Author's Note: Heads up, this chapter has a whole lot of stuff going on in it!

This story is dedicated flarey phoenix. I'm sorry about what happened.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue

Chapter Two: Breaking Point

Upon seeing it, Hoshi almost gagged. This number… it was the symbol of everything she had ever hated, all the people who had ever hurt her, and it was back. She looked over the ocean. Why? she thought. Her eyes darkened, and she scowled. Why did it come back?!

Several days ago, she would have drowned and died, had Zoro not saved her. Before he had reached her though, the darkness and cold of the ocean had seemed to seep into her very soul, unlocking the small box that she had carefully compressed all of her bad memories into. Now it was open again, and though the memories were being caught and being stuffed back into the box one by one, her nightmares had started up again. She used to have these every night before she had come onto this ship. Hoshi knew she could blame her near-death experience for unlocking the box, but that didn't explain why her tattoo was back. She gripped her shoulder in a death grip, willing the tattoo to have disappeared, and for it to have been a figment of her imagination…

She peeked under her shirt again. It was still there.

Rage boiled inside of her, so she pulled out her wings and jumped off the rigging into the air. She flapped furiously and hard in circles around the ship, trying to work off the stress.

The most frustrating part was no matter how hard or fast she flew, she couldn't get away from herself.

Zoro watched her fly around through narrowed eyes. Shielding his eyes against the sun, he could make out a pained expression on her face when she flew over his side of the ship. He started to feel uneasy about something he couldn't quite put his finger on… but when he glanced at the oncoming island, he felt even more unsettled.

Hoshi flew ahead and circled the island. At one point, she suddenly recognized the island, and almost dropped out of the air with her discovery. Somehow, she lurched back to the ship and touched down. She pulled in her wings, but suddenly lost her balance. Her knees hit the deck with a loud thunk.

Zoro peered at her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She looked up at him and pasted a smile on her face. "Yes, I'm fine!" she said cheerfully, before walking off to the girl's sleeping room. Her head felt light, and she needed to lie down for a second. She knew she couldn't keep up the happy act for too much longer… and the others already suspected that something was wrong. Hoshi clenched her teeth. They couldn't become a part of this, it had nothing to do with them!

On the way, Nami burst out of the map room.

"Everyone! I just found out what island this is!" The carrot-headed navigator wove around a map. "It's an island called Kobaruto Island!" Hoshi froze, mid-step.

"YOSHA!!" Luffy yelled, jumping onto the figurehead as everyone gathered around. "WE'RE GOING TO KOBARUTO ISLAND!"

"AYE!" they responded. Hoshi stood there like a statue, sweat forming on her face.

"Oi, Hoshi, what's wrong?" Luffy asked. "Aren't you excited? It's a new island!"

Hoshi turned, her mask of a smile pasted back onto her face. "Yeah… um, I'm not feeling too good. I'm going to go lie down for a couple minutes." Without another word, she disappeared into the girl's cabin and closed the door behind her.

"This is weird," Usopp frowned. "Hoshi's been acting strange all morning… does anyone know what's wrong?"

No one really wanted to answer that question. Sakura followed Hoshi into the girl's cabin. The crew watched her go with an impending sense of dread…

When Sakura entered the room, Hoshi had collapsed onto her futon without even taking her shoes off. "Neh, Kaizoku-neechan," Sakura said, poking Hoshi. "What's wrong? You've been acting weird."

Hoshi mumbled something into her pillow.

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"Go away, damn brat."

Sakura made a face. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong."

"Leave me alone. I need some time to think."

Sakura pouted. "Kaizoku-neechan, what's bothering you so much? You can tell me!"

"I will not."

"Neechan, come on, te-"

Hoshi snapped. She raised herself up onto her elbows and threw a pillow into Sakura's face. "You're annoying," she said, icicles dripping off her voice. "Get out." She locked her crystallized eyes onto Sakura's in a cold stare.

Almost in tears, Sakura managed to unfreeze herself and she stumbled out the door, her face slightly red from the force which the pillow had been thrown and clutching her nose. Suddenly, she turned and shouted, "You're so mean! I just wanted to know what's wrong! But now, I don't care! You can just die and go to hell!" Then she slammed the door behind her.

Hoshi stared at the wall as the door slammed, her eyes dead to the world. "'I can die and go to hell'… huh?" she whispered. She chuckled darkly. "It's been a while since I've heard that line." She dug her nails into her shoulder so hard, it bled. "Sometimes I wish I could do that."

Putting her head down, she miserably came to a decision. It was one that only added to all her pain, but she knew it was what she had to do. She wouldn't be able to live with herself otherwise, and the most valuable lesson that life had taught her was if you couldn't live with yourself, there was no point to living at all. Kobaruto Island… she knew if the Straw Hats landed there, they'd be drawn into everything she didn't want them to be… unless she wasn't there with them.

When Sakura stumbled out of the cabin, everyone thought that something really was wrong when they saw her clutching her nose and wiping her eyes. That was confirmed when Sakura turned and yelled that Hoshi could just die and go to hell before slamming the door.

"Oi, what happened?!" Chopper shouted. Running over to Sakura, he looked at her nose. "Your nose is skinned! Here…" He put on some antiseptic and a band-aid. "Feel better?"

"Y-yes," Sakura tearfully said, wiping her eyes. "Thanks Chopper-san."

"What happened in there?!" Nami asked.

"K-kaizoku-neechan… she got r-really mad at me…" Sakura stuttered.

"What did she do to you?" Usopp asked.

"She t-threw a pillow at me and g-glared at me…"

"Hoshi did that?!"

Sakura nodded tearfully. "I… I just wanted to know what was wrong…"

Luffy's eyes were hidden under his hat. Suddenly, he barged into the girl's room and picked up Hoshi off her futon by the neck of her shirt. "What's the meaning of this?" he demanded. "Why'd you make a little girl cry?!"

Hoshi's eyes were completely different. Instead of being their light aqua, they were a malevolent blue he had never seen before. "She was annoying, asking me what was wrong when I just needed some peace," she drawled.

"That's no excuse! She was just worried about you, like the rest of us!"

Hoshi laughed… a dark laugh that sent chills down everyone's backs. "Isn't it?"

Luffy shook Hoshi. "Hoshi! What's the matter with you?! Snap out of it!"

Hoshi yanked Luffy's hand off her shirt. "'Hoshi'?" she asked cynically. "Who's that?" Her eyes hardened. "I'm fed up with this pathetic ship," she announced loudly, walking out of the girl's cabin. "I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back."

Everyone stared at her in shock. "What the hell are you talking about Hoshi?!" Nami demanded.

"That's not my name!" Hoshi yelled. "It's just some stupid word you guys decided to call me by."

Into the stunned silence, Hoshi smiled and said, "Thanks for taking me on, but I'm leaving now." A shadow darkened her face. "Don't ever expect to see me again." She started walking towards the figurehead.

Zoro watched her go, a strange feeling growing in his chest…

"Man, I sure picked one hell of a ship to be on!"

"LUFFY YOU MORON! WHY'D YOU SPIT FOOD ALL OVER ME?!"

Memories of Hoshi singing and playing her flute, an expression of radiant joy coming over her face as she did…

Hoshi chopping off the head of a Sea King…

Hoshi crying in happiness the night she had been accepted into the crew with her new name…

Hoshi flying in the sky, wings outstretched and whooping in glee…

Hoshi smiling, laughing, yelling, crying…

"Thank you."

He couldn't take it, letting her leave like this. He ran and grabbed her shoulder. "Hoshi! Do you realize what you're saying?!"

Hoshi yanked on her shirt, but Zoro held on. "I know exactly what I'm saying. Let me go!"

Zoro tightened his grip. "I'm not letting you!"

"Let me go!!" Hoshi pulled harder… and suddenly, the sleeve ripped, the embroidered stars coming off in Zoro's hand. She cried out and covered her now-exposed shoulder, but it was too late, Zoro had already seen it. She could tell by the look on his face.

Her face drained. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you all!" She jumped onto Merry's figurehead and into the air, pulling out her wings, still clutching her shoulder. She flew towards the island at full speed before disappearing behind a cloud.

There was a moment of shocked silence, before Nami fell to her knees. "It… it can't be…"

That was the general atmosphere, disbelief. Hoshi… was gone.

"Of all things possible in this world, I must admit that even I did not expect to see you return here of your own will. What is your motive?"

"I'd like to burn this place to the ground, just for starters."

"Oh, but that would cause problems for both you and I now, wouldn't it?"

"It'd be a big relief to me, knowing this place was nothing but a pile of dust though. That sort of thought makes me happy. It used to be my own special lullaby to myself at night when I couldn't sleep."

"Tut tut, you have become quite violent during your years of absence."

"Yeah, living with damn people who want to put me into cages trying to catch me all the time can change a person. If you all are really all you're cracked up to be, why doesn't your research tell you that?"

"Unfortunately, our research does not include the psychology of the specimens, just their physical characteristics, as you very well know."

"That's something I think I was much too familiar with during my time here. Maybe that's a branch you can open up into."

"Enough with the small talk. Why have you returned to this place? I would have thought you wanted to stay away from this… what was it you used to describe this place before you left? 'A living hellhole' I belie-"

"Just shut the hell up and listen to what I'm going to say, 'cause I'm not repeating this again..."

Zoro was reeling in shock… but not about Hoshi leaving. It was the thing on her shoulder that he had seen. It connected perfectly with Hoshi's strange behavior, and her sudden departure from the crew…

Usopp trembled, then suddenly broke. "HOSHI, YOU BITCH!" he sobbed. "WHY'D Y-"

"DON'T CALL HER A BITCH!" Zoro roared. Everyone stared at him. He clenched Hoshi's sleeve in one fist and continued. "When her sleeve ripped… I saw something on her shoulder that she hadn't wanted anyone else to see. What did she call herself when she first came on the ship again?"

"She said her name was Experiment 413," Robin stated.

"On her shoulder… there was a tattoo of the numbers 413." Into the following silence, he asked, "What do we know about this island?" Zoro pointed to Kobaruto Island, still only about as big as his fist on the horizon.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Nami demanded.

"Just answer the question!"

As if in a daze, Nami went inside and looked up something in a book. Dully, she read aloud. "'Kobaruto Island: An island with two friendly towns and a forest. It is a very small island which specializes in… advancement of science.'" Nami furrowed her brow and continued reading, with more life. "'There have been unconfirmed reports about a laboratory hidden in the forest, though the purpose and motives of such a place are unknown, or if it even exists at all.. There are also rumors of strange creatures roaming the forests at night, neither human nor beast, but somewhere in between. On another hand, Kobaruto Island also specializes in human anatomy, making them the greatest doctors on the Grand Line, second only to the Drum Kingdom.' That's all it says."

"So we know more about the island. What does that have to do with this?" Usopp demanded. There was a lull as everyone thought it over…

Realization struck almost simultaneously.

Nami was the first to speak. "You guys don't think… this island could possibly be…?"

Zoro scowled. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too."

Sakura tugged on Luffy's pants. "Neh, what's going on?"

Luffy didn't answer. His eyes were hidden under the brim of his hat. "This island… was the place Hoshi never ever wanted to see again," he said grimly. He went and sat on Merry's figurehead. "We need to find her and bring her back. I don't give a damn about what her past was like… I want my musician to come back where she belongs. Who's with me?!"

"AYE!" the whole crew responded.

"This is quite an exceptional offer. How will I know that you will keep your end of the deal?"

"What, you don't trust me?"

"I'm afraid not, not after the havoc you wrecked last time."

"…Here then, I'll give you this."

"And what significance does this pretty little trinket have, may I ask?"

"It was a gift… from the mayor in the first town I hid out in."

"Ah, I see. Precious indeed… very well then, I accept your conditions 413. You will return to your accommodated space. We will send for you when it is time."

"Whatever. I'm saying YOU'D better keep your end of the deal, or you're going to have hell to pay."

"413, are you questioning my word?"

"Yes."

"You've developed some guts. I'm impressed. Don't worry, even I have heard of your so-called captain. He is making quite a name for himself in the world, and I am not unaware of the strength of his nakama either. I have no wish to make enemies with such a man."

"In the normal scheme of things, he would have already considered you his enemy if I was not here."

"I am a lucky man then. I suppose you still remember the way to your accommodations? We have changed our facilities very little."

"Yes, most unfortunately, I still remember every damned inch of this place."

"Very well then. You are dismissed."

Hoshi listened as her feet tapped out a steady rhythm against the tiled floor of the dimly lit hallway. Turning a corner, she opened a door. The room was small, made of nothing but concrete, with nothing but a cot and a bare light bulb overhead. Pulling a string, she made the bulb flicker to uncertain life. Looking around the concrete room, she sighed.

Home, sweet home, she thought bitterly.