A/N

So yeah. Science fair + poetry finals = Stress. I'm sorry for not writing this sooner though. Two weeks! I feel so bad for abandoning you... I'm a terrible person... But anyways! At least I'm uploading this now! I will now stop boring you with my apologies and get to the story!

Enjoy!

Anni's POV

We had been sailing for quite a few days now. Surprising, considering how little happened on the boat. I had been observing everyone's habits and obsessions, which was actually a great way to pass the time when there weren't fights going on over food, sake, or completely irrelevant things. I learned a lot about everyone's personalities and ways to bug them.

Sanji obsessed over Nami and Vivi (and sometimes me) which was really exasperating for all of us (but it was a good thing when I wanted special food). Luffy couldn't stay full for more than five minutes, so he was constantly begging Sanji for food. When he wasn't, he was sitting on the goat head on the front of the ship. Usopp was always building something or repairing the ship, which actually had many more 'injuries' than I would expect for a ship. Nami and Vivi were mostly talking about navigation and ruling a country, but sometimes Vivi would stop talking and stare off at the horizon, like she expected her country to come flying to the ship. Zoro constantly slept on the deck, but when he wasn't, he usually had some kind of bottle in his hand.

I heard mostly everyone's stories, but neither Zoro nor Luffy told me about their past. I heard vague things, like that Luffy got his hat from his role model and father figure, Shanks, and that Zoro wanted to become the best swordsman in the world, but there was still someone that he needed to beat. Personally, I understood their want to not share. I didn't want to either but I promised my nakama that I would tell them the full story sometime.

The weather was beautiful and unchanging. It was so different from where I used to live, so I spent most of my free time on the front deck on a chair, desperately trying to make my skin even slightly darker. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about getting burned thanks to my fire-style powers, so I usually fell asleep listening to the surprisingly relaxing arguments, yelling, and snoring.

I was sleeping peacefully when a sudden weight slammed into my stomach. Grunting in pain and annoyance, I slowly opened my eyes to see a grinning Luffy tumble off of me.

"Luffy... what are you doing?" I groaned tiredly, looking at my idiot captain.

He sat up grinning like nothing had happened. "Shishishi. You're funny. If you were Zoro or Nami, you would have bitten off my head!" He looked past me to the top of the mast. "Sanji kicked me off the mast because I wasn't paying attention on watch, but really, I'm the captain so he shouldn't have put me on watch in the first place! Right?"

I rolled over in my chair, muttering, "Tell Sanji that he's an idiot. Actually, you're an idiot too, so I guess it doesn't matter."

Luffy walked around me to face me and sat down, crossing his legs. "You haven't told us much about you yet. Do you have a dream, or a goal that you want to accomplish?"

I closed my eyes and thought about it. "No, not really. I guess I haven't thought about it much."

Luffy turned to me with a serious look, unusual for the hyperactive captain. "You should. The people on this ship, they're here because they have dreams worthy of achieving, and the spirits to match."

I felt slightly unwanted. "So, what? Are you gonna kick me off because I don't have a dream?"

Luffy smiled widely. "No, silly. I'm saying that I know you have the spirit to achieve a dream, but you're just not sure yet. If you talk to the rest of the crew about their dreams, I'm sure you'll find something that resonates with you."

Sitting up, I reached out and stretched my arm around Luffy in a kind of half hug. "You're like one of my childhood friends, he was always talking about dreams. Wonder where he is now?"

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi. If your friend has a dream, then I'm sure he's fine, whatever it is."

His stomach growled and I brought my arm back.

"Argh! I didn't eat enough at breakfast, and at my snack, and my second snack, and-"

I cut him off. "Geez, just go eat already! I'm sure that Sanji'll make you something if you say that I sent you."

He stood up, chuckling. "Yeah. Sanji'll make any kind of food for you."

He started down the stairs, and then a thought struck me.

"Wait, Luffy... what's your dream?" I said curiously.

He turned around and faced me with a determined grin.

"I'm gonna become the Pirate King by sailing around the Grand Line and claiming One Piece!"

Lying back on my chair, I smiled. I was gonna have to think about this.

What do I really want to do?

XxX

I was proud to say that I was getting used to meals with my nakama. I had developed a technique to get as much of any food that I wanted. The trick was to wait until Luffy stretched to grab something off of Sanji, Nami, or Vivi's plate. When this happened, Sanji would grab Luffy's hand and lecture him about stealing food from other people. (How dare you steal food from a beautiful and slightly helpless lady like Nami-swan or Vivi-chwan!) Then, when Luffy couldn't move his arm, I took as much as I could off of the plates in the middle and ate as fast as I could. On the occasions that I didn't finish my food fast enough, I would 'casually' raise my fork and keep it over my plate, ready to stab anything that tried to take my food.

Sanji had called us for lunch right after Luffy had gone to ask for food. The blond cook had made a delicious looking buffet, with pitas and every filling you could imagine. The table was covered with plates and piled high with meats, vegetables, and cheeses.

I joined Luffy and Usopp at the door, our jaws dropping at the sheer amount of food that Sanji had cooked for the crew. The cook in question spun towards us, bypassing the two guys and dropping to one knee in front of me.

"I apologize profusely for my actions earlier. I made this lunch for you, and I hope that you can forgive me."

Confused, I pulled on Sanji's shoulder until he stood up. "What did you do? I don't remember you doing anything wrong."

He covered his visible eye with his hand, appearing dispirited. "A true man must own up for his mistakes. I kicked the lazy captain off of the mast because he was abandoning the job that Nami-san set him, but I didn't know that you were relaxing comfortably and elegantly on the deck where he landed. Regrettably, I could not come and apologize at that moment, because I had to take over his job."

I remembered that Luffy had said something about that. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. We ended up having a nice conversation, so you don't need to feel sorry about anything."

He sighed gratefully, placing an arm around my shoulders to lead me to the table. Squirming out of his too-close embrace, I darted to the table, sitting in a free spot between Nami and Vivi.

I looked back at Sanji, to kind of apologize, but he had seated himself beside Nami and had struck up a conversation about the plans for the next island. As I ate, I heard snippets of their conversation. Apparently, the next island we were going to was a winter island, and it was rumored to have great doctors.

I heard a slight sigh from my other side, and I turned to see Vivi looking dejectedly at her food as she picked at it, not eating.

Wondering what could have put her in this mood, I said, "Hey, Vivi, what's wrong? I noticed that you've been kinda down lately. Are you worried about Arabasta?"

She flinched, startled by my question. "Yeah, I am. I'm worried about my father, and the people, and the war that is about to break out. I can't stand being away and I want... I really want to go home." She sniffled.

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I can't say that I know how you feel, or that everything is gonna be alright, but I can try to help you kick the guy's ass. What was his name again?"

She smiled through her sadness. "The bastard taking over my country is Crocodile."

I grinned despite myself because I had never heard Vivi swear before now.

"Alright. I promise, I'll do my best to get your country back. I won't stop until he's lying dead at my feet. Sound good?"

Tears sparkled in her eyes. Another hand put itself over mine and we looked back to see Sanji standing with a determined look in his eye, and Nami with her hand on Vivi's other shoulder.

Vivi was struggling to not let tears fall, but despite her efforts, they slid down her face, dripping onto the table.

"Th-Th-Thank you guys so much! You have no idea how much this means to me..." She said, covering her mouth with her hand.

The rest of the crew stood up and walked over to us, offering comforting words. Luffy sat down beside me and softly whispered, "Have you thought of anything yet?"

I turned my head slightly, smiling. "Nah, I'll wait until everyone's dreams are accomplished. Then I'll think about something for myself."

The usually hyper captain looked slightly surprised, but quickly recovered. "With that attitude, I'm sure you won't be waiting long."

The moment seemed sad, happy, calm, and perfect all at the same time. That is, until Nami tumbled to the floor, her face flushed and sweaty.

"Nami!"

"Nami-swan!"

"What's wrong?"

"What the hell just happened to her?"

Nami, seemingly unable to hear us, simply lay there, occasionally groaning.

Vivi, quickly taking charge, ordered us to back away from our collapsed nakama. Turning to me she ordered, "I think she's sick. Anni and Zoro, take her to our room and put her on the bed. I'll get medicine, so just stay with her and if she wakes up, get her whatever she wants."

The swordsman and I rushed to pick her up, slinging one arm around each of our shoulders. Stumbling a little, we carried her to the girls room, laying her across her bed. I grabbed the blankets from mine and Vivi's mattress beds and draped them over Nami, while Zoro went and got a glass of water to set on the side table. Nami stirred once, slightly, but other than that, she stayed still the whole time.

Vivi came with pain-killers, the only medicine we had on the ship. She ordered me to get a cloth to lay on Nami's forehead, and Zoro to get any other spare blankets on the ship. Eventually, the entire crew had gathered in our room, either sitting on the mattresses, or running around to get stuff for Nami. It became abundantly clear that none of us had any medical experience, aside from injury fixing and light colds. Vivi had picked up the most medical stuff, so we relied on her until we were all worn out and tired.

When there was nothing anyone else could do, we eventually all lay down in some part of the small room, and fell asleep.

XxX

In the middle of the night, I woke up. Slowly. I hadn't had a bout of insomnia for a few years, so I had thought that I was over it. Deciding to make the best of it, I opened my eyes and immediately smiled at the sight before me. The entire crew was sprawled over one another, save for Nami who was still motionless, but I thought that I could see the ghost of a contented look on her face.

Vivi was slumped against the bed, but she was the only one not covered in other people. I was lying on Zoro's arm, while my knees acted as a pillow for Luffy's head. Sanji was lying on his stomach with his feet on Usopp's legs, while Usopp was slouched against the wall. Various arms were everywhere, we all had at least one that didn't belong to us.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of belonging. I had found friends and a family in this crew full of dreams. All I really wanted was to stay with them, and I wouldn't let a single one of them die on this journey. I would make sure that they all achieved their dreams, even if I had to stare Death in the face and ring his doorbell. I would do it for my nakama.

Suddenly, I yawned and felt my eyelids droop. I slid back into a deep sleep, but just before my eyes closed, I thought I saw Nami stir.

XxX

In the morning, Nami was worse. Vivi had woken up early to check on her, but her temperature had risen to an alarming number. In a panic, she had stumbled around, waking everyone up. After we had all gotten untangled from the arms and legs that were covering the room and stuck under other people, we rushed around getting anything that was remotely helpful.

Sanji cooked a beautiful meal for Nami, saying that it was the most nutritional thing she would ever eat, and that it would make her better immediately. Usopp and Luffy set up a fan in her room to keep her cool, and Zoro and I stayed as Vivi's errand people for all of her ideas that would surely make her better. I could see the leader in her, the leader that was concerned about her friends. It was almost like looking at Luffy when he was determined.

The real surprise came when I was on watch duty. I was looking through my improved spyglass when I caught a glimpse of a... person?

Looking over the edge, I called out to the crew.

"Oi! There's a... person there! Out standing on the water!"

Zoro, who was sleeping on the deck, opened one eye and said, "Nope. You're crazy. People can't stand on water."

Frustrated, I dropped the spyglass on his head. I was content with the cracking sound and the yell of pain that followed.

"What the hell did you do that for, flame-brain?"

Leaning over, I smiled sarcastically. "Look for yourself. There's a person on the water."

Rolling his eyes, he lifted the spyglass to his eye, looking out at the sea.

"W-Wha..." The spyglass clattered to the ground as Zoro stared at the person who was standing on the waves.

I smirked. "Now tell me that people don't stand on water."

He looked up at me. "They don't. This is just weird."

I removed a shoe and dropped it on his head.

"Ow! Stop!"

I dropped my other shoe.

"Seriously, flame-brain! That's annoying!"

"Fine. I'm out of shoes, anyways," I huffed.

Luffy and Usopp walked out of the kitchen.

"What's going on, guys? Did you see something?" Usopp asked as Luffy picked at his ear with his pinky.

Zoro threw the spyglass to the long-nosed man without saying anything. Usopp had barely caught it when Luffy snatched it out of his hands, pointing it towards the front of the boat where the mysterious man stood. He had the same reaction as Zoro, dropping the spyglass and stuttering.

Suddenly, as the ship drew closer to the man, the waves under his feet parted to show a submarine rising from the sea.

I jumped down to the deck, but nearly fell over as Zoro nudged me.

"See, I told you that people can't stand on the sea."

I scowled, punching him.

"Admit it. You thought that he was standing on the water too."

Turning my attention back to the submarine, I saw that there were three people standing on the top, including the one that I had seen standing on the water who I could see was an archer or joker. There was a short man, who had a gray jaw and a seriously grumpy look to him, the archer/joker person, and a third man who looked like a red haired knight.

"Ooooiiii!"

I spun around, but Vivi was already chastising Luffy for not checking to see if they were enemies or not.

"Have you seen an island around here?" The short man yelled across the water.

I yelled back, "No! That's where we're going, so go find it yourself!"

The man seemed to compress himself, then jumped onto the boat and-

-ate it?

He had literally taken a bite out of the deck. His jaw had expanded to an inhuman shape and bitten the deck, ripping off a chunk of the side. I stared in absolute horror, but Usopp had the most extreme reaction, his scream reaching an octave that I had never heard a human reach.

The man spat out the chunk of deck.

"Blegh. How dare you treat the great Wapol-sama like that?"

Luffy glared at him. "How dare we...? You. Just. Ate. Our. Ship. I'm gonna kick your ass to the moon!"

Stretching his arms back, he snapped them forwards into the short man, propelling him into the distance and sending him into the water. The submarine quickly sped after him as our ship went in the opposite direction, disappearing into the distance.

A stunned silence followed, broken only by Usopp's indignant squeaks regarding the state of the ship. We all returned to our jobs that had been interrupted.

XxX

"Hey, marimo. Guess what."

"You see another floating person."

Clunk.

"Ow! Guess not. What?"

"We finally reached the island."

A/N

So I had a little trouble remembering how the arc went, but it's okay. Did'ja like the heartwarming scenes with Nami, Vivi, and Luffy? Luffy is one of my favorite characters to write and I love his laugh. Anyways! IMPORTANT QUESTION! Do you want me to put up a Valentines Day chapter for a few days? If you do, or if you feel that it would be strange, put a review with even just a 'yes' or 'no'. If a bunch of you say yes, I'll whip up something and post it for about a week.

I hope you enjoyed!

See ya!