A/N: The note is that there's no note.

Five: Hoist the Colors

After finding the kitchens and making sure Rika had a snack and the beginnings of the main food prep had been started, Chabo and Kappa left their… neither were entirely certain what to call the pirates, but they left them in order to search the compound to check to see if there were any other Fish-Men straggling behind. When they were confident there wasn't, they went into the inner sanctum and began to rifle through their former oppressors' things, searching for anything that could be useful before any of them returned to claim them. Seemingly endless pieces of abandoned navigation equipment were getting wrapped up in paper and put into carryall bags, while varying maps, books, and cartography supplies were getting snatched as well.

"I'm still having trouble reconciling the cheerful woman with a straw hat as someone who now has two Bosses under her belt," Chabo said idly. He picked up a book and casually flipped through it—nothing they needed. "She's… something else."

⌠⌠That's an understatement if I've heard one,⌡⌡ Kappa scoffed. He was lining up a series of Eternal Poses on the table and comparing them with a sea chart, seeing which ones he wanted to take. ⌠⌠You saying anything I need to know…?⌡⌡

"Kakkun…"

⌠⌠You want her, go ahead; I don't make moves on women whose sanity is liable to snap while she puppeteers my own suicide.⌡⌡

⌠⌠She just saved our home, ending what we've been trying to topple for most of our lives in a matter of minutes. Doesn't that… unnerve you…?⌡⌡

⌠⌠It does, but I'm trying to be as logical as possible right now, because passion at this stage is liable to get us into trouble.⌡⌡ He switched languages as he made his decision, taking all but a couple of the Poses. "You'd think that they would take all this with them."

"Chances are that they don't need them as firmly as we do, or they have another cache somewhere else."

Kappa shrugged at that and they kept rummaging about, knowing exactly what it was they needed. The sounds of shuffled papers and softly clinking glass was only broken when Grand Line native shivered at the sight of a photo.

"Oh, kalyv, I think I found her," he said, voice quiet. Chabo looked at the other man, seeing that he was staring at a framed photo on the wall.

"Found who…?"

"Nami."

Chabo abandoned the pile of maps to look at the photo. Sure enough, there was a picture of the Arlong Pirates from decades prior, all Fish-Men with exception of a sullen-looking Human girl with red hair. She couldn't have been more than thirteen, her discomfort apparent to the two men.

"You know, I spent so much time thinking that she was a monster, that when I finally learned what she was doing with the Fish-Men, I cried for an entire night," Chabo explained solemnly. "She tried to save up enough to buy Cocoyasi's freedom, and when she didn't return that one day, Arlong took her savings for himself and razed the village. She'd have to be almost forty now, if we ever find her. Uncle held out hope this entire time but I think all that's left of her is these maps."

"You know… you never told me how you and Genzo escaped."

"Her sister," Chabo tapped the portion of the photo with the child, "sent me to find Uncle. He was at their adoptive mother's grave. I think he had been in love with her at one point. It's the one on the cliff, where the Fish-Men never went. By the time we returned, everyone was dead."

"Then let's find everything we can and make sure none of that was in vain," Kappa nodded. He and Chabo continued to gather up papers and charts, filling a couple large bags with things they deemed necessary to sail to and on the Grand Line, along with the little bit of money that was left behind in the Fish-Men's mad scramble to leave. They then went back down to the kitchen, where Rika and Ninjin were already devouring a large meal, much to Tamanegi and Piiman's horror.

"Good, you're back," Tamanegi noticed. "Did you find what you need?"

"We did," Kappa said. He held up what looked like a bulbous wristwatch, which contained a fidgety compass inside instead of a timepiece. "This is a Log Pose—we'll need this in order to sail the Grand Line."

"Why's that?" Rika asked, mouth full of food. The others tried not to think of how scary she had been just earlier in the day, with the way she dispatched Arlong easily.

"Each island has a unique magnetic field; when traveling, you have to sail to whichever island the Log Pose picks up next, then wait for it to reset. It takes anywhere from a couple hours to a couple years, which make these necessary as well." He took what appeared to be another twitchy compass in a single-bulbed hourglass out of his bag and set it on the table. Rika picked it up and examined it—the words ST. POPLAR was engraved on the wood. "This is an Eternal Pose, or: a work-around to the Log Pose's reset system. To get off some islands in a timely manner, you need these. There were dozens of them in the offices."

"That's it…?" Rika questioned, raising an eyebrow. Kappa scoffed.

"Have any of the rest of you been on the Grand Line?" No one else moved. "It's a place with crazy weather and an even crazier time navigating. We need to go and find the best ship we can here and then take it to a place where we can get a decent one, Grand Line capable. Only then can we go gallivanting around as you please."

"Where do you suppose we do that?" Tamanegi asked.

"I have some ideas, but considering it's been over fifteen years, I'd need to do some digging first before I decide on a course and destination." He stared at the food on the table and his mouth began to water, tempted to sit down and start eating his fill. "I… am going to tell Genzo that we're safe and start getting word out to the rest of the Resistance."

"We'll stay here, Kakkun, and see what the Fish-Men have left us in terms of usable boats," Chabo said.

"Remember: something that can at least make it to Logue Town, possibly even part of the Grand Line," he warned. "Save some food for me, alright?"

The rest of them were in agreement—it was the least they could do, after all.

It was a long time before Kappa returned to Arlong Park, with the sun having almost set by the time he made it back. The others were already attempting to make dinner, though it didn't mean that he was going to get by unnoticed.

"Kappa! I'm making my special onigiri!" Rika cheered as she saw him walk past the kitchen. He didn't stop, instead keeping his head down and continuing on down the corridor. "Huh… do you think he heard me?"

"He might be headed towards the docks," Piiman frowned. "The compound is a good shortcut."

"Then I'll go see what's wrong," Chabo said.

He put down the rice he was balling and followed Kappa outside. He eventually found the other man by the harbor, sitting on one of the docks with his legs dangling over the side. There weren't many ships that had been left behind, but the way he was positioned, he was looking across the wharf at a potential craft to get to the Grand Line.

"Hey," he said. Kappa did not move, allowing Chabo to sit down next to him, their bodies barely making contact. "Did it… did it happen…?"

"I got there and he was already cold," Kappa admitted. A long silence passed, with crickets chirping and frogs croaking. "I didn't think it would feel like this."

"He raised us."

"We're not brothers, or cousins…"

"He made sure we were taken care of, so in a weird way, yeah, he raised us. People feel sad when the people who raise them pass away." Tears began to form in Chabo's eyes, threatening to develop into an out-right sob. "He didn't even get to see Cocoyasi again…"

"Come here." Kappa put his arm around the other man's shoulders and let him lean into his side, resting his head against Chabo's as the tears began to flow. There was nothing left for him to cry, Kappa knew, as he already got it all out on the walk back.

⌠⌠It's not fair…⌡⌡

⌠⌠Of course it's not, but we know that.⌡⌡

⌠⌠I don't want to be the only one left… not again…⌡⌡

⌠⌠Then come with us.⌡⌡ Chabo pushed away gently, his eyes still glassy with tears. "I am going to need all the fucking sanity I can get, and if Rika is as insane as I think she is, I'm also going to need backup in case she goes off the deep end."

"I thought a captain has to invite crew members, and although she's been nice, she hasn't said a word about me…"

"I'll just make it a term of my joining." He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You're dumber than a lone traveler in the desert, but I'm not going to abandon you."

They stayed quiet for a while, simply staring at the wharf ahead.

"Kakkun…?"

"Kalyv…?"

Chabo paused and, decided on something else to say. "I really hope Terragram is out there somewhere for you. Do you think he's still alive?"

"I'm certain of it."

It took a couple days to convince the other members of the Conomi Resistance to head over to Cocoyasi, but when they did, there was much for them to catch up on. There was a large party to celebrate the ousting of their former oppressors, with plenty of food and drink and toasts towards the Straw Hat Pirates. It lasted for an entire week. Not many could remember the entire thing, if they were being honest, and they didn't mind—the Fish-Men were gone and that was what mattered.

The pirates stayed in-port long enough for Chabo and Kappa to erect a proper memorial to the man who took them in, right next to the one for the woman he had reminisced about so much, before gathering enough supplies to last them until the next populated island. Over a month had passed since the Straw Hat Pirates had climbed ashore, and it seemed as though they were leaving with heavy hearts. The residents of the Conomi Islands were both ready to see the end of the era of pirates in their midst, but didn't necessarily want to get rid of these particular pirates.

"What is the flag you fly?" the new mayor of Cocoyasi asked. She tilted her head as she watched the entire crew look at Rika, who chuckled awkwardly. They were all at the wharf as the pirates were finishing loading their ship for their journey in the morning.

"Here's the thing—I don't have one yet," she admitted. The mayor shook her head.

"That won't do," she claimed. "We want to know what we can fly, so that we can properly be under your protection. Do any of you have a steady hand?"

"I do," Tamanegi offered. He and Rika were led away by the mayor, leaving the rest of the crew to continue loading the ship.

"Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" Kappa frowned. He picked up a small crate and carried it up the gangplank, setting it in front of Piiman and Chabo, who were lowering the supplies into the inner hold for Ninjin to sort and put away.

"It could be worse," Piiman shrugged. "One of them could be a teenager with horrid penmanship. Even if Rika's shit at drawing, at least there's not much Tam will let fly before taking over."

"That's less assuring than it needs to be."

"Kakkun, be nice," Chabo teased. He then looked down the hatch, seeing Ninjin shoving a crate off to the side. "How much room we got left?"

"Enough," he replied. He then popped his head up above deck, looking about. "Yeah, we can fit that."

"The big question is though: how much of this will actually make it to the Grand Line and what won't?" Kappa said. "It's been too long."

"Don't worry; you've got this," Ninjin grinned. He then noticed Rika and Tamanegi running back to the ship, a large black cloth carried between them. "That's fast!"

"Yeah! You're gonna love this!" Rika shouted.

"It was pretty easy once we got going," Tamanegi added. The men watched as Rika climbed up the mast with a rope in-hand, which she used to pull up the cloth once she got high enough to use the yardam as leverage. She brought it with her into the crow's nest and strung it up, letting the fabric unfurl in the wind.

There it was: a grinning skull and crossbones wearing pigtails and a straw hat, just like her.

"How's that?!" she shouted down, her smile brighter than the sun.

It was nothing less than perfect.