A/N: My first fanfiction. Hope it turns out well. Tell me what you think

Oh yeah, before I forget: I do not own any of the original One Piece Characters.

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I was lying in the dark with my hands closed around my pillow. My head was covered by the duvet, so I couldn't see anything but darkness. My breathing was shallow and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. It had been like that for quite some time. A week or something like that. My forehead was burning, I was constantly in a sweat, and no matter what I did I just felt sick and weak.

That night I couldn't sleep. Normally I would sleep both night and day, but that night I just lay in my bed staring down into my pillow with my blanket over my head. Maybe it was because of the voices down on the street. They were rather loud and I could hear somebody screaming something about pirates. Pirates? There were never any pirates in our city. It was just a little place with nearly no houses at all. We didn't even have a doctor. What could pirates be doing in our city? There was nothing to steal. Only one explanation: They were shipwrecked pirates.

Just as I thought of this I felt like I had to get out of bed and run to the window to see those shipwrecked pirates. But as my one foot touched the floor I felt freezing shivers run through my leg and quickly climbed back in bed. For a minute or so I just sat in my bed with my blanket wrapped around me. Then I decided to get a grip and go to the window. Illness or not, I wanted to see the pirates!

Resolute I walked over the wooden floor in my room wearing my faded black shirt and my brownish white shorts. I had kept my clothes on for many days now, because I constantly froze even though I was bathed in sweat all the time. As I wandered towards the window in my room I felt my knees shiver and knew that I had to go straight back to my bed afterwards or else I would faint or something like that. But I forgot all about my knees and disease when I stood by the window looking down on the street. All the people in the village were gathered. Well, all the grownups. They were standing nearly right under my window, but nobody looked up and saw me. I figured that was a good thing. I could see that they all looked suspicious and some even mad. They were all looking at the pirates and now I turned my eyes towards the strangers too. They were a weird bunch of people. Standing in front of the rest was a young boy with a big smile on his face and a straw hat on his head. I couldn't help it but smile, when I saw his innocent look. Behind him a green-haired older male was standing. He had three swords at his side and was staring at the village people with scary eyes. A shiver ran down my back as he turned his eyes up towards me and I quickly duck down beneath the windows frames to hide. Now I suddenly heard a voice I recognized: My dads.

I couldn't really hear what he was saying, because even though he was not far away I still had a bad hearing and he wasn't talking very loud. Curious I stood up again and stared down on the rest of the pirates. There was one with a very long nose, one who looked like a tiny, walking reindeer, which scared me a little, one who were smoking a cigarette and had his left eye hidden behind his hair, and two girls, one with orange hair, who was smiling shifty, and one with long black hair, who I thought looked nearly as scary as the green-haired swordsman. By the thought of him my eyes slid back to him and I breathed relieved as I saw that he didn't look back at me. Now he had pulled one of his swords and was pointing it towards my dad. This wasn't looking good from my point of view. If the grownups annoyed the pirates it would probably end in a fight and that would mean a lot of dead people. Pirates or villagers, I didn't care really; I just didn't want any dead.

I focused on the adults, who were now mumbling to each other. I figured they were discussing if they should take up a fight with the pirates or not. It would be suicide to attack those pirates! I knew already. I could tell just by the looks on their faces that this gang of pirates was serious. Well, some of them were. I wasn't sure about the boy with the straw hat, even though he seemed to be their captain or something like that. I suddenly noticed that the swordsman had taken out another sword. He was saying something to the straw hat and I really wished I could hear what they were talking about. Silently I reached up and unhooked the window. It squeaked as I opened it up, but nobody seemed to hear, so I concentrated on trying to hear what was happening beneath me. Fragments of the adults' talk were floating up to me.

"…but they really look scary and…"

"…we can't possibly take them all out…"

"…the little boy doesn't seem all that scary…"

"If we don't fight they'll rob our city!"

"…what about the children?"

"…they won't know what've happened…"

I suddenly started getting scared. They were actually considering fighting against the pirates! They would all get killed!

My heart started beating faster and faster as I got more and more frustrated about the fact that I could do nothing but stand there and helplessly watch my parents and my friends' parents walk right into death!

All of a sudden I breathed deeply and leant forward out the window to scream to the adults that they shouldn't fight. With my fingers closed around the windowsill I was practically hanging out the window and out of the corner of my eye I saw the green-haired swordsman looking up at me. "Don't fight…" the rest of my words disappeared up in the air as my arms seemed to break underneath me and I felt my feet leave the floor. I could hear somebody screaming, but I wasn't sure if it was me or someone else. Panic rushed through me, but I couldn't do anything other than watch the ground coming nearer and nearer. Then something blocked my sight and I felt arms around my shoulders and my face got buried in red vest. The floating feeling left my body and I realized that I was standing on the ground. Safe!

Instantly I looked up to see who my saviour was. A big smile met my eyes as the straw hat bend down and laid a hand on my head. "Are you alright?" he asked still smiling and I nodded silently.

How could he have saved me? I wondered, but I didn't say anything out loud. That would be rude and I didn't want to make him mad. "Sarah! Get away from him! He's dangerous!" I heard my mom screaming, but I didn't even look at her.

"Are you dangerous?" I asked the straw hat, who just smiled even bigger as he answered: "Only if you're not my friend."

"Am I your friend?" I wanted to know.

"That depends on…" his hand was still on my head and I could feel his fingers play with my hair, "Whether or not you think I'm your friend!"

"You saved my life!" I exclaimed and then looked down in the ground.

I didn't know what else to say. "Well then, let's just say we're friends then, okay?" he asked and I looked up at him and couldn't help smiling. "Okay!" I nodded and turned towards the adults, who were staring at my new friend with fear in their eyes.

"Look Mommy!" I shouted happily, "I finally got a friend!"

Then for some reason the earth started shaking under my feet and I suddenly saw stars around the villagers. I tried to lift my hands to rub my eyes, but I couldn't move. Then I fell down on the ground and everything turned dark.