Title: Full Steam Ahead!

Fandom: One Piece

Genre: Adventure/Friendship

Rating: T

Summary: Two near-drowning incidents and dimension hopping are definitely not what Kirsten would call a good apology. But tell that to the sea goddess who apparently reads too much anime. Now that Kirsten's found herself on the high seas with no definite way of getting back home, it looks like she's not getting anywhere fast without a little adventuring on the side, and when it comes to the Straw Hat Crew there's only one setting- full steam ahead!

Today I'm here to write self-indulgent One Piece SI fanfiction, because yolo, essentially.

Chapter I.

General opinion of the beach is that the ideal experience is best in the height of summer. This isn't wrong, mind you— blazing sun, warm sands, and cool waves to splash around in— but I believe a fairly good time at the beach is also at the very end of winter or early spring. The coastal water sure isn't warm enough to swim in, and you might need a sweater… but cool sand squishes between your toes, and the waves crashing over your feet don't quite have the bite of deep winter freeze. On a misty, drizzly day, with rock outcroppings in the distance and evergreen trees bordering the beach, a bracing breeze rustling through your hair… now that's an ideal beach experience.

Honestly I couldn't have been happier for this camping trip. As a treat, one of my clubs had banded together and planned it all out in the week before classes started again. A last mustering before our final college quarter. Campsite reservations had been a snap since it was off-season, and when the day came we all piled into whatever car was available and sped off for some good old rest and relaxation. We'd gotten probably the best available location, a spot right at the edge of the national forest… and directly on the beach. Mile hike in? Stillworth it.

Okay, so the drizzle that inevitably started was off-putting to a few of the others not from the area, but I'm distinctly sure that Northwest Profile #60 perfectly described the rest of us.

"Hey! Kirsten!"

Someone was hollering my name from the trees. Currently? I was on the beach. With bare feet firmly rooted in cool, wet sand. I just waved from where I was, not exactly feeling up to moving from this position.

"Oh my god, are you cold at all?"

"Nope!" I hollered back; at the same moment, a swell of ocean water surged past my calves. Yep, I was wearing shorts for my beach experience. I'd change once I was back up at the tents, but until then? Nah. She just shook her head. She was one of the members a little less enthusiastic about the location, but still willing to have a good time and cheerful enough to not let the weather get to her.

"Please tell me you aren't planning on swimming. You aren't going to swim, are you?" That made me violently shiver.

"Nooo way, not now. Still way too cold for full-body submersion!" I held my arms up in a giant X for emphasis. The water was fine for wading, but anything more was a straight polar bear swim. Hmm… though, if some of the others wanted to run one in the morning… Woops, I was still being shouted at.

"We're making dinner soon!" came the call, "The fire's getting set up, ten minute warning."

"Okay, thanks! Sounds good! I'll be up in a few minutes!" I shouted; I saw her head bobbing in acknowledgement, before she turned and vanished back up to camp. Most of our site was on higher ground, just past the tree line. Squinting, I could see a little of everyone else, mostly brightly colored rain jackets. Beach-side, it was just me. Standing out in plain reach of the waves with my shorts, t-shirt, and flannel jacket. Shoving my hands in my pockets I turned back out to the ocean, looking out onto open water. It would be dark soon. Mostly the clouds covered up the sky, so the sun wasn't very visible, but there was a heavy grey twilight settling in. Far away over the waves was a sliver of pale yellow, but that was it.

It was a dramatic backdrop befitting of some epic drama. Just the coast and me. What an awesome camping trip.

Probably I didn't want food disappearing on me (not after the potato fiasco the night before,) but on a last whim I pulled my toes free from silt and waded a little deeper through the surf. I hadn't let the water coast much higher than my knees, but a little further out saw stronger swells that could push me over if I wasn't careful, and a wave welled up to the edges of my shorts. Bracing against the push I contented myself with another minute of just… standing in the water, breathing in the air. A good day, I decided with a smile, and hopefully an even better one tomorrow. I swung around and made to slog back through the water and back to camp, where I'd have to dry the salt off my skin. Luckily I'd left a towel to warm on my camp chair—

There was a tug at my ankles. Nothing much, hardly noticeable… until I found I couldn't move my foot forward without struggling. Foamy water rushed past, pulled back to sea in preparation for the next wave in a torrent of sand.

"What the heck…?" Was I stuck on something? I piece of seaweed? My foot, it wouldn't… move right. But I couldn't…

A giant swell surged from behind, pushing at my knees. I gasped, because this one went well above and soaked the hem of my shorts with cold spray. That wave seemed way too big; I wasn't that far out, why the heck couldn't I get my ankle move—

It's… fuzzy, what happened next. There I was, stuck. The sudden massive wave reached the farthest it could go, and began to recede, just like any other wave would.

Except then came the iron grips around my bare ankles, as the wave rushed past in the roar of the surf… and pulled.

Yanking me under without even a chance to scream.

Fastwaytoofastflailingnoairit'stoogastgoingwaytofastthere'snoairIcan'tbreathedesperatelyreachingoutthere'snothingtoholdontonononosomeonehelpallthelightisgoneitwon'tletgoITWON'TLETGO—

I snapped awake with a strangled scream. My stomach promptly took the opportunity to revolt, and I keeled over heaving up phantom traces of water still in my system. The memory of drowning flashed in mind; but I couldn't taste salt on my tongue or spit out any liquids to speak of… but I was soaking wet.

What… what the hell had happened? I'd been at the beach, about to head up for dinner, when—

A riptide? No, that couldn't be it, not so close to shore, and the signs hadn't been there when I went in. But how could someone have grabbed me? I sure as hell would have noticed some… some guy diving into the water just to grab at my ankles— where was I? Where the hell was I? What about my friends, were they…o…kay…

Despite hysterical thoughts, and shivers creeping into my body as cold started coming in, it all drained away as I took in where I was.

I wasn't at the beach. I wasn't at the campsite.

I… wasn't anywhere.

All there was… was darkness, and a smooth expanse of midnight-black water, free from even a single ripple. There were… stars reflected in the surface, but up above there was nothing to reflect, only darkness. Still, a gentle glow of diamond-studded water stretched as far as I could see. Which wasn't much, given that it was, you know, pitch black.

What was I even on? Some sort of flat… rock platform thing. Just me, on some strange island in a strange strange place.

There wasn't any wind or any sort of noticeable temperature, but even so I felt a chill run down my spine. I wasn't heaving anymore, so I drew my knees up to my chest and just… sat. Tried to warm myself still wearing my soaking wet clothes. Tried to think, even a little bit, but all I could managed was numb disbelief at what happened. What I was seeing.

Everyone at camp… They'll miss me, right? They knew I was out there. They'll notice I'm missing.

Splish.

…Jesus Christ, what was that? My head snapped around in response to a soft sound emerging from the distance. To my horror, there were ripples forming in the water, growing larger by the second and coming right… this… way…

There was something in the water.

"Oh hey, you're awake?"

…I definitely screamed my head off as, erupting from the water like any horror movie creature worth its salt, came a giant ass thing. Heart pounding, I threw myself away, scrambling on the ground and trying to gain traction enough to run for it. But there was nowhere to run; the edge of the little island came rushing up and forced me to stop, windmilling back to keep from falling off.

"Woah— wait, stop!"

The thing circled the island. In the midst of my panic I was eyeing the water wondering whether or not it would be worth to just jump and make a swim for it—never mind the thing had come from the water— when the fact that it was, well, speaking finally registered. That, and it'd lapped me and effectively was blocking the way. Muscles tense and senses screaming I was ready to bolt at a moment's notice, but finally I took the moment to actually look at… the… thing…

It was… a woman? A giant woman. A giant woman's torso rising up from the water, with rivulets still streaming down her form. She… didn't have any clothes on. Mercifully I was spared from getting an eyeful thanks to long, dark tresses hair plastered to her front, but with only a faintly glowing light source I couldn't tell if it was actually hair or… something like seaweed. On closer look there was a soft shimmer to her skin, and to my shock I realized she was covered in very fine scales.

So there I was, ogling a giant naked woman in the near-dark, when she braced two pale arms against the island and leaned down to face me—in dawning terror I realized I was only one head tall in comparison— and smiled, with very white, very pointy teeth.

"Have you stopped freaking out, or do you need another minute?"

I stared dumbly at her. She blinked slowly with large, luminous eyes.

"Right! Another minute. I'll wait," she said cheerfully, and did just that, settling down with her head resting on her massive arms. I think I was in some kind of shock; I couldn't really feel my legs. Silence stretched, and the giant woman fidgeted. The surface of the water moved, and I caught a glimpse of something long and sinuous hovering just below the surface. A… tail. Not like a fishtail, but something longer, more serpentine. That was when my knees gave and I sank neatly to the ground. The giant woman lifted her head.

"That's long enough, I'd say!" she said, and her voice boomed in the space around us; I winced and reached for my ears, but she wasn't finished speaking. "Let me just start with this, it is so nice to have a visitor way over here," said the giant woman, and she was… giggling. "I don't get too many folks these days, 'specially not from your neck of the woods. But it was a close thing! You're super lucky, because there was like, a one in a hundred chance of you missing the gate and just kinda… drowning." Stare. She giggled again, a little nervously. "Um, anyway, if you're wondering how you got here, you were totally washed out. Then you dropped down here and I was like, 'woah, who's that chick'—"

"Um,"

…that word came from me. The giant woman paused to look over, wide-eyed as I cleared my throat and actually spoke. "Is... is that what happened? I got swept out to sea?"

The giant seemed delighted I was talking.

"Yup! You were out in the water and got snatched by a totally gnarly wave," she said quite earnestly, but I only frowned because that didn't seem right.

"Oh," I said, trying not to let my voice waver too much, noticing how small it was "It's just... I was standing in the water, but I wasn't that deep, so... I-I couldn't get my feet to move." It'd all happened so fast, and I focused on the memory as best I could. Something wasn't… "Wasn't I grabbed...? Something grabbed me, pulled me into the water…!"

The giant woman shifted. Her eyes drifted away, somewhere over my shoulder.

"Mmm… No. Nooo, I'm pretty sure a tide dragged you out," she said. Ripples formed where her body moved in the water. "I totally saw it all happen. I mean, it was really quick, like," she mimed a sharp movement with her hand, "That. I mean, these things happen…"

Ugh. I rubbed at my forehead, trying to remember, but everything was so fuzzy. I guess maybe it was a tide. It made more sense, anyway, that I'd slipped. So maybe she was right. Maybe it was just…

"Anyway!" the giant burst out, loudly, and this time I did have to clap my hands over my ears in pain from the noise. "I'm sure you're wondering what even is going on here, so let me explain! I, before you, am Calypso, the guardian of seas!"

In a rush of movement, Calypso rose from the water and all at once there was some majestic and otherworldly. Scales flashed, and I saw that where her waist ended, something else began, the long serpentine tail I'd see hidden. She was smiling down at me, great and terrible but with my fuzzy head and denial still setting in there was really only one thing that popped into my head.

"…Like from Pirates of the Caribbean?" I said dumbly, and the giant woman— no, Calypso— abruptly sank back down to my level and, um, pouted.

"Really? That's what you think of first?" she complained, "I mean, that's a cool film, but seriously?"

"Wait, you've seen it?" I said blankly. Calypso shrugged.

"Stuff washes up here all the time. I keep up with things." That was a really vague non-answer, but whatever. This whole thing was way too surreal for me; talking sort of helped, though.

"So, uh, guardian of the seas? What's that mean exactly?" she perked up at that.

"Oh! It's neat. Mainly I keep an eye out on the balance of things. Like, harmony between land and sea and stuff. Put good in, get good out and all."

"I… see." I didn't really. She seemed very matter-of-fact about it. "And, um, how exactly did I get here?"

"Right, well, this is sort of my own little ocean of oceans in between worlds. A pocket dimension you could say. Currents make portals all over the place, most of which lead back here. Lucky for you, when you washed out you fell right into one I was nearby! And here you are!"

Portal? Pocket dimension? What the hell?

"I think I need to lie down," I said weakly, and Calypso did that giggle again that just seemed disturbing on a supposed ocean goddess or whatever.

"It's a lot to take it, I get it," she said sympathetically, reaching down to pat my back in a comforting manner. All that accomplished was nearly knocking flat against the ground, but the thought was there. Still… portals, pocket dimension between worlds…

"Hey, so um…" I licked my lips, suddenly dry, "If I ended up here through one of your portals, does that mean… you can send me back through one?"

Calypso's expression fell.

"…Ah. Yeah, I figured you'd ask about that." The goddess gave a huge, gusty sigh, big enough that some of my hair flew back from the sudden breeze. "See, about that… it's complicated."

I felt a chill.

"What do you mean 'it's complicated?'" I said, and did I really sound that shrill? "Can you or can't you send me back?"

"It's just… living things aren't supposed to come through my portals?" Calypso seemed agitated again; she wasn't meeting my gaze, and was sinking lower in the water to peek over the edge of the island. " They're not really made for that, and uh... uh, usually people don't... survive them?" What. "I look through them to monitor things- see, I can't leave this place- and yeah, stuff comes through them because that's the ocean for you, but, they're all one way. Once you've come in one way… you can't go back the same way. They're like whirlpools. The current is against you, and it's... smaller at the exit than the entrance."

No. No, no, this couldn't be happening.

"I need to go back. All my friends are back there, my family is back there." I was standing again. My voice was growing louder at the second. I was shouting down a goddess, I thought numbly, which might not really be the best thing, but at the moment I was scared, I was angry. I wanted to go home.

"And I get that!" Calypso squeaked, "And I feel really bad about that. But it's not all terrible, I mean. I've got a few entrances on my end around here, so I think I can send you somewhere else cool to make up for it!"

"Somewhere else 'cool?' I just want—" Okay, time to stop. Deep breath. Clenching my fists, I did my best to steady my nerves. Now wasn't the time to give in to rising hysteria. "So, what, you can send me back, just on the other side of the world or something?"

"Yeahhh… I can't send you back to your world," said Calypso. She winced. "Sorry about that."

My mind went blank.

"What."

"It's the whole pocket dimension thing. Um, by coming here you've torn yourself out of your universe, and those tears sort of fix themselves, which means… you've removed yourself from existence? Something like that. So you can't go back. Um, not the same way you got here, anyway."

A beat. Another one.

Ah. There were the tears.

"Oh, oh no, don't cry!" Calypso said, alarmed, but it was too late; my vision blurred. Hot tears were welling up and running down my cheeks. "Look, like I said, to make up for it I can send you somewhere else cool, at least!"

"What does that even mean? I just… I just want to go home!" I choked out.

"Well, I said I'm guardian of seas right?" she said. Suddenly she was grinning, and bouncing slightly up and down. "That's not just of your seas. It's of all the seas, all that ever were, all that there are, and all that there ever will be. I exist between every dimension, ever. So I can send you somewhere cool! You know how you mentioned Pirates of the Caribbean?" she looked at me excitedly until I nodded between tears, too miserable to say anything else. "Well, you want to go there?"

….What.

"Excuse me?" Now that was almost enough to shock me out of my tears. Calypso just looked way to ecstatic.

"Like I said, goddess of every ocean ever. So if you want I could totally drop you off at Tortuga or someth—"

"Are you joking? That's the last place I'd want to be!"

That shut her up.

"Oh. Really? I guess if you don't want to…" the goddess visibly wilted. First of all why the hell would I want to wind up in the 18th century in some sketchy, dangerous pirate town? Second of all— she was telling me there was an alternate universe where that actually existed?

"Yup! Multiverse theory and all that," Calypso nodded, and I jumped. Apparently I'd said that all out loud. "Anyway, if you don't want to go there… uh… what do the kids read these days… I don't know, do you like manga? What about One Piece?"

…What.

"Are you telling me you've read One Piece?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, because that was just… waaaay too surreal. "Also, do you have something for pirates, or…?"

"Oooh so you know it!" She seemed awfully excited by that, and came rising back up out of the water.

"Um, yeah, I've read One Piece," I said slowly, still sniffling, "I-I mean, I need to catch up on a bit, but—"

"I love that series so much!" Calypso burst in, positively beaming, and wouldn't that just figure. The goddess of oceans had a thing for Japanese comics. "Which guy is your favorite? Or girl? Personally, Hawkeye is a badass. And I cried so much when Ace died, I think I caused a typhoon in the North Blue for days." Great, now my head was spinning from the fact she wanted to discuss faves and implied that she'd had direct influence on, what, the One Piece dimension?

"Well… Zoro's always great, but Smoker is usually my first favorite…" I ended up answering on shocked autopilot. Wait, why the hell was I telling her? I was only encouraging her!

"Ooh, you like the tough guys, huh?" Oh geez, she was winking at me.

"Look, forget One Piece," I sniffled, "I don't want to go anywhere but back home—"

"It's settled. I've decided!" Calypso evidently wasn't listening to me. Instead she was almost vibrating, eyes sparkling at me in a disturbing manner, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"What are you—"

"To make up for this whole mess," she said, drowning me out completely, "I, the great and wonderful Calypso, will send you to your own personal dimension!"

"What? No!"

"C'mon, it'll be fun, like an adventure! You can give me updates! I'll set you up with the perfect starting point right at the start of the action. I'll even throw in something cool!"

The island under my feet, calm and still until now, started to shake. To my shock the lights in the water were growing stronger. White glow washed over Calypso and I, melting away shadows and making me squint against the harsh brightness… it was because of the lights that I couldn't see her reaching for me until it was too late.

A massive hand wrapped my middle and yanked me forward.

"Hey, quit screaming," said Calypso as I screamed. Screamed my head off because a giant woman had snatched me up and launched herself away from the island… straight into the water. "You might want to hold your breath for this part! It's gonna be a rough ride, but I think I can stretch the portal enough so that you won't drown. But it'll be tight…!"

Naturally, I didn't hold my breath. I didn't have time. No sooner had she oh-so-helpfully shared this with me that she drew a giant breath of her own— and dove.

Later I would remember struggling against the iron grip at my sides. I would remember swallowing water at an alarming rate, having had my mouth open when we submerged. I'd remember the sensation of horrible, horrible pressure weighing in from all sides, so much that I thought I would burst before I could ever breath again—

And then there was the spinning. Calypso's grip fell away, replaced by the feeling being pulled through a space that was way, way too small for me, and then a pop—

I erupted into open air with a strangled cry. Sunpots flashed in front of my eyes and blinded me; I'd swallowed so much water that I couldn't get a decent breath in, but to my right was something hard and solid, so I flailed with all my strength until I found a grip and unceremoniously hauled myself up onto a steady surface. Then I hurled up everything in my stomach, which was mostly seawater. That was worse than I remembered from the first time. I never wanted to feel that again. Never ever. Panicking, unable to move— God, I'd almost drowned and that scared me more than anything at all. So I lay there shivering, trying not to sob and listening to the gentle lap of waves against the shore, and the cry of gulls in the air.

…Gulls.

Bit by bit I forced myself to calm down. Think. Pay attention. Gulls meant open air, not darkness. Gulls meant… land. My eyes snapped open and I shot upwards, despite my brand new headache and protesting stomach. I couldn't focus on that right now, though, because…

I was on an island. Not the island in the starry pocket dimension, thank god— but it wasn't the beach I'd started on. It wasn't anywhere I recognized even remotely.

Oh, no.

"Hey, you made it! That's great!"

….I would have been very happy to never hear this specific voice again. Slowly, very slowly I craned my head to look back to where I'd came; specifically, just off the rocky outcropping I found myself on. The surrounding water was chopping, but a patch of it had inexplicably smoothed itself over into a mirror-like surface… from which Calypso was staring out from.

She waved at me. I shot her the filthiest, most unhappy look I could manage.

"Where the hell did you send me?" I asked, and I was shaking in a combination of nervous, my near-drowning experience and good old fashioned rage. Calypso seemed oblivious to this.

"Um, let me think… I'm pretty sure I managed the East Blue! Yay, first try!" she giggled, and that goddamn giggle… no. No, focus on her words.

"East…Blue?" I echoed. Oh, hell no.

"Yeah, that's where I was aiming, and you made it all in one piece! Heheh, pun. Anyway, thought I'd give you one last present before letting you adjust to things. It's a real special something. Between you and me, a heroine's gotta have a cool power for her very own adventure you, you feel me?" She winked. "Just look around. You'll know it when you see it. I've got to go do guardian stuff now, but I'll check in later to see how things go. See ya~"

"No, wait—" too late. A wave crashed over the image of Calypso and wiped it away completely, leaving me… alone.

So I sat there. With Calypso went my rage, but in a way that left me feeling more hollow, physically and mentally drained with all of this… bullshit. The sight of waves was making me sick, so I staggered to my feet and took a good look around. It was an island, all right. From all around I could see open ocean; the island was a tiny one, about the size of a football field across. Most of it looked like rock, but a little ways in was a grand total of three trees, and to these trees I managed to make my way, collapsing in the shade of one with a thump.

I was barefoot, wearing shorts with a t-shirt and a flannel jacket. I was soaking wet. I had just met a goddess of oceans and had the weirdest experience in my life, and I was a very, very long way from home. Denial gave me that much, at least.

…it sure was a nice day out here. The sun was beating down overhead without a cloud in the sky; it was a far cry from the early spring back… home. No, it was positively tropical. Resting my head against the trunk, I cast a brief look up at the crowns and saw several clusters of a green fruit I couldn't place. Not coconuts… no, that was breadfruit, wasn't it? I'd had that once. Funny, one of them seemed awfully big compared to the others, and was growing bigger by the sec—

Thunk.

"Shit—!"

With a curse I flung myself back, but not before I was beaned in the face by a frickin' breadfruit; one that just had to fall directly on my face, didn't it? Luckily it didn't break the skin, but geez, that probably would bruise later. I turned and leveled a full glare at the thing. It had rolled a few feet away before coming to a stop, sitting innocently in the sun.

…At least, as innocent as a fruit could be when it was covered in whorls and whorls of black spiraled lines that most decidedly weren't on your normal, average breadfruit.?

"…Oh, hell no."