Last chapter was rather long, wasn't it? It was to serve as the prologue to what will be going on. I don't have a set length each chapter is going to be. I'll try though to make each one at least two thousand words long but they'll vary. I'll write each chapter until I feel that it's a good place to end.

I think the previous chapter to the next couple chapters can be simply called the Setting Sail Arc. This and the next one or two chapters will only star Caout, Tide and Hazuki. Why? Well, I don't want to start a big thing so suddenly. Plus, I know some people are reading this without having read The Name's Caout, so I want those readers to get used to the Caout-Tide-Hazuki dynamic. Plus, old readers will need to get used to Tide's livelier personality.

But don't worry! Things are going to get really interesting after this arc! I hope you like it!

P.S.: Oda confirmed in an SBS that the child Makino was holding in one of the chapter covers was indeed her own child.

Disclaimer: The only stuff I can claim to own are a few One Piece and Hetalia DVDs, some stuffed toys, a few music boxes, a lot of books and my OCs….And my laptop…Everything else is not mine.


The sun shone brightly in the blue, cloudless sky. There was a healthy breeze and the seas near Dawn Island were calm.

Perfect weather to set sail in…

"I can't believe they're setting off already," Makino said as she stood by the port where she had bid farewell to another young pirate several years ago.

"I can't believe those girls are following in Luffy's footsteps!" old Mayor Woop Slap said angrily, "That boy has been a horrible influence on those kids!"

"Now, Mayor," Makino said with a laugh, "I know you're proud of Luffy…"

"Why would I be proud that the world's most infamous criminal came from our village?" Woop Slap shouted, though Makino knew him too well to take his words seriously, "And where is that kid of yours, Makino?"

"Said goodbye yesterday and is moping about the girls leaving back home…" Makino answered, shaking her head at her child's antics.

"Aw, I'll miss that brat too!"

Makino and Woop Slap turned to greet the owner of the laughing voice.

Her shoulder length black hair was as messy as ever and there was a single, chin length braid going down the left side of her face, wrapped in a gold string. She wore a dark red dress shirt with elbow length sleeves and an unbuttoned black vest over it, black skinny jeans and black dress shoes. Her right hand was bandaged around the palm, as usual, and her signature red cowboy hat hung off her neck as always. Also hanging off her neck was the green piece of seastone that she used to keep herself from resorting to using her Devil Fruit powers.

"Caout," Makino said amusedly, "You can't call someone older than you a brat."

"That's never stopped me before," the sixteen year old replied, a twinkle in her black eyes.

"Yes, we all know how much you love calling people brats, Listerra…"

"Shut it, Nyshairyn!" Caout said to her partner.

Tide had cut her hot pink hair so that it reached just past her shoulder blades. She wore a dark blue, short sleeved collared shirt, which showed off the gold band that covered the brand on her right arm and the long scar that ran all the way to her elbow on her left arm, dark blue jeans and her silver chain with the circular pendant.

"What're you staring at?" Tide asked Caout.

"…You're still not wearing any shoes," she replied, looking at Tide's bare feet, "I still don't get why you do that…"

"You have your tastes, I have mine," Tide said with a roll of her cerulean blue eyes.

"Are you sure you guys will be fine with just this little fishing vessel?" Woop Slap asked as other members from the village showed up to bid farewell, "We could get you something bigger to use."

"Nah, it'll be fine, Mayor!" Caout said confidently, "What's the worst that can happen?"

"Do you want me to make a list?"

Hazuki had her hands on her hips, her brown eyes staring at Caout with an exasperated look. Her long orange hair was pulled back in a braided ponytail. Around her neck was the purple beaded necklace, off of which she hung her glasses. She wore a dark teal, long sleeved tunic, a belt wrapped around her waist, white pants and black open toe boots. Hanging off the belt, on her left hip, was a black rod, a bit shorter than her arm, with a round orb that several buttons on it attached to the end.

"Quit being such a worrywart, Haz!" Caout scolded her fifteen year old sister playfully, "I mean, worse comes to worse, we may need a new boat. Nothing bad!"

"Ugh, you're clueless, Caout," Hazuki said, putting a hand to her forehead, "Oh, by the way, thanks so much for hiding my clothes while I was taking a shower this morning!"

"How are you not used to this by now?" Caout asked with a laugh, "How many times have I pranked you like this?"

"Four hundred and fifty seven times," Hazuki said with a growl.

"…Do you have a book or something where you keep a running tally, because that's just-"

"Anyways," Tide interrupted, turning her gaze to the villagers, "Thank you guys for putting up with us for the past three years."

"And special thanks for not kicking us out after we leveled three houses and the tailor's shop!" Caout added with a grin.

"Caout, that was all you…" Hazuki said with a shake of her head.


After several more minutes, the girls had prepared the boat so that they could sail.

"Now, you remembered to say goodbye to Dadan and the bandits, right?" Makino whispered so the other villagers couldn't hear.

"Course we did," Tide said, "Dadan yelled at us for being far worse than Luffy and Boss had been but she was sobbing within minutes."

"Alright, here's the last of our stuff!"

Caout and Tide stared as Hazuki placed three blue backpacks in the vessel.

"What're those?" Caout asked.

"Backpacks, Caout," Hazuki said slowly, as though she were talking to an infant, "You know, bags you carry and-"

"I KNOW THAT!" Caout yelled, "I mean, what's in them?"

"Important things," Hazuki explained, "Mine holds navigation equipment, maps and a Log Pose for us to use once we reach the Grand Line. Tide's holds some canteens of water and some money…"

"And mine?"

"Food. That's all I can trust you to hold, and just barely at that."

"WICKED!" Caout yelled with joy as she made a grab for her bag, only to have her hand slapped by Tide.

"I know our luck very well," Hazuki continued, "So I wanted our most important supplies to be safe should anything happen to our boat."

"And they'll be safe in backpacks?" Tide questioned.

"Not just any backpacks," Hazuki said with a smile, "They're waterproof…And they float."

"Really?" Caout asked, only to grab one and drop it in the water. It floated, "Well, I'll be darned…"

"I bought them from a merchant ship that passed by," Hazuki said as she retrieved the bag, "At least one of us is planning ahead…"

"I still say you're too worried."

Caout, Tide and Hazuki stood in their boat and turned to the crowd that was sending them off. Hazuki smiled as she spotted Dadan and the other bandits hiding behind a building just a few feet away.

"Keep an eye on the papers, everyone!" Caout said, "You'll be seeing our names soon enough!"

"I'd better not!" Woop Slap yelled as Tide untied the rope keeping them docked.

"See you later!" the girls said as the boat pulled away, Tide and Hazuki waving while Caout offered a quick salute.

"I'll miss those three," Makino said as she waved them off, "But they'll be fine…"

Woop Slap sighed…

"If they're anything like Luffy, then yes, they will be…"


Caout stared until the village and all the waving citizens were no longer in sight.

"Man, I'll miss those guys…" she said with a sigh, "Especially Makino's cooking."

"Of course your mind is on food," Tide said with a chuckle.

Caout was about to retort when the waves turned choppy and the boat started rocking.

"Wh-what's going on?" Hazuki asked as she held onto the side of the boat to keep steady.

Before the older girls could offer a response, a large figure shot up out of the water, just a couple feet away from their boat. The large, serpent-like creature was a dark green with red eyes.

"…Isn't that the local sea monster?" Hazuki asked.

"Seaweed!" Caout yelled, waving her arms and grinning at the creature.

"'Seaweed'?" Tide and Hazuki repeated.

To their utter disbelief, when the sea monster, Seaweed, looked down at Caout's voice, he actually flinched and seemed to freeze in place. Caout motioned with her hand for the animal to bring his head down, which he did, letting Caout pet him.

"…You tamed a sea monster?" Tide asked, rather stunned despite the fact she should be used to such things by now.

"Pretty much!" Caout said happily as she patted Seaweed's head, "One of the old guys took me fishing once and he popped up and tried to eat us!"

"And then?"

"Well, I thought he looked tasty so I punched him out! But then I felt bad so I named him Seaweed and let him go. Though I had to punch him a few more times because he was being troublesome…"

Hazuki stared at Caout, rather stunned, while Tide couldn't believe her partner's actions. Caout then turned to Seaweed.

"Okay, boy," she told the sea monster, "I'm off to be a pirate so I won't be around for a while…"

Seaweed seemed to brighten at those words.

"However," Caout went on, still grinning innocently, "If I get word that you've caused the slightest bit of trouble for the villagers, I'll change my mind about eating you, okay?"

Seaweed trembled at the warning and nodded frantically. The creature then dove underwater and out of sight.

"That's taken care of!" Caout said after Seaweed left, her hands on her hips as she stood tall, "Alright guys! We're finally off! We're going to do it…We're going to gather a crew and sail all the way to Raftel!"

"And we have such perfect conditions for our first day at sea," Tide noted.

"Don't say that!" Hazuki said, "You'll jinx it!"

"Cool it, Haz!" Caout giggled, "Honestly, what's the worst that can happen?"


"…I hate you sometimes, Caout…I really, really, really do…"

Their situation was pretty…for lack of a better term, inconvenient. The girls were currently stranded in the middle of the ocean. Tide and Hazuki were kicking their legs to keep them afloat while Caout clung to their three buoyant backpacks, since she was a like a hammer in the waters. They were surrounded by the splinters of what was their boat.

"I blame you, Listerra…" Tide growled, a vein popping out in her head, "You are an absolute moron!"

"Okay, okay!" Caout said, flinching at her partner's and sister's glares, "I admit, I was a bit overexcited when I saw that dolphin…"

"Not a dolphin," Hazuki said, her eye twitching, "A shark…And not just any shark, a Torpedo Shark! They're so violent against people that they'll ram boats and destroy them, leaving their victims struggling in the waters and at their mercy!"

"Well, we're not at its mercy, are we?" Caout argued.

"Only because Tide burned it!"

"I meant to send it away with a gust of wind though," Tide admitted as she looked at her hand, "Damn, I still can't get proper control…"

"At least you didn't act like an idiot," Hazuki said.

"I get it!" Caout yelled, "It wasn't my smartest move-"

"Obviously," the other two said simultaneously.

"You are so lucky I didn't lose my glasses or my staff," Hazuki muttered, checking to make sure said items were indeed still on her person.

"Yeah, yeah," Caout said, adjusting her grip on the backpacks, "We know how long you spent designing and building that staff so that you could fight and how your eyes will go blurry at random times and blah, blah, blah…"

Hazuki and Tide both reached out and smacked the back of Caout's head.

"Oh, c'mon!" Caout said, "It could be worse."

Another double smack to the head.

"I'm serious! Dad said he got caught in a whirlpool on his first day! So, honestly, we really lucked out."

Smack.

"Quit it!" Caout yelled, rubbing her head, "…So, what do we do now?"

"You tell us, Captain," Tide replied in an calm tone, emphasizing the last word.

"No one likes a snarker, Nyshairyn…"

As Caout and Tide decided to start another one of their famous arguments, Hazuki got to work figuring out their situation. In Caout's bag was enough food to last them, if she rationed it out and kept Caout under control, for about five days. Tide's bag had enough water to last them about ten days, if also rationed properly.

Perhaps they could find a large enough piece of wood from the wreckage of their boat. Yes, then they could grab hold of that…Tide could use either her air or fire power to propel them forward while Hazuki gave directions using her maps and compass…

"…Or we could board that ship," Hazuki muttered as she looked to her right.

At the word "ship" Caout and Tide ceased their fight, which had escalated to Tide flicking Caout's forehead every time the girl tried to make a comeback, and looked in the direction Hazuki was staring.

There was indeed a ship sailing about fifty feet away from them. It was a large vessel, about as large as a Marine ship. But, based on the music and laughter the trio could hear, they identified the vessel as being a passenger ship…

"Hey guys?" Caout said, excitement lacing her voice, "You know what this means?"

Tide and Hazuki looked at each other before shaking their heads no. Caout seemed to tremble with joy.

"CRUISE TIME!"


And thus, chapter two has come to an end. I liked this chapter, mostly because it was interesting for me to describe the teenage Caout, Tide and Hazuki, considering that I've only ever written about them as little kids. Plus, this was a nice way to show you readers the relationship between the three. Poor Tide and Hazuki have a lot to deal with when it comes to Caout…But they've had years of practice with her so they should be fine.

I made the brief moment where Makino's child is mentioned gender neutral because I can't tell whether it's a boy or girl. So I just made it that the kids said goodbye already is moping over the girls going away so that is why he/she isn't at the docks (Pathetic by me, I know…). Also, interesting how the girls encounter the sea monster on their first day out, just like Luffy did, huh? Though leave it to Caout to find another way to deal with Seaweed.

This is a nice place to stop because, like I said, these first couple of chapters are being used to get everyone used to the main trio before anything else. Don't worry, this will only last one or two more chapters and then we're really kicking things off!

Oh, here are some short character descriptions of the girls!

Listerra D. Caout: Position: Captain, Age: 16, Height: 5'8, Hair: Black, Eyes: Black, Powers: Gum-Gum Fruit (purposely not using them unless in extreme emergency), Hand-to-Hand Combat, Dream: To become known for who she is and not who she's related to

Nyshairyn Tide: Position: First Mate, Age: 16, Height: 5'9, Hair: Pink, Eyes: Cerulean Blue, Powers: Elementist of Fire and Air, Carrier, Dream: To stand by Caout, who rescued her in more ways than one, for the rest of her life

Monkey D. Hazuki: Position: Navigator, Age: 15, Height: 5'6, Hair: Orange, Eyes: Dark brown, Powers: Staff with detachable ball, Dream: To be acknowledged by the world, whether it be as Luffy's daughter or just as a member of her sister's pirate crew

Thanks for reading and I hope you offer me some reviews!