I'm back everyone! Today, we have our first actual chapter! I'm not sure if I sound as enthusiastic as I was in the prologue, and I'm sorry in advance if I'm not. Me and my friends got into some minor drama earlier, so I'm sulking as of now. Anyways, do you guys like the new cover? I drew it myself! I've also been drawing stuff for Luffy's birthday for the past few days. I'm so excited! Anyhow, have a great read!

Chapter 1

Enter: Kaito the Masked Man!

Gray yawned, stretching their arms as they rose from their hammock. They blinked and looked outside, "Hey, Ichika?" They called their younger sister.

"What?!" Ichika grumbled, walking into the room, her hair a mess.

"Jeez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Gray rolled their eyes, "Anyways, I was thinking that we should try and recruit someone at the next island." They blinked. Ichika also blinked, then scowled.

"As if someone is gonna join a thirteen-year-old and a seven-year-old on a pirate ship!" She walked out with a scoff.

"Brat." Gray stuck their tongue out and pulled themself out of bed. They opened the door and sighed, grabbing the fence and jumping onto the deck. The sun is glowing a bit brighter than usual today, and clouds are missing from the bright blue abyss known as the sky. They've been sailing for a day or two now in the East Blue, and Gray finds it annoying when Ichika makes them do all the work on deck. Well, food is food, and Gray isn't even allowed near cooking ingredients and utensils. Getting attacked by weather and other things is also annoying, especially when you're a young crew of two sailing out on a dinghy.

Gray looked into the distance, squinting to see a small dot on the horizon. "An island!" They squealed, "Ichika, where's the spyglass?"

"I don't know! You probably dropped it off the ship the last time I left you with it!" Ichika rambled from the other side of the ship.

"Oh yeah… shit." They laughed and used their mist to move over to the top of the sails to hang off of, still squinting, but now with a hand over their eyes, blocking the sun's rays.

"Which way was that again?" Gray looked at the sky, "Okay, uh…west?" They hopped around the deck again and next to the sail. They blinked as they saw a rip and laughed sheepishly again, forgetting they nicked it with Ichika's sword the last time they were left unsupervised by their younger, more responsible (unsurprisingly) sister.

No big deal, right?

When Ichika stomps over, clenched teeth together, she immediately shoves Gray away from the sail and inspects it. She starts screaming things no kid should even know. She whips her head toward Gray after analyzing the damage done to the primary control source of their ship.

Gray, of course, ignores everything falling out of their sister's mouth and dashes out of the room, looking towards the slightly bigger speck in the distance. This pirate thing is fun, isn't it?

Ichika, who has been substituting the missing positions on the ship since they set sail while Gray only takes up space, pulls out a map.

"This should be Saltrock Island if we didn't drift across the ocean for Kami knows how long!" She screeches, running up and pulling Gray's arm, startling the latter. She begins to swear under Kami's name again, possibly ruining her chances of ever making it to heaven with her foul mouth.

Gray groans, "How do you expect us to get there?" They then bring their hand up to a point in a specific direction, possibly nowhere near their specified location. "It's that way…." They pause. "I think."

Ichika rolls her eyes, "Go check then while I try to fix this monstrosity!" She punches Gray on the arm and stomps back to the sail to try and fix it (Keyword: try).

"Owie-" Gray winces, rubbing their arm, "Fine! But don't forget who's the captain!" They squint and try to spot the small dot again. This time, however, the speckle is an actual legible shape.

"Hey, Ichika! I found it!"

"Good! Which direction?"

"Uh…"

"GOD DAMMIT GRAY!"

As soon as the ship docks on the island's shore, Gray jumps off the ship, missing the sand and landing in the ocean. "BWAAHFF-!" They let out a sudden yelp before flopping around, nearly drowning in inch-deep water. Ichika sighs, climbing off the ship like a normal human being. Well, Gray ate a devil fruit, so Ichika can excuse the "normal human" thing for once.

Two feet come into view as Ichika pulls Gray up from the water and onto the shore. They aren't big, and as Gray's eyes glide up the body of the figure in front of them, they notice that said figure is a child. Ichika perks up and doesn't get the chance to glare at the kid coming their way before she looks up at Gray when they begin to get onto their feet.

"Hey, kid!" Gray, very vocally, gets the kid's attention as they stop and stare with an emotionless expression. Gray's big smile falters before shrinking as the kid doesn't move an inch, staring, unblinking.

"Kid?" Ichika asks after finally getting up from her position while saving her clumsy older sibling. The kid doesn't look much older than her, and only about a few inches taller.

"Yo." The child says in a monotone voice, almost as blank as his face. He shifts a bit, his gaze gliding between the two taller beings standing before him.

Suddenly, rustling and mumbling are heard from behind the boy. More specifically, behind a rock across the shore and almost in the forest separating the sandy entrance to a supposed village. Unless this island is inhabited, which is unlikely considering the clean, healthy child standing before our heroes… *ahem* pirates.

"Akira!" Someone with a deep voice calls from behind the said rock.

Akira turned around; some recognition was displaying across his face at the sound of the voice, more in his eyes than anywhere else.

A tall, masked man in a suit makes his way from behind the rock, grunting as his arm brushes the uneven, dry stone. "The shop lady's lookin' for you."

The man's voice was inhumanly deep as he informed the boy, his eyes sparing a glance at Gray and Ichika from the little holes of the mask.

"Did she tell ya' what she needed me for?" Akira's head shifts toward the man, who rests his arm on the tip of the rock.

"Nope, you should know that old bag enough to know she doesn't like useless explanations." The man scoffs, eyes peeking toward the two kids behind Akira a second time.

Akira sighs, heading towards the pile of trees as the man finally positions himself off the rock. He passes the man before mumbling something to him and continuing his journey into the trees as if he has done this many times before.

"So, what are two kids doing at the shores of Rantown?"

Eyes leaving the other unknown figure, Gray looks up at the man, their eyes widening and mouth gaping.

"Wow, mister! You're huge!" As soon as those words leave their lips, Ichika slams a hand over Gray's mouth.

"I'm so sorry about them!" Ichika apologizes, finally looking at the figure looming above them.

"They never know when to shut their mo-.." Ichika pauses for a moment, analyzing the man. "Wow, you really are tall." She deadpans.

The man nearly falls over but manages to stay on his feet, trying to keep his non-visible face blank under his mask. "You didn't answer the question." He also manages to keep his voice under control.

Gray narrows their eyes, thinking back to the man's previous words. They suddenly leap up and point at themself, screaming so loud that Ichika covered her ears a bit.

"We're not kids, you bastard! We're pirates, and if you step any closer, I'll kick your ass!" Gray shouts, Ichika agreeing behind them.

The man chuckles a bit, waving his hands in front of him to show no harm.

"Sorry, I was just asking!" He takes a step back, though not out of fear. "I mean, it's not every day that we get kids washing up at shore on a dinghy."

"Our boat's not that small!" Gray grumbles and clenches their fists. As the man begins to put his hands down, he pauses, looking at Gray.

"Hey," he starts, tilting his head a bit. "Is it normal for this kid to have steam shootin' out of their ears?" He asks Ichika.

Gray's eyes widen before blushing as they smack hands on their ears, mist still coming between their fingers. Ichika looks at her sibling before snickering with her hand over her mouth.

"S-sorry, Gray ate a devil fruit. It usually happens when they get mad." Ichika explains, barely suppressing her laugh.

"Devil fruit? Those things actually exist?" The man pondered, his hand closing around his chin. He looks back at Gray, who is still a blushing mess, now on the ground. More mist is rising from them now, but instead of their ears, it's coming from their head.

"I'll take that as a yes." The man shrugs and pivots away from the junior pirates. "By the way, the name's Kaito. See you around town, I s'pose." He steps out and into the forest. Said pirates look at each other momentarily, silently agreeing on something before rising and dashing towards the man, now known as Kaito.

"GET BACK HERE, YA OLD BAT!" Gray screams before latching onto his sleeve.

"Hey, I'm not even that old! I'm barely 21!" He turns back around and shouts, kind of comically. "You're just a kid, anyways!"

That statement seems to strike Gray and Ichika ducks for cover as they pick Kaito up by his arm and chuck him against a tree. Kaito grunts as his back hits the trunk and falls to the ground, sending his hat flying off his head.

"I'm not a kid, dammit!" Gray screams, attempting to escape their sister's hold, preventing them from beating the doosh into a purple ball of putty.

When Gray finally calms down, and Kaito gets up from his standstill on the forest floor, Ichika explains that they want to go to town, mainly for provisions and stuff to fix the broken sail and not future crewmates (Much to Gray's despair). Surprisingly, Kaito (reluctantly) agrees, and the group begins to start their journey through the forest.

Kaito scoffs, speeding ahead of the kids with a click of his heel. Gray stares in awe, gaping as the masked man vanishes into the canvas of trees.

"Woah! I wish I were that fast!" Gray exclaims, pointing to the direction Kaito disappeared in.

Ichika rolls her eyes, sighing and continuing in the direction Kaito ran to.

"You probably could if you were smart enough with your mist." She teases, looking back before sprinting away as her sibling comes barreling towards her.

"You think so?!" Gray loudly asks, turning their legs to mist and attempting to fly, failing and landing straight on their ass.

Ichika began howling with laughter, almost doubling and landing on the ground herself.

"It's not that funny!" Gray screeched, blushing intensely while rubbing their tailbone with their palm. "Anyway, do you think we'll see the geezer again?"

"He already told you he's only 21! And his name is Kaito!"

"Why so defensive?" Gray had caught up with Ichika, "Ooo~, does someone have a crush?~" They bent down to "ooo~" in their sister's ear.

"Do not!" She defended while blushing, "Miss Marsha said I can't date till I'm 15!"

"Marsha cheated on her husband last October, so I wouldn't listen to her if I were you." Gray deadpanned.

"She what?!" Ichika's eyes widened, "I thought she loved Mister Joe!"

"Yeah, well, I guess she loved the other guy, too." Chunks of dirt and twigs got into their hair during the Kaito beatdown and the mist incident a little bit ago. Gray grabbed a few strands of their long, gray hair and picked at them. Gross! Just because they don't take showers like.. ever doesn't mean they don't like having clean hair.

"I wonder what Kaito looks like under his mask…." Ichika wondered, placing her finger on her chin, still flustered.

"So you do have a crush!" Gray smirks, leaning back into her face and obnoxiously cooing again.

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

"DO NOT!"

"YOU DO TOO!" Gray laughs and points at Ichika, who is bright red in embarrassment.

"Other than that," Ichika waves her hands around, "Do you think he looks like an old guy?"

"Nah. Probably one of those birds that would hang out on top of Leon's shop. What were those called again…?"

"Oh! What do you think? I'd say he probably looks like Mrs. Jones' dog! The one with that scary bark!"

Gray cackles, mist spraying from their nose as they laugh. "Probably! Or maybe even Jonesy's baby! Little John sure was ugly!"

"Hey, don't insult baby John! He's cuter than you!"

"As if!"

As the sibling's bickering continued, so did their adventure through the forest. With the scenery of tea-green leaves on branches of trees ranging from Ichika's height to taller than their cabin, the sun's rays are blocked by a canopy with the appearance of lush. Sticks and stones scatter the forest floor, occasionally kicked or thrown by the Berry Pirates' captain, who is scaring away smaller entities with their voice as they vocally express their excitement of wandering through a forest with no sense of direction.

As expected, Ichika is testing her limit on how much she can listen to a Banshee's cries. She covers her ears a few minutes after the chorus begins to not burst an eardrum. Her head is ringing. How can one be so tone-deaf?! The lyrics don't even make sense, anyways! And why is Gray chewing on a twig?!

As she reaches to unsheathe her sword, Ichika stops all so suddenly. It takes a moment for her sibling to mimic her movement and turn around, staring at the same bush as their sister.

In said bush, they see the all-too-familiar brown hair and grinning mask. Kaito is a bit too tall to hide in the bush, so you can see the rest of his body lying behind him.

"Hey, pops! We can see you, ya' know?!" Gray loudly exclaims, hands cuffing around their mouth.

Kaito jumps before slowly sinking into the bush like a turtle does with its shell. There's silence for a moment. Just staring, the sound of Kaito clearing his throat, and then more silence and staring.

"..."

"Are you sure I'm not a ghost..?"

"STOP JOKING!" The siblings screech, teeth like a shark's, and eyes white. As Kaito tries to escape his 'hiding spot', Gray gets straight to the point.

"Why are you watching us, you bastard!" They howl, the usual mist coming out of their ears.

Kaito sighs.

"I.." He pauses, sinking back, red ears barely visible under his large lot of hair. "I got nervous."

This time Gray pauses, then knocks their head back and laughs like a hyena. Even Ichika covers her mouth, face red from suppressed air.

"Shut it, brats!" Kaito yelps, jumping out of the bush with his ears glowing like molten glass. "This town doesn't have a good history with pirates, and I just so happen to live here and be a normal functioning human in society!"

"How can you be a normal functioning human in society when you're stalking kids in a forest?!" Gray rebels. "And we're not brats, ya' old pillock!"

Kaito actually considers their words for a moment.

"Touché." He shrugs and stands in front of the kids. "Anyways, tell me your real reason for being here now."

"What do you mean?! We told you already!" Ichika retorts, visibly confused.

"I don't know! Knowing my strength as a kid, I could probably destroy a town! You guys are also pirates! You definitely mean no good!"

"What would two pirate kids gain from destroying a town?!"

"..."

"Good point."

"..."

"So, you actually came here to stock up?"

"Yes-"

"And to recruit new crewmates!"

"-We did actually come here to stock up."

Kaito sighs. He really hates kids.

"Well, we're setting up for a festival at the moment. So it'll be a few days 'till you might be able to get everything you need."

Gray perks up at the mention of a festival while Ichika scowls.

"What are you guys setting up that's not letting us buy things?" Ichika asks. Even though she's excited to go to a festival, she still needs to stock up.

"This festival is traditional, so everyone's makin' food and stuff for the big day. You might get discounts if you help decorate, though."

Ichika finally perks up at discounts, and Gray perks up even more at decorating. Gray nudges their sister's shoulder, expecting a response. Ichika looks up at them and pauses before both the siblings nod.

"Lead the way, old man!" They point to the sky, eyes sparkling and mist spraying from their nose in little, train-like puffs. "Cus' we're gonna help decorate!" The 'And find new crew' goes unsaid.

Kaito sighs and begins walking in a different direction.

"Follow me."

The pirates look at each other, then start squealing. They stumble over to their temporary caretaker and begin to follow in his footsteps.

The only instance that really took place as they trotted through the forest was when Ichika stepped in the mud. The only things affected were Ichika's shoes, which she forced Gray to clean with their mist. Other than that, though, it was a very peaceful hike. Well, as peaceful as walking with Gray can get.

They fussed when Kaito didn't let them touch his hat, fell multiple times, burst eardrums because of their voice, caught a few birds and tried to eat them, and scared every other animal away (nobody can decide whether that's good or bad), fell a few more times but in piles of dirt, ate leaves, tried chewing on another stick before choking, pet Kaito's hair (because it looked soft), scared Ichika with bugs, the list could go on forever!

At the moment, Gray, with a caterpillar resting on their head, managed to beat Kaito enough to get a piggyback ride and is now riding on his shoulders. Even with a mask concealing his face, he looked like he wanted to die. Ichika whistled with her arms behind her head, secretly feeling bad for him.

After walking through the forest for approximately 10 minutes (Ichika counted), the group arrived at a hill. As if on command, Kaito immediately grabbed Gray from his shoulders and tossed them across the area, making them land on the ground and comically slide a few feet on their face.

"Hey! Old fart, why did you drop me?!" They cried, spitting out dirt while eyeing the caterpillar that squirmed away as soon as it fell from their head.

"Don't act like you hadn't just forced me to carry you through a forest on my shoulders! Just because your feet don't ache now doesn't mean my shoulders don't!" Kaito huffed, his arms crossed, and he trots majestically down the hill. "Anyways, the town's this way. Hurry up if you actually want discounts."

Ichika hurries to his back, and Gray follows behind. They both were a bit too excited to see the decorated buildings. If they had thought bubbles present above their noggins, you'd see glimpses of railings clad with streamers, lanterns dangling from rooftops, and lights and flowers on the edge of pathways. Their thoughts on decorations were stereotypical, probably because they've never seen a festival, though, as their hometown didn't celebrate anything.

But as the group finally got off the hill and were close enough to see the lights shining and hear the people laughing and cheering, they were ecstatic. They cheered themselves and ran past their guide, who yelped and chased after them. Their smiles grew bigger (if possible) as they watched everyone walk around and talk.

This will be fun!

And... done! Hi everyone, welcome back to our little time-out corner that you should see after every chapter! It's your host, R! And as your host, I will try my hardest to answer questions and reply to reviews (if we get them), so send them in!~

Anyways, we're gonna get the next chapter done in a week at the minimum. So you won't have to wait that long to read more of the pirates' adventures! Isn't Gray so funny? That little fart can't give anyone a break lol!

OK! See you all in a week! Bye bye!