Okay, so I actually have vacation time right now and decided that it would be a good idea to get to work on my stories!

YAY! This Story has officially reached over 10,300 Hits, 92 Reviews, and 63 favorites! *cue excited flailing*

If I get to 100 Reviews by the end of the month..which is like three days a way...then by the 5th! I will write you guys a special Christmas one-shot!...if I have time! XD

Chapter 21: All Messed Up

I would never be able to forget that embarrassing moment when Luffy awoke to see me hovering over him, like a complete idiot no less, after I had kissed him without warning as he slept (well atleast that's what I had thought he was doing).

I buried my head into my pillow, groaning at my stupidity. 'Why? Why kami did you curse me with this habit for embarrassing situations? Even worse Luffy's ignorance?'

'Well what did you expect?' Lust taunted with a laugh. 'Did you think he'd wake up and sweep you into his arms and proceed to drag you off and make sweet love to you all night?'

My mind instantly went blank and I shuddered at the thought of Luffy doing anything remotely close to that. And believe me - it was a rather pleasant thought if you let your mind wander. 'What the hell made you think that?'

'Sweetie, you may not have been aware of it but you were dreaming rather...graphically last night. Y'know, I'm not even sure half of those positions are legal - And I'm pretty sure you two'd be able to do pretty much all of them if you take Luffy's flexibility into consideration...'

"YOU FUCKING PERVERT!" I screamed aloud, jumping onto my feet - the springs of my mattress bending under my weight as I clutched my pillow tightly to my chest. "I WOULD NEVER THINK ABOUT DOING THOSE THINGS WITH LUFFY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WE'RE TEENAGERS FOR KAMI'S SAKE!"

"L-Linda?"

I blushed furiously and spun my head around to look at a red-faced Nami, her hand held tightly to her mouth as she attempted to hold in her obvious laughter at my sudden outburst.

"S-So...shck - w-whats this I - ha - hear about you and L-Luffy?" she snickered, her speach broken by sudden laughs.

I stared at her wide-eyed, dropping my pillow. "I...said that out loud didn't I?"

She nodded quickly, finally getting her laughs under control. "Sooo~care to-"

"YOU'LL NEVER GET IT OUT OF ME!"

"So pretty!"

Strewn out before me was a long, white-sanded beach, the ground sparkling like white jewels, as enormous palmtrees sprouted from the white sea of sand near the forest line - parting into a wide path leading up to a town near the top of a large hill. The edge of the beach faded down into a silver-blue ocean, clear enough to see every creature and seashell on it's sandy bottom.

"Perfect weather for tanning!" Nami cheered.

"Beach. Bathingsuits. Babes...I'm in heaven!" Robert cried out, shedding his cape and shirt in a random direction and bounding off towards a small group of giggling blonde-haired girls among the many beach goers - his trusty signature rose already at hand.

"Let's swim!" Luffy said, begining to run off towards the water only to faceplant as Nami knocked the idiotic captain upside the head.

"You can't swim!"

"Oh yeah..."

"Robin-nee~" I sang, peering up at the tall raven-haired archaeologist. "Why don't we go up to the town and do a little shopping?"

The archaeologist nodded and took my hand softly to lead me away from the rambunctious group, the both of us laughing when we finally managed to slip away undetected.

"So, where should we head first, Entertainer-san?"

My eyes sparkled in excitement as I gazed down the long stretch of shops and boutiques lining the mainstreet of the island. I frowned, unable to choose, and looked up at Robin. "You choose!"

She hummed and glanced around, finally settling on a bookstore. "Ah, why don't we search for a little something to read?"

I pouted up at her. "Awe~You're no fun Robin-nee!"

The bell rung above our heads as we stepped through the threshold of the store. The walls were lined from ceiling to floor with every sort of size and colored book imaginable. The sheer amount seemed to make the Straw-hat archaeologist absolutely giddy - enough so that she left me standing lonley in the doorway without a second thought.

I bit my lip and glanced around, becoming rather claustrophobic at the amount of reading material, and chose to simply slip random colorful novels off the shelf when it pleased me.

"Books, Books, Books...so many books~" I sang, skipping down a narrow isle with a bored espression. I was never the type of person to just sit and do nothing when it pleased me, I always seemed to have to be moving. The only time I ever seemed to read books was when I was young - and that was only if said book had pictures I could look at rather than teeny, tiny words.

'Literature is good for the imagination' Lust said absentmindedly.

'Then maybe I shouldn't have read so much as a kid - probably what gave me an annoying voice in my head'

I went back to exploring and snatched a bright magenta book off a shelf above my head, pulling it down to look at the cover.

"A Pirate's Dream..." I read aloud, scowling at the children's book I now held. Slowly I slipped it back into place, setting myself back onto my feet and turning to look at all the books with a look of confusion.

"Dream?" I murmured, thinking back to the dream that I had so loudly proclaimed to every pirate I met at my family's bar.

"A pirate, eh?" A large grinning pirate mocked, laughing down at the young red-haired girl with a curious look. "You're only a child, lass. You should be thinking about ponies, and all that other girly shit."

A seven year old Linda glared friously up at the old pirate, wispy red curls framing her heart-shaped face, making her furiously reddened cheeks look all the more cuter. "I hate ponies for your information, you stupid old fatass. And I will become a pirate! It's in my blood! I may be a girl but when I get older I'll kick your ass all the way to Raftel - then you won't be laughing!"

"Linda!"

Young Linda turned to glare at a fifteen-year-old Robert who's bright crimson hair was a deep contrast to his younger sister's deep wine-red curls. Linda simply huffed up at him, her chubby arms crossing over her chest in a defiant pose. "What?" she snapped.

Robert popped her on the top of the head lightly. "What did mom tell you about that mouth of yours? Apologize!"

She simply lifted an eyebrow, glaring up at the disgrace of a pirate that she had just been shouting at. "Sorry...but I wouldn't have done it if you weren't such a dumbass."

"LINDA!" he snapped, attempting to catch the girl as she stepped back, dodging her brother's hand and running off to her father who sat watching the quarrel with an amused smile. She grabbed his hand and hid behind his chair as Robert ran after her.

Ricktor let out a loud bark of laughter at the two children's antics and pushed the elder brother back lightly in an attempt to keep him from practically slaughtering the dirty-mouthed seven-year-old.

"But Dad, she should be talking like that! Especially with a pirate!" Robert shouted, trying to reason with the former pirate.

Ricktor simply waved a hand and grinned. "Ah, just leave her be. If she wants to go out to sea then she's gotta learn how to cuss like a sailor."

Linda laughed at the shocked expression on her big brother's face and crawled up into her father's lap, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek above his thin beard. "Thank you Daddy!"

He simply sighed and ruffled her hair. "So, you want to be a pirate, eh?"

She nodded, a flame of determination apparent in her eyes. "Who wouldn't! I wanna be just like you! Strong, fearless, brave, uh...strong! Wait, think I said that..."

Ricktor chuckled and tapped her on the nose, elliciting a small giggle from the young aburnette. "Well then, don't listen to them!"

She tipped her head to the side in confusion. "Who?"

"The pirates who said you can't become a pirate! You have as much chance at it than any of these old foolhardy bums. Promise me, that you'll become a pirate no matter what others say..."

The young Linda nodded slowly, a new confidence instilled into her by her father's words.

"But...What will you do then?"

"Huh? When, what?"

"When you become a pirate," he said. "That can't be your only dream..."

She furrowed her eyebrows and thought so hard about whatever else she could want after she becomes a pirate. Obviously she wanted to become strong, but didn't every other pirate and regular weak person she knew. "I...don't know. I guess...I'll just have to think of something when I get there!"

"Another dream..." I murmured softly, my eyes downcast as I thought back to the simple days when I could simply declare my dream of piracy like no tomorrow - but now I was a pirate. And it was as simple as that -I had already achieved it, but what could I do now? My dream couldn't simply be to crown Luffy Pirate King, I would be doing that anyway.

"Entertainer-san? Are you alright, you look ill."

I glanced up at the raven-haired woman with vacant eyes, a frown marring my lips. "Robin-nee...what's my dream?"

She stopped blinking her large blue eyes for a moment at my random question and shook her head slowly. "Was it not to become a pirate?"

I nodded, looking slowly back up at the bright-colored children's book with a frown of disdain. "Yeah, but...I'm a pirate now what? I promised my fath-um...I mean Ricktor that when I became a pirate that I would have thought of another dream to follow...but I don't know what it is. I had completely forgotten until now..."

Robin hummed, pressing her thumb and index finger to the bridge of her nose in thought. "That is quite a predicament..." She turned to the shelf and looked at it with a curious gaze, her eyes roaming over the scattered titles in search of something that would peak her interest, then simply turned back to me smiling.

"Well, if you let time do it's work - I'm sure you'll find something that will become important to you."

I sighed in exasperation, reaching up to scratch the back of my head with a groan. "Can we just get out of here soon? The colors are making me dizzy..."

"Why the heck did you two go?" Nami said, glancing down at our arms weighed down with bags of all sizes.

We both shared a glance before bluntly stating, "Shopping..."

She stared us down...well at least she did to me - Robin she had to look up at - and then back down at our bags with a frown.

"Well...you better have gotten me something...Now c'mon, lets go get into our bathingsuits!"

I gulped, just imagining another one of Nami's poking and prodding sessions as I tried on clothes when I got into my own old baby-blue bathingsuit. I threw my bags onto my bed and went to sift through my small dresser beside my bed for any form of swimwear that I had probably forgotten back on Pirate Isle. I stopped and pulled out an unfamiliar black and red striped bikini, then soon remembered it was the same one Nami had practically forced me into in the dressing room.

I shrugged and grabbed it, turning around to see the two of them shamelessly changing with their backs to me making me spin around with a frown. A moment later I turned to see Nami watching me expectantly, her blue striped bikini already on.

"Aren't you going to change?" she asked, pointing to the bathingsuit in my hands.

I flushed. "Y-Yeah...but not in the same room as you guys..."

She laughed under her breath. "God, you're so insecure! Fine, we'll leave!"

She and Robin walked out while I quickly slipped into my bathing suit and tossed my clothes onto the bed and went to join the two on the deck.

Nami turned when I stepped out the door and frowned at me like one of the boys had just let one rip. She quickly took my wrist and pulled me back into the room with a harsh tug. "You are not going out there like that!"

I glanced down at my bathingsuit and sandals with a confused look. "Well then how the hell do you expect me to go swimming without this?"

She shook her hands quickly and snorted. "No, not that. Your hair! It makes your shoulders look too wide." She quickly walked behind me and started tugging at my hair making me let out a squeak when she tugged too hard. She tightened her hold and slipped a hair tie onto it and flicked the ponytail with a laugh.

I frowned and rubbed my stinging scalp with an experimentative finger. "Ow..."

"Oh shush," Nami sighed, tapping my hand away from my head with a grin. "Now here!" She tied a black sarong around my hips then patted my shoulder with a grin. "There ya go! Now let's show you off to the guys~!"

I frowned as Nami pulled me again (none to gently might I add) out the door.

"I just wanted to go swimming..."

Back out on the deck the rest of the guys stood, already in assortments of swim-trunks (although in Franky's case Speedo), waiting for us girls to hurry. Almost as soon as we stepped out, Sanji went right into Mellorine mode, fawning over the three of us, calling us his cutsy pet names and such.

Robert on the other hand was absolutely fuming at the attention Sanji was giving me, and was barely being held back by a laughing Ace as he had a tight hold onto Robert's abnormally long rat-tail*.

"DEAR SISTER!" he cried out, falling to his knees and putting his head in his hands. "Why are you dressed so indecently? Especially around these ruffians?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Really? I'm sixteen for Kami's sake! Just get over youself!" I shouted, sweatdropping when I realized he had gone to hand Nami a rose with his nostrils flared, and a rather...perverse grin on his face.

"HENTAI!"

Franky's head shot up. "Who called?"

Okay, so I think I'm gonna leave it off there. I wanted it to be longer but I guess I'm just gonna leave the important scene for the next chapter~ XD

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