Come Sail Away

Chapter 01: Sink or Swim

"Water, water, everywhere…"

People only need a teeny bit of salt to live. About a quarter teaspoon a day. You need to constantly replace the salt your body looses through things like sweating and crying. But taking in too much salt can do all kinds of bad mojo to your insides. Best case scenario, you just get thirsty. Worst case, you get really dehydrated. And not your normal "forgot to pack a water bottle for gym class" dehydrated.

I mean, when you eat way too much salt, water in all your cells rush out to dilute and process it. That leaves those cells shriveled up like California raisins. You cease to function properly. You drop unconscious. Maybe you go into a few seizures. Brain damage happens. Then your kidneys take a beating.

Than ya die.

What I'm trying to say is that it's not pleasant.

Unfortunately, people also need water. A considerable amount, actually.

"…and not a drop to drink."

Saltwater is Mother Nature's cruelest joke, in this regard. It's water, alright, but if you drink it, the salt it contains messes you up something bad- and that's not even taking into consideration the other nasty things seawater has floating in it and what they can do to screw you over.

All of this occurred to me as I sat, my knees tucked under my chin, squeezed between two very big wooden crates in the darkened haul of a Marine shipping vessel. Two days had passed, and I had already drunk my entire canteen. I was very thirsty. My lips cracked when I moved them and my mouth was dryer than a tropical desert.

On the sun.

And the idea of tossing my entire stowaway plan to the wind just to jump into the water and drink until my kidneys said screw this noise! was becoming all too tempting.

I sighed and closed my eyes; hoping sleep would make time go faster. I knew it wouldn't be much longer before we docked, but that didn't make me feel any less miserable. You ever try stowing away for days on end with barely any legroom, in complete darkness, with nothing but the nauseating rocking of the ocean current to keep you company? It sure wasn't my favorite activity in the world- just below spending a summer vacation tanning on said aforementioned cosmetic desert.

I didn't know what was in the crates. I didn't really care. All that mattered was where the ship was going: a little island in the East Blue, its only feature being a large Marine Base, called Shells Town.

Roughly one week ago, word got out that the Lieutenant Captain in charge had captured the semi-infamous pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro.

And I set out for the island not moment after the news reached my ears.

Unfortunately, I was broke. Like, moths-threatened-to-fly-out-of-my-wallet broke. So I had to hitch a ride.

Which brought me to where I was now, doing my best impression of a sardine.

Some people might think I was crazy for going toward the prison of some presumed blood thirsty bounty hunter. And they'd be half right. I'm quite sure I'm marginally insane. I mean, I was under the impression that for the past half dozen years, everything around me was a fictitious universe, while everyone else seemed to think nothing of the sort.

It was entirely possible that I had a few screws loose; that I just imagined growing up in an entirely different world up until seven years ago, where the Marines and pirates and giant sea monsters I now lived alongside were nothing but characters in a Japanese comic book. That I just imagined one day being nineteen, and then waking up in the body of a ten year old all those years ago.

Entirely possible. Not denyin' that. But one way or another, I knew a lot of junk that was going to happen before it happened. Like, future events. And I knew about people I'd never met. Somehow.

So I had a plan to make the most out my possibly-maybe-crazy existence.

And the first step in that plan was making it to Shells Town while Zoro was still imprisoned.

I sighed and allowed myself to doze off. Five minutes or five hours later, I was jostled awake by the abrupt stop of the rocking waves and the sound of a dropped anchor. Footsteps above followed after, so I stood, stretched, and gathered what I had (which wasn't much).

The hatch to the upper deck was just a few yards away.

"Ready or not, here I come."

Only one Marine spotted me getting off the ship.

"Hey- just what are you-?" he grabbed a hold of my forearm and tugged. "Were on there the entire time?"

I blinked twice. "Yes."

He obviously hadn't been expecting that. "But- I mean-" he said lamely. "You can't do that."

"Just did."

He swallowed thickly. "Then I'm going to have to arrest you-"

"Look," I began, slowly unpeeling his fingers from my arm. "You're doing your job. I get that. But getting clapped in irons at the moment would really put a damper on my plans."

He sighed. "Sorry man, but-"

"And you do realize," I continued. "That in taking me in, you have to go to your boss, and tell him, point blank, that you let a stowaway slip past your notice until just now, when we docked?" I let out a long sigh. "I can't imagine he'll be happy."

The guy suddenly went stiff. Most of the color drained from his face. The last of his grip went limp, and I gave his shoulder a pat.

"I'm a fantastic guy. I change my socks everyday and like keeping a low profile," I said. "So I'm going to walk away, go about my business, and no one will be the wiser about my means of transportation. It'll be our little secret. I like secrets. Don't you?"

The Marine looked at me for a full minute. Then he nodded, very slowly. I clasped my hands together with a grin.

"Fantastic," I turned away and began to walk away from the docks. "You won't regret this."

Shells Town, in a word, was crowded. Houses and shops were practically built on top of each other, to the point that they threatened to spill over into the water. They accumulated upwards to a point, where the Marine base was located.

I let out a low whistle.

The tension in the air was thicker than molasses in December. Seeing the place on paper was one thing. In person…well, the place was flat out depressing. Any person I passed had their head down and avoided me like the plague. I frowned. I knew the place wasn't so much as a blip on the Government's radar, being small and in the East Blue of all oceans, but come on. How did Morgan get away with this shit?

My stomach growled and I was reminded of my dry throat. I made a b-line for the closest restaurant, opened the door and-

"Ouch!"

Something rammed into my legs and nearly knocked me over. A familiar little girl in pigtails, with a small bundle held close to her chest, quickly picked herself up from inside the doorway.

"Sorry!" she said, and bolted past me.

I blinked once.

Then again.

Then the little hamster in my head started running on its wheel.

If that was who I thought it was…

And she was on her way to give…

Then that meant…

"Shii-take mushrooms," I turned right around and started after her.

If what was happening was what I thought was happening, then I was about to cut things way too close for comfort.

"Hey, wait!" I called out to her. "Uh-" what was her name again? "Rika? Rika! Hey!"

She stopped and stared at me. I caught up with her and decided not to beat around the bush. It certainly wouldn't appreciate the abusive gesture, and I didn't have time to be cryptic or careful about what I said.

"This is the way to the courtyard, right?" I asked, pointing down the path we were headed. "Are you going to visit Roronoa Zoro?"

Surprise filled her features. "I…" Rika clenched the rice balls tighter and her eyes darted from side to side.

"Chill kid, I'm not from around here," she relaxed considerably at that. "In fact, I'm here to see for myself if this Zoro guy is guilty."

"He's not!" She said with such ferocity that I stared at her. "He's really nice and starving! I…I was going to give him these…"

I eyed the food in her hands. "Tell you what. Why don't we walk together? You can fill me in on what you know, and I might just help him out. Win-win."

Her eyes sparkled. No. Seriously. They, like, twinkled. "You will?"

I smirked. "Only if we start walking. I'm sure he's hungry, and those look delicious."

Rika positively beamed at the complement and started up about Zoro's deal with Helmeppo. I had a sneaking suspicion she had been desperate to tell someone about it for a while. The walk wasn't long. I nodded at appropriate times during the story, and eventually the stone wall that surrounded the base came into view.

"Umm…I don't want to be rude but," Rika looked at me with big eyes. "Who are you? How did you know my name?"

I blinked and folded my hands behind my head. The girl was smarter than I gave her credit for. I thought about it for a second and settled on, "Sanya. And…well, how I knew your name is a secret. A big one."

She looked at me intently for a second, then replied, "…but you're going to help Zoro if you can. Right?"

I nodded. "According to you, he's innocent in all this. Of course I plan to help."

Rika seemed satisfied by that answer and added, "Isn't Sanya a girl's name?"

"Yes. It is," I deadpanned, frowning. Always with the name thing. She giggled and started walking along the wall.

"This way," Rika said, ushering me to follow. "Be really quiet."

"Of course. We must be verwy verwy quiet. We're hunting Zorwos," I muttered, too soft for her to hear.

After following the wall for maybe a minute (the place was freaking huge- someone was definitely compensating for something) I finally saw them.

A certain straw hat wearing pirate and meek, pink-haired yet-to-be-Marine had scaled the wall, and were looking out into the courtyard on the other side. Their backs were to us, and I hesitated. They hadn't noticed us yet. This was it. Now or never. If I got involved, there was no turning back.

And then I saw Rika struggling to grab a ladder she had hidden under a nearby bush. With a sigh, I picked her up and walked over to the wall, lifted her up and she grabbed onto the edge. Once she had a hold, I followed suit, pulling myself up.

"What-?" Coby gaped at her, but she only shushed him and climbed over the opposite side of the wall.

Zoro was watching everything happen, tied to his little post. Rika practically skipped over to him, rice balls in hand.

"AH! WAIT!" Coby screamed in my ear. I winched. Eardrums. Bleeding. "Come back! He's dangerous! You're going to get hurt!"

"I don't think so," I said, and Coby jumped a good three inches in the air, just managing to hold his grip on the wall. "After all, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. She's just laying on some moves."

"Who-?" He stared at me. "You've got to do something!" He turned to Luffy. "Luffy, you got to go get her!"

"Do it yourself," both Luffy and I answered at once. He blinked and looked at me, just noticing I was there.

"Sup," I supplied, before turning to look back at Rika and Zoro. The latter of which was getting angry at the girl's presence.

"What are you doing? Get lost!" he said, but Rika didn't so much as flinch. Tough kid.

"I thought you might be hungry. It's been a while since you ate, right?" she asked, holding out the food in her hands. "This is the first time I made rice balls…"

"I'm not hungry!" he scowled. "Go away already!"

Rika faltered. "But…"

"I don't want it! Now leave me alone or I'll kill you myself!"

"Eesh, Zoro. No need to take the act that far," I mumbled, but apparently it was loud enough for the peanut gallery to me next to hear. Coby looked at me, confused. "What? It's so obvious that-"

"Roronoa Zoro!" A loud voice that just radiated pompous, horribly-dressed arrogance reached my ears.

"Nevermind."

"Look, it's another weirdo," Luffy said.

I knew what happened next by heart. So…well, I kinda zoned out. I mean, it was a beautiful day out. A few seagulls flew overhead. There was a cloud shaped like a unicorn. All of which were sure as hell more pleasing to look at than Helmeppo, whose purple suit was something that needed to be seen to be believed. I mean, seriously. Purple with leopard print? I had the fashion sense of a chia-pet and knew that looked god awful.

The unicorn-shaped cloud morphed into an unidentifiable blob of condensation, and I frowned. Aww. It was cute. I grunted. Well, I guess I really should be paying some attention to what's-

"AHHHHH!"

"T-THEY ACTUALLY THREW HER!"

Oh shit. My attention snapped back into place just in time to see Rika doing her best impression of a bird. And failing. Miserably. My hand twitched on reflex, and I had to force myself not to catch her. Luffy had that covered. I wanted to keep every ace I had up my sleeves for as long as possible.

"Haha! I didn't think you had this kind of endurance. I thought you'd be dead already," Helmeppo said to the immobilized swordsman, who was giving him a grade-A crotchety librarian death glare.

I looked over at the walking fashion disaster, a bad taste forming in my mouth. I hope you spill bleach on that suit.

"You better keep your promise," Zoro spat.

"Oh, I'll keep my end of the bargain," Helmeppo turned, his two bodyguard following with their heads down. "You live like that for a whole month, and I'll release you. Good luck! You're going to need it!"

And he left, laughing like he just told the biggest joke of century. I rolled my eyes. And I hope someone takes a razor to that ugly-ass hairdo in your sleep.

As Rika was being looked over by Coby, Luffy vaulted over the wall and walked over to Zoro. I pulled myself up into a seated position on the wall's edge, my legs dangling above the ground.

Again, I knew what they were saying- or at least the gist of what they were talking about. So I checked out. The unicorn cloud was back- only now it was in shape of a large deformed cat. I liked cats. They were cunning and slick, so unlike loud dogs with their barking and constant need for attention. Cats kept their cool, but if you messed with them, you were in for a world of hurt. They'd be the perfect- sorry, purrrrfect animals if they didn't have the unfortunate habit of getting really fat and becoming fuzzy, flabby narcoleptics.

"I wonder what it would be like to have cat ears…" I mumbled, biting down on my thumb nail. "Would it feel good if someone scratched them? Would I still have my normal ears…?"

"Um…excuse me…"

I looked down to see Coby and Rika by my side. Luffy was walking away from Zoro with a very satisfied look on his face. I jumped down just as Luffy vaulted back over the wall.

"Well…" I began. "That was an informative visit."

"I can't believe those bastards!" Coby said, fists shaking. "Those aren't Marines. They're horrible!"

"You okay, Rika?" I asked, ignoring Coby's comment. The little girl nodded solemnly. I looked over at Luffy. "Just who are you guys? What were talking to Zoro about?"

"Hmm? I was asking him to join my crew," Luffy said simply with a grin.

"Crew?" I asked. "Uh…did he say yes?"

"Nope!"

I blinked. "I see you're taking the refusal in stride."

Luffy laughed. "I already decided I want him on my crew. I just have to set him free-"

"You can't do that, Luffy!" Coby persisted, but it was half-hearted. "The Marines here are terrible, but I'm sure they had some good reason for keeping him tied up!"

"They don't," Rika and I said at the same time. I smiled. "You can take this, Rika. I suck at story telling."

Somewhere along the lines the four of us made our way to Rika and her mother's restaurant. Coby filled me in on Luffy and his names, and I told him mine. To his credit, he didn't say a word about its girly nature. They listened to Rika explain what she had to me, and Luffy in turn told her about Zoro enjoying her rice balls.

"Sounds like things around here need to change," I said once story time was over, toying with the helm of my jacket.

There was a nice breeze in the air, but the sun was barring down mercilessly. I was getting a little sweaty in my white undershirt and jacket combo, but I was happy I at least had my long shorts and sandals on- my tan lines were going to be screwed to hell, but at least I wasn't sweating too much.

"The only bad guys here are the Morgans," Rika grumbled. "You get executed if you stand up to them, so everyone's really scared."

"That's...horrible," Coby said.

"So Zoro really is a good guy," Luffy smiled. "I definitely have to have him on my crew now!"

"You've got a one track mind, don't you?" I sighed, then paused. "When you say crew, do you mean pirate crew?"

"Uh huh. I'm gunna be King of the Pirates someday, so need a really strong crew. Zoro is going to be my First Mate!"

I smiled wistfully. "Sounds like an awesome plan."

Luffy blinked twice and looked at me. Before he could reply, there was a sudden rush of movement around us.

People all around were getting down on their knees, bowing low as Helmeppo and his guard approached. The guy was laughing and making a point to talk as loud as possible.

"You better keep your heads down or I'll tell my dad!" he proclaimed. "Do you want to end up like Roronoa Zoro? I'm going to publicly execute him in three days as an example to all of you!"

"Three days?" Luffy stood up and stalked toward him. "Didn't you say you'd give him a month?"

"Who the hell are you?" Helmeppo asked. "How rude. I was only joking when I said that! Only an idiot would actually believe such a stupid promise."

Luffy decked the guy so fast I barely saw him move. People gasped all around, their jaws hitting the ground.

"You bastard!"

"L-Luffy! Don't!" Coby rushed forward to hold him back. I stayed were I was seated, watching things play out. Angry Luffy was…scary. "Do you want to get in trouble with the Marines?!"

"I don't care! A bastard is still a bastard!" Luffy scowled.

"Y…You dare hit me?!" Helmeppo exclaimed, holding his face and standing. "Not even my dad hits me! I'm Marine Lieutenant Morgan's son! I'm going to tell him about this!"

I finally stood. "All bark and no bite."

"You'll regret this! I'll have you killed!" Helmeppo's bodyguards carried him away, the guy screaming at Luffy the entire time until they were out of sight.

"That was so cool! I was scared to death!" Rika beamed at him, eyes wide. Luffy laughed.

"Really? Maybe I should have hit him a few more times!"

Coby looked about in tears.

"Rika!" A woman, who I guess was the girl's mother, quickly pulled the girl away and into the restaurant. "Don't talk to those strangers! If anyone sees you you'll get executed too!"

"But they're good guys, and Zoro is too…"

"Have you been sneaking into the execution yard again?!"

Her mother shut the door and left the trio of us alone. I put my hands in my pockets and locked eyes with Luffy. "So…off to get Zoro?"

He laced his hands behind his head and started walking. "Of course!"

"But Luffy, the Marines will be after us now!" Coby began.

"We'll deal with that when it happens," Luffy answered simply. "Besides, I'm too strong to be killed!"

Coby seemed to resign himself to the fact that Luffy was never going to listen to him. I gave him a sideways glance.

"You need to relax," I quirked an eyebrow. "Freak out much more and you'll sprout some early gray," I paused. "I don't really know you people that well, but I can tell Luffy is the type of person you don't need to worry too much about. The concern is touching- it means you're a good person and even better friend. But your warnings would be better spent on someone else."

Coby didn't say anything back to me, but his posture changed slightly. More confident. I smiled, and the rest of the walk back to Zoro was a quiet one. Once we arrived, I returned to my position sitting on the wall, and Luffy went to Zoro.

Their conversation eventually accumulated to Luffy racing off to go get Zoro's swords- and I saw him use his Devil Fruit powers for the first time. I knew it was coming, but it still managed to freak me out. Just…seeing human body do something so insanely weird like stretching a few dozen yards was…uggh.

Kinda unsettling.

Not like I had room to talk, but still.

Once he was gone for a good few minutes, and I was sure Zoro had taken notice of me on my perch, I called over to Coby and jumped the wall.

"Let's get our friend free, shall we? Who knows how long Luffy will take."

Coby clenched his jaw and nodded.

Up close, Zoro was bloody, looked a little sickly, and a bit sunburned. There were bruises everywhere visible on him, and I was sure they were from Helmeppo kicking him while he was down. Anger bubbled in my stomach.

Not much got to me. I have a strange attention span, and tend to slip into the occasional non sequitur. Hell, I consider myself emotionally stunted. But hurting someone unable to fight back got under my skin. Only scum did that. Or people less than scum who needed to hurt others to feel better about themselves.

I was significantly tense when we reached the swordsman. "Coby, you work on getting his right arm free. I'll work on his left."

"Right."

Zoro was less than pleased about our intervention. "What the hell are you two doing? Do you people have a death wish or something?"

"No. Why would I waste a perfectly good wish on death?" I answered softly, my concentration on undoing knots. "Everyone's already guarantied that. I'd wish for something practical. Like three dozen extra wishes."

"You…" he stared at me like I was crazy. Which I probably was. "Just who are you people? If you help me, you'll be killed."

"Oh, would you stop going on about that?" I said. "Helmeppo isn't going to keep his end of your bargain. He has plans to execute you in three days."

"What?!"

"That's why I'm helping Luffy," Coby added. "I hate these kind of Marines! You shouldn't be arrested- I want to become a real Marine, just like the way Luffy is determined to become Pirate King!"

"He was serious about that?" Zoro asked.

"Apparently," I said, frustrated. The knots were crazy tight. "I'm here because this is fun and I was bored. And I happened to be around."

Both lies, but Zoro didn't know that. He shook his head. "You're all crazy."

I paused in my attempts to undo the knots. There was a sudden tingling feeling in the back of my mind. The hairs at the base of my neck were standing up.

I looked around.

I saw him an instant before he took the shot: a gunman on the nearest tower, taking aim at Coby.

Restrained reflexes were let loose.

In a swift movement, I placed my hand on the kid's chest and pushed, sending him tumbling. In the same movement, I rooted myself where he had been standing, and crossed my arms in front of me.

The bullet swirled through the air and I just barely had time to pull it off.

To Zoro and Coby, they saw me there one second, heard the crack of a fired bullet, and then suddenly, my entire upper body vanished. In its place were hundreds upon hundreds pieces of fluttering white paper. Their collective jaws, along with all watching Marines, hit the floor. The papers, all varying in sizes, allowed for the bullet to pass through thin air and embed itself in the ground.

To me, it was like suddenly being in hundreds of different places at once. Like…having hundreds of new limbs, all disconnected but still apart of me. I was conscious of every piece of paper. It was…taxing to control myself in so many places. Like…imagine trying to keep track of what's happening on several dozen TV sets all at once, with their volumes cranked up high.

And it took even more concentration to pull myself back together again.

The process only took ten seconds to the outside eye. But to me, my brain was spinning and a migraine was just beyond the horizon. I was short of breath and sweating. I couldn't focus, but willed myself to keep aware of what was happening.

"You…okay, Coby?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at the stunned kid.

"I-uh-what-?"

"What just happened?" Zoro asked numbly. Poor guy was probably going through insanity overload.

"Devil Fruit," I said, straightening up. "Gami Gami no Mi. Or maybe Pasa Pasa no Mi. I could never decide which name I liked more. Heh. That was stupid. I could have just pushed him and got out of the way," I looked around. "Where the hell is Luffy? Coby!" I shouted, shaking the kid from his shocked state. "Help me with these ropes before-"

"Stop right there! Put your hands in the air!"

In a flash, we were surrounded by Marines. All their were guns pointed at us, and I just could not muster up the energy to care. I was too damn worn out- and don't look at me like that. My powers were Logia in nature. It's not nearly as sweet a deal you think it is. They're powerful, but take a hell of a lot of control, concentration, and precision to pull off. That's why I couldn't just unravel my shoulder or arm to allow the bullet to pass through, I had to unravel my entire upper torso because it was, in reality, the easier option- but in no ways the most energy-conservative option.

"You have disobeyed the laws set forth by Lieutenant Morgan! You die here!"

"We're gunna die!" Coby sobbed.

"Damn it!" Zoro cursed.

"I wish I was a cat," I mumbled, just for the hell of it. "Cats have nine lives."

Ahead of us, another figure approached. A booming voice said, "How interesting," Morgan eyes fixed on us, pacing closer with his ax-hand-thing over his shoulder. "Are you with the Straw Hat? Are the four of you planning some sort of pathetic coup?"

He bragged a bit about he was so awesome and how we were nothing but garbage blah blah blah…I was too preoccupied with other thoughts.

"Hey," I said to Zoro. "Do you think he uses that ax for conventional things? Like dicing onions? I bet he can make a bitchin salad."

I'm sure he didn't hear me, because he was too busy staring apparent death in the face. Eventually Morgan got to his point.

"Take aim, men!" Morgan yelled. Coby was in tears. Zoro was desperately looking for a way of the situation. I had a sudden craving for fresh lettuce. "FIRE!"

Bullets whizzed through the air. I couldn't stop myself from tensing.

Luffy was there in a flash, appearing from no where and putting himself between us and the gunfire.

"Luffy!" Coby shouted.

The bullets hit him and stretched through him, then, like a sling shot, he flung them back at the soldiers, hitting a few of them. Luffy grinned and laughed.

"Bullets won't work on me!"

The marines were stunned. Morgan clenched his massive jaw. Luffy held out Zoro's katanas, and the swordman briefly explained his three sword style. I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I subtlety reached my hands into my pockets and withdrew a half dozen square pieces of paper. With a thought, they began folding themselves into the shape of four-pointed stars.

Morgan explained a bit about Devil Fruits to his soldiers before ordering them to charge, which they did. Coby was panicking. Luffy undid Zoro's ropes at the last second (only because I had loosened them, of course), and the swordsman singlehandedly held off the onslaught of marines. Luffy then took on Morgan, and I looked away, keeping an eye out for-

"Stop!"

"Oh, christ," I groaned, more annoyed than anything

Helmeppo had somehow snuck up behind us and has a gun to Coby's head. "Everybody stop or I'll shoot him!"

Luffy kept beating the crap out of Morgan unperturbed. Zoro shrugged.

"Are you stupid? One more move and this kid dies!"

I shook my head and flicked my wrist. "Just shut up."

My stars shot out at him like bullets, embedding in his hand holding the gun, causing him to drop it, two hitting his shoulder, and another in his forehead. They were only paper, but in my hands, they might as well has been steel. I went easy though- they'd only leave some nasty cuts, but they surprised him enough to knock him backwards on his ass.

I rushed forward and followed them up with a punch, knocking the guy out like a light.

I looked up at everyone- and saw Morgan unconscious at Luffy's feet. There was a moment of silence as the solders gaped at what the heck just happened.

I folded my hands behind my neck. "So…everyone still in one piece?"

Zoro fainted. Luffy laughed. Coby was in tears once again (happy tears, but tears all the same). I smiled.

Things couldn't have gone better.

(A/N): Sup. Please give me some feedback if you have the time. Anything is appreciated. Morgan arc will be finished next chapter as we last the Buggy arc with minimal rehashing.