Uoooh .. finally! I'm terribly sorry it took so long ... *deep apologetic bow* But well, no time, new ideas ... a certain someone who swept me along pure RP insanity ... XD Well, anyway, the new chapter is up! Enjoy! :)

Credits for beta-reading and grammar editing goes to SadEcho ;)

Do not own One Piece, just love to messing with characters in my own way.

Warning: A LOT of swearing ahead.

Causing problems while being present is something, anyone can do. But try to make a riot, when you are nowhere around ... that's the true art!

"I'm really an idiot," Joyce grunted out inwardly, during his flying phase of the jump. "I forgot to take a flashlight with me ... well, never mind. Maybe there will be something to serve as a light source as well..."

Noticing the mast in a spare light, sticking out of the reef, his left hand slid down and loosened the long whip. With one accurate crack, the tip snaked itself around the hard wood and one firm tug altered the pirate's flying curve to guide him to the ground.

Rolling over the shoulder upon landing, despite sharp stones sticking out of the hard surface, he managed to somewhat safely stop his movement.

'What happened?' he wondered inwardly. It was a rare occurence for him to land without destroying anything in his way. 'Miracles sure do happ .. fuck!' *CRASH*

Maybe it was too soon to think like that.

"Odd-eye!" The cheerful call came from the top of back of the pirate, plastered into the ground, completely flattened by the rubber man on top of him, "Huh? What are you doing?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion, staring at the twitching hands sprode before the person, lying under him face down.

"Counting my bones, just in case you happened to make me loose some," Joyce's muffled growl came as an answer. Having the head dug deep into the solid rock upon the impact wasn't very pleasurable sensation. Not to mention the power of the impact at his upper back, where Luffy managed to land.

"Counting the bones?" the rubber man curiously asked. It sounded interesting. "It has to be hard. Why you don't ask Brook? He's, a skeleton so he knows a lot about bones!"

"Thanks for offer, but I don't think thatwould help me right now. Anyway, try to be so kindand get off," he growled in irritation. 'Preferably before I'll turn you into minced meat,'he added in his mind.

Giggling, Luffy jumped himself off of Joyce's back. The redheaded pirate grit his teeth when the abused part of his body cracked upon another impact, instantly feeling his vertebrae and ribs being blocked.

'Oh hell. How could I even think about my luck sleeping ... that venal bitch,' he groaned inwardly, trying to fix his blocked torso by stretching and twisting, only partially succeeding. The rib cage was especially hard to fix without any help at all. As it was he decided to give up for now, making sure to call the higher deities by a lot of names as thanks. Like this, it would be pretty uncomfortable to move around for some time, which certainly didn't make his life easier, or safer, by any means.

A curious stare, almost drilling a hole into him, could clearly be felt, despite the almost complete darkness surrounding both pirates.

"Hm? What," Joyce asked indifferently, letting his eyes adjust the darkness.

"You are," Luffy announced certainly. It felt like the rubber man was nodding at some idea that flashed through his brain.

"Do I even want to know what I'm supposed to be?" Joyce cocked up eyebrow, "Not that I would give a single fuck about what you think anyway."

"Our friend." If it was possible, that already insanely wide grin even widened. Literally to the inhuman levels.

"..." The redhead rolled his eyes. This was not an argument he wanted to dive into, especially right now. For him it was already a closed matter, and hell no he wasn't going to change his opinion just because some idiot though otherwise. Rummaging through the pockets of his loose pants, he managed to find a worn out lighter. After a few unsuccessful attempts, a flicker of light finally appeared on its top.

'Not a flashlight, but better than nothing,' Joyce thought, searching through the dimly illuminated rocky area.

"You helped me- us." The rubber man was unexpectedly stubborn in his loud musing.

"Guess I should have let you drown instead. It would have apparently saved me a lot of trouble," the redhead muttered quietly, scanning the reef. Heading towards it's opposite edge, he tried his best to openly ignore the childish captain, who picked up his pace to keep up.

"Why are you like that?" Luffy pouted. He couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to make a friend.

"Cause I want to. Any other useless questions?" Joyce rubbed him promptly off. Unfortunately, not successfully.

"Who would want to be like that?" Luffy's brain started to work, which wasn't a good sign by itself.

"Me."

"You are weird." Luffy's frown even deepened.

"You are the one to talk," the redhead huffed in reaction. Only thanks to Luffy's naivety, the rubber man completely missed the sarcasm in these words.

"But I like you." the rubber captain suddenly grinned, clearly coming to some decision.

"Is that really a good thing for me? I seriously doubt about that." Joyce cocked up eyebrow in sarcastic disbelief.

"It is! You are our friend!"

"I'm not." the redhead growled out, watching the boy grin even wider. 'Oh great. Now we are back at the beginning ... this is going to be a loooong ride,' he though grimly. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to stick with this crazy bunch after all. Keeping his distance from all of them was starting to be a harder task than he originally anticipated.

"You are!" Luffy insisted with a big grin again.

Fighting the urge to facepalm, in order not to blow the debate up again, Joyce quietly sighed. 'The hell have I gotten myself into this time? He's more clingy than a frigging hangover! I would really like all those who think I'm annoying to meet this particular example; it would probably make them change their opinion of me for the better.'

Though not openly showing it, the redhead was still all too much aware of the teenager, who was casually walking a bit too close to his back than he would have preferred. The surprising assault from behind cost him every bit of self-control he could muster in order not to kill the oblivious teenager on the spot back then. Probably the only thing, that saved the young captain from getting one-way ticked to the heaven was a fact it wasn't meant as an actual attack. But still, it was a very nasty surprise for Joyce nevertheless.

'Looks like you are pretty dangerous guy in a sense ...' Joyce thought, pouting, as the event set him into not very happy mood. 'Exactly the type I like having behind my back the most,' the redhead spat inwardly, dripping with heavy sarcasm. Travelling alone had it's merits, as well as flaws. Like having no one to guard your back ... which usually required more awareness of the surroundings and for potential attacks, since it was essential, if one wanted to stay alive longer than a few minutes.

The sounds of their footsteps softly bounced off the rocks around, mixing with the quiet splashing of water, as the waves were gently rinsed the rocky coast.

Gritting his teeth, Joyce tried to secretly twist himself over in order to ease annoying stabs of cramped muscles within his chest again, but as expected, without any success at all.

'Okay, you bastards, I got the messagge .. you just wanted to have fun I guess ...' he grimaced inwardly, addressing fate, god or whatever authority up in the heaven responsible for this, giving up completely. The presence behind him disappeared somewhere into the darkness. Not that he would even care, as long as it didn't pose a problem for him. Though some part of him kept tracing the young captain's position, just in case something went wrong. Not that he would have interfered in any way if something would happened.

No.

Definitely not.

'Maybe I shouldn't be such a jerk towards them ...' the redhead switched a rail in his inner musing, 'But no helping there; if it will go too far, things will get even more problematic ... it's bad enough we happened to meet ...'

Two cones of sharp light, like a reflectors, cut through the night, blinding him like a flash from a clear sky. Instantly, Joyce tried to cover his eyes from offending light, but it was too late. Annoying red and white dots already sprawled through his vision, making him growl in irritation.

"What kind of idiotic idea is it to shoot a full light in a dark like this right into the eyes?!" he yelled out huskily to announce his bitterness to the world. Not that he expected any kind of answer, but at least the emotions were out.

"Joyce, or who knows who you are, you are sooo dead!" The inhuman scream, full of wrath, boomed across the peaceful reef, making all of Joyce's hair stand up in alert. If there would be an expected answer to his scream, definitely it wasn't this one. "Just you wait!"

Well, maybe it was.

One of the reddish eyebrows cocked up in mild surprise. 'Whoops ... did I overdo it?' He rubbed his red hair uncertainly in confusion. 'But well ... it's better that way. Maybe I should start to watch my back more carefully, just in case they would decide to get rid of me for real ...' he trailed off and briefly get lost in his own mind.

"Shishishishi!" A light giggle resounded from his right side, Joyce's body instantly taking a wary step back to face the unexpected intruder. "Sunny's eyes are the best ones!" Luffy announced proudly, grinning from ear to ear, bouncing up and down, waving at the ship's direction.

"Would be even better if they didn't try to burn my eyes out," came a reaction in a low growl, when redhead's eyes finally adjusted to sudden brightness.

"Heeeey! Guyyyyys!" The little captain cheered, waving wildly towards the blinding light, "We are heeereeeee!"

"What was ... that?" Brook's nonexistent eyebrows rose up in a sincere confusion. The situation had changed too fast, and had gotten out of hand even faster. The sudden mood swing of the redhead was definitely unexpected, and his quick departure even more. Luffy's sudden escape was just a cherry on top of the cake to crown the entire situation, but honestly, that surprised almost no one.

"This is going to be interesting." Robin's voice cut through the awkwardly shocked silence, after the sudden departure. Her amused tone couldn't be denied, much to the dread of the rest members. "I wonder, if they will return alive?"

"O-of course they will return alive!" Usopp rose his mighty voice with unshakable certainty. "It's Luffy we are talking about!" he yelled out, watching as Robin disappeared within the Sunny's belly.

"It would be a great waste if that interesting sea urchin would get killed." Sanji had finally managed to pick himself off the railing, wiping the tears of laughter out of his eye. Not even in his wildest dreams would he have imagined meeting someone able to provide such a quality ammo to tease the green-haired swordsman. "His insight is ... more than accurate, I must admit... haha!" The cook laughed, trying to suppress the twitching of the corners of his mouth as he looked mischievously at his nakama in question. "Isn't that so, Mr. Tomato?"

A hard glare, that would make a normal man shit his pants and run for his life, only managed to add to Sanji's amusement. But the evil grin, spreading over the tanned face the next second, knocked it down by a few points. That kind of expression really should have been taken like a warning.

"Tomato is still better, than Mr. Pissed-his-pants, curly brow." Zoro grinned, enjoying greatly as Sanji's angry vein started to twitch. After getting his own dose of ordeal, cook was really asking for a good share. And sharing is one of the things that good nakama definitely do, right?

"And whose fault was that, shitty Tomato?!" Sanji's lean leg flew through the air, aiming at Zoro's head, who promptly defended, "If you didn't look like that frigging vegetable, I wouldn't be forced to laugh my belly off!"

"Belly? More like ass! No one was forcing you to think that way! It's only your fault to have such a perverted brain!" the swordsman roared in answer, engaging in another round of their eternal fight.

"Shut up, Tomato!"

"Idiot cook!"

Swords and legs started to whirl around, followed by all possible kinds of names flying around at the account of both fighters. Uninterested, Lissy flew down at the railing beside a very confused Chopper. Her soft, sighing, chirp reached the doctor's ears, as the bird shook its head in something that resembled defeat.

"I wonder about that too." The reindeer nodded in agreement. "How is that even possible?"

Looking at Chopper with one black, bead-like eye, the falcon attempted something like a shrug of the shoulders and chirped in answer.

Whatever the bird said to Chopper, it just made the doctor fidget his hooves in puzzlement.

Animalistic roar of wrath resonated through the Sunny and no one dared to doubt, to who did it belonged this time; without a doubt, Franky just found out the actual state of the men's room.

"What the hell is this supposed to mean?!" The cyborg stomped out of the bedroom, huge hands full of wooden splinters and torn ropes, that resembled the wooden hammocks only with a huge dose of imagination. "They were brand new! What the hell were you guys doing in there?!" Franky roared with so much vigor, even Zoro and Sanji briefly stilled their match to see, what happened.

"Wild night, Tomato?" the cook instantly sneered, which earned him an attack intended to slice his blond head cleanly in two.

"Like hell!" Zoro screamed at the top of his lungs, instantly gaining his, around this time already, favorite shade of red. Just one look at the reddening face sent Sanji back into salves of laughter. "I'm a man dammit!" the swordsman tried to justify himself. The last thing he wanted to think about right now were certain events, that happened at Kuraigana during the past two years. Especially after being struck down by Joyce in such manner earlier. The sensations, it invoked within him, were more than just plain disturbing, given his real orientation. 'And fuck what other's think! I'm a man and definitely not the kind interested in other men that way!' That much, the green-haired swordsman was sure of.

"I said not to damage Sunny in any way! Zoro!" Franky threw the remains of poor hammocks aside, stomping right towards the brawling blur of black and green, fully intending to drive his point into Zoro's thick skull. In a matter of seconds, the duo changed into a trio and the mess increased tenfold.

"A... aehm, try to calm down! Franky-san! Zoro-san! Sanji-san!" Brook tried to dive into the mess to separate the fighters from each other. "At this rate the Sunny is going to be really damaged!"

"I will never allow that!" Franky roared and so, poor Brook was also dragged inside the brawl, that still had been rising in a scale.

"Say that to our Tomato!"

"It's not a tomato, it's a marimo! Are you blind or what, Mr. Pissed-pants?!"

"Who is Mr. Pissed-pants?! You frigging Tomato!"

"You both are going to sleep on floor! Stop fighting on Sunny like that!"

"Why both?! Unison screamed from the middle of the mess. "It's his fault!" Sanji's voice complained greatly.

"My fault?! Who called me Tomato? Who struck me right into our bedroom?! Hell, why is everything that happens here my fault?!" Zoro roared in answer.

"People, calm down ...hey! Be careful on my hair! Don't hurt it!" Brook screamed, partially scared about his precious hairdo, his only remaining feature from his previous life and partially pissed off when the participants made him swirling uncoordinally between them and so, the skeleton fully joined the fight for real.

"I have a baaad feeeling about this ..." Usopp beeped, trying to be as small as possible, as he warily eyed the events happening aboard.

Ocassional twitches of Nami's shoulders, as she stood near the railing face still hidden behind her palm, should warned everyone of the storm about to unfold a long time ago.

"ENOUGH!" A high-pitched scream filled with pure wrath and a blinding flash pierced everyone's eyes and ears, as the thunderbolt struck with terrifying accuraccy right into the middle of brawling mess on the deck, leaving all participating men in a state very similar to a well done beefsteaks with a crispy surface. Without a doubt, the navigator's patience had finally reached her farthest boundaries.

"Scary! Dangerous! I knew that! Even more scary! What is happening?!" Usopp crawled across the deck, trying to avoid getting hit by another thunderbolt coming from Nami's Clima tact. 'Such a dangerous weapon ... I don't remember constructing it like that!' the sharpshooter whined inwardly at the unlucky twist of fate.

"What is with everyone?!" Nami screamed, when the burnt-smelling smoke finally dissipated. She was panting hard and her face was flushed, but the most striking were her eyes; personification of godess of wrath itself. "Did everyone go completely nuts?! What the hell is happening here?!"

"I would say it's a first class chaos. Yohohoho!" Brook chimed, snapping out of his shock after being hit by a thunderbolt again, but answering the question in all honesty like a true gentleman.

"The hammocks in our bedroom are trashed! If it continue like this, Sunny will be hurt!" Franky was the next one to complain and trying to explain the situation.

"He called me Tomato! Fucking love-cook!" Zoro pointed viciously at Sanji.

"And you called me Mr. Piss-pants, shitty crossbreed!" Sanji's head snapped in swordsman's direction.

"WHAT?! Who's the crossbreed here?!"

"You! Should I call you Torimo or Marito to get the point through your peanut-sized brain?!"

"You are dead, dartboard brow!"

"In your wildest dreams, idiot!"

"SILENCE!" The power of that scream made all possible hairs in general vicinity stand up like unit of marines prepared for a parade march. Accompanied by a threatening sparks flying out of the tip of Clima tact, no one dared to even breathe. It would be a clear ask for a death wish, to provoke Nami right now. "Which idiot is responsible for this?! And think twice about what say!" she growled dangerously, eyeing one man after the other, starting from Franky.

At least the cyborg tried to look guilty. In Zoro's case, not even the enraged navigator managed to wipe his eternal frown from his features, but at least he didn't look like a certain idiot, whose eyes turned into pounding hearts of love when Nami set her eyesight on him. That picture made her eyebrow dangerously twitch, until Zoro harshly nudged Sanji into ribs to remind him he's supposed to look guilty and not salivating all over Nami's form like a dog over the shop window of butchery.

"The only thing I'm interested in right now is who the hell started this whole mess! So?!" The navigator narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Whoever would be marked better run away for his life, or their survival couldn't be assured.

Instantly, hands of everyone present shot up into the air.

Zoro was pointing at Sanji, Sanji at Zoro, Franky at Zoro, Brook at the guilty trio ... 'Wait. Something doesn't quite fit.' A thought flashed through Nami's mind at that picture.

"E-ehm ..." Usopp quietly cleared his throat to surprisingly, drag attention at him and Chopper. Then Nami's gears finally clicked together. Without exception, at least one hand (or wing, respectively, since Lissy also added her opinion to the mix) of everyone was pointing towards the darkness where the reefs were supposed to be.

Without a doubt they all were pointing at that one certain person she already had on her mind.

"I would say the cause of the disruption between us is currently busy with adventuring the Hollow sea, thus unavailable to answer at this moment," a composed, informing voice resounded from behind Nami. Robin had come out of Sunny's belly, reading some kind of thick, old-looking book, looking very interested in it.

That was the last confirmation Nami needed.

"Franky! Light up the way!" she demanded, turning on her heel so fast it almost started a fire. Pacing quickly across the deck, she completely overlooked certain luggage so conveniently placed just in the way. One of her high heels tangled into the strap, successfully knocking her off balance and sending her flying straight against the deck.
"Nami-swan!" Sanji shrieked in pure horror, launching himself at the navigator. "Are you alright?! Are you hurt?! Are you still ali ...?!
The look of pure doom stopped Sanji in midsentence, making him warily step back, carefully avoiding meeting Nami's eyes during his retreat, much to Zoro's hidden amusement. Not even he dared to show concern openly, not with the hot-blooded navigator in this particular state.

A few personal belongings of the redhead, that were unlucky enough to be near top were spread on the deck, rolled lazily out.

With a trembling hand, Nami reached for a leather covered book the size of a notepad, glaring at the item, like it was all it's fault. "Joyce," she hissed out, and lifted her eyes up to met the curious, and maybe a bit amused, look of the falcon sitting just above her.

No primal instincts were necessary to realize it's better to retreat, because the situation was so heated up. It might as well get cooled off on the innocent companion of the unbelievably annoying an alarmed whistle and sharp flap of her wings, the falcon sprang up to the air like a rocket to create some safe distance and settled herself onto the upper yardarm of the main mast.

Lifting herself up, Nami made the rest of the way to the railing, still holding the book from the sack. "Franky?" She turned to the cyborg, who, mesmerized by a whole situation, forgot her previous order.
"Nipple lights!" Cyborg announced proudly, litting his special feature up. But as soon as Nami's glare hit him again, he instantly understood what she really wanted. Very soon Sunny's eyes cut through the darkness like two reflectors, lighting all the way to the reefs.

"What kind of idiotic idea is, to shoot a full light in a dark like this?! Right into the eyes?!" an angry husky scream boomed over the water surface, clearly voicing the opinion about Nami's idea.

The eyes of the navigator had already developed a constant tick by this time. This was clearly the last drop she was willing to tolerate right now. Gripping the leather cover even tigher, she lifted the book up into the air and upon seeing her expression, unmistakable sign of something big coming, everyone on board instantly covered their ears. Just in time.

"Joyce!" Nami's scream mercilessly ripped the silence, despite not really answering the angry question ,"... or who knows who you are, you are sooo dead! Just you wait!"

".. wait ... ait ... ait ... it ... it ... t ... " the echo mercilessly bounced the navigator's threat back at the Sunny.

"That's my Nami-swan! So beautiful even full of wrath!" Sanji started his noodling dance around the deck, completely forgetting about his previous forced retreat.

"Shit..." Zoro cursed quietly under his breath with a regret when the echo subsided, "I wanted to kill him myself."

"Heeeeey guyyyyyys!" an all too familiar, excited voice of their captain joined the sceaming contest, "We are heeereeeee!"

"I can see him, he's over there." Usopp focused his special googles, finding Luffy's position in a matter of seconds. But once he spotted the rubberman, his stomach considerably dropped down. "Sure, he doesn't think ..."

"... he does." Nami sighed, pacing along the railing, giving up with a defeated sigh. "Prepare the landing, we can't let him go out alone."

Now, that the steam was finally released to some degree, upon the standard riot happening aboard every day, Nami looked down on her hand still gripping the leather covered book. Now she felt kind of sorry for sprawling Joyce's things across the deck, though it was clearly an accident.

'I wouldn't be happy either, if I would find my belongings in such state,' she sighed inwardly, bending down to tuck everything back inside. A little, tightly closed wooden box, from which some clatters were resounding, two rolls of graying, but clean bandages, a bottle of clear liquid where something red was stored ... 'Is that a chilli pepper?' the navigator looked through the transparent glass of the bottle, dumbfounded, but soon decided that she doesn't really want to know what was inside. The last thing that remained was the suspicious book.

For some reason, Nami felt being literally drawn to that item by some invisible force, which was most probably rooted deep inside source of pure curiosity.

'Is that a diary? Or a log?' Her eyes flashed up, realizing, that she was likely holding the key to unlocking at least some of the secrets of their passenger.

"Oi!' Zoro's deep voice resounded from the shore, as they starting to disembark, "Are you going as well?!"

"In a second!" the navigator answered, snapping out of her mind train back to the reality.

'Now is not the time to look inside, but when we return I wonder, what will I find there? Who knows, maybe he won't even notice ...' she giggled, rushing to her cabin to hide the book there, completely forgetting about the sharp-eyed falcon sitting on the yard arm above.

Illustration: None for now.

Uff ... usually, when I really want to do something, shit hits the fan hard and everything is going straight down to the drain ... like with this chapter. Writing it down was a pure hell ... because when I started, my mind immediately offered me another ideas (especially for the parts of the story, that will happen in a very very VERY distant future ... _) ... Hollow sea was supposed to be just a short intermezzo, but so far it looks, it will bulge into a full blown arc *facepalm* Well .. and connecting dots took awfully lot time with my work, moving to my new house (bit by bit, it's annoying like hell!), troubles with my laptop thrown in ... and all those usual things like eating and sleeping :X Nah, I'm really glad I'm still alive.

But wellll! The chapter is out and I can only hope, I'll publish the future one sooner than after ... I don't even want to know and think about how long it already was :X It's kinda shorter in length, but provides a great foothold for the future ones (that will be undoubtedly longer ;))

Thanks for your support, all of you and for your infinite patience as well! :)

Jitt