I was disappointed to find no outlet from the upper cabin besides the door I used to get in. That made my flight from Nami short-lived and, ultimately, unsuccessful. With a sigh, I had to give up my contraband.

Nami started snatching back the wallets and purses from my hands. "If I were you, I'd get to know the ship before leading a wild goose chase on it."

I laughed, adjusting my shoulder strap for my bag. "Duly noted. Thanks. And, I really was just messing around. You would have gotten them back."

Nami just stared at me dubiously for a few seconds before relaxing a bit, indicating that she probably believed me. She headed back the way we came, but paused at the door. "Oh, word of caution: don't go in the guys' room. It's the hatch below the mast." She rolled her eyes at my playful salute. "Whatever. I'm going down to our room. See you down there."

I took my time looking around the ship. I figured it would be worth the exploration. Sure, I was going to be on the ship for a long time, but I wanted to know as much as I could as soon as I could learn it.

The room I was in had a kitchen and pantry as one half and a lounging area as the other. In the middle of the room and facing the bow was a pole about waist-high with a sheep figurehead to match the one at the front of the ship. Examining its joint on the floor, it seemed to be a steering mechanism. At the time, it was locked in place by a foot pedal, directing the ship forward. Since there was no other way out of the room, I headed back out the way I came.

Out on the deck, taking the stairs up led to a platform where Nami's trees were. There was also plenty of room to relax and maybe set up a table and chairs. Taking the stairs down from the meeting room led to the main deck. I saw the infamous hatch at the foot of the mast and I cringed, trying not to think about the possible mess that could be caused by four men. Instead, I went into the room beside the stairs and directly below the meeting room.

The room was obviously storage. It was filled with a wide assortment of boxes, barrels, and sacks. It smelled like alcohol, dried meats, bread, and gunpowder. Nestled between stacks of stuff were two cannons, each sticking out perfectly-sized windows on either side of the room with a pyramid of extra cannon balls beside them. Above me, I saw what I assumed to be the shaft connecting the steering stick upstairs with the rudder. At the back of the room, there was another door, a beefy chest with an equally buff lock to the right of the door, and a trap door hatch to the left. I decided to peek in the window of the door ahead of me.

It was the ship's bathroom. Seeing it unoccupied, I checked it out. The room was on the small side, but there was enough room to move around comfortably. There was a small bathtub, a stack of towels, a sink with a small mirror, and a toilet. I noticed a curtain that could be moved over the door's window and immediately felt suspicious of another way to peek inside the bathroom. Taking a cursory look around the walls yielded nothing, but I was still suspicious. I also wondered how water got into the room. Turning the sink's faucet only gave me a dribble of water and I couldn't find a pump of any kind in the room. I figured it would be best to ask Nami when I found her. She probably knew where it was.

I had to knock on the hatch back in the storage room because I found it locked. I recoiled at a sudden shout from below me.

"I said I'm unpacking!"

I laughed nervously and then took a deep breath. "Nami, it's me."

There was a few seconds of silence and then I heard feet on a ladder. The inside latch clicked and slid open. I heard Nami go back down the ladder so I flipped up the hatch and went down, closing the hatch again after me.

"Lock it, too." Nami didn't look at me as she pulled stuff out of a suitcase and filled a dresser.

I relocked the hatch and looked around. It was elaborate, to put it modestly. Even just looking at the room from the ladder, I could tell great care was put into the creation of the room. Pastel paints and intricate designs covered the walls and ceiling. Only the finest furniture was in the room except for a liquor bar in the corner that stuck out a bit, not quite fitting the vibe from the rest of the room.

"You can come down, you know. We're roommates now."

I shrugged and made my way down. "Just looking around. Having problems with someone already?"

She closed a drawer and sighed. "They're all a bunch of incompetent idiots. I still can't believe they want to go to the Grand Line." She turned to me, fists on her hips. "They don't even know how to get to the Grand Line! Can you believe them?"

I couldn't help but laugh, making her narrow her eyes and growl. I shook my head and waved my hands gently. "Sorry. Sorry. I don't know how to get to the Grand Line either, so, yes. I believe it. But, I also believe in their abilities. Nami, we just witnessed them beat Arlong and his fish goons. Luffy beat Krieg and you've probably seen him beat other powerful pirates, too. We'll be okay."

Nami moaned and rubbed her eyes. "You sound like you're on a cruise…" When I shrugged, she sighed. "We have more to worry about than just pirates when we get to the Grand Line. The Navy is everywhere, all the big-name pirates are notorious devil-fruit users, storms spring up out of nowhere, AND-most importantly-everything gets so damn expensive!"

I was impressed with her know-how. "Wow, Nami. It sounds like you've been there."

Nami flopped herself onto the nice-looking couch. "No, I haven't, but Arlong had. He talked about the Grand Line often." She folded her arms. "I didn't think I'd be going there so soon…" Her complexion darkened and she shot a sour look at the ceiling. "...especially with a couple of muscle-headed nut brains…"

I sat beside her with a smile. "Then I guess we're going to have to be the brains of this crew. They've already got more than enough brawn."

"No doubt there." Her eyebrows raised in skepticism. "You've got an awful lot of confidence in them considering we're going to have to fight, too. I never actually asked you before, but can you?"

I looked away in thought. "To be honest, I have no idea. I did almost break the arm of a naval guy who touched me inappropriately at the Baratie." I turned my gaze down to my hands, thinking about the dream again. "I also… I also…"

She blinked, waiting for me to finish. "You...what?" Her eyes widened and she leaned forward. "Oh, your amnesia-are you remembering something?"

It wouldn't come to me, so I shook my head and looked up at her apologetically. I was disappointed with myself, but I tried not to show it. "It's okay. I'll remember when I need to." I stood, taking off my bag. "Anyway, where should I put my stuff, roomie?"

Nami went back to the dresser and opened another drawer. "I'll try not to take up the whole dresser. Is that all you have?" I nodded and she motioned to the bottom left drawer. "I haven't taken that one yet. Is that okay?"

It wasn't perfect, but it would work. "It's fine. Maybe I can get my own dresser sometime, though I don't know where I'd put it." I was quick in my unpacking and stuffed my bag under the dresser itself.

"I forgot there was only one." Nami nonchalantly continued her unpacking, taking too long seemingly on purpose. "Otherwise, I would have asked Teru to make me one. He's the one who made that." She motioned to the custom-made bar in the corner that I noticed earlier. "Have something to drink, if you want. It's all local Coco stuff-just don't drink it all."

I shook my head almost immediately. "No thanks. I don't drink, remember?"

She paused only briefly. "Oh, yeah. If cider knocks you out-"

"Hey!" I folded my arms with a scowl. "Come on! It wasn't the cider! I have-" I paused when she stifled a laugh.

"I'm just messing with you. Jeez, you're touchy."

I sighed and relaxed. "It's okay. I've dealt with worse." A hatch I didn't notice before caught my eye. It was partially covered by the couch and had a lock on it with the key still in it. "Hey, where's that go?"

"The guys' room. It's locked on our side for obvious reasons."

I cringed. "Yes. Yes, it would be." I suddenly remembered the bathroom. "Oh! I just remembered. How do we get water into the bathroom?"

She shrugged. "I'm not surprised you didn't see it. There's a water pump under the stairs outside."

I nodded. "Any peepholes I should be aware of?"

"If I find any, I'm killing all of them."

I couldn't help but snicker. "All right. Well, I'm off to check out the rest of the ship. When I come back, I'll knock like this." I knocked on the coffee table twice, waited a moment, and then knocked twice more.

"Got it. Have fun."

Before I even made it to the outer door of the storage room above, I heard Nami lock the hatch to our room again. I thought she was acting a bit strange, but maybe she just needed some alone time. The Grand Line seemed like a pretty big deal from everything Yosaku and Nami had told me and I was probably in over my head, but I still felt like she might have been over-reacting. I figured she would feel better in a little while.

Out by the stairs, sure enough, I found a little cubby that I missed. It was small, but just big enough for one person to crank this little unicycle-like contraption. Out of curiosity, I pedaled it a few times. There was quite a bit of resistance and I did hear some sloshing of water other than the sounds of the sea, so it was obviously working. I decided the cubby would make a great hiding spot if anything were to happen.

Looking out over the deck, I saw Zoro fast asleep under the mast in a ray of sun and Luffy was perched up on the figurehead at the bow. I wondered where Usopp and Sanji were, but I shrugged and carried on my exploration. Walking past Zoro, I imagined that only the walking dead would rouse him-and I still halfway doubted that. He'd probably wake up only if someone tried to take his swords. That was definitely not on my "to do" list. Just, no.

I again ignored the hatch below the mast and instead went through the door into the room at the bow and below the figurehead. The first thing I saw was the cannon, making a total of three on the ship. It faced forward, sticking out a small window just like the other two. Cannonballs lay next to it and more were in a pile off to the side. A very large crank mechanism was anchored in the middle of the room. It had four pushing rods on the top of it and a sturdy rope wrapped tightly around it. I couldn't see the end of the rope because it lay taut on the floor and exited the room via a small port. Peering out, I saw the anchor hanging on the side of the ship. It rest of the room was filled with mops and buckets, life preservers, long oars for rowing, and spare weapons like pistols, a few boxes of bullets and gunpowder, and a few sabers taken from the fishmen.

I recognized Zoro's katana in the top sword rack on the wall. Getting to look at that closely was a treat for me. It was obviously cared for; I couldn't see any spot or blemish on the hilt or scabbard beyond the wear and tear of owning it for years. I snickered to myself as I figured that it was probably cleaner than he was. I then stuck out my tongue as I wondered about bathing frequencies for the guys. With a shudder, I put it from my mind. That was not something I wanted to think about.

My attention turned to the spare sabers. I picked one up and pulled it slowly from its scabbard. I looked it over, testing its weight and balance. It pulled at my sore arms, so I knew I couldn't hold it for long, but I wanted to know about it. It didn't take me long to decide it wasn't for me. It was too long and, therefore, had bad balance for me. It seemed sturdy and useful enough, but I'd only grab one of them for emergencies. Despite this, I felt a familiar feeling while holding it-the leather grip, the weight of steel in my hand…

I found myself settling into a relaxed stance, my right foot facing forward and my left perpendicular to it beneath me. I easily balanced on the balls of both feet and held the saber comfortably but firmly in front of me, the blade's tip pointing down. By this time, my arm was hurting, so I put the sword against the wall and switched to the scabbard. It was a little awkward, but I didn't want to lose the moment. I resumed the stance and took a calming breath. My eyes closed, I just let my muscles remember.

I held the scabbard up over my head and parallel to the floor. My arm was comfortably an L and my wrist firm, not lopsided or angled. Once I was sure of my position, I rotated the L of my arm, holding the scabbard vertically on my right side. Then, I held up my left hand at shoulder-height and met it with my right fist, crossing my arm completely over. After that, I naturally let the tip of the scabbard fall and I held it vertically on my right side again, this time pointed down. Finally, I met my left hand again with the back of my right hand and the tip still pointed down. It all felt so right and so familiar.

"Five-point defense. Looks like you do know some swordsmanship."

Thank you all for your love and attention. Feel free to leave a review, questions, and theories.

Love you all!

~shdw