a/n: this is a drabble series? that i started 2 years ago and did nothing with. it's updated basically on a whim (aka whenever inspiration hits). it's also being uploaded on my ao3 account; same title, different author name so if you find it on there, it's by me. leave ideas and reviews because i love reading them and it makes me feel inspired. all mistakes are my own since i don't really have a beta reader.

basic disclaimer: own nothing, characters aren't mine. only thing that is the backstory for Zeff.

He had been planning on leaving, setting up his floating restaurant and forgetting everything about the hellhole that was the Rock, but it was hard to do when he had the biggest reminder of them all: the little girl he had been stuck with. She hadn't a home, at least, if she did, she wasn't talking, and he couldn't just let them take her to one of the orphanages on the closest island. She was scared and scarred from the same experience he just went through and she held secrets that he wanted to try and figure out.

But he wasn't parental enough to take care of a young child such as herself, much less a girl child. She needed a mother figure and maybe if she did got to an orphanage, she would be able to find a family that would love her and help her overcome her problems. She might get taken in by a family with a little sibling for her to boss around and loving parents that would comfort her when her nightmares terrorized her. It was tempting to leave her, to let them take her, but before he could stop himself, he was saying that he was her guardian and that they had to get home.

The doctors at the island hospital wouldn't let them leave right away though, he had healed up pretty quickly, at least, quick enough that they were relinquishing their hold on him, but the little girl still needed to stay there. She was still too thin, too unhealthy and they wanted to keep her longer. She didn't want to stay though, she fought them and him all the way. She hated having to stay in the hospital and whenever Zeff asked her why, she clammed up. She held her silence better than most pirates did.

"Hey, eggplant." He said, the nickname rolling off his tongue as he waited for her greeting grunt. She hated the name, but refused to give him hers, so it was staying.

"Hm," She turned away from him, "'snot my name."

"You won't tell me your name, so that's your name, Eggplant." He sat down in the chair next to her bed and pulled out a newspaper from the island. He had a daily routine of grabbing breakfast at dawn, talking to the locals until lunch and then spending the rest of the day in the hospital at Eggplant's bedside, reading the newspaper. The girl never really spoke during that time, just listened to him reading out random things that he found interesting and ignoring his questions.

"Oh look, puppies for sale." He said, grinning from ear to ear, "Ever have a puppy?"

She said nothing and so he continued his perusal, the words not really interesting him. Yesterday's paper had been interesting; there had been a festival the day before and yesterday, the paper ran article after article talking about what had happened and the entire history of it. He had fun reading the entire thing to her, knowing that it had bored her well enough that she had fallen asleep hours before she usually did.

"I had a puppy once. He grew into this great hound dog that got lost when there was this huge storm when I was a teenager. I missed him greatly." Zeff explained, laughing as he did, "My mother hated him so much, thought he was too much work but when he was gone, she missed him more than I did."

Eggplant frowned but didn't turn to look at him. He continued his story, "We searched all over for him, but we never found him, it was disappointing. We talked about getting another dog, but it just didn't feel right." He finished with a sigh. They fell into silence, the only sound the flipping of the pages. He worried about taking her home, the doctors were saying she was getting stronger and healthier and that it'd be any week that she'd be well enough to take home. Not that they had a home to return to. His home was his ship and he lost that.

Rustling filled the room as he continued to look through the classified pages. He was always looking for a boat to take them away and to an island with actual people on it, but it seemed as if they didn't really get many visitors. The ship that brought them there only ran once every three months and it wasn't going to be showing up for another two months which left them two months overstaying the welcome they had gotten.

"We weren't allowed pets."

He dropped the newspaper a bit, "What did you say, Eggplant?"

She had turned to face him, her bright blue eye staring at him. "We weren't allowed pets." She repeated.

"Huh," He muttered, "Shame about that. Pets teach kids responsibility."

"And stop calling me that, you shitty geezer." She muttered, turning on her side. "'s name Sanju."

"Hm, whatever. Eggplant's a better name anyway." He grinned though, "Got any idea on how we're getting off this island, Sanju?"