Chapter 7

"To understand the present, examine the past; without the past there would be no present."- Unknown Author

"What? You left the treasure?"

Kya chuckled, watching Nami fumed at Luffy. She leaned over the railing, one arm extended as she trailed her fingers across the water and the other holding her head. The sea was calm (excluding her idiot crew members) and the sky was glowing with beauty. Though she was stuck on a tiny ship, she didn't mind the open waters much.

"I gave you half of it didn't I? That's five million beli!"

"Ya but since half the village was destroyed it will take some money to repair it."

"That's my treasure!"

"Stop it! I can't swim! If you want it so badly you can go back and take from them!"

"How could I do that? If you ever do that again then you're dead!"

She sighed at her never-ending peace interrupting crew. She shook her head as Nami almost threw the young captain over board, making the two boats rock viciously. Zoro laughed heartedly from his seat next to her. "You're going to pop your stitches if you keep laughing like that." She grumbled, flicking her sea water covered fingers at him. "Oi, woman. Shuttup. You're a mood killer." He stuck his tongue out at her. She chuckled lightly at him and faced back out to sea as Nami and Luffy began arguing again. "Baka." The orange haired girl laughed, and Luffy glared at her. "What are you laughing at?" She hit him on the head. "Shuttup!"

"That doesn't hurt!"

The young girl sighed and grabbed his broken hat. "Let me fix it up for you." she muttered, and he giggled like a little kid. "Nami's fixing my hat~! Nami's fixing my hat~!" He sang happily and Kya smiled lightly at him. Oh how she would give anything to be so young and carefree again. Where nothing bad ever seemed to matter for more than a few minutes.

"If you think any harder your brain is gonna come out of your ears." The green haired man poked her temple, making her sigh. "Keep bugging me and you won't live to see another day." She threatened, eying him in her peripheral. One of these days, she would kill him. One of these days. He only laughed at her and poked her temple again. "You're too uptight, Kya-chan." She grabbed his finger swiftly. "Don't call me that." She growled and his mouth formed into a thin line. "Why not?" He pulled his finger back and she looked away from him. Now wasn't the time to ask questions. He shrugged and moved away from her, laying on the floor where he instantly fell asleep. She shook her head, but couldn't help but laugh. That man was going to be the death of her.

"It's fixed!"

She turned to sit on her backside, staring as Luffy practically danced around with his hat in his hand. "I just mended the cuts. I think that should do it. Just try not to poke it too much." Nami said from her boat, putting away her needle and thread. Sure enough, he ignored her and began poking the top of the hat. "Right! Right! Thanks! You did a great job fixing my hat!" Kya could her the rip of Luffy's finger going through the straw hat. "Ooooh!"

"Didn't you listen to what I just said!" The navigator poked him in the head with her needle. "Stop poking me with that needle! It hurts!" He cried out, flailing his arms. "it's useless if I hit you so I have to sue the needle!" She seethed, and Kya just leaned her head back, focusing on the peaceful sky. "Ah! That makes sense!"

"You guys are too noisy. I can't sleep. Hey I'm hungry." The swordsman grumbled, sitting up and wiping his eye. "Well aren't you just a a sleeping beauty." She scoffed, but he ignored her and turned to Nami. "Share us some food!" He demanded, and she sighed. "Oh please!" She chastised. "You need to be more prepared. You don't bring food or water and you dare to go to sea; you underestimated it!"

"Ah! I see something!" Luffy shouted, staring off into the distance and, per usual, ignoring Nami. Kya caught the apple that was flying towards. "It's a miracle you've surprised up until now!" She ignored Nami's ranting, as it was quiet annoying. "There's always a way!" Zoro chimed, happily munching on a piece of bread. "Hey there's an island!" She looked the way Luffy was, and sure enough, there lay a small island. "That island's no good." Nami scolded, looking through her binoculars. " It's unpopulated, so it's useless. Let's keep going."

And did anyone ever listen to Nami?

"Wait!"

"Let's see if we can find someone who would join us there." Luffy sang, rowing the boat towards the small island. Kya scooted over and leaned back against the mast, throwing her legs over Zoro's who was leaned across the boat. She happily took a bite of her apple, its sweet nectar filling her taste buds. Oh how she loved apples... "And let's look for food too. You know, Nami was right. We seem to have no plans!"

Sighing she looked at the sky. "And we're not dead yet." She muttered, and Luffy laughed. "Don't be so down Kya-chan. We've got new adventures ahead of us!" He shouted as Nami caught up to them. "Hey! You let him call you Kya-chan!" Zoro added in, frowning at her. She waved him off, taking another bite of her apple. "You're annoying." His eye twitched angrily at her and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Nami. "What do you think you're doing?" She cried, her arms flailing in the air. Luffy smirked at her. "We're going to explore!"

Eventually, they reached island in one piece; though a certain swordsman was passed out under Kya's legs. She simply shook her head, still munching on her apple. "We've reached the isolated island! There's nothing here but forest!" Luffy stated the obvious before he jumped off the boat onto the island. "Like I said, this is an unpopulated island! It would be weird if you found someone for the crew here." Nami said, annoyed with her new captain.

"Hey Zoro, Kya! Come over here!"

She cocked her head to the side, looking at the island. "He's asleep." She said simply, and the young boy bit his lip in annoyance. He started to charge towards the boat, but Nami grabbed him by the shirt. "Let him sleep. He's still injured." She scolded him, and he nodded. "You're right. Well let's go!"

Kya finished the last of her apple and tossed it to the side. She looked down at the sleeping man and sighed, tapping her chin with her skinny finger. "Maybe I should go find them...or maybe I should just explore." She removed her legs and stood up, knowing whatever movement she made would not wake the insanely heavy sleeper. Swiftly she jumped from the bow to the sand, the breeze blowing her pink and black locks around her face. "Let's explore."

Kicking the sand lightly as she walked to the forest, she couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling. She shrugged it off, but it stuck in her spine. Maybe she shouldn't have left Zoro alone... "Squawk!" Looking down, she saw the weirdest creature she'd ever seen. It was a...cat but with a duck bill and webbed feet. Unsurely, she bent down next to it, petting the top of its head. It purred lightly, pushing against her hand. She smiled lightly; for such a strange creature it was awfully cute.

"This is the last place anyone would have expected you to be."

Hairs rose up along the back of her neck and her body went rigid. The duck like cat hissed and took off into the woods, leaving the two humans alone. "Why are you here?" Her voice was almost like a choke and the man moved closer to her. "You know why. Did you really think you could hide from us?" He chuckled darkly, and she stood up to face him. His black eyes were cold and empty; illuminating the large scar that ran across his nose. His black hair framed his square face and stopped at his broad shoulders. He wore a dark tank top and white shorts; a belt lined along his waist with a dagger and gun.

She growled as he moved towards her, a smile played on his thin lips. "Well I certainly know you aren't here to say hello Ron." her words were laced in malice as she backed up into a tree. He shook his head and slowly pulled out his dagger. "Seven years you've evaded us. Seven long years we've searched for our best assassin. And now we find you here, in a pirate crew no less?" he tsked and waved the shiny blade in front of her face. "Looks like I'll have to take them out my-"

"No! Don't touch them!"

Her cry caught him off guard and he shot a disapproving look. "Shame. Niro and Sora would not be proud of you for getting attached to people." He inched closer and she growled. "What the hell would they know? They're cold heartless people!" She shouted, making him laugh. "Imagine if they heard this. What do you think would be done to you?" She winced at the ideas, but shook her head. "It doesn't matter what they do to me. Don't hurt them."

"You're lucky, being betrothed to Sora-sama and being Niro-san's best student. I would have killed you by now."

"Where is everyone else?"

"Why do you suddenly care?"

"I don't. I just remember the five other assholes on the boat."

Ron sighed, placing his free hand on the side of her head and leaning his face close to hers. "Why did you leave us, dear?" He said quietly, his voice sickeningly sweet. She shivered under his breath and frowned deeply. "Because you are monsters." And with that she brought her arm back, sending her fist into his face. She felt his cool blood splatter over her face lightly as he flew back through the tree. 'I hope Luffy and Nami are back by the boats. We need to leave.' She thought hurriedly as she took off out of the forest. If Ron was here then that meant they knew where she was. If they made it over the Grand Line... She shook her head. She couldn't think of that yet. Maybe if she left, they wouldn't hurt the crew. Then everything would be alright.

Sighing in relief, she slowed her stride as Luffy, Nami and the boats came into view. The boats were still there, and so was Zoro. There was also what looked like a walking treasure chest with an afro surrounded by misfit animals. But maybe she was just seeing things.

"Aha! Come on Kya! We're leaving now!" Luffy waved happily at her as she walked up to them, but stopped when he saw her face. "Kya! You're bleeding!" he said suddenly, taking her face into his hands. She pulled away from him, smiling lightly. "It's not mine. Sorry for holding you up. Let's get going." He nodded, his face stern, before turning to the human in the treasure chest. "Gaimon this is Kya. She's our assassin!" The man in the treasure chest gave a toothy(or maybe toothless) smile at her. "How do you do?" He said, wiggling his eyebrows slightly. She gave a curt nod, ignoring his childish behavior, and ran a hand over her face to wipe away the blood.

"I'm sure you'll find good companions for your crew!" Gaimon began to say loudly as the crew took off. "And also find One Piece, then buy the whole world!" Luffy laughed at him. "That's right! I can do it! See ya!" And then they were off, heading for the Grand Line again. "So...Kya." Nami started slowly, and the pink haired girl shot her a look. She didn't want to talk about it. They didn't need to know.

"Ah...Where are we?"

The three of them turned and glared at Zoro, who yawned loudly. "Baka, we just left an island. You slept the whole time." Kya said, rolling her eyes at him before leaning back against the railing. "Oh...Was it any fun?" he turned his attention to the captain, who grinned like an idiot and clapped his feet together. "Ya! We saw all sorts of weird animals! Then we met this guy in a treasure box named Gaimon and we helped him find these treasure chests that were on a hill. When I opened them they were empty though. I asked him to join the crew but he said he'd rather stay on the island." He said in pretty much one breath. She chuckled lightly at him and shook her head. "You can't just keep inviting people t the crew like that Luffy." She scolded and he turned to her, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh ya. And Kya came back covered in blood."

"I wasn't covered in blood!"

"Well you had blood on you!" Nami chimed in from her boat, pointing a finger at the other girl. "What happened? Did a creature attack you?" Kya shrugged her shoulders and looked at the blue sky. "Sure." "You're lying!" Nami shouted, her hands balled into fists.

"Why does it matter what happened?"

"We-Wel-Well..."

"Exactly."

"It's because you're part of our crew." Zoro said gruffly, his arms around his three swords as he sat with his legs crossed. She sighed and looked at him. "Maybe I'll tell you guys another time." She said quietly; wondering why he had made her soft so suddenly. He grunted and looked away from her. "Well as long as you'll tell us soon right?" Luffy laughed lightly, his hand over his hat. She smiled at him; her heart wrenching at the fact she might have to leave soon.

Oh my goodness! I am so sorry about the lateness...I can't even come up with excuses! But it's summer time which means more updates! Don't worry! I'll update more often! I promise!