Hello! This is the sequel to A Thousand Words! Hope you like it!

I don't own One Piece or any of it's characters. Only my OC.

Chapter 1

The open sky was completely cloudless. Gulls flew across the horizon. The fresh air and clean sea spray were a huge improvement from where he'd stayed for two years. Roronoa Zoro was splayed out on the grassy deck of the Thousand Sunny, wafting in that drowsy, grey area between sleep and waking. It had only been a month or so since the Strawhat crew had gathered together again, and they'd already been through so much. The two years he spent on Gloom island seemed like a hazy dream.

Zoro took a look around the deck.

Luffy was sitting on Sunny's head, shouting 'I'm gonna be king of the pirates!' at the open sea. Nami was tending to her tangerine grove, humming to herself. Robin was reading a book on a lawn chair. Franky was guzzling cola, manning the helm, and having an animated discussion with Usopp and Chopper. Brook was sitting on the mast next to the crow's nest, playing Bink's Brew on his violin. Sanji was in the kitchen, preparing lunch. It smelled pretty good, although Zoro would never say so.

The newest addition to the crew, Jimbei the fishman, was standing at the bow next to Luffy, smiling. Ever since Jimbei had cut ties with Big Mom, he looked a lot happier. As if a great weight had been removed from his shoulders.

Zoro smiled, and put his hand in his pocket. His eyes widened. His fingers had closed around a small seed. He pulled it out, and gazed at the shiny shell. The seed had been given to him by Kess, Hawk Eye Mihawk's adopted daughter, a girl who was like a little sister to him.

Zoro was amazed at how good a condition the seed was in. It had survived a plunge in the sea on the way to fishman island, a huge battle against the New Fishman Pirates, the oven and the deep-freeze of Punk Hazard, the battle at Desrosa, not to mention all the other weird weather conditions of the new world.

Zoro got up, and clutching the seed in his hand, he walked over to Nami. She was still tending to her tangerine grove. "Hey, Nami," he said.

"What's up, Zoro?" she asked. "If you want any money, I'd be happy to lend you some... at 300% interest."

"Yeah, no thanks." he said. He held out the seed. "I want to plant this, but I don't know the first thing about planting trees. Could you give me a hand?"

Nami took the seed in her hands. "You want to plant this? Where did you get it? What kind of tree is it?" Zoro nodded. "Yes I do want to plant it. It's a sakura tree."

"A sakura tree?"

"Yeah, it has blue flowers, for some reason." He paused before answering her last question. "I got it on the island I stayed at for the past two years." Pretty vague, he knew, but hell would freeze over before he'd tell anyone on the crew where he'd been and who he'd been with. The crew would never let him hear the end of it. Especially not that idiotic love-cook.

Nami dug a hole in the soil, placed the seed, and covered it with dirt. "There we go." she said. "It's nice that you thought of planting it."

Zoro nodded. "Thanks, Nami."

He went back to the side rail on the port side of the ship. He had kept his promise. He had planted Kess' seed on the Sunny.

He sighed. He missed Kess, but he had to keep moving forward. Kess would probably go to the new world herself in maybe seven years. He sighed and closed his eyes.

Then, he heard a whistling sound. That's odd. he thought. I've heard a similar whistle before... Wait a minute... Don't tell me...

He got up, looked over the edge, and almost fell overboard.

Beside the Sunny was a small boat. Standing in the small boat, waving her hands frantically, was a girl. She was small, about nine years old. She wore a threadbare shirt that fell to her knees, a belt to hold it in place, black pants that covered her feet, and a katana strapped to her back. It was as long as the Wado Ichimonji, but it was huge on her. Her scruffy blue hair almost covered her grey eyes.

Zoro thought he was going to have a heart attack.

"KESS!"

A sturdy vine shot from the small boat, and Kess climbed on board. Before Zoro could react, she had slam-tackled him in a hug.

"Oof!" he said. "What on earth are you doing here, Kess?" he said.

Kess gave him the big grey eyes.

Zoro smacked his forehead. "Yes, I understand you were looking for me. Does Hawk Eye know you're here?"

Kess shook her head. She didn't seem to notice the situation she was in.

"How on earth did you navigate your way through the new world?" Zoro asked.

Kess grabbed a seed out of her pocket. It was the same kind that she had given Zoro.

"So you used the seed a bit like a vivre card." Judging by Kess' look, his hunch was right on the money.

Kess was smiling from ear to ear. Until a shadow loomed over her. She turned around and ended up staring Brook right in the face. Her eyes went wide, and she hid behind Zoro.

"Yo ho ho ho!" Brook said in his usual singsong voice. "That's such a cute kid, Zoro! Hello there!" He paused, staring at her. "Would you mind if I borrowed some money?"

"What the hell are you asking?" Zoro shouted.

Kess just shuddered and hid further behind Zoro's legs.

"Brook! You're scaring her!"

Brook looked horrified. He got down on his knees, obviously trying to get to her level - even though he was still a whole lot taller than her. "I can open my skull! Look!"

This trick, which had impressed their friend Camie the mermaid, had quite a different effect on Kess. Instead of being impressed, Kess' eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out cold.

"Brook!" Zoro shouted. "Back off already!" This is really going well... he thought.

The little scene Brook had caused was getting the attention of the rest of the crew. Zoro wondered how Kess was going to react to the rest of them.

"Who's that, Zoro?" Nami asked, walking up to them.

"Quite the cute kid!" Brook said. "She obviously knows Zoro."

"Really?" Franky said, "I want to see!"

"Wait a minute Franky!" Zoro shouted. No good, though. Kess opened her eyes, sat up, and immediately got an eyeful of Franky's weird opened hawaiian t-shirt, and his speedo. She made the most terrified noise she could, which was pretty impressive since it was just a sharp drawing of breath, and hid even further behind Zoro. She was trembling like mad.

"Well?" Nami asked.

Zoro turned to face her, not an easy task since he was trying to hide a terrified nine-year-old from two of the craziest looking people anyone could think of meeting, and said, "Her name is Kess. She lives on the island I stayed at for the past two years. And would you BACK OFF Franky?! She's terrified of strangers!"

Franky stepped back. "Oh!" he cried. "Don't be scared, Kiss! I'm really super, actually!"

"It's Kess." Zoro said. "And if you force anything on her she'll just get even more scared."

Luffy, who was standing behind Zoro, got down and grinned hugely at Kess. "Hey!" he said, tapping her on the shoulder. "Will you join my crew?"

Kess took one look at Luffy, and tried to dart to a new place to hide.

"Wait a minute!" Luffy shouted. He stretched out his arm, grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and pulled her up to him.

"Luffy, that's not-" Zoro started.

Kess must have hit her ultimate high when it came to terror. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Wait!" Luffy shouted. "Don't cry! Look what I can do!" He grabbed his cheeks and stretched them out until they were about as long as Kess was tall.

Zoro facepalmed. This was going horribly wrong.

Kess darted behind Zoro again, except this time she was in between Zoro and the wall. She stared at Luffy for a moment. Slowly, pushing Zoro in front of her, she walked back to him. Timidly, she took his nose between her fingers, and stretched it back to her shoulder. Then, she let go, and it snapped back into place. Then, she gave a small smile.

Luffy held out his hand. "I'm Luffy!" he said.

Kess timidly shook his hand, then pulled her hand back. Zoro smiled.

Franky stepped up for another try. "Hey," he said, flashing her a weird grin. "I'm Franky! The super cyborg shipwright."

Kess took Zoro's hand, clutched it with a strength he'd never expected she had, and started to cry again.

"Hey, don't cry!" Franky said. "I-if you cry, I'll-" he started bawling.

"What the hell, Franky?!" Zoro shouted. At the best of times, that cyborg's crying got on his nerves.

"Here." Franky said. "Press my nose."

Kess hid again.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Kess. I'll show you." He stepped up, ignoring the tugging on his pant legs, and pressed Franky's nose.

Franky's hair fluffed into a huge mohawk.

Kess' eyes went wide. She pushed Zoro forward.

Zoro put his hand on her back, and swept her out in front of him. "You press his nose." he said.

Kess dug her heels into the grass, leaning against Zoro's hand. She looked absolutely terrified, but she lightly pushed Franky's nose.

Franky's hair changed into a poufy afro.

Kess gasped. She smiled, then ran and hid behind Zoro again.

Oh, boy... Zoro thought.

He felt Kess get lifted off the ground. Oh, no. Robin, you've just complicated things...

Kess was suspended in the air, held by one of Robin's severed hands. She started to tremble.

"Hello Kess." she said calmly. "My name is Robin. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand to Kess.

Kess stared at her hand for a moment, then took it. Robin smiled. She made another arm appear on Kess' back, and tickled her stomach.

Kess giggled. Robin smiled again, lifted her up, and placed her beside Zoro again.

Then, Usopp decided to try what Luffy had done. He got down to Kess' level, and said, "and my name is... Captain Usopp!"

Kess stared at him for a full second, then punched him square in the nose. He fell over backwards, crying, "What the hell was that for?!"

Zoro glared at her. "Why did you do that?"

She gave him a terrified look. Zoro stifled a laugh. "Hey, Usopp. Try that again, and explain that the needle on your face is your nose."

Usopp gave it another try, this time with more success.

Then Chopper and Nami stepped up and introduced themselves. That went fairly well, considering the fact that Kess accidentally called Chopper a tanuki.

That's when Sanji came dashing out of the kitchen carrying four trays of delicious looking drinks. "NAMI SWAN! ROBIN CHWAN! I made refreshing drinks with the tangerines from Sunny's tangerine grove!" He stopped short when he saw Kess. "Aww!" he said, walking up to her and smiling. "Who's the cute kid?"

Kess looked like she was about to die of fright. She ran and hid behind Zoro again, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Zoro noticed the look she was giving him. He paused for a second, then burst out laughing.

Everyone stopped and stared at him.

"What the hell's so funny, Marimo?" Sanji growled.

Zoro managed reassert control over his laughter. "Hey, Dartboard brow," he said, smirking. "Your eyebrows are scaring her! They're almost alive! Ha ha ha ha!"He couldn't help himself. It was just too funny.

"What?" Sanji said, staring at Kess in horror. "My eyebrows aren't alive, and they won't hurt you, I promise!"

Kess gave Zoro a scared look.

Zoro patted her head. "I know the cook." he said. "He's stupid, but he's not so bad... When he's not flirting with every pretty woman around."

Instead of going to shake Sanji's hand, Kess just gave him a timid wave.

"Don't expect her to like you right away just because you cleared that up, by the way. Kess has a kind of phobia of strangers." Zoro said in response to Sanji's disappointed look. "She'll warm up to you, but you need to be patient."

"Oh."

There was someone missing from all this. Of course! Kess hadn't been introduced to Jimbei yet. Zoro was a little worried about this. If Kess was scared to the point of passing out just looking at Franky and Brook, how would she react to seeing a fishman? She might have a heart attack.

Finally, Jimbei walked over and sat down.

Strangely, Kess just stared at Jimbei for a second, then waved.

Jimbei smiled and said, "Hello little one. You've grown since I saw you last."

Zoro's eyes grew wide. "You already know her?"

Jimbei nodded. "I met her once. Hawk Eye took her to a Shichibukai meeting a few years ago."

Oh, no... Zoro groaned inwardly.

"WHAAAAT?!"

"Is she related to Hawk Eye Mihawk?" Luffy asked. "That's so cool!"

"Well, she's his adopted daughter..." Zoro said.

Everyone fixed him with a curious look. "You haven't said anything about where you were for the past two years..." Sanji said. "Talk."

Zoro sighed. This was not going to be fun at all.

"What?! You trained with Hawk Eye?!"

"Yeah." Zoro said flatly. Don't make me say it again."

"Begging an enemy to instruct you..." Sanji said, smirking. "That's pretty pathetic, Marimo. If I were you I'd be pretty asha-AAACK!"He didn't finish his sentence. He hit the deck, clutching at his crotch.

Kess was standing in front of Zoro, giving Sanji the stink eye.

"Did you kick him?" Zoro asked her. She nodded. "Good for you!" he said, grinning. Then, he glared down at her. "You have a lot of explaining to do, you know."

Kess smiled sheepishly.

~~~~~~ a few minutes later~~~~~

"So, let me get this straight."Zoro said, tapping his forehead. "You came to the new world with Hawk Eye for a Shichibukai meeting, and while no one was looking you stole a boat, and sailed off to find me?"

Kess nodded enthusiastically.

Zoro facepalmed. He couldn't get any kind of message to this kid. It was like talking to a teenager. In one ear, out the other.

The whole group was eating lunch on the huge picnic table out on deck.

Luffy stretched his head across the table, blocking Usopp's attempt to grab a freshly baked roll. "How can you understand her, anyway?" he asked Zoro.

"Well," Zoro said. "Kess is mute, obviously. She communicates with looks. It took me a few months to learn the trick of reading her expressions."

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Luffy exclaimed. "Hey, Kess, you should join my crew!"

"That's not gonna happen, Luffy." Zoro said.

"Why not?" Luffy whined.

"Because Hawk Eye's probably coming, and when he does, he's not going to be happy. Kess is in enough trouble as it is."

Kess turned a little pale at that comment.

Jimbei got up, and said, "Enough. This is not the time for this argument. What we should focus on is making our guest feel at home."

Luffy nodded. "Alright." "If you'll excuse me." Jimbei said.

"Sure!" Luffy said. He turned to Kess. "You want some meat?" he asked.

Kess nodded. Timidly, she took a huge piece of meat, and took a bite.

Well, that's chapter 1! Kess will be in a lot of trouble...

Kess: (stares at her feet) ...

FM13: Oh! It's okay, Kess!

Zoro: Now you've done it.

FM13: (offers Kess a cookie) Here!

Kess: (grins and takes the cookie) ...

Zoro: Oh, boy...

Please review!