Shade- Time for chapter number 7

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Chapter 7: Settling Down

Monoka stamped her way down the hall into the guest room where Hibo had been told to stay in until otherwise noted. She sat down in the chair that she had been sitting in when all of this started and huffed loudly in anger and really caught Hibo's attention from his seat on the bed. He stared back in confusion and could easily tell she was not in a mood to talk. So, he just let her sit and let off steam and when she was ready she would make it known. Turning back to his original seating, he grabbed his juggling rings and continued to throw them into the air and practice.

"You guys?" Chopper stood there still confused. Monoka had walked passed him angry and now no one was talking, just looking at each other and trying to catch their breathes.

"She is getting off at the next island. I don't care what island it is, but the next lump of land we see is her new home!" Nami was still fuming after yelling at Monoka and almost getting into a full fledged fight with her. If it weren't for Sanji she would have mangled—

"What about Hibo?" Luffy stood in front of the doorway down to the rest of the ship still worried about what had happened. He was facing the back of the ship and could see the island that they were just at getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

"Well, I guess Hibo has to deal with his sister's idiocy with ruining every place she goes. It's not like we can split them up. Jeez, that bitch scratched my legs! If she's gonna have anymore outbursts like that I should just throw her overboard!"

"You do know that you were the one that started that."

"You want to start something Zoro?" Nami crept up into his face and stared him down. He didn't flinch and just looked down at her.

"Nope. Just stating the obvious. If you didn't do what you did we wouldn't be here." With that, he walked off up the stairs to the upper deck to take a nap and try to get away from all of the drama. Nami huffed, and stormed off to her room as did the others in repetition.

After several hours (and no breakfast) the crew of the Going Merry and their guests weren't getting along any more than they had just that morning. Monoka had wordlessly refused to come out of the room and Nami would yell at anyone who she heard stop at her door.

To Nami's dismay, as well, the nearest island was three days away. Lucky for them, however, they had just enough supplies to last them. Their stop at Kilmer Island was just because of the storm. She had yet to inform Monoka and Hibo that they would be let off there.

It was lunch time and the smell of smoked salmon could be smelt throughout the whole ship from the galley down wind to the stern. Sanji knew it was just dew time till Nami and Monoka would leave their rooms for lunch so he was hoping that they could be civil and not bite each others heads off. However, Monoka did seem to be more collected at the end of the fight. It seemed to him that she didn't want to be fighting with Nami. Thinking still as he stirred the sauce continuously he wondered what had happened to Monoka that night before and what 'burned his fucking face off' exactly meant. While still in thought, Luffy entered the kitchen just as happy as he ever was and prompted Sanji to wonder if he at all remembered what had happened earlier.

"Hi Sanji! What's for lunch?" Luffy sat down and stared at the fish that was on the stove and grabbed his fork waiting to be served.

"Smoked salmon Luffy," he said in response.

"YUM." He smiled and licked his lips before jamming his fork into one fish and lifting it in the air to put in his ever-stretching mouth. While he downed the first one, Usopp and Zoro walked into the room in line and sat down for lunch. They ate in silence under the noises of a hungry Luffy and stopped instantly when Nami came through the door. She met no one's eyes, sat down and just waited for her food to be served.

"Here you are Nami-swan." Sanji's tone was more defensive as if he were walking on egg shells. She nodded a thank you and ate silently under the watchful eyes of the rest of the crew, all except Luffy.

Several minutes past with no one talking and Nami didn't even have her eyes open anymore. She was just sitting and eating waiting till she was finished with her lunch so she could get back to her room. However, she couldn't eat fast enough. The creak of the door was noticed by everyone since nothing was being said, and every eye turned to look at Monoka. Her face showed no emotion. Hibo stood in front of her; she had a hand draped over his shoulder, holding him back from running to get a seat. As the others continued to stare at her, she spoke.

"Hibo is hungry." With that, she removed her hand which told Hibo that he could move forward to eat. She shifted to the left and leaned against the wall. Sanji turned from where he had grabbed some food for Hibo and looked at Monoka.

"Are you going to eat?" He set the plate down with out even looking and Hibo dove into it happily. She didn't shift her gaze from the little notch on the wall she had seen when first walking in and answered a simple "No."

Sanji shrugged and sat down. Monoka could easily tell that they were looking at her. Not the whole time but small intervals, probably wondering why she was just standing there.

"Yum! I want some more!" Hibo put is spotless plate up in the air wanting more of the salmon. Sanji smirked a little and started to get up, but he was stopped.

"No Hibo, you've had enough. Don't eat any more than your share, it's not our food." Monoka finally stood up straight after leaning against the wall the whole time and she stepped toward Hibo to retrieve him and take him back to the room.

"It's okay, he can have some more, I have enough. Besides, Luffy eats enough shares for all of us." Sanji stuck a thumb toward Luffy who looked like a big rubber ball now after many fish.

"No, come on Hibo." Monoka stuck her hand out waiting for Hibo to take it. He stared for a few seconds thinking maybe she would change her mind but gave up and took it. They walked out in silence.

"That was rude."

The crew took their gaze from the empty doorway to Nami who had spoken for the first time finally. She still had not looked up from her plate.

"What?"

"Not letting Hibo eat more." There was a monotonous tone in her voice as she stuck another bite of fish into her mouth, still not looking up. Everyone one just looked at each other with confused looks and shrugged, letting the issue go.

Several hours had past and Monoka and Hibo had yet to leave the room. Nami had stayed out, making sure they were headed the correct way and watching for any bad weather. Everyone was in their usual settings; Sanji was still in the kitchen, Usopp in the Crow's Nest, Zoro sleeping, Chopper in his room, and Luffy on the figurehead of the ship. Everything seemed normal, just like any other day. But then they heard a door open.

Out into the light came Monoka and Hibo. He looked excited and she looked on guard. He was smiling as he looked out at the endless sea, no land in sight. Monoka figured that it had still yet to sink into Hibo that they would never be going back to live at their home on Furberia Island again. However, she knew he would soon realize it all and get used to the idea. He may only be six but he was better grounded than most people she had met.

Once everyone had stopped staring at them and turned back to their business, she let Hibo out of her grip and he took a few steps forward, still admiring the ship.

"Stay near the center of the deck and do not try and look over the railing. And be careful with these things," Monoka said while pointing to the rings in his hands, "if they get out of control let them go, don't go chasing for them all over the ship." Monoka stood up normal again and crossed her arms. As long as they were on this ship she would have her guard on like the overprotective sister she was.

"Oh come on Monoka! I can control these things like they were part of my body." Hibo then started to juggle the three rings in his hands with total ease. She looked down at him with a flat face not liking his attitude. He was still juggling all smiles when the others started to look at him and see what he was doing.

Next, he threw one of the rings higher up then he was doing before and jumped forward and landed in a one handed hand stand. He continued to juggle two of the rings with one hand as the other he had thrown higher landed around his leg. He was still all smiles but Monoka didn't seem to be all amused. That didn't go for everyone else, however.

"Wow! That's really cool Hibo!" Luffy had turned around and seen his entire little juggling act. He started to clap as did Nami. She actually had some sort of a smile on her face as she watched. Clapping could be heard above and everyone looked at Usopp.

"That is cool Hibo! Your juggling reminds me of a time when I was out at sea! I had been captured and my only way of surviving was to juggle fifteen flaming knives with one hand!" Usopp started to go off into one of his trademark lies and everyone started to zone him out on instinct.

"Thank you! Monoka taught me how to juggle! Show 'em Mo!" Hibo had been in a hand stand the whole time and was trying to get out of it but his one hand landed on a ring he had set down and he started to fall. Without even a grunt, Hibo was several more feet in the air dangling by the grip of his sister's hand around his ankle. He looked at her upside down and nervously laughed and rubbed his head. She just shook her head and turned him around to set him back down on his feet.

"No, I don't feel like it."

"Aw, come on! You're a ton better than me! Here, I'll go get the knives!"

"You do NOT touch the knives." Monoka grabbed the back of Hibo's shirt as he had started to run off for the room. He huffed, and gave up. "Now, stay under control please and don't go off all hyper. I don't want you falling over." Monoka was going to say more but she was cut off by a particularly loud snore. She stopped and looked toward the sound as did Hibo. Raising an eyebrow, she saw the swordsman laying against the side of the ship sleeping.

"How can he sleep sitting up like that?" Monoka had never been able to do that herself. The one time she tried she got a neck ache from her head nodding over.

"Oh, Zoro can do anything! He's our first mate! He's supposed to be good at everything!" Luffy laughed a bit and turned back to look out at the sea.

Monoka kept her eyes on the swordsman as he slept. She saw three swords at his side just like she had seen the first day they crossed paths. She'd never seen someone use three swords before and she wasn't quite sure how it would work. She recalled seeing one of them in his mouth the first day they encountered the pirates.

"He can also do what you did Hibo, those hand stand thingies."

"Really?"

"Yep, he does 'em like this." Luffy then jumped from the figurehead onto the deck with his hands pressed firmly on the wood. Quickly, for he was losing his balance, he started to do pushups. However, he only got three out before he fell over onto his back laughing. Hibo joined him in laughter.

"Hey! That's just like—"

"Hibo."

He stopped his voice quickly after noticing what he was saying. He looked up at Monoka and mouthed the word 'sorry' and shrugged.

"Just like what?" Luffy looked at the two in their little staring contest of sorts and wondered what was going on.

"Just like…" Hibo was racking his brain to say something and blurted out, "Monoka. She used to do them."

"Not anymore though, come on Hibo, let's go back inside." Monoka started to turn around to head back inside but was stopped.

"Aw, Monoka, I want to stay in the sun. It's warm." Hibo gave a pouty face which he knew would catch Monoka every time. She stared down at him and tapped her foot. After several seconds of that, she sighed and slumped her shoulders down.

"Fine. But if you leave my sight, we're going back inside." Monoka sighed one more time as Hibo jumped up in happiness. She walked to the bow of the ship and sat facing the rest of the ship, watching Hibo's moves.

For a while now, Hibo had been non stop energy and was doing cartwheels and flips out on the front of the ship. Luffy still sat above Monoka and would clap every time Hibo did something interesting. Several times, Hibo had tried to coax Monoka into joining him but she never would. She just sat where she was and watched him. Luffy, had also tried to get Monoka to get up and do stuff but that still was not enough.

"You're too serious Monoka, you gotta have fun!" Luffy was cart wheeling around the deck along with Hibo laughing every time he would fall on his back. Monoka diverted her eyes for only several seconds to look up into the sky and let the rays of the sun hit her face. Quickly after that, however, a voice filled her head.

"Why are you such a hard head?" It was Nami.

"Excuse me?" Monoka tilted her head to look at Nami who was standing over her looking at Luffy and Hibo.

"You're no fun. You have Hibo in a little box and you won't let him live."

"You have it backwards, I act the way I do around him because it'll keep him alive."

"You can't anticipate your little brother's death every day, that's a little morbid."

"I do what I have to do to keep him safe."

The conversation that they were having had no emotion tied to their words, them both still having a little ill will toward each other after their fight. There was a short pause between the two and Hibo and Luffy could be heard comparing their eating abilities. Then, the talking continued.

"We're letting you off at the next island. It's three days away. I certainly hope you don't screw it all up somehow." Nami took that moment to leave since it would have her on the upper. However, that was spoiled when Monoka talked.

"Actually, there was an island I would like to be let off at. There is business there that I would like to attend to." This made Nami stop. She turned around and looked down at Monoka who wasn't looking at her.

"What's this island called? Where is it?"

"Liekki Island. You're map showed it a couple months out."

"Months? No, no, no. You are not gonna be on our ship for another week let alone a couple months. We're not gonna go out of our way just so you can go where you want."

"It's not out of your way. In fact, you pass within a few simple miles of the island. Or, at least that's what your map showed."

"Too bad, it's not happening." With that, Nami turned and walked inside the ship, checking for this 'Liekki Island' that Monoka wanted to go to. Monoka, however, just sat there, smiling to herself.

A while later, it was now dinner and everyone was crowded around the table getting ready to be served. Even Monoka was standing in her usual spot right behind Hibo.

"Here, Monoka, why don't you take a seat next to Hibo, huh?" Sanji had a chair in his hand and put it next to Hibo around the table. He looked her straight in the eyes but she was staring down at the chair, contemplating whether or not to sit down.

"Come on Mo!" Hibo was eating a bowl of fruit before dinner was served and tried to get his sister to sit down for once. She sighed, and went to take the seat. Sanji smiled at her but she just ignored him and focused her gaze on a pan that was hanging from the ceiling across from her.

"Okay, so for dinner tonight we have—"

"Why Liekki Island?"

Nami quickly interrupted Sanji and was glaring at Monoka who still didn't move her eyes, she simply just closed them and took a deep breath. Everyone looked at Nami confused at what she was talking about and waited for Monoka to speak.

"Personal reasons," was all Monoka said.

"That doesn't tell me much."

"That's the point."

With Monoka's slightly harsh tone, the others were afraid that they would try to bite each others heads off again. Their bodies tensed, getting ready to pounce on one of them if need be.

"It's so small, it took me a while to even find it. I had to use a magnifying glass just to see it."

"So did I."

"It's probably uninhabited."

"Almost."

With Monoka's answer, Nami raised her eyebrow in confusion. The conversation had been the same distant, emotionless one they had earlier outside. Getting tired of waiting, and fearing his food to get cold, Sanji started to serve it. He gave Nami and Monoka theirs first since they were the females but they both just ignored it. While they spoke the others were still paying attention even as their food was being served. Luffy and Hibo were the only ones who dug into their food like monsters.

"Have you been to this island before?" Nami leaned forward looking intently at Monoka who still had yet to open her eyes again.

"Nope."

No one could tell, but Monoka was bobbing her foot up and down under the table trying to suppress her annoyance with Nami's constant bugging. Her arms were crossed defensively waiting for her to stop asking questions and just eat her dinner.

"We're still not letting you off there." Nami moved back into her chair more comfortably, finally giving up on getting any information on this island. She would have to do her own research. A quiet finally washed over the room as the talking had stopped between the two headstrong girls and everyone just ate in silence. However, that all stopped when the captain realized his surroundings.

"What's going on?" Luffy spoke through the food in his mouth and looked around the table.

"Weren't you listening Luffy?" Sanji couldn't understand how Luffy couldn't at least comprehend what was going unwillingly into his ears while the girls had talked.

"His eating probably droned their voices out." Zoro paused while he ate to speak and then took a swig of his grog and continued with his meal.

"There is an island I want Hibo and I to be let off at, it's called Liekki Island and—"

"It's three months away." Nami finished Monoka's sentence, making sure Luffy didn't make any stupid, irrational decisions. A pause went through the whole crew and everyone stopped eating as they looked at Luffy. He stared at Nami then switched it over to Hibo and finally Monoka. Now, Monoka had met his gaze as well and just looked at him, waiting for something to happen. Finally, he looked forward and opened his mouth.

"Okay."

"WHAT?! Why?!" Nami stood up quickly and slammed her hands down on the table and stared daggers at Luffy. Monoka smirked at how easy this had gone down.

"Well if that's where they want to go—"

"Who gives a shit where they want to go! It's three months Luffy!"

"Watch your mouth in front of my brother!" Monoka stood up and looked across the table at Nami. She had grabbed for Hibo off of his seat after he instinctively put his hands over his ears after hearing a bad word. She then glared at Nami, shaking at her rudeness. Now, Luffy was the one who stood up.

"Hibo and Monoka are guests on this ship. As the captain, I say they STAY and we take them where they want to go!" With that, he plopped back down in his seat and continued to eat.

Nami was stunned. She stood shocked in her place staring at Luffy. 'There's no way I can survive three months with this girl!' She looked around the room at everyone else and they just shrugged at her. Her mouth hung open, and she turned around and left.

"Nami!" Sanji stood up and watched Nami walk out. He didn't move to go after her however. Sitting back down, he sighed.

"Your navigator's somewhat of a hot head isn't she?" Monoka had sat back down as well and continued to eat her food. She wasn't fazed with Nami's antics. She'd dealt with similar girls before.

"I guess she's a little turned around at the situation. Don't blame yourself, you haven't done anything wrong." Sanji stood up to clean his dish.

"I don't." Monoka followed suite as she bussed her and Hibo's plate and placed them in the sink. "Thank you for dinner, Hibo and I both enjoyed it. Come on Hibo, let's get you ready for bed."

"Hold on." Monoka stopped quickly. She wasn't expecting to be talked to again, nor was she expecting it from the swordsman.

"Yes?" She turned around and looked at the green haired man. All of a sudden, a question plagued her mind about his hair…

"What exactly happened between you and that guy back at the island? When did you even see him?" With the questions, everyone else in the room looked at Monoka and remembered her yelling the line about burning faces off. She stopped, looking at him slightly surprised at the questions. She looked down at Hibo and told him to go off to his room. Once he did, she turned to the room full of men and crossed her arms. Glancing back at the door Hibo left through as it began to close once more, she began.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to check the town out. Walking around, I was fortunate enough to be stopped by a drunken man. To tell the truth, I tried to get out of it, I tried to hold my cool, but he went too far." Monoka paused when she realized just what she was revealing, and to whom. People who she barely knew. So, she tried to wrap it up. "So, I pulled out my lighter, grabbed his bottle full of liquor, took a swig, spat it out and burned his face. It was rather invigorating."

With her explanation, she left wide eyes and open mouths all around the table. She chuckled a little before hearing something outside the door.

"Monoka!" Bursting in, Hibo had his fists on his hips and he was glaring up at Monoka, disappointed in her.

"Sorry Hibo, it was spring of the moment and the alcohol was there." Monoka tried to explain herself to her little brother while the rest of the crew didn't know exactly what they were talking about.

"Wait a minute, what's wrong between you two?"

"Alcohol is very dangerous when breathing fire! You NEVER use it!"

There were still slightly confused faces in the room so Monoka decided to explain.

"Alcohol is very explosive. When breathing fire, which is what I did, it's better to use paraffin. It has a higher flash point."

"What's a flash—"

"Don't ask. Come on Hibo, time for bed." Monoka ignored Luffy's question and quickly shuffled Hibo out of the room.

Again, as the galley filled with silence, the others were still speechless at everything that just happened. Nami is mad again, these two are staying with them for three months, and they just heard how Monoka could burn a man's face off and not really care all that much. It's going to be an interesting couple of months.

As dinner had finished and everyone was standing up to leave either for outside or for their beds, the door could be heard opening once again. Everyone turned around and wondered who it was. It was Monoka.

"Luffy?" She was just peeking in, showing that whatever she wanted to say it wasn't going to take long. He looked up and met with her gray eyes. "Thank you for letting Hibo and I stay on your ship. It is greatly appreciated." Monoka lingered a few more seconds, waiting for a response, and got a delayed and broad smile from Luffy. He gave his signature giggle and said "Of course!" He laughed one more time which actually brought out a small smile from Monoka herself. She glanced inside to the rest of the crew; Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, and Chopper, and nodded before disappearing inside the hallway to go get Hibo ready for bed.

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Shade- That was chapter 7 for all of you. I hope you enjoyed and please review if you did!