A whole week passed and Michelle worked long and hard as the navigator. She had shifts with another girl, Anna. The two of them would hang out sometimes along with Becky, who had become the chef of the ship. The three of them got along very well.

"Tomorrow we'll get to sleep in late. The school crews do at least." Anna was sitting in the dining hall with Becky and Michelle. The three of them were enjoying a freshly cooked dinner compliments of Becky (it turns out she's an awesome chef).

"Well that's good. I'm soooo tired! I haven't been getting enough beauty sleep. How long?" Becky had always slept until around 7:30 because school started at 8:30. For the past week everybody had been getting up at 6:00.

"Until 9:00. How long do you plan to sleep in?" Anna looked from Becky to Michelle.

"The whole time, duh! What about you Michelle? Are you going to be our early bird as usual?" Becky looked at Michelle who had just stood up.

"I'm getting up around 6:30 tomorrow to do some sketches of the morning sea. Maybe tomorrow something great will happen; something not so boring." She turned and waved at them as she walked away. "But right now I have to be on deck. See ya tomorrow mornin'." She disappeared through the door and headed for the deck. She had watch duty tonight.

"Well aren't you the early bird?" The captain had walked up to Michelle who was about to go up to the crow's nest with a blanket, her jacket, and a sketch book in hand with a pencil.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" She turned and looked at the man.

"I guess it's true if everyone calls you that. I'm just here to inform ya that you'll be able to come down around midnight to have some shut eye." He gave her another one of those big smiles and then turned around when someone called for him. "Well best be going then. Good luck!" He walked away leaving Michelle to turn and climb up to the nest so she could get settled.

The night was cold and she was glad that she had a lot of cover. At midnight she looked at her watch and heard someone climbing up. "Well guess my shift is over."

"Hiya! I'm Tom. I'm here to take the next shift." He climbed in as she was gathering all of her stuff.

"Just so ya know, it might get colder so you might need this." She handed him the blanket and gave him a small wave when she began her decent down the mast.

She was so happy to just jump right onto her bed and once she did she fell right asleep. (Boy that was fast!) Then she fell into her dream; once again seeing and hearing this man who she could not remember.

Dream

The fire began to close in and she held tighter to the figure in her arms. "Don't leave me!"

The man held her tight as well. When he began to let go she begged him not to. "Don't worry. I will save us chica." He scooped her up and with one bound leapt over the flames. When they were in the clearing he put her down and turned.

"Where are you going? You said you wouldn't go!" When he turned back to her he looked down at her so calmly.

"You know I can't stay here for long. Merely because I am a pirate chica. Also I doubt your family would appreciate me taking you away so soon." He bent down at eye level with her and looked her in the eye. "You must promise me that your heart won't be stolen by any other boy while I'm gone."

"What are you talking about? You should know very well that I will always wait for you-"

End Dream

Michelle woke up to a loud bell sounding out through the ship. "PIRATES!! PIRATES!!" Someone was screaming from the deck and trying to wake everybody up. Becky rushed in with her suitcase in hand.

"You need to pack everything now! Pirates are invading the ship and we need to leave immediately." She began to throw Michelle's stuff into her suitcase so fast she was done before Michelle was out of bed and into her long black sweater.

"What are you talking about? We can't leave." There were footsteps coming towards her room. Anna rushed in with her own belongings.

"Hide! They're coming this way!" Michelle and Becky couldn't even take two steps before the door swung open and two men came into the room. Nothing was said. But the three of them were hauled off to the deck along with their bags.

The man on deck was standing over the girls' captain. Around him were even more bodies. Becky shrieked and was hit in the face by a rather large man. The man looked over and smiled. He had dust brown hair that was matted. His clothes were ragged. But on his back he bore the sign of a pirate. His eyes held want within them and it scared the three girls to death.

"These girls will be great pleasure to have around! Maybe we can actually have some fun tonight men!" This man's crew yelled in excitement but was interrupted by a man making an announcement.

"Sir he's caught up to us already! What'll we do?"

"I guess grab the wenches and run!" The pirate captain came over and began to pick Michelle up by the waist, but was stopped by a more cheery voice.

"Well, well, well! Look at this boys! It seems these men are trying to steal these beautiful young ladies away from their ship. How should we punish them?" The men behind him smiled and leaped forward to begin the fight.

The man in front of Michelle grabbed her and began to run. "Michelle!" Becky and Anna screamed out her name but she was too stunned to speak. A red haired man ran up to them and kicked down the men holding them.

"You two all right?" He seemed to be the captain of the newly arrived crew. "I'm Captain Shanks at your service." He bowed sarcastically to them.

"You have to save our friend! She was taken by that guy and carried off that way. I'm Becky and Michelle has been my friend since we were little. You have to save her!" Becky and Anna began to cry. Shanks looked behind them to see the man retreating. The girls looked up at him to see him smiling. "What are you smiling about?"

When the two of them looked back they saw a man jump out of nowhere with a sword and strike down the retreating man. Michelle flew up into the air and was caught by this man and he held her bridal style. "Hm? It's you is not chica?"

She looked up at him and stared him in the face. "I don't know who you are but I owe you one big time." He put her down and saw two other girls run over and hug her to death.

"Good job Mihawk! Glad to see you were still in a bad mood. Now then who might you be?" A red haired man turned to Michelle and stare her in the face. But all she did was turn away from him.

"Thank you both. But I would appreciate being brought back to my home please." Michelle sounded angry for some reason. "I'm going back to my room to think." With that she left them to stare at her back and watch her disappear into the cabin.

Everyone was a bit silent for a moment. It was Becky who broke the silence. "I'm sorry for her behavior. How about we go down to the dining hall so I can make you something to eat? I'll tell you the story there."

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In the dining hall everyone seemed to enjoy the food Becky made and showed that by eating a lot of it and the leftovers from the other night.

Becky, Anna, Shanks, and Mihawk sat in the captain's quarters as Becky told the story of why Michelle had acted the way she did towards the men who saved her. "You see, 4 years ago when Michelle was 15 her parents died. It was one of those regular days and the two of us were in the valley telling stories. She would always tell of this pirate who had saved her once before. She had promised him she'd wait for him until he came back for her. She had fallen for that pirate and now I don't know her feelings for him anymore. But that day pirates raided her village. By the time she had gotten back to her house, the pirates were smashing down the doors. She was captured as well as her parents and her little brother. She and her mother were dragged off to different rooms and those pirates…..those assholes raped them. Michelle's innocence was taken from her and to make everything worse her mother was killed because she tried to protect Michelle. Her dad and brother were killed in a fire that completely destroyed the house. She was still inside but escaped. My family found her sitting in the middle of the ashes. She kept saying something like, 'Why weren't you here to protect me this time? Why?' Since then she's hated pirates. But like I said I don't now her current feelings for that one pirate. That's all there is to the story."

Anna and Shanks looked at each other. When everyone looked back at Mihawk they saw him looking out the window staring at something. When everyone else looked out they saw you picking up the bodies and laying them all in a line so they wouldn't get trampled on. She was also crying. "Why is it whenever she sees this sort of thing she cries?" Everyone looked at Mihawk. "What?"

Anna and Shanks looked at each other and smiled. "You're that pirate aren't you?" Anna looked at him with a big evil little smile. "Well?"

"Yes. I was the one she met 6 years ago and I guess she doesn't really care for me anymore." Mihawk looked mournfully back down at the girl on the deck trying to line up dead bodies. He stood and walked out, Shanks and the other two followed. They all came down to the deck and when Michelle saw them she merely gave them one glance and went back to work.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks when she bent down over a man's body. She picked something up and examined it. She stood and they noticed her make a fist at her side. She stalked over to Becky and handed her the piece of paper in her hand.

Becky's eyes grew and she looked up at Michelle. "Is this that man who….?" She didn't finish her sentence but looked at Michelle with concern. "Don't get any ideas Michelle. You know that because of your strength you can't beat him."

Michelle turned to the two pirates in front of her. "I know Becky told you my story and I will not deny that I despise pirates. I would never ask a favor of one in a million years but now I'm making an exception. Would you please train me so I can defeat the man who destroyed my life?"