A/N: Here's the next chapter! So as you can see from this chapter, Nami and Aela don't exactly get along. Neither of the girls really like each other right now. That will change eventually, but remember, Aela can't stand fake emotions, and Nami is 98 percent fake right now.

Enjoy!

Edited February 19, 2021

"Was that Buggy?" Nami asked, voice high pitched. She sounded about as freaked out as I was. The feelings increased in the next second, when the clown pirate's severed head, arm and torso began floating off of the ground and flew towards each other, surging back together. "What the hell is this guy?" Zoro breathed out.

Buggy laughed darkly when he finally had all of his parts back. "The Chop Chop Fruit!" he exclaimed, and I felt like a dumbass. Of course. Devil fruit. "What the hell is that?!" Luffy questioned. He still hadn't let go of my shoulders, and I was grateful. The pain was quickly receding, but damn if it didn't still hurt like a bitch. "I'm a chop chop man!" Buggy clarified, throwing his arms out. "I can't be defeated by simple swordplay!"

"Chop-chop man?" Luffy repeated. "This guy's a freak!" I laughed despite myself. "Pot meet kettle," I said to Luffy, and he tilted his head at me like a confused puppy. Suddenly, Buggy launched his fist at our cage, and a knife was flying towards us. I went to throw my hands out, but Luffy grabbed my arms and forced them back down before I could use my devil fruit.

I cried out in shock when the knife hit Luffy head on. Why the hell didn't he let me block it?

I was relieved but highly confused when blood didn't splatter into the air upon impact. Luffy's head had tilted back due to the force of the throw, and he slowly moved it back down. My mouth dropped open when I discovered that the young captain had somehow caught the knife in his teeth!

He grinned around the knife, and bit down, snapping the steel in half. "Buggy…" he began, and his voice sent shivers through me. "Once I get outta here, I swear I'm gonna kick your ass!" His dark eyes stared Buggy down for several more seconds, and then he grinned over at my brother. "Hey Zoro!" the boy started. "Run!"

Nami looked back and forth at us and Buggy. She looked like she was about to lose her fricken mind, and I snorted at the thought.

Zoro ran towards our cage at our captain's command, no hesitation on his part. Buggy tried intercepting him, but the green haired teenager simply cut him in half again. It might not kill him, but it took a little bit for him to get all of his parts together again, which gave us some time to get the hell away.

Zoro made it to the cannon, ducking underneath it. He put both hands on the mouth of it and began pushing it with all of his strength. It took four of Buggy's men to move it, but only one Zoro.

"Nami, the matches!" I called out, and she jumped. She took her pole and whacked the man who was holding the matches. Picking them up with shaking hands, she lit the fuse.

BOOM!

The Buggy Ball shot out from the cannon, blasting the other end of the tavern to bits. I heard Buggy's scream of terror and then…..blessed silence.

….

"Holy shit," I breathed out, finally able to relax when we made it out of the war zone in one piece. "No kidding…" Zoro agreed, and I looked down at him from the cage.

I studied our surroundings. We were in front of a pet food shop. I didn't see any of Buggy's men around. "You can probably put us down now, Nii-chan," I said, and he nodded. When we were on ground level again, I started a bit seeing a dog staring at us. The dog wasn't moving, and he looked awful serious. He was watching us like a hawk...like a...hawk-dog….

I snorted in amusement at my dumb-ass thought, and Zoro rolled his eyes at me, mumbling under his breath.

"Doggy!" Luffy exclaimed, moving closer to the front of the cage. I laughed; he got excited so easily. He moved the cage closer to the dog, and when close enough, began poking it.

"Luffy stop," I scolded, slapping his hand down. "Leave him alone," I finished, sounding like his mother. "But Aela," he whined, poking it again, "He looks dead." He poked it between the eyes, and apparently, that was the moment the dog had reached his limit with the rubber boy, because the next thing I knew, he'd bitten Luffy's face.

Luffy began screaming, "Let go of me, you stupid dog! Get off, get off, GET OFF!" "Luffy be still!" I told him, fretting. I tried to get the dog to release the boy but he merely held on harder. "Luffy stop fooling around!" Zoro shouted, and I started laughing, the ridiculousness of the situation finally hitting me.

My laughter died though when I felt the energy of the orange haired girl get closer. I guess she decided to grace us with her presence again. Ugh.

"Look at you people," Nami started, walking up on the situation. Luffy and the dog had stopped mid fight, the dog gnawing on the right side of Luffy's face, and Luffy's fist up ready to beat the dog off of him. "You know, the middle of the street isn't the greatest hiding place."

"Who says we're hiding?" I shot back at her, and she frowned at me. She threw a key onto the ground then.

"You guys got me out of a sticky situation back there, so now we're even." "You stole this for us, Nami?" Luffy questioned, grinning at her like an idiot. "Thanks!"

"Yeah, thanks," I said drily. It's the least she could do really since she was the one that got us in that situation to begin with.

"So what's the story here?" Zoro questioned, studying the orange haired girl. "Who's she?" "That's Nami," Luffy introduced. "She's our new navigator." I snickered when she yelled back, "I'm not your navigator!"

"She's our navigator," Luffy repeated. He made a move to grab the key and I watched him excitedly. I was so ready to get out of this fucking…

Just then, the dog, who hadn't moved since he'd released Luffy from his mouth, surged forward, grabbing the key, and in one gulp, swallowed it whole.

He fucking swallowed it.

I stared at the dog, eyes wide. Did that...did that really just happen? Luffy and I froze upon hearing the ominous gulp as the key slid down the canine's throat.

Luffy snatched the dog up by his throat and began shaking him up and down repeatedly. "Spit it out you damn mutt!" he yelled, face red with anger. "That's not food! GIVE IT BACK!"

I sighed and facepalmed. "Luffy leave him be. He's already swallowed it." I sat back against the bars of the cage, rubbing my forehead tiredly. I had a helluva headache right now, and Luffy's screaming certainly wasn't helping. My side was still pulsing with pain and the constant ache was starting to piss me off.

I felt someone then, their energy slowly nearing us. I didn't sense any malevolence from them, so I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin against them in a relaxed position. "We've got a visitor," I said vaguely. Zoro and Luffy simply glanced at me and then peered in the direction that I was currently staring.

"Huh?" I heard Nami murmur, and seconds later a man's voice was heard.

"Hey you dern whippersnappers," he yelled, sounding a bit out of breath."Quit picking on poor Chouchou! Put him down!" An old man came around the corner and began running towards us. He had fluffy white hair and makeshift armor over his yellow button up shirt and shorts. "How did you do that?" Nami asked, peering at me suspiciously. "I'm amazing," I said lazily, and she growled at me, making me chuckle. This girl had anger issues.

The old man stopped running when he saw Luffy and I in a cage. "Chouchou?" Luffy repeated, again prying the dog off of his face.

"Who're you Ossan?" I asked curiously.

"Ossan?!" he repeated, sounding offended. "I'm the mayor of this town, Mayor Boodle!"

"...did you mean to say poodle?" I asked, right eyebrow raised. "What? No," he answered, confused. "...oh, okay…" I replied, squinting my eyes at the man's hairstyle that very closely resembled a… "It's just, your hairstyle makes you look like a.."

"Let it go, Aela," Zoro cut in, giving me a deadpan stare. Whatever.

"That looks like a nasty injury," I heard the Mayor say then. Puzzled, I turned my head to look at Boodle and noticed him pointing at someone. Following his finger with my sight, my heart dropped when my gaze stopped on Brother. What…

A medium sized patch of red was spreading over his left side, the exact spot that the knife was supposed to dig into him. "Zoro-nii?" I breathed out, feeling a lump build up in my throat. Zoro cursed and put a hand to his side, and when he pulled his hand away it was bloody. "But I thought…" I started, guilt pouring through me.

"It's fine, Aela," he soothed, understanding my tone. "It's just a scratch." His brown eyes peered into my blue ones pleadingly, trying to make me feel better."That's a pretty serious scratch then, son," the mayor pointed out, and the lump in my throat grew bigger; I swallowed it down harshly. "Shut up, old man," Zoro growled. "I said it's fine!" I knew he wanted the man to stop talking so I wouldn't feel bad, but the damage had been dealt, both literally and figuratively.

Useless. Fucking useless. My energy shield didn't hold up for some reason against Buggy's attack, and Zoro got hurt because of it.

Guilty.

Weak.

Fucking weak.

I grit my teeth in anger at my lack of strength, my hands balling into fists. I didn't deserve to be on this crew. The only reason Luffy had recruited me was because of my brother.

"Aela?" Luffy questioned me when I lowered my forehead completely to my knees, hiding my face entirely. I didn't answer, the feel of my fingertips cutting into my palms the only thing I wanted to focus on right now. "I take it you folks ran into Buggy then, huh?" Mayor Boodle spoke, voice a little more hushed due to the now tense atmosphere. "Let's get you to a doctor to get your side checked out."

No one really moved, and I could feel my brother's heavy stare on me. "Go with him, please," I said simply without looking up at him, voice muffled. A few more moments of silence.

Zoro stared at his distraught sister, wishing that he could say something to make her feel better. Unfortunately, now was not the time nor the place, so instead of arguing with the mayor, he simply looked away from his sister, and to his captain. The two stared at each other seriously for one second...two….before they both nodded at the other, seemingly coming to some sort of agreement.

Zoro turned and threw his hand out to gesture at the mayor in front of him to begin walking, and with one last look at his sister, the swordsman followed the white haired man.

I listened to the crunch of their shoes on the gravel road which eventually faded away. How am I ever going to be strong enough to protect my crew? I can't even protect my own brother.

"If it wasn't for your shield he would have been injured much worse," Luffy spoke up then, and surprise shot through me. "He shouldn't have been hurt at all," I responded, peaking my face up from my knees to look solemnly at the dark haired teenager. "I'm not strong enough yet," I continued, shame running through me.

"Why didn't you let me protect the cage when Buggy threw the knife?" I questioned my captain then, feeling defensive. "Is it because my shield failed with Zoro?" I threw out, terrified of the answer. He thought I was weak too. He must've known that my shield failed with Zoro and knew that I couldn't protect him from the knife like I couldn't protect Zoro.

"No!" he shouted out, halting my thoughts instantly. "Of course not, Aela!" He then grabbed my hands and held them tightly, forcing my fingers to unravel from where I'd been digging them into my palms. "You'd already protected Zoro, and there was no reason for you to get hurt again. It's my job to protect my crew," he finished, voice bitter, and I realized he was feeling guilt as well.

"Luffy.." I breathed out, but before I could say anything else, the Mayor had made it back to us, sans my brother. "How's Zoro?" Luffy asked, peeking through the bars. He was still holding my hands and I blushed, gently pulling them back to my lap. I blushed even more when I caught Nami smirking at me. I sent her a glare and huffed, turning my head away from her stare.

"He needs to see a doctor," Boodle said. "But he said he would just sleep it off, so he went to bed." He sounded really puzzled when he said that, and I grinned in spite of myself. That's my brother. The dog yawned then and Nami reached out to pet his head a bit. "So this dog is named Chouchou?" she asked.

"What's he just sitting here for?" Luffy questioned, eyebrows raising. "She's guarding the shop," poodle man answered. "I came to feed her."

"Oh! She's a guard dog!" Nami said, nodding. The girl looked around at the area we were in. "Pet food store?" "A good friend of mine owned the store," poodle man began explaining. "About ten years ago, he and Chouchou opened up this little shop. They've got a lot of memories here, and so do I…" the man trailed off as he looked into the distance.

"It's his treasure," I said softly, looking at the dog with soft eyes. Luffy heard me and nodded in affirmation of my statement. "See these wounds?" the Mayor pointed out. "She's been fighting the pirates, protecting her store from them."

"I'm sure that means a lot to her master, but this is just cruel!" Nami spoke vehemently. "Is he at the refugee shelter with the others?" The Mayor opened the door to the pet shop, walking in and disappearing for a bit before coming back out with a dish full of dog food. He set the dish in front of the dog, and Choucho instantly began chomping on the food.

"No, he's not.." the Mayor said, answering Nami. The man sat on the porch and watched Chouchou devour her food. "He got sick and passed away," he finished, and I gasped. Poor puppy..

"He went to the hospital three months ago." "The poor thing!" Nami spoke, sharing my sentiments. "You mean she's been waiting for her master the whole time?"

"That's what everyone says, but that's not what I think," the Mayor shook his head. "Chouchou is a smart dog. She probably knows that her master is dead." "Then why does she still guard the store?" asked Nami, and I spoke before realizing what I was doing.

"It's his treasure," I said, watching the dog intently. "I think that Chouchou still guards the store because it's all that's left of her beloved master," the Mayor confirmed, pulling out a pipe from his pocket and lighting it. "I've been trying to get her to the shelter but she won't move from this spot," he sighed, taking a long drag of his pipe. Smoke slowly curled away from the Mayor's mouth, and I watched as it made its way into the sky. "She'd rather starve than leave her post."

There was silence for a bit, and we all seemed to be lost in our own thoughts. I was jolted out of contemplation when I heard what sounded like a loud roaring noise in the distance. "Mohji the Lion Tamer!" the Mayor shouted, jolting up from his seat, and he and Nami ran off towards the noise. I blinked. "Was that...was that a lion?" I said to myself incredulously.