A/N: Hello again everyone! First of all, I'd like to give a special thanks to Emz, Neko82192, bRoKEnhEaRTscROsSovEr, and an "someone" for reviewing! I'm glad you all enjoy it, as I am having very much fun writing this! Also I will definitely keep my eye out for more spelling and grammatical errors! Wink

Anywhoo! Thanks for being patient with the once a week update, and depending on how things go for me this week, I just might release two chapters before the week is over! Can't say for sure though, but more reviews sure does help my typing speed! Ahaha! Like last time, I'll give a short insight on the chapter below after you're all finished reading!

Please enjoy!

Umi pouted and folded her arms, "Why not!" She demanded.

Wire gave her a very loud and exasperated sigh. He turned to the nearest wall and slammed his head against it in frustration, "Can't you go ask someone else?" He whined, ready to stab his brains out with his own trident.

"Slash doesn't like me, so he's automatically a 'no',"

"Flick?" He suggested.

"He doesn't care for me much either. Besides he's patching up some of the minor damage fom going through the Devil's Palm,"

"Heat?"

"He said to go bug you," She gave him a full on grin.

He couldn't stop his eye from twitching. He clenched his fist tightly and cursed the fire-breathing man, "What about Killer?"

She stared at him blankly for a long moment, "I may not be a man, but I have some pride ya know..."

Wire heard a loud yawn behind him and devilishly smirked at his scapegoat. He placed the palm of his hand behind Umi's back and pushed her towards the lazy looking man, "Boom! Have you and Umi even spoken to each other yet?" Before Umi could protest that he was obviously trying to escape, he continued to speak over her rather loudly,"No! No you haven't! Why don't you two do some bonding and talk! Bye!"

Boom and Umi stared awkwardly at each other. She smiled nervously rubbing the back of her head, "So...Pipe says you make explosives,"

"Yeah," He sweatdropped at the small talk, "What can you do,"

Umi eyes sparked with mischief at the question. She smiled, sending a shiver down his spine, "I'm so glad you asked! I was hoping you could maybe help me a bit on that,"

"Hm?"

"You see, I'm not much of an offensive fighter. I grew up as a theif who attacks people and runs off. I'm afraid I wont be of use to the crew for very long if I don't shape up," She gave him her best pleading look, "So can we maybe have a match and you can tell me what I'm doing wrong?"

Boom frowned at her suggestion. Her head was in the right place, but did she honestly think that a simple sparring match with him could help her? His abilities weren't based on hand-to-hand combat, she had to know at least that much. If she knew at least basics, the only thing that could help her improve was cold hard experience.

"Unless you're busy I guess..." She trailed off, obvious in her disappointment.

"No," He answered without thinking. Damn it, he was definitely stuck with her now. He mentally cursed himself for the softest of the group of Kidd Pirates. He gave her a weak sideways smile, "I guess I could help. There's a training room below deck and I mean it's not like I got anything better to do anyway," He shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered off towards the stairs leading down.

Umi gave him a beaming smile and thanked him. Boom sweatdropped. He wasn't even facing in her direction, but he could practically feel her gratitude and bright smile begin to suffocate him. As they made their way below deck, Boom noticed something was a little off. He narrowed his eyes and focused on listening.

Step. stepstep. Step. Stepstep. Step. Stepstep.

They finally made it to the training room. Against the walls were various weights and pull up bars, but the center of the room was left clear. His eyes widened, realizing why her footsteps sounded odd. A serious look on his face, he turned toward her abruptly. She ran into him, too busy looking at the new(to her) room, to realize he had stopped.

"Your wound...It hasn't healed completely yet has it," He gave her a very serious frown motioning to her leg.

She backed up a step and answered him, also in a serious tone, "It's fine at this point. Unless I take a direct hit to the wound itself, it won't reopen,"

"But it's only been a few days since you were stitched up. I don't think we should-"

"It's fine!" Her eyes turned into a soft glare. She appreciated his concern, but that's not what she needed at the moment, "Please," She softened her tone, "I don't want to be a burden on the Captain...or the rest of the crew," She added.

He gave her a short sigh, "Fine. Let's do this," He walked quickly to the other side of the room and took a battle stance, "Fully healed or not, I won't take it easy on you,"

"Good," They gave each other determined smiles before beginning.

"Captain," Flick walked up to Kidd who was currently at the ship's wheel, "The minor damage has been fixed, but the rudder is beginning to get worn out. I reccommend replacing it soon," Kidd grunted a response, leaning back after checking the log pose again. "How close are we to the next island?"

"We should arrive there by later tomorrow if we don't have anymore incidents,"

"Why didn't you kill her?" Flick threw at him completely out of left field.

Kidd considered yelling at him to mind his own business, but he was all too aware how awkward and defensive that sounded. Instead he calmly turned his attention back to steering the ship, but not before throwing him an angry scowl. "She amuses me," He had no reason to go into detail about how he truly relished the way her disgustingly naive aura gave off an underline malicious intent. Or how he'd love to be the person to one day be able to send her over the edge, fantasizing about enemy ships that would crumble under her hidden destructive nature. It sent shivers down his spine whenever he pictured her eyes turning into that of a cold blooded murderer's. She, or anyone else for that matter, had failed to realize the potential in her. But in due time, he would be the one to help her evolve. He smirked at his own thoughts.

Flick bit his bottom lip in silence. It frustrated him to not know what his Captain truly thought of the half blue-haired girl. He turned and walked away, seeing as he had no further need for interaction. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon and his stomach reminded him that it was nearly meal time. He nearly shuddered at the thought of sitting at the same table as that girl. She was so small, but ferocious when starving. He wanted to ask her of her upbringing, but decided against, thinking she'd just give him vague answers anyway.

The scent of corn drifted from the kitchen and cued Flick's stomach to speak up. He scratched the back of his head, happy that no one was currently within range to hear. He quickly walked to the opposite side of the deck in order to move away from the kitchen. Every crew member sans the Captain, knew what would happen should they enter the kitchen before meal time without a good reason. Flick definitely was not in any mood to have a butcher knife come flying at him.

"Hm?" He stopped in the middle of a hallway, hearing various noises from the training hall. Cautiously walking over, and turning the corner, he was surprised to see Killer leaning against the wall just outside the door, "Killer? What-"

"Shh," Killer held up his index finger up to his mask, presumably where his mouth resided. He jerked his head towards the small opening the door provided, not being closed entirely. Flick raised an eyebrow but followed suit, curiosity getting the better of him. Killer remained leaning against the wall, arms folded and peaking in by turning his head to view the spectacle before him. Flick walked over and crouched in front of the door, also peaking in.

They stood several feet apart on opposite sides of the room, panting from exhaustion. Boom's stamina was excellent for being a pyrotechnition, but hers was almost on par. Unfortunately for her, her legs gave out and she fell to the floor on all fours absolutely exhausted. Sweat dripped from her brow onto the wood below.

"That's enough for today," He managed to gasp between pants. When she looked up to protest, he held his hand up to her, "Have some consideration. I'm not just sayin' this for you, I'm pretty beat also."

Umi nodded and worked her way to a sitting position, spreading her legs in a 'v' formation and leaning back on the palms of her hands. When he offered her some water, she thanked him and began to chug the entire canteen. He sat down beside her and did the same and soon their short and uneven breaths slowed to a more acceptable pace.

"Wuah~" She smiled, "I can smell Pipe's cooking from all the way over here!" Her tummy rumbled with excitement and Boom's stomach answered in agreement.

He chuckled lightly, "So I've actually been dying to ask," He sat up and draped an arm over his raised knee, looking at her, "Where the hell did you learn to eat like that!"

Her face deadpanned, "I don't really understand what you mean," She turned her head away, obviously lying, "I just copy what you guys do," She threw her hands up in a shrug.

"Bullshit! No one here growls at anyone else during meal time! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were raised by wolves," He smirked at his little joke, bringing the canteen up to his lips to take another swig of water, ready for some sort of outburst to defend her lady-manners. But when silenced graced his ears, he lowered the water before he could actually drink anything, "You've got to be shitting me..."

"I never said-"

"It doesn't matter what you never said! The point is you never denied the statement!" They stared awkwardly at each other. Boom, taking in the new information and Umi, attempting to come up with a less awkward topic. "So...seriously?" Boom continued, much to her dismay, "I mean like were you running with them and howling and everything?" He snickered at the thought. Again, he meant it as another sarcastic joke, but the residual silence only confirmed his suspicions, "No way! Are you fucking kidding me?" He burst into hysterical laughter causing her face to turn as red as Kidd's hair.

"Stop making fun of me! It's nothing like how you're imagining!" She threw her empty canteen at his head. His smile never left, but he stopped laughing long enough for her to explain herself, "I mean yeah I did stuff like that, but it's not as ridiculous as you're making it out to be!"

"Pft! And how would a bunch of wild mutts ever compare to the company of people?"

Umi hugged her knees to her chest, "I wouldn't expect you to understand," Her eyes softened, "I was only with them for a year. But I've never felt more accepted by anyone else in my entire life," Boom's smile finally began to disappear from his face as he patiently listened, "The pack taught me how to survive in any condition. We fought together, traveled together, ate together, and slept together like a real family. At least that's what real families do, right?" Boom glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but looked away, not wanting to make accidental eye contact, "If I could've I probably would've stayed there on that island with them forever,"

"Why'd you leave?"

She smiled sadly to herself, allowing snippets of memories to flash by like a slide show, "Because humans find amusement in any unusual phenomenon."

Boom mulled her words around in his head. Did that mean that she was hunted down by other people? Probably slave traders looking to sell her as a pet. How old was she when she first ran with them? What did she do before then? Where did she go after then? He suddenly found himself more and more intrigued by the minute. He wanted to ask all these questions to satisfy his own burning curiosity, but the only thing that spewed out from his mouth was, "So...have you been on your own this entire time?"

A heavy and uncomfortable silence filled the room and the hallway. Umi froze at his question, not really knowing how to answer. Images of smiling kids covered in dirt and grime faintly gave her an almost nonexistent warm feeling in her chest. The familiar distorted figure of the blond haired boy with the smirk dominated the previous memory and made her shake. No, she hadn't, but her own mouth and vocal chords betrayed her thoughts, "I guess so. Yeah." She hadn't meant to tell him the truth, or lie depending on how one looked at the situation, but it was already out. She clenched her fist and stood up, "This ship has a bath of some sort, right? I want to be clean before I touch my food,"

"Two doors down," He answered, not having the courage to face her after his embarrassingly blunt question. She left without another word, afraid that her voice would give her true feelings away. Thankfully, she didn't run into anyone on her way to the bathing area, nor was there anyone occupying it.

Trying to take her mind off of what just happened, she tried to admire the large bath house. It was lined with a pale blue tile. The walls held four different shower heads, meaning for the area to be a public bath. Underneath the showers, a single long piece of varnished wood held four sets of shampoo and conditioner, scattered amongst the shelf by lazy and uncaring crew members. Opposite the door was a giant bath, already filled with hot water(she vaguely wondered why and how, but didn't care enough at the moment to dwell on the matter). The tub could easily fit the whole crew at once with plenty of extra room to spare. She silently thanked who's ever idea it was to put a lock on a public bath aboard a pirate ship as she flipped the knob to close off intruders from entering.

She discarded her clothes in a dry corner then placed herself underneath one of the showers. She shivered at the burst of cold water, but relaxed as the water began to heat up fairly quickly. She sighed in content, closing her eyes, as she leaned her head back to soak her hair. Her blue irises reopened to stare blankly at the ceiling. When was the last time she had a hot bath? Was there even such an instance? Leveling her head once more, she thought it ridiculous. There must've been a time in her life that allowed her to enjoy warm baths. How else would she know the excitement of getting ready for one? Or the pleasures it would bring to her aching muscles.

She brushed off her mild confusion and focused on scrubbing the dirt and sweat from her skin.

The rest of that evening passed quickly without much incident. Killer waited until after dinner to report to Kidd what he found out in the training room earlier that day. Kidd scowled at Killer when he finished his explanation and waved him off. "I don't give a shit what she's done up until now. I'm only concerned of how she'll be from this point forward," He told his first-mate. If he had to be honest with himself, he was vaguely interested in learning more about her, but the problem was that he didn't care enough to ask or hear anything more. If more information presented itself to him, he'd hear it out, but it wasn't the top of his list. He dismissed Killer and threw himself on his bed for the night, boots an' all.

The next morning, Umi awoke without much interference from any nightmares. The sun shining above their heads, the last of the morning dew beginning to evaporate. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and trudged out of the shared room that was currently empty. She didn't bother with her frizzy hair, that her pillow had dried for her during the night, and walked around the deck barefoot, wondering why she had been allowed to sleep in. Luckily for her, she was found by Boom before anyone else. He gasped at her appearance, causing a sort of 'un-manly' squeaking sound to come from his mouth the moment he saw her.

He blushed seeing her in nothing but the over sized shirt someone from the crew had given up(definitely not his own), "U-Umi!" He shouted in surprise, but began to whisper so no one else would hear, "Wh-why aren't you wearing any pants!"

"Hm?" It took her a moment to register his question from her groggy state of mind, "Oh. It got really hot so I kicked them off,"

Boom looked back and forth around the ship nervously, hoping no one would come by them,"Always make sure you're dressed before just wandering around outside!" He scolded her, still whispering. He grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and began to shove her back into her room. She protested, still half asleep, but he wouldn't hear any of it. He gave her one final push into her room, "Now get dressed before someone jumps you!"

"Huh? But last night I heard Slash say I had as much curves as a twig!"

"Just- Urgh!" He slammed the door shut in her face and breathed a sigh of relief when he began to hear shuffling. He sweatdropped at Slash's statement. Sure he sort of agreed that the new girl looked a lot less healthy than most women, but even after a few days of eating regularly with them, she was really starting to fill out nicely. Her skin glowed a healthy peach color and the sheen of her hair was silky and bright. Most importantly, she no longer looked as if she would float away with the next breeze, but there was still room for improvement. The door opened and a much more alert Umi exited, fully dressed. He turned to her with a small frown on his face, "You missed breakfast." Boom gave another surprised gasp, this time sounding more like a gasping fish. She stared at him, tears streaming in rivers down her face and her lower lip rising in a pout. He rose his hands defensively in an attempt to sooth her, "D-don't worry! It was pretty obvious that you weren't there, so I'm sure Pipe might give you a snack!" He smiled with a sweatdrop running down is temple. She cheered up right away, but it lasted for only a second.

"Hey, Boom," He twitched slightly, recognizing the seriousness in her tone, "How come no one bothered to wake me?"

He mentally cursed a 'shit-storm', nearly drowning in his panic, "W-well...a lot of the chores were being handled already and-"

She stopped listening. Was she really that seemingly unreliable that they didn't even bother to ask if she could help? She argued to herself that she knew nothing of sailing a ship or keeping it up to par for sailing, but did the Captain not even bother to put her to work cleaning something? 'Did I fall off the face of the Earth to these people?' Umi went from depressed, to angry. She was about to interrupt Boom in his useless excuses, when Heat, in the crow's nest, called out for everyone to hear.

"Captain! We're approaching land!"

"Finally," Boom commented, "C'mon, Umi," He motioned for her to follow, "We gotta report to Captain and figure out a plan when we dock."

She followed him at a light jog, her leg nearly completely closed and the stitches, much to her extreme relief, began to dissolve and fade a little. The two walked up to an already gathered group of Kidd Pirates, their captain sitting on a barrel with his trademark smirk.

"Heat," Kidd turned to the man that had just climbed down from the crow's nest, "How long 'till we reach the island,"

"Less than an hour, Chief. However," Heat continued, "The island is surrounded by green fog, so docking won't be easy,"

"That's fine," Kidd brushed off the warning, "Just lower the sails when we head into it."

For the next half hour, they discussed amongst themselves of all the places the treasure might be hidden based on the little rumored information they had and how they were going to haul it out. They hardly noticed at all when they entered the green mist and if Umi hadn't made any comments, they probably would've forgotten to put away the sails. They concluded their meeting and stood around on deck, Wire at the helm, alert for any danger.

A cold shiver traveled down Umi's spine and she quickly moved from the middle of the deck and hopped up onto the figure head, staring out into the thick green air. Everyone stared at her, a little on edge from her sudden reaction. She closed her eyes, listening intently to her surroundings. 'I don't hear any birds...not even crows...' She thought.

"U-Umi," Boom hesitated to interrupt whatever she was doing.

"Sh!" Her closed eye twitched in anger, but relaxed again as she strained her ears to listen harder. With her eyes closed, Umi could hear the gentle lapping of the waves hitting the side of the boat. The crew strained their eyes to catch even a glimpse of a port or beach. Umi was able to catch the small difference in the sound of the waves, "Captain," She called out gently, "I can hear a beach close by, but I don't know the exact distance."

Kidd stared at her for a moment, she never opened her eyes or turned to speak to him and remained where she was. His instinct told him to trust her own in this type of situation, "Weigh the anchor! And prepare the longboat!" He yelled to his men. Even he could tell it would be much easier and safer to take the smaller boat to shore in case there really wasn't any docking ports and in the event that they would have to drag the boat up to the beach. Pipe and Slash scrambled to reel in the chain to the anchor. Boom, Flick, Heat, and Wire climbed up the mast and lowered all of the sails to slow themselves down.

Kidd turned his attention back to Umi. Walking over to her small form straddling the figurehead, he easily towered over her. He bent his torso at his waist, leaning in close to her ear, "What makes you so sure about what's ahead," She could hear the scowl on his face based on the tone of his voice.

Umi opened her eyes halfway, calmly, and turned her head just enough to see his outline at the corner of her eye, "Being a stowaway for so many years, I've had to rely on my hearing a lot. Normally I hid in dark places that would be hard for anyone else to see me."

His voice growled a bit, "So you're relying entirely on your instincts?" She nodded, feeling a shudder forming at the base of her spine. With his left arm he gently grabbed a fist full of her hair once more and clenched, making her wince, "If you're wrong at any point about your instincts, I'll deem you useless to me and kill you myself," He threatened, "I have no use for raw intuition that'll get us all killed." He gave one last yank to her scalp and released her, backing away and turning his attention to the crew.

She should've been afraid of his threat and deep down there was a sliver of doubt in herself, but she knew she'd be okay. She knew she wasn't wrong about what she heard, therefore she had no reason to really take his threats seriously at the moment. She slid off the figurehead and went to join everyone else at the lifeboat after Boom had called her over. Everyone was to accompany the Captain to the island, docked or not, the ship wouldn't really go anywhere with the anchor down and the water calm enough. Umi didn't think it very safe, but it wasn't her place to say. She hopped down the ladder after Pipe had descended and they ventured off into the miasma, truly ignorant of the island's history.

A/N: To start off with, I think I made Boom come across a bit 'wimpy-ish' sounding, but that's definitely not the case! I have much in store for him in the upcoming arc, so please don't keep that impression of him! Or rather...please do! That might just make his abilities seem all the cooler!

Hmm...Anyone else curious about Umi's past yet? I reread chapters to make sure everything's in order and I've only just realized how much of a tease I am for character origins! Naughty me *heart* ! Don't worry, I'll throw you some more hints as the story continues, as well as a few great facts about Umi herself in the next chapter. Maybe they're not so obvious yet, even in the next chapter, but I'll definitely bring up the topic of her fighting skills in the story at some point.

I originally wasn't going to end the chapter this way. I was originally going to use certain creatures Oda has failed to mention anywhere in the one piece universe as far as I know and frankly I'm slightly disappointed in him for not doing so. I'm not going to say what it is just yet, because I DO have plans to use it even if Oda doesn't. I just hope he's thinking the same things as me and figures they're better made for the "New World."

Sorry for being so vague, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers! Thanks again for all your support!

Don't forget to review!

And may the Shadows of the great Oaks allow you to slip by enemies unharmed!