Right now, I'm alternating between my other active fic, 'So why do we have a firebender on our team again?' so I now if I update this one, the next update will be that one. Check it out; it's an Avatar/Hetalia crossover with no OCs. As a general rule, I don't allow OCs. John, Mary, and the police was a one-time thing.

Did you know that in Chinese, the first character for Tomato is also the first character for Spain? Spain is 西班牙 (Xībānyá, pronounced she-bahn-yah), tomato is 西紅柿, (Xīhóngshì). Foreign fruits and vegetables in Chinese tend to have their own names based on what they are (Tomato is West, Red, Persimmon. Watermelon is West Melon), while countries tend to be pronounced close to what they would normally be pronounced in the major language in that country, (Canada is Jia-na-da, England is ying guo, etc.).

Does anyone know who the figure is?

Chapter 29 (figure POV)

"So dis eez de place vhere Oroszország vas," I said. A small inn was spread before me. The girl had given me specific instructions for where I should go. It's next to a strudel stand, it only has pear and apple, you can't miss it, she had said. Strudel… it reminded me of him… the one I was looking for.

"Hey! You there!" someone yelled at me from behind. "Yeah you, with the long hair!"

"Vhat do you vant," I snarled back. He was wearing a sailor uniform, like that kid Sealand, except on a buff, fully-grown man.

"I want you to get out of the way, kid!" he shouted back, not intimidated by my twelve-year-old body.

I glanced around him, and an entire squadron of people was behind him. "Fine," I muttered, and left. I could always get a strudel. As I left, I saw a pair of them holding hands… could they be…? Just in case, I snapped a picture with a camera- the kind that prints pictures instantly- and scribbled, "Investigating, possibly," in my language.

"So, you got the money for this, kid?" asked the strudel-seller. "Pear or-"

"Never mind, I am going after dem," I said. "But I vould like a pear,"

He gave me a look of pure terror. "B-but th-they're Marines! They-they'll-"

"You have never seen vhat I have seen, den," I retorted, grabbed a pear strudel, handed him some Berries I stole from the bookshop, and slid off the stool. Most of them looked like pushovers compared to my former army, or even… that idióta, Poroszország. I snuck along the path to the inn, taking care not to be seen. The Marines did not spot me, because I hid behind several crates and barrels lined the path. Not very good for fighters, but they were off-duty.

I spotted a back door, and entered. The rafters looked sturdy, so I dashed up there once the coast was clear. "This is too easy," I said in my language. After they finish eating, all I had to do was find out which bedroom they would be in, and then… No! I must not get ahead of myself! I bit the pear strudel the seller gave to me, and almost retched. Avocado? He said it was pear!

MEANWHILE…

"Joey, was it really a good idea to put avocado in the pastry?" asked the store manager.

"You said to put pear in it!" [1], replied the storekeeper/cook.

"This is pear!" the manager said, holding up a… pear. "This is avocado!"

"Oh…" the storekeeper/cook said. "Well, in my region, they're both called pear!"

"And why do we have a sign for strudel, anyway? This isn't a strudel store, it's a crepe store!"

"It isn't? What's the difference?"

"There are a host of differences."

"Oh, yeah, so it's my fault you never told me?"

He sighed. "Where did you get the sign, anyway?"

"I borrowed the sign from the strudel store. You know, the one next to the other inn, where there's a kid with silver hair?"

BACK TO _

The Marines finished their dinner (that avocado strudel wasn't that bad, and it filled me up), and rooms were assigned. "Alright, here are the plans," a large man with three cigars in his mouth said. "There are plenty of rooms here, but you're going to have to pair up with someone else. And no one pairs up with Tashigi!" he shouted, glaring at his subordinates. "She's the only female here, and I am not going to let anyone in her room!"

I got a glimpse of a girl- or woman, but still younger than my physical age- who was, kind of pretty. All of the men were visually disappointed… no, wait! It was those two who were holding hands! They weren't disappointed at all!

I took another picture, let it develop, and circled them both.

"All right, it would take too long for me to assign sleep teams, so for now, pick your partner. Don't you dare come into room number 6! Dismissed!"

As soon as he went into his room, the Marines instantly began scrambling for partners. As I expected, the pair chose one another, and went into a room. All of the rooms had a window, right? So all I had to do was count the number of doors down they were (two), add it to the number of windows I could see (four), sneak out, climb the windows, and hang on there until I took enough pictures. I crawled, on my hands and knees, across the rafters, towards to the back door.

Creak… The rafters bent before my- Curses! I slipped! Who put oil on here, anyway? Anyway, I only had about a meter-

CREAK… Uh-oh. My foot was right on a- CRASH! CRINKLE! FWAP! "Ugh!" I fell! As I stood up, I examined my surroundings. I had fallen onto a cabinet full of valuable china, leaving only wreckage behind. Everyone in the room stared at me.

"My cabbages!" screamed the owner. "No, hold on, that came out wrong. My plates!"

Shing. Someone had drawn a blade. "Who are you?!" demanded Tashigi. That was a nice sword she had… it reminded me of Japan's katana.

Could I escape? I could; I was only a meter from the back door, after all. But then, they'd chase me for days, and that would put a wrench in my search. What would Mr. Ausztria do? Leave in a dignified manner, and put in a snide remark that made them feel guilty. Németország? Not sure, but he'd probably try to keep out of their clutches for as long as possible, and never talk at all when they capture him. Olaszország? Ah… I really wanted to see him, my little brother… He'd surrender, or run away. Japán? I never knew what he was thinking, but he wouldn't run away. Poroszország…? Wait, why am I even thinking about him? He would yell, "I won't be captured by unawesome people like you," and fight and fight and fight… not an option. Plus, even if I was still as strong as I normally was without being turned into a twelve-year-old, it still wasn't that easy to either evade or fight them all without my army [2]. Right now, Olaszország's course of action was the best option. I put my hands up in the air, and said, "I surrender."

The Marines relaxed, but the girl with the sword held it higher. "What were you doing here? If you had just left, I wouldn't have to ask. And why are you surrendering, anyway?"

She was right… That was a bad idea… "I apologize. Is dat enough?"

She shook her head. "First, you broke the entire plate collection of the inn owner and you have to pay for it, and second, what were you doing up there, anyway?"

"It is none ov your business vhat I vas doing," I said, and then corrected myself. "I mean, vhat I vas doing is none of your business."

Unfortunately, the pictures that I took fluttered right next to her, and she picked them up. "I can't read a word of this… Why did you circle Drew and Tom?"

"I thought they made a cute couple…" I said in my language.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly.

"Well, I'm going to have to talk to Commodore Smoker," she said.

"Vhy? About vhat?"

"In this town, there's no Marine base, so we have to stay at an inn where the security isn't as good."

"Hey!" yelled the manager.

"Sorry, but it's true!" she shouted back. "Anyway, it's illegal to take pictures of Marines off duty. And we have to pay for all that," she added in a whisper.

"Vell, vhy eez dere such a stupid law?" I retorted.

She shrugged. "I don't know either, but there has to be a good reason! It's not hurting anyone, is it?"

"Um, Miss Tashigi, it says that the penalty for doing this is… let me see… death by beating with overripe plums," said one of the Marine, his head in a law book.

Tashigi blanched. "L-let's not be hasty here…"

"So, may I please go now?" I asked.

"But there's gotta be a reason for a rule like that," someone said. "Besides, look at what he did!"

"He's only a kid! There's no way we're going to do anything like that!"

There were more murmurs and protests. Finally, someone else said, "Why don't we make the kid work, or somethin'? That way he can work off the debt!"

"Yeah, it'll be much easier that way."

Tashigi gave it some thought. "Fine. But I'll have to run it by Commodore Smoker first."

"Commodore vhat?" I asked.

"Smoker," the Marine with the law book corrected me. "It's not a nickname. That's his real name."

"Vell, vhat kind of a name eeiz dat?"

"Hey, what's going on?" a deeper voice called. The man in charge… no wonder he was caller Smoker. Three cigars… now that we knew how bad smoking was, I was surprised that he didn't drop dead of lung cancer years ago (No offense to those of you who are afflicted with, or related to someone who has lung cancer.).

"Sir, this boy snuck in here and took pictures of us out of uniform, which is apparently illegal," Tashigi said formally. "Additionally, he… look," she waved a hand towards the shattered plates.

He gave me an appraising look [3]. "So, what's the problem here?"

"According to the handbook, the penalty for doing this is yadda yadda yadda… death."

He stood up, straight and tall. "We are not going to do that!" he said. "Don't think for a moment that we're going to kill someone for a crime this petty!"

"Ye-yeah…" some of them agreed quietly, but the more experienced-looking ones nodded.

"That's why Smith said that we should make his sentence lighter," Tashigi said.

"By de vay, I um steel here," I pointed out.

"Just- hold on for a second," the Marine closest to me said.

"You're lucky that you're not dead now," another mumbled.

"Shut your mouth," I muttered in my language.

"So that's your plan?" asked Smoker. "Making this kid work to make up for all the stuff he broke?"

"Well, it's actually Smith's, but that's what we want to do," Tashigi replied.

I stepped forward. "I apologize for vhat I have done. But I cannot pay for anyting."

"So will you work for us?" she asked.

"Igen, yes," I said. I did not want to work for them when I could search for him, but my honor was speaking. Stupid knight's code…

"Well, that's settles it," Smoker said. "What's your name?"

"My name is…"

X

"Japan," Cap'n said. "Japan, Nippon, that's your name!"

"Hai," Kiku- now Japan- said. "Sat is indeed my name."

"Aiyah, why am I the only one whose name you do not remember," Yao complained to himself, but I was paying more attention to Cap'n.

"Wh-why am I only remembering this now?" he wondered. "I remember that we were friends… so why did…?"

"Hey, so when are you going to tell us what you were talking about?" blurted out Nami.

Japan looked to one side. "I apologize. I had forgotten to tell you sat we are from anoser dimension."

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Pear and avocado- in some parts of the world, avocado is known as pear. Pear is also called pear.

[2] Fighting without army- remember the wars in Hetalia? During the War of American Independence (I'm sorry if I refer to it as the Revolutionary War, I am American), America had his troops behind him, right? During the War of Austrian Succession, Hungary beat up Prussian troops and brought her army, right? Spain had troops when he beat France, Spain brought his army to protect Austria; Austria conquered North Italy with his army behind him, etc…

In my canon, nation personifications are empowered by being within close proximity of their army. Therefore, when there really is a war, they bring their army, but when they argue and brawl, like France and England, nothing happens.

Another excuse- why the figure thought she was not strong enough when the other nations could fight the pirates easily: The physics in the One Piece world are different, so nations do not need armies alongside them to be at maximum strength. She did not know this.

[3] Smoker analyzing the figure- it would have been a bad idea for him to let her go off scot-free, so let's say that he doesn't see her as a child. That chapter was full of excuses…

Remember that little girl who he gave ice cream to? The figure is too mature-looking for him to consider innocent. (I mean, mentally mature, and not physically mature).

As a side note, I have nothing against homosexuals. I am American, and… fine, saying my political beliefs will only get me flames.

How will the others react to the nations being from an alternate dimension? When will China get recognition? And when will I get on with the plot, anyway?!