"Goodbye, Katya!"

"The saga of 'we'll miss you!'"

"Be safe, Kat-chan!"

Katya's friends waved happily at the young woman as she stood aboard the Kuja Pirates ship. Ran was the only one of her close friends that would be on the ship with her as they sailed from the island.

"Are you nervous, Katya?" The black haired woman asked as the two women stood side by side on deck.

"Yes." She admitted.

"You have been one of my best students in a long time, Katya." Ran put her hand on Katya's shoulder as the woman looked at the moving paper in her palm. Bepo's Vivre Card was moving in the direction of the Red Line. "I have faith that you will be a strong warrior."

"Takimi." A commanding voice called to the two women. Boa Hancock strode over, with her snake Salome slithering beside her.

"Hancock."

"Don't you address me in that casual manner!"

"What do you want?" Katya's distaste for the Snake Princess had become more apparent in the year she had stayed on the island. Hancock saw her as the lackey of men, and Katya saw her as an arrogant leader who only cared about herself.

"We will sail as far as the archipelago, then you are on your own."

"I'm grateful for the lift there." Katya said with a rather forced smile.

"If we didn't need to visit the place anyway, we'd have just thrown you into the sea." Hancock said bluntly.

"You b-" Katya began saying, but she was pulled backwards by Ran and lost her footing. Hancock sniffed and walked away with Salome.

"Throw her into the sea." Katya muttered grumpily and sat down on one of the chairs that dotted the decking area. She put her bag next to her. She'd minimised her belongings to mostly clothing, a log pose and her knives, plus a few small trinkets from her travels and Amazon Lily. Law's wanted poster was in the bag, too. She had pilfered it out of the paper.

"How are you feeling anyway, Katya?" Ran joined her. "You seemed to be excited to see your friends until you saw that news last week."

"I told Law not to do anything stupid. This qualifies as stupid."

"I'm sure the reason will be clear when you meet them again. And you can stretch them. I'm jealous you can do that."

"I thought I already told you that not all men can stretch like Luffy!"

Ran blinked owlishly. Katya furrowed her brows at the expression. "Or maybe that was Margaret I said that to."

"It's great to see you, Katya," Shakky and the freckled young woman sat together in the former's bar. Katya had arrived on the archipelago earlier in the day and wished the Kuja Pirates well. Hancock had look more annoyed with her presence until she had asked her to give her love to Luffy, at which point the woman had blushed and descended into a world of fantasies.

"Ray-san still not back?" Katya sipped her drink. No-one made drinks quite like Shakky, she mused contently.

"No, he's training Luffy-kun still."

"It'll be interesting to see how he turns out after all this."

"How are you planning to get to the New World, Katya?" Shakky took a drag of her cigarette.

Katya sighed. "I was hoping you could help with that. I need transport. Something discreet but with a strong crew. I don't want to end up drowning halfway to Fishman Island."

"I don't know about discreet, but I know of a crew. I think you'll find them quite amenable." Shakky made her way to the back of the bar and brought back with her a large Den-Den Mushi. Katya whistled. The very long range kind were expensive indeed. Shakky dialled a number and waited for it to ring.

"Who is this?" A gruff voice answered.

"Ah, Benn-san," Shakky smiled. "It's Shakky here."

"Bennnnn, stop hogging the phone!" A crash could be heard through the connection. Katya was merely gaping at the snail.

"Shakky, you can't be serious!" Calling on Red Hair Shanks as transportation to the New World?!

"Oooh, is that Katya-chan?" The phone morphed into an excited expression with three stripes over one eye.

"It is." Shakky beamed. "Do you want to talk to her?"

"Katya-chan!"

"Oh, is it Katya?"

"HEYYY!" A multitude of voices came down the line.

"Hi..." she said nervously.

"When are you going to perform for us again?"

"Yeah, Boss has been moaning that you've not released anything new!"

"Shut up, Yasopp!" Shanks shouted, then changed his voice to its usual cheery tone. "What can I do for you, ladies?"

"Are you still on vacation in East Blue?" Shakky took a puff of her cigarette.

"Aye," Shanks replied. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"I have my ways." Shakky smirked. "You need to be more careful, Shanks-san, or people will begin to notice you visit a certain bar a lot on Dawn Island." The Den-Den Mushi went scarlet.

"Do you mean Makino-san?" Katya looked puzzled. "The Party Bar barkeep?"

"How do you know that?!"

"Luffy talked about you when I saw him." Katya shrugged. Luffy had told her of his youth and how he met Shanks hanging out in the bar where Makino worked. The young pirate clearly saw her as a mother-like figure.

"You've seen Luffy?" Shanks' voice lost its happiness a little. "How is he?"

"It's been nearly a year since I saw him. Just after Marineford..." she hesitated slightly. "My Captain, he saved Luffy's life. He's a doctor."

"Your CAPTAIN?!" Shanks wailed. "Katya-chaaan, if you were going to become a pirate, why didn't you join us?"

"It was a very spur of the moment decision." She said sheepishly. "Sorry, Shanks-san."

"You are returning to the New World soon, yes?" Shakky interrupted.

"Well, it's going to be about two months' time."

"Could you take Katya with you? She needs passage through the Red Line, and you could listen to her new songs."

"Where's her Captain?"

"Being an idiot in the New World. Became a bloody Warlord. I've been training solo."

"Trafalgar Law?"

"That's him."

"Hm, well, if you promise to sing for us on the way...OF COURSE!"

"Thank you, Shanks-san." Katya said gratefully. "I'll even sing you my new songs!"

"Really?! Oi, everyone, Katya-chan's going to join us!" Sharks shouted away from the receiver and a loud cheer went up.

"Not forever!" Katya waved her hands at the receiver.

"We'll call when we'll arrive at Sabaody. We'll see you soon, Katya-chan!" The crew cheered again and Shakky put down the receiver.

KA-LICK.

The snail went back to sleeping as Katya seemed to realise what she had just done and buried her hands in her hair. "Did I just agree to travel to the New World with a Yonkou?"

Shakky laughed lightly at the brunette's frazzled expression. Katya glanced at the bench by one of the tables. "I think I need to lie down for a moment."