Chapter 10

With the history of Chopper's background fully explained and Luffy still hunting Chopper himself somewhere in the castle, SB didn't really have much to do. Fencer was napping at the foot of Nami's bed, so at this point, he was basically waiting for Wapol to show up. Sure, he could try chatting with Nami, but if her reaction to Sanji's doting was any indication, it may not have been the best time for small talk. As he paced back and forth, he looked around from the bookshelf, to the bed, to the table, getting no ideas for anything interesting to do. Eventually, he couldn't take the boredom and wandered out of the bedroom. With all the hallways looking the same, he nearly got lost once or twice but managed to find his way back to the main entrance, where the door remained open, near the armory. Noticing there was a bunch of snow there, he made a couple of snow angels. Standing up and admiring his work, he quickly became bored again and went back to Nami's room.

"Where have you been?" the now-awake Fencer asked.

"Just wandering around. How're you guys?"

"I'm awesome as ever," she replied. "Hey, Nami, how 'bout you?"

Before the navigator could answer- "Mentally, not physically," Fencer added quickly.

Nami took a moment to answer, "I…don't know."

Sanji, ever the gentleman, made an effort to support her, "Don't let something like this keep you down, my love. You just need to get used to it is all. I could help you walk on your new feet if you want."

"Wanna practice now?" SB followed up.

Nami looked uncertain for a second but gave her answer by swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. Kureha monitored them to make sure nothing too strenuous happened as SB and Sanji each took one of Nami's arms over their shoulders and helped her practice walking. In just a few minutes, she was able to take small steps on her own.

"See? It's just like walking on your tiptoes," SB encouraged.

"I knew you could do it, Nami-Swan."

Nami cracked a small smile.

Then Fencer ruined it, "Hey, I think your tail got a little longer."

Just like that, Nami's smile faded.

SB glared at Fencer, "Now you're not helping."

Fencer flinched, "Sorry for bringing that up, dude," she said to Nami.

"It's fine. It's…fine."

"DOCTORINE!" Everyone looked as Chopper burst into the room. "It's Wapol! He's back!"

"WHAT?!" Sanji and Fencer yelled.

"Well, I guess we should go face him," SB sighed. Knowing Luffy was already heading to confront Wapol, SB grabbed his captain's coat, let Fencer get back on his shoulder, and headed to join him.

He was met with shock from Wapol and his men. "What the? The Straw Hats have two skeletons?" Kuromarimo wondered aloud.

SB sighed, "I'm a clone." He looked behind him, "Hey, where's Sanji?"

Kureha and Chopper exited the castle doors, "Your blonde friend stayed behind. He said something about 'protecting the lady' in case Wapol made it inside. Not that he'll get that far," the older doctor stated.

Luffy came skidding to a halt next to everyone else while glaring at Wapol, "You!"

SB took the opportunity to hand him his coat.

Wapol started grinning maliciously, "Before we get anything started, would you like to hear how your friends died?"

Luffy just laughed, "What? Our friends are way too strong to lose against thugs like yours."

"That would be true if your crew had been all together, however, we captured the bizarre duo you left on your ship and their little duck too," Chess elaborated. That got the crew's attention. Wapol's grin widened, "Not long after we got to Bighorn, an avalanche came and buried us all, but we left them there to die!"

The three began laughing evilly before a blade of flaming razor wind hit Chess in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards and fall off the mountain.

Everyone stood slack-jawed at the abrupt attack and slowly turned their attention to Fencer as the flames on her tail fizzled out.

"Awesome! I haven't seen you do that since we were inside the whale," Luffy exclaimed.

"Wow, you can do that?" SB questioned in awe.

Wapol lashed out, "How dare you kill one of my best men! I'll make you pay by going all out from the start!" He opened his mouth and before the crew's eyes, his tongue transformed into a cannon and fired.

As everyone scattered, Wapol charged with Kuromarimo following suit. The king punched at Skeleton Buddy, who blocked the strike. Fencer leaped forward, intending to slash the tyrant with her tail.

CLANG

To everyone's shock, the fatso's hand had turned into a sword which he used to stop Fencer's attack dead in its tracks.

"Impressed?" Kuromarimo taunted. "King Wapol's Munch-Munch Fruit allows him to take anything he's eaten recently and make it part of his body."

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

SB facepalmed, "Not now, Luffy!"

Chopper went over his offensive options. He could try using his Rumble Ball, but decided against it. Arm Point was even stronger and more muscular than Heavy Point, and with Horn Point's antlers, he could try and bulldoze Wapol off the mountain. Unfortunately, the short window of time he could use those forms meant they were best saved for finishing a fight. That left him trying his luck with Heavy Point as he threw a punch at Wapol. The fat tyrant dodged and slashed at Chopper, who evaded the strike by shrinking down to his brain point.

Distracted by his exchange with Chopper, the king didn't notice SB coming at him from the side. The skeleton hit him with a punch, hurting him but not taking him out. Wapol slashed at SB, forcing him to retreat.

Luffy, on the other hand, was fairing pretty well. Kuromarimo's punches weren't having much effect on the boy's rubber body. That looked like it was about to change when the henchman's boxing gloves grew spikes. "I'm gonna fill you full of holes, Straw Hat! And the old lady's next!" That was all he could say before he got kicked into the horizon by a certain female doctor.

"Uhhhh, thanks…young lady," Luffy got out.

Kureha chuckled, "Don't mention it."

Several booms were heard not far behind them. Luffy looked to see that Wapol had turned his tongue into a cannon again and had forced his friends on the defensive. Fencer darted to the king's right, reared her head back before spewing flames from her mouth. In response, Wapol quickly shoveled snow into his mouth with his free hand and spat it out, watering down her attack. SB and Chopper were having trouble too. It was difficult just getting near the corrupt king because of his cannon and when they did get close, they had to contend with his sword hand.

"Can you stall him for a minute?" Chopper asked. "I need to do something."

"Rumble ball?" SB asked back.

"How did you know about my… wait," the reindeer quickly remembered the skeleton's inside knowledge. "Yes."

Luffy charged past the group to attack the tyrant, throwing a wobbly punch, "Gum-Gum Shotgun!" The wiggling of his attack had caught Wapol off-guard and connected right in his gut. Skeleton Buddy and Fencer took advantage of his weakness and followed the attack with a barrage of their own. The big bad ruler raised his sword hand and blocked the ferret's flaming tail but Fencer grinned and twisted just a bit so that the 'verteblades' on her tail broke his sword. SB rushed in with a rapid barrage of punches, sending his enemy skidding back to the edge of the mountain.

'I just pulled off rapid-fire fisticuffs,' he thought to himself, 'Kickass'.

With the king subdued for the moment, the crew fell back to plan their next move. Luffy noticed Chopper standing back with his hooves in 'scope' position. "Hey," he called out, "How come you're just standing there?"

"Well, I was scanning him for weaknesses," said the reindeer as he approached, "but judging from how well you guys did, I'm starting to think I didn't need to."

While Wapol recovered, he went on an angry rant, stomping his feet and throwing his hands in the air; the crew ignored his temper tantrum and huddled together.

"Why are we huddling?" SB asked.

Luffy treated this like a dumb question, "Because we need to make a plan for how to finish him off. Duh."

"Okay, but why do we need to huddle for that? Also, since when do you make plans?"

Fencer rolled her eyes, "Seriously, who cares? Now, listen up. I say I use my fire to make some kind of distraction while the rest of you dudes take the chance to sneak in and attack."

"Yeah, we could charge him like we did a minute ago, then hit with our best moves," Luffy followed up.

Chopper nodded, "Sounds good. Now, let's get to it. Who knows what he'll…he'll-" He stopped when he turned to glance at Wapol. The others followed his gaze, they were in for a surprise; the fat former king wasn't so fat anymore.

"Hahaha! What do you think?"

Flashback-30 seconds ago

Seeing his opponents preoccupied with themselves, Wapol began swallowing himself. Soon there was nothing left of him but his jaw. The process quickly reversed, revealing his slender self.

Flashback end

"I munched myself to slim down while you fools were huddling like a bunch of little schoolgirls; now I'm lean and mean," the king cackled.

SB thought of a comeback right away, "Yeah? Well, looking slightly less stupid isn't going to help you beat us."

The former fatso charged as Fencer spewed out some small fire pellets, lightly burning him. As the others rushed forward, SB landed the first punch making the king stumble back. Quickly recovering, Wapol changed his tongue to a cannon again. SB quickly sidestepped, letting an Arm Point Chopper attack. The humanoid reindeer brought his hooves together, crushing the cannon between them. Roaring in pain, Wapol Spartan kicked Chopper away. Suddenly, the tyrant felt something crawl up his leg and discovered Fencer climbing grasping onto his thigh. The fire ferret started scurrying all over his body, scratching him nonstop.

Before the oppressive ruler could try to consume the ferret, Luffy warned her. "Fencer, get off him, quick!" Fencer leaped off the cruel king just in time for Luffy to launch his assault. "Gum-Gum Gatling!", the captain's barrage hit his target dead-on. Next, putting all his strength into a single punch, SB sent the king sailing to the edge of the mountain once again, before calling out, "Take it away, Chopper!"

The young doctor advanced and unleashed his hoof-thrust into his chest, "Cloven Cross!" That blow was the final push needed to send their enemy flying off into the horizon, disappearing as a twinkle in the sky.

With the battle over, everyone took a second to catch their breath. Then Fencer started chuckling, "Look what I've gooooot," she sang. SB looked to see her spinning a key ring on her paw, making his jaw drop, "That's-"

"That's right! I stole the key to his ship!"

The skeleton paused, "…Wait, what?"

Luffy started laughing, "Ha! I can see it now. He'll get back to his ship and be like, 'Hey, where's my key!? How am I gonna start my ship!?'"

Fencer began laughing too, "Exactly!"

"Wow, so ships need keys to sail?" Chopper wondered out loud.

Skeleton Buddy watched as his friends laughed at their own ridiculous logic. "Uh, guys? You know that's not really...You know what? Nevermind."

Line Break

This was something I'd been looking forward to. Now that Dalton was out of the snow, we'd boarded the cable car or gondola or whatever and were on our way up the mountain. The crew was still suspicious of Mantax while the islanders were a little freaked out.

Once we reached the top, Zoro exited with Usopp crouching behind him.

I chose this moment to try and pre-empt a minor issue. I faced the villagers in the cable car, "Everybody, just so you know, there's gonna be a little monster up there when we get out of here."

Dalton, Vivi, and the others all raised their eyebrows. "Could you elaborate?" Dalton asked.

I nodded and raised my hand to what I thought was Chopper's height, "He's a few feet tall with brown fur. He'll also be wearing a hat."

Everyone was taken aback by that last detail, so I just beckoned them, "Come and see for yourself."

As we all exited the gondola, I saw Luffy greeting Zoro and Usopp, before Usopp noticed Chopper, "AHHH, it's a monster!"

This caused the villagers to take notice of the little reindeer, with some of them raising their guns. Fortunately, our potential new recruit raised his voice, "WAIT, YOU FOOLS!" Once everyone paused, he continued, "There's no need to fire. That's no monster."

"What are you talking about?" Usopp asked. "That's totally a monste-"

Mantax cut him off, "Of course it's not a monster," he pointed his pincer at Chopper, "THAT… is a teddy bear."

"WHAT?!" Chopper shouted.

The rest of our reactions were mixed: Usopp facefaulted, Vivi and the crowd sweatdropped, while Zoro, Fencer, SB, and I chorused, "Are you serious?"

"He's small, brown, and adorable, so yes," the oversized brute said stoically.

Luffy just seemed confused, "Wait, so he's not a reindeer?"

Some of the villagers started lowering their guns. "Well, okay... if he's just a teddy bear, then I guess there's no need for alarm," one of them said.

I figured I shouldn't think too hard about the fact that some of them are actually buying that, since it seemed to be working. I made SB vanish, absorbing his… memories? Wait. He's a clone that I can make disappear and reappear and when he disappears, I get his memories. Holy shit, SB's basically a shadow clone! How did I not see that parallel sooner!?

"Skeleton, Delcan, whoever you are," Mantax's voice cut me off from my thoughts as he approached me. "My patience is starting to wane. Let's finish the conversion we started... convince me to join your crew."

"Okay, I have six good reasons," I said as I pulled off my right middle finger, adding it to my left hand, causing Mantax to look a little skeptical. As I counted my six-fingered hand, he continued to listen. "Ok, 1. We have a great chef, 2. We'll make a lot of money in the future, 3. We can just hit each other for acting stupid."

"You people do that regularly?" he questioned.

I nodded, "Yep. Anyway, 4. We're gonna get quite a bit of notoriety as time goes on, 5. We're gonna get in some pretty good fights, and last but not least, 6. This HAS to be better than working with Pridak."

That last one really got his attention. He was quiet for a moment, then grumbled, "Alright, I'm in."

Excited, I looked around, "Alright then, where's Luffy?"

The black Barraki tilted his head, "Who?"

"The guy with a straw hat," I explained.

"Him? Well, first the teddy bear got flustered by the crowd and ran off, then Straw Hat ran after him. Why do you ask?"

"He's the captain of the crew, so it's ultimately up to him if you join."

Mantax seemed annoyed with that bit of information. In an attempt to distract from the awkward moment, I turned my attention to the rest of the crew, "Hey, so, since you guys are here, wanna see how Nami's doing?"

"Yes, please. That's a great idea," Vivi answered.

Fencer climbed back up onto my shoulder, "Well, you're in for a shock because she's a dinosaur now."

Vivi and Usopp's response was a big 'What?!', Zoro raised an eyebrow, while Mantax simply asked 'Who's Nami?'

I gestured for everyone to follow and led them inside. As we approached Nami's room, I faced everybody, "Alright, this may be a little shocking for you guys, so please don't freak out. Usopp, I'm looking at you."

"Hey!"

I opened the door, letting them in. Their surprise was pretty justified. Nami had gone through another 'growth spurt'. Her 'snout' was now complete, and her tail had gotten several feet longer.

Nami and Sanji were surprised themselves at seeing Mantax enter, "What the hell is that thing doing here!?"

"I-is that really you, Nami?" Usopp stuttered in shock.

Our navigator nodded her head, "Yes."

Vivi walked up to her bedside, "Is your fever down? Are you still in pain?"

"I'm fine, Vivi," Nami answered, "I can get used to this."

"Well, THAT was a quick adjustment," Fencer commented.

Sanji swooned, "We shouldn't be surprised. Nami-Swan is a strong woman who can adapt to adversity."

"That's all well and good," Kureha said as she entered the room, "However, as much as I'd love to give a clean bill of health and let you all waltz out of here, there's still the issue of your payment."

Fortunately, I knew what to say, "Any chance you could waive that little fee of yours?"

"Ke ke ke, not on your life."

I plucked the key from around Fencer's neck, "Not even for this?"

The doctor's eyes narrowed, "And just how did you get that?"

"I didn't. My little buddy did," I said, scratching Fencer's ear.

"Uh, dude? What would she want with the key to Wapol's ship?" my ferret asked.

I kept scratching her ear, "Because it's not the key to his ship, it's the key to the armory here, and she needs it for something awesome."

Kureha hissed,"You've sure got some balls trying to force a bargain with me, sonny," She then looked me up and down, "Figuratively at least."

I just stood there, "…Rub that in why don't you. Anyway, do we have a deal?"

She proceeded to take the key, waive our bill, and threaten us not to leave for a couple days to be sure nothing else occurred regarding Nami's condition. Once she took her leave, Sanji brought up a previous point, "Ok, now that that's all settled, can someone please explain what HE'S doing here?" he pointed at Mantax.

"I was wondering about that too," Fencer added.

The black Barraki nonchalantly responded, "Just think of me as a potential new recruit."

"WHAT!?" the crew members unaware of this arrangement shouted.

"What the hell is Luffy thinking?!" Sanji asked.

I shrugged, "Actually, it was my idea."

"I'll handle this," Fencer said. She grabbed my skull in her paws, "What the fuck, dude!? He tried to rob us!"

"I know, I know, I just really wanted him on the crew," I explained.

Usopp was dumbfounded, "THAT'S your excuse? What are you, a second Luffy?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

To my surprise, Mantax defended me, "Who cares how trivial his reason was? Just be grateful that I now want to be with you and not against you."

"Well, this has been a nice chat, but I'm going outside. There's this thing that's gonna happen pretty soon and I don't wanna miss it," I excused myself.

As I made my way outside, Fencer asked, "What's that thing you wanted to see? Also, it feels like you kinda copped out on that subject."

I could only shrug, "I kinda did. And as for that thing I wanted to see, you're about to find out."

Now outside, I saw we were just in time for the beginning of Luffy convincing Chopper to join our crew. I better say this now rather than cut in, in the middle of it, "Hey, Luffy, can Mantax join the crew?"

My captain tilted his head, "Who's Mantax?"

'Think of a description. Think of a description.' "The alien ninja."

"Him? Sure! Now I have two aliens on my crew!"

"WHAT?!" Zoro shouted. "Just like that!? But-" he paused, then sighed, "You know what? Nevermind."

"Smart way of thinking, Zoro," I commented. Hearing snow crunching behind me, I turned around to see the rest of the crew exiting the castle. I put a finger to my lips, or lack thereof, and pointed a thumb at Luffy and Chopper.

And so, the tearjerking conversation played out the way it did in canon. Everyone smiled as Luffy won Chopper over. When the reindeer went to tell Kureha he was leaving with us, I addressed the crew, "How long do you guys think it'll be before he comes bursting out with the mad doctor behind him?"

"Minute and a half," Sanji suggested.

"30 seconds," Luffy pitched.

I nodded, "Well, I guess we'll see."

Luffy's guess of 30 seconds turned out to be correct as Chopper came bursting out the castle doors towing a sled.

"Everybody into the sled, now!" the little guy shouted as Kureha threw more weapons at him.

Mantax and I were one of the only two who didn't make hilarious faces at the sight of this, and frankly, I really enjoyed all those blank white eyes…or in Fencer's case, black eyes.

We all quickly piled into the sled except Mantax, who was too big to fit, "Just go."

We were all surprised by that statement. "You're gonna fight that crazy lady?" Luffy asked.

Our new crewmate shook his head as much as his build allowed, "No, I'll be right behind you. Now move!"

Chopper took his advice and started towing us down the cable.

"Whoah," Fencer said, looking behind us. We followed her gaze to see that Mantax was right on our tail! He was running along the cable like some professional tightrope walker. He even ran like a ninja, with his left forearm held in front of him and his right arm stuck out backwards.

"Wow, he really is a ninja!" Luffy beamed.

Line Break

Once we'd gotten down the cable, passed through town, and traveled through a good amount of forest, we stopped at the sound of cannon fire, a sign of yet another thing I'd been looking forward to. That pink snow was really something.

Continuing back to our ship, we set sail. All the guys on the crew, canon guys at least, were partying and encouraging Chopper to join them. The girls and Carue didn't join them, neither did Mantax, Fencer, and I.

That didn't stop the other guys from trying to rope us in.

"Hey, big guy, aren't you gonna join the party?" a half-drunk Zoro asked.

A flat "No," was the only response he got.

Sanji tried next, "Well, at least have a drink," he said, offering a cup.

The black Barraki said nothing for a moment before taking the cup, "Fine." He raised the cup to his…'mouth area' which was kinda funny to watch since his left arm barely reached his mouth. However, we were all surprised when, instead of splashing off his face, the booze just disappeared when it hit his mouth.

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper's jaws dropped while the rest of us raised an eyebrow…well, except me.

Overcoming the surprise, Usopp asked me something, "Hey, Declan, this is a party, how about you sing something?"

"I barely managed to suck it up last time, Usopp. I'm usually too shy for that," I answered a little nervously.

Out of the blue, Luffy chimed in, "Hey, what kind of dinosaur is Nami?"

That question got all our eyes on the navigator.

"I was kinda wondering about that too." Fencer add before gasping. "Wait, Declan should know!"

"Really? How would he know?" Usopp inquired.

The fire ferret tapped my skull, "He's a total dino-geek. I'm sure he can figure this out."

With the spotlight now on me, I walked over to examine Nami. 'Ok, head is the wrong shape for a spinosaurid or any raptors I can think of. No crests either, so she's probably not a Ceratosaurus.'

"Well?" Luffy asked.

I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't know what other distinguishing characteristics to look for. 'Except maybe,' "This might sound weird, but could you show me your teeth?" I asked Nami.

The dinosaur girl hesitated for a second, but opened her mouth, showing me what I was looking for: serrated teeth.

"Aha," I faced everyone. "I think she's a Carcharodontosaurus."

Everyone looked at me confused, with Luffy asking what they were all thinking, "A Car-what?"

"I believe he said 'Carcharodontosaurus,'" Mantax repeated for me.

I would've deadpanned if I could, 'Why did I even bother trying to figure out what she is if no one understands?'

Sanji changed the subject, "Well, now that's clear as mud. Anyway, I'd like to ask our new crewmate some questions before we get back to partying."

"Really? What kind of questions? " Chopper wondered.

"Actually, I meant the crewmate who's tall, dark, and not-so-handsome," our chef clarified.

I gasped, "Oh, oh, oh, I know what to ask him!"

Apparently, I sounded a bit too excited because now everyone was looking at me funny. I addressed our new crewmate, "Ok, tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and plans for the future. You know, basic information."

Mantax proceeded to explain himself, "To any of you who don't know, my name is Mantax. I have one or two likes, many dislikes, my hobbies are none of your concern, and my plan for the future is to get back to my own dimension."

'Not what I was hoping for...We got almost nothing but his name,' I thought. Judging by the looks on the rest of my friends' faces, they were thinking the same thing. Seeing as how we had another new recruit, I asked Chopper, "Would you like to go next?"

Our new doctor nodded, "Sure, my full name is Tony Tony Chopper. I like sweets," his face turned sour, "and I dislike jerks like Wapol. My hobby is studying medicine and my dream for the future is to become a doctor who can cure any disease."

While the crew nodded in approval, Fencer tapped my shoulder, "Where do you come up with ideas like this?"

I chuckled, "I'm quick with a reference."

Line Break

After the party had finished, everyone had gone to bed… Everyone but me that is. I was going to watch everyone sleep but someone had to keep look-out and I figured it'd be a little cruel to leave Skeleton Buddy up in the crow's nest with nothing to do. So instead, I let HIM do the creeping tonight. I sat around for 10, maybe 15 minutes before someone called out to me.

"I believe this is yours."

I looked over the edge of the crow's nest to see Mantax holding Skeleton Buddy under his arm. My jaw nearly dropped when I realized the black Barraki was standing vertically on the side of the mast, "Uh, you sure you're not a ninja?"

My new crewmate tossed my clone up to me, "I caught your little friend wandering from room to room just staring at everyone, including me."

Making my clone disappear, I replied, "Well sorry, but I needed something to do. I mean, it's not like anything happens at three in the morning."

Just then, we heard an alarm clock, followed by Luffy shouting, "Oh boy, 3 AM!" followed again by a munching sound.

"…Besides that."

Mantax began walking back down the mast, "If you want to spy on your friends like some creep, I don't care. Just leave me out of it."

Line Break

The next day came before I knew it, thankfully. I swear, these nights are going to kill me with boredom. Fortunately, another amusing section from the show was about to commence. Luffy got snatched up by a giant bird, Chopper comically panicked, then Luffy freed himself by knocking the bird out.

"Hey, Sanji, I got us some meat," Luffy announced.

Zoro looked a bit eager, "Does this mean we can have some decent meals now?"

"Finally, some meat. I'm starving," Mantax said as he walked up to the bird. Without warning, he sank his mandibles into its neck and tore out a chunk of flesh. I don't think I'll ever understand how he swallows stuff but once he did, he noticed all of us staring at him.

"What?"

"…Nothing," we chorused. "Nothing at all."

I started tuning everything out at that point as Vivi started bringing Chopper and Mantax up to speed on the seven warlords, Baroque Works, and her country's plight.

Line Break

'Twas the dead of night. I'd thankfully remembered that, at around this point in time, Captain Megamouth aka Luffy eats all the food the crew has left. I didn't have to worry about going hungry, but the rest of the crew did, so I thought I'd be nice and stop him.

Hiding behind the kitchen door, I waited until I heard rummaging in the fridge before making myself known, "Hey Luf-" I couldn't help but pause. The fridge was completely empty! "Luffy," I deadpanned, "did you just eat every bit of food in the fridge?"

For a second, it seemed like my captain was about to make up some blatant lie but, realizing he'd been caught red-handed, he came clean, "Yeah."

"How's that possible?! You only came in here, like, 10 seconds ago!"

Luffy just shrugged.

The next day, the two of us got a beating. Luffy for eating all the food we had left and me for epically failing to stop him. Fortunately, there was steam in the distance, telling me we were about to have a certain guest soon.