Ten drabbles of whatever length you like involving any character not a Strawhat becoming one. Nine of the drabbles should involve this new crew mate's interaction with the other members whether that's their first meeting or in another fashion. The final one should be the new Strawhat fully embracing their new found friendship and solidarity with the crew.


1. Nakama is happiness

"Why were we brought into this?"

"It's simple, Robin - we're broke as dogs and the men are as subtle as a red brick wall. I - we- need money right now or Luffy will go hungry tonight."

"No! Never! Luffykins needs to eat his fill at all times to revive himself!"

"...Yeah, what the hoochie said."

"So this outfit - and I use the term very loosely - will help us rob the marine bank how again?"

"Just hush, jiggle, and you'll see."

Seventeen minutes later

"I believe my beauty was too much for these peasants. I told you that you were unnecessary, bitch."

"Shut the fuck up, hag, and stop dragging your hair on the floor! Robin, how's the bag stuffing go-"

"This is Marine Captain Skay-Bay! We have you surrounded! Release the hostages and come out with your hands up! You have five minutes to comply with our demands or we will fire on you!"

"Brilliant, witch. What's our next move?"

"Let me do the talking for once. Hancock, unfreeze the customers one at a time. Robin, how long will your arms need?"

Twenty-two minutes later

"That's the last hostage. Are we ready?"

"Let's hurry up and do this. I will stop these idiotic World Government bastards dead in their tracks."

"...I suppose we have no choice."

"Here we go. Three, two, one, now!"

Back on the Thousand Sunny

Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, Franky, Chopper, and Brook were gathered in the aquarium bar per Nami's instructions. They had gathered around their one den-den mushi capable monitor to watch the marine news report.

"...three of the notorious Straw-hat pirates are said to be holed up in this bank, which has been surrounded by Captain Skay Bay and his men. The hostages have all been confirmed safe, although they appear to have suffered some slight memory loss - wait a moment, it looks like the criminals are surrendering and are coming out with their hands up... Mama Mia Midori, look at those hooteakljvle...!"

"Happiness Punch 3000!"

As the Straw-hat women flashed the marine squadrons, a wave of blackouts struck the Thousand Sunny.

Twelve minutes later

Robin, Nami, and Hancock strutted into the aquarium bar with their ill-gotten gains, only slightly out of breath. The Straw-hat men were still passed out in a seeping pool of blood.

"You all owe me 500,000 beris, except for Luffykins," Hancock sniffed smugly, trying not to drag her hair through the gore as Nami gave her grudging approval. Robin needed to get warm quickly - the diaphanous dress was giving her pneumonia.

***

2. Nakama adore fruitcake

"What did you just call him?"

Sanji had just entered the bar where the rest of the Straw-hats were supposed to meet after they finished their shopping on the new island. The tableau spread before him spoke volumes; Ben-chan was seated at a table in the back, looking relatively normal - despite the light makeup - in the suit that Brook had loaned him, with a oversized son of a syphilitic wharf rat slobbering over him in anger. The ruffled shirt and sleeves poking out elegantly from the openings somehow avoided the flying spittle as Bentham ignored the raving lunatic to wave enthusiastically at his comrade.

"Sanji-chan! Over here! I have a pot of Earl Grey waiting for us!"

"Oh Lord, another one! What is he, yer bottle-brush boyfriend?"

Bentham placed his cup of tea on the table and folded his hands neatly in his lap as Sanji stalked closer to his seat.

"No, he would be our cook."

"Har, har, har! Cook, ye say? I bet his fruitcake is as nasty as you look!"

By this time, Sanji was by the chair that Bentham had kicked out for him, lighting a fresh cigarette. He sucked in the sweet, harsh nicotine, letting it relax him before he and Bentham asked the imbecile to repeat himself. Which he did.

"He's a nasty fruitcake, yer probably one too, and ye can't cook ta boot! Simple enough fer ye?"

"Yes," they both replied as Bentham stretched up to his full height. "That's what we thought you said."

When Usopp and Luffy finally joined the others, they nonchalantly stepped over and around the comatose people in the bar.

"What happened?" Usopp asked, miffed as he shook off a hand that dared to clutch at his boot. He and Luffy pushed two newly crippled pirates out of their seats and brought the chairs to the table.

Brook, Sanji, and Bentham sipped their tea while Zoro wiped away lager foam. Nami and Robin did not even bother to stop chatting as Franky and Chopper waved at them from behind their bottles of cola.

"Some guys were talking badly about fruitcake," Sanji informed them mildly as he crossed his legs.

"Oh," Luffy responded as he grabbed the mug of juice that Zoro slid his way. "Did you show them how good ours' is?"

"Emphatically, Straw-chan. Quite emphatically," Bentham responded.

"I should've learned me lesson after that Kidd fellow and his blanket,' the instigator managed to gurgle before Luffy's stomp knocked him back out.

***

3. Nakama consider dietary restrictions

The Straw-hats, minus their captain and their sniper, watched the scene with perverse interest. Sanji and Brook were particularly affected as they watched the horror unfold.

For there, in the middle of the aquarium bar, was Keimi, her head bobbing up and down in sleep as a large, malevolent great white shark crept up behind her, teeth bared and cutlery at the ready.

The crew was interrupted by the clatter of feet as Luffy and Usopp barreled into the room.

"Na, na, na, he's a beauty, isn't he, isn't he?" Luffy crowed excitedly as he skidded to a stop in front of his crew.

"You shitty rubber jackass!" Sanji screeched as he, Nami, and Zoro proceeded to smack the two younger men upside the back of their heads. "That fucking shark is trying to eat Keimi!"

"Eh~!" Usopp and Luffy shrieked, their eyes bugging out in surprise at the sight in front of them. Their index fingers wave frantically as they pointed at the giant aquarium.

"Ur~p! Oh, dear, excuse me! Usopp-chin, Luffy-chin, that was delicious!"

The rest of the crew turned their attentions back to Keimi, only to see a napkin tied around her neck, a large platter of fish steaks in front of her, and the enormous, carved remains of a shark skeleton bobbing to the surface of the tank. The sweat rolled off of everyone's brow.

"Oo, Sanji-chin, can we have the rest of this as sushi tonight?"

The Straw-hats blinked a few times as the cook hesitantly announced that fish was back on the menu.

***

4. Nakama love cuteness

Chopper dashed through the Thousand Sunny, tears whipping off of his face as he hunted for the sniper.

"Oh, cutey pie? Where are you?"

"Where is he?" the reindeer shrieked, panic-stricken as he descended into the bowels of the ship.

"The goddamn coward has got to be around here somewhere, or else we're doomed to live like the seaweed we are," Zoro added breathily as he sped up to join the doctor. The swordsman was dragging Sanji along by his collar, the cook still muttering suicidal epithets.

Usopp grunted as the door to his workshop flew open and a brown, green, and yellow streak dashed under his work table.

"Not this again," he sighed loudly as he pushed back his chair.

"There you are, you adorable little darlings! You will all look so much cuter when I finish mixing up your body par- ee~k!"

Perona screeched to a halt at the doorway as a nine-foot tall, long-nosed cockroach stood in front of Usopp's workshop. The antennae wiggled once and she was down on the floor in a frothing mass of ghosts and pink hair before vanishing.

Usopp sighed as he removed the stifling costume, glad for once that he was not the cutest, most handsome person on earth. The other three were still cowering under the table, muttering about their lives as sea cucumbers.

"Didn't I tell you not to sneak into the girls' room when Perona's not in her body?" Usopp snapped as he bonked the cook on the head repeatedly. He'd been in the middle of a very complex chemical equation for a new acid star he was concocting, and the interruption was not appreciated.

"But, but most reliable Usopp-sama - fuck a duck, when does this horo shit wear off? Lichen such as myself find such cuteness irresistible in a woman!" Sanji replied as he crawled from under the work table.

"Well resist!" Usopp snarled in response while helping Chopper to free his antlers from the narrow confines.

"Or do you really want us to end up as Cho-ron-ji, the swashbuckling, high-stepping, reindeer servants of cuteness again?" Zoro bellowed, shuddering at the thought.

"Hey, it worked against Absalom, didn't it?" the cook snapped, trying to forget the hair extensions and pink suit from that particular episode as they escorted him up to the kitchen.

***

5. Nakama are understanding

Franky eyed the badly dented armor as Heracles stood with his back to the shipwright.

"Not supa, Beetle-bro. You're going to have to remove it for me to get it ship-shape."

"That is most unpleasant, Frankyun. Usoppun assured me that if anyone could do this, it would be you-n."

"Sorry, Beetle-bro, but unless you want to fit both of us in there, it's no doing."

Heracles visibly slumped in front of Franky like a wilted flower. A gauntleted arm came up to wipe away tears from behind the horned helmet.

"Frankyun, I do not like-n to be vulnerable...but...if-un you must."

The shipwright turned away pensively as the other man began the arduous task of unbuckling the heavy chest piece. No one had actually seen the new crew mate without his full suit of armor on, not yet at any rate. There was nervous tension in the air, and the silence was so thick that a bystander would have heard the gears in Franky's head grinding to a halt.

"Hey, how 'bout this, Beetle-bro? You keep on your chest piece and give me the back plates to fix. Then you stand behind me and watch my six."

The silence became apprehensive. Franky shuffled nervously before sighing and turning away

"I don't have any plating in my back yet, so I hate leaving it to an open door. If you stand there in your breastplate, neither of us will have to worry about sneak attacks."

Franky thought he heard the helmet creak with appreciative laughter as his nakama handed him the damaged, black plates of metal over his shoulders. The shipwright nodded in complete agreement.

***

6. Nakama never forget

The Klaubautermann hadn't expected such a welcome, but he had no time to register surprise as Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp lifted him up into a wailing mass of snot and tears.

"Merry!" Usopp cried loudly, while Zoro, Sanji, and Robin looked on with soft smiles. "You've come back!"

"I - I guess so," the little entity gasped out before Franky and Nami slapped the younger men away, allowing the small being to breathe. "I don't really remember that name, but I really feel as if I know almost all of you. I...I think I missed you. I was watching from...somewhere else, and I kept thinking, 'Ah, I want to join them.' Then, suddenly, I was floating on the ocean, but I wasn't a ship anymore."

Brook, ever the epitome of charm, walked over to the tiny man, tipped his hat, and extended his bony fingers in a handshake.

"Yohohoho! After hearing so much about you, I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Merry. I do believe you are the first person I've laid eyes on who is stranger than myself. Ah, but I have no eyes! Skeleton Joke!"

The Klaubautermann timidly shook hands with the exceedingly long and lanky skeleton, his neck and back aching from the effort of looking the musician in the...eye sockets.

"Nice to meet you too," Merry responded, his grip surprisingly strong for such a diminutive being.

"But how did you even get here?" Sanji asked, surreptitiously blinking away his own tears and blaming his cigarette smoke. "We left you way back at Enies Lobby."

The crew made space for Merry as Franky scooped him up and carried him to the dining hall's grand table with long strides. Chopper threw a few pillows from his infirmary into the seat so that the nautical incarnation could reach the table.

"Tell us everything!" Luffy ordered as he stretched a rubber arm around Merry's back. Sanji stepped into the galley to whip up some drinking snacks and Zoro went to the pantry for sake and grog. "You have all the time in the world!"

The Klaubautermann smiled softly, and began speaking.

***

7. Nakama forgive nakama

"Sorry," Vivi whimpered, her eyes dripping and her clothes in ruin. The smell of gunpowder and smoke hung heavily in the dirty aqua locks that laid over her shoulders in a mess of snarls and tangles - not that any of this was visible in the gloom of the women's quarters that night.

"Sorry," she said again, as she tried not to curl in on herself. "I- I'm sorry I took so long to help you. I'm sorry- even though my kingdom was saved, in the end - I'm sorry, I-"

Soft arms marred by welts, scrapes, and scratches enfolded the former princess in a warm embrace, even thought the owner was still recuperating in the ship's infirmary.

"I'm sorry I couldn't see past Miss All-Sunday. I'm sorry that I was jealous of you. I'm sorry I wished you dead. I'm sorry that you near- nearly...I'm so sorry!"

Nami's arms coiled around Vivi's neck and pulled the princess' bruised and battered head onto her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I betrayed you! I was just trying to save my country again, but I- I didn't want-!" the shivering girl wailed, propped up solely by the navigator who was now brushing the knots out of the blue hair with the aid of several gentle hands.

"It's alright, Vivi. We've done it before, for reasons much like yours. We'll help you through it, but the first thing you need to do is remember what has been lost and...and say goodbye." Nami whispered in the girl's ear, a lump in her throat stopping her from speaking more.

So Vivi remembered, and Robin remembered, and Nami remembered, and as the princess-turned-piratess wept bitterly in the safety of her new sisters' arms, they all forgave each other and themselves.

***

8. Nakama value health

The coughing was barely noticeable, even in the small sick bay behind the Thousand Sunny's kitchen. Normally, when most of the crew was healthy and able, Chopper would be able to take a break. However, that was not the case right now, where he was in Heavy Point form, struggling with too-large fingers and a too-small tweezer to dig a bullet out of Sanji's shoulder.

"Oh blast it all!" Chopper yelled as he pitched the tweezer across the room and searched for a larger one. Sanji was vaguely amused, and very glad that he was gassed up to his eyeballs. The tweezer looked like it needed his opiates though.

"These tools were made for children, I swear!" Chopper grumbled as he pulled another implement of tortu- er, healing - from his bag.

Slim fingers snagged the tool from Chopper and replaced it with a warm cup of milk. Sanji finally passed out due to blood loss - Kaya's soft bosom had just strategically brushed against him as she pushed him back down on the gurney.

Within a few minutes, the shot was out and clattering around in a nearby jar. Sanji's arm was covered in a thick mustard poultice and wrapped with bandages before Chopper could even finish his drink.

"That's one patient down. Now for the difficult one," Kaya chirped sweetly as she withdrew her scalpels and a large lollipop from her sweater's lone pocket.

For the first time ever, Chopper considered talking to his mother about her bedside manners.

***

9. Nakama go out with a big bang

Buggy and Usopp fought each other as they scrambled up the ladder from the ship's hold. They juggled a small, round object between each other as they ran screaming to the side of the ship, nimbly avoiding Zoro's sleeping form as it laid prone on the deck, right in their frigging way!

"Move it, move it, move it!" Usopp screeched as he threw the little lead ball at Buggy. "Oi, stop juggling it and throw it overboard!"

"I can't!" Buggy wailed, shaking hisleft hand vigorously. "This glove fell in the glue pot and now it's stuck to my hand!"

"Then throw your hand!"

"You nosy idiot, I need that hand!"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Zoro grumbled as he yanked off Buggy's arm and tossed it overboard.

"Oh no!" the sniper and the cannoneer whimpered loudly, jumping on the swordsman and dragging him down to the deck.

"What the hell is going-?"

Zoro's ranting was interrupted by an earth-shattering roar at least as loud as Oz sneezing. The Thousand Sunny's figurehead nearly lost its mane due to the fright.

"What the mother-?"

"Who the hell-?"

"Not supa! My ship!"

"Ara?"

"Whoa, so loud! It's a mysterious boom!"

Everyone gathered on the deck, trying to figure out what had happened when Buggy started yelling and shaking Usopp.

"Look! Look! It worked, Nagaking! That is so flashy!"

"Wooohooo! We are so awesome!"

Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook watched in amazement as colorful rockets erupted from the sea nearby to blast into millions of sparkles reflecting the myriad colors of the rainbow, the Nosey Duo hopping and jigging around their crew with joy.

Until Buggy remembered that someone had to fish out his hand.

***

10. Nakama is for life.

"Stop jooooking around! Do I really need to do this?"

Bentham was stretched out on his stomach atop Chopper's infirmary bed, his back exposed to Usopp, who was drawing lightly on his skin with a pensive frown on his face.

"Yeah, you do, and I'm the one that does all of them. Your choice is fine, and I'll knock your socks off," the sniper assured him absentmindedly as he put down his pen and took up his other equipment.

"Relax, Ben-chan," Chopper consoled him, patting his arm lightly. "Usopp is an expert, plus we all have one, just in case...well, just in case. Do you need anything for the pain?"

"Me? Never! I'm fine, my dear Reindeer-chan, so just get on with it, you two!"

Many days later.

Bentham was still apprehensive...it wasn't the most piratical of symbols and for some reason, he was very certain that the rest of the crew would disapprove of it. A peculiar thought, given that the only nakama to see it so far were the creator and the doctor. Still, Bentham wasn't sure that he could take any rejection right now - he was so much closer with these people than he ever was with the Baroque Works agents. Being rejected, even slightly, would crush some part of him forever.

"We're ready, Ben-chan!" Luffy yelled from the back of the aquarium bar. Rubbery hands grabbed onto to the Straw-hat's new spy and bodily yanked him from his reverie. The captain also managed to yank him into the rest of the crew on the sofa.

"Beautiful, you shitty black hole. My head is going to be hurting for ages," Sanji grumbled as he pulled himself from the bottom of the pile. Just his luck to be next to Luffy when the idiot decided to pull that stunt.

"I keep telling you, aim a little more!" Zoro barked as he and Franky lifted everyone else on their backs and replaced them in their seats. He negligently tossed Bentham onto the grand dining table, where he bounced back up with a flip.

"Are we ready?" Nami asked everyone as they got comfortable again. Franky dimmed the lights and squeezed in between Brook and Robin. Zoro sat Chopper on his lap and flopped next to the navigator, while Sanji and Usopp bickered until the cook kicked the sniper next to their captain and took a seat at the end of the cushions.

Bentham gulped, turned around in a few nerve-settling pirouettes, then tore the shirt off of his body as he stopped with his back to the others.

"Tada! The Swan has arrived!"

There was silence. Bentham sniffed the air in big gulps, certain that just like other times, he would be put out, driven out for his sense of fashion and tastes and preferences-

Sanji was next to him, his shirt and jacket off as he backed the rest of the crew.

"So which tattoo's better? My Ocean-faring Duck or Ben-chan's Swan amidst the Lilacs?"

Zoro snorted and got up, stripping off his shirt along the way.

"Neither. Shark of the Green Depths is way better that curly-brows and eyeliner."

"Wha~t?" the two kicking experts spluttered, rage painting their faces red.

"No way, Sky Blue King Bull is the best! It's the most supa!"

"Ha! You are all fools! Golden Armadillo of the Earth shall rule supreme!"

"Nohohoho! My scrimshaw, Prancing Horses, is beyond comparison!"

"No, you bastards, it's The Reindeer Constellation that'll win!"

"Luffy, which one is best?" Robin asked coolly, while Nami fumed at the men as they squabbled and bickered and - oh dear, it looked like Franky threw the first fist this time.

"They're all awesome! So awesome!" Luffy cried out with stars in his eyes, snot and tears bubbling down his face. The rubber man dragged the two women up to join the line in front of him, tearing off his vest as Robin shrugged off her bolero jacket and Nami adjusted her halter top.

Reflected in the aquarium's glass was a mystical menagerie embroidered on the battle-hardened flesh of the most notorious pirates alive; a grinning monkey, a sleeping shark, an orange wildcat, a burrowing armadillo, an oceanic duck, a starry-eyed reindeer, a crane in the purple of dusk, a flying bull, a stately horse, and a nestling swan. In the corner of each design was a small brand - the Straw-hat jolly roger and their personal flags. The tattoos and rubbings and brands and etchings would last until the skin or bone itself decayed, meaning that they would always be able to identify each other, no matter how Death took them.

The Straw-hats grinned and laughed, linking tattoos and scars and elbows and hearts. Bentham felt like he'd always been here, with these people. What had he been worrying about? He never had to worry again.

***