Author's Note:

So this is it. The end of the first arc. I hope that everyone enjoyed it. This was a lot of fun to write. The second arc is already in the works so keep an eye out for Empty Minds, Empty Boxes. As always please review and let me know what I can do better.

This is the remastered version.

I do not own One Piece

Addy woke up to see Luffy standing over her with big black owl eyes and a gigantic smile. He was like a cross between a puppy and an owl. Paisley was standing beside him with a glass in one hand and pills in the other. She grabbed the pills and water a downed them before turning to Luffy.

"So when are we leaving?" she asked.

"Nami said as soon as you're ready. She already packed your stuff. It's on the Merry now."

"Great, I will meet you by the docks. There are some things I need to do first."

"Okay," Luffy left, heading off, probably towards the Merry.

"The Merry at the dock?" Addy asked getting up with Paisley help.

"Yes it is. It's quite something."

"Somehow I don't like the sound of that."

"Oh it's a good ship. I just don't think it is what you are expecting."

"When do I ever get what I am expecting?"

Addy and Paisley walked back to the inn, taking the same path that they always did. Who knows when Addy would be able to walk this path again. Chances are she would not be back for years, if she came back at all. The people waved as they walked, still thanking Addy for what she did though she told them that she did not do all that much, it was mostly the others who did all the work. Without each of them, Luffy, Zoro… even Nami and Usopp she would have not made it. Now they are her nakama, and she is theirs.

When they reached the inn. Paisley closed the door and flipped the open sign to close. It was basically decreed that today would be a holiday mostly because nobody could function after last night's party. Those were the best kinds of holidays. Hadley was sitting on the stairs heading up towards the rooms, when Addy came in she launched herself and gripped her legs.

"Are you really going?" she asked. Addy could tell she was trying to hold back tears.

"Yes I am. It's time," she replied.

"Will you come back?"

"Maybe someday Hadley, I cannot make any promises. Adventures are lying in wait out there and who knows where they are going to take me."

"You are really going to be a pirate?"

"I was always a pirate Hadley. I was born a pirate, raised as a pirate. I will live the rest of my life as a pirate and I will die as a pirate, sailing under that waving black flag. But I promise you Hadley, I am going to be the best possible pirate I can be."

Hadley nodded sniffling but let her go. Addy walked up the stairs and into the room where she had stayed in. Going over it once to make sure that Nami did not miss anything. After seeing that she did a pretty through job, Addy got into the shower to wash out the sand covering her body. Sand will always and forever be a problem. The stuff gets everywhere. Fighting a Devil Fruit sand user in the desert would be one of Addy worst nightmares. Crocodile flashed in her mind but she dismissed it. Whatever reason would they have for fighting him at least currently? She would be more than willing to take down those government dogs once she got stronger.

After getting all the sand off, Addy put back on her clothes. Before she left for downstairs she lingered for a while. This room had become a home away from home of sorts. Ever since that merchant ship randomly stopped here and she decided to get off. Originally it was a temporary resting stop but now…. It was something more. She will always have fond memories of this place but it was time for her to go home.

Home.

Addy sprinted towards the docks in excitement. Waving goodbye as she ran past. Home, she was going home. With her nakama and her ship they were going to sail until the end of the seas and perhaps even beyond that. Reaching the docks she stopped to see the Going Merry in all its glory.

It was a caravel. With two levels that led to the inside of the ship and staircases that offered access to the different decks. Addy saw that they did not yet have a pirate mark. 'That will change soon,' she thought. The figure head was that of a sheep with horns. Addy laughed.

"So that is why it's called the Going Merry," she said.

"What is that?" Nami asked. Addy turned towards her.

"You know, Mary had a little lamb. His fleece was white as snow."

Nami looked at her, then back at the ship and then back at her again. "I think you're the first person to point that out. Do not mention that to Luffy because then we will hear nothing but the rhyme for the rest of time. Anyway would you like a tour?"

"No thanks." Nami looked at her surprised. "I will get to know her later." Nami shrugged and lead her to the ladder that went down the side of the ship. Climbing up Addy could already feel the warmth and the love the ship exuberated, though there was a sense of wariness as well.

'You and me will get along fine' she thought. Now that she was on board Addy got a real sense of the ships layout.

"Where are the others?" she asked Nami.

"Still in town getting some more supplies, the village is basically giving stuff away."

"You sent Usopp to make sure that they would not get lost, did you?"

"Pretty much, your stuff is in my… well I guess our room now."

"Sure thing, I am going to explore a bit."

Nami waved her off and laid down on a lounge chair relaxing in the sun. Addy went off to the most important room in her mind, the helm. Climbing up the stairs she got an overview of the whole ship, small but comfortable. Addy would be happy here. Merry was still being quiet but what could Addy expect. She was still a stranger. Once Luffy got here that would change.

Addy opened the door to the helm, which also looked like it was the kitchen as well as a general meeting room. However when she spotted what she was looking for Addy whistled through her teeth.

'This is going to be tricky,' she thought looking at the steering pole. There was no clear way to look out to sea and watch the currents other than through the door. Addy was going to have to rely on her instincts and skill as well as Nami's if they were going to make this work.

'I would kill for a wheel,' she thought taking the steering pole in hand. It melded right with her, as if Addy was a part of the ship. 'This is good and I always did enjoy a challenge.'

"ADDDDDDDDDDDDY!" Luffy called. She let go of the wheel and walked out the door and leapt over the railing, landing gently on the main deck.

"Set sail to the Grand Line," Luffy called out looking at her. The rest turned as well looking like they half expected her to perform some sort of magic spell.

"Well first things first," she said. "We need to lift up the anchor." They turned towards Zoro who pulled up the anchor in less time than it took for Addy to finish the sentence and looked back towards her. "And now we wait."

"That's it?" Nami asked.

"Pretty much, if we sailed off now we end up getting smashed into those rocks over there." Addy pointed to where the wreckage of the bandit's ship lay. "Now I say we have to give it about 20 minutes so that the current is in the correct position with the tide so that we can sail out of here and actually hit the current we need to get out of here directly and into East Blue. Three of them stared blankly at her but Nami looked at her brightly.

"I get it. With the tide comes or out a change in the currents occurs leading to or from the beach. Normally this current would lead you astray however during a certain time in the tides you can actually hitch a ride to the main current."

"Basically, it's a bit more complicated than that. With most places you can normally sail out. Here there are various hidden currents underneath the surface which occasionally run into each other. As the tides change the currents move as well. So while at one point everything might be fine, the next you can find yourself heading directly for a cliff. We are going to have to actually time it right because we will be sailing through multiple currents until we get on the one that takes out of here safety."

"What do we have to do then?" Usopp asked.

"Whatever Nami tells you to do." Addy answered. "We will set off in 17 min."

"Yosh," Luffy said. Using his stretchy arms to launch himself on top of the figure head.

"Is it really safe for him to be there?" Addy asked.

"It's his special seat," Zoro answered as if that explained everything. Addy nodded and turned back towards the helm. Nami started telling Usopp and Zoro what to do with the sails. Addy trusted Nami knows what she is doing. She was a brilliant navigator. Taking the pole in hand she sent of a small prayer to Ocean for safe travels.

After what seemed like no time had passed Addy felt a subtle shift in the waves. Addy gently shifted the pole to the left keeping a close eye on what she could see of the waves from the open door. Addy started counting the second off in her heads, if she was even off by one than it was goodbye Straw Hats.

Once she counted to 135 she made a hard right turn, they had to jump currents before the ship would be pulled to the rocky shore. Now comes the hard part. Turning sharply to the left she stayed on that course for barely a minute before turning a hard right. Waited another minute before making a sharp left. Addy was going to have to do this for 20 minutes before hitting the current that would actually take them out of the island's danger zone.

"What are you doing?" Usopp came in asking, just as Addy was making another hard turn throwing him into the wall.

"I am making a zig zag pattern across the currents, it's the only way to make sure that we aren't trapped and dragged towards the deadly rocks." Addy pushed towards the other direction throwing Usopp and probably the others onto the other side of Merry. "Nami got you controlling the sails?"

"USOPp! LUFFY! Come down here and help Zoro!" Usopp scurried off as best as he could considering the rocking of the ship. Addy whispered some words to Merry and that seemed to have calmed down her rocking motions. They were a lot less rough and more manageable. Once Addy felt a slight dip in the ship she quickly turned the ship so that it was horizontal. However instead of going straight on, the current was pulling the ship horizontally out towards the open ocean.

"Addy what's going on?" Nami called.

"Don't worry this is normal," she answered. "It should only last a few minutes, like five at the most."

"You seemed really relaxed about this."

"Nami when I said I was the best helmsman your will probably ever meet, I wasn't joking. Even the tricky part of this is a cake walk. Just make sure that they don't destroy the sails or something."

"Oh they will be fine. Luffy thinks it's the coolest thing in the world right now." Just then there was another dip that the ship made and Addy quickly maneuvered the ship so that it was facing straight on. They were in the clear.

"How did you do that? You moved the ship barely touching the pole. Usually we have to yank it completely to one side or another."

Addy looked at her in complete horror. Her imagination conjured up images of Luffy or Zoro breaking the thing in half. She said something about skill and the proper way to treat a caravel and Addy had the feeling it turned into a lecture for a good while because the next thing she knew it Nami shoved a tankard in her hand and pulled her outside.

Luffy was sitting there on the deck grinning, Usopp was next to him and Zoro was leaning on the mast. They all had tankards in hand.

"What is going on?" Addy asked.

Luffy grinned. "You are our new nakama which means it's time to celebrate."

"I… wait what?"

"You're a Straw Hat now," Luffy said.

"Forever?" she asked.

Luffy started laughing long and hard and when he looked up again there were tears in his eyes, "Silly, nakama are forever."

She looked at Luffy and then turned to face all the others as well. Usopp and Zoro were spouting grins. Nami was giving a bright smile, but there seemed to be something sad to it as if her mind were on other things, and she did not quite believe what Luffy was saying. She will soon though, after all Luffy had managed to convert Addy. Whatever was going on with Nami Luffy would stop at nothing to help her and therefore neither would Addy.

She looked back at Luffy, who had gotten up and was standing right in front of her expectantly. Addy lifted up her tankard, "Whatever you say… Captain. Now are we going to Kanpai or what?"

They all gathered closely together and lifted up their drinks in the air, shouting Kanpai for the entire world to hear. After that they all had their own little Straw Hats party. It wasn't anything big or grand but it was like family coming together. All the little pieces fit. As the sun began to set Addy volunteered to take first watch, she was after all the newest crew member.

As the others went to bed Addy walked across the deck, sitting on the railing right beside the figure head.

"So are you going to talk to me now?" she asked seemingly talking to the air. "I promise I won't tell them if you don't want me to."

"No that's okay, I would not mind," a gentle feminine voice spoke. "How can you hear me?"

"You already know the answer to that, but please tell me about yourself, everything and anything you can think of."

The voice laughed. "There are only three things you need to know and you know two of them already. My name is Going Merry, I am the Straw Hats pirate's ship, and I am going to sail with you guys forever."