OH My Gosh! I am so sorry about this long wait!

So, originally while I was editing, I realized that there was a MAJOR CHARACTER GROWTH PLOT THING that I'd intended to put in there for Wisp/Usopp's friendship to grow, you know, so she's not always ragging on him and actually bonding as friends but I FORGOT to add it in and so now, I'm had/having to go back and add/edit in into the story without it coming out choppy and mashed and rushed and UGH! I am so mad at myself! Talk about putting yourself into a rut/Writers-Block-From-Hell!

( ToT ) and I have no one to blame but myself…..

I really want her to have interactions with the rest of the crew and grow closer as friends because I feel it's super important to do so. I always disliked stories that focus solely on the oc only interacting with one or two other members of the crew besides the love interest. So for me to forget this really bummed me out…

Anyways, here's the edited version! I am so sorry!

Also, the last five-ten people who followed this story? Y'all have you to thank for getting me off my ass and just DOING something instead of staring at the story and then closing out of it to go cry into the couch for being an idiot! Seriously, seeing the alerts from my email telling me that people were still "like"ing the story enough to press the follow button has been such an uplifting mood energizer, it's not even funny…

Last week I about started to cry/laugh at the same time when I saw there were 14 visitors but 85 views? My first thought was, "who would sit there and just refresh the story that many times? Lol…" so thanks for that! Ahahaha even if it was just a fluke, it still made me laugh…

I've been trying to work on this update for a while, but my family has recently tested positive for COVID-19, so it's been slow going…so far no one has needed to be hospitalized, thankfully. Only one in the whole household of five adults and two children to NOT come down with it so far is my seven year old…so…yeah…it's been an experience. Losing your sense of taste is not fun.

Sorry for the long Author Note, Hope you enjoy the chapter! Stay Safe and Healthy!

Twenty minutes later, Usopp was up in the crows' nest with Neal and Will, searching with binoculars for any sign of Jaya.

Will had two sets of binoculars that he carried in his storage box, so he passed one down to Nami, who was watching the Log Pose like a hawk.

She called up to them, "still can't see it, Usopp, Will? How about you, Neal?"

Usopp and Will both said that they didn't see it yet, while Neal said he'd fly up above and see if he could spot anything higher up.

From beside me, Zoro asked Nami, "it shouldn't be so far away, right? That monkey-man said that area back there was his territory."

Nami hummed out, giving a glance to the sky above, "hmmm...the weather has been steady for a while, we're probably in Jaya's weather area."

Luffy was relaxing on the figurehead again, as he said calmly through a happy sigh, "eeeeyaah…. Jaya must be a spring island'..."

Chopper was sitting on the rail near Luffy, as he said peacefully with his eyes shut in bliss, "so warm, feels good."

I smiled at them, and hummed quietly to myself, "yeah...this is pretty nice, huh?"

Chopper smiled, and looked up at the seagulls, another sign we were coming closer to the island, as he said, "Spring is such a good season. Those seagulls seem to be feeling well too."

Their soft "SquKa! SquKa! SquKa!"s to each other as they flew by was soothing with the warmth from the sun and the calm cool breeze on the wind...perfect weather for napping in the sun…

Thud, thud, thud, THUD…

Three seagulls who'd happily been flying in the sky fell to the deck, along with a larger blue feathered bird.
All of them bleeding profusely.

Before I could react to the sight of what my eyes were seeing and thus telling my brain, I heard my brother scream out, "NEAL!" and I knew that something had happened to the griffin.

My heart clenched painfully at hearing that same tone of despair and loss that had been in his scream back on that day. God-damit, I'd do ANYTHING to never have my baby brother have to scream like that again!

Chopper screamed in fright and ran around in a circle due to his surprised panic, shouting for a doctor.

Only to be hit upside the head lightly by Usopp as he said in reprimand, "you ARE the doctor!"

Luffy sat up and at the sight of the seagulls had said, "oh! BBQ material!" but then his eyes latched onto the still form of Neal, and he screamed, "AHH! NEAL!? What happened? Who did this?!"

Chopper, having come out of his panicked state and had started attending to Neal's injury, cried out, "they've been shot!"

Usopp asked frantically as he looked around the area, "What? Shot? I didn't hear any gun shots though?!"

Using a set of sterile tweezers, Chopper extracted the bullet from Neal's side, where it had just narrowly missed his major organs, instead just clipping his wing muscle. The other birds were all already dead. Holding the bullet aloft, Chopper showed it to everyone as he said, "Look, it's a bullet! Judging from the angle of the descent, it was fired from the direction of in front of the ship."

I nodded thoughtfully, "that places the sniper on the island of Jaya. As impossible as that sounds..." I trailed off as I turned to face the distant black smudge that was the approaching island. We were still a good five miles or so out, hence the disbelief for everyone.

Neal came too, and had Luffy and Will crying out, "Neal! What happened?!" he coughed out around a pain filled wince, "I saw the other birds get hit, *cough cough* but there wasn't enough time for me to dodge completely; *cough cough* the shot would have hit my chest if I hadn't already been looking at the island's direction. Be careful everyone, we're in their sightlines."

Usopp started shaking and hastily got down from the crow's-nest to land beside Will, who'd made his way to cradle Neal's head after screaming his name.

Nami looked out to sea, and said hysterically, "shooting from an island that we can't even see yet? Wisp, Chopper, that should be impossible!"

Will snarled, "You doubt Neal? He said he saw the bullets hit the seagulls! Fuck! He got shot himself and Chopper already pulled out the fucking bullet! What more do you need?!"

Usopp fearfully said, "ha ha ha...if that's true, with what kind of eyesight, using what kind of gun, and what kind of technique, does that sharpshooter have?!"

I spoke out gravely, my natural whisper like voice leading to a much more grave tone of voice to convey the severity of our situation, "someone we have to be very wary of. The island's almost a good five miles away, if it's past where we can't see? so to have made those shots so accurately…that would mean...like Neal said...we're in their sightlines already."

Those around me paled as the implications of how we could be picked off by the said sniper at his whim, finally sank in, and I saw Usopp sink to the deck as he hid behind Luffy's bulletproof body for protection.

I didn't bring out how awesome that person's gun must be. It had already entered Usopp's head when he had started babbling out his list of questions just now. To have not only the accuracy to shoot such a shot, but to also to still have the power to nearly kill/seriously injure Neal at such a distance? Along with taking out three other birds in one hit kill shots at the same time? There hadn't been much of a lag in time between each bird hitting the deck, after all.

"Damn, we need to find out the make and model of such a gun and get one for Usopp! I knew I had forgotten something back at Alubarna! Shit!" I thought as I bit the inner part of my cheek out of frustration.

I missed the odd glance Usopp shot me for the thought that I had unknowingly spoken out loud.

In the next hour we'd reached the island, and everyone was remarking on how pleasant the town looked from a distance. Everyone was much more relaxed after forty minutes of no further signs of any shooting via the mysterious sniper. Even Will and Neal had calmed down and started to relax, despite the still very real danger we were all in.

So much so, that I couldn't help my staring at them all in disbelief.

Usopp brought out how he thought it looked like a vacation resort.

Luffy was patting the ram/sheepshead of the figurehead to the ship, and said with an excited smile, "speed up merry!" as if that would actually work…

Nami told us as we pulled into port that she felt like staying around for a few days with a smile on her face, and I looked at them all incredulously, as I thought, "did they forget the fucking sniper with a five-mile range? That the douche shot at Neal with the intent to kill?! Why the fuck would we wanna stay here?! Fuck, I'm surrounded by goldfish!"

My reason for calling them goldfish is that it's a known fact that goldfish have one of the shortest attention spans in regard to memory retention. About 3 seconds is usually all you're guaranteed with the pretty fishbowl pets. Of course, as in all creatures, exceptions to that generality can occur.

This seemed to dampen Nami and Usopp's spirits, as they sank down a bit at the reminder I'd accidently given them. Only Will seemed to get the fish reference-based insult.

I crossed my arms with an annoyed huff. Some people just don't appreciate/understand marine life jokes/insults.

Usopp looked away from me and out to the rapidly approaching harbor and pointed to the other ships as he said, "umm...those ships at the dock look like pirate ships...am I just worrying too much?"

Nami scowled as she said, "Usopp, think! How can a pirate ship openly dock in a public place?"

He hit the back of his head as he laughed, "hahaha! That's right!"

But then a loud shout rang out from the city, "murderer!"

And Chopper, Nami, and Usopp all fell to the side with tears in their eyes as they rhetorically asked, "what's wrong with this city?!"

I rolled my eyes at their reaction, while Will approached to my left and looked out across the city and ships that could be seen from the dock. Neal was again perched on his left shoulder, only this time his left wing was bandaged, leaving him unable to fly for the next two days by Chopper's estimate.

He hummed as he mused aloud, "this could be a pirate town. We are off the beaten path…plus I'm pretty sure this isn't the main route for after Alabastra. Wasn't the next island in their chain supposed to be an Autumn Island?"

Nami whirled on him and frantically asked, "what do you mean by 'Pirate Town', Will?!"

Holding his hands up in surrender, he explained his thoughts better, "well, we're off the main path that we'd been sailing on originally, I figure that since it's like I said, we were told that the next Island was supposed to be an Autumn Island, while this one is a Spring Island. So, marines don't likely patrol as heavily in this sector. This leaves room for a lot of the small, dotted islands in this section to be overrun with Pirates," she nodded to show she'd followed along so far with his explanation but to please continue.

"The people of those kinds of islands usually cater to that clientele and type of income. They're the type that are too small and too poor to afford the protection fees of the World Government, so even though there are a few marines, they won't go out of their way to clear out the pirates in these islands."

"Oh, that makes sense," Nami said, as she thought about what Will said.

Will pointed to the west half of the city, the side that was up against the water itself, as he said, "being closest to the docks and the water, my guess is that that's the most lawless section of the city while over there," this time he pointed north, where we could see smaller houses built on top of craftsmen's houses, "that's probably what passes as the 'residential' section of the city where the kids are kept away from the pirates," he paused as he winced before adding on, "If they're not out running around and robbing the truly shitfaced-drunkards. Places like this, the kids end up being petty thieves and pickpockets before hitting their teenage years and learning their parents craft or hitching a ride out of here with a pirate crew."

I thought morbidly, "That's IF they live that long and don't get caught stealing from Grand Line Pirates…"

Nami sucked in a harsh breath and I mumbled, "shit, that was supposed to stay in my head!" I turned to Nami and said quietly, "sorry, didn't mean to be so callous about that."

I felt bad for having that thought come out of my mouth so unfiltered, as I knew instantly from Nami's gasp that it had accidentally reminded her of all the shitty years she'd been forced to steal from pirates who were MUCH weaker than the rabble that would likely be found in any pirate towns we come across inside the Grand Line.

Humans are weird like that. They'll hear a story/life-experience and find points in it that they can relate to on an empathetic level and if it's a sad enough experience, they'll start to get emotionally invested.

Thinking about the similarities of Nami's past and the hypothetical children of this town made me idly wonder what she'd had to do to get by in those situations. Was she ever caught in the act? Did she have to do things no woman would want to do, even in their nightmares? Did she have any scars we'd never seen?

I didn't want to think of any scars she might have gotten that would be unseen by all but Chopper as our doctor. Let alone the ones that only her and the divine could bear witness to. No one deserves that kind of atrocity. No one.

She nodded and then changed the topic by pointing to three large ships that weren't flying a black jolly roger on their mast and asked, "and those?"

I nodded, accepting the topic change, and pointed to the three merchant ships, "those guys probably pay a protection fee from the local pirates so as to deliver their goods. They make a huge profit if they bring in various forms of alcohol and food, so it evens out the cost of the protection fee."

Usopp seemed fascinated by how I knew this, but I shrugged and said, "that was the plan for several of the merchants in East Blue. LogueTown used to do the same thing, but after Smoker took command of the marine base and all the major players were thrown in jail that all changed," I shrugged, "It would make sense they'd do something like that out here too, at least."

I left with Luffy, Zoro and Nami in the search for information on how to get to Sky Island, maybe search for a hotel that wasn't too shitty to stay the night in…

Well, I say that the four of us left, but it was more that Chopper, Usopp and Nami didn't trust the three of us to be able to go through town without causing a huge mess to happen.

Usopp and Chopper stayed behind to patch up the Merry while Sanji was roped into staying with them to act as Ships Guard. Of the members who stayed behind, he was the strongest of the group.

None of us noticed right away that Robin had left to explore around the same time.

My first impression of the town was that it was very lively.

With a near completely wood-based structure for the town, as most of the business/shopping district was built on stilt like poles and wooden walkways over the water, it was amazing how little fire damage could be seen around. With the amount of alcohol soaking into the wood, this place would light up faster than fucking coal soaked in lighter fluid.

There were men running around with drinks, some passed out along the walls and alleys. Up and down the streets were ladies that were very clearly using the space between their legs as a form of power, rather than actual brawn. Nami and I steered the men as far from those establishments as humanely possible.

Let's not even go into how many deaths I saw happening just in the first five minutes...

The first guy that we found that was willing to talk to us without sneering was apparently one of the few that claimed to be a local.

He told us the name of the city was called "Mock Town" for some asinine reason that I forgot after he told us. I didn't let it bother me that I couldn't remember, as Luffy and Zoro both seemed to be tuning him out as they kept their eyes on the people around us.

I was too distracted by the huge muscle man that was going on and on about being a "champion". Zoro and Luffy wanted to challenge the dude, but Nami grabbed them by the ear and virtually dragged them away before they could say anything. Forcing them to promise not to fight while we were here in this town, otherwise we'd never find any information on how to get to the Sky Island.

Luffy promised in a monotone voice as he repeated her words verbatim, but before she could turn to me and demand the same promise from me, I'd already left.

I'd scoffed and went my own way. I didn't feel like dealing with Nami's bullshit attitude today. I couldn't help but think as I passed by shop windows and ignored the odd dozen or so catcalls.

What was I supposed to do? Let some assholes walk all over me, just because Nami wasn't confident in her own fighting capabilities?

Yeah, fuck that shit.

I wound up at a weapons shop that, based on the amount of dust, looked like it hadn't seen a decent customer in the last ten or more years and asked the man at the counter about the pricing for some standard sniper rifles. The man was polite, and the prices were fairly reasonable, but as I browsed the inventory on display, I couldn't help but feel disappointed since none of them really screamed, "Usopp" to me.

Usopp was the kind of guy that liked to specialize his ammunition. A standard rifle wouldn't cut it in that case. I then asked if he had anything that could be easily modified or handle modified ammunition, but the prices for those were absurd. I'd need to snag some of the funds that Will had hidden in his storage box to afford one of those.

Speaking of Will, he and Neal had gone off to do a painting of the town, especially interested in some bird that acted similar to Neal in always pointing a certain direction. Neal had to exclusively ride on Will's shoulder and was only allowed to leave the ship after swearing on his wings to Chopper that he wouldn't attempt to fly until tomorrow at the earliest.

I'd left them to it, happy to hear that Will hadn't lost his love of painting.

Looking back at the sales rep, I smiled and said, "well, these are worth more than I brought with me, I'll have to get some more money from my brother's stash before I can purchase this off you. Thank you for showing these to me and taking your time to explain which was the best one, sir."

The sales owner, a plump older man that had a heavy-duty bazooka strapped to his back and dual arm cannons tied under his forearms, smiled jovial at me, and said, "well thank ye' miss. Yer just about the poe'lite'st pirate to come throu these parrt's. I'd be h'ppy to give ya a disco'nt jus fer tha!"

Did I mention he had a very thick, uneducated accent? But still, Discounts! SWEET!

My smile grew as I whispered, "Really? Thanks! The crewmate I wanted to get this for is our sniper and he hasn't been properly outfitted with a real gun in a looong time. If at all… (I could only remember seeing Usopp hold an actual gun the once when we first met Robin back at Whiskey Peak, now that I thought about it…huh…) Can you believe it? He's been making do with a sling shot all this time! This will help out soo much!"

When the man learned that our 'sniper' was using a sling shot as good as, if not better, than a standard pistol? He became very happy and VERY interested in our sniper.

Noticing the happy gleam to his eyes, I asked, "what?"

His grin went soft as he said, "jus' makes me hap'py to 'ear he'll be usin' on'e o' may Gunnn's is all."

"Why does him owning one of your guns, sir, make you happy?" I asked as he began to wrap up the two guns we'd picked out.

"Because! If it become known tha MAY gunns were the on'es ta be us'd by sucha marks'man then I'd ge' more bisnez, see?"

I nodded with a smile and said, "well, he's definitely one of the best! It's in his blood, after all," I praised lightly.

"Oh? How ya reckon tha?"

"Hmm? Oh, well, his dad's a pretty famous sharpshooter too. Both him, and his dad, beat a pretty famous sharpshooting bounty hunter that I knew personally to be the best in all of East Blue. The guy used to be in the marines and was on the fast track for a vice admiral rank before he retired to the East Blue."

The salesman's eyes were huge as he hung onto my story.

"Ever hear of a bounty hunter known as, "Daddy the Parent?"

Again the man's eyes went large… "yer meanin' ta tell me tha yer crewmaaat'e beat Ole Daddy?"

I nodded, and said, "his own daughter and our navigator stood as witnesses. It was a clean contest of skill, not a deathmatch."

"Well, lit'le lady..."

I flinched but grit my teeth so as not to offend the man, just because I hated being called little, doesn't mean I'm going to jeopardize the deal I was getting off of Usopp's future guns. His ability to put up a better fight in our future battles is more important than my pride, damnit!

"Tha should do er…" he said as he finished packaging the guns into long skinny boxes, along with a Ammo Making kit, and a full jacket of normal shells for each gun as a bonus.

"Thanks! So, what do I owe you sir?"

"Hahaha jus give me…uh…a 1000 berries and I'll say we're bou't even, fer the story. It's been too long sinc I've 'erd a good yarn like tha! Hahahaha!"

I smiled wider with almost tears to my eyes at such a discount. That was almost free!

"Sure! Here you go sir! But I meant what I said, our sniper is the son of a rather famous sniper himself. It's no wonder he's got such a skilled shot."

"Ahahhahha! Oh yea? Prooove it. If I ain't heard o' 'im, then I doub' he's any tang special." he taunted with a gleaming smile.

Well now, I couldn't let this gunsmith belittle my crew's sniper, now could I? Especially after I'd heard of Usopp's pride in his father...

I didn't know it, but that gleam in the old man's eyes were a hint to his memories of the past, where he had traveled the seas to places that 99% of all pirates hadn't been to before or ever since.

I grinned wider, as I leaned down over the boxes, "ever heard of Yassup?"

The man paled even as he grinned wide, and my grin went wider, giving off an almost feral savagry in the knowledge that I'd probably just scared the shit out of this gunsmith.

Then his face went almost euphoric as he squealed to himself, "Well I'll be! My guns R gonn' be us'd by THE son of THA Yassup?! I'll be rollin in new custo'mers! G'all, be! Here, lit'lle miss, if it's true yer crrew'mate is of Lil' Yassup's get, then he dees'ervs the best I got."

(I really should have picked up that verbal clue…nobody calls the best sniper for a Yonko crew "lit' their-name" if they didn't/don't know said individual…damnit…)

He pulled out a wicked looking gun with a wide nozzle in a black finish. Near the shoulder bump it had a small specialized scope for far distance sniping. Beside it, he placed a special patch to go over a set of sniper goggles to line up with the rifle's scope. Along with a small bag that I noticed had several attachment pieces that one could add for different scenarios. Such as a silencer, a specialized night vision scope, different ammo casings with various sizes, a starter kit to make your own bullets, cleaning supplies, and a small leather-bound journal with the words "care instructions" embedded into the leather.

The gun was beautiful and was clearly designed to shoot a wide array of ammunition very, very far away. The sight of the gun took MY breath away, so I just knew that Usopp would be salivating at the sight of it too. Maybe he'll pass out in joy and wonderment when he sees it?

Before I could touch the case that the gun sat inside of, I hesitantly asked, "Are you sure, sir? I know I couldn't afford that, even with help from my brother's funds…" hell, I don't think we could afford it if we had a ship the size of the merry made of solid gold! FUCK!

I didn't want to cheat the guy out of hard-earned money after all. He shook his head and said, "no, this here, was made by me. Only one other guy has ever ask'd fer it in the thirty years since I made it. Take it. Tell yer Cr'mate ta take good care of tha. It traveled to Raftel with me' ol' crew."

I gapped at the guy and blurted, "that means you sailed with Ol'man Crocus!?"

He blinked and then laughed as he asked, "ahahaha that's not the us'al response, but yeah! How is the Ole fart? He still there with tha whale o' his?"

I giggled with the guy, and nodded out happily, "yeah! Last we saw, he was still going strong! Took a bazooka from some wanna-be whalers to the face and didn't even have a scratch! Wish I knew how he did that!" I trailed off to myself.

He gave me a knowing grin, and said, "well, seein' hows I like you so much, I'll tell ya a traade secret. Look up tha stuff call'd Haki. it'll save yer's and yer cr'mate's lives on'e day. HAhahahahahaha!"

"hmmm...oooookay...I'll look into that. Thanks so much!" I said in puzzlement. Now where the fuck am I gonna find information about, what'd he call it, Haki? What the fuck is that?

After paying him the sum he asked for, along with a very generous tip, I asked him one last question, "so, we've got a mild issue of trying to find a way up to the sky island that our log pose is set to. Any advice on how to get there?"

He hmmed, and then said, "well, if yu'd ask'd literally anyone else in this here town, yu'd ha've been laughed outta town, like tha' kid Cricket. Go ta him and ask fer help with the Knock Up Stream. Tha's all I'll be able ta tell ya. If yer lucky, ya'll live fer ano'ther 'venture."

I nodded in thanks and left the shop and I headed back for my crewmates, my mind a buzz with all that I'd learned.

Nami had said she was going to try a bar after checking up on that fancy looking hotel on the south side of town when we'd docked, so I headed that way first.

I tried to ignore the fact that there was someone watching me as I walked through the town, but it was getting irritating that all they were doing was watching. Cowards, if you wanna start something, come on out and say it to my face, I thought irately as I walked into the bar where I could see Luffy and Zoro sitting at the bar top counter.

Luffy was sitting next to a real big, fat bastard, that was dressed sloppy in a once upon a time, white, (it was now a washed-out beige instead of pristine white) shirt and green plaid pants that were held up by a mulberry colored sash. Tucked into said sash was a bottle of rum and two flintlock pistols. Seeing no other weapon on the man, I wondered if he was a devil fruit user, or a master of some kind of wrestling martial art based off his body type.

I came over just in time to hear Nami complaining to the bartender tiredly, "Still, I don't really like this city!"

"Haha...a normal person would say so. Unfortunately, there are not many normal people here. It takes 4 days to set the log pose...so one must leave before getting into any serious trouble!" must be a local…I thought as the bartender set down the glass he'd been cleaning and picked up another.

The bartender was an older man in his mid-forties, a little plump but nowhere near as heavy as the guy I'd met at the gunsmith shop. Or the fat bastard that was sitting next to Captain. (it wouldn't be until MUCH later that I'd find out why my instincts were telling me that this man was pissing me off so easily) (((cough*cough*TEACH*cough cough...nuff said)))

The Bartender had a thick black mustache that covered the entirety of his face between his nose and upper lip, but even with the amount of facial hair he sported it was easy to see that he was feeling in a somewhat good mood as he chatted with Nami. He had a bandana folded up so that it looked like a headband tied around his forehead to keep the sweat out of his eyes.

He was smiling at Nami, amused at her "normal person point of view" attitude on the subject of his town.

Luffy and the fat, ugly, man next to him slammed down their mugs at the same time to burp out how delicious/terrible the drinks here were. Luffy thought the drink was wonderful, while the fat guy called it worse than swill.

I shot a side glare at the bastard for that comment, not that anyone really noticed.

They glared at each other and dug into their cherry pies that the Bartender placidly sat before them right as I came to sit in between the two of them.

I sat down and both men slammed their fists down onto the bartop, calling for the bartender, "Hey mister!"

Luffy exclaimed with a scrunched-up expression on his overly expressive rubbery face, "This cherry pie tastes so bad, I'm gonna die!"

Fat Guy's smile was so fuckin creepy that I subconsciously edged on my stool closer to my Captain as he cried out, "This cherry pie tastes so good, I'm gonna die!"

I rolled my eyes as I pointed to Zoro's drink and lifted two fingers, asking the bartender for a double of what he had as I set my boxes down for Usopp.

The bartender said in a deadpan, "I'm not the cook, I don't really care…" as the two childish men glared sparks at each other over my head.

Luffy asked the bartender as he sat my drink down, mmmm, fire whiskey, my favorite!, "Mister, I want 50 pieces of meat to go."

Turning to the bartender at the same time, Fat Guy asked, "Old Man, I'll take 51 cherry pies to go."

Luffy glared at the fat man, and said, "ah...I meant 52 pieces."

"My mistake, I'll take 53 pies." (fat guy)

They were now face to face as they continued to shout out the changes to their orders in an attempt to "one up" each other…why? I have no fucking clue.

"Wait, change it to 54 pieces." (Luffy)

"55 pies!" (Fat guy)

"60 pieces of meat!" (Luffy)

"70 pies!" (Fat Guy)

"80!" (Luffy)

"100!" (Fat Guy)

Luffy jumped up so that he was standing on his bar stool and placed his foot on the bartop in front of my face to scream at the guy. I was just thankful I'd already picked up my drink, otherwise I'd have to prank my Captain tonight. This is some premium stuff, not just the shit you give to the regular asshats, damn it! I thought with a side glare at my Captain's inconsiderate nature, which had struck again.

Luffy and the Fat Guy both were leaning in at each other over my head to scream simultaneously, "What's your problem, you want to fight?!"

Zoro asked loudly, with his East Blue Shark Teeth out, "How did this turn hostile!?"

Nami screamed out, "Luffy! You promised, remember?! We're not carrying enough money anyway! We're not here to shop!"

The Fat Guy asked Luffy with a sickening sneering smile, "you are...a pirate!?"

I felt something cold and clammy slide down my back and my spine tensed at the tone in Fat Guy's voice as he leered at my Captain. Fuck, this felt as bad as some sexual predator checking out a potential mark…what the actual fuck?

Luffy, not afraid to admit his outlaw status, said proudly, "yeah, that's right!"

He leaned back, calming down from his recklessly hot blooded temper and asked calmly, "Bounty?"

Luffy proudly snarled, "30 Million!"

I imputed quickly, hoping to make the guy back off with the hint of Luffy's strength being greater than that as a method to deter the sinister fatso, "Luffy, don't forget that it's likely to go up really soon since our exploits in Alabastra…"

Luffy smiled at me before turning back to glaring at the Fat Guy who asked, well more like spluttered in surprise, "30 Million….!? You?!"

Looking my Captain up and down he didn't believe Luffy and grew angry as he said loudly, "it's not possible! You're lying!"

Zoro tried to tell them to knock it off, but he was drowned out by Luffy shouting, "I'm NOT lying! It's true!"

I stood up, forcing the two men to back up a little (not that it was saying much, but it got them out of each others faces and more importantly to stop leaning over top of my head, damnit!) and shut up enough for me to say as I glared up at the fat man, "My Captain does not lie. He's had the bounty of 30 million before he reached the Grand Line. We expect it to rise any day now. Please, both of you, calm down...this is not worth fighting over."

They continued to glare at each other over my head, something I was very annoyed to find out, Goddamit, I know I'm short, but, SERIOUSLY?! and in the silence the bartender told them, "hey, you, please don't fight in my bar. Here," he set forth a stack of boxes to the fat man, "take this and leave, please! It's your original 50 cherry pies. It's all we have left."

The Fat Guy took them with an angry, "hmph…" and left. Luffy sat down again as another man came in with a small chuckling laugh as he asked the bar at large, "is there a pirate with a straw hat in here?"

I rolled my eyes as I hopped back up into my seat and downed the last of my drink, despite my regret at having to chug such a treat...from the sounds of this new guy, he was looking for trouble. Calling out the identifying feature of Luffy's moniker implied that it was just our shit luck that this trouble he was looking for meant us.

Some random guy in the bar shouted out in fear as he recognized the new comer, "i..it..it's...Bellamy!"

The guy's description of the Straw Hat made Luffy look back, as he was often only referred to by his straw hat enough now, that he was starting to respond to it being called out instead of his name. At this rate, it would be his actual Pirate Epithet in no time.

This Bellamy guy was tall, taller than Zoro, who was the current tallest member of our crew, being a fourth of an inch taller than Sanji. He had sandy blonde hair, and while on Will it looked boyishly handsome, on Bellamy, it just made him look unkempt.

A massive scar stretched from the middle of his forehead down to his right eye. His face was set into a self-satisfied smirking smile. He stood there in the doorway as if he owned the world.

I rolled my eyes again and went back to my (now empty) drink as I noticed the bartender was keeping a wary eye on the newcomer. Huh...must be the local bully on the block. Greeeeaaat...just what we need. Nami's going to throw a major bitch fit if we end up trashing the bar. Thank god I got that discount from the gunsmith.

Seeing Luffy, he said, "so, you're the 30 million bounty boy…? Straw Hat Luffy."

Fuck, it really had become his Pirate Epithet…hopefully this means others will leave the damn thing alone. They usually keep the reasons for their epithets intact to help identify the pirate…

Luffy leaned back so that his elbows rested on the bartop and had one knee drawn up while the other was tucked under his ass. He asked blandly, "what is it?" after Zoro told him that someone was looking for him.

Nami, sharp as a tact, said, "isn't Bellamy...the name of the guy who reserved the hotel?"

I looked to her and asked, finishing with a shrug, "oh? So, you guys couldn't get a hotel? Oh well, probably safer to just sleep on ship."

She scowled at the reminder, muttering about sick whakos and exploding apples. Seeing how none of that made any sense to me, I ignored her as the men around us started talking about us. Well, talked about Luffy, that is…

All the men that spoke couldn't believe that Luffy had a bounty of 30 million on his head. I scowled into my drink as I thought, "Just because of someone's looks, their judging on whether or not Luffy could be worth that much? When he could wipe them all out without even breaking a damn sweat! Ugh! Soooooo annoying! Not to mention, he JUST told the fat man what his bounty is…and I thought our crew had goldfish memories…fucking idiots…"

Zoro snorted, and Nami smirked at me. Luffy gave a quiet, "shihihihi" at the looks of the people that were still in the bar. I looked at him questioningly, but didn't bother to ask what he thought was so funny right now.

Bellamy joined us at the bar and asked me with a snide smirk, "excuse me little lady, I was hoping to sit there next to Straw Hat." I scowled darkly at the "little" comment and turned around to give the guy a piece of my mind, but upon seeing his face, the rest of what he'd said filtered in through my pet peeved rage and made me think first before speaking.

I looked up, and up, to see his face, and his smirk grew at how far I had to look upwards. I looked over at Luffy, to ask if that was okay with him, but he was saying to Bellamy in amused curiosity, "the people that I've met today are huge!"

I sighed and elbowed him in the arm to get his attention.

Luffy looked back down to me and asked, "what's up, Wisp?"

I asked quietly though still loud enough to be heard by Bellamy, he could fucking wait his damn turn, "did you want me to move for the guy? He wants to sit next to you and want a captain to captain talk, probably."

Luffy nodded solemnly, and only after he had nodded to me, did I move from my seat. Bellamy raised an eyebrow of approval at me, which I promptly ignored. Who needs the approval of a smug, pompous ass like that?

I sat down on the seat that belonged to the Fat Guy, thus keeping Bellamy "trapped" between our crew. He snorted slightly at that, and I grinned ferally. Just let him try something...I'll make him bleed before he can acknowledge that he'd been hurt.

To the bartender, Bellamy said, "give me a glass of your best wine. Off the top shelf! And give the kid, whatever he wants," he gestured to Luffy, and I bristled at the verbal slight to my Captain, but Luffy just smiled so I didn't do anything.

The bartender was still giving Bellamy the weary stink eye, as he said slowly, "alright…"

As he turned to do so, the doors swung open, and a large group of people came swaggering in. The man in the front was shirtless but had an ivory white fur coat on that displayed a tattoo of his jolly roger on his chest. It was a smiley face with a line drawn through it to "cross it out".

A nagging feeling spread out from the pit of my stomach at the sight of it, the symbol looked familiar to me somehow.

I stared at the jolly roger, trying to place where I knew that symbol from…

Nami hissed to Zoro quietly, but if I could hear it, I was sure Bellamy could as well, "look, the group from before…"

The woman who was dressed in a similar coat as the big guy up front said as she sat down at what was a once occupied seat, "ick, it's all stinky and dirty, what a nasty place."

Another guy in a strange bonnet styled hat groaned, "and all they sell here is the real cheap stuff."

I glared at them as I thought, if you don't like it so much, why the fuck are you all here then?

The big guy remarked how the place was packed and then pulled out a knife. It was rather large to be called a knife to be frank, but the design was that of a knife with a bent angle at the middle of the blade's length, giving it a hooked appearance that would be great for slashing. It's thickness suggested that it would stand up to chopping attacks just as well too.

One guy whispered to his buddies, "that guy must be him, you know, "Bigknife Sarquiss"…"

When a man didn't get up from his chair, the one that this "Sarquiss" wanted, he cut him down and then placed his foot on the defeated man's back as he and his buddy commented on how they could/should have just given up their seats, and that meant they didn't have any etiquette.

Glancing around at the other people in the bar, the lady beside Sarquiss said with a fake sigh out of faked resignation, "Bellamy always likes to play…"

This confirmed for me that they were in Bellamy's crew, which made me just a LITTLE bit more tense, as I really didn't like that they were blocking the exit now, as Sarquiss said to her, "yeah, he does…hahaha"

The bartender finished preparing Luffy and Bellamy's drinks and placed them before the men with a quiet, "here…"

Bellamy leaned against the bar and said to Luffy, "here, let's drink."

Luffy took up his mg and said with a smile, "ah, thanks. Shihihi, you're a good guy after all."

Bellamy reached his hand out behind Luffy's head as he drank his mug dry and I reached for my sword.

Zoro yelled out Luffy's name while Nami just asked, "Huh?"

Before Zoro or Luffy could react, Bellamy had slammed Luffy's face into the bar, crushing it into splinters.

I drew my sword at the same time as Zoro and we both had Bellamy's neck trapped, scissoring it between our two blades.

His men were laughing in the background, not having noticed the precarious position their captain now found himself in.

Glancing back to me before asking Zoro, "what are you going to do?! Stick boy!?"

I growled lowly, "watch your back Sir, might just slice yourself on my blade."

Zoro had a blood vessel in his forehead popping as he asked Bellamy, "that question, should be for you to answer!"

Nami tried to get him to back down, not seeing my own blade out too, as she said, Zo...Zoro! Wait! We haven't found any info yet, okay!?"

"Shut up! Someone attacked us, I'm just defending!" he snapped back at her without taking his eyes off of Bellamy.

Luffy stood up while dusting off his clothes, showing that he was completely unharmed minus a few scratches to his face from the wood splinters. Seeing Luffy, Bellamy asked, "hmm? You can still stand up, haha!"

Luffy finished wiping his mouth clean of wood slivers to say, "alright, it looks like you're ready for a fight."

The room exploded as all the men started cheering, "haha! They actually want to fight Bellamy! Haha, Do it! Do it!"

Bellamy laughed out, "gyahahaha! This isn't a fight! It's a test! Come on! Show me what you got!"

Luffy raised his fists as he prepared for the fight, but Nami cried out, "Luffy! Wait!"

Luffy kept his eyes on Bellamy, but Nami leaned over the bartop to ask the bartender, "hey, Mister! We want to go to 'sky island'...do you know anything about it!?"

The entire bar fell silent.

As the silence stretched on, I felt a bead of sweat trickle down the nape of my neck as I recalled what the gun-shop owner had said about asking that question here in town.

Slowly, some of them started asking each other, "is she joking…?"

"What did that girl just say?" another man asked.

"How to get to 'sky island'...?" a third questioned slowly.

I still had my sword out but had followed Zoro's example of removing it from being pressed up against Bellamy's neck when Luffy stood up. So when the first one started laughing and I saw Luffy close his eyes after exhaling a deep breath, I sheathed my blade tentatively, yet kept my hand around the hilt in case I needed to draw it again.

Nami didn't take being laughed at very well.

Her face went deep red in embarrassment, as she demanded loudly and held her wrist up for all to see, temporarily shutting them all up, "What are you laughing at! The Log Pose is pointing to the sky!"

I coughed, and it swung everyone's attention to me as I said into the silence, "I met a member of Roger's Pirates today that said Sky Island is real. That THAT crew made it up there. Don't take any of these drunks seriously, Nami."

I got gapes from everyone around me before even more laughter rang out.

I stood calmly in the face of this laughter.

I was sadly used to ridicule. Many people in the East Blue didn't believe in mermaids, so me, at the age of 13, claiming to come from a mermaid mother and a human father? With only some odd looking 'line like scars on my throat' as my proof of merfolk heritage.

Yeah needless to say, I got laughed at a LOT…

After the majority of the laughter came down again, Bellamy said to Luffy between giggles, "hehe, hey, I can't take it anymore! I don't know which backwater country you kids are from, but you actually believe the myth of the sky island? And finding a crewmember of that crew, here?! hehe"

I sighed and said, "well yes, jackass, obviously. I Just said I met someone who had been there, and our log pose is still set for the sky….DUH…"

He heard me of course, but apparently thought I was beneath notice, since I didn't have a bounty yet. Moron…

"Hehe, what age are you people from!? It's been more than twenty years since the Pirate King was caught and killed! His crew's all dead! Hehehe… The mysterious currents of the Grand Line are now being solved one by one. The Knock Up Stream is just one of them. Hehe, and let me guess, you've never heard of it?"

I cut in and muttered, "I don't have a stick up my ass like you do, so yes I've heard of it."

Either he did hear me and chose to ignore that jab, or he just genuinely didn't hear me.

The bartender did, though.

He smirked at me for only the briefest flicker of a glance before turning wary eyes back onto Bellamy, who I was starting to figure out wasn't worth our time or even notice.

"The victims of this current are shot off into the sky and then free fall back into the ocean. A long time ago, when sailors saw the phenomenon of ships falling from the sky, they imagined there was an island in the sky. Saying, "there must be another world up in the sky!" impossible, all phenomena have an explanation. Haha, all "Dreams" can be explained! I can't believe this...I was gonna test you to see if I'd let you join my crew of the "new era"... but you're just a crazy dreamer!"

I snorted, "better a dreamer than a squawking nobody that thinks he's hot shit just because he's gotten a little notoriety lately."

This time I saw a reaction out of the belittling man.

His fingers twitched, and I could see a vein form in his forehead as his ire with my mouth grew.

He spread his arms wide as he yelled loud enough to distract everyone from my runaway mouth, "Listen up! The pirate's dream era is over! City of Gold!? The emerald City!? The great treasure of "one piece"!? The fools who go after their "dream treasure" cannot notice what's right in front of them! In this era of the sea, the ones that do not have real strength...are the ones that are killed by their own imaginations! In the end, this is how the people will judge the idiots that died, "this guy lived his dream, very admirable." Gyahahahahaha! What a joke!"

Luffy continued to just stand there and listen to this guy's nonsense, and when I saw Luffy about to get hit with Bellamy's wine glass, still full of his wine, I forced myself to lock my muscles. Luffy was perfectly capable of avoiding that if he so chose.

"Whenever I see those idiots who chase their dream, it makes my stomach cringe!"

Nami cried out Luffy's name, just now realizing how serious the situation had been all along, while Zoro's brow furrowed when he realized that Luffy had LET Bellamy hit him with that wine glass.

Luffy fell to the floor again on his back and his straw hat landed besides him as Bellamy continued to belittle him for following his dreams, "it's all because there are wimps like you, that we pirates get such a bad rep."

Around us, the other pirates started laughing harder and started to throw their glasses and food at Luffy while calling out things like, "you wuss!" or, "hehehehe...get out losers," and, "you're making the beer taste bad."

Saquiss called out to his captain, "hahaha! Hey, Bellamy! The paying customers want to see a show!"

Bellamy stuck his tongue out as he laughed, "haha! Piece of cake, I'd be happy to! Gyhahaha!"

Nami, scared and pissed off by the other pirate's attitude, said to Luffy as he stood up slowly, "Luffy! Zoro! Forget the promise and just kick his ass!"

Luffy looked down at his hat and said in a soft commanding voice, "Zoro, Wisp…whatever you do...don't fight against them!"

I folded my arms and glared at any and all of the men who looked my way, like they thought about throwing glass or food at me.

For the next hour, we were their punching bags.

They threw food, drinks, and laughed until they slowly started to run out of food and drink.

I had to force myself to lock my limbs and keep my twitching hand away from my swords hilt as some of the men's laughter bled off into insulting leers about my, "assets" despite my "small" stature.

Luffy and Zoro were bleeding from multiple scrapes and cuts along their face and arms, yet not a single one of them had more than a soft yellow bruise to show for it beyond that. The amount of dirt and grime that they'd accumulated from the floor, tables and chairs though made their "wounds" look much worse than they actually were. The piss poor lighting inside the bar didn't help to disillusion that either.

So far I'd managed to avoid getting hit by any shards of glass, but I knew already that I'd have to scrap the tank top I was currently wearing, as getting some of the food stains out was more trouble than the shirt was worth.

The men were starting to get angry with our lack of a violent response.

Nami was starting to get more than a little upset as she yelled to us to fight back. That we could screw the promise, that sending them flying would be enough. She even asked me why I wasn't interfering with the disrespect shown our captain. I glared at her and in doing so, took my eyes off of the perv that was leering at me.

He took that split second of my guard being dropped to grab me by the ponytail and haul me closer to him as he licked his tongue up the side of my neck in one motion.

I reacted out of instinct by gut checking him so hard that the pissant actually peed himself. It made everyone stop what they were doing, and I muttered, "ops. Sorry Captain. I reacted out of instinct. My bad."

Luffy nodded and got up from where they'd thrown him this time, against some table or other that ended up breaking under his weight. Zoro had had a chair broken over the back of his head at the same time that the perv had licked me. He was glaring murder at the downed perv.

My reaction, however, not intended, proved to them that we were capable of fighting back, but were choosing not to.

That seemed to piss off Bellamy, but he laughed it all off when Nami shouted out, asking WHY we were just letting this happen to us.

Sarquiss told Nami it was useless, and that we were being 'clever' for not fighting back since we wouldn't win. Even though it was a 'wimpy' decision."

The guy that had come in with the odd bonnet style had started saying, "ha ha ha...the Captain's Pride is destroyed!"

Coming up beside him to peer at Zoro, Sarquiss laughed out cruelly, "the navy is very generous lately. Only needed to cut off the heads of these morons, and you get a 30 million berry reward!

Bellamy chugged some beer that seemed to suit his...delicate (horseshit) sense of tastes, and he laughed, "no resistance? Sounds good! Those useless and prideless people...who won't even fight when getting attacked and still daydream are insects!"

His mean cheered, "that's right!"

I grit my teeth as a fucking tomato was thrown my way, and due to Captain's Orders, I had to let it hit me in the side of the face. Its acidic juices made their way down my face and started to stain my blue shirt an ugly purple near the collar. Yep, definitely chucking the shirt as a lost cause now…I thought idly as I kept a eye on the perv that had licked me.

Bellamy got up from the bar finally and approached Luffy and Zoro, saying mockingly with a slight 'tsk' sound after each phrase, "Not fighting, not fighting...a weakling like that actually worth 30 million made me wonder how strong he would be. Ha Ha….! It's really a disappointment. This is the first time I've met these kinds of chicken shit…"

He took a deep gulp of his beer, draining the glass and sprayed his mouthful upon Zoro and Luffy, before telling his mean, "hey, throw the garbage elsewhere! It's taking up too much space."

He used a high kick that made his knee connect with Zoro's cheek.

It sent him flying towards the door, but he hit a large solid wood table on the way out, causing it to stop his flight and crash into the ground.

This made more of the men laugh out how Zoro looked like an idiot, while a shirtless man in a white baseball cap grabbed Luffy by the back of the head as he was still coughing out the beer that had gotten into his face from Bellamy's spit take.

Baseball hat guy slammed Luffy's face into the window to the bar, where Luffy slumped through, facing the street outside before falling to the floor of the bar.

Nami called out Luffy and Zoro's names as Bellamy made his way over to me.

He laughed as I looked down at me, while I glared at the man, silently saying to do his worst.

At first, he laughed, thinking I was just a guppy against a shark, but as he looked over me, he paled.

Still maintaining my glare, I snarled out in a deadly calm whisper, "what?"

I then noticed, it wasn't my face he was looking at, but rather my...gills?

"You. Girl. Are you a mixed blood?" he asked quietly.

I glared more as I asked, "If I was?"

He sneered as he scoffed out, "che, as if you actually were, just get lost, you damned dreamer trash!"

I made my way over to Nami, who was helping Luffy and Zoro to stand. Sarquiss apparently hadn't had enough "fun" as he yelled out to Nami, "Hey woman! Following that person, will never lead you to the new era! Why not let me buy you?! How much does it cost to satisfy you and come with us?"

Nami's face went ashen white as she snarled, her head held high, "You? Buy me off? *Snort* Sound's good, but I'm sorry, you see, you just couldn't afford me. For me to join a team filled with small fries like you, would just be a waste of my talents!"

Sarquiss, with his tongue lolling out similar to Bellamy's laughed before saying, "which means you're very expensive, right?!"

All the men started laughing, and I whispered out, "not even those fucktards at the top of Mariejois could all afford even ONE member of our crew. Why don't you all just fuck off?"

Bellamy, predictably, didn't hear me through all the noise his men and the other pirates were making (probably a good thing, if I really thought about it) and instead told Nami, "take those two along with your abomination and disappear! While they're still alive! Humph! Chumps."

Standing Nami started dragging the men as I followed out after her, arms crossed over my chest as I kept an eye on our backs. She had stiffened even further somehow at Bellamy's insulting slur about my mixed heritage as I made sure to grab my boxes for Usopp before leaving, glaring at Bellamy the whole way.

When Sarquiss made a move to grab me by the waist, likely feeling spurned by Nami's refusal and wanting to prove his manliness to his men under him or something equally as stupid. I sidestepped him, keeping my eyes on Bellamy the whole way, as it finally clicked where I'd seen his Jolly Roger before.

As I bent over to grab my boxes, I whispered so that only Bellamy could hear me, "you asked about my mixed blood because of Dellinger...I'm not related to that little fucker. I'd appreciate it if you make sure not to insinuate such again."

Before he could make a reply, I turned my back on the man, showing how UN-afraid I felt in his presence. He didn't say anything, nor did he do anything about what I'd said.

As we made our way outside and further down the walkway, only having gone about twenty to thirty feet away from the bar, we were stopped by the Fat Guy that Luffy had argued with about the Cherry Pies.

"Tsuhahaha! "Sky island" does exist!"

His boldly loud declaration about the very topic that had gotten us laughed at inside the bar caused Nami to suddenly drop the guys as she came to a sudden halt and stared at the man.

He was even more ugly now that I can get a better look at the man in the sun, I thought as I looked at his face.

His nose was long and skinny, similar to Usopp's but not quite as long, as his nostrils were much bigger too. Heck, if I hadn't been told point blank that Usopp's dad was Yassop of the Red Hair Pirates, I could almost have believed it if this guy tried to claim some form of kinship with Usopp.

They both had darker skin tone, black eyes, dark black curly hair, and long noses. Usopp was just missing the massive height, weight, and long body hair.

He laughed again and said around a mouthful of one of the pies he'd gotten from the bartender, "man, these Cherry pies really are the best after all!"

Looking over at Nami, he asked her, "why are you still angry? That battle just now, those three won it…"

Nami, ever so sophisticated and eloquent Nami, asked, "eh…?"

"The way you yelled at them was great, too! You have a lot of guts, woman! Tshaha!" he continued to praise Nami as he swallowed up his mouthful of pie.

I couldn't help but morbidly think that the cherry pie's filling looked far too much like blood around the fat man's mouth as he spoke.

Luffy and Zoro pushed themselves up, slightly dusting themselves off of the worst of the dirt clumps, with Luffy securing his hat on his head as he stared the man down. I could feel a sort of uneasy tension in the air between the two men, and I worried that another fight would break out. While I knew none of what those jackasses in the bar had done really inflicted real damage, I also knew that trying to fight a serious fight while not being in tip top shape wasn't ideal.

The hair along my body rose up and I got goosebumps as I felt those same eyes as earlier return. Whoever it was, was watching me from up on high. Probably one of the rooftops.

I really hope that's not the sniper from this morning, awe fuck…that's more than one set of eyes so probably the snipers crewmates, I thought as I watched Luffy continue to stare the other man down.

"The "new age" those guys were babbling about, it's all bullshit." The fat man grumbled.

He spread his arms wide as he sat in the middle of the walkway and he shouted loudly, drawing the attention from the surrounding people, "SAYING THAT THE AGE FOR PIRATES WHO DREAM IS OVER? BAH! HEY! TSHAHAHAHAHAH!"

The guy was so big that even while sitting down the way he was he took up nearly all of the space to walk between the two rows of buildings, and shouting had made others walking by stop and stare as they asked each other what was going on and why that guy was yelling.

But he wasn't done shouting as he raised his voice even louder to scream as he slammed his drink to the ground, proudly declaring, "A MAN'S DREAM...WILL NEVER DIE! RIGHT!?"

Luffy's facial expression never changed, and I never felt the eyes all around us leave. Whoever they were, they were interested in this man and my captain.

One passerby asked the fat guy, "hey, hey, hahaha! What were you suddenly yelling for?"

Another asked, "what man's dream…!?"

The fat guy laughed with an odd gleam in his eyes, "to be patient is not very enjoyable!"

A guy on the left of the "street" asked his buddy while pointing at the fat man, "yayahahaha! Is there something wrong with his brain?"

The fat guy didn't let their words stop him from saying to Luffy, "let them laugh! Anyone who wants to be a first-rate man, will encounter a time when there is no reason to fight back! Tshahahahahah!"

Zoro turned away and said to Nami as he grabbed the crook of my elbow, "let's go."

Nami nodded shakily, "okay…. Luffy?" she stopped to ask Luffy why he hadn't followed, and I glanced behind me to our captain, to see what he wanted to do.

Still, he stood frozen as Zoro continued to pull me away, and the fat guy just laughed, as Luffy stared. Nami called sharply out of her anxiety and residual anger from all the shit that went down inside the bar, "Luffy!"

The fat guy asked Luffy, "oh, looks like I'm in your way. Are you in a hurry?"

There was something about Luffy's demeanor that was bothering me. I tugged on Zoro's arm, as I realized what it made me think of.

He looks like he's staring down a powerful wild animal. One that you don't dare turn your back on, lest it attacks while you're not looking…. FUCK! Is this guy going to be an actual problem for us? Shit, Fuck, Shit...and I don't even know his name….

The fat guy got up to leave the other way, and said before taking a drink, "it would be great if you can get there….to sky island!"

He left then while laughing, and it was only after he'd turned away that Luffy strode past Nami to catch up with Zoro and I.

Coming up besides Luffy, she said, "hey...he probably knows something...about sky island. Who is he?" as if Luffy is supposed to know…

Luffy said quietly, "dunno, but...it's not "he" ..."

"Huh? Not "he"? Then...what?"

Zoro glanced discreetly around us along the rooftops, as he muttered quietly in answer, "it's 'they'..."

Closing my eyes, I felt for the strange sensation that told me there were people looking at me with intent to kill, and said calmly, "I'd estimate about three to four others."

Zoro and Luffy glanced at me sharply, and I shrugged, as I said, "you get used to what the sensation of people wanting to kill you feels like when you're a girl that's allowed to stay overnight at THE most sought-after bachelor of all the island."

Zoro raised an eyebrow at that but didn't say anything else.

When Nami figured out what I meant by that, she snorted before turning to Luffy cautiously and asked if they were that guy's companions.

Luffy nodded as he said, "probably."

Nami seemed a little taken aback by Luffy being smart about this, but since this had to do with danger and possible fighting, I wasn't surprised even a little.

Nami asked where they could be hiding, and I dropped back to walk besides her, having finally gotten Zoro to let go of my elbow, and said to her with a nonchalant shrug, "who knows? My bet was the rooftop, and about five stores down to the left, but the other kept moving about so it was hard to pinpoint where I felt the staring coming from."

Okay!

So, I finally finished editing this! Wooo hoo! Only been working on it for like, what? One-three months? Lol….

So…bad news…it was confirmed today that I and my husband do indeed have the Corona Virus/Covid-19 whatever you call it...

Don't worry! I'm making sure to keep my rescue inhaler on hand! As well as face mask on at all times! we've been stuck at home (not that i left the house much anyways being a stay at home mommy) and all that jazz of following the protocols for if tested positive. so far things seem to be okay, ( I even got my sense of taste back for the most part! woo!) and hubby isn't showing any sympotms dispite testing positive! so just me to really be wary about! lol...

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Question? What is ya'll thoughts on Usopp actually having/using a gun? or maybe a crossbow/bow&arrows instead?