Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Lost.

Chapter 12:

Two nights after the people from the tail section, appropriately named the Tailies, arrived, everyone met up on the beach for an important meeting. Jack had suggested bringing people to the caves the next morning so they could stop carrying water back and forth from the area, but for now they were all still living on the beach.

The meeting brought up the Others, but then someone mentioned something about the French woman and that cat was out of the bag too. The whole group was arguing about their best plans of action, but no one could answer the simplest question of them all: 'Where are we?' Once it was asked, everyone became silent and the mood was pretty depressing.

"What's going on?" A sleepy voice asked.

Everyone looked over at the same time as a figure shadowed by firelight was walking towards them. Nami's eyes went wide and she smiled from ear to ear.

"Luffy!" Usopp exclaimed and ran forward, giving his friend a huge hug.

Jack took a few steps towards the boy in the straw hat too. "Luffy, you're awake," he was pretty amazed by the fact this teen was walking around, but he wasn't questioning it, not after their trip through the jungle to the Tailes. He still couldn't believe the strange rubbery power this boy possessed, but he was glad the teenager was alright.

"I feel like I've been asleep for a while," Luffy reached his arms above his head and yawned.

"It's been over three days Captain," Zoro called over to him.

"Three days?!" Luffy shouted in horror and lifted his hands, quickly counting on his fingers. "I've missed fifteen meals!"

"Wow! I've never seen you do that much math!" Nami exclaimed.

"And hey! You were counting five meals a day!" Usopp shouted at the other teen.

Charlie and Hurley started laughing along with Usopp at Luffy's frantic expression.

"Don't worry," Zoro walked towards his captain and started speaking. "There's some food cooking over the fire near our tent..."

"I smell it!" Luffy yelled. He wondered where that good meaty aroma was coming from. The pirate started running back across the sand.

Zoro turned back to the large crowd looking at him and he sighed. The green haired man pointed a finger over at the tent and muttered, "There's enough for everyone. We're having polar bear for dinner."

"Polar bear?" Michael asked skeptically.

"You haven't heard about the polar bears?" Charlie asked the black man who was stunned they were actually serious. The rockstar looked around and then raised his hand high, "I want some." He took a few steps then looked back at his friend Hurley, "Come on, I know you want some."

The fat man's stomach rumbled at exactly that moment and Jack and Kate couldn't help themselves from laughing as Hurley chased after Charlie. "You want to go?" Jack asked Kate who was smiling after the group walking away.

She looked at the doctor who had taken charge of the meeting and nodded, proud of him. "Sure, let's go." Kate looked over at Claire who was smiling at the green haired man who saved her during the crash. Claire started walking over with the doctor and Kate, and a few others started following them too.

Seth Norris took a few steps back from the edge of the group and sat down with his back up against a piece of metal wreckage. Thanks Jack. I wasn't cut out for this. The doctor was pretty much leading the meeting and no one had brought up anything about how the pilot wasn't taking charge. He looked up at the sky, I wasn't even supposed to be flying that day... Frank, where were you?

The majority of the survivors were hesitant about following the group across the beach. People were whispering and suspicion was going around.

"I don't trust them," Sayid muttered to Scott and Steve who he was standing next to. "The one with the long nose and the orange haired girl are alright, but the other two have more strength than any man I've met. It's unnatural."

"I agree," another man added who was standing next to Sayid and the three of them turned to the taller fellow. Sayid looked like he didn't know the man's name, so the guy held out a hand, "Ethan."

"Nice to meet you Ethan," Sayid said and the 'Canadian' guy shook his hand.

A woman next to Steve grabbed his arm and he turned and looked at her. "They're weird, but," a few other people looked her direction now and she continued, "but he, the man with green hair, he saved my life this morning. I trust him."

Joanna finished talking and then hesitantly turned around. She took a deep breath and then started walking away. Steve nodded and followed after her, remembering watching his female friend get saved from drowning earlier that day. He got to her side and took her hand, giving her more courage to walk towards that other group and get some food from them.

Sayid sighed. He witnessed the same thing, and he had to admit, they didn't seem like bad people. He watched as Boone started walking that way despite his sister grabbing his arm to try and stop him.

"Tasty! This meat is so good!" The shouts from only a few dozen yards away were making more of their stomachs rumble. The smell from the growing fire was becoming too much for a lot of them to handle, and they started walking over as a large group which seemed like the tastiest, safest option.

Ethan growled, but calmed himself and followed after the rest of the group, blending in as well as he could.

Luffy was tearing chunk after chunk from the large roasted bear in front of him. It wasn't seasoned, and it was a little burnt since they left it going for a while, but it tasted great.

"How did you manage all of this?" Jack asked Zoro as the swordsman used one of Locke's hunting knives to cut a slice off one of the cooking bears. There were three of them, impaled with long sticks, held over one large fire. Usopp was surprised since Zoro said earlier he was only getting two, but Zoro really outdid himself.

Zoro grunted and stabbed the piece with the knife, putting it on his own plate. He finished chewing the piece he already had in his mouth then pointed the knife towards Locke who was cleaning some knives, already being near the bears when Jack gave his speech. "He skinned and did the hard work," Zoro wasn't much for taking the credit where it wasn't deserved. "All I did was kill them."

"And you did that, with your sword?" Jack motioned at the weapon sitting at Zoro's side. Zoro thought back to the three bears Locke found in the cave a few miles in the woods. The other two with him didn't see anything, because he went into the cave alone, but when he came out, he was dragging three dead bears behind him. The swordsman took a bite of his food and nodded, holding out the knife for Jack to take. "Well," Jack started and grabbed the knife, "thank you very much." He leaned in and cut a slice off for himself.

When the doctor turned back to sit down, he saw a large crowd of people standing hesitantly by the edge of the circle surrounding the fire. Jack smiled over at them and then looked back at the bears. The piece he just sliced, he put on a plate, then walked back towards the group and handed it to Walt. The ten year old black boy smiled and accepted the food, running over and sitting next to Hurley. The fat man and Charlie were listening as the guy with the long nose was telling a far-fetched story that even though they could all tell it was fake, it was still entertaining.

"There's enough for everyone," Jack told Sayid and Ana Lucia who seemed to be heading the group that was hesitant to join.

All of a sudden, Luffy jumped up on an elevated piece of rubble and started singing. He had a chunk of meat in his right hand and his belly looked bloated. "The islands in the south~~ are warmmm." He was humming a strange rhythm in the background and it was actually pretty catchy.

"Anyone have any booze?" Zoro looked around and asked.

"I've got some," a man responded and Zoro looked back to see a guy with long blonde hair walking over. "Seeing as I'm gonna be eatin' your food, I'm willin' to trade."

Sawyer reached in his pocket and pulled out a few small bottles he ransacked from the fuselage. He tossed two to Zoro who opened the strange bottle and sniffed it. It smelled strong and he smirked, nodding at the man who pulled out a cigarette and started smoking.

"Second verse!" Luffy shouted.

"There's more?!" Hurley asked between laughs at how weird the first verse was.

The teenager in the straw hat continued singing. "The islands in the north~~~ are very colllddd~! Hyakkoi kokoi~~ their heads shiver all around!"

More and more people were sitting down near the large fire that smelled better and better the more the meat got cooked. Luffy's cheerful and carefree attitude was putting a lot of them at ease since he really didn't seem like the type of guy who would hurt any of them, despite what they heard about his strength. The first bear put on the flame was taken off since Zoro realized it was getting burnt. Now everyone was lining up as Locke and Jack helped slice pieces off for them to eat.

"How can you have a party at a time like this?!" Ana Lucia growled quietly as she came up behind Jack.

The doctor was busy laughing at Luffy's song and he had to stop himself to match the serious expression on Ana's face. He coughed and cleared his throat before serving another slice of meat and then turning to the Latina woman. "Well, everyone seems happy don't they? It's a good change from the usual mood around here."

Ana looked around and saw even the members from her own group looked like they were happy. The three kids were enjoying themselves and started dancing around Luffy. She looked towards the woods and frowned, "We have no idea when they'll strike next. It's not safe..."

"Ana," Jack grabbed her by the shoulders. Hurley was annoyed because he was up on line for another piece of meat and Jack was holding him up, but he could wait a minute. The doctor smiled at the former police officer and said, "There is not a safer place on this island," he turned his head towards the center of attention, the boy in the straw hat dancing around like an idiot. The man finished, "Than with him, right here."

With that, Jack patted Ana on the shoulders and turned back to the line. After serving Hurley, he looked back at the hesitant woman one more time. "Go enjoy yourself," he said with a laugh, "it'd be a nice change to see a smile on your face."

Ana Lucia sighed and shook her head as she looked down at the sand. When she looked back up, she had a small grin on her face. The woman nodded at Jack and demanded, "I'm next."

The doctor looked at the line of people who at this point were mainly going up for seconds. He looked back at her and then sliced off a chunk from the meat slab he had between him and John.

As the doctor handed it back to her, the man in front of Jack groaned. "Why does she get a piece before me? Wait on line like the rest of us."

"Calm down Frogurt, you're up next," Jack handed the man a chunk if meat and the man with the strange nickname grabbed it and put it on his plate.

"It's Neil," the man mumbled his complaint, but he didn't really care what anyone called him at the moment. All anyone cared about was the delicious meat before them.

Sc

The party lasted a long time, with Charlie making an appearance to sing one of his band's songs: 'You All Everybody.' A bunch of people recognized it and joined in with him, and a lot of others who didn't recognize him at first were amazed that they had a rockstar in their midsts.

Someone asked him to play his guitar, but he said it was lost in the crash. "A tragedy I know," he told them, smirking at the ladies who were watching him. He finished up his act and then walked away from the group as Usopp began a strange chant about how amazing he was.

Charlie walked over to a tree nearby and leaned up against it, sliding his hand in his pocket. "Hey Charlie are you okay?" Luffy asked the guy with short blonde hair.

The former member of Driveshaft spun around fast and dropped what he had halfway out of his pocket. "What's that?" Luffy asked and picked up the little bag before Charlie had the chance to. The teenager scared the crap out of Charlie with his sudden appearance, but now the man was angry.

"Give that back!" Charlie grabbed at Luffy's hand and ripped the little baggie out of his friend's grip. The man looked at Luffy and saw the surprised reaction on the teenager's face. "What? Don't you judge me," he snarled at the teen in the straw hat who took a step back.

Luffy had never seen Charlie like this before, and it was unnerving. "What was in that bag?" He asked slowly.

"Don't act like you don't know," Charlie replied back, trying to calm himself down as he did. He was caught about to do drugs, but this was Luffy right? He could trust him, he wanted to trust him, so he turned and started, "Listen, I know I'm a bloody idiot, but I'm running out anyway. There's only a little left. Just don't tell anyone else about it alright?" He didn't want them to know he was a junky, and he was scared of the detox he was going to have to go through.

"Alright then," Luffy said and ran back in the direction of the party.

Charlie sighed a deep breath and stared at the little bag in his hand. He wanted it now, but he slid it back into his pocket, saving it for when Luffy wouldn't be expecting it.


"So," Jack finally got his own plate set up and walked over to where Luffy was sitting with his friends. Kate was also there, sitting next to Nami, and Jack sat down next to her on the other side. The group looked at the new person joining them and most of them smiled. "How are your injuries treating you guys?"

Luffy reached both arms above his head and stretched normally. "I feel great! All I needed was some meat." Jack sweatdropped at the strange medication the kid needed for himself, but he'd never treated a rubberman before, so why not?

"I'm fine," Zoro added while lifting up a small black bottle in his left hand. "I just needed some... what did he call it, uhh," Zoro looked at the bottle and tried reading it, but it was dark and he just squinted at it harder.

"Liquor?" Kate asked with a laugh.

"Yeah," Zoro pointed at her and said. His cheeks were red and Nami looked at him, instantly yelling about how he was holding out on her. "That guy thought he could out drink me," Zoro added with a smirk and pointed over his shoulder where Sawyer was leaned up against a tree passed out.

Kate gawked and Jack cracked a smile before both started laughing.


When everyone was full and exhausted, the party began to die down. A lot of people had slowly started to open up to the strange group of four who were also the life of the party.

Usually, during the night, all the survivors would find small groups and make their own fires to sit at. Tonight however, everyone was sitting around the same fire. Around seventy people at the same campfire.

"...and then a sea monster came out of nowhere!" Luffy rose both his arms and shouted, "It was huge!"

"Whoa," Zach whispered. Cindy chuckled at the little boy's reaction, but as the flight attendant looked around, she realized a lot of people other than the children were smiling and listening closely to this story that sounded so fake and ridiculous that it couldn't be real.

"It ate the mountain bandit and the boat he threw me off of in one bite," Luffy clapped his arms together making a loud slapping sound that echoed around the campfire, scaring a few people with the loud noise and making them scoot back in their seats.

Kate was lying on her side and staring at the teen in the straw hat in wonder. He didn't look like he was lying, and she knew a few things about lying. Somehow, he really believed the story he was telling. But that couldn't be possible, so he must have just really been a great storyteller

Jack was behind her, smiling at the teen who had everyone's attention. He felt a thud next to him and turned his head right, seeing Charlie had just sat down next to him.

The rockstar had a faraway look in his eyes and he let out a long deep breath of relief. This time he managed to get a fix without anyone interrupting him. He stared at Luffy intensely as the teen walked around the fire and threw his arms around while telling his campfire story.

"...coming right at me!" The pirate continued and now everyone was listening to him, no matter whether they believed the story or not. "I couldn't swim, and it was racing through the water faster than I could even see at the time."

Luffy stopped talking and walked over to a piece of metal near him that had some of the water bottles a group got earlier sitting on it. He grabbed one of the cups and sipped it slowly. "Mmm, that tastes good..."

"Finish the story!" Walt shouted impatiently at the teen who everyone was following with their eyes, anticipating the ending. Michael might have scolded his son for being rude, if he wasn't so interested in how Luffy would have escaped had this been a real situation.

The man in the straw hat turned and grinned at Walt, a glint shining in his eyes. "The next thing I knew," he began and everyone leaned in, even his own crew members who also hadn't heard this story before. "The giant sea serpent was on my left, its jaws closed having just chomped down on where I was. But I wasn't there anymore," the teen took off the hat on his head and looked at it as he continued. "Shanks came for me-"

"Shanks did?!" Emma exclaimed and then held her hands over her mouth, wanting him to finish. They heard how cool the red haired pirate was when he came to save Luffy the first time back in town, but now he was back in the story again!

"Yeah!" Luffy answered the little girl, not annoyed at all by the interruption. "He pulled me out of the way right as it was about to get me. Then, he did the coolest thing as the beast came back around a second time to get us. Shanks lifted his head and stared straight at the monster, stopping it in its tracks. The serpent started sweating, it was terrified, and then Shanks said..." Luffy paused and put on his best Shanks' expression. "Get lost," every person around the campfire felt chills the way Luffy said it. "Then, it swam away with its tail between its legs. What a coward," Luffy started laughing again while the children ooed and ahhed at his story.

"So Shanks is a really cool guy huh?" Zach asked and Luffy nodded.

"Yeah he is. When he pulled me away, he lost his left arm, it got bitten right off." At this point a lot of people lowered their jaws at the impressive detail in what they thought was just a story. "He told me, 'It's just an arm. I'm just glad you're okay.' That's when I decided, I was going to become the best pirate the world had ever seen, even better than Shanks."

Nami's eyes opened wide as she realized what her captain was saying. She looked around and a lot of people around the fire thought he was joking, but she did see a few nervous glances here and there.

"Haha, what do you mean?" Michael asked, a smile still on his face from the touching story.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King!" Luffy told him proudly and placed his hat back on his head. "Once we can find a new ship, we'll be setting off this island. We still need a cook in the crew, that's who we were searching for when we crashed here. I want a musician too... What?" Luffy noticed that the black man in front of him had dropped his jaw and taken a few steps back.

Jack stopped smiling and he looked around the fire, realizing the happy vibe from before was gone. The three children still looked happy, confused, but happy. Other than that though, every other person was feeling extremely nervous.

"He's joking right?" Scott asked and looked around, but no one answered him.

"What do you mean your ship?" Sayid stood up and took a step towards Luffy. The fire behind Luffy was raging and crackling, but it couldn't be heard over the talking of the people around the fire who were starting to freak out. "Are you saying you weren't on the plane?"

"Nope," Luffy said and tilted his head sideways at Sayid's shocked reaction. "When your metal bird thingy broke, a piece of it broke our hull and the Going Merry, our pirate ship, sank."

A few people were arguing about how Luffy must be lying because they saw him during the crash, but he just kind of explained how that was possible. "What?" Zoro asked from where he was leaning back against a piece of wreckage. "Did we ever say we were on the plane?"

Both Nami and Usopp shrank back and looked at each other nervously. "A-Actually Zoro," Usopp started and the swordsman turned to him with an annoyed look, making the guy with the long nose jump in fright and hide behind Nami.

"We didn't want you to freak out!" Nami tried to explain to everyone quickly, standing up. She saw a lot of people looking her way nervously and she had to try and calm them down now. "Like you are now," she added quietly. "It was my fault really, I tried to keep it a secret."

"Oh," Luffy looked at the girl with orange hair, "was it supposed to be a secret? Sorry," he bowed his head but she shook hers.

"No, I shouldn't have tried to hide it. I was planning on saying something... eventually, but then we heard about the other people on the island. I didn't want everyone thinking we were part of them..."

"And how do we know you're not?" Cindy asked, keeping the kids close to her.

Zach pushed away from the flight attendant who reached for him but didn't grab him in time. The boy ran across the fire and over to the guy with green hair who people were looking at accusingly. "He saved me! When they came to take me, he stopped them. Why would he do that if he was one of them?"

Zoro grunted and took a sip from the strong alcohol that Sawyer gave him.

"So you're really pirates?" Michael asked the teenager. The black man stepped back next to Sayid and pulled his son close to his leg.

"Yep," Luffy stated. "We're gonna have a lot of adventures together." The teen in a straw hat fell back on the sand and looked up at the stars. "It's going to be great. Pirates are free."

The captain dozed off, exhausted from a whole night of partying, (as well as his supposedly healed injuries). Sayid looked down at the impossibly strong teen that struck fear into his heart. He'd been through war, but this kid was terrifying with the strength he'd exemplified. The Iraqi took a step forward, thinking that something needed to be done to ensure everyone was safe.

The Arab man suddenly froze still as he was glaring down at the teen with ill-intent in his eyes. He felt his skin start getting wet as his pores opened and he began sweating like crazy. His hair stood on end and he slowly lifted his gaze to the other side of the fire where the green haired man was glaring right back at him, one hand on his side resting dangerously close to his sword.

Sayid was a trained soldier, but the look Zoro gave him made him step instinctively away from Luffy.

"Come on Walt, let's get out of here," Michael pulled his son along against Walt's protests about how he liked them.

"You really weren't on the plane then?" Charlie asked Usopp. The sharpshooter shook his head 'no.' Charlie nodded with a thoughtful look and said, "Huh." Usopp expected a stronger reaction, but the rockstar currently doped up on heroin just stared off into the distance and thought about Luffy's strange story.

"What?" Sawyer sat up from the tree and swayed where he sat, "Is the party over already?!" The drunk man fell back asleep quickly, but he was right, it was over.

"Jack," Kate whispered and the doctor turned her way, seeing Kate talking to Nami alone. He walked over towards them and the woman with brown hair started, "A lot of people are going to be against letting them stay here."

"We don't own this beach," Jack stated, firmly giving his stance on the issue. Nami smiled in relief and Jack continued, "I'll try to calm people down, but you may want to lay low for a few days."

"Got it," Nami agreed, not wanting to get in any more trouble. "You should be more worried about the others though. If they try picking a fight with Luffy or Zoro, it's not going to end well for them."

Jack nodded, "True. I don't know what, how Luffy can do that thing." Kate looked at him weirdly but Jack continued, "His power is unreal."

"You're telling me," Nami joked and looked back at the man lying by the now empty fire. The flames were dying down as there weren't a lot of people around anymore to toss more wood on top.

Usopp was sitting with the ones who had stayed: Hurley, Charlie, and the pregnant girl Claire, answering a few of their questions about where they came from. Nami wasn't in the mood to have to answer a bunch of questions though. As Jack and Kate walked away, she went over and sat down next to Zoro.

The two of them were looking ahead at the fire and the teen lying next to it. "Ahhh," Nami sighed. "I wonder how long we're going to be here."

It was more a statement than anything, but Zoro responded anyway. "Rescue probably isn't coming like most of them think."

Nami nodded, thinking about the strange French message Usopp told them about that he heard over their radio. Zoro leaned back, "Not that it affects us anyway. We just won't be able to take one of their rescue boats now."

Nami punched him on top of the head and he growled, yelling at her. "No talking like that," Nami scolded him. "If we're stuck here with the survivors, I want to be friends with them. Talking about stealing their rescue ships isn't going to make us any allies." She smiled and whispered an addition to what she was saying, "Think it, don't say it."

Zoro smirked and then started laughing. "You're evil you know that?"

Nami grinned innocently, "Really?" The two of them laughed a little more and stared back at the fire together. She thought about earlier that day when they heard someone was drowning out in the water, how Zoro ran out and dove into the water without a moment's hesitation. "Hey Zoro," she whispered without turning to the man. He didn't turn to her either, or respond, he just listened. "I've never, slept peacefully, when I've been on pirate crews. Even on this one," she whispered and then paused as Usopp made the group of three start cracking up on the left side of the fire. Nami smiled a little and continued, "but I want that to change. Truth is, I hate pirates, but I want to trust you guys. Can I..."

"Nami," Zoro interrupted. She looked at him, while the swordsman kept staring ahead at the fire. "You can sleep now. No one will hurt you." He heard something in the normally strong girl's voice that really surprised him, he heard fear.

She stared at him in surprise for a few seconds. What he was really saying was, I will protect you, he just wasn't mushy enough to say those words out loud. "Thank you," she whispered to the man who saved her life not that long ago.

Zoro continued to watch his captain, but after a few more minutes, he felt something resting on his left shoulder. His irises darted to the left corners of his eyes and he stared at the woman's head leaning on him. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling, deep asleep.

A/N Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review below telling me what you think! See ya soon with the next update!