"Forgot it? You forgot your only way home?" Nami asked disbelievingly.

"Uh-huh. Geez, I'm such an idiot!" I slammed my head onto the railing I'd just been leaning on and then crumpled to the floor.

"Um... are you okay, Renor?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Nami. Geez. I can't believe I forgot it, though!"

"I'm sure there's more than one Eternal Pose to your island. What's it called?"

"Wabret Island." I remembered the three kids, and then I scoffed. "More like 'Wet Rat Island.'"

The next thing I thought about was my backpack. I'd left it behind in the storage room. "Hey, Nami, would you mind if I went to get my backpack? If there's anything else you want to ask me, I'll be right back in a minute."

Nami shook her head. "Just watch out for that storm. Be ready to help out if we need it; the boys usually do a good job on handling everything themselves, though."

"Alright." I headed back down into the storage room that was now packed with all of the supplies I'd seen everyone carrying earlier that morning.

I had to search though the room for a bit and move around a few things before I found my backpack. Taking special care to not break or ruin any of the supplies, it took me a bit longer getting my backpack than it probably could have.

A loud clinking and jangling noise erupted from my backpack when I picked it up; I'd scraped it and pulled it through a small wedge between the wall and boxes it was stuck in between. The money I had brought was loudly hitting into and sliding past each other in the pack, also resulting in slight grinding sounds.

I put it on my back, and after a second, a question formed in my mind: Where will I spend the night on this ship? Not outside... it'd get too cold... I'm not good with the cold.

Suddenly, Nami burst into the room. The forcefully opened door swung open quickly and slammed into the wall it was hinged to.

"Where is it? I heard money! You weren't messing with my treasure, were you?" she glared.

"No. I was just getting my backpack, like I told you a bit ago."

"Then what was that I heard?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"My money. I'm sure you're not the only one on this ship with money." Nami's eyes started to wander and look at the ceiling.

"Well... everyone's money on this ship is mine; I'm the money keeper." She then sniffed, sounding like a snob. "So, how much money do you have?" she greedily added.

"500,000 berries. Why?"

"F-f-five... h-hundred thousand?"

"Yeah," I carried on. I don't have a boat of my own, so whenever I wanted a ride home or away, I had to pay the person who brought me around with a large sum of money. Sometimes, I still had to pay them more since their ship got stuck in one of the Grand Line's infamous storms. Besides, I also get hungry pretty easy, so I have to pay for food.

"Well, as I said, I am the money keeper," Nami repeated.

"No! This is the only money I have left from my hundred million stash!" Right after I'd said that last sentence, I bitterly wished that I could just swallow it back down my throat.

The next thing that happened was a numbing pain flashed over my head. I heavily winced, and when I reopened my eyes, I saw Nami's fist in front of my face, clenched. Her teeth were grinding together in an angry grimace. My best guess was that she'd just whacked me across my head.

"Hundred... million? And you left all of that behind? Don't tell me you forgot it like you forgot your Log Pose."

I nodded weakly. 500,000 was the normal amount I brought with me; I didn't see what Nami was making such a big deal over. Maybe it would've been better if I'd told her I'd only left it on purpose... No, that wouln't've changed anything.

Nami was about to whack me again when the boat started to violently rock side to side. Boxes and barrels began to slide around in the room with the boat's movements, and then I remembered what was going on: "The storm!" I yelled while trying to still keep my balance.

Nami gasped and dashed outside.

I took my backpack off quickly, and it landed with a loud, metallic crash on the floor. When I followed Nami outside and closed the door behind me, I saw that the sky had drastically changed in the short time I'd been inside.

The sky was grey, and dark foreboding clouds were swirling around this ginormous* cyclone in the distance. I mean, huge! The Merry Go was too far away from the main part of the storm to get the full brunt of it, yet it seemed like it was, and the wind and waves were still terrible and strong. Rain was pouring onto the ship, soaking every bit of it, but the waves were dumping even more water onto it than the rain.

Zolo, Sanji, Luffy, and even Usopp, were all pulling, tugging, and tying the important ropes wherever they could to keep everything steady.

There was a large, broad shouldered, and strong looking figure on the beam supporting the main sail and crow's nest. He was trying to get all the ropes he could to tie the sail to the beam. Since Chopper had mentioned his 'human' form and I hadn't seen anyone else on the ship, I guessed that was him. (His pink hat was also a giveaway. He had to constantly grab it when it started to get blown away by the harsh winds.)

My hood wasn't a problem since the wind was blowing against my back, not against my face trying to pull it off.

It seemed like everyone was doing fine with their job, and Chopper almost had all the ropes tied up, when...

The very last one slipped out of his hand. He almost leaped after the end of it, and I let out a scared gasp. He caught himself before he made the fatal mistake, luckily, and he tried to pull it back in, but it was too slippery and he couldn't keep a decent grasp on it.

I ran after the rope that was now being blown in the wind, and Zolo noticed what had happened around the same time as me. He quickly finished tying the ropes he was working with, and then he tore after the rope Chopper had accidentally let go of as fast as he could. Zolo gave a powerful leap and managed to catch it.

Zolo landed on his feet, but then he skid on the slippery floor and collapsed onto his stomach to stop from being tipped over the edge of the Merry Go. It seemed like the wind was trying its hardest to just specifically push Zolo off the side, and he was sliding slowly forward. I grabbed the end rope he was holding onto and ended up on my stomach also.

The wind picked up, and both of us slid forward again. I looked up at Chopper, worried about him, and saw that he was in his smaller form again, precariously climbing down from the long beam to help Nami and Usopp. He yelled, "Don't worry; I'm coming!" to reassure them, but his words were almost completely blown away by the howling wind.

Luffy had seen the 'excitement' Zolo and I were caught up in, and he rushed over to join the chain of people on their stomachs. The only reason I was able to tell that Luffy just wanted to join the 'fun' was because of his silly grin which was completely oblivious to everything around him.

He grabbed onto my feet, and then he said, "Oi, Renor, you've got funny feet," referring to the T. Rex-like coverings on my feet, smiling.

"They're boots."

"No, no. I think they're feet."

"They're... boots," I insisted. I let out a grunt trying to hold onto the rope that was attempting to slip out of my grasp.

Luffy then stood up, already bored with our circular conversation, and tugged me onto my feet. I did the same to Zolo, letting go of the rope for as brief a moment as possible. Right after Zolo had regained his footing, I seized the rope again.

With just as much warning as the storm had given about its start, it stopped. The winds died down almost instantaneously, the rain stopped, the black clouds started to depart, and the waves subsided.

Just like that.

My hands were still clenching the rope and Zolo's were too, and then we both let our legs give out from under us. Zolo landed on his knees, breathing heavily, while I leaned against the nearest rail instead, and did my panting there.

Luffy looked at both of us, then shrugged and stepped away. I looked around a bit to see how everyone else looked after coping with the storm.

Sanji was against the mast, leaning down with his hands resting on his knees.

Usopp and Nami were both bent over the rails they'd been working by, sides heaving, and Chopper was sitting on the rail with his feet dangling out below him.

"Phew! That sure was a tough storm, huh?" I asked in a carefree voice, trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit.

Everyone but Luffy and Chopper glared at me. We were all sopping wet, and just by the look they were giving me, they had the feeling I hadn't done enough to help out.

Chopper nodded, tongue sticking out in his exhaustion, and Luffy smiled and answered, "Haha! Yeah! Good thing we didn't get stuck in the uh... main... wind area... of that funnel thing, huh?" He walked back up to me and gently tugged the rope out of my hands, and Zolo released his grip so Luffy could take it.

Luffy stretched his arm up to Chopper, and then he said, "Tie this back wherever it needs to be, okay?" Chopper nodded again and he went to work doing what his captain had just told him to do.

Luffy's stomach then growled. I looked at him incredulously, thinking, But we pretty much just ate! How can you be hungry already?

"Sanji-iii-ii-i... I'm hungry."

"You just ate that entire pot of rice! What made you think I'd make more for you?"

"But I'm hungry," Luffy moaned.

"Deal with it until dinner."

Luffy went up to Sanji and fell onto his knees. He started tugging on Sanji's shirt. "Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"PLEASE."

"NO!"

Sanji gave Luffy a forceful shove with his foot and strode off in a huff.

All Luffy did after that was flop onto his back and let out a moan.

Everyone, besides Sanji, who was walking over to Nami, looked at Luffy with disbelief written all over their face.

I looked at Zolo and then asked, "Is Luffy always like that?"

"Not usually. He normally gets into more trouble at night trying to sneak midnight snacks than in the afternoon."

"Really? Doesn't he eat enough during the day?"

Zolo chuckled a bit, and then he stood up. "Well, more than enough food is never enough for Luffy." He took off his white shirt and wrung it out. I got a jolt when I saw how strong he was; good thing I didn't get into that fight earlier that morning with him. He also had a long, diagonal, scar running across his whole chest; I could only imagine how he got it.

Even though the shirt wasn't completely dry after wringing it out several times, he put the now slightly wrinkled shirt back on.

When Sanji reached Nami, she told him something and he walked off into the storage room. Chopper, hearing what she had told Sanji, also disappeared into the room. Zolo looked around, and apparently processed what was going on, then he followed them.

Luffy had been the first into the room, with Usopp following him. Nami walked up to me and asked, "Can you help mop up the deck? You don't need to get the mops themselves wet, though; the deck will do that itself. All of this water isn't good for the ship."

I acknowledged her with a curt nod, and strolled off to look for a mop. My first guess was that they were in the storage room, and that had been the reason why everyone had disappeared into there.

When I reached the door into the room and I reached out to grab the handle, the door swung open when my hand was still inches away from it.

Involuntarily, I jumped backwards, startled. Sanji, Luffy, and Usopp all walked out carrying a mop, and then Zolo followed them, carrying three. He had two in one of his hands and one in the other.

Peeking into the room, I saw that Chopper was climbing and hopping over the barrels and boxes trying to most likely find a mop for himself. He was very small in his normal man-reindeer form, and all the boxes at my waist were practically at the top of his head, with his antlers barely peeping above them.

"Hey, Chopper, are you looking for a mop?"

"M-hmm," he muttered.

"Need help?"

"Yes!" he gratefully answered.

I started helping him with his search, but I only found one other mop, and I gladly offered to do his mopping for him. He declined my offer, being the cute yet generous reindeer he was, and he headed outside and started doing his important task.

Instead of mopping, I ended up looking for areas on the inside of the Merry Go where water had seeped in. I found a couple, and I had to board them up. The ship was already pretty beat up, so adding a few boards here and there didn't really mess up anything. Usopp helped me a bit when he was done with his share of mopping on deck.

After I'd come back up from the lower areas of the ship, I saw everyone finishing up mopping. Watching Zolo was the most entertaining part, I have to say. He had one of his three mops in his mouth and the two others in his hands, and he'd managed to put every single one of them to good use.

Once everyone had put their mops back, the sun had started to set. A whole day, huh? It's been more than a whole day since I first really saw Luffy, and yet... I already know so much about him. So much can happen in a day.

When Luffy first noticed that the sun was setting, he started pestering Sanji about dinner again, and Sanji warned him not to bother him anymore, or else it would mean no dinner. Luffy complied, and he was rather quiet for a while since whenever he opened his mouth to bother Sanji, he was shot a warning glare.

Soon enough, Sanji had gone up into the kitchen, and it didn't take long for everyone to know that he was cooking dinner; the luscious scent coming from the kitchen wasn't hard to notice. My main hope for the meal was that Sanji and Luffy wouldn't get into such a huge argument like they had at lunch.

*gi·nor·mous

Pronunciation: \jī-ˈnȯr-məs\

Function: adjective

Etymology: gigantic + enormous

("Believe it!" ~famous quote stolen directly from Naruto~)

And, uh... there's really no meaning that I know of behind 'Wabret.' It was just a bunch of random letters I ended up typing up. xD So, ah, reviews, anyone? -innocent smile- (You know you don't need an account to review...)

Edit 1/22/'10: I just realized that Zolo woke up rather easily for this storm. x) -remembering entrance in Grand Line- And how come there are less arguments between Luffy and Sanji than Zolo and Sanji...? Sorry. Just a random thought. :P