Short! Short! Sorry! But a nice little tid-bit at the end as an apology =)

Disclaimer: I do not own

Warnings: Not many in this one

Reviews appreciated!


I was going to take it more slowly this time. Creeping to the door, I pushed it open just far enough to see through the crack. The sun was bright, the waves calm, and not a trace of any monsters to be had. I opened the door a little further.

"Would you hurry up?" A hand planted itself in my back and I stumbled out onto the deck. So much for taking it slow.

"I was getting there," I snapped as Zoro walked out behind me. "You are so impatient." The swordsman ignored my irritation and walked past me down the stairs as Nami and Robin followed us. I edged along the wall of the cabin and peeked around the corner, not trusting the calm surroundings. That kind of thinking had landed me in danger just the day before, and I wasn't about to take any risks.

"The coast is clear," Nami called from the bottom of the stairs. "You can come down now."

"I don't want to," I answered under my breath, sounding a lot more petulant than I had meant to, really. I kept to the railing and made my way cautiously down to where Luffy was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the ship, a long stick in one hand and a drink in the other. He turned as I walked unsteadily toward him.

"Hey mermaid," he said by way of greeting. "Wanna fish?"

"Do I want a fish, or do I want to fish?" I asked him. He simply shrugged and turned back to his line.

I sat down on the deck next to him. It was quite a bit warmer than it had been, and despite the fact that I was still wearing Zoro's shirt, something that seemed to greatly annoy the cook, I wasn't cold.

"Hey."

Speak of the devil… "What?" I turned to look at Zoro, who was leaning up against the mast with his arms folded.

"Would it be so bad?" he asked seriously. "Staying with us?"

Well, that was certainly unexpected. Especially coming from him. "What do you mean?"

"He means you could stay," Luffy looked down at me with a smile. "We'd keep you safe, and eventually you'd get stronger all on your own." His grin widened. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

I really wanted to say 'no' right away, but the hopeful look on the captain's face stopped me. He meant well, I knew. "I can't, Luffy," I said after a moment. "I don't belong here."

"You keep saying that," Luffy appeared thoughtful. "But where else would you belong? You don't know where you came from, so you must be from here, right?"

"Luffy-logic," Zoro explained when I arched an eyebrow in question.

"It makes sense," Luffy defended. "Why don't you stay?" He looked very close to pouting now.

"I have to go home," I told him again. "Just as soon as I figure out how. My family, they…" I trailed off, trying to remember their names, or what they looked like, or…anything at all. I realized I couldn't, and covered my face with both hands. "Dammit. I don't remember."

I heard someone walking along the deck toward us but didn't look up. I wasn't in the mood.

"Renna?" Nami asked before falling silent. Apparently I must have had a rain cloud above my head, because the navigator left shortly after that without another word.

"So," Luffy said after a long pause. "Do you wanna fish or not?"

I took a deep breath before standing and moving closer to the rail. Luffy smiled and handed an extra pole over to me. Fishing, I decided, sounded like a reasonable past time at the moment.

"By the way Zoro," Luffy shot the swordsman a confused look. "What did you send Nami away for? I was gonna ask her to grab a refill from Sanji." He waved the empty glass in front of him.

I turned my attention to the other man as well. That was a good question.

Zoro glanced from me to Luffy before answering. "Never mind. Just catch something already, would you? I'm starving." He pulled a small bottle from his back pocket and sat down against the mast.

He didn't look at me again for a long time.


Two hours later we hauled in our prizes for the afternoon. Luffy had caught two tiny fish and something that looked suspiciously like an old glove, and I had managed to hook three decent fish. Ussop, who had joined us shortly after I had begun, was carrying a string of five healthy-looking morsels. We now had enough for a good meal, bar Luffy, and so far nothing had tried to kill us. All in all, not a bad day.

I sat at the table with Robin, Nami, Zoro and Chopper while Sanji was busy at the counter, listening to the friendly chatter and thinking about what Luffy had said earlier. I knew he just couldn't believe that I didn't want to stay with them, and really it was not anything personal. On most accounts. But I had a life in my own world, I knew I did, and I couldn't simply walk away from it like it was nothing. But I still didn't know how I was going to get back, either.

The issue never resurfaced for the rest of the evening, for which I was grateful.

After dinner, Nami bullied Luffy into running on the bicycle-powered water pump so I could rinse off, and Ussop had unearthed another shirt from somewhere. This one was a small green button-down, one of his own, which had shrank somewhat in the last washing. I couldn't help but notice that Sanji was ridiculously happy about this.

I went to bed later that night, still wondering about my predicament, and didn't even protest when Zoro stretched out on the cot across from me and Chopper took the one from the previous night.

Later, I would go over my options again, and try to find a way back home. It was starting to seem impossible.


The next morning I woke more abruptly than normal, owing to the small, furry ball of energy landing on my back and hopping around in an overly-excited manner. This resulted in me nearly choking on my pillow.

"Hoffer, fomph," I tried, attempting to roll the deer off of me.

"Come on! Get up!" Chopper bounced away to yank on Zoro's arm before shooting out the door. "Let's go to the island!"

I looked over at the stirring swordsman. "Fmpddhejsnay?" I asked, which translated roughly into 'What did he just say?'

Zoro sat up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Guess they found an island," he said. "Looks like we'll be landing soon."

An island? I had only just become accustomed to this ship and its wacky inhabitants, I didn't think I was ready for an entire island.

I promptly stuck my face back into the pillow.