After climbing onto Luffy's boat and leaving the island she had spent her whole life on behind, Iris felt slightly uncomfortable. She had been so happy to climb onto the boat and say goodbye to her hometown, and still thought she had made the correct decision, but she couldn't shake this feeling of uneasiness. She had just left behind everything she had ever known, and that reality was starting to sink in. She had always known she would leave the village, but not necessarily in this fashion. She had always pictured at least having some sort of plan in mind when leaving.

The biggest thing making her uneasy was that the people she was now traveling with didn't know about her being half fishman. Hopefully she just was making too big of a deal out of this in her mind. She was sure that it was going to come up at some point, but she didn't know how to broach the subject. Should she bring it up herself? Luffy already seemed to like her, so perhaps he wouldn't care? After all it's not like it changed who she was.

The island she was from was small and boring, but at least she didn't have to worry about the people there uncovering her secret. They all knew of her race, and they all knew who her father was. They had been welcoming of him when her mom had died, and she had lived a fairly good life on that island. They had always treated her well and like she was no different from anybody else. After her father was taken by the navy she had made up her mind that she would go after him when she was able to, but she didn't ever imagine that she might have second thoughts about leaving.

With how quickly she had left she didn't even get to tell the others goodbye. At least she got to tell the chief, who was like a grandfather to her, goodbye. She had planned on leaving and not looking back, but she was glad that she was able to tell him goodbye. She knew she'd be kicking herself later if she hadn't told him goodbye. He was strange, but he was a good old man. He had been her and her father's biggest supporter in the village. She had a feeling that he truly didn't ever have any bad thoughts or feelings towards her father.

Really when she thought about it, she wasn't sure why fishmen were treated so bad. Sure, they looked different than humans, but isn't that to be expected since since fishman originated from an island under the sea? It wasn't as if fishmen didn't have any human like characteristics. She supposed she didn't have to understand it, but she hoped that she would become strong enough that it didn't matter what her race was.

She hated having to think about hiding her race, because it made her feel as though she was ashamed of who she was and she wasn't. She was proud of the abilities she had because of being a fishman. She was proud to be her father's daughter and to be half fishman; honestly she'd love it if she had been a full blooded fishman. Her struggle came with knowing that people would make judgements about her without getting to know her just by her being half fishman. She fully well knew how badly fishmen were treated from years of listening to people's abusive language towards her dad.

"What's wrong, Iris?" Luffy asked and she realized that she had been staring off into space as she thought. She shrugged her shoulders and decided to change the subject by asking how Luffy he had met both Nami and Zoro. She was surprised to hear that Luffy and Zoro hadn't been traveling together long; Zoro seemed to have a strong sense of loyalty towards Luffy already and she had assumed that they had sailed together for a long time. Luffy had sought our Zoro because he wanted a strong swordsman and had heard that Zoro was the best around.

Luffy explained how Zoro had been his first crew member, and how they had met on the island that was home to the navel base controlled by Captain Morgan. She listened intently as he talked about how they defeated Captain Morgan and overthrew the naval base. Zoro interrupted the story every once in awhile to correct Luffy, but it made her happy hearing that those two meshed so well. Teamwork was very important to having a strong crew, and it sounded like those two had had each others backs since they had made an alliance.

She was impressed to hear that the two of them had taken down a naval base. Becoming a pirate with them meant that she would be going up against the navy too. She could hardly wait for the day that she would be able to fight against and take down the navy. If they were able to make a name for themselves as pirates they would probably have the navy chasing them. Thinking about that made her know that with 100% certainty that she had made the right decision to join Luffy.

As for how he met Nami, it was a much shorter story. They met in Iris' hometown and she had initially decided she hated him because he was a pirate. She hated all pirates. Name was actually the reason Luffy got locked in a cage by the Buggy Pirates; she had tricked him into being handed over to them as her boss to avoid getting herself in trouble with the pirates. She was a thief who only stole from pirates she said. She made it very clear that she was not part of their crew, and that she would only stick around as long as it was beneficial to her. She seemed to enjoy talking about herself and was glad that Iris had asked about how she had come into the picture.

"How about you? Why don't you tell us about yourself?" Zoro asked her. She didn't know where to start and looked down before responding. "I mean, you don't have to say anything, but if you're going to be sailing with us it might be helpful to know at least what your skill set includes," he continued. She realized his questioning of her was normal, but she didn't know where to start.

"I'm 21-years-old, and I've practiced multiple forms of martial arts all my life... Including a form of aquatic martial arts. I've mastered a few of them. I'm strong, and the best swimmer you'll ever meet. I'm also one hell of a bar tender. I've been around alcohol my whole life since my dad raised me owning a bar," she started. She hoped that her answer would suffice. She didn't typically like talking about herself and felt awkward doing so. It made her feel vulnerable to give out information about herself, and she hated to feel vulnerable. In fact she equated it with being weak.

"Bar? Oh yeah, you offered me a drink back there before the town was blown up. That's too bad! I should have taken you up on that offer," Zoro said with a sigh.

"Aquatic martial arts?" Nami asked in a suspicious tone ignoring Zoro, and Iris bit her tongue. She knew from Nami's tone that she shouldn't have given out that bit of information. Not everyone had heard of fishman karate, but she gathered that Nami did from her reaction. It was a type of martial arts that only fishmen could practice. She had said it to test the waters, and had gotten a bite. Iris had a feeling that her and Nami wouldn't get along. Iris' first impression of the girl was that she was annoying, and Iris now had a feeling the girl was racist.

"My dad taught me. My goal is to rescue him from the navy. He was a pirate, and had a bounty on his head. 14 years after he had given up his pirating life to raise me, the navy showed up out of the blue and took him away," she said plainly.

"Ahh... I'm so jealous! I'll have a bounty on my head sometime soon too! And I wish I was a good swimmer. I can't swim anymore because of the Gum Gum fruit. I'm hungry..." Luffy whined as his stomach growled. She was thankful that he was a scatterbrain and had changed the subject. "Say, if you're such a good swimmer, do you think you can catch us some fish?" he asked excitedly and she nodded her head yes. "Yahoo! I'm starving!" he exclaimed.

"We don't have a way to cook the fish on this little boat... Are you fine with raw fish?" she asked and he nodded his head enthusiastically. She took off her shoes and set them in the boat being careful not to expose the webbing between her toes. She jumped off the boat and into the water and swam down to find some fish. She had learned at a young age that being half fishman made fish not so wary of her as they were of humans. She was able to catch them easier than most and had learned to be an excellent fisherman.

Once she was far enough into the water to where the others wouldn't be able to see her she took off her gloves to reveal the webbing between her fingers. She stuck the gloves into her bra so they wouldn't be lost in the ocean and let her fingers stretch out. It felt so nice to stretch out her fingers and not have the webbing suppressed by the gloves. The webbing between her fingers enabled her to move even better in the water. She swam down deeper and found a school of fish. She swam up next to them and quickly grabbed two in her hands. She started to bite into a fish to take back up, but realized that would probably give away that she wasn't a normal human. A normal person couldn't breath underwater, and so carrying a fish back in her mouth would have been stupid of her.

So instead she chose to use some of her fishman karate to manipulate the water around her. She bent the current so that the fish were shook up and ran into each other in a panic. They collided and some of them became unconscious and it was easy for her grab an armful and swim back up to the surface. She threw the fish she was holding into the boat. "I'm going to get more. I'll be back," she said.

She swam back down deep into the sea multiple times to get more fish and once she had thrown a few dozen fish into the boat she came back up. She knew that might be more fish than they could eat, but she figured if there were leftovers she could use it as bait for bigger fish if they wanted.

She pulled the gloves out from her bra and and fastened them back on while she was still treading water before getting back into the boat. She pulled herself in and was amazed to see how many fish had already been eaten. Luffy was practically inhaling the fish. She quickly put her shoes back on and tried to wring the water out of her clothes. She then sat down and grabbed a fish and was about to bite into it and saw that Nami was looking like she was trying to not vomit.

"How can you eat that?!" Nami asked.

"You've eaten sushi before, haven't you? What's the difference?" Iris asked.

"That is not sushi! It's still got skin, and blood, and bones! Gross!" Nami exclaimed. Iris shrugged her shoulders and bit into the fish. Sure, cooked and prepared fish was better, but this would do just fine. Luffy and Zoro definitely didn't seem to mind eating the raw fish. She finished eating the fish and tossed the parts she didn't eat back into the ocean. She was shocked when she looked back to the pile of fish and saw that it was gone. Luffy was sitting with and expanded belly looking happy, and Zoro looked like he was going to fall asleep again. She thought about offering to go get more, but decided not to. If Luffy wanted more he would ask.

Iris reached into the backpack she had brought and pulled out a bottle of sake. "Let's drink to a new adventure," she said as she opened the bottle. Zoro perked up at the mention of having a drink and was fully awake now. "This is the finest sake on Earth. It is made from water at the bottom of the oceans depths. My dad always said that no other sake could compare," she explained. She took a drink of the sake and then held the bottle out. "Since we don't have any cups you'll just have to share the bottle with me," she explained.

Zoro reached out and grabbed the bottle out of her hands. "This is good!" he said after taking a drink and passed the bottle to Luffy. Luffy took a drink and passed it back to Iris. She held the bottle out towards Nami's boat, but she shook her head. "I don't drink with pirates," she said in a condescending tone. Iris felt her blood pressure rise, but she chose to bite her tongue.

"You're missing out on some excellent sake," Zoro said in a taunting tone to Nami. This superb sake was made on the fishman island, though they had no idea. She had never been to the island, but she knew it was an island in the Grand Line and it was where her father was from. The water used was said to the cleanest, and most pure water in the world. This was the first time she had had the sake, and it was definitely as good as she had imagined. Working in a bar she had tried many different kinds of sake, but they all paled in comparison. She had planned on leaving this bottle unopened until she could share it with her dad, but she decided sharing it with her new captain and crew mate was good too.

As they shared the sake she noticed that Zoro seemed to enjoy alcohol quite a lot, so she filed that away in her brain. She could definitely use that to help her get to know him. She wouldn't get him drunk or anything, but she could use it as a common grounds.

"It's official! By exchanging sake we agree to become the best pirate crew ever!" Luffy said as he threw his hands up in the air excitedly. She smiled as she looked at her new captain and crew mate. Luffy's joyful demeanor was contagious and his laughter was able to make her forget her doubts momentarily. She had a feeling, that even with as strong as she was, that her strength was still lacking in comparison to this carefree person. She would have to continue getting stronger so that she wouldn't hold them back. Not to mention, she had a competitive nature and was not one to take being bested by others.

They finished the sake and she leaned back. She tilted her head up to look at the now night sky. It was a beautiful and clear night, and out on the middle of the ocean it was dark and she could see every star in the sky. She wasn't sure if it was the sake, the peaceful night, or Luffy's laughter throughout the evening that had helped calm her, but she was feeling much calmer now. "Hey Iris, do you want to keep lookout first?" Luffy asked and she nodded her head. Those two had fought a difficult battle earlier; they deserved to sleep. She would take on what Luffy asked of her, and this was a simple enough request. "Okay! Wake me up when you're tired," he said and fell asleep almost instantly.

She turned her head to look over at the boat Nami was on and saw the girl was sleeping. Perhaps Nami's suspicion of Iris' aquatic martial arts had been in Iris' head. Maybe Nami had just never heard of such a thing and was merely curious about it. Iris decided she was being overly defensive because of watching what her father had gone through. She knew she didn't look like a fishman, and it was unlikely that any of them were privy to her secret. Nobody that had come through her town had guessed she was a fishman, and she had dealt with a lot of different travelers and pirates over the years.

As they sailed through the night Iris watched the ocean waters and let the sound of the waves help her mind stay quiet. Being in the water was her escape. When she was growing up and she'd be angry about something or another, she would always run out to the waters and dive in. She would let her body float along the waves and would listen to the ocean. One of the perks of being a fishman was that she could breath underwater and didn't have to worry about the waves pulling her under and drowning. She was able to have no real fear of the ocean, unlike most people.

One of the things she had observed about the ocean was the grand personality it had, and Iris had great respect for it. After her father had been taken away, the ocean had been her place of solace. It was always there for her. So listening to it now, when her head was still questioning her decision, made her feel at ease.

It was too bad that Luffy wasn't able to swim because of his devil fruit powers. She almost pitied him for that, but at the same time she knew that his Gum Gum abilities were something that would make him stand out in the pirate world. If he was able to master his powers, then he might have a shot a rising up through the other new up and coming pirates. At least if she was at his side then he wouldn't have to worry about drowning; she would make sure that never happened. With her fishman abilities she would make sure to keep him safe.

She knew from her father that it was a crew's job to keep their captain safe. When she agreed to come be part of Luffy's crew she was agreeing to put her life on the line for him. He should do his best to protect his crew, but when it came down to it she knew that the captain's life should be everybody's priority. A crew would fall apart without their captain.

She looked to her sleeping captain and smiled. He even looked happy and carefree as he slept. His straw hat was securely attached to his head, and was newly repaired from the damage Buggy had done to it. She was surprised when Nami had offered to fix it; perhaps he was winning her over even though she wouldn't admit to it. Iris had only known him a few hours, but his infectious smile and carefree personality had won her over already. When she started to overthink her decision to come with him, she could look to him and be reassured that she had made the right decision. She wasn't sure what it was about him that made her forget her doubts but it did. She didn't hardly know the boy, but he had a magnetic personality.

She then turned her gaze to Zoro. He was sleeping soundly and didn't look as pained as she would have thought. A normal person would not have survived what he had gone through today, and if by some miracle they had they would be suffering a whole lot more than he seemed to be. His clothes were blood stained and ripped, though the bleeding seemed to have stopped. Under normal circumstances he would be out of commission for weeks, but he wasn't a normal person. She could tell by watching him fight earlier that this man was a beast.

She was still shocked to be sailing with the famous Pirate Hunter. His reputation stretched across the East Blue, and probably to other seas as well. He was a renowned bounty hunter that pirates feared, but she was glad to have him on her side. She found it funny that he had never considered himself a bounty hunter. The more of the sake he drank the more chatty he had gotten and revealed that he only fought wanted pirates to make a living as he trained to become the strongest swordsman alive. That, and he wasn't sure how to get back to his village. They had all had a good laugh to find out that Zoro was lost, and had taken up bounty hunting because he couldn't get back home.

He was strong, and reliable though. His muscular body showed off the years of training that he had undergone. Not only were the toned muscles attractive, but they allowed him to have a beast like strength. She let her brain wander to thoughts of possible romance, though she knew it was highly unlikely that he'd be interested in her. She didn't have much to offer, but she would do her best to become stronger and become somebody worthy of his affections. She knew it was silly to be having such thoughts about a man she had only known a few hours, but she let herself indulge in the thoughts anyway.

She thought about different scenarios in how a romantic relationship could form between the two of them. She daydreamed about telling him that she was half fishman and him being attracted to her all the more. Or that it wouldn't matter to him what her race was because his attraction to her was so strong. There were endless scenarios she could come up with in her head, but all she could do was hope that one of them would work out.

She then turned her thoughts to how they would become an actual crew. It seemed that Luffy really had no game plan, other than knowing he wanted a cook and a musician for some reason. She could understand having a cook around, but not so much the musician. They would need strong individuals and hopefully some that had experience with sailing. She had no idea how to sail, and from what she could tell the only one that really seemed comfortable with sailing and navigating was Nami, and Nami had already made it clear she wasn't a part of their crew. That meant they'd have to find a navigator. A shipwright would be a good thing to have too.

She looked over the horizon and saw that there were no other boats in the area, and the sea was calm. She was glad it was a clear night for sailing, as he really didn't know how they would handle any sort of rough seas in these two dinky boats. If they came across other boats they'd have to ditch Nami's boat and all sail in the smaller boat she was on. The boat she was on had no jolly roger or any way to identify itself as a pirate boat, unlike Nami's boat which boasted the Buggy Pirates insignia. Iris didn't want to have to do that though, so she hoped that there would be smooth sailing and that they wouldn't come across another boat.

Her thoughts then turned back to her hometown. Hopefully nobody would touch her home while she was gone. Her bar was no longer a worry since it was destroyed, but she did wonder what would be built where her bar was. Luffy had left half of Nami's treasure back on the island to help them rebuild, and Nami had been furious about that. Iris was grateful to him though; he was helping make sure that her village was taken care of. He wasn't your typical pirate no matter how she looked at it.

She then looked over to Nami's boat and wondered how long that girl would travel with them. Would she stab them in the back whenever it was convenient for her, like how she turned Luffy into Buggy? Or would she grow to like being a pirate with them? She had a deep seeded hate of pirates, but Iris didn't think that Luffy was like any pirate that Nami could have possibly encountered before. He was a good kid. He didn't seem very bright, but she didn't doubt for a second that he was a good person. Iris wasn't sure that she liked the idea of Nami continuing to sail with them, but if Luffy wanted Nami there wasn't much she could do about it.

The night passed and soon she could see the sun starting to rise over the horizon. The adrenaline surging through her body had settled down and she was starting to feel tired, but she didn't want to wake the others up. She was used to late nights from working at the bar, and there had been many sleepless nights as she schemed on how she would find her father and free him. She told herself that staying up all night keeping watch was no big deal, even though her eyes were starting to feel heavy.

"Ooh! I slept good!" she finally heard Luffy say happily. She looked over to him and said good morning to him. "Have you been watching all night? Aren't you tired?" he asked and she nodded with a yawn. Nami was awake now, and Luffy was complaining about being hungry. There was a small island appearing on the horizon that Iris pointed out to them, but Nami said it was an uninhabited island and there was no point in stopping.

"Let's go! I'm hungry!" Luffy shouted and started rowing the boat towards the island. He rowed the boat up to the shore, and Nami did the same with her boat. "You stay on the boat with Zoro, Iris. Nami and I will go find some meat!" Luffy stated and Iris agreed. She curled up on the floor of the boat and closed her eyes, and she quickly fell asleep.

As she fell asleep she fell into a nightmare. It started out a peaceful dream where she was working in the bar with her dad and she was happy. Things were how they used to be, but then suddenly the navy came and took him away from her and there was nothing she could do about it. She could feel her heart sinking as she watched them take him away. She ran after them, but they were much faster than she was. Her father was yelling at her to stay back, but she couldn't. She couldn't watch on the sidelines as they took him away.

They boarded her father onto their large boat and set sail away from the island. She dove into the rough, stormy sea waters and swam after the boat as fast as she could in a panic. She swam, and swam, but seemed she would never catch up to the boat and she could feel herself having a panic attack out in the middle of the ocean. She was screaming out the the navy to stop, but they couldn't even hear her. Her anxieties were overwhelming as her and she could no longer think. All she knew was that her world was crashing down on her and she couldn't hold back the tears. Her chest felt tight, and she was having a hard time breathing.

"Iris! Hey, Iris!" she heard a voice say and looked around to find where the voice was coming from but didn't see anybody. "Iris! Wake up!" she heard and started to come back to reality as she could feel somebody shaking her. When she finally woke up her body was still in a panic. She was sweating, and her body was shaking. "What's wrong, Iris?" she heard Luffy ask and she looked over to him. She could tell from the look on their faces that the panic attack that she was having in her dream had translated into real life too. Luffy looked concerned for her, and even though she couldn't think straight yet she was glad that he was there.

"I-I-I'm sorry... I was having a n-n-nightmare..." she stammered as she tried to calm herself down. Her heart was racing and she was felt like the air was heavy and pressing down on her body. Nami handed her a piece of fruit that Iris assumed was from the island they had stopped at and she took it from her.

"Maybe eating something will help calm you down," Nami said as she passed over the piece of fruit from her boat. Iris must have looked pretty awful if Nami was even concerned about her. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, and then bit into the fruit. The fruit was quite juicy and had a strong, sweet flavor. It wasn't something she had eaten or even seen before; it didn't grown on her island. She could feel her heart beat start to slow down to a more normal pace.

"That must have been some nightmare. You looked terrified," Nami said and Iris nodded her head. She hadn't had a dream like that in years. She should have been able to realize it was a dream since she hadn't been up when the navy had taken her dad away, but she didn't realize it until after Luffy woke her up and she was already in a panic. Right after her father had been taken away by the navy she would have awful night terrors, but those had stopped within the first year after he was gone. It was probably from the stress of leaving her home and now her brain was running wild.

"I'm fine now, thanks. Sorry to cause such a scene," Iris said as she finished the fruit feeling somewhat embarrassed. What a great first impression she must be giving them with a full on panic attack while she slept. They probably thought she couldn't handle being a pirate if she couldn't even manage to sleep without freaking out. Hopefully she wouldn't have a panic attack like that again.

"Don't apologize! Everybody has bad dreams," Luffy said with a smile and she halfheartedly smiled back at him. She really hoped that he wasn't just saying that to try and make her feel better. The last thing she would want would be pity from her captain or anybody else. "So where are we headed?" Iris asked and Luffy immediately responded by shouting the Grand Line. "We're not going there like this. We need more people, supplies, and a better boat. I've heard so many tales of the Grand Line, and I know better than to go in like this," Iris stated. Luffy was very ambitious, but not so bright.

"Iris is right. We wouldn't last a day in the Grand Line like this. We're going to go to a small island that's a ways north from where we are. I bet we can get there in two days," Nami stated.

"What kind of stories?" Luffy asked ignoring what Nami had said.

"My dad is from the Grand Line, and the pirate crew he was on would sail through the Grand Line. I have his stories," Iris explained.

"Wooow! Your dad was actually from the Grand Line?! That's so cool! Tell me about it!" Luffy shouted.

"Sure," she said. She wondered about how they would be able to get a bigger boat since Nami obviously wasn't going to share her treasure and Iris' savings that she brought wouldn't be even close to what they'd need for a good quality boat. They were pirates, so maybe they would steal a boat. That was something that seemed okay for a pirate to do. Pirates were kind of known for stealing things, and not just treasure. She decided not to think about it now and instead started telling Luffy stories she had heard her father tell about the Grand Line.

It took just under two days before the reached the island. They ate the fruit that Luffy and Nami had gotten at the island they stopped at, and fish that Iris would catch. When she would get restless she would jump out of the boat and swim alongside the boat. Zoro slept most of the time as his wounds healed, and Nami was more talkative towards them than she had been at first. It wasn't a bad two days, but it would definitely be easier to travel in a larger boat. She hoped they would find a boat large enough that she could practice martial arts in. She was used to practicing everyday, but she wasn't able to practice all these past few days on that cramped little boat.

When they got to the island the others were all very glad to be out of the boat. Zoro seemed to be feeling completely fine, and she was amazed that his wound has healed up so quickly. Apparently he had been right about just needed to sleep it off; though Iris was still in awe that an injury that severe could be healed by sleeping.

"Hey guys, we're being watched," Zoro said as he pointed to a group of what looked like kids behind a log on a cliff side not too far away. There were screams from the people and three of the four ran off. The guy that was left staring at them stood up with his legs shaking badly. He was a skinny boy with black curly hair and darker skin than them. He looked younger than Luffy, and looked rather weak.

"I am the great pirate left in charge of guarding this village! I am the great Captain Usopp!"