The next morning was a quiet one, everyone a bit drowsy from lack of sleep. Dextra had been treated but told to stay away from Toshiro. She was outraged at first, even daring to yell at her Papa when he told her this.

"It's him, not you." He countered once she let out her anger. "Chopper mentioned what happened to you and it will probably take a bit before he's comfortable to have you near him. He's still dealing with whatever sparked that attack, best to leave him alone."

"Would you have left me alone?" The eagle child snapped, arms crossed – if a bit awkwardly due to the heavy bandages on her left arm from her injury, as well as the sling it was meant to be resting in getting in the way - and not about to give in. She respected her Papa absolutely, but she wasn't about to back down from this. Though the reasons behind them might be different, she understood how the Nobody felt the best and wanted to help him just like her siblings and Captain had helped her.

She at least knew what nerve to hit, lifting her head in triumph as the taller man stiffened and looked away with a scowl.

"He's not you, Dextra, so far he hasn't really been the type to want any help. Even after Nami snapped him out of it, he refused any further consolation."

"I didn't exactly want help either."

"You had also been manipulated to think you didn't need any."

Dextra fidgeted in her spot on the bed in Chopper's room.

"…Sorry." Law knew she hated remembering events past, and he frankly didn't like to either, he just wanted her to realize this being from another world was not someone who liked help, and unfortunately had more dangerous fits.

"It's fine…" She muttered. "But I still want to help him."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Law gave up. She had been this way before, and even if he gave her orders as Captain it wasn't like the pair could avoid each other forever. He was still having to deal with her avoiding Thursday and everyone else on the ship.

"On one condition." He said as he thought about the older female orphan. "You have to go see Thursday. She could use you more right now."

Now it was Law's turn to be stubborn as she stiffened uncomfortably and looked ready to refuse.

"If you can't fix things with Thursday, you won't be able to fix things with Hitsugaya."

"Thursday hates me!"

"She does not." Law gave her a light flick on the forehead. "All of us were grieving, Dextra, especially her. You did what was necessary and she knows that, but you can't avoid her. You both need to resolve these wounds. Hitsugaya does as well, but he can wait until he deals with his own demons before he goes in trying to take all the blame."

Dextra went into thought for a moment, mulling all this over. As the one who made the hit, she felt most responsible for the loss of their oldest sibling, but she knew Toshiro felt the same as the one who brought the attention of the creatures here in the first place. And perhaps he was right, perhaps if he hadn't found his way to this world, they never would have been targeted by the Heartless, and Heinrich would have been fine. But he was also doing his best to stop them now that he was here, so Dextra felt she couldn't really blame him. She, however, made the kill…

"Fine." She agreed hesitantly. She supposed her Papa was right, and that if she couldn't deal with her own guilt, she couldn't help Toshiro with his.

"I'll go with you, but you two have to be the ones talking." He promised, tone softening a bit.

This time she just gave a nod to agree, letting Law help her down and lead her out of the room, her left leg bandaged to match her arm and causing a noticeable limp. Law kept close, keeping an eye on her to make sure the leg wasn't hurting too much, he didn't mind carrying her if he had to.

She knew she was supposed to follow him straight to their ship, but she couldn't help a glance over to where Toshiro was. Sitting on the railing facing the ocean, Toshiro had a slumped posture, much different from the usual straight-backed proud stance he usually took. He seemed unfocused, lost, occasionally lifting a hand to use magic on the water and mindlessly play around with the ice, not making anything distinct. Little Hyorinmaru was around his shoulders to comfort him, but it didn't seem to be working.

There was a bandage around his neck to cover his scratches, but she could tell quickly it made him uncomfortable as he kept trying to mess with it in between messing with the ocean, Chopper having to remind him every time to stop. The Heart Pirates already had assumptions that he had been collared and controlled, but after last night's episode now the Straw Hats had suspicions as well, wondering who had done it and what they made him do to cause him so much distress. Robin and Nami had their guesses, having heard his cries for help, and frowned at the idea.

Law waited patiently until Dextra finally turned away and followed him. Brook gave them a wave and wished them back soon but otherwise the Straw Hats let them be.

"Ooh, ooh, do you wanna try some fishing Hitsugaya?" Usopp made his own effort to lighten the mood around the ships as he jumped over to where Toshiro sat with some poles in hand. Toshiro glanced at him curiously. "Have you ever gone fishing before?"

"…Once or twice." Came the quiet answer. "I'm not good at sitting still."

"Neither is Luffy, but when the big fishes bite it's pretty thrilling!" The sniper encouraged. "Plus we gotta get our meat somehow."

"Mmmm, meeeeeeat!" The boisterous Captain, currently napping, drooled in his sleep. His friends just looked at him with deadpan expressions, not at all surprised.

"How big are the fish here?" Though not super interested in the activity, Toshiro figured he'd go along with the distraction. It also seemed like a good way to give back to the ones allowing him to sail with them.

"Anywhere from a foot or two for keepers to the enormous Sea Kings." Usopp answered confidently. "Though, uh, we try to avoid the second option."

"Sea Kings… the big sea monsters you spoke about?" The Nobody vaguely recalled them being mentioned in their story exchange.

"Those are the ones… they've destroyed thousands of ships in the Grand Line! Best not to mess with them…" Usopp gave a shudder at the thought.

'I would like to meet one.' Hyorinmaru let out a small rumble, eager for the challenge.

"As a dragon you could probably kill one, but I doubt something with the name Sea King is as easy to take as a big fish." Toshiro responded to his companion.

"It's not impossible, we've eaten a few." Sanji countered. He had been quite distraught after hearing Robin and Nami had gone right into the storm to wake Toshiro, but having already gone through that anger on the Nobody previously – Nami cut him short, really, not wanting the cook yelling at Toshiro just after they got him away from a nightmare – he acted the same way he had been before to their guest. "The trick is getting one out of the water."

'I want to find one.' Since Sanji had pretty much said they were killable and edible, by humans no less, the dragon wanted to snag one for himself.

"Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro was unfortunately unable to catch the Heartless before he dove underwater and took off. "Great, now he's off on a hunt."

"Well, on the bright side, if he catches one that's some good eating for at least a week, even with that black hole sleeping on the grass." Usopp offered the annoyed Nobody with a shrug.

"I would probably half that considering Hyorinmaru's size."

"Oh yeah…"

"Since I'm not allowing him to eat hearts when I can, he needs to feed himself somehow."

"Right, right, thanks for that." At the reminder that Hyorinmaru's current preferred diet was the bright hearts that were released from the Heartless upon death and existed within themselves as well, Usopp was once more grateful he was on their side. Mostly he was grateful that the dragon could still survive off of meat and normal food.

Seeing the sniper's shudders, Toshiro let out a light sigh.

"Hey, hey, we fishing?" Luffy had apparently woken up, darting over fairly quickly and snatching the pole Usopp already had held out for him. Toshiro was quite amazed how easily the Straw Hats could all react to their Captain's whims. "I'm gonna catch a super big one!"

"We kind of have to with you around!" Usopp snapped, more just resigned than annoyed, and the rubber man laughed, easily jumping up to sit next to Toshiro to start fishing, surprising the Nobody.

"Oh, wait, can't you mess around with the water?" Luffy turned to the shocked Reaper.

"…Sort of." Toshiro answered hesitantly.

"Wait, no fair, you can hog all the big fish!" The angry outburst made Toshiro stiffen, more confused than anything else. THAT'S what he had chosen to focus on? He thought Toshiro could cheat at fishing?

"Hyorinmaru already went off to catch a Sea King." Usopp pointed out when Toshiro couldn't put his genius mind back in order fast enough for a response.

"What!? No fair!" With the determined air of a stubborn child, Luffy cast out his line, wanting to be the one to catch the bigger fish before the ice users could.

"…Luffy, you need bait."

"…Oh. Woops."

To their side, Toshiro just watched the events in silent bafflement. Even after last night, they had no issues with hanging around him, even inviting him to help out with things around the ship. Luffy's only concern was nabbing the biggest monster in the ocean before Hyorinmaru could. Toshiro was reminded firmly of Sora, the never-look-back attitude suited to both the pirate and Keybearer alike, quick to forgive and move on as long as none of his friends were hurt. A brief smile crossed his face and he let out a single chuckle, easily mistaken for a huff of air, before he turned away and hopped down back to the deck.

"Eh, where you going?" Luffy wondered, turning away from the sea, curious.

"I wouldn't want to steal all the big fish." Though the tone behind it was still mostly void of feeling, there was a hint of sarcasm that made the two boys share a glance and snicker.

Toshiro retreated to the library he had been shown within the ship instead. With his dragon out hunting, he wanted to go ahead and stay away from the others for now and avoid becoming agitated, not trusting himself as he was currently even if they did. This place was much smaller than what he was used to, but that was understandable for a ship, and it still felt comforting. He was surprised a ship could house a library at all. With permission from the owners he'd taken to snooping through some of the texts the past few days and looked for a new one to gather information from today. Perhaps it would settle his nerves.

He paused at a shelving full of loose rolled up papers and what he recognized as drawing and topography tools in containers next to binders of more paper. Curious he took a glance at what was on some of the loose papers and realized they were maps. Unfinished, it seemed, or perhaps scrapped and simply kept for reference. Following a hunch, he carefully opened one of the binders and found finished maps, just as he expected. Whoever drew them took great care to get things right.

"Like them?" A female voice spoke up. He was somewhat startled, mostly because he wasn't expecting to be approached, since he had sensed her come in. Nami looked somewhat triumphant at his surprised expression. "I'm good, aren't I?" She winked.

"I was told you wanted to draw a map of the world… these are very well done." He responded truthfully.

"Thank you!" She beamed. "Not all of them are mine, some islands have their own maps I grab for myself to help with my final product, but I'll usually draw my own copy for practice."

"You add notes, too." The Nobody pointed out some writing along the backs of some of the drawings.

"Of course, every good explorer writes down their memories of a place to help remember it better." With a chuckle, the navigator took a seat at the single table bolted down in the center of the room and motioned for her binder. Still curious, he obliged, watching her flip to a different map. "This one is still my favorite."

"Cocoyashi Village?" Toshiro read the name over one of the main spots on the island.

"It's where I grew up." She smiled fondly. "My sister probably still lives there. The trees up on the Sunny are tangerine trees from our grove back home, couldn't leave home without a few."

"They taste great, so you must take care of them well for being on a ship."

"Usopp helps." She giggled. "He got really good with plants almost a year back. I heard you prefer watermelon though."

Toshiro turned away with a mildly childish huff and muttered something about mouthy dragons. A slight tinge of pink colored his face when she laughed at his reaction.

"So you're not afraid of me?"

Nami cut off her laughter at the sudden question, looking back at the other occupant of the room to see the pink had gone away and he was looking down at the floor nervously.

"You mean for last night?" She asked, wanting to clarify first. His nod was slight, but noticeable. "I'm scared of you, sure, but traveling with these idiots there's a whole lot of things we run into that terrify me. Luffy picks on any bigshot he doesn't like no matter what we tell him, so honestly I've seen scarier than you. Plus, it was hardly your fault, you didn't ask to be possessed by something so terrible."

"That still doesn't excuse my behavior." Toshiro countered with a sigh.

Nami frowned, thinking for a moment.

"The place you live in must really hate kids." She huffed.

"Not… really." Confused by her comment, Toshiro gave a tilt of his head as he looked at her.

"Then why can't you act like one?"

"Because I'm not one."

She raised a single brow.

"I may physically look like one but I am NOT a child." He scowled.

"Is that because of your age or your position?" Robin's voice entered the conversation before she physically did, sitting down at the table with the two surprised people. "If all of your people live to such a large number of years, then in comparison to some of your comrades would you not still be considered a child in age, even if you are a few decades older than our aged skeletal musician?"

"…True, but-"

"So you refuse to be what you are because of a rank?"

"For starters my appearance is still this way because my powers are immature, there are younger souls than me that look like adults." Toshiro explained with a growl. "But yes, I cannot allow mistakes such as this," he motioned to himself to mean his current condition, "when I am in charge of a Squad for the intent of protecting souls. Someone who makes such fatal mistakes and becomes so weak is not deserving of the Captain's position, that is simply the way Soul Society is."

"You're not in the Soul Society as of now." Robin pointed out with a grin.

"Because… I ran away." Uncomfortable, an icy glare met the older woman's passive look.

"Then why still follow their rules? We don't mind if you act like a child."

"Neither does our Captain." Nami added on with a snicker and Robin chuckled.

"If I go back I can't-"

"Do you want to go back?" Robin cut off his excuse with a question.

There was a thick pause after the question as Toshiro looked at the archeologist with wide eyes. Did he want to go back? As a loyal Soul Reaper he should have immediately responded with yes… but he couldn't form the word.

"You've seen other worlds now, is such a restricting society still good for you?" Robin's questions were innocent enough, but she had somehow snaked her way into a personal part of Toshiro's thoughts he was extremely uncomfortable being in. To even think of abandoning the world that was his home, the Thirteen Court Guard Squads…

They would kill him.

If they even find me.

The whisper made him tense; that was a dangerous thought.

Noticing the turmoil in the other's teal eyes, Robin frowned, worried she had pushed too far. Her only goal had been to maybe break some of the chains Toshiro had put around himself that kept him in a corner. His beliefs and loyalty to his home were making it hard for him to adjust to his current situation, an ideal that his mistakes could only incur execution. After seeing him tear at his neck, she understood that someone had attempted to control him, but he seemed blind to the control his superiors already held on him. He was forced to fit a mold, one he had taken for his own safety, and stepping outside of it was terrifying to him. He knew nothing else.

"You have friends there right?" Nami spoke up, and Robin was grateful for the change in topic.

Some of the conflict easing, he turned to her with a clearer gaze.

"Yes… a few, though some might be… just because we work together."

"I bet they wouldn't care what rank you were." The navigator grinned, feeling this was a more successful route to try.

"You're… probably right… but I…" The conflict was still there, making the two ladies frown. They wanted to know what was holding him back, but asking outright was dangerous. After hearing about what happened when Law had tried to push him too far they didn't want a repeat.

Toshiro had come to terms with the fact that his true friends wouldn't mind what he was, but that wasn't what worried him. He could never easily put it into words why he had to be a certain way, why he couldn't step away from everything so easily. The simplest way to put it was he was afraid to disappoint. For so long, his only worth had been his powers, if he couldn't match up to expectations… why would anyone bother with him? Even though he knew there were people who didn't think that way about him… it wasn't that easy to let go. He couldn't lose that spot he'd fought so hard for on weak mistakes.

He tried to figure out how to put these thoughts into words before suddenly his field of view completely changed. He wasn't sure what had happened, only instead of the library with the two Straw Hat girls, he was surrounded by metal with two younger girls looking at him. The infirmary of the submarine.

"…it's hot." He stated first, the rise in temperature inside the metal walls the first thing his mind understood before he looked around. The girls shared glances before putting a hand to their mouths to stifle their laughter. They hadn't quite expected that reaction.

In his place back on the Sunny, Law looked between the two ladies in the library, noting their surprised and in Nami's case frustrated expressions.

"Did I interrupt something?" He could only assume they had been talking with the Nobody before he had switched himself with him.

Nami hit the table and took up an irritated tone with him, even more so when he just smirked at her reaction.

"Yes! You did!"

Once Toshiro had realized what had happened, he looked through the walls in the general direction of the Sunny with an irritated scowl. Basically, Dextra and Thursday had mostly gotten over their troubles with each other, but the latter wanted to do so with Toshiro as well, so their Papa had switched places with him using his powers. The scowl was more for the switching without warning than any other part of the plan.

"So, uh… you get some bad nightmares too, huh?" Thursday was the first to attempt a conversation after clearing her throat. At her words, Toshiro turned back to them, glancing at the heavy bandaging over Dextra's left side before turning away in shame. Seeing this, the older girl tried to get around to fixing things. "We're not mad or anything, just worried, I mean hell Dextra's scratched up more than one of us when she has a bad one."

She held up her shirt where clear talon marks could be seen across her side, scarred over and not too recent, but obviously were bad at one point. Dextra had a guilty look that matched Toshiro's.

"The problem is allowing it to happen in the first place." Toshiro argued, refusing their forgiveness. "And as for Hei-"

"Stop right there." Thursday immediately cut him off, looking annoyed. "Honestly I'm not surprised you had a nightmare with all this responsibility you shove onto yourself."

"Excuse me?" Toshiro was genuinely confused by the explanation he was just given.

"Any time something goes wrong you immediately take the blame for it. Nothing wrong with that, but this time it's not just you to blame. You've got way too much going on for everything to be on your shoulders, so cut it out." When he had no quick response, teal eyes wide as he listened closely, Thursday continued, relaxing her tone since she had his undivided attention. "If you're thinking his death is your fault because you brought the Heartless here, then don't, because clearly we don't have the full story. I really do think you came here for a reason, not by accident, even if you don't know it, and it's not your fault that everyone is chasing you. The disease wasn't your fault, you'd never seen it before, so you can't act like it was your job alone to stop it. And the stuff with your nightmare, everyone agrees that this darkness was using it to cause a lot of chaos, there was no way you could control it, isn't that why you asked Papa for help?"

Each of her points shattered any argument he had to maintain the blame on himself, especially the last bit, but he still felt inclined to make the same argument he had tried to make with Nami and Robin.

"As a Captain-"

"You're not Captain here." Dextra was the one to cut him off this time. "Is it really so important you do all of this alone? Even I didn't when my nightmares got bad."

The Nobody turned away from them, lost for words once again. He had been to so many worlds now, through so many battles, and through all of them he maintained his rank and ideals, choosing his actions in the name of Soul Society. Over time, Sora had begun to open up a part of him he had long since hidden away to protect himself, and certain people he met made him rethink how strictly he monitored himself. But this world… these people… they challenged everything he thought he was doing right and turned it upside down. Though separated from his beloved dragon as an empty shell of his former self, through the course of his journey he had come to realize he was much more than just a Soul Reaper… so even if his home rejected him, wouldn't he still have a purpose?

It was understandably hard for him to let go of the ties he'd fought so hard to make, to realize he did not need to try so hard to be what the other Captains expected him to be. This was a new world, a new adventure, and he wasn't just a Soul Reaper. Had he not promised himself upon awakening his Keyblade that he would fight for the strength to protect his friends? How could he possibly do that if he couldn't accept help in return from those friends?

"I'm… sorry… for Heinrich."

Thursday rolled her eyes and was about to reiterate her point when he continued to speak.

"It's hard to lose someone important, no matter the reason… I suppose I'm so used to being the reason I lose them I don't know how else to accept a loss."

The girls shared glances, frowning in worry after seeing his sad expression. The older nodded to the younger and Dextra took a few limping steps towards the solemn Nobody.

"Well, if you're interested, there's one way you can help us." She said. He turned to her with a curious look, interested. "We, um… we thought… we thought it might help all of us move on if… if we could give him a proper send off."

"Like a funeral?" He caught on quick enough, not seeming too surprised either.

"Yeah, but… well, there's not really anything to bury and… none of us have done one before." Thursday put in her word. "We thought, you being a spirit who sends off other spirits and all, you might have an idea. And it could help you too, if you help. A real funeral might be what we all need to feel better, and help him rest."

"I think his soul would appreciate that." Toshiro managed a tiny smile, agreeing with their idea, and the girls perked up. "I'll think of something."