Shortly after they had left Nami's home island the boat was set for their next destination. They would go to Loguetown. It was an island also known as the beginning of the end, and it was where the Pirate King Gold Roger was born and executed. It also a convenient location to stop and stock up on supplies before entering the Grand Line.

Sailing to Loguetown would take a few days. Iris was thankful that the people from Nami's village had stocked up their ship with food for them, but the supplies wouldn't last more than a week or so. She also found out where the tangerine trees had come from; they were from Nami's mom's garden. They were a memento of her mom and her home. They also served to add something unique to the ship.

Sanji finished preparing the breakfast that he was making and they all filed into the kitchen. It all smelled and looked delicious. They all sat around the table and Sanji handed plates of food to her and Nami before giving food to the boys. The food he handed her and Nami definitely had more care put into it as well.

"Why does theirs look better?" Usopp whined.

"Because they're ladies. Ladies deserve better than you men," Sanji replied.

"Here Usopp, we can trade if you like. I've already told with him that I don't like special treatment," Iris said and held out her plate. Sanji pouted as Usopp traded plates with her, and both her and Usopp laughed.

"That's not right Iris! I made that especially for you!" Sanji whined as Usopp started digging into the food.

"Uh huh. But I'm fine with this, it's still delicious," she said as she started eating. Sanji was still pouting, but it seemed to make him feel a little better that she still found his food to be good. He then sat down with them and started eating too.

After the meal was done they all left the kitchen other than Sanji. Luffy went to sit on the head of the bow or his special seat as he called it, and the others went their own way as well. Iris walked over to the side of the boat and looked out to the horizon. There was nothing in sight but the ocean. If she had known how calming being surrounded by the ocean like this would be she would have set sail years ago.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and her quiet was interrupted. She turned around to see Usopp standing behind her with a grin on his face. He proudly told her about how he had taken down the fishmen that had chased after him during the fight with Arlong and she listened. She didn't know if this story was made up or not, but part of her hoped that he was telling the truth. He wanted so badly to become a brave warrior, and that would mean learning to face his fears. He would have to learn some courage if he really wanted to be a brave warrior.

"So... Uh... I was wondering... I know I'm already so strong and all, but... Could you teach me how to fight when your arm is feeling better?" Usopp asked her.

"You want to learn martial arts? I thought you were more a fight from afar kind of guy?" she asked.

"I am... I'd much rather fight from a distance if I can. But what if something comes up where I can't? If those fishmen had caught up to me I probably would have been killed. Please?" he pleaded.

"Why are you asking me? Why not ask one of the boys?" she replied.

"Well... I don't think I could learn much from them. I can't stretch like Luffy, I don't have a desire to become a swordsman like Zoro, and I don't think Sanji would do it because I'm not a girl'," he said.

"So I'm your last choice knowing all of them wouldn't be a good fit to teach you?" she asked.

"What?! No! But you asked why... Uhh... You're an amazing fighter! Who wouldn't want to learn from you?! You're the perfect person to teach a brave warrior of sea such as myself!" he shouted with a nervous laugh. She laughed at his response to her question. She could always count on getting a reaction out of the boy. Honestly she took it as a compliment that he would approach her and ask for help.

"Alright. I'll help you out, but on one condition. I want to know you're serious about this, and so if you can manage to catch me I'll start teaching you," she said.

"Like right now? Even though your arm is still broken?" Usopp asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"If I had both arms fully functioning you'd never be able to reach me, kid," she responded with a smirk. He was way overestimating himself if he thought he'd be able to land a blow on her. Honestly she'd probably have to just let him punch her at some point, but watching him try for awhile would be entertaining and it would show his resolve to become stronger.

"I'm not a kid!" he shouted and threw a punch at her, but she was easily able to move out of the way. He continued trying to land an attack on her, and she decided to stop dodging and block his punch with a counter blow. She picked her foot up off the ground and kicked her ankle into his shoulder hard enough to knock him down and send him skidding to the side on his butt.

"Sorry, kid. It'll take more than that," she said. He grumbled under his breath about not being a kid and then walked away from her. He would have to grow up considerably before she wouldn't consider him a kid. When she was the age he was she was living on her own, running her dad's bar, and continuing to master different forms of martial arts. He may have been living on his own, but he hadn't done anything very productive with his life. He lived off telling lies and playing make believe with a bunch of children.

She then decided that she could stand some alone time, and went to find a spot on the upper deck at the back of the boat where nobody was and sat down. She tried to move her left arm hoping that she would somehow possess some of the superhuman healing abilities that Zoro possessed, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Her arm wasn't moving like her brain was telling it to, and that was frustrating to her. This wouldn't be something she could work through like the injury to her back that she had taken from the Black Cat pirates.

Since she wouldn't be able do anything that would require the use of her left arm she would have to train other ways. She kicked her legs out to the sides so that she was sitting in the splits and leaned over onto her right arm and stretched out her back. It was nice to finally have some quiet time to herself after how hectic the last 24 hours had been. She'd prefer to jump into the ocean so that she could ensure that nobody would bother her for awhile, but she didn't figure her bandages were water proof and she didn't really want to do anything that might mess with what the doctor had done to her arm.

After she had finished stretching she tried to find productive ways to do some strength training with the use of only her right arm. She went and found a cannonball and went back to where she had been training. She started doing some sit ups while cradling the cannonball against her torso, holding it while doing squats and lunges, and then she tossed it up in the air and got into a one handed handstand and caught the cannonball with her feet. She held the handstand for awhile to practice balancing on her right arm, and when she was bored with that she continued on to other exercises.

When she decided it was time for a break she sat back down and rested her back against the side of the ship. She looked up at the sky and guessed it was about noon with the sun being almost directly over head. There was a warm breeze blowing and it looked like it was going to be another pleasant day. They had been lucky so far and hadn't come across any storms or rough seas.

After sitting for a bit she decided she would go get some water. She picked up the cannonball to put it back and walked towards the storage room. Usopp was waiting around the corner hoping to ambush her, but she dodged his attacks with little effort and the tossed the cannonball at him. He caught it and the weight caused him to fall to the ground.

"Go put that away for me," she instructed. He nodded while looking disappointed, but he did as she asked. She went into the kitchen to find Sanji preparing what she guessed to be lunch with Luffy begging for a snack. She walked past them and grabbed a glass and got some water. Sanji asked her if she needed anything, but she turned him down. Luffy started shouting about how it wasn't fair that she could have something while he wasn't allowed to and she walked back out of the kitchen before she could get caught up in Luffy's whining any more.

Iris found Zoro sleeping in the same spot he normally was and sat down next to him. He looked remarkably well considering he had looked like he was knocking on death's door yesterday. It was hard to believe that it was just yesterday that Mihawk had slashed Zoro; yesterday morning seemed like an eternity ago with all the events that had occurred yesterday.

"How's your arm feeling?" he asked her without opening his eyes.

"It still won't move. And sorry... I didn't mean to wake up up," she said and he responded that he hadn't been sleeping. She looked to her arm that was still hanging in the sling that the doctor had given her and was frustrated. She had hoped that by working out for a bit might ease some of her frustrations, but it hadn't. She really hoped that it would start working again before the four weeks that the doctor had told her not to move it. She didn't think she'd be able to last that long without being able to swim or train fully.

"How are you feeling? You've got to be in worse shape than I am... You pushed yourself way past your limits yesterday," she said.

"I'll be fine. It just means that I have to get stronger," he replied.

"Yeah, well don't push yourself too hard. It would be bad news if that wound opened up again since we don't have a doctor on board," she cautioned him. The doctor had done a good job sewing up Zoro, but that didn't mean that the wound wouldn't open again if he put too much stress on his body. She wasn't wanting to deal with him having a gaping wound again.

Zoro was definitely now sleeping beside her; she could hear the snoring as he dozed. His pain level still had to be through the roof with how beat up and battered his body was, and it was amazing to her that he was able to sleep without any sort of pain medication. She wasn't sure that she'd be able to sleep so easily with the pain her arm and shoulder were causing, and he should definitely be in more pain than she was.

She looked over to him as he slept and a small smile formed on her face before she could stop it. She was falling for him and there wasn't anything she could do to stop. Every moment she spent with him she could feel the attraction she felt for him start to grow into something more. Not only was he attractive and strong, he was also loyal, hard working, a great swordsman, and ambitious. He had even managed to show concern for her on multiple occasions yesterday even when he was barely able to keep himself going. He must care for her at least a little, even if it was just as another crew member.

Whenever she was with him like she was right now she was happy. It was strange for her to have a human make her so happy without even trying, but it made her happy all the same. She would tell herself that she was ridiculous for feeling so giddy, but at the same time she kind of enjoyed the feeling. It was a foreign feeling, but not an entirely bad one.

Really the strangest thing about her crush on Zoro was that the prideful and skeptical Iris had willingly let her walls down for him. When he hadn't minded that she was half fishman and even saw it as advantageous for their crew she had practically let the walls she kept up around herself fall down completely. He more than likely had no idea how hard it was for her to share that information with everybody, but that was okay.

Even stranger than her crush on a human was the fact that she was now letting her walls down for multiple humans. She didn't care for the others in the same way that she cared for Zoro, but she was now attached to a few humans. If somebody had told her she would feel this way even just a few weeks ago she probably would have punched them in the face while telling them how stupid they were.

It was almost unfathomable to her that she was traveling on a boat with five humans that knew she was half fishman and that she mostly liked. She would even put herself in harm's way to protect these people which that was also strange to her. She had spent so long believing that no humans would ever accept the fishmen blood running through her veins and guarding her race like a secret that she didn't entirely know how to handle these people who didn't care. She would have to learn, though it wouldn't be easy for her. She knew herself well enough to know that she would keep questioning it in the back of her mind for awhile.

Her favorite reaction to her secret had come from Luffy; he thought she was cool. Luffy was somebody that she would gladly follow as he chased his dream. He was strong, and he cared for all of them immensely the moment they joined his crew. He was also cheerful and carefree; two things that Iris was not. She felt happy being around him though, and that was unusual. Her skeptical nature seemed to fade away a little when she was around him. She was sure that Luffy and her dad would get along greatly. In fact Luffy probably had more in common with her dad personality-wise than she did.

Her feelings towards Nami were much more complicated. She wanted to like Nami and to trust her, but that was something she would have to work on. Her eyes had been opened to why Nami acted the way she did, but now that her emotions had settled a bit she was trying not to revert back to being annoyed with Nami. All of Iris' dislike for Nami could be tracked back to Nami's racism towards her, but now that she knew why Nami was the way she was Iris knew she couldn't blame Nami that. Even with how mixed up her feelings towards Nami were Iris knew that she'd put her life on the line to protect Nami. She would definitely prove to Nami that not all fishmen were evil.

Iris had found herself viewing Usopp like a little brother. She didn't have any siblings, but she figured that having him around was about as close as she'd get to having a little brother. He was somewhat annoying, a coward, and a liar. At the same time he was also kind of endearing and she was finding herself feeling protective of him. She was rooting for his success in his goal of becoming a brave warrior of the sea, and she wanted to see him become stronger and face his fears.

The only person on their crew that she was still struggling to care for was Sanji. She hated more than anything being treated differently for being a girl, and he was constantly treating her differently than the boys. He might think he's being a gentleman or chivalrous, but he he truly was a gentleman he'd respect her wishes. She had told him on numerous occasions that she didn't like how he treated like she needed to be protected, but he didn't seem to listen. She would have to sit him down and thoroughly explain to him how she felt. He was a good cook though.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Nami suddenly shoving a piece of paper in her face. Iris looked at the piece of paper and blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. She grabbed the paper our Nami's hands and wasn't sure how to feel about what she was looking at.

The piece of paper was a freshly printed wanted poster with her face plastered on it with a bounty of 15,500,000 berries on it. Most of the bounties she had seen had from bounty hunters over the years in her bar ranged from 3,000,000 - 9,000,000 berries. Her bounty was no doubt that high because she had beat the crap out of that disgusting navy officer. In fact that was probably why she was the only person other than Luffy to get a bounty.

She looked up to see that Luffy was holding out a wanted poster for himself with a bounty of 30,000,000 berries on it. He was grinning from ear to ear about his new bounty while Usopp happily pointed out that the back of his head was in Luffy's wanted poster.

"Did anybody else get one?" she asked and the others shook their heads.

"Just you and Luffy. These came with the newspaper this morning, so everybody in the East Blue now knows who you are. This means that we'll need to get our supplies in Loguetown and get out. It would be best to get out of the East Blue quickly and not draw attention to ourselves. Especially you two. Bounty hunters and the navy will be on the lookout for you two," Nami said.

Iris nodded her head compliantly and looked back to her wanted picture. The picture was from the waist up and taken from the side. She looked like she was looking at something on the ground. She had a glare on her face and the bite mark from Arlong was visible on her left shoulder. She assumed that the picture was taken as the navy left to go back to their ship and she was trying to calm herself by looking through the rubble of the collapsed Arlong Park.

The reality of what was happening then started to set in. She was a wanted woman. This meant that she would no longer be able to return to a normal life, though it wasn't like she had planned on that. The only pirates that they let off the hook were ones that went to work for the World Government in some capacity like the Warlords. She had no plans on ever cooperating with the government, so she would have to become strong enough that she couldn't be caught.

This wasn't a bad thing though. It meant that she was seen as a threat by the very people she detested the most. She wondered what the people in Orange Town, especially the old chief, thought about this. They surely had the newspaper by now too. Would they be disappointed in her? Would they be proud of her for making a name for herself as she set out to rescue her dad? She would love to be a fly on the wall in her home village as they saw the wanted poster.

"You've been nicknamed by the government too," Nami said and Iris looked back to Nami. Nami handed Iris the paper and she looked at a small article about them. The article specifically mentioned Straw Hat Luffy, and Fishman Iris. She wasn't so sure that wasn't just a description of her rather than a nickname, but if that's what they wanted to call her she supposed it was fitting. She wouldn't have to worry about hiding her heritage any longer either.

The article then went on to describe Luffy as being a very dangerous pirate, and her as an aggressive fishman monster. She would never be okay with fishmen being stereotyped as monsters, but she was okay with the government describing her as a monster. She wasn't a monster in the same manner as Arlong was, but she desired monstrous strength that would cause enemies to fear her. She would become a monstrously strong woman who the navy and other pirates feared.

The article also mentioned that there were four other members in their crew, and that they were all to be considered dangerous individuals. She didn't consider the group dangerous because they wouldn't harm civilians, but she supposed the navy didn't care about that. All pirates were evil and dangerous in the eyes of the navy and the World Government.

Iris handed the newspaper back to Nami but held onto the wanted poster; she was going to keep that and hang it on the wall above her bed. Nami was still going on about her concern over their bounties on her and Luffy, but it was bound to happen eventually anyway. If they weren't able to become notorious pirates that had bounties there was no way that they would accomplish their individual goals or for them to help Luffy to become the Pirate King.

The rest of her day went by fairly uneventful. Usopp continued to try and land a punch on her throughout the day, but failed every time. She gave him a new stipulation for the next day that for every time he attempted and failed to get her that she would hit him back. He didn't seem crazy about her new rule, but he chose not to complain about it to her.

It was now long past sunset and she was in bed not able to sleep. She wasn't able to get comfortable because of the pain in her arm and shoulder, so decided it would be better to get up rather than to continue tossing and turning and wake Nami up. She got up and walked out of her room and out onto the main deck of the ship.

The night was cool and there was a slight breeze blowing its way over the sea. She made her way to the side of the ship and leaned against the railing and watched as small waves rolled their way across the sea and then noticed the stars that were reflected on the surface of the water. As it always did, watching the ocean had a calming effect of her. Her pain wasn't lessening, but it was now more bearable.

As she started to finally grow drowsy she sat down with her back leaning against the side of the ship. She shut her eyes hoping that she might be able to finally fall asleep, but opened her eyes again when she heard somebody walking towards her. She saw Sanji walking her way with a beverage in hand. Iris figured that he was probably on watch tonight and saw her out here by herself.

He handed it to her and she could smell a fragrant tea and the warmth from the cup felt nice. She thanked him for the tea and he started to walk back towards the kitchen, but she stopped him.

"Sanji... Can I talk to you for a little?" she asked. He turned back to her with a grin on his face and she couldn't help but felt a little bad. This was not going to be an nice conversation for him, but since the others weren't around to interrupt it was a good time to tell him how she felt about him. Even if she wasn't crazy about the cook she didn't necessarily want to hurt his feelings either.

He sat down next to her and she took a deep breath as she tried to find the best way to start the conversation. She finally decided just to go for it and explained to him how much she detested being treated differently because she was a female.

"If you want to have any sort of good standing with me you need to treat me no differently than you do the boys. I've told you this already... Multiple times. But you don't seem to listen... Or if you are listening you're not taking me seriously. If you want to be a gentleman then you should respect my words and not make me continually repeat myself," she explained.

"Well..." he started as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "I can't help myself. Why would I treat a beautiful woman the same way that I treat a man? That just doesn't make sense to me. Women deserve to be treated well and protected," he continued.

"See? You're not listening to me. I don't need to be treated differently or protected. I'm not fragile or delicate. It pisses me off when I'm treated like I can't handle things myself," she said. His comment made her blood pressure rise as it showed that he didn't respect her enough to listen to her, but she tried to conceal her anger. She knew she would need to at least attempt to get along with him since he was part of the crew, but it wasn't going to be easy if he refused to listen to her.

"I know you're strong, and that you're not fragile. If you were fragile you wouldn't have been able to face Arlong like you did, but that doesn't change that it's in my nature to protect and wait on women. I can't help it," he said as he exhaled the smoke from his cigarette.

She sighed and knew that she wasn't getting through to him. He was going to continue to treat her in a manner that made her uncomfortable, which meant that she was going to continue to avoid dealing and interacting with him.

"So what I'm hearing is that you don't care that your behavior makes me dislike you," she stated.

"I... I do care. I just don't think I can treat you like I would a man... But... How about we compromise? I'll try to treat you with a little more neutrality to make you happy, and you can give me a little leeway when I want try to be more helpful for you than I would for Luffy or that stupid moss head. I don't want you to dislike me," he said.

"I suppose compromise is alright for right now. If I can see that you're trying, then I guess I can't be too mad at you. But if I think you're not actually trying then I'm going to smack you," she responded. He smiled at her like he had just won a big victory by getting her to compromise. She knew though that it wouldn't be fair to ask him to change his behavior towards her 100% immediately. She would try to resist becoming angry if she could see some changes.

He sat there next to her for awhile longer as she sipped on the tea that he had brought, and then excused himself. She closed her eyes once more as she set the now empty cup down next to her. She felt good about getting that conversation done and over with. Now she would just have to wait and see if he actually tried to change his behavior.

When Iris woke up the next morning the sun was starting to rise up over the horizon. She was still outside, and somebody had placed a blanket over her while she slept. She pulled the blanket off and stood up. She tried again to move her arm, and this time she was able to get her hand to move slightly. The pain from moving her hand was strong and sharp though, and she grunted as the pain shot up her arm and through her shoulder. It felt like somebody was taking a knife and stabbing it into her arm repeatedly.

The next thing she knew Usopp was trying to sneak up on her, but he wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was. Even with her back to him she was able to duck out of his reach, and grabbed onto his fist with her right hand. She threw him over her shoulder and onto the ground in front of her so that he landed with a thud. She stomped her foot down right next to his head and he whimpered as he prepared for her to hit him.

She couldn't help but laugh at his fear of her; she wouldn't do anything that would injure him. Since she knew she was going to get a reaction from him regardless of what she did to him she tapped him in the head with her foot, and he cried out.

"Are you sure you want me to teach you to fight?" she asked with a laugh.

"Y-Y-Yes! I'm going to become a brave warrior of the sea... I have to be able to fight!" he shouted. She laughed at his enthusiasm and extended out her hand and he grabbed onto it. She pulled him up to his feet and listened to him go on about how great he was going to become. He knew that he would become the most notorious of any of them as they sailed the Grand Line. That wasn't going to happen, but she let him tell his stories anyway.

The next couple of days went by smoothly as they sailed towards Loguetown. Luffy was continually trying to steal Nami's tangerines while Sanji fought him off, and Usopp tried to land a punch on her to no avail. She had shown Zoro the sword she found and he agreed to teach her how to use it when her arm was fully healed. Sanji even didn't get on her nerves as much.

The day they arrived at Loguetown Iris decided to remove the sling from her arm. Her arm was finally starting to regain some of its mobility, though it still hurt. Nami helped her re-wrap the arm and make sure that the splints were in place correctly. If they had a doctor on the ship this would be easier... Hopefully they would find a doctor to join them soon.

The Going Merry docked at a port in Loguetown and they all got off the boat. Iris brought along the money she had earned while working at Baratie hoping that she'd be able to find some things to take along on their journey. All that she owned was what she was wearing, a spare pair of pants, a small backpack, and the sword she had picked up at Arlong Park. Of course there were communal belongings that were on ship like the medical supplies and the food, but it would be nice to at least have a few more outfits and perhaps some things to workout with like resistance bands and some weights.

They stood at the entrance to the town and Iris was in awe of the size of it. She had never been to such a large town before. In a town this big they should all be able to go unnoticed fairly well. Everybody had different goals as to what they wanted to find and do while they were in the city, and so they all started going their own ways. They agreed to meet back up at a certain time later that day and head to the Grand Line.

Other than finding some things for their journey Iris also wanted to look around and see if there was a naval base. She could see marines walking around which led her to believe that there was a base somewhere around. Nami would tell her to stay away from it, but maybe she would be able to find some more information about her dad's whereabouts at a base.

If she did find one she would have to bite her tongue and control her anger there so that she wouldn't cause a scene, but perhaps she would be able to find a list of the people that had been arrested in the East Blue. If she could find that then maybe she could find where her father had been taken to. It wouldn't be easy to keep her cool and remain calm in a base, but it was important. If she gave away that she was a pirate while she wasn't in fighting shape it would be a bad thing for her.

She went to go on her way and explore the city, but before she was able to leave the docking area somebody grabbed onto her arm from behind. She spun around to see Nami standing there with a sly grin on her face.

"Let's go shopping together. We both need some clothes, and I'll help you pick out some cute clothes. Maybe even something Zoro would notice," Nami said.

"I don't think he notices things like clothes..." she said and then felt her face turn bright red when she realized what she had just said. When had Nami noticed that she was into Zoro? And now she would have a hard time denying it with how she had just responded to Nami. Did the others on the crew realize this too? She really thought she had been a little less obvious about her crush on him.

"Don't worry... I won't tell them. But I'm right, aren't I?" Nami gleefully said. Iris didn't respond and Nami quickly shouted that she knew that she was right. Nami continued holding onto Iris' arm and started leading Iris into the city towards what looked like a shopping district.

"Don't be so hesitant, Iris! Shopping is a good girl bonding time activity. This will be fun!" Nami said in a tone that Iris didn't like. It wasn't an annoying or accusing tone like she was used to getting from Nami. This was a much more mischievous tone that made Iris nervous as Nami pulled her into a clothing store. She now had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a very fun day for her...