This chapter will be from Cat's POV. Oh, and just so you know, Embla has got white hair, which is the reason of Cat's nickname for her.

I'd grown tired of the endless tinkering and decided to take a short nap, but I could not as the humans were too noisy. Captain was cheering that his hat was fixed and there was overall commotion. No one knew how to make noise such as he did. The noise woke up the green sleepyhead. I simply did my best to rest with one eye half opened, glaring at them the way us cats usually do.

"You're noisy, I can't even sleep in peace." Greenhead said, rather annoyed. Whitehead wouldn't wake up, she could even sleep through a thunderstorm...

"Oi, Nami! Got any food to share?" Greenhead shot in, changing the course of my thoughts.

"Really, now. How did you expect to survive like this, without food and water? Are you completely out of your minds?" Ginger nagged, but she still gave him a piece of bread.

I nodded. They were. The lot of them, Whitehead included.

"Seriously, just how have you managed to survive so far?" Ginger went on.

"Who knows." Greenhead shrugged, chewing down the bread.

"Island, ho!" Captain exclaimed. I jumped down and sat up at the front end of the boat.

"Oh, no. Not that one, it's uninhabited." Ginger tried, but the two idiots who were awake had already started rowing, the whitehead still sleeping.

"Maybe we'll find another crew member there." Captain said enthusiastically, completely ignoring Ginger's words.

"It's enough if we can find some food. Nami's got a point, we should start planning better." Greenhead commented. I scratched my ear and yawned.

We soon landed on the island, which was filled with forest. Greenhead had fallen asleep again and Whitehead still hadn't woken up.

"We're here!" Captain exclaimed. "Nothing here! Only forest!"

"Well, I told you that the island was uninhabited. How did you expect to find a crew member here?" Ginger tried, but she was ignored.

"Oi, Zoro! Embla! We're here, let's go!" Captain tried, but he got only snoring for an answer.

I answered instead."They're asleep." I jumped down and stretched my back. "But I'll come along."

"Where are we going, anyway?" Ginger wondered.

"There might be houses further in." Captain said enthusiastically, completely ignoring Ginger constantly informing him that the island was uninhabited.

Ginger just sighed, but we had hardly walked ten metres before a real oddball appeared. A... Wolfster, or maybe Roolf would be a better name for the creature. Normally, my dog phobia would have kicked in at first sight of the creature, but the pure bizarreness of the animal was enough to nullify it, leaving me just standing there, dumbfounded. I didn't know the story as thoroughly as Whitehead, and it was quite some time ago that I'd read the early books. I didn't remember this arc.

Ginger seemed just as surprised by the creature as I, Captain thought it was neat.

"...What?" Ginger tried.

"...Roolf..." was all that I could manage to say, completely weirded out.

Next up was a Snabbit, and I started to vaguely recognise the place. Something about a potted bush... Then we passed another weirdo.

"What a weird lion!" Captain exclaimed, quite exited.

"Isn't that a pig? A weird pig?" Ginger argued.

"A Pion." I compromised.

Then we heard a voice.

"Don't you go any further!"

"Huh? Whossat?" Captain wondered and looked around.

"What? Who?" Ginger chimed, starting to panic.

"Unknown voice. Usually a sign of insanity, but since we're all hearing it, then it's a different matter." I said, keeping my cool.

"I am the guardian of this forest. Leave now if you value your lives." The voice threatened.

"Guardian of the forest?" Captain repeated.

"Are you pirates?" The voice asked.

"Yes, we are." Captain answered without hesitation. I wondered why the voice would ask that.

"I thought so. Don't you take another step further if you want to avoid the forest's judgement!" Useless threats. The voice's words was pretty much ignored.

"Just who..?" Ginger wondered.

"A real weirdo, all right." captain pointed out. I nodded in agreement.

"What did you say you little straw hat bastard?" The voice was getting angry.

"Show yourself!" Ginger yelled out, having serious trouble keeping her calm.

"He is somewhere around here..." Captain said and, without any worry, started to walk forward. Then the voice spoke again.

" I warned you! The judgement has fallen!" and I heard a gunshot. Captain got hit in the back, but the bullet bounced right back. Being rubber must be bloody handy. While Ginger commented and the voice was awestruck, I ventured towards where the bullet had come from. There was a bush. In a box. With a gun, still emanating gun smoke from it's opening, lying beside it. I didn't speak, though, out of pure habit.

"What's this bush?" Captain wondered as he approached it.

"Whatever it it, it shot a bullet at you." I pointed out.

The bush seemed to become terrified and hightailed, feet now visible underneath it, kinda like the luggage, only with two feet instead of hundreds, and with a bush on top. Then it tripped. And demanded that we should help it get up.

Some time later.

"The Gomu Gomu no mi you say? A devil's fruit I take it. I've heard tales about them, but this is the first time I've met one who actually ate one." The Luggage told us. He had presented himself as Gaimon.

"Well, this is the first time I've met a man in a treasure chest. Are you a son in a box?" Captain countered.

" Well, yes. When I was little my parents... are you mocking me?" The Luggage roared angrily. Captain just laughed. Luggage continued, telling how he'd been stuck in the box for over twenty years. Captain responded by calling him an idiot. I had to agree on that point. Only an idiot could remain stuck in the very same box for that long I reasoned. Luggage replied by getting pissed off, not surprising.

"You said that you were pirates, yes? I was a pirate once, too." He said, calming down.

"Well, you certainly don't look like it." I shot in, earning a furious glare from the Luggage before he continued.

"Do you have a treasure map?"

"Nope, but I do have a map of the Grand Line. I'm gonna go there and find One Piece." Captain answered, grinning broadly. Then he made an attempt to pull Luggage out of the box, but failed. Luggage explained that he'd been stuck in that box so long that it had become a part of him. Then he changed the topic. "Do you know where it is, then? The Grand Line?"

"Not the faintest. I can't read maps." captain answered, matter-of-factly.

"You neither, huh?" The Luggage said and they both burst out laughing. I jumped in between them and pointed at a place on the map, that happened to be reverse mountain.

"That's the entrance."

Then Ginger explained the location of the Grand Line and also told us that the only one to ever have mastered those waters was the pirate king, Gol D Roger and his crew.

"Which means that One Piece is somewhere out there. It'll be a trip around the world." Captain as if it were as simple as taking a walk. Or, at least, that's what it sounded to the unfamiliar ear. I knew, and so did the duo sleeping back on the boat, that he knew just how hard it was, but he was going to do it anyway, no matter what wall he had to climd, what enemy he had to face or what obstacle he had to overcome. He'd get there, and his nakama would be right beside him.

I caught myself wearing a dreamy grin when the luggage, unknowing of what kind of person Captain was, interrupted my thoughts with an annoyingly stupid comment.

"Fool! Do you think it's that easy? The Grand Line is also called the Pirate Graveyard, and it is for a reason!" His line ticked me off, but he still continued. "I've seen pirates who has desperately escaped from there. It was a terrifying sight. If they had encountered natural disasters, enormous monsters, I didn't know. They didn't say a word, but one look at them was enough to understand what a mad place that sea really is."

Upon hearing this, Ginger swallowed hard, but Captain only seemed to get more enthusiastic.

Luggage went on. "And when it comes to One Piece, the situation is hopeless. It's been twenty two years and still no one has even sighted it. It's already becoming a legend. It's too great, boy. Just give it up." Luggage tried, but Captain wasn't disheartened in the least.

"I'll probably find it, I'm pretty lucky." He said, smiling his trademark, physics-defying smile.

"And I'd like to know where all your confidence comes from." Ginger said, being realistic. Bo-ring.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew him better." I shot in. The Luggage was still slightly unnerved by the fact that I was talking, even without the power of a devil's fruit, but it didn't matter at the moment as he'd gotten quite inspired by captain and his strong faith in his dream. He tended to have that effect on people. He proceeded by telling us of how he got stuck in the chest and why he couldn't leave the island. I listened, wanting to remember the arc more clearly.

We decided to help the poor bush and followed him to the said cliff. Even Ginger agreed that the treasure belonged to the Luggage. The cliff was high and steep. Ginger put a hand on Captain's shoulder.

"Right, up you go." She said, looking up.

"Huh? Why me?" He wondered.

"You think I can climb that" Ginger complained.

"And I can't lift a frikkin' treasure chest." I informed them.

"Well, OK then." He said and used a one handed rocket to launch himself up the wall. I sat down, swinging my tail from side to side impatiently as I waited.

He soon emerged, a treasure chest in his arms.

"They're here, all right! Five of 'em!"

"OK, just drop them down here!" The Luggage yelled back merrily.

"Nope." Was captain's answer.

"...I see." I mumbled.

"Stop being silly and just drop them!" Ginger yelled back, anger rising.

"Nuh uh. Don't wanna." Captain went on, smirking.

Ginger got pissed and was going to yell something really ugly when the Luggage stopped her.

"No, it's OK." he told her.

"OK? It's not OK. That's the treasure that you've guarded for twenty years!" She countered, now both puzzled and pissed off. Luggage ignored that and turned towards Captain.

"Thank you! You're such a nice guy!"

Ginger didn't get it at all. "What are you saying?"

" I tried not to think about it... I knew it was a possibility, but I forced myself not to think about it." Luggage went on, getting more and more teary eyed for every word. Felt sorry for the fella, that I did. "The chests are empty, aren't they?" He said, the tears now flowing steadily down his cheeks.

"Yep. Empty, all of them." Captain confirmed.

"No way... Is the treasure that you've guarded all these years, only... empty boxes?" Ginger gasped, voice filled with shock, disbelief and pity.

"It happens occasionally." I said, feeling that I had to contribute to the conversation. "That's how treasure hunting is. The treasure is often taken already when you get hold of the map. It's kinda like a lottery."

Luggage nodded, tears in his eyes still. But then Captain burst out laughing.

"Ah, but what the hell, mop guy. Now you got to know after only twenty years! Thirty more years and you'd be dead without ever getting to know!" The luggage seemed to brighten up a bit at his words. But Captain had more to say. "Now you just have to aim high! For One Piece! Why don't you join my pirate clan?"

I blinked at that. I had seriously not seen that one coming.

"You're.. You're inviting me?" The luggage said, his current tears being tears of joy.

We were now back by the boats.

"Are you sure that you're going to stay?"

"Yes." Luggage replied, but he was a lot more spirited now. "I take it that you saw a lot of weird animals in the forest?" he asked.

"If you're talking about the Roolf and the Snabbit, affirmative." I answered.

"There are more people coming here to poach the animals than there are who comes looking for the treasure. It's been an odd relationship, but they've become my nakama. I can't just abandon them." He explained.

I smiled that and leaved the humans with their conversation, wanting to check on my fellow earthling.

She was awake. So was Greenhead. They were playing a card game that I knew all too well. Race for the Galaxy. Oh, how many times I've seen Whitehead and her brother sitting at the dinner table, playing endlessly. I jumped up beside whitehead and examined the table, or well, the floor. Then her hand. Then Greenhead's hand. I shook my head, Whitehead was wiping the floor with him.

"You don't go easy even on freshmeat, do you?" I commented. Greenhead grunted, his annoyance apparent.

Whitehead raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think that Zoro would have it any other way?" she said with a sigh and developed Galactic Federation. She's taken the development strategy. "No challenge." she sighed.

I counted the cards. Twelve. The match was over, Whitehead's victory obvoius.

"I demand a rematch!" Greenhead exclaimed, frustrated over his loss.

"Right, fine. You are getting better at this, after all." Whitehead replied and started to shuffle the cards.

Captain and Ginger was saying farewell to the Luggage and once again, we set out.

Longest chapter ever! That's one of the reasons of why it took so long, too.

Got a lot of questions... here we go.

From Mionic t:

just for the fun of it, i hereby, in the name of the "we take over jhonie´s sbs-clan" i´m gonna start the sbs! wait, i´m in the flame edge clan, not the "we take over jhonie´s sbs-clan"...

J: That's right, haHAA! You're already my subordinate, mwehehee... But hey, wait... The SBS has already started... Damn you Mio!

From Seraph:

Hmm I like the fact that Cats are not very Sociable, but you should make Choppa able to talk to cats, just that Cat won't talk to him much ^_^

And for the SBS, do you think Embla or Cat are gonna eat a Devil Fruit later on? ^^

J: First about Cat, I realise that both Cat and Choppa should be able to talk to animals, since they're both animals after all, but Choppa ate the Hito Hito no mi and became able to speak human, and cat learned to speak human because she was bored.

And as for the devil's fruit, by all probability, no. Embla will use Cat's crazy inventions and some other stuff that I will reveal later. Giving her a devil's fruit on top of that would make her overpowered, in my opinion. It will all become so much more clear later. Pretty soon, actually.

Another one from Mionic t:

i´ve got that there will be sevral more enemies, and possible islands, but will it be more members?

J: Still thinking about it. There might be. Have yet to decide, but that would not be before GL, so you'll have to wait.

From Camie-chan:

Is she stronger than Robin? Cause you said strongest female... And I'm Swedish and twelve too! Heh.

J: Fun to see another Swede around! And I'm fifteen, by the way.

Is she stronger than Robin, you say? It depends on how you look at it. Embla is a close combatant, as is the rest of the Monster Four, and as we know, Robin doesn't last long in close combat, but she's really deadly at long range. In sheer strength, however, Embla is much stronger.

That's it for SBS for this time and tune in next week for the next chapter! It will go a bit slower at the holiday, I know. Live with it.