The strange fish floating outside of the bubble were creatures she couldn't have even dreamt up. They were that weird. So close, she could have reached out and touched them or that's how it felt anyway.

A huge monstrous angler fish swam up close, his head light thing bathing their part of the ship in a white glow. It's massive needle-like teeth gleaming as it snapped its jaws, coming within inches of the bubble. Alex shrunk away, while the other two kids didn't seem fazed.

"So how long until we hit the bottom, Namur?" Haruta asked in a bored tone, they were leaning over the side, making the blonde incredibly nervous, one wrong move and they might be sucked out into the depths.

"I donno... I'm a Fishman not a radar." He replied sarcastically, turning his attention towards the other end of the ship. It was quiet, except for some low echoing voices in the distance.

"Geez it was a question... Don't gotta be an ass about it." Haruta huffed, crossing their arms in annoyance.

"Anyway... Alex, is there anywhere you wanna go? By the way it's around ten-ish at night, so we have to be quiet-" The raven warned, quickly giving Haruta a glare "-Right Haru?"

"Tch! Yeah, yeah I know!" Haruta snapped loudly, which resulted in Namur throwing his arms in the air and rolling his eyes.

"Why do I bother..."

It's night-time, that's good news, hopefully the large majority of the crew are in bed. This is my chance!

Now where do I go?

Where could she go? Alex was well and truly trapped, maybe she could hide out until they arrived in the 'New World'

Oh, yeah Alexandra that's a brilliant idea. Cause hiding out worked so well the last time! And even if I manage to avoid every pirate until then. What, I'm just going to be stuck in the New World! She thought bitterly, how was she going to even survive?

The young girl had heard the stories, her Papi had told her about his experiences, how he'd nearly die on a near constant basis! Not to mention Alex's grandfather was a giant, a grown-up giant and even he had a hard time surviving with that advantage non the less.

I'm a kid, a short, one-eyed girl with a heart condition... I'm dead meat! I'm screwed.

Alex did wonder how long she'd been out for, Haruta had said she was sick for nearly a week and in that week, she had almost died three times. Was that all the time it took for this ship to sail from that rock in the middle of 'Paradise' to here under the sea?

She supposed for an experienced crew that wasn't really a big deal. Who would be stupid enough to get in the way of the Whitebeard pirates? If the weather was clear then she would guess it was possible. Talk about bad luck... but Alexandra was a Magnhild it was to be expected.

Alex glanced up, realizing that Haruta and Namur were staring at het expectantly, she shrank a bit, confused. Finally Haruta spoke up, frowning. "Soooo, Al have you decided or...?"

"What? Decided?" The girl stammered feeling put on the spot, did they say something and she didn't hear?

"Where did you want to go?" The Fishman asked warily, he looked exhausted, dark circles were under his eyes and Alex immediately felt guilty for keeping him up.

"I- you know... you should go to bed if you're tired, I'm just gonna stay here and uh, look at the fish..." She managed, normally her lying skills were way better then this, but Alex didn't want to lie to these two. They had been so nice, she felt like she was betraying them, which the blonde knew was stupid, they had only just met.

"Nah, we're fine!" Haruta chuckled oblivious to her bad lie, while Namur didn't look quite so convinced, but he let it alone.

Alex fidgeted, suddenly unsure what to do, her legs were still aching, her body still wanted to collapse. Admittedly, all she wanted to do was go back to that nice comfortable bed, however that wasn't even an option, she had to get out of here.

I still have no idea where to go...

"Alright... while you two decide, I'm going for a swim." Namur mumbled, dragging his shirt off and ditching it on the floor. He clambered up onto the wooden barrier, crouching down, stretching his arms over his head in a lazy movement.

"Kay." The red-head hummed disinterested, Alex glanced between the two, expecting Haruta to say something else, but they seemed more interested in fiddling with their bamboo sword.

"So you can breathe under water and everything?" The blonde asked fascinated, her escape plan could wait a little longer, this was way too cool to miss. Alex wished she could swim again, having always loved the water and she was honestly jealous of anyone that could.

"Of course. It's Fishman 101, they don't let you complete the course without it." The shark boy said dryly, her blue eye grew wide, cocking her head to the side, the words slipped out of her mouth without any thought "You have a course?"

Both of them stared the girl dead in the eye for several seconds, before bursting out in fits of laughter. Namur almost fell from his perch he was wheezing so much, Haruta was crying on their knees smacking the wooden floor with their fist.

"What? That-" Alex's face burning with embarrassment, having gone bright crimson, she had realised too late that he was being sarcastic... she hated when things came out without her wanting them to.

I'm so stupid!

Turning away in shame, heart beating faster in anticipation for the following degrading comments. Alex wouldn't blame them for calling her dumb... or not wanting to be friends with an idiot.

The despairing girl jerked as an arm was draped around her shoulders, Haruta was beaming down at her. "Man Al, you're not so good with the sarcasm, huh? Just don't take anything Namur says seriously and you'll be fine. It's usually boring stuff anyway"

"HEY! Well then you should ignore Haru even more, they're extra boring, all they think about is dinosaurs and fighting! They never use their brain, it's like talking to a tree."

"DINOSAURS ARE FUCKING AMAZING, HOW DARE YOU!" The ginger retorted with extreme offence, they launched themselves at the Fishman, who dodged out of the way. He rolled backwards, passing through the bubble with ease, disappearing into the dark murky sea. Then a second later reappeared in front of us, swimming along at what seemed a leisurely speed with his tongue stuck out, mocking Haruta. They looked as though they were contemplating jumping in after him, maybe to punch the shark boy in the nose.

"Coward!"

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over me being awesome" Namur snorted doing a somersault, probably to prove a point. Alex was stood next to Haruta watching him with awe, her cheeks were hurting from all the grinning she was doing.

The girl took notice of a new smell which was overpowering the salty air, it was making het nose wrinkle in disgust. Liquor was one of her least favourite scents, it was normally sharp and made her sensitive nose prickle. She peered towards the direction it was coming from. "Alcohol."

"Alcohol?" Haruta asked nervously, Alex nodded her attention still pointed at it. "I can smell it..."

"I can't smell anything"

"Alex is a Zoan remember, so she has a way better sense of smell" Namur offered before she could say anything, the blonde frowned wondering why he knew that, if she had to guess then someone else on the crew must have told him.

"Crap! Which way is it coming from?" The ginger teen questioned; they seemed a little perturbed.

Alexandra quickly jammed her thumb in the direction, their nervous attitude was making her nervous. "Why? Are we in danger?"

"We need to go!" The older teen hissed, readying himself to dive back onto the ship when a huge fish materialised behind him.

Namur was swallowed whole!

Haruta and Alex went into full blown panic mode, screaming in unison. The girl lost control over her devil fruit, her hair went poof and all she could see was a bush of gold. Her hearing improved, until their horrified screeching hurt her lion ears.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!"

"NAMUR GOT EATEN BY A BIG FISH!"

Alex ran over to the railing, desperately trying to find the dumb fish that had eaten their friend. Haruta grabbed hold of the girl's shoulders shaking her violently, while said girl clung to the barrier, she could feel the wood crumpling under her fingers.

"CAN YOU SEE IT?!" The ginger shrieked, still throttling her. Alex lent forwards squinting in a panic, her eye darting everywhere "NO! CAN YOU!?"

"NO!"

Haruta darted down the other end of the ship, scanning over the hundreds of massive creatures, running back and forth yelling repeatedly "SHIT WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT DO WE DO?"

Alex joined in, dashing about the other way, clutching her now long hair out of her face as she answered their same question over and over "I DONNO?! I DONNO!?"

Finally, they both slammed into each other bawling, clinging together in a heap on the floor. Wailing "Namur's dead! Namur!"

Haruta broke down even more, almost strangling Alex in their death grip. She sniffled crushing them in response.

"W'DON' NO!?"

"WE TRIED TO FIN 'IM, but can'dant!"

They blubbered, which was hard considering neither of them could breathe properly, as they clung together in a tight heap. They needed hugs!

Nammmmmmurrrrrr!!!!

"W' don, k!"

"I kno!" Alex understood exactly what they meant.

Out of no where a loud crash echoed behind the bawling pair, clattering over the planks and then it was followed by a groan.

The two kids spun around to find Namur lying in a heap a few feet away, dripping wet, heaving unsteadily. "That was gross..."

Haru and Alex flew at him without any thought, attacking the shark boy in two crushing hugs.

"Are you guys crying?" The raven wheezed, trying to pry them off. "SHUT UP, WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" The ginger retorted smacking him in the dorsal fin, Alex nodded wildly in agreement.

"Well, I'm not! So get off I can't breathe!"

They let go reluctantly, Haru was pouting, deciding that they were going to continue to hang on to the blonde girl at the very least. Alex wasn't really bothered, she was more interested in wiping her eye, she hated crying. But crying over something like this was acceptable to her, even warriors shed tears when they thought their friends were dead.

The other two teenagers had started bickering, it was quickly turning into a rowing match. The ginger had let go of Alex, so they could use both hands to slap Namur, who was doing the same.

While they were fighting the girl could have escaped somewhere, gone and hidden once again, it was stupid on her part, but she really didn't want to run off and leave Haru and Namur. She'd gotten attached, somehow in this short amount of time, Alex had gotten very attached to them. She didn't even know how that was possible but that's how it felt. Perhaps it was because for the first time in her entire life, she felt like she had some friends. Again, the child knew how stupid that was, she hardly even knew them... But they were the first people, besides Papi that seemed to actually care. Maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe Alex was so dumb and lonely that she'd accept any kind of positive behaviour.

And the sad part was that the lonely girl didn't care if it ended badly. Even if they'd continue being nice to her, even for a little while longer, she would be so happy. Even if she was killed now, at least she had felt like she had friends. Alexandra could die happy.

To distract herself from those slightly morbid thoughts, she pulled her bandanna down until it hung around her neck like a scarf, it was soaking wet. Grumbling, the young girl reached into her mane causing a couple of golden sparks to sizzle to life as she began rummaging around for a clean one. Her fingers brushed over many stolen items, most of them she had no recollection of even taking, she just happened to steal whatever took her fancy at the time.

In the background she could hear the argument's volume rising, however she was too preoccupied to care about that right now. It was good really, because Alex wasn't supposed to show off this part of her devil fruit, don't ask her how being able to turn into a lion had anything to do with pocket dimensions. Still, this little ability was quite important, it was one of the last things Papi had told the girl to keep on the down low. Even so, she could maybe trust them, if they did happen to see.

After a couple of minutes, she finally found something that felt like a head scarf... Alex pulled it out only to discover that it was a pair of torn up and stained trousers. Scowling, she tucked them under her arm, shoving her hand back into the strange pocket dimension and continued to search. In the process, the kid dragged out a burnt bloody shirt, a bandage with some kind of ink spillage on it, a single sock and a empty wallet.

The shouting stopped abruptly, only to start back up again a second later, this time it was even louder. This angry exchange was short lived however, it ended with a sharp yelp and a bunch of mumbling. Alex didn't look up as someone sat down just outside of her field of vision, it was in the girl's blind spot. The strong scent of booze and feathers made her nose twitch, but she thought little of it. She was far too irritated right then.

Growling in frustration, Alex caught hold of one of the biggest items she had, figuring it would help if she got the stupid thing out. The blonde dumped it in front of her with a bit of effort, making a loud thump. Immediately her body felt significantly lighter, though getting the object out had drained nearly all her stamina. She toppled backwards, exhausted.

Alexandra sighed, suddenly feeling light headed. This was so much more hassle than it was worth. Maybe she'd put the headscarf back on, her bad eye wasn't wet anymore, it wasn't going to get super dirty with salt water anyway.

"Is no one going to question the kid about the giant fucking anchor, yoi?" Alex jerked her head up in surprise, fixing her eye on the one who had spoken.

It was a bird...? And it was on fire? That couldn't have been healthy... Also, the girl wasn't the biggest fan of birds. They were always mean to her. "Bird?"

"Rude cat, yoi"

She gasped, taking a huge wobbly step back. Alex did not like this scary talking fire bird at all, was it going to peck her remaining eye out? That's what most birds tried to do when they saw her...

Chickens were the worst...

"He's a chicken" Haru enlightened her with a snigger, they had a bump peeking out of their hair, Alex did not like that at all. The bird fluffed up in annoyance, flapping his wings making little blue sparks fly. "Thank you Haruta, yoi..."

"What Haru meant to say was that he's a really fancy chicken" Namur added laughing, he also had a lump on top of his head, which made her more concerned.

"Marco is very fancy" Haruta agreed, they were sat curled up next to something large and grey? Whatever it was, it was in a sprawl across the deck, unmoving. Alex frowned trying to figure out what the thing was.

It was quite dark down here, she had the advantage of having night vision too, though Alex could only see in grey tones. The only lights were from an oil lamp a little way away and the glowing blue bird. Not very helpful.

"Wait Marco? Marco the Phoenix?" Alex asked as it registered in her brain, that's what they said, right.

This bird was the blond guy from before, the supposed right hand of that man. She remembered someone telling her about his ability to turn into the legendary bird, but she hadn't really believed them, there was no way a devil fruit could grant that. It was a myth, something somebody had made up...

Welp, I'm very wrong...

"You do actually know about me then, yoi? Funny, you refused to say anything when you were on that rock, yoi" Marco said sharply, giving Alex an irritated grimace. She wasn't very comfortable talking to him, but the girl didn't really have the same luxury as she had on the rock. She should probably be less of a butt now, though she knew it wouldn't have mattered anyway. The phoenix could have flown over to her at any point and attacked.

If this had been the old geezer that would have been a very different story, she'd yell and call him names, try to cause him as much annoyance as she could. The girl hated him; he could go sink like a rock for all she cared. Her attitude towards him would probably get her killed but-

Why didn't he just killed me? That thought alone confused and disturbed the child a great deal.

"Well, fancy or not Marco is still annoying... and got us in trouble with Pops" Namur sighed exhausted, he was rubbing his head where his lump was. The Fishman dragged himself over to Haru, slumping down next to them, he lent his head against the same thing the ginger was.

"You got yourselves into trouble, you were already grounded, you weren't supposed to leave your cabin. Pops let you guys off lightly, yoi"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to snitch!" Haru snapped.

"Namur got eaten again! You know he isn't allowed to go off swimming without anyone knowing. I flew over here because I heard you and Cat screaming. Sorry for being a concerned big brother and getting Pops, yoi!"

Namur has been eaten before?! Seriously?

"Haru and Alex knew where I was!" Namur rebuked, pointing to both Alex and the teen next to him.

"Ah yes. Haruta the screamer and Cat who can't swim are great for impromptu rescues, yoi" Marco replied deadpan.

Alex was watching the back and forth, she'd completely forgotten what she was doing. All she knew was that her long hair was annoying, and it was getting in the way. Her golden mane crackled with a few golden sparks as the girl shortened it once more, like normal it was all choppy and uneven, Alex still couldn't make it look nice.

The three of them were staring, Alex shuffled uneasily, half expecting some kind of mean comment, at least from Marco anyway. Instead, she got: "I still want to know why you have an anchor, yoi"