Chapter 1

Today is the day that I have been waiting for, for what has seemed like a hundred years. It is my seventeenth birthday and it is the day that he promised to come get me, there is no doubt in my mind that he is coming. He's always been a boy of his word, although, he must be quite the man now.

Three years ago, I watched him set sail on his dinghy, waving furiously towards me with a huge grin. I couldn't even bring myself to feel sad at the sight of him leaving. It made me feel brave and determined to be stronger.

I sat by the port, waiting, staring into the vast ocean. Makino walked out of the bar and sat next to me. She wears a kind and composed smile.

"How are you feeling?" she asks me.

"Excited would be an understatement" I reply, grinning. "Luffy must have such a strong crew now. But I have been training so hard for this. I only hope that I am strong enough to not be a burden." I sigh "This is what I've wanted for so long, now that is so close, it seems unreal."

"That is completely normal. You have a big adventure ahead of you. I dare say, the things that are going to happen to you are going to be at the very least incredible." Her eyes water slightly and she hesitates. "Raven… Come into the bar. I'll make you a drink, okay?"

"I'll take you up on that offer! Thanks Makino!"

I wonder what she wanted to say. She must be worried about me leaving.

I follow her into the bar and sit down. I reminisce about when we were kids. My three older brothers protecting me and me protecting them…

A knot rises in my throat and my eyes water. Sabo… Ace… I promised my self that I would give my life before I lose Luffy.

I hear the sounds of raised voices and arguing. My heart lights up. I run outside and see a huge, magnificent ship with a lion at the front. It is beautiful.

I look around and see Luffy, our eyes meet and my eyes water.

"Luffy!" I yell

He runs into my arms and we hug so tightly we might just crush each other. He pulls out of my grip and put his hands around my face, wiping the tear on my cheek with his thumb.

I look at him up and down. He is a taller than me, and handsome. He seems so strong, even just by the way he holds himself, and I am happy to see him wear the same childish smile that he used to. I've missed him so much.

"I came, as promised." He says "Are you ready?"

"Of course I'm ready you idiot. I been preparing myself for this for long enough" Excitement starts rushing through me like adrenaline. "Now, introduce me to my new nakama!"

He smiles broadly, grabs me by the waist, stretches his arm and grabs onto the mast, flinging us onto the ship.

A gorgeous girl walks towards me and hugs me. She has beautiful, long, bright orange hair. She is Nami, I recognise her from the newspapers and the wanted posters.

"You must be Raven. My name is Nami. I'm the Navigator." She says "We've all been looking forward to meeting you. Luffy never told me his sister was so cute."

I blush furiously at her comment.

"Thank you" I laugh nervously "I must say the same for you."

A guy in a suit walks out; he has curly eyebrows and shiny blond hair. We make eye contact and he stares at me strangely. I don't think he likes me. He slides down the staircase and approaches me; he bends down on knee and takes my hand.

"Could it be that you are Raven, my fair lady?" He says

"Um… yes, that would be me." I answer, smiling, my face reddening by the second.

"You must be an angel or a goddess. I can't believe how beautiful you are. I think I'm in love with you. I can feel my heart swaying in my chest, ready to burst at your command my dear demoiselle." He stands up and introduces himself. "My name is Sanji. I am the cook, here. I can make anything your heart desires."

"You are so sweet. Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Where are the others?" Nami asks. "Sanji, can you go get them, please?"

"Yes, of course, Nami swaaaan!" Sanji says before running off in every direction, twirling around like a small child in excitement.

"He's not all there, don't worry about him." Nami laughs, "You'll get used to him."

"Is he always so nice?" I ask Luffy

"Not to me" Luffy snorted

Shortly afterwards 5 people come out followed by Sanji. I recognise most of them. A tall, elegant woman with black hair: Nico Robin, a little reindeer, that looks more like a teddy bear, walking on his hind legs: Chopper, a huge, colourful robot that I would definitely not mess with cool blue hair: Cyborg Franky, a young man with a extremely long nose and a giant slingshot on his back, he must be Sogeking, and a tall skeleton with a huge afro. He approaches me and he introduces himself as Dead Bones Brook before asking to see my panties. Nami punches him in the cheekbone. "She only seventeen you pervert." Nami says with small wrinkles that appeared in her fist and forehead. She seems to have a temper. The navigator's act of violence softened the mood, for me at least, and I giggle and introduce myself to everyone. We all talk for a while and laugh… a lot. I feel so blessed and reassured to have such a kind entourage.

"I haven't met Zoro yet." I say "He does belong in this crew, doesn't he?"

"Who cares, that stupid moss-head can't even introduce himself, he doesn't deserve to lay his eyes on such a beautiful young lady." Sanji says, annoyed. I guess they aren't the best of friends.

"Hmmm, maybe he went for a walk" Luffy says, standing up "Oh, I spotted him. Over there!"

I follow Luffy's finger to the direction he's pointing in.

I see a tall figure a distance away; he is wearing a dark green coat.

I stand up and say "Well, I should go introduce myself to him. It was so lovely meeting all of you. You seem to be amazing people and I wouldn't expect any less from friends of Luffy." I turn to Luffy "You should go say hello to Makino now, she's in the bar."

He nods and we jump off the boat together. He hugs me again which warms my insides.

I turn to the direction where I last saw Zoro. I walk quickly, and then jog. I look left and right but I can't see him anywhere. Where could he have gone? I jump onto a roof and twist my neck around looking for him, until… there. I've spotted him, looking confused. He looks lost although it's way too hard to get lost in this village.

I walk towards him and he turns around, noticing me somehow even though I wasn't in his line off sight. This must be a swordsman's intuition.

"Hi! I'm Raven, Luffy's sister. You must be Zoro. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, um, yeah, that's me. Sorry I didn't introduce myself, I just…" his voice wandered off.

"Its fine" I laugh "Are you going for a walk?" He nods, so I nervously ask if I could join him and he smiles.

We start walking together.

"So, how did you meet Luffy?" I ask him

"He helped me out three years ago, he didn't even know me but he made me join his crew as his swordsman. What surprised me the most was how easy it was to say yes. I've never met anyone like him."

"He's something else, isn't he?" I laugh

He tells me about the crew and the ship, which is called Sunny, and about their old ship, the Going Merry. He tells me about some of the crazy adventures they've had and I can see his face slowly lighten.

We talk for a while until our path eventually starts heading towards the Sunny. I notice that he stiffens a bit, seeming embarrassed. When we get closer to the ship, we separate, he goes toward the ship and I walk into Makino's bar where Luffy is sitting laughing with Makino. Her eyes are puffy and it looks like she'd been crying. I walk up to the bar and sit next to Luffy.

"So, captain, where are we heading first?" I ask him, grinning.

"Well, I thought we'd do some sight seeing." He laughs "We're going to go to the South Blue. There is something Robin wants to see. And then, we're going back to the New World."

I've never even been out to sea, let alone the Grand Line, let alone the New World, but I am not scared. I am dying of excitement.

The next day we set sail and finally, I am out in the sea, where it feels like I belong.

I am sitting at the back of the ship my feet dangling off behind the ramp, when Luffy comes and sits next to me. He put his hand on my head and messes up my hair.

I hesitate first but then I turn towards him and say "Luffy… Do you think that Sabo and Ace are together somewhere?" I turn towards the sea and sigh.

Luffy stares at me strangely and blurts out "What? Sabo? Didn't you know? He's alive and he's strong. He ate Ace's devil fruit back in Dressrosa."

Tears fill my eyes as I mumble "He's okay? Really?" my lip starts wobbling and I burst into tears holding onto his shirt for support. I dig my face into his chest and cry. "Oh, I can't believe it. He's okay. He's okay. After all this time…"

Luffy grins. "He promised we would meet again. The three of us at Ace's grave. He gave me his Vivre card," Luffy pulls out a piece of paper with Sabo's name on it, "and made me promise I would take good care of you."

I laugh and say "I don't need taking of, thank you very much… especially by an idiot like you!"

Luffy laughs loudly, then smiles and looks me in the eyes so intensely it feels like he is staring at my soul.

"Raven, I promise you, I will protect you."

"Luffy…," for a second I just stare at him and then I merely say "Thank you", with a small and sad smile on my face.

It must have been so hard for him to have lost our brother right in front his eyes. I don't know how he handled it, but I guess it was because of the nakama he had. He seems to love them so much and after what I hear he's been up to, (breaking into government buildings and defeating warlords for them) he must.

At dinner, Sanji cooked something that made my mouth literally water just by the smell. Everything he makes is done with such incredible delicacy and care, you can almost taste the dedication. The dinner table is so loud and everyone is grabbing food left and right, shouting at each other and laughing louder than madmen. Luffy is stealing everyone's food and Usopp is defending his own plate from Luffy, while Nami and Sanji talk about Fishman Island (where we will be going past on the way to the New World), Franky is offering Chopper to install a laser beam on his nose so no one would ever make fun of his cute blue little nose, I don't know why anyone would anyway I think it is adorable and Robin and Chopper are laughing with him. The ambience is always warm with them. I turn towards Zoro who is looking at me with dark eyes. He stands up and walks outside. I hesitate for a while and then I stand up to follow him.