"Kairo, my brother." I said carefully.
"Yeah, him." Sanji nodded then took a deep breath as he gestured to the flyer. "He had one of these things too."
"What?" I questioned loudly. "How do you know?"
"While he was emptying his pockets, he pulled one out. I didn't know what it was before but now I'm sure of it. It's the same thing."
I got up and started pacing around the room. Why would Kairo have one of these? Was he at the ball? Why didn't I see him? Did he see me? I smashed my fist into the palm on my other hand. "That's it!" I said loudly causing everyone around to jump.
"What?"
"That person at the ball! That seemed familiar! It must have been Kairo!" I said, and then my heart sank. I slipped into a chair staring at my hands. "Then why didn't he stop me… to talk to me…"
"Kenna, don't worry about it. We'll find your brother." Luffy said patting my arm. "Let's just celebrate the fact that we're together again."
"Right." I said and smiled falsely. Zoro disappeared from the room as Sanji set plates down in front of everyone. He came back, trailed by Robin with a barrel of some liquid in his arms.
"A toast," he said after delivering a glass full of golden liquid to everyone. "To finding our way back home again."
"Cheers!" everyone clinked their glasses together. This time I did smile genuinely as everyone else drank deeply from their mugs.
~ ? P.O.V. ~
"Damn it!" The prince shouted, kicking the ground beneath his feet. "That damn woman tricked me!"
"She didn't really trick you, your majesty. You just captured her for no real reason and then demanded she become your wife without really knowing who she was and that it was the same person." Said a guard to the princes left.
"Banish him." Cameron muttered and the guard was pushed into the ocean, his armor dragging him down. "And what am I going to do about all my frozen guards? And that rowdy army on the rough side of town?"
"Maybe I can be of assistance in both matters, your majesty." Said a voice to Cameron's right this time.
Everyone jumped back as a man that wasn't there a minute ago stood among their numbers. They all clambered to their swords but the man held up his hands, also opening his cloak at the same time.
"I have no weapons. I aim only to help." The man said. Most of his face was in shade but they could see the bottom half of it, showing a kind and yet at the same time sinister smirk.
"At ease." Cameron said, raising an arm to his guards. "How do you plan to help me?" he asked.
"Show me your guards and I will see what I can do for them."
"There is one right here, your majesty. The blue lady froze him while the green haired one pushed us into the water." Said a guard.
"Perfect." Cameron said and showed the strange man to his frozen guard. "If you cannot do anything for this man I will trouble you no longer."
The strange man in the dark cloak walked around the frozen guard before raising a hand. He appeared to be whispering a few words and then the guard jumped to life again. The whole crowd gasped in unison as the strange man bowed before the prince.
"That was… amazing! How did you do that?" Cameron gushed.
"A magician does not reveal his secrets." The man stood straight again. "Is that all, your majesty?"
"Uh, your majesty, we have all of those guards in the town square."
"May I trouble you some more, Sir…" Cameron left the sentence hanging there for the man to fill in his name.
"My name is of no importance to your majesty." The man bowed before nodding his head, silently asking them to lead the way.
Cameron shrugged before they all walked to the square. People started as the strange entourage crossed the town and all gathered as well in front of the frozen guards.
"Would you please…?" Cameron started but the man held up his hand again. The man pointed it at the guards and, this time without saying any words he unfroze them again. The guards all looked around confused, until they saw the prince.
"Your majesty!" the all said bowing.
"How can I ever repay you?" Cameron said, turning to the strange man who opened his mouth but they were all interrupted by the sound of hooves approaching.
"Your majesty!" shouted a new guard who jumped off his horse. "The blue lady froze a guard! Up by the castle!"
"Oh…" Cameron said, once again turning to look at the strange man but the strange man just looked back at him.
"Return to him, for he is unfrozen." He said and a bunch of guards started racing up the hill to see if what the man said was true.
"How can I ever repay you?" The prince said gratefully.
"Let me take that rowdy bunch in the town off your hands."
"Oh but then you would be doing me another favor." The prince said, dismayed.
"Trust me, you would be doing me a favor." He strange man said, bowing once again.
"If that is what you say." The prince trailed away as they both started to walk into town. "I shall gather them for you." The prince started to step forward when he was stopped.
"Not necessary." The stranger said, slightly loosing his pompous attitude. He walked forward and jumped on a decorative flower pot that was in the middle of the street so that he watched the fight from a high place. "Cease and desist!" he yelled, and the fight stopped.
"Who are you?" Some shouted, slurring the 'who'.
"Silence." The stranger shouted and he placed his hands flat pointing towards the crowd. The stranger closed his eyes and then light seemed to shine from his hands. The light scanned over the crowd which made them start of ruckus.
"Hey! What're you doing?" Another person shouted as the light went over him.
Finally, the light vanished and the stranger dropped his arms. He jumped down from the flower pot and started walking around. He was looking through the people and they all stared at him in wonder.
"Alright! All of you come with me. Now!" he shouted and started walking towards the docks. The rowdy crowd all stared at each other in shock before slowly starting to follow the stranger. They didn't know why they were doing so; it just felt like the right thing.
"Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you?" The prince called after him.
"Well yes, you can do something for me in fact." The stranger said, walking back towards the prince. He reached inside his black trench coat and pulled out a picture. "Have you seen this person?" he asked, pointing at the little girl in the picture who had shockingly blue hair.
"I… yes I have. She was just here, a couple hours ago. Well she looked older but it's the same person." The prince's eyes showed various emotions as he relived what had happened in the past few hours.
"Do you happen to know where she was going? Who she was with?"
"I didn't hear where she was going but she was with a man with teal hair," The stranger stiffened when the prince said that but the prince disregarded it. "And she was with a lady with orange hair." The prince sighed, before speaking again. "I had mistaken her for two people. One of them was evil; I put her in my dungeons, and the other was a darling and I tried to get her to marry me… but it was the same person… Anyways, that's besides the point…"
The prince had not noticed the person clenching their fists and instead looked at the stranger's face again. "Anything else?"
"Just one more question." The stranger reached inside his trench coat. He pulled out 6 crinkly, old brown papers and held them clearly so the prince could see each. They were wanted posters. "Do you recognize any of the people in the pictures?"
The prince looked at each picture in turn then scanned them again. "I do. I recognize this and this." He pointed at the girl with a bounty of 16,000,000 Berries and the man with the 120,000,000 Berries. "Those are the people the girl with blue hair was with. They sure do have high bounties."
"Thank you dear Prince." He said and started walking away.
"Wait! But who are you?" The prince called after him.
"No one." The stranger said, turning around to stare at the prince. There was a large gap between them but the stranger could still see the whites of Cameron's eyes.
"I will always remember you and what you have done for me!" The prince shouted.
"No you won't because… you forgot." The stranger said, and with that he snapped his fingers. The prince blinked and looked around as if he didn't know where he was.
"Guards! What are we doing here?" The Prince shouted, and started making his way back to the castle.
The stranger grinned under the folds of his hood and clambered onto the boat that the rowdy crowd, now calm, had commandeered for him. He walked until he was on the upper deck and stared down at all the workers he had procured so easily.
"Set sail for the North-West!" he said and everyone jumped to the task. "I will find her…"
~ Kenna P.O.V. ~
The last thing I remember was falling asleep. I remembered the party before that, the dancing on deck, the music and the drinking, but then I was in my room, in the dark, lying on my bed. Then, the next thing I knew someone was whispering in my ear.
"Kenna…Kenna… wake up Kenna…"
I opened my eyes and sat up quickly. When I looked around I saw… "Kairo?" I jumped out of the bed and moved to hug him.
"Kenna… you have to find me." He said as he pulled away.
"But… I don't understand… you're right here." I placed a palm against his chest.
"No," he shook his head. "You don't understand. You have to find me." He said
"Where are you?" I asked, looking up at him.
He smiled then pressed his fingers to his lips. He kissed them before pressing them to my lips. "Find me." He said simply before fading away.
"Kairo!" I said loudly, reaching out to his disappearing form.
"Kenna!" came Luffy's voice from above me and I opened my eyes. I saw that I was on the ground with tears pooling in my eyes.
"Are you alright?" he said, reaching his hand down. I took it and he pulled me up. I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Oh Lu…" I started crying and I just couldn't stop.
The next time I woke up, sunlight was shining in through the small window in my room and I heard a voice in the hallway.
"Is she okay?" It sounded a lot like Sanji's voice. "Well then what's wrong with her?" The person he was talking to must have shaken their head.
"She's really shaken up. I don't know what happened but when I went to check up on her, she was on the ground and she was crying out her brother's name. I just think she needs to be distracted. She's really hung over him." The second voice sounded like Luffy.
"Alright well can you give her this? I don't think she's eaten at all yesterday." Sanji said before footsteps moved away from my door.
I sat up in the bed, my heart sinking at the fact that it had not been a horrible dream when I had seen my brother and then woken up to find out he wasn't at all here. Or perhaps that part had been a dream. A terrible, terrible dream.
"Kenna?" Luffy said as he opened the door, a tray in his arms.
"Food!" I cheered as my stomach growled ferociously. He gave me the tray and I immediately dug in. I was faintly aware that he was talking to me but I was too hungry to care. "You say something?" I asked him through a mouth full of food and he sighed.
"I said we're stopping at another shopping island and Nami is going to help you find some new clothes."
"Oh, that isn't necessary." I stuttered, putting down the utensils in my hands. "I don't want you guys to waste any more money on me."
"You can't keep going around only wearing my shirts." He said, lightly plucking at my new garb. "Someone somewhere is going to jump you." He laughed.
"Are you warning me of your future behavior?" I teased and he blushed.
"No, I was just saying…" he spluttered, waving his hands around as if he was trying to communicate with them.
"I get what you're saying." I giggled lightly before tucking back into my food.
"I'll leave you to your food then." Luffy said, standing up and leaving me alone again.
I took one more bite before finding the food no longer appetizing. I placed it down on the bed beside me and stood up. I turned around and looked at the small port hole to stare at the ocean. It must have been around noon judging by the way the light shone through the water. I watched as some small fish swam quickly past the window. There wasn't much of a view in this room because the room I was in was currently submerged under water but I still felt a lot better staring as the water rushed past the boat. Suddenly, I heard the door open behind me and I spun around. It was just Nami.
"Hey, Kenna. Ready to go?" she asked me.
"We're already here?" I asked, having not felt the boat stop.
"No but we need to get ready and you sure as hell aren't going like that." She pointed at the shirt I was wearing that barely covered me.
"Oh right." I said, plucking at a random piece of imaginary black string on the shirt.
"Follow me." She said and started to walk out of the room. I followed her without question and she led me to the girl's room. I noticed there had been three single beds set up in there and blushed a bit at the fact that they had cared enough to set up a spot for me. When I finally got out of the infirmary, that is. The beds were set up all perpendicular to the door.
"Sit." She said simply, pointing towards the middle bed. I complied wordlessly and Nami went to a trunk at the bottom of the left bed. She sometimes pulled some clothes out but either shook her head, stuffing them back in the trunk or threw them on the bed for later consideration. "We're both skinny so that's no problem but you're rather short and everything I have is going to be too long on you…" she muttered under her breath.
Finally, she passed me a white sundress that had magenta flowers on it. "Try that on." She turned around to stare at the door to give me some privacy I quickly switched the shirt for the dress and stood up to let it fall properly against my body.
"Done." I said and Nami turned around.
"Hm… what would you prefer? This or That?" she pointed at an outfit on the bed which consisted of skinny black quarter pants that looked like leggings and a blue v-neck with black stripes.
"It's an obvious choice." I said.
"White dress, it is!" Nami said and was about to put the other clothes away when I spoke.
"No! Those! Please?" I said; ready to change out of the horrid white dress.
Nami laughed and turned around again. I quickly took off the dress and put on the clothes on the bed. The quarter pants ended up being like pants on me but the v-neck fit alright.
"Done." I said and Nami turned around. She nodded at me as if in approval before speaking.
"That looks much better. The dress clashed with your hair too much."
"And I don't usually wear dresses…" I trailed off.
Then, Nami and I walked on deck. I noticed that there was an island rapidly approaching. It was so close that I could see individual people on it and I could almost see the brand names on the shopping bags. I heard the others walk up behind us as we docked on the island.
"Alright, here's 50,000,000 Berries. I hope it will be enough money." She said.
"Wait, why are you giving it to me?" I said, and instantly something clicked. "You're not coming with me are you?"
"I am going ashore but I think you should go explore on your own so you won't feel pressured into getting some things; things for example that you don't like."
"Oh… Alright…" I trailed off, looking down.
"Don't be nervous, Kenna. Just look for things that you like and make sure you have enough money to get them." She said, patting my shoulder lightly.
The boat stopped and we rocked side to side for a second. It knocked lightly against the dock every time it rocked to the right.
"Alright," Nami shouted so that everyone on the boat, and neighboring boats, would probably hear her. "Anyone that's going ashore, get off the boat! Anyone else, stay here and watch the boat!"
Sanji and Luffy immediately jumped off the boat and onto the dock. They were both talking about something that I couldn't hear as they started to walk away. Nami lowered a ladder off the boat and climbed down. I climbed down after her and waved goodbye to the people still left on the Going Merry; Chopper, Usopp, Robin, and Zoro. Nami and I started walking down the dock, towards the island.
"So what are you going to do?" I said as we reached the island and stopped.
"I'm probably going to get more paper and new pens and try to draw the islands we've been to so far." She said, her eyes shining uncharacteristically. "Happy shopping, Kenna!" she said before prancing away.
I was about to stop her but I let her go instead. I couldn't keep relying on other people to support me even for something so minute. I walked into the first store I saw. It had a colorful sign outside and the mannequins outside had on beautiful clothes. I walked in the store trying to be as quiet as possible, but there was a bell above the door and it rang as I opened the door. A saleswoman walked towards me and greeted me.
"Is there anything specific you're looking for, dear?" she asked in a kind tone that was only used when she wanted to sell something.
"Not really…" I trailed off and started walking away. To my dismay, she followed and started chatting on about discounts and sales currently happening in the store. I didn't really hear her, just walked up to a rack of sweaters and started looking through them.
"This is the men's section, dear." The saleswoman said in what seemed like a pitying tone.
"I know that." I said. I didn't mean to snap at her but it just ended up that way. I heard her sniff and then walk away.
I looked around when I was sure she wouldn't be too close and I saw her behind the cashier's desk. She was talking to another salesperson and pointing in my direction. I shielded my face from their view and quickly walked out of the store. As soon as I was a couple feet away from the store I sighed, letting my body droop forward. If the whole day was going to be like this, I might as well just quit. I looked at the store to my right, seeing myself in the refection but wearing someone else's clothes. I couldn't keep doing that, borrowing things from the StrawHats. I couldn't keep using them even thought they said they didn't mind and that I wasn't using them. Gathering up all the courage in me, I walked into the next store I saw with the resolution to not leave until I had bought at least one thing.
5 hours later, I walked back down the street with about 10 bags in my arms. While I had been shopping, I was looking out for Sanji, Luffy or Nami but I didn't see any of them. Nami had told her to meet her back at the Going Merry after I had finished and I think I was about done even though I still had a bunch of her money left. I wasn't looking where I was going and, of course, I bumped into someone and we both fell to the ground.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" They said. It was a male voice but I didn't look at them because I was trying to pick up my scattered bags.
"It's alright. I should have been looking where I was going." I said as we both reached for the same bag. I followed their hand with my eyes, up their arm and up towards their face and my mouth fell open. Tears started to crowd the corners of my eyes as I saw exactly who I had bumped into. "K…Kairo?"
"Kenna?" He responded looking equally shocked.
"Kairo!" I shouted before diving at him in a hug.
"Oh, my gosh. Kenna is this really you?" he said as he tightened his grip on me as if he never wanted to let go again.
"Brother…" I buried my face in his shoulder as the tears finally started to pour.
"I've finally found you." He said as he kissed my cheek, right next to my ear.
"Kenna?" said a voice to my right.
I pulled away from the embrace slowly, wiping my tears away at the same time, before looking. I saw Luffy standing there with Sanji.
"Oh, you're that guy from the town, right? That I gave the picture to?" Kairo said pointing at Sanji.
"Yeah, and you're Kenna's brother, right?" Sanji asked.
Kairo helped me up and nodded. "Are you the people that have been taking care of Kenna in my absence?"
"Yeah. I'm Luffy." Luffy said holding out his hand.
"Luffy? As in Little Luffy?" Kairo looked at me, grinning widely, while shaking Luffy's hand.
"Little Luffy?" Luffy looked at me, his brow furrowed.
"Kenna used to talk about you every night." Kairo laughed and moved forward to ruffle Luffy's hair. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Kairo," I pulled him back by his arm, hiding my face behind my bangs. "Stop… you're embarrassing me."
"Isn't that the job of a big brother?" he said pulling me in a hug. I smiled into his chest and gripped him tighter, never wanted to let him go again.
"Well this is fantastic! Wait until we tell the others." Sanji smiled. I pulled away from Kairo and smiled at Sanji, my eyes crinkling closed as my smile took over most of my face. If my eyes had been open, I would have seen Kairo and Luffy smiling as well but silently sizing each other up at the same time. Luffy had his arms crossed while Kairo still had one arm wrapped around me which he used to pull me closer to him.
"Alright," Luffy said, "Let's go back to the ship and introduce you to everyone else."
Kairo laced his hand with mine after relieving me of some of my bags. Luffy took the rest of my bags and walked along side me leaving me with nothing to hold by Kairo's hand. No one really spoke on the way back to the boat and when we finally made it we saw Nami waiting for us in front of it. At first, I thought there was trouble but then I saw the grin on her face.
She ran up to us as we approached the boat. "Guys! I heard there was a hot springs spa on this island!"
"What really?" Sanji asked as we all climbed back onto the boat.
"Yeah! Wait, who's this?" Nami said pointing at Kairo.
"That's my brother, Kairo." I said, slightly raising our connected hands.
"Oh, so you finally found him? That's great, Kenna!" she then turned to Kairo and held out her hand. "I'm Nami, the Navigator." She smiled and Kairo shook her hand, smiling politely back at her.
"So what were you saying about these hot springs?" I asked.
"Oh, maybe we can go later. We should celebrate first and introduce Kairo to the others." Nami said and went below deck to get the others before anyone could say anything.
"You never told me what your jobs were." Kairo said, turning to look back at Sanji and Luffy.
"Oh, I'm the ship's chef." Sanji said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
"And you, Little Luffy?" Kairo mocked with a grin on his face.
Luffy seemed to mumble something, using his hat to cover his probably embarrassed face.
"What was that? I don't think anyone heard that."
Luffy seemed to start mumbling something before he moved the hat away and spoke clearly, a light blush still dotting his face. "I'm the… I'm the captain." He finally blurted out.
"What? What are you serious?" His gaze fell on me as if to check whether or not Luffy was lying. "Wow that's just… wow…" Kairo's gaze flickered from me to Luffy and back to me.
I didn't know why he was embarrassed but I certainly felt heat come to my face as Kairo spoke again, looking at Luffy again. "That's… that's great, Luffy! Wow, that's a bit unexpected from you but yeah wow." He finally got out.
Before Luffy could respond, and more awkward conversation ensue, Nami came back on deck, followed by Robin; who looked a lot less pale, Zoro; who had his 3 swords back on his belt; in his comfort zone, Usopp and Chopper.
"Kairo, this is-" She was cut off by Kairo who had taken a large step forward, forcing me to also walk forward.
"Roronoa Zoro? You are Roronoa Zoro? You have Roronoa Zoro in your crew?" He looked back at Luffy but I couldn't see his expression. "I am jealous!"
"You know me?" Zoro looked at him with wide eyes. They flickered to me but I simply shrugged, not knowing what to say.
"Everyone knows you! You're Zoro the Pirate Hunter, or well you used to be…" he trailed off, looking at all the pirates on the boat.
"Yeah, that was my past title." Zoro said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm the First Mate, by the way." Zoro said.
"Oh, that's great." Kairo said.
"Alright," Nami said, clapping her hands together. "So since we got that one done, I'll introduce you to the others. This is-" she was about to introduce Robin when Kairo cut her off again.
"Nico Robin? The Hana Hana Fruit? You have The Child of Demons in your crew?" He had turned around to stare at Luffy but when he asked the last question he turned back towards Robin and looked at her. "I guess you don't like to be called that…" he trailed off, looking apologetic.
"Not particularly…" Robin muttered, rubbing her left arm, looking slightly awkward.
"I apologize." He said, bowing to her. "I almost forgot, what's your role in this crew?"
"I'm the Archeologist." Robin said, before producing a book and started reading it.
"And you two are?" Kairo said, looking at Usopp and Chopper.
"You don't know them?" Nami asked, shocked that those were the only two people he wasn't familiar with.
"Not really…" Kairo said, his face showing his apologetic nature. Usopp faked crying and pretended to brood in a corner but Nami smacked his head and he became serious again.
"Well, this is Usopp, he's the Sharp Shooter," Usopp nodded at Kairo and Kairo returned the nod. "And this is Chopper, he's the Doctor." Chopper waved and Kairo smiled back at him.
"Alright, that's everyone." I said, detaching myself from Kairo and collecting my bags again.
"I'll start making a feast everyone." Sanji said and walked towards the kitchen.
"Oh, allow me to help you." Kairo said, following him.
"You can cook?" Nami asked him as he walked.
"I can learn." He said, and disappeared after Sanji into the kitchen.
"I'm going to lay the anchor here." Luffy said and walked away.
I watched as Usopp looked around awkwardly before climbing up towards the crows nest. Chopper seemed to disappear down towards the anchor room as well and I looked at Nami since Robin had gone to the upper deck to continue reading in peace. Zoro disappeared down and I guessed he was going to go to the men's room to relax.
"Come on and show me what you got." Nami said and started leading me back towards the girls' room.
I showed her all of the clothes that I got, laying them out on the bed, and giving her all the change I had left.
"Well for your first time this is pretty good." Nami said, looking at everything I had got.
I had bought a couple dresses, five complete outfits that consisted of pants and a loose shirt, three pairs of shoes, a few hats and hair ties, 2 sets of pajama's, and four sweaters; two of which were way too big for me but that's why I got them. I got a red one for Luffy and a green one for Zoro. I also got Chopper: a bag of candy, Robin; a new book about constellations, Sanji; a cook book, and Nami; a new dress.
"This is for you." I passed her the dress, smiling lightly.
"What? You got something for me? But I thought you were only buying for yourself." She said.
"I couldn't not get something for everyone." I gathered the things I had for everyone into one bag and put everything else in another bag. "Which bed is mine?" I asked her, gesturing to the middle and right beds.
"You're moving out of the infirmary?" she asked.
"I've got kind of used to it but I'm moving out just incase someone else needs it."
"It's okay you can stay in there and if someone gets hurt then we'll deal with it when it happens."
"Really? Are you sure it's okay?" I asked, trying to keep my elation hidden but failing miserably. Nami made a noise of approval and I inwardly cheered. "Alright." I smiled and took my bags to the infirmary. I dropped the bag off and then I heard Sanji call everyone from the kitchen with a shout of 'Food's ready!'
I heard a pair of fast footsteps run past the door; I guessed it was Luffy, and then a series of repetitive footsteps walk past the door; everyone else that wasn't already in the kitchen. I opened the door to the infirmary and walked out, seeing Zoro disappear into the kitchen. I walked until I made it to the door and saw everyone sitting around the table. Sanji was setting food up on the table and Luffy was literally making a river of drool in front of him. Kairo was staring at him with wide eyes and Nami rushed to explain.
"He gets excited about food…" she trailed off in an exasperated tone.
"Where am I supposed to sit?" I said, noticing there was only once seat left; evidently for Sanji.
Everyone looked at each other, then tried to squish together to make room for me; which failed miserably until finally, Kairo turned to my and pat his lap. I pouted at him and crossed my arms.
"Hey, you asked, I answered." He shrugged.
I sighed and sat down on his leg, still pouting. He poked my side; the only place where I am incredibly ticklish, and I jumped, my knees hitting the bottom of the table. I twisted my upper half and glared at him. He laughed and I could feel the rumble more than I could hear it. I turned back around, making sure to whip his face with my hair. I could hear him spluttering and spitting out hair and it gave me an odd sense of satisfaction. I still pulled two plates in front of me however and started loading them with food, Kairo sometimes asking me to put more or less depending on which foods I was putting on the plates. His hands wrapped themselves around my waist as I gave them his plate.
"This is going to be unnecessarily complicated." I leaned right so I could look at Kairo's face clearly.
"Alright," I huffed after he didn't say anything but only stared at me. "I'm going to eat on deck." I grabbed my plate and stood up. Everyone started making sound of protest but I only caught Nami's and Kairo's arguments.
"What? But it's cold up there!" She said while Kairo spoke, "You're going to be alone?"
"Nope," I smirked and grabbed his plate as well. "You're coming with me."
"Wha- but that's not fair!" he said, following me like a puppy as I walked to the upper deck.
"Hmm!" I stuck out my tongue at him as I placed the plates on the floor. I leaned against the wall, staring up at the dark, almost pitch black, night sky, dotted with little white stars and started eating again.
"So…" Kairo said after a few seconds of just eating.
"So?" I mocked him, turning my head so he could see my big grin.
"What's been going on? How've you been? What happened? Fill in the blanks for me."
"Can we not talk about the past too much…?" I said, looking down at my plate so that my hair blocked my face from his view.
"I mean with Luffy and his crew. I didn't want you as far back as that day." Kairo said, his voice becoming soft and quiet.
"Oh…" I said, trying to compose myself. "Well, the StrawHats have been great. Amazing! They're really kind and everything. And all I've been is troublesome to them…" I looked down as I finished that sentence.
"Well, I'm sure if they didn't want to deal with you they wouldn't have saved you." Kairo said.
I sat there, digesting his sentence when I realized what he had said. "What?" I said, looking at him with wide eyes.
He seemed to sit there, finally getting what he had said and his eyes widened as well. "What?" he said, staring back at me.
"You just said… but how would you know?"
"I guessed! I mean I just-" Kairo spluttering was interrupted when the door to the lower decks opened and everyone walked out. Nami and Robin were holding two plates each due to the fact that Zoro and Sanji were carrying trays that had mugs filled with amber liquid for everyone. Usopp was trying to keep his plate away from Luffy who had evidently finished the rest of the food, including his, in the kitchen.
"Hey, guys!" Sanji said, joining us outside.
"God, it's chilly out here!" Nami said, rubbing her arms. I hadn't noticed the chill before but as she mentioned it the air seemed to drop by 10 degrees.
"Here, everyone take one. It'll warm you up." Zoro said, passing around the cups.
"What is this?" I asked as almost everyone took a large sip.
"Brandy?" Kairo said, after he had taken a drink. "You're giving my little sister Brandy?"
I smacked his arm in a reproachful way. It wasn't like I didn't have some recently when the StrawHats and I finally found each other again after being separated. But, Kairo didn't need to know that.
He looked down at me with warm eyes and a cheerful smile. "I'm just teasing them. Don't worry." He said, looking back at everyone else. They all laughed in a relieved tone and I scowled at him.
"So, Kairo, what are you good at?" Usopp asked as while we all finished eating at different intervals.
"Uh…" he trailed off. He looked at me with furrowed brows and I could read his eyes like a book. I turned back to the StrawHats and answer the question for him.
"He helped with construction on our home island, so I guess you could say he was good at lifting heavy things?" I said, looking at each person in turn.
"Like you." He leaned closer to me so he could nudge me with his arm.
I scoffed and glared at him. "Are you calling me fat?"
"If the shoe fits…" he trailed off and my mouth fell open in shock. My eyes widened so much that I knew it seemed to take up half my face. I turned back to my plate and, picking it up, flung it at Kairo's face.
He dodged it and the plate when soaring off the boat. I covered my mouth and looked back at the others who now had an expression of shock marring their faces. Kairo looked at me, his face falling into a glare and I felt unease settle in me. Before I knew what had happened, food was flying at me and I just only had time to dive forward and avoid it. I heard it make contact with someone that had been sitting on my left and I looked.
I saw Zoro wiping what looked like mashed potatoes off his face slowly. He had an eerily calm look on his face and it scared everyone as they started to back away.
"Who did that?" he said, his voice straining to be calm.
I pointed behind me at Kairo and Kairo's arm hit mine. I looked around and saw his arm pointed back at me, trying to get Zoro to think it was me that had thrown the food at him. I turned to look back at Zoro who sent an apathetic look over my head, possibly directed towards Kairo. Zoro then turned back to his plate and scooped up some gravy with his spoon and flung it at Kairo. I managed to duck in time again and I heard the food hit Kairo's face. I slowly sat on my haunches and looked at him. His right hand wiped the gravy harshly off his cheek and it splattered all over Usopp's head and onto his plate.
"What the-?" Usopp jumped up as well as I slowly crawled out from between the triangle of angry guys, past Chopper who was trying to keep Luffy away from his food.
"Hey, Moss-Head! Stop wasting my food!" Sanji called from his spot in between Nami and Robin.
"It's not my fault! He started it!" Zoro pointed at Kairo.
"I didn't start it! She did!" Kairo pointed at me and I stopped trying to escape to the lower decks.
"You called me fat!" I shouted at him, crossing my arms.
"You didn't have to throw a plate at me!" He took a step forward, towards me.
"Sorry, you're right. I should have just pounded you into the deck." I scowled, glaring at him.
Kairo opened his mouth to say something but Luffy took that exact moment to dive forward onto Nami, Sanji, and Robin's plates with a cry of, "FOOD!"
He landed on it and food splattered everyone and everywhere. Everyone was looking down at him in shock and anger while he rolled in the food with an expression of ecstasy.
"Luffy!" Everyone cried in unison.
He stopped rolling, ending up on his back, and looked up. "What?" That made me burst out laughing. Placing a hand on the wall to make sure I didn't fall, I laughed so hard my stomach started clenching. When I finally calmed down, I looked up and saw everyone glaring at me, with bits of food all over them. The people that weren't standing stood up and I immediately took a step back.
"Whoa guys, what are you doing?" I said in a wary voice.
"I think someone needs a hug." Kairo said. They all had haunting, scary looks on their faces as I backed up.
"Now, c-c-come on guys. I-I-I didn't get you a-a-all dirty." I stuttered. They either didn't hear what I had said or just ignored it because they loomed closer until all I could see was dark shadows over me. Then, before I knew what was happening, I was being squished between so many people that I thought I would turn to putty. They finally let me go and I landed back on the deck. I looked up at their grinning and conniving expressions.
"You… are all… evil people…" I said in a low dangerous voice. I stood up again and started walking towards the door that led to the lower decks, my arms wrapped tightly around me.
"Kenna?" Sanji asked as I brushed past all of them. "Come on, we're sorry! We were just playing around."
"And I'm just freezing so I'm going back inside." I said, turning around so they could see the white puff of smoke coming out of my mouth at every word.
I had kept walking when suddenly, Luffy ran past me, looking almost blue. Usopp followed him with an icicle actually hanging from his nose. The rest of us walked in briskly but calmly. Then, when we were back in the kitchen we were faced with the same dilemma. Everyone quickly snagged a seat and somehow Luffy ended up on the ground. He pouted and crossed his arms over his small pot belly he had recently acquired from eating a ton of food.
"Someone is going to have to clean up that mess outside tomorrow…" Robin, the voice of reason, chimed in, as she picked food out of her hair and off her clothes. Everyone sighed and that made me realize something.
"Aw… I forgot my drink outside…" I said, wishing I had it to warm my insides up.
"Oh, this is yours, Kenna?" Chopper said, pushing a second glass across the table to me. "I saw it on the deck but no one seemed to be drinking it and everyone already had one so…" he trailed off.
"Thanks Chopper." I said, smiling at him. I grabbed the mug with both hands cupped around it, hoping that, like hot chocolate, it would heat me up but I was sadly let down. I still took a sip however and smiled at the fact that it did warm me up. I quickly drank the rest of it and it seemed that everyone was doing the same thing because no one was speaking. Suddenly, there was a loud sound coming from the other side of the table and everyone jumped.
"You," Sanji said, glaring at Zoro who had burped. "Are disgusting."
"Nobody minds," Zoro said, looking around the table.
Then, there was another burp, louder in sound but much shorter than Zoro's. Everyone looked at Usopp who tried to grin in a triumphant way but instead looked sheepish and embarrassed.
"I swear if someone burps again, I will beat all of you." Nami said, after taking a gulp of her drink.
All of a sudden, as if taunting what Nami had said, Luffy let loose the loudest and longest burp out of everyone in the room that had tried. Everyone turned to stare at him in shock before I started laughing. Nami growled in anger and threw her mug at him. It bounced off his head but he didn't seem to notice. Zoro held up his hands in a sort of mock defeat and said, "Alright, you win."
I kept laughing as I slipped from my seat and fell onto my left hip beside Luffy. There was a spike of pain but I barely felt it beyond my chuckles. Everyone started laughing at and with me and that just fueled my laughter more. It was at least 1 solid minute before anyone got control of themselves again.
"Alright, I think you're more than a little intoxicated." Kairo said, helping me up off the ground. I giggled a couple times more before gaining control of myself again.
"No, no, no, I'm alright." I said, waving him away. I tried to stand up on my own but felt myself tip again. "Scratch that," I leaned against him, trying to keep my balance.
"I'm going to take her to go sleep this off." Kairo pointed at me before pushing me out of the room. I was going to argue but suddenly felt too tired to do so. We walked down the hall before Kairo spoke again. "Wait, I don't know where you sleep…"
I giggled, pulling away from the hands he had on my shoulders and danced down the hall, stopping at the infirmary, my new room, and swinging inside. I heard Kairo walk quickly to make sure that I wasn't turning down another hall and running away from him. I was sitting on the edge of the bed when he came around the corner and he slowed his jogging to a slow walk.
"Sleep, now." He said, pointing at the bed, closing the door behind him.
I lay down, keeping my eyes on him the whole time, and scooted back so that there was enough room for him as well. I patted the free space with my hand and he sighed then lay down in front of me. I smiled and closed my eyes. I felt him move closer and pull me to him. I molded against his side and felt completely and utterly calm for the first time in a long time.
~ Crew P.O.V ~
"I like him." Nami said as Kenna and Kairo disappeared out of the kitchen.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. He's a nice guy, a caring older brother." Sanji said, suddenly smoking a cigarette. "And a good helper in the kitchen."
"He's a bastard and I hate him." Chopper said and everyone looked at him in shock but then they realized he was trying to hide the fact that he liked Kairo just as much as the others did.
Everyone made sounds of agreement with what the others had said and the kitchen once again fell into silence with people just drinking now that the subject of their celebration had left.
"Hello, what's this?" Robin said, picking up a paper that had been lying in the place where Kairo and Kenna had been sitting. He unfolded it and placed it on the table so everyone could see. It turned out to be a wanted poster but not just any wanted poster but a wanted poster with the culprit having a 100,000,000 Berries Bounty.
"Luffy… you have a 100,000,000 Berry bounty?" Usopp asked, picking up the paper and looking at it.
"I guess so… but how did this get in here?" Luffy said.
"No one brought it in?" Nami asked, plucking it from Usopp's hands and placing it back on the table. Everyone shook their heads 'no' and Zoro spoke up.
"Did Kenna bring it? To show you?"
"No dice, the clothes she has don't have pockets." Nami said. "And she emptied the bag from before so there was no way she could have it."
"Then… Kairo?" Zoro asked, looking around at everyone.
"But… why does he have my wanted poster?" Luffy said, looking at the rest of his crew. None of them had an answer for him.
A.N.: PrincessKayleeJ does not endorse the overuse of alcohol or magical powers on muggles. Hope y'all are happy! I started this chapter as soon as NaNo was over and only got it out now… shows how focused I am… it's probably all those projects I ignored during NaNo… PLEASE REVIEW! And tell me if I made any mistakes… I was rushing to get this out…