(A/N) OMG! This is wayyyy overdue. I'm sorry, guys, but I had to study for an English Competition, and the week before I started doing that, I had tests practically every single day for a whole week. I hope it won't take this long to post the next chapter.

Emz: Thanks for reviewing!

Munchkin: I'm sorry! And no, I haven't lost inspiration, I just didn't have time, and when I did, I was a bit lazy.

NOTICE! This chapter is for Munchkin's birthday (today)! =] Happy B-day!

Chapter 11: A Blunt Luffy, and a Furious Redhead

I heard something click, and the shackles came off.

I lifted my head and looked at Marco. He stood up and offered me his hand. I stared at it for a while.

"Why?", I asked.

"Because you need help. Now are you going to stand up or not?", he answered.

Hesitantly, I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up.

"So what are you planning on doing with me now?", I asked.

"Well, for starters, we're going to go back to the Moby Dick. After that, we'll probably sail over to your island, and do what we can to help the villagers."

"And that would be?"

"I'm gonna ask Pops to put the island under his protection."

Whitebeard protect Green Leaf? It's not such a bad idea...but would it stop the marines?

"Do you think it'll help any?"

"Definitely. The marines wouldn't want to pick a fight with the Whitebeard Pirates by obliterating an island under his protection."

The phoenix motioned for m to follow him, which I did willingly. It was really cold down here, and I couldn't wait to feel the sun on my back again.

We exited the brig. Even though Marco was in front of me, I could tell he was watching me closely. Any wrong move on my part and I would be a goner. But if it came to that, there was no way in hell I would go down without a fight... even though I would probably lose anyway. The phoenix walked down the hallway in the semi-darkness. I stood in place for a moment, before going after him.

Marco helped me up a trapdoor in the ceiling. The room I emerged in was beautiful. There was a gigantic aquarium built into the wall. Surrounding the enormous fish tank was a bunch of seats. In the middle of the room stood a pillar reaching the ceiling. Someone nailed wood to the sides of it to make a table. There were a few stools surrounding it.

I looked around. I had never expected something like this on a pirate ship. There were all kinds of gorgeous fish swimming around. And wait... was that a... shark? It zoomed around the tank, eating every fish in its path. Oh well, so much for that.

I turned around, and came face-to-face with a certain freckled pirate. I took an involuntary step back, only to collide with Marco.

"Marco? What is the meaning of this?", Firefist asked. Nope. My mistake. More like demanded.

"Now Ace, before you get mad, let me explain."

"Explain? Oh I will let you explain. And the thing I want explained to me first is why Luffy's almost-killer is standing right in front of me, instead of sitting down in the brig, where she belongs."

"Yeah... about that. We're taking her back to the Moby Dick with us."

"That still does not explain why she's up here instead."

"Lets see... how about this: she won't touch Luffy again if we help her."

"Help her with what exactly?"

"Umm... how about I tell you that later...?"

I looked from one pirate to the other, wondering what I should do. It didn't look like this conversation was getting them anywhere. Ace kept asking more questions, and Marco refused to answer them. Well, not exactly refused. He was answering them without really answering them, you get what I mean? Avoiding them, kind of. The same thing that used to always get on my nerves.

Ace looked like he was getting angrier by the minute, while Marco stood behind me, and I sweatdropped. This was definitely unexpected. I mean, I knew that there were pirates who weren't the stereotypical murderers. Well, I knew there was one. Now I guess I just found another. I sighed. This was really odd. I slowly stepped away from the phoenix. My movements did not go unnoticed by Firefist, who stepped in front of me again, and crossed his arms on his chest, glaring at me. The phrase 'if looks could kill' suddenly ran through my head. I froze and gulped. Firefist Ace had a 550 million berry bounty on his head, right? I wouldn't be able to win without some bloodshed on both sides. Maybe I wouldn't be able to win at all... No I definitely had a chance. A small one, since ambushing him was not possible, but there was still a sliver of hope. On second thought... the other pirates would probably help him, so I wouldn't even get a chance to touch him. Damn!

"How about we solve this peacefully?", I asked,"You let me go me go back to where I came from, and I leave your brother alone."

Firefist narrowed his eyes. "Rejected", he said. I sighed. Yeah, it was bound to happen. This was a pirate, after all. I guess bargaining was out of the question.

I missed the surprised glance Marco gave me. Surprised, and a bit hurt.

The phoenix spoke up, his eyes also narrowing,"I though I already said you're staying with us."

I stayed silent. Why did I not have a choice in the matter? Oh. Right. I was the prisoner. On the up side, the chains were gone, and I was (partly) free to walk around.

Marco grabbed me by the arm and tried pulling me over to him. In an act of defiance I dug my heels into the ground to stay in place. Giving up, he just stomped over in front of me, and lifted my chin up, so as his eyes could meet mine. I met his furious gaze with a cold and emotionless one of my own, hoping he would back off. Needless to say, he didn't. He wasn't intimidated even a bit. I bit my lip, subconsciously, as I realized he had no intention of letting go. I felt panic slowly begin to seep into my mind.

"Let. Me. Go", I said.

"No", was his answer.

This was bad. I had to get out of his grip soon, otherwise who knew what would happen. At least I didn't have cuffs on this time...

Slowly running out of time, I stomped on his foot. I knew it was childish, but what else could I have done? Erm... what else could I have done without hurting him too badly, if you catch my drift.

He yelped and clutched the hurt appendage. I took this time to try to calm down a little.

"Do NOT restrain me", I barked at him.

I turned on my heel and walked over to the door leading onto deck, Firefist following behind, and keeping a close eye on me. I'm pretty sure Marco got over the pain right now, as he did have healing powers after all.

I opened the door, and looked outside. As soon as they noticed my presence, the Strawhats turned to me and glared. Well, all of the except the captain. He was looking at me, sure, but instead of glaring he had a thoughtful expression on his face. He walked up to me, and glanced at his supposed brother. He held out his hand.

"My name is Luffy. Nice to meet you." He grinned. Seriously? What's with this guy. One of my eyebrows traveled up my forehead. I looked at his hand suspiciously, wondering if I should shake it. Probably not. Firefist would kill me if I so much as touched his brother again. I could sense his anger, along with a healthy dose of suspicion, as his eyes were burning holes in my back. No pun intended.

I would have stepped back if I could have, but alas, I couldn't. At least not without crashing into a very angry pirate.

In the end, I decided to just introduce myself, no shaking hands. Instead, my eyes narrowed.

"Lexi", I said, "Lexi May." His grin didn't waver when he dropped his hand.

"You know Ace and Marco?"

Hesitantly, I nodded my head. "Marco. This is only the second time I've ever seen Firefist."

"Why did you want to kill me?", he asked.

You've got to be kidding me. He didn't really just ask that, did he? Someone please tell me I'm hearing things!

"Erm..."

I was saved by Marco. He lightly pushed me to the side, and exited the aquarium room.

"Luffy, I have a favor to ask."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you have an empty room on your ship somewhere?"

"Yeah. There's one right next to the one you're staying in."

"Do you think Lexi could stay in it for the next few days, until we meet up with the Moby Dick?"

"Sure no pro-"

"Now wait just a minute!", a female voice interrupted. I looked around to find whoever had spoken. 'Burglar Cat' Nami was making her way towards us, her face almost as red as her hair.

"She can't stay there alone! She almost killed Luffy! And what's wrong with keeping her in the brig.

I studied her coldly.

"I could very well stay in the brig. This wasn't even my idea. I just found out about it now."

"Then sta-"

"Nami", Luffy interrupted her. "It's alright. She can stay in the spare cabin."

The furious redhead turned towards her captain. "Not by herself she can't!"

Marco rubbed his forehead, looking as if he had a headache.

"Fine, then. I'll stay with her. Any objections?"

No one spoke. I closed my eyes and sighed. Things were slowly going from bad to worse...

Strawhat led me and Marco through a different door than the one we came from. I followed him down a long hallway. We stopped by one room, so Marco could get his things, as he probably wasn't going to get out of 'our' cabin anytime soon.

The room we ended up in was pretty big. I looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary, just two hammocks and a bed, along with a desk and a chair. I walked to one of the hammocks, lay down on it, and turned myself to face the opposite direction. I could hear what the pirates were saying, but I couldn't understand anything. I yawned, and my eyelids started drooping. It didn't take long to fall asleep.

(A/N) Yeah, so that's that. Did you notice how almost each and every chapter ends with Lexi either falling asleep or losing consciousness? I'm also working on a story that will NOT be updated regularly, cuz new chapters are gonna be published as prizes for the 100th, 150th reviewer, and so on. Oh, and there'll be one chapter dedicated specially to A-Bazooka-Fire, who's been supporting me from the start. Thank you!

And review people! We're almost at 100 reviews!