Disclaimer: OP isn't owned by 4fireking. It also isn't owned by me. All rights go to Eiichiro Oda, Toei animation, Funimation, blah blah freaking blah.

"You really want an explanation about this, eh, Nami? The answer to your question lies with a turn of events that happened before and is now happening all over again." Nooky said cryptically.

"What do you mean?" Nami blinked in confusion. "Can't you just tell it to me like it is? Why do I have to be separated from my crewmates? Are you working for the government?" The navigator narrowed her brown eyes suspiciously. "I'm not going down without a fight." There was no way that Nami would let herself be captured, and she would be damned if she was sent to Impel Down.

"I can tell you that you're the luckiest navigator that ever came to the Grand Line, from the East Blue. More specifically, from War Island.."

"Stop playing games with me!" Nami stood to her feet quickly. "Tell me what's going on. I deserve to know you marine scoundrels!"

"Although you might not see it yet, this is an adventure you crave. We have intel that says you create maps of all the places you visit and it's your lifelong goal to create a map of the world. Which is why you are going on this specific journey. Roku and I are not marines; we are merely spirits of Raftel."

Roku tched and looked the other way. "Don't you think we're letting her know too much?"

"Shut it. She deserves to know." Nooky gave him a hard glare before turning back towards Nami. "You all are strong, yes that is true. But ya have yet to come together as one. Hence why you've been sent on separate journeys."

"Wouldn't it have made more sense for you to keep us together?" Nami asked. There was still a lot she didn't understand; Spirits of Raftel were talking to them? Was there even a such thing as a Spirit of Raftel?

'Well this is one strange universe. Anything could happen.' She thought to herself with a deadpan.

"That would be giving you too much to go off of." Nooky shook her head, her pink locks swishing as she did so. "Navigator Nami. You should be honored that we are doing this. Having spirits from Raftel visit you is a good thing; it means we have deemed you worthy of stepping foot onto our island. But we must test you before we can do anything else. Your crewmates are safe...for now."

Nami gave a sigh of relief. At least they were all safe. Knowing them, however, it wouldn't be long before they went and screwed something up. Luffy in particular.

"Navigator." Nooky said and Nami snapped her attention back to the woman. "We are giving you each a chance to….reconnect with each other. And we are giving you specifically a chance to learn about your...past."

What more was there to know about her past? Although she knew her her crewmates didn't know the whole story, she was sure they had the basics of it from what Nojiko told them.

"This is goodbye, at least for now." Nooky said, putting her hand onto her hip. "I can't wait to see what happens to you. You remind me of someone."

"Hey wait!" Nami reached out to grab Nooky's arm, but was surprised to see that her hand went through it. Nooky and Roku had already disappeared. The navigator sighed and looked up at the sky. "Now…. what do I do?"

It turned out that the people in the village were very kind. They let Nami stay in a small home, as long as she paid of course. The navigator sighed as she sat down on her bed. She clutched the three pieces of her clima tact tightly. "I have to find them. Make no mistake.." She glared hard at her hands. "I have not given up hope, and I won't be doing so anytime soon!"

"Nice to know that you have such confidence in yourself. It's really impressive."

Nami gasped and stood up, looking around her room. "Who is that? Come forward!" She demanded. It was strange; it felt as if she had heard that voice before.

"If I come out, will you promise not to scream?" It was the deep voice of a man, but she was sure that she had heard it once before.

She sweatdropped before nodding slowly. "As long as you don't try any funny business. You come anywhere near me and your life will flash before your eyes!"

"Funny you should say that." A man appeared before her, his hand placed on his head where his hat rested, his other hand on his hip. His bare chest was puffed proudly as he gave her a cheerful smile. "Ya see...I'm already dead."

There was no way that Portgas D. Ace was standing before her. The Portgas D. Ace; the one who died at Marineford 2 years prior. She was just hallucinating; yes that's right. This whole thing was just a hallucination. Or a dream. The navigator pinched herself, waiting to wake up and laugh everything off.

.

.

.

.

And nothing happened. She blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes, and blinked a few times more. She laughed before her expression slowly turned serious. "You've got to be kidding me." The navigator then fainted.

When she awoke, the first sight that greeted her was the ceiling. It wasn't the ceiling of her room on the Sunny; no it was the ceiling of her small house in her village. 'I must have done something terrible in a past life.' She thought to herself.

"Ah! You're awake!" Ace was sitting beside her bed on a chair. "You gave me quite the scare! I thought you had died! Don't scare me like that, Nami!"

Nami stared at him with a deadpanned look. "How can you say that when you, someone who is supposed to be dead, just appeared before me? How is that even possible? Are you really Portgas D. Ace?"

"I'm the one and only." He replied, grinning. "Listen, I know you must be pretty confused right?"

"What do you think?" She sat up. "I need for you to explain some things. Please?"

"Of course." He nodded. "Long ago, in a far away land there was a man who wanted to eat meat. But he was surrounded by vegetarians. What was he to do? He was the only meat eater of the group. He-"

"That has nothing to do with the story!" Nami yelled,and her teeth fanged out comically.

"Okay okay." Ace chuckled quietly. "I should start off with why I am here before you. I am here to serve as a sort of guide for you. All of the Straw Hats have guides. These guides are people from each of your pasts trying their best to help you on your journey. We were summoned by Spirits of Raftel; they are people who have deemed all of you worthy of stepping onto their island."

"But what exactly are Spirits of Raftel?"

"They are people who have died on that island. They may have died of many different reasons, but their spirits remained alive."

"There were people on Raftel?!" Nami gasped in shock. "No way! It sounded like a deserted island every time I heard about it!"

"Well, I don't exactly know all the details." Ace scratched his head sheepishly. "I'm still learning some things as well. There are even some things I cannot tell you; things that you must find out on your own."

"What can you tell me then?"

Ace's expression suddenly became serious. "I can tell you that you are in grave danger right now. You and your brother."

"I'm in grave danger all the time! You don't give me much to go off on!"

Ace stood up and walked towards the door. "Well Nami, we can talk more once we grab something for you to eat. I'm sure you're starving. I'll wait for you outside." With that, Ace exited the room and shut the door behind him leaving Nami to attend to her own thoughts.

"People who have died on that island...I wonder what makes that island so different. Huh….hey wait a second…" Nami's eyes suddenly widened. "Did he just say my brother?!" The navigator stood up and growled, clenching her fists tightly as thunder clouds surrounded her. "Like I give a damn about food right now. Even though you're dead….Ace...I'm kicking your ass!"

As if on cue, her stomach growled. She sank back down onto her bed and clutched her growling stomach. "Ah geez. Maybe I should grab something to eat. Guess I better put on some different clothes."

With a sigh, the navigator got off the bed and opened the closet in the hopes of finding some better clothes to wear.

Elsewhere…

"Well this is a shock." A man wearing a large cloak sat on top of a roof, his long and dark red-orange hair blowing in the wind. He brushed his bangs out of his eyes and looked up at the sky. "Just when I thought I was the last one...turns out that I'm not."

The man sighed, turning his gaze back to the town below him. Couples were walking by, hand in hand. Children were playing tag, weaving through crowds of people. A group of girls emerged from a small shop and were giggling loudly.

Oh how he wished he had that kind of luxury.

He had long ago forgotten what it was like to give or receive love. He couldn't even remember a time in which a being actually smiled at him. However, such thoughts no longer saddened him. Now he almost felt joy at the thought of so many people cursing his existence. It made him feel a rush of adrenaline.

"You are nothing but a tool. Tools aren't any good if their broken. You must never break. If you break then you are no longer of use, and you must be thrown away."

He didn't quite understand how he was still sane.

"I should spare myself the pain of thinking of my past." He muttered to himself. "Right now I have a job that needs to be done."

He tilted his head to the side and closed his black, seemingly lifeless, eyes. Moments later his body jolted a bit and he smirked. "Oh this is a definite surprise." The mysterious man once again turned his gaze towards the sky. "Can you feel my presence? Do you already know what is to befall you? Do you know what has already befallen you?"

He laughed then, a harsh and lifeless sound. "When will we finally meet? I can't wait forever. I suppose I should go looking for you….but where's the fun in that?"

He examined his nails. "I can guarantee….that once we do meet….there will be a massacre. So the question is…"

He hopped down from the roof, and the people around that area stared at him in shock. Those who already recognized his face drew back in fear. "Are you ready?" He asked, a wide smirk appearing on his face.

"Hmm, not my usual choice of fashion but it'll have to do." Nami said, pulling on her other sandal. The navigator stood up and walked into the bathroom where she examined herself.

She was wearing a red tank top crop top with the word "Joke" written across it. She wore a pair of black sweatpants. On her feet were a pair of black, flat sandals.

"I wish I had my heels." She muttered to herself. "But I guess I can run better in these."

Once more her stomach growled, so she took her clima tact and exited the small house.

"Ah, Nami!" Ace grinned. "You're finally out. Hey, take a look over there." He pointed towards the beach.

Nami sweatdropped and looked over, hoping it wasn't something stupid. But it was a sight that surprised her; she didn't know whether to be worried or happy when she saw the ship of the Heart Pirates emerging from underwater. The navigator felt drained at just the thought of going on another adventure with Trafalgar Law of all people. The last one they went on ended up in her being separated from all her friends.

Though now that she thought about it, they were all separate once more. She hoped they were all okay.

"Nami?" Ace waved his hand in front of her face. "Come on, let's get you some food."

He began walking and she slowly followed after him.

"So spirits of my loved ones are visiting one of my friends as we speak, right?" Nami asked.

"Yup." Ace replied.

"Raftel had people who lived on it's island? Were they apart of the err...Void Century?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me more about the Void Century?"

"Nope."

"Thought so." Nami sighed. "Oh, Ace...hope you realize that you're paying."

Ace suddenly stopped, causing Nami to nearly crash into him.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" Nami asked in surprise. The people walking around her gave her strange looks as they continued on their way.

"There are two things I forgot to tell you Nami. The first thing is that you are the only person who can see me...at least as of now."

"And what's the other thing?" Nami asked.

"The other thing is that I will disappear more and more everyday. I am here to guide you, but once I disappear I will no longer be able to help you." Ace crossed his arms over his chest. "So we have to make the most of these next few days. Got it?"

Nami gulped. "Got it.."

A/N: Excuse the OOCness of any of the characters thus far.

Hopefully a few things were cleared up in this chapter. Not everything, but at least a few things right?

So Nami and the others have officially begun their journey, and each have guides as well! I wonder how this will turn out?

4Fireking and I will have the next chapter up hopefully sooner rather than later. If anyone has any suggestions for the direction in which they think the story should go then don't hesitate to pm either of us with your ideas xD. Thank you for reading, now pleaseee leave a review!

Until next time!