A/N

I don't know if any of you have noticed, but Anni hasn't actually explained that she doesn't have Devil Fruit powers. Right now, the crew has assumed that she has them, even though they haven't seen her swim (or sink). They also haven't asked how old she is.

Btw, I didn't feel like rewatching the entire thing, so I bought the manga and I'm working from that. Mostly. I'm kinda rewatching parts of it anyway.

Enjoy!

Anni's POV

Arabasta was huge! That's why it took us several days to get there after we spotted it, all the while with a giant desert looming in front of us. During those few days, we ran completely out of food and water and had to rely on Luffy's and Usopp's fishing skills (after making them promise to never again catch an Okama that would try to copy our faces). I had a few more nightmares and every time I had one, I would get up and check to make sure that my nakama were alive.

Finally, after many long hours of dramatic groaning and pleading for food, we docked at a port that Vivi called Nanohana. It was a beautiful city, but the first thought that entered our heads was, "FOOD!"

That was also the first word out of Luffy's and my mouth when we got off the ship. We took off running the moment our feet touched the ground.

"Wait! Luffy, Anni!" Nami shouted after us, but we were long gone.

I sniffed the air as I ran down the street. "Luffy! I think I smell a restaurant!" I turned left, "This way!"

"Yosha! Straight ahead!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically from behind me. We crashed into people and carts who were too slow to move out of the way and left a trail of destruction in our wake. I ran around the corners so fast that they turned into a blur of screaming people and animals and carts moving out of the way. Running after the delicious scent of meat and sake was the one thing that kept me moving because my hunger was greater than my exhaustion.

We followed our noses to a wide street where we spotted a restaurant at the end of it. Luffy stretched out his arms to grab the doorframe. I grabbed one of his feet before he got too far away and hung on for dear life. He zoomed forwards to the source of the delicious smell and I realized that something would have to stop us, because we were going way too fast to stop normally (without destruction).

I glanced over Luffy's shoulder as we flew into the restaurant and caught a glimpse of a white coat as we crashed into the unfortunate person wearing it. I let go of Luffy's foot and was instantly possessed by the delicious smells coming from the tables.

"Ossan, food!" Luffy shouted, jumping into one of the seats at the bar.

"Me too!" I followed him, adding, "And a bottle of sake!"

The bartender's eyes darted from us to the wall beside us. Following his line of sight, I saw a huge, ragged, new-looking hole in the wall. I figured that it came from the guy that we crashed into, but I was too hungry to care.

The nervous bartender gave us the things that we wanted and we started eating like the starving people we were. It was so good! The best –and only– thing that we had eaten for the past few days.

"Umm... I think you should probably run away now," the bartender mumbled, glancing nervously in the direction of the hole in the wall as he watched us eat.

"No worries, the food is great, ossan!" Luffy declared with his mouth full.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's the best!"

As I reached for a second bottle of sake, a rich looking man grabbed it and lifted it out of my reach. He stared down at me with a look of disdain and said, "Young lady, I highly disapprove of under-age drinking."

Luffy looked over at me and said through a mouthful of meat, "Oh yeah, Anni, we never asked how old you were."

I thought for a moment. "Umm... I'm not really sure how old I am. I think I'm around seventeen, but I'm not quite sure. It's hard to keep track of things like that when you- wait," I interrupted myself, "That means I don't know when my birthday is! No!"

The rich man shook his head at my drama. "I believe that I will have to turn you in for under-age drinking."

"Hey," I said, glaring at him, "If you tell me the legal age around here, then I'll stop." It was a gamble, but I was willing to try it.

He paused, unsure of what to say. "Ah, well, you see..."

I turned back to my food, kicking him away. "Hypocrite. Don't let the door hit you on the way out," I said as he spun around and walked away in a huff.

We each grabbed a third plate of food and kept eating; I was gulping down the sake along with the meat and whatever else I was eating. The bartender tried to convince us to leave again, but neither of us paid any attention.

"Mugiwara!" The restaurant shook with the shout. I kept eating and drinking as we both looked up. It was the man that we crashed into, and he looked pretty angry. He pushed away another guy with an orange hat on and walked up to us slowly. The room fell silent, except for the smacking sounds of our chewing.

"Stop eating!" he yelled furiously.

"Mmmfff! I mow oo! Ur dat mmoke dy!" (Oh! I know you! You're that smoke guy!) Luffy shouted through his mouthful of food, spraying the man.

I turned to him. "Oo dow dis dy?" (You know this guy?) I asked. I assumed that it was someone who Luffy had met before me.

He nodded. "Mm. Wets wun deffow ee dets uth." (Mm. Let's run before he gets us.)

Luffy scooped up his food and shoved it in his mouth, causing it to expand unnaturally. I grabbed what I could fit in my mouth and took a sake bottle in each hand.

"Wun!" (Run!) Luffy shouted, sprinting out with me right behind him.

From behind us, someone shouted Luffy's name. Without looking back, we ran out into the streets and were faced by a girl who looked just a little older than us. She held a katana and ran at us, but we leaped over her and continued running. The smoke man that interrupted our meal threw an arm out at us and it expanded into a long snake-like cloud.

I spun and countered it with a fireball, but it wasn't enough to stop the man, though he did seem slightly surprised. Other marines were joining in the chase and people were stopping to watch us. We ran for what seemed like forever, but it was really only about ten minutes.

We were running past a short street on the edge of the town when Luffy spotted the rest of the crew. We ran towards them screaming as they tried to shoo us away. The marines and the smoke man were just about to hit us when a burst of fire shot down from one of the rooftops.

We stared in amazement as a man jumped down from the rooftops and stood in the middle of the swirling inferno. Upon closer inspection, he seemed to be part of the flames. The tips of his fingers were vanishing into the fire, but before we could say anything, he grinned at Luffy and said, "You never change, do you, Luffy?"

Luffy's face lit up in an enormous grin. "Ace!"

"Make your getaway. I'll take care of these guys and meet up with you later," Ace said, turning back to focus on the fight, "Go!"

Luffy turned around and sprinted off in the direction of the ship. I followed quickly after taking a moment to admire the blazing inferno that this Ace person had created.

Everyone grabbed the supplies that they had been shopping for and ran after Luffy and me. On the way, I noticed that the crew had changed clothes. Nami and Vivi were wearing skimpy dancer outfits while the boys were wearing clothing more fit for the desert. I could guess who went shopping for everyone else: a certain blond perverted cook.

As we ran, huge explosions of fire and smoke shook the ground behind us. I could hear shouts, screams, and a lone shout of laughter. I ran backwards for a while to watch what I could of the fight, but I accidentally ran into a wall and jarred my back.

"Hey Luffy, who's that?" I asked, rubbing my back.

He grinned like Chopper with candy. "Ace is my onii-san. He's a pirate too, and he left our island three years before I did."

"I'm not surprised that you have an older brother, but what is he doing here?" Zoro asked.

Luffy shrugged as another explosion rocked the ground.

We reached the ship without any further incidents that we knew of. As we all scrambled up the side of the ship, Vivi stopped and addressed Carue, "Wait, I have an important message. I need you to take this letter to my father in Alubarna. It has proof of Crocodile's plot and his association with Baroque Works."

As she fastened the note around Carue's neck, he took off running across the desert. As soon as he was out of sight, she climbed up the side of the ship and we set off into the shallow water around the coast-line. Before we got far, however, Vivi mentioned the thing that was on all of our minds.

"I feel like we're missing something," she said slowly.

I nodded. "Yeah, but what is it? I feel like it's just on the tip of my tongue."

"Hmm... Is it one of us?" Usopp thought out loud.

"Oh, yeah. Where's Luffy?" I asked, finally noticing that it was our idiot captain that was missing.

"That BAKA! He went the wrong way!" Nami shouted in frustration.

We all sighed in disappointment.

"I guess we'll just have to wait for him then," Usopp sighed.

Vivi pointed off into the distance where the cliff dipped in towards the land. "There should be a cove up ahead where we can hide the ship without being caught."

"But is this okay? Sailing without Luffy, I mean," Chopper said worridly.

I patted him on the head. "Don't worry, he'll be fine," I said, pulling out a bag of marshmallows, our favorite snack, "D'ya want a marshmallow?"

"Mm!"

As we snacked on the fluffy clouds of sweetness, Nami wandered over to us.

"Anni, I have a question for you," she started, "Where do you get those from?"

I pointed back to the town. "I took them from a store down there when no one was looking. They're really good, want one?"

I dug around in my bag and pulled out a small can of powdered iced tea and a handful of chocolate bars. "I got these too, do you want one?"

She hit my head hard. "We're here to save this country, not steal from local businesses!"

"Oww... Couldn't you be a little more gentle?" I moaned, holding my head.

She continued to lecture me about thievery and other stuff while I continued to roll around on the deck in pain. Chopper simply looked on at what he had gotten himself into as he finished my marshmallows.

XxX

After a few minutes of waiting, we had almost given in to the thought that Luffy had been distracted. However, just as we were about to give up, a long rubber arm stretched out and grabbed hold of the railing. Luffy flew across the water and crashed into Chopper and I, sending us crashing into the opposite railing.

"Oww... Luffy I think you broke my back... Not that it didn't feel like this already..." I groaned, flopping over to the side in defeat.

Chopper fussed over me as Luffy sat in the middle of the deck, laughing his head off. The little doctor ran around me checking my back injury and pretty much anywhere else, until I sat back up and shooed him away. "Chopper, I'm fine. I promise," I said, rubbing my head with one hand while flapping the other at him.

He had one last quick look over me before backing away and saying hesitantly, "Okay, if you're sure."

I stood up with the help of the little doctor and asked Luffy, "So, Luffy, if that was your onii-san back there, does that mean that you two grew up together?"

Luffy had stood up and was leaning against the baluster, grinning. "Yeah. Even after I had eaten the Gomu Gomu Fruit, I still couldn't beat him in a fight. So I was surprised to see that he ate one too."

"Imagine that, two brothers that both ate a Devil's Fruit," Sanji muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Even with the Devil Fruit's powers, you couldn't beat a normal person? Is he really that strong?" Nami asked.

"Ha ha ha! Yeah, but don't worry. Even if he is Whitebeard's Second Division commander, I could definitely beat him now!" Luffy answered, laughing.

A voice floated up from the side of the boat as we stood dumbstruck by that piece of information.

"And just who..."

A figure jumped up from the sea and landed on the side of the boat with a thump.

"Do you think you can beat?"

We were all shocked into silence as the very man we had been talking about sat on the railing of the ship. Now that I could get a better look at him, I noticed that he had an orange cowboy hat on his head and a green stripey backpack. He wore a necklace with red beads over a bare chest and he had an orange armband on his elbow. His baggy shorts were black with an orange belt, and he wore big, black boots. Most noticeable was the tattoo on his arm that had the letters, A, S, C, and E, with the S crossed out.

Hmm... I wonder why the S is crossed out. Maybe he misspelled his name when he got it and he had to change it. Whatever, it looks cool anyways.

"Hey, Ace! These are the nakama that I was telling you about!" Luffy pointed to each of us as he introduced us, "This is Zoro. He's going to be the best swordsman in the world. This is Nami, and she's our navigator and the one that's in charge of the money. Usopp is our sniper and inventor. Sanji is our cook, and he makes really good food! Vivi is the princess of Arabasta and she has a bird named Carue that... where is Carue, anyway? Never mind. This is Anni, she's a pyromaniac who likes to drop things on our heads. And this is Chopper. He's a reindeer and a doctor and he has Devil's Fruit powers," Luffy sighed as he finished his long-winded introduction.

Ace nodded politely to each of us as we were introduced. "Well, I see that my little brother has been in good care."

We all nodded. "Yes, he has."

"He can be a bit of trouble sometimes, can't he?" he continued.

"Yes, he can," we said again.

"Well then, I'll leave him in your care," he finished.

"You must have a long story to tell us. Do you want to come inside? I can make some tea," Sanji offered.

Ace shook his head. "No, it's fine. Thank you for the offer, though."

"This isn't true. I have to be dreaming. Someone this polite can't be related to Luffy," Nami whispered to me.

"I find it hard to believe that there are pirates this polite, and able to tolerate a brother like Luffy. Actually, that might be the reason he left..." I muttered back.

"Well, we're the ones stuck with him now. He's our captain," Nami reminded me.

"Oh yeah..."

"Hey, that's rude," Vivi exclaimed, hearing our quiet conversation.

Zoro joined in, "But it's true."

As we muttered about the manners of our gluttonous captain, Luffy chuckled, "See, Ace? Aren't they the best?"

Before Ace could reply, Chopper shrieked. We all rushed to his side and looked in the direction he was hiding from. In the water drifting around the corner, there were about ten Baroque Works ships.

"Hmm... Them again?" Luffy wondered, oblivious to Chopper, Vivi, and Usopp's panic.

"Oi, Luffy," Ace said, walking towards the side of the ship, "I'll get these guys. Don't bother trying to fight them."

He jumped off the ship with a yell. I ran to the side and looked over, just to make sure that the guy wasn't getting any ideas of being able to swim. However, tied to the Merry, there was a small boat, but it didn't look like any boat that I'd seen before. It was small and sleek, with no oars, and it had an engine-like thing on the back.

Ace landed on the boat and his feet burst into flame, propelling the small boat forwards at an amazing speed.

"Ooooh! That's super awesome!" Luffy said in awe with sparkling eyes.

"I want one of those!" I added, my eyes sparkling too.

"Let's see what this Commander of Whitebeard's Second Division can do," Zoro said, crossing his arms.

As he approached the Baroque Works ships, Ace jumped insanely high and seemed to hover over the ships, propelling himself forward with a jet of flame from his feet. He then burst into an inferno and with a shout of, "Hikken!" he shot the massive fireball at the ships, incinerating both them, and the people on them.

"Woah..." I whispered, amazed.

Zoro nudged me. "Hey, why can't you do that?"

"Because I'm not a human fireball with absolutely no shred of fear! And I have back problems," I shouted back.

"With all due respect, Anni-chwan, you do seem quite similar to the first part of that statement, and, how do I put this..." Sanji said, trailing off.

"He's saying that you are a human fireball with no shred of fear and when you say that second part, you sound like an old lady," Nami stated bluntly.

I puffed out my cheeks in frustration and looked back at the raging flames that were devouring the ships. I didn't see Ace anywhere, but just as I was about to say something about it, I spotted him zooming back to the Merry on his little boat with a triumphant smirk on his face.

He jumped back up onto the deck and everyone ran to congratulate him. Somehow, amongst the chaos, someone (yeah, no idea who at all) had brought out the sake, and we were all soon drinking and cheering.

"To our new nakama, Ace!" Usopp shouted.

"Kanpai!" we all cheered.

"To the sake!" Zoro added.

"Kanpai!"

"To all the cool pyromaniacs in the world!" I said.

"Kanpai! Wait, what?"

As we argued over who was the coolest of us, Ace interjected with a, "Hey, who said I'll be joining you guys anyways?"

We all pointed at Usopp. "Him."

"Are you actually going to join us, Ace?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, I'm after a man who goes by the name of Blackbeard."

"Hmm... I think I've heard that name before... Oh yeah! That was the name of the guy who attacked Chopper's island!" I exclaimed, hitting my hand with my fist, "If you find him here in Arabasta, can I beat him up first?"

"No, he's too powerful for you guys to defeat. He committed the worst crime a pirate can. He murdered his nakama, and then ran away," Ace said gravely. "As his Commander, I have to track him down and kill him. He's eaten one of the Devil's Fruits and I'm not sure what his motives are, but I will find him."

I puffed out my cheeks again. "Hmph. Well, if you need help, I sure want to beat him up too for Chopper's sake."

"Well, the only reason that I came here was because he was reportedly seen in Yuba," Ace said, avoiding my statement.

Vivi held out a map. "So you're going to the same place that we are," she pointed to a spot on the map near the coastline, "This is where we are, and we're heading through Erumalu towards Yuba. That's where the head of the Rebel army is."

"So it looks like you'll be traveling with us for a while," Sanji said.

Ace nodded. "Yup. I hope you don't mind my company."

"Not at all. I makes a nice change from Luffy's eating habits. And Zoro's. And Anni's. They're disgusting when it comes to food, especially meat," Nami sighed with a defeated attitude.

"Oh, does your cook make a lot of meat?" Ace asked enthusiastically.

Sanji looked slightly insulted. "Of course I do. I'm a chef. Why wouldn't I?"

Nami slid down to the deck looking depressed as Vivi comforted her with thoughts of people who ate normally and politely.

"To delicious food!" Luffy cheered, distracting us.

We raised our mugs. "Kanpai!"

We continued to kanpai to nearly anything as the ship headed in towards the land. I'm sure the non-drinkers like Nami and Vivi were quite fed up with us after a while, judging by the violence that broke out after we kanpai-ed to the sake for the fifth time.

"Ow... To beating up Crocodile!"

"And Blackbeard!"

"KANPAI!"

A/N

*smiles widely*

Hello there. Did you know that having a dance exam, a socials test, math test, science test, French test, English essay, HCE project, and choir performance, in the same two weeks can make a person go slightly insane?*still smiling widely*

Besides my current insanity, I have a few important things to say if you're still reading. One, the pairing that you guys are contradicted about. I am very familiar with people gradually getting closer (cough cough last four years) and still being oblivious (cough cough same guy) so I think that it is completely unrealistic to rush things. I want this story to be very realistic, so please tell me if I am doing something wrong or OOC. Also, I realized that if I'm going to try to catch up with the series within a year, I'm going to have to cover about -whips out calculator- eleven episodes per chapter if this is weekly. Oh dear. I will speed up very soon once this insanity is over.

On the plus side, I passed my dance exam with the second highest mark!