Hello everyone! Chapter 12 is finally here. Sorry about the wait! Longer authors note at the end (as always)

I'll just put a reminder here to follow my writing tumblr dreamscape-fanfics tumblr com (with dots instead of spaces) there'll be lots of cool stuff there soon :)


The Misadventures of Nora

Chapter 12

Nora Goes Swimming


"Luffy! You're on fire!" Nora yelled, clutching at the sides of her head as she watched the boy run around with his pants on fire.

Since when was setting yourself on fire a valid way of dealing with your fears? She thought, sending a bitter glare towards Pearl who was doing just that as she frantically tried to stomp out the fire on Luffy's backside. He's gonna burn the whole ship down!

"Hot! Hot!" Luffy screeched, rolling around as she continued to stomp on him. "Put it out!"

"I'm trying!" She screeched back, briefly noting the number of pirates who were deciding to jump ship. With Luffy being a devil fruit user, she wouldn't be able to do that to put out the fire on him. No matter how tempting it did seem compared the repeatedly stomping on him. "Stay still!"

"Thanks." Luffy said with a huff, clutching his pants with a frown when she finally managed to get the fire out. "That was hot."

"You were on fire! Of course it was hot!" She huffed, bent over at the waist from the stress and effort of putting out the fire. Or maybe she was huffing from the smoke she'd inhaled from the burning ship… "Oh look. Sanji's fighting that guy."

True to her words, in front of them, Sanji could be seen facing off against the flaming Pearl and it was definitely a sight to be seen. With flames surrounding them, he stood before the large armoured man and aimed kick after kick at him. She was impressed. Not only was he able to go so close to the flames with no fear of being burnt, but he was also doing it in a suit. She was dying of heat exhaustion in her outfit, she had no idea how he was still standing. Grabbing her camera out, Nora snapped a photo just as Sanji's foot collided with the man's face, immortalising the scene in front of her. While the photo definitely looked cool, Pearl's ridiculous appearance and his terrified expression did make it seem a bit less impressive but she never the less tucked it into her bag.

"Dangerous! He's too dangerous!" Pearl screamed with tears in his eyes, sending more of his flaming projectiles into the air. "More fire! More fire pearls!"

And of course, with her luck, one of those flaming pearls just had to come in her direction. Would she even be a real protagonist if she wasn't constantly being put in life threatening situations? She couldn't believe she had been wanting these events to hurry up and take place. Oh, what she'd give to go back a few hours to enjoy drinking a hot chocolate with no threat of death in sight. The saying 'you don't know what you have until it's gone' really did apply in this situation.

"That was close!" Luffy said, ducking to avoid the flaming projectile that was coming directly for them.

"Learn to deal with your stress in a better way!" She shrieked out in Pearl's direction, following Luffy's lead and ducking, narrowly avoiding having her face singed off.

Despite having shouted that, she didn't really think she was much better at dealing with stress. Looking back, she'd spent the last week running around and screeching in horror so she supposed at least he had some logic behind setting himself on fire. It would keep away most enemies. That didn't make it any less annoying though. She supposed she should at least be thankful that only one of the 'fire pearls' had been sent her way. Zeff had gotten the brunt of it with a multitude being sent his way, towards the entrance of the restaurant. She was glad she'd moved away from that spot to help put out the fire on Luffy.

Watching as he kicked at the air and put out the fire of the projectiles, she felt a look of awe come onto her face. To think, even now, with one leg and in his later years he was still capable of doing so much. It was actually quite terrifying and yet another reminder of why Nora had no intentions of entering the dangerous seas of the Grand Line.

"Old man." Luffy said from besides her, grinning at the chef. "That was amazing!"

"You're gonna be meeting plenty of amazing people like him when you enter the Grand Line." Nora said, whistling in appreciation. "Grand Line pirates really are something else…"

That was definitely true, she decided. So far, they hadn't crossed paths with that many pirates who had sailed the Grand Line, but the ones that had were on such a different level. And yes, that included Buggy. Perhaps he'd gotten lazy over the years but that didn't change the fact that he had been on the Pirate Kings crew and that he had made it all the way to Raftel. It was a shame that he'd gotten so lazy over the years. If he had worked harder and ventured back into the Grand Line, he'd probably be recognised as a pirate as fearsome as Shanks.

"Hmmm…" Luffy hummed from besides her, drawing her back to reality as she glanced over in confusion. "What's that?"

"What's what?" She asked, already getting a sinking feeling in her stomach as her companion stared up at the sky, his head tilted in confusion. She really didn't want to look.

"The thing flying towards the ship." He said, squinting slightly.

Turning her head almost robotically, she came to accept that until Don Krieg was taken down, this day would only get worse and worse. She really wasn't going to be getting a moment of peace anytime soon. It only made sense that after fighting against pirates, meeting the world's strongest swordsman and nearly having her face burned off for there to be a giant mace flying towards them, aiming to sink the 'fins' they were currently stood on. Why would the world give her a break when it could try to kill her again?

She watched as it headed directly towards Sanji, seconds away from crushing him and sinking the ship, but thankfully, Luffy jumped forwards before any serious damage could be done. With his teeth gritted, he pushed the ball of steel back to Don Krieg, the chefs watching on with wide eyes.

"Nice job Lu-" Nora began, only to freeze up when she saw something else flying towards them. As the mast of Krieg's destroyed ship fell towards them, she froze up. "Luffy! Are you trying to crush us?!"

"Sorry!" He yelled out, grabbing her just in time to drag her out of the way. "It was an accident!"

"I'm going to die today, aren't I?" She mused, accepting her fate. She supposed she could at least be happy that she hadn't been crushed like Pearl, he wasn't looking to good.

"What's up with this guy?" Sanji said with a blank stare, voicing the thoughts that had been running through her head.

"Maybe he's mentally ill…" Luffy said, nodding in agreement at his own statement.

"Or perhaps just an idiot." She added, nudging him with her foot. "At least we don't have to worry about him anymore."

But at the sudden shout of pain from behind them, Nora realised that they had more pressing issues to worry about now. Laying on the floor with a gun to his head was Zeff and the one holding the gun was none other than Gin.

So we're finally up to this part… She realised. Soon enough Luffy will be deal with Krieg and I'll be back on solid land. I can't wait.


I take back what I said earlier. Nora thought with a curse, clinging desperately onto a floating piece of the now broken fins. Luffy could've given a bit more warning!

The past few minutes had been stressful to say the least. From watching Zeff being held hostage, hearing Sanji's backstory -which was much more brutal than she recalled. Had Zeff really eaten his own leg?- and watching him getting beaten up by Pearl to Luffy finally being fed up and sending a hammering kick into the ship's fins, she was both emotionally and physically exhausted. Luffy's kick had absolutely destroyed the fins and sent the pirates and chefs alike flying into the water and unfortunately for her, it had sent her along with them. So now, there she was, desperately clinging onto a piece of shipwreck and doing her best to avoid drowning.

I kind of feel like Rose from Titanic. She mused, laughing under her breath slightly, doing her best to avoid the panic welling in her chest. Although I don't have a Jack…

Glancing upwards, she was both glad and rather annoyed to see that Luffy, Sanji, Zeff and Gin had all managed to somehow keep their footing on the ship. Even that damn Pearl was still up there. Of course she would be one of the ones who got blown off into the ocean, the curse of not being a main character she supposed. To make things even more irritating, her bag had been sent along for the ride with her as well. It had managed to land onto the wreckage, some stroke of luck preventing it from sinking into the depths of the ocean, but the sound it had made when it landed hadn't been to reassuring. She could only sit and pray that her camera hadn't broken.

She was no longer close enough to hear them talking but based on the outraged cries of chefs and pirates alike, she assumed it was about nothing good. She'd heard something about destroying a ship…? Well whatever happens happens she figured, there really was no point in her worrying about it. Right now she had more important things to worry about. Like getting back onto the ship without getting her bag wet.

Okay Nora. She thought, desperately gripping to the plank of wood, clenching her teeth as her knuckles turned white from her grip. You've done a lot of crazy stuff these last couple of days so you can do! If you can survive a crazy hypnotist pirate you can survive a bit of swimming.

Even as she gave herself a mental pep-talk, she could feel fear building up in her chest. Now it wasn't that she couldn't swim, it was more so that she couldn't swim very well in the ocean. When combining the currents and the waves with the thought of all the terrifying creatures that could be lurking below the surface, it just wasn't the most pleasant experience. She could practically picture the three-eyed beasts that could potentially be waiting to bite her leg off. But right now, she needed to suck it up and accept that she didn't have any other option. At least she had some of the shipwreck to keep her afloat…

Ignoring the ruckus coming from what was left of the Baratie's deck and fins, she began her struggle to get back to the boat. But of course, like everything else that had been happening in her life since she had died, that was much easier said than done. She couldn't just peacefully paddle back to the ship and watch everything play out. Of course she wasn't allowed a moment of peace.

With a loud yelp of shock, Nora whipped her head around at the sudden feeling of something brushing up against her leg underneath the water. The moment she felt that, she was done. As much as she would have liked to take a proper look and see that it was only something harmless like seaweed, she wasn't willing to risk it. Using the wreck of the ship as a paddle board, she booked it straight out of there, all thoughts of not being a strong swimmer replaced with not wanting to have her leg bitten off by a shark. Kicking her legs furiously, creating splashes of water as she went, she ignored the cries of the chefs and pirates who she happened to cross paths with and just kept going. She was not going to have her leg bitten off by anything.

Now she certainly wasn't the best swimmer and she was sure that she looked far from graceful as she booked it out of there but in that moment, she couldn't really bring herself to care. She'd never admit to it but she let out quite a number of panicked yelps every time she thought felt something touch her. Even when she realised that if she was being chased by some terrifying creature it would have already eaten her, she didn't slow down. Now looking back on it, she could see that perhaps that wasn't the most rational reaction but it is better to be safe than sorry.

"Out of the way!" She screeched, speeding past some rather shocked looking pirates, their faces paling in terror. "I'm gonna die!"

It was only as she kept paddling at her rapid pace that she began to get a sinking feeling in her stomach. With her furious kicking slowly down, she felt her terror being replaced with dread. As she looked around at all of the chefs and listened in to the shouts and words of Don Krieg, she realised what exactly was happening. Nora realised that perhaps having her leg bitten off by some terrifying sea creature should be slightly lower on her list of concerns: perhaps just under dying of poisonous gas inhalation.

I really can't catch a break today. She cursed, slamming her face onto her makeshift paddle board with a curse. I'm really going to die!

Now in full panic mode for a completely different reason, she began kicking desperately in the direction she had just come from, trying to get as far away from the ship as possible. She knew she didn't stand a chance against any of the pirates in the water so that ruled out stealing one of their gas masks. Her only hope was to paddle as far out as she could and stick her head under the water and hoped for the best. One thing she supposed she should be thankful of was that in her panicked state, she hadn't actually managed to travel that far. She was already quite a distance from the ship so she just hoped she'd be fine. The fact that a number of the chefs had also stopped their frantic swimming around the same spot she had was reassuring. She didn't recall any of them dying so she should be fine.

If I'm not fine, I guess I'll just be dying again. She thought bitterly as she gulped in a deep breath of air. We'll see what fictional I'm transported to this time.

Ducking under the water, she held her breath and could do nothing more than wait and hope for the best. She didn't dare open her eyes, her fear preventing her from doing so. There was far too much room for something to go wrong for her in this situation. Perhaps she'd open her eyes and see a terrifying sea creature that was about to eat her or perhaps some of the gas would seep into the water and blind her. Either way, she really didn't want to take any risks. That combined with the fact that she never was one of those people who could open their eyes underwater, stopped her from even bothering to try and take a peek. She stayed under until her lungs burned and even then, she refused to go up. Poison gas didn't just go away in a matter of seconds. Even if she missed the initial hit, that didn't mean she'd be fine.

I can't hold it any longer. She cursed as her lungs burned and her consciousness began to fade. If I stay under any longer I'll drown.

Pushing herself up to the surface, using the last remaining bits of her energy, she sucked in breath of the salty air, grasping desperately onto her makeshift paddleboard. Leaning her head against it as she all but hacked her lungs up, she began to feel her consciousness slowly come back, her vision clearing as she breathed in more air.

"Pirates using poison gas…" She heard one of the chefs from besides her speak when she was finally able to lift her head up. "This is unheard of!"

"He's a demon for sure!" One of the other chefs added on in agreement, a statement to which she found herself agreeing with. He truly was a monster.

"I hope everyone's okay…" She muttered, her weight resting on the wood, her bag thankfully still afloat.

From where she was, she was relieved to see that both the pirates and chefs alike all seemed to be fine. She knew however that there would be one exception to that. She felt her heart sink in her chest as she thought of Gin. Deep down, she wanted to believe that he would be okay, that he had somehow used a mask instead of sacrificing himself but she knew better. He wasn't going to be fine.

They stayed like that for quite sometime, watching as the gas gradually cleared while the chefs nervously waited to see if everyone aboard the Baratie was okay. Perhaps you'd think that knowing what was going to happen, knowing the future of this world, would have prevented Nora from feeling the same nerves and worry, yet it didn't. Instead, she got to feel the nerves and worry along with an awful dose of dread. She could only lay there and nervously chew on her lip as her heart clenched in her chest. The last time she'd felt this awful was the night before an exam she hadn't studies for. She'd somehow managed to pass that exam but she doubted that this situation was going to have a happy ending like that.

"Hey look!" One of the chefs to her right called out, snapping her from her dread and making her glance upwards. "The poison gas is clearing up!"

True to his words, the final parts of the hazy gas were being blown away in a gust of wind, uncovering the Baratie to them once again. From her position she could see Luffy pulling a mask from his face, no obvious damage from what she could see: thankfully he was alright. She could also see that Sanji was alive. He looked a little worse for wear from his earlier fight but Gin having held his mask over the chef's face had saved him from the gas. And while she couldn't see Gin's face from that angle, she didn't feel as though things were looking up. She could see his limbs shaking as he kept the mask held against Sanji's face, the parts of his skin she could see looking terribly pale. As much as she wished for it to not be true, she didn't think he'd make it. While he had never been shown to die, the effects of the gas were something she doubted it was something anyone could survive, no matter how much she wished that he could.

It should be safe enough to go back now, She decided with one final glance around for any remaining clouds of gas. I need to get out of the damn ocean.

Swimming her way back to the floating restaurant, her makeshift paddleboard still in use, she was able to make it to the deck, or at least what remained of it, much faster than she had when she was flapping around in her earlier panic. Hauling herself up onto the deck she frowned when she noted just how sopping wet her clothes were. They were good quality material so she just hoped that the seawater wouldn't wreck them: she really did like this outfit. Now onto the deck, she watched Patty and Carne carried Gin past her and up to the second floor. Despite the fact that his face was now covered by a gasmask, she could tell that her earlier prediction had been accurate: he looked absolutely awful.

"Hey! Calm down you idiot! Charging directly at him is exactly what he wants!" She heard Sanji yell out, making her turn her head to see him desperately gripping onto Luffy's arm to hold him back. "You'll get yourself killed!"

"Luffy." She said as she walked over to the pair. "He's right. Be careful."

"I will be! I'm not gonna die!" Luffy spoke, glaring at Krieg as he shook off the weakened Sanji, only sparing her a brief glance. While he didn't say anything, it looked like he was relieved to see she was okay. Kneeling down besides the chef, she sighed as Luffy charged towards the pirate. "If you wanna shoot at me then go ahead! Shoot as much as you want!"

"Hey!" Sanji shouted with one final attempt to grab him, an attempt that was unsuccessful. "Fine! Do whatever the hell you want!"

"He's so reckless isn't he?" Nora spoke with a shake of her head, crossing her legs as she watched on. "I'm sure he'll be fine though."

"He's an idiot." Sanji spoke as he turned to glance at her. She could see the pain on his face from the small movement. "Are you okay Nora-chan? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine." She said, glancing over at his injuries with a small wince. From the looks of it he'd have at least a few broken ribs. She knew all too well just how painful that could be. "I don't know if the same can be said for you…"

"Don't worry about me Nora-chan." Sanji said, a grave expression coming onto his face as he turned to watch the fight between Krieg and Luffy, watching as the spear-like projectiles were sent flying towards Luffy. "Your captain's the one who's just gone to run towards his death."

"He'll make it out alive." She said, teeth worrying her lips as she decided now wouldn't be the best of times to remind the chef that she wasn't a pirate. There was more pressing issues at hand.

"He's been hit!" Sanji gasped out as they watched on of the spears lodge itself into his arm. Luffy however did not waver, he instead continued to charge, ignoring the pain she had no doubt he would be feeling.

Despite knowing that Luffy would be fine, watching this fight was difficult for her, even more so than when she had read it in the manga and watched it in the anime. Seeing Don Krieg using all of these cheap shots and seeing Luffy get hurt was absolutely horrible for her to watch.

"That son of a…" Sanji hissed from besides her as Krieg unveiled his spiked cape and Luffy swung back to punch him. "It's a spike-covered cape!"

From around her, the chefs began to cry out in shock at the reveal of Krieg's cape, believing that Luffy wouldn't be able to land a hit on him. Something that she knew not to be true. Taking her polaroid from her bag, she readied herself to capture the moment she had been waiting for since this damn fight had started. She wasn't very close to the scene but the photo would still capture the oh so satisfying moment all the same. The moment that Krieg received one of Luffy's infamous punches. As his fist connected oh so satisfyingly with Krieg's face, she pressed down the button just as she had numerous times before.

"What a reckless guy!" Sanji yelled out in shock from besides her, watching as Krieg's skidded across the piece of shipwreck he was on.

"Nice one Luffy!" Nora cried out as a grin spread across her face. She felt a swell of pride in her chest as pirates and chefs alike gaped at the scene before them. When she heard the sound of footsteps approaching, she turned back to see Zeff approaching on a crutch. "Did you see that? Wasn't it awesome!?"

"I certainly did see it." He replied with a nod in her direction, shaking his head ever so slightly. "You've chosen to follow a reckless captain."

"He's not my captain." She replied, letting out a small laugh. "But I can certainly agree with the reckless part."

"Watch him carefully Sanji. There are guys like him every now and then." Zeff spoke, now turning towards the dumbstruck looking chef besides her. " Idiots that fight to the death once they decide on a goal… A guy like him is the worst enemy you can face. Whether he wins or loses this match… I like guys like him."

"He'll win. It may not be an easy fight but he'll win." She said, any previous worry she had melting away. "I'm certain of it."

"How can you be so sure…?" Sanji asked as he turned to her with an incredulous look on his face. "He's lost so much blood!"

"Have some faith in him." She said with a grin. "He'll be fine."

It was almost immediately after she said that that Don Krieg stood from the ground and slammed his shield into Luffy, sending him flying into the air. Despite this, her faith in the boy did not waver. She continued to watch on as he twisted himself around in the air to send a bone-rattling kick into the pirates face. Nora would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying watching Krieg get beat up. It was a shame that the other parts of the fight, with his cheap shots and Luffy being injured, weren't as enjoyable to watch.

"H-He knocked the Don down again!" Came the petrified shouts of the Krieg Pirates who watched on in shock as their captain was once again down. "Just who is he?!"

"Told you he'd be fine." She said, turning to Sanji with a wide grin and a thumbs up. "Krieg doesn't stand a chance."

Around them, the pirates and chefs alike were beginning to voice their thoughts and she could see that they were beginning to get to Krieg. She watched as the irritation grew on his face as his crew began more and more worried that he was going to lose the fight. Despite knowing it was coming, she couldn't help but flinch as Krieg withdrew his spear and sent it flying into the piece of shipwreck he had been standing on. The wood splintered at the impact and caused waves to spread.

"That's a scary spear." Nora noted, watching as a hit from tit sent Luffy flying. "That could do some serious damage."

"The longer this fight goes on the worse off he'll be…" Sanji spoke from besides her, watching on intently. "He's losing too much blood!"

"Luffy will just have to finish this quickly then." She replied, watching on just as intently as he was, flinching every so often.

It continued on for quite some time with Luffy only narrowly dodging the strikes coming in his direction. Truthfully, it was quite nerve-wracking to watch. She'd lost count of the number of times Luffy had almost fallen into the water. She could only sit and hope that it would hurry up and end. Sanji had been right when he had said Luffy had lost too much blood. When Krieg finally landed a hit on him, Nora felt herself freeze up. Watching as he was sent sprawling, she had to bite down on her tongue to stop herself from letting out a shout.

"Errand boy!" Sanji shouted in worry, a horrified look on his face, a look that perfectly matched how Nora was feeling at that very moment.

It was then that Luffy stood back up and Krieg's war spear finally shattered. She felt a rush of relief spread through her at the sight. While the weapon would still be able to explode, at least there wouldn't be a blade to draw anymore blood from Luffy's rapidly paling body.

"Oh thank god." She sighed, unclenching her fists, flopping backwards against the deck as her heart beat rapidly in her chest.

As she attempted to calm her racing heart beat down, she could hear Krieg's voice in the distance, telling Luffy that he was going to lose, noting that he was spreading blood around. A statement that was unfortunately very true. All of the shipwrecked 'islands' that Luffy and Krieg had been jumping to were covered with the red substance. Seeing that much blood around was an unsettling sight, made even more unsettling by the fact that she knew it belonged to someone she considered a friend.

"He's right. That errand boy should be on the verge of collapsing!" Sanji, who was still sat besides her spoke, never taking his eyes off of the pair. "With those wounds, if he takes even just one more blast from that spear he'll be killed!"

"Stop being so negative." She said, lightly flicking his side, ignoring the own worry in her chest. "Luffy will be fine."

"But with all those weapons and armour it's almost impossible to beat him!" He continued, glancing over to her with a troubled look on his face.

"But you know Sanji, no matter how many hundreds of weapons or armour one is equipped with, they're no match for that 'one special spears' that comes from your guts." Zeff spoke, his arms crossed and as stern as ever, Sanji glancing over at him in confusion. "On the pirates battlefield where life and death are decided, the one who fears death and hesitates for even an instant shall fall to their doom."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, turning back to his mentor with a frown of confusion.

"Within that boy, if nothing else, lies no hesitation." Zeff explained, making her smile. She couldn't agree with that statement more. "Perhaps it stems from his complete preparedness to survive no matter what, or his conviction that fears no death."

"That and he's just a bit of a reckless idiot." Nora added in with a laugh, watching as Luffy jumped around to avoid Krieg before throwing a broken part of mast at his enemy. A broken part of mast that was instantly burned by flames.

"A flamethrower?!" Sanji cried out in shock. "How many weapons does this guy have on him?"

"Maybe the size of his weapons arsenal is to make up for the size of something else." She said with a snicker, at the very least, she thought her jokes were funny.

It was then that Luffy used his gattling gun attack, sending an uncountable number of punches flying in Kriegs direction. Despite the power behind the attack, they did nothing with the amount of armour that the pirate captain was wearing. He hardly flinched at the attacks being sent in his direction. The same couldn't be said however when one of Luffy's bullet punches was sent into it, the pain being evident on his enemies face. Yet despite this, he still persisted and sent Luffy flying with a punch of his own. It was then that his anger seemed to peak, shouting obscenities at Luffy in a complete fit of rage, jumping up on top of the broken mast of his ship.

"He's going to throw those bombs down to destroy that whole platform!" The chefs who were still in the water began to shout out in panic. "Run away, errand boy!"

This however did not deter Luffy, something of which was no surprise to Nora. He instead ran up the mast, once again defying the laws of physics, with his arms stretched out behind him. From what she could tell, it looked like they were about to witness a bazooka attack.

"You idiot! Don't run towards him!" Sanji shouted out with his jaw clenched. "Get away! It's a trap!"

"How useless! " Krieg yelled, sounding smug as he sent an attack directly at Luffy, once again using his cheap shots. "That's exactly what I thought you'd do!"

Watching as Luffy was kept going, Nora could hope that this fight would soon be over. He was looking paler and paler and she could see that despite everything, the amount of blood he had lost was beginning to get to him. Krieg had somehow managed to avoid the first blast, jumping off and creating another explosion, yet even as the chefs around her cried out in shock, she let out a sigh of relief. This fight was coming to it's end. If she remembered correctly, it wouldn't be long before his armour would shatter. It was his second gum-gum bazooka that proved her prediction to be true, in turn, relaxing some of the tension in her shoulders. Despite looking worse for wear, Luffy wasn't going to be losing this fight.

The tension quickly came back when he managed to capture Luffy in a net.

"The idiots gone and got himself tied up." She sighed as she massaged her temples. "If I spend to much more time with him, I'm going to die early because of stress!"

"The one who laughs at the end is always me!" Krieg shouted, a victorious grin spreading across his lips as he prepared to dump Luffy into the sea.

Nora imagined that this attack would be much more successful if the net was a seastone one. Because it wasn't, Luffy was easily able to stretch his arms out of the net and move onto his next attack. From besides her, she could see Sanji was watching on in a mixture of disbelief and awe as he continued to fight.

"How can he keep on fighting, even now?" Zeff spoke, glancing down at Sanji who couldn't seem to be able to tear his eyes away from the fight. "Is that what you were wondering?"

"Ah." She spoke, watching as the Krieg Pirates in the water began to withdraw weapons to fire at Luffy. "It seems that there are some people trying to interfere."

From besides her, Sanji quickly jumped into action, his earlier injuries seemingly forgotten and Nora found herself following closely behind. Watching as he jumped onto the faces of two of the pirates, sending their weapons flying, she grinned at the loyalty that he already seemed to be growing for Luffy. He was definitely destined to join the Straw Hats.

"Quit it." He snarled at the pirates. "Or I'll kill the lot of you."

Despite his rather intimidating threat, it seemed that one of the pirates was not discouraged. As he pointed his crossbow at Luffy, finger on the trigger and ready to fire, she acted as quickly as she could. Grabbing a piece of wood from the ocean, she sent it hurling at the pirate, directly into his face. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't proud with her efforts as she watched the pirate lose consciousness.

"You heard the chef, didn't you?" She said with a grin in their direction. "Quit it or he'll kill you."

It was at that moment that Luffy made the final attack, finishing off the fight once and for all. The moment Luffy's sledgehammer attack sent the man flying into the deck, cries erupted from all around: the chefs crying out in victory while the pirates began to go into a state of pure panic.

"Nice one Luf-" Nora began to cheer in excitement, only to cut herself off when she watched the boy fall into the ocean. Gripping the sides of her head, she let out a shout. "Luffy you idiot! Damn it! I can't swim well enough to go and fish you out!"

"What're you sitting there for? Hurry up and go rescue him because he ain't coming up on his own." She could hear Zeff speaking to Sanji from behind her. "Isn't that right girl?"

"The idiot's going to end up drowning." She cried out in agreement, dragging her hand down her face. "He's a damn anchor!"

"Those with special abilities obtained from devil are hated by the sea and can't swim." Zeff elaborated on her rather unhelpful answer, glancing at both herself and Sanji in what she believed to be amusement.

"You damn geezer!" Sanji shouted, jumping up and now just as stressed as she was. "You should've told me sooner."

"I really am going to die of stress." Nora sighed as she slumped onto the deck, to her left she noticed Luffy's hat sitting on the deck. She couldn't seem to stop the fond smile that spread across her lips. "Hmph. What an idiot."

Picking up his hat, she carefully shook it, getting rid of all the dust and debris that had managed to get on it through the course of that whole ordeal. As she twisted it around her finger and waited for the Luffy to come back and retrieve his ha, she found herself looking back on the day's events. The fight had been no more than a few hours yet it felt like an eternity had passed. Pirates truly did live amazing lives. They also lived incredibly dangerous ones. Today truly had been stressful for her. Seeing so many of the people that she had befriended get injured just wasn't something she could imagine herself doing every time they faced an enemy.

You wouldn't have to do that if you got stronger though. A small part of her mind whispered, making her sigh. You could train and learn to become strong enough.

Those thoughts were shaken off and put away for a later date when Krieg stood from the ground and shook off a number of his crewmates that had been tending to his wounds. As he shouted out, in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness, she stood and prepared to get away, just in case he decided to attack.

"Don't worry Nora-chan." Sanji spoke, hauling himself and a passed out Luffy onto the deck and pointing towards the entrance. "It'll be fine"

"Gin." She said, letting out a breath as she recognised the figure making his way onto the deck. Sitting down besides the pair, she dumped Luffy straw hat to cover his face. "I'm exhausted."

"Don Krieg. We've lost. Let's retreat for today and start anew." Gin spoke, suddenly appearing and sending a fist into the man's stomach. He then hauled his captain over his shoulder and began to walk away from the Baratie. "Thanks for everything, Sanji."

"Yeah…" Sanji said, letting out a huff of air. "Please don't come again."

At this statement, Nora couldn't help but throw back her head and let out a burst of laughter, flopping onto her back besides Luffy as she clutched her stomach.

"Hey! Did you forget you inhaled poison!" Patty shouted, running out the door and towards Gin. "Deadly poison!"

"And what're you trying to do taking away the very man who tried to kill you?!" Carne added in, pointing his finger at the man slung over his shoulder.

"Sanji… When he wakes up, could you pass him this message?" Gin spoke, glancing at the chef from the sides of his eyes. "'Let's meet again, out on the Grand Line.'"

"You're…" Sanji spoke in disbelief, staring at Gin with a frown. "You're still going to be a pirate?"

"He's still drawn to the sea." She said with a shake of her head, her laughter having died down. "I don't think I'll ever quite understand the mentality of a pirate, no matter how admirable it may be sometimes."

"When I think about it, there's nothing else I want to do." He explained to them, letting out a huff of air as a smile came to his face. "I guess before I realised it, Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well."

Krieg doesn't deserve some so loyal. Nora sighed, watching on sadly as the effects that the poison had on Gin became evident, the man slumping slightly under Krieg's weight as he coughed up blood. The world can be cruel sometimes.

"I might only have… a few more hours to live… So it might be a bit cowardly for me to make this decision only at the end of my life, but it's still good for me nonetheless." He rasped out, ignoring the concerned shouts of Sanji and his fellow pirates. "I've decided that this time, I'll do things of my own will… In my own way. If I do that, I won't have a place to run away to, right?"

He's accepted his own death… Perhaps he'll somehow survive. She thought, glancing down sadly at the deck and clenching her jaw as small tears began to form in her eyes. Maybe, by some luck, one day, he really will meet with Luffy in the Grand Line. He doesn't deserve to die, not here, not now.

"Patty, Carne! Give them the boat we use to go out and buy ingredients!" Sanji ordered the pair, not turning back to look at them. When they began to protest, he turned back to yell at them with a glare. "Shut up and give them the damn boat already!"

"You didn't have to yell." Patty yelled as the pair ran off, tears in their eyes. If she weren't so saddened by Gin's fate, she would have found the scene to be comical.

"Calculating, cautious hesitation and whatnot…" Gin spoke with a smile, placing his captain down. "When I look at him, all those things seem so stupid."

"He does tend to make you feel that way doesn't he?" Nora said, sending a small smile to the pirate. "Makes you feel almost like you could do anything."

"He really does." He responded with a laugh, his crewmates beginning to climb out of the water and onto the boat that Patty and Carne had reluctantly brought. Following his crewmates lead, he hopped onto the overcrowded boat. The Krieg pirates had practically formed a mountain on the thing: she had no idea how it hadn't sunk. "Thanks again, it's alright if I don't return this boat, right?"

"If you have the balls to come back and return it, go ahead." Sanji said, smirking at the man. "Weakling."

"Some restaurant this is." Gin spoke with a fond smile and a shake of his head. "We'll be off now."

Feeling a smile make it's way onto her own lips, Nora pulled out her polaroid and took a step back, getting the overflowing ship in the camera's frame. She was so used to taking photos from a boat that it was almost strange to be taking one of a boat sailing away.

"Oi! Smile for the camera! One the count of three, I want all of you to shout, 'we're going to sink this ship!" Nora shouted, pointing her camera in the ship's direction. "One, two, three!'

"We're going to sink this ships!" With that, she pressed the button and captured yet another memory.


And there we go, this chapter is finally finished! I'm so so sorry that it's a weak late, I feel absolutely awful about having taken so long. If I'm being honest, I found this chapter quite difficult to write. I didn't want to bore you all with nothing but dialogue but at the same time, there wasn't much room for me to have Nora do some things because, well they were in the middle of the ocean. Either way, I hope you enjoyed what I managed to come up with for this chapter.

On a happier note, I went back and edited the first chapter and when I say edited it, I mean I somehow managed to add an extra thousand or so words to it. You don't need to go back and reread it because I mainly just made it flow better and wrote her more in character but if you want to, please go ahead! The only notable change was that I had Nora flip off Helmeppo, something I definitely should have included when I first published it.

I also want to say thank you for all of the support this story has gotten recently! 174 follows and 128 favourites is absolutely insane! I can't believe I've somehow managed to get so many readers. You're all absolutely amazing and I appreciate your support so much. I'd also like to thank you to everyone who has ever left a review! They all mean so much to me and honestly make me so happy. If I'm ever struggling writing a chapter, I go back and look at all the kind things you guys have said to me to get myself motivated! Thank you all so much! I hope you continue to enjoy this story because I've got some really exciting things happening soon.

One final thing, don't forget to go and follow my writing tumblr dreamscape-fanfics tumblr com (with dots instead of spaces). You can go and ask me any questions, request small little drabbles and read some tumblr exclusive stuff there! I'm also going to be posting some pictures of Nora soon so if you're interested, go and give it a follow :)

I'll see you all next week with chapter 13! Don't forget to leave a review, follow and favourite! See ya! x