Ureshiitamago: ^.^ hey thar! I'm back!

Aave: And so am I!

Ureshiitamago: We would like to thank

Aave: mks 12 98

Ureshiitamago: The Utterly Fabulous Z

Aave: and Magic126 for following

Ureshiitamago: or favoriteing this story!

Luffy: ureshiitamago doesn't own One Piece. Can I have some meat?

Ureshiitamago: *shoves fridge at Luffy.* Knock yourself out.

Luffy: Yay!

Ureshiitamago: Ah, I don't own the song "Blow the Man Down" either.

I floated above the boat while we drifted away from the Island. Suddenly, it started to flicker, and then it disappeared. Coby gasped. Luffy laughed, and I settled onto the tip of the mast.

"She was round in the corner and bluff in the bow, to me, weigh, hey, blow the man down. So I took in all sail and cried, "Way enough now" give me some time to blow the man down…."

Chapter 2: A Ghost of a Time

I hummed Bink's Sake under my breath as I listened to the boys below me talking to each other.

"You must've eaten the fruit of the Gomu-gomu tree." Coby was saying. They had explained to me what had happened while I was blacked out, and I was happy that I was now haunting Luffy's boat. "Incredible!" I sweatdropped as I reached my favorite verse of Bink's Sake. Normally, marines don't go around being impressed by pirates…I thought, sipping the tea that was served to me by the Fairy Queen herself.

"But Luffy, if you're going after the One Piece…" I did a spit take, and looked down with wide eyes. "That means you'll have to enter the Grand Line." Coby went on. The boat rocked in the waves, and from my place on the tip top of the mast, I swayed several feet to each side.

"Yep!" Luffy responded airily. I felt like I was in a storm, and wondered if storms could play games…it could be possible.

"They call it the Pirates Graveyard!" Coby said. I could tell that he wanted to dissuade Luffy. I could also tell that he wasn't going to be able to. Hm…One Piece…I had heard that name before. From someone passing by my island definitely. I stared up at the tranquil blue sky where there wasn't a cloud in sight.

"That's why I'm assembling a super crew." Luffy calmly responded. Was it that one crew that drank a lot and thought I was a human kid? No. I held my hand up to my face, and giggled as a rainbow emerged through my hand.

"Starting with Aave." I looked down.

"I'm haunting your ship. I'm not on your crew, there's a difference." I shouted down at them, throwing the ghostly cup of tea at him. It passed right through him as he laughed.

"Oh yeah!" He turned to Coby. Luffy was perched rather precariously on the figurehead for someone who was an anchor. Luffy pointed at Coby. "That guy imprisoned at the Navy Base in Shell Town…what's his name?" I floated off of the tip of the mast to change my position, and then I started to twirl on the tip, pretending I was a world famous dancer.

"Roronoa Zoro." Coby replied. I hummed a few bars of Blow the Man Down, and brought out Bearetta to dance with.

"If he's a good guy, I'll let him join my crew!" Luffy said with a laugh. I got bored and floated down to where they were.

"Rock paper scissors!" I demanded, and Luffy started to play with me. There was some silence from Coby as he watched me lose over and over. I figured he was just processing what Luffy had said.

"NOW YOU'RE TALKING CRAZY AGAIN!" He finally shouted. I groaned as I lost again. "NEVER NEVER NEVER! THAT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN! THAT GUY'S A DEMONIC BEAST!" I laughed, and did a somersault in the air when I finally won.

"YATA*!" I yelled happily.

"How do you know?" Luffy asked Coby, absently patting my head. I made a cat face and started to purr. Coby looked at me, and a sweatdrop rolled down his head.

"I didn't think it was possible for someone to do that." He remarked. I grinned at him.

"I'm dead, I can do what I want." I said cheerily. "Cat's cradle!" I shouted, imagining up some string. "Poof!" "Pop!" Luffy and I started to play cats' cradle while Coby watched in slight amusement and exasperation.

Day 2

"…A demonic beast huh?" Luffy said, sitting on the figurehead again. I was staring at his hat while invisible, trying to figure out if I had seen it before or not. Did I? My face grew lighter. Didn't I? I frowned. Did I? I started the cycle over, unaware that I was becoming not invisible again. Fluffy kittens wearing tutus. I finally thought, giving up on the hat for a bit.

"Roronoa Zoro is his real name." Coby said, adjusting the top hat on St. Bearnaby Bearette Angelique Vann Marco the thirds head. "But most people call him 'Pirate Hunter Zoro'." Facts…factitions…factify…factitious…factilion…factamillion…

"He's like a blood thirst hound." Coby went on, looking up and adjusting his glasses and setting Bearnaby in his lap. "Roaming the seas, hunting men for the bounties on their heads…"

"Maybe he got lost?" I suggested, combing Margareta's hair. Margareta was the Queen of Ifnargal, and had the most beautiful hair in the land. I was her maidservant, and my job was to brush her hair until it shone. Coby laughed nervously.

"I don't think so…" He turned back to Luffy. "They say he's a demon in human form."

"Demons don't take human form. They're too arrogant about their own form." I said in a snooty voice, trying to sound like a noble woman's maidservant. I frowned at my attempt. Maybe I used too much snoot in my snooty? Coby blinked at me as I continued to comb Margareta's hair.

"Hmmm…" Luffy was also looking at me, but I couldn't read his expression.

"Oh, lady Margareta! Your hair is as beautiful as always!" I gushed to her. Both Coby and Luffy blinked in synch, and then Luffy laughed heartily. I ignored him, and continued to comb Margareta's hair. Coby went back to trying to dissuade Luffy from asking Zoro to join his crew.

"Luffy, he's a pirate hunter! Pirate hunters don't mix well with pirates!" Coby looked worried for our new friend. I looked up at the sun, which was uncovered by the clouds that were in the sky.

"I haven't decided whether I'll invite him to join my crew or not." Luffy said, turning to face Coby. "If he's a good guy, then I'll—"

"HE'S IN PRISON BECAUSE HE'S NOT A GOOD GUY!" Coby interrupted. I finally finished combing Margareta's hair.

"Patty-cake!" I demanded from Luffy. He laughed and obliged.

It was night time, and I was staring at the stars in a trance. Well not really stars. They were pearls that a giant had dropped, and someday the giant would notice and come back to pick them up. Until that day, I resolved to stare at the stars until I couldn't take it. I looked down at the boys from my place on the mast. Luffy was lying sprawled almost on top of Coby, and he was snoring away, muttering now and then about meat. Coby was curled up into a tiny ball, and muttering now and then about marines. I giggled, and looked out over the ocean. According to Coby, we were only another day away from Shell town. I looked back down at Luffy.

Normally, ghosts could go wherever they wanted. Normally, they moved about as they wished. I looked back in the direction of my island. Except for me. I had been so attached to my island that I never let it go. Even after it sank beneath the waves, never to be seen again. What I had lived on, and what Alvida had found, was a memory, a shadow of the island. I had been told by passing ghosts that I had a lot of imagination. They never really guessed how much.

Over time, I began to notice that I couldn't move. Leave the island, I mean. At first I thought it was a fairy prank, and left it alone for a while. But then I tried to leave again. I panicked and was scared for the longest time. I couldn't leave, the island wouldn't let me. The product of my memory and imagination had become a nightmare I couldn't get out of, couldn't wake up from. How could I? I was dead.

After a while, I grew to accept that I wouldn't be able to leave, and I 'got on with life'. (Even though I'm dead.) Then Coby showed up, and brought with him stories of the outside world. He also brought friendship.

I began to realize that I could travel farther and farther outside of the island about half a year into his stay. This excited me, and scared me at the same time. When I went far enough out, I noticed that the island would start to flicker, like it was going to disappear. I resolved to stay until Coby left.

And then Luffy came. I looked down at Luffy from my perch.

"Thank you." I whispered with a smile, looking back up at the pearls in the sky. I didn't notice Luffy's smile grow a little bigger.

Day 3

"I hailed her in English, she answered me clear, to me, weigh, hey, blow the man down. "I'm from the Black Arrow bound to the Shakespeare" give me some time to blow the man down." I belted out at the top of my voice. I was bored. Incredibly bored. I looked down at Luffy, who was taking a nap. An evil grin spread across my face as I got an idea. An awful idea. I came up with a wonderful, awful idea. I imagined up several colors of markers, and floated quietly down to Luffy. Coby was in the back, steering the boat, and he looked at me curiously. I put my finger to my lips.

"Sssshiii." And then I began working once he had nodded. I drew a yellow/orange handle bar moustache, and a pointy little silver beard on Luffy's face, and then I drew green eyes on his eyelids, and little swirls on his cheeks in pink. I had just finished drawing a red cat nose on his nose when he yawned and stretched. I squeeked, and popped invisible along with my markers, which I dismissed, and then I flew up to my perch as quick as a flash.

"So I tailed her my flipper and took her in tow, to me, weigh, hey, blow the man down. And yardarm in yardarm away did we go, give me some time to blow the man down." I warbled. Coby was trying very hard not to laugh, and failing miserably. Luffy looked at him inquisitively, but all Coby did was point at him face.

"You rat, Coby!" I shouted before falling silent with giggles. Luffy pointed at his face and then peered over the rail of the boat and into the water. I waited for the shout of anger, and was surprised with a loud laugh. Luffy was on the bottom of the boat, rolling around, and laughing his guts out.

"Wahahahahahahaa! That's great!" He laughed. "Did you do that Aave?" He called up to my perch. I popped back to not invisible, and grinned at him, tipping my cap in acknowledgement. He laughed heartily again, and proceeded to try and scoop water out of the sea to try and wash it off. Instead, he drooped over the side, and groaned.

"Soooooo…..tiiiireeed….." he moaned. My eyes widened, and I exchanged a glance with Coby.

"Pull him out!" My voice was high pitched and panicked, and Coby lunged across the small boat to pull Luffy back in. Luffy's face was half washed, and looked rather comical with only half a handlebar moustache. I hovered around them as Coby washed off the rest of the marker from Luffy's face. Finally, Luffy seemed to gather his strength back up, and sat up, apparently none the worse for wear. I, on the other hand, was flustering around, scared out of my wits, afraid that I had almost killed him.

"I'm sorry!" I wailed for the fifth time, sounding very much like one of those Wraiths that wail and drag chains across the floor in the attic of unsuspecting peoples' houses. Luffy laughed, and patted my head again. I was crying crocodile tears, and sniffing loudly.

"Its fine, Aave! No harm, no foul!" he said cheerily. I sniffed again and glumly imagined an execution. Or was it a memory?...No, it was an imagination.

"B-b-b-but…" he pulled my hat over my eyes.

"I'm fine!" I sniffed, wiping away tear, and then pulled his hat over his eyes. He laughed in surprise.

"Ne, Aave?" Luffy asked.

"Yes?" I said, finally getting control of my emotions.

"How did you die?" he asked. I stared at him in surprise. No one had actually asked that to my face before. I had told Coby when a year had gone by, and I had asked him if he wanted to know.

"I was sick." I answered. Luffy got a confused look on his face, and tilted his head to the side. "It was a gen-gen-genatic?"

"Genetic" corrected Coby. I grinned at him in thanks.

"Genetic thingie which made me feel weird." I elaborated.

"Weird how?" Luffy asked. I frowned as I thought. I didn't really understand much about the time up to when I died. I just knew that I was awake and looking out my window at the sea one minute, and then the next I was floating over my body and having tea with a shinigami.

"I felt heavy…like I was being pressed into the bed." I ventured. "I would also see things that other people couldn't…what did the doctor call them…halugenons?"

"Hallucinations?" Coby suggested. I nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! That!" I said, swimming through the air and humming randomly. Luffy nodded seriously.

"So, a mystery sickness." He said, like he knew what he was talking about. I laughed loudly as Coby fell to the side.

Later that day, we arrived at Shell town.

"We're finally here!" Luffy laughed, pointing at the city. "We made it to Shell town!" I floated above him, hand poised above his strawhat. I made a grab for it, but he ducked. I pouted, disappointed, and went after it again. I was invisible to everyone except for Luffy and Coby, so it probably looked as though Luffy had seen something on the ground and bent over to look at it closer.

"Yeah, we finally made it!" Coby sounded relieved, and I suspected that being cooped up on a boat in the middle of the sea with two childish people (even though I was a child) for three days.

"Coby, you're amazing!" Luffy said, turning to Coby. He had a hand holding his hat on his head, and I was trying to find a way around it. I pulled Bearetta out of the air, and discussed my predicament with her quietly.

"Huh?" Coby asked, a little confused.

"You actually got us to our destination!" Luffy explained. He swooped again to avoid my attempt at freeing the hat from his hand. I growled and fell back. Tactical retreat!

"Of course I did!" Coby said, looking a little worried. "That's the minimal requirement for people who sail the seas." I flew up into the air a few feet, and then dived down until I was two inches above Luffy, and then I made a grab for his hat. I missed and flew through Coby instead, who turned blue from the cold.

"Oops. Sorry." I said, sweatdropping as Coby started to shiver and rub his arms. Coby coughed into his fist as soon as he regained his warmth.

"Luffy, if you keep randomly floating around, you'll never become a pirate." He scolded, "You should find a Navigator for your crew." I couldn't resist the temptation. I imagined myself wearing a stereotypical woman pirate outfit, complete with an eye patch and cutlass. "Poof" I swished the sword through the air as the other two watched me.

"I randomly float around, and I'm a pirate! Arr!" I cried, flicking the cutlass around before imagining myself back in my normal clothes. "Poof" I was back in my original outfit. Luffy had sparkles in his eyes.

"Wow! How did you do that?" his stomach growled… "I think about the Navigator thing later. But first, lunch!" He started off, and I followed, laughing at Coby's dumbstruck expression.

As Luffy and Coby walked down the street, I floated above them, plotting with Bearetta (whose real name was Lady Bearetta Bearnacle Orlanda Sardinia the fifth) on how to snatch Luffy's hat. I didn't really want to win, it was the chase that was fun and exciting, along with the plotting. I pretended that Bearetta and I were evil sorcerers, plotting on stealing the worlds treasure, the golden hat of Sunspot! The keeper was the hero Luffy, who was currently chowing down in a restaurant called Food Foo with his sidekicks, Coby and St. Bearnaby Bearette Angelique Vann Marco the third. I chuckled evilly, and then made a squeakier evil giggle for Bearetta.

"This is it, Bearetta!" I crowed in my best evil sorcerer voice. "While the hero and his sidekicks are eating, we can procure the hat of legend!" I announced loudly. Evil sorcerers always announced their incredibly evil plans loudly. They also cackled evilly after they were done announcing, so that's what I did. I threw my head back and cackled as evilly as I could muster.

"Yes!" I squeeked for Bearetta's voice. "And then we can conquer the world of hats!" I giggled for her manically.

"You do know we can hear you, right?" Luffy asked, shoveling more food into his mouth. Bearetta and I stared at him for a moment. He looked extremely amused at the situation. Then I screamed.

"AAAAAAAH! Oh no, Bearetta! What do we do?! The hero and his sidekicks have heard our dastardly plan! Our plot is ruined!" Coby started to laugh, and then stopped, staring up at us critically.

"I'm a sidekick?" He asked dubiously.

"For now." I said with a wave of my hand. Luffy burped and sat back in his chair, finally done eating.

"Well Coby, I guess this is where we go our separate ways." He said, patting his stomach. Bearetta and I crept closer to the golden hat of Sunspot. "I hope you enjoy the marines and become a good sailor." He went on, most likely aware that Bearetta and I were within an arms distance of his hat.

"Thank you, Luffy and Aave!" Coby sobbed, crying into his arm. "And I hope you two become good pirates!"

"Even though we'll be enemies!" I said brightly, ignoring the fact that Luffy had grabbed my arm in time for his hat not to get stolen. Luffy let go of my arm, and I floated down until my striped sock enshrouded toes were barely brushing the floor.

"Hey, I just remembered…" Luffy said, holding up a finger, "that guy is supposed to be here—Roronoa Zoro…" There was a loud crash, and I whipped around to see all of the other restaurant customers against the wall, shivering with fright. There were tables upended everywhere. I grabbed my hat as it lifted of my faded brown hair, and plopped it back down on my head.

'Maybe you shouldn't say that name here…' Coby suggested in a whisper. He continued to talk in a normal voice. "I saw a poster that said that Captain Morgan is at this base." There was another loud crash, and I watched in amusement and a little bit of apprehension as the other customers gave Captain Morgan's name an even larger scared reaction than Zoro's name had. We left the restaurant with laughter. Well, Luffy and I did, Coby looked scared.

"Shishishishi! What a great restaurant! I want to go back there again!" Luffy said, holding his stomach. I was swimming on my back in the air between Luffy and Coby, slightly invisible so that they could still see each other.

"Everyone is so jumpy" Coby said worriedly, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this…"

"I can understand why they'd be so nervous when they hear Roronoa Zoro's name—he could escape at any moment." Coby went on. "But why'd they get nervous hearing the Captains name?"

"Who knows?" Luffy said. "Maybe they just got carried away."

"…" I was still swimming on my back and looking up at the sky.

"WHY WOULD THAT HAPPEN?" Coby shouted. "I'm trying to think seriously here…" He looked at me. "What do you think, Aave?" I smiled at the sky.

"The sky sure is blue!" I said happily. Coby grew shark teeth.

"THAT DOESN'T PERTAIN TO THE CONVERSATION!" he shouted while Luffy laughed.

5 minutes of cracks and trying to steal Luffy's hat later

"Ew. That's disgusting." I said, wrinkling my nose at the sight.

"It looks so big up close!" Coby said in awe. I crossed my arms and pouted, glaring at the ugly marine base with narrowed washed out blue eyes.

"Still ugly and disgusting." I said grumpily.

"I agree with you." Luffy said with a nod. He then turned to Coby. "Go on in, Coby!" he encouraged. Coby twiddled his fingers and looked slightly nervous.

"But I haven't mentally prepared myself yet…" he said in a shaky voice, "and those people sure were scared when they heard the Captain's name…" Luffy ignored him and ran forward, jumping onto the wall. "Luffy! What are you doing?!" Coby cried after him. I flew through the wall, coming to a stop at the other side. I looked up at Luffy.

"I wonder if I can see…" he said, glancing around, "the demonic beast from here." We each saw the figure at the exact same moment, and he motioned for me to go. I nodded, and flew towards the cross in the middle of the yard space, Coby's voice fading as I got closer.

I arrived there first, and to say that the man on the cross made a terrifying picture was an understatement. In my shock, I almost lost my invisibility, but quickly got back under control. The man had a black bandana tied onto his head, but I could see green sideburns if I peered closely. He was wearing a simple white partial button t-shirt, black pants, and black boots. He had a green Haramaki sash around his waist. I heard some noises behind me, and turned to see Luffy precariously hanging on the other side of the wall by his arms. Coby's head peeked up cautiously next to him, before disappearing with a frightened scream. Luffy didn't look too alarmed, so I didn't bother going back through the wall.

"….RORONOA ZORO….MENACING!" I only caught parts of what Coby said (rather, shouted), but what I did hear gave me the impression that this was, in fact, Roronoa Zoro. Bounty hunters have green hair? I thought to myself.

"Aave!" Luffy called. I glanced back at him. "Move to the side! I can't see him!" I smiled, and slide to the side a few feet. I saw Luffy's mouth moving, but couldn't hear him. It must've had something to do with setting Roronoa Zoro free, though, because Coby shouted against that. I jumped a few feet in the air when the man next to me started talking loud enough that Luffy could hear him on the wall.

"Hey kid!" he called. His voice was deep and raspy. "Come over here…and untie me…I've been here for nine days, and I can't take it anymore!" A feral grin spread across his face, made even scarier by the blood running down his face.

"I'll make it worth your while." He continued, trying to cut a deal. "I'll capture someone with a big price on their head and give all the bounty to you." He shifted a little bit so he was putting some of his weight on his heels. His feet were kicked out in front of him, and he was tied to the cross so that all of his weight was on his arms.

"You can trust me." He promised Luffy. "I'm a man of my word."

"D-DON'T DO IT, LUFFY!" Coby yelled in fright. "AS SOON AS YOU UNTIE HIM, HE'LL KILL US AND GET AWAY! I JUST KNOW IT!" I looked at the frightening figure on the cross, and faintly heard his stomach grumble. Hungry and with a head injury? That'd be cool…

"He couldn't. I wouldn't let him." I heard Luffy say. He had a smile on his face, and his eyes were glinting.

"Hah?" Zoro had a dangerous look in his eyes. Coby seemed to think that Luffy had a big head, but I was too busy thinking about something else to think about something small like that. Is being dead really that bad? I wondered, floating next to Zoro.

*I did it

Next time; we meet a little girl! XD hope you liked it!