A/N: Well, so far I've been quite disappointed with the progress of the story, I'm not sure if it's because the time of year or anything, but I might bring this to a standard until things settle up.

I really need opinions, I can't stop thinking that this whole pairing thing is probably having a negative impact on the story, I'm not quite sure. I know it's odd and all, but if you take a better look at the hundreds of thousands of One Piece e on folks, ain't THAT odd. It's always nice to try different things, and this is rather unique. Especially regarding a Straw Hat member that is so underrated.

I'm not saying you all should like of it, but give a chance for things to work out and PLEASE voice(write) down your opinions about it, being negative or positive. I need to know what I'm doing wrong(aside terrible grammar)

To the reviews!

Blue VanLock;

You're welcome! Yeah, but it would be kinda impossible for she to be unaware of things at Dressrosa. She does have to now, and that changes...everything? :P

CyberCrasher;

Thanks for logging in! And well...Breed deserved what he got. Monet was just being playful with Chopper, but hey who knows...

Charlie...B...BARKIN!;

CHARLES!I'm sooooo happy to see you again bro! Where have you been?!I haven't see you in ages! But, wow! Look at you, being quite a reviewer that I totally did not expect, thank you for that. No, I did NOT forgot about Forgotten H...oh, I see, dammit! You got me good there...

You damn mutt, I would send you a PM but you probably would take forever to respond unless I update one of my fics. I known you very well. See you again soon Charles, try to stick to your inbox a bit longer this time.

Guest;

Okay, as you wish! Just keep in mind few updates take longer than others, I'm working on other stories after all.

As the first lights of the morning came up revealing the foggy shore of Dressrosa at distance the crew was already fully awakened.

The atmosphere was incredibly tense, each member reminding themselves of the great dangers laying ahead just by few miles, how much of a risk they have gotten themselves into, even if they decided to go into it without hesitation.

Few of them were gathered at the kitchen room, having already settle their objectives they found themselves without the need of gathering to plan anything. Each one went on spending the last peaceful moments the best way they could.

"Okay, so let's recap this," Nami said breaking the silence that paired over everyone at the kitchen. "Chopper and Monet will go after Sugar. Luffy, Law, Zoro, Sanji and Franky will go to the factory. Robin, Usopp, Me and Brook will keep Caesar at the ship while navigating near the shore. We'll make our way to the meeting area where we'll deply Caesar."

"That's pretty much it," Usopp said while adjusting his equipment. He was bringing everything he could in his pack, aware of how much this new mission would require their best. "I just wonder if we should wait for Chopper and Monet to disable Sugar first before we act."

This suggestion brought up by the marksman made everyone think a bit more.

"It's not a bad idea, but what if something goes wrong with them? Should we split up and have someone go for their assist?" Nami pondered.

"Perhaps Sanji, but only if really necessary. We'll be helping Kin'emon to find his friend, Luffy promised after all," Usopp responded.

"We're right here, you two could talk about it with us," Chopper said gritting his teeth while looking at them. Both the reindeer and harpy were at the kitchen waiting along few other crew members.

Chopper was still visibly upset due last night, he didn't judge them for keeping him out of the reunion. Perhaps it had been better this way, but the conversation he had with Sanji brought him to an edge he simply didn't know how to avoid.

Monet's been very interested on knowing what was bothering Chopper so much, still she's been kind enough since she spared the reindeer of questions he simply couldn't respond.

Everyone eyed the reindeer, they could easily sense the hostility coming out of him, Nami sighed before making her way towards him.

"Chopper, I know that Sanji talked with you yesterday," At this she paused while staring daggers towards the cook. Sanji visibly winced a bit. "But rest assured that we are counting with you. I'm sure that you and Monet will be fine, just make sure to look out for each other constantly."

This lightened up Chopper's spirit slightly, he shook his head as a sign that he would carry her advice. Monet chuckled while observing both of them, she was also confident about her skills and the reindeer's capacity. Monet couldn't help but think how much she would hate herself if anything bad happened with Chopper, she never felt this weight of having responsibility over someone's life aside Sugar.

"He'll be fine, don't worry Nami," Monet reassured the orange-haired girl while standing up and coming near both. Nami was taken aback by the fact Monet called the navigator by her name for the first time.

"I sure hope so, or you two will hear a lot from me if it goes any different!" She replied in a way rather threatening but humorously at the same time.

Chopper laughed nervously at her threat, feeling quite amused yet anxious for what they were about to face.

Morning's breakfast went slower than usual, most crew members and guests being more concern about making personal preparations for their venture into dangerous territory.

Monet made her way outside so she could get some fresh air. She could sense her nakama's anxiety through the ship, yet it wasn't bigger than her own personal fear of coming back to Dressrosa in the position of Straw Hat Pirate.

Exploring the inside of her ship has been her main entertainment for the last hours, once learning every single aspect of it she contempted herself on sitting at the extreme side of the stern, staring into the emptiness of the ocean, avoiding making eye contact with the mass of land that was approaching slowly.

Monet knows where Sugar is, but facing Trebol might be quite dangerous knowing about what her guardian was capable of. Little chance she had on passing through the installations as a member of the family, by now Joker must've declared her dead to the rest of the crew.

Still, there was a possibility of him not having warned Trebol due the fact he's constantly guarding Sugar, and it's not like Joker would tell Sugar that her old sister died. That could be problematic.

The harpy wished she could just sneak in and fly away with her sister and stay the far away as possible from Doflamingo, but knowing the warlord he probably would chase them forever. Their only chance of freedom was laying on the hands of the mugiwaras.

Ironically she just became one of them, perhaps it was time for her to make that chance happen.

"Worried about your sister?" A smooth voiced asked from not too far away. Monet recognized it instantly.

"Yes, even more since it's been a very long time since I last saw her. Sugar simply doesn't have any idea of how much I changed."

"Yes, time does that with people, and people change other people with time," Robin said somewhat mysteriously. Monet sighed.

"Unfortunately I cannot change time, just follow through as it goes by. Can I ask you something?" The harpy said turning around to stare directly at the archeologist. Robin nodded. "Why Luffy made an alliance with Law? What does he can possibly gain with this? It's simply not worthy to die because of that selfish jerk."

"Perhaps you're right," Robin said in agreement. "Even so, what about the people of Dressrosa? It's not worthy to die for them? For all these children, mothers and fathers?"

The harpy's gaze softened at the mention of such, Robin did have a point after all. This is what a Straw Hat would do, despite having people like Law going into a personal revenge and using them as support.

"All for a noble cause I suppose?" Monet retorted expectantly. She wondered if the Straw Hat's did this on the solely purpose of helping or it's just a thing that came along the way.

"Wouldn't you call it the same?" Robin asked. Monet frowned in confusion. "The effort you're willing to put for your sister?"

Touche.

"Admittedly….yes. Pretty much that's what it is, aside personal obligation," The harpy huffed angrily with herself.

"Still you do it because you love your sister, that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Monet stared hard into Robin's eyes, she thought for a second that the archaeologist had dropped a hint. Perhaps she did.

"Are you saying that I'm afraid of loving someone?" The harpy asked with evident suspicious. Robin chuckled at the harpy's perceptiveness.

"Perhaps you are, but then you do love them, as long you don't have to admit it to anyone else. Speaking of loving….what do you feel about Chopper?"

Monet witnessed many strange and bizarre things in this world, she being one herself. If in the past, whatever occasion it could've been, someone would ask her about her feelings towards a half-human half-reindeer living being that was eight years younger than her, she probably would've laughed her lungs out of her chest or rather killed that person for daring asking such ridiculousness.

But here she was, a member of the Straw Hats, being questioned about one of her nakama about her feelings towards the doctor of the crew.

Oh, this was too good of an opportunity to let pass by.

"Well…" Monet smirked while placing the tip of her wing under her chin in a thoughtful manner. "….perhaps I do feel something, but who can tell, right?" She asked playfully. Robin's once curious expression turned now into one of concern.

"Monet," Robin started in a way that made Monet notice the sudden seriousness implied into her voice. "Please be careful with him, I carry great concern for Chopper's safety. I would feel truly devastated if something happened with him."

Robin's plea astonished the harpy, of all things this is something she would never expect coming from the archaeologist.

"You two are close, isn't that right?" The harpy asked dropping the playfulness aside. Robin nodded.

"Yes, we have a special friendship. I still feel bad for the way I shook him at Water Seven, the events that unfold at Enies Lobby let him in a real bad shape, not worse than Luffy though. We do have a special care for each other since then."

Monet stood quiet for a second contemplating Robin's words, then a suspicion dawned into the harpy.

"Does…..Tony…..no….no way…." She stared towards Robin with frightful eyes. The archaeologist remained quiet while awaiting for her to finish. "…but….that makes no sense."

"Which part exactly?" Robin mused. "The one of you being a harpy? Or the one of him being a reindeer? Or how much older you are? Or that he saves lifes and you take them? Or that he was always a Straw Hat Pirate and you worked for Doflamingo a day ago? Or that you tried to murder him two days ago?"

Monet glanced at the archaeologist for a very long time, she was totally off put by what was being discussed.

"Why you came here? To tell me about his feelings?" The harpy asked after a long silence. Robin shook her head while turning around slightly.

"I'm more worried about your feelings towards him at the moment."

With that Robin walked away leaving Monet alone at the deck. The harpy stood still for long minutes, her mind went numb from the shock of everything she heard, but what made it even worse was the fact she really didn't know how she felt about anything that was happening.

Chopper spent the last minutes preparing himself for his personal task at Dressrosa, despite Sanji's concerns the reindeer felt prepared for anything he would've to face. When normally he would fill his bag with all the proper medical supplies this time he felt he had to do different.

It gave him chills to think about the things he would be carrying along with him, and it could seriously endanger his own life it anything ever came to crash into it.

He knew better than anyone that there's no possible way he would be able to stand on an even ground with Monet when it came about fighting, the only solution to this was to add intelligence where he lacked strength. He did such before at Alabasta, surely he could do it again now.

'Perhaps I should have spent more time on improving my powers than other things in these last two years'

Chopper wondered if his nakama had a good reason to be so worried about his possible feelings towards the harpy, it's not like he ever experienced such before or was looking for advice.

It was funny that he really didn't feel terrified by this perspective, he could easily remind how he would freak out and avoid talking about females. Once Usopp 'invited' him to spy over Nami when she was showering. He refused under excusing himself that he had no interest on naked human females, but mostly because it was Nami and he respected her greatly. Unlike Usopp, the reindeer had no desire to be caught on the act and murdered at sight by the navigator.

A sudden knock on the door broke Chopper's line of thought, he turned around to look at the door in amazement. Could it be Monet?

Oh, gosh now he was becoming paranoid about her.

"Chopper, are you there?" Zoro asked from the other side. The reindeer stood baffled for a second, never once Zoro came around to visit the med-bay by himself, it was pretty much the only place of the ship he didn't like to get around.

"Y-Yeah, I'm here. Come in."

Once the door opened and the swordsman made his way inside, closing the door smoothly as possible, the reindeer understood this a sign that he wanted a private conversation.

Zoro spent a whole minute staring straight at Chopper, as analyzing him in some mysterious way. The reindeer stood firmly unaffected by this observation.

"You must be aware of the problems we'll have once we reach the next island. I'm not here to waste time telling you what to do. Just make sure you ready for what's coming."

Chopper blinked. This was typical of Zoro to go straight to the point, but even so the reindeer felt unsure about what exactly he was implying to.

"That depends, what exactly should I be ready for?" He questioned while turning around to finish organizing his bag.

"For betrayal."

Chopper's body stiffened as he heard these last words, the shock of realizing how much distrust Zoro has over Monet came out unexpectedly. Could he really be expecting that from her?

"The problem is..." He continued as the reindeer stood quiet. "…that she might care enough about you to betray both parties. All I suggest you to do Chopper is to keep an eye on yourself. If that bird women decides to go on her own, let her be."

Chopper remained quiet as Zoro finally made his way back outside without any further adds. Well, his advice sure didn't do anything helpful aside generating a small fear Chopper didn't need.

"*sigh* Is too much to ask for someone to lighten up the mood?"

As if answering for his question another knock came from the door, but the knocks sounded heavier than normal, almost as if someone was kicking the door instead. Puzzled by this the reindeer went forward to open it. Once he saw the harpy standing on the other side his stomach twisted from the inside in a way he never thought it was possible.

"Well, hello there. I figured that we should plan something once we reach the town. It wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan."

Monet entered inside the med-bay before Chopper could say anything. It amazed him how nice she was being for no real reason, thought he was wary of her occasional flirts.

"Backup plan? We didn't plan anything yet. What exactly do you want to do?" He asked, eyeing the harpy with suspicion. She was smilling much more often than usual, and her relaxed posture concerned Chopper more than her regular cold moods.

"Oh, that's what the surprise is about. You see, I can't exactly be seeing around with a reindeer tall as you. Too many undesirable questions. You should turn to your original reindeer form, this way I can have an excuse I adopted you as a pet. Fit's perfectly since I'm a snow snow user and….well, you're a reindeer. I do have odd tastes, so nothing abnormal will come from that."

She laughed a bit at the end, but Chopper visibly frowned as being referred as a pet.

'Speaking of having odd tastes…' Chopper thought, only to mental slap himself right after for thinking such.

"I trust you Tony, despite what everyone might say. I just want to know if you really trust me, if-

"But I do trust you Mon…net!" He added quickly. "I never said I didn't! It's just that….some people keep telling me I shouldn't…"

Monet rolled her eyes at this before coming around the reindeer to check the things he loaded in his bag.

"Let me guess, a bunch of men came around saying you should let me go or forget about caring about me and focus on yourself?"

Chopper stood in awe while looking at her. He nodded silently.

"Well, and, in the mean time, I came around the only female in this crew, they were really concerned about us looking for each other instead. You'll find out that men and women take things differently when it comes about…"

She silenced herself all of sudden, as if realizing she was about to say something she shouldn't.

"About what?" Chopper asked while looking at her with curiosity.

"I'll tell you soon, and what are all these things you're carrying? I hardly think that…" She grabbed a large bottle with dark inscriptions on it. "…this would be for medical purposes."

"I'm a doctor, not a saint," The reindeer replied upset by her questioning. Monet was highly amused by the time he finished preparing himself.

She probably spent the last ten minutes on her flirtatious mood, Chopper put all his focus on not dropping anything by accident and end up exploding the whole room. The reindeer was pretty sure she was making him nervous as if to trying him to confess something out of his anger.

Whatever game she was playing he had no intention to lose.

By the time they reached the shore everyone was ready to perform according with what was planned.

Zoro, Franky, Luffy, Kin'emon and Sanji would go to the factory. Robin, Usopp and Law would deliver Caesar. Nami, Brook and Momonosuke would stay at the ship. Monet and Chopper would go to the secret port area.

"Alright, everyone down here," Law said once his feet touched the ground. Luffy had come down before he had even finished.

Soon the whole crew was down along with him. "Okay, we all know what we have to do, just make sure you stay under cover all the times. First group will go to the factory, second group with Caesar, third group to the port," At this he paused slightly staring briefly at the harpy. She pretended to ignore him as always. "Fourth group stay on the ship. Any questions?"

Usopp raised his hand on the air.

"Yes?" Law asked looking at the sharpshooter.

"Should we move already? I'm starting to think we're late…"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because the first group is gone," Usopp said pointing out at a specific area behind Law.

"What?!" Law turned around to find out that Luffy, Brook, Franky, Kin'emon and Sanji were already missing. "Mugiwara you're the worst!"

"He just can't resist about jumping into action, can he?" Monet mused as she went by.

"Watch yourself," Law warned as the harpy went away accompanied by Chopper.

"What? Now do you care? Too late, I already have someone who really cares," She shot back without looking at him.

Chopper did not understood the exchange, and he preferred to remain ignorant about it.

As soon as they were getting into the town Chopper morphed into his smaller four-legged reindeer form. Monet eyed him briefly before keeping on her way.

She was unsure of what to expect once she made inside the town, most likely some people would recognize her as one of the Doflamingo's family members, but she never had wings or bird legs before leaving Dressrosa.

Oh, how much of a sight that would be! An incredibly tall bird-like woman well known as member of the Family walking in the company of a reindeer that wears pants, hat, and a shirt and has a huge backpack filled with highly suspicious material! Perhaps to make things even odder she should've brought Brook along.

They went for few more meters before the harpy halted herself all of sudden. Chopper looked at her with wonder.

"Something is not right….it's too quiet," She said while closing her eyes and standing quietly on the same spot.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Chopper asked hoping he didn't sound silly. Monet smiled a bit easing his nervousness.

"It should be, but when it comes about Dressrosa, and that their lord supposedly resigned from the Shichibukai, it makes me worried. I've been here before many times, none of you did. I can tell there's a difference, but as incredible as it looks…there's none."

"Was the newspaper fake?" He asked worriedly. Monet pondered over this. Was it possible that Joker manipulated the news regarding his resign?

"I don't see ho-

She stopped herself once she spotted something at the floor few meters away, she made her way towards it. Chopper followed her but being very wary for any other presence around them.

Monet picked whatever it was from the ground and took a good look at it, at first she blinked thinking she might have read it wrong, but once taking a better look at it her face went paler than usual.

"Monet, are you alright?" Chopper asked noticing her sickened expression.

"Yes…..I'm alright," She responded a bit too quietly. "We better move on, follow me,"

Chopper did as instructed and followed her. They end up walking for few minutes until they finally went towards an old building that came on sight far away from the town, the harpy carefully opened the cranky door so enough room would be given for both of them to pass through.

"This building was previously an old house for maintenance of the sewer network. It's been deactivated for few years, I decided to learn about it in case I needed a place for Sugar to hide during a crisis. This sewer lines are incredibly extensive, but most of them are deactivated, we can reach the palace through here quite easily," She explained while opening an old hatch on the floor.

"Well, now I know why it stinks so much in here," The reindeer replied while taking a wary look at the dark hole. "How deep we'll have to go?"

"Perhaps half dozen meters, no more than that. I would be amazed if someone checked over these tunnels nowadays," She said while slowly taking few steps inside.

"Aren't you worried of getting dirt?" He asked dumbly. Monet laughed.

"Heroic deeds aren't for those worried about looking good, don't worry. Nothing yo...I can't clean later," She joked. Chopper sighed.

"It's not easy to clean fur as is to clean feathers," He complained with himself before following her down the sewer.

Well, what a great way to start the day. Following a creepy psychopath harpy directly into the dark hole of crap and oblivion.

Still Chopper had the strange feeling they would have the easiest way across the kingdom if compared with the other groups.