I do not own One Piece by Eiichiro Oda or any other references to other works I may use in this story.

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"People talking"
'People thinking'
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Captains Log (transcribed from memory):

Year XXX0. Month XX. Day XX

It has been a tough few weeks. They have been chasing us constantly for something we do not have, and the damage is building up. We haven't had more than a moment of rest since the battle with Bullet. Chopper has been overworked just trying to keep everyone patched up, but the constant battles are taking their toll. Brook took a bad hit and hasn't gotten up for the last two islands. Franky and Robin are not doing much better. A new Kuma model managed to take an arm and a leg from our shipwright, but we had to keep moving.

Sometimes I regret smashing the eternal log pose, if only so we could have a route that no one could follow. For now, we push on hoping to end this chase. It's funny. All of this for a shortcut that no longer exists.

XXX1.01.01

In spite of repeated attacks by marines and pirates directed by Big Mom and Kaido, I made it to the last island of the Grand Line. The final stop of every log pose, Raftel. The dream of many aspiring pirates … and I've never hated a place more.

Why did it have to be this way? They're dead damnit, DEAD! and I'm here alone.

I can only guess at what happened after my last fight, I think Chopper drugged me. The rest is some half-dreamed stupor of fire, yelling, flying, and a short, loud wind. Then I wake on the Mini-Merry next to a shore with an old dock, a crack reminiscent of her predecessor running through the middle. I guess the current brought me here.

I don't know what to do any more. I can barely feel anything. I don't even know who got us in the end, or who to be mad at. My crew who left me, sending me on ahead, or the one who got them? My only idea is to wait to see if they come for me...

XXX1.01.04

It has been three days, and no one has come. Maybe they think I'm dead or they weren't using our route to track me. I've used some supplies off Mini-Merry, but I haven't been very hungry, so I had no real need to move. If they are not coming, maybe I can find a way to get to them.

I need to get moving.

XXX1.01.11

I have been searching for a week and found little to help me get off of this island. The coast has only one dock. I have no ship, no navigation, I can't even see the Red Line. I can't find a way off.

Food and water have been found. I think I will check the ruins in the middle of the island. At least I can see what else is here.

XXX1.01.14

HAHAHAHAHAHahahahaaaaaaaaa...ugh

The One Piece, it always comes back to the One Piece. I found a message from Roger. He names the ruined city Raftel, and the island's name Load Star Island, the isle of converging paths. No, One Piece is not here. This last island in the chain is not the 'Final' island. The message says something about some red or root polygons are the key!? Geez, Robin would...

I'll look to see if this is some trick, and if there is a way off. I don't know if I want there to be or not.

XXX1.01.21

I looked through all of the buildings and flipped over several fallen rocks. Even looking in the ruins' basements. All I found was some worn tools, a decent knife, and some mystery poem of "least traveled roads" and an "eternal map." No proof of a way off.

Nothing new on the horizon.

But I do have a way to end it now…

XXX1.02.25

Survival has been easy here. A sea king attacked me while I fished, but I couldn't feel it. It was no threat, but I couldn't sense it even as it tried to eat me. I think it is connected to the numb feeling I have. Either way without an adventure, Haki isn't important.

I made a shelter here, though it is barely needed with the comfy weather. Little in the way of storms, but a bit of rain that reminds me of Dawn Island.

I've taken up carving, made myself a chair from a stump. It doesn't have any legs, but it works well. Taken to sky watching with little to do. I miss them. I think about joining them, but I can't. I feel like it would betray their wishes, their hopes, their dreams.

Nothing new on the horizon...

XXX3.01.01

Someone is here…

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Author's Note:

Ok here is the kickoff to my first fanfiction. This thing has been rattling around in my skull for over a year now. Never could get it down on paper much less in a way I liked. Huge thanks to my beta RoseWithThorns and a few other friends for helping me edit this gordian knot of an idea.