The Thousand Sunny was quiet, gently rolling from side to side against calm waves. The night sky twinkled with millions of distant stars and the moon shone like a bright spotlight on the deck. In the distance was a small island, the Straw-hat crew's next destination. Soft snoring could be heard from below deck, where the crew members slept. The captain was currently sprawled across two beds, the doctor was turned upside down and hanging off the edge of his bunk, and the swordsman had somehow ended up face down on the floor, face inches from the chief's foot that was dangling over the side of his bed. The women were curled up serenely in their own room, snoozing the night away. Everything was peaceful.
The doctor's nose twitched.
Chopper startled awake and struggled to sit up, rolling around like a turtle on its back. His hat got twisted around one tiny antler and he couldn't… quite… get… up! Eventually he gave up standing and just scooted away from the bed. Then he rolled like a ball across the wooden floor to where Zoro slept, hands not far from his three swords.
"Zoro!" The doctor's voice was high and filled with sleepy panic. "Zoro, wake up! I smell something!"
The swordsman grunted in response then snuggled closer to Sanji's foot, resting his green head against it with a drowsy, dreamy smile. Chopper stood on trembling hooves and fiddled with his hat until it rested where it should. He gripped the sleeping man and shook him with all his might.
"Zoro! Wake up!"
Zoro shot up, smacking his head against Sanji's leg in the process. Sanji reacted by lashing said leg out and kicking the swordsman across the face. Zoro cursed wildly. He punched the chief hard in the nose and Sanji awoke, nose gushing blood. He sputtered angrily before locking eyes with Zoro.
"What the hell, you idiot moss-head?!" He pinched his nose, trying to stop the bleeding.
"You kicked me, you stupid chief!"
"I did not! But I sure as hell will now!" Sanji jumped to his feet while Zoro grabbed his swords and began to unsheathe them one by one. They stared each other down like two alpha wolves.
"Stop it!" Chopper's shrill voice sliced through the tension. "Both of you! I'm serious!" They didn't even glance down at their furry friend.
"I'll kill you for that, stupid chief. I'll chop you up into tiny chief pieces."
Sanji pulled a cigarette out of thin air and lit it dramatically. Through the smoky haze he glared at Zoro. "I'd like to see you try."
Chopper loomed over the two oblivious fighters, now in him man-deer state, and screamed as loud as he dared.
"I said stop it!"
Startled, the two fighters looked up at their doctor until he shrunk back to a cuddly size. There was a moment of silence as they stared at him. He took a deep breath.
"Thank you," he whispered. Luffy immediately snorted awake and sat up, scratching his head before putting on his hat. His eyes were blurry and distant and he smacked his lips absently.
"Sanji, I'm hungry." The captain whined, rocking back and forth on the bed.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll make you some breakfast." Sanji went to head out the door only to have Chopper blocking his path.
"Wait!" He waved his tiny arms desperately. "Wait! I smell something!"
Sanji paused. "What do you mean you 'smell something'? Is something burning?"
"No! There's someone on the ship! I can smell a scent I have never smelled before. It smells like…" He took a deep breath. "Like an animal but not an animal."
"Someone on the ship? Maybe they brought meat!" The captain's mouth began to drool while visions of meat chunks danced in his eyes.
"I doubt it." Sanji took a deep drag of his cigarette. "We should probably go check it out." He passed by Chopper and was followed out the door by the still drooling captain and the one-eyed swordsman. Chopper nervously looked at Uosopp and Franky oblivious in their beds before racing after the three men out into the hall.
They crept along the hall and up a flight of stairs until they reached the door leading to the deck above. Sanji opened the door silently and peered out into the night. His eyes opened wide in shock and he froze, blocking the way of those behind him. Frustrated, Zorro yanked the door from his grasp and opened it wider so he could see out with his good eye. Luffy wedged his way through the space between them and Chopper peaked over the door, body going the wrong way, fully visible to whatever was on the deck.
There were two massive shadows looming over the ship, under the currently cloud-blocked moon. They rose from the ocean and extended into the sky, blocking out stars with their girth. A third, much smaller, much more human looking shadow wandered the deck, nibbling on something that looked suspiciously like some of Luffy's breakfast.
"My meat!" Cried Luffy furiously. Both Zoro and Sanji covered their captain's mouth and watched the shadows.
"This is a beautiful ship." The smaller shadow spoke in a soft female voice between bites of meat. "I mean, look! There is actual grass!" The shadow plopped down on the deck and laid out in the soft grass. "What kind of pirate ship has grass? It's so soft!" Laughter floated over to the hidden men, so joyous and carefree. The shadow rolled around in the grass, giggling and whooping while the two much larger shadows watched from overhead. The shadow stood up and grabbed the mast, spinning around and around all while laughing like a small child.
"So beautiful! So fun!" The shadow stopped. "You think the pirates on this ship are fun?" The question was directed to the two shadows but it received no verbal reply. The small shadow began to walk around the deck again, stopping every once and awhile to look at nothing in particular.
"I bet they're fun. I bet they're nice." The voice paused. "I bet they're all friends." The voice sounded sad now, and unsure, as if it wasn't quite sure what that word meant. "I wonder what it's like, to have friends."
The two shadows cried out sorrowfully.
"Oh! No, no, no! I know you guys are my friends! I just meant…" Another pause. The moon chose this time to peek from behind the cloud, shining light out onto the deck and kicking away the shadows surrounding the figures.
The two massive shadows shimmered bright green and bright blue under the silver moonlight. Their scales shone like stars and their serpent faces gazed down on the person standing on the deck. The sea kings leaned in and rubbed their snouts against the tiny girl before them.
She was short and thin, dressed in black pants and shirt with a matching black cloak draped across her shoulders with the hood pulled up over her head. All the men could see in detail were bright green eyes angled like a cats. She nuzzled the two sea kings affectionately and rested her head against the green ones nose.
"I just meant I wonder what it would be like to have people to call friends. To travel with them all over the world. To laugh and cry together. To find people worth fighting for. That's all." She sighed heavily. "But as long as that man is around I will never have that." She laughed just as heavily. "It's almost silly to wish for it, knowing I can't have it." The two sea kings nuzzled her again before rising back up in the sky. She strolled around the ship, taking everything in.
"But this beautiful ship must definitely have wonderful people on her, pirates or not. They must be such good friends, having adventures and protecting each other…" She paused again. The silence was thick with her longing and jealousy. "It would be a shame if they ended up in the city port. Maybe I should leave a note or something."
The green sea king made some sort of noise deep in his throat.
"To tell them not to go to the city port, silly. That man will either burn their ship down or take it for his own fleet. He doesn't tolerate pirates very well, does he? No. It's best if they dock at the village port. So I'll leave them a note saying to dock on the western side of the island. They might not take my advice but at least I tried." She perused the deck, looking for something to leave a note on.
She paused near the lounge chairs that Robin and Nami had used earlier that day. Robin had left her current book on the table nearby. The stranger picked it up and picked up the pen Nami had used to write the budget. She flipped to the last page and started to write on the back cover. Sanji roared furiously.
Someone dared write on his beautiful Robin's book?! Someone dared!? She will pay for hurting his precious Robin's property and Sanji will deliver the culprit to his love and bask in her beauty as she thanked him with all her heart for saving her book! He rushed out onto the deck, eyes wavering between flames and hearts as images of Robin flashed in his head. Zoro raced after him, yelling at him to stop. Luffy, mouth now free, hurtled onto the deck nest, his battle cry echoing in the night.
"MEAT!"
Chopper trembled at his obvious hiding place behind the door.