Heyoo~ I'm sorry for the LONG wait… I've been REALLY busy since break has started and just now got some free time .

Okay so first, UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS, that's actually a really good idea! :D I like it! :O And will actually use it! :D Might be in a while since I actually thought of something before I saw your comment… but I will! Lol, thank you~

Okay, so now here's the next chap ^^

Chapter 23:

"Luffy!" Nami called out to the captain in annoyance. "Stop trying to get fish from the ocean by your arms, you're going to fall in like last time!

"Shishishishi, that's okay Nami!" Luffy assured. "If I do, Zoro will save me!"

"Sheesh, you're too careless!" The navigator sighed as she sunk into her outdoor lawn chair.

"It's no use, Nami. He'll never listen to you." Akane chuckled, getting out of the woman's quarters. She stretched her arms and yawned.

"How long have you been sleeping?!" Usopp asked from his little station. Well, his little corner where he makes little gadgets that really don't help the crew.

"Huh? Oh come on! Zoro sleeps more than me! And I don't know how long… I slept late 'cause I was thinking." The first mate shrugged.

"Thinking? You do that?" The sniper said sarcastically.

"I'm not Luffy, you know!" Akane laughed and then noticed something. "Hey, where is everyone?"

"Oh, today everyone's just doing what they do best." Nami answered. "Chopper's in his little office, reading medical books, Robin's reading some books in the library, (A/N: Idk if they rally have that… but in this story they do lol) Luffy's being an idiot as usual, Zoro's working out, Sanji-kun's cooking, Franky's building something, Brook's fixing his violin in the men's quarters, and I think Usopp's trying, but failing, to make something over there."

"Hey! Just who made your clim-a-tact?!" Usopp snapped.

"Yeah, yeah." She waved off the sniper. "And I'm…. watching the direction we're going and watching the weather."

"So, you're just lazing around." Akane smirked.

"Shut up! You-" The navigator began.

"What do you do anyway?" A new voice asked. Akane and Nami turned to see Zoro stepping down from his work out area. "Ever since I've been here, everyone's been doing their own stuff, while you just watch… Ah… well Luffy doesn't count."

"What do I do?" Akane put a finger on her chin and thought deeply. "Good question…. I…"

"She keeps the crew together!" Nami answered for the first-mate.
Zoro scoffed in return. "How? By running off and causing trouble for everyone by making us come after her?"

"Hey! I had a good reason for that! And I didn't ask you to help!" Akane snapped back.

"Tch. I wouldn't have helped you anyway, if I didn't have to. Zoro waved her off and went into his room.

"Liar!" Akane called after the swordsman.

"A-Ah, Akane!" Nami nervously looked towards the first-mate. "You do keep the crew together! I mean, if it wasn't for you we would-"

"Sheesh, Nami! Why do you keep on going back to that? I did what anyone would do that time!" Akane laughed. "You take things too seriously!" She walked off towards the kitchen.

"But no one would do that in the first place…. No one did except for you." The orange-haired girl sighed and went back to reading a newspaper.

Page break~

Zoro stepped out of the bathroom and stopped in surprise. Nami was standing in front of him, glaring daggers.

"What do you want, woman?" He pushed her aside and walked down the steps.

"Wait!" She pulled him back. "I have to tell you something!"

"Ah? You waited for me to come out of the bath so you could tell me something?" (A/N: That sounds kinda suggestive…. xD)

"Yeah! I'm telling you this, since you don't know!" The navigator crossed her arms and sighed.

"Ah? What do I not know?"
"What Akane has done for the crew!"

"…. Why the hell would I care about that?!" Zoro snapped, and was about to walk away.

"Do you know why our crew split up a few years back?" Nami demanded.

Zoro stopped and turned around. "Yeah. Cause of Paulie or whatever, right? He died or something."

Nami glared at the swordsman. "The way he said that kind of pissed me off…"

"Well do you know what happened afterwards?"

"Didn't ya'll separate for a while or something?" He questioned, yawning at the same time.

"Actually, we were supposed to separate forever." Nami stated and Zoro looked at her in surprise.

"Forever?" He repeated.
"That's right. Actually, we were all so pissed at ourselves, so angry that you wouldn't even believe it. We didn't have the strength to look at each other- especially Luffy and Akane. But, Akane…." Nami couldn't help but smile. "She did something so outrageous that we didn't want to leave! No, we actually couldn't, 'cause if we did we would've felt too guilty."

"Outrageous? What'd she do?" Zoro found himself smirking along with the navigator.

"Well I shouldn't be smiling or laughing, but remembering it…. It's nostalgic. She actually stabbed herself- a little above her heart- so that we wouldn't separate. So that we would be so worried-"

"W-Wait a minute. You said that way too normally!" Zoro couldn't believe his ears. "Sh-She stabbed herself?! That's fuckin' crazy!"

"She was crazy!" Nami agreed. "But it didwork! Poor Chopper turned to normal and was screaming 'doctor, doctor'! Usopp said 'that's you!' and then Franky picked her up in a hurry and carried her to the infirmary. We all stood there in worry for actually a whole day until the surgery was done. When it was done, Luffy and the rest of us rushed towards Chopper's office and we stayed there for a week. Sanji cooked like normal, Usopp sat in the corner of the infirmary and fiddled with gadgets, Robin read a book, Chopper checked on Akane repeatedly, Franky was fixing up another, better bed for Akane, Brook was fiddling with his violin, I was reading a newspaper, and Luffy just slept. But the whole time, we were quiet. We didn't say one word to each other that whole time."

"How the hell did THEY not talk?" Zoro wondered, sweat-dropping. "And why not just take her to the hospital?"

"After that, she woke up. And you know what she did first? She laughed at us!" Nami remembered.

"Laughed?" Zoro looked at the navigator weirdly. "Why?"

"Oi, oi! What the hell are you guys doing!? Lookin' like that! You guys stink! Looks like none of you have left this room in a while!" Akane smiled widely.

"That girl…." Zoro sighed, shaking his head.

"I know right?! We were so worried for her, since she could've died, and she was there laughing at us like nothing happened!"

"Then what?"
"Then… " Nami put a finger on her chin, trying to remember. "Oh that's right! She gave us a whole speech! I mean, including Robin and Luffy! It was pretty surprising that she could give a speech like that…"

Akane sat up on her bed and looked throughout the room. "You guys… I know what happened to Paulie was horrible. I felt so weak and I know we all did. But, just because a crewmember died, we can't quit. Paulie would've regretted being a crew like this if we quit just like that. He's probably tossing in his grave right now!" She half chuckled. "If we leave now, we won't be carrying Paulie's dreams. The only thing we can do right now is to separate." Akane heard gasps and then waved her hands. "Lemme finish! We are definitely not permanently separating! No way! We should come and see each other when we're STRONGER. So strong that we won't have to worry about anything like this happening EVER again. How about it?" She smirked.

"Actually, after that, we ALL started crying, including Luffy. We all silently agreed then and slowly left to go train."

"That's surprising." Zoro admitted. "I thought Luffy would've decided that whole separation thing."

"Yeah I know. But Luffy isn't that good when it comes to these kinds of things. He's just like a little kid." Nami smiled.

"I see." Zoro acknowledged and then went down the stairs.

"What? That's all you say? Take back what you said about Akane!" The navigator ran after the poor swordsman.

Page break!

"Oi! I see land! Land!" Luffy cheered, pointing happily. "Minna!"

"Ohhh!" Usopp's jaw dropped along with Chopper's. "Th-that's amazing!"

Everyone came out of their own rooms and their jaws dropped too, except for Robin's and Franky's. Though, Franky's eyes seemed to be sparkling. "Th-This place!" He gasped.

"What, what? You know this place Franky?" Luffy questioned, flipping his head back.

"This is Water Seven!" The shipwright finished.

"Water…. Seven….?" The captain repeated and his head tilted to the side in confusion. "So?"

"Oh! Isn't that were you were born and raised along with Iceburg and Paulie?!" Akane remembered, putting her fist onto her palm.

"EH!?" Everyone gasped, looking towards the 'cyborg.'

"Yeah, sis! I can't believe I didn't notice that we were coming here! Waaah, brings back SUPER memories!"

"How'd you remember something like that, Akane?!" Usopp wondered.

"Eh? What are you talking about? I remember everything about everyone here. Where we found you, and where you all lived. Isn't that normal?" She tilted her head in confusion- the same way Luffy does.

"I'd say that isn't quite normal." Robin chuckled.

"Is that so?"

"No. That's definitely not normal." Chopper and Usopp shook their hands and heads.

"This girl is definitely weird." Zoro noted.

"You know, if you used your brain in school like you did here, then you would've been a genius." Nami shook her head.

"Hell no! I failed a grade on purpose for Luffy! Why the hell would I go through all that trouble if I'm going to be a pirate?!" Akane disagreed.

"You failed a grade on purpose?" Zoro looked at her surprised.

"Yeah! It would be too boring without Luffy!" She laughed.

"Yohohohoho, I was quite surprised as well when you told me that!" Brook agreed. "She really is close to Luffy-san!"

"No shit." Zoro scoffed as Brook went to depression.

"Oh, we're getting closer!" Usopp pointed out. "Those waterfalls are amazing!"

"I can't believe a place like this existed…" Nami gazed throughout the island.

"NAMI-SWAN, ROBIN-CHWAN, AKANE-CHWAN~! I, who haven't gotten any talking done until now, have made some delicious snacks for you!" Sanji came dancing in.

"Tch. No wonder why I thought it was so nice and peaceful." Zoro sighed.

"Ah?! What was that marimo?!"
"You heard me, Ero-cook!"

"Shut up!" Nami hit the two on the heads in frustration.

"Ah, Nami-swan. I just came in the story and you hit me the first thing?" Sanji fell to the floor dramatically.

"Yohohoho, you're not the only one, Sanji-san." Brook said sadly.

"Mo, you guys!"

"Hey guys, can we just skip this place?" Akane suddenly asked.

"EH?! Why, sis?! That's not fair!" Franky looked at her surprised.

"Yeah, Akane! That's not cool!" Luffy agreed, raising his arm in the air.

"I don't know… I don't like the vibe this place is giving me…." She answered.

"It should be alright, Akane-san." Robin chuckled and patted the first mate's shoulder.

"Yeah, Akane! You're just too superstitious!" Usopp laughed. "A place like this couldn't be bad! Besides, it's where Franky, Paulie and Iceburg grew up!"

"Yeah! It should be nice!" Chopper agreed too.

"Well there's that Akane!" Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Here we go!"

To be continued~ Yeah, I decided Robin's lil arc. And then after that I will mix in the supernova thing… the reason why I didn't do it now is 'cause I feel like it would be too early to see Law again, you know? Lol well, until next time~ :D