Sorry for the delay folks. Real life and really suck sometimes and I haven't been able to write much of anything. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm not all that fond of this arc either, just always found it boring, so I'll likely be making it short.

I grunted and sat up, wincing as my arm throbbed painfully. I looked at it and saw the bandage, the last few days coming back to me in an instant. I was in a world that wasn't my own, sailing the sea of East Blue in two little boats with a Rubberman, a swordsman, and a navigator. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all, but then my arm throbbed again, painfully reminding me of just how real this all was.

"Hey, you're awake!" Luffy shouted, drawing my gaze.

The other's looked at me as well and I smiled weakly at them. "How's the arm?" Zoro asked.

"Fine," I said, steadying myself against the mast and standing.

"Good," Nami said, "Maybe you can convince these idiots." I looked over to the other boat to see her sitting with a map laid out in front of her. "If we're going to the Grand Line, we'll need a bigger ship, more people, and some equipment."

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, charging in right now would be asking to die, and I don't feel that discouraged yet." They all gave me a questioning look that I ignored. I already knew what it was like to be so discouraged and depressed that you just wanted it to stop, but that was the past. They didn't need to know it.

"There's a village to the North of here," Nami said, "We should head there first and look for a better ship."

Luffy interjected, "AND GET SOME MEAT!"

I shook my head at him and sighed, looking out to the vast stretch of ocean. Nothing but water in sight. It was a little disconcerting, not being able to see any land. If the boats sank, what would we do then? Luffy couldn't swim, and I wasn't all that great at it either. I sat back down and tried to take my mind of it by gingerly touching the bandage on my arm, testing to see how much outward strain it could take before it started to hurt.

We finally arrived at the island and Luffy seemed surprised by it, which considering how he got around without a navigator, wasn't very surprising. I got off the boat and stretched, thankful to have ground under my feet again. I yawned, realizing I was still tired when Zoro pointed at a small cliff. We all looked up to see four people, three of which took off running. The one who was left stood up and announced himself as 'Captain Usopp.' I cringed a little bit at that, he obviously wasn't a captain of anything, especially since the three that had been by him had looked like little kids.

He approached us and said, "You'd do best to not attack this village because my 80 million men won't forgive you!"

"80 million?" I asked.

He faltered a little, "Uh…yeah."

"This island is big enough to house that many people?" I asked, looking at Nami.

She looked at her map and shook her head, "Nope, not even close. He's lying."

Usopp started freaking out that he'd been caught when she said that, while Luffy laughed at him. I just sighed. I thought people in my world were idiots, but here…it was just ridiculous. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when we all ended up at a restaurant and Luffy started telling Usopp why we were there. He told us that there was only one place where we could find what we were looking for, a mansion a ways from the village. He told us that the girl that owned it was always sick and had been ever since her parents had died close to a year ago.

I wasn't too surprised when Nami said we should forget about getting a ship here. I certainly didn't want to ask a grieving girl if we could have a ship.

"You said you were looking for nakama?" Usopp asked.

Luffy turned to him, "Yeah, do you know someone who wants to join us?"

Usopp pointed at himself, "Let me be captain, and I'll join you!"

Simultaneously we all said, "Nevermind."

Usopp hardly seemed like the kind of person who could survive as a pirate, but then again, I didn't seem like that kind of person either, but I didn't have much choice. If I was ever going to find out how I got here and how to get back home, I was going to have to travel to find those answers.

Usopp left us and a short while later three kids burst into the place and started demanding to know where he was. They were waving wooden swords around and one started poking me. I wasn't in the mood, so I batted it away and put my head down on the table. I'd let the others deal with them, because right now, I needed to think. Of course, it is kind of hard to think around people like Luffy and Zoro, so instead of getting my thoughts sorted out, I listened as Luffy exclaimed how delicious the meat had been, and then the Zoro tell the kids that we'd eaten Usopp. I couldn't help but laugh when they screamed 'witch' and Nami started yelling at them.

When they found out what actually happened they told us that he'd probably gone to the mansion to, of all things, 'lie.' We questioned them about it and they told us that he'd often go there to tell tall tales to the girl who lived there in order to cheer her up. I blinked and smiled a little. My respect for Usopp had just gone up a notch. Go figure Luffy decided that it would be okay to go ask for a ship then.

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When we approached the gate to the mansion, Luffy started talking, "Hello, please lend us a ship."

"Uh, Luffy, who are you talking to?" I asked, looking around to see if there was someone he'd seen that I hadn't. There wasn't. He started to climb over the gate and both Nami and me sighed.

"We can't stop him," Nami muttered.

"Then we'll just have to follow him," was Zoro's reply. So we did.

We approached the mansion and saw Usopp sitting next to a tree, talking to a girl who was leaning out of the window. My eyes fell on her as we neared. She was a rather cute girl, blonde hair, light brown eyes. But she was also very pale and looked frail. I guess her health wasn't all that great yet, even after a year of dealing with it. I stayed back while Luffy approached and started asking about a ship. I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone yelled, and I turned to see a butler approaching us, adjust his glasses with his palm.

"You can't just barge into the mansion like this!" He shouted.

I heard the girl start talking, "Clahador, these people are-"

Clahador held up a hand and cut her off, "You don't have to explain Miss Kaya, I will ask about it later. Now, all of you please leave, or is there something you want?"

"I want a ship," Luffy said.

Clahador's reply was a very blunt, "No."

I chuckled at Luffy's defeated reaction, but turned my attention when I heard Clahador start talking to Usopp, my eyes narrowing slightly. As he spoke to Usopp, asking him why he was there, I got an odd feeling in my gut. Something about him was rubbing me the wrong way. It was probably his overly polite attitude coupled with the condescending way he spoke to Usopp.

"I heard there was a huge mole here and wanted to see it for myself," Usopp said.

Clahador laughed, "I see you can certainly lie well. I've also heard about your father…you're the son of a filthy pirate. I'm not surprised you've turned out this way. Stay away from Miss Kaya, you and her belong to different worlds. What is it you want? Money? Name your price."

I gritted my teeth and saw Usopp's face darken. His father was a pirate? Well that explained why he was calling himself a pirate before, but Clahador's words struck a chord with me. Before it had simply been an uneasy feeling, but now, I did not like the guy. Period. Usopp had been coming here for a year and telling Kaya stories to lift her spirits and now this guy was trying to get rid of him with money? That was just plain low.

Apparently Kaya felt the same as me, because she shouted, "That's enough Clahador! Apologize to Usopp right now!"

Clahador looked at her and held his hand out toward Usopp, "There's no need for me to apologize, I'm just stating the truth." He turned back toward Usopp and adjusted his glasses again, "I feel sorry for you. You must hate your father, deserting his family to chase after treasure!"

Usopp was glowering now, "I won't let you say one more bad thing about my father!"

Clahador smirked, "You're not very smart are you? You should have just stuck with your usual lies and said he was a traveling salesman or that he wasn't related to you by blood…"

My fists were clenched and shaking. I knew exactly what the bastard was trying to do, and from the looks of it, it was working. I guess I never was very good at separating myself from the things going on around me, because I really wanted to deck the guy, but when I saw Usopp move to do so, I knew I couldn't let him. I lunged in front of Usopp and held him back to keep him from getting to Clahador.

"Let go of me!" Usopp demanded, struggling.

I struggled back and shouted at him, "Knock it off! Don't you see what he's doing! He wants you to hit him! He wants you to hit him so he can say he was right! Don't sink to his level!"

"I'm proud my dad is a pirate!" Usopp shouted, "I'm proud he's a brave warrior of the sea! I don't have to pretend! I'm the son of a pirate!"

I looked back at Clahador as I held Usopp back. He looked pissed and was glaring at me. I smirked, happy to have ruined his little plan…the bastard. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Get out of here now! All of you!"

There you go. Again, sorry for the delay. Please R&R!