A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got another update for ya! :3 We're getting close to where HQV and I are in One Piece so the updates aren't going to come as quickly as they have been after Little Garden, fair warning. But I hope you enjoy them when I do update! I'll see you soon! Enjoy! :3

Chapter 7: Priorities

The crew of the Going Merry began settling down into their normal routine after their crazy adventure on Warship Island. It wouldn't be too long until they saw the Red Line, and then it'd be a hop, skip, and a jump to sailing on the Grand Line! It was an exciting prospect, but there were several hours to go at least. Luffy hoped that they'd get there soon, but it was taking too long for him. The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates was lying down on Merry's head, his arms wrapped around her and his feet dangling off the sides, and to distract himself, he started talking.

"Do you think that Apis is going to be okay?" he asked, knowing that Zoro was sitting somewhere behind him. "She's got a lot of work to do now."

"You're the one who said she was going to be okay," Zoro replied, sitting against the railing of the Merry. He was relaxing with his hands behind his head, legs crossed and swords placed next to him.

"Oh, yeah. That's right," Luffy remembered.

"You're hopeless."

"But that was a really fun adventure, wasn't it?" The swordsman made a noise in answer, but Luffy was barely listening to him now as he got going. Zoro cracked one of his eyes open, abandoning all thoughts of a nap while Luffy talked about the craziness of the whole debacle. The chattering of his friend was comforting in its own way, so he half-listened to whatever Luffy was babbling about for half an hour before he shut up.

"Hey, Zoro! Look!" Luffy called, staring up at the sky excitedly.

"What?" And then his question was answered when a Millennial Dragon flew right above their ship, its shadow casting the deck into darkness, its wing nearly brushing the mast. "Holy shit!" Zoro was so startled that he scrambled to his feet only to realize that he was way too close to the stairs to begin with and lost his footing, tumbling down onto the lower deck painfully.

"It followed us!" Luffy laughed and jumped up, completely ignoring his friend's momentarily hilarious clumsiness. "Hey! Maybe it wants to join our crew!" The rubber pulled his arm back and started swinging it around and around, building up momentum.

"No, Luffy! We don't need a dragon on this ship!" Zoro shouted, picking himself up and scrambling up the stairs to his captain.

"But it'll be so cool!~" Luffy replied, letting his arm go as it stretched and stretched across the ocean and latched onto the young dragon's body. Once his hand was secure, Luffy got ready to reel himself in. His first mate managed to scramble up the stairs with just enough to leap towards the idiot before he shot off.

"Nooooooo!" Zoro managed to grab onto Luffy's torso in an attempt to keep him on board. Unfortunately, he forgot how much he hated sling-shotting as Luffy's arm recoiled and yanked them off the ship and towards the dragon. Zoro screamed in horror and Luffy just laughed as they zoomed closer and closer to the beast at breakneck speed. They collided with the dragon, throwing it off its course and landing in a heap on its back as it righted itself with a pissed-off hiss.

"Sorry, dragon!" Luffy smiled, making sure his hat was still on his head. After checking to make sure everything was in place, he got right to the point. "Would you join my crew?"

"No 'sorry' for me!?" Zoro snapped, baring his fangs and punching Luffy on the head as he scrambled to his feet.

"Ow! Why should I have to apologize?! You're the one who grabbed onto me!"

"I was trying to keep you on the Merry!"

"Well, I wanted to see the dragon and ask him to join our crew!"

"We're going to the Grand Line and he traveled to Lost Island for a reason! Besides, we can't keep him! Get your priorities straight! The dragon is not coming with us!"

"He is if he wants to!"

"We have no room for him!"

"We've got plenty!"

"No, we don't!"

"Yes, we do!"

"No, we don't, idiot!"

And the arguing continued on for another few minutes before the dragon got pissed at their noise and pulled a U-turn, heading back to their ship and doing a barrel roll to effectively dump the pair off of his back. There was a huge crash on the deck that brought the rest of the crew to see what was going on. What they found was Zoro passed out on the upper deck where he'd been sleeping and Luffy konked out on the Merry's figurehead where'd he'd been sitting before. Both of their necks were at odd angles, but the trio just chalked it up to weird sleeping positions. Sanji, Usopp, and Nami looked at each other and then shrugged, not interested enough to find out what they'd been doing. High above them, a Millennial Dragon snorted in irritation and flew away back to Lost Island before anyone else decided to hitch a ride.

To be Continued...

A/N: Well, at least they have fun together! See you all later! :3