A/N: Ahoy, readers! Genysis here! I just want y'all to know that I wrestled with this chapter for quite a while before deciding to finalize and post it. More than anything, I want to make sure that I'm doing justice to these amazing characters and the incredible universe that our lord and savior Oda has blessed us with. If you're a new reader, thank you so much for dropping by and please favorite and follow if you're interested in seeing where this story goes! And please feel free to leave a review letting me know what you think AND letting me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for what should happen in this wild adventure! I really truly appreciate all of the love that my story has gotten so far :)
Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece and its characters, I own this particular story line and any OC's that I've inserted for good measure~!
It's the middle of the night when Nevia awakens. For the first time in a long time, she can't remember dreaming. There are no nightmares or memories hanging over her head as she stretches and pulls herself to her feet. Her ankle and shoulder ache, and her back is sore from sleeping against the wall. Most of all, she's hungry.
Quiet as a mouse, Nevia eases herself up the ladder from before and out of the hatch. She can't help but look up at the star-filled sky before her ears are filled with the sound of string music from somewhere above. Her gaze shifts to the crow's nest where she can see a lanky silhouette in the window. To her relief, the figure seems preoccupied with their instrument. Careful not to make any noise, she creeps away up a set of stairs and slips behind the first door she comes to.
As luck would have it, Nevia has managed to find the kitchen on her first try. Wasting no time, she begins rifling through cabinets and gorging herself on whatever she can find. With a ship this nice, she's sure its tenants won't miss a loaf or two of bread and a few handfuls of fruit.
Busy stuffing herself with food that's not hers, she doesn't even hear the kitchen door open. She does, however, stop cold when she hears a voice behind her.
"Cuatro Fleur."
Before Nevia has a chance to react, several arms sprout out of her own body and wrap around her to restrain her. A few apples and a chunk of bread fall out of her hands and scatter across the floor. She cries out in pain and falls to her knees as her shoulders are squeezed tightly and her wound is aggravated.
"Who are you?" a feminine voice asks.
Nevia grinds her teeth together and manages to choke out, "I'm a runaway."
"What are you doing on our ship?" the voice asks again.
"Hiding." Nevia's teeth are clenched tightly, and she can feel tears stinging the back of her eyes.
"From who?" comes the voice a third time.
"Pirates. The Black Rose Corsairs."
The voice does not ask Nevia any more questions. Instead, the owner of the voice grabs Nevia by the back of her tank top and leads her out of the kitchen.
On the deck of the ship once more, Nevia finds herself being pinned by the extra appendages to one of the ship's masts.
"Brook!" the voice calls out to the crow's nest above. The beautiful string music from earlier has stopped, and the lanky figure is emerging from the base of the mast. Nevia is unable to see the figure's face, only a thick mop of bushy black hair.
"Go wake the others. It looks like we have a stowaway."
The figure nods once and bows before leaving them alone. Nevia looks up through the tears stinging her eyes to see a woman with long dark hair holding her arms in front of her chest in an 'x' shape. She's sure that the arms restraining her are coming from this woman. She's a devil fruit user, there's no doubt about it.
"You're bleeding," the woman says in sudden realization. She drops her arms to her sides, and the arms that have mysteriously sprouted from Nevia's body disappear into a flurry of bloody cherry blossom petals.
With a yelp, Nevia sinks back down to her knees on the fake grass covering the deck. She cradles her shoulder carefully and realizes that the woman is right. Blood has started seeping from her gunshot wound again, coating the back right side of her new tank top and several of her feathers. Her head swims as the woman crouches down so that they're level to one another.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were injured," the woman says with a new air of sympathy coating her voice. "You said you're hiding from a group of pirates called the Black Rose Corsairs?"
Nevia nods slowly. "I've been their prisoner for the past four years. I managed to get away last night but one of them shot me."
Before the woman can respond, a chorus of footsteps echo from both sides of the ship.
"Robin?" an orange haired girl asks running up to where Nevia and the other woman are kneeling, "Brook told us what's going on."
"Where's Chopper?" the woman, Robin asks looking past the orange haired girl.
"I'm here!" shouts a higher pitched voice as a small animal-like creature runs into view.
"This girl stowed away on our ship. I found her in the kitchen stealing food. She's been shot, and she's bleeding quite badly," Robin explains quickly, and the creature called Chopper nods and spins on a dime to head back the other direction.
"What's going on?" another voice asks.
Nevia begins to feel overwhelmed as a plethora of individuals join them on the deck. Her head is starting to spin more and more from the blood loss in her shoulder when she hears a vaguely familiar voice.
"Hey, I know you!"
Through her wobbly vision, she can just barely make out the black-haired boy from the island. "You?" Nevia asks weakly.
The boy quickly runs over and kneels down beside Robin. "What's wrong?" he asks knitting his brows together. "You told me you were fine."
Nevia lets out a shaky laugh. "Yeah, well I lied."
Before he can respond, the orange haired girl puts a hand on his shoulder and gently pulls him back.
"Luffy, we shouldn't crowd her right now."
The boy, Luffy, looks like he has more that he wants to say, but to Nevia's relief he says nothing as the girl moves him away from her.
That's when Nevia sees him.
A hurricane of memories come flooding back to Nevia from her life on Water 7 as she sets her dizzy gaze on the bulky man standing several feet in front of her.
"Franky?" she chokes, locking eyes with the cyborg. He looks vastly different than the Franky she remembers, but there's no mistaking that electric blue hair, unbuttoned tropical shirt and a speedo that would make most people cringe.
The cyborg's eyes widen and well with tears as he recognizes the broken girl several feet in front of him.
"Little Nevie?!"
The tears that have been stinging Nevia's eyes begin spilling rapidly down her cheeks. She's acutely aware of the others staring at Franky in shock, but he doesn't appear to care.
"I superrr don't believe this," Franky says in awe.
"Neither do we," a man with a long nose says in complete and utterly confusion. "You know this girl?"
Franky nods. "She's from Water 7 like me. She practically grew up in the Franky Family House."
"Guys," The orange hair girl says with an air of urgency. There's a loud thud a split second later.
Several pairs of eyes turn to look at the mysterious stowaway who has slumped unconsciously to the ground. Her face is pale and covered in beads of sweat, her breaths coming out in shallow gasps. A small pool of blood is staining the deck beneath her right shoulder.
"Chopper!" Luffy shouts with panic in his voice.
Several of the people on the deck begin talking at once, but Nevia can't hear them anymore. She's no longer on the ship, now lost in a sea of memories.
"Oi, Nevie!"
Nevia turns to see Water 7's resident cyborg waving her down. She is balanced carefully on the railing of a bridge, her wings outstretched and positioned so that she does not lose her balance and fall into the waterway below.
"Franky!" Nevia shouts, waving to the blue haired man. With one powerful downstroke of her wings, she lifts off of the bridge and lands right in front of the him with a large smile plastered on her face.
"Hey, wanna help me carry some stuff back to base?" Franky asks. He watches as the girl's face lights up.
"Hell yeah I do!"
"Superrr!" Franky exclaims, adopting his signature pose. "Follow me."
Franky leads Nevia to a ship graveyard on the far outskirts of Water 7. In a pile at the edge of the graveyard are several bits of gilded scrap metal. Franky hoists a couple of larger pieces up onto his shoulders and motions to the rest with his head.
"Think you can manage those?" he asks the excited girl.
Nevia nods eagerly and picks up several smaller bits. She unfurls her wings and pushes off of the ground, hovering a few feet above her unlikely mentor. "I've got it, no problem!"
Franky chuckles and lowers his sunglasses to peer up at her. "Ya know, a girl your age could be finding much better things to do than help out a crusty old pervert like me."
Nevia giggles a bit and shakes her head. "Most of my old friends aren't exactly allowed to hang around with me anymore, and the ones that can are too busy these days. You, Zambia, Mozu, Kiwi and the others are my only friends really." Since gaining her Devil Fruit ability and becoming somewhat of an outcast herself, she's taken to spending more and more time with the biggest group of outcasts that Water 7 has to offer. While she does miss her old friends, she wouldn't trade a second of her time spent with Franky and his gang of dismantlers.
Franky grins at the winged girl and turns in the direction of the Franky Family house. "Well then, let's take this stuff back to the house and then maybe we can have a superrr party with everyone! Of course, that's only if dear ol' mom won't mind."
While it's true that many people have expressed concern over Nevia spending so much time with this particular group of ruffians, her mother has never shown a single issue with it. If anything, her mother appreciates Franky's willingness to take her daughter under his wing. The Franky Family has even brought food and gifts to Nevia's house for her and her mother from time to time.
When the unlikely duo has made it back to base, they're immediately greeted by Franky's right and left hands.
"Big Bro Franky! Little Nevie!" the Square Sisters shout, executing a series of weird poses as a greeting to them.
"Hi, Mozu! Hi, Kiwi!" Nevia shouts back as she touches down on the ground next to Franky. She runs to greet them with her arms full of the gold-plated metal scrap.
"Little Nevie!" Mozu says with a bright smile.
"Did Big Bro Franky recruit you to help us out again?" Kiwi asks with a knowing smile.
Nevia nods and proudly displays the metal in her arms. "I was going to stop by later anyways, so it wasn't a problem," she admits. "Where do you want this, boss?" she asks over her shoulder at the cyborg man.
"Just drop it anywhere and head inside," Franky says with a shrug of his large shoulders. "Tell Zambia to start passing out the drinks and let's get this party started! Ow!" Franky strikes a cool pose and the Square Sisters, who have suddenly appeared next to him, copy him in perfect synchronization.
Accompanied by Nevia, The Franky Family parties until the sun has set. As things begin to wind down, Franky has Mozu and Kiwi walk her home with a promise to see her the following day for her help on another project, and Nevia can't wait.
"How is she?" Robin asks entering the sick bay.
Chopper sighs. "I managed to get the bullet out and stop the infection. Her fever broke a while ago and her breathing seems to be back to normal. The rest is up to her now."
"She lost a lot of blood," Robin observes aloud as she eyes the girl.
Chopper nods before quickly adding, "Luffy offered to donate blood to get her back to a healthy level. They have the same blood type."
Robin nods, glad to see that the strange girl seems to be out of the woods for the time being. "Franky told us a little more about her. She's from Water 7 like him. He said that she's like a sister to him. She used to be his shadow before she disappeared four years ago when pirates stormed their house and killed her mother."
Chopper's face falls. "So, what she told you about hiding on Sunny to escape from pirates is true."
Robin nods solemnly. "It's a little more than that though. I did some research on the pirates that she said kidnapped her and found something interesting," she begins to explain just as the girl in the bed shifts and groans.
Chopper's eyes widen. He and Robin watch with bated breath as Nevia's eyes slowly flutter open.
The sound of voices has stirred Nevia awake and out of a stream of memories. Her vision blurry, she blinks several times until her eyes adjust. She finds herself in an unfamiliar room with unfamiliar people. It takes her a moment to remember what happened.
Nevia had been caught by the crew of the ship she stowed away on. She had passed out very suddenly but before that...
'Franky!'
Nevia's head swivels around as she looks for the cyborg, causing the room to spin slightly. She doesn't see her old friend, but she does see the woman who found her. She can also see the strange animal-like creature who is currently attempting to hide behind a medicine cabinet, though his entire body is sticking plainly out in the open.
"You're finally awake," the woman, Robin, says catching Nevia's attention.
Nevia rubs her forehead with one hand before realizing that her other arm is in a sling against her chest. "You patched me up?" she asks incredulously.
Robin chuckles and shakes her head. "I didn't. Our ship's doctor took care of that," she says motioning to the creature that's trying (and failing miserably) to conceal himself.
Slowly, the creature moves away from his almost-hiding spot and into the open. Nevia can see him fully now, and she can't help but raise her eyebrows in surprise. "Your doctor is a reindeer?"
"I'M NOT A-" the doctor starts to yell, but then stops himself promptly as his furry face lights up. "You can tell that I'm a reindeer?" he asks excitedly, as very few people have gotten it right on the first try.
"Well yeah, what else would you be?" Nevia asks as if it's not obvious. "Hold on, did the reindeer doctor just talk?"
"I'm Chopper," he introduces himself with a small bow. "I'm the one who fixed you up. You were hurt pretty badly," he says, frowning. "The bullet wound in your shoulder was starting to get infected, and your ankle was in bad shape too. How do you feel now?"
Nevia mulls it over for a moment before smiling at the doctor. "Still shitty, but a little bit better and it's all thanks to you."
Chopper's demeanor shifts suddenly. He giggles and performs an odd little dance while saying, "You stupid idiot, don't think that I'll like you just because you complimented me."
Nevia looks at Robin for some sort of explanation, but she just smiles and shrugs.
"How long was I out for anyways?" Nevia asks, dismissing the reindeer's strange behavior.
"About a day and a half," Robin says much to Nevia's surprise. Seeing the shocked look on Nevia's face, Robin adds, "You lost a lot of blood."
"Our captain donated his blood so I was able to give you a transfusion," Chopper says seeming suddenly normal again.
Nevia falters. Their captain is the one who donated blood? Their captain opted to help her rather than imprison her for sneaking aboard his ship?
Sitting up slowly, Nevia swings her legs over the side of the bed.
"What are you doing?!" Chopper asks quickly. "You shouldn't try to get up right now!"
Nevia grits her teeth and looks at her ankle that's been wrapped tightly. "I want to meet your captain and thank him for saving my life. Besides, there's someone else I want to see too," she says hopefully.
"Franky," Robin says simply, and Nevia nods in confirmation.
"I can help you get dressed."
A few minutes later, Nevia is leaning against a wooden crutch that Chopper has provided to keep her off of her ankle. She wears her black shorts, her black tank top that has been cleaned and her dark blue jacket with the white faux fur collar. Her hair is braided down her back the way she likes it.
"Are you ready?" Robin asks.
Nevia takes a deep breath and nods. Together, they leave the sick bay and step out onto the deck.
It's a beautiful morning outside. Nevia can feel the breeze against her face from the ship moving, and would give anything to be riding the wind currents above. However, per Chopper's orders, she's not allowed to fly for at least a week if not longer depending on how her healing progresses.
"Oi, Robin!"
Several pairs of eyes land on Robin and the mildly nervous girl standing next to her. The strange black haired boy lands in front of them from seemingly out of nowhere. With a surprised squeal, Nevia stumbles backwards and the crutch falls away from her grasp. Before she can fall over, an arm wraps around her waist and steadies her. She looks at the boy and gasps as realization sets in that his arm has stretched in a very unnatural manner in order to keep her from falling.
"What the-" she starts as Robin chuckles next to her.
"I suppose I should have warned you beforehand. We have a number of Devil Fruit users in our crew, myself and Chopper included," she explains calmly.
Nevia blinks and looks at the boy whose arm is firmly around her waist. He wears an open red shirt, blue shorts with a yellow scarf around the waist and an old straw hat. Displayed plainly on his chest is a large 'X' shaped scar. He looks to be close to Nevia in age. Nevia knows that she's seen him somewhere before, though she can't quite place her finger on where.
"Sorry if I scared you," the boy says, grinning as he pulls her back into a balanced standing position and hands her crutch back to her with his free hand. The boy's arm falls away from her waist and snaps back to his side. "I'm Luffy."
"Nevia," the girl mumbles lamely, shaking a light red blush off of her face as she repositions the crutch.
"I believe you wanted to thank him for saving your life?" Robin asks Nevia.
Nevia looks at Robin in shock. There's no doubt in her mind that Robin can guess what she's thinking just from the expression on her face.
'No way. This guy is their captain?'
Then it hits her, where she's seen him before. An image of a wanted poster flashes through her mind. On the poster is a boy with the exact same appearance as this one, and a rather large bounty.
"You're Straw Hat Luffy," Nevia says, her icy eyes widening. "You guys are the Straw Hat Pirates that waged a war against the World Government a few years back?!"
Luffy places his hands on his hips and tosses his head back in laughter. "That's us! I'm going to be King of the Pirates some day!"
Nevia can't believe it. Out of all of the ships she could have snuck onto, she somehow wound up on the ship of the world-famous rookies, and arguably the strongest crew of what many call the Worst Generation.
She shakes the shock out of her head and looks at Luffy with a puzzled expression. "Why did you save me? I'm a complete stranger to you, not to mention the fact that I snuck onto your ship and stole your food."
Luffy frowns and cocks his head to the side. "You're part of Franky's family, aren't you?" he asks.
A little taken aback, Nevia nods her head and watches as Luffy's frown breaks out into a wide grin once more. "There's your answer. Any friend of Franky's is a friend of ours!"
This boy seems so different than what Nevia would have pictured the captain of the Straw Hat Crew to be, not to even mention future King of the Pirates. Of course, her experience with pirates hasn't exactly been the warmest so she supposes that she might be a little biased.
"Thank you," Nevia says bowing suddenly, "for saving my life. I am indebted to you and your crew."
Luffy can't help but laugh again. "You're weird, but I like you. Don't worry about it."
"Now wait a damn minute," an angry fiery haired girl says storming up the them.
"She just admitted to stealing our food, and Chopper used up a bunch of our medical supplies to heal her!"
"Nami-," Robin starts to say, but she's interrupted by Nevia rifling through her jacket pockets. A moment later, Nevia pulls out her bag of Beli and tosses it to Nami with a heavy sigh.
"I was saving this for my trip to the Grand Line, but you can have it," Nevia says with a shrug. "It's the least I can do for taking your food, not to mention the Doc putting me back together."
Nami's eyes light up as she inspects the bag for a long moment. "This will do! Consider your debt paid. I'm Nami by the way," she says shaking Nevia's hand in delight.
"I'm Nevia," the blue haired girl says with a warm smile.
"You're still Little Nevie to me!"
Nevia's face lights up and her chest tightens as Franky walks into view. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Franky," Nevia says with a lighthearted smirk. "I'm eighteen now."
Franky makes his way over to the grown-up girl and kneels down so that they're the same height before pulling her into a gentle hug with his boxy arms.
Nevia can't help it as she starts crying quietly into his shirt. With her mother and father both dead, to have a huge part of her extended family returned to her feels so surreal. Though she'll never admit it to him out loud, Franky has always been like a big brother to her.
"What happened, kid?" Franky asks softly as he releases the girl. A hush falls over the other crew members as they listen in.
"The Blake Rose Corsairs happened," Nevia says in disgust, stepping back and wiping the tears from her eyes. "Franky, they had my dad as their prisoner for ten years because I stole that Devil Fruit from them. He died as their prisoner because of me. And then when he died, their captain, Duke Houston came back for me. My mom..."
Nevia trails off and Franky nods in understanding.
"To be honest, none of us were sure what happened to you that night," he says frowning. "By the time I realized there were pirates on Water 7, it was too late. I sent Zambia and Kiev to check on you and your mom as soon as I knew, but you were gone and she was dead."
Nevia chokes back a sob as she listens to Franky's account from that terrible night. "She died to protect me. Houston's right hand killed her right in front of me. Somehow Houston found out that I ate the Devil Fruit I stole from them and he took me so he could use my power for himself."
"You've been his prisoner all this time?" Franky asks angrily.
Nevia nods sadly. "I escaped the night before Robin found me aboard your ship. The first-mate, Kaiser shot me when I escaped, and I twisted my ankle landing on the island where I snuck aboard the ship. Thing is, Houston sent some of his men ahead to look for me on that island," she says, voicing her main fear at the moment. "And I doubt he'll stop there. He came back to Water 7 for me after ten years because of a rumor that just happened to be true. He's going to keep hunting me until he gets me back. That's why I stowed away on your ship. I was looking to lay low until can make it far enough out of his reach."
"We won't let him touch you," Luffy says sternly, clenching his fists at his sides. Several others echo his sentiment including Franky who sets his jaw and rises to his feet.
"If those losers want you back, they're going to have to go through all of us," the cyborg vows.
Nevia's eyes well with tears again and she sits on the ground with her gaze to the floor. "I don't understand. I just met you all today save for Franky. Besides that, you're all pirates. So why are you all being so nice to me?"
Luffy chuckles and crouches down in front of Nevia, easing her chin up with one finger so that she's looking at him and the others that have rallied behind him. "I already told you, any friend of Franky's is a friend of ours."
"We protect our friends," says a blonde man wearing a black suit as he lights a cigarette and takes a long draw on it.
"It's not that complicated," says the man with green hair and a scar over one eye who Nevia saw sleeping when she snuck aboard the ship, "Franky trusts you and we trust him."
"Most of all," the long nose man says with a grin and a thumbs up, "we all trust our captain."
Nami appears in front of Nevia now, crouching next to Luffy who's sitting cross-legged on the deck. "You're not alone. I know I just gave you a hard time about the food and the medical stuff, but believe it or not I understand what you've been through. I was held prisoner by a group of pirates for a long time too. They killed my mom too. Luffy saved me from those horrible pirates and freed my entire village. The first thing that Luffy taught me is that not all pirates are like that. The second thing I learned is that when Luffy says he'll protect someone, he means it. So do the rest of us."
"Focus on getting better, and leave the rest to us, okay? If those Black Rose bastards show up, we'll take them down," Luffy says with a determined smile
Nevia is at a complete loss for words. She doesn't know what she expected from these people, but it certainly wasn't this. She takes several deep breaths, desperate to keep it together.
"Thank you, all of you," she says as Luffy and Nami help pull her to her feet. "My name is Nevada, but you can call me Nevia. Or Nevie if you feel so inclined," she says, throwing a glance at Franky who grins widely.
"Nice to meet you, Nevie-chwan," the blonde with the cigarette says as he twirls across the deck to her. "I'm Sanji. It's a pleasure to meet you. That moss-head freak over there is Zoro."
The green-haired man, Zoro, scowls. "Who the hell are you calling 'moss-head,' shit-for-brains?" Zoro demands. He quickly regains his composure and throws a grin in Nevia's direction. "Like the shitty cook said, I'm Zoro. If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask."
Nevia nods once before asking, "Who was the one playing music in the crow's nest the other night?"
Robin chuckles lightly. "That was Brook. A fair warning, he's not what you might expect."
Before Nevia can asks what Robin means, a hearty laugh sounds from the opposite side of the ship.
"Yo ho ho! Did someone call for me?" A boisterous voice asks. Nevia turns to face the owner of the voice... and lets out a blood curdling scream.
Standing mere feet behind Nevia is a figure with the shape and appearance of a man wearing a feather boa and a crown hat with a cane in hand. However, this figure is completely devoid of skin and flesh.
Nevia moves to grab her knife from her belt, but a hand on her arm stops her. She turns to look at Luffy.
"This is Brook. He's part of our crew. He's our musician," Luffy explains.
Nevia lets her arm fall away from her knife and looks at the skeleton man again. "You must be another Devil Fruit user. I'm sorry," she says with an apologetic bow. "I'm Nevia."
"Miss Nevia," Brook says with a bow to match her own. "Do you think you could... show me your panties?"
Nevia's mouth drops open. "E-excuse me?" she asks in pure and utter confusion.
A loud crack sounds as Nami's hand connects with Brook's skull. "That's enough out of you," she snarls, and Brook bows several times apologetically.
Nevia stifles a laugh and turns her attention back to Franky. "So, Franky, how did you end up with these guys anyways?"
"I joined up with them on Water 7 about 2 years after you disappeared," Franky explained. "I even built this ship! I'll tell you the whole story whenever you want to hear it."
Nevia looks at her former mentor in amazement. He finally did it. He finally built his dream ship. "She's beautiful," Nevia says in awe as she fully takes in the ship that she's standing on for the first time. "What's her name?
"The Thousand Sunny," Franky says proudly.
"Or Sunny for short," the long-nosed man says with a grin. "I'm Usopp by the way, world famous sniper and slayer of ten-thousand men!"
Nevia raises an eyebrow at the man, but says nothing about his outlandish claim. Instead, she just smiles at him.
"So," Zoro starts, stepping forward. "What's your deal? Franky told us you're a Devil Fruit user."
Nevia shoots a glance at Franky who grins. "I figured I'd let you show them," he says with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
Nevia nods and looks around at the Straw Hat crew members. "I'd recommend not standing right next to me," she warns, and a few of the crew move to stand in front of her.
With the right one still fairly damaged, Nevia slowly extends her jet-black wings until they're both fully displayed for her new pirate friends to see.
"HOLY CRAP THAT'S SO COOL," Luffy and Usopp exclaim at the same time.
"You're like a perfect angel," Sanji says with a dreamy expression on his face.
"Can you actually fly with them?" Nami asks in awe.
Nevia nods, grinning proudly. "Normally I would show you, but," she trails off and sighs, motioning to the patch of gauze that's covering the hole in her right wing. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Chopper would kill me if I tried to fly right now," she muses. She throws a glance in Chopper's direction to find that he's nodding in agreement.
"That's okay!" Luffy says with a toothy grin. "You can show us when you're better."
"You can count on it," Nevia says flashing her own grin.
"Well," Sanji says, clapping his hands together. "I think that now would be a good time for lunch. Who's hungry?"
Later in the evening, Nevia and the Straw Hat Crew are all sitting in the middle of the deck, listening as Franky finishes telling the story of how Luffy recruited him. He spares no detail, and Nevia can't help but crack up when he explains the part that Robin played.
"I can't believe I missed that!" Nevia says when she's managed to stop laughing. "I bet you've been on so many great adventures since then."
"Franky's been a great part of the crew," Luffy assures her. "He's built lots of neat stuff!"
Nevia can't help but smile. She worried about Franky after she was taken, but she can see now that there was never any reason to.
"Oi, do you still sing?" Franky asks suddenly.
Nevia's face falls as she thinks back to a few nights ago. 'Those poor kids. I hope they all made it home.'
"What's wrong, Nevie-chwan?" Sanji asks, frowning.
"Oh," Nevia says, shaking the thought away quickly. "It's nothing." She doesn't miss the skeptical look that Luffy is giving her, and she knows that he's about to call her bluff.
"The last time you said that, you were lying," the captain says flatly, crossing his arms over his chest.
Nevia sighs in defeat and pushes her navy-blue bangs out of her face. "It's just… when Houston found out that I could sing, he made me use my voice to do horrible things like lure children from their homes so that he could collect ransoms from their parents," she explains. She takes note of the shock displayed clearly on all of the nine faces around her and hangs her head in shame. "It was a part that I played. The Black Angel."
"Hey," Nami says putting a gentle hand on Nevia's shoulder. "He forced you to do those things right? It wasn't your fault."
"Nami's right," Zoro agrees coolly. "And if singing is something that you love doing, you shouldn't let what that jackass did ruin it for you."
"What Zoro said," Luffy agrees before adding, "You should sing something for us!"
Nevia chews nervously on her bottom lip for a moment before deciding that her new friends are right. She's taking back control of her life, so why shouldn't she be able to do things that make her happy? An idea forming in her head, she leans over to Brook and whispers something to him. He nods in understanding and takes out his violin and bow.
As Brook's bow pulls across the strings and ushers in the first notes of the song, Nevia closes her eyes and begins to sing.
Dancing bears
Painted wings
Things I almost remember
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December
Someone holds me safe and warm
Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully across my memory
Far away
Long ago
Glowing dim as an ember
Things my heart
Used to know
Things it yearns to remember
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December
It's the lullaby that Nevia's mother sang to her when she was a little girl. She hasn't sung it in many years, and she's honestly a bit surprised that she remembers the words.
The Straw Hat Pirates clap and cheer. A few of them have far-off looks in their eyes, and Nevia specifically notices Luffy staring at her in wonder. She can feel a light heat rise to her cheeks and she raises an eyebrow at him.
"What?" she asks him curiously, but the pirate captain seems to be at a loss for words.
"You have a beautiful voice, Nevie-chan," Robin says with a gentle smile. No one seems to notice how tense she's been since Nevia woke up.
Nevia flashes them a quick smile before glancing back at Luffy. He's eyeing her with an expression that Nevia can't quite make out. Annoyance rising, she's about to shout at him when everything suddenly shifts.
"Nevie-chwan, what's wrong?" Sanji asks, rushing to her side. "You look about as green as the marimo's hair." Zoro clicks his tongue at Sanji's off-hand remark but says nothing, more worried about their new friend.
Chopper moves to examine the girl, feeling her forehead with the back of one of his hooves.
Chopper frowns at Nevia. "You're a little warm. I need to get you back to the sick bay now," he says sternly.
Feeling a tad bit sick, Nevia nods and eases herself to her feet. Robin moves to help her, and they head with Chopper back to the sick bay.
Once Nevia is back in bed, Chopper gives her some medication to take. She can feel it start to take effect almost immediately, her eyelids starting to grow heavy.
"Thank you," she says quickly to Robin and Chopper, though her words are already starting to slur a bit.
"For what, Nevie-chan?" Robin asks, cocking her head to the side.
"For not making me leave," Nevia says bluntly. "I'm a stranger, but you all've treated me like a friend. I don' feel like I deserve it." The slurring is starting to worsen, but she's determined to get this sentiment off of her chest before she inevitably slips into unconsciousness. However, before she can say anything else, Robin smiles warmly at her and sits on the edge of her bed.
"You don't need to thank us for that, Nevie-chan. We're just a bunch of misfits ourselves. You fit in quite nicely." She pauses, seeming to weigh her options. "Nevie-chan, I wanted to ask you more about your time with the Black Rose..." but the woman trails off as the medication has taken over and Nevia is out cold.
Robin smiles and shakes her head as the door to the sick bay swings open.
"How's she doing?" Nami asks, leaning against the door frame.
Chopper motions to the sleeping girl. "The medication I gave her seems to have knocked her out. A good night's sleep should help."
"Nami," Robin starts with a curious expression. "What do you think of our new friend?"
Nami mulls it over for a moment before giving her answer. "Well, we really don't know that much about her. Still," she says smiling, "I have to say that she reminds me of myself a bit."
Robin nods deadpan. "There's something that's been bothering me since I found her. Specifically, there's something that's bothering me about the Black Rose Corsairs."
Both Nami and Chopper are listening intently as Robin continues. "She mentioned the captain, but from what I've found Duke Houston wasn't the original captain. Though I couldn't find the previous captain by name, there's no doubt about it. Aside from that, why go back for her after all that time? What's so important about her ability that the Black Rose Corsairs returned to Water 7 after ten years just to take it for themselves? And if she's so important, why only use her for luring children for ransom?"
The other two Straw Hats are at a loss for words. "I guess I didn't think about that," Nami admits with a frown.
"You think there's something she's not telling us?" Chopper asks, tilting his head.
Robin shakes her head with uncertainty. "I'm not sure, but I intend to find out."
"Whatever you find out, I already have a bet going with Zoro and Usopp to see how long it takes before Luffy asks her to join the crew," Nami reveals with a glint in her eye. "If you want in, let me know. I'm going to bed."
Nami exits the sick bay leaving Robin and Chopper with the unconscious girl.
"You don't think she's dangerous, do you?" Chopper asks Robin nervously.
Robin frowns again. "Based solely on what Franky has told us, I don't see how she could be. Of course, there's always the chance that she is dangerous and has no idea." Robin sighs and throws another glance towards the unconscious girl. "Time will tell, I suppose."