Austell has finished telling his crew the gist of where he has been. He purposely left out some parts though. Yup, Austell was wandering the forests of Blanchio and happened to run into Taija, who just happened to be a warlord of the sea. He managed to befriend her and she actually gave him some advice on how to handle the situation regarding Kuma. It's been very hard on Asutell at this point, the guilt of withholding information on Kuma from the rest of his friends has been eating him up since. The crew landed on Blanchio to find someone who he knew wasn't there.

Semi was still in disbelief "So you walked into the forest, and of all things, you befriended a Shichibukai?"

The young navigator nodded "As weird as it sounds, yes. I managed to get used to it. Umm... Ms. Taija has an interesting power, she can do a lot of different things. In this case, she just teleported me onto the ship."

"Wow..." Daiko cheered. " Cool!"

"About that.." Semi started "Why did you have us set sail without you...? Why didn't you just meet up with us on the island?"

Austell's face turned red, it's clear that he has some secret that he doesn't want to tell yet and it was making him nervous. Just what was he doing in that one hour? Remember, he left a note for the crew telling them to set sail without him.

Austell, being nervous, began to mumble like he always does "WELL! Um... well... I..."

Semi laughed "It's okay, if you want to take a break first that's fine. That lady must have really creeped you out!"

"Well actually..." he said quietly

Tora was dumbfounded after hearing his story "Definitely the strangest thing to happen so far. I'm still wondering what a Shichibukai was doing on that island. She must be insanely powerful to have that title," he sighed "This is seriously weird, she was right about one thing, we're lucky she didn't attack us. I don't think this ship could handle it..."

She frowned"And I'm wondering why she hated us so much. No offense, Austy. I know she's your friend now and all, but I hope we don't have to meet her again."

"It's okay. Ms. Taija can be rude sometimes. I don't blame you for saying that, Semi. She's nicer when you get to know her, though." he said quietly.

Daiko picked his ear with his pinky "Ahhh I was wondering why she kept yelling. What a crazy lady! And to think I was about to ask her to join our crew!"

Tora grimaced "What? You already recruited that crazy bomb-girl into our crew, you might as well recruit anyone!"

"Hey that's different. Graesa's actually fun! She's the good kind!" Daiko said with a hearty smile."She's awesome!"

After hearing Graesa's name mentioned, Austell questioned them "Wait, what happened with Graesa again? What happened?" he asked curiously

Semi answered "Oh yeah, you weren't around for all that Austy, were you? Well we managed to help Graesa and George save the village. Afterwards, Daiko asked Graesa to join us, and she did. It was kind of odd, actually."

Despite feeling very anxious inside, Austell was genuinely happy after hearing that Graesa joined the crew. He didn't completely know why, but he was just very happy about it. He didn't know much about her other than the fact that she's an eccentric tinkerer, but her presence was something comforting for him

"Really?!" Austell asked with a faint smile "Oh... interesting... um, where is she?"

Tora answered with a bitter tone "She's in the cannon room doing god-knows-what."

"You wanna go talk to her, Austy?!" Semi asked.

"Ehhh... NO!... I mean... not yet." Austell answered her question immediately, nearly interrupting her, he was clearly tense.

Daiko laughed a bit "Oh c'mooon Austy! Don't be nervous, she just joined the crew and you two hardly know each other! Well, I guess none of us really know her that well! HAHAHA!"

Austell was typically nervous about talking to new people. But even if he wasn't so nervous, he still wouldn't do it yet. For he has one last thing to tell his crew, something very important.

Semi smiled and patted him on the shoulder "Just go say hello to her real quick! She's an outgoing girl, she's easy to talk to!"

"Yeah, she's also a crazed gunwoman and psychopath! You should go talk to her, kid!" Tora said sarcastically, causing Semi to pass him a very angry look, signaling him to shut up.

Before she could say anything else, Austell quickly changed the subject "Guys... I have to tell you something... it's about Kuma..." he was done beating around the bush, after waiting for days in hesitation with guilt and fear, and after talking with Taija, Austell was just about ready to get this off of his chest. He was scared out of his mind but knew there simply was no other way.

"What is it?" Daiko asked.

"I knew it all along..." he started

"You knew..." Semi questioned.

The poor kid was shaking with his nervousness while he spoke "Kuma... he... he was never on that island. He never went to Blanchio..."

"Is that it?" Tora asked "Well yeah, we already know that now. I already froze my ass off just to figure that out. That isn't really news, kid."

Austell stuttered "W-w-well what I'm trying to say is th-th-that...that... that... that... that..." he tried hard but the other words just wouldn't come out, he was too nervous."... th-that... that...that...er..."

Tora was getting annoyed by this "DAMMIT KID, SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!"

"Tora!" Semi yelled.

Tora's yelling actually managed to scare Austell enough to continue. Austell paused for a brief moment to clear his throat, he then continued "What I mean is that... I knew that he wasn't there... before we even landed on the island..."

"And how would you have known something like that?" Semi asked curiously.

Austell took a deep breath "Okay, I didn't tell you all this before, but... just before Kuma left, I managed to talk to him for a bit...and... he told me where he was going..."

Daiko was immediatley serious after hearing this "Huh? He told you?! Why didn't you just tell us before?!"

Austell quickly attempted to answer the question "Well... umm... it's just because- well..." he began sweating bullets as he twiddled his fingers and looked in random directions, making sure to avoid eye contact with his ship mates. "It's just..."

Before he could answer, Tora looked at him with a very serious expression, and interrupted him. "Wait, hold on, let me guess, it's because he made you promise not to tell any of us. Right? Am I right?"

"Umm... yes... but..." Austell said with a clear lack of confidence in his voice.

Tora said nothing more, he just walked up to Austell, grabbed him by the collar of his black coat, and lifted him off of his feet while glaring him in the eye."So you're telling me I almost froze to death for three days FOR NO REASON all because of a stupid promise you made for that lousy swordsman?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Semi yelled "Tora! Put him down now! It doesn't matter!"

Little Austell was terrified and turned his head away from making eye contact with Tora and closed his eyes. "I'm.. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Austell's apology only angered him further, causing him to turn a shade of red as he shouted "SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT, KID! WHEN THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO MAN UP, DAMMIT!"

Semi tried to reason further with him "Tora! It doesn't matter anymore! Just put him down already! If we didn't land on Blanchio then we wouldn't have met Graesa! Or help save the village! You're the one who needs to man up and control yourself!" she argued.

"OH YEAH?! WELL SEE IF I GIVE A SHIT!" He yelled back at the cook.

Semi groaned in frustration "Tora, the only person you should be angry at is Kuma! Stop being a drama queen!"

Austell had nothing else to say so he just kept repeating the same thing over again "I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'm sorry!"

Tora growled as he continued his tirade "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF WAITING TILL NOW ANYWAY?! NOW YOU COULDN'T KEEP THAT SHITTY PROMISE, AND YOU WASTED MY DAMN TIME ON THAT DAMN ISLAND! DAMN KID, I SHOULD THROW YOU OVERBOARD!... DAMMIT!-"

"-STOP BEING SO DAMN USELESS, KID! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THI-" In a flash, before Tora could say anymore, Daiko appeared from out of the sidelines and swiftly(but powerfully) punched Tora on the side of the face*OOF!*. Causing him to let go of the navigator. Tora fell flat, face down on the deck, unconscious. As he lost consciousness, his skin went from sharp crimson to it's normal light tan. The Eve sailed onward gracefully despite the commotion on the deck, a silence ensued between our pirates after Tora was knocked out.

After being freed from Tora's grasp, Austell fell backwards and was now sitting on the deck. At this point, the young navigator was hyperventilating. He was also shaking uncontrollably.

Semi sighed in relief after seeing Daiko knocked Tora out, but then she noticed that Austell was in a state of shock, she tried to calm him "Austy... look. It's okay. Just forget about what Tora said, none of it really matter anymore. He didn't mean any of-"

She stopped talking when she noticed Austell slowly rise to his feet. Austell then grabbed his head with both hands as if he had a headache. And he had his eyes wide open as his long black hair hung from the sides of his head. It seemed as if he was about to have a mental breakdown "No... Semi! No... it's not okay! It's not okay! IT'S NOT OKAY!"

"...Austy..." she said with a quiet, concerned tone.

He angrily yelled at Semi "STOP LYING TO ME! IT'S NEVER OKAY! That's what Pogo said when father died! 'It'll be okay'... And it was never okay! Everyone hated me! Don't lie to me anymore, Semi!"

Daiko kept silent as his navigator raged.

Rivers of tears began to run down Austell's face, dripping onto the deck, he bit his lip as well "Mr. Tora's right. I'm completely useless... I couldn't even keep the promise. Even my uncle was right about me, I'm so worthless! I don't even know why I followed you guys here, I'm so useless!"

"IT'S ALL MY FAULT! It's my fault mother died! It's my fault uncle destroyed everything! It's my fault all of my brothers hated me! I even disgraced father! What am I even doing here?! I'm such a burden!" he stood their sobbing for a bit, his cheeks were full of tears and his nose was running.

"Captain Daiko... Semi... I'm sorry but... I can't do this anymore. I'm such a failure... I have no place here... I can't sail with you guys anymore... I..." Austell paused for a second, as if not sure about what he was going to say next "I don't even want to live anymore..."

After those words came out of Austell's mouth, it was not long before the palm of Semi's right hand made contact with his left cheek. *~SLAP!~*

The force of Semi's slap left pink imprint of her right hand on his pale white cheek. After being slapped by the pink haired cook, Austell held his cheek and silently muttered: "...O...Ow...". With his dark eyes, he looked up at Semi and noticed there were tears running down her face as well. She then grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her and holding him in a close hug.

"Austy..." she said as her bangs overshadowed both of her eyes.

Austell was sobbing and sniffing to keep his nose from running "*sniff*Y-yes Semi?"

"Don't let me catch you saying something like that again or... or I'll really hurt you...!" she said while hugging him tighter.

"...Okay..." he said, still trying to hold back a plethora of tears.

After a brief pause, Daiko finally spoke, loudly "Austell! You listen to me NOW! I can't have people saying stuff like that in my crew!"

"Y-yes... Captain?" he said, shifting his gaze to his captain.

"I know how it feels, I blamed myself for when my ma died too... but there was one thing she told me... right before she died. It was to 'not let bad things of the past prevent good things of the future'! I may have pretty crummy memory, but that's one of the things I'll never forget. Ya hear me?!"

Austell nodded to Daiko, still in a hug with Semi. Well, Semi wouldn't let him go.

Daiko went on "So I moved on, then I got strong, and met you guys! 'Cause It's my dream to be the freest person in all the seas! Even if you don't know now, you'll find out soon enough, Austy! I promise! And don't blame yourself for everything, there's a lot of stuff out of your control! You're way smarter than me, Austy, you should know that!"

He kept silent, even though Daiko's words made him feel better, he was too ashamed to say anything.

Daiko smiled as he cheered "You're the best navigator in the WORLD! I couldn't have gotten luckier when it came to finding one, so don't tell me that crap about you being 'useless'! Tora was walking out of his butt! We wouldn't have made it into the Grand Line without you guiding us! Hell, we wouldn't even have Eve, with us!"

After a pause, the Captain concluded "I don't completely know what happened in your past. And you know what? IT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING! We're your new family now! Me, Tora, Kuma we're your brothers now! And Semi and Graesa, those are your sisters! We're gonna sail the Grand Line together! Now!"

Austell failed to hold back all of his tears and was now crying aloud, he managed to say "I'm... I'm sorry Captain... Semi... I didn't mean what I said... it's just..."

"It's okay, Austy. We know." she said. The ship continued to slowly sail away from Blanchio, leaving the large winter island out of site.

"Austy, start navigating." Daiko said "Let's get Kuma!"