Humanity

Chapter one

Giraffe among the Pirates

Kaku slowly opened his eyes. He could feel pain coursing throw his body again. He took in his surroundings. He could tell he was in a bed. Seeing medical items lying around he concluded he was in an infirmary. Assuming that the day before must have been just some weird nightmare he slowly sat up thinking he would see a fellow assassin but instead he found a reindeer.

He blinked. "Huh?"

The reindeer looked at him. "Oh you're awake."

He frowned. The reindeer kind of looked like that monster that attacked him and Jyabura. "Umm, where am I?"

The reindeer got up and walked over to him. He was checking his vitals when he said. "The Thousand Sunny our ship."

The doctor took some notes. Kaku still felt a little light headed and said. "By our ship do you mean… the Straw Hat ship?"

He nodded. "Yup." He sat down the book. "You healed pretty fast but I guess that's normal for a Zoan. Just be careful not to pull out your stiches."

He blinked as the doctor left. He was just going to leave him here? Wasn't he their enemy? He slowly got out of bed and found his cap and jacket lying in a chair. He picked up both items feeling a lot better with them. It was silly of him to feel attachment to clothes but he didn't feel like himself without his cap. He had thought he had dreamed the whole thing with the pirates but... apparently he didn't. He rubbed his face trying to remember how he got on their ship in the first place.

He walked out of the infirmary. The doctor was waiting for him. He adjusted his cap and asked. "How did I get here?" He asked.

The doctor looked up at him. "You don't know? We just found you passed out on our deck yesterday morning."

Yesterday morning? He was out that long? He still felt a little light headed and rubbed his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah... so what is your name? I didn't catch it."

The reindeer smiled. "I'm Chopper; come on everyone is waiting."

He followed the little reindeer. Surely he must still be dreaming there was no way he could just wake up on their ship and everyone act so casually about it.

Standing around on the deck was the rest of the crew. The reindeer ran ahead of him and shouted at them about him being awake. The group turned and looked at him. He suddenly felt a little subconscious and hide his face under his cap.

The Captain walked up to him. He wore and indifferent expression. Kaku wondered for a moment if he was going to punch him in the face or what.

The young captain let out a sigh then said. "How in the world did you get here Square Nose?"

He blinked. Honestly he didn't know but if he told them that would they believe him? "I don't know."

"Oh… okay."

The navigator and the long nosed teen shouted at him about that being okay. Kaku had to think what were their names? Oh yeah, Nami and Usopp. He glanced at the group as the two were fussing at Luffy. He saw Nico Robin who stood with her arms crossed staring at him. Honestly he felt bad for how Spandam had treated her. Beside her was another teen wearing a black suite and smoking. He believed that one was the one that took on Jyabura. Thinking back on it he thought he heard them call him Sanji. He saw Franky as well. He wondered when that delinquent joined their crew. He noticed Zoro up against the railing of the ship with his arms crossed and staring at the ground.

After the two were done berating the captain who was busy laughing the whole time, Kaku smiled a little. Something about the kids' banter reminded him of being with his fellow assassins. On one of their better days that is. This was one of those moments he could take a step forward and take an opportunity or… or what he didn't have a lot of options. He had no idea where anyone else was or if they were even alive. His chest clinched at the thought of them being dead. An image came to mind of them lying in their own blood. He clinched his fists and looked down at the floor and spoke with little thought.

"I want to join your crew!"

Nami and Usopp were pulling on Luffy's face fussing at him and stopped mid-way through it. With a snap his face went back to normal. There was a pause and all of the pirates (well most) yelled.

"WHAT?"

He looked up at them cleared his throat. He fell to one knee and begged. "Please let me join! I have nowhere else to go. The others… I don't…" he clinched his fists again refusing to cry.

The captain looked serious as he walked over to the assassin. "You don't have to beg."

He looked up at him. "Huh?"

"I want you to join." He grinned. "Having a giraffe around will be cool!" He added grinning like an idiot.

He stood up. "Are you sure that's fine?" He asked looking back at the crew. He couldn't tell their expression immediately.

Luffy looked back. "Well what do you guys think?"

Kaku feared for a minute that they would say no. He worried he would be tossed in the ocean like he was nothing. He flinched when he heard improvement.

"Fine with me, maybe we can use him to make money as a giraffe." Said Nami with a laugh.

"Super! It couldn't hurt to have another shipwright." Said Franky

Sanji took a drag off his cigarette. "If Nami-swan is okay with it," he glanced over at Robin. "What about you?"

She smiled weakly. "I can appreciate his situation."

"As long as he listens to the Great Captain Usopp I'm fine with him." Said Usopp.

Zoro let out a humph and stepped away from the railing. "Well at least I have another punching bag."

"Don't hit him! He's still injured!" Yelled Chopper.

Luffy laughed. "It's settled then. Welcome to the crew." He smiled like a fool and nodded.

Kaku now kind of felt like a fish (or a giraffe) out of water as it was. The crew dispersed leaving him there on the deck not knowing what to do now; he looked around when he heard.

"Come on I'll show you around the ship."

He glanced over and saw Robin standing beside him. He felt a little nervous around her. He nodded and said. "Yes, thank you."

He followed her as she took him to the kitchen area. "This is the kitchen. On this crew we all take turns doing chores, such as washing the dishes or helping Sanji prepare food if needed."

Said cook was busy cutting up a potato and glanced up at them. "I hope you know you're way around a kitchen."

He nodded. "I know a little."

The blond sighed. "Good. When Robin is done showing you around come back here and help me." He said pointing at a huge pile of dishes.

His heart sunk some but it was better than being dead.

"Come on." Said Robin.

He followed her to another room. "This is the library." She said.

Nami was sitting at a desk writing something. She glanced up at them. "Oh hi."

Robin walked over to her with Kaku following her. "Nami works on our logs as well as she is working on her dream of mapping out the world."

He let out a whoa as he saw the decent sized map lying in front of the young woman. She still had a long ways to go but so far it was looking good.

"I thought that captains wrote the log?" he asked.

Nami frowned. "You met Luffy, right?" she said with a little eye roll.

Robin smiled. "We keep all of our logs and several books here. I think everyone on board has some book in the library."

He scanned the books seeing obvious ones like: medical books, cook books, shipwright books, and some about tools. Below that was the log books, each had a vol number and a name attached to the spin such as like Water 7.

"I haven't finished the one about Enies Lobby." She said.

He frowned. He wanted to put that behind him at the moment. He felt a hand on his shoulder realizing that Robin was urging him onward he followed her again. This time it was to an aquarium area.

"Wow." He said looking at the fish.

"The Captain, Usopp and Chopper caught most of those."

He could hear the captain laughing loudly in the distance.

"More than likely that is what they are doing now." She added with a laugh.

He wondered how someone who went through so much as her could be so cheerful.

She finished up the tour and took him back to the kitchen. "I'm going out on the deck to read." She looked to Sanji. "If you need me."

He realized that she was addressing Sanji with that. He frowned. What did he expect, Nico Robin to trust him?

He noticed he was alone with the cook who was busy making some tea. He walked over to the sink. He moved some dishes around and started running water.

He heard a "Here." And the sound of a tea cup being laid on the table. He turned to see the cook heading out the door carrying a tray of tea.

He figured it couldn't have been poised and picked it up and took a sip. It was way better than any tea Kalifa had made for them. He frowned. He didn't realize tea would make him so sentimental.

He started washing the dishes when the cook walked back in the kitchen. "The tea is good… thank you."

He took a drag off of his cigarette. "That's what I'm here for." He stirred whatever it was he was making.

He was making decent progress through the dishes. "It smells good what is it?"

Another pause then the cook said. "Curry."

Kaku realized he couldn't remember the last time he ate. His mouth watered and his stomach informed him of its presence. He frowned almost embarrassed.

"Stop what you're doing."

He looked at the cook. Had he done something wrong?

"I said stop."

He put down the dish as the cook pointed to a chair. For a moment he was a little worried as he sat down. No sooner than his butt hit the wooden chair there was food in front of him.

He blinked. "Oh uh… thanks."

The cook wiped off his hands with a towel and said. "Eat then finish the dishes." He turned back to the stove and mumbled something that sounded like. "Why couldn't it be that cute woman?"

Kaku soon realized that the cook was upset he wasn't Kalifa… he smiled a little hearing her say. "That's sexual harassment." In his head. He ate some of the food. "The food is really good."

Sanji turned and smiled. "Good. Eat up and then finish the dishes. Dinner won't be ready for a couple of hours so eat up." He turned around and stirred the food adding. "No one should ever go hungry."

He finished up his meal then finished up the dishes he made small talk with Sanji asking where he learned how to cook and where he was from and so forth.

Afterwards the crew sat down for dinner and Kaku started washing the dishes when he heard.

"Land! I see an island up ahead!" called the swordsman from his up on the crow's nest.

Kaku dried his hands and like the rest of the crew headed to the deck. The captain was standing on the railing trying to see the island. Kaku wondered why he wasn't afraid of falling in since he was a Devil Fruit user and all.

The sun was starting to go down and the outline of the island could be made out in front the sun. All Kaku could see was tall mountain peaks on the island.

Luffy cheered. "Adventure!" He jumped up preparing to head to the island when Nami stopped him.

"Hold it Luffy. We should wait until day light."

He groaned. "But I want an adventure."

Kaku turned to him. "Nami-san is right Captain. We have no idea what is on that island or its terrain it could be dangerous at night."

The crew left the deck and headed their spate ways. They gathered various things to prepare to explore the island tomorrow. Kaku caught himself staring at the outline of the island… something about it seemed so familiar. He finally gave up on figuring it out and headed to bed.

Up in the crow's nest Zoro was doing another set of weightlifting. He was watching the sun set down behind the mountains. He briefly grinned thinking about any possible fights on the island as the ship got closer to it when he saw something. "Huh?" He put down the weight and stood up he saw what looked like an outline of a giraffe on the island. He wondered what the hell Kaku was doing and was going to shout at him he blinked then it went away. He frowned figuring it must have been his imagination.