Pure blue water washed gently upon the soft white sand. Palm trees grew tall from the grass a few meters back. The sky was empty of clouds, so, altogether, it was a truly beautiful day on the island.

The female members of the crew sat relaxing in lengthy chairs, scantily clad in little tiny bikinis, the back straps undone so as not to have lines when done tanning. The men were all out in the water, splashing around at each other and laughing very loudly.

"Be careful, Luffy! If you fall out of that boat, I'm not saving you!"

Said boy only grinned wider and continued the jump around in the wooden dingy. Chopper soon joined in, and before long, as predicted, the boat tipped and all three males fell into the water, sinking almost immediately to the bottom. One green-haired man grimaced and swam down to rescue his helpless captain and crewmates.

Once back on the boat, Luffy was given a smack on the head by Sanji, who told him, "I told you that you would fall in, didn't I!" But Luffy still only smiled and went back to playing around with the others.

"Please do refrain from tipping us over again, Captain," said Brook, who was still draining the water from his bones. Luffy laughed, and continued to play.

Everyone had settled in for the night. The crew had been grateful for the rest, and had eagerly bounded into the quarters. After getting comfortable, they had Brook turn off the light. He did as told and headed up to the watch-spot in the crow's nest, for it was his turn tonight.

It was a very quiet night. The night was cloudless, each star twinkling brightly. The cool nocturnal wind rustled the grass on the main deck, making a slight shuffling noise. The moonlight shone brilliantly down from the sky.

All of the sudden, a scream pierced through the silence of the dark. Brook jumped, having fallen asleep on his feet. He looked around, but saw no other ships in the water surrounding them. He looked up, and saw a speck of something falling. As it got closer, Brook himself started to scream. It was heading for him like an arrow toward a target.

As it crashed down into the crow's nest, the force made it propel through the wood and onto the deck. It uprooted some of the grass as it rolled, and came to a stop at the railing. Brook lost his balance and fell face-first into the ground below him. He pushed himself up and looked toward the object behind a huge cloud of dirt.

The rest of the crew poured out onto the deck to inspect what had happened. Nami came through the door first and was closely followed by Franky, Usopp, Robin, and Sanji. Chopper rushed out from his office to see the event. Luffy groggily stepped into the night rubbing his eyes, grumpy that he had been woken up. Zoro, however, still slept soundly in the quarters.

The dust keeping the projectile from view finally settled back onto the ground. A young lady was revealed, unconscious. Her waist-length black hair fanned out underneath her. The leather brown jacket on her arms was halfway unzipped, revealing the skin of her bountiful breasts. A black and red pinstripe mini-skirt swirled gracefully around her hips, and a sword hung off her black belt. White flip-flops were slipping slightly off her dainty feet.

A small pouch was strapped to her thigh. It was light blue with a brown button holding down the flap. A piece of paper was protruding from the sack and Luffy, who had sat down in front of her, snatched it out. He unfurled it and read it silently before passing it to the rest of the crew.

To a Mr. Monkey D. Luffy:

This is Kuresu. She is a wanted woman of unknown origins, but I trust that you can overlook that and become her friend. I request this one favor of you, for I trust you ultimately, even though we have never met directly face to face. She is worth 487 million, and therefore hunted down almost ruthlessly. Please look after her and accept her.

D

"Who is this 'D' man?" Usopp asked. "It sounds pretty suspicious to me. I wouldn't do it, Luffy."

Luffy continued to stare at Kuresu, until something a few hundred feet away from the ship caught his attention. It was more of a bright dot than anything else. He glanced at it, and stretched his arm out to grab it and pull it back in.

It turned out to be a knitted hat, one of the long pointed ones that most people would have worn to sleep. It was striped, made up of almost every color of the rainbow, with a tuft of yarn topping it off. The ball was black.

"P-p-please, g-give that t-to me . . ." Kuresu muttered, waking up only momentarily. "I-it's my t-treasure . . ."

Luffy alternated looks between the hat and the girl. Sighing, he gently set it on her chest and got up. "Chopper, check up on her. Sanji, make sure there's food ready for when she wakes up. Brook, make sure you don't fall asleep on the job again," he said, laughing lightly at the end. Everyone went off to the places where they either were ordered to go or went back to sleep.

Chopper morphed into his human form and picked up the girl's fragile-looking body. He carried her silently to the medical room, taking care not to let the hat fall from her sleeping figure. Luffy went back to the quarters and fell back asleep almost immediately.

A thin ray of light filtered through the porthole. It prodded gently at the girl's closed eyelids, warming her face to an almost unbearably annoying heat. She reluctantly opened her eyes, but shut them instantly in reaction to the bright light shining on her face. She eventually shifted her position so her eyes could see, and reached over to shut the curtain, when all of a sudden, it was shut by someone else.

She looked over at the person, but had to look down, too. It appeared to be a little reindeer, but it was standing on two legs, and was wearing red pants and a pink hat. It walked away and came back with a small cup filled with a water-like liquid. Handing it to her, it said, "Drink this. It'll make you feel better."

She nodded gratefully and took the glass from its hooves. She drank deeply, finishing off the entire cup in about five seconds. It was only then that she realized that the reindeer had spoken to her.

Her grip on the cup tightened until the glass shattered in her palm. The creature jumped. Slowly, ever so slowly, she looked over at the little talking animal. "A t-t-talking r-r-reindeer?" She took multiple deep breaths to calm herself down so she wouldn't scream and wake up the rest of the people on the ship.

"Yeah! My name is Tony Tony Chopper, but you can just call me Chopper. I'm this ship's doctor. And by the way, that was some fall you suffered from last night," it said.

She thought for a moment. She remembered landing rather harshly on the ship the night before, but almost nothing after that. As she was thinking, she unconsciously reached up to grab her hat and play with the black veil. But upon touching nothing but hair, she panicked immediately. Her hat was her treasure, but it would be like going through hell if she lost it.

". . . hat?"

"Excuse me?" Chopper asked.

"Where is my hat?" Kuresu repeated. Chopper pointed over to small table beside the cot. Her hat sat there silently, as if obediently waiting to be placed on a head. Kuresu sighed, relieved, and put it on. It relaxed her nerves instantly, and she felt comfortable for the first time since she woke up.

A knock sounded through the room. The door opened tentatively, and a man peaked his head through the crack. His short blonde hair covered his left eye, but the right eye was completely visible. His thin eyebrow curled drastically above the small blue pupil.

"Ah! I see you are awake now, Kuresu dear. One moment, I must speak with Luffy before he explodes." He pulled back out and shouted down the hallway, "LUFFY! SHE'S AWAKE! YOU CAN STOP BEING QUIET!"

This time he came in fully. He had a blue and black vertically striped shirt on, with black pants and a white apron. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He was also carrying a tray with a hefty amount of food on it. He set it down on the bedside table and spoke again.

"I do hope you find this to your liking, Kuresu dear. I put extra on it in case the captain caught a whiff of it and tried to steal some. Anyway, I'm Sanji, the ship's chef. If you are ever in need of a delicious meal, please, do not hesitate to call my name." He bowed after finishing and left the room.

Kuresu sat there for a moment, staring at the tray. Almost apprehensive. "Eat it. You'll need all the strength you can get if you want to be aboard this ship. Trust me," Chopper explained.

Finally getting the nerve up to eat the food in front of her, she grabbed the fork and took a bite. "It's delicious!" she declared. She turned around so her legs swung off the edge of the bed and she was facing the meal. She devoured it entirely in a few minutes, as if she had been starved for weeks.

Chopper stood in awe as the rather generous portion of food vanished before his eyes. She eats similarly to Luffy, he thought. As the empty tray clattered to a rest on the table, he jumped out of reverie of admiration. He braved a question. "Are you still hungry?"

She shook her head rapidly as a 'no.'

Chopper sighed in relief. If another person that ate like Luffy were to board the ship, it would truly be out of money in the next few months, if that. He was so busy thinking that he didn't notice her inquiries about where the bathroom might be. So, since he would not answer and she really had to go, she got up and left the room to search of the toilet.

The hallway was long and dark, and she could hear the echoes of laughing which was probably coming from the deck. There was also a slight tapping sound, which was guaranteed to be someone fixing the crow's nest she had crashed into.

She walked slowly yet steadily along the wooden floor, her feet padding silently. The next door she reached, she knocked lightly and after receiving no answer, opened it. Inside, it turned out to be a storage room. There was another door on the other side, no doubt leading into the freezer.

She shut the door quietly and ventured further down the corridor. Another door appeared and she read the words 'NAMI'S ROOM' printed in the middle. She didn't dare to even knock on that door.

Eventually she reached the door that led out onto the deck. She wanted so bad to open it and ask for directions, but felt she didn't want to disturb the rest of the crew yet. So she kept walking, knocking and checking in each room. She found the bathroom a few doors down from the deck.

Once emerging she felt entirely more comfortable. As she was walking back to the sick ward, she found the little reindeer searching for her. She came up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked delighted to have finally found her. She was led back to the room where she had woken up.

When she got there, she noticed her thigh pouch sitting next to the door. Kuresu grabbed it before she sat down. She pulled out one of her weapons, a shuriken. The blade glistened in the light streaming through the window. It shined threateningly. She twirled it in her fingers, and accidentally cut herself on the dangerously deadly edge. She hissed in pain, and asked Chopper for a bandage. He asked why, and she replied with, "I accidentally cut myself."

"With what?" he inquired, turning around. Kuresu had bled a fair bit, and her hand was almost wearing a shiny red glove. He gasped, telling her to apply pressure to the wound. She did as told, but the cut continued to bleed until he finally wrapped a bandage around it.

A knock silenced the worried room-dwellers. A girl poked her head in this time, her orange hair swaying slightly. She came in, revealing the rest of her form. She had on a blue and white striped shirt, which dipped down low into her chest. Her orange miniskirt had small circles on each side. She smiled sweetly, squinting her amber eyes.

"Well hello! I'm Nami, the ship's navigator. I'm here to show you around, since everyone who isn't busy would show you all the wrong places or get themselves lost. So, get up and let's get going."

She looks nice enough, Kuresu thought. She did as told and followed Nami out of the room. She took the entire tour, and was told that she would be sharing a room with Robin, one of the other crewmates. It was only when she suggested going out onto the deck that she began to feel awkward.

"What's wrong, Kuresu?"

"It's just that you guys are taking such good care of me, even though I'm worth so much. You don't even know who I am. And to top it off, you're pirates. Why?"

"We have our reasons." She smiled and opened the door to the deck. But to Kuresu, it was as if she was opening the door to a new life.