Having a bounty isn't so bad, though one of the things that changed a bit was that Yasopp got me this neat little dark blue cloak to wear whenever we were docked at a port. Even if it hadn't been that long since Mihawk had dropped by to pass on the message that I had bounty, no one wanted to take any chances with me—not after I had nearly died on my second birthday. And considering how distinctive I am in appearance, right after Dad and his red-hair…it's best to be safe than sorry.

Though, it was around this time that I was starting to get tired of staying behind with Dad as everyone else went into town to restock. Every time we docked at a port, we stayed around for a couple of days at a time—sometimes longer than that, it really depends on the weather and such.

For this occasion, we were here to stay for like three days, two of which have already been spent restocking and getting drunk at taverns, while Dad and I stayed behind to watch the ship. I've tried my best to go along with Yasopp or Beckman, but I always got told to stay behind with Shanks. I always pouted and crossed my arms like the disgruntled two-year-old I was.

It was during the morning on the last day we were going to stay docked at this port that I decided that I was going to make my father take me into town. Unfortunately, the bastard decided to have one of his occasional parties of one last night, where he got drunk off his ass and was hungover quite badly in the morning when I tried nudging him awake.

"Not now, Mako…Papa's trying to sleep…" Good god, Dad, you reek of booze and slight desperation.

I puffed up my cheeks and decided to see if I could go along with the others—assuming they were still on board the ship. I made sure to wear the cloak Yasopp got me before I went outside…only to find out that everyone had already left. The look of disappointment on my face was quite strong.

At this point, I had two choices. One, I could go into town on my own, completely unattended and extremely vulnerable, thus risking my life…or two, I could somehow convince Dad to get his lazy, hungover ass out of bed and take me into town.

…

I'm liking the sound of option two—I'm totally not in the mood to press my luck, even though that's pretty much what I'm doing by taking a hungover Shanks into town. It's not as big of a risk as it is going on my own—that's all I need to know to make the decision. Having made my decision, I started making my way towards Dad's room.

Now there's the lazy bastard, sleeping away a hangover, as usual… It was so tempting to mess with him—but I am going to be much more mature about this! And by mature, I'm going to push my Dad off the bed.

Thud!

That…was much easier than I had expected it to be…I keep forgetting how much stronger I really am. Anyways, Dad seems to be sleeping like a log since the most he did was just groan a bit before going back to sleep…on the floor that he had just finished landing on after I had pushed him out of his bed. Jesus fuck, Dad, how much of a heavy sleeper are you?!

Do I have to cry? Because I will—never mind, I'm not resorting to such tactics just yet…I'm using that as a last resort. I'm also not gonna bite you, because, frankly, after seeing the damage my teeth are capable of…I'd rather refrain from using them on you. So I guess I'll just go get a bucket of water…hope you like water, ahahaha!

…

…

SPLASH!

I had the biggest grin on my face as I watched my father scramble to get a hold of his surroundings right after I finished dumping a bucket of water on him as he slept. He sure seemed confused as hell, though confusion quickly turned into annoyance when he saw I was holding a now-empty bucket in my hands.

"What do you want, Mako?" Shanks asked before snatching the bucket out of my hands.

"Go town!" My grammar isn't exactly the best at the moment, but I'm trying my best, okay?!

"Town?" Shanks furrowed his brow, somewhat confused with what I was trying to say. It took him a minute to realize what it was that I had meant. "Oh, you wanna go into town?"

I nodded my head. "Yes!"

Shanks blinked a few times. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"Yes!" I am aware.

"And you still want to go?" Shanks arched his brow at me.

"Yes!" I can do this all day, man—just take me into town.

Shanks ran his fingers through his red hair as he exhaled. "And what are you going to do if I don't?"

I grinned mischievously at this, showing off my rather sharp teeth. "Bite you!"

…

"Let me change first, Mako." Aww, yeah, managed to convince Dad to actually do something! Oh man, I wonder what I'm going to see in town—aaaah, I'm so happy! I'm just so EXCITED!

I was quick to run out of the room, but not before grabbing Dad's straw hat off a nearby chair. I made sure to close the door behind me. I sat down on the floor, just clutching onto Dad's hat before taking a moment to realize I was holding onto Shanks's straw hat. Blinking a few times, I stared at the hat before decided to place it on my head. It…fit rather big, so it went over my eyes. Sighing in annoyance, I took the hat off and decided to try again with wearing it, years from now when the hat didn't fit me as big as it did now.

For now, I'll just wait for Dad to finish changing. About ten minutes had passed before Dad decided to come out of his room, looking rather panicky, asking, "Where's my hat—Mako…"

I laughed as I stood up and held out the straw hat for Dad to grab. He stared at me for a good minute before grabbing the hat and placing it on his head.

"Okay, let's go—stay by my side." Note to self: Make sure Dad isn't hungover the next time we're docked and I want to go into town. Hungover Dad isn't exactly in the best mood—like ever, unless otherwise.

I probably didn't help it by throwing that bucket of water—but it woke him up. That's all I really care about and oh my gosh, I'm actually getting off this freaking ship for once—whee!

…

…

Dad was honestly supposed to be the one leading me around town—instead, it was I, who was leading him around town. Dad didn't even seemed bothered by it, just mostly exhausted from the fact that he was hungover. Though, he did seem rather annoyed to put up with my shit, but I made it my goal to not be a little shit as usual—I mean, I already threw a bucket of water on the guy after pushing him off the bed, and then threatened to bite him with my teeth.

Anyways, the town seemed so much bigger than usual, but that could be because of how small I was. I was so giddy the entire time. It was as though I was a little kid in Disneyland again…except instead of an amusement park that was full of my childhood memories and familiar faces, it was just a strange, new environment filled with people—so many people.

…

Okay, I'm starting to realize how uncomfortable I am with this. I don't know anyone but Shanks and his crew. I'm a two-year-old little half-human girl with a bounty. I have a distinct skin coloration and physical features that denote my fishman origins, and this is the first time I'm off the ship, wearing only a cloak to keep people from recognizing me (or just staring at me in general). Unfortunately, a little girl wearing a cloak still garners attention, as I have come to find out the hard way.

"Mako—you okay?" Dad must have noticed that I tightened my hold on his hand. "You wanna go back to the ship?"

"No." I'm not going back on that ship just yet. If there's anything I have learned in my past life, it's that you have to suck it up sometimes. Otherwise, you'll miss opportunities, like friendship and becoming Miss Congeniality! "Stay!"

"Okay, whatever you say, Mako…" Dad was such a pushover when he's hungover…not that I'm complaining or anything.

I mean, this is probably going to be my only chance in god knows how long, since we're out at sea for months at a time. The Red Hair Pirates like to take their sweet, sweet time getting to places. One day of discomfort will have to do if I want to see new things—wow, the women in this world have huge breasts.

…

I am not proud of my short attention span, sometimes—please leave me be and…wait a second, is that who I think it is? I blinked a few times as my attention focused on a raven-haired girl who had just finished walking past Shanks and I. I watched her for nearly a minute before tugging on Shanks's hand, signaling him that I wanted to start walking again, except this time, I was keen on following after that girl. I…wanted to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. And who knows—maybe as I'm following that girl, I'll find something interesting about this town.

Going into a new place without any ideas on what to look for is honestly the worst you can ever do. It really doesn't help that Dad is hungover right now, so I'm technically the one dragging his ass around town instead of the other way around, which would have been rather helpful as he probably had better ideas on where to take me. Right now, I'm drawing blanks on what I want to look for, and it is only until now that I finally know what I want to do…and that's find out where that girl is heading towards.

I can't really see her face from my perspective, but the way she's holding herself as she walks—she's confident about her destination. She knows what she's looking for and I'm curious to know what that is. I hope she doesn't notice us…

…

…

At first, I was rather iffy over the fact that I was technically stalking a teenaged girl, while dragging along a hungover, grown-ass man by the hand. Say what you will, but that sounds shady to me, man. Fast-forward to fifteen minutes later, I've come to a conclusion that this was the best idea I have ever had since like—ever. And the reason why I have come to this conclusion was because the huge building we had just entered while following after that girl turned out to be a freaking library. Books…books everywhere—it had been so long since I had last seen a book that I stood there, staring in awe at the many shelves full of books for a good minute before Dad suddenly spoke.

"A library—this is what you wanted to see?" Dad sounded rather confused, and I wouldn't blame him. I mean, I've been leading him around town without telling him anything. "Well, I guess we can stay around here for a bit—hey!"

I didn't let Dad finish his sentence and just started dragging him toward a random direction. I had no idea what I was looking for, but all I knew was that I wanted to read a book. I wanted to read. It didn't cross my mind that I had lost sight of the girl until I had returned with an armload of books to the table where Dad had been waiting for me.

I resisted the urge to slap myself in the forehead for forgetting about her. And instead of beating myself up for losing sight of that girl, I decided to just sit down and read…because Dad had passed out on the table, meaning he's not going to be reading to me. Besides, I'm sure that girl deserved a break—we probably freaked her out because I'm quite sure she was aware that we were following her. She just chose to ignore us.

As I sat down under the table, with a neat stack of books at my side, it came to my attention that I had no idea how to read in Japanese, meaning…I wouldn't be able to read this book, even if I tried. With that thought in mind, I still decided to open up the book and at least familiarize myself with the contents of this book. If I'm lucky, maybe whatever I had grabbed off the shelf had pictures—

"Huh?!" There were many things I was ready to see within this book…what I was not expecting to see, was the English language—this book was in English. I had no idea how to handle this and did the first thing that cross my mind—I shut the book.

Okay, okay, okay…

Maybe I was just seeing things, is what I was trying to tell myself as I tried to calm my pounding heart. Swallowing hard, I opened up the book again…

…

I was not seeing things…

The words were all in English, and the sentences had the structure to match it, so it wasn't broken English or anything. I could very well read this book if I wanted to. I could read it…and that was what disturbed me, because—I'm only two years old. I shouldn't be able to know how to read, when this is the first time, in this life, that I am actually holding a book.

This is so unreal…

But…I could read. I still don't know why, but I could read, so I decided to read out a few sentences and—immediately closed the book upon realizing this was a romance novel I had grabbed off the shelf. Yeah, I'm not in the mood for that. Though, would that make the other books I got romance novels as well? I mean, I got them off the same shelf…

Well, only one way to find out…

Please don't let it be smut—please don't let it be smut! Okay, I'm not taking any chances, so I'm just going to skim it and—there are no pictures in this book. I'm going to be a complete child about this and leave these books be. It would probably be smarter that way, instead of trying to read something so complex and out of my age level. Of course, I've lived my whole life, reading books outside my grade-level since the fourth grade.

Still, I am but a two-year-old little girl—I should be looking for picture books or something similar to that, since I have no idea where the children's books section is. Sighing in dismay, I decided to do some exploring…because like hell I'm going to talk to the librarian. I don't do well around strangers.

…

I'm quite glad this library is mostly empty, though any aisle that was populated by at least one person was an aisle I skipped. Apart from my aversion to strangers, I really don't want anyone to recognize me. Again, I am a two-year-old girl with a bounty and distinctive features that cannot be overlooked. It's pretty much the reason I'm wearing this cloak. I've also been very careful to stay hooded at all times and keep my mouth closed…it's very nerve-wracking. And the fact that I left Dad on his own, as he was still passed out on that table, isn't really helping since I'm on my own.

However, any issues I had immediately went out the window when I saw an empty aisle with a ladder. I should have been wary, but I took my chances and climbed up the ladder in order to get access to the books that were completely out of my reach. Being as short as I was, I had limited range in general, so I had to find ways to increase it. And with this ladder, I could get any book I wanted on this shelf.

I have the power!

Even if it meant finding books that were probably not what I was looking for, I was still going to get them. I don't know what this book is about, but I got it from the top shelf and just knowing that made me feel like I was on top of the world!

On the other hand, being only a two-year-old girl meant everything about me was small…that included my hands. So when I pulled out that book off the shelf, I had to use both of my hands. I didn't really consider any of the possible consequences that could come from this action, due to my current happy-go-lucky stupor. And it was only until I started to feel myself topple back a bit that I realized I was standing on top of a ladder, with no hands holding onto the rails of the ladder.

I'm a fucking idiot.

The book I was holding had enough weight to disrupt my balance and before I could even react, I was falling backwards. I was falling…and because I was so high up on the ladder, I was going to get hurt. I could even die from this sort of fall…

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

I should have never left Shanks's side! Why am I such a risk-taker?! I immediately shut my eyes and braced myself for a rather painful landing…except it never came. Someone had managed to catch me as I was falling.

Relief instantly washed over me as I opened my eyes…only to quickly realize that something was completely off with this situation. While I am very grateful that I did not hit the floor, I still had a right to question the arms that were sprouting out of the rails of the ladder I had just fallen off from—what the fuck, man?! Arms don't just randomly grow—wait a second…

Wait a fucking second!

It was at that moment I heard a rather feminine chuckle. Footsteps soon followed after and within the span of five minutes, I had been lifted out of the pair of arms that had caught me and gently set onto the floor in a standing position by a teenaged girl with brown eyes and long, black hair tied into a ponytail. My eyes could not be any wider as I stared at the girl before me as she knelt down to my eye-level.

"You should probably start with something smaller instead," she said as she offered me a rather colorful book, using the extra hand that came with the arm that was sprouting out of her shoulder.

Holy shit…I found Nico Robin.

…

…

…

A/N BAM, cliffhanger!

Thought this was a good place as any to stop this chapter and I know I updated this story the other day, but hey, surprise update. To be honest, I should be working on a eight to nine page paper, an Atavist presentation, and a 13-page take home French final, all of which are due tomorrow, instead of this—but you guys seriously know me! Yeah…I already got the 5-hour Energy, so no sleep for me tonight—it's gonna be one of those days. Do I regret it? Pfft, maybe—ahahaha, I already got everything prepared, so it isn't that bad…

In any case, you have Mako finding out peculiar things about living in the world of One Piece, and one of those things is the fact that English is a language that does in fact exist. It's not just Japanese, and unlike my Naruto SI OC fic, English isn't a secret language. I'll go more into depth about it in later chapters, since this is part of my world building touch, because you can definitely expect some world building from me. You guys know how much I love world building, right? Well, now you do.

So let's get put the focus back on Mako…she likes reading and books. She especially likes reading books and what better place to do just that, but a library? You know how I kept making a huge deal out of the fact that the Red Hair Pirates are currently in the West Blue, where Shanks's hometown is located (in case anyone was wondering why they're in the West Blue)? Part of the reason I brought that up is because, up until she was twenty-three, Nico Robin has been in the West Blue her entire life. So it was only a matter of time that someone like Mako would bump into Robin.

And just to clear things up, Robin was the girl Mako was following. Mako wanted to make sure she wasn't seeing things, because she thought she spotted Nico Robin. And by the by, fun fact about me, I was once a Miss Congeniality in a pageant—just thought I'd put that out there in case anyone was confused about Mako mentioning that.

Moving on, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and do expect a POV shift come the next chapter. When that will be, I have no clue, but I will try to update as soon as I can! So until next time, everyone! KD out! XD