Notice

Danni noticed the change in the air instantly, struggling to breath with the lack of oxygen in the air. Her chest constricted painfully and she had difficulty moving her body. She pushed herself up in the corner next to the stairs and coughed in her hand, trying to muffle the sound. She pulled her hand away and winced upon seeing the speckles of blood dotting her palm. As much as she hated to admit it, she was useless until she got used to the atmosphere, so she was stuck watching the happenings upon their arrival.

"If we, uhm, don't have any money?" Nami asked tentatively; sweat dropping and holding her hands up.

The old lady didn't even change her expression as she responded, "You can still go up." Usopp cried out in shock, eyes bulging, and Danni frowned, eyeing the woman shrewdly. Hidden by the staircase as she was, she hadn't been in a position to be seen in the picture taken. The picture taking sent alarm bells ringing in her head.

"Also," the old lady started, a somewhat crafty smile tugging her lips. "If you don't want to go up...it's okay too. I'm not a guard, nor am I a soldier. I just want to know your intention." Danni narrowed her eyes. That sounded a bit suspicious. Luffy cheered and announced they were going to Sky Island, even though they didn't have money. "Really? Seven people right?"

No one thought to correct the wrong number, and Danni didn't reveal herself.

Least

"God is there?" Luffy exclaimed eyes wide and gaping. "In the place that no one should ever enter?" Danni looked up from where she had been examining a bookshelf and stared at her captain with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes! This is 'Godland', and it is ruled by the almighty 'God Enel'!" Conis responded, unsettled by the sudden excited face that Luffy had. Danni wandered over, an amused smile sliding over her face.

Usopp noticed his captain's excited face and grabbed the boy by the shoulders and exclaimed in panic, "Hey, Luffy! Listen to what she said! 'No one should ever enter' means you can't go no matter what! Luffy!?"

Luffy was grinning widely, the sniper's words going in one ear and out the other. "Oh? Really? There's a place no one may go?" Usopp paled at the sparkles that seemed to be emitting from the excited teen. "Yeah...? So nobody should go in no matter what...?"

Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji sweat dropped, collectively thinking, "He's going for sure..."

"Oh my, that sounds like a lot of fun," Danni chuckled as she stopped next to Luffy, her fingers absently curling around the edge of the teen's vest.

Luffy gave her a wide grin, unbothered by the grip, and then turned to the others and said cheerfully, "But even though it's forbidden, God will forgive us, right? He's really nice, right?" He handed Danni a piece of fruit from the table, eating his fish with the other hand and staring at Conis, waiting for a response.

She sweat dropped and replied tentatively, "Ah...but breaking the rule set by God is disrespecting God..."

Luffy blinked, "...Really?" Danni snickered, and the captain shrugged, "Oh well, it doesn't matter."

Danni grinned and muttered, "No, God would be the least of your worries, wouldn't he, Luffy?" The rubber man heard her and gave her a wide grin, eyes sparkling as he wiggled his eyebrows in response. She chuckled lightly, finishing off the fruit that had been handed to her.

Exception

"Then, I'll stay with Chopper," Danni said, cupping her cheek and tilting her head slightly. The other's blinked at her and she smiled. "It wouldn't do to leave him defenseless after all. Besides, I can help with repairs."

Zoro gave her a narrowed eyed stare, but in the end shrugged his shoulders and nodded in acceptance. With that him, Nami, and Robin left, vanishing into the forest. Chopper looked up at Danni, frowning slightly when he took in her paler than normal face. "Are you okay, Danni?" he asked, placing a hoof on her knee.

She looked down at him and smiled in reassurance, "I'm okay. It's just taking awhile to adjust to the atmosphere." Chopper nodded reluctantly, deciding not to point out that she was trembling faintly. If she got worse, he'd put his foot down, though, no exceptions.

Rule

Danni jolted when she smelled smoke and fire, and stumbled out of bed, grabbing her rifle and a few extra paper cartridges. She knew she was going to risk her rifle firing multiple times, but at the moment she really didn't have a choice. She stumbled up the stairs leading to the deck, falling to the floor on one knee and readying her rifle.

As a rule she didn't do the sniper work with her rifle, she didn't have the skills for it, but right now she didn't have much options. She was taking a gamble by assuming the enemy didn't know she existed, but right now, when her crew's ship was burning and Chopper was trying to protect it so hard, she was willing to take that gamble.

She aimed and fired.

Correct

Danni's vision was dark and her breathing ragged. She hung limply, suspended in the air by invisible strings. Blood was dripping from her skin from the cuts that had been made from the strings during her original struggle, but the blood loss had taken its toll, and she was barely hanging onto her conscious.

She was hung like some crude version of a crucifix high above the ship, which was now heavily damage, the mast and sail gone, floating in the water. While she had been correct in the assumption that the enemy didn't know of her existence, the surprise hadn't helped much. She hadn't been able to hit the man using fire at all, though she'd managed to prevent him from further damaging the ship, with his fire.

She was vaguely aware that the Knight of the Sky had come to their rescue and she could hear them fighting below her, but she had the fearful sense that it was coming to an end. Through her muddled mind she wondered why she was feeling fear not her own. Chopper suddenly let out a loud scream and there was the sound of blood gushing. Danni struggled to open her eyes, but to no avail, and she gritted her teeth weakly in frustration.

There was a splash and Danni felt a vague sense of panic, disbelief and fear, before a firm determination blew it all away. The Knight of the Sky's pegasus bird thing was crying out in distress, and Shura glared down at them and said coldly, "Take that as Enel-sama's wrath!"

The determination Danni felt solidified and she heard Chopper cry out, "Knight of the Sky!" Following the statement there was a loud splash and Danni felt her own panic well up. Chopper couldn't swim! He'd drown! She forced her eyes open, trying to focus her vision, but it was stubbornly remaining blurry.

"...Hey. Aren't you a zoan-type devil fruit?" Shura questioned, raising an eyebrow as he stared down at the water. He snorted and then flew up behind Pierre, "Hm...You are also a zoan-type. It is quite the hindrance isn't it?" He raised his weapon and said as he brought it down, "Won't you go after your master?"

There was another splash and Danni choked back a pained cry as the strings cut deeper into her skin as she moved. Her vision began to darken at the edges, and she faintly heard Shura sigh, "So boring. Men's weakness is so irritating!" His voice was beginning to fade, but she forced herself to stay awake; she had to save Chopper! His words were muffled before eventually they faded entirely and the strings holding her collapsed.

She had a brief moment of panic before she forced herself to calm down. Her vision cleared and she a moment to collect herself before she reached out and grabbed one of the sails, stalling her fall and she barely managed to avoid completely wrenching her arm out. With the help of the sail she managed to swing down onto the deck, landing on her butt harshly. She let out a muffled curse, before hopping to her feet unsteadily.

Ignoring the way her vision swam, she wobbled over to the side of the boat and leaped off it and into the water.

Harm

"Let's put out the fire that we have no use of," Robin said. Danni glanced over at her than at her captain, before smiling slightly. "We will only expose our position to the enemy otherwise."

Luffy shook his head, turning to Usopp and saying, "So stupid..." Robin looked startled, and a bit hurt. "Did you hear that Usopp? She wants to put out the fire!" Danni's smile widened and she glanced at the other woman with amused eyes. The older woman looked completely confused.

Usopp gestured over at Robin, a stern look on his face, "Don't say it like that! Robin has been living a dark life, so she couldn't have known."

Robin furrowed her brow and asked cautiously, "Er? ...What do you mean?"

Both boys fell to ground and shouted, "Lighting a campfire is an obvious thing, yeah? It is only a true virtue to keep the campfire up when you're camping at night!" If anything, Robin looked even more confused and startled.

Nami sweat dropped, and deadpanned, "You guys are so stupid." She placed her hands on her hips and huffed, "That's enough! You know very well how dangerous this forest is, no? (Luffy huffed himself and responded, "No!") There are those priests! Plus, forests are always dangerous at night! There are beast and monsters!"

Chopper shrieked, and Usopp froze in his position, shivering. "Yo, Luffy!" Zoro suddenly called out, catching everyone's attention. He waved his hand over at the large bonfire pile of wood and asked, "How's this for a woodpile?" Sanji was leaning against it with a smirk, and a thumbs up.

"Not you too!?" Nami shrieked.

Sanji held up a lighted stick, smiling all the while, and ignoring the eyes of the beasts behind him in the shadows, "Don't worry, Nami-san, those beasts are afraid of fire!" Nami shrieked, crying and holding her pale face.

Danni threw her head back and laughed loudly, clutching her stomach and wincing in pain, but she couldn't stop. Nami gave her a pitiful look, though there was some relief in the look as well. Danni hadn't really laughed since Mock Town. "There's no real harm in letting them have some fun, is there?" Danni asked, leaning back and laughter dying to stifled snickers.

Luffy gave her a wide smile, giving his signature laugh.

Grip

"What should I do? I'm back where we were, but nobody's here," Robin sighed, holding a hand to her cheek. "Did I get lost?"

"I don't think so, since I managed to find it too," Danni answered, rounding one of the trees and hopping over one of the roots. Robin blinked at her, and the younger woman continued as she stopped next to her, "Although, considering the others, they probably got lost."

Robin didn't stop the snicker that escaped at the comment. "Then should we go ahead to the destination and wait for them there?" Robin asked.

Danni shouldered her rifle a bit higher, placing her hands on her hips, and nodded, "Yeah. They'll all make it there eventually. For some reason we all end up in the same place eventually." That being said the two women headed south towards the ruins.

"This was probably a small rural home," Robin murmured thoughtfully, examining the ruin amongst the roots of the trees intently.

Danni looked at it curiously, rifle unstrapped from her back and resting across her shoulders instead, ready for any battle that might happen. Both of them had noted the sudden loss of tranquility of the forest, and Danni just knew that Luffy and Zoro were fighting. "Was it really?" she asked, peering closer at the small ruin.

"Yes. Thankfully, it's not too badly damaged by the forest," Robin answered, before musing, "I wonder how the ruin at the city will hold up..."

Danni shrugged, "By the looks of these ruins, it might not be in too bad of shape." Robin sent her a small smile, before there was a cry that sounded like a goat and a man (she used the term here loosely) crashed on top of the ruin they had just been examining. Danni gripped her rifle and had it pointed at the person, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Women! This path leads to the God's shrine! You may not continue forward!" he announced, and Danni raised an eyebrow coolly, noting that Robin didn't look to happy at where he was standing. Granted she wasn't happy either. You shouldn't disrespect history like that!

"Please get down from there," Robin asked coldly, eyes narrowed. "Do you have any idea how valuable that historical remain is?" Danni stayed silent, letting Robin handle the situation how she wanted considering she was the archaeologist, but she kept her rifle trained on the weird man.

The man sneered down at them and snapped, "You are in no position to get angry!"

Robin raised an eyebrow at him coolly and asked, "What are you going to do about it?" She didn't even let the man finish his exclamation of something related to God's order or something, before she choked him with her hands, the other hands holding him down and twisting his limbs. She glared down at him and scoffed, "How ill mannered."

Danni snickered, "Indeed."

Temperamental

Danni's head shot up, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. She looked back in the direction she had left Robin to go scout ahead, while the other woman examined the ancient text they had found. She could feel a faint pulse of righteous anger that wasn't her own coming from that direction, as well as a large amount of bloodlust. The gunner scowled heavily and turned back around, slinking through the shadows and roots of the large trees surrounding her.

As she slunk closer to where she had left Robin, she heard a pained cry and then a male voice mocking, "When will you stop protecting a dead city like this?" Danni's eyes flashed as her temper flared when she finally caught sight of Robin and her rather large opponent. Robin was bruised and bleeding, slumped against a pile of rubble, while her opponent loomed over her.

Robin sat up, cringing in pain and asked, "Do you have no respect for history?"

Danni quietly loaded her rifle, tearing the paper cartridge open with her teeth and pouring half of the black powder in the flash pan. She finished the process and placed the butt of the rifle against her shoulder and took aim. She couldn't hit his head from her position, but she could hit his shoulder or leg. If her bullet worked.

"I do not care about the past," the man responded.

Danni couldn't see Robin's face any more from her position, but she knew it was fierce, from the cold reply, "Foolish people always say that." Danni fired and the bullet hit the man's shoulder, blood gushing suddenly from the wound. She didn't let her victory distract her, as she immediately moved to get into a different position. It wasn't smart to stay in one place after you've shot someone.

As she moved she caught eyes with Robin, and understanding passed between them. Danni ignored the roar of pain from the fat man, loading her rifle again as she moved positions. She didn't have time to clean it properly while on the move. She settled into another position, just as Robin stood and began running, the man following after her with an angered roar. Danni aimed and fired again. The bullet missed, and simply grazed the man's face. She cursed silently and began to move again, in the same direction as Robin.

Away from the ruins.

Divided

Danni rubbed her forehead, wondering why she suddenly got a terrified feeling before it abruptly ended in pain and she thought of Chopper earlier. Right now she got the feeling that her captain was doing something stupid, and that Zoro was irritated. It made her feel all divided, since her own emotions were confused and worried.

"How are you doing, Robin?" Danni called down, helping move the cloud where she could. She decided to ignore the weird mix of emotions she was getting that weren't her own for now, and focus on helping Robin.

"I think I've found a room," the older woman called back, just as she cut the rest of the cloud away to reveal a drop into another room. Danni grabbed both of their packs and jumped down after Robin, dropping down into the new room. She looked around with curious eyes, trailing after her crewmate, who was talking to herself as she studied the new ruins. It still amazed her that Robin could read the ancient script.

Eventually they reached the end of a hall and Danni gasped loudly, eyes widening at the sight that met them. "Oh my," she breathed.

"...Disappeared for 800 years, the Great City Cyandia...," Robin murmured, sitting down at the edge of the hall. "After all this time, it's still so...magnificent..." Danni nodded in agreement, before she barely had time to react when a spike of sheer rage shot through her. Her eyes widened and she stumbled slightly, taken aback by the intensity.

She knew instinctively that it had come from Zoro, but she didn't know how she knew this.

Delivery

"What if we refuse?" Robin asked. Danni glanced at her and then at Enel. She had a bad feeling. Nami gave a shocked cry, whereas Enel gave the archaeologist an odd look.

"Refuse..?" he started, raising one eyebrow. "Why? I've already decided. If you stay here, you will fall into the abyss with this country!"

Robin shrugged and replied, "True...with your power, it's possible. However, if you destroy this country, that thing you want will also fall, won't it?" Danni's eyes widened. That wasn't going to work!

Enel gave her a cool look, "The gold bell?" He then threw his head back and laughed, making Danni wince and tense, edging closer to Robin. "Don't worry! Judging from your earlier adventures, I can only think of one place the bell could be..." Enel trailed off and Robin inhaled sharply, eyes wide. He chuckled, "Looks like you're thinking what I'm thinking..."

He shifted closer to Robin, who was staring at him with shocked eyes, "You seem surprised. Did you think you could trick me and find it yourself?" He glared and pointed a sparking finger at her, "How shallow." Robin froze; her face paling and Nami screamed her name. "I don't like shallow women." Danni reacted on instinct.

The lightning screamed through the air and the gunner barely managed to shove her crewmate out of the way before she was hit. Danni let out a shrill scream, her back arching as the electricity raced through her body and leaving burns behind. It vanished in a flare of light and her chest constricted painfully, her eyes rolling back in her head.

She fell to her knees, blood spilling past her lips and body spasming almost violently. Robin stared from her place on the floor behind Danni, her eyes wide and disbelieving, unable to move. Danni began to fall, but was caught by Zoro, whose face was dark with a feral intensity. "She's a woman," he snarled, glaring at Enel, who merely blinked back at him, looking mildly startled at the twist.

"Yes, I can see that," he responded idly, no remorse in his face, though there was some disappointment at not hitting his intended target.

Victory

Danni covered her mouth, hiding her smile and the blood spilling from her mouth. Tears were streaming down her face as the sound of the gold bell rang through the air. "What a wonderful song," she coughed weakly, voice lost underneath the others. "Luffy sure knows how to make a victory count."

She stumbled, making her way over to Zoro, and collapsing down next to him weakly. He glanced over at her, narrowing his eyes at the bloodstains around her mouth and down her chin, and no doubt staining her palms as well. He sighed and muttered, "Foolish woman."

She laughed weakly, resting her head on his shoulder, "Shut up, brat. Like you're any better." Zoro scoffed, but didn't retort. Danni sighed and closed her eyes wearily. She definitely over did it. The strange thing was she didn't feel any worse, as if she hadn't lost any more years.

Dramatic

Danni stared at her crew with wide eyes before she looked back at the oncoming crowd carrying something rather huge. "Luffy, wait-," she started when the captain turned to leave. He didn't hear her as the natives began yelling at them to wait as well. She face palmed as Usopp began to yell back at them dramatically about how they were looting. "I don't think-," she started again, but was once again ignored when Luffy cheered the sniper on.

Her eye twitched and (rather childishly, she'll admit) she stomped her foot and yelled, "I said WAIT!" The crew froze, turning to look at her with wide eyes at the uncharacteristic action. She glared at them, hands on her hip, and they suddenly felt like small children about to get scolded. "I don't think they're going to attack us! Robin's with them! We're not in any hurry, so cool your jets! Honestly!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper all nodded their heads weakly, while Nami, Sanji, and Zoro looked away uncomfortably, wondering why they felt guilty all of a sudden. She huffed at them, shaking her head in wry amusement.

Upon finding out that the natives were giving them an entire pillar of gold, all of the crew (especially Nami) was grateful for Danni stopping them from leaving. Although, it took said woman telling Luffy about all the meat he could buy to stop him from rejecting the gift (he was saying something about he wasn't a hero).

All I Ask

Danni sighed as she sat down on her bed, towel around her neck as she pulled her hair over her shoulder and began to comb through it. The door opened and she looked up in confusion. Nami closed the door behind her, biting her lip and looking unsure. "Nami?" Danni asked gently, gesturing for the younger girl to come over and sit next to her.

"Uhm," Nami started, playing with the blanket with her fingers. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it or anything, but since things have calmed down a bit I thought that maybe you'd like to, er, talk about it?"

Danni blinked at her in confusion, "What?"

Nami swallowed and looked up through her bangs at the older woman, before saying cautiously, "About your-your...the rape attempt." Danni went rigid and her eyes froze over, the comb stopping in the middle of its run through.

"I don't want to talk about it," Danni managed to get out through gritted teeth.

Nami flinched, before she steeled her nerves, and retorted, "But you'll have to talk about it eventually! You can't keep it bottled away and act as if it didn't happen! You can talk to me, Danni!" The fire died and the navigator whispered, "Please."

Danni looked at her, face unreadable and the younger girl fidgeted as the silence grew longer. Finally, the gunner's face softened and she sighed. "I...I'll try," she said slowly.

Nami brightened up in relief, "That's all I ask, Danni." There was a beat of silence and then she offered tentatively, "Do you want me to braid your hair for you?"

The older woman paused at the offer, biting her lip. She hadn't let anyone braid her hair since her mother passed away. Not even her older brother. It had felt wrong, somehow, to have someone that wasn't her mom play with her hair. She looked at Nami, who looked like she was about to take back the offer, and answered, "...Sure."

Fire

Danni frowned as she watched her captain get fired up, keeping her arms folded across her chest and her eyes on the Foxy pirates. She knew that Luffy was actually really pissed off, though he was keeping it mostly reigned in. "That is why we, the Foxy Pirates, will challenge the Straw-Hat Pirates to an official Davy Back Fight!" Foxy shouted, and Danni moved before Luffy could respond.

Her face never changing she lashed out her arm and slapped her hand over her captain's face, and pushed him back and down onto the ground. She gave the Foxy Pirates a polite smile, eyes closed as she said pleasantly, "Excuse me." The trio stared at her with wide eyes, shivers going down their backs, though they had no idea why.

"Danni!" Luffy whined, holding his nose as he sat up, pouting at her. She dropped down next to him in a crouch, face serious, making Luffy blink at her with wide eyes.

She pursed her lips and then sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's your decision since you're the captain, but Luffy I want you to listen to me," she started, locking eyes with her captain firmly. "The Davy Back Games is a way to win pirates, Luffy, which means if you lose, you can lose any one of your nakama." She then glared at him darkly and finished, "I only speak for myself, but I'm positive the other's will agree, but I will not accept anyone but you as my captain."

Luffy's eyes widened before his face stretched into a wide grin. "Let's do it, then, Danni!" he cheered. "With our nakama, we can't lose!"

xxx

FOXGEISHA: I'm not going to do the rest of the Davy Back Games, because Danni doesn't participate in them. She's the crew's "cheerleader," so to speak, and quite frankly I just don't want to write them, hahahaha. I'm lazy, sorry.

On a different note, you get to see more of Danni's role on the crew, which is (if you didn't guess) "Mom." Only on occasion though, she's not always mommy, as seen by the fact that she tends not to reign in Luffy most of the time.

Anyways, you get to see a little something of Danni's that doesn't come to light until quite some time, but is important to her character. This skill will appear fairly often as the story goes, and cheers to anyone who can guess what that skill is! I might do something if anyone can guess what it is.

Another note (because I'm not sure if it will pop up later or not), but Danni didn't get any years shaved off her life when she was on Sky Island. The blast she got hit with by Enel, if anything helped a little bit. She didn't gain any time, but she didn't get worse either, despite the fact that she over worked her body.

I think that's it for now, but once again, reviews are much appreciated and if you have any question just drop a word, and I'll try to answer! Next is an admiral and nakama bonding!

A few personal notes: I'm actually moving to another state next week, so I have no idea how often I'll be able to write. I have a class on top of that, but that one's not as time consuming.