Author's Notes:

Wowee, haven't posted in over 2 months D: I have bits and pieces of ideas but putting them together is a struggle. I really appreciate other writers out there who are able to pump out a bunch of chapters. You guys have my respect :D Now here's another chapter. Hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does ;-;

Chapter 2:

Chinan Yasaka, an old balding man sat at a dock wearing his usual all blue fishing gear and straw hat. He removed one of his hands from his fishing pole and stroked his white moustache as he waited for the moment the fish would take the bait.

'Any moment n-'

"JIJI! DID YOU CATCH ANY FISH?!"

"Ohwah!" Chinan exclaimed in surprise as he let go of his fishing pole. "…" Chinan could only watch as his pole sank deeper and deeper into the ocean. The old man slowly turned around with a smile on his face. "Mao, come over here for a second~"

Seemingly oblivious to his impending doom, the little 5-year-old boy skipped forward with a smile on his face, his loose fitting white shirt and bucket hat flapping in the wind.

"Hey Jiji, what's u- "

Mao began before being interrupted by the fist to his head making him crash into the dock, causing a steaming lump to form on the point of impact.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SHOUTING WHILE I'M FISHING!" Chinan griped with a tic mark as it looked like his teeth sharpened to imitate a shark's. Mao laid on the floor nursing his throbbing lump with a pout on his face. The young boy suddenly stopped when he spotted something floating towards them in the distance.

"Hey Jiji, what's that?" Mao asked pointing towards the incoming object. Chinan stopped his angry charade and looked in the direction his grandson was pointing at.

'Is that… an iceberg? In this time of year? Granted it's pretty small but still…' Chinan thought to himself as he tried to get a better look at the mystery. As it floated closer, the sun's rays shone through the ice and the old man managed to make out the silhouette of a person thanks to the glint of the light. 'No way, that looks like a person!'

"Mao, quick get my tools and bring Kame over." Sensing the seriousness in his grandfather's voice, the young boy did as he was told and grabbed the tool bag from the nearby shed, returning to his grandfather with their transport tortoise in tow.

As soon as the iceberg was close enough, the Yasaka pair hooked it to Kame, who was the size of the shed itself and so was strong enough to pull it. Although at a slow pace, the tortoise began making progress as the small iceberg was hauled onto the dock.

Once the job was done, Kame walked to dry land and flopped onto its back, like a dog would, exhaustedly.

"Who's a good boy? You are, you are!" Mao praised as he rubbed the tortoise's belly, eliciting a purr from it. After making sure the tired tortoise was satisfied, the boy walked towards his grandfather, who was walking around the block of ice, inspecting every inch of it with his hand stroking his moustache in a contemplating manner. "Haha it's so cold! How can that person be sleeping inside, brrr" Mao asked innocently as he rubbed his arms to warm himself from his contact with the cold object. Chinan just hummed in response as he looked at the foggy silhouette inside.

'Hmmm, now how are we going to get y-' The old man thought before the hair on his moustache bristled, standing on end as if in fear. He widened his eyes as knew what that meant. His moustache had a secret power of sensing danger, like a normal person's instinct would. Not proving him wrong before he grabbed Mao and dived out the way. "Watch out!"

"…"

"…"

All was silent, bar the distant purrs of Kame in the distance. "Jiji! What was that for!" Shouted Mao as he stood up, helping his grandfather up in the process, and dusted himself off.

"Hehe, well that was anti-climactic. Nothing ha-" Before he could finish, the iceberg shone brightly before bursting, the ice shattering and spraying in all directions. The force of the blast knocked both the Yasakas off their feet and barrelling back a few metres.

When they stood up after shaking their heads to ease the pounding sensation they were experiencing, their eyes widened a fraction. Lying where the iceberg once sat was a young boy, who appeared to be 10, face first on the dock, not breathing.

(With Nagisa earlier)

Cold. Everything felt cold. Nagisa shivered and tried to wrap his arms around himself only to find that he was slower than usual. The navy-haired boy slowly opened his eyes, only to gasp as he was in water. He quickly shut his mouth in order to preserve any last breath he had. Nagisa desperately tried to swim up in an attempt to reach the surface for air but found he was only sinking further into the dark abyss below. His futile struggles were wasting his remaining strength, the corner of his eyes darkening from lack of breath. No longer able to hold it in, Nagisa began gasping and to his shock, found he was able to breathe normally.

'I'm breathing underwater? What the heck is going on here!?' No sooner did he ask himself that, his feet came into contact with a sandy floor.

'Where the heck am I? Why can I breathe underwater? Wait. WHY am I underwater?'

Looking around, Nagisa saw nothing but a vast and empty sandy bed floor stretching further than he could see until he turned around. He spotted a rocky outcrop in the distance with what looked like an entrance to an underwater cavern. His heart fluttered rapidly beneath his ribs like a caged bird as if whatever was in that direction was calling him, drawing him towards it.

'I'm not liking this one bit, but it's not like I have anywhere to go.' Nagisa said with a gulp before heading towards the cavern. As he drew closer to the entrance, he began noticing that it was becoming harder and harder to walk. It was as if what ever was in that cavern had such a strong presence, like its very existence was making this 'water' thicker and denser.

"Is this the extent of your power? Is this really all you can do? Even with 2 heads at your disposal, you lost. You're pathetic. You're not ready." Boomed a deep voice from within the depths of the cavern. As if on cue, slitted cerulean eyes the size of his hands blinked into existence one after the other. 19 eyes in total surrounded the shaking boy, staring down at him. The 8 pairs of eyes bobbed up and down as they released what sounded like a low growl at him, but that wasn't what shook the boy. The remaining 3 eyes, which were situated in a triangular formation, were larger then the others and just remained unmoving, as if it's stare scrutinised his very being, it's body still shrouded from the shadows of the cavern.

"T-that voice… it's you! The one who talked to me all those years ago when… never mind. What do you mean 'not ready', and where are we?" Nagisa asked as he shook his head to stop the painful memories from resurfacing.

"You're weak." The voice stated bluntly. "You lack the strength to utilise my power to it's greatest potential, as for where we are… we are in your mindscape."

'I almost drowned in my own mindscape?' Nagisa thought before realising what the voice just said. "Wait, your power… what do you mean?"

"… Get stronger and maybe I'll tell you. Now get out." The voice said before releasing a burst of power that sent Nagisa flying (or swimming?) away. The glowing eyes receded back into the cavern, then everything went dark.

(Present time)

"AHHH!" Nagisa jolted awake with a shout and instantly regretted it as he his entire body throbbed with pain. He gingerly reached his hand up to his chest and felt his blood freeze as he felt a large scarring wound through the bandages.

"You're okay, my boy, you're okay!" Nagisa looked up to see he was in a plain looking room, with the door thrown open to reveal an elderly man panicking. He rushed over to check to see if his patient was okay. "Now that you've settled down somewhat, why don't you tell me your name." With a pained grunt, Nagisa slowly sat up.

"N-Nagisa Ira… w-where am I? What h-happened?" Nagisa groaned out.

"You're in my house. My name is Chinan Yasaka and the little squirt behind me is Mao. My grandson and I found you frozen in an iceberg, floating on the ocean. We brought you here after you burst out of the ice."

The mention of being frozen made his chest hurt and like a snap of his fingers, the memories of the fight flashed in his mind. With a gasp, Nagisa stared at the old man with pleading eyes.

"Ohara! Where's Ohara? I need to get back; my friend is still alive, and she might've came back for me. Please!" Nagisa begged frantically. Chinan could only stand there with a look of shock on his face, sweat running down his face.

'O-Ohara?! No way!' He thought. Mao peered out from behind his grandfather's legs and looked between the two confusedly.

"Jiji? What's wrong?"

"Nagisa my boy… there's no easy way to tell you this but Ohara doesn't exist. The World Government destroyed that island over 6 months ago. Your friend is mostly gone. I'm sorry." Time seemed to slow down for the bandaged boy. His grip on the bandages around his chest tightened as his breath became more laboured. Sweat began to drip down his face as his eyes became hazy. Sharp pangs of pain rang in his head. He shut his eyes as his free hand shot up to his head in order to ease the pain but failed. The memories of gun firing, and explosions rang all around him and the thought of Robin laying dead on the floor with Aokiji standing over her with frost interlaying his fingers.

"N-no, it can't be… She's not dead. There's no way!" Nagisa screamed as he began to hyperventilate, his body going into shock. "I need to find her, I promised her I would find her no matter what. There's no way she died, she can't!" The navy-haired boy fell out of his bed, his body experiencing immense pain, but he ignored it. He tried to stand up but found his legs too numb to, so he began crawling towards the open door. Before he could even move a metre away, the old man punched him on the head, a tick mark forming on his forehead.

"What do you think you're doing? Let's say your friend really is alive. You think you can do anything in the state you're in now? You can barely stand for Kami sake. You're weak." Chinan all but shouted. He felt bad for the boy, but he would not let him just crawl into an early grave. Nagisa just lay there frozen. The old man's last sentence was overlayed with the demon's voice. He knew they were right but what else could he do?

"So, what do I do? I promised her I would meet her again… I know I'm weak but what else can I do!" Nagisa cried out, tears streaming down his face. The old man eased his features and squatted down next to the boy, his hand patting his head in a soothing manner.

"You get stronger. You guys promised to meet each other again right? Have more faith in your promises. You two will meet again in the future, I guarantee it… but for now, use this time to grow stronger so that this never happens again. The boy only continued to let his tears flow for another few minutes before drifting off to sleep. Chinan picked him up and tucked him into the bed once again and guided his grandson out of the room. Before closing the door, he took one last look at the boy before smiling a sombre smile. "You've got yourself one strong will there boy. To be so young and experience so much hardship, yet to have the conviction to stay true to your words…"

Nagisa sat at the edge of the dock he was found at and kicked his feet in the water. It had been a week since he found out what happened to Ohara. '6 months huh? Damn… I wonder where you are Robin-chan… I really want to find you but old man Chinan and that voice are right. If I meet anyone like that ice bastard, then I'll be powerless to do anything… Damn it.' Nagisa thought as he delivered a sharp kick to the ocean surface, making the water spray everywhere.

"Nagisa-nii!" The navy-haired boy turned around to see the young Yasaka bounding towards him with his grandfather slowly trailing behind him. Nagisa steadied his emotions and put on a smile for the boy.

"Heya Mao, how are you doing? Giving your gramps trouble I bet." Nagisa greeted with a smirk. Mao could only poke his tongue out and laugh. Chinan just sighed as he thought back to the trouble his grandson gave him. "How about you, old man? How are things?"

"Besides Mao over here causing his usual ruckus, I've been doing fine. What about you… how are you managing?" The old man asked caringly. The happy go lucky expression on Nagisa's face faded to a sombre expression as he tilted his head to look at the floor in thought.

"I'm good now. What you said was a real wake up call." The navy-haired boy looked up with a determined look, a passionate flame burning in his eyes. "I promise you old man, I'll grow stronger than ever. I won't let the past repeat itself. Once I'm strong enough, I'll find Robin-chan again and protect her no matter what." Mao looked on with amazement.

"Oh man Nagisa-nii, your so cool! I wanna grow up to be just like you!" The young Yasaka exclaimed with excitement. Nagisa chuckled at his "little brother's" enthusiasm.

"Haha, I look forward to it. You got to grow up first, short stuff."

"I AM NOT THAT SHORTER THAN YOU! YOU'RE LIKE 4 YEARS OLDER THAN ME!" Mao shouted with a pout on his face. The other two laughed at the young boy's reaction. After calming down, Chinan looked back to Nagisa

"Honestly, I don't want you to leave. You're so young… too young to go on this dangerous journey. I can't help but put my grandson, who is a few years younger than you, in your shoes and the thought scares me… but I know I can't stop you. That's why I'm giving you this." The old man said before handed the boy a folded piece of paper. Nagisa looked through the piece of paper and saw that it was directions to a bar called 'The Drunken Tortoise.'

"Eh? You gone senile on me old man? I'm way too young to drink." Nagisa asked with confusion. Chinan grew a tick mark on the side of his head at hearing this.

"SENILE?! Damn brat, and here I was being nice. It's directions to a bar near this island's port town. You know the saying; a drunk mind speaks a sober heart. You might hear some interesting things. Oh yeah, take this as well." Chinan said as he tossed a pouch to the boy. "Use this money to get yourself started."

"I won't forget this… really. You've done so much for me. Thanks… Jiji." He said with an ear-splitting grin before walking towards the bar after rubbing Mao's head affectionately. The old man was silent until he muttered,

"Stupid brat." Tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he looked at the fading silhouette of the boy.

"Will we ever see Nagisa-nii again Jiji?" Mao asked as he approached his grandfather.

"Who knows… but one thing is for sure. This isn't the last time we heard of him." Chinan replied warmly.