Savage Kill: thank you. Ugh I swear sometimes I wish I could sleep. Anyway, the two men are in the middle of devising a plan. Haruto doesn't want to scare her, but Kasmir is pretty much willing to use whatever means necessary. As for her headache...I have had one that was pretty bad on my twenty first birthday. I'm probably going to use that as an accurate reference. This chapter will be more about her past, between her and Marco. But I am hoping to be able to portray Law's, Haruto and Kasmir's next move as well. Thanks for your review!

I will state this now. There is no weird incest, or child/adult romance going on. Only the simple fact of missing a person over twenty years, and hoping they're okay. But the emotion for Aiko is growing in Marco, not just because she is pretty but the sense of loss, he felt three times over. He was also very sad, the day she had just vanished.

And to all my other lovely readers out there, thank you as well. Enjoy.

If Only It Were A Dream

'So warm...I wish I could stay here forever.' Aiko thought barely coherent in her dead sleep. She didn't know what it was, but for some reason, she was having the most comfortable sleep in quite some time.

A rather large, calloused, hand lightly shook the sleeping woman's form.

"...Mmm...stop..it's so comfy..." A muffled voice whimpered softly.

Stop? Who was she telling to stop? She never slept with anyone in her life. Sleepy eyes were rubbed, roughly a few times, before they opened partially. A voice was calling out to her...it was a voice she recognized. Instinctively, she moved closer to the figure next to her- smiling as she closed her eyes again.

A sensation the person knew, all too well started knocking him back to his senses. The closeness of a female figure in his bed made the blood in his bossy start to run south. Regardless of who the woman was- and with him being a workaholic it had been far too long being next to one. He hissed at the thought and quickly removed the sleeping woman from his person, finally waking her.

Aiko's eyes shot open, and she scooted far away from him as fast as she could, knocking herself onto the floor- hard. Wincing with the pain, she looked up to see who exactly it was.

She stuttered as she tried to find words to explain why she was there. She had no memory of being brought to someone's room, much less her old friends'.

"M-m-Marco...? H-how did I..." Her head felt like it was being pierced by thousands of needles, and hit with pebbles. She grabbed the sides of her temples, trying to rub away the throbbing pain of her cranium. But to no avail did it work.

Without so much as a word, he got up from his bed and grabbed her the glass of water he prepared the night before.

"Do you not remember what happened?" Marco asked, with concern in his eyes and voice.

"Nuh-uh..." She winced again- her hands shaking as she grabbed the glass, bringing it to her mouth.

He sighed. She really couldn't have blacked out...right? The possibility was proving more and more probable as she looked at him, completely and utterly confused.

"You drank a lot, for one; secondly, you didn't drink much water, or eat either. What do you remember?"

The harder she tried to think the more her brain hurt, and the more she pleaded for water. "I...guess...something after going to Izo's room."

"So you don't remember me carrying you here at all?"

"...that would be a negative."

He ran his hand through his bed head, and looked straight at his friend.

"Well...oh shit. The sun will start coming up soon, let me get dressed, and I'll take you back to your boat."

He cocked his head to the side, as she buried her face into a pillow.

"Something wrong?"

"Can you please hurry and put your clothes on?"

"I apologize."

"You're right... Well if you're dressed, let's go, I can't make Hiro worry."

Her pace was slow as she finally made it back to her merchant friends, luckily they hadn't started too much before she got there. With a kind smile, Hiro greeted the two...well mostly, Aiko.

"Glad to have you back. Looks like you had quite a party, and since I am no more than a merchant and doting father, I'll let it slide this once." He helped her aboard slowly, handing her his clipboard, and had her start taking inventory.

Turning to the pirate she had walked up with, he finally addressed him. "Thank you for keeping your word. I do not blame you for her current state, I am just glad she actually has friends in the world."

Marco's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Hiro cleared his throat. "Well so long as I've known her, she never really bothered much to make friends. I've known her maybe five years now, and still I've never seen her so excited to be able to see people. Thank you."

Marco nodded. 'Why wouldn't she want friends?'

"Hey!" The older man called out I the Phoenix walking away.

"Hm?"

"We leave in another day, if you or maybe your crew would like to, please take her out for some fun...I like seeing her happy."

Another nod, before walking away.

'Another day? I should let Izo know, he would probably try to strangle me if I didn't tell him...maybe Jozu too.'

The sun beat down on Aiko's back as she packed up the last crate after it's count. Easy work or not, the blistering hangover mixed with mid-morning sun, was awfully brutal. Grumbling to herself, she made her way down below the ships' deck, throwing her clipboard against a wall.

"Bloody fucking hell..." She groaned, crawling onto her borrowed mattress. Maybe a nap could fix things. Yeah.

It couldn't have been more than a few hours until she heard a soft knock on her door.

"Go the fuck away..." She mumbled, barely loud enough to be hear on the other side. Another soft knock.

"Dammit...leave me alone..."

"I'm coming in whether you like it or not my dear." An all too familiar voice sang out.

'That voice...' "I-Izo? Is that you?"

She heard the lock on the door click, as he slowly turned the knob, the hinge of the old door creak softly- letting himself in. Seating himself down on the edge of her bed, next to where her legs were sprawled out.

"Who else would it be? I was so kindly informed at the ass crack of daybreak that you are leaving in a day."

"Am I? That's news to me."

He frowned at her less than happy words.

"Were you even going to say goodbye this time?"

She removed the covers from her form, sitting up and staring him in the face. She didn't need to take a peek at a mirror to know he looked like hell. Izo's eyes widened at her sour expression, and the bags under her eyes.

"Yes..but now that my hangover has subsided, I kind of would like to sleep. Hiro probably also has more work for this afternoon, so I probably shouldn't leave."

Izo shook his head slowly, smiling kindly at her. "Actually not. He had told Marco this morning that you should have fun with friends...because apparently you don't try to make any."

"If I make friends...I end up breaking promises or I just end up disappearing..like how I did with you guys...and to others over the years.." Her voice was soft, and cracking, like she was about to cry.

Izo pulled the woman into a tight hug. "We will always be friends...no we're more like family my dear!"

"So you don't hate me for just disappearing off the Moby Dick?"

He shook his head, letting her go. "I'm just glad you're safe! Sure we were all so worried about you, but as it stands now, seeing you in the living flesh is so refreshing! Now I shall wait here for you to get ready, and then we will head out, alright?"

His smile brought a familiar, and forgotten warmth to her heart. She couldn't exactly place the emotions she was feeling, but whatever they were, it made her...happy.

After her cold shower, she slipped on clean underwear, black tank top, a pair of jean shorts, and her sandals; before pulling her hair into a loose bun. Being 'girly' wasn't her thing- practicality was key, even as a child she thought much the same.

Izo's eyes narrowed as he examined her closely. She was indeed naturally pretty, that much was a given, but her clothes needed work- especially with long legs, there were far better things she could pull off.

"Something wrong? Wait...don't even tell me, it's my clothes isn't it? I swear, I can read you without even really trying." She sighed pushing the man in her room out, quickly.

"All I'm ensuing is that you need to embrace your own beautiful features."

"So you think I look like shit?"

"Nonsense darling. Don't go putting words in my mouth, but you're a woman, embrace that."

"I do. I get periods, I have to shave my legs, and stuff...as well as wear perfume, so I won't smell unpleasant."

Izo damn near face palmed himself at her less than lady like words.

"That's NOT even close to what I'm getting at."

Aiko sighed with an annoyed look on her face. "You mean femininity? That shit isn't practical, not for what my life is like." She waved her hand in a lazy way in the air as if trying to blow the conversation away.

"Doesn't hurt to dress up every now and again. Take a look at me, I'm a pirate, and you don't see me dressing like Jozu. All I'm saying is you should at least own a dress."

"Fuck no." Aiko deadpanned.

"You're gonna end up old and alone." He shrugged, with a small smirk.

"If that's what'll happen...so be it. Relationships and falling in love are for people who don't have better things to do in life. And I know for a fact I have far better things to do. So let's just drop it, alright? I've got too much on my plate right now to be thinking about stuff like that. It causes a sensible persons mind to dull, and become unstable."

Izo shot her a questionable look. "Now who the hell taught you that load of shit?!"

"My old admiral from the Marines...Sakazuki." Her tone turned cold.

"That man is..." He was about to say something but was cut off, by a pineapplely shadow approaching.

The conversation was best left to the back burner...at least for now. But her last comment made him want to do something for her, to help her reevaluate some priorities in life.

"Am I interrupting something?" Marco spoke as he stopped in front of the two.

"Not really." Aiko huffed, walking past Marco.

"Doesn't seem like nothing. But what do I know... Dammit where are you going?" He yelled after the slightly vexed woman.

"I don't know. Somewhere? Izo was the one who dragged me out of bed- ask him!" She yelled back, throwing her arms in the air like she was giving up on this whole hanging out thing.

The trio reached the center of town, before the sun had gone down. It was rather nice, considering the size of the island. Aiko walked past a bookstore, as something caught her eye. Without saying so much as a single word, she dove into the shop.

Considering her last journal was from a different time in her life, it seemed better if she got a new one for this journey.

The blackened leather cover, is what especially caught her eye. The binding looked hand woven, as well as the irregular cuts that had been done to square it's pages. A thick piece of leather string, held it shut instead of clasps, like all the others. Her eyes sparkled with delight as she held it in her hands.

"What do you have there?" Izo called out, making her jump slightly. She hadn't expected them to follow her.

"Oh..a new journal. My last one wouldn't really 'fit' with this journey I'm on." Although she had out it into her belongings that she brought with her, it somehow...didn't feel right. Sure they were wonderful things that he had experienced once upon a time, but her mind was now in a completely different mindset.

She slid her hand across the cover, smiling to herself, before walking to the counter to pay for it. The man who ran the shop nodded, and agreed that she had picked out such a nice book.

"There's an island near the New World where this book came from...however they are very expensive and hard to obtain because they are..." He wasn't sure if he should tell her what exactly the book was made of...minus the paper.

"Where is it from?"

"An island called Providence. It's completely under its own jurisdiction, which also makes importing things from there, almost next to impossible..."

Her eyes widened at his words. Words she never dreamed of hearing so far away from home. But with that fact, she knew exactly what the covers of the book was made of.

"Oi. So what's it made out of?" A voice chimed in behind her. She didn't know Marco had been listening, and if he was, so was Izo.

She paused for awhile before answering. Even the bookkeep, held his breath, awaiting her answer.

"Human skin."

'What. The. Fuck. Did she just say? She wasn't serious...was she? No...' Both commanders behind her thought to themselves, looking at one another, then down at the tome being cradled tightly in her arms.

"I'm dead serious. Human flesh. The paper is paper, but the rest is...made of a human."

No one could speak. The shopkeeper wondered how she know a thing like that. It's not common knowledge, and if someone did find out, they would immediately get sick and back away.

Aiko quickly turned and left the shop, not wanting for the owner to ask any questions about her.

It didn't take the two commanders long to catch up with her, but even as they walked in silence, it still had an awkward feeling to it.

"Darling..." Izo finally spoke out, tiring to grab her attention.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"...Izo?"

He couldn't find words to back his pervious statement.

"Don't...just it's...this...no." She mumbled before walking away again.

"What the hell are those people into?" Izo asked the commander next to him as they followed the woman for a far distance.

"I wouldn't know. But...whatever it is, I think it would be safer to say, she doesn't want to talk about it." He sighed, scratching his head.

It baffled Marco to a great extent that she didn't want to talk about the book in her arms...but at the same time ...it could've been very well someone she knew or grew up with. Too much of a sensitive subject.

Because Izo thought of her as more of a baby sister, he nudged the first commander into going after her.

Marco shot him a confused look at the way he tried shoving his body forward.

Izo sighed. "I don't want details, but I think you'd be better in calming her down, or at the very least trying to understand the meaning behind the way she is acting."

"I don't think she'd tell me. But I guess I can try to see why she's acting like this."

Aiko slumped against a thick tree, on the outskirts of the city. In the fetal position, she hugged the book close to her bosom, as if it was all she might ever have again.

She wanted to scream, to throw it, to burn it. But as much as she wanted to do all those things, she just wept.

She knew growing up as a child, the Genocide War, was still, and would always be part of her homelands' tradition. It was sensible...right?

"My dear daughter, you cannot waste anything, even if it is deemed useless, or inadequate."

"What do you mean father?"

"You know about the Genocide War, do you not?"

"Yes I know. It is the circle of life, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then you should know, when a person, is found inadequate in this society, they are put to sleep, skinned. then the remainder of whatever exists and is loved to be useful of them, is reused for scientific advancement?"

"Yes, I know."

"That's excellent to hear. You will need to pass the examination when you turn 16 as well, you know."

"I know father. I study everyday so I can become the perfect human."

He rustled her hair, and smiled.

"That's excellent. I know you will exceed my expectations. Now off you go. Your mother is waiting."

The sound of the trees rustling leaves, calmed down the coffee haired woman's mood. The bitter silence was more than relaxing. She wanted to go home more than ever now, especially after the sight of this tome she spent a whole days' earning of work on. Food wasn't important to her at this point, neither was sleep. Maybe...just maybe...she was on the right path.

"Are you alright?"

She shrugged, tightening her hold on the book.

Izo was right, she didn't want to talk about it, but all the same, it seemed to have hit her heart strings. Possibly stretching and tearing them more, then they already had been.

Marco caught sight of how much tighter she was holding onto the book. With a sigh, he took a seat next to her.

"Do you want to know something?" She asked bitterly, not even bothering to look at him.

"Nothing you don't want to tell me yourself."

"...because Providence stands on neutral ground, the laws and rules of the outer world do not apply. Because they don't...well...if a person sees a book like this, and they are from the island...it comes as a sign..."

"A sign for?"

"To return home...even though I'm trying to make my way there. The simple fact that this book turned up, means that I need to return there even more...even if it means dying in the process."

"So it's just superstition?"

"No. It's been with the islands' traditions for nearly 500 years. To be automatically attracted to the book itself, means at one point or another if represents attachment. The longer I held it, I knew... But if told you now...I may not return.."

'Not...return?'

"Who wouldn't you come back?"

"I have...or might have something to fulfill...and if it comes to it, and I die, it becomes the Ultimate Process. Maybe I might be also turned into such a beautiful book." She smiled weakly, sliding her hand across the leather cover, in the process.

"Why would you die?"

"I never took the exam. I could die on the spot, regardless of bloodline. No matter...no. It's not that I wanted to run away...I just knew that there was so much more to life. If...if I found out that there was someone in need of help...I...I couldn't just ignore it Marco! I just can't. I never will. Ever..."

Her tears stated flowing down her face like a waterfall; seemingly endless.

Marco couldn't help but sympathize. She may have left the Moby Dick to become a Marine. Ran away from home, before that. But she had a good heart...one that was hard to come by. To help another, even if it meant death- a solo death.

Tears stained his violet jacket, and his chest, as she pulled herself up to hug him. A friend. Someone whom she trusted more than, what seemed, like anyone else.

"Marco! Marcooo!" Aiko called out, as she watched him fly back from one of the missions Pop's had given him.

"Aiko! What're you doing up so late? Wasn't Izo supposed to be watching you!?"

The child giggled. I waited him for him to fall asleep, since I heard you would be back tonight! I wanted to see for Devil Fruit powers so bad!" She shouted, running up to him, as he gracefully landed back on deck.

"If you wanted to see them so bad, you could've just asked." He sighed, patting the child on her head.

"No...you left after I just met you. And you work so much! There was no way.."

"I apologize. Next time we hang see each other, I promise I'll let you fly with me. Is that okay?"

"Yes! I'd be so happy! Thank you!" She screamed, running up to him, hugging his leg.

"As much as I've enjoyed being with you guys again...I'm going to have to leave. Maybe someday-"

She as cut off by a sharp hug. Confused, her eyes, even full of tears, opened wide.

"That's why I handed you my virve card. If you ever need a friend...or family...just try to find me...we'll keep you safe."