Author's Note: I'm really thankful for anyone who has reviewed or even taken the time to read this. It makes me really happy. [UPDATE] I know I originally said this was coming out on the fifteenth but since school is starting and I have to finish up so last minute summer assignments I'll have to move it to the 22nd. I'm really sorry (especially to those who have been following patiently) and I'll try my best to have it out before then!

Random: School is on the horizon….

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any characters nor do I make money off of them. This and the franchise belong to Eiichiro Oda and Shonen Jump, I think.

Tanoshimu (Enjoy) :)


Meet and Greet and Be Surprised

"Stop! What are you doing?"

I clumsily scrambled for the match. I didn't know why I needed it so badly. But my calloused fingers seemed to work by themselves as they rummaged through my pockets.

"You'll kill yourself!" The deep voice warned again. There was a sense of urgency in his voice. I looked around but there was nothing there. Just darkness. So where could the voice be coming from?

I did not listen to the heeds and warnings though. I was in my own world and my mind was set on one goal.

"I know what I'm doing." I whispered. Yet I could see I said this to comfort myself more than the voice.

My small weak hand was shaky as it clutched the tiny match and hovered above the lighting pad. Then I swiped it twice over the sandpaper before getting a spark of light from the match. It flickered in the dark for a second before I threw it into the air.

There was silence.

And then,

A light-

My eyes shot open and I reached up to my face frantically feeling it to make sure it was okay.

It was just a dream.

Once my breathing stabilized I sat back in the bed to try to think things out. I lifted the sweat soaked sheets from my body.

Where am I?

The room I was in was dimly lit, but I was able to tell that it was kind of small. I looked to my right and there was a wooden desk pushed against the wall. Above the desk were cabinets filled with jars of random substances and needles. An IV rack was placed next to it. If I didn't know any better I would have thought I was in some type of doctor's office. But that couldn't be right.

Then it hit me like a flight train. Images of Luffy, Marines, guns, fire, and flying all circulated through my head.

What a nightmare.

It annoyed me that I couldn't seem to remember what exactly happened after I landed onboard that night.

Was I drugged?

I patted my body. I still wore my clothes from yesterday, but the weaponry hidden inside my jacket had been removed, or possibly stolen. Even my jean shorts, although a bit ripped, were still on my body. My boots however were missing in action. Another strange alteration was a band-aid located on my knee that, of all things, had a smiley face drawn on it.

Strange.

Throwing the white covers off my body I hopped off the twin sized bed and onto the cold wooden floor. A rocking sensation hit me causing my legs to wobble. I cradled my suddenly heavy head in my hands and held myself up on the edge of the bed. I felt awful.

No time to get queasy. If anything else I had to find my back pack and my bazooka. I had to.

I looked over at the swivel chair placed near the desk. A small snoring sound emanated from it. The swivel chair's back was turned to me so all I was able to see was a large red hat and two sticks pointing from it. I eyed it suspiciously but whatever happened to be in the chair didn't stir.

It's probably just a cat…hopefully.

Finding my way around was quite tricky, since the ship was rather large and the motion sickness didn't help me either. The rocking movement churned my insides, making me nauseated. I held onto the walls for support while I navigated around.

Passing through some restaurant like dining room I entered a long hallway. Voices came from the other side. My senses heightened with the knowledge that there were people out and about.

I made my way down the hall but this time with more caution. The sound of my socked feet stepping on the floor board made a creaking noise. Then another sound arose down the hall. It was a tapping noise, almost like how a horses' hoof sounds when it hits the pavement but softer. I looked on either side of me. I wasn't sure who to expect but I didn't want to take my chances. I came to the decision that maybe it would be best if I avoided meeting any one right now.

Soon I found my way to a ladder leading upward. It was my best bet for escape. Once I reached beyond the ceiling I entered into another yet another room. There were shelves and shelves of books lined against the wall. Never had I'd seen so much literature stored in one place before.

If I hadn't been so worried about my things I could have taken the time to relish in the impressiveness of the collection of books. But unless the books could give me clues as to where my stuff was it held no other interest to me.

Continuing up the ladder I found myself entering in yet another room. Except this room was really small and cramped, had a sink, and two doors. The sign Toilet was hung above one door, which caused me to assume that this room acted as a bathroom. But what could the other door lead to? I knew it probably wasn't within my best interest to explore rooms in this ship but I couldn't afford to leave any room unchecked.

Truthfully, I didn't completely trust Luffy, or at least I know I shouldn't probably trust him. I had only known him for a day. Not even a full day. This boy also had strange powers, which were probably an effect of eating one of the legendary devil fruits, which definitely meant he was a lot stronger than he looked.

Oh, and he was a pirate. Pirates are sneaky. Who knows his real intentions for bringing me here? His plans for me may involve involuntary labor as I slave away on his ship.

All I need are my guns. Then I'll feel somewhat safer knowing that weaponry hadn't been stolen.

I went into the room slowly.

The air was a lot damper for some reason and a layer of mist floated about. The sound of sprinkling water halted. The room was tiled and there seemed to be a large tub on the other side of me.

Was I in some washroom?

"Luffy, is that you?" A surprisingly deep voice asked nonchalantly. I squeaked.

My body wouldn't cooperate. As the white mist dissipated a tall figure appeared in the opposite part of the area. The man stood, back towards me, toweling his short green hair near a shower nozzle.

I had to admit that I had never in my entire lifetime of eighteen years have seen a guy in the nude before. And it showed as my eyes slowly gazed down his muscular back. He had wide shoulders and slight bulging muscles. The water dripped down his shoulder blades and down the length of his spine. No part of his tanned physique was left undefined.

Almost as if my eyes had a brain of their own they traveled down farther to his exposed backside just barely visible from the mist hiding it. It was one of those things that you know you shouldn't see but you just can't turn away.

My hands rushed up to my face and I could feel the heat burning through them. My chest was pounding.

The naked man turned towards my general area, his face still covered with his towel.

Oh God.

"Sanji?" He called out again in an annoyed voice. His deep voice rattled me into reality.

Think of something quick! Or at least run away! Do something!

Covering my eyes with one hand, to prevent myself from further scarring, I quickly ran out of the room slamming the door in the process.

There was a possibility that if I left quietly he wouldn't know that I was even there. Alas, I was very unsuccessful in my escape. My legs always choose to stop working in the most vital of times.

One of my large feet tripped over the other and vaulted my body down the ladder, and into the library room. Surprisingly, when I hit the ground it gave way a little as if I had landed on some sift pillow.

Oh God.

A muffled voice groaned beneath me. "Owie,"

It took me a second to digest my shock from the events earlier and to force my muscles to move. Hastily, I pushed my body off of the pile of brown fuzz with two sticks on its head that lay crumpled under me.

"S-sorry," I found myself mumbling shakily as I knelled next to the creature.

It blinked its large black eyes and rubbed its back with its hoof. The animal resembled that of a small plushy moose as it got up on its short hind legs. Then the moose like creature dusted its little red jacket and shorts off and fixed its red top hat, very uncharacteristic for an animal by the way, and looked at me with its two large round eyeballs.

"Oh! You're awake." It stated in a high sweet voice, one that you'd expect to come from a child. I looked around me in wonder.

Did this animal just talk to me?

I had heard of talking animals but I had never seen one myself. A shot of pain traveled through my arm as I pinched myself confirming that yes-I was in reality.

The animal was uncertain and maybe even a bit timid as he held out his brown fuzzy hoof towards me.

"H-Hi, my name is Chopper." He smiled warily.

This animal DID just talk to me!

I looked at his outstretched hoof for a moment. Then slowly I raised my hand to his and shook it lightly.

"Hi…I'm Bleu," I said back awkwardly.

He stood there for a while rubbing his arm and squirming under my gaze uncomfortably.

I couldn't help but stare. I knew it wasn't nice but I just couldn't help myself. An actual talking animal was standing before me afterall.

He looked puzzled but started to speak quietly.

"Well, I was just coming to check on you um, since you weren't in the infirmary and…"

What had I even come up here for in the first place?

"Where are my things? Where is Luffy? And where am I?" I asked all at once.

He looked at me scratching his head for a moment. With his hoof. Which still was unbelievable.

"When you c-came last night I took you to the infirmary because you had passed out. And um,then Luffy took your things somewhere I think,"

"Oh,"

So that was him sleeping in the chair earlier.

"Are you the…doctor?"

He grinned bashfully making circles with his foot on the floor.

"Kind of," He stated softly. He looked embarrassed but was fighting to hold back a smile.

The ship's doctor was a moose?

Strange.

"Can you take me to Luffy? I need to see him." I urged.

"Sure," he responded cheerfully.

Chopper made his way to the ladder after looking back at me and started climbing down. I followed eagerly not before looking up the ladder where the bathroom above was, one more time. I could still feel the heat residing in my face. Who knows how long it will take to remove that image out of my virgin mind.

Once we landed on the floor I followed Chopper through the hallway. Chopper was not at all discrete as he stared up at me time and again. But when I happened to look back down at him he would quickly turn away, whistling a cheery tune. Well, it would be cheery if he could actually whistle. Instead it sounded like a dying bird.

I pretended I didn't notice and suppressed the urge to stare at him further. I didn't want to startle the animal humanoid talking hybrid.

Suddenly I felt my legs buckle and I fell against the wall.

Chopper gasped dramatically. "Are you okay?" His little voice called after me. He held his hooves over his mouth and ran over to me.

"I'm fine." I lied, as I toppled once more due to the rocking motion of the ship.

"I just need to find Luffy." I forced myself to say. It was difficult to put up the facade that a feeling of queasiness didn't just wash over me. My fake smile was painful and forced but Chopper appeared to believe it and carried on.

"How about you just bring Luffy to me? I'll wait here."

"Are you sure? Because everyone is really excited to meet you."

Really, because I'm not excited in the least.

I nodded and smiled again. Chopper looked back at me but scurried down the hallway his hooves making a click clacking sound as he went.

Actually I just wanted an excuse to sit down and rest my stomach. The nausea had seemed to have passed earlier, probably from the trauma, but now it had returned. My arms held my belly and I leaned against the wall.

I don't know if I can do this.

Moonshine Island. That was my goal. I reminded myself. As long as I made it there safely, no amount of seasickness could stop or discourage me. All I had to do was play pretend pirate for a while, man Luffy's cannons or whatever and I'd be set.

My face was still burning from that embarrassing encounter from before. Even as I tried to force myself to forget it, to pretend it never happened, the image would pop up randomly like it was ingrained into my memory. Every. Single. Excruciating. Detail. I'd never seen a guy that bare before. Just the thought of him being naked and that close to me made me want to...

Oh God.

Hopefully that person hadn't seen me. He did call out Luffy and some other guy's name so he must have thought I was one of them. But I couldn't think about that now. The fact that I was so riled up about it made me angry. It was just a guy. A naked muscular guy. But still a guy nonetheless. I've seen plenty of guys in my lifetime. He was nothing new.

Except he was naked.

I groaned.

Get yourself together! At least you didn't see his…

Curses, now I'll be seeing that in my dreams too!

The door burst open to reveal Luffy standing in the doorway with an excited look on his face.

"Bleu!"

All I needed were 33 more seconds of peace.

"Luffy-"

"Come on! You have to meet everybody!" Luffy said in an impatient manner. It was like I was his new toy and he wanted to show me off to all his friends.

He pulled out of the room in a fluid motion with ease and dragged me down the hall. I struggled to keep up with his speed as he whisked me past some doors and up a flight of stairs. My stomach wasn't at all prepared for the sudden jerking motions and I felt the rising urge to empty yesterday's breakfast all over the floor.

"Luffy, wait," I needed to talk to him for a second. Everything was going so painfully fast.

I wasn't ready. I didn't even know what I was going to say.

He pushed open the doors where sunshine spilled into my face. It was daytime and it hurt. The sky was a light blue color, clear of any dark clouds and a complete contrast from yesterday's weather. The air was fresh and salty and its breeze carried the scent into my nostrils.

"This is Bleu, the person I was talking about! She's going to be our new gunner!" Luffy said eagerly.

Two people stood in the middle of the deck. One was a girl, around my age, with shoulder length orange hair and brown eyes. She wore red striped white t-shirt and a short jean mini skirt.

The other companion looked a younger. He was a probably not much older than Luffy was. His most memorable feature was his long Pinocchio-like nose. His hair was black and curly and he had an orange cap and goggles on his head. He wore simple brown overalls that were a bit torn.

The female sauntered towards. She looked me over while holding her hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner. She was pretty I noticed. A woman who seemed well kept with her perfectly manicured fingers and nicely ironed designer clothing. I ran a hand through my short brown tresses which were covered it soot and sticking up in unsystematic directions.

I could really use a shower. But I quickly cursed myself when images of a certain person in the shower entered my mind again.

The other guy rubbed his arm apprehensively and gave a goofy half smile.

The girl seemed somewhat curious but had a calculating look on her visage while the guy looked at me with interest.

"My name is Usopp, the sniper." He said proudly while puffing out his chest.

"I'm Nami, the ship's navigator. Nice to meet you." She said with a slightly obligatory smile.

I nodded. "Uh, Bleu," I said simply.

No one offered to shake hands. We simply looked at each other, sizing on another up.

"What's going on here?"

A blonde haired man with a curly eyebrow and a black suit walked up towards me with his hands placed in his pants' pockets. He was followed by a tall skeleton also dressed in a more flamboyant suit, with a puffy black afro. The skeleton man bowed waving his hand in an extravagant motion.

The blonde man looked me intently at me for a second before taking the cigarette out of his mouth. He sighed. He appeared to be looking for something but merely shrugged.

"The name's Sanji, I'm the cook." He said in an uninterested tone. Nami glared at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I am Brook, pleased to make your acquaintance. Hopefully you will be able to join us for some tea and a couple of melodies." The skeleton man said in a regal voice.

I was unsure if his mouth was really moving or not. But I nodded, hesitantly accepting his offer at a hand shake.

Talk about a colorful collection of people. They looked like they belonged in a circus instead of on a pirate ship.

I held my stomach.

"I'm Bleu. Nice to meet you guys." I said in a nervous tone. Then I coughed. I focused my attention on the cloud floating above. It was a better alternative than meeting the eyes of all the inquisitive crew members.

Luffy shaded his eyes and looked around the deck.

"So Luffy, about my-"

"Where's Franky, Robin, and Zoro?"

There are more?

"The beautiful Robin's probably reading in her room. And Mr. Shitty Swordsmen was taking a shower earlier but he's probably busy too busy touching himself," Sanji gushed but scowled when regarding the other guy.

"Sanji," Nami hissed at his choice selection of words.

"Franky is working on a project right now . He said he would meet up with you later though." She assured me.

I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. I didn't want to meet any more new people I just wanted to lay in a bed and sleep off this seasickness.

The navigator turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I was taller than her, only by a couple of inches, so she angled her head up towards me.

"Sorry," Nami apologized once again. "You'll probably have to wait to meet the others, but we're glad that you're here."

She looked at the other crew mates expecting them to agree. Sanji was lighting his cigarette while Usopp was checking his watch. Brook, and Chopper however still remained intently staring at me. I wasn't actually sure if Brook was staring at me or not because well, he didn't have eyeballs but I would just have to assume.

"I said! We're all glad that Bleu is here." Nami growled through her clenched teeth in a chilling tone.

She seemed to take on a whole new persona that went from mildly friendly to intimidating and menacing. They all chipped up immediately, nodding their heads enthusiastically.

I gave a weak smile in return.

My stomach was really not feeling well.

These pirates looked nothing like how I had expected them to be. None of them seemed to be interested in killing or looting me yet, so that was always a good sign. They seemed more like travelers than anything else. But I knew looks could be deceiving. Pirates were still pirates no matter what they looked like.

But Luffy did save my life…

"So about my things-"

"Anyways, I'm sure you're probably tired." Nami interrupted.

"But we haven't even met everyone else yet. And Bleu still has to show us his mysterious weapon things." Luffy whined.

Nami sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "We're not all like you Luffy. Chopper can guide you to the men's quarters."

Men's quarters? Is that where my stuff is?

Chopper took my arm but I didn't budge from the group circle.

"Come on Mister Bleu, I'll show you to our bunk beds."

"I just hope you guys know I'm a girl so you don't have to call me mister..." I stated blatantly.

There was hush that fell upon the crew members.

A blank stare covered everyone's face; even Luffy's who I could have sworn I had told him I was a female earlier.

Is it really that hard to figure out?

My stomach lurched.

Chopper, Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji's draw dropped in a comical manner. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes.

"O-Of course-I knew that!" Nami said quickly.

"You're a girl!" Luffy, of all people yelled in shock. Nami's fist quickly made contact with his head.

Does this guy have short term memory loss?

The vein in Nami's forehead enlarged and she huffed in a disapproving tone.

"But your hair is short!" Chopper pointed out innocently.

"Is this some type of unspoken rule or something?" I asked while unconsciously feeling my short brown hair.

I was a bit embarrassed over the attention, especially when my gender was involved.

"I knew there was something off about her, but to be sure…" The blonde haired man said reflectively.

The cook seemed to be staring at my chest area causing me to self consciously fold my arms across them. I looked up at the sun then closed my eyes and sighed.

Only a few more weeks.

But a few weeks seemed so far away.

~ End of Chapter


Chapter Five Preview:

Arrgh! Pirates!

"Isn't it obvious?" Sanji leaned back in his chair.

"She's a lesbian." He stated matter-of-factly.

"…And you're an idiot." Nami snapped at his outlandish inquiry.

Release Date:

8/22

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