O.O it seems like I was just here but, here I am again and with actual serious plot.

Thanks everyone for continuing to read, warms my heart truly.

I can't say when the next update will be, though it should be a fun, mostly plotless one unless the characters have something else in mind. Gotta keep your eye on them all the time, especially Meli.

Work is being... a real problem... Bad enough that if it doesn't get better, I'll be looking for another job. As you can imagine, that will take up most of my time and mental focus. Really, I'm not sure how I've been writing at all with the way things have been. I hope it's not showing up in my writing, I may think it looks fine but well...

Warnings/special notes.

Some swearing and mentions of alcohol and Meli's brother being well... idiots. Hopefully I explained everything ok. If not let me know so I can elaborate.

I don't own One Piece. Just my ideas and crazy OC's

There was much commotion and excitement aboard the Moby Dick in the hours leading up to the party.

Parties normally were a source of thrills but, it wasn't often they had a party with another group that was not allies with them. A party with were-nekos, one of the most secretive and aloof races in the world was something special.

Melisandra was beside herself, the whole family had heard her version of the story, at least twice. Everyone was curious to learn more about the group, they didn't even know what clan they came from.

Every last Whitebeard pirate was out on deck for the arrival of their guests. No one wanted to miss this party for the world. The cooks, hell, the whole crew went overboard for this party.

Izo had gone all out in his best kimono, high quality makeup, hair done up to geisha perfection, a new pair of geta's and of course nails painted up to match his appearance. Everyone, especially Thatch couldn't help but admire his appearance.

All of the Whitebeard pirates dressed up to their version of fashionable. Even Haruta had her hair done and wore her best dress. If the smoldering looks Vista was throwing her way was anything to go by, they wouldn't be getting any sleep later tonight. Going by Hatura's smile every time she caught him starting, that was exactly what she had in mind.

Ace well, he at least had a bath and put on a clean pair of his favorite shorts. Melisandra bulked as usual over shoes but, Izo did manage to get her to wear a nice dress. Her hair even had a few loose braids.

On schedule, the ship belonging to the were-nekos rounded the island and came into view. It was not as large as the Moby but, she was a fine craft none the less.

As the ship came closer it became clear that the deck, and even the ratlines were full of were-nekos. Her flag was flying freely in the evening breeze. It was orange and featured five claws that appeared to be tearing through the fabric.

Calls of greetings and friendly shouts were passed from both ships as the were-neko's glided their ship alongside the Moby Dick.

It became clear that it was not just Melisandra that held an enchanting, exotic beauty. All were-neko's were masters in this department. From their long hair that shined in the lowest light, their brilliantly colored eyes, to the unique stripe and spotted patterns, though a few had no pattern.

Vespira was standing in the center of the main deck, holding a medium sized brown box. There was three large barrels of some king of liquor beside her and many of the were-nekos were holding large trays of various foods.

With a low roar from Vespira, the were-nekos high above began furling the sails and readying the ship to be at anchor for the time being.

When everything was settled, Vespira called out. "Permission for us to come aboard!?" Laughing, Whitebeard awnsered. "Permission granted."

The were-neko's jumped up and over to the Moby Dick, some jumped in tandem, carrying the barrels with them. The were-neko's up in the ratlines didn't bother climbing down first, they jumped over to the Moby Dick, landing neatly amongst the Were-nekos already present.

The were-neko's still went without shoes and held firm to there belief in not wearing many clothes. What they did have on was brightly colored and embellished with embroidery or metalwork.

The females wore lightweight skirts or shorts and loose tops, easy to take on and off. The male were-nekos were much like Ace, not bothering at all with a shirt. They wore shorts much like Ace's with pockets and like the females wardrobe, easy to get out of.

The female members of the crew, alongside the male members were enjoying the view.

It did explain the difficulties they had in getting Meli to wear shoes and her fussy ways over clothes. It appeared to be a trait in the basic were-neko functionality. More then a few of Meli's brothers and sisters made a mental note along the lines of: Melisandra must not be allowed to date until she's thirty.

Pop's booming laugh rang out before he spoke. "Welcome aboard! To Which Clan do owe a toast to? "

Vespira grinned. "Well, you mostly have members of the Sabortooth Clan tonight but, there are a few here from the Razor-Fang Clan. Speaking of Clans, Which one does Melisandra hail from?"

Meli popped up beside Vespira from out of nowhere, something her family was used to. It seemed to be a normal occurrence to a were-neko if the lack of surprise from them was anything to go by. "I'm from the Red-Claw clan. " Melisandra looked up at her, hoping against all the odds that she would have some news of her clan.

Vespira ' eyes widened, she heard several gasps from the others. Of all the things she could have said... actually, of all the things Melisandra could have said this one was not unreasonable. Non of the other clans had a missing kit , even so she couldn't have been much more then a toddler at the time...

"We thought we had found all the survivors from the volcanic eruption, we only found about a thousand survivors... Tell me dear, do you know who your mother was?"

"Nikki... her mate's were Wakiza and Blaz, I had two brothers called Edel and Eason."

Vespira stared at Meli a moment longer before looking to the other were-nekos, asking "Ring any bells?" It was Ryker who stepped foreword. "The name Blaz is familiar, I believe he hailed from the Sabortooth-Clan before moving to the Red-Claw clan to be with his mate. I believe his sisters and brother went with him. Melisandra may have some distant kin in the Sabortooth-Clan."

Melisandra looked up at her Pops, wondering what he would think of that. Meli herself wasn't to sure, she had her family right here. But, if there really was more clan out there, what did that mean for her. She didn't want to leave here. It was her home. But, Melisandra wanted to get to know what remaining clan she had, wanted to know more about her mom, pappas, and the brothers she never knew.

Whitebeard looked down at his daughter and saw she conflicting emotions in her eyes. "It is up to you sweetheart. Your life, your choice. No matter what you choose you will always be my daughter, you will always have your siblings here. You will always have a home here."

Melisandra smiled up at her Pops. "I don't want to leave home but, I would like to know more about where I came from and more about my kin."

Whitebeard smiled. "It's a good thing we restocked, it will give us plenty of time to learn what we can."

With that, the party become more of a celebration. There was much talking and not much drinking as of yet. Before the real drinking began, Vespira gathered everyone around Pop's, who was seated in his usual chair. Melisandra was in the center of the expanding circle along with Vespira, who still had ahold of the box she'd been carrying.

Once everyone that could gain a view had one, climbing on whatever they could in some cases to get one, Vespira opened the box. Inside was, well... not the prettiest stones they had ever seen but, it was nowhere near the ugliest either. It was an elegant looking white, if you stared at it hard enough,my out could swear that there was a hint of other colors there too. Vespira took it out of the box, taking care to keep a black velvet cloth between her and the stone. It had been carefully rounded and looked remarkably smooth.

Thatch let out a small laugh and in typical Thatch fashion, asked. "Is that some sort of present?" Vespira smiled. "No. But, it might reveal a gift to Melisandra and by association, to the Whitebeard pirates. Most have heard of the 'Gigget Master' it is a ranking system we were-nekos use based on skill levels. But, we have something else, So do humans. Something a were-neko is either born with or not."

Vespira looked around to make sure her audience was following her so far, she was not one to repeat herself.

Satisfied, Vespira continued. "As with humans, there is a magical bloodline that flows amongst the Were-nekos. Ours has not been so watered down though, so most have a lower level of magical talent.

There are four levels, each one above the first one has the magic use of the ones below plus the magical abilities of that title.

The first is Witch. They have excellent healing capabilities and defensive magic though, a clever witch can use their magic to attack as well.

The second is wizard-" Vespira held one hand and waving one finger. "I know, to humans, witches are females and wizards are male. We don't bother to separate these groups by gender, alright. Alright. Wizards have fairly good defensive magic and some basic skill at illusions.

The third is sorcerer or sorceress. They are capable of some very destructive magic but, they can also use it to create as well. Very good at illusions and can levitate small objects. They have other skills as well. Get enough of them together and you wouldn't need an army.

The forth is mage. It's hard to say what they can do since it can be difficult describing just how much they can do. Let's just say that they are like a devil fruit user, maybe more then one even.

Some can start fires, though they do not have as good a control over them as Ace here. Explosions are well within the realm of possibility. Illusions real enough to fool those with haki and the ability to levitate much heavier objects, among many other skills. There are a few who are downright scary in the level of control and magic they poses. Anyway, I think you get the picture."

Vespira held up the stone, ready to explain it's presence. "This is what we call Moonstone. It reacts to the magic in the person who touches it, changing color. From that we can tell not only if they have magic but, what kind. Curiously enough, it reacts touches devil fruit users too."

Vespira held the Moonstone down at Melisandra's level. "All you have to do Meli is place your hands on the sides of the stone. It will react in a few seconds after you touch it."

Melisandra looked up at Pops and with his encouraging smile, Meli placed her hands on the stone. It was oddly warm, and very smooth, almost like glass.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then, almost like it had been doing this all along and you just wern't looking at it right, colors swirled and danced within the stone.

Green, blue, red, gold and white followed their own unique pattern in the stone. Sometimes they would swirl or zigzag, sometimes one color would disappear only to explode into view like a fireworks display. All of the crew took their turn crowding in to have a look.

Vespira straightened up again and with a smile in her voice, said. "Congratulations Whitebeard pirates. You have a Mage in your crew."

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

After the shouts and calls of how awesome that was, everyone had to try placing their hands on the Moonstone. For Marco and Ace, a firestorm of their respective colors appeared within the stone.

For Jozu, it looked like Vespira was holding a large dimond, causing many to laugh. When Whitebeard touched it, it looked like he broke it from the cracks that formed inside the stone.

Vespira it turned out, was a wizard. Blue and green light danced to their own tune when she let her hands touch the Moonstone.

Ryker was a witch, green lightning flashed within the stone. Some teased him until the same green crackled along Ryker's skin and he asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to find out just what a capable witch could do. The grin Ryker wore had everyone deciding that No-one did.

The stone was soon passed around to everyone, even non devil fruit users, just to see if they might be a magic user instead.

For everyone else on the crew, nothing happened. At least until the Moonstone was passed on into the hands of Kichi, one of the nurses that had regularly attended to Meli. The same green lightning lit up the Moonstone as it had done for Ryker. Though it wasen't as bright. Vespira said that her power was not as strong as Ryker's but, she was still a witch. The Whitebeard pirates suddenly had two magic users to celebrate.

Both Melisandra and Kichi were gifted with a few books on magic an reassurances that they would find someone who would be willing to help teach them the basics on Murky Island.

From then on, it was a full out party. Complete with silly drinking contests, dancing on tables, stupid bets, singing in multiple harmonious, and more of the usual insane things ones does at a party.

Several were-nekos had to be stopped from dancing on the ship's railing and Melisandra was almost squashed by one of her drunken brothers when he finally hit the falling down drunk side of being drunk.

Ace was getting a lot of lingering looks in his direction. In fact even some of the white-... Melisandra stopped taking in the sights of the party and started thinking. Oh no... no. No. No...? Not another pair of idiots...

Marco was also watching Ace, with his usual relaxed appearance. None of the family would suspect anything. His sent however, was Much like Thatch's when Izo was getting a lot of attention from people.

Melisandrs resisted the urge to bang her head against something. That's it. It was official. Her brothers were clueless morons and it was time for her to do something. It was Meli's duty as their sister. Why let them continue to be idiots when they could at least be happy idiots.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Melisandra stared out over the ocean, the water was so calm it reflected the starlight. It was a unusual and beautiful sight, the ocean was rarely this settled. Meli wished her own thoughts circling around the one problem she was thinking of reflected the same calm.

Vespira sat beside her, waiting to see what the young one wished to speak of. With a sigh, Melisandra asked. "You know Teach, one of my-" There was a hesitation before Meli continued. "Brothers... Well, I was wondering if you noticed anything. ... odd... strange... sort of different about him." Melisandra trailed off, Vespira would either understand, even without any further explanation or she wouldn't, just like her brothers.

Melisandra longed to have someone to talk to about this that would understand, really understand. Her brothers tried, though Melisandra knew they had no idea what the hell she was talking about. Meli knew they'd be quite shocked to learn about some of the well, Meli could call them thoughts but they were more like... instincts revolving around Teach and what she should do about him.

Vespira knew well what the kit spoke of. She along with the other were-nekos felt it and did their best to be polite but, keep their distance from the man called Teach.

Vespira thought best how to deliver her thoughts and advice on this particular situation. It would require a lot of tact and caution. Were the problem that of the were-neko's alone they would have acted as one and driven out one such as he.

"I think that humans are both blessed and cursed with an abysmal sense of smell. If they were able to see him through our eyes and more importantly, our nose he never would have been allowed on the Moby Dick." Vespira sighed before continuing.

"You are right, never doubt that. Teach is hiding something, he is hiding his true self. What else he is hiding behind that fake friendliness and false smile, I couldn't say. If you are lucky, Teach may go through his entire life and never give a clue to what the darkness is that lurks within him." Vespira shrugged and shook her head sadly.

"But, we are seldom that lucky. So Melisandra, the best I can tell you is never let your guard down, never forget what you truly sense him to be. Let your instincts guide you but, pay attention to what your head tells you. Until Teach shows his true self, you cannot act before then." Vespira glanced sideways at Meli before delivering her last thought.

"So, don't go attacking him before he does something. You are going to have to watch, wait, listen and be ready to protect your family from the useless organ they have for a nose."

There was a gasp from Melisandra as she turned wide eyes to Vespira. "How did you know I wanted to attack him!?"

Vespira laughed softly. "Don't worry my dear dear, your secret is safe. The same feeling to attack and eliminate the perceived threat was strong in all of the were-nekos tonight. I must say, it is a challenge to hold polite conversation with some when all you really want to do deep down, is rip their throat out. You'll have your work cut out in refraining from doing doing so until Teach does something to justify such actions. Your urge to do so will only grow stronger as you age. I wish you much luck, I'm sure you'll need it. I know I would. "

Well, Melisandra thought, that was certainly encouraging... Were-nekos were not good at waiting at the best of times.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Several miles away, the distance increasing with every hour, laughter could be heard coming from below deck aboard the Sabortooth-Clan's ship.

Vespira couldn't help herself, never was she one to miss out on a prank and oh, what a good one. Old she may be but, her spirit was still that of a mischievous young teen. Vespira laughed harder as she thought about the chaos that she just helped unleash aboard the Moby Dick. Just wait until the others hear about this one...

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

The next morning, Melisandra locked herself in her room after breakfast. She was determined to learn the were-neko language and was great-full for the helpful translation key Vespira included with the books.

After several minutes of study, Melisandra had worked out the translations for each of the books. A wicked grin spread across her face. While the first four books had rather normal titles like, Unlocking your magical potential: A helpful reference to find your inner power balance and aura strength building. Four of the books were very different and had rather appealing titles for the prankster inside her.

Nanna Marzy's helpful guide to potions and pranks.

Fun with magic mirrors: with bonus chapters on magic candles, circles and illusions.

Old mother Silver Claw's advanced guide to pranks for the master mischief maker.

A pranking survival guide: helpful tips to keep your pranks safe yet, satisfactory.

Melisandra broke out into laughter, it sounded much like Thatch's laugh. Right when he was about to 'happen' to someone.

The few brothers that were within hearing distance slowly backed away from her door, as though they just found out that the gates of hell were not gates but, in fact a door. This particular door.

Word of Melisandra's evil laughter soon spread. In no time everything from opening a small cabinet on up merited extreme caution from the crew.

In a few days when anything failed to happen to anyone, Meli's brothers and sisters would start to relax. Which, is a silly thing for them to do.

For while were-neko's had little to no patience in waiting, it seemed that it was because they used all that up in their strategic planing and if that was for pranks...

Well everyone had just better watch out. Meli was armed and dangerous with some of the most complete literature on pranks and pranking ever written.