Oohh look at me. Another chapter in just a few days. I must be sick. Or maybe it was the shortness of the chapter. Maybe I should make chapters shorter for faster updates. Hmmm. Sounds like a plan.

Disclaimer: One Piece isn' t mine. Nor is Howl's Moving Castle.

Lalalalalala. I am in need of sleep! Ughh.


Letha Smith woke up to a slight prodding of her shoulders. She slowly opened her eyes to see a worried-looking blubbery woman kneeling over her, shaking her slightly by the shoulders.

"Madam? Madam are you all right?" The woman said to her, speaking loudly enough for Letha to have to wince.

She could barely remember the events that had led up to her waking up on the floor of her aunt's restaurant. Half planted daffodils. The customers fleeing. The Bonney Pirates. The clam chowder- oh Roger, not the clam chowder. The incredibly pissed pink-haired supernova. And now, the cold wooden floor of her aunt's restaurant. Speaking of which…

"Madam? Madam, can you hear me?" Her aunt was currently on the verge of panicking. When she had woken up the pirates had long since disappeared (without paying), her restaurant was silent and empty, and mother of Sea Kings her beautiful wall was stained with wine. She had to fight hard to resist the faint feeling that threatened to take her over again. And Letha- the young woman was gone. Auntie Wisteria was overcome with worry for her niece. Where is she? It wasn't like her to leave without telling her anything. Had the pirates taken her? Or worse, killed her and stuffed her body in the dumpster out back? Her sister would kill her if Letha was harmed. She'd stuff her mouth with so many different kinds of poisons herself. Wisteria could already imagine the look on Magnolia's face as she murdered her own sister. It would be terrifying.

Several scenarios flitted through her overactive imagination of a mind. She desperately wanted to find her niece and make sure she was fine, but just as she was about to race off to check the dumpster and quell her fears of that scenario, she had spotted an old woman laying on the floor. Her heart stopped. The old woman was faced down on the ground, no sign of moving or breathing at all. Auntie Wisteria stood stone-still, afraid the woman was dead, until she saw the telltale signs of breathing. Her own panic had made her miss the rising and falling of the woman's back. Relieved, she had then tried to wake the woman up and make sure she was okay, and hopefully ask if she had seen her niece and knew what happened to her.

Letha was fully awake now. She was sitting in a chair her aunt had helped her into. She was also very aware of what had happened to her and what the situation was. Her aunt had been calling her "Madam" for a while now. She knew that Aunt Wisteria couldn't even recognize her then. Tears began to flow down her cheeks and drip onto her hands. Her wrinkled, gnarled hands. More tears fell. Beside her, Auntie Wisteria was stupefied by the old woman's tears. She had no idea what to do and began to fluster about with tissues.

Letha grabbed one and blew her nose into the material. She was full out sobbing now, crying into her hands, and when her gray hair fell around her she burst into more tears. The flabbergasted aunt had no idea what was going on anymore and she was literally inches away from fainting once again. However the sight of this old woman crying was too much for Auntie Wisteria, and it reminded her of how her Letha had cried when she found out about her arranged marriage. Wisteria sobered down now and patted the crying woman on her back. Then she burst into tears also and hugged the woman while bawling out her tears. The whole scene too much for her what with the pirates and the stained walls, Letha missing, and her eventual death by poison courtesy of her own sister.

Moments and several passing of tissues later, the women were seated in chairs around a table and downing glasses of strong alcohol. Because that was how women dealt with a situation like theirs in that day and age.

Auntie Wisteria was quite wasted. She drank several glasses of vodka, and had just slammed her fifth glass down. She hiccupped and slurred her words "My wallessh ssho purrddyy, -hic- then BOOM! Wine-sshtain. –hic– Wuunderful."

Beside her, Letha was only finishing her second small glass. She was never one for alcohol in times of despair, but this situation was different. Besides, she was a grown woman, unfortunately too grown, and she needed a moment of unclarity to make herself feel better. She was being wise though, as the old woman she was now, and only drank as much as she could without risk of getting drunk.

"My Lllethaa –hic– don't know wheresh sshe goo! Poor –hic– Llethas. Lettie, Lettie, Lettie. Hope pirreshs didn't getter. Have to –hic– find sherr."

Letha turned to watch her aunt down her sixth glass and decided that was enough for the poor woman. She took the bottle of vodka away from her aunt's prying fingers.

"Auntie Wisteria, I'm right here. You don't have to find me." Her voice had a slightly lower pitch than usual, and Letha clasped her throat in surprise. She sounded different, old, and like a stranger. Aging had made the vocal cords in her larynx more weaker. She had heard that voices sound like they age when people grow old. It didn't stay the same. Something called presbyphonia. It was very unsettling. Letha didn't want to see what else had changed.

Auntie Wisteria slid to rest her chin on the table. "Lethaa? Shuu aren't Lettie. –hic– Who are shuu?"

"A pirate turned-" Letha's mouth shut firmly. She closed her eyes.

"And Letha, you can't even say a word about it."

She cursed, something that she rarely did. "Big Eat- Jewel- Bo-" Her mouth shut and opened. She couldn't even say the name of the damn witch. Her stomach churned and began hurting. "She made me-" Her mouth shut firmly again, the pain intensified and she clutched her stomach.

Letha slammed a fist on the table, startling her aunt, who then lay her head back down to rest her eyes. She couldn't say a thing! There was no way she could tell her aunt what happened to her. Any attempts to write the secret out would result in the same way. Her hand would freeze and she would automatically crumple the paper into a ball. The message was clear. There was no way she could communicate what that witch did to her. The intent of her order made it that way. The worst thing was the pirate didn't even realize what she had done. She had ordered Letha into silence.

She slammed her fist again, this time waking her aunt from her little nap. She just had to open her mouth and give the pirate her name. Bologna. This was utter bologna. And she was old! Who was going to marry an old woman? Peter Willis? As if.

Aunt Wisteria gazed at the angry old woman in a daze. She looked awfully familiar, and yet she was sure the woman was a stranger. Her head hurt a lot. She had too much to drink, and was definitely feeling "cone sold stober*," in other words: incredibly drunk. She watched the old woman quickly write something and leaving it beside her. She watched her get up and say something that sounded like a "I'll come see you tomorrow." However the old woman stopped just at the door of the restaurant, then came back and shook her aunt into focus.

"Auntie, I need you to do something for me."

"Huuhh? Whuh-"

"Can you repeat after me?"

Auntie Wisteria smiled. So they were playing a game then. She liked Simon Says.

"Shurree."

"Say, 'Letha, I don't need you to waitress anymore.'"

The aunt giggled profusely. "Shuu didn't shay Simon Shays! I wiinnn."

The old lady huffed. "Simon Says, say 'Letha, I don't need you to waitress anymore!'"

Auntie Wisteria tsked. "Lleethaa, I don't need shu to waitress anymores." She broke into giggles again. "Theree, my turnn!"

But Letha had already gone before her aunt could say anything that might be an order.

xxxxxxxxxx

It was dark. Night had already fallen. The lamp posts in town had been lighted and everyone was making their way home to burning fireplaces.

How long had she been passed out? Letha wondered as she walked through town in a relatively slow fashion. Being old had made her less energetic, not that she was before, but her body was more prone to being slow. Strangely that didn't bother her. In fact, it seemed as though she was a fairly healthy old lady. Her bones only ached in some places and in fact it was easier to take than the pain in her stomach when she tried to disobey an order. Letha nodded to herself. It was going to be okay. She'd be able to fix things, surely. She just had to be positive.

Positive. Optimistic. Happy.

She decided she'd finish planting the daffodils when she got back home. She'd simply turn the lights out back on and she could continue working in the garden. She continued walking down the cobblestone streets, passing by a crowd of people.

"Captain! We couldn't find her there either."

"She might not even be in town anymore."

Letha slowly passed by two men headed in the opposite direction of her.

"Should we head back to the store to see if she made it back there?"

Letha stopped to stretch out her back. Cracking her back made her spine tingle in a good way. She sighed in a satisfied way.

"No. We'll retire for today and come back in the morning." A low, cool voice said.

Letha froze. It brought shivers down her spine. She rubbed her arms, thinking the breeze must have made her cold. She turned around briefly, wondering who the group of people were looking for. She could barely make out the group. She squinted. There was a furry outline of a large bear looking person. In fact, if she squinted harder it would really be a bear. However she shook her head. She must have been really tired then. Perhaps she would skip the daffodil planting and just go straight to sleep. Letha shrugged and continued on her way back home.

Whoever they were looking for, it wasn't her problem.


Woooo! Letha such a calm person. Or maybe she's in shock. Whatever. I can't wait to see what happens when she meets Law.

Anyone got anything they want to see happen in the story? Besides the obvious, Law's pure sexy awesomeness and Bepo's tragic self-confidence issues? No, I'm not fangirling. Yet. Teehee!

REVIEW please, it'd make the story so much more easier to navigate. And I do like encouragement, or maybe scolding. :D

Wisteria: Welcome, endurance in the face of heartache, humility, reflection, etc. Wisteria's have a long list of symbolism.

Magnolia:Nobility, Perseverance

*"cone sold stober" - Something that Howl says to Sophie in the book, proclaiming he was not drunk and was indeed very "stober."

Lettie is the name of Sophie's sister. I actually had no intention of making this link in my story, it was a coinkydink! Wouldn't Lettie be a good nickname for Letha? Loll.