Chapter One- We Are, We Are, Still On The Cruise!

It was a sunny day, without a cloud in the sky, a usual day for the Straw Hats. Very rarely did they find such a boring day with bad weather. Zoro was currently whetting the most valuable of his three swords. It had not so much financial value as it had sentimental value, as it was Wadou Ichimonji, the sword that had originally belonged to his dearest friend, Kuina, before she died by falling down the stairs. He remembered how she actually died, which was to get her whetting stone, and gave a sigh.

Luffy noted it was a nice breeze, today, as his treasured straw hat started to blow off of his head. He held it down, firmly onto his black bush of hair, looking overboard, hoping to spot a good fish to catch for food. He hoped one would come soon, as he felt a storm coming, the wind getting stronger, the air getting more humid.

Instead, he saw a small lifeboat floating in the sea. It seemed to be rather unstable for a proper lifeboat, especially with a large brown thing making the boat almost sink, and he looked up to the skies, to see rain starting to fall. "That ship better get to land soon, or that ship ain't gonna float for long." He muttered, not one to usually be quiet like this. However, this odd demeanour was shattered, as he shouted out to the ship. "HEY! YOU BETTER GET TO LAND, SOON! A STORM'S COMING!"

Nami slammed the door to her cabin open, the look upon her face showing she was more than just a tad annoyed. "What are you yelling about?" Her voice sounded bitter, because she had just been about to mark on a new spot on her map, when Luffy shouted and made her scribble the line across the paper.

Luffy pointed out towards the small lifeboat on the sea. "I was just saying that a storm-" "I know! I know! I heard you loud and clear the first time!" She gave Luffy a whack on the head, to illustrate her frustration.

However, Nami's foul mood did not last long, as a bolt of lightning came from the sky. She looked to see Zoro getting up to go inside. Zoro was never actually scared of storms. He just preferred not to be outside when they were going on. Plus, his swords probably would get rusty from surges of water splashing onto the deck.

Sanji came rushing out from the kitchen, a tray of food all set out. "Nami-swaaaan! You shouldn't stay out here in the rain!" He spoke, with concern framing his voice. He stopped his rambling about his beloved "Nami-swan" getting inside, as he noticed what Luffy and Nami were actually looking at.

The lifeboat had been hit by the lightning bolt, and Luffy was sure he had seen the passenger inside go flying into the water. This was then confirmed by small squeals of "I can't swim! Someone, please, help me!"

Luffy was quick to act, and using no planning or forethought, just pure impulse, he jumped onto the railing of the Going Merry, outstretched his arms and made them overlap a couple of times, before making his hands meet again, making a ring-like shape. With a call of "Gomu-Gomu noooooo...", he thrust his outstretched arms to the person in the sea.

"Fishing!" Whilst catching the person in his improvised life-preserver, he finished his attack name, with the first fitting word he could come up. He reeled in his arms, thus bringing the small boy he had just rescued on board. He grinned, and unwound his arms, letting them shrink back into place. "You're safe now!" He bellowed, cheerfully, not taking too much notice that the boy was coughing up what water he'd swallowed.

Nami, however, was quick to take action. Or, at least, if you can call commanding Sanji to get the boy a drink of water "taking action". Sanji, of course, was quick to obey, and came back with some pure tap water, as opposed to the salty stuff their new little passenger had gulped down.

As the boy gulped down the water handed to him, the three crewmembers took the chance to look at him. Nami noted that the boy looked about seven years old, and like Sanji, noted that he seemed to have cat features. Although, compared to what they had seen before, that was not too much of an oddity. After all, they did have Chopper, and this boy had more human characteristics than he did cat ones.

Luffy, however, seemed to be more interested in the fact that the little one he had reeled in was wearing a straw hat identical to his own. "Hey!" He called, to get the child's attention. The seven year old looked up at Luffy, and his eyes widened. Almost shattering the glass of water, as he dropped, the little one latched onto Luffy's leg, with a squeal of "PAPA!"

Sanji and Nami jumped back, their arms splayed out, in sheer surprise. "Wha-wha!" Nami stammered. "Luffy has a child!" She almost screeched the words, with how much shock she had just experienced, from that first single word their new passenger had said. In the same manner, Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth, due to how wide it had opened.

The young newcomer nestled his head against Luffy's leg, lovingly, babbling on about how he was reunited with his Papa, and how he had something to give him, before he stopped, with two blinks. "Hey, wait a minute. You're not my Papa!" He pointed an accusing finger at Luffy, as he immediately ripped himself from Luffy's leg. "So, why do you have his hat?"

Admittedly, it took Luffy a long pause, for him to add two and two together, and even then, he still only made it three. "This isn't your Papa's hat- Shanks gave this to me." The small cat-boy pounced on Luffy, thumping him on the back. "Liar, liar, liar! Papa would never have given you his hat!"

Nami took the young boy into her arms, quite literally to get him off of Luffy's back. "Hold on a minute." She soothed, stroking the little one's back to calm him down. "Are you saying that the Shanks that Luffy knows is your father?" The little boy nodded, frantically. "Hai, hai!"

Luffy shook his head. "That can't be!" He denied. "Shanks never had a wife, so there is no way he could be your dad!" Sanji put a hand to his face, rather exasperated. Surely even Luffy knew about children born out of wedlock. Chances were he probably was one, himself! Nami hesitated, unsure if she should explain it for Luffy.

"Umm, Luffy? Some children don't have married parents." She said, blankly, not too sure on how to put it. The small cat-boy in her arms gave a little sigh. "Hai... Papa left Alabasta the day after he and Mama had me. Then, I got sent off to that place." He whispered the last sentence to himself, yet everyone else heard him.

"That place?" Sanji asked, nervously, hoping he would not upset the boy, no matter how furious he was to see his Nami-swan holding him so affectionately. "I don't want to talk about it!" The kitten-boy squeaked, hiding his face away from them. Nami felt some tears drip onto her shirt, and hugged him close to her. "There, there... You don't have to." She reassured him, not liking the idea of having an upset child on her hands.

Luffy, dense as he seemed to be, thought it best to change the subject. "So, what's your name?" He asked, in an excited tone, wanting to cheer the newcomer up. The little lad sniffled, and looked up at Luffy. "Torashi Pikaken." Nami, catching onto Luffy's plan, beamed, to get Pikaken to smile. "Pikaken is a cute name, but I think Kenni sounds a little more normal. What do you think?" Little Kenni nodded, in agreement, not wanting to say anything.

Nami, however, continued onto a subject that made Sanji a little uneasy. "What if you stayed with our crew? Would that be alright, Luffy?" Sanji was then relieved to hear Luffy say that he was unsure about that.

Luffy looked down at Kenni. "What do you do?" He asked, wanting to know what position the boy could take on the Going Merry. "I'm a practising musician." Kenni replied, making Luffy's eyes widen, and then bring a grin to his face. "You're in! You can be our musician!" He bellowed, thumping the small child on the shoulder, enthusiastically. It was no secret among the Straw Hats that Luffy had always wanted a musician in his crew, because "pirates have to sing", as he had said, the first time he revealed he wanted a musician.

Kenni smiled. He was going to be a musician, and a pirate! He would finally be able to realise his dreams, and- He paused, feeling a little awkward. He jumped onto the railing of the Going Merry, to look at the wreckage of his former boat, to see it had sunk. "M-My instruments!" He screeched, in disbelief. "Don't tell me they all sunk to the bottom of the sea!" Tears had sprung to his eyes, in the anime form, of pendulums, dangling from the eyes. He gave a sigh, and took a fife out from his belt. "Well, I suppose I still have you, Anta-chan." He nestled the fife to his cheek, still looking a bit teary from seeing all his instruments go to waste.

Nami looked at Luffy, her eyes darting from him, to the water. However, Luffy still did not get what she meant, so it took an actual hit to the head, and command to get Luffy to use his new "Gomu-Gomu no Fishing" technique, to fish out the instruments from the water. Admittedly, it took Luffy only a few minutes to get things like Kenni's trumpet, violin, cello, recorder, and other such compact instruments out of the briny deep, but it took a couple more minutes, just to get out the brown thing he had seen make the boat unstable. However, he thought it worth the effort, as he loved the idea of having a piano, to sing along to.

And so begun the latest mishaps with the Straw Hats, and Luffy's much-desired musician. However, the Straw Hats were blissfully unaware of the troubles awaiting them, because of this new arrival.