Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. I only own Yami.

Chapter 3: New Nakama?

The crew watched with their jaws on the floor as the unknown girl wandered around casually on the upper deck of the Going Merry. She grinned at them.

"What … who are you, now?" the orange-haired girl asked her distrustfully. She knew from listening that her name was Nami.

And in the same moment, Luffy asked his brother, "She a friend of yours?"

"No!" Ace yelled and jumped on deck in one forceful movement. Yami giggled at the sight of his surprised expression, especially when he noticed her get-up.

Oh boy, I knew that would please you.

Of the two dancer's outfits she had bought, one in emerald green and one in a sunny yellow colour, she had put on the green one. It was lace-trimmed, with golden threads dangling from the bra-top's bottom that tickled the bare skin of her stomach. The high-slit skirt was also delicately crossed by tiny golden strands. To top it all, she wore a plain golden bangle around her upper arm.

"Ohh, you're the most beautiful being I have ever seen …" the blonde guy, Sanji, fluted in an unnervingly high-pitched voice as his eyes turned into hearts and he clasped his hands in front of his chest in admiration.

However, he was quickly shut up by Nami punching him on the head. "Who are you?" she demanded again, glaring threateningly at the girl.

"My name's Yami, nice to meet you," she said calmly with a winning grin on her face. She had once bothered to give her real name away, but those people were something different, she could feel that deep inside. Besides, Ace knew it anyway (if he hadn't forgotten) and it would be difficult to explain to him why she didn't want him calling her with that name.

"Hey Nami, her name sounds like yours!" the sharpshooter called from behind. She saw him standing with shivering legs but acting all brave and snickered at that.

Nami ignored his interjection. She looked at Ace who stared at the newcomer with a scowl.

"Shishishi! Ace's friends are my friends too!" Luffy giggled as if he hadn't listened the past few minutes. And probably he really hadn't.

"I said she's not!" Ace shouted at him, but he just giggled on.

"Come on, Yami! Celebration time! Sanji, go prepare party food!"

Yami had to suppress the laughing fit building up in her throat. She had decided to like this boy when he had looked at her with those puppy-like eyes in the bar, half an hour ago. And this here only confirmed her with her opinion.

"Relax, all of you. I won't do you any harm," she assured them, still grinning. She heard a loud double-snort and looked at Ace and Zoro. "Sorry, what did you say?" she asked politely while Luffy, Usopp, Chopper the reindeer and the duck were already dancing around with glasses of mysterious origin in their hands, celebrating their two new nakama. Sanji wasn't unconscious anymore and continued praising the beauty of "his" three lovely ladies, and Nami looked suspiciously at the girl, undecided about whether she should trust her or not.

Ace and Zoro, for their part, did not.

"As if you could do us any harm!" the swordsman said in a scornful way. And even Ace, who was there when she had almost killed Smoker, nodded approvingly.

Yami sighed and shrugged. "Whatever. If you think so. One more reason to trust me, right?" She only found them arrogant at that moment.

The two young men hesitated. She was right with that … but perhaps there was more to her than met the eye. Or wasn't it?

"What are you doing here?" Ace demanded, still scowling at her. She swung down the railing of the upper deck, landing right in front of them, and watched amused as Ace made a step back.

"Hey, don't be afraid cowboy, I said I won't hurt you," she snickered as she adjusted the rucksack on her back.

His face darkened even further. "I said you couldn't …"

"Hey Sanji, you have anything to eat for me? Thanks to that stupid Marine I couldn't finish my dish …" she ignored Ace's saying and turned to the blonde who was the cook, obviously as Luffy addressed him several times to tell him to prepare something to eat – which he answered with several kicks in his captain's head. Really, this crew was definitely not normal. But in a positive way.

"Right now, lovely Yami!" he fluted instantly and noodled around oddly before swirling off to where the kitchen must be. She scratched her head, confused by the sudden change in his mood, but as she heard Nami sigh, she guessed that it had to be normal.

"Why does he do it for you and not for me? I'm the captain!" Luffy pouted.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Because you're not a girl, dumbass! Almost one year on this ship, and you still don't know that?"

Yami giggled despite the various death glares Ace sent her. Some men really had a problem with being ignored, she had come across that earlier. Yah, poor cowboy, she thought and laughed. Then she remembered the other person on the ship, the only one who hadn't said anything yet since she had appeared and stood in her own corner rigidly.

"By the way …" Yami began, addressing Nami who apparently was the smartest person in here not dancing or pouting or standing in a corner, "what's the meaning of you having the princess of Alabasta with you?"

Silence.

"The WHAT?" Ace stared incredulously at her, then at the blue-haired girl who had flinched and paled at her words, and back to her. "The princess of Alabasta?"

Yami shrugged. "Right, am I, Princess Nefertari Vivi?" she asked and smiled at the girl staring wide-eyed at her as if she was a phantom.

"Where do you know that from? I'm undercover!" the girl blurted out suddenly, and the duck chimed in with a startled "KWEEEEH!"

Nami nodded, going distrustful instantly. "Yeah, she's right. How can you know that?"

"I saw her once …" Yami muttered as pictures manifested in her mind, pictures she didn't want to see right now. "Yah, I had been here once when I was a child," she said, louder now. "What are you doing on a pirate ship, Princess-sama?"

Ace took his younger brother by the wrist. "Luffy, you know kidnapping a princess is really not nice?" he asked with his brows furrowed.

"Huh?" the younger one questioned. "Kidnapping? Of course not! Shishishi!"

Ace looked confused, and so did Yami. They saw Vivi taking a deep breath, and then, with a reassuring nod from Nami, she began to speak.

"Some months ago, I learned about a conspiracy in Alabasta. The Baroque Works, the mightiest company in our country, wants to seize power, with their boss Mister Zero leading the way. They already achieved that nobody listens to my father anymore, so the only chance I got was to infiltrate them and become a Baroque Agent myself with … Igaram." Her eyes filled with tears when she mentioned that name, and everybody looked to the floor uneasily. Nami reached out and put her hand on the princess' back comfortingly. She kept silent for a moment, then went on. "So I became Miss Wednesday and learned something about Mister Zero … his name is Sir Crocodile."

Ace cocked his eyebrows in surprise. "Sir Crocodile, that Sir Crocodile? One of the shichibukai? Are you sure?"

Vivi nodded silently. "Yes, he wants all the power for himself and stops at nothing. The last thing I know about the matter is that the Rebel Army is going to call out for civil war against my father …"

"Wow, that's mean!" Yami exclaimed with a frown. "And how do you want to stop him? Obviously your disguise has been revealed."

The princess sighed and looked down. "I don't know that yet. But I'll do everything, absolutely everything to stop my country from being torn from inside!" She said it determinedly and Yami saw her clenching her fists. She smiled. This country apparently had a good princess. If her father was only half of her worth, he would be great.

"I wish you luck," she said, spontaneously impressed. "To fight one of the shichibukai …"

"I'll kick his ass!" Luffy shouted confidently with a large grin, despite the seriousness of the situation. Ace sighed and shook his head at hearing this. Yami watched them and couldn't help but smile.

"So how did you get on this ship?" she asked the princess and was glad to see her smile too.

"That's a long story", she answered and lifted her eyes to the red-haired girl. "If you want to hear it, I'll tell you …"

"Hey! We didn't even decide if we should trust her!" Zoro threw in but was ignored.

"I'd so like to hear it!" Yami assured and smiled heartily at Vivi.

Chuckling slightly, she saw Zoro roll his eyes and Ace look as if something just occurred to him. He turned to the other young man, whispering something to him that she couldn't understand. The green-haired swordsman widened his eyes and turned to look at Yami who cocked her head questioningly. "What?"

But neither of them answered. Zoro kept staring at her, then turned away and walked to the other side of the deck where he sat down, obviously sleeping. Ace just crossed his arms in front of his impressive chest.

Yami shrugged and turned to Vivi again. "So you're not kidnapped or anything?" she asked and let her glance run over the whole ship including its crew.

"Of course not!" Vivi laughed. "They said they'd help me …"

"Nami-swan! Vivi-chan! Yami-san! Lunch is ready!" they heard someone whistle from the kitchen, and after that: "Oi! Idiots! Lunch!" in a really gruff voice.

Yami failed to suppress a laughing fit. "Is he always that way?" she asked Nami with tears in her eyes, and the orange-haired girl nodded and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah he is, from the beginning on."

"Must be kinda hard," Yami laughed. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Ace huff and walk towards the kitchen and followed him. "Seems like little cowboy here is a bit touchy?" she snickered when she closed up to him, and he sent her his best death glare.

"Really, what's your problem? Why the hell are you here? And why do you insist on annoying me of all people? Go play elsewhere!" he growled.

"Three questions at once? That's too much, let me think …" she said and pretended to be thoughtful, with one hand cupping her chin. "Umm … yah. I think I know that I don't have a problem, I'm here because you are here and I just like to annoy people, so you better get used to my valuable presence," she answered and grinned happily. She didn't even have to lie. She saw Ace roll his eyes and took a hand up to her mouth to cover her smile as he walked away. This was going to be a lot of fun.

"Seems like he doesn't like you," she heard a shy voice from behind and she was surprised to see the small reindeer stand next to a barrel indecisively.

She smiled at the animal and went on her knees to make herself smaller as she felt that he was nervous. "Oh, no, I don't think so. He only acts like this because he wants to cover his delight to see me again," she explained and chuckled in amusement.

The reindeer looked at her pensively. "But he said you weren't friends," he pointed out.

She grinned. "Yes, that's his version." She reached out one hand. "Now come, or we'll have to go hungry," she said, remembering the tendency of Ace's younger brother to stuff himself with every food he could grab. And really, as they came into the dining room, she stopped dead seeing the boy extending his arms to steal away his crewmates' food. She gaped incredulously, pointing to the unbelievable sight right in front of her.

Nami noticed her staring and shrugged. "Before you ask, yes, he's always like this," she said and winced as Sanji's foot kicked a hand away from her food only inches away from her face.

"Yami-saaan, I saved your portion from this idiot, please sit down and enjoy!" the cook fluted with heart-shaped eyes and she giggled seeing him really having a hard time protecting her plate against the grabbing rubber hands of his captain.

"Thank you so much, Sanji-kun," she said and bowed to him politely before sitting down and starting to eat, causing him to almost faint with pleasure.

"Never do that!" Nami hissed from her left. "He'll topple down or get unconscious, and then Chopper will have to look for any blood clots in his brain …"

Yami snorted with laughter as she saw the blonde man raise slowly, rubbing his head. "Stupid ero-cook …" she heard Zoro mutter under his breath, but it was loud enough for Sanji to hear, and so he immediately took up the challenge.

"What was that?" he snarled at the swordsman, and at the drop of a hat they crashed together in a ball of blades and boots.

Yami stared at the scene with fascination, completely forgetting about her food-filled plate and the tendency of certain rubber boys not to worry about belongings and properties. When she tore herself away from the fighting scene, she found it empty and squealed indignantly, seeing the last bit of her wonderful coq au vin dish disappear in Luffy's rubber mouth.

"That's unfair! I didn't even get a bite!" she yelled at him. Nami sighed while Vivi giggled and the rest of the table shook from suppressed laughter. Except Luffy who didn't even bother to listen to the accusations against him. And except Sanji, who immediately forgot about the fight with the swordsman and came at the thief to beat the living daylights out of him for stealing "his precious Yami-chwan's" food.

When he was done with it, he apologised to Yami for not having paid attention to her and her well-being, and promised to make it better next time. Then he disappeared into the kitchen and came back with another plate filled with coq au vin, which he served her with a fluted compliment about her beauty. As Luffy, who had recovered quickly, began to drool at the sight of the new plate, immediately forgetting about having been beaten up for stealing from Yami's last plate, she couldn't help but laugh until tears streamed down her cheeks.

God, I love this ship! she thought happily. For the first time in years, she was at peace.

Author's note: Writing Luffy and Sanji is so much fun. I love the Straw Hats. And I love Yami. And Ace. To sum it up, I LOVE THEM ALL.

Please review if you love them too ;-)

Oh, and someone just asked if she had eaten the same fruit as Blackbeard … No, she hasn't. His one was the Yami Yami no Mi (yeah, stupid coincidence^^), so the "Darkness-Darkness" Fruit. Hers is the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. She can do things with shadows, not that overly powerful "I'm-gonna-take-away-your-powers-right-now" thing. Yah. In fact, Gecko Moria uses the Kage Kage no Mi too, I apologise for not having seen that before but it's not the same, and there is no other name I could give her fruit for shadows are the exact thing she deals with.