mumbled.

"**HOW THE HELL**-"

"Besides you're one of the pirates…and I'll kick your ass." Oz threw his arms into the air and proceeded to punch the ground in the hopes of attacking Sanji. Luckily, the cook was swift on his feet and avoided every single blow. Except one.

With as much power as his shadow's owner, Oz swiftly attacked the cook with the same speed of their dear captain. Before Sanji had fallen from his attack towards the rubble mess of a floor, Oz caught him in his large hand.

"SANJI!" Kimi yelled from her standing spot on the ledge. Using all of her strength left within the deepest part of her mind, Kimiko held her arms out in front of her body screaming, "Clone Clone, GIANT!"

Oz released his hand containing Sanji, and just before the cook fell to his bitter death a soft cushion captured him. "Oi, what-?" He was about to yell out when his sight caught a glance of the overly grown woman. "OIIIIII KIMIKO-SWANNNNNNN!"

The giant clone of Kimi frowned and then turned her head towards the zombie. "Pick on someone your own size!" She ridiculed while her hand placed Sanji carefully back to the ground.

"Whaaaaa?" Franky gasped looking to the swordsman, "Since when can she become a giant?"

He only shrugged his shoulders, "'Till now, apparently." Looking down at the real Kimiko, Zoro noticed the pain engulfing her face. If she could last long enough to beat Oz, then this fight would be over in an instant.

Shocked from the power of the devil fruit user, Oz's one singular eye twinkled. "That is so cool." His voice mocked that of their Strawhat captain. "But…" He looked to his hand with the posters and then to the smaller Kimiko standing on the ledge of the bridge, "I have to kill you. Multiplying Beauty, Tomoko Kimiko!"

The giant clone of Kimi wasn't as big or monstrous as Oz, but she certainly held her own. Dipping to the side quickly, she punched his side. With Luffy's speed, however, Oz avoided the attack. "Gomu gomu no…"

"He can stretch!?" The real Kimi panicked as well as her giant clone.

"Bazooka!" Oz didn't stretch his arm, but the force of the punch knocked Giant-Clone-Kimi into the broken bits of castle left standing. The force of the punch not only caused the giant to fade, but also strucke the mental capacity of Kimi's brain.

"**Gahhhhh, Kimi!**"

"Kimiko!"

"Kimi-swan! Are you okay?"

"No! Twin-san!"

The voices of her crew members called as she forced herself to sit up despite almost falling off the ledge of the bridge.

"I've got you now!" Oz smiled catching his one eye towards Kimi. "Gomu Gomu nooooo, pistol!"

"No!" Kimi gasped trying her best to stand on two feet. As soon as she caught her balance, the floor gave away from Oz's punch. _"Shit!"_ Was the only thought Kimiko could process as she fell with the crumbling wall.

It wasn't until her back collided with the gravel below did she loose complete consciousness.


	26. Strawhat Adventures Pt 1

**Hey everyone! So I feel kinda bad, but I needed a break from writing the cannon stuff and decided to make this little adventure! Oda sensei does it too, so I thought, why not- I might as well! Also, if you have noticed I deleted a chapter from my story and I think it kinda messed up the reviews and what not. Don't worry, I only deleted the AN of me (i think it was ch 9) so yea! **

**Also, I wanted to know your thought about making a chapter based on the One Piece movies. I was thinking either 5, 6, or 7 and def. Strong World and Film Z, but wanted your thoughts before I begin writing them! Also, side note... I watched the release of Film Z and I was sadly not impressed with it as much as I thought I was going to... Still think Strong World is my fav. One Piece movie! **

**So special shout-outs to Taiski, Totong, phoenix, Fanboy316, and DinoZilla for your kind reviews! I'm really glad you all liked Zombie-Kimi! There's a picture of Zombie-Kimi on my Deviantart account if you want to look her up! If you guys like it, I was thinking about making a special with Zombie-Kimi and Zombie-Zoro so let me know your thoughts! It would be just a silly and fun story... nothing to the plot or anything. **

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>The oversized weights clanked against one another as the man working out grunted heavily with each stroke of his exercise. He had completed 19 sets of thrusts with only this final set being his last for the day.<p>

The small beads of sweat didn't bother him but rather persuaded him to continue for some odd reason. Then again, he'd had always been pushing himself to the limit. Even as a child, Zoro pushed his body to incredible strengths normal humans wouldn't dare imaginable.

Well, maybe… He grinned after completing his last set with the 200 lb weight. After joining Luffy's crew and witnessing first-hand how un-normal a group of people could be, Zoro seemed to fit right in their gang.

He huffed deep from with-in his chest while wiping the top of his forehead with the back of his hand. "Good." He nodded to himself. He would mutter one-word compliments to himself after every workout. He mostly said, _good_ or even _there, _sometimes even _more…_ when he felt his training for the day wasn't acceptable.

A small giggle turned his focus from his own thoughts to the woman sitting on the bench that surrounded the crow's nest. He had gotten used to the scientists presence every other day during this time. Ever since she first arrived on the Merry – and now even on the Sunny – Kimiko would sit and observe him while writing incoherent notes about his strength.

He used to ask why in the beginning, but she always gave the same answer. _"I've never seen anyone with as much raw strength! It's incredible!"_ She would say it every time he asked, so after a while, he stopped asking and let her go about her own business.

She was rather good company; she didn't talk unless spoken to and the natural aura of her presence seemed to calm him for some unexplained reason. Maybe it was her aura that always soothed him into sleeping on the deck whenever she was around.

He also noticed that one of Kimi's favorite spots on the Sunny was the tree swing on the deck. Of course, she wouldn't even bother to ask Luffy, Usopp, or Chopper to sit on it when they were out and about. But as soon as they left the area, Kimiko would place herself on the wooden seat and lightly push the swing.

She looked like a child, honestly, but her soft swinging motion hypnotized Zoro into a nap.

"What?" The green-haired man questioned after her giggle. There was nothing funny about the situation, nor did he speak to her.

Raising her eyes from her book to him with a startle, Kimi shrugged. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just noticed a funny comment in my father's journal. That's all." She placed the book in her lap, "Did I distract you?" She asked concerned.

Zoro turned his back to her while shaking his head. "No. I'm done…"

"Oh."

Her voice was soft. As if she was embarrassed. He only rolled his eyes as he placed his shirt back onto his body, "What did you discover?"

"Hmmm?" Kimi tilted her head as he turned back to face her. "Oh, the journal! Well, it's funny… my father scratched out his formula a few times and then wrote 'screw this' on the side and moved onto his next task. It just was funny…"

She closed her eyes in a smile. Sometimes she confused Zoro with the use of her glasses. Every once and a while she would wear them, and other times she wouldn't. At the current moment, her glasses were not on and as she opened her eyes back at him, he caught a glance at the deep blue usually hiding within her pupils.

He shook his head, not only at her comment but to also get the image of that rich sky-blue out of his mind. "Well, whatever then."

Kimiko nodded and stood with her books and supplies clutched in her arm and pressing to her chest. "I have something for you." She handed him a sheet of scribbled on paper. "I've made some rather interesting notes. I know how hard you work, and I wanted to inform you of the muscles in your body you are neglecting to work."

"Oi." Zoro scoffed looking at the paper. "You saying I'm not strong?"

She shook, "Quite the opposite actually. I'm only wanting you to know the parts that you do not consistently train." She wrapped her other arm around her supplies. "But honestly, I think I've gathered sufficient data on your skills. It's so amazing… I can only wait to see what you will discover as time passes."

The buff swordsman blinked. "So, you won't be watching anymore…?"

His question caused the scientist to blink twice in confusion. "Oh, yes. I'm sorry… I should probably examine the others as well. Not only have I been helping you, Zoro, but I have also been formulating a technique for myself. It will be beneficial if I observe everyone."

Her words struck the man like a knife. She wouldn't be visiting him now… instead she would be below his room/area and to make matters worse, she'd probably have to observe Crap Cook.

"Besides, now I won't annoy you during your training." She smiled.

"You don't annoy me."

"Huh?" Her smile faded into a raised eyebrow. "Oh…" She ducked her head down so the bangs on her forehead covered her face. Underneath her shadow, he imagined her blushing.

"Ah, well whatever…" Zoro shrugged trying not to think too much about her cute blushing or the endearing way she stood awkwardly in front of him. "I'll see you."

Kimi nodded still with her head to the floor, arms wrapped around her books, and knees knobbed inwards. "Okay…" She took a step towards the door that led to the stairs refusing to look at anything in particular.

The result, of course, forced the scientist to trip over her own two feet and land face first on the floor while her papers and books scattered around.

"Oi, oi, oi…" Zoro muttered standing above her with his hand placed on his hip in a demeaning manner. "You gotta be careful." He bent at his knees to pick up her fathers worn journal into his calloused hand.

"Ow…yea. You're right." Kimi pushed herself up to a sitting position with her hand rubbing her forehead. "Ouch…"

"Here." Zoro handed her the journal as well as her own and a few of the scattered papers.

They touched hands for a split second and then pulled away in a retreated frown. "Thanks…"

"Oh." Zoro pointed to her head. "You're bleeding…"

"Hm?" Kimi placed her belongings in her lap and touched the sore area on her head. "I guess I am…" She nodded after observing the red substance on her fingertips. She would go to Chopper right away. He would probably freak out over nothing as he usually did at first but it was better safe than sorry.

"Don't move." Zoro commanded standing and walking towards a small black box on one of the shelves. He pulled out a small bandage without an expression plastered on his face. Walking back down to her and kneeling, Zoro undid the wrapping and placed it on her scratch.

It was awkward both for him and the woman as their presence intertwined with one another. But Zoro was a man that always finished what he started and he-be-damned if he didn't finish taking care of her.

His medical care was much more harsher than that of the reindeer. But that was to be expected, Kimi thought wincing as he jammed the sticky bandage to her head. "Thanks." She grimaced for a moment and then stood as soon as he did. "You know Chopper will be mad if he ever finds out you took his supplies. He always wants us to get our injuries checked out from him. Even the littlest ones. "

Zoro smirked, "And sometimes even the biggest ones do not need attention. Besides… _he's_ not going to know_._ _Is_ he?"

The tone from his voice caused the woman to giggle once again. "No. He won't. No worries, Zoro… you're secrets are safe with me." She turned on her heel once again and then stopped just before opening the door. "I don't think Luffy or Sanji would stop tormenting you if they ever found out about the triplets on Water 7."

Zoro tensed quickly as she reminded him of the horrible demand of the foster mother and her children on the island.

She giggled again, "Like I said…" She motioned with her hand to lock her mouth and throw away the key, "Your secret is safe with me!"

* * *

><p>Luffy glared at his scientist swinging slowly on the deck. "Oi! Kimi are you not coming with us?! Why not?! Do you have no sense of pirate adventure?!"<p>

"Luffy!" Nami swatted the back of his head with a growl. "If Kimi doesn't want to go, then she doesn't have to go!"

"Awwwww. But since Sanji is sick he can stay and watch Sunny." The captain whined. "Come on Kimi! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!"

"Ow! Twin-san, come on, baby, yea!"

"Kimi! Please come with us!"

"Kimiko… allow the great captain Usopp to protect your fears of the unknown."

"Oi, didn't you have, I-can't-go-onto-this-island disease just a few minutes ago?"

The remarks of her crew forced the scientist to stand from her spot. "Gah, okay okay…" She nodded and gasped as Luffy's rubber arm coiled around her waist and forcing her onto the shore.

"Luffy, don't break Miss Scientist." Robin stated.

The captain laughed heartedly as Kimi stood from her collision on the ground. "Good thing Twin-san is SUPPPPPPPER awesome!"

The blue-haired woman only nodded once and then walked alongside the other two women towards the pier. When they could finally see pass the large sandbank, the crew was pleasantly surprised to see a rather large town.

But what really caught the attention of the crew were the balloons and tents stationed on the road. "Annual Town Fair?" Robin read the sign by the first tent.

"YAHHHHHOOOOO!" Luffy jumped up and down vigorously, "Sanji is sure going to regret being sick!"

"Baka!" Nami slapped him again, "It's not like he _chose_ to get the stomach flu today!"

"But he should be much better by tomorrow!" Chopper spoke up, "For now though, let's go get Cotton Candy!" Both he and Usopp ran towards the road with Luffy catching the lead right after.

"I guess a fair visit wouldn't hurt?" Robin smile sweetly and then continued to follow with the others following her. The streets were filled with many treats and interesting foods. Some that even fascinated Kimiko to the point where Usopp had to drag her away so she wouldn't get separated from the others.

"COME ONE, COME ALL! ALL YOU LUCKY PLAYERS THAT THINK YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN 8 MILLION BELLI! GATHER IN TENT 6 FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME!"

A voice on the loudspeaker den den mushi platform hollered. The words stabbed Nami like a knife. "E-Eight, m-m-mi-million?!"

"Oi, your eyes are weird." Usopp grunted.

"To tent 6!" The orange-haired woman shoved the crew to the right location. Miraculously, Zoro seemed to wander away from their pack. At the very last second of complete misplacement, Kimiko cloned herself to heard the stray man towards them once more.

As the group stood with the large crowd in the number 6 tent, a vibrantly dressed ring-man entered onto the stage with a cunning smirk underneath his mustache. "Welcome, welcome! Both locals and new faces! It's the moment you all have been waiting for! The Annual Fair's Main Event: The 25th Scavenger Hunt!"

The crowd cheered loudly while the Strawhats pondered at their excitement, well, all except Nami with the Belli signs still brightly shinning in her eyes.

"Yes, that's right! Now make a line for your team to sign in! Because of certain circumstances last year, we have limited the teams to couples! So grab a friend and sign up!"

"Couples?" Chopper frowned with his fluffy cotton candy stick still in his hand.

"Guess we will just have to divide ourselves into pairs." Usopp nodded in an attempt to hover their group for a team meeting. "Okay… how should we divide this?"

The pirates looked to each other with perplexed glances. They were all friends… so it really didn't matter who was with whom. Holding out a hand, Zoro motioned for the group to draw sticks. Their usual means of picking teams.

"Where did you even get those from?!" Usopp panicked, but pulled a stick nonetheless.

"What ever size matches the twin, that is the person you are paired with." Zoro nodded as everyone held a hand out in their circle.

"Oi Usopp and I are partners!" Luffy cheered and then ran with the marksmen to the sign-up line.

"Yay! Robin!" Nami cheered.

Chopper giggled in his ever-cheerful high-pitched voice, "Franky!"

"Ow!" The cyborg winked. "So that just leaves Twin-san and Zoro." The two mentioned only nodded and followed after the others.

"Congratulations teams! We have completed our registration and now we will proceed with our game! Listen carefully teams: for these are the items you will need to possess and if you do not remember correctly your shot at 8 million Belli is forged!"

Hearing the ringmaster's words caused the scientist to pull out her small writing pad and pen from her pants pocket. Luckily, she had placed the items just before leaving the Sunny.

"The first item is a change in fortune!"

Kimi scribbled the item down, though she was quite confused by the name of it.

"Next is a binding of knowledge. Followed by a way to speak and receive! The next item is a riddle: it is something so thin yet cleans so much in the right size."

Kimi continued to write, despite being completely confused by the complexity of these riddles of the items needed to be found.

"Next is a golden drink that changes personality. And the final item is included in the periodic table element that floats!"

Kimi smirked at that item. It was the only obvious answer the scientist could figure out. After all, she had the entire table of elements completely memorized.

"ADVENTURE SEEKERS! ARE YOU READY?!" The ring-man yelled which in turn caused the crowd to scream in excitement. "REMEMBER, THE FIRST ONE BACK HERE BEFORE 2 O'CLOCK IS DECLARED THE WINNER! AFTER 2, THE PRIZE DROPS TO ONLY 2 MILLION BELLI!"

"Whaaaaaaa!?" Nami fumed after the comment. No one had told her they only had an hour and a half to find the riddle of items on an island they had never been in.

"GOOOOOOOO!"

The crowd bolted from the tent and separated on instant. Meanwhile, the Strawhat's managed to force their bubbling captain to hold his horses.

"Twin-san, read the list out one more time…" Franky nodded.

"A change in fortune, a binding of knowledge, a way to speak and receive, something so thin yet cleans so much in the right size, a golden drink that changes personality, and the periodic table element that floats."

"Too much thinking! Not enough doing!" Luffy protested until Nami slapped his head. "Be quiet! We need to think about these items before we spilt and search this town! That way, if we all know what the answers are then one of us is sure to win the prize!"

Kimi nodded, "Well the last question is the easiest… It's helium. Just bring back a floating balloon."

Nami and Robin nodded, it was obvious the women were the brains of the operation. "A binding of knowledge could be a dictionary… or an encyclopedia…" Robin offered.

"Something so thin and cleans just the right size could be a towel, or a napkin…?" Chopper offered.

"Good idea, these clues are meant to trick us so if each of us divide up what we bring back than sure enough _one_ of us should win. And it doesn't matter who wins because it'll all be going to the same place!" Nami winked. The girls and Usopp all agreed.

"Blah blah blah! Let's get to it already Usopp! We are already behind!" The captain whined.

Kimi handed each team a separate copy of the list and what the possible answers could be. The answers, of course, were divided up so that the possibility of winning would be greater. "Okay! Meet back soon! BYE!" Luffy waved his hand frantically and then charged into town.

Nami sighed, "Well there goes one team." She turned back to the rest of the pirates with a glare, "Don't you guys let me down or else… I'll never forgive you for letting 8 million Belli slip away from my grasp!"

Kimi only giggled and continued to follow suit of Luffy and Usopp. "No worries Nami-san, one of us is sure to win!"

The crew separated with only an hour to be the victors.

* * *

><p>"So… we have a dictionary, a den den mushi, a napkin, and a balloon…" Zoro muttered as he and the scientist walked down the cobbled road alongside one another. She had her nose practically buried in the binding of her notebook while Zoro held onto the string of their red balloon. The rest of the supplies stuffed in his pockets.<p>

"Yes, we need to find a change in fortune and a golden drink that changes personality…" She looked up from her journal with a determined glare. "I have a few hypothesis… but I'm not really sure-"

"Oi, just tell 'em to me… we only got thirty minutes left."

Kimi blushed and stopped walking. "Oh… I lost track of time… heh." She sweatdropped while facing the swordsman. "Well… the only things I can think of for a change in fortune could be a fortune cookie?"

Zoro thought about the answer for a moment and nodded. "That could work." He placed a finger under his chin. "What about the other one? The golden drink?"

"Heh… yea… still don't know that-"

"I know it."

Kimiko blinked. "What? You do?"

The smirk on the swordsman revealed how much he was confident in his answer. "A golden drink that changes personality… that's definitely a bottle of sake."

The scientist pondered the object for a few seconds and then smiled, "I think you're absolutely correct, Zoro!"

"Baka, of course I am! I just wish I would have thought about it sooner so we'd be done by now!" The comment made the blue-haired woman giggle. "We should probably go back to the market… I think it was this way-" Zoro started to wonder off when his shirt collar pulled him back.

"It's this way, silly." She giggled as her clone proceed to drag the disoriented man alongside of her. As the two made their way back to the market place, the scientist looked over to the man, "How much money do we have left?"

"Uh, 50 Belli." Zoro responded.

"Okay, I'll take 10 and you go and buy a bottle of Sake- _DON'T_ drink it!" She pointed a finger while taking her amount of money. The command caused the swordsman to grunt and glare at her. "Go inside of that drink shope and wait right by the front. Don't go anywhere else! I'll be right back after I buy the fortune cookie from the market place."

"Oi, you are worse than Nami."

Kimiko only continued to glare at the slightly taller man. Despite his reputation, she knew that he wouldn't harm a hair on his Nakama's heads. "Understood? Don't move from the shope, and don't drink the bottle!"

"What if I have enough money for two?"

"Zoro…"

The swordsman grunted once again and turned on his heels. "Fine fine. I'll wait for ya…" The two parted ways with Zoro entering the small wine shop in the middle of the market place. The door offered a slight 'ping' of a bell to announce he had entered.

"Why hello there, what can I do for you!?" A rather older woman smiled from behind the counter.

"Golden sake. Two cheep bottles for 40 Belli." The swordsman was going to drink one now, and save one for the scientist. She wasn't a drinker, so it wouldn't be that she would know what good liquor cost. Plus, they were just buying this stuff to give away in a contest? So why did it have to be of super quality. He, for one, didn't care about quality. He only wanted to drink.

"Okay, sonny!" The woman with greying hair smiled forcing the wrinkles in her face to deepen. "Golden Sake… I've been getting a lot of requests for this today…" She laughed heartedly. Yet, the swordsman continued to stare with his emotionless face. "There you are… two bottles of that will cost you 40 Belli even!"

Zoro slapped the money on the countertop and then lifted the necks of the green bottles in his hands. "I'm going to drink one now inside of here… that okay?"

The woman blinked. And then proceeded to laugh hysterically. "Well of course, you didn't tell me that or I would have gotten you a chilled bottle!" She wiped the tears from off the side of her cheek. "I like you sonny! Come, I'll give you a chilled bottle to drink for free!" She waved the swordsman over to the back of the room.

The smile on Zoro's face light up with gratitude. Not only was he going to get a free bottle to drink, but also have another cheep bottle for later on tonight when he was at watch duty.

"You must be a samurai." The woman chuckled while pouring the chilled bottle from her fridge. She poured him a chilled glass and herself one. They toasted briefly and proceeded to gulp their drinks.

Zoro only sighed feeling the heavenly relief the alcohol brought to his muscles. "You could say I'm a samurai. But I like to think of myself as a swordsman instead. The greatest one alive."

The woman belted into a fit of laughter. "You are too rich. You know that!" She and the green-haired man finished the rest of their drinks in the blissful silence. "Well," The old woman began to say, "You are Roronoa Zoro ain't ya? Of the Strawhat pirates?"

Zoro only nodded, wiping his mouth clean. "Yup. Sure am."

She smiled. "Heh, I like you guys… I used to be a pirate a long long long time ago…"

"I bet."

The rudeness of the swordsman forced the old woman to smack the top of his green head. "Boy… you better watch that tongue of yours. I may be old, but I'm still a lady. A lady that can out drink you!"

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" The swordsman continued to hold onto the top of his bulging head. "Oh, but I can't… I have to meet my crewmate right outside."

"Oh do you mean the pretty blue-haired girl?"

Zoro only nodded.

"Ha, I thought she was your girlfriend. The two of you looked so close." The comment from the old lady caused the man to blush a vivid red. "Oh, but it looks like she is already waiting for you out on the side of the street."

Zoro then changed his blush into a groan. That meant his impromptu free drinking date with this old woman was being cut short. As much as the woman creeped him out, he didn't mind her free booze.

"Oh goodness, and she seems to be talking to Lock and Shock."

"Who?" Zoro's defense started to gear up. He turned his head slightly so he could see out the window. Indeed, there was Kimi engaged into a conversation around two older looking men. They weren't as old as the woman from the shop, but they were definitely older than Kimi and him.

"Lock and Shock are what you would call the town outcasts. They are usually cruel to women. If she were your friend, Sonny, I'd go out there and flash one of those swords around to them." The woman nodded while finishing the last of her sake.

"That so…" Zoro finished his drink as well and smiled gently to the woman, "Thanks for your hospitality, and the free booze." He took the two bottles he paid for in his hands once again.

"Anytime, Sonny. It's not like you get to have a drink with the greatest swordsman, huh?!" She flashed her yellowed smile to him. "Go, save your girl."

Zoro tensed at the words, "She's NOT my girl!"

The old lady only laughed and waved him forwards. "Sure sure…"

Exiting the door, Zoro heard the strained conversation coming from Kimi and the two men. They seemed to be asking her about her likes – of both science and sexual innuendos that she obviously didn't understand. It wasn't until one of the men asked her a specific innuendo question did Zoro feel his blood boil.

"So, sweetheart… tell us… do the drapes match the carpet?"

Kimi blinked in complete confusion. "What? Carpet? What carpet?" Her innocent response caused the men to snicker even more. "Where? What? I'm really confused…" The scientist blushed while tapping her two pointer fingers at one another in an innocent stance.

The whole situation made the swordsman scowl. Of course, the two men had been completely unaware to his presence as they laughed from the reaction of the woman. "Well, sweetheart…" one of the men wrapped an arm around her back forcing her chest to connect with his own. "I'd be happy to show you in person-"

A tanned-skinned hand pushed the man's chest away from the woman's forcefully, "I would step back if I were you." Zoro glared between the man and Kimiko.

"Oh," She gasped feeling her body released by the man, "Zoro!"

"Gah!" The other man cried in a shriek. "Lock! T-tha-that's Pirate Hunter Rororona Zoro!"

"Eeeeeeeh!?" Lock shrieked as Zoro pushed the man to the ground behind him. "P-Pirate- H-H-Hunter?!

"Zoro?" Kimi only questioned innocently just as before. "What's wrong?"

The swordsman only looked to her with his eyes, "Are you hurt?"

"No." She responded softly with a shake in her head.

"Fine then. Consider yourselves lucky…" The green-haired man merely ridiculed while clutching Kimi's wrist and pulling her behind him forcefully as the two passed the men and continued down the road in silence.

"Zoro?"

The man growled. He was completely irritated both by what those men had asked Kimiko and by the comments of the older woman from the store. In his other hand he held a stern grip on his two bottles of sake.

"Can I have my hand back?" Kimi asked sweetly causing the swordsman to blush from her question. He hadn't let go of her for a solid five minutes now of them walking back to the fair at the outskirts of the city. "Yea. Whatever." He grunted not daring to look back at her.

"Are you okay?" She questioned. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Zoro only shook his head. "You did nothing wrong…"

"Oh. They did, didn't they?" She put two-in-two together understanding the man's frustration. "I may not understand the full extent of their question that riddled you up so much…" She admitted with a blush on her cheeks. Not that Zoro could see her, he refused to turn his head to look at the woman due to the large vivid blush on his cheeks as well, "But thanks for stepping in and having my back. I appreciate it."

He only grunted and the two refused to talk to one another until they made their way back at the Scavenger Tent with fifteen minutes to spare. "Oi! Twin-san and Zoro!" Franky waved to the two, "Did you guys get everything? Chopper and I tried to collect our belongings but they said we were wrong."

Nami was silently crying in the corner behind the cyborg with Robin and Chopper there to comfort her. "We lost too…"

"So did we…" Luffy cried just as much as the greedy navigator did. The scientist handed Zoro her object from her pocket. "Well, better see if we won!" She smiled sweetly.

The two of them entered the winner's circle and spread their items on the table. Zoro made sure to hide his extra bottle of Sake from the judges and Kimi, just incase. "We've brought: a bottle of sake, a dictionary, a den den mushi, a napkin, a fortune cookie and a balloon as our prizes…" Kimiko revealed each one with a smile.

The judge gasped at the two with an glare. "That can't be… you… you can't be… the-"

The gasp in his voice caused both contestants to frown in confusion.

"…the winners?"

"CONGRATULATIONS FOLKS! WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! TEAM 34 NICKNAMED BRAINS AND MUSCLE! YOU HAVE COMPLETED OUR 25TH ANNUAL SCAVENGER HUNT!"

The Strawhat pirates cheered for their winning team, and even Kimi and Zoro managed to smile and high-five one another despite their awkward situation with one another earlier.

"THE EIGHT MILLION BELLI IS YOURS!" the announcer handed the winning prize to Kimi and then proceeded in crowning both winners. Despite not wanting the crown on, the ringmaster forced the golden crown on top of Zoro's green head for the picture finishing moment.

"YAHOOOOO!" Luffy and Nami cheered when the group made their way back to the shore and to the Sunny. "Well, this has been the best day of my life!" Nami giggled holding onto the bags of cash.

"Let's buy lots and lots of meat with it!" Luffy declared.

"Baka! We should save the money just incase-" Usopp tried to reason until Nami hit him across the face. "If anyone gives orders about the money, it's me!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Kimiko laughed heartedly until they arrived on the deck of their ship. As soon as they did, like usual the crew parted ways. Except for the scientist.

As everyone separated, Kimi stayed on the deck and positioned herself onto the swing of the lone tree sprouting from the grassy deck. It was probably her favorite spot in the entire Sunny, well despite her own room of course.

The sun was beginning to set, and with Sanji being sick for the day, this meant that the crew was going to have to find their own food for the night. Kimi wasn't hungry, however, and instead found herself reminiscing of the words those men had said to her earlier in the middle of the market place.

Even now, she still couldn't understand what they meant by 'Drapes matching the Carpet.' But it had obviously pissed off Zoro to a point where she thought he would slice the both of their heads off.

Before long, the swinging motion calmed the rambled thought scientist into a trance. By the time the crew had already headed off to bed, she was just realizing that it was nighttime and she would need to start to head off to her room to get ready for sleep.

But still, that drapes and carpet comment bugged Kimiko to no end. With a determined growl, she headed off to Zoro's workout room. "Hello?" She knocked on the trap floor door and pushed it aside, "Zoro?"

Her head poked from out of the floorboards and she smiled when her focused connected with swordsman. "What? Shouldn't you be in bed? It's not your watch tonight."

Kimi only giggled, "I know, but I'm not tired after our win!" She took a seat next to him. His scent of iron and sweat rolled off of his body as if he had just finished working out. That manly aroma seemed to calm Kimiko's nerves surprisingly. "I came here to ask you something…"

"What's that?"

"Could you please tell me what those two men meant by drapes and carpet?"

The comment forced a bright a vivid blush onto the cheeks of the swordsman. Lucky for him, the darkness of the night sky faded Kimi's view of his embarrassment.

"No."

His answer caused the scientist to frown. "But-"

"But no." He stood up standing from his position. "The only way I'll tell you…" He smirked devising a scheme in his mischievous head, "Is if you drink this extra bottle of Sake with me."

It was Kimi's turn to glare. "I thought I said to only buy one bottle, Zoro!"

"Heh, I couldn't help myself." He uncorked the bottle and poured to hefty glasses. "Whada say?" He handed the woman a glass with a smirk. He'd seen her get drunk off of one glass of wine. No way would she outlast him on an entire bottle of Sake.

With a sigh, the woman brushed a stray hair of her bangs from out of her face. "Fine… I guess…"

* * *

><p><strong>Tehehe, Zoro and Kimi getting drunk... REVIEW!<strong>


	27. Strawhat Adventures Pt 2

**Hey everyone, I wanted to continue my non-cannon chapter since you all seemed to like it a lot! This one is a bit on the short side, I'm sorry, but the next chapter will continue with the cannon of Kimi and the others in Thriller Bark. Promises! **

**Also, due to receiving my 100th review by VenVen, I've asked her for the idea of another short non-cannon story for the end of this chapter. She requested Zoro and Kimi's life in the distant future...so I hope VenVen and everyone likes it! (Who knows if it'll ever happen or not? Eh?) Special thanks to all the reviewers from the last chapter, Guest-Red, Totong, Fanboy316, DinoZilla, VenVen and the 3 Guests!**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>Taking another sip from her glass, Kimiko looked over at the swordsman drinking straight from the bottle. He was already on his third bottle; meanwhile she had just started on her second cup of their shared sake. "How do you drink so much?" She giggled astounded by his pace. "I mean… I know I'm not the world's best drinker but still…"<p>

Zoro proudly smiled, "This stuff goes down like water. When you're short on money, shitty sake is the only thing people will offer you..."

"Did you get lost?" Kimi smirked back at his story. The words caused a bright blush on the man's face. "I did not!" He demanded which, in turn, caused the scientist to giggle once again. "I was just trying to find bounties to collect."

"So, you _were_ really a pirate bounty hunter before a pirate?" She questioned. When she first joined the crew, Kimi had sought out to discover the pasts of her crewmates. Out of all of them, Zoro was the most reluctant to reveal any sort of background information to the woman.

"Yea. You didn't know that?"

She shook her head.

"Well," Zoro grinned evilly while placing his empty bottle to the side. "If you get me another bottle of sake from the kitchen I'll tell ya all about it."

"Zoro, aren't you supposed to be on watch duty tonight? You can't get drunk…"

He simply rolled her eyes at her as if saying, _really?_

"Fine." She groaned and cloned herself to retrieve another large bottle. Once the clone returned, the swordsman opened the bottle and poured a little bit into Kimiko's glass before taking full custody of the drink.

"Well… yea. I guess I was a bounty hunter before I met Luffy." He nodded. The two were close to one another sitting alongside the seat of the lookout/workout room. "It wasn't something I was really into… just did it to get money for food and drink."

Kimi nodded with a smile taking another sip. "So how did you meet Luffy then?"

Zoro was quiet for a minute trying to reminiscent on the right words to say. The silence almost became uncomfortable for the scientist, but she took another sip to not allow the awkward situation to reveal itself on her cheeks. "I was in a town. Some marine was being a jerk to a little girl and her mother. In replacement for their execution I promised the marine I could survive 30 days tied to a pole."

His words caused the scientist to blink her bright blue eyes in shock. Yes, Zoro had a sense of honor despite his idiotic ideas from time to time… but she would have never imagined he would go to such lengths to protect someone he didn't even know. "Why did you do that?" She questioned.

"Because… they did nothing wrong."

Kimi avoided his stern gaze and looked down to her glass instead. Swirling the golden liquid in the cup Kimi nodded in understanding.

"Anyways, Luffy found me tied up to a pole. Asked me to join. Didn't think he was being serious since he didn't even have a ship or crew."

"That sounds about right... For Luffy, anyways." She rolled her eyes. "Wait so you were the first one to join him, so technically you're the first mate?" She smiled.

"Technically, but Luffy nor I like the term. We are all nakama…" Zoro turned his head away from the blue haired woman, taking a large sip from the bottle.

"Yes." She smiled cheerfully. "We all are… I've never had friends before." And suddenly Kimi cursed her spoken thoughts inside of her mind. She didn't exactly want to reveal her own past to the crew – or at least not all of it.

"Wha? Never?" The swordsman raised an eyebrow. Kimi scratched the back of her head while avoiding his look. "Uh… well no. I was always in a laboratory all day with my father and sister. I didn't have time to even leave the house, much less play with friends."

"That's sad." Zoro muttered. "Sorry…"

"Well it's okay now. I have all of you guys." She smiled to the floor while staring mindlessly at her shoes. "What about you?" She turned to face him. "What about your friends before all of this? … being pirates, I mean."

Once again, Zoro fell silent while reminiscing on the appropriate words to reveal. "I've made friends in the past, but they are just memories now."

Sensing his angst for the subject, Kimi frowned after taking a sip of her lukewarm drink. The burn of the alcohol forced her lips into a frown and forcing her to wipe away the droplets of liquid beading around her lips. "Is that good or bad?"

Her questing instigated Zoro to laugh before taking another sip. "Both, I guess… it's never a good thing to have your childhood friend pass away so suddenly, but without that even occurring then I wouldn't have my dream."

"Your dream?" Kimi repeated looking to him. "Of being the world's best swordsman?" He nodded which caused the woman to nod. "I guess that is good and bad… you wouldn't be here if it never happened."

"Nope." He confidently replied. "Kuina wouldn't have wanted her or my dream to be unfulfilled…"

Kimi raised an eyebrow at the green-haired man, "Kuina? Isn't that a girl's name?"

"Yea." The swordsman grunted while placing his bottle of sake firmly against the wooden seat. "Got a problem with it?" Kimiko only shook her head to calm the bottled-up of emotions within the man. "No… I just figured you would have had male friends…"

"Yea well- ugh. Whatever…"

Kimi felt bad revealing the truth behind the gender of his friend, but deep down something sparked a lighbulb in her head. "Kuina…" She repeated and then took another sip of the liquid that burned as it slid down her throat. "…that's such a pretty name…" A look of astonishment flushed across Zoro's face. He wasn't expecting such a comment, since he'd never revealed Kuina or his past to the rest of the crew before. With somewhat flushed cheeks, Zoro pointed a finger. "You'd better not tell anyone about this, got it?!"

"I wont. I promise… I bet she was a great swordsman since her dream was the same as yours. Correct?" Kimi assumed the girl must have had something to do with his training. He nodded, "She was… better than me."

"Huh? Seriously?! I can't even imagine!"

Zoro laughed, "Ha, well I'm not the greatest quite yet. After all, Mihawk is still out there."

"Oh, do you mean Dracule Hawk-eye Mihawk?" Kimi suggested after finishing the rest of her sake in her cup. Zoro noded and then raised an eyebrow at the woman, "Yea you don't remember- oh wait… you weren't a part of the crew yet."

"No, I guess I wasn't." Kimiko adjusted herself comfortably which, un planned, made her shoulder connect with Zoro's. The two looked at each other quickly, blushed, and then scooted away. Hesitantly, Kimi chuckled, "What do you mean by, I wasn't a part of the crew yet?"

Placing his empty bottle to the floor, Zoro sighed. "It was only Nami, Sanji, and Usopp at the time. We came across Mihawk and I challenged him." His story caused the blue-haired woman to gulp. "But it doesn't matter. The next time we meet, I will defeat him."

It was finally Kimi's chance to speak up about his large scar that ran across his chest. From examining it during his workout sessions, she assumed that a sword must have caused it since it was a continuous line without ridges. "Zoro, if you don't mind telling me… that is, if you don't mind me asking, really… how did you receive the scar across your torso?"

It was almost a look of amusement, or maybe confusion, that excited Zoro's face at her statement. Touching his left peck, the man sighed. "This was caused by that confrontation," He paused while allowing Kimiko to gasp on cue. "A scar on the back is a swordsman's shame… Mihawk defeated me and I allowed him to retaliate by this scar."

His words fluttered through the air of the room, allowing Kimiko to absorb the intensity of his pride... however, he wasn't expecting a light punch from the woman's balled fist against his shoulder. "You are so reckless, Zoro! Why would you allow him to give you a life threating attack like that?! Why is it that you are so willing to chop up your body?! Just like wanting to chop off your hand in Enis Lobby!"

"I tried to cut off my ankles too." The swordsman admitted.

The blue-haired woman dropped her head with a large sweatdrop. "How many times must I tell you, you are not a doll Zoro! Wait, you tried to cut off your feet?"

"Yea."

"Ugh." Kimi slapped her forehead in the palm of her gloved hand. The remark caused a defensive retaliation from the swordsman, "What and you don't have any scars on your body?"

His comment caused Kimiko to stiffen and freeze instantly.

Catching her hesitation, Zoro raised an eyebrow allowing her a moment of silence to respond. When she didn't, he placed a welcoming hand on her shoulder. "Never mind… I don't really care." His hand retailed slowly into his side while his head turned to stare at the abyss of the room.

Once again, the two were stuck in the awkward silence, both looking away from another, both not having a drink to sip on, and both not knowing what more to say to the other.

A meek yawn sounded from the scientist's lips causing Zoro to turn his head to look at her. Almost instinctively Kimiko turned her head as well. "Zoro," She whispered with her innocent and sweet smile, "I'm glad to know more about you… but for right now, I think I should head to bed." He nodded while letting go of her shoulder to allow the small-framed woman to stand.

Despite not being as curvy-figured as the other two women on the ship, Kimiko was in no means at the bottom of the scale. Hiding her body, unless pressured by Nami, left much curiosity to what she was hiding. It was only during certain occurrences, Enis Lobby being most recent, in which she flaunted her thin figure. Growing up as a scientist all these years must have caused her frame, he supposed.

Before exiting the room, Kimiko turned to the tired swordsman, "Goodnight Zoro." She smiled.

"Night."

* * *

><p>A thunderous boom forced Kimiko to toss and turn in her sleep. "Huh?" She gasped identifying the noise of cannonball fire instead of the weather. But that's what happens when an infamous pirate stops sailing the ocean with her crew after defying the world on their adventure...<p>

With a turn of her head, she expected to see her husband lying peacefully in his deep sleep as always, but frowned as the sight. Placing a hand over where he usually slept, she noticed it was cold indicating that he must have been out of the bed for quite some time now.

By this point, all of the covers on the bed were twisted and turned about from her constant thrashing in her sleep. But of course, tonight was the one night she had gotten the most hours of sleep in about two weeks, that number being 5 and a half. With a groan she rolled out of bed carefully and pulled on her silk deep blue night-robe.

While shuffling her aching and swollen feet throughout her new home, Kimiko frowned not seeing her husband in the living room or kitchen. Placing her palm against her forehead, she came to the realization that he still might have gotten lost in their new home. After all, he had gotten lost more than a reasonable amount in their old home, the Thousand Sunny.

"He must be in the dojo…" She assumed placing her fist into her palm and quickly set off for the room. Before peaking her head into the opened room, she noticed a shadowed figure sitting motionlessly outside on the covered porch. "He's out there?" She tilted her head and reached for the door. Pushing the glass aside, Kimiko took in the pungent smell of the fresh rain pouring from the sky.

Neither she, nor her husband said anything, despite the other knowing of their presence. Shuffling softly, Kimi walked behind her meditating spouse. "Why aren't you sleeping with me?" She whispered before kneeling.

He didn't respond. But only grunted as she pressed her swollen breasts against his back.

"You know you won't get that much sleep soon… and I know how much you like your sleep. Well, everyone does really…" She leaned her chin in the crevasse of his strong, thick neck.

"I just… couldn't sleep… too much on my mind." He placed his strong calloused hands on her shoulder while gently rubbing the soft blue silk fabric on top of her skin.

"Why can't you sleep? You do realize I'm currently the one with the sleeping problem?" Kimiko kissed his cheek. "Luckily the morning sickness is gone, finally."

Zoro smiled. Twisting his back, his hands scooped around her bulging belly. Making contact with her thin waist, he squeezed her tenderly and placed his pregnant wife gently in his lap. Her legs draped pass his hips towards the house. "Luckily… I don't know how much more guilt I could take of that." He kissed her forehead.

"Guilt?" Kimiko sneered and then kissed the bottom of his scarred eye and then traveled her lips up to his forehead where the scar stopped. It was her favorite affectionate urge she loved to do to him. "Why are you feeling guilty, Zoro?"

He sighed while allowing his head to lean backwards. "I guess I just… I don't know… it's stupid."

"Nothing is ever stupid." Kimi smiled and then curved her neck so she could kiss his exposed shoulder not being shrouded by clothing. "Well, I take that back… Luffy, Brook, and Usopp are an exception to that saying. Sometimes Sanji too."

Zoro growled. "Especially Mr. Nosebleed!" His retaliation only caused the usual giggle from his wife. "I know… I know. But at least Sanji was happy about the baby."

"Happy? Kimiko, he threw all of the frying pans at me!"

"Well he gave me a hug." The blue-haired woman smiled innocently as always. "You should try to go back to sleep, Zoro. Besides… only three more months of peacefulness before Kuina comes… you are going to want all the sleep you can get."

Zoro chuckled. "I know… but there's just something about this rain…It allows me to release everything off my chest."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, "I've been thinking. A lot… considering I'm going to be a father soon, I figured I'd better meditate about my past and get my regret to subside."

"Regret?" Kimi hugged her husband's shoulders tighter. Her belly, although somewhat small for being six months pregnant, separated the two just enough for them to only make eye contact. "What kind of regret?"

The swordsman sighed. "I might have done a lot of bad things in the past… I've killed a lot of people… caused a lot of damage to my body… and I haven't been able to protect you to the full extent…"

His wife rolled her eyes before kissing his tender lips. "Is that all?" She whispered huskily. "We were pirates… and you never have to regret me… I was the one that was wrong. By not including you all about my past was completely my fault."

At that moment, Zoro's hands had ventured through the bottom of his wife's pajama top and traveled up the length of her back. His fingertips outlined the large scar across it. "I know… but I still regret it." He muttered.

Not one to take this over-apologized story, Kimi threw her lips back onto Zoro's while taking every scent, every taste, every gasp in. She was lucky; she never felt as if her relationship had ever gotten worn-out. Every time they kissed, it felt as if it was the first time. The two of them grunted for control but like always the swordsman proved his dominance.

"Kimiko…" He gasped pulling back suddenly.

"Yes?" His wife kissed his cheek quickly and then replaced her lips with her hand.

"At least, with you, I know for a fact, I've at least done two things right. I've married the most brilliant and beautiful woman in the world, and now I'm about to have another brilliant and beautiful woman come into my life."

Tomoko Kimiko puffed before staring back into his eyes. "Zoro… I love you…"

"And I love you too…"

Absoultely craving his taste, Kimi leaned in for a kiss while he did the exact same. But like any good movie ruiner moment, baby Kuina kicked forcing Kimi to wheeze at the sudden pain and turn her head.

"Oi, what's wrong?!"

Kuina continued to kick. Wanting her husband to experience this moment, Kimi grasped his wrist into her palm and placed it on the spot. "Do you feel her?"

"I do!" He smiled. The look on his once tired face turned into utter happiness. "Ow!" Kimi groaned after an intense bowel movement. "Well I think this is time for me to go now…" She nodded while dismounting off of Zoro's hips. "Please babe, try to get some sleep today… Because I promise Kuina is going to want your undivided attention in three months. Whether you are asleep or not!"


	28. A Fair Trade

**Whew! This chapter made me sweat! I was editing the crap out of this thing so I'm hoping it all makes sense and flows with what originally happens in the anime. Crossing my fingers that I did well (Please tell me if I ****didn't!) and that you all like it! **

**Glad to hear how much you guys liked the special mini-type-story-thing. I loved writing it and I hope to make another one day. The Movie stuff is coming, it's just taking me a bit longer than expected... but that was to be expected...ha. Anyways, I want to try a new approach to my reviews from now on, hope you like!**

**Taiski: I thought the same thing! (And I wrote it!) Now the fun is _how_ exactly _did_ they get together? Muahaha**

**ZabuzasGirl: Hope this is a good update for ya!**

**Totong: Kimi made sure she didn't get drunk but she really wanted to know more about the secretive swordsman. And yes, he is definitely opening up more to her... if only he wasn't so stubborn he could have told her the truth about their relation to each other. Ah, oh well!**

**DinoZilla: Yes, their heart-to-heart was needed and I think he's just too stubborn and weary to open himself up to her completely. Maybe one day he eventually will? But for now... time will only tell! I didn't want to have them retire...but let's just say they found one piece and then got married? Idk... I wish Oda would hurry it up with this new arc and get to it! And yes Tashigi would probably be mad they retired and got married! hahaha. (I dont really like her.) Also, when you make your story be sure to comment on with your account and not the guest account! I'll read it for sure!**

**Fanboy316: Ha, no hangover scene... Kimi got drunk when she first joined and didn't like it. You'll have to see if Zoro will make a move on Kimi... or if its the other way around, maybe?! Hahaha. Only _I_ know!**

* * *

><p>"Damnit! We were too late!" Franky cried. How much more foolish could they have been throughout the course of this battle?! They should have focused, Kimi cursed in her head. They should have paid more attention to the underlying tactics Moria was planning out instead of using all their energy to defeat the zombies.<p>

Moria planned the battle to be a struggle of time for the Strawhats. Their battle with Oz got them nowhere fast, and even when Moria gathered the shadows of every zombie on the island wasted more time.

With the sun's full presence in effect, Kimi and the other Strawhat's gasped watching their friends' bodies begin to disintegrate.

"I thought we beat Moria!?" Nami screeched as she stood in horror watching Zoro, Sanji, Luffy and Robin's heads disappear.

"Luffyyyyyy!" Chopper and Usopp cried to their captain. "Sanji! Zoro! Robinnnnnnnn!"

Then suddenly, the heads and torso's of the vanishing crewmembers returned.

"**WHAAAAAA**?" The strawhats stared in shock.

Zoro held a fist outwards while chuckling. "Well… I seem to be alive!" He made a closed fist while examining the muscles in his hand.

"Oh, for a second I thought I was going to heaven." Robin smiled with her hand on her cheek. As she smiled in relief, Sanji managed to run behind her with a heart in his eye, "If I'm with Robin-chan, I'll _gladly_ go to heaven!"

"Don't just laugh this off! We thought you guys were dead for sure!" Usopp cried to the three since Luffy was still passed out on the ground. "You hearing me!"

Chopper and Nami fell to the broken ground, "That was scary~!"

"My goodness, you almost scared me to _death!_" Brook sighed. "Oh right, I'm already dead though!"

Birds seemed to sing in the next moment as Lola's pirate crew cheered over the fact their three-year departure with their shadows had now returned. They were a colorful bunch to say in the least, especially Lola, their pirate captain.

"Well, it looks like everyone over there is alright, too." Chopper sighed after examining Luffy's resting body. If it hadn't been for their rubber Captain defeating Moria in a final blow, no one would have had their shadows returned.

"Anyways…" Usopp sighed as he flopped onto the ground. "I'm just glad everyone is safe."

Franky nodded while sitting as well. "I'm finally feeling drowsy and beat. Anyone got some cola?" He placed his large arms on the back of his head while closing his eyes.

"Relax." Zoro declared while placing his swords into the crease in his arm as he sat on a large piece of broken castle wall. "I'm sure an exciting incident like our shadows being separated from our bodies will never happen again."

Kimi nodded while placing her glasses into her back pocket of her shorts. "Everything that's happened since we arrived on this island was all an illusion shown to us by Moria." Her dark blue over-shirt had been ripped to shreds during the battle with Oz. She felt extremely uncomfortable exposing her firmly shaped stomach to the others in the dingy and blood stained white crop-top.

As much as she hated being noticed in her exposed skin, Kimiko was beyond the point of exhaustion to care about her insecurities. "Now that he's been beaten, there's nothing left on this island." She smiled with a proud sigh. The scientist placed a hand on her forehead while looking out towards the graveyard. With all the lifeless zombies lying about the area, it seemed as if they had just woken up from a bad nightmare.

"Anyways…" Usopp spoke in the pit of the silence in the group. "Don't you think Luffy's new fighting styles are a bit too harmful to his body?"

The pirates focused their attention on their sleeping captain. Despite the serene face he had, they knew the damage to his body from their intense battle. The fact Luffy was still alive was mind blowing!

"I'm worried," Usopp continued. "If there's gonna be stronger enemies than this from now on, he's gonna have to keep using these techniques. If we don't pull ourselves together soon…"

Everyone in the crew nodded. It was just like Kimiko had told herself after her fight with her zombie. She had been lucky enough to survive the past couple of battles alongside the Strawhat pirates but sooner than later, she feared, there wouldn't be a lucky break with the rate her fighting ability.

A set of steady footsteps forced the crew to lose focus at Luffy and look to the intruders. "I think we're long due for some thanks!" Lola gave a warm-hearted smile at the broken-spirited crew.

"We're truly grateful to the lot of ya!" A man with a large brown afro cheered. "Sorry for getting' ya involved in our troubles!"

"You guys really _were _our one and only hope against those guys!" Another male added. "Thank you so much from every member of the Thriller Bark victims." The entire group of men and Lola bowed thanking them once again.

"We can offer you Moria's treasure as our thanks!" Lola stood up abruptly with a cunning smile on her oversized red lips, "More importantly than that, one of you may marry me!"

There was an abrupt pause in the group. Simultaneously, all of the men growled, "**NO!**"

"All at once, she was shot down by five people! That marks the 4449th rejection!" Her men of her crew joked. It almost seemed cruel that the oversized woman had been rejected so many times, but from the looks of her crew she must have been used to it.

Zoro sighed while scratching the back of his head, "Even if you thank us, Luffy already told you…"

"Hey, you over there!" Lola screeched.

"We only fight on our own terms." He continued to scratch.

"Don't you want to marry me?!"

Kimi's eyes widened for a split second after discovering Lola was continuously persistent in attempting to find a husband. Kimi wasn't jealous…she decided in her head, but rather upset that Lola want to take her friend away… okay, maybe she was a little jealous.

Zoro didn't respond to the woman and only continued his thought, "You guys were just rescued as a bonus."

Suddenly, Nami smacked the cheek of the green-haired man. Her force threw him into a piece of the broken wall on the other side of the battlefield. "Just what the hell are you saying!?"

"Nami can be scary…" Chopper clung to the scientist ankle. Kimi looked down with a slight giggle while picking him up into her arms. "Yea. Just don't ever tell her that." She whispered.

"Yea, we're gonna give every piece o' Moria's treasure to you guys!" One of the men smiled.

This caused the navigator to have Belli symbols in her pupils. "Well now, if you insist –" She unexpectedly gasped in absolute horror. "That's right! I forgot something!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Usopp questioned.

"That guy! He was here earlier..."

It was Robin's turn to question. "What's wrong?"

"It's really serious!" The navigator responded back. However, instead of her answer, both crews received their answer just by looking above at the muffled voice towards the top of the only remaining portion of the castle._"I see…So my greatest fear has become reality?"_

Looking up at the figure, Kimi caught a glance at a large bloated man with skinny limbs protruding out of his body. His legs were crossed and he held a den den mushi in his hands. The small device provided the other voice. "So it would seem." He replied back.

"Who's that?" Usopp asked with a shudder.

The heaviness in Nami's breathing was starting to make the others worry. "He's here…!" She gasped standing with her fists held down by her waist. "Guys, listen to me… during the fight with Moria and the others I forgot to tell you! On this island… there's another, Shichibukai!"

Nami's words caused the entire crew to panic but not nearly as much as much as Kimiko did. She wouldn't allow herself to let the others see her fear, the less the crew knew about her and the Shichibukai, the better.

"What'd you just say?!" Usopp screeched. "Th-There's just no _way…_!"

Chopper turned his head at the sudden shaking Kimi had while holding onto his small body. "Why are there two Shichibukai on the same island!?"

_"Just when we finally chose a successor for Crocodile, it's not good to have lost another Shichibukai. Is he still breathing, even in the faintest?"_ The den den mushi questioned. The man holding the object offered a small, "Who knows?"

_"As long as he is still alive, we will wait for his recovery and hope for him to remain in his position as Shichibukai. The dignity of the Shichibukai would be lost if we were to lose them this easily, especially after we had to replace Crocodile with his successor two years ago… this news must not reach anyone else."_

"It's him…" Lola shuddered. "The pirate called 'The Tyrant'… Bartholomew Kuma!"

The name sent buzzing signals to Kimiko's ears. "No…" She gasped attempting not to fall from her shaky legs at the recognition of the man. _"Not him… anything but… him…"_

Chopper seemed to notice the scientist's petrified stance around his body. But the voice of the den den mushi continued. "_Do you comprehend what I'm saying? We cannot afford to let anyone else know of Moria's defeat. This is a direct order from the World Government. Obliterate the Strawhat crew and everyone on that island!"_

"…Too easy." Kuma stated calmly while rising to a standing position.

The men of Lola's pirates, and Usopp, cried over the word 'obliterate,' realizing the World Government meant for Kuma to kill them. With a small wiggle, Chopper escaped Kimi's shaking arms. "We just barely beat Moria! This is terrible…"

The sound of light footsteps rang in the dead silence. "You guys stand back." Zoro instructed with one of his swords drawn. "I'll do this."

The words of the swordsman only proceeded to cause more fear in the mind of the scientist. Not only was Zoro and the others completely drained from their fight with Oz and Moria, but to fight Kuma – someone none of the Strawhat's truly knew… they couldn't. They wouldn't survive… no one…

"Be careful!" Nami instructed. "I saw him make a person disappear with just the touch of his hand! And he can change locations in an instant!"

Kimi shuddered under her breath, "You don't even know the half of it."

The only sort of movement from 'The Tyrant' was his removal of his thick brown gloves. In keeping with his secretiveness, he spoke no words and only offered to stare at the crew. Then instantly, he appeared down on their level.

"So, he _can_ really change locations in a second." Franky murmured for the crew to hear. The reaction of Kuma forced the scientist to take a couple of steps backwards. She didn't want to see him… Moria was enough Shichibukai for one day, but two!?

And especially a Shichibukai she personally '_knew'_.

Lola's crew raised their weapons as Kuma stood silently in the middle of them all. With a single motion of his hand, Kuma caused an explosion to the men in the direct line of the blast.

Without another thought Kuma disappeared. His disappearance shocked everyone, even Kimi. The air was still… she could hear every slight breath or moan someone would make. The chilling atmosphere of the engaged battlefield kept everyone on their toes despite being completely exhausted.

Then… suddenly… Kimiko felt a small breeze of wind from behind her back.

"Multiplying Beauty, Tomoko Kimiko…" Kuma's voice almost seemed to whisper causing tears to bubble at the base of her sky blue eyes. "Shall I start with you?"

She took a sharp breath in…and then wheezed her gasp out.

In.

Out…

As if she was a simpleton to the Shichibukai, his question inferred the fact he had no explanation to who she was. With a shaky turn of her head to the large man, Kimi trembled aggressively. He knew _exactly _who she was, he was only pretending… for _her_ sake.

Although she didn't have her glasses on, the details of Kuma's figure were promenade in her diminished vision. Everything about him was just as she was ever told… yes, this was the first time meeting him in person. But from everything Kimi was told by the World Government three years ago, Bartholomew Kuma hadn't changed.

**"Just get the hell back!" **

A voice demanded to the side forcing both Kimi and Kuma to look. There, standing with his fists by his sides was none other than the green-haired swordsman. "If it's a fight he wants. Then I won't back down." He grimly spoke with the shadows of his forehead covering his eyes. The intensity of his figure only added to the seriousness of the moment.

He was defending Kimiko. _He_ was not allowing anyone to hurt _her._

"Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro…" Kuma turned his full body towards the lone swordsman. "You lot are pretty famous. It would seem that on Strawhat Luffy's ship, there are quite a few skilled subordinates. And you all have caused quite a bit of trouble." His words didn't even affect the skilled swordsman. Instead, Zoro only held his two blades in his experienced hands glaring at his enemy.

"Oi, oi Zoro! Don't be so damn reckless! Aren't your bones about to fall apart?!" Usopp tried to reason with the over protective swordsman, but the words floated through one ear and out the other.

"When the world shoves you around, you've just gotta stand up and shove back. It isn't like you can do anything just by giving excuses." He smirked looking straightforward at Kuma. "If I die, then I am just a man who can only make it this far!"

His words struck Kimi with fear. She didn't want him to fight Kuma, no matter if this was an action of pride or admiration. Kuma had chosen Kimi first as the one to pick off in the Strawhat crew. He obviously had a reason as to why.

Before the woman could protest, both Zoro and Kuma disappeared in their attack. The swordsman landed about a couple of feet away from his original position after slicing through the air.

However,

His attack missed the Shichibukai completely.

Instead, Kuma reappeared right above Zoro with his hand right above his back. "No!" Kimi gasped in a terror. Cloning him quickly, she traded places with the real Zoro while the clone took the blast of the Shichibukai. Along with saving her friend, Kimi cursed at the attack of her clone which allowed her mental capacity to be harmed.

"Oi!" Zoro snapped at the woman as she intruded in his fight. She expected that response from the buff swordsman, but she hadn't expected the cry for her safety.

Looking above her figure, Kuma appeared. She only had a split-second to jump to the floor before his hand forced a blast through the broken ground. "Gah!" She called out landing on her stomach.

"KIMIKO!" The Strawhat's worried for their female friend. "What's with that guy's ability?! What are those marks he left on the rubble?!" Nami screeched.

Zoro attempted to strike an attack at Kuma, but it was deflected with the wave of his hand. "Oi! Cook!" He called out in a panic.

Already knowing what exactly the swordsman was inferring, Sanji ran towards the battle towards the woman still recuperating on the ground. Clutching Kimi around her torso and pulling her into his grasp triggered an irritated moan from the woman, "Let go!" She tried to wiggle from out of his grasp, but in her weakened state Kimi failed miserably.

Trying to draw attention towards himself, Zoro shouted to Kuma. "So that's your ability?"

"The power to deflect everything." The Shichibukai nodded. "I ate the Nikyu-Nikyu no Mi… I am a paw-man." He explained while showing his paw-like hands to the group.

"Whaaaa? P-Paw?" Sanji gasped still holding onto Kimi's wiggling form.

The other Strawhat's seemed to ridicule the ability of Kuma. Franky even stated, "I don't know if you're a Shichibukai or a Weeniebukai…maybe he's not that tough after all-"

With his words caused Kuma to blast the cyborg to a diminishing blow. The force caused the impenetrable cyborg into the remaining wall of the castle.

"Cyborg Franky… is that all there is to your strength?" Kuma mocked back. Nami gasped after seeing their indestructible robot fall, "What kind of move was that?"

"Perhaps," Robin offered, "He is possible of deflecting even the air itself? A normal cannon wouldn't affect Franky at all."

"I call it the Pad Cannon. By repelling air at the speed of light, I make a shock wave that can pierce through anything." Kuma explained before digging his heels into the ground. With the same technique he used on Franky, Kuma began to repel the air with his Pad Cannon but at an intense rate that it almost seemed like he was sumo-throwing punches.

Sanji forced Kimi towards the others, despite her forceful attempt to escape his grasp. It wasn't until Usopp screamed for Zoro did both Kimi and Sanji loose their focus of retreat. "Oi, that baka!" He snarled.

Dropping her from his arms, Sanji threw himself towards Kuma with a powerful kick to distract the Shichibukai from hurting the swordsman anymore. The release of her containment caused Kimiko to look at the two men now fighting against the World Government pawn.

"Bastard! Don't but in!" Zoro yelled out.

But with the fall of the cook after striking the man's face caused the Strawhat crew to panic. "Sanji!" Kimiko called out running towards him below 'The Tyrant' standing tall from the attack.

"Black Leg Sanji… you have to be him." Kuma muttered.

While placing Sanji into a sitting position, Kimi heard the blonde cook grumble, "Is his face made from steel?" Despite every word through her mind, Kimiko refused to reveal the truth about the Shichibukai.

Usopp screamed for a fire attack, which in turn caused Kuma to look at the blast nonchalantly. "The King of Snipers…? What a ridiculous name…" Raising his hand to the fire, the attack reversed its position back to the crew.

This fight was literally going nowhere fast. With Kimi in-between both Zoro and Sanji, facing the Shichibukai, she came up with the quickest solution she could think of:

Sacrificing herself to the World Government in exchange for her nakama's freedom.

How exactly _she_ going to do this…she wasn't sure.

"As I figured," Kuma spoke, "Getting rid of you all in your injured states isn't fair at all…the government ordered me to completely obliterate you all, but…"

Kuma didn't finish his statement… instead he only placed his hands into the air. The shape of a large white paw print appeared and seemed to grow smaller with pulsating compression of his hands.

"Wha?" Kimi gasped looking towards the figure. "Air? Is he making a giant air bubble with his paws...?"

Sanji groaned. "It keeps getting smaller and smaller."

This statement caused the female scientist to clutch onto the top of Sanji's suit jacket "Sanji! Zoro…" She huskily commented. The sternness in her voice enforced the two to heed her warning. "With that much compression of air…h-he's made a bomb in the palms of his hands…!"

As soon as the paw of dense air was completed, Kuma turned to the group. "I will spare your lives…If, in exchange, you give me the head of Strawhat Luffy! If I return with his head, the government will not complain."

His words caused a panic among both Lola's and Luffy's crew. The man in question, slept peacefully without a known reason why the entire crew was in a panic.

"You're asking us to betray our comrade?" Usopp growled.

Everyone. The Strawhats, Lola's gang… they all stared at Kuma with a glare. He ignored it and only continued his comment. "Come, bring Strawhat to me…"

**"WE REFUSE!"**

Every single person screamed the words towards the Shichibukai.

"That's a shame…" Kuma released the shimmering paw-bomb into the air. _**"Ursus Shock!"**_

* * *

><p>She wasn't entirely sure what exactly happened… all Tomoko Kimiko knew was that the entire island of Thriller Bark shuddered after the bomb exploded.<p>

Luckily, Kimi had been quick enough to clone herself and hide her real body inside of the castle. She was quick… she realized, maybe too quick to not include cloning her friends and saving them from the bomb as well.

The entire world seemed to fade into a silent oblivion after the blast exploded through the area. Turning her head carefully from out of the wall, she noticed the bodies of the pirates remained motionless as Kuma took a few strides towards the rubber captain. Now, being the only one remaining from the blast, Kimi had to think on her toes in order to save everyone from the dangerous Shichibukai.

The only sort of noise echoing through the wasteland was the sound of the howling wind. She wasn't even sure if her friends were still alive since she could not hear their distinctive breathing habits. "Please… please be alive you guys…" She whispered to herself.

The booming footsteps of Kuma forced the scientist into a quick thinking-mode/plan-of-action state of mind.

The only sort of reasonable solution was to give herself up to Kuma as Luffy's replacement… the real question was _how exactly_ would she convince Kuma for her life over the captains.

She only had one shot at her plan; if it went wrong she would be totally screwed.

As Kuma bent down to reach out for Luffy, he suddenly was pulled onto the ground by an unknown force. With a quick glance to the side, he noticed multiple clones of the blue-haired girl all over him. "Which is the real one?" He asked aloud and started to swipe them with his paw paw ability. As the clones disappeared more and more reappeared in place while keeping him down.

He gave up for the moment as he realized the real girl was walking his way. "Listen to me!" She yelled out.

Kimi only had one shot at this, if she blew it the game was over and her captain would most likely be killed along with herself. "I know you know who I am and you are aware of my family's name." Her eyes narrowed behind her thick glasses lens she had just recently placed back on her face. "I suggest that you listen to me because I know what you are, Kuma. And I know how to dismantle you right now!" She crossed her arms with an army of clones behind her. "Leave the Strawhat Pirates **alone**!"

Kuma nodded without struggling to free his body from her clones hold on him. "Tomoko Kimiko…" His voice was a low whisper. "I know you. Release me and we shall talk."

Kimi pouted, "What do you think I am, senseless like my Captain? There's no way I'll let you go so you can talk!" Her clones tightened their hold on Kuma.

"I will not attack you or your comrades."

The little voice in her head, screamed for Kimi not to release the Shichibukai and yet she went against her better judgment and allowed Kuma to a sitting position freed from the clones.

"Listen to me…" Kimi stated as both she and the rather large man stood to face each other. Despite their immense height difference, the two made sure to keep eye contact.

The Paw Paw Shichibukai nodded slowly. When he opened his mouth to respond once again, his arm was then cut off, literally, by a large slash emerging on his forearm.

A tired Zoro struggled to take a stance right beside Kimiko, "Bastard… What are…" The swordsman heaved looking behind at Kuma whom still stood despite his attack.

Kimi looked back at the damaged Kuma and gasped at the sight of his arm. "He really is a robot!" She thought aloud and then covered her mouth. "I didn't think it was really possible…"

"What?!" Zoro gasped. "So he's a cyborg, just like Franky?!"

"No." Kimi bluntly muttered forcing a huddle of clones to hold down the swordsman. "He's stronger than steel… he's-"

Kuma's right eye started to glow red and he opened his mouth and it looked like he was about to shoot at the two targets. "Wait! Don't mind him, he's just reckless! Listen to me instead!" She begged still hoping her plan would work.

It didn't.

Kuma continued to shoot his laser at the two. Just in the nick of time, Kimi moved her clones to push Zoro out of the way. Which in turn, forced her clones to be caught directly in the blast instead.

The explosion was so powerful it threw Kimiko at least fifteen feet away from where she originally stood. In combination with the pain from her fight with Zombie-Kimi, Oz, and Moria, the mental pain that struck Kimi from Kuma's blast had completely drained her at this point.

"Cyborg… that is what I am, indeed, but…I am far different from Cyborg Franky. I am what they call a 'Pacifista,' a yet incomplete human-weapons project of the World Government." Kuma stated effortlessly despite the destruction.

"P-Pacifista…?" Zoro gasped. In the moment of stillness, he made sure to take a couple of thick heavy breaths. "W-what?" He looked to the scientist that had landed right beside him.

Kimi refused to look anywhere but at the ground as she attempted to catch up to her racing breath. Parting her dry lips, she kept her face shaded by her bangs as she revealed the truth about the Pacifista, "He was created by the Government's genius scientist, Doctor Vegapunk. He has the highest intellect in the world…They say his scientific knowledge has already reached a level that will take the rest of humanity 500 years to reach. He's the one person in this world that even challenged my own father's intellect, not to mention me…"

"So with him being a Pacifista and his ability on top of it… It seems that our hope is already lost…" Zoro grimly spoke through the blood and dirt on his face.

Kimiko nodded to her crewmate with a frown, illuminating the shadow that covered her face. "Our hope has been lost since he took one step on Thriller Bark…"

The blue-haired woman looked up from Zoro towards their enemy. "Sorry…" She whispered unsympathetically as a group of Kimi-Clones held down the swordsman in his position.

Her steps crunched through the bloody and thick debris underneath her boots. "You want a head, right?" The sternness in her voice almost made the scientist cringe. "Then take the head that means the most here…"

Her feet stopped just in front of Kuma. With the howling wind, Kimi waited until it stopped for her to speak once again. "…take mine."

The heaviness of her words caused Kuma's full attention back down at the bloody blue-haired girl standing from the rubble. She swore she could hear Zoro mumbling from the mob of Kimi-Clones holding him down, but she wasn't exactly sure… her voice continued grimly, "I can stop you… I'm a threat to you and the World Government… and they know it. Luffy and the others couldn't wrap a finger around you. Me, on the other hand, you know what I'm capable of."

The air was thick.

"If there is anyone here that the Government shouldn't let live and continue on with the Strawhats, it's me!"

Zoro attempted to scream at the woman for giving herself up so easily. After all their battles and the fight today, why was she willing to sacrifice herself.

"Take me," Kimi separated Kuma from Zoro and her clones holding him still. "My life for Luffy…"

The air got thicker.

"…it's a fair trade." She panted hoping her speech would still convince the man despite Zoro's meddling.

Just then another set of footsteps invaded the silence.

Before Kimi could protest, a head with matted blonde hair weakly limped in front of Kimiko to block her view of the Shichibukai, "There is no way I'm letting you take this precious angel off the face of the Earth. You hear me, big guy!?"

His clothes were torn even more than before due to the bomb detonation earlier. No matter the severity of his distressed state, the masculine cook wouldn't let his pain get in the way of defending a female. Standing protectively in front of the woman despite the shaking in his limbs and chest, Sanji stood. "Kimi," He looked back at her completely serious. "Let _me_ take your place for Luffy." This wasn't a question. This was a demand.

Kimi's eyes widened. "This was not a part of the plan." She muttered.

"I know that the Navy may not consider me a threat as of yet… but soon enough, the one from this crew who will cause the most trouble will be me, Black Leg Sanji!"

The air was impenetrable at this point.

With Sanji's heavy breathing in front, and Zoro's grunting to escape in back, Kimiko was in the middle of a difficult situation at hand. "C-come on…d-d-do it." The cook stuttered. "Instead of them…m-my life…! Take it!"

A gentle breeze of the wind lapped dust and rubble through the messy hair of the scientist. "_This was not part of the plan. Sanji giving his life was NOT a part of the PLAN!"_ She growled while balling her fists so tightly that her nails dug into the thick leather of her gloves.

"Oi…tell everyone. T-to take care…Sorry, but…it looks like you'll need to find yourselves another cook…!"

"**NO**!" Using what left of her energy, Kimi forced her elbow to collide with a pressure point on Sanji's ribcage. The gravity of the world forced the cook to slowly fall to his knees with a grunt.

Just before his blonde head hit the concrete ground Kimi caught him in her weak, bruised and bleeding arms. "I'm so sorry Sanji... I-I, I just have to do this. Trust me…" She whispered while cupping his bruised cheek. Making sure to be gentle, she placed the back of his heavy neck into the dusty ground.

Despite all of the unexpected predicaments occurring in her plan, Kimi stood to face Kuma once more with a deep and confident sigh. The sheer might of fire rampaging in her eyes only proved to the War Lord of her sincerity of her sacrifice.

Kuma stared nonchalantly at the woman. "You are so willing to give up?"

Kimi nodded with her gaze to the floor, "Either way…I'm probably going to die out here, but I won't let them not finish their dreams…"

_"Luffy is going to become the pirate king. _

_Zoro is going to be the world's greatest swordsman in honor of his friend. _

_Nami is going to draw a map of the world. _

_Usopp is going to be a brave warrior of the sea. _

_Sanji is going to find the All Blue. _

_Chopper is going to be a great doctor – although he already is… _

_Robin is going to find all the Poneglyph's and discover the world's history. _

_And Franky is going to sail the end of the world with his dream ship." _

Kimiko… despite wanting to be the world's greatest scientist… would never see her dream accomplished. "It doesn't matter anyways. I can't beat Vegapunk… I have to protect my friends." She frowned ignoring Zoro's grunts and fits to escape her clones.

Kuma then picked up Luffy. "Hey wait!" She thought he was going to hurt him but instead Kuma placed his palm on Luffy and a huge red ball removed from Luffy's body. "What is-?"

"What I have just repelled from his body was his suffering… his stress. This is all the damage he accumulated during his battles with Moria and Oz. If you can survive this then you may live. This is how you will save your friends and die. Take all of Luffy's pain." Kuma stated.

"KIMI!" She heard Zoro scream pass the clones attempting to silence and turn his head away from her position. "I'm sorry…" She muttered to him and then walked over to Kuma.

"Have a little taste of this pain. Maybe you'll think otherwise before taking the entire amount…" Kuma floated a portion of the bubble towards Kimi while the remaining large amount continue to float next to Kuma's side.

Instead of jumping into action right away, Kimi stared at the small bubble of red while taking in as much oxygen as her lungs would allow. Feeling brave, Kimi nodded to herself and allowed the bubble to graciously float into her chest. At first the pain tingled. It started deep in her chest and then quickly spread up her neck and through her limbs. The agony multiplied by 1,000 within a millisecond as if to threaten to burst her body into a thousand pieces.

This was the wickedest pain she had ever sensed in her life and it was only a small portion of the agony Luffy had received! The feeling of being picked apart by vicious needles tore through her skin as thick sticky streams of blood continued to pour from out the abrasions. She screamed as loud as she humanly could with the intent that maybe the pain would diminish. Yet, her screams only seemed to make the agony worse.

Her control on the clones holding down the confined swordsman had ceased. Falling to his knees, Zoro quickly looked to the source of the piercing screams. Just seconds ago when he was trapped, the screams he heard were nothing compared to actually seeing the blood and invisible attacks lash across Kimiko's body. With each passing second, her voice seemed increase but that only correlated to the amount of blood and attacks lashing at her body. Using all his might, Zoro kicked up the dirt from below his boots and ran across the wrecked battlefield to the scientist.

As the last laceration of pain struck Kimi's weak body her knees gave away allowing gravity to take control of her…into something warm and soft, rather than striking the concrete below.

Her senses had obviously kicked into high gear as a state of emergency the body obliged to. Rubbing her cheek against the warm body holding her, she attempted to open her eyes to see her protector.

Her lashes fluttered until a tiny opening of her eye was allowable for her to make sense through the blurry vision. "Zor-…" She slurred incoherently. The green was a dead giveaway.

Zoro tightened his hold on Kimiko. Although her arms swung naturally through the air and her head limply fell out of the curve in his bicep, he was shocked at out comfortable her body looked in his grasp. "You're an idiot." He muttered causing a slight curve on her bloody lips.

With the thin smile still on her lips, Kimi attempted to speak once again… but no matter how many times she attempted to whisper through her lips, the thick amounts of blood flowing down her throat stopped her from doing so.

A slight twitch from the fingers in her left hand struggled to push out of his grasp but no matter how much of her will power she attempted to use, it would not happen. "I- a… ah…"

Her fingers fell, almost seeming to weigh a thousand pounds as they collapsed and rebounded against the air. With one last glimpse, Kimi fluttered her eyes to attempt to see the swordsman but instead her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "Kimi?" His voice was heard as if he seemed to be fifty-feet away. "Kimiko…?" He was fading, no, she was fading. Zoro's voice was gone and instead sounded as a loud gasp for air. It wasn't until Kimi huffed the air out did she realize it was the sound of her breathing…

Taking in another breath, the feeling of her hands and legs was gone. Huffing the breath out, she realized she could no longer feel her torso either. With her last inhale, Kimi tried to absorb the body warmth from the swordsman to at least prove that he was still holding onto her.

But she couldn't feel it… she couldn't feel anything...

* * *

><p><strong>Muahaha, the never ending cliffhangers...<strong>


	29. No-thing… Ha-happened…

**Sooooo, I might have tricked you guys or just plain suck at writing what I really want to happen. Kimi took a small taste of Luffy's Agony and couldn't stand it. She didn't take the entire ****thing! But no worries because this chapter is going to go into detail of what _did_ happen!**

**Taiski: Hope this chapter clears up all of the confusion!**

**CupcakeLoopy: Muahaha, why you ask? Because it not only leaves you on the edge of your seat, but me as well! Plus reviews like this make me smile! Hope this update was fast enough.**

**Totong: Well, you are about to find out my friend! Hope you like the reactions!**

**Fanboy316: Thank you and I hope this new chapter has more of the emotional moments!**

**Little Ai: haaaaaaaaa, no worries! Kimi won't die... yet. ha! Now I completely freaked you out! (She won't die, you kidding me?!) I hope this update is just what you were waiting for!****  
><strong>

**DinoZilla: Who knows when Zoro will confess his feelings to her... hopefully soon? (spoiler alert) but you will have to read to find out!**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>She was out cold.<p>

Not dead, Zoro noted as he felt a slight breath of warm air gasp out from her bloody lips, but closer to death than anyone in the vicinity. "Kimiko…" He held her bridal and snarled up at Kuma. "There's no way you expect me to let her die like this."

Kuma stared at Zoro. "But she has already given her life to save you. If you do not allow her to continue, then her and Strawhat Luffy's lives are at stake. I must keep my honor."

Zoro was shaky with the dead weight of Kimi in his tired arms. He continued to stand there, though, despite the agony that attacked his body. "I won't say it again!"

The words caused the Shichibukai to tilt his head in response.

"I may not be able to dismantle you, like Kimiko can, but…" He looked up at the robot full of determination in his eyes. "But this is the head of the man who will eventually become the world's number one swordsman! Surely that should be enough!"

"Despite your great ambition… you wish to take that woman's place for your Captain's sake… and approach death?"

"If you can't even protect your captain, then your ambition is worthless." Zoro mused out while holding onto Kimi tighter. "LUFFY IS THE MAN THAT WILL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!"

Kuma stood silently as Zoro continued to breath heavily. The sound of the howling wind forced the swordsman to gasp at the sudden change of temperature.

"This is my final request…" the swordsman knelt to the floor while resting Kimiko gently onto the sturdy ground. With a swift motion he pulled out his three swords from his waist and placed them specifically along the side of Kimi.

Kuma nodded with a sigh, "If I were to lay my hand on Strawhat after this, my honor would be at stake. You can trust me… I will keep my promise."

"I'm in your debt." Zoro continued to kneel. At first, he was kneeling to place Kimi down, and then bowed as a sign to respect at the Shichibukai. As he lifted his head to look back up, he caught a glance at Kimi's body. Despite the blood and grime protruding from the scientist face, she still lived up to her bounty name… Multiplying Beauty. Originally, she was given the name because of her devil fruit power, but Zoro was convinced the reason was because the more you focused on her beauty, the more it multiplied in your head.

"However," Kuma continued, "…you must take in all the remaining extraction of Monkey D. Luffy's pain that Tomoko Kimiko couldn't take. Since you are closer to death than she was, if you take in all of Luffy's agony, it would be impossible to survive…you _will_ die."

Zoro nodded heavily with his breath still struggling to find any sort of relaxation. "Fine." He looked to Kimiko once again before standing… but he couldn't bring himself to raise his momentum to approach death.

This was the last time he'd ever see her. After this brief moment of life, Zoro would no longer see any of his crewmates again. He looked to Kimi, for the last time, and by instinct cupped his calloused hand underneath her neck while allowing his thumb to gently slide down her porcelain skin.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner…" He whispered and instantly raised her neck towards his face until the both of their lips met one another. Of course, this was cruel to himself… the lifelessness in Kimi's lips were only a reminder of the fact he was about to kill himself. He would never taste the life from her kiss…but at least he finally did it. Despite moments away from death he at least braved himself to kiss the woman of the crew he had such an interest in.

Capturing every essence of their skin-to-skin contact, Zoro placed Kimi back onto the concrete carefully. Using a slight bounce from his muscles, he raised his legs to stand to turn and face Kuma.

"Have a little taste as well…" The Shichibukai waved his hand through the red bubble pushing a small bit forwards just like he had done to the scientist minutes before.

Zoro stood tall as the bubbled floated towards the middle of his chest. And then all at once, the pressure of ten million attacks engulfed his body. The pain forced him, just like Kimiko, to lash out in a horrified scream to try and force the pain to cease. He fell to the ground bleeding more than he had been from this mini-attack. If he was going to take the rest of Luffy's pain, there was no way he was going to survive.

He flipped to his back allowing what little of oxygen could engulf his lungs. "Just let me… choose… the location…" He slammed a bloody fist to the floor. He couldn't let Kimi or the others find him in a pile of blood when they would wake.

He pushed all of his weight onto his muscular arms and stood back onto his tired and shaky feet. "F-F-Follow me…" The swordsman nodded to the enemy. The two walked in silence with the large red bubble following closely behind until eventually, Zoro deemed their location worthy of a sacrifice.

They were about five minutes away from the others in the middle of the forest. Of course, with it being daytime now, the forest didn't look as grim as it had when they first passed through the woods in the hunt for Moria's castle.

"This is where you will die." Kuma stated effortlessly as Zoro nodded. In the next second, the large Pascifist disappeared from the area leaving Zoro and the demon bubble of agony…

One breath.

Two…

Three…

He thought grimly staring at the red transparent death…One more breath and a thought, _'Here goes nothing. For Luffy…' _As he outreached his arms.

And with that final thought, the swordsman experienced hell on earth.

* * *

><p>Chirping… that was the noise that flooded Sanji's ears as his achy brain pounded against the skull of his head. The pain required the cook to wake in a groan of pain. "Whaaaa?" He flipped onto his side to attempt to remember what exactly had happened.<p>

Instead, a rather loud and obnoxious noise distracted him from his thought process. "Yahoooo!"

"Oi, oi, you're kidding, right?!"

"I wonder how he got so much energy?"

"Luffy! You are so loud!"

Luffy stood bouncing on a broken piece of marble wall while Franky, Robin, Usopp, Chopper and Nami sat around their captain gawking at his burst of energy after their tough battle.

Sanji shook his head while sitting up from his spot on the ground. Attempting to once again recall just what exactly had happened, he grunted at a tender spot on his ribcage. "Huh?" He rubbed the side of his torso feeling a large bruise underneath his suit. "Wait a minute!"

An image flashed through his mind of Kimiko elbowing him. Then another image of the scientist attempting to give her life up to Kuma in exchange for the lives of the crewmates and captain.

Standing up abruptly, Sanji scanned the area for any sign of Kimi. About five feet away from him, there was a strand of blue hair. "Kimi-swan…" He whispered under his breath and ran to the area.

Indeed, there lying in the rubble was none other than the Strawhat Pirates' Scientist Crewmate. "Oi… oi!" Sanji bent down to examine her closely but his foot collided with an object causing an unexpected noise. It was all three of Zoro's swords.

"What the-?" He bent down while tilting his head in confusion. "Why did that marimo give up his-" Sanji whispered to the unconscious Kimi but then stopped as soon as he realized what Zoro had done. "NO! That Baka!"

He must have replaced Kimiko's original sacrifice and doing the same that she had done to him, knocked her unconscious. However, from the blood and cuts surrounding Kimi's body, Sanji would have to guess there must have been some other type of battle that occurred while the others were passed out. There was no way Zoro would admit that much damage to her.

Placing one hand carefully under her shoulders and the other underneath her knees, Sanji picked Kimi into his arms while yelling out to their ship's doctor. "Oi, Chopper! Kimi-swan is in trouble!"

"Huh?" The crew looked to the cook walking back towards them.

"No!" The small reindeer cried. "Kimiko! What happened to her! Why is there so much blood than before!?" As soon as Sanji placed the woman down near the group, Chopper wasted no time in bandaging her up.

"Kimi!" Luffy gasped. All of his happy energy was now full of concern. "What happened?! Why is she like this, Sanji?"

The cook shook his head. "I'm not sure. Zoro is missing too… Chopper, take care of Kimi-swan. I'm going to find that Marimo." It left a big pit in the depths of his stomach to know Kuma and Zoro were gone and nowhere to be found. He had to find that crazy idiot… he was probably in a world of trouble thinking he could possibly take on Kuma.

Already knowing the answer, Sanji took off running pass the spot where he had discovered Kimi and towards the forest area. His heavy footsteps echoed in the open silence of the area. A rather large piece of the castle wall threatened to block Sanji from trespassing, but the foot-work skilled cook only climbed the brick and then slid down the other side with ease.

"Just where is that bastard?!" He grunted continuing to run and avoid the rubble as best as he could. He stopped running to look out into the open area. So far he couldn't see a sign of battle or anyone in the area. Grunting, he continued to run forwards allowing his footsteps to echo once again. "Damn… where is he?" He cursed. "Did Kuma take him to the Marines? Surly not…"

As time continued to pass by every painful second, Sanji wouldn't allow his body to give up on finding the swordsman now… No matter how tired he felt.

Taking a few more steps forwards, the sudden overwhelming scent of musty iron engulfed his nostrils.

The more he walked towards the bottom of the hill where the forest started, the more the smell flourished through his head. That wasn't iron… the smell was blood. And a lot of it.

He ran faster, jumping from brick to brick with such speed he didn't even know was possible for his tired body. Until… "Found him!"

There, he stood with his back faced towards her. From the looks of it, he seemed to be fine from a distance, "Phew! Oi, what do you think you're doing, huh? Where'd that Shichibukai go…?" He joked as usual but with each step Sanji's face twisted into horror.

There seemed to be a pool of thick crimson liquid surrounding the area. As if a giant bubble of red had popped and exploded around him. Zoro stood, with his arms folded across his chest and his head focused towards the ground. As he made her way closer and closer to him, the scent forced Sanji to gag. "OI! What in the hell is with all this blood!?"

He still didn't respond. Only standing tall, despite the blood and sweat dripping off of his body.

"Oi! … Are you still alive?! Where is that guy?!"

His shirt was torn completely and only stayed attached around his shoulder by a thread. His green hamaraki now soaked a dark red from the blood pouring from all exposed parts of his body. On one side, his pants were completely torn and even his thick black boots were even torn up just as badly.

"What happened here?!"

"N…" Zoro's deep voice caused Sanji to widened his eyes at the sight. "No-thing… Ha-happened…"

* * *

><p>"I'm starving, Sanji!"<p>

"Eat some cheese then!"

Already held tightly in the Strawhat captain's rubber arms, Luffy munched at the large pieces of cheddar cheese from the kitchen. "It's not enough energy for me!" He complained as usual. The cook rolled his eyes. "Then get your ass in gear and bring the cooking ingredients to the courtyard!"

Lola smiled at the cook for his services for her and her pirate crew. "Thank you so much. Everyone is so happy since they haven't seen the sun in a long time. We're sunbathing in tears! But, do you have enough supplies for everyone?"

Sanji nodded. "Seems there was a lot of food added to our stock so we're fine."

"I wonder who did it? They must be a very kind person because they even stashed all this treasure here!" Lola looked to the side of the ship at Nami sleeping on top of the piles of treasure.

Looking over his shoulder, Usopp scoffed at Luffy as he engulfed the large pieces of cheese in his mouth. "How the _hell_ are you so energetic?! This is definitely wrong!"

"This is heaven!" Nami sighed turning onto her back as if she were sunbathing in the glimmering gold of the treasure. Luffy and Usopp walked down towards the pile of fortune, "Wow a glass bracelet!" Luffy picked up and item and then placed it around his bandaged arm. "This is cool, I'm gonna wear it!" He admired the item.

"O-oi, if you go and take that… Nami will be furious! R-Right, Nami-san?!" Usopp panicked and looked to the navigator gleaming with the money surround her like a bed.

She opened one eye to look at the two, "Oh it's fine, those aren't even real jewels! But don't take anything else, do you hear me!"

"Our saviors deserve all that treasure. Enjoy it all to the fullest, Namizou!" Lola smiled with her large red lips. The name caused Nami to sit up startled. "Huh? What did you just call me?"

"Huh? Those words just escaped my mouth… who's Namizou? I have this weird feeling that we've met before."

"OH!" Nami stood from her pile, "Could you be… Lola?!"

The pirate woman nodded, "That's right. Didn't I tell you my name…?" The realization caused Nami to run and embrace the oddly shaped woman. "I'm so happy we can meet again, Lola!"

"Wait a minute! She's that fat-ass pig zombie?!" Usopp had recognized the name as well. Nami quickly ran back to the pile of treasure and then handed Lola the amount in her arms, "I know you don't understand and I'll explain it later. For now, take this! It's yours!"

"Huh!?" Lola smiled while her eyes almost bulged from her head. "Really? Mine?!"

"NAMI GAVE AWAY HER TREASURE!" Luffy and Usopp ran to the rail of the Sunny to warn everyone of their selfish jewel thief's actions. "A STORM IS COMING! RUN AWAY!"

Down below, Franky and Sanji looked to the two pirates in doubt. "Huh? A storm? Really?" Franky muttered which caused the cook to shake his head. "Ignore them, Franky. Your life will be a lot easier that way. Besides, we've got no time for distractions right now. Let's take these supplies and get dinner started."

"Yosh." The cyborg responded with a large bag of supplied held overtop of his head. "Oi did we remember to get more bandages for Chopper?"

Sanji nodded. "How could I forget? He only demanded it a 1,000 times." He puffed out a breath of smoke from his cigarette. "He needs those supplies anyways to retreat Kimi and Marimo."

"Yea." Franky nodded as the two passed by Lola's pirate crew sun bathing on the battlefield. "Poor Twin-san. I wonder what happened to them?"

"We will have to find out when they wake up… I guess." The two continued into the abandoned castle. Looking over at Chopper examining the swordsman's injuries, Sanji introduced their presence. "Chopper, we brought the things you asked for, just as promised."

"Oh! Thanks!"

"How is he?" Franky wondered. The reindeer had just been checking up on Zoro's wounds before the two entered. "Well, this is the first time I've seen Zoro take so much damage… His life was really in danger. I'm sure something happened when we were knocked out."

"And Kimi-swan?" Sanji heaved the large bag of food down near the spot he was going to be arranging the food he had prepared on the ship.

"I just checked up on her a while ago. Robin is with her now." The reindeer assured him. Due to the two conscious females demand, Kimiko was placed in Perona's room so she could have privacy when Chopper went to bandage her. Afterwards, Nami and Robin helped change her into a less bloody outfit while she slept. "She isn't as bad as Zoro but still… Kimi was in pretty bad shape too."

"Will Twin-san wake up soon?"

Chopper shrugged at Franky, "She'll wake when her body tells her too. But it shouldn't be too much longer… Zoro on the other hand. He could take a while to wake up. We won't know until we find out what really happened to them."

Sanji nodded while staring off into the distance drowning in his thoughts. He recalled the fire flaring in her eyes behind those thick-rimmed glasses. She was completely serious about giving up her life for Luffy's but something was strange about her reasoning.

She had stated something about being a threat to the World Government, and while Sanji completely agreed that she along with the rest of the crew was a huge threat to the world… it was strange at how she made it seem that the Government was already wanting her capture before she became a pirate.

Shaking his head, he decided it must have to do with her history of working for the government's projects. She had stated that her father and she were forced to experiment and create assignments strictly given to them.

"You want to know just what happened, ya mean?!" A voice called out. Sanji stopped his thoughts and looked to the two men curtly. "Da truth is…" The man with the brown afro smiled. "We saw the entire thing!" The other, with a blue mask, added in. "Want us to tell ya what happened then?"

"Come here." Ripping the two men from their stance, Sanji led them outside and away from the others. "Tell me what happened." He demanded while positioning himself to sit.

"Huh? Why?"

"You were pretty awesome too, ya know!?"

"Ya even said, "take my life" just like the woman and the swordsman did!"

"Shut it." The cook glared. "Just hurry up and tell me what happened after I lost consciousness."

The two glanced at each other before the afro-man responded. "Well the Shichibukai accepted the woman's offer and then touched Strawhat with those paws of his… he claimed to have extracted all of Strawhat's damage!"

"Damage?" Sanji questioned.

"Ya, like a great sphere of anguish. Then, he told the woman to take in all of the damage. He pushed off a small piece of the bubble towards her."

"Just a lil' bit of that stuff had the girl screamin' bloody murder! We were so worried!"

Sanji bit down on his cigarette after hearing how much pain Kimi went though. That, no doubt, explained all the blood she was covered in.

"I guess her devil fruit ability wore off when she passed out. And the swordsman caught her just in the nick of time!"

The afro man nodded, "That woman is lucky to have a boyfriend like the swordsman. If it wasn't for him, the Shichibukai was gonna make her take in all the pain- conscious or not! So instead, he declared to take the rest."

Sanji nodded accepting the fact that Zoro saved Kimi basically. Then one word popped into his head. "Oi! Marimo is NOT Kimi-swan's BOYFRIEND!"

"Huh?" The masked made tilted his head. "You sure?"

"He even kissed her just before taking off..."

This sentence made the cook do a double take, "What?! He did what?"

"Oi, he kissed-"

"DON'T REPEAT IT!" Sanji flared. Calming himself briefly, he gave the two men a wave of his hand. "Oi, just continue. What happened… after?"

"That swordsman took a little bit of the bubble as well and screamed just as loudly as the woman. When he got back up, him and the Shichibukai walked off to the forest."

"The swordsman's lucky to be alive, if ya ask me!" The masked man added. "The whole scene moved me to tears!"

"Yea! I was really cryin' my eyeballs out!"

"I see…" Sanji sighed while burning out his cigarette on the ground. "So that's how Luffy's this energetic while Kimi-swan and Zoro's out cold. That's just so reckless."

"Yosh! I'm gonna go tell the rest 'a the Strawhat crew the story of a man's pride!" The masked guy laughed.

"Damn right ya is! Let's go!"

"Hold up." Sanji demanded causing the two to stop in their tracks. "Don't say a single thing. Zoro didn't put his life on the line for a simple thanks. Besides, if Luffy found out his suffering was passed onto his comrades how do you think he and the others will react?"

The two attempted to contain their disappointment, but clearly Sanji could tell how distraught they were about not being able to tell the story. "Just keep your freakin' mouths shut, Bakas! As long as everyone's alright, it's fine." Sanji walked pass the two. "Now, let's go eat."

"Huh?" The two pirates remained silent looking one another in confusion. As Sanji's footsteps echoed in the small distance from the men and the castle, the two smiled in excitement, "T-T-That guy's freakin' cool!"

* * *

><p>Her eyes fluttered open slowly revealing to her brain the strange location of her body: a deep purple canopy above her head and a warm soft cushion underneath. Turning her head to the side with a wince of pain from her neck, Kimiko observed Nico Robin smiling down at her. "Oh good. You're awake!"<p>

"Huh?" Kimi flinched at the pain surrounding her head in a violent ache. The soft pillow caressed her head easing it back into a state of not aching. She quickly came to the conclusion that she was on top of a bed but with another examination, she discovered she and Robin were located within that Ghost Woman's child-like bedroom. "What. Happened?"

"Hm?" Robin placed her cool hand on top of Kimi's shoulder. "I was hoping you could tell me that? You're in bad shape since Kuma exploded that bomb."

Her words made no sense in the scientist's brain. "What? What bomb?"

"Oh no, do you have amnesia?" Robin gasped. "What is your name?"

Kimi sighed. "I'm Tomoko Kimiko."

"And who am I?"

"Nico Robin. Archeologist of the Strawhat Pirates."

"And how old are you?"

"20 years old, Robin, this is silly. I remember all of that stuff, I just don't remember what happened to me… why do I feel like a house of bricks landed on me?"

Robin giggled. "Maybe one did if you can't remember." Her words caused Kimi to panic. "I wonder if Zoro will remember what happened then?"

"Zoro?" Kimi questioned.

"Oh yes. You do remember who Zoro is, correct? Roronoa Zoro – the Pirate Hunter?"

"Oi, Robin, I remember who he is!" Kimi sighed while sitting up from her lying position. "I just don't remember why Zoro would be-"

A flash of memory occurred in her brain forcing the woman to gasp. After taking a small hit of Luffy's pain, Zoro held her in his arms just before she fell asleep.

"No…" Kimi whispered causing Robin to sit on the edge of her chair. "What's wrong?"

"Zoro… is he okay? What happened?"

Robin shook. "We don't know… but more importantly, what happened to you?" Her question made Kimi shake her head. "I had to do it, Robin. Kuma was going to kill Luffy if I didn't step in. So I did, but I guess I wasn't strong enough to handle it…" Kimi placed her gloved hands on her face. "And I guess Zoro did."

In the moment of silence, Kimi debated with her inner self of explaining every single detail to Robin. Then she thought about Zoro and how upset he would be to learn Kimi had told them about his sacrifice. She was completely and utterly confused on what to do…

"I don't really understand everything you're saying… but I'm glad you are okay nonetheless." Robin smiled and then stood from her chair. "Do you feel okay?"

Kimi nodded after running her fingers through her hair. It wasn't held back in its usual bun. "I feel sore and weak, but overall fine. Is Zoro…?"

"The last I checked he was still asleep. He's in pretty bad shape." The raven-haired woman frowned. "If you'd like, I can help you to the banquet room. Zoro is there with Chopper and Sanji is preparing dinner."

Kimi nodded and then carefully un-tucked her legs out of the blankets of the bed. "Hmmm? I don't remember wearing this?" She thought aloud staring down at a pair of maroon shorts and a green tank-top.

"Oh, after Chopper cleaned you up, Nami-san and I changed you out of those ruined clothes. We didn't want you to wake up with dried blood all over you."

The biggest smile could not be contained on Kimi lips. "Robin, you two are the best. Thank you!" The older woman offered Kimiko her hand to lean upon as the two walked down the empty hallway and towards the banquet room.

"Oh! Kimi!" Luffy's voice called from the other side of the room. "You're just in time! Sanji just finished dinner and it's time to party!"

"OWWWW! Twin-san!"

"Yosh, Kimi!" Usopp called out with a crowd of Lola's pirates. "Ohhhhhhhh! KIMI-SWANNNNNN! I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE AWAKE AND BETTER!" Sanji twirled over to her and Robin with a big red heart in his visible eye ready to pounce until Chopper stopped him from attacking her. "Oi, Sanji, I need to check her bandages first!"

Robin and Kimiko laughed as the two proceeded to argue, "Oh Kimi!" Nami's voice pulled the two females away from their amusement. "I'm so glad you're alright! I was so worried." The red-haired navigator hugged Kimi tenderly.

"Thanks Nami-san." Kimi hugged back with one arm while still keeping her hold onto Robin's support. "By the way, I love your dress!" Kimi winked as Nami pulled away from their embrace.

"Ah, I knew you would!" She stuck her tongue out. On their venture through Water 7, Kimi had picked out the exact dress for Nami in one of the shops. Of course, the fashion-obsessed navigator proudly bought it after modeling it for Robin and Kimi. "Come this way for Chopper to check up on you."

Kimi did as she was told following Nami as a young duckling would with its mother. When she realized exactly where they were headed, Kimi's heart literally shattered into a million pieces. Her feet stopped instantly, "Zoro…" She whispered under her breath.

He was bandaged from head-to-toe motionless on a portable makeshift bed they had brought out into the room. Even though he slept soundly, she could physically see how badly he had been beaten up just from looking at his bruised face. His eyes were sunken in just as much as his cheeks were.

"Come sit…" Nami placed her in the chair alongside of the resting swordsman. "This is where Chopper is keeping all his supplies." She assured the reason as to why Kimi was being forced to sit next to Zoro's body.

_It was her that was supposed to take Luffy's pain and give up her head for her captains. Not Zoro! Why did Zoro have to step in her fight… _She argued inside of her own mind while staring down at the man.

"There!" Chopper's voice squeaked causing the scientist to blink twice. She hadn't even realized the doctor had even done anything by the time he declared finishing. "You will be fine, but make sure you take it easy and don't do too much physical activity while you heal."

Kimi nodded with a slight smile but quickly her eyes resorted back to scanning the swordsman for any sign of movement.

"Soooo," Nami placed a chair alongside of Kimiko's position. "What caused the two of you to get into such bad shape, hm?"

Still not wanting to reveal the truth of her attempted suicide, Kimi shook her head slowly. "I'm not sure… I can't really remember to be honest."

"Ehhhhh!? Kimiko, don't tell me you have a concussion and don't know who you are!" Chopper panicked. Robin nodded, "I said the same."

"No no no." She waved her hand in the air to play off the worry from the small reindeer. "I just don't remember what happened. I tried fighting off Kuma after the attack, but it's all fuzzy to me."

"Oi oi, let's not pressure Kimi-swan into remembering after just waking up." Sanji strode over to the group. In his hands and arms, he had brought over plates of various foods for them. "I'm sure you're starving Kimi-swan!"

He smiled just as his usual self, but behind that grin Kimi could tell Sanji was attempting to protect her from the interrogation. She of course knew that Sanji attempted to take her place in front of Kuma but that course of action only forced her to be defensive and take him out of the picture.

Taking a plate of food from out of his hand, Kimi smiled back at the cook with a look that said, "thanks-for-saving-me." And then quickly she dug into her food so that she wouldn't have to respond to another word.


	30. Finally!

**Can I just say that this chapter took me forever... but I promise it is TOTALLY worth every second of my determination! I'm so excited for you to read it that I'm not even going to bother with a long update! Now goooooo:**

**Taiski: Oh yea! Get da party started! "YO HO HO HO!"**

**Totong: You know Sanji is totally jealous! But I feel like he's happy because Zoro finally admitted his feelings even if he didn't do it while she was conscious.**

**Fanboy316: Yes, thank goodness they survived indeed! I'm glad you liked the kiss as well! I thought that would be a nice touch to add in.**

**Little Ai: Ahhhh, your review made me smileeeee~ "Baka! You can't make me happy no matter how much you compliment me~!" And yes, why is Zoro sooooo stubborn to confess his feelings, Gah! And I'm so happy you liked the tender kiss he gave her.**

**DinoZilla: Kimi and Zoro sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N- *Cut in half by a sword***

**Chocolatluver4ever: Dawwwww thank you, and hope this update is what you are looking for!**

**-yesiamweird**

* * *

><p>"LET'S DIG IN!"<p>

The sound of a hundred hungry mouths woofing down Sanji's cooking at the banquet tables echoed throughout the room. Lola's gang of pirates were certainly a loud and thankful bunch as they scarfed the food down.

Of course, no crew in the world could be entirely as loud as the Strawhats; Kimi learned very quickly that when the Strawhat Pirates threw a party, they went full throttle of the fun. So much so, that Franky had pushed away his arguments against the skeleton and began to dance with Brook on the table while they sang together.

Meanwhile, Chopper, Nami, and Kimi quietly sat aside Zoro as they quietly observed the others. They ate their meals with little conversation to respect the swordsman's resting.

"They haven't even toasted yet and they've gone nuts…" Chopper muttered while holding a piece of strawberry cake in his fork. "But yet, he's still sleeping despite all the noise!" The reindeer spoke through his large mouthful of dessert.

Nami nodded, "He's a man who can sleep through anything, after all… Right Kimi?" The navigator looked to the woman alongside of her. After a few moments of not responding, Nami gently placed her palm on Kimi's shoulder.

Needless to say, Kimiko was startled by the other woman's touch. "Huh? Oh what?"

"You okay?" Nami asked in concern but unfortunately the scientist didn't have time to answer before a large barrel was placed in-between the two. "Luffy?"

"It's for Zoro!" The captain giggled and then hovered the large barrel just above his face. "Drink up!"

"Knock it OFF!" Springing into action, Nami didn't dare to hesitate in her attack of the rubber man. "What the hell!? Zoro loves this stuff!" Luffy screamed back.

"What kind of theory is that!?" Chopper screeched. Kimiko smiled briefly looking back at her foolish captain, but her grin faded and a frown took its place as she sunk into her chair looking at Zoro once again. "No good, huh? Then how 'bout meat?" Luffy did not want to give up at any cost.

"Yosh, yosh, just having your sentiment will be enough!" Chopper retaliated back. "Yes, _just_ your sentiment." Nami slyly added.

It was then that the sound of music stopped the group from arguing and instead turned it to the back corner of the banquet room. "Oh? So there's a piano in this room?" Luffy smiled at Brook's boney fingers playing the keys.

However, Kimi reluctantly couldn't find it in her shattered state to listen or smile at Franky or Usopp dancing to the music. Instead, her blue eyes focused pass Zoro's sleeping face and to the memory of the whole ordeal.

_"Zoro… you idiot… I was supposed to die. Not you! Please… please wake up soon…" _Her fingernails gently dug into the skin of her legs as she attempted to hold back her tears from running down her cheeks.

With Brook's impromptu performance, Luffy ran off to join the show while Nami headed over to chat with Lola and the others. "Kimi?" Chopper's voice squeaked. Moving only her eyes to look across Zoro's body and to the brown furry one, Kimi stared at him. "Um, well, do you want some more to eat? I was going to get some more cake."

She shook her head, still with a frown and then rolled her eyes back down to the swordsman.

"You know, one of the oldest tricks in making someone heal faster is making yourself believe the person can do so." Chopper smiled clutching his plate. "I believe Zoro will wake up and be better than ever. Now you have to do the same."

The wisdom of the little reindeer tugged Kimi's lips into a slight smirk. She nodded with a sigh, "You're absolutely right, Chopper, thank you… do you mind getting me a piece of cake as well?"

"Of course! You should know complimenting me will not get me to like you, bastard~!" He started to dance oddly. Just as he dropped to the ground to walk towards the table with food, the piano began to ring into a new song.

The melody flooded the banquet room into a grand opening, not only catching everyone's attention, but also causing a smile on everyone's lips. It was an old pirate tune that just about everyone had heard.

But this version was being sung by a great musician, and a newly added Strawhat Pirate at that:

**"****_YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO! YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO! YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO!_**

**_Going to deliver Binks' Sake!_**

**_Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!_**

**_Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!_**

**_The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky!"_**

And suddenly… for Kimiko, at least, everything seemed to be at peace.

Everyone was dancing, laughing, cheering, drinking, and singing along with one another. It only made her upset that Zoro couldn't do the same.

Not wanting to kill the good vibe pulsating over her from the song, Kimi stood to her feet with her empty glass in her hand. With the help of her clone, (since she was still too weak to do any sort of physical activity) she poured a glass of ale straight from out of the barrel into her cup. When it was full, she turned back to her chair next to Zoro and lifted her glass in the air just before sitting.

"This one is for you… Just like Chopper said…" In one whole brave attempt, Kimi gulped down the drink in four big sips. The golden ale gathered at the side of her lips, but she was quick to wipe the droplets away before making a mess. With one final smile, Kimi nodded to the sleeping form of Zoro and then turned to the rest of the group dancing like drunks.

**_"YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO! YO HO HO HO…!"_**

* * *

><p>Kimi felt a nudge digging into the right side of her stomach. She opened her eyes half expecting Chopper to be the culprit insisting that she needed to take more medicine, but she was painfully wrong. Instead the nudging came from Nami, who had been sleeping, along with Kimi, and watching over Zoro's body after the party.<p>

"What is it, Nami-san?" Kimi rubbed her eyes lifting her chest off of the bed Zoro laid on. Instead of answering right away, Nami placed her index finger over her lips. "It's Zoro. He's up!" she whispered.

Turning her head abruptly, Kimi noticed Zoro hadn't been lying stationary as he was for the past two days. She looked back and forth for the green haired swordsman around the banquet room but only noticed the drunken pirates sleeping in strange positions around the area.

Nami sweat dropped while gently slapping her nakama, "Kimi you twit, he's out on the balcony." She physically turned her blue-haired head to the front and pointed to Zoro leaning against the balcony ledge through the window doors.

"Oh," Kimi whispered looking down at her palms in her lap shyly, "I'm glad he's up now-" Nami hit her side again. "OW!" Kimi whisper-yelled sitting up and pouting to the red head.

"Go and talk to him! Ask him what happened or if he's hungry or something." She whispered and looked back to make sure he didn't hear the two.

"B-But why? It's not like it matters that I should talk to him specifically…you could have asked him or-" Kimi asked again crossing her arms. Nami sighed; obviously Kimi wasn't getting the hint.

"Are you really going to use that as an excuse? Come on Kimi, don't you see it!? The way you to stare at another… you two are always together… the way he talks to you and he even protected you all during our fight with Oz!" Nami tried to convince her. "He_ likes_ you Kimi! _And_ you like _him _back! Don't deny it any longer. That's why _you _have to go talk to him now while everyone else is sleeping."

"But-"

The navigator strictly pointed a finger at her crewmate, as a disciplining mother would do to tell a child to go to their room. "Go talk to him!" She waved Kimi away and then quickly laid her head back on the bed pretending she had never gotten up.

Sighing heavily, Kimi made her way out of the wooden chair and dragged her feet towards the balcony door. _"Could it really be? Could the infamous Roronoa Zoro really like me? No, how could he? I am pathetic and an awful excuse for a pirate."_

He had even told her she was a weakling when they were handcuffed together during the Enis Lobby fight. Then again… the two were _handcuffed_ to one another… the thought of them being tied to each other had never re-crossed her mind, until now…

Quickly shaking her head, Kimi went back to degrading her fighting skills. It almost seemed like every fight she'd ever gone through with the Strawhats, she always needed to be saved from the situation. But then again, Kimiko was supposed to be the lonely scientist of the group. That's why she was chosen… not for her fighting skills.

Recalling all the times Zoro had saved her caused a spark in her intellectual brain. "I…I guess…it could be?" She thought aloud specifically remembering the way Zoro looked at her just before passing out from Luffy's pain. The memory made the hair on her arms stand up.

He looked so… so… so _worried_ about her.

As her fingertips graced the handle of the door, she quickly pushed it aside and shut it silently behind. Zoro didn't budge an inch from the position he had been in, so Kimi softly cleared her throat to announce her presence.

Instead he kept looking out at the sky, the wind brushing through his thin green hair and his earrings ringing like small wind chimes. With a heavy sigh and carefully tiptoed footsteps, she made her way next to him on the left while leaning over the balcony with arms crossed. "What are you so intent on looking at?" She asked noticing the blank stare in his eyes. It looked as if he was looking pass everything in sight and thinking about something rampaging in his brain.

Zoro sighed and looked down at Kimi. She was looking at him with such a confused face that he couldn't help but smile at her. Zoro had learned she was definitely a black-and-white type of person who stand to be perplexed.

Noticing his sly grin, Kimi pouted at the green-haired swordsman. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing." He laughed and looked back up. This time towards the stars.

"Well then, tell me this. Why are you out here and what in the world are you looking at?" She got straight to the point, being forced to talk to him and all. Zoro looked back at her and his smile left his face. "I came out here to look at Orion... That's it." He looked back out now raising his chin a bit further.

Kimi hesitated her breathing. "O-Orion?" She blinked remembering the night she told him the tale about Orion the hunter in the night sky. "…y-you remember?" She whispered so softly so he would hear.

"I remember everything…"

The remaining oxygen escaped her lungs in the next instant. The groups of stars known as Orion were very dear to her because stars and constellations was her very last lesson of science class that she learned from a real school…

"Um, d-do you need anything? Medicine? Food?" She faked a yawn trying to play off her shock.

"Yea, I need you to tell me something." Zoro stated icily to turn to face her. "What did you mean when you told Kuma you could beat him?" Something in Zoro's face told Kimi that he didn't trust her. He gave that look to Robin often before all of the CP9 stuff went down and now she was receiving this evil death glare.

"Zoro, I-I can't…I couldn't let him hurt Luffy. I was bluffing to try to get him to leave." She paused but knew that answer wasn't enough for the concerned man. "You see, my older sister worked on the pacifists. I don't know much about them but I knew Kuma would be weary of my sister's name so I assumed he would think the same about me."

Zoro took all of this in. He knew that she had a sister, but Kimi didn't really talk about her and when asked she would changed the subject quickly. He sighed, "So you were bluffing?"

She nodded and attempted to keep her blush hidden by how close Zoro kept inching closer to her. Although she had seen him with no shirt on many times before, now it was a whole different story. "Yes, I was lying. Now, do you need anything?" She asked again.

Zoro went to shake his head no, but as soon as he strained his neck to turn, a muscle spasm ruptured through his body. With nowhere to go but down, he quickly attempted to catch himself on the balcony railing. However, the railing had morphed into something warm and soft and …fleshy?

Looking to the side, both he and Kimi widened their eyes at his hand cupped overtop of her black-gloved hand.

"A-Are you, o-okay?" Kimi gasped feeling his other strong arm around her waist for more support. Her cheeks were completely flushed by their position, and it was a good thing Zoro didn't comprehend exactly where the top of his head was now…

Well, until he actually did realize where his head had fallen…

The infamous pirate had been in-between Kimiko's breasts. The weight almost forced her green tank top down with his forehead.

He could literally hear her heartbeat pounding against his temple while two soft plump mountains of flesh caressed his cheeks. Waiting to rid himself of this extremely awkward (yet pleasant) confrontation, Zoro quickly pulled his body away from hers by taking two footsteps backwards. "I-I-I uh… 'm sorry." He rubbed his neck in embarrassment, but just then another spasm occurred. He winced at the pain but kept standing up this time leaning over the balcony instead.

"Zoro, are you alright?" Kimi reached out at his left arm rubbed it with her thumb. He opened his eyes after the pain disappeared and to his pleasure watched Kimi staring back at him. "Please Zoro, let's go back inside and lay down."

Zoro would kill for a chance to just lay down in silence with Kimi for one night. He knew that she was just talking about him lying back down but still, he just wanted to have her in his arms for one night. "No, I'm fine." He announced and turned back to look at the stars.

Kimi sighed with a light smile, "Well then, since you asked me a question I guess it's only fair for me to ask one." She took to her spot alongside of him by the balcony railing. Before questioning him, she took a gulp of dry spit with hesitation, "What happened after I passed out?"

Zoro knew she was being serious now. Before she was just playing along but now, now this was a severe question and it needed to be answered in a way that she wouldn't be worried about her choice of taking the hit from Kuma before. "I took your place."

Kimi gasped. "Zoro, why would-"

"You would have died if you took it all." He looked back at her with a stern glare, "I couldn't let that happen."

Kimi stared at the swordsman in shock. That pain that erupted through her body was only a fraction of the real deal. How on earth could Luffy even be alive!? "Zoro…you shouldn't have. I-I…"

"Don't worry about it." He smiled softly looking at Kimi's concerned and yet, precious face. She was beautiful to him, perfect in that moment and finally the temptation was too much to bear. After kissing her lifeless lips once before, now he craved the reaction of life he regretted never tasting.

Removing the part of his brain telling him to halt, he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her into his bandaged chest carefully.

"Zoro, what-?"

He stopped her by pressing his index finger over her smooth soft lips. "Just trust me okay?"

Kimi didn't know what to think, Zoro had just pulled her to his half naked body and told her to trust him like he was about to test her or something. Her arms trembled as she snaked her hands up his chest and around his neck. She clenched her eyes closed in the hopes that this would end without Nami giving her lip about it.

"Kimi…" Zoro whispered out. She opened her eyes at the sight of her name and stared at Zoro's strong intent face. His left hand traveled to the back of her neck and he fumbled through the sagging strands of her light blue hair not tucked neatly into her bun.

Before Kimi had time to respond Zoro pulled her to his lips, a little bit forcefully at first, and then softened to deepen the kiss. After a minute or so, Zoro disconnected his lips from hers causing a small pecking noise from the separation.

She still had her eyes closed but as she opened them she began to smile. "Zoro, you don't know what you're doing. Chopper has you so hyped up on meds that you're basically high right now."

Zoro smiled back, "That may be true, but it also may be that I know you think I'm on meds, so I can just do what I want instead."

Kimi's smile faded and instead the blush from earlier returned. "Zoro…I-I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Pushing a strand of hair out of her eyesight, Kimi shrugged. "We should go in, it's getting really late and you need to rest."

Zoro nodded and obediently followed her towards the castle. The graceful way she walked and the click of her shoes against the pavement were so relaxing to the swordsman. She had an internal rhythm in her body that only a fool could miss. He sighed enjoying the moment and then realized he desperately wanted to kiss her again.

"Zoro? Are you okay?" Kimi looked back at Zoro staring at the floor. He snapped out of his thought looking deep into her blue eyes. "Yes." The injured swordsman ignored the waves of pain cascading through his muscles and bones and walked over to Kimi to snake his arm around her waist once again. His other hand held her chin captive in his complete grasp.

The heat of the blush on Kimi's cheeks seemed to increase the internal temperature through her core. There was no denying the fact that she wanted this feeling more than anything but a certain navigator was just on the other side of the room was bound to give her hell for this. "Zoro, stop. Nami is watching…" She whispered.

"I really don't give a shit." He kissed her again this time being forceful as he pulled her close not allowing her to move an inch from his grasp.

In the middle of their kiss, Zoro suddenly felt dizzy. Maybe it was true that he was so hyped on meds that he didn't know what he was doing. But kissing her felt good to him, it was even better than all the booze in the world. As he pulled away his lips once again, he rested his forehead against hers while holding the her soft blue hair in his strong calloused hand.

Kimi adored the sensation of him holding her tightly in his arms but knowing how much damage his body was in forced her to wiggle her way out carefully. When he didn't want to let go, she responded by kissing his lips back in surprise. She giggled after pulling away her lips from his, "Don't leave your mouth open like that. You'll catch flies."

He continued to stare at her with a tint of blush rising on his cheeks… and then suddenly, started to fall limp with his eyes rolling in the back of his head and closing. "Whoa! Hey, don't fall asleep just yet. Come on Mr. Greatest-swordsman-in-the-world…" She lifted his arm around her neck and held his side up and walked him back inside.

Nami ran up and grabbed his other arm helping the scientist carry the sleeping swordsman back to the bed. Nami just smiled and winked at Kimi, "I told you!" She whispered triumphantly. "What did I say? I told you he liked you, and that kiss was the proof!" She smirked.

"Nami, You didn't hear him, he's completely out of his mind. All the meds Chopper put him on; of course he would do something crazy like kiss me…" She denied the wonderful feeling he gave her as they kissed.

Nami wasn't being fooled, but for once she was too tired to argue anymore. "Yea okay. Well if that kiss of _yours_ wasn't enough proof, I don't know what is!" She rested her head again against the bed in a confident smirk.

Rolling her eyes, Kimi didn't even bother to defend her actions. Looking one last time at Zoro, she noticed how much happier he looked than when he was first laying on the bed in pain.

She looked at his body one last time examining all of the damage he had taken for her from Kuma. "Thank you…" She mouthed to him and then laid her head on the bed next to Zoro's head.

She opened her eyes looking down at his outreached hand and smiled. "_Maybe…hopefully…"_ She thought to herself reaching her gloved hand to his and then grabbed it. "_Maybe one day you'll want to hold my hand for real and not accidentally stubble upon it. Until then, I'll hold yours…" _She turned her head to see the swordsman's face and smiled at the slight curving of his lips. "_Sleep well, Roronoa Zoro…"_

* * *

><p>Zoro walked up towards the skeleton. Brook seemed to be lost in his own world while playing his violin exquisitely. As much as he didn't want to disturb him, the swordsman's heavy footsteps caused Brook to cease as the steps neared his position.<p>

Brook looked back at the lonely man and silently stared at him. Despite all the bandages, Zoro continued to look his usual intimidating statue. Without a word, the green-haired man took the black-sheathed sword in his hand and stuffed it into the dirt until it stuck out halfway into the air and sat crossed-legged in front of it.

"Oh my, you surprised me!" Brook cheerfully commented. "Are you doing better now?"

"Yeah. Just overslept a bit."

Pointing to the sword placed into the ground, Brook commented once again. "And that is…?"

"A dead katana, Yubashiri. Please, let me have a memorial for it as well." Zoro then closed his eyes and then clapped his hands together in a praying position. As much as he proclaimed to not believe in God, he did believe in the power of prayer in the case of a fallen comrade.

Even though Brook continued to stay silent, Zoro could tell that the skeleton was watching him carefully.

"Uh…"

Looking up from his prayer, Zoro hummed back. "Hmm?"

"Ah, no… nothing…" Brook looked away and then opened his large mouth back, almost as if he were smiling. "Oh that's right. I've officially joined this crew."

"Heh." Zoro crossed his arms in a confident smirk. "I see… sorry to hear about your bad luck."

"Eh?"

Not fully understanding what Brook was getting himself into, Zoro smiled back. "This is one _hell_ of a crew." As soon as Brook understood the swordsman's joke, he laughed in his usual obnoxious tone. "So it seems, and because of that, I'll try my hardest until death does me in! Oh yea, I'm dead already!"

Nodding to admire Brook's laugh, Zoro looked back to the Rumbar Pirates grave Usopp and Franky had built for their newest crewmate's previous Nakama. It was quite exquisite if he had to admit, in the least. "We should get going. We need to set sail soon."

"Oh, yes!" Brook stood and followed suit with Zoro by his side. As soon as the two made their way to the dock, Luffy cheered to announce their sail back to the sea.

Jumping away from Kimiko's grasp, Chopper proceeded to yell at the swordsman walking towards the ladder leading to the ship. "Zoro! You took off your bandages again didn't you?!"

"Yea, they're hard to move with, ya know." He nonchalantly responded passing through the crowd.

Kimi giggled watching the small reindeer practically boil from the rage of Zoro's disobedience. "They are there to make sure you _don't_ move!" He pulled out a handful of bandages and then bolted towards the green-haired man forcing his medical procedure once again.

"Hold still!"

"No! Let go!"

"Idiot! You are still hurt!"

"No I'm not!"

Walking up to her side, Robin giggled alongside of Kimi as the two watched Chopper force his way onto Zoro. "He is most stubborn, correct Miss Scientist?"

"Without a doubt." She nodded, "We should probably start to head onto the Sunny." Kimi offered and the two walked over to the ladder and climbed. As soon as the two made their way onto the deck, they leaned over the edge to hear the parting comments of Lola's crew from their own.

"You sure you guys wanna leave? You should stay for a few more days and party!" One of Lola's pirates stated.

"NO! We can't because we are headed to Fishmen Island!" Luffy grinned. "I can't wait~! There's gonna be some interestin' guys there!"

"Some beautiful mermaids as well!" Sanji grinned with a heart in his one eye. "I can't wait to play with them!"

Kimiko seemed to gleam with interest. "I too cannot wait to analyze the Mermaids! Perhaps there is a way I could analyze them and the fishmen culture for experiments. Of course, without harming any of them!"

"Sounds exciting doesn't it?" Robin smiled back. Kimi nodded and then waved to tell her she was headed in the other direction. "I'm going to my lab to situated myself quickly before we set sail. I'll be right back."

"Of course." Robin smiled as the scientist walked off in the direction of her room.

As she walked through the hallways and made it to the door of her personal room, Kimi sought to change into a less non-revealing shirt. Of course Robin and Nami would pick out a teeny-tiny tank top for Kimiko to wear to accent her breasts. Rolling her eyes at her reflection, Kimi removed the tank and then examined her bandages wrapped around her stomach that pushed her breasts up as if she were wearing a bra.

Unwrapping her bandages carefully, she touched the small bruises and cuts that were wrapped. Luckily, they had faded due to Chopper's skills, but that didn't mean they were healed completely.

Searching for a bra and a tee-shirt in her trunk of clothing, Kimi placed the articles of clothing onto her body and then took one final look at her reflection. The cut on her head would remain bandaged to trick Chopper that she had kept them on… unlike Zoro.

Speaking of Zoro… she sighed remembering his awakening this morning. Despite their kiss the night before, he did not make eye contact with her at all during the day. It seemed as if her original theory of him being on too much medication had been true.

He didn't _really_ think of her romantically like that…

Frowning at herself, she turned to face the door and walked back through the hall to the deck. Just in the nick of time to see the sails of the Sunny being swung down into position.

"Set sail!" Luffy demanded and the Sunny took off between the Teeth Gate of Thriller Bark. The shadows that passed by the gate grew a smile on all the crew's faces and quickly the Strawhats proceeded to wave goodbye to Lola and her crew.

When Thriller Bark was no longer seen in sight, the crew took to their usual spots on the Sunny. Kimi was lucky enough to gain a spot on the swing while Usopp and Chopper sat on the ledge to fish. Brook took to playing his violin in the middle of the grassy deck.

"Luffy?" Nami questioned. "Are you sure it's okay to not go after Ace?"

Not knowing whom Nami was speaking of, Kimi turned her head in response. Luffy smiled, "It's fine! Don't worry about it! Even if he were in some kind of pinch, he wouldn't want me to worry about him. He hates being made to look weak!"

Still not knowing whom this Ace person was, Kimi chose to ignore the questioning and instead pay attention to Sanji walking over to each one of the crew and handing them a glass of ale.

"Besides, if we went to help him, he'd just get pissed off." Luffy concluded. As Sanji walked over to Kimiko, he made sure to give her a sly wink before handing over her glass mug and then continued to give the others their own. "Oh yea, Zoro! You've been sleeping this whole time so ya missed out!" Luffy added before the ale-loving swordsman could take a sip.

"In that case let's redo this!" Usopp cheered while waving everyone to stand and join in the center of the Sunny. "In celebration of our new nakama, Musician Brook, joining the crew!"

With each one of the Strawhat Pirates raising their glasses together, they all cheered with a giant smile, "KANPAI!"

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you do not want my help, Sanji-san?" Kimi asked sweetly while handing him the last of the dishes. Once again they had a celebration and drinks to rejoice their newest crewmate since Zoro had missed out. Being one of the last ones still awake, Kimi had offered to help clean for Sanji.<p>

"Of course not, Kimi-swan. You should be resting anyways, beautiful princess." He replied with a smile. The scientist only shook, "Pirates never rest, Sanji-san." Her tone was lighthearted, but caused a serious face on the blonde cook.

"Yes…" He turned to look at her still while scrubbing the dish in his hand. "Kimiko, why did you think it was acceptable to sacrifice your life in the face of the Shichibukai?"

She sighed and then shook her head softly not uttering a word out of embarrassment for her actions.

"I know what happened after you attacked me… I guess I'm lucky that Marimo cares about you too much. Then again, that baka put himself at risk just as much."

Looking up from her feet, Kimi frowned. "Wait. You know what happened?" He nodded, "Yea some of Lola's guys watched the whole thing. Even Marimo's – gah… - even that Marimo's violation of a kiss!"

"Kiss?!" Kimi blushed thinking someone other than Nami had seen their kissing on the balcony last night.

"Yea, he didn't tell you?" She shook her head. "Well, it's not my place to say it… but he kiss ya before giving up himself according to these guys." Placing the dish into the sink, Sanji grabbed another. "He must really like you… if you ask me."

Kimi tried to hide her grin by turning her head to the side. _"So he does like me then…"_ Her shoulders instantly rose towards her ears in a bashful statue. "Oh… well I didn't know that but uh-"

"You should go to bed, Kimi-swan… but let me just say, if Marimo ever dares to hurt you, I swear it'll be the end of him." The cook smiled charmingly back at her.

Kimi nodded hesitantly, "I'll be sure to remember that. Goodnight, Sanji-san."

"Night Beautiful Princess~!"

Rolling her eyes, Kimiko shut the door behind her and proceeded to walk over to the edge of the ship to think for a moment before heading off to bed.

The roar of the ocean waves calmed the scientist in a way she hadn't known was possible. It was one of the many things she loves about being out at sea as a pirate.

The slight ocean breeze.

The hum of the ship.

The waves crashing on the boat.

The many creatures sounding in the distance…

The noises of the ocean were like ecstasy for the rampaging thoughts of the scientist. She felt at a state of mediation while resting her elbows on the railing of the ship.

Then suddenly, a large warm hand snaked its way around her waist and pulled her to a half rotation.

A warm kiss embraced her surprised reaction and suddenly Kimiko melted into the hug. Her black-gloved hands roaming the strong back muscles of the sturdy swordsman. As the two pulled away for a gasp of oxygen, Kimi couldn't help but smirk at Zoro.

"What is that look for?" He eyed her reaction carefully.

Kimi turned back to face the railing as he took a spot to her side. "Oh, just Sanji telling me about what really happened when I passed out." The look in his eyebrows read that he wasn't exactly sure what she meant. "Oh you know, the Romeo and Juliet moment?"

Then suddenly, Zoro seemed to understand exactly what she meant. "The bastard… how the hell-"

Kimi's giggle stopped him from attacking the kitchen. "You realize Chopper is going to be mad that you keep taking off your bandages?"

Zoro lowered his tense state and gave her a nonchalant shrug. "He'll get over it." The two allowed silence to fall between them as they watched the rolling waves crash into the ship and throughout the rest of the sea. "Hey." Zoro muttered after a minute or two.

"Yes Zoro?"

"Look." He pointed to the stars in the direction of the constellation Kimi (and he) was so fond of. She smiled back at him and then suddenly her smile stretched into a yawn. "You should go to sleep."

"So says the man that's slept for two days…"

"Exactly." He shrugged. "I don't need to sleep now. Don't make me drag you in there."

Kimi rolled her eyes, "Chopper would notice if I had any more bruising when he checks on me in the morning." Instead of commenting back, Zoro pulled her chin to meet his own and lightly placed the other on her hip. He stared into her eyes for a moment before nodding. "You look tired… Go to sleep." And lifted the bottom of her chin for their lips to meet into a quick kiss once more.

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><p><strong>:) <strong>

**REVIEW! [OR NO MORE KISSING FOR YOU!]**


	31. Foreshadowing?

**Le sighhhhhhhhhh. I apologize for my absence... I've had a rough, 5 months. lol. **

**I've graduated from college, moved to New York City, broke up with my fiancé and now I'm about to apply for grad school or move somewhere else. In other news, around the time of May I was seriously depressed. I was very upset with things going on in my life and these stories were the only things getting me going. So when I graduated in August, my life got happy again and I focused on my happiness. So I am so sorry that I gave up on you guys. Don't worry! I'm not depressed any more, I'm actually just bored and had this on my computer for a while. Ha. **

**So hopefully I can keep my stories going (I'd love for them to finish) and not keep you guys waiting for another 5 months. lol**

**Chocolatluver4ever: Thanks!**

**Zeta80: I agree, Zoro and Kimi ARE the best (lol)**

**Guest-Red: Finally! I knowwwwww!**

**Taiski: Haha, you and I shall both wait. Although we all know Nami is probably going to torment them the worse. Ahhh, maybe Sanji too.**

**Totong: Well let's just see how their relationship will come along in this chapter. haha, shall we?!**

**DinoZilla: I love Kodak moments! And this was definitely one for sure!**

**Fanboy316: Uh oh! Quick delete all the evidence before Zoro- *Slashed by a sword* ...uh nevermind. He found out...**

**smileysparklea: Yay! Thank you and I love you!**

**Guest-Redd: Thank you so much for your comment! That is so sweet! And I would be completely honored if Oda was to put Kimiko in his genius of a story. I've only created an OC to compliment his amazing storytelling. **

**devildog452: Piracy: now. Baby making and settling down: later. Ha**

**SoulQueenMiMi: Ahhhhhh! Sorry don't kill me! I updatedddddd!**

* * *

><p><em>Kimiko was running through a dark and thick forest. Her breath was shallow and the sweat from her forehead raced down the sides of her face down to the earthy ground below. Suddenly, her body stumbled into the dirt after her foot had clumsily tripped on a tree root.<em>

_The pain in the tops of her hands was excruciating; it was that same horrible burning feeling once again. Sitting on her bottom, she flipped the tops of her hands into eyesight. Blood. Nothing but blood covered her hands._

_"Who do you think you are? Running away from me? You know you can't, Kimiko." The shadowy outline of a woman appeared in front of her sitting figure. "You will never out run me."_

_"No!" Kimi cried. "Please, sister! I didn't-"_

_"And because of this disobedience, your friends will DIE!"_

_"NO!"_

_"Yes, you killed them Kimiko! YO HO HO! Yo've killed them! Yo~~_**YO HO HO HO!**"

Jolting awake, Kimiko looked around her empty and dark room.

"Everyone! Good morning! It is time to get up! **YO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOO**!"

"Ugh…" Falling back onto the comfort of her soft bed, Kimiko closed her sleepy eyes with a groan. "Brookkkk…" She yawned softly in her room wishing she could muster enough energy to clone herself to kick the skeleton.

Instead, the rest of the sleeping and tired crewmates yelled back which included Nami getting out of her bed to take away Brook's violin he used as an alarm clock.

Yet despite the funny situation happening upstairs, the scientist couldn't get over the images of the dream she had just had. Checking her hands to make sure her gloves were still on brought a sense of relief, but something in the back of her head said otherwise.

Turning onto her side, Kimi yawned once again starting to feel the achy muscles in her back bulge. Instead of forcing herself into a slumber and threatening herself with another nightmare, she used as much strength as she could to sit up in her small bed to reach for her new novel she had purchased in Water 7.

Turning on the lamp next to her nightstand, the lone scientist became entranced into the world of warriors that fought against mythical dragons. Before long, she hadn't realized how fast the time passed as Sanji called for the crew to get up head to the kitchen for breakfast.

Once everyone was gathered in the kitchen and chowing on his or her food, Franky brought up the ship's current condition. "Since we are stuck in the middle of the calm water and can't move anywhere, we should use the paddles to escape and head to the next island faster."

"Nah, no need!" The navigator waved his statement. "Based on the weather, I would say it should only stay calm for today. We should just take a day off to recuperate."

"Great! So there's no need to waste my precious cola then!" The shipwright leaned back into his seat with a smile. But just as he did so, Brook laughed slightly. It was odd, considering Nami nor Franky said anything funny…?

"Yummy!" Luffy mumbled with his mouthful of meat. "Sanji's food is really the best." Yet again, Brook laughed just as before.

Walking over to Robin, Sanji offered her another plate of food. "Robin-chan, how about seconds on your seafood salad?" For a third time, Brook laughed in a position that a normal person wouldn't. His constant reaction had the crew worried. "What's wrong, Brook?" Usopp questioned.

"Why have you been freaking out since this morning?" Zoro added before taking a bite of the meat on his fork. "Did you see something interesting, Brook?" Luffy asked with his mouth still full.

Remembering some important information, Kimi swallowed the food in her mouth while turning to the skeleton. "Didn't you tell me you found the log book yesterday, Brook-san?" She smiled sweetly while placing her gloved hand to her cheek. "Is that what's got you so worked up this morning?"

"Oh yes! I just happened to come across it yesterday, and truthfully my excitement from the Thriller Bark incident had yet to subside. But for you all, that was just the tip of the iceberg! You stopped the rebellion in the sand country of Arabasta! The great adventure in Sky Island, thought it's existence was considered a mere legend. Followed by the amazing feat of making the World Government an enemy at Water 7! It was so surprising that I thought my heart would pop out. Ah! But, I don't have a heart, YO HO HO HO!"

Nami laughed at Brook, "True. But, from here on out, what will we be writing in it?"

Slamming his boney hands on the table got everyone's attention in an instant. "Since I have become your comrade, I don't feel like I have been of any help… I want to contribute to the success of this pirate crew!"

Nami laughed, "I can understand you getting all worked up, but let me give you a piece of advice." She leaned into the table just across from the skeleton with a serious look upon her face. "In this crew, you must never let your guard down during a meal."

"YES!" Brook replied confidently. "If it is about that, this 'quick draw' Brook shall be ready regardless- Oi! LUFFY-SAN!" At the moment of vulnerability, Luffy had stretched his rubber arms out to place Brook's plate of food into his rather large mouth. "Ah, ah, to think I let my guard down for even a second…"

"Eh, it happens to all of us." Usopp commented nonchalantly while finishing the rest of his food.

"Oi, Longnose-Kun and Twin-san," Franky commented from across the table. When said her nickname, Kimiko looked directly at the shipwright with a confused face. "I used the blueprints we three worked out yesterday and last night I made the Super Franky Cannon! Let's go test it out since we are just going to hang around all day anyways."

"Oi!" Usopp glared. "Why is it that everything you build has to have the name Franky in it?"

"Well we could call it the Super Franky and Longnose Cannon."

"That's even worse! And what about Kimi!? She helped too!" The marksmen patted the scientist on the back. Which in turn, caused the injured girl to wince. "Ah! Sorry!"

"No, that's okay Usopp…" The blue-haired woman waved off his small attack. "Besides. I don't need anything named after me. I just help with the ideas. I don't actually build anything anyways." Standing up with her plate in her hand, Kimi smiled at the others and walked towards the sink to put her plate. "I have some things I want to test out in my father's journal but when you guys get ready to do the test, call me up to watch!"

"You got it!"

"No problem Twin-san!"

Smiling as best as she could, Kimi exited the kitchen and headed straight back towards her bedroom. Despite knowing her dream earlier was in fact, just a dream, didn't seem to sit well with her. Just before turning down to the hallway entrance that led to her room, a slight chill of breezy wind stopped the scientist in her tracks.

Her heart began to pump deeply into what felt like the back of her throat. Her shoulders heavy and shaky realizing just how bone-chilling the wind pierced her flesh. "No…" She whispered looking out to the water. As if on command, Kimiko raced to the edge of the Sunny placing her hands on the railing for extra precaution.

Nothing. Nothing but a beautiful blue sky and the matching deep blue sea was seen in the distance. Shaking her head, Kimi turned her back to the railing only to see a curious and concerned looking swordsman in front of her.

"What was the panic about?" He questioned crossing his arms.

"I thought… did… wait a second, did you feel a gust of wind just now?" Shaking his green head no, only concerned Kimiko further. "I just must be going crazy then… since we are in the calm belt and there is no wind and-"

Her rambling thoughts were interrupted from a small kiss on her lips. "I think being in your lab will make you more stir-crazy." Zoro's hushed deep voice calmed her aching heartbeats. "Why don't you stay outside today and enjoy the day off."

Taking a moment to breathe in and out, Kimiko agreed. "Yea I guess you're right." As the conversation ended and Zoro proceeded to walk off towards the mast to venture off towards his workout facility, Kimi quickened her steps to be on his side. "Actually Zoro, would you help me with another experiment proto-type?"

Stopping his pace, the swordsman looked to the woman at his side. "Depends. What do I have to do?"

"It'll be easy… It's actually an experiment I want to try… on me." She sheepishly replied. His reaction to her request did not look pleasing. "Don't worry, it won't hurt me. I've actually tried it against my zombie double on Thriller Bark. But, I need to be stronger. That's where you come in."

In the mind of Roronoa Zoro, anything that had to deal with becoming strong was right up his alley. With a devious smirk Zoro helped the injured scientist up to the workout facility and anxiously waited her full request.

* * *

><p>"Oiiiiiiii! Twin-san! Me and Longnose-kun are going to launch the Super Franky Cannon! Want to see?!"<p>

The voice of Franky paused the two battling lovers in their tracks. "Well then," Zoro unwrapped the tape from his hands. "You'd better see it that those two don't hurt the ship… or themselves."

Nodding, the camouflaged scientist removed her Clone Clone Disguise as Zoro's counterpart.

"I gotta say, fighting against myself is more of a challenge than I thought you'd ever come up with." Zoro smirked. "How'd you even figure that out?"

Trying to hide her blush, Kimiko brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "I just kind of… made it up! I've just begun to really use my devil fruit powers because when I was living at home, my father and I only used it on occasion. And only simple requests such as cloning myself up to twenty times in one sitting. Only one time I used my power to clone myself as a giant. Just like how I did when we fought Oz."

"Still." Zoro huffed while grabbing his biggest set of weights. "All of your techniques are pretty useful."

Kimi shook her head while smirking at him, "Zoro, don't tell me you're going to train even more?"

"Of course."

"You train too much."

"Well you experiment too much!"

"Fair." She giggled and brushed his and her comment to the side while walking over to give him another kiss. His thick lips on top of her soft ones made for the perfect combination of power and lust. Their embrace was much longer than expected and suddenly another loud voice called above for the scientist's presence.

"OIIIIIII! Kimi! You have to see this! Oh and Sanji got out some meat for an afternoon snack!" The rubber captain called.

"Luffy, he only made that because you wouldn't stop bothering him. And he only made enough for you…" Usopp's voice retaliated back.

With a giggle and a final embrace, Kimiko stepped out of the swordsman's company and down to the deck below. "So have you gotten all the kinks out?" She smiled walking up the stairs to the upper deck.

"Just about!" Franky smiled proudly.

"And I'm drying my medicinal plants since the weather is so nice!" Chopper cheered from the opposite side. His innocence made Kimi smile. "You should sun bathe with me too!"

"Of course Chopper!" She walked gracefully over to the reindeer sitting down by his side. Meanwhile, a distracted Luffy caught sight of Brook walking away from Nami's quarters. "Hey Brook! It looks like these two are gonna do something interesting! Come watch!"

"Yes!" The tired sounding musician walked up the stairs carefully. "Chopper-san, Miss Kimiko, what are you doing here?"

"I'm just drying out my plants since the weather is so nice!" Chopper replied once again with his smiling face. "And I'm here to watch as well." Kimi answered.

"YOSH! Okay so this thing uses cola as energy and is a high force Super Franky Cannon! And with Longnose-kun's added sniper skills and Twin-san's added scientific accuracy, we've created a monstrous combination for a weapon!"

"Oh! I'm so excited to see what will happen!" Brook cheered. "If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know!"

"Let me think…" Franky paused for a brief second. "Well, just to be on the safe side, get another barrel of cola!"

The skeleton wasted no time in the request given by Franky and quickly he ran off the side of the upper deck towards the stock room. "The cola barrel is here!" He announced proudly while caring the large cask.

"Thanks, pour it right in there." Franky instructed while he and Usopp worked on the coordination of the machine. "The target is that rocky top right over there!" He pointed to Usopp at a pile of rocks about a mile away.

"Alright! I have it locked onto the target!"

"Fire!" Franky declared as the weapon started to work in a timely fashion… and then suddenly stop. "Huh? That's strange. Usopp, increase the pressure!"

"Ok! Here we go!" The machine dinged twice to reveal its overpowered state and suddenly the gears twisted and turned violently when suddenly, steam escaped from the middle portion of the machine. The whistle of the steam evaporating not only caused the scientist to worry but the two closest to the machine. Franky quickly grabbed Usopp by the waist and threw the both of them to the side just as the cannon exploded.

The explosion drenched everyone in the area with the cola used to make the machine. Usopp growled, "Well that was a huge failure!"

"Huh?" Luffy lifted his drenched finger into his mouth. "This is kinda salty." Chopper and Kimi looked at their captain, "Yea there is something mixed in with the cola." The reindeer replied after licking his face.

"Ah. This is soy." Brook offered after tasting his finger as well. Everyone fell silent realizing that it was Brook's fault for adding soy into the machine that was only supposed to take cola as an energy source. "What is wrong everyone?"

"Don't act all confused! You mixed up the cola and soy barrels, didn't you?!" Franky screamed.

"Ah! You're right! That was a huge mistake on my part."

As if he wasn't already intimidating, Franky ran towards the skeleton clutching the barrel from out of Brook's hands and chasing him with it. "Shut up you bastard! What were you thinking!? What were you trying to do?! This isn't the time for you to be talking like some old geezer!"

Luffy laughed at the two as always, while Kimi and Usopp complained about their clothes being soaked in the soy. "Ah, the plants I was drying need to be wiped down and dried again." Chopper commented sadly.

"Oh well this meat has gotten a lot better with the taste of the soy!" Luffy cheered. "Well," Kimi giggled standing from her spot on the ground, "At least he's optimistic."

"A little too optimistic…" Usopp growled back. Patting her hand on his shoulder, Kimi waved to the marksmen. "Well since you and Franky have some work to do. I call dibs on the bathroom first!" Laughing at their reactions, the lone scientist walked off in the direction of the bath.

The room had always been stocked with towels, so there was no need for her to stop by her room and grab clothes to change into. After all, Nami and Robin would walk around the deck in their towels after bathing, so she had the rights to do the same.

Just before entering the room, a set of footsteps caught the attention of the blue-haired woman. "Oh! Nami-san, how was your bath?" She commented at the towel barring woman.

"Ahhhhh~! Just as lovely as ever. I just love this addition to the ship. Franky is the best…!" She swooned while stretching, her towel threating to fall off and reveal herself to Kimi.

"I agree! It's like going to a spa."

"YAHHOOOOOO!"  
>"LUFFY!"<p>

"…well. Almost." Kimiko muttered hearing the loud sounds above them on the deck. Nami sighed in a distressed manner. "We should really just go to a real spa one day. That way, us girls can relax and the boys will… well. Do whatever except get us kicked out."

Kimi giggled. "Maybe we three should just go to a spa and leave the boys on the ship."

"Haha! Yes, I like that plan better. Chopper can come too. He's not like the others."

"Hahaha!" The two giggled for a few moments more before Nami waved off past the scientist. "Oh wait, Nami! I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay. Shoot."

"After breakfast, I was out on the deck and swore I felt a gust of wind. Even though we are in the calm belt, can small gusts like that happen?"

The navigator placed a finger to her lips pausing at the question. "It could happen. But from my calculations, it wouldn't occur until later tonight. Maybe you just felt a door opening or something?"

Her answer didn't exactly sit well in the pit of Kimi's stomach. "Yea, maybe… Zoro did walk out right after me."

"Ohhhhh, and speaking of Zoro… how's your love life coming along?" Nami insisted.

"Uh… good? Okay well going to take a bath, BYE!" The blushing Kimi turned quickly to avoid any and all conversations about her and Zoro's relationship. When she entered the bathroom, she made sure to lock the door just as she shut it.

"Awwww! Come on Kimi! Gimmie the details!" Nami knocked on the other side.

"What?" Kimi called out as she turned on the water. "Can't hear you. You're mumbling… talk to you later!" Hearing Nami groan and walk off caused the panic in Kimi to settle. "Thank goodness I avoided that one." She sighed.

Removing her shoes and socks, the lone woman began to hum to herself. Nothing in particular was going through her mind… She removed her pants and underwear, next was her shirt and bra. She was careful of the small bandages that had covered her injuries from the battle on Thriller Bark. Luckily they were recovering quickly, but they still needed to be mended by the ships doctor.

Removing her long hair from her usual bun atop of her head, Kimi brushed through the thick strands of wavy blue hair with the use of her gloved fingers. Unknotting any and all tangles from the dried soy sauce was a challenge for the natural wavy hair, but it was something she had been used to all her life. "Done." Kimi sighed and looked down to the filled pool of bath water. Bubbles covered the top of the water ever so slightly and a light steam grazed the portion of water not covered by bubbles. The scene looked as if it came right out of a picture book from a fantasy tale.

She entered in one foot, then the other. And embraced the warm water with another sigh as her butt made contact at the bottom of the dead center of the pool.

"This is heavenly." She replied to herself. As she went to drown the top portion of her body in the water, a weird sensation around her hands caused the scientist to look at them. "Oh… I didn't take them off." She replied looking down at her black gloves. "I wear them so much around here that I forget they are even on…"

As much as it pained her to take off the objects, it was imperative that she wash her hands. The gloves landed to the side of the pool as she flipped each one off. "There." She stared at her palms… for the other side revealed the truth to why she would never let her friends see her pain.

Suddenly a knock rapped on the door. "Oi! Kimiko, lunch is ready!" Usopp called out from the other side.

"Yes! Okay, I'll be out in a minute!" The scientist replied and then submerged her face in the water. After gasping for air as she lifted herself out of the pool, her right hand brushed back a clump of clean blue hair from her face.

But as she pulled the strands away and down past her shoulder and breast, she caught a glance at the top of her hand.

'**ERER**'

Her first reaction was to see the left hand and place the two together so she would be reminded of what she really was… "No." Kimi threw both of her hands underneath her butt in the water. "I can't let myself see that… because…because sister was wrong… I'm not…"

A tear fell from her cheek and splashed into the pool. She hadn't even noticed she was crying.

"…I'm not…"

The sadness in her heart took over her brains ability to control motor function. And with it, she raised both of her hands up to her usual triangle position in which she would use her Clone Clone technique.

"not… a…"

There, on the tops of her hands, was the truth of her existence.

On the left, '**MURD**'

On the right, '**ERER**'

"…A murderer…"

* * *

><p>(((Redatown - about 150 KM from The Sunny Go)))<p>

As the doors pushed aside indicating another customer for the bartender to serve, a lone woman walked from the doorframe and quietly walked towards the man. As if the whole bar had been watching this mysterious woman, the music and the talking died down slightly making the young barkeeper nervous. It was his first week working at the notorious pirate hideout bar.

The woman looked down at the floor as she walked creating a shadow with her forehead to block her eyes from being seen to the public. With the use of her messy and long dark blue hair, it was quite a simple and effective task to accomplish.

She wore a skin tight black leather dress that exposed her plump breasts and cut off way to short for what a normal woman should wear. Over her small framed shoulders lie a white jacket that seemed to resemble a science lab coat that covered her exposing dress and cut off around her knees about to where her matching black leather boots cut off on her legs.

"I'll have a gin and tonic." She calmly sat at the bar stool still while shadowing her eyes and smirking with her dark brown lip-stained lips.

"Y-Yes ma'am." The young bartender jumped at her cool and somewhat deadly voice making her drink right away. She quietly smirked and then slammed the appropriate amount of Berri down on the bar for the tender to take as he finished.

"T-there you are! A-a-any-anything else? Ma'am?" He stuttered as her head perked up revealing her piercing sky-blue eyes almost similar to a hawk. "Actually…" She paused and sipped her drink then smirked once again. "I need to see the latest wanted posters passed out. I believe I saw something quite interesting at the last town I visited…but I wasn't quite sure." She leaned over the bar puckering her lips at the tender, "Be a dear and hurry up." She cooed and he jumped from her surroundings and retrieved the bounties just passed out in the recent newspaper.

"Well, this is the latest group wanted, The Strawhat Pirates." He looked at the picture of a smiling boy with a hat on top of his head.

"Go on…" The woman nodded and sipped her drink once again.

"O-okay then, well this is Strawhat Monkey D. Luffy, with a bounty of-of…" The bartender gasped and clutched his head at the unbelievably of the amount wagered on this man's head.

"Go on!" The woman shouted making the bar silence once again.

"Um- yea…Luffy has a 300,000,000 Berri bounty!" He shook his head and sighed looking up at the woman.

"More than me…" She sipped once more and waved her hand. "Continue." She snapped.

"R-Right… Next is Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, with a 120,000,000 Berri bounty, Devil's Child Nico Robin with an 80,000,000 Berri bounty, Black Leg Sanji with a 77,000,000 Berri bounty…" While he read the bounty posters, he lined them out on the bar in front of the woman hoping to please her for her purpose of him reading these posters out loud.

"Next is Multiplying Beauty Tomoko Kimiko with a 50,000,000 Berri bounty…" he placed the picture of the blue haired woman wearing glasses in her wanted poster and then blinked at the resemblance of her to the woman in front of his own eyes. He looked up and noticed a devilishly frightening grin spread out on her face.

"Continue!" She snapped noticing his reaction to her smile. He nodded and laid out the rest, "Cyborg Franky 44,000,000 Berri, King of Snipers Sogeking with a 30,000,000 Berri bounty, Cat Burglar Nami 16,000,000 Berri and finally Cotton Candy Lover Chopper (pet) with a 50 Berri bounty." He finished looking down at the wanted crewmates. "From what I've heard, this is all that is in their crew." He nodded and looked at the woman staring at the picture of the Multiplying Beauty, Tomoko Kimiko.

"If you want, you may take these…Are you a bounty hunter or something?" he hesitantly nodded insisting for her to leave peacefully.

"Hmp...I was going to take them anyways…" She smirked and lowered her head once again shadowing her evil eyes. Suddenly she pulled out and defended herself with a small dagger hidden behind her lab coat while a thug from the tables of the bar attempted to cut down the devilish woman.

Just as she had stopped the man from attacking her, an unknown and impossible wind shook the inside of the bar causing the posters to fly about and most of the drinks and tables to flip over.

"Did you not think I heard you? Don't speak so loud and next time I won't hear." She smirked and then withdrew her weapon.

"You…are an evil woman! You killed my brother! I'll never forgive you!" The lonely man hiccupped and then raised his sword once more un-phasing the woman.

"Sorry…" she spoke under her breath while turning to face the bartender once again while the sword drew down on the top of her head.

The bartender screamed and covered his eyes frightened at the death and practical suicide of the uncaring woman. However, his eyes had not prepared him to see the woman's lower half of her body while what seemed to be a wind surround and then grow around her lower torso creating the rest of her figure.

"Good try." She lifted her head revealing her piercing eyes once more "But you will join your brother, not to worry." She simply flipped her wrist and once again an un-possible gust of wind struck and cut the man's jugular.

The bartender took a step backwards as the man gasped and choked on his own blood falling backwards and dying within seconds. The woman stood from the stool and placed a few more hundred Berri on the bar. "Here's to get someone to retrieve and dispose of this fool." She turned her back and began to walk out. Not sure of exactly what had just happened, or how he had survived the whole ordeal, the bartender shook his head and gasped not sure what to do first. Once again a chilling and impossible wind from the underground bar blew the wanted posters until the woman clutched two in her hands. "Have a pleasant day. And thank you, you've granted me just what I've wanted." The woman walked out of the bar allowing the wind to die down.

"I can't believe we survived."

"Boy that was close."

"Too bad for that poor sap."

"He deserved it anyways."

The bartender ran out from behind his spot and looked down at the dead thug. "Oi, you know who that woman was, right? You should be lucky you didn't end up like him!" A pirate laughed and sipped on his ale.

"U-Uh no I don't know who that was…who was she?" The young man silenced the room just as the woman did before.

One pirate hiccupped and then slammed his ale bottle on the table in front of him. "They say she's one of the deadliest Shichibukai of our time. So much so they had to remove her from the position within a year after it was granted to her."

"W-What? That woman was a former Shichibukai?" The young bartender couldn't believe the event that had just played in front of his eyes, but somehow it made perfect sense…

"They say she killed 296 marines in a base just because she was having a bad day."

"Yea and I heard with her devil fruit ability she is unstoppable!"

"That's why the Marines asked her to join them but after her little tantrum they removed her and have been trying to catch her ever since." The pirates explained making the tender of the bar gulp. He bent down and picked up the remaining posters that had been spread out from the fight earlier. He knew she had taken two of the posters and quite honestly, he was curious to know which ones…to his belief she had taken the one of the captain of the Strawhat pirates, Monkey D. Luffy and then also took the poster of Tomoko Kimiko labeled as the Multiplying Beauty.

"Whoever she is after in the Strawhat Pirates…" One of the pirates spoke seriously making everyone tense, "They are as good as dead…"

* * *

><p><strong>DUN DUN DAAAAAAAA~!<strong>


End file.

One Piece, Friendship, Romance