Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I didn't think people would still be reading this story. I hope to be more active these days now that i have more computer classes. Keep watch of new stories coming up as well! Enjoy!

-ShizaAssassian316!(on vacation!)

...A sea lion covered in seaweed, ripped nets and shells. Luffy exhaled the breath he held. He fell to his knees and fell asleep, right on the spot. Zoro and Sanji looked at each other in confusion. Soon the whole crew came to where Luffy laid asleep. They looked out at the sea and the blinding sun to where the sea loin then vanished back into the waters, the seaweed flew off its head and floated slowly away. The other animals soon left the rock for it to be alone.

Zoro and Sanji together pulled the captain toward the lower bunker to sleep in peace. Robin reminded Chopper later to check up on him when he woke up. Luffy soon floated back down memory lane, walking back toward his hometown island.

xxxFLASHBACKxxx

Seven years later...

"Luffy! Over here!" Reina called out to him as she waved down at him from the hillside. Luffy ran up the hill, slowly using his breath. Stopping to catch his breath, he collapsed onto the grass underneath the apple tree. Reina rested her back against the tree trunk while watching the leaves blow with the soft breeze. She ruffled her ebony hair as the tips flew with the wind. Luffy looked up at her and frowned. Luffy didn't like her hair long. Short hair framed her cute face better. Reina grabbed an apple hanging above her head and took a bite. She smiled, but when she looked down at Luffy, her smile turned into a confused look.

"What wrong? Is there something on my face?" Reina questioned, patting her cheeks. Luffy huffed.

"Your hair. It's long." Reina blinked a few times, then huffed at him putting a fist on her hip.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Reina frowned down at him. Luffy stood up but Reina didn't move.

"Its better short. you should get it cut." Luffy spoke blunty. Reina shook her head while she spit out a few seeds.

"Tammy said my hair would so beautiful long, so I'm gonna keep it long. Short makes me look tomboyish!" Reina spit out a few more.

"You act tomboyish too." Luffy chuckled. Reina quickly turned to him.

"I am NOT a tomboy." Reina spat.

"Well III'm not that one whose wearing overalls jeans." Luffy pointed out, crossing his arms.

"I rather wear overalls and lean shorts then wear those SILLY colorful dresses Tammy always makes me we-"

"SEE? A tomboy!" Luffy jumped at her, pointed a finger to her face. Reina stomped her foot.

"You take that back!" Reina huffed, dropping her apple core while putting her fist to her hips again.

"Reina's a TOMBOY! Reina's a TOMBOY! Reina's a TOMBOY!" Luffy started singing while prancing around the giant apple tree. Reina close behind him. They began to tussle it out on the grass, eventually rolling down the steep hill. They finally stopped, rolling into hay next to a barn. They seperated from each other hurling buckets of laughter. They tried getting up but both fell on top of each other, laughing even more, their world still spinning. They both decided to head back to Tammy's house, not realizing they walk hand in hand looking like a drunk couple enjoying their time.

Soon, the whole island knew about Luffy and Reina affection to each other, except themselves. Luffy was the first to notice that he had an attraction to Reina, but couldn't tell her just yet.

xxxxxx
One day, Luffy was fishing with a few boys in the village, joking around having a good time. Just as they started getting bites, the group of girls were walking down the dock. One boy spoke up.

"Hey guys, look! The girls are here! "

"Hey Randy! Pay attention to your pole!"

"They coming up here!"

"Maybe Reeeinaa tagged along."

"Shut it Pablo!" Luffy spat before pulling his pole, revealing a red snapper. He dropped it in their baskets and stood just as the girls walked up to them. Reina was walking in a white bathrob, her eyes cast down everytime she met Luffy's. Luffy looked at her then the other girls.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked, hoping they weren't teasing her again. Reina took a big breath and slid off her robe. Luffy's eyes almost popped out as Reina wore a sunburst yellow bikini.

"I lost a bet at a game of cards." Reins huffed, crossing her arms, her toes dancing to distract herself.

The other boys stared in awe and gave cat calls. The girls giggled, then one nudged her to continue. Reina turned pink, but didn't look Luffy in the eye. She sighed, placing her fists on her waist. She finally opened her mouth.

"Wh-hh-h-whatchu think? It's okay, right?" Reina mumbled, biting her lip after her question. She finally looked at Luffy square in the eye for an answer. Luffy couldn't get find any words to say, but he kept moving his mouth. His moved his hands to help explain his unsaid answer, but "aahs" and "oohs" and "oiois" really didn't explain themselves. He turned to his guy friends behind and they shooed him to go on, throwing him thumbs up, but one made a kissing face making Luffy's cheeks burn red. He cleared his throat before turning back to Reina and her petite body snugged inside her sun-burst swin-suit.

"I think yellow is your color!" Luffy tried his best to smile his big toothy grin without blushing. So far, so good! Reina blinked a few times before her eyes grew big with her smile. She pushed some hair back as she cleared throat, blushing in the process.

"Really? We-e-eell, *cough* I'm glad..." Reina then played with her fingers as Luffy rubbed his head, both pink in the face. The group of boys and girls' giggles brought the two back from their daydreaming. The girls dragged Reina away as the boys pulled Luffy back to their round of fishing. The girls giggled amongst each other, but Reina quickly looked back at Luffy with a sweet smile on her face. Luffy felt her eyes on his back, and smiled underneath his hat.

xxxxxx(Later that day...)

Luffy kidnapped Reina from a party Tammy threw for the restaurant's 15th anniverysary, and they both ran quietly off to the beach. They walked hand-in-hand down the beachline just enjoying the songs of the sea. Reina still wore the sun-burst bikin from earlier but wore a hawaiian flower broidered salmon beach skirt hanging loosely over her hips. Luffy just wore a tank top and dark blue shorts.

The silents streched longer as no one spoke, just the seagulls and waves. Luffy had plans, plans he wanted to tell Reina first and the longest, but he couldn't bring it up just yet. He gripped Reina's hand harder, bringing Reina's attention to him.

"Luffy? You okay?" Reina quickly gazed at him. Luffy snapped at her, but turned his eyes away. He couldn't help but turn back to those sea blue eyes. This time, they were full of worry and concern. He grabbed both of her hands, and stared longing at her, swimming in her eyes. Little did they know that their forheads touched, making Reina smile. Luffy smiled back, and they both closed their eyes and took in a breath, and exhaled.

When they opened their eyes, Reina had tears falling down her face, but she still smiled.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Reina stared into his eyes, waiting for his reply.

Luffy grabbed her face, massaging her cheeks as their noses touched. Reina's exhaled quickly as Luffy's breath tickled her face, a blush oozing across her face and never breaking the gaze between them. Luffy took one look at her strawberry lips, then clamped his own ontop of hers, Reina sharply gasping for air before relaxing into Luffy's warmth. Reina arched herself to her toes to feel more of Luffy's lips on hers. The blush on her face transferred to Luffy's as he enjoyes more of Reina's lips as their kiss deepened.

As their lips parted, they eyes opened in a daze. Their hands found each other and held on tight.

"I just did that, didn't I?" Luffy asked stupidly. Reina just smiled.

They was no more need of words, for they both knew it: They were in love.

xxxxx

"Hey, where are you taking me?" Luffy asked, huffing as Reina half-dragged him behind her to a cave next to the island's dock. It started rainy after their kiss, so instead of running back to the restaurant, Reina had somtheing to show Luffy.

"Don't worry, it's not that far. We're almost there." Reina huffed too, gasping for breath and trying to get out of the rain. They reached the cave, both stopping to catch their breath. Luffy stood up straight as Reina was lighting a lantern. She reached for Luffy's hand as she wadded into a large puddle. Luffy grabbed her hand tightly as she lead them both through the dark waters. The cave forked into two path: one showing light from outside, the other much darker. Reina looked back at Luffy and smiled.

"We're almost there." Reina reassurred him before walking again, and into the darker side. Luffy felt the water reach his waist and still rising. Luffy gasped as the water kept getting higher, but Reina showed no resistance. Then Reina suddenly stopped and hooked the lantern to jagged rock big enough for a hook. She took both Luffy's hands and looked into his eyes.

"There's something I want to show you. You must trust me." Reina squeezed his hands. Luffy took a breath and nodded, still unsure of what is to come.

Luffy felt the winds pick up, swirling around them both. He watched as Reina's hair whipped and danced in the fast winds that kept picking up speed. The next thing he noticed was the water underneath him, rose, more like parted from their feet. Luffy panicked, watching in horror as the waters around them danced around them. Reina's grip on his hands tighetned, gaining back Luffy's attention. She was smiling.

"Come on. Just don't let go." Reina said before she lead him down the dark road. Luffy looked in wonder as the path got darker and darker, and when Luffy couldn't see the launtern's light anymore, the water beneath him glow a sea-green glow, giving off light. Luffy awed in wonder.

"How the heck is this happening?" he shouted in his head. He looked at the back of Reina's head, hoping she would explain, but she said nothing only turned to smile. Luffy blushed a little; the glow gave her a mysterious look, and to Luffy, was a cute look for Reina.

Reina kept walking until she stopped at she stopped at a glowing puddle of water.

"We're here." she turned and spoke. "I wanted to show you this secret for the longest, but I never had the time to show you, until now... now that you're leaving..." Reina's voice dropped in volume. Luffy started to reach for her face when Reina's unoccupied hand made a quick S-movement above the puddle which spread across the wall in front of them. Luffy felt his eyes grow in wonder as the glowing waters streched out more, forming a red door, a plain red door with a golden knob.

"Welcome to paradise." Reina pushed open the door and the light started flooding the hallway with the setting sun's rays. Luffy stared in awe as he walked out into the tropical island. Reina quickly whipped her back towards the red door and the door vanished, forming a giant puddle in the ground fountain. She walked in front of Luffy and took his hand again, leading him more into the lustious paradise. Tall palm trees were like pillars, guiding down a wide path toward the small waterfall, embroided with vines and a few tropical birds. Bright flowers of many colors paved the ground. Reina guided him up a giant rock that sat next to the pool of the waterfall.

"Wow Reina, this place is ... beautiful! You have your own secret garden!" Luffy exclaimed as he streched out his arms and legs, bellowing his words at the orange sun. Reina smiled at her goofball rubberman. Reina took his hand and pointed out the animals that lived here: parrots of different sizes and colors to spider monkeys and lemurs. Reaching back to the giant rock, Reina sat an edge of the rock and relaxed her feet into the water.

"Luffy." Reina called to him. Luffy sat next to her, weaving an arm around her waist, leaning his head to rub against hers.
"This is part of my secret for you Luffy. Now, for the big part." she looked at her feet that were in water. Luffy followed her gaze to her feet, which looked kinda greenish in the water, but as Reina pulled them out, her toes had shivered and disappeard into her feet. Golden scales formed, glittering in the sun, and building up her legs and underneath her long skirt. Luffy jumped away as the rest of her lower region quickly formed a a giant golden tailfin. Pulling away from her warmth brought a sad face of reget to her eyes. She somewhat reached for him, but rested her hand back to her lap.

"I'm a mermaid Luffy, well, part of me is. I wanted to tell you, for soo far, but, having my secret out would be dangerous. The strangest things people will do for a mermaid's tail." Reina casted her eyes down in sadness. She shuddered at the thought, but stopped at the touch of Luffy's hand over her own. Luffy laid his forehead against her and smiled. He took her hand and kissed it, making Reina blush.

"Even if your secret was out, I'll always protect you from any harm." Luffy kissed her nose, earning a squeak from Reina. Resting on his knees, he wrapped his arms around her head, keeping their foreheads in contact.

"I promise you..." Luffy leaned to kiss her red lips when his nose picked up an unique and nutty aroma. He sniffed the air some more.

Why does it smell like pie? Waitaminute- PIIIEE? *music scratch*

XxxEND/FLASHBACKxxX

Luffy jumped from his sleep to the smell of pie. HIs stomach growled loud enough to where he couldn't ignore it anymore. He never ignored his stomach, and ignoring it would only showed he was totally out of character. Scrambling out of the sick bed, he skipped toward the kitchen for food. His crew noticed his mood had changed for the good part, so they hoped it stays that way.

Luffy was first greeted by Sanji pulling out a freshly baked apple pie, and he placed it with a collection of many different other types of desserts. Luffy drooled at the lovely sight, wanting to eat every sweet and creamy bite. Out of habit, he reached for one, and out of Sanji's habit, smacks his hand away.

"ABSOLUTELY NO touching the dessert until dinner!" he yelled at Luffy, shaking a ladle at his head.

"But Sanjiiii, I'm hungry!" Luffy bellyached, rubbing his hand.

"MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!" Luffy chanted, beggin like a child.

"All right! All right!"Sanji grunted as he walked back to the stove, but he smiled, happy that his captain was feeling a somewhat himself. He turned with a smile, just as Luffy reached for the banan-cream pie.

BAM! Sanji grabbed a large frying pan to Luffy's face, sending him to the door, which crumbled like twigs.

"I TOLD YOU, NOT until dinner!" Sanji yelled again, then he chuckled, rubbing his hair a little. He could even hear Luffy laughing too, making Sanji's smile grow.

xxxxx

After dinner, Luffy sat at his favorite spot and watched as the sun was setting into it's beautiful orange. Nami watched for a minute as the captain sat there, motionless.

"Luffy?" Nami asked. Luffy jerked his head a little to the side to see her staring at him.

"How you feeling?" Luffy grinned his famous grin.

"More stuffed than a turkey on holiday-"

"I meant Reina Luffy." Nami asked, more sterned. Luffy didn't turn back to face her. He took a breath, and released it.

"People come and go Nami. It's life, and her time came sooner than we both expected." Luffy said bluntly. Nami's eyes grew in shock that this was coming from Luffy, of all people. The crew started to cue in.

"That's not what bothers me. It's that I didn't keep my promise. Years ago I promised." Luffy's shoulders slumped a little.

"I hate breaking promises..." Luffy whined. He stared at the bright orange sun, relaxing, listening to voices chatting and talking over his head.

"Do this... for me. Keep this with you." a familiar feminie voice spoke in his head.

"What is it?" a too familiar voice asked. Luffy quickly slipped back to his memories of the small paradiese long ago...

XxxFLAHBACKxxX

"It's my mother's necklace." Reina held out the black skull necklace for Luffy to take.

"Wow! Awesome skull-head!" The skull's head shimmered in the light an amber color.

"This is to keep you safe. From me..." Reina bowed her head in shame. Luffy re-directed her eye to him.

"Why do you say bad stuff about yourself?" Luffy asked, his voice showed concerned.

"If people knew that you were close to a mremaid, a golden mermaid, they will use you to get to me..." Reina rubbed her tail gently.

"Golden tail mermaids are known for great fortune. Just one scale can bring good luck in life, but it's oly rumors. No one has yet to find or catch a golden mermaid, but you Luffy." Reina smiled up at Luffy, even giggled. Luffy smirked, but then frowned.

"But, why give me your mom's necklace?" Luffy looked at the black skull again. Reina looked at the necklace and grabbed Luffy's face.

"Luffy, I must wipe out the memory of us -to keep you safe from hunters and anyone else after me-" Reina sighed, seeing Luffy's face in terror.

"Reina no! NO, please don't this to yourself. I'll protect you. I promised..." Luffy whispered, resting his forehead against hers. He petted her long silky hair, feeling it's soothness. He caressed her soft skin, pale and creamy. He stared at her eyes, big and blue as the ocean through his own watery, hazy eyes. He soon realized he was crying. Reina pulled him closer and kissed those tears away, but they kept coming, and some fell down his cheeks. Luffy then crushed her to hm in a tight hug. Reina hugged his head gently to her chest, pushing the hat aside to rub his shaggy hair. She rested her head against his and shed a few silent tears herself.

"I promise you this; we will meet again. Y-o-u better return my necklace you we do meet." Reina. pointed out to him as a reminder, meeting his eyes to hers. They both smiled as Reina shed a few more before studdering.

"Go-oood bye!" Reina cried as the waters in the pool quickly surrounded her. Luffy grabbed her and kissed her as water was everywhere. The necklace glowed even brighter than the water as their visions were blinded.

XxxFLASHBACK/ENDxxX

Luffy blinked a few times before he realized his eyes were glassy from the tears that came during his walk down memory lane. He remembered that he was sitting in his usual spot, staring at the sun. He took a few deep breaths, and, felt a lump in his vest pocket. He took out the lump, turning out to be Reina's skull necklace. He let it hang by it's chain and lift it into the air, the skull head directly infront of the sun. Luffy's eyes grew a little, for he noticed, inside the skull's head, a shiny golden scale.

"Luffy, you okay?" Nami asked, stepping closer. Luffy jumped, wiping his tears away.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." he quickly clipped on the necklace to not lose it. He tuck it underneath his vest and leapted from his spot with a yelp.

"Luffy wait." Nami reached for his wrist, making him turn. Luffy had a stern look on his face, but it quickly chaned to a smile. He pinched Nami's cheek.

"Nami, you worry too much. Don't worry about it." Luffy skipped along toward his room, but he quickly changed his mind, and headed straight for the kitchen. Sanji ran after him, yelling for him not to touch any dessert. Too bad he ran out the half-fixed door Ussop was working on with half of a lemon pound cake hanging from his mouth. He was laughing and being himself again, and that's what the crew was hoping for.
As the crew later on went to bed, there was a haunting melody, joined with more vocals, that sang along with the waves as it tetter-totter the ship like a cradle, rocking the crew to sleep.

XXXX

The next morning, Nami walked out of her room with a strech and a yawn, rubbing her eyes and heading toward the kitchen for some coffee. Nami poured herself a cup, pondering about yesterday.

"You shouldn't worry too much about Luffy. He recovers fast you know." a voice behind her spoke in the silence. Nami turned to the crew's swordsman, leaning against the door, staring at her. Nami stood straight, for she was leaning against the counter, and played with her coffee mug, thinking before she spoke.

"That look, on his face yesterday. It scares me." Nami finally said. Zoro walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water and chugged it down before refilling it. He walked up to Nami and gently rubbed her head.

"We're all worried about Luffy, so don't worry too much miss navigator." Zoro said bluntly, chugging the next glass down. Nami let go of the held breath she held, and finally smiled. She felt fingers tugged her chin to face the swordsman.

"At last you're smiling." Zoro grunted, making Nami blush a little. Before she could retort or gripe back, Zoro cut her off first.

"You shouldn't really worry about Luffy as much as to this, why are we parked at island, let alone a village, naviator?" Zoro asked. Nami jumped at his question, and ran out the kitchen and into the main port. Her eyes felt like they were going to pop out, for she didn't remember going in the west direction. They jumped off their northern course.

Something on the beach caught Nami's attention, completely making her forget her navigational problems. Making Nami's head draw a blank and twist it to the side was Luffy dancing and twirling with a foreigner of the village, and they were kissing. Nami gasped in shock, anger as well, but mostly shock.

"LUFFY!" she screamed, making the rest of the crew join the main deck. Luffy jumped from his passionate moment and turned to his crew with a big grin, tears streaks down his face, and inside Luffy's arms was a pale young woman with striking deep marine blue eye and long ebony black hair. She was grinning as well.

Part two FINISHED!

HE DID IIIIT! LUFFY found REINAAAA! But, HOW? Found out next chapter!

Thank you guys so much for your patience! Really appreciate your love for this story!

-Shiza