Chapter 7 v2
Reunion

Eli's days at the Baratie went by like a breeze. Before she knew it, she was already packing her belongings in her baggage. Her heart felt a little heavy knowing that she probably won't see her new friends before a long time. She was about to put her logbook in her bag when the girl found herself caressing its the leather cover, a gentle warmth fluttering softly inside of her as she did. Soon she will see Luffy again, and she missed the rubbery teen, more than she'd dare to admit.

With a deep breath, Eli grabbed her shoulder bag, as well as her heavy baggage, and walked out of her bedroom. The usual hubbub prevailing in the kitchen was hushed as soon as the girl entered the room. She looked around, a grin on her face as she watched all this big and tall men and their red and puffy eyes. The gruff cooks would obviously miss the girl.

"Well ! Time for me to go !" Eli said cheerfully. "Thanks for everything."

Some mumbles and the cooks rubbed their eyes with their forearms.

"Oh my beautiful Elisabeth~," Sanji whined, and took the girl's hand in his. "I can't believe this day has come..."

Her grin grew larger and Eli patted the young man's head. She would miss Sanji; he was a really good friend, and probably the biggest womanizer she had ever seen. It was the first time she had met someone who called her 'beautiful', it was nice, even though very exaggerated. But it made her laugh and, as the time went by, the love-cook displayed some other sides of his personality.

He was strong and arrogant to an unbelievable degree, yet sometimes, she would catch him looking in the horizon dreamily. He had a dream; All Blue. In Grand Line was a mystical sea of legend, the blond had told her once, the only place in the world were North, South, East, and West seas met and, in this legendary ocean, it was said that all the fish could be found. Every cooks' dream. Sanji had a childish glimmer in his eyes whenever he talked about his dream. It was endearing.

Without doubt, she would really miss Sanji. Looking at the cook, Eli felt a tight grip on her stomach. "You'll have to come, Sanji," she said quietly, only for him to hear. "I'll see you there."

One last smile, and Eli walked over to the door. As she put her hand on the doorknob, a loud, and strangely familiar, noise was heard from above.

The girl found herself laughing upon hearing the sound. "It sounds exactly like the time when I deflected that cannon ball in the roof !"

Her laughter dying out on the spot, the girl and Zeff looked at each other with wide, bewildered, eyes. Without an other thought, they both ran upstairs.

"What the HELL !" Zeff yelled.

"What are the odds..." the girl said quietly, as she watched the exact same hole as the one she had made about six months ago in the restaurant's roof...

Her eyes shifting from the cannonball to the hole, Eli couldn't believe her vision. Only a few weeks after the damages had been repaired, the roof was back in the same state as it was after her arrival at the Baratie. While she was lost in confusion, she heard Zeff muttering some of the worst curses she had ever heard, a dangerous aura emanating from the former pirate.

"...Rocket !" yelled a familiar voice coming from outside.

"Luffy !" Eli watched the boy with amazement as he had propelled himself inside of the room.

"You know this punk, kiddo ?" Zeff questioned raising an eyebrow at the girl.

She nodded with a smile. "He's my captain, Chef."

"I can't believe you're here." Eli walked over to the Luffy and beamed at the boy. "It's good to see you."

It was surely unexpected, but she was definitely happy to see him so soon. It has been almost one year and a half since she had last seen him and he hadn't changed an iota. The teen might have gained a few centimeters but he was still rather small compared to her. And his hat, his trademark hat; it was definitely still the same old Luffy.

"Eli !" Luffy fixed his Straw Hat on his head. "What are you doing here ?"

"Long story..." Eli laughed lightheartedly. "What about you ?"

"I'm here to find a cook for my crew." Folding his arms the teen grinned proudly.

Figures, Eli thought. If you were looking for a pirate cook, the Baratie was probably the best place around.

Curious, the girl walked over to the hole and observed the ship that was going to be her home from now on. It was a small caravel with a cute sheep figurehead. Eli smiled as she noticed the Jolly Roger; a skull wearing a straw hat. Upon watching the ship, the girl felt a brilliant sensation arising from inside of her; it was real now, Luffy was a pirate and so was she.

From behind the two joyous pirates, Zeff cleared his throat quite loudly, making Eli wince in fear for her captain. The chef didn't like being ignored in general, but at this instant, considering that the boy outrageous ignoring him had just crashed a cannonball in his restaurant, the girl knew that this was going to be ugly.

"I'll go check the ship out," she said, and got out through the hole. "Good luck, Captain."

As soon as she was out, Eli hear hoarse yells resonating from the inside, but knowing Luffy she had a hint that everything was going to be alright, probably.

Her feet tapping on the dock, Eli saw a young man jumping off the ship with a loud thump as his heavy boots hit the floorboards. It didn't take the girl more than a split second to recognize him.

Ace.

It has been three years now. He was tall, much taller than when he left, maybe more muscular too. As usual he was wearing an opened shirt as well as the bright cowboy hat he got before his departure. As she got closer, Eli distinguished his singular and so lovely freckles, this sight making her smile happily.

"Your face seems vaguely familiar," she jested, narrowing her eyes as she did. "Do I know you ?"

"Yo, Twig," Ace greeted smiling back at her.

A few steps away from him, the girl came to a stop, and crouched to put her heavy baggage down. She clenched her hand repeatedly when blood started to flow back in her numb palm and fingers. There was something strange floating silently in the air; happiness, of course, but a slight bit of discomfort. She was observing him and, surely enough, he was observing her. Obviously, she was glad to see he was unharmed. Ever since the cards' omen, the girl couldn't help but feeling uneasy and concerned about his well being. But he was right here in front of her, safe and sound and the girl couldn't help but notice that the cute freckled teen who had left about three years ago had grown into a good looking man, however, Eli quickly made a mental note never to admit that out loud.

Eli straightened up. "Long time no see Freckles," she said and felt that the cheerful tone of her voice was slightly forced. "How have you been ? Still unable to button up a shirt as I can see..."

Did I really say that...?

The young man's smile turned a bit devious. "What about you ? Still the same annoying brat ?"

Eli rolled her eyes and kept looking away while the raven-hair pirate laughed childishly. Within the years, the girl knew that she hadn't changed a lot yet she had matured, grown taller and stronger, but Ace... She let out a quiet sigh while her eyes clung on the Baratie. Ace had gone on Grand Line, she had seen his bounty, the young man had quickly become a great pirate and somehow, next to him, Eli felt a bit miserable.

"Can't believe you still wear the hat..." Eli muttered out of annoyance

His smiled widened as Ace put his large hand on her shoulder and leaned closer to her. "It's good to see you again Twig."

And Eli found herself smiling back. No denial possible, it felt good to see him again, real good, and knowing that from now on she would be is the same crew as him and share his adventures, felt even better.

Ace led Eli on to the ship to get to know the other crewmates. After a short self-introduction, the first pirate who made her way to the new member was a girl, a really pretty girl. She was of a normal height, had orange hair, and big, big, boobs.

"Hello, I'm Nami," she said. "Welcome to the dumbest crew ever."

"Quite aware of that," Eli said while shaking the girl's hand and couldn't help but seeing that her breasts were moving with each shaking.

"Nice boobs..." Eli said quietly.

Immediately Nami grinned. Obviously quite proud of her impressive chest and who wouldn't ? Oh years had passed, and with each year the beanpole could only despair watching her body. Now she was almost twenty. A twenty-year-old girl with the body of a freakishly tall boy...

A deep sigh escaped her lips as Eli finally unclung her eyes from the redhead's breasts. "I should get some of those..."

"Yeah, you should," agreed a smirking Ace behind her.

Eli twitched and straightened up. He of all had no right to say that because... The girl shook her head rapidly to clear her mind, and walked over to a boy standing a few steps away from Nami.

A teenager, around Luffy's age probably, with one of the longest nose she had ever seen. He was tanned, skinny and rather short. He wore a pair of dark brown overalls, goggles, and a green bandana over his curly black hair.

"I'm Usopp ! Captain Usopp," he bragged pointing his right thumb at the center of his chest. "The greatest warrior of the sea."

The girl's eyes narrowed, and as she leaned closer to him, the boy gulped.

"I defeated thousand of foes, and I am feared all around the world," he said, his claim barely concealing his fear.

A smirk on her face, Eli straightened up, towering over the teen, she was around two dozen of centimeters taller than him.

"Well, I am actually a mermaid who was banished from the bottom of the sea after eating one of the most powerful Devil Fruit," she said and with every last of her words, Usopp's knees shook harder. "But I can still make you my slave with one little word..."

Eli sneered as the boy was starting to sweat. Slowly, she brought her lips to his ear and could almost smell his fear.

"... Boo."

With a loud gasp, the long-nosed teen jumped and ran to hide behind the mast, while the other pirates burst in laughter. Turning around Eli saw two men walking in her direction, they both carried a sword, one of them wore sunglasses and the other had a head protector.

"I'm Johnny," said the one with sunglasses.

"And I'm Yosaku." They both shook her hand. "We're just tagging along for now."

Eli looked around to see if she hadn't missed anyone, and soon, her eyes fell on a muscular man with green hair. He was sleeping against the mast with three katanas lying next to him.

"And who's the sleeping one," she asked Ace pointing a thumb at the man. "Your lost brother or something ?"

"Zoro, he's the swordsman of the crew," Ace replied apparently ignoring her joke.

"Zoro..." Eli brought a hand to her chin, and looked upward thoughtfully. "I know this name..."

"Roronoa Zoro," Ace specified. "The famous Pirate Hunter."

On the spot, Eli mentally snapped her fingers. Of course she had heard of him during her journey. He had quite a merciful reputation, yet, seeing him napping peacefully, no one would have guessed.

After that she had met all of her new crewmates, Ace asked Eli what she was doing at the Baratie and the girl found herself telling the story of the cannonball. During her short tale the pirates couldn't help but laugh at the odd similarities between the girl's accident and Luffy's. Their laughing fit, however, quickly faltered when the reality of the situation hit them.

They would be stuck at the Baratie for at least six months.

"We can't possibly wait for him a whole year long." Usopp whined and the other pirates all nodded in agreement.

"And knowing Luffy," Nami sighed. "I'm not sure a year of work would be even enough to pay for all the food he'll eat."

It seemed that even though they had spent only a few weeks with Rubber Boy, his crew was already aware of the bottomless pit he had for a stomach.

"Knowing Luffy." Eli smiled. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

At her words, the pirates all smiled back, and though her eyes, Eli could see the keen affection and trust they already had for the boy. It was a nice crew. They were all young and surely inexperienced, but they all had dreams, she could feel it. They all shared a wish for adventure that could only be seen through the eyes of a true dreamer.

to be continued

Revised.

Yay ! That makes 3, only... oh, my... 16 to go...? *sigh*