Ink's Notes:

...Sorry for the delay. I have no excuses. Let's just get right into things.

Chapter 40

Morning had come, the impromptu crew had gathered, and the ship had been dubbed The Phoenix, much to Marco's quiet embarrassment, Tashigi's obvious outrage, and everyone else's amusement. Paulie was saying goodbye to everyone who had helped him during the time that he'd been in town while Sakura, Jugo, Perona and Bepo loaded up the last of the supplies onto the ship. Vivi was studying the map that they'd be using to navigate to the Land of Water with Karin's help, and Aisa was taking a nap, using Carue as a pillow. Tashigi and Suigetsu were sitting on deck arguing about swords, and Marco had made himself comfortable in the crow's nest, much to the silent amusement of the crew below.

Once Paulie had finished with his goodbyes and everything had been loaded up, he and Marco gathered everyone on deck. After doing a quick headcount, Paulie clapped his hands together with a grin.

"So! Who here knows about sailing?"

When only about half of the crew - most of them people from the Grand Line - raised their hands, his grin became a bit sadistic.

"Oh, we are going to have such fun teaching you..."

The Phoenix's Voyage: Day One

Sakura and Marco were sharing watch duty up in the crow's nest as the ship sailed along, managing quite well for a rag-tag crew formed together over the course of a month or two. Sakura leaned on the rail of the crow's nest, while Marco was leaning against the mast behind her.

"Is sailing always this relaxing?" Sakura asked with a smile, the breeze flowing through her hair.

"I'd be lying if I said yes, yoi," Marco admitted. "The Grand Line's got all sorts of crazy weather patterns, the New World even more so. There's even an island where lightning rains from the sky."

Sakura blinked a few times and turned to look at Marco, her hair frizzling and standing on end just from the thought. "S… seriously?" she gasped out, one of her eyes twitching.

Marco smiled, then reached out and grabbed her sides, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her. Sakura gasped in shock, before allowing his gentle, relaxing warmth to spread through her body.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I'll make sure you're safe," he smiled down at her.

Sakura blinked a few times, then nodded and closed her eyes, relaxing into his warmth. She quite enjoyed the feeling, and she was glad she'd met Marco that day that seemed so long ago now.

Marco began humming Binks' Sake under his breath, gently holding Sakura and looking out onto the horizon. Silently, he realized that this feeling must have been what Pops wanted, had been searching for, and had been gathering during his many years out at sea. The gentle, emotional warmth that came from having people who were close enough to you to call a family, no matter who they were or where they were from.

As he relaxed, he thought he felt something on the edge of his Haki, and tried to focus in on it. There was someone in the skies at least a hundred feet away, so it was fuzzy at best and before long the thing was out of his range entirely.

Marco frowned for a moment, but let the thought slip away. It wasn't bothering them, at least not yet. It could wait.

The Phoenix's Voyage: Day Two

"A broadsword would be better for that sort of situation! You want as much power as you can put into a strike so you can take your opponent out quickly!" Suigetsu shouted, making a motion of swinging a broadsword to demonstrate his point as he stood a few feet away from Tashigi in the kitchen of the vessel.

"And what happens if your opponent's more durable than you thought, and can tank your blows? You have to wear them down and strike quickly and efficiently, hitting their weak points as much as you can!" Tashigi argued, putting her fists on her hips with a huff as she glared at him through the lenses of her glasses.

"That's the argument you make on the katana's behalf every single time we have this debate!"

Karin, Vivi and Carue walked into the room just in time to hear Suigetsu yell the last few words as he threw his hands into the air, and Tashigi respond by crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out at him.

"You're just mad because you know I'm right," she taunted.

"Excuse me!?" Suigetsu snapped, reaching for the blade attached to his back.

"You heard me! I have years of Marine training and that means knowing what kinds of blades work best!" Tashigi shouted back, grabbing the hilt of her katana.

"Both of you, QUIET!" Karin interrupted, slamming her hand onto the table as hard as she could to get their attention.

Suigetsu and Tashigi simultaneously released their weapons as they turned to Karin, the tension that had previously been there deciding that it hadn't signed up for this nonsense and going to take a vacation to see if it could mess with the tattered remains of Team Seven.

After a moment of silence, tears began forming in Karin's eyes, and she began blowing on her hand, apparently having hit the table too hard as Vivi began trying to usher her towards the sink to put cold water on it, and Carue began running around in a quacking panic.

"…Truce until we get on land?" Suigetsu offered with a sweatdrop.

"…Sounds like a plan," Tashigi agreed, her expression matching his own.

The Phoenix's Voyage: Day Three

Perona twirled her hair with one of her fingers as she and Jugo stood on the side of the ship, leaning against the railing and watching the scene before them. Aisa had declared her intent to get stronger so she wouldn't have to be afraid of the shinobi that populated the vast majority of this world, and so Bepo and Paulie were teaching her the basics of combat. Combined with her Observation Haki, she was proving to be an incredibly fast learner and a very good student, and was making outstanding progress.

"She's a cute kid, isn't she?" Jugo asked after a moment, looking over at Perona.

Perona huffed, tapping her foot against the deck. She had decided not to float around for a change, not wanting to risk the ship moving out from underneath her at an inopportune moment.

"What, am I not cute enough for you?" she teased with a childish pout.

Jugo yelped and waved his hands back and forth in front of himself, his face becoming an interesting shade of red. "N-No, that's – I didn't mean that – you're –" he fumbled over his words for a few more minutes before just hanging his head in defeat.

"Horohorohorohoro~!" Perona laughed in amusement, ruffling his hair while it was low enough for her to do so. "Don't worry, I'm not mad," she smiled. "It's really too fun to tease you~" Jugo muttered under his breath, looking away in shame, prompting her to laugh again.

At that moment, a stray rope that Paulie was using to help Aisa practice dodging and countering flew their way, hitting Perona square in the forehead and dazing her as the force sent her tumbling over the railing and into the ocean below with a splash.

The sound caused Jugo to immediately snap out of his miniature trance. "Perona!" he called out, leaping over the railing into the waves below with a loud splash. His shout caught the attention of just about everyone on board the ship, and they got to work slowing the ship as much as they could when Bepo alerted them about what had happened.

Jugo swam through the water, squinting – it was dark, hard to see, but he absolutely could not let the conditions beat him. If only there were a way he could swim faster... He pushed himself harder, forcing himself, shifting into a cursed state…

Perona forced her eyes open even as she felt her strength leaving her, and vaguely processed that some sort of aquatic creature was swimming towards her. Was it a sea king…? No, those were native to her world, and unless one had been sent here… besides, it was much too small to be one.

The thought had barely formed when the creature got close enough, and she noticed a splash of orange on its head. Everything became clear in that moment, and when she felt something fin-like on her back and under her legs, she summoned all the strength she had to push herself into the form that owned those fins. She felt water moving around her, and the area getting brighter, and brighter, the form of a ship becoming more and more clear…

A splash, and as clarity fully returned, she processed that she was no longer in the water, but a few feet above it. As her strength returned, she moved her head around, and it took her a moment to process everything that she was seeing. The ship, about twenty feet away, and moving rather slowly as Paulie threw a rope their way. The water, that was below her.

And Jugo, who had changed his features to resemble an aquatic monster of sorts and was standing on top of the water, carrying her in his arms, bridal style. The rope that Paulie threw landed over his shoulder, and Perona lifted one of her hands to take hold of it, still shaking off the remains of the weakness from the sea. Paulie pulled it taught, and Jugo began walking along the water, using the rope as a guide to pull them back over to the ship.

Before long, the two were safely on board, Jugo was back to normal, and both were wrapped in towels and had been provided with a hot drink. Most of the crew had gone to get the ship moving at a decent pace again, but Sakura and Marco had remained with them to make sure they were all right. But, as both Perona and Jugo noticed, the two weren't really paying any attention to what the two of them were talking about – instead having a conversation about, from what they understood, Sakura's training under one 'Tsunade'.

"…Jugo," Perona spoke after a moment, looking over at him as she held her towel tightly around her body.

"…Yes, Perona?" Jugo responded, turning his head to look her in the eyes.

"How did you know that people who've eaten Devil Fruits can't swim?" she asked.

Jugo blinked a few times, before his face flushed slightly and he glanced away. "…I, er, didn't," he admitted. "I heard the splash, and I acted without thinking."

Perona allowed herself to smile, and gently leaned on Jugo, startling him for a moment. "Thanks. For saving me."

Jugo blinked a few times, then smiled and wrapped an arm around her. "Of course. You're my precious person."

Sakura and Marco glanced over, smiling at the two. "I think I'm going to go figure out how best to teach you guys Armament Haki, yoi," Marco smiled as he made his way towards the crow's nest.

"I, um, I'm going to go... iron my kunai?" Sakura attempted to come up with a decent excuse, but then just gave up on even the pretense of doing so and stated, "To give you some alone time." With that, she darted off to go and find something that would allow them to have just that.

Perona and Jugo knew they were making excuses, of course – but neither of them really cared, and they silently thanked the two for leaving them alone together.

Again, sorry for the delay. Each and every time I sat down to write, I started doing something else. I'll try and be better about it next time.

-Ink