"Lalala~" the little girl continued to sing, swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for that very special person to return. The girl with the red hair soon looked up and around, watching people pass by her, but none of the person she wanted to see. She soon pouted. "Ojiki's late again…"

"I'm not late."

The little girl looked up, blinking at the tall man that stood behind her. His arms were crossed and a scowl on his face.

"Yes ya are," the little girl said, with a straight face. She soon pointed to a nearby clock. "Ya said you'd be here by noon! It's one o'clock!"

The man looked to the clock and scoffed. "That says twelve o'five, Bouzu."

The girl looked to the clock again and frowned. "Oh…sorry…" The girl soon squealed when she was picked up from her seat and placed at the man's shoulders. She leaned forward, looking into her uncle's frowning face, noticing something was a bit off. "Something wrong, Ojiki?"

The man looked up and to his niece, only to soon look away from her. "Yeah, everything's fine. Just wondering where to take you."

"Oh, I know!" the little girl cheered with a smile. "Let's go to Sally's! She said she'd give me a free ice cream if we came today!"

"You don't need all that sugar," the man scolded, making the girl pout and argue with him as they continued walking down the street.

Chas watched this memory from the sidelines, hands stuffed in her pockets, a scowl on her face, and the sight thought of 'what the hell' in her mind. Even with all that, she soon found herself following her Uncle Smoker and her younger self down the street.

"Why the hell am I thinkin' of this?" Chas mumbled to herself, ignoring the childish argument her younger self and her uncle were having at the moment.

"I thought you would like a little…reminiscing."

Chas turned her head to the side and almost fell over when she saw Zoro standing right next to her.

"Why the hell are you here, Mochi?!" Chas shouted.

Zoro turned his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not the swordsman you call Mochi. I merely took his form to appeal more to you."

Chas understood that this was the armor talking to her, which mostly angered her more. "Well, change into someone else. Yer pissin' me off by showin' his face."

The armor sighed and clanged forms, just the next one, which was Smoker, was much more to Chas's disliking. "Better?"

"Not at all!" Chas said, glaring, which received a glare from the armor in return.

The armor changed a few more times, changing from Luffy, to Shanks, to Chopper, and to many other people Chas knew. All in all, the armor ended up staying as Zoro after Chas told him she couldn't take him seriously as anyone else.

"Tell me again: Why am I watchin' this?" Chas questioned, crossing her arms as she watched herself run around in circles after she had gotten her ice cream from Sally's Ice Cream Parlor.

"Like I said," the armor said, "I thought you would like to reminisce about your childhood." The armor turned to look at Chas, smiling. "Most people love reliving their childhood."

"Well, I don't," Chas snarled, turning her back to the happy image, "now get rid of it."

The armor frowned and narrowed his eye slightly, the image slowly fading into blackness. "What makes you so bitter about your past?"

Chas froze and looked back over her shoulder. "I'm not bitter about my past. It's just that memory doesn't serve as a happy one."

"And why is that?" the armor questioned. Chas didn't answer him, which made him irritated with her. "Is it because your mother died that day?" Chas's eyebrows twitched. "Or is it because your Uncle didn't mention anything about it until-"

"Shut up!" Chas snapped, turning around and gripping the armor's collar. "Quit screwin' around and tell me what ya want with me!" Chas suddenly let go with she had a splitting pain in her head, making her drop to her knees and grip her head.

"Don't forget that I could kill you at any given moment, Chasaji," the armor said, kneeling down in front of her. "The only reason I haven't is because you interest me with your good luck." The armor soon sighed. "That and I need your help in finding the rest of me."

Chas chuckled. "Why don't ya just find someone else to do yer dirty work?"

The armor looked at Chas once again. "Because you're most likely the most interesting subject that I've got stuck with, Miss Chasaji." Chas managed to look up when the pain subsided. "You're also the one who has the journal, meaning I'm sticking with you whether you like it or not."


Chas's eyes flew open, her breath heavy as she looked around. She was back in the cave with everyone else: Atif, Luffy, Chopper, Sanji, and Zoro. They were all asleep in their separate parts of the cave. Luffy snored loudly as he hugged a rock, biting on it sometimes; Sanji was wrapped up in a blanket, smiling as he talked in his sleep (something about her she couldn't make out); Atif was shut down in a corner, nearby; and Chopper was sleeping in Zoro's lap while the swordsman lean up against the wall, snoring loudly.

Chas slowly sat up, the blanket she was draped with falling to her lap. She took a deep breath and looked around at everything once again. She was indeed in the cave with everyone, but she had the small feeling something was off.

Chas soon jumped when she heard someone yawning loudly. She looked over her shoulder to see Zoro moving around, snuggling into his jacket and soon snoring loudly again. Chas couldn't help but chuckle at this, suddenly feeling a wave a relief washing over her.