Ghost Princess the Pirate

by Lotus-Lily

[DISCONTINUED. I'M SORRY]. After losing her home and her family in a pirate raid, Perona sets out alone into the world. Armed only with her pride as a lady and some Negative Hollows for company, she is determined to change the fashion industry of the world! But along the way, she runs into an idiot boy and his pirate crew, whose pride and dreams may be even bigger than hers.

6. Princess at Arlong's Ugly Park

A/N: This chapter is very long. Very very long. I contemplated dividing it into 2 chapters, but then I thought, why would I do that?

So here's a nice big chunk of a chapter for you all to enjoy. Please help yourselves!

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Chapter 6: Princess at Arlong's Ugly Park

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The ocean waves leapt up and down, threatening to overturn the small boat balanced precariously on the blue expanse. The sunlight shown bright overhead. Over the horizon, a barely visible patch of land indicated that the passengers were nearing their destination: Arlong Park. The home base of the one of the highest bounties in the East Blue.

A single man's scream rang out over the waters. A gust of wind carried the voice far away, drowning it in the embrace of the heaving sea.

"Why are you all so calm!?" shouted Yosaku. His desperate screech grated on Perona's ears. The rest of the boat's occupants paused, then went on with their business. It was a good day for some afternoon tea. Sanji had whipped up some cookies (with a side of roast beef) for Luffy, as well as a beautiful, 3-layered strawberry parfait for Perona, accompanied by his best compliments of her beauty and elegance and grace and beauty. Luffy sat munching his snack, too engrossed in the action to pay attention to anything else. Perona simply readjusted Kumashi in her lap before taking another sip of apple tea.

It was very good apple tea.

"That's a sea monster from the Grand Line! It must have been attracted by the smell of food! We'll be eaten if we don't do something!"

"Mmfg?" Luffy took a look at the mysterious sea creature currently looming over their boat. Some sort of cow with a hooped nose ring through its nose, at least 10 meters taller than their small dinghy's mast. Yosaku's face brightened at the show of interest. But it crumbled as soon as Luffy stood up, pulled his arm back, and socked the cow-monster in the face with a solid gomu gomu no pistol.

"Mooooo!" the boat rocked dangerously as the sea monster fell back, its tail fins thrashing about the waters. Perona didn't look too happy as some of her apple tea spilled onto the table.

"Gaahhh!" poor Yosaku yelled, "why did you do that, aniki!?"

"It's not getting any of my food."

"Oy, Luffy. That's not very nice," Sanji reprimanded him. "Even if it's a sea creature, as a chef, I have a duty to see that it's fed. Here you go, buddy."

The kind-hearted chef held out a plate full of morsels for the sea creature. A waft of a delicious scent floated up from the plate. With a strange cry, somewhat mangled between a fearsome bellow and a pitiable squeak, the monster leaned in close to take a bite . . .

Only to be kicked away by Sanji's Anti-manner kick course. "It tried to eat my arm, too! This crap-monster!"

"MOoooooooo!" cried the strange creature, this time clearly enraged. A redness dyed its eyes a fiery color. Its jaws opened wide as it charged the small sailing boat, ready to shred it to pieces and gobble up the impudent humans riding aboard.

It didn't get very far though. Luffy and Sanji made short work of it with a few more well-placed hits. The giant black-and-white creature fell away with a swell of sea waves, and Perona grimaced as some of the sea water splashed onto her boots. These were her favorite cherry red ones, too! With limited edition buckles guaranteed to last for years!

"Negative Hollow!"

"Moooooo . . ." moaned the sea creature. Sinking dejectedly into the waters, it began crying gallons of tears, not protesting in the slightest as Luffy roped it to the boat and commanded it to pull them the rest of the way. It felt too depressed to fight back. If any of the humans could have understood his strange cries, they might have been moved to tears by the sympathetic life this poor creature had led.

"That's what you deserve for soaking my boots," Perona simply told it.

Unfortunately for the cow-monster, all four of them had gone back to their tea, even Yosaku. None of them paid the slightest attention to the monster as it pondered the meaning of death, and eventually the subdued creature began carting the boat towards land. Yosaku sat mostly resigned to the fact that these people did not operate on the same plane as normal people. Their first response to a ferocious sea monster: worry for their food. Not scream or freak out like most others did. And in Perona's case, she hadn't even spared the creature a second glance until her boots got soaked with water. Shaking his head, Yosaku could only hope to reunite with his partner soon before he was driven completely crazy by this insane pirate crew.

And though Yosaku didn't know it, Perona also sat wondering why on earth she was on this boat with the straw hat captain in the first place. After the Krieg pirates had departed, everyone had gone back inside the restaurant to treat their wounds. Somehow, the ghost girl had been reduced to tending to the wounded, despite her vehement protests. They'd thrust the job on her just because she had been holding the first-aid kit. Honestly, it wasn't her fault that the unfashionable med kit had still been in her hands. All the fault lay with that green-haired bushido; if he had stayed like Perona told him to, then she would have treated him, tossed the kit away, and that would have been the end of it.

Instead, she got stuck treating all the chefs employed in the restaurant, as well as Luffy and Sanji—the latter seemed especially delighted by this development (if the amount of floating hearts around him were any indication). Even if Perona just slapped some random ointment on their wounds before mummifying them in rolls and rolls of bandages, they all seemed to think it was better than nothing. The general consensus had been: "better than what I could have done."

Honestly! What kind of sea-side restaurant didn't even have a doctor on board?

"Your gentle touch has healed me more so than any amount of bandages! Ah, the goodness of your heart truly knows no bounds!"

That had been Sanji's comment regarding her ministrations.

"It'll do."

Courtesy of Zeff, as he gave the bandages around his head another tug.

"Thanks, shishishi! So, are you going to join my crew now?"

That was Luffy. For that, she had promptly thrown his partially mended vest at the boy's head, which she had kindly been repairing for him.

He dodged it neatly, furthering Perona's dissatisfaction towards him.

He had been half-killed and bloodied all over in the last battle. As a fruit user, he had almost drowned when he fell into the ocean at the end. Yet he didn't even seem concerned over his own health. She really wondered what his brain was made of. Even if she admitted that his pride and strength deserved some recognition, it still didn't change the fact that he was stupid. This recklessness would get him killed one day.

What, did he think he had nine lives?

Did he think himself a Hollow, capable of going anywhere and everywhere without fearing death?

" . . ."

Well, it really wasn't any of her business anyways. Yeah, he could go and die for all she cared. Really, it didn't concern her at all.

However, despite telling herself this, she found herself asking (commanding) Luffy to give her a ride to Loguetown. She had already figured that if he headed for the Grand Line, Loguetown surely lay in his path. Accompanying him seemed like her best bet to get back home.

Yeah, it was her best bet to get home. That's all, right?

"I'll mend all your ruined clothes as payment for the ride. Be grateful," she had told him. Luffy simply smiled and pulled her on board Sanji's boat. The cook himself had been ecstatic that their journey would be accompanied by a lady, and though his tearful farewells with the other chefs had been quite a moving sight, Perona had to wonder if he had really been as sad as he looked. The man started twirling around her like a noodle, just moments after the Baratie disappeared from sight.

They were both idiots. Both Luffy, who currently sat gaping at the Negative Hollows floating at her side, as well as Sanji, who continued to spout hearts and love poems in such rapid-fire succession that even Yosaku took on a tinge of green on his face. Cookie crumbs hung from Luffy's open mouth; Perona cringed in distaste.

"You're such idiots, that you even make other people worry over you," she huffed at them as she spooned a strawberry into her mouth, "Do you know how much trouble that causes others? You should both be ashamed at being such a bother. Don't expect me to worry about you two as well. I'm just a temporary passenger on your ship, you got that?"

Little did she know how similar her words were to Nami's when the orange-haired girl had first joined up with the Straw Hats.

Luffy looked up from his cookies at her, but Perona opted to look towards the horizon, refusing to meet his stare. A moment of silence reigned.

Perona glanced back at Luffy, then looked away, then back again. She had pout on her face, as if the situation did not please her at all.

Because, she really wasn't pleased right now. It didn't please her that she was worrying about people she had barely met a few days ago. It didn't make her happy that Luffy's smile reminded her of a cute stuffed monkey, because that just made it harder to ignore him.

"You're all . . . idiots," she pouted, her arms squeezing around Kumashi tightly.

Luffy just laughed.

"Er, Luffy-aniki, that seems to be the island that Nami-aniki went to. We're getting very close," Yosaku's voice came from the helm.

All three glanced up to see that sure enough, the shores of the island were close enough to be seen quite clearly. Beyond the shallow bays and rocky crops, Perona could see a forest stretching inland. The village probably lay somewhere beyond that.

But weren't they supposed to be heading for Arlong Park or something?

Wasn't it that giant building over there, over to the left of where they were heading?

"I can't wait to be reunited with the beautiful Nami-san!" sighed Sanji. He didn't forget to add, "But of course, having traveled with the lovely Perona-chan has been more than enough for me!"

"Say another word and I'll have my Hollows haunt you for the rest of this trip," replied Perona with an irritated glare. This didn't seem to faze the love-struck cook in the least bit, but he did shut his mouth for a while. He'd clearly seen what happened to anyone who ran into those ghosts.

Luffy, who had finished licking the last of the crumbs off his plate, apparently thought this quite amusing. "Shishishi, these ghosts are funny. How do you make them, Perona? Is it because you're a ghost, too? That means you're dead, right?"

"Of course I'm not a ghost! Is it possible for a dead person to wear clothes this cute?" she questioned, quite offended by his words. But seeing as Luffy hadn't meant anything bad by his questions, Perona opted to simply huff in irritation. "Didn't you say you ate the Gomu Gomu no mi? Then you should know about devil's fruits. I ate one too—the Horo Horo no mi. It lets me make as many ghosts as I want. It's an elegant fruit perfectly suited for a cute person like me."

Sanji and Yosaku both turned to give her surprised looks. In all honesty, they had thought she really was a ghost or something. The only fruit user they had ever encountered was Luffy, and his stretching powers vastly differed from the ghosts powers that Perona possessed; they would never have guessed the two abilities stemmed from the same source.

"Hehhhh," Luffy nodded in understanding, "so it's a ghost fruit? And it lets you make all these ghosts, huh? That sounds like a lot of fun! You could make a pirate crew entirely of ghosts!"

"Why would I want to do that? Can't you think of anything better to do with my Hollows than go pirating like some barbarians? Honestly, the only thing in that monkey brain of yours seems to be about pirates."

Luffy raised his voice in protest. "That's not true!"

Yosaku also came to his respected straw-hat aniki's defense. "That's right! Luffy-aniki is always full of thoughts about his ambitions—"

"I think about steak all the time!"

A moment of silence. Only the cow-monster's low whine could be heard.

Luffy continued nonetheless, counting off on his fingers as he spoke, "and I like briskets, and ribs, and ham, and smoked beef, and braised beef, and roast beef, and, err . . . what other kinds of meats are there?"

Lifting his eyes from his hands, Luffy found that everyone had turned away from him to go back to whatever they had been doing before. While Sanji began cleaning up the remains of their teatime, Yosaku went back to the helm, and Perona finished up her tea.

Luffy grinned. "Hey Sanji, can we have steak for dinner?"

"Yeah, yeah. If that's your only demands for a meal, then I'll sure have an easy time being the chef on your boat," replied Sanji, taking a whiff from his cigarette.

Just then, Yosaku's slightly panicked voice was heard from the helm. "Hey, hey. Isn't this boat heading straight for land right now? This doesn't look too good!"

"What do you mean?" Sanji frowned, "we're supposed to head for the island."

Yosaku's face, now visibly paler than before, poked over the rails as he pointed behind him frantically. "No, no, I mean, we're headed straight for the shore! We'll crash at this rate! Luffy-aniki, you've got to get this sea monster to stop!"

"Ehh!?" Luffy leapt up to join Yosaku at the helm, with Sanji and Perona close behind. And sure enough, they could see the line of trees closing in fast, their sea-monster towing them through the waters at breakneck speed.

"Hey, monster, slow down! We've gotta go to Nami-aniki, not the forest!" Yosaku pulled on the rope in vain, trying to get the monster to stop. Perona sent one of her Hollows through the beast, but it only served to make him go faster.

Apparently, the sea monster had finally succumbed to his suicidal thoughts. And it would take its tormentors with it.

The passengers began panicking, looking for a way to cut the rope or untie it somehow from the boat.

Sanji sat sweating over the knots. "How exactly did you tie this thing, Luffy?"

"It's too late! We'll crash onto shore!" Yosaku cried, tears falling from his eyes. The poor man looked ready to faint as the jagged rocks of the beach rushed forward to meet them. The gleam of the seawater shone like certain death.

"Well, then."

At the unusually calm voice coming from behind them, all three men turned their head. They saw Perona standing coolly on the deck, her parasol whipped open and settled comfortably on her shoulders. She had her purse slung over her shoulder and a teddy bear in one arm, in all appearances out for a leisurely walk in the park.

"Since we should be heading for this Arlong Park place anyways, I'll be going on ahead," she told them with a smirk. "Perhaps Nami will invite me to dinner. I hope you catch up soon if you want any of the leftovers. Horohorohorohoro!"

With a final parting laugh, she took off into the air, leaving three equally dumbstruck faces behind gaping up at her. Even the sea monster noted her departure with sorrowful eyes—perhaps she had been the one he most wanted to bring down. But in the next moment, none of them had time to stare at Perona's shrinking form any longer.

Crash!

The cow-monster's giant form crumbled against the rock face, and the boat went sailing . . . straight into the air. As Perona watched from her vantage point, the small boat landed unceremoniously onto the treetops and proceeded to bulldoze its way through the foliage, the deafening noise of snapping trees and broken branches only outdone by the terrified screams of the passengers on board. She noted that they weren't slowing down. Perhaps they'd make it all the way to the village.

With a tilt of her head, Perona pondered on the wisdom of leaving those three idiots on their own. Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea. But then again, Luffy had seemed to be in a hurry to get Nami back, and Yosaku had clearly stated that Nami had connections with Arlong Park. And since Arlong Park wasn't in that direction . . .

"They'll survive," she dismissed her worries flippantly. The two Hollows whirling around her also gave nods of agreement, reassuring her decision. "And just in case they go around doing something stupid, I'll even lend them one of my Negative Hollows. They really should be grateful for all the trouble I'm going through. Which one of you wants to go spy on . . . hm, I mean, protect the three idiots and their friends?"

The two Hollows looked at each other, and seemed to come to some sort of agreement.

" . . ."

" . . ."

"Horohorohorohoro, can't blame you at all," chuckled Perona, amused by the sight of her Hollows, both pointing at the other one with silly grins on their faces. "I wouldn't want to go either. But no, this won't do. Here," she pointed to the one on the left, who retreated as if it had been stung, "you go."

" . . ."

The Hollow hung its head, swaying back and forth slowly in obvious melancholy. It really, really didn't want to go. In contrast, the other Hollow began flying in circles around Perona, quite happy with its mistress' decision.

"Hurry up, you! Make sure to be invisible when you're in front of other people, and keep Luffy and the others in sight so that I can know what they're up to. If they don't know where to go, you lead them to Arlong Park, got it? And if something's about to kill them, make whatever it is regret messing with my escorts for the rest of its life!"

Dejected, the Hollow slowly nodded and flew off in the direction of the boat. Perona gave a satisfied nod, directing a confident smile down at Kumashi who lung limp in her left arm. "well, at least they won't die with one of my Negative Hollows to guard them."

So with a lighter heart, Perona turned around to take a good look at the so-called Arlong Park; it had been easy enough to find, especially now that she floated several hundred feet off the ground. It stood quite conspicuously, in the form of a giant building with "Arlong Park" painted over the front. The yellow building sported several layers of sloping red roofs, each capping one floor of the tower. Besides the Marine base back in Loguetown, it was probably one of the ugliest buildings Perona had ever laid eyes on.

"Someone should destroy that monstrosity," she muttered to herself as she flew towards the ridiculous tower. "It's a disgrace to architects everywhere. Is it possible for humans to make something so disgracefully ugly? How can Nami stand to go near such a place? I thought she had better taste than that."

The frown on Perona's face deepened as she came near the tower—something was happening down in the courtyard surrounded by walls. To anyone else, those walls may have been quite tall and a very big obstacle. To Perona, it was as meaningless as the Red Line itself.

Quickly retracting her remaining Hollow, she zoomed in close to the wall so that she floated just behind it, hidden from view. First, she would see what was going on. Some gruff voices could be heard, along with a familiar feminine voice and the shouts of a certain cowardly long-nose Perona had met earlier that day.

Perona peeked over the wall to take a look.

"I was never a part of your crew in the first place," Perona heard Nami say. The orange-haired girl had a knife in her hand and a determined gleam in her eye—Perona scowled at the shadow over Nami's face. That was no expression that a cute girl like Nami should have.

In front of Nami, Usopp shouted in disbelief at Nami's betrayal, while some ugly men with beach shirts lounging behind Nami laughed in amusement. Those shirts . . . Perona felt her eyes rotting at the sight of the techni-colored flower patterns. Ugh. She shuddered, and tried to think other thoughts. Those burly men with uselessly huge muscles. She vaguely recalled that people on the Grand Line called them fishmen—creatures who were part-fish and had strength greater than normal humans.

"But no sense of beauty," Perona commented unnecessarily. "The mermaids were much better customers. Prettier and sophisticated, with a good eye for fashion. Hmph."

Just as Perona decided to fly out and ask Nami what was going on, something very perplexing happened. Nami stabbed the knife she had been holding straight into Usopp's gut. Shock rippled through everyone in the courtyard, and Perona ducked back down in reflex at the sight of blood pouring from Usopp's stomach. The boy's eyes had widened in disbelief. Perona watched, confused and slightly panicked, as Nami pushed the bloody form of her former crewmate into the ocean, her expression cold and uncaring. Some of the fishmen said something about no longer doubting her loyalty, but neither Nami nor Perona cared about something like that.

What had just happened?

Why had Nami done that? Perona had assumed Nami was a part of Luffy's crew, but now that she saw more clearly, the symbol of Arlong Park proudly displayed itself on Nami's left shoulder. Did that mean she was a member of this infernal establishment? But the girl had appeared to get along quite well with Luffy's crew back at the Baratie . . .

Thoughts wandering over various possibilities as to why Nami would stab a perfectly harmless boy like Usopp, Perona felt herself getting a mild headache.

Headaches didn't suit her at all; they ruined her mood and made her grumpy. Not to mention the wrinkles they formed.

"Oy, Nami!" she called out, flying over the wall and zooming straight towards the girl. Ignoring the uproar she caused among the fishmen below, Perona landed right in front of Nami and stuck her nose in the other girl's shocked face. It wasn't like Perona to sit and brood over things anyway—asking Nami directly seemed to be the best way to solve her confusion. "Such an ugly thing to do. If you had really wanted to kill Usopp, then you should have left that bloody business to those ugly creatures sitting behind you. Some men they are, letting a lady do the dirty work for them. And why are you associating with these low-lives anyway?"

It seemed to take a moment for Nami to recover from shock.

Oh, that's right. This girl hadn't seen Perona's ghost form before. Not that Perona was worrying about something like that. Usopp had been stabbed by his friend and she wanted to know why.

"P-Perona, you just flew over the wall . . ." Nami stammered as she hid her bloody hand behind her back guiltily. Perona's eye twitched.

"Oh—no you don't! Both you and Usopp have become an ugly mass of blood. I tend to like the color red, but blood is such an unflattering shade. Come here! I'm cleaning both you and Usopp up! Possession Hollow!"

Without further ado, Perona called out a Possession Hollow and embodied it into a nearby recliner. For lack of better resources, it would have to do. While the fishmen still tried to comprehend what was going on (some had squealed at the sight of Perona's blue Hollow), the possessed recliner swooped over to scoop Nami up onto it; Nami screamed in panic as Perona took off with her and the recliner in tow, the ground dropping away at an alarming rate.

"Now, where would Usopp be . . ." Perona called out a few of her Negative Hollows and had them sweep over the area to find the missing long-nosed boy. With any luck, he would re-surface from a water source nearby.

"U-Usopp is dead. You saw, right? I killed him."

Perona glanced back to see that Nami had righted herself on the recliner, though she didn't dare move around for fear of falling off.

Since Perona's Hollows could only possess inanimate objects, Perona had to be creative when trying to move living things. This seemed to be a pretty convenient method. The recliner had been built to accommodate the large frames of fishmen, and as such the skinny girl currently occupying it had ample room to shift around and get comfortable.

"You killed him?" Perona asked, twirling her parasol around a few times.

Nami's eyes turned hard. "Yes, I did. And I'll kill you too, if you don't let me down right now."

Hmph. As if.

Perona purposely drew her Possession Hollow out of the recliner. No longer supported by supernatural forces, the furniture and its passenger succumbed to the forces of gravity and began to drop—straight down.

"Kyyaaaaaa!" Nami's terrified scream echoed all the way back to Arlong Park, abruptly cutting off only when Perona sent the Hollow back into the chair and halted their headlong descent.

As Perona brought Nami back up to eye level, she gave an amused laugh.

If Nami hadn't been willing to converse with Perona before , she certainly was willing now.

"What . . . what are you?" asked Nami, clutching the chair so hard her knuckles turned white.

Perona noticed that the girl kept one of her hands behind her back, but decided not to comment. "I'm a girl, of course. Horohorohorohoro, or were you referring to my Horo Horo powers? I've eating a Devil's fruit, so I'm currently much stronger than you. I suggest you sit there quietly before I decide that you need another one-way ticket down to the ground. Would you prefer that?"

Nami quickly shook her head. Satisfied, Perona paused before turning and flying off in a new direction. One of her Hollows had found Usopp—the boy was currently freaking out at the sight of the ghost, pulling out all kinds of exorcism materials from his pockets as he chanted purification spells at the smiling Hollow. Perona snorted. As if that sort of thing would be effective.

She also noted through her Hollow that the boy looked perfectly fine. Not dead, not injured—even the blood had washed off in the ocean water.

"Dead, hm?" Perona looked back and gave Nami a smirk. "What a lousy killer you'd make."

"W-what do you mean?"

Perona didn't bother to answer. Instead, she led Nami down to the ocean shore where Usopp stood shivering in his boots, his eyes fixed fearfully on the Hollow in front of him. The nearer they got, the more clearly they could hear him say over and over again: "begone, foul spirit! Begone, foul spirit!"

"Hmph," Perona snorted. "How ridiculous. I doubt even real ghosts would go away at such a pathetic chant like that."

"AHHHHHH! Perona's flyiiiiing!" Usopp's eyes all but popped out their sockets at the sight of Perona descending from the sky. Rolling her eyes, Perona let the recliner slowly land on the ground, then tilt violently to dump its passenger right in front of the long-nosed boy. With a yelp, Nami stumbled forward. The Negative Hollow that had frightened Usopp retreated. It flew close to Perona to greet its mistress, then disappeared easily into her outstretched hand.

"The ghosts went inside Perona!"

That's obvious. Perona gave Usopp an irritated glare. "Well, you seem awfully lively for someone who just got stabbed."

"Eh?" at this, Usopp finally seemed to snap out of his terror, long enough to turn to Nami, who looked ready to bolt away at any moment. "Wait, Nami!"

As Nami made to run back into the forest behind them, Usopp grabbed her right hand and pulled it up to look at it. There was blood dribbling down her fingers. "This . . ."

"Let go of me! Just leave me alone!" the girl slapped Usopp's hand away violently. Without another word, Nami ran towards the forest, leaving behind flecks of blood that had dripped off her hand.

Perona frowned as she watched Nami run off. After all the trouble she went through to bring Nami over here, she'd expected something more to happen. Was it too much to ask for an explanation as to what had happened?

Turning to the remaining boy, who looked to be deep in thought, Perona asked, "so, should I go bring her back?"

He didn't answer; he was staring at the faint trail of blood that followed Nami's path, his eyes wide with shock.

"Hey!" Perona flew close and snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Don't you dare ignore me!"

Usopp blinked, and then looked up at her where she hovered a few inches off the ground. "Uwaaaah, Perona's turned into a ghoooooost!"

At this, she bonked him on his head with the handle of her umbrella. "Don't you have a brain? That's not important right now, idiot! If you don't tell me what just happened, I will turn you into my personal slave and have you serve me hot cocoa every morning and night for the rest of your life!"

Whether it was the threat, or the bonk on the head that snapped him out of it, Perona didn't know. All she knew was that indeed, Usopp calmed down long enough to explain. Though he did keep glancing nervously down at her suspended feet every few seconds.

"I-I don't exactly know why Nami did something like that, but . . . it's clear that she saved my life! She stabbed her own hand when she pretended to kill me. I'm worried that there's something here we don't know . . . something important . . ."

Usopp trailed off, losing himself in his own thoughts again.

So, that was what it was. Perona's frown deepened—this girl, she was getting on Perona's nerves now. Stabbing her own hand? If that girl had even a bit of self-respect, she couldn't do something like that and expect everyone to just walk off without another word. Reasons or motivations, things like that didn't excuse ruining a pretty girl's hand.

Just look at Usopp here—even this coward didn't look like he was about to just give up and leave.

Glancing down at him, Perona decided this boy, although calmer now, just didn't look dependable enough at the moment. Well, based on what she'd seen until now, he did seem to have more common sense than Luffy, but only a little bit more. Just a tiny bit. That was it. She honestly couldn't bring herself to believe Usopp would be of any help to her right now.

"Well, then," she beckoned to the recliner. It obediently flew over to come and scoop up Usopp. The boy, finding his feet knocked out from under him by a flying chair, screamed even louder than Nami had, his whole body shivering uncontrollably. He lay on the recliner, arms and legs extended stiffly in his fallen position. The color of his face looked paler than the white sand below. Perona scoffed. "Why don't you try coming up with a plan, instead of just standing there staring like an idiot all day?"

"H-huh?" his face was nearly paralyzed with fright, but he still managed to shout, "Of-of course! I am the great c-captain Usopp, the only one to face an army of zombies who were planning to take over the world and live to tell the tale, defeating them with only a turtle shell in hand—"

"I don't need to hear it," Perona snapped, having become accustomed to Usopp's speeches back at the Baratie, "if you don't have anything better to do, I suppose I'll let you tag along. But you'll have to stay out of the way."

"Leave it to me! I'll be support your back against anything that comes our way . . . but where are you going?"

"Back to that sinfully ugly building. I'll beat some answers out of those muscle-brained brutes."

Usopp was quiet for a minute. Then, when it dawned on him as to what the "sinfully ugly building" was actually referring to, he squeaked, his face turning a violent shade of grey.

Rather suddenly, he seemed to have a change of heart. "Ac-actually, hahahaha, I'm sure Luffy and Zoro need my assistance right about now. Yeah, my hero senses are tingling—they're crying for my help! You know, I've actually got psychic powers that can sense when my allies are in danger. I need to go help them! As the great captain Usopp, it's my duty to—"

His rant cut off abruptly when the recliner suddenly rose up into the air, with Usopp precariously balanced on top. "U-uwaaaa, how is the chair moving? How am I flying!?"

"Hmph, with my Hollows, this sort of thing is nothing," Perona put a hand on her hip as she flew up to Usopp's eye level, making sure she had the boy's attention. "Listen up. It may not be easy for you to follow such advanced directions, but do try your best anyway. Here's what's going to happen: I'll have my Hollow take you to Luffy in this chair. You can go tell him about what's going on, or go hide in a bush, or eat some dinner with him, or do whatever you want, got it?"

"W-well, I—"

The condescension in her eyes flickered into irritation. "I don't need to tell you how to do everything, do I? Go figure the rest of it out for yourself! And where's my 'thank you' for giving you a free ride across the island? Honestly, you and the rest of your crew have no sense of gratitude. Maybe I should just drop you and let you walk all the way over . . ."

"No, no, no, that's okay!" Usopp waved his hands quickly. "R-right! Your Hollows, they'll take me! Thanks! There's nothing that the captain Usopp fears, not even ghosts . . . !"

"Then, I hope you survive! Horohorohorohoro!" Perona waved him off—the chair sprang forward and shot off in the direction Perona indicated, one screaming, terrified passenger clinging onto it for all he was worth.

Soon, he was nothing more than a dot in the sky, making a beeline for the Negative Hollow that Perona had left with the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates.

She hummed a little to herself. Now, to go back and deal with the eyesores. Flying up, Perona headed back the way she had come, head tilting this way and that as she studied the tall structure looming ahead.

"No, even if I painted dozens of hearts all over it, it would still look ugly . . ." she tried another angle. "Then maybe I could add a giant princess crown on top . . . no, that wouldn't match up well with those colors . . . argh!"

Her dislike for the Arlong Pirates began to increase exponentially. Perona refused to believe that Nami was a part of such a crew—a crew with zero aesthetic sense.

In no time, she was back at the courtyard, glaring down at the fishmen who stared back up at her in surprise. One of them, the fishman sitting on the throne in the middle, squinted up at her, clearly amused. A long, razor-tipped nose exended out from his face. Beady eyes of reptilian nature bore into her own.

"Hmm, an inferior human that can fly? That's the first I've seen, shahahahaha. Say, human girl, where have you taken my crew's navigator, hm?"

Perona remained silent as she drifted downwards, landing in the middle of the courtyard on the pathway that lay between the 2 giant pools. She folded her umbrella with a deft movement, dusting it off in a disdainful manner. Giving the fishman wearing the horribly designed beach Tee a once-over, Perona asked, "Is that so? Nami really is your navigator?"

"That's correct," he replied, his smirk arrogant, "the finest navigator of my crew, the Arlong Pirates. And whadda you know, I believe you just kidnapped her in front of our very eyes. I think you have a death wish, human."

His eyes glinted dangerously. A few of the fishmen started forward, grinning to each other as they approached the unsuspecting girl.

Unfortunately for them, she was one step ahead.

"Death wish? Please," Perona gave her curls a flip, "of all things to threaten me with, you use death? If you want to scare me, try flinging all the ugly beach shirts in your wardrobe at me. That ought to inspire some terror, horohorohorohoro."

Arlong narrowed his eyes.

And as if that weren't enough, Perona continued, "and as I've been meaning to tell you, this building needs to be deconstructed immediately, for the good of the world at large. My eyes have slowly been rotting into my sockets at the sight of those horrible colors—I doubt you hired professionals for this job. Let me guess: you and your crew built this yourself? An abomination, if you ask me. If you refuse to get that excuse for a tower out of my sight this instant, then that means Nami won't be re-joining your crew. How can I let her come near such a thing? It's a disgrace to all things fashionable."

With that final statement, Perona called out her Hollows; four of them flew out of her back to take their places on either side of her, still grinning their silly grins. Some of the fishmen started in surprise, but most of them didn't react as much as she would have wished. As she had suspected, these guys were from the Grand Line. People from the Grand Line often went unfazed at her ghost powers—plenty of strange powers ran rampant there, enough to make hers seem almost normal.

Her stare turned cold—her Negative Hollow had just relayed to her Nojiko's story about Nami and the Arlong Pirates. It served to answer most of the questions she would have asked Arlong and his men.

"Ghosts . . . so you're a Fruit user, eh?" Arlong sat up in his chair. "But it doesn't matter. Impudent humans like you, no matter what power they have, always live short lives when they cross the path of a fishman."

The fishman tilted his chin arrogantly. "Kill her."

In a flash, five of his crew leapt forward, weapons and claws at the ready to pierce straight through her fragile body. They leered at her, mocking her as she stood unmoving.

She gave them a haughty smirk of her own.

"!?"

All of their attacks passed straight through her body, and they stumbled forward, unwittingly passing through the Negative Hollows behind her as well. Three of them immediately collapsed onto the ground, muttering unintelligible things. The two others righted themselves and swung their sabers at her once more, again, to no effect.

"Horohorohorohoro, why not realize just how much of disgrace to the world you are? Negative Hollow!"

Her faithful Hollows flew into action, dispatching the remaining two with ease.

"I am a disgrace to the world . . ."

"Just kill me now. You're all better off without me . . ."

Crack!

The point of Perona's umbrella came down hard on the head of a fishman who looked to be part-trout or something. Not that Perona cared about the particular species. They all were un-cute, end of all stories.

The impact knocked the fishman out cold, and Perona kicked his body out of the way. "Glad to know you've realized your place. Hmph."

"Why you little . . . !"

Several of the other fishmen ran forward, swords flashing dangerously in the sunlight. Perona spared them a glance before jumping left and out of the way. Turning in midair, she directed a few more Hollows forward, once again incapacitating the pirates quite effortlessly.

"If that's the best you can do, then I'll be done before the others arrive, horohorohorohoro!"

With a laugh, Perona proceeded to whack the fallen fishmen with her umbrella one by one, managing to knock most of them unconscious in 1 or 2 blows. When she'd flattened the last of them, she twirled her makeshift weapon and placed it on her shoulder, clearly intent on taking them all out.

She had a strange premonition that the Straw Hat crew would be here soon. They wanted to take back Nami, but here the Arlong Pirates claimed that Nami was with them. Coupled with the explanation of Cocoyashi Village's plight, Perona knew Luffy wouldn't just sit around doing nothing.

Through her Hollow, she could see that Nami had run off again, leaving Luffy and the others behind.

Well.

Even if they were idiots, they'd figure it out eventually and arrive here sooner or later.

"But if they come looking for a fight, they had better get here soon, horohorohorohoro," she laughed, watching the entire fishman crew (except for Arlong) finally getting more serious. They looked wary and unsure, probably trying to figure out how to hit her when all physical attacks just passed right through her body.

"You can't ever hit me," she kindly explained to them. "You can't even touch me. I'll be looking forward to see how long you fare, horohorohorohoro. Mini Hollows!"

With a poof, a few of her Explosion Hollows appeared in her hands.

She smirked.

It had been a while since she'd called out these.

The gates of Arlong Park burst open to reveal two panting figures. They seemed out of breath, but nevertheless unsheathed their swords with a flourish and gave a resolute shout.

"Come face us, Arlong Pirates!" Johnny shouted.

"I won't forgive you for what you've done to Nami-aniki, you bastards!" yelled Yosaku, tear streaks evident on his face. Apparently, they'd heard Nami's story too, and came rushing here to beat up her oppressors.

Crash!

"Head kick!"

"Water bullet!"

Crack! Bam!

"Horohorohorohoro, it's no use, no use!"

"Face Palm!"

"Such barbaric methods. Mini Hollow!"

Boom!

. . . But alas, they appeared to be one step too late.

The Pirate Hunter duo stopped and stared at the sight that greeted their eyes. Several fishmen were leaping this way and that, trying to get a hit on the pink-haired girl in their midst. Most of their swings ended up missing entirely as the girl flew up and out of the way, or the blades simply slipped right past her body. Some white ghosts the size of apples zipped this way and that on Perona's command. Whenever she snapped her fingers, they exploded violently, knocking out anyone who happened to be nearby.

Burnt bodies of Arlong's former crewmates lay sprawled all across the courtyard. A few had been flung back by the explosions all the way into the walls, leaving spider-web cracks running all along the solid cement. There stood only 6 or 7 more fishmen. Of the fallen ones, those who hadn't been knocked out cold appeared to be in a state of utterly helpless sorrow.

"Water bullet!" shouted a fishman as he thrust a wet palm straight out in front of him.

A small drop of water came flying at Yosaku's face at breakneck speed—Perona had allowed it to pass through her stomach, but hadn't accounted for the new intruders standing directly behind her.

Yosaku blinked. All he saw was the fishman giving him a cold stare.

"Idiots . . . !" Perona leaned back and threw her umbrella. The cute devil brand weapon cut straight through the air and smashed into the water bullet centimeters away from Yosaku's face. Then, the umbrella's point speared the unfortunate man's forehead with a resounding thwack!

"Agh!" the man fell back, clutching his forehead tightly as tears of pain dripped from his eyes. The dangerous parasol flipped a few times in midair before landing quite harmlessly on the road a few yards beyond the gates, rolling away an extra few feet before coming to a stop.

Johnny, watching a girl's parasol get a clean hit on his partner, yelled in panic, "Yosaku!"

He quickly bent down to check on Yosaku's condition—his eyes were swirling. But besides the red swelling on his forehead, he seemed okay.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Johnny glared up at Perona as he shouted, "What do you think you're doing, attacking Yosaku all of a sudden? We thought you were on Luffy-aniki's side!"

"And to think I just save him from having a bloody hole in his face," sniffed Perona before dodging another karate kick from a man who displayed shark fins on his forceps. Quickly, she summoned another Mini Hollow in her hand and threw it into his face—the distance was close enough to be quite damaging.

Boom!

"Kuroobi!" his crewmates yelled, watching as the shark-man stumbled back, skin badly charred from the blow.

"Why, you . . . !" Kuroobi clutched his smarting face, eyes narrowed dangerously. The fishman loomed almost twice as tall and three times as wide as Perona, but the petit girl looked unfazed.

'That captain hasn't done anything yet, but everyone else doesn't know how to use Haki. I can beat them easily with only my Hollows.'

"Hey, you two idiots back there," Perona turned to Johnny and Yosaku. The two flinched when she addressed them, looking at her warily. Were they still going on about her parasol hitting the guy's forehead?

For only a second, she thought about explaining the impossible power packed behind those flying water drops. How they weren't really harmless. How her parasol had been their saving those two idiots would be grateful to her for saving their sorry lives.

' . . . why bother.'

She sniffed and performed a midair twirl to her left, narrowly dodging a scimitar as it swung inches from her head. "why are you the only ones here, hm? You're absolutely useless right now; either run and get somebody more useful, or, just run. I don't feel like flying around trying to keep you alive here. Go on, shoo."

"We, we can't do that!" Johnny yelled, enraged. "We're here to set Nami-aniki free from the monsters who have oppressed her for so long!"

Even Yosaku had recovered enough to join in his shouting. "That's right! We, the strongest bounty hunters in the East Blue, will be the ones to take down the Arlong pirates and . . . !"

Boom!

Perona put her hands on her hips. She watched skeptically as the shock wave from Kuroobi's palm thrust rammed into the loud-mouthed duo, sending them flying out onto the road.

'Honestly,' she sighed inwardly. Men never listen, the stubborn mules. It's excusable for strong people because they can actually back their words up with action, but for weaklings like those . . .

"Whatever. Just stay out there and don't come back in, you got that?" she said. With a wave of her hand, two Blue Hollows drifted out of her arms. They dissolved into the doors, and the entrance briefly glowed an eerie blue before slowly beginning to close of its own accord. Johnny, nose bloody and face battered, leapt up in panic as the entrance to Arlong Park got narrower and narrower. Stumbling, he reached out a hand to stop the doors from closing, but the gates slammed shut mercilessly, locking the two intruders out. Satisfied, Perona turned back to the remaining fishmen, whose numbers had now shrunken to four.

Even while she locked the bounty hunters out, the pirates had kept up their unsuccessful attacks. Looking down at her unscathed body, she had to wonder whether these men had brains the size of fish as well.

If attacks didn't work the first time, what made them think it'd work the next 100 times?

"How pathetic, the lot of you," she spoke to the panting fishmen. Arlong looked on, still relaxed in his chair.

"Can't you see none of your attacks will work on me? Horohorohorohoro, at least try to vary your strategies a bit—"

Clank.

" . . . hm?" Perona felt herself suddenly drop to the ground. She stumbled. Her body felt heavy—the strength in her limbs seemed to be sapping away. All of a sudden, her Hollows had disappeared to leave her all alone in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by fishmen who began to laugh at her as she stared at them blankly.

Her eyes traveled to her left wrist. There, on her arm, hung a chain of blue-green shackles. The handcuff encased her wrist, closed and locked tightly by a fishman who stood grinning behind her.

He smirked, hefting his dagger. "Let's see you act high and mighty without your devil's fruit powers!"

By reflex, Perona leapt to dodge the incoming swing, only to stumble back unceremoniously as gravity pulled her down. The mocking laughter behind her got louder. The sound of their voices created a cacophony with the shouts of Johnny and Yosaku pounding on the door. Her poor delicate ears. She clenched her mouth shut in distaste.

Arlong's laugh grated on her nerves the most. She told him so. "Stop laughing, uncultured swine. Your voices are ruining my ear canals."

"Face Palm!" Kuroobi thrust the flat of his hand forward. The impact, even when she jumped to the right, sent her crashing into the far wall, creating more cracks as her back collided with the unrelenting cement.

She coughed, tasting blood in her mouth.

Staggering slightly, she got back to her feet, annoyed that Arlong's voice still rang in her ears. The sound of the shackles chained to her wrists did nothing to lighten her mood. "Shahahaha, let's see how long you last with a seastone cuff on you. The trouble with you devil's fruit users, is that you get too cocky with a power that isn't even yours. You're no different than the other foolish humans who think they're invincible while relying on some fruit's abilities! You'll pay for your stupidity . . . with your life!"

Perona pulled out a pink handkerchief from her skirt pocket and wiped her mouth, frowning at the smudge of red that came off. Blood . . . it really was an unflattering color.

Pulling herself upright, she began walking back towards her opponents, unhappy scowl on her face. Now she really regretted throwing her parasol at Yosaku; it lay beyond the doors now, out of her reach.

Two of the fishmen came running to meet her, one with a giant mace held high and the other with brass knuckle guards on his fists. They seemed almost gleeful, ready to exact vengeance for their fallen comrades on the vulnerable girl.

She stopped, gave a haughty smirk, and twirled to her left, neatly dodging the mace as it swung near her stomach. Then, she jumped up, flipping straight over their heads to land behind them, her arms held straight out as if performing an acrobatic show.

She still felt weak, but even without her ghost powers, she could handle midair stunts with relative ease. It was only the first few seconds she needed to get adjusted to gravity's heavy pull. After that, well, it wasn't the best situation, but she could manage. It would take more than some handcuffs to discourage the owner of Princess Brands.

"Let me ask you something, you fishheads," she sniffed as she jumped again, this time to avoid a karate kick from the shark-man from behind. "You didn't honestly think that a seastone cuff would be enough to overpower me?"

Ducking down, she rolled straight through the legs of one of her assailants, who leaped back in surprise.

Arlong, seeing as she was still dodging around quite effortlessly, narrowed his eyes again. "What do you mean, human?"

Perona spun to the right, letting a sword slip inches past her arm. "Horohorohorohoro, did you brainless fish-boys think that I was a Logia? I'm a Paramecia, imbeciles, and a Paramecia type that doesn't naturally let my body turn into a different substance. The efforts I put into turning myself into a Hollow . . ."

It was true. Even the Devil's Fruit catalog didn't list "turning the user's body into a ghost" as one of the Horo Horo no mi's powers.

It had taken practice.

More practice than proud Perona cared to admit to.

The years she'd spent communing with nobody but her Hollows, in an attempt to understand the substance they were made out of. The bare-handed encounters with bandits and pirates who were lucky enough to possess some seastone handcuffs they'd stolen from fallen marines. The hours of training in the air, to be able to not only keep afloat but also move around freely in whatever way she wanted to.

Those mid-air tumbles and tricks didn't just come as a free gift with the fruit—she'd perfected all of her movements through hard work and practice. It was an unlady-like process, full of sweat and dirt and other gross things, but she gladly threw herself into self-training, knowing that the results would make her far more elegant and graceful than before.

Leaning back to avoid a punch, she grabbed the wrist in front of her and pulled it forward, allowing the attacker's momentum to send him crashing face-first into the ground. The sharp heel of her boot stomped hard onto the fallen fishman's neck.

The unfortunate soul gurgled, twitched, and fainted clean away.

Executed beautifully, her counter-attack caused the remaining three to pause momentarily in their actions. This was the first time the small woman had shown herself capable of hand-to-hand combat.

Perona turned a derisive glare on Arlong, her voice rising in pitch. "You think you have the right to look down on my hard-earned powers!?"

Arlong snapped at his subordinates, "what are you doing, losing to one weakened human girl!? Kill her now!"

A fishman with poofy lips launched forward, swinging the hammer in his hands towards Perona's skull. The girl sidestepped out of the way, yelling, "don't you dare get your ugly face closer to me!"

She backed away rapidly, dead serious about her desire not to see Chew's face up close. It was the only face she had ever seen that made hearts look disgusting.

Just then, without warning, a powerful blow slammed into her back from behind. Biting her lip to keep from making any disgraceful noises, Perona crumbled in a heap, feeling a throbbing pain sear up her spine.

"Urgh . . ." cursing herself at the crude sound coming from her mouth, she looked behind her to see Arlong sitting upright, a handful of water dripping from his hands.

A water bullet.

She frowned, but didn't have time to say anything more as a foot slammed into her stomach, sending her flying. With considerable effort, she rolled along the ground to land in a crouched position, springing up just in time to avoid another one of Arlong's water bullets.

Gasping for air, Perona dodged another two bullets before feeling the weight of a hammer descend on her head. Her ears heard a crash. Stars exploded in her vision; as she fell, she glimpsed her beloved Kumashi lying limp where she had dropped him earlier. The Possession Hollow had left him, leaving him incapable of words or action. Voices murmured in the background, and Perona thought there were some gasps.

Above her head, Chew lifted his hammer again to deal the final blow. But just as his hammer descended, a shaky voice yelled "explosion star!" and a cloud of smoke erupted in his vision, blinding him momentarily.

"What the?!" Chew waved his hands to clear the smoke. When he looked down, the girl no longer lay fallen at his feet.

Perona felt herself flying through the air again. More specifically, something had grasped her shawl and pulled her so hard that her body went airborne—the sky sure looked blue today.

As she felt the spots in her vision clear, she landed with a soft whump in someone's arms, feeling dizzy and slightly disoriented. It wasn't everyday that she took to the air without the aid of her horo horo powers.

"Eh . . . ?"

"Sorry we're late," said Luffy, his normally cheerful expression had turned stone serious. For once. Perona would have commented smartly, but all she got out of her mouth was a cough and another glob of blood. Her head throbbed uncontrollably. She couldn't think straight enough to say anything worth mentioning.

As such, the fact that she was being held in Luffy's arms, princess-style, went largely unnoticed by her. If she had been more aware, she would most certainly have demanded release daring to lay hands on her, maybe she would have extracted some fees for his shirt repairs as well.

Instead, she managed to mumble something about that sounded like "if you know it, do better next time" before sinking into a half-conscious state.

She didn't see Luffy nod, neither did she notice his eyes darkening angrily.

"We'll handle the rest," she heard someone else say. It reverberated deep in her chest—a low baritone.

"Those crap-fish, doing this to my beautiful Perona-chan! I'll send them all to kitchen hell as boiled sushi!"

"Quiet, idiots . . ." she hissed, as another throb hit her brain.

It had been quite a while since she'd taken a beating this hard—her body refused to let her ignore its state. She felt herself being passed from one pair of arms to another; this time, she found herself staring up at a spinning pinwheel affixed on the hat of an old man.

"This girl needs treatment. She's taken quite a beating . . ." a woman's voice said. Perona closed her eyes, trying to block out the noise. All this pain and noise . . . it couldn't be good for her skin.

"Those pirates . . . ! Scum of the earth, if they can maul a girl this badly and not feel a thing about it," the pinwheel spoke.

"But Gen-san, look . . . all those fishmen on the ground . . . !"

"She's right, Gen-san! What those two bounty hunters said must be true. This girl was fighting them off by herself!"

". . . whether or not she did, the important thing right now is the get her treated. Hey, miss," the pinwheel disappeared from view, to be replaced by the face of an old man with scars running across his face. Perona took a moment to realize he was talking to her. "We'll have the village doctor treat you right now. Just hang in there, okay?"

She felt herself being seated upright against a hard surface—probably the wall. As the old man went to bring over the doctor, another woman came over. She knelt by her to ask, "young miss, did you really beat all those Arlong pirates by yourself?"

Perona blinked. Who were these people? And just now, that had been Luffy that headed into the park, wasn't it?

The pain in her back was sharper now, but ironically, it also served to keep her conscious. Her thoughts were starting to come together again.

Turning her head slowly, she looked past the doorway which had been blasted away into pieces. There, she saw none other than Luffy and his two companions—the idiot cook and even more idiot bushido—exchanging some words with Arlong and his remaining crew. She watched them for a second, wondering what was being said, when without warning, Luffy punched Arlong straight in the face.

The impact sent Arlong crashing into the other wall.

". . . !"

Oh, my. That might hurt a bit.

Perona couldn't help but scowl as she watched the three guys face off with the Arlong pirates' top fighters. There seemed to be some unspoken rule about which one each of them took on, and when an octopus man rose out of the waters to confront Zoro, Perona found that all the Straw Hats, even the cowardly Usopp, had their battles laid out for them, clear as day.

"And just thanks to who do you think it worked out like that . . ." Perona grumbled. It had been her decision to confront the fishmen, and it irked her that she hadn't been able to finish the job. How pathetic, sitting here with the rest of the onlookers as a boy and his pirate crew took on the ones she hadn't been able to beat.

At that moment, Usopp and the fishman named Chew rushed past the villagers in a mad chase, with Usopp screaming bloody hell at the top of his lungs. Perona would have laughed at this pathetic display, but decided not to, as she heard the boy luring Chew away from the villagers by goading him on.

Besides, the smug look Chew sent her way as he passed—along with a meaningful look at her wrist—plunged her mood into the depths of gloom. The handcuff hadn't bothered her in the least before. But with others fighting the fight and a bunch of strange people doing their best to give her medical treatment, her pride took a serious blow.

Even if Usopp's legs shook like jelly, he yelled, "Come and get me, fish-face! I, the great Usopp-sama, will take you on!" before dashing away from the furious 'fish-face.'

So the boy did have some backbone, after all. Right now, even Usopp was being of more help than she was.

What was she doing, just sitting here? Injured after only taking out the small fry. Even when the village doctor came over to have a look at her, Perona didn't look up. She felt her heart sinking lower with each new crash or boom heard from within Arlong Park. That was the sound of a fight that she had failed to win.

"I'm perfectly fine," she sniffed at the doctor. "If you want to look at a patient, take a look at that green-haired idiot over there swinging around those swords. If you're a doctor, can't you tell which one of us needs more treatment?"

The doctor followed the direction of her pointed finger to Roronoa Zoro, who had just collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. Hachi, as the octopus man was called, charged the fallen man, swords swinging wildly. Only moments before 6 swords descended onto Zoro's unprotected back, the bushido slashed his way upwards, staggering away to leave a trail of dark blood behind. Even if Hachi had been cut, Zoro looked worse for wear.

Of course he did. He was an idiot.

As Perona watched coolly, the doctor's face blanched. "Th-that amount of blood loss—he should be dead, or at least unconscious by now! Why is that man battling a fishman in such a condition?"

"Because he is a hopeless muscle-head, with muscle for brains," Perona answered. "So you shouldn't bother treating him—he won't listen to you, anyways."

Maybe she was just a tad resentful that the bushido hadn't waited for her back at the Baratie. It wasn't everyday that she offered to give someone medical treatment, you know. Perona huffed.

See if she ever helped him now.

"Hey, you," she called out. "Bounty Hunter number 2."

Yosaku and Johnny turned to her, then blinked. "Who're you calling bounty hunter number 2!?"

"Yes, you. Go fetch me my parasol. It's over there on the ground."

At her commanding tone, Yosaku's eyes blazed. "Why should we listen to you . . . !"

"Just do it," she snapped. "It's your fault that I got locked in there, weaponless in the first place. If I had my way, I'd make you guys buy me enough bagels to last me the rest of my life as atonement. Instead, I'll be merciful. Now give me my parasol before I release my Hollows on you."

With the seastone cuffs on, she couldn't fight properly without her parasol in hand.

The pair yelled at her in indignation. "It your own fault the doors locked!"

"Take it easy, both of you," the woman from before intervened. "You shouldn't yell at a girl like that, especially when she's been beaten up like this. I'll go get her parasol, alright?"

Just then, Zoro's voice rang out to them. "Johnny, Yosaku! Let me borrow your swords."

"Of course, Zoro-aniki!"

Perona narrowed her eyes at their enthusiastic reply. "So, you'll only listen to that idiot's commands, hm? I should have known . . . they say birds of a feather flock together, after all."

The pair sputtered in indignation at this. "Are you calling Zoro-aniki an idiot, woman?!"

Ignoring their red expressions, Perona slowly got up to take a look at what was going on. Sanji and the Kuroobi fishman were exchanging blow for blow, while Zoro seemed about ready to wrap things up on his end. Beyond them, chunks of granite and roof shingles blasted this way and that as Luffy engaged Arlong in a fearsome fight.

So far, they seemed evenly matched, but . . .

"Shark on darts!"

"Whoa!"

Luffy bounced into the air, narrowly dodging Arlong's pointed nose as the huge fishman rocketed through the air. There was a splash. The Straw Hat boy landed on the rooftop of the first floor, looking down at the waters where Arlong had dived below.

Arlong, that guy probably still had some tricks up his sleeve.

'Just like he hit me without warning,' she frowned. 'How dishonorable.'

The man called Gen-san had come back to watch the fights. He turned breathless at the sight. "To think that a human could fight evenly with Arlong . . . ! Those people with him are amazing, too, but that boy Luffy, he's something else!"

Before Gen-san even finished his sentence, Johnny shouted out, "Here, Zoro-aniki!" and a pair of swords went spinning through the air. Zoro, who stood motionless in the onslaught of Hachi's swords, waited until the last second before catching the blades deftly in his hands and executing a three-sword style attack. The movement ended too quickly for the ordinary eye, but Perona watched it, and had to admit it despite herself.

"Well, he seems to have a bit of skill," she conceded as all six of Hachi's swords shattered into pieces. Moments later, the villagers gasped as they saw Hachi fall over into his own pool of blood. They began cheering wildly—one of the top executives of the Arlong Pirates lay unconscious and defeated on the ground.

"Um, miss, your parasol," the woman said as she ran up to Perona with the red parasol in hand. Without a word, Perona snatched it out of her hands and twirled it expertly a few times. She nodded. Yes, she could still use it.

With deliberately slow steps, Perona walked over to Zoro, who stood panting heavily over Hachi's body. He looked on the verge of collapsing—the only thing keeping him upright was his willpower. His willpower of idiotic proportions.

Perona put on her best commanding expression, making sure to tilt her head back to show her disdain.

"Hey, you. Get over here and get your wounds treated before we have an extra body to add to the Arlong Park graveyard later on," Perona said. Zoro barely glanced at her.

This made Perona frown. "Hey, didn't you hear me? I said—"

"Shut up . . ." the man muttered back, "Get away from here before the octopus gets back up."

". . . Hmph."

As if. This man could hardly stand anymore, let alone continue battle.

She could see Hachi beginning to stir.

Twirling her parasol one final time, she straightened it vertically and slammed it straight down onto the octopus lying by her feet. The metal point of her umbrella rammed into Hachi's back with a solid crack. The octopus man groaned, then went still. He did not attempt to rise again.

"Now he won't be getting up. As for you, I'll make you eat dirt and tears for the next 10 years if you don't follow me, right now."

Zoro still didn't answer. Perona was getting frustrated—to the left, she could hear Sanji and Kuroobi shouting insults to each other, with the cook threatening to make sushi out of the fishman.

Beyond them, Luffy had somehow managed to counter Arlong's vicious dart attack with some kind of "gomu gomu no net." The villagers gave a cheer as Luffy sent the other pirate captain crashing into the ground once more.

"Luffy . . . !" a familiar voice called out from the gate.

Perona looked back, surprised to find Nami standing among the onlookers. A bandage had been wrapped around her shoulder. When had she gotten here? The orange-haired girl was staring wide-eyed as Sanji took down Kuroobi with a final finishing kick.

"Nami-san! How did you like my kick of love that took down this piece of sushi just for you?" Sanji called out, waving joyfully at his new audience. Behind him, the fallen fishman gave a low growl.

Perona just sighed. At least the blonde didn't look hurt. She whipped her head back around to give another glare at the stubborn swordsman, who simply looked at her with a dazed expression.

"The blank look on your face tells me it is perfectly alright for me to drag you over there," Perona analyzed. "Therefore."

She grabbed the man's left arm and all but pulled him off his feet as she made her way towards the murmuring audience. The doctor was giving his incoming patient an overlook as Perona dragged him closer.

"H-hey!" protested the swordsman, stumbling in Perona's grip. "Let go of me, woman!"

He swung his arm wildly, accidentally hitting Perona in the head. The ghost-girl, who was still feeling the effects of the seastone, lost her balance and fell back onto the floor.

"Urgh . . ." Perona felt herself getting light-headed from the impact. Perhaps the pain from her injuries hadn't quite gone away yet. She felt her irritation doubling. Tripling. Quadrupling.

Whatever came after 4 times as much, that was how irritated she felt right now.

She had just taken a big chunk out of her ego in order to help a green-haired idiot get treatment.

The said idiot obviously doesn't appreciate it.

In such situations, the choice was obvious.

Righting herself with the support of her parasol turned crutch, Perona shot Zoro a freezing glare. It was the rare expression she usually reserved for customers who tried to bargain with her.

Zoro, for his part, looked like he really wanted to apologize, as he met her glare with his own eyes shifting back and forth in panic.

"H-hey, look here," Zoro attempted, "I didn't mean to . . . I mean, I can still fight—"

"Hmph," Perona bent down slightly to pick up Kumashi, ignoring Zoro. The stuffed bear happened to be laying right where Zoro had pushed her down. "So that means you'll simply bleed to death. Good riddance for this earth."

Zoro opened his mouth to reply, but Peron didn't give him the chance. Without warning, she swung her parasol at Zoro's head, connecting metal with skull in a solid blow. The poor bushido crumbled to the ground, unconscious, without even realizing what had hit him.

"Zoro-aniki—!" cried out Johnny and Yosaku. Along with the rest of the crowd, they rushed over to check if the man was dead, pushing Perona roughly away from the prone figure as they did so.

"You little witch! How dare you try to kill Zoro-aniki!" Johnny yelled as he crouched over Zoro's still body.

Yosaku gritted out, "If anything bad happens to Zoro-aniki, you'll be the one to pay!"

Nami stood at the edge of the crowd, looking at Perona with a strange expression.

"I seem to recall that he hit me first," Perona simply said, "It's a matter of eye for an eye. Plus, I didn't think he'd go down in one blow. Looks like the world's strongest swordsman has a long way to go."

"You . . . !" rage seemed to block out Johnny's next words. Perona didn't even bother to glance at him. Looking around, she spotted the doctor near the back of the crowd and went over to him, grasping his shoulder firmly and shoving him towards the unconscious swordsman.

"There. Your first patient for the day."

As the doctor stumbled ungracefully, she turned around and walked out of the crowd, who made a path for her as she exited the park. Many of them gave her wary looks—she'd just knocked out the hero who defeated Hachi. And she didn't even look sorry for it. Some wondered whether or not she really was on the Straw Hat's side.

"Perona . . ." Nami's hesitant voice stopped her for a moment.

Perona tilted her head in Nami's direction, "What?"

"You . . . Zoro . . ." Nami looked perplexed.

The pink-haired girl hugged Kumashi tighter as she told her, "What can I say. That bushido, he's an idiot, you know?"

And with that, Perona turned and walked out of the park, heading in the direction Usopp had disappeared. Nami watched the other girl go, her mind going over the small possibility that perhaps, just maybe, Perona had knocked Zoro out on purpose, to get him seen by the doctor sooner.

Knowing Zoro, it would have taken who knew how much longer to get the bushido complacent enough for a doctor to work on him.

An unconscious Zoro was as cooperative as he would get.

But as Nami watched Johnny and Yosaku swear to hunt down the woman who did this to Zoro-aniki, she thought, maybe not.

.

.

.

.

"Eh? Perona!" Usopp's face lit up when he saw her walking up the road. "You won't believe what I just did. Using only a slingshot, a rubber band, some alcohol, and my very own Usopp's hammer, I defeated the—"

"Yes, yes," Perona cut him off, her forehead creasing as his voice bounced around inside her brain. The headache was getting worse. And the seastone cuffs weren't helping at all. If it hadn't been for these, she wouldn't have to suffer the protests in her joints every time she took a step—she'd have taken to the air long ago. "Why don't you run back to your crew and check to see whether they've lost?"

This new idea seemed to strike Usopp as brilliant. "Of course! What can they do without me, the great Captain Usopp-sama, there to guide their every move! I'll tell you about my heroic victory after we've won, Perona!"

He dashed off, leaving a cloud of dust behind to swirl around her stockings. That insensitive . . . ! Now there was dust on her shoes.

"I'll have him do my laundry later . . . horohorohorohoro . . ." she laughed softly, before heading in the direction Usopp had come from. Most likely, judging from Usopp's dirty appearance, some sort of fight had taken place.

"He might have just run away," Perona mused. "But, there is a very small, unlikely chance that they actually fought, and he actually won. Yes . . . because if he'd lost, he'd be dead, I suppose."

Ah, there it was. Chew the fishman looked like he had been crudely beaten over the head. Lumps protruded in all sorts of angles from his skull, and he was half-submerged in a pond as he lay unconscious and soaking wet. Burn marks blackened his skin.

Perona allowed herself a triumphant smile. "How convenient for me. Oy, you. Wake up."

She strode over and began kicking the prone body with her foot, none too gently. When that didn't work, she didn't hesitate to start stomping on his face, not relenting until the fishman gave a twitch.

She stopped and peered at his face closely. "Hey, are you awake?"

Then without warning, Chew shot up into a seated position, nearly knocking over Perona who had been hovering almost directly overhead. The girl gave an indignant yell. As he looked around, Chew seemed to notice that his most recent opponent (and victor) was nowhere in sight, instead replaced by that creepy ghost-girl with her even creepier doll.

"Eh? What? I . . ." Chew touched his face gingerly, wincing at the injuries. What had happened? He remembered feeling pretty triumphant after cornering the boy, but then the cowardly human had pulled some tricks and . . .

Whack!

Suddenly, a brand new lump formed on the back of his head. Chew let out a yelp of surprise, and looked up at the girl who had whopped him on his head with her parasol.

Perona scowled. "I didn't wake you up just so you can sit there mumbling! Hurry up and tell me where the key to these atrocious things are."

She held up her arm to show him the handcuffs, which hung like dead weight from her limb. Chew stared at the handcuffs for a bit, then suddenly broke out into laughter.

"So, kukuku, you've still got this thing on you, human girl? Too bad for you, because there's no way I'll be telling you where the keys are. With those things on, you're no match for me . . ."

Whack! Bam!

". . . you're useless without those creepy ghosts of yours . . ."

Bop! Smash! Crack!

". . . the key's in Arlong's room. Top floor, in his desk drawer."

Slap! Splash!

Chew slumped over into the water, once again unconscious and sporting quite a few new bruises. Perona dusted her hands off disdainfully as she reprimanded the fishman, "Weaklings like you don't have any right to laugh at me."

Her business done, Perona strode away from the brutal scene, already erasing Chew from her mind in favor of planning her next move. She had come all the way here in the hopes of finding Chew and learning where the handcuff key was.

Done.

Next, she'd have to go back to the building (the ugly building) and somehow sneak into the top floor without anyone noticing.

"That might be a little hard, especially since I can't fly right now," Perona put a finger to her chin, pondering the quandary set before her.

There was no way she would let anybody see her looking for those keys. That just added another crack in her ego.

'I'm not letting them find out about these handcuffs,' she told herself resolutely. 'That would make it seem like . . . I really am useless without my devil's fruit powers.'

She refused to let anyone think that of her.

So, the plan would require stealth. Secrecy. Being discreet.

"I'll sneak in and sneak out before anyone even notices . . ." her voice trailed off as a deafening sound met her ears. It caused another throb in her temples, but she hardly felt it. A flock of birds rose up in the distance, along with a great, big cloud of dust.

That sound . . . it was like a very huge, giant, something had suddenly crashed down onto itself, crumbling into a million tiny pieces.

Suddenly, Perona was running, her hair-ties coming loose to let her pink curls blow freely in the wind as she rushed on towards Arlong Park. Even though she had come near enough to hear people celebrating, she couldn't see it.

That ugly building.

She should be seeing it towering in the sky by now, and yet . . .

"This . . ." step by step, Perona's pace slowed, until at last she stopped on the road to take in the scene before her.

"Nami!" Luffy's voice echoed in the stillness. "You are my nakama!"

". . . yes."

The villagers, happy. Nami, laughing and crying. Luffy, grinning like an idiot. Sanji, smiling and smoking. Arlong Park . . . gone.

That pile of rubble that Luffy was standing on . . . was that Arlong Park?

Good riddance, that tower was a shame to architects worldwide.

"Wait, no," Perona shook her head, "even if it's true, it . . . couldn't they have waited another few minutes before knocking the entire thing down!?"

The keys to her handcuffs! They lay buried somewhere in that!?

How in the world was she supposed to find a tiny key in that mess? And without her Hollows, too!

Perona collapsed onto her knees, sinking into depression as she wondered what she was supposed to do now.

Just then, a platoon of marine soldiers and their commander marched up to the scene, demanding that all the money on the scene be handed into their possession. The leader's voice sounded quite nasally. It grated on Perona's nerves even with a good 50 feet between the source of the voice and where she sat on the ground.

"Hehehe, and hand over those pirates, too," the marine commander continued. "As a marine officer, I'll be arresting them and taking them over to HQ."

"They can't do this . . . !" the villagers murmured. "These pirates saved us, and now they want to arrest them?"

"And what exactly have the marines been doing up until now about Arlong and his crew?!"

"Shhh! They'll hear you!"

The swell of barely contained anger rose among the villagers, but the marine just laughed. "Hurry and fork over the money and pirates, before I—!"

"Shut up!"

Whoosh!

A red Devil brand parasol came sailing through the air, smacking the smirking marine officer on the side of his head. The force of the blow sent him flying back into the arms of his subordinates, who crumbled back in panic.

"Commander Nezu! Are you alright!?"

"Who dares to attack a naval officer! Show yourself!"

"Thi—this . . ." Nezu stood up shakily, his face red with anger. "Who dares . . . !"

"I said to shut off that mouth of yours!" Perona's foot slammed his mouth as she gave him a flying kick. This time, blood spurted from his nose as he collapsed, his eyes spinning. His marine platoon made to draw their weapons on the girl, but she merely gave them a stinging glare. "His voice is giving me a headache! Take him away from here before my sensitive ears take damage!"

"Why you . . . !" They pulled out their pistols and aimed them at Perona. She didn't even blink, not even when Sanji and Zoro jumped in and disarmed every single one of them with some well-placed kicks and a sword slash.

As pieces of cleanly severed pistol fell onto the ground, Perona heard the doctor's voice in the background, "Wait, young man! You aren't supposed to move yet!"

Ignoring him, Zoro pointed his swords at the marines threateningly. "Everyone's in a damn party mood right now . . . don't go ruining the fun, you hear?"

Perona noticed that between the loosened bandages around his chest, a new row of stitches ran down the length of his injury.

Sanji re-lit his cigarette, also glaring at the marines. "If you ever try to hurt Perona-chan again, I'll serve you a full course kick, you crap-fools!"

The marines cried out in fear as they looked down at their useless weapons. The commander just whimpered uselessly, cowering behind one of his taller soldiers.

'He's even worse than Fullbody,' Perona observed with utter disdain. 'The marines are filled with incompetents.'

Out loud, she addressed Zoro. "I thought I knocked you out for the day."

"A parasol isn't enough to keep me down."

"Sure was enough to have you eating dirt," she retorted. "Do I need to hit you again for you to stop butting into everybody's business?"

Zoro sheathed his swords and turned to face her. He looked frustrated, somehow. "Look, if you have something to say, say it clearly. How am I supposed to know what you want from me if you keep saying things in riddles?"

Perona paused, and gave Zoro a long look.

Beside them, Sanji had started yelling at Zoro to stop being so rude to his Perona-chan.

But when Perona made to reply to Zoro's question, commander Nezu screeched at them, "I'll have you all reported to HQ! You'll have bounties on your heads! Especially you, Straw Hat Luffy! You'll be wanted by marines all over the world!"

Nobody bothered to say anything to this, but Nami came over and whacked the marine officer over the head with her staff. For the third time that day, the officer fell, this time not even bothering to protest as Nami crouched down beside him. The expression on her face did not bode well for him.

He seemed to notice this as well, and began shivering in fear.

Really, Perona would never have guessed Nami had it in her.

"Listen up, rat-face," Nami stated. "You and your cronies will help clean up the remains of Arlong Park. After that, you will help repair the village. And one more thing."

Tears ran down the man's face as Nami grabbed his mustache and tugged, hard. He nodded, whining in pain.

The girl pulled him closer and shouted, "Give me back my money!"

What, the man stole her money, too? How despicable, indeed.

Behind Nami stood a horde of angry villagers as well as the straw hat pirate captain who had just taken down the powerful Arlong—even Nezu noticed it was time to retreat. He shakily ordered his men to bring over 100 million berry, then made his escape as fast as his legs could carry him.

But not before calling back one last time, "Just you wait, Straw Hats! I'll have you behind bars!"

Perona gave an unlady-like snort. It wasn't the first time she'd heard such a third-rate line, but the first time it had fit the speaker so well.

Then she remembered that she had been about to answer Zoro's question. Lifting her eyes, she saw that he was still looking at her, waiting for her to speak.

Fine, then. He wanted a straight answer?

She lifted her unchained hand and pointed it at the village doctor. "Do everything he says for the next three weeks."

Her tone brooked no nonsense or questions, but demanded obedience. She may not be as scary as Nami, but she could definitely be more commanding. Zoro followed the direction of her finger, then shifted his eyes back to regard her critically.

". . . Fine," he sighed at long last, scratching at his head. "I need a nap, anyways."

After that, everything was a blur. The villagers ran back to their village to spread the good news, sweeping the Straw Hats away with them. Nami looked as joyful as the best of them, whooping and laughing and running with tears in her eyes. Usopp ran at the very front, yelling out 'your welcome!' to anyone who shouted their thanks to the crew. Sanji twirled around the happy girl, claiming that her happiness was his happiness, while Luffy followed everyone else asking if there was going to be food later on, dragging Zoro along behind him as he went.

Perona waited patiently as the last of the stragglers disappeared over the hill. One drunk man in a messy suit took a particularly long time to leave, and she tapped her foot impatiently until his head finally vanished from sight.

She gave a sigh, looking over the pile of rubble. It looked more like a mountain up close, looming over her head mockingly. Her injuries had receded into a dull but constant throbbing. A better option would have been to get some medical treatment from the doctor, wait until the next day, and then begin her search.

But her pride told her she needed to find the key as soon as possible, before anybody began questioning the suspicious handcuff hanging off her wrist.

Besides, the handcuff had a natural sea-green color. She shuddered at the effect in had when combined with her red stockings and pink shirt.

"Absolutely atrocious," she mumbled as she began to pick her way over the larger pieces of cement. "The sooner it's off, the sooner I'm rid of this horridly mismatched combination."

Her goal was the very center of the pile—she figured that if the building crumbled straight down, the top floor would have landed somewhere on top. The climb was slow without her horo horo powers to assist her, and the sun had begun to throw long shadows on the ground by the time she reached her destination.

Panting slightly, she straightened and glanced around.

"How exactly did this thing fall?" It would have taken a lot of strength to knock down something this big. "And where's that stupid Arlong's desk?"

Her back, her head, her stomach . . . it was all aching. She wanted a bed. She wanted a bath. She wanted nothing more than to curl up with a pile of cute stuffed animals and sleep the night away . . .

"Sorry, Kumashi. Just wait here, okay?" she told her bear as she carefully sat it atop a smooth piece of granite. "I'll have you back to normal in no time. I'll find the key, you'll see!"

Placing her parasol in the teddy bear's lap, Perona gave her best friend one last look, before plunging into the debris. Carefully, she sifted through crumbled rock and rubble, eyes darting back and forth in search of anything that resembled furniture or wood. She came across torn sofas, shelves that had been knocked askew, shattered pottery and weapons, tattered bits of paper, and a desk that had lost all its drawers.

"The drawers . . ." Perona looked down at the desk in disappointment. Maybe the drawers had fallen through the cracks beneath the skeleton of a desk. Maybe the key had fallen even further down.

With a sigh, she braced herself against the desk and pushed. After a good deal of struggling, she got it to drop into a nearby crevice, clearing a space for her to dig through the rocks beneath.

The sun had nearly set—this was going to be a long night.

.

.

.

.

—Nighttime, Cocoyashi Village—

The party for the villagers was now in full swing. A huge bonfire lit the center of the circle, and people of all ages danced around it, laughing and smiling and singing until they ran out of breath. And even when their sides ached and their breath came out short, they wouldn't stop laughing for all they were worth.

"It's been so long since we've had a reason to laugh," Genzo observed through a huge grin of his own. Next to him, Nojiko giggled, feeling the effects of some strong draughts of ale.

"We'll probably be partying for days, Gen-san. And to think it's all thanks to some pirates that came looking for Nami."

Genzo chuckled, and they both looked over to where the Straw Hat crew sat around a table piled high with food. Luffy busily stuffed his mouth with everything he could get his hands on, while Sanji was having a lively conversation with the local restaurant owner who had prepared a particularly scrumptious chicken dish. Usopp, between mouthfuls of food, ran his tongue nonstop about his latest heroics to anybody who would listen. Unfortunately for the sniper, his lone audience—Luffy—had his focus more on food rather than story-telling at the moment. Beside them, leaning against a tree, sat the green-haired swordsman, surrounded by a hefty amount of sake bottles. A fresh swab of bandages had been wrapped tightly around his chest.

"Didn't the doctor tell him to take it easy on the alcohol?" Nojiko wondered.

"Apparently to him, drinking sake is equivalent to resting," came the reply. Nojiko snorted incredulously.

"Hey, where's that girl?" Nojiko asked suddenly. "The one with the parasol. Shouldn't she be with her crew?"

"She isn't in the crew."

Both Genzo and Nojiko turned around at the familiar voice. Nami strode up to them, a mug of ale in hand. Her eyes seemed to rest on Luffy and the others fondly, then turned back to Nojiko. "Perona was never part of the Straw Hat crew. In fact, when I first saw her here, I had no idea why she'd even come."

"But if she isn't a part of that crew, why did she help defeat Arlong?" Nojiko asked, puzzled.

Nami reflected her sister's look, clearly perplexed. "What do you mean? She beat up Zoro after he could barely stand from battle—I wouldn't call that help."

"But you saw her taking out commander Nezu before anybody else."

Nami shrugged. "Maybe his voice really did annoy her."

The uncertainty in her voice made Genzo frown. "I don't know of anyone who would assault a marine officer for such a reason. Besides, you probably don't know since you weren't there, Nami, but that girl Perona was the one who dealt with most of Arlong's crew before we arrived."

"Huh?" Nami looked up, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"He means exactly that, Nami," Nojiko explained. "When we got to the park, the doors were locked shut, and those two bounty hunters told us that Perona had locked them outside. Once Luffy and the others arrived and broke down the door . . ."

Nojiko looked at Genzo, who met her eyes and nodded solemnly. "Honestly, it was a sight I won't soon forget. All those fishmen who had oppressed us for so long, lying unconscious on the floor . . . I'm not sure what sort of tricks that girl used. It doesn't seem like she would have the ability to take on all those fishmen by herself."

"She gave a pretty good kick to those marines," Nojiko pointed out, but Genzo just shook his head.

"I may not be the strongest man around, but I was once a soldier, too. That girl, Perona was her name? I'll admit she is flexible, and pretty fast, too, but her hits lack power. I doubt her blows would have damaged the thick-skinned fishmen."

Nami seemed to consider something for a moment. "I think . . . I may have an idea."

"Hm?"

Nami was recalling the strange ghosts Perona had conjured. Not only had the girl been able to fly, but also move around a recliner at the simple wave of her hand. With those kinds of fantastic psychic powers, it might be possible for Perona to take on a horde of fishmen.

Yes, it was definitely possible.

When Nami explained her hypothesis, her sister and mentor couldn't find the right words to say.

"Flying, you say?"

"And moving around objects?"

Nami nodded, knowing that she sounded quite ridiculous. "Yeah, I saw her summoning some ghost-looking things."

All she got were a pair of skeptical looks. She blew her hair in frustration.

"Here, Usopp was there, too. We'll ask him."

The girl led them over to where Luffy and his crew sat feasting. At Nami's approach, Sanji stopped all motions and leapt up to make room for the girl and her sister, hearts already beginning to form in his eyes.

"Nami-san! Nojiko-san! Please, come have a seat and join us for dinner!" he crooned, dusting off the grass on either side of him. At this, both the sisters chuckled. Even Genzo cracked a smile, but quickly wiped it off as he pinned the young man with a glare.

"I'm thankful to you and your friends, but these two are off-limits, you got that?" he warned.

Nami just rolled her eyes. "Please, Gen-san. Don't go being overprotective again."

The doting Gen-san protested loudly, but the girls simply ignored him, and he lapsed into a discouraged silence.

Taking a seat in Sanji's offered spot, Nami turned to address the rambling sniper. "Usopp, would you mind telling Nojiko and Gen-san about those ghosts we saw Perona pull out? They wouldn't believe me when I told them."

At this, Usopp looked up eagerly. "Oh, so they want to hear how I managed to exorcise all those ghosts! Never fear, my dear villagers, for this great Usopp-san has managed to drive the evil spirits out of the island once and for all . . ."

"Who wants to hear about your stories!" Nami shouted angrily, making the boy coil back in fear. Next to him, Luffy laughed at his reaction, somehow still managing to stuff a haunch of meat into his bulging cheeks. Nami just sighed. "Never mind, it should have occurred to me that asking you wasn't such a good idea . . ."

"But Usopp," Luffy spoke up, still looking amused. "Those aren't evil spirits. They're Perona's Hollows!"

"Eh!?" Everyone turned to Luffy with wide eyes.

"You know about it?" Nami demanded.

Luffy grinned widely. "Sure do! The ghosts were so cool, so I asked her to become our nakama!"

"Huh!?" Even Zoro sat up at this. "You decided this all by yourself?"

"Well, Sanji agreed, too," Luffy pointed accusingly at Sanji, who simply fell back into love-mode at the mention of the ghost-girl.

"To think I can travel the seas with both the beautiful Nami-swan and the lovely Perona-chan! It would be a dream come true!"

Behind him, Zoro snorted quietly. If the recruit happened to be female, of course that love-cook wouldn't object.

Unfortunately, Sanji's ears picked up Zoro's derisive snort, and whipped his head back fiercely. "What was that for?"

"For you. For being an idiot love-cook," came the cool reply.

"Why, you! You've got no right to say something like that, crap-marimo!"

"What was that!?"

Now both of them had stood up, shouting at each other angrily. At any moment now, they seemed ready to pounce on each other and have a go. It took Nami's irritated yell to stop the brewing fight, though they still grumbled to each other with glowers on their faces.

"Enough! Stop that, you two! Luffy, can you explain more about those Hollows Perona has?"

"Mmmmmmm . . ." Luffy tilted his head, apparently thinking hard. His jaw never stopped munching, though. "They're really cool ghosts! They can go through walls, even people! Shishishi, it's kind of funny when they go through people."

This explanation, of course, did not help at all. Seeing Nami's frustration, Sanji decided to come to her rescue.

"To be more exact, Nami-san," he began, lighting up another cigarette, "Perona-chan told us the ghosts are a result of a Devil's fruit—the same type of fruit that Luffy's eaten."

Nojiko muttered, "Devil's fruit . . . ?"

Both she and Genzo tried to recall what they knew of it, but all they could think of was that Luffy's stretchy body was a Devil's fruit power, and that was about it. They leaned in closer as Sanji decided to elaborate.

"Nojiko-san and Genzo might not know much about Devil's fruits. They're considered myths, after all. Actually, I don't know too much of them myself, since Luffy here was the first Devil's fruit user I met. Perona-chan was the second. But as far as I can tell, they can give the user fantastic powers—like Luffy's body being made of rubber. Perona-chan called her fruit the Horo Horo no mi—it allows her to create and control those Hollows."

"Yeah, shishishi! And they can bum out some people really badly!" Luffy added.

The others turned to Sanji for an explanation of Luffy's words, and the cook, with the eyes of two beautiful females trained on him, happily complied.

"I heard Perona-chan call them Negative Hollows. It seems that if someone touches one of those Hollows, they become utterly depressed."

Nojiko raised an eyebrow. "Hm? Makes people depressed? That sounds pretty harmless to me."

Sanji shook his head, recalling the way the Krieg pirates had been incapacitated in the matter of moments under the barrage of Negative Hollows unleashed upon them. "It may be a temporary effect, but I for one wouldn't want to be put through one of those."

"Wait, wait," Nami held up a hand, putting a stop to the conversation. "Then what about the ghosts, I mean, Hollows or whatever you call them, that can move around objects? Those are also part of her Devil's fruit powers?"

This time, Sanji looked confused. "Move around objects? Without touching them? Perona-chan's never done something like that."

"Huh?" Nami looked taken aback, but luckily, Usopp came to her rescue.

"But it's true! I saw a chair floating around in the air, and it obeyed Perona's every command! You guys saw, right? When I found you guys earlier today. The flying chair I was riding on was being controlled by Perona!"

"A flying chair?" Luffy exclaimed excitedly. He had been absent when Usopp had arrived, having wandered over to Nami's house. "Perona can make chairs fly? Cooool!"

"Oh, no," Nami sighed, putting her head in her hands. There he went again, that blockhead. The sparkles in his eyes clearly showed what he was about to say, even before he said it.

"Neh, that girl is really cool! She'll be our next nakama!" declared Luffy, grinning widely.

Perhaps he was already taking a ride on one of those flying chairs in his imagination.

Nami opened her mouth to say something more, but she found herself cut off abruptly as Johnny and Yosaku came running over to their table.

"You can't, Luffy-aniki!" yelled Yosaku.

"He's right!" seconded Johnny. "That girl hurt Zoro-aniki after he was mortally injured. And she didn't even apologize!"

"Look, even now, she's nowhere in sight! That girl clearly doesn't have any good intentions, or any intentions of joining you!"

"And she's very rude. You wouldn't want such a bossy and rude woman on your ship, would you?"

Luffy looked up at them, his expression blank. "Perona hurt Zoro?"

The bounty hunters nodded vigorously. "Yes! She knocked him unconscious, and even had the nerve to shove the doctor at him afterwards. I mean, it was her fault that he was hurt, and then she calls a doctor? What kind of logic is that?"

Blinking, the young captain turned to look at Zoro, who looked back with an irritated glare. Apparently, he didn't appreciate being reminded of his episode of being bested by a woman.

Then suddenly, Luffy burst out laughing. Everyone else, who had been waiting for his reaction, started back in surprise.

"Shishishi, that girl's strong! She could even knock out Zoro with one hit!"

"Hey!" Zoro yelped, his scowl deepening. Luffy paid him no mind as he continued to laugh.

"That girl really is funny. Hey, Zoro," the boy said to the swordsman, "how's your wound?"

The bushido looked like he wanted to say something more, but then saw Luffy's suddenly sober expression and sat back with a defeated sigh. Whatever. "It'll heal, the doctor said. Apparently the stitching went faster because I was unconscious—otherwise, he said it would've been a very painful process."

Everyone fell silent at this. While Luffy went back to his food, Nami's mind wandered over to the thought she'd had back at Arlong Park—why would Perona hit Zoro?

"If she made him lose consciousness so that he could get medical help . . ." suggested Nami cautiously, "then it would make sense why she had the doctor look at him afterwards."

At the notion, Johnny shook his head firmly. "Then why didn't she just explain it to us like that in the first place? The fact that she didn't offer an excuse is more than proof enough."

"Don't say one more bad thing about Perona-chan," growled Sanji, whose expression had darkened as the conversation progressed. "Whatever the reason she acted the way she did, Perona-chan certainly doesn't need to give any excuses to you."

The atmosphere grew tense; Johnny and Yosaku stiffened under Sanji's intense glare. They looked to Luffy or Nami for help, but those two had receded back into their respective tasks: one feasting and the other pondering hard.

Then, in an effort to lighten the mood, Usopp stammered, "b-but, where is Perona anyway? I haven't seen her since we came back to the village . . ."

He looked over at Nojiko and Genzo, who both shook their heads.

"We have as much of an idea as you do," Genzo stated. "Perhaps she has left. You did mention that she isn't a part of your pirate crew."

"Ehh, but she can't leave without us," Luffy interrupted. "She doesn't have a boat. That's why she came here with us, because she said she wants a ride to Loguetown. Of course, if she joins our nakama, she won't need to go to Loguetown anymore, shishishi. Right, Zoro?"

The captain turned to look at his first mate, only to find him gone. "Eh? Zoro?"

Everyone else turned to look, too. Sure enough, only a tree and some empty sake bottles greeted their view. The bounty hunter duo ran off into the crowd in a panic, worried that their aniki would worsen his injury . . . again. In contrast, Luffy just shrugged and got up to get himself 5 new plates of food.

It wasn't like Zoro would leave without a word if he didn't have a good reason, anyway.

.

.

.

.

A dejected sigh broke the silence hanging over Arlong Park. The former ghost-girl slumped back against a pile of chunky bricks, a pout on her lips as she stared at the excavated site before her.

The sun had long since set; darkness settled in now, making it infinitely harder to see. Her efforts to dig downwards to exploit all the nooks and crannies between the rocks hadn't made much progress. The pieces of rubble and cement just kept getting bigger, the hole none the wider, and a small little handcuff key still lay nowhere in sight. Kumashi sat on a ledge a few feet above her head now, and though she really missed his comforting squeeze, she didn't have the energy to climb all the way up there and bring him down.

She really missed her Hollows. Her Blue Hollows would have gotten these rocks out of the way within minutes.

Or if she'd had some sort of Hollow that could track down and possess specific objects . . .

"There's a little idea," she mused, fingering her curly hair. "A Blue Hollow created to possess a specific object? So that it has to find the object before possessing it. Then it could find anything I ask it to find, and it could fetch it back, too . . ."

Toying with her sudden idea, she found she liked it more and more. For the first time in hours, she allowed herself a little grin as she thought of the possibilities. She could name it the Finding Hollow, or the Searching Hollow, or the Seeking Hollow.

"I wouldn't have to go looking for my lost stockings ever again!" she exclaimed gleefully. "And I wouldn't have to be looking for this stupid key, either!"

. . . Oh, who was she kidding. The idea may be good, but down here, with these accursed seastone cuffs on, it may very well be fantasy. Having a new idea for her Hollows didn't change the fact that she still needed to unlock the cuffs first.

"What key?"

At the sound of another voice, she yelped in surprise, jumping nearly a foot in the air. Snapping her head up, she saw the silhouette of somebody crouching over the hole she had dug, a single sword hanging at his waist.

Now recognizing the voice's owner, Perona was quick to school her face into a scowl. "And just what are you doing here? Can you not understand simple instructions? Listen to the doctor, is what I recall saying."

"I am listening to him," Zoro's voice sounded faintly amused. "He never told me not to come back out here. He also said fresh air will probably be good for me."

"The air is not fresh here. It smells of seawater and disgusting fishmen and is filled with particles of dust that can enter open wounds, accumulate, and slowly rot the body from the inside out. Now get out of here, unless you'd prefer to be knocked out again."

At this, she definitely heard him smirk. "I'd like to see you try."

She saw his figure hold up an arm, with her parasol held in his hand. "Hey! Get your filthy hands off my parasol!"

"Make me."

Perona bit back her rising irritation—how she desperately wished for a Negative Hollow right now to put him in his place!

"So, what are you doing here anyway?" Zoro continued, ignoring her consternation. "There's a party going on, you know?"

Her expression darkened, and she crossed her arms in a huff, ignoring the jarring pain in her upper back as she did so. "I can see the bonfire's glow all the way out here, and have no desire to join such an uncivilized party, thank you very much. And I could ask the very same question to you. What's a bloody mess of bandages like you doing all the way out here?"

Without warning, Zoro tossed the parasol over his shoulder and leapt into the hole, landing inches away from Perona with a grunt. The girl immediately recoiled away from him, scooting over to her right to put a good 2 feet between her and the intruder.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "How dare you toss my parasol around like a piece of junk! Do you realize how much that cost?"

"Don't know, don't care," Zoro grunted. Now that he was at eye level, Perona could see the fresh new bandages wrapped around his chest.

At least the town doctor had some skills, she thought.

"And anyways, I came out here because I somehow figured you were still back here. Mind telling me what's going on?" he arched an eyebrow at her, shoving his hands into his pockets as he leaned back against the wall of debris on the opposite side of the hole.

Perona just glared at him darkly. He had no business here. She wanted him to leave. Now. "None of your business. Now get out of here and let me finish in peace."

"And what exactly are you trying to finish?" the green-haired man persisted.

"I told you it's none of your business!" she retorted, her voice rising. This idiot just couldn't get it through his thick skull, could he?

At the tone of her voice, Zoro paused and seemed to stare at her a long moment, before giving a defeated sigh. "Fine, just do whatever you want."

"Hmph."

Finally. Trying not to let her relief show on her face, Perona waited for Zoro to climb back out and go back to his party. She waited. And waited.

Finally, seeing that he just stood there, doing nothing, her patience snapped like a twig.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Well what?"

"Hurry up and leave!"

"I never said I was leaving."

Perona couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You said—!"

"I said you can do whatever you want. I'll be doing what I want to do," Zoro gave her a smirk. "And since I don't really feel like climbing up with this injury on my chest, I think I'll stay here for a while. Don't mind me."

Now she gaped at him, not trying to hide her disbelief. This crude, insensitive, idiotic, muscle-brained stupid idiot of an idiot of an idiot!

She could not find enough words to describe him at the moment. Struggling, she managed to mutter some incoherent expletives, to which Zoro merely chuckled.

A few long minutes passed in silence. Although Perona's stare remained angry, Zoro didn't even bat an eye, his posture impassive and relaxed. Clearly, the man was serious.

". . ." her headache was back. And she knew she couldn't continue to waste time here—the sooner the key was found, the sooner she could leave.

Swallowing heavily, she shot the man one final glare before resuming her task where she had left off, steeling herself to ignore the swordsman's stare boring into her back.

'He's an extra piece of rock,' she told herself as she dug out a boulder and tossed it to the side. 'A chunk of brick. A blockhead sitting with his kin, nothing more.'

But she couldn't help it—it felt beyond degrading to have somebody else watch her at hard labor. Especially when her clothes had been torn, her hair unkempt and filthy, and no doubt dark circles marred her cheeks. It was every girl's worst nightmare. And for Perona, her incomparable sense of pride and critical eye for fashion made it all the worse.

"Hey," Zoro interrupted her thoughts—an action she resented. It made her notice his presence despite her efforts not to. "Are you looking for something? You said something about a key, right?"

Not bothering to answer, Perona hefted a chunk of brick and dried mortar and set it aside, peering into the crevice that had been hidden under it. She could barely see into it—the moonlight couldn't reach all the way down here. A strangled sigh of frustration tore at her lips. Where was that key?

". . . I'll help."

"I don't need your help," she replied almost immediately.

"I think you do. Why aren't you using those ghosts that Nami and Usopp were talking about? If you really have the power to move stuff around without even touching them, why aren't you using that power now?"

Involuntarily, Perona flinched, glancing quickly at Zoro, who didn't miss her reaction.

"Actually, if I think about it, you didn't use those powers earlier either. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have been able to take care of Arlong if you had some spirits to do the work for you. Is there a reason you can't use your powers right now?"

She twitched, her eyes narrowing as she picked up another rock with shaking hands. This guy . . . he was supposed to be an idiot. Since when had he gotten so perceptive?

"In any case," along with his voice, she heard a cascade of rock particles tumble down behind her. "I'll start digging over here. Two's better than one, right?"

Looking over her shoulder, Perona saw Zoro picking up boulders and tossing them out of the hole with ease. Even with a wound like that, he could still manage to outdo her in strength.

For a few minutes, she watched him work without a word. Then finally, when Zoro looked up to meet her stare, her scowl faded away, to be replaced with something like a child's frustrated bewilderment.

"Why are you helping me, anyways?"

Zoro threw an especially large hunk of granite out of the hole, before replying, "Call it returning a favor. It's thanks to you I got this wound stitched painlessly, anyways."

And after that, though she stared at him for a minute longer, they no longer spoke to each other as they went back to work. When Perona's pile of excavated rocks got too big, Zoro would stop digging his side (which made considerably faster progress than hers) and come over to help toss the whole thing out. Though Perona would never admit it, his help sped up the work quite a bit.

By dawn, a thick layer of dust covered both of them from head to toe, and Perona's arms shook from exhaustion. At this point, she could barely keep on her feet, but she refused to sit down and rest, simply because Zoro had yet to take a break, either. She wouldn't let him best her.

Even though the morning light started out faint, gradually, the sky overhead grew lighter, and Perona found she could see through cracks and holes with a little more ease. She felt her hope come alive again with the day. Perhaps she'd be able to find it soon . . .

"Hey," called Zoro. "Is this the key you're looking for?"

At the question, Perona whipped around and nearly tackled Zoro as she snatched the object out of his hand. The man gave a "Hey!" as he stumbled back from her weight, but she paid him no mind. She had only eyes for the little, brass key in her palm, the size of her pinky, twinkling innocently in the morning rays.

No doubt, this was it.

Quickly, Perona stuck the key into the handcuff on her wrist, almost laughing with relief as the lock turned with a click. As the chains fell away, she felt the familiar lightness enter her system. Her feet rose off the ground without her even realizing, and before she knew it, she had shot up out of the hole and into the air, laughing and twirling around like she hadn't done in a long time. Had it been only a day since she'd last flown?

It felt like forever and a day, she thought as she called out her Hollows, who gladly joined her in her childish acrobatic play through the air. The morning sun rays felt warm on her skin, and with her familiar powers back, she felt the exhaustion melt away to be replaced by a simply joy. So she laughed, the innocent laughter of a child at play, as she enjoyed the light breeze that flitted through her hair.

To frolick in the air once again . . . that feeling had no equal.

At length, when she'd had her fill, Perona descended back into the hole, where Zoro stood studying the handcuffs she had taken off. "So these somehow prevented you from doing . . . all that?"

He gestured up into the air, and gave a nervous glance at the two Negative Hollows floating on either side of her. It was his first time seeing the Hollows, after all.

"It's made of seastone," Perona explained irritably. "They can block Devil's fruit powers. It'll work on Luffy, too."

"I see . . ." Zoro seemed thoughtful as he threw the cuffs away. "There's still a lot of things out there I don't know about. I would never have thought that a simple rock could take away those freakish powers."

"Yup, you have a long way to go," Perona agreed heartily. "And you'd better keep this whole affair in the dark, you hear? If I hear you've been going around blabbing, I'll stuff you into a life-sized stuffed animal and have you serve me hot cocoa for the rest of your miserable life, got it?"

In reply, Zoro gave her a pathetic look. "You call that a threat?"

She simply crossed her arms and said, "I call it whatever I want. Well then, I'll see you back at the village."

"Huh? Hey, wait, you're just going to leave me here?"

She blinked at him. "Is there a problem?"

"Damn right, there's a problem! I come here and help you find that damn key and after I finally find it, you'll fly away just like that?" he yelled, nearly sputtering in indignation.

"It was your decision to help me, not mine. Therefore, I'm not obligated to do anything for you. I hope you get back in time for breakfast! Horohorohorohoro!"

With an imperious laugh, she launched into the air, leaving the furious swordsman struggling for words. He had come all this way and even found the key for her, just because he felt obligated to return a favor done to him, and the girl actually just left him here?

He sighed, rubbing his face with a hand.

"Maybe she really is a witch . . ." he recalled Johnny and Yosaku weeping by his bedside in the clinic earlier, tattling on every bad thing the girl had done that day. "But then again . . ."

His memories drifted back to just moments before, when he had watched her aviation show in fascination. Seeing a human fly, accompanied by transparent spiritual beings, was definitely not a sight he saw every day. And the girl had looked so happy, so free, up there, that without Zoro even acknowledging it, he had been convinced that the girl couldn't be as evil as others perceived. And Luffy seemed to like her. For the most part, Zoro felt he could trust his captain's judgment when it came to character. Not completely, but mostly.

"But still, it makes me doubt myself when she just ups and leaves me here like that," he muttered grumpily. He didn't feel like walking all the way back; maybe he would catch a nap here and wait for the others to find him.

Just as he began looking for a relatively comfortable place to settle on the rocks, he felt the wind stirring around him and looked up to see a big recliner slowly descending towards him. He blinked, staring at the chair as it slowed to a stop in front of him, hovering an inch or two off the ground.

". . . A flying chair?" He seemed to recall seeing Usopp ride on one of these things.

As if on cue, Perona's head popped out over the edge of the hole. In the brightening sunlight, Zoro could tell that she no longer had her usual scowl on her face. "Well, what are you doing? Get on in three seconds or I'll really leave you behind!"

He didn't need a second invitation. Jumping onto the recliner, he settled down comfortably, placing his hands behind his head as he felt the wind rush by his face. The ride itself betrayed almost no movement—with his eyes closed, he would hardly have believed that the recliner was flying if it weren't for the air resistance he felt.

"Unbelievable!" Perona's voice assaulted him. The man cracked an eye open to look over in her direction, noting that the both of them now hovered quite a distance from the ground. The remains of Arlong Park were fast shrinking behind their backs. "You have the nerve to take a nap when I graciously offered you a ride back to the village?"

Zoro yawned. "Then what should I do instead? Want me to scream like a little girl like Usopp was yesterday?"

"Of course not! That's just undignified."

"Then there you go."

". . ."

They lapsed into silence, but it felt more comfortable than before. Zoro's eyes slipped shut, and as he nodded off into sleep, he heard Perona whisper a faint, "Thanks for your help."

He grinned. "You're welcome."

"Go to sleep!" was the irritated reply. But if it wasn't Zoro's imagination, a hint of a smile could be heard in Perona's voice.

---

A/N: I'm back!

I wonder if anybody notices...haha. I really do appreciate everyone who stops by and reads this elementary story. Thank you, my dear reader, and have a lovely day!