Chapter 3: It Begins

Monoka walked silently with Hibo at her side. She walked at a fast pace because she knew a storm was coming soon.

"You're lucky they fed you Hibo, we won't be working tonight," She said, referring to the storm. Hibo looked up at her thinking. She knew he mentioned their brother. She usually yells at him for it, but now she seemed like she was trying to suppress that anger for some strange reason. He decided to not mention it to her and looked back at the ground to shield his eyes from the new rain. Monoka led him into the abandoned warehouse that served as their home, and shut the door labeled 'Restricted.'

Morning

Monoka woke up shivering. She was sitting in a cradled position on a dirty blanket in the corner of the open space that was the warehouse. Monoka slept every night without a blanket covering her. The one she laid upon wasn't large enough to wrap around her and stay on the floor at the same time. There was no way she'd sleep on the dirty floor. At the time, she was trying to save up enough money for a new blanket but she'd probably end up spending it on Hibo as she usually does. She turned so her other shoulder was touching the blanket and bringing it's temperature back up to normal.

"Monoka?" Hibo's small voice ran through the large building echoing slightly. Monoka looked over at Hibo who slept several feet away from her. He had a blanket and a pillow to sleep with, but not enough to share. She titled her head up and saw his sleeping eyes looking at her. She smirked and crawled over to him.

"Yes Hibo?"

"I'm sorry." Hibo rolled over into Monoka's torso and sunk his face into his blanket. She looked down at him slightly confused.

"For what?" She brushed some hair out of Hibo's face when he reappeared to talk.

"For mentioning Tanren." Monoka's eyes got a little bigger at the name, but went soft as she looked back to Hibo. She chuckled a little and wrapped her arm around his back rubbing it.

"It's okay Hibo." She lay down with him, trying to go back to sleep.

Later

The storm that plagued Monoka and Hibo from performing as usual had past and the sun was out, contrasting the puddles that still lay upon the ground. Monoka sat on her blanket to keep from getting dirt on her outfit. She wore a full body leotard, purple in color, with skin colored mesh covering her arms and legs. At the moment, she was fitting Hibo into his outfit that was blue and he sat waiting patiently. Once she was done she picked up her makeup and started to apply it.

"You think we'll do well today?" Hibo stood up and waited for Monoka to finish. He asked his question in reference to how much money they'd make.

"I'm not sure. I don't expect many new boats to have come in after that storm. But something is better than nothing." Monoka finished her make up and stood up looking at Hibo. "Got your gloves?"

"Do I have to wear them?" Hibo whined. His gloves always made him itchy.

"Yes, it's muddy outside and I don't want your hands getting all dirty." Monoka stood there with them in her hands waiting for Hibo to grab them. He huffed and grabbed them. Monoka motioned for him to get the hat while she went and got the chest of performance items.

The Going Merry sat in the port, rocking slowly to the waves that were lashing up its side's just hours before. Sanji was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs reading the newspaper. He didn't feel like making breakfast because he didn't like the idea of wasting food in the town he bought it from. When he finished with the paper he decided to scope the town from the deck for an open restaurant. Once he stepped out, the light wind whipped at his bangs, threatening to reveal his left eye. He scanned the town for an open sign and found several, a couple being restaurants. 'We'll just eat out.' As his eyes kept looking over the town for anything else interesting he saw the center of town, filled with people clapping to music.

"Wonder what's going on." He let his eyes rest on the crowd for a second trying to see what they were crowded around. Occasionally he saw someone in purple and blue moving around but another spectator would cloud his vision. Then, catching his attention, he saw a small body fly into the air wearing blue with piercing blonde hair. He scrunched his nose trying to figure out what was happening making everyone gasp and clap in excitement. He wanted to get closer to the center of town to see but he knew his nakama would be wondering where breakfast was.

'Maybe it'll be there once we go in...' He decided to let it go till everyone else was up. He turned around, the wind now pushing him to go back inside. He stepped down the stairs and went back to the kitchen to see if he missed anything in the paper.

"Well that was a pretty good day, don't you think Hibo?" Monoka was walking with Hibo down to the beach. They had finished up their act for the morning and deposited all their things back in the chest into the warehouse. Right now, they were going to bathe in the sea since they didn't have a bathroom and no one would take them in.

"How much do you think we made?" Hibo was a few steps ahead of Monoka as they walked along the port.

"I think enough to not have to perform tonight. That's good too. I have to go meet with Bo." Monoka and Hibo turned down the stairs at the end of the port and stepped into the surprisingly warm sand. They were slightly surprised at how the sand dried up so quickly after the storm.

"Is Bo gonna give us more food?"

"I don't think so. We already used up our five free meals this month. He can't give us anymore." Bo was a friend Monoka had made years ago. They met when he went to see the circus for the first time and they've been friends ever since.

Monoka stepped with Hibo by the little spot they bathed. It had shallow areas so Hibo wouldn't drown, and was circled by rocks so they had more privacy. A tree hung out at the ocean, its roots working their way down through the rocks and over the vast sea. The shadow it made was cast over their little bath because of the position of the sun. Monoka dropped her towel on a rock and started to slip off her shorts to reveal a bathing suit bottom. She made sure her and Hibo would never bathe in the nude outside where anyone could walk by and see them. They got in and started to clean themselves.

"Hey Sanji! Where's breakfast?" Luffy came bounding into the kitchen with Usopp and Nami looking perplexed at the empty table in front of him.

"I figured we could eat out for breakfast. Since we're at a port I didn't want to waste any food." Sanji stood getting prepared to leave for the town again.

"Okay, let's get the others and we can go eat then." Nami turned around and led the others out onto the deck.

The group walked up to the first open restaurant that they saw which was located right near the sea so it had a very good view. Walking inside, they could see it was already half filled up with people eating their breakfasts and talking to friends and family. They took an empty table near a window that faced the ocean and waited to be served.

"Hello, my name is Bo, I will be your waiter for the morning. Can I get anyone any drinks?" The group went around counterclockwise and read off what they wanted. Since it was still pretty early, most of them ordered either orange juice or milk. Bo gave them a smile and walked off to let them decide what to eat and get them their drinks.

"A show?" The group had now focused to Sanji who had mentioned what he saw just several hours earlier that was no longer there when they left.

"Seemed like it. There was a group of people clapping for something that I couldn't really see. I had wished to leave the ship earlier but the swordsman just had to sleep in like always." Sanji sneered toward Zoro who wasn't looking at him but was still listening.

"Hey, I need my sleep okay?" Zoro growled a bit and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Well you certainly need some beauty sleep, that's for sure." Sanji closed his eyes as a little bit of sleep overtook him and he suppressed a yawn.

"You wanna start something pretty boy?!" Zoro shot up and shook his fist in Sanji's still calm face. However, he was interrupted by their waiter coming back with their drinks. Bo ignored the pending fight, thinking his presence stopped it at the roots and served up the drinks in the same way they were ordered. When he was done, he stood up straight and asked for the final orders. Jotting them down quickly, he left once again, glancing over his shoulder to see the two fighting males and seeing if it were going to come up again. They seemed calm, so he walked back into the kitchen and gave the cooks the orders.

"Hey, this stuff is pretty good." Nami sat calmly next to Luffy who was attracting stares because of his exuberant ways of eating food. Bo stood, mouth agape, at Luffy's expanding stomach that wouldn't cease in increasing. He then remembered something a friend of his told him a couple years ago…

"There's this one fruit called the gum gum fruit. It lets a person expand their body just like rubber! Man, if we had that, we'd be the most popular circus in the whole world!"

Bo smiled at the old personality his friend once had. Thinking of her, he recalled what time it was and walked to the window that over looked the ocean and a big tree that was growing right in front of the window. He looked down and could faintly hear laughing and see splashing between the limbs of the tree. There she was, with Hibo taking a bath like every morning. Bo contemplated if he could sneak away for a couple minutes to talk with Monoka since she had told him she needed to tell him something important. This thought, however, died when he was called over to one of his tables. He turned from the window and walked over to answer a question an old woman had about times when they started to serve lunch.

"Wow! That was delicious! I want some more!"

"Too bad Luffy, if you want more food I'm cooking it for you, we can't waste more money on your eating habits." Sanji stood up after placing enough money down on the table and a little extra for Bo since he was a pretty good waiter. While he was taking the chair out of Nami's way while she stood up, he heard the faint sound of a little boy laughing. Wondering where it was coming from, he walked to the window where the sound seemed to be and looked down. Instantly, his eyes grew large and his heart started to beat faster. Slowly, as he rest his head against the glass in a loss of muscle function, a devious smile crept onto his face.

"Sanji? Are you okay?" Usopp looked back at Sanji in question as did everyone else. His heaving chest and his head leaning against the window made them think he was getting sick. Slowly, Sanji turned around and a familiar look was in his eye.

"Bikini!" Sanji had beating pink hearts in his eyes and he seemed lighter than a feather. The crew instantly fell to the floor, surprised Sanji could be such his lady's-man-self so early in the morning.

"What are you talking about?" Everyone walked to the window and looked down. However, they saw nothing. Only the large tree and a little watering hole elevated from the sea. Nothing seemed to be wearing a bikini as Sanji had said.

"Is he daydreaming again?"

"That's the only explanation." As everyone else talked about him Sanji kept searching through the leaves of the tree for the same girl whom they had seen yesterday. He saw her in a bikini! He was sure of it. Not everything makes him break out into his heart eyes so quickly. He kept searching but didn't find her. Giving up, Sanji turned sullen back around and walked out of the restaurant.

"Why'd you do that Monoka?" Hibo was walking quickly to keep up with his sister who was holding his hand. They had seen the blonde man in the window above them. Hibo was about the wave, but Monoka stopped him. When the guy turned from the window Monoka got out quickly and started walking back to the warehouse. Monoka didn't answer him. She was too caught up in her own thoughts.

'I figured they'd still be here. No person in their right mind would go out in a storm like that. I hope they leave soon though. Don't need any pirates influencing Hibo.' Monoka kept walking with Hibo in tow till they were safe inside their warehouse.

Later

"Hibo, I need to go talk to Bo for a bit. Can I trust you to stay here and not get into any trouble?" Monoka had changed into the same clothes she wore the day before because they were her only remotely clean ones. Some of the stains she had gotten on the others were tough to get out. She was at the door of the warehouse looking down at Hibo who just nodded, shaking his blonde hair into his eyes. He looked back up at Monoka and she just laughed. She bent down and brushed the hair out of his face and pinched his cheeks shaking his face.

"Monoka!" Hibo tried to get Monoka to stop but her hands were too big in comparison to his.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon. And don't do anything okay? Just play some games." She stood up and walked out of the door waving back to Hibo. He didn't like it when he had to stay in the warehouse alone. It was really boring. He went up into the loft where the windows were and looked out to watch his sister walk off to the boardwalk down to the restaurant where Bo worked. When she was out of sight, Hibo sighed. Monoka didn't have the best sense of time so when she said she'd be back soon, it would usually be most of the day.

Just when he was about to turn away from the window, he caught sight of a certain ship in the harbor. His heart began to race when he saw the same ship he had dinner in just last night. Seeing it still there made him think about going back and seeing them. They were all such fun people, it had been a while since he was with someone other than Monoka or Bo. He knew he shouldn't, but he really wanted to. And if he was careful enough to know when to leave before Monoka would likely come back he should be fine. A smile made its way onto his face as he made his decision. Jumping fluidly down from the loft to the main floor, he ran to the door and bolted outside down to the harbor.

"You guys think we should head off now?" The crew of the Going Merry was gathered together on the deck looking up at the sky. It had taken on a gray tint since finishing their breakfast, and dark clouds seemed to be rolling in. Everyone looked at Nami for an answer since she was good with these types of situations.

"I'm not sure. It looks like a storm's coming but I can't feel it. Just in case, we should wait a few more hours and see how this weather turns out. I think it'll be fine but we can't take any chances." The crew agreed with her and started to head back into the cabin when a voice captured their attention.

"Hi guys!" The high voice of a young boy came from below them on the boardwalk and the crew walked over to the side of the ship and looked down to see little Hibo looking back up at them. They all smiled.

"Hey Hibo! What are you doing?" Luffy leaned over the side of the ship and stared down at the boy for an answer.

"I wanted to hang out with you guys. Monoka is busy right now and I don't want to be alone."

"Well come on up!" Luffy then stretched his arms out and went to pluck Hibo from of the boardwalk. While Luffy's fingers wrapped around his midsection, he let out a small laugh as he was pulled up on board. When he was let go, he stood in the attention of all the pirates whom he had met just yesterday.

"Thank you!" Hibo started to laugh again as the pirates led him into the cabin to get a small bite to eat.

"Bo? Are you here?" Monoka had just walked into the back of the restaurant after she detoured for a couple minutes. She greeted some of the chefs who gave her a dirty look and covered the food they had as if her presence would instantly taint it.

Ignoring them, she went to the front of the kitchen where a door leading out to the balcony was so she could talk to Bo on his break. She walked out and saw the balcony empty as it usually was during not so good weather. No one wanted to eat out there when it was like this. She swiftly jumped over the railing to land gently on the rocks that were embedded into the side of the cliff and she walked carefully to where she knew she would find her friend.

Emerging from out under the balcony, Bo turned to her and smiled. She smiled back and stepped in front of him to sit at his left. Bo had a cigarette in his mouth but it wasn't lit. He seemed to be patting his chest looking for his lighter. While Monoka watched, she laughed in her head as she noticed the green lighter on a rock twenty feet below them. Before telling him, she whipped out her own lighter, a light purple one, and lit his cigarette. Motioning below them, Bo finally saw what she did and swore to himself. His dark brown hair rivaled Monoka's light with black streaks, as it fell onto his hand that covered his face in agitation at his dropping yet another lighter down there.

"You know at one point the cumulative power of all those lost lighters will light at once and burn down this place right?" She smiled and slipped a cigarette out of Bo's pack smoothly like a sword out of a sheath and lit her own. He nodded quickly before getting to the point of their meeting.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Monoka looked out toward the ocean and took a fast drag. She had hoped that they would ease into what she had to tell him. But it looked like it didn't matter now. So, she began.

"Leaving? Are you serious?" Bo sat staring at the friend he had known for as long as he wanted to remember and couldn't believe what she was telling him.

"Maybe, well, I don't know. It's just…" Monoka was having trouble putting her words together the way she wanted. It seemed a whole lot easier when she was planning them at night when she should have been getting sleep. She couldn't find the strength to look him in the eyes since they were the eyes that led her to take any interest in him at all. They changed color throughout the year like a mood ring and always seemed to accurately display his emotion at the right time. Now, there was no way she could look into the deep blue eyes of a saddened friend.

"Monoka, what's going on?"

"The Navy has been after Hibo for a long time, and so have pirates. Before, all of them showing up was rare and easy to fight against. Now, however, it's getting more frequent and more dangerous. I just want Hibo to be safe and anywhere but here would help that need." As Monoka explained her reasons to Bo they made perfect sense, but something in Monoka's tone showed something else. For all he knew it was just fear, and at this point, that's all he took it for.

Before responding, he looked at Monoka side long who stared out at the ocean blankly as if she were just staring at a wall. He thought about it, and realized it would be for the best, for Hibo and for Monoka. Lord knows how many times she had been beat up bad after defending her brother's life. Therefore, hers was at stake too.

"Okay." Bo, now, was the one looking out at the sea, seeing where Monoka would soon be traveling. Monoka then looked at him surprised. "I don't know if you were asking for my praise or just informing me of your decision, but whatever it is, I'm okay with it. You're right, you would be safer somewhere else. Hibo too." Now, they did look into each others eyes as if continuing their conversation wordlessly.

"You know, I'm still not sure if we should leave so soon. I mean, we don't even know where we could go. We'd be a lot more vulnerable out in the middle of the ocean with no where to go if anyone bad showed up." Bo agreed, and they started to talk about arrangements for a boat and a place to go. However, they easily got side tracked, and started to talk with the depth only found in the strongest of friendships. They sat like that for hours, Bo ignoring the fact that he should be working, and Monoka forgetting her promise to Hibo yet again.

"Yeah, we did all these cools things, like use swords and other props and stuff but these swords were real!" Hibo was standing on top of the kitchen table in the Going Merry providing a great show for the rest. He was a born entertainer anyways. Hibo was explaining all the things that happened in the circus. The acts, the crowds, the people, the food (which was attracting Luffy greatly).

"Real swords huh?" By the word 'swords' Zoro got interested in what the kid was saying.

"Yeah, three kinds, fighting, juggling, and swallowing. Monoka used to do all of them." By the first sound of her name, the whole crew started to think about her attitude.

"I figured she had used a sword before by the way she used mine. Only, there was one strange thing I noticed about the guys she fended off—" Zoro's words were suddenly cut off by Luffy and his stomach.

"Go back to the food!" Luffy was drooling after hearing about sweet popcorn, cotton candy and chocolate. Zoro stared at him in anger for interrupting him, but ignored it and just scowled at Luffy to himself.

"Wait a minute, juggling and swallowing swords? How can she do that?" Usopp was fascinated by the things Hibo was telling him. The circus sounded like a fun place and he wished he could go someday.

"By practice and lots of it. I remember Monoka practicing when we she was just learning, she was perfectly fine with the juggling because she already knew how to do it, but the swallowing, oh man! She was so afraid she would cut herself, but she learned on the dull blade swords and she was fine." Hibo's face brightened. He jumped off of the table and turned to speak. "I can show you our equipment!" Hibo darted toward the door but was stopped by Sanji.

"Whoa, hey there little man, what are you talking about?"

"The things we used in show. They were the only ones that made it. I'll go get them!" Before Sanji or anyone else could ask about the "only ones that made it" statement, Hibo had slipped out like butter and was already running back toward the warehouse. They all looked at each other slightly confused, but still waited for his return.

As Hibo got closer to the warehouse he already could tell that Monoka was still with Bo. He knew he had a solid couple of hours since she and Bo could talk for hours on end. Hibo got inside and grabbed the trunk that basically held anything and everything they owned and held dear. Dragging it out, he pulled it all the way back to the ship.

"Wow, look at this stuff." Luffy was gazing at the trunk he helped get inside the ship as Hibo was searching through it. Everyone was waiting for what he was to pull out.

"Here it is." Slowly, Hibo tried to pick up a sword and sheath that was trapped under some other things but he was having trouble. Quickly, Zoro grabbed the sword out of his hands and unsheathed it. Hibo looked up and everyone else was staring at Zoro's expression as he looked at the sword.

"Something up Zoro?"

"This is a great sword. Is it hers?" Zoro briefly looked away from the shine on the blade to look down at Hibo, referring to Monoka.

"Yeah, but she hasn't touched it in a while. It used to be our grandfather's and he gave it to her when she was young. I was too young to remember her training with it, but I do remember she never liked other people touching it." Hibo had a hint of anger in his voice at Zoro for just grabbing the sword out of his hands. He gave him the death glare until Zoro understood and sheathed it and gave it back. Hibo kept searching through the trunk finding old newspaper articles about the circus with pictures of his family in action. There was one that puzzled the crew. It was Monoka, all done up in a light purple leotard, and the position she was in seemed utterly impossible. She was doing a sort of hand stand except her body was not pointed straight up but bent so her feet were by her face. Her back looked so flexible that it made Usopp slightly sick to just look at it. After a while, the attention was turned away from the trunk and everyone just stood around on deck.

"It looks like the weather is getting better. We should be able to head out in about an hour or so." Nami looked out at their destination and it looked like clear skies for the most part. When she looked down, she could see Hibo had a sad look on his face. He didn't want them to leave so quickly, he was enjoying himself. Nami, seeing his sadness, decided to try and cheer him up a bit. "Hey, how about I go buy you an ice cream?" Nami bent down to Hibo's face and saw him brighten. She could see similarities between his face and his sister's. While they got off the ship Nami wondered how such a fun young boy could stay that way with a sister like Monoka. She seemed so defensive toward everyone. Anyone that messed with her little brother. She took the hostility that she saw from Monoka as the feelings of a big sister and let it go. While they walked off the board walk into town, Hibo was staring intently at the restaurant that they had breakfast at. She didn't know why exactly, but ignored it. Hibo didn't rip his eyes away till he saw two lines of cigarette smoke coming from the front. He sighed in slight happiness, and continued on.

Later

"Well Hibo, don't you think you should be getting home? It is getting late and we were supposed to head out hours ago." Nami and Hibo were sitting next to each other near the bow of the ship as everyone else was doing their own thing. Hibo looked out at the sea before answering.

"I guess." Hibo still didn't want them to leave. This was the most fun he'd had in a while. Not to say that Monoka wasn't fun, it's just that this was different than any times before.

"Come on, I'll go help you with your trunk." Nami stood up but Hibo was quick to follow.

"Oh no, I can get it myself…" Hibo took a pause to yawn really big. It was that time of the day where he usually took a nap.

"Getting tired are you?" Nami chuckled and walked down into the lower part of the ship to her room for a bit before leaving again to say goodbye to Hibo. When she walked in, she laid down on her bed for a second when a yawn came over her. 'Hm,' she thought, 'It looks like Hibo is rubbing off on me.' She smiled at her thought before slowly going off into a nap.

"Hey Hibo, ya leaving?" Sanji was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper again. Hibo gave a lazy nod to him as he rubbed the sleep from one of his eyes. Sanji grinned and stood up. "Could I give you a hand?"

"Oh no, I'll be fine." Just as Hibo said this, a noise came from up on the deck. Sanji's face changed.

"Luffy! What are you doing now?" Quickly, he left the kitchen and left Hibo alone. Hibo went into the men's quarters' room where they had left the trunk and started to drag it out. While he was going across the kitchen floor though, he caught sight of the closet in the back of the kitchen. Leaving his trunk for a bit, he opened it and looked inside. At first, he didn't see much, but looked up to saw a wooden box that was slightly open a couple of feet in. he noticed that it was a pantry for the food and started to smile. He caught a whiff of a smell and followed it to the wooden box. It smelled like ginger, something he loved but rarely got to eat. Pulling the trunk along with him, he let out another yawn and stood up onto the trunk and grabbed the box. Bringing it down, he looked inside and saw some of the ginger he knew he smelt. Smiling, he took some and put it on his tongue. Slowly, as he enjoyed the taste, he started to nod off. Then, the box fell from his grip colliding with the floor. No one heard it though, because they were all on the upper deck. Soon enough, Hibo was sound asleep in the center of the pantry to no one's knowledge.

"Well the next time you want to catch a fish with your bare hands Luffy, make sure it's not attached to another fisher's line!" Sanji, Luffy and Usopp walked down into the kitchen and sat at the tables.

"Did Hibo leave?"

"His trunk is gone. I didn't see him though. Jeez, that kid is some kinda monkey magician hybrid with the things he's done."

"Yeah, he reminds me of my crew back home." Usopp took a cookie from out of the center of the table and ate it.

"Hey guys, did Hibo already leave?" Nami came into doorway looking like she just woke up. She came and sat down next to Sanji.

"Yeah, you must have missed him."

"Shoot, I wanted to say good bye."

"You know what I want? Food!" Luffy stood up quickly and started for the pantry where he knew he could find loafs of bread. However, before he could get to the knob, it was shut in his face by Sanji.

"Sorry Luff, no eating till we head out. I told you I don't like wasting too much food in the place I got it from."

"Man, can't we head out then?"

"We should, we should have hours ago actually." Nami stood up and walked to the deck with the others in tow.

"Wake Zoro up! We're heading out!" Nami looked to the blue skies with promise and knew for sure they should be fine. Then, Zoro came into her vision from the upper deck after waking up. "Hey, did you see Hibo leave?"

"Who? Oh, yeah, him… uh… yeah, I did." Zoro's answer was actually from his own dream. But he was too tired to be able to tell the difference from truth and imaginary.

"Okay, let's shove off then!"

--

Shade- Number three.