Alley has finally arrived at Luffy's ship and she is finally ready to accept his offer from two years ago.

Chapter 12

I gazed up at the ship. I wondered what awaited me on the deck. I decided to find out. I climbed up onto the deck and found that no one was around. "Hello?" I called.

The door that leads below deck opened. Luffy stepped out. He smiled, but then frowned when he saw my bags. "What are those for?" he asked.

"I...I've decided to accept your offer from two years ago. I've come to join your crew." I said.

He smiled one of his biggest smiles. "Yay!!! Another crew member!" he said excitedly.

I smiled too. "Um...so where do I put these?" I asked.

"Oh! Come with me!" he said and headed below deck.

I followed with my bags. He led me to a door.

"Here we are!" he said cheerfully and he opened the door.

I looked around. There were four beds. Two were already taken. There was a desk with the beginnings of a map on it. I realized what this room was. "This is Nami and Robin's room!" I exclaimed. "Are you sure this is alright?"

"Sure! This is the women's quarters. There are two beds left. You can have your pick. After you have settled in, come join us in the kitchen." Luffy said and walked off.

I set my begs on the floor beside one of the empty beds. It was really hard to believe I was here in this room. It almost didn't seem real. I missed my crew but I knew they were in good hands. I decided it was time to join the rest of the crew in the kitchen.

"Hey!" Luffy called as I walked in.

"Um...hi." I said nervously. The whole crew was there except for Vivi and Chopper, who I guessed were down in the sick bay.

"I would like to introduce our newest crew member! Everybody, this is Alley!" Luffy announced.

"Luffy! How could you let the person who nearly killed Vivi join our crew??!!!" Nami yelled.

That's when I remembered that Nami had been below deck when I had appologized.

"I-" I started to say but was cut off by Luffy.

"She appologized." he explained.

"But how can we trust her?!!" Nami cried.

"Because I meant what I said. I'm sorry. She didn't deserve that." I said.

Nami looked at me. Then slowly, a smile spread across her face. "Well, then I guess we're room mates." she said.

I smiled. "Thanks." I said.

"Can I get you anything?" Sanji said with hearts in his eyes.

"No thank you." I said as I took a seat at the table. I slowly shook my head. I guess I would have to get used to Sanji and his odd behavior.

"You get used to him." Nami said.

"Your ship is awesome! It looks a lot better then my...then the one I used to stay on." I said.

Franky beamed. "I hate to take all the credit but...my work is SUPER!!!!!" Franky yelled.

"It's not that great. You should have seen the Going Merry. That was a ship!!!" Usopp said.

Him and Franky began to argue. Meanwhile, Zoro spoke up, "Welcome to the circus we call lunch time." he said.

"I find it amusing." Robin said.

"Hey Sanji! Bring us some meat!!!" Luffy cried.

"Get it yourself Luffy. You already ate most of it anyway." Sanji replied.

"Sanji-kun, may I have some fruit?" Nami asked.

"As you wish my love!" Sanji replied with hearts in his eyes.

Nami leaned over and whisphered in my ear, "He's so easy. You can get anything you want. We girls can do that."

I giggled.

The rest of the meal went pretty much the same way. I found myself loosining up and enjoying myself. I already felt like part of the crew. This was my home.

When we were done, everyone went off to do whatever. I really wasn't sure. I decided that it would be nice to help Sanji with the dishes, so I stayed to help.

"Don't worry miss. I'll take care of the cleaning." Sanji said.

"Um...thanks." I replied.

I walked out of the kitchen. I wasn't sure what to do. Then I remembered that I had never appologized to Vivi. I decided to find the sick bay and talk to her.

When I finally found the sick bay, I knocked on the door. Chopper opened it up.

"Oh! Hey! What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I...I've joined the crew. And now I want to appologize to Vivi." I said.

"You...you joined the crew?!!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Yeah. Luffy...he offered two years ago...and...I finally decided to...you know...come." I stuttered. I wasn't sure how to explain two years in one sentence.

"She just woke up. Come on in." Chopper said. He smiled.

"Thanks." I said as I walked in. I went over to were Vivi was laying.

She looked up at me. I could tell she was in pain which only increased my guilt. I suddenly found myself tounge tied.

"I...I...I'm...I came to..."I stuttered. "Is it to late to talk?" I finally spit out.

She smiled. "It's never to late." she said.

"I'm sorry for what I did. You didn't deserve it. I thought..." I trailed off and looked around. Chopper had left us alone. I continued. "I thought that Luffy liked you. I thought that he had forgotten about me. You see, he made me a promise two years ago that he would come back for me. And then I saw you two at the beach party together and I just thought..."

"You thought that he loved me." she finished. "I'm sorry for making you feel that way, but I have no intentions of taking him from you. I've had some time to think...and well...maybe I did like him for a little while...but now I know. My heart lies with somebody else."

"He's easy to like, isn't he?" I asked.

"Very." she said.

"So, are we good?" I asked.

"Yes." she replied. "So, where do you come from? Do you have a crew?"

"Well...I used to but now...I'm part of this crew." I replied.

She didn't look surprised. "Just like Luffy." she said. Suddenly, she started coughing.

Chopper rushed in. "She needs her rest." he said to me.

"Okay. I'll come and visit you later." I said.

She smiled. "Wait! Can you do me a favor? Get my stuff from my boat and put it in our room. Karoo can help you."

"I will." I said and then walked out, leaving her to rest. I smiled. Things were going great!

That Night

I had just gotten done moving Vivi's stuff out of her boat and into our room that we shared with Nami and Robin. I layed down on my bed. It was quiet.

Nami and Robin walked into the room. "It looks like you're finally done unpacking. And you got Vivi's stuff too. You've been busy." Nami said.

"Yeah. I''m tired but there's no way I'm going to bed yet. I think I'll go out on deck and watch the stars." I said.

"If you're looking for peace and quiet by going out on deck, you won't find it. Luffy has look out duty and with him around, things are never quiet." Nami said.

I couldn't hide my smile.

"Oh. I see. A little quiet time with the captain is better then any star gazing." Nami said in return to my smile.

I blushed.

"It's okay. He likes you as much as you like him. Trust me. I can tell." Nami said.

The whole time we were talking, Robin was sitting there smiling. Finally she spoke up. "Miss Navigator's right. I've heard things from a certain swordsman." Then she sat down and began to read a book.

"Thanks guys. I'll be back in a little while." I said and left the room.

As I walked out on deck, I heard humming from up above in the crows nest. "Found him." I said with a grin.

"Hey! What are you doing up?" Luffy asked as I joined him in the crows nest.

"I came to watch the stars but then I heard you up here and thought you might like some company." I replied.

"Oh. Yeah. It does get boring up here." he said.

I moved a little closer to him. He looked a little surprised, like he wasn't used to this. But then he smiled and put his arm around me. It was a little cool and I liked the warmth. I moved a bit closer and layed my head on his chest. He smiled and didn't resist.

We sat there like that in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I didn't mind though. It was nice. I was thinking about what Sandra had said about how to tell somebody you loved them. I decided this was the perfect time. I swallowed and gathered up my courage. Then before I lost it, I started to speak. "Luffy, there's something I've been trying to tell you." I said.

"Hm?" he replied. He was content sitting there with my head on his chest and his arm around me.

"I..." I gulped. "Luffy. I love you." I finally said.

He smiled. "That's what Zoro was talking about." he thought to himself. "Love." Then outloud, "I love you to."

I couldn't believe what he had said at first. I couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, I leaned up and kissed him and he kissed me back. After that, we sat there and watched the horizon. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep while laying on his chest.

I woke up in my bed. I figured Luffy must have carried me down after I had fallen asleep. I sat up and yawned. Nami and Robin were still asleep. I decided to go out on deck. Maybe I could figure out what time it was and I wouldn't mind the sunshine.

When I walked out on deck, I figured it was about 9:00 a.m. by the sun. I gazed out at the horizon. Suddenly, something caught my attention. There was a boat way off in the distance. It was barely a speck. I could tell already that it was a small vessel. Still, I figured I better tell someone about it.

I found Sanji in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. "Sanji, I think we might have a small problem." I said.

"What is it? I'll fix it!" he said eagerly.

"No. It's not that bad. It's just, I saw a boat heading this way. Maybe we should check it out." I said.

"Hm. Maybe we should. It might be the marines." he said, suddenly serious.

A minute later, we were on the deck. "We need Nami's spyglass." Sanji said.

So I went down to my room. I walked over to Nami's bed. She was still sound asleep so I had to wake her up. "Nami." I said as I shook her. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" she said sleepily as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"We need your spyglass. Somethings come up." I explained.

"What is it?" she asked, instantly awake.

"There's a boat on the horizon. We don't know who it is and we need to find out." I replied.

"Okay. Give me a second and I'll be up there." she said.

In a few minutes me and Sanji were joined by Nami and Robin on deck.

Nami looked through her spyglass until she spotted the boat. "It's not flying any colors, marine or pirate." she remarked. "It's really small too. I can't see anyone on board. It might be abandoned. Even if there is someone on it, it's not much of a threat. Well, I guess we should all head to the kitchen. Sanji-kun, would you make us some breakfast?"

"As you wish my sweet!" Sanji said and hurried off to the kitchen.

We followed shortly. In twenty minutes, the rest of the crew had also joined us, including Vivi.

"It's nice to see you up." Nami remarked.

"Chopper said I could come up here but that's all I can do. I still can't walk that well and it hurts when I do." Vivi replied. "But I wanted to be with you guys."

I looked down at the table.

Vivi noticed. "The past is behind us. I forgave you." she said.

I was slightly embarassed, but I didn't have to worry. The conversation soon turned to the mysterious boat.

"It wasn't flying any colors and it was small." Nami explained to the rest of the crew. "It was probably abandoned."

"Let's check it out!!!" Luffy said excitedly.

"For once, I'm with Luffy on this one." Zoro said.

"I agree with Mr. Swordsman." Robin said. "We should probably check it out. You never know."

"Then I guess it's settled." Nami said with a sigh. "We'll check it out.

Okay, this chapter is longer then I remember it. Hmm...anyway, please review and stay tuned to find out who is in the mysterious boat.