Ink's Notes:

Hello yes this is Ink, I got another chapter done so I'm posting said chapter, hope you enjoy the inherent silliness that's about to unfold.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bepo found himself shivering in fright as a strange woman floated down before him, suspended in midair by the ghost-like creatures that had flown through his friends. The woman herself had an elegant air about her, and was wearing a poofy strapless dress that was layered alternately between black and light purple fabrics, had a pink tattoo of a bat on her left shoulder, red high-heeled boots and an overly large black top hat with white floral décor and red inner fabric. Her hair was long and curled downwards to her butt in four spiral braids, and it was pink in coloration, matching Sakura's in shade. If Bepo had ever been to Konoha, he might say that her eyes remind him of Rock Lee's, but on account of the two having never met he was unable to make this comparison. The woman held a red umbrella in her hands, the design of the umbrella reminding him vaguely of some sort of cute, miniature demon.

The woman lifted her hand to her mouth and laughed. "Horohorohorohoro~!" she smirked, looking over the group. "You shinobi should really know better than to wander into my…" She paused and fell silent as her eyes rested on Bepo. They locked eyes for a moment, before her face lit up in what Bepo considered an uncharacteristically happy grin and she floated over to him, wrapping her arms around the polar bear in a hug. Understandably, this elicited a reaction composed largely of Bepo yelling, flailing his arms around, and panicking at the sudden change in behavior. "Aahh, it's been so long since I've seen something so cute~!" the woman released a content sigh, leaning into him like a pillow. "And here I thought everything here was some sort of ugly creature or pathetic shinobi…"

"…Yoi. We're not shinobi." The woman blinked and looked over at Marco, who had stood up and was shaking the effects of whatever that ghost had hit him with out of his system. He gently nudged Sakura with his foot, only to find her still wallowing in depression, along with Vivi and Carue, then shrugged and turned his focus back onto the woman. "Well, Sakura is, but the rest of us aren't."

The woman stared at him, releasing Bepo, who honestly wasn't sure whether to be relieved that the strange woman was no longer holding him or upset that the woman who had called him cute was no longer holding him. She pouted childishly, floating up to Marco and looking him up and down, before tracing her hand along the mark on his chest. "This is…" she frowned, then floated backwards. "You're Marco the Phoenix, then." She crossed her arms with a hum, tilting to the side slightly as her ghosts adjusted to keep her aloft. "Hmm, I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing…"

"…Wh… what do you mean?" Sakura managed to get out as she slowly pushed herself to her feet, still shaking off the effects of the strange ghost.

"Well, on one hand, I may be able to get home now," the woman turned to Sakura as she responded, momentarily taking note of the fact that they both had pink hair before continuing. "On the other hand, it means that I'll have to leave this wonderful place…" She sighed and leaned her cheek onto her hand, eliciting a stare from both Marco and Sakura.

"…You have weird tastes, yoi," Marco deadpanned. "Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that," the woman huffed and crossed her arms, noting that Vivi and Carue were both getting to their feet, using each other as support. "I had originally intended for my negative hollows to render you helpless so I could knock you out and drop you off in a different part of town, but here you are…" She scanned over their group. "One shiobi and four people from the Grand Line, right?" A weak nod from Vivi confirmed this. "So I at least deserve an explanation."

After a moment's pause, Sakura spoke up. "You're the one who attacked us," she pointed out. "Your explanation is a bit… selfish, but I suppose you had to survive. Still, you should make it up to us for hitting us with those… negative hollow things?"

The woman frowned, then smiled at Sakura and giggled as she spoke. "All right, but on one condition – you have to tell me how you keep your hair in such good condition here." Sakura sweatdropped as the woman twirled her umbrella and gently curtsied. "My name is Perona, the Ghost Princess. I ate the Horo Horo no Mi, making me a hollow woman." To demonstrate, she held out her hand, and a few miniature versions of her 'negative hollows' appeared above it. "Now, you all are?"

Sakura decided to introduce herself first. "Sakura Haruno. I'm a shinobi from Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves." She motioned to her friends. "I've been assigned a mission to find the people who were sent here from the Grand Line in hopes of helping them get home."

"Ah, my name's Bepo, navigator of the Heart Pirates," Bepo greeted. Marco glanced at him with a brief look of disbelief, before shrugging and realizing he'd honestly seen stranger things on the Grand Line.

"You know who I am, but for the sake of formality, Marco the Phoenix, acting Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates," Marco placed a comforting hand on Sakura's shoulder with a smile, and Sakura realized he was implying that she was part of his crew, but didn't object.

"I'm Vivi Neferati," Vivi greeted with a gentle bow. "Princess of Alabasta. This is my pet, Carue." Carue quacked and raised his wing in greeting.

"Oh, a fellow Princess?" Perona smiled and floated over to Vivi. "What sort of kingdom do you rule over?"

"Ah- it's a desert kingdom," Vivi explained. "And I wouldn't say I rule over it, my father still does most of the work, although he's been sick lately…"

Sakura watched as Perona and Vivi began discussing castles, kingdoms, and servants, Vivi somewhat weirded out by Perona's preference for the dark and dreary. She looked over at Bepo, who was fidgeting and honestly seemed a little bit out of place before looking at Marco, who was gazing off into the distance. She paused and approached him just as he looked back over at the group. "Marco, is something wrong?"

"Ah- no, not at all," he frowned, scratching behind his head and glancing in the direction that he'd been looking before. "Just thought I picked up on someone is all, yoi."

Sakura nodded in understanding before looking over at the two princesses. "Hey, guys," she interjected, bringing their attention over to herself. "We should probably head over to our lodgings and fill Perona in on our cover story, maybe make a few adjustments based on her presence in our group." Vivi blinked and nodded, causing Perona to look back and forth between the group in confusion.

"Cover story?" she asked, and Bepo nodded as he approached her.

"Y-Yeah, we don't really want it getting out that we're from another world," he pointed out, "So we've been using terms that the shinobi use to keep suspicion off of ourselves."

Perona nodded with a hum, before wrapping her arms around Bepo, causing him to begin flailing out of panic again. "As long as I get to stay near my adorable Bepo, I'll gladly go along with your cover story," she sighed in contentment.

Sakura, Marco, Vivi and Carue all simultaneously sweatdropped at the scene before them. "It's going to be a long night, isn't it?" Sakura asked.

"I get the feeling we're not going to be getting much sleep, yoi," Marco agreed.

So ends this chapter! Things are gonna... well... I don't want to say, but you'll see soon enough.

Narumiyu: That'll have to wait until they get back to Konoha, but we'll see~

Krazyfanfiction1: Yup! PERONA has joined the party!

Allykrau: True, but he's also kind of a dumb at times.

The Keeper of Worlds: Yup. It'll be fun to see her in combat.

Guest: You guessed correctly! Bepo is now her hugging toy, much to his both dismay and delight. He's not really sure how to react.

rainwolf024: Well here is update, and I think they'll get along on account of both having pink hair. Silly, but why the heck not?

dragonfire1237: Thank you~ I'll be sure to do so, I'm glad you enjoy the story!

That about ends the chapter. I've been on a bit of a roll lately, but also, y'know, classes and such. So... ah, I guess just keep an eye out for the next update~!

-Ink