"More coffee, Han-san?" Sanji asked warmly. My head suddenly jerked up from the table. I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep. It was a rather chilly morning, and I was wrapped up in a heavy wool blanket Nami had picked up during our stay in Drum Island. It was the first island I visited with them as a crew after they picked me up from my village in Karine.

"Yes please Sanji-kun." I murmured, my eyes barely open. "Extra sugar if you can. Anything to keep me awake."

"Aye aye, Han-san!" He swooned, and immediately began to brew up another pitcher of coffee.

"Rough night?" Vivi asked, as she sipped her morning tea.

"You could say so." I mumbled back.

"You're welcome to talk about it if you'd like." She replied, carefully placing the tea cup onto the table. Vivi and I had become considerably close from the moment I had joined the crew. She was kindhearted and open minded, which made it very easy to talk to her.

On nights that a wretched case of insomnia would strike the both of us, we'd sneak into the kitchen and speak of what was on our minds. She often spoke of Arabasta and how worried she was for her kingdom with the rebellion going on and all. I mainly just listened and gave her advice and reassurance that everything would be alright. It was rarely that I'd ever talk about myself. There was really nothing to talk about anyway, excluding my dilemma with Zoro, and I'd sworn to keep that a secret. Hence the reason I barely ever showed any feelings towards him, to keep everyone's radar low.

Aside from that little secret that I kept to myself, I found our late night conversations to be very cleansing for the mind, and I was glad to have her on the ship.

"Alright. Later though, when I'm not so sleepy and I actually know what I'm saying." Her eyebrows furrowed slightly with worry, and she nodded

"Okay, whatever you'd like."

I smiled then averted my attention towards the door, resting my head on my arms. I noticed someone's shadow was coming.

"Good morning Nami-swaaan!" Sanji greeted enthusiastically. Nami stepped into the kitchen.
"Good morning everyone." She replied, "I see you're enjoying that blanket I bought," She joked, and sat down beside me

"Oh, sorry. I hope you don't mind. It was a bit cold this morning." I apologized. "How did you sleep Nami-san?"

"Not so great." She grumbled "I could hear Zoro's snoring all the way from my bedroom."

"Ah…" I pondered. It didn't surprise me he was still able to sleep after our conversation. That man could lose an ear and completely forget about it after a nice nap. After we spoke, I decided I wouldn't be able to sleep, and ended up camping in the birds nest till morning.

"We're getting pretty close to Arabasta." Nami stated, as she unrolled a map onto the table. "A cup of coffee please, Sanji-kun."

"Already prepared for you, my beautiful angel!" He delicately placed a freshly poured cup of black coffee on the table in front of Nami. "And more for you, Han-san!" He skillfully tilted the kettle and somehow managed to pour me the perfect amount into my cup without spilling a drop, even as the ship was rocking back and forth. It was amazing what a magnificent chef he was.

"Thanks." I replied, and took a sip. I cringed at the coffee that had just singed my tongue.

"Oh, by the way Han, I need you to give the sail a little push when you're finished with breakfast. The waters around here are a bit morecalm than expected, and we need to get to Arabasta as soon as possible."

"Mm." She was referring to my wind fruit power. When I was a little girl back on my island of Karine, a couple of my kids in my village had found a devils fruit washed ashore. They brought it into the dojo to show off to everyone. Upset that they were receiving all the attention, I took a bite of it when no one was looking and changed my life forever.

It was pretty useful for when we needed the ship to get away fast. In just the past two days, I had lured us away from 2 sea kings and a marine ship. Not that the boys couldn't have handled them, but Nami claimed we didn't have time to be messing around, and demanded I guide the ship elsewhere.

"I'll do it now." I replied, and took another long sip of coffee before standing up. "Ahh, that's good coffee, Sanji-kun."

"Only the best for you, Han-saaan!" I smiled and left the blanket on the chair before stepping outside.

"Han! Good morning!" I was glad to be greeted by chipper ol' Luffy and his signature goofy grin.

"Good morning Luffy. Excited for breakfast?" I asked teasingly.

"Of couuurse! I haven't eaten since dinnnnerrrr!" He pouted.

"Oh really?" I scoffed, "Because I'm so sure I heard some rustling around in the kitchen last night. Sounded like someone was snatching a midnight snack?" I giggled. He leaned in close and whispered,

"Shh, don't tell Sanji. He'll kick me all the way to Raftel! Shishishi!" He laughed. I flashed him a quick smile before he turned to enter the kitchen. Even though he wasn't exactly what you'd expect in a pirate, I was more than happy to have him as my captain. When it came down to it, he knew what to do.

"Usopp! Chopper! Carue! Whatcha guys up to?" I called over the balcony. The three of them were playing around with some new gadget Usopp had created.

"Ahh! Good morning Han-san! This right here is my latest invention. It;s called the Clima-tact! It's a new weapon that I've been working on for Nami. It has the ability to alter the weather in mysterious and wondrous ways. Ha-ha!" He bragged, puffing out his chest.

"You're so cool Usopp!" Chopper exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

"Ahh, seems interesting. How's about letting me test it out later?" I joked ,

"I'm afraid not," He crossed his arms in a disapproving stance. "This beholds power too great for even you, Han-san." He replied knowingly.

"Come play with us anyway, Han-san!" Chopper waved his arms in the air, signaling me to come down to the lower deck.

"Quaack!" Carue squawked.

"Sure. Just let me do this little thing for Nami first." I replied. I twisted my feet into a pivot and got my arms ready to punch. "Cyclone fist!" I said, as a small whirlwind formed from my hand and swirled towards the sail. The ship suddenly jerked forward a little, and began to move much quicker. I jumped off the ledge and landed next to Chopper, who was staring in amazement at the sudden boost in speed.

"That was so cool Han-san! I wish I could be as useful as you…" He looked down at his small reindeer feet in disappointment. I patted him on the head and reassured him,

"Don't be silly! You're the doctor, Chopper. You're the most important one here! All of our lives depend on you. You're practically the one that keeps this entire crew functioning." I smiled. He looked up at me and began to sway his body back and forth in an upbeat motion.

"You asshole! I don't appreciate your stupid compliments! It doesn't make me happy at all!" I giggled at his incapability to take compliments. Even after all his time, he refused to admit our praises pleased him.

"Oi, oi! What's going on outside? " Zoro groaned as he stepped up from their bedroom under-deck. He winced and shielded his eyes at the beams of sunlight hitting his face. "Can't a man sleep around here without having to be knocked out of bed?"

"Zoro, why are you up so late?" Chopper questioned curiously

"I had night duty, remember?" He said, as he slammed the wooden door leading down to the hull.

"Did you sleep well, Zoro?" I asked. He ignored my question and slumped up the stairs into the kitchen.

"What's with him?" Asked Usopp, raising his eyebrow.

"Who knows," Chopper replied.

"Well anyway, I'm starving! Let's go get some breakfast too, before Luffy eats it all!" Usopp exclaimed, "Aye!" Chopper followed him with Carue waddling behind as they all headed up the stairs. I sighed. I guess the talk last night did nothing but create even more tension between us. I turned around and made my way into the study room.

Chopper's medical texts, Nami's atlases, and other miscellaneous books were neatly organized amongst a tall wooden shelf at the back corner of the room. I plopped myself down onto the couch beside Nami's desk and let out a long yawn.

I guess I shouldn't be worrying about Zoro so much. There are more important things to be thinking about anyway. I wonder how Father's doing…

The first time that the Straw Hat pirates and I had met was when they came to my village. They were following the direction of the log pose, which lead them into a thick fog that surrounded my island. The fog was artificially created due to the nuclear waste dumped into the ocean by the marines that worked at the base. They were terrible men, arresting anyone they could, and accusing false felony just to gather up slaves to work on their battleship. They called it the Great Bomb Raider, due to the fact that it was powered by nuclear power.

The government had not approved of the ship being created, therefore refused to send any more soldiers in to work on it. The marines, feeling animosity towards the government, decided to begin snatching up our people and making them work hard labor in replacement of the soldiers. My father was one of those people. After he was taken away, our family dojo had to be shut down, and nothing was ever the same after that.

After Zoro had accidentally stumbled into the dojo, I had challenged him to a fight; His katana against my wind aikido. He refused, saying it would not be a fair fight, and I accused him of degrading me because I was a woman. That really angered him for a reason I did not know at the time, and so we dueled. I had underestimated him a little, but it was a well fought battle. After he managed to give my cheek a small cut, we decided it was over. But in that spot on my lower left cheek, it left a little scar that never went away. Perhaps symbolizing the little infatuation I had for Zoro from the start. Nothing big, but something about his determination and his hard-headedness made my emotions go crazy. He was a rather admirable guy, though no one else seemed to think so.

Once the fight was finished, he asked for directions to a local restaurant, so I led him to the best steak house in the entire village of Masuke. There, we found Luffy and Sanji. I was surprised to hear they were all pirates, and even more surprised to hear that the goofball Luffy was their captain! We were soon joined by Nami and Vivi, who had just come back from shopping, followed by Usopp, Chopper, and Carue, who had just visited the novelty store across the way. After telling them my situation with the marines and my father, Luffy was determined to help me out. That was when I realized, not all pirates were bad people.

And so, after defeating the marine officer, Captain Brass-Knuckle Kaiba, of course they didn't have much time left on the island before the rest of the marines caught up to them. I thanked them for helping my father, and asked how I could ever repay them.

"Be our Nakama!" I remembered Luffy had said. Tears filled my eyes; It had been so long since I last heard those words. My whole life I wanted to be able to go out to sea, and take on my dream of becoming the best aikido martial artist in the world. I wanted to prove all of those stupid boys who had bullied me as a kid that I was going to be someone. But I couldn't, I had just been reunited with my father, and it'd be a hard thing to just leave suddenly.
"Go with them," He urged me. "Your old man can handle himself. This is your only chance to be who you want to be." He gave me a warm smile that practically broke my heart. But I agreed.

After a tearful departing, I turned around to face everyone; These were my new nakama. I realized that this was the start of a whole new beginning. I was ready to prove to the world that women weren't always the ones being kidnapped and having to be protected. One day, everyone would know my name, and know me as the best aikido martial artist in the world.

My vision soon became blurry, and my eyes slowly started to close. I decided that a little nap couldn't hurt…

"Laaanddd ho!" I was woken up by someone shouting outside. It sounded like Usopp's voice. I sat up straight and rubbed my eyes, wondering how long I had been asleep.
"Han-san? What are you doing in here?" Vivi asked, as she entered the room.

"Quaaackk! Quack Quack?" Carue followed along behind her. He tilted his head as if he were asking me the same question.

"Ahh… I took a little nap. Guess Sanji's coffee wasn't enough to keep me awake." I chuckled.
"Oh, I see. Well, we're going to be docking at Arabasta soon. I just came in here to gather my things."

"We are? Well it's about time." I stood from the couch and stretched. I brushed the wrinkles out of my shirt and quickly ran my fingers through my hair, to make myself look a bit less disheveled.

"You might want to change into something a little less warm. After all, Arabasta is a desert island," She warned. "You're certainly going to have a heat stroke if you wear that…"

"Right. I'll change before we get off." I reassured, and walked outside.

"Ahh, there you are! What were you doing in the study?" Questioned Nami. She was heading in there too, to grab her stuff I assumed.

"I fell asleep on the couch." I replied. "We're at Arabasta?"

"Yup, just arrived, finally! Now we just need to get Vivi to Alubarna before the rebellion starts…"

"We'll get there in time," I replied, flashing her a reassuring smile.

"Oh boy I can't wait to finally get my feet on land!" Luffy said ecstatically. "I love sand!"

"Oi, oi, Luffy! Be careful! We can't afford for you to get into any trouble. Our first priority is-"

"Yahooo!" Luffy ignored Usopp's warning and instead jumped onto the sand, flailing about. "Hot hot hot!" He cried, jumping from one foot to the other in attempt to keep away from the ground.

"And he's our captain…"Sanji said, shaking his head.

"Do you guys have everything we need?" Chopper asked Nami and Vivi as they walked out from the study. It looked as if they had both had a change of clothes

"Yup. Han, aren't you going to change?" Nami asked me.

"Oh , yeah. Well, it's too late now. I'll just buy some clothes once we get there. I can survive till then." I replied.

"You sure? It's going to be unbelievably hot." Vivi warned.

"Yeah , no problem. Besides, it's better for my arms to be covered from the sun anyway, and if I get too hot, don't forget that I have the wind fruit power." I winked and made "o.k." sign with my hands.

"Well alright. Let's go then everyone!" The crew jumped off the ship one by one and onto the sand. All except for Zoro, who was just staring into the desert as if something was bothering him.

"Aren't you going , Zoro?" I asked. He turned to look at me.

"Don't worry about me. Go ahead." My mouth formed a straight line, and I shrugged. A whirl wind slowly began to form under my feet , and carried me down safely onto the sand. He jumped off the ship with an "Umph." and landed beside me.

"Well, go on." He said.

"Right…" I replied, and began to walk.

I began to regret not bringing a hat along. The sun was beaming down hard on us; it felt as if we were in an oven. Usopp was about ready to collapse.

"Someone… put me out of my misery…" He moped. Chopper had already given up, and was laying on a little board that Zoro was pulling along behind him. His thick fur was great to keep warm for winter on Drum Island, but not so much for the heat of the Arabasta desert.

"Hey… wait a minute…" Nami said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Where's Luffy?"

yaaayy :D chapter 2 is up~

I hope you guys like it. It's a bit lengthy but I had to put her background somewhere in there.

I'm really excited for the up coming events, but i'm too tired to write any more right now. Its four in the morning.

oh, and just so you guys know,

This isn't going to be exactly like what happened in the anime

I'm changing it up a bit since Han is in the story,

and just cause its my fanfic,

and i sorta forgot a few things since it's been so long that i've seen that episode LOL

enjoy~