Kia walked over the deck, seeing Chopper waving his arms frantically and yelling… looking scared. Usopp was standing over him, and as she got closer, she could hear him talk of vampire penguins and reindeer-eating clams. She moved to rescue Chopper when he backed up right into Luffy, just as he held up a picture he had drawn. Chopper took one look and screamed, "Monster!"

Kia just shook her head. Of all the things Luffy is… an artist is not one of them, she thought. She took a better look at the drawing, but couldn't tell what it was supposed to be.

"Hey!" Luffy yells back, annoyed. "I'm not a monster!" which had Chopper running and hiding behind her. Well… trying to hide anyway.

Zoro picks this moment to add, "You're too scared Chopper. How are you going to fight with us in Alabasta?"

"Hey Zoro," Kia said calmly. "Chopper is brave and can fight when he needs to. He'll be fine."

"Just make sure not to run away and leave Kia unprotected," Sanji comments as he walks towards the group with a tray of snacks. He handed Kia a plate, and gives the other plate to the boys to share. After the first few times, he realized that Kia would share her larger portion with the boys, so he began making their plate bigger so she wouldn't feel she needed to share, though she would still share with Chopper.

"I'm a pirate now! I don't run away!" Chopper shouted at all of them, and the guys smiled while Kia chuckled.

"Come on Chopper, lets go get your office ready so you can see patients." Taking his hoof in her hand, she gripped the plate of snacks in the other, and they headed to the storage area in the cannon deck that they would use for Chopper's treatment area, smiling as he ran to the room excitedly. She picked up a crate, thinking it was a good place to start as any. "Where do you want this, Chopper?"

"Um, what do you think Kia?"

She grinned at the adorable reindeer human. "It's your room, so it's up to you how you set it up. But, we could always change something later if it doesn't work well."

"Okay, then how about over here?"

She nodded and moved the crate to where he was pointing, and looked over at the door when she heard raised voices. "Should we go see what's going on out there?" she asked him.

"Sure! That's what a pirate would do, I think." He rushed over to the door, eager to prove he was a pirate, which just made her grin. I don't know that I could ever be sad or upset if Chopper was around.

Chopper ran out the door, as the ship lurched. Kia gripped the doorway, uncertain of what was happening. She could see several of the others holding on to the railing, the mast, or even the rigging. Sanji had braced himself between the stair rail and the side of the ship, and Nami and Usopp were screaming.

She could see plumes of water shooting up beside the Merry, and then they were gone. Luffy shouted a "Woohoo!" and Kia heard Vivi say that they were flying. She understood then that the plumes hadn't disappeared, the ship had been shot up into the air along with the water.

The ship was once again steady, so the crew made their way to the railings and looked over the side. The shoots of water had formed a circle, all the way around an island, and the wind it created had them sailing through the air, straight for the island.

"What's happening?" Vivi shouted from the kitchen balcony.

"Geysers!" Nami yelled back. "Under the water!"

"It's amazing!" Zoro called from the bow.

Their oohing and awing was cut abruptly short when the ship began to fall quickly, and everyone started to yell. Chopper's hold on the railing slipped and he went tail over hat, right up the stairs. He kept falling upwards, as the ship was descending rapidly and he grabbed for the jolly roger, catching it before he fell out of the ship completely.

"Chopper!" Kia shouted, making her way up the stairs, and onto the rigging. "I'm coming!" She tried to climb quickly, but felt like she was moving through sludge. The flag began to tear, and Luffy stretched out to catch him. "No! CHOPPER!" she screamed, reaching out as if her own limbs would stretch. Vivi grabbed onto her, trying to keep her in the ship. They watched as Luffy's reach also fell short, and Chopper- still holding onto the torn flag- fell into the forest.

"Can't… hold…on…" Kia could hear Vivi pant, though most of her body was hanging over the side. They were nearing a lake or river of some kind, and she hoped Vivi could hold her until then. The next moment she was weightless, falling, and watching the Merry continue without her. Vivi and Kia screamed, hitting a huge leafy tree, and falling down it, breaking all of its branches on the fall. However, those branches helped to stop their momentum, and they fell to the ground covered in scratches, but with no broken bones.

"Ugh," Kia groaned. "Vivi? You okay?"

"Ow…" she replied. "I think so."

"I appreciate the help. That fall would have been much worse if I had fallen sooner." Kia stood up, and held out her hand to help Vivi up. She couldn't help but giggle as she saw the state of the blunette's hair. There were several clumps sticking out of her ponytail, and she had leaves and twigs embedded everywhere.

"If you're giggling at my hair, I can assure you, yours is just as bad."

"Oh." Kia stopped laughing, and felt her head, then shrugged. "I help you, you help me?" she offered.

"Deal."

The two spent some time getting themselves back to somewhat normal, then decided to head in the direction the Going Merry had fallen. They figured that everyone would be looking for them and for Chopper, and would be heading in their direction as well.

"The King's treasure?"

"I think so," Nami replied. "Those plumes of water were no accident. They form a circle all around the island, which is why it is called Crown Island."

"Nami, you're amazing!" Sanji crooned.

The remaining Straw Hat crew continued to pick up the wreckage around the ship from their impromptu landing, trying to decide what to do first.

"We need to find Vivi and Kia!" Sanji exclaimed. "My beauties, where have you gone? I'll rescue you!"

"Idiot cook," Zoro murmured.

"What was that!?"

"I said, don't forget about Chopper."

"You there, humans. Why are you here?"

The fight stopped as abruptly as it started, as everyone stared at the giant bird before them. It was sitting on top of a hippo, next to a goat.

"That bird can talk?!" Usopp gaped.

"Duh, it's a parrot," Zoro stated. "Parrots can talk."

"Not like that!"

"The human tongue is not a problem for me, though only I and one other can actually speak like this," the bird explained.

"This is the coolest island!" Luffy exclaimed, suddenly right in front of the bird. "Hey, so have you seen Vivi and Kia? Or Chopper?"

"Chopper?" the bird asked, looking confused.

Chopper hadn't spent much time around other animals, let alone humans. He didn't understand why a single human boy would be living among an island full of animals, or why falling from the ship onto a rock, making him cry out, would make him their king. Nothing was making sense.

"Mobambi, I can't be your king."

"Sure you can Chopper. You belong here with us, plus you fell from the heavens, so you are the king."

"Mobambi, that doesn't make sense. I need to find my crew, they are probably looking for me. At least, I hope they are, he thought.

"Crew?"

"Yeah, I'm the doctor of our pirate crew, our ship landed here on accident."

"A PIRATE?! No. That's not true. Pirates are evil, and wicked, and I hate them!"

"What? No, my friends are nice pirates-"

"There is no such thing! A pirate killed my father, and wrecked our ship. That's how I ended up here, stranded on this island, alone. The animals took me in, made me one of them."

Chopper wasn't sure what to say to Mobambi. He was obviously upset about the idea of pirates, but he didn't know Luffy and the others like Chopper did. But he didn't want to listen to Choppers explanations either.

"Did… you say you were a doctor?" Mobambi asked.

"Yes, I am."

"That's great! There are many who are hurt. Come, I'll show you."

Chopper followed, unwilling to not help those that needed it. Hopefully by the time the others found him, he could convince Mobambi that he was most definitely not their king.

"Kia, I've been meaning to ask…"

They had decided to stop and take a break, and had just sat down on the grass when Vivi spoke up. Kia waited, but she didn't continue.

"What is it Vivi?"

"I'm not sure how to say it, but I wondered… what it's like to have sisters? I've always wanted siblings."

Kia grinned, and stretched out on the grass. "Most of the time, it's great!" she said. "But it's kind of like being a part of a crew, or even just having friends. The people who are closest to you know all the good things about you, but all the bad things as well."

"Okay… but why would that make a difference?"

"Say you got really annoyed at someone, say, Usopp."

"Why, did he do something?"

"Well, it's hypothetical. But let's he did something, and now you want to get even."

"Hmm, I'd probably switch all of his experiment ingredients around, it would really bother him."

"Exactly!"

"I don't get it."

Kia laughed, as she was obviously not explaining her thoughts well enough. "Well, it's basically the same for siblings. We grew up together, so we know all of the little things that annoy each other. So if we ever have a fight, we can do a lot more damage than if we were fighting with someone we hardly knew."

"I see."

"But on the other hand, it was like having friends that knew me inside and out. Growing up together means we had a lot of the same experiences. Not everyone gets along with their siblings, but mine are my best friends." Having said that, her face fell as she thought about them.

"I'm sure you'll find them before you know it," Vivi said, putting her hand on Kia's arm.

"Thanks, I hope so."

Some of the strangest sounding music started, and they looked at each other, Vivi in curiosity and Kia in horror.

"Come on, let's find out what that is," Kia said, thinking of a reason why they should that wouldn't give away her thoughts. "Maybe whoever that is has seen the others."

Luffy collapsed onto a large flat rock, his stomach growling loudly. "I'm SO hungry!" he moaned.

"Yeah," Usopp agreed, falling onto another rock. "There's nothing but jungle and fields everywhere. We'll starve to death!"

Zoro and Nami sat quietly, taking a break from all their walking, and Sanji turned to the animals that had been trailing them.

"Why are you following us?" he asked.

"Silence human! We are watching your every move, you cannot be trusted."

"Calm down, it's not like we're going to eat you."

Luffy chose that moment to throw a hunger tantrum. "MEAT! Give me meat! I'm hungry!" he continued shouting, and the three animals look nervous. "Hey, it's a pile of PORK!" Luffy shouted, tantrum forgotten momentarily.

The odd looking pig, stopped nearby, making a trumpeting call, then taking off again at a run. "It's a messenger pig," the bird explained. "A new king has been crowned."

"A new king?" Luffy asked excitedly. "I want to meet him!"

Animals began flooding into the clearing, running past the group. The rocks where they were sitting began to move, proving they were not rocks at all, but square looking rhinoceroses, which jumped up and started running with the other animals, carrying the humans along with them.

After some time, they stopped in another large clearing, full of animals of every kind. Luffy excitedly began to run with them, but they were all scared of him.

"Hmm…" Usopp mused. "We'll have to look like animals if we want to play with them."

"For such a small bag, Usopp sure carries a lot of things." Zoro commented dryly.

Nami glared at him. "Why couldn't they be nicer things?"

"Hey, aren't you going to play with us?" Usopp asked. "I made these fantastic suits so we could!"

Nami glared again. The large peanut shaped brown suit, the huge awkward gloves, the huge fake ears… It was too much! She looked over at Sanji who had a sheet tied around his neck giving him an apron, bandages wrapped around his shoes, and a pot on his head painted as a panda face. She then looked at Zoro, who had a giant, suit- for lack of a better word- with a hole in the middle for his head. It had large eyes painted on the front on either side of his face, and yellow webbed feet painted at the bottom. His hands were in triangle shaped gloves, she supposed to mimic flippers, and there was a large "P" painted on the belly- obviously to signify penguin, instead of duck.

They were the saddest looking penguin, monkey and panda ever. But compared to the guys costume, she supposed her's wasn't so bad. Usopp had given himself a large furry mane, and paws with his onesie fur suit. Luffy's however, was the simplest. Dried leaves wrapped into a skirt, and shirt, sticks wrapped in a bandage and tied to his head on top of his hat, to resemble antlers. She had no idea what he was supposed to be, but at least he was having fun. She was ready to get going, and find her friends. They needed to get to Alabasta after all, and finding the treasure on this island was already going to take some time!

Suddenly the animals all started panicking and running in every direction as a stampede of animals headed their way.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked the talkative bird.

"Horn eaters!"

"Huh?"

"They attack all animals with horns, and have killed all our elders." The bird flew off, and Luffy took a fighting position.

"Let's get started!" he called.

"No," Usopp called as he ran up and grabbed Luffy. "Let's run!" The crew scattered as the horn eaters came upon them, turning and following Usopp and Luffy. "AAH! Why are they following me?" Usopp screeched.

The talking bird flew above him. "They attack any with horns!" he called.

Usopp looked confused. "Horns?" he asked, looking up at Luffy. Understanding dawned, and he set Luffy down and continued running away.

"Huh?" Luffy said, then looked back at he animals almost on top of him. He stood and pulled the sticks from the tie on his hat, and threw them away, just in front of himself. And then was run over as the animals ran past.

"Moron! Don't throw them in front of you!" Nami called from the treeline.