The next morning was another beautiful day, but the boys hardly noticed it as they rushed down to the ship. No, make that their ship! The one they'd finished yesterday! They'd eaten a quick breakfast and run off, dashing past Dadan and the other bandits who were too busy being clueless to notice them, before their feet led them to the secluded beach where they'd built and stowed the ship.

"Hurry, Sabo! Hurry!" Ace shouted, excitement evident in his voice. "I wanna go out to sea TODAY!"

Sabo laughed in return, gripping his blue top hat securely in one hand as he kept pace with Ace. "Ok, ok! Just remember, going out to sea means being prepared-"

Ace groaned, cutting him off. "I know! I read a book about it! An entire book, Sabo! I get it!"

Sabo just gave him an unimpressed look. "And by 'read,' I know you actually mean 'looked at the pictures.'"

Ace looked at him with slight embarrassment, a bit of heat in his eyes. "It still counts!"

Sabo just sighed in response.

After a few minutes, they reached the cave where they'd hidden the boat. "Come on, come on!" Ace cheered. "Untie it, Sabo!"

Sabo knelt down by the lip of the cave entrance and took off his shoes and socks, momentarily wincing as his bare feet touched the hot sand. He walked carefully into the water, the waves reaching up to his thighs, and stepped into the mouth of the cave. Letting his eyes adjust, he anchored one hand on the wall for balance as he searched around for the rope securing their ship. Once he found it, he pulled it gently toward him, the helm of the boat following. "Ok, got it," he yelled back to Ace. "Now, let me just get it free…" His questing hands ghosted over the rock they'd tied the ship to, and swiftly undid the knot. "There!" Now free, the boat bobbed over, gently knocking against Sabo's shoulder. With a firm hold on the rope, Sabo dragged Luffy out of the cave and onto the shoreline.

"Ok, it's free," Sabo grinned, and Ace smiled back, eyes sweeping over the boat. The patchwork sail that was ready to fly, the hand-carved letters in the hull, the kid sleeping on the deck-wait, what? His eyes locked onto the intruder and his expression instantly morphed from quiet pride to fierce anger.

Sabo furrowed his brow. "What's the matter-"

"OI! YOU! In our boat! Wake up!" Ace yelled, reaching for his lead pipe, and Sabo scrambled out of the water, still gripping the rope, to see for himself what Ace was going on about.

Laying on the deck near the back of the boat was a boy slightly younger than them, dressed in a long red raincoat with sandals on his feet. He had a mop of black hair on his head and seemed to be sleeping, or at least he had been until Ace started screaming at him.

Slowly sitting up, the kid blinked at them once, then twice, rubbing his eyes with a hand. Yawning, he seemed to wake up a little more, regarding them with wide, dark eyes, the scar under his left eye fairly noticeable in the eleven-o'-clock sun. From the new position, Sabo could see that the kid held a wooden mallet in his hand. Ace snarled, advancing a step closer. "Who're you?! And why are you on our ship?!" His hand curled around the pipe, picking it up and spinning it around over his head before plonking one end in the sand. Sabo reached for his own pipe, leveling his own glare at the strange kid. If this brat thought he could destroy their ship with that mallet, he had another thing coming.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, finally aware of his surroundings. He looked around at the two of them, clearly sizing up the situation, and Sabo put a hand on Ace's arm, restraining the other to see what the intruder did. Ace shot him a quick glare, but stepped back a bit as the kid's attention locked onto the two of them. Instead of looking scared, though, he just grinned. "Hi! I'm Luffy!"

Now Sabo was just confused. What did he mean by that? The only Luffy on this entire island, as far as he knew of anyway, was their boat, and that had been an accident. He gave a subtle glance toward Ace, who looked equally lost. However, confusion quickly gave way to anger as Ace brought his pipe to bear once again.

"I dunno why you say your name's the same as our ship, and I don't care! Get off, right now!"

"Luffy" laughed, and Sabo was struck by just how blindingly bright that grin was. It wasn't the look of a scared little kid, that's for sure. "Sorry, but I can't!" he replied, still acting way happier than the situation really called for. "I can't get off this ship without help."

Ace snorted, clearly taking the statement as a flimsy excuse. "Right. Well, if you won't leave, I'll just make you talk!" With calm and collected movements, Ace vaulted onto the deck of the ship, searching for some rope as he did so.

"Oooooh, is this a game?" "Luffy" cheered. Sabo shook his head and boarded as well, relinquishing the lead rope after being certain the boat wouldn't suddenly slip away in the surf.

"Sure kid. It's called 'Interrogation.' We're gonna ask you some questions, and if you tell the truth, we won't beat you up."

"That's right!" Ace seconded. "Now where did we put the rope, Sabo?"

"Oh, then I have a question too! And there's rope in the box by the sail!" their captive supplied.

Ace looked at him suspiciously before examining the box, slowly pulling out the elusive rope. He turned back toward the boy, eyes blazing. "How did you know that?! Did you search our ship?!"

The kid just laughed again, and Sabo genuinely couldn't tell if he was fearless or stupid. Maybe both.

"I know where everything is on this ship!"

Ace growled at the kid and pointed. "Stand in front of the mast!" "Luffy" shrugged his shoulders, but did as he commanded.

Ace jerked his head toward their captive, and Sabo grabbed the other end of the rope to help out. The kid just laughed as he watched them, seemingly unfazed by the proceedings.

"Ooooooh, are you going to tie up the mast? Why?"

Ace and Sabo shared a look of disbelief. Did this kid really not get it? At all? "N...no, kid," Sabo explained hesitantly. "We're tying you to the mast."

The kid's smile fell away as he cocked his head to the side, looking confused, eyebrows furrowing. "Why would ya wanna do that?"

Now it was Ace's turn to look unsure. "W...we just want answers. That's all."

Sabo's eyes flicked between the two trying to make sense of the exchange. "Hey, Luffy, was it? Mind if we ask you our questions? We were gonna play that game, right?"

The boy's face suddenly brightened. "Oh, yeah! Ok. What d'ya wanna know?"

Sabo glanced at Ace hesitantly. "Why can't you leave the ship by yourself?"

The kid laughed. "I'm bound to it! Unless my crew takes my heartwood with them, I can't leave the ship!"

Ace and Sabo exchanged a confused look. "Heartwood?"

"Luffy" nodded. "Yeah! I'm tethered to it. Where it goes, I go. Without that, I'd be a goner!" He gave a loud giggle, as if he hadn't just revealed some incredibly important, maybe-life threatening information. "Oh! Is it my turn now? Can I ask you my question, Ace?"

Ace rolled his eyes, about to loudly announce where exactly the name-thief could put his question, when Sabo put a hand out, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Wait. How did you know his name?"

The kid just kept smiling, wide and easy-going. "That's easy! You're Ace and Sabo; you two built me!"

The anger and anxiousness melted off of the two boys at this proclamation, replaced by shock and confusion. Sabo paled, white as a laundered sail. "No way. You can't be…"

Ace spoke up at the same time. "Kid… what are you?"

The kid giggled. "I'm a kla… a klab… a klabter…" He narrowed his eyes in concentration, stumbling over the syllables.

"Klabautermann," Sabo whispered, gripping Ace's arm.

"Yeah, that's it!" Luffy exclaimed happily, waving his hands in the air.

"A what?" Ace growled, frustration and confusion clouding his voice.

Sabo swallowed, eyes never leaving the figure before them, fingers digging into Ace's forearm. "I read about them. They're boat spirits. They only appear on boats that are loved by their crew members. Supposedly, they carry wooden mallets and wear raincoats"-both boys' eyes were drawn to the mallet, still clenched in the kid's fist, and the dapper red raincoat he wore despite the sunny weather-"and they're supposedly the very incarnations, or souls, of the beloved ships they live on."

Ace stared at Sabo, then stared back at Luffy. "A...are you serious?" he hissed, gently prying Sabo off of him. "We…why is here, then?!"

"Because," Luffy said, suddenly appearing right in front of them-and now there really could be no doubt that he was the spirit of their boat because at this distance, under his left eye, what they thought was a scar was actually a line of jagged scratches that spelled his name, their frenzied handwriting incarnate on that tiny canvas-"you guys built me with love. Even if it wasn't your intent to keep me forever, you still loved making me, and you're still proud of what you built. That, and…"

Luffy then turned away from them, staring out to sea. His smile disappeared, replaced by an oddly thoughtful and serious expression. "You both wished with all your hearts to be free. So I was born to carry that wish."

Suddenly, the klabautermann turned back to them and grinned, and the smile seemed to stretch across his face like a horizon, bright as the sun and lasting forever. "You're my crew, and I'm your ship, and I'm gonna carry and protect both you and your dreams, ok?"

Ace and Sabo turned to each other, and back to Luffy. Tentatively, Sabo stretched his hand out, aiming for Luffy's shoulder, and his fingertips merely passed through the specter of the black-haired boy, as if gliding through empty air. Ace tried the same, to the same effect. It was impossible. It couldn't be real. And yet, here he was, black eyes the color of cannonballs boring into them, a hopeful smile on his face. Finally, Luffy himself broke the silence.

"So, can I ask my question now?"

Sabo jolted, having completely forgotten about Luffy's question. "Oh, right! You had something you really wanted to ask earlier. What is it?" Ace also regarded the spirit curiously, still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened in the last hour but came to the conclusion that if nothing else, Luffy wasn't a threat.

Luffy graced them with that blinding grin again. "You're humans, right?" Both Ace and Sabo nodded, and sensing that he had more to say, unconsciously leaned in, hanging on to his every word. Luffy took a deep breath.

"Do you poop?"