A/N Heylo everyone and here is another chapter of The Artist and the Shipwright. Aaaaaaand.....it's basically a filler chapter D: I'm sorry, I hope it being longer than the other chapters makes up for it. ._.

Anyways....what to add here? *thinks* Oh, I realized that there's not been a lot of Pauly in the Pauly fanfic. Don't worry, I'll make it up in the next chapter :3 I promise there will be awesomeness in store. And speaking of the next chapter...It might be a little before it gets posted. Not too long, maybe a week or so, but I have to finish writing it. I'm about halfway done and need to revise it and type it and such. So it might take a bit longer than usual. And I think you'll all hate me for it too... (Just wait....you'll know what I mean)

A little fun fact, I never intended for Iceburg to be as big of a character as he is in the story, but he was just so fun to write I had to put him in more XD Oh wells, he's way cool :D But I digress so, here we go.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, because if I did, chapters would be longer than 19 pages

Eyes closed, lying down in a boat on a yagara, hands trailing in the water, I was the model of relaxation. And all it took was some berries to rent a yagara bull for a while.

It is also the only thing that makes me look like I'm fine when in reality I'm not. Yeah, now that doesn't make me sound like an angsty teenager at all. What a pansy, having some terrible dreams about when I was little and now I'm uselessly depressed.

I should definitely get over it. Definitely.

"This is so frustrating," I groaned, pressing the heels of my palms against my forehead.

I'll just treat myself to something yummy, like yogurt. I dipped my hands back in the cool water, thinking of my favorite food. Then I'll draw Tyrannosaurus, or Iceburg, or both of them, whatever.

Or Pauly. He'd be quite...interesting to draw. I'd have to find a way to irk him while doing it though. A well placed pool with female swimmers would be most convenient.

I snorted at the thought and felt my mood increase a little. I could just imagine his face: eyes wide open (or tightly closed, it depends) and red faced. That would be lovely to draw. I grinned. Totally need to trick Pauly into going to a pool in the middle of the day sometime.

"Tallie?" I sat up and looked towards where the sound came from. Speak of the devil.

"Hey Pauly," I smiled, telling my yagara to go to the walk where he was standing. "Why aren't you at the dock?"

"Uh, long story," he said as I carefully climbed out of the boat, sending the yagara bull back.

"That horrible huh? What'd you do, walk into a room full of lingerie models?"

"I was being chased by creditors," he scowled, cleverly avoiding my comment. I just started laughing. "What?"

"Creditors? Chasing you?" I said between giggles. "That's so...unexpected."

"How so?"

"Have you ever heard how people gossip about the Dock 1 foremen? They talk like you guys are gods or something."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "So you laugh because creditors are unexpectedly after a Dock 1 foreman?"

"No, I laugh because it's nice to know that people are wrong."

"Was that a compliment or should I be offended?" he said, slightly tilting his head.

I grinned, "Neither."

"Then what's the point?"

"There is none, that's the point."

"The point is that there's no point?"

"Exactly, you see my point."

Pauly just shook his head, "You are one bizarre girl."

"I am deeply offended by that," I said, taking a step back and raising my hands.

Well, I would've stepped back if there wasn't a giant canal directly behind me.

Almost right before I would've splashed down into the water to my untimely demise, Pauly grabbed my arms (I reflexively groped forward as I fell) and pulled me back up.

I was currently holding on to his forearms for dear life.

"O-oi, you okay?" Pauly asked, since it probably looked like I was having a panic attack with a death grip on his arms.

"Yeah," I exhaled, "just give me a sec, I almost died."

He looked at me oddly, "You almost died...by falling into a canal?"

"Sort of can't swim," I muttered, and, realizing I was still awkwardly holding onto Pauly, let go of him.

"You hang around the docks all the time and you don't know how to swim?" he asked as we began to proceed down the sidewalk.

"It's not that I don't know how to swim," I said, shoving my hands into the pockets of my capris. "I can swim decently enough I s'pose. It's just that, I don't know, I freak out and can't do anything if I fall in or something. It's 'cause I fell into a river when I was nine and almost died. Now, when it comes to water, the slightest thing can cause me to panic. Drowning is scary."

Pauly nodded, "Must be terrible though, not being able to swim."

"I swim sometimes," I replied. "You know the company pool? When it's really hot outside I go there since not a lot of people are in the pool to freak me out. Oh!" I interrupted myself as I dashed into a nearby shop, Pauly slowly following me.

"Hey, gramps!" I yelled into the small art shop, looking at the walls filled with paint, charcoal, pastels, watercolor sets, and everything else you could possibly think of to make a picture with.

"Who're ya callin' gramps, brat?" a man walked out, clothes spattered with paint.

"You, old man," I retorted, smirking.

"I'm not that old," he grumbled. "Barely just turned thirty-five."

"That's why I call you gramps, 'cause you're old."

He just shook a finger at me "Iceburg is thirty-seven already, an' ya don't call him old."

I stuck out my tongue, "Because he doesn't call me brat and shake his finger at me like an old person would. Besides," I shrugged, "Iceburg-san's too cool to be old anyway."

"Brat," the man muttered, then looked to me. "Is that what ya brought yer boyfriend here for? So he can listen to ya rant like a lunatic?"

"He's not my boyfriend," I hissed at him, before Pauly had time to correct the man himself. But, since the comment wasn't directed at him, he didn't turn the light shade of pink I had. "I kidnapped him, there's a difference."

"What?" Pauly asked, getting into the conversation. "When was I kidnapped?"

"Don't think ya could kidnap a Dock 1 foreman either kid," the man said while I scowled. "Yer good, but yer not that good."

"Wait, how'd you know he was a Dock 1 foreman?"

He just ruffled my hair, handing me a new sketchpad. "Yer probably the only person in the whole city that don't know who they are. Ya live in the moment, an' they weren't in yer moments 'til now."

"You even talk like an old person," I grumbled, but realized he was right in a way. It explained why I always got lost and didn't know who Pauly or Kaku were when I was at Dock 1.

"What'd ya say?!"

"I said you even talk like an old person, geez." I laughed as I snitched a pencil off the counter and began to walk out the door. "I owe you two drawings next time I come back." The shopkeeper just grumbled and returned to his store.

"What was that about?" Pauly asked as he blew smoke into the air from his cigar.

"I met the old guy when I was little," I replied as we neared Dock 1. "Long story short, I draw him pictures to put around his shop and he gives me sketchbooks and pencils."

"Crap," Pauly said suddenly as two figures approached us. Well, more like approached him. Didn't seem like they cared too much about me.

"Pauly!" one of them shouted and they started to run.

"Oh shit," he cursed, turning the other direction. "I'll see you later Tallie." And with that, he sprinted off, his creditors in hot pursuit.

"Get back here Pauly!" one shouted.

"Just give me a few more days!" Pauly roared back. I smirked and walked to the dock, saying hi to Kaku as I passed him.

"Iceburg-san around here anywhere?" I asked.

"Yes, over by the new ship that was finished yesterday. He's talking with Lucci I believe." I thanked him and he smiled in return. At least, he smiled from what I could tell; his hat and collar made it a bit difficult to see his face.

As I neared the ship I had spent the last few weeks drawing (so the pictures could be put up on an empty wall at Galley-La HQ. It all started when I was bored and wanted to know what Iceburg thought would be cool there), I saw Iceburg talking to a man with black curly hair and a pigeon on his shoulder, while Kalifa stood nearby.

I was going to take a (not so) wild guess and say the black haired man was Lucci. I'd be eaten alive by fangirls if they knew I had no clue who these people were. And by fangirls I mean if a "Dock 1 Foremen Fanclub" came into existence there would be quite a few people that would join.

Anyway, I waited patiently for them to finish their conversation since I knew next to nothing about ships and would be a useless lump while they talked if I tried to participate. All I understood was that the keel was super important, and I only found that out because, as I drew the boat, that's where the shipwrights started everything. I still haven't the faintest idea what the correct names of the sides of a ship are. Front has the masthead and the back doesn't. That's all I need to know.

After a few moments they were done and I walked over to Iceburg. "Hello," I said to everyone (though I sort of shied away from Kalifa, she intimidated me a little).

"Prupuu!" the pigeon cooed. "Hello, how are you?"

"Omigosh, it talked! That's so rad!" I exclaimed, then said to the bird, "Well, I'm good I guess. What's your name?"

"I am Hatori," the bird twittered as he bowed. Then, gesturing to the man with the top hat whose shoulder he was perched upon, "This is Rob Lucci."

"Hello Lucci," I said with laughter in my voice and he nodded. This guy was so cool. I mean, a ventriloquist with a bird? Very awesome in my opinion.

"Nmaa, did you need something?" Iceburg asked pleasantly while Kalifa was writing on her clipboard. Lucci and Hattori had left, most likely going to work on another ship.

"Oh, yeah, the pictures. You wanted me to frame them?"

"Yes, all the needed supplies are in my office for you."

"Cool, thanks," I said as I turned to walk back to HQ. "I'll see you later," I waved over my head.

"It's so hot," I whined as I sat in Iceburg's office, head on the desk. "We're probably gonna get a storm too and that would so suck." The warmth from earlier before had quickly turned into a palpable heat as I had finished the last frames. Yay for bipolar spring to summer weather.

"Ugh, I'm hot and I'm miserable and I'm bored," I muttered, sitting up. I decided to doodle, so I took out my new drawing pad, but then glared at the pencil. "You just had to be broken, huh?"

As I searched through some of the drawers, and completely failing to find a sharpener, I noticed something in the back of the bottom right one.

My eyes grew wide as I shakily pulled the object out. "W-what is this doing here?"