I read The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, and it actually had a theory of where nations were before they were personified. It didn't actually come up with a theory for nations specifically, but rather, fairy tale characters like Santa. Basically, someone had an idea, and the God of Hangovers was created. He said that he was 'sort of everywhere' before being suggested, however.

My bad. WW2 Japan isn't really arrogant. He's righteous. Ever read historical Shonen manga? Wanderer comes into town where there is corrupt lord, he defeats him, and the people make a better life for themselves. That's how Japan sees it. He's the wanderer, England is the lord. To him, he is making things better. Plus, there's also the revenge factor, when the Japanese tried to pass a nonracist law through the Allies (or another group), but they didn't accept. That's what he means by betrayal.

Also, I feel bad about writing that piece about Japan. I'm sorry, everyone!

Chapter 32 (Nami POV)

Breakfast that day was about as normal as it got with a pirate crew and a group of people from an alternate dimension who were de-aged. Luffy ate all of the pancakes, so Canada was forced to drink maple syrup straight out of the bottle, Germany was silently mixing brown food coloring with his beer to disguise it as soda to bypass drinking laws, Ussop was experimenting with the explosive properties of apple strudel, Spain and Romano were eating tomatoes together without a care in the world, and Russia was claiming that his vodka (I still couldn't stand the sight of that stuff) was water. The person he was talking to didn't seem to believe him, but one look at his pipe told him not to argue.

"So, can you fight?" Sanji asked Austria over strudel next door.

"Nine," Austria replied.

"He eeiz saying 'no'," translated Germany.

"They share a national language," said Arthur. He paused for a moment. "How did I know that?"

"You'll remember…" said Canada almost silently. They ignored him.

"You don't fight?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Delayed reaction!" shouted Ussop.

"Nein," said Austria seriously. "I used to fight vhen I vas stronger."

"Ve~ I remember!" Italy proclaimed. As soon as Austria looked back at him, he was back in the maid's dress.

Romano muttered something angry that I couldn't understand. [1]

Spain put his arm around Austria. "Sí," he said. "You kicked my culata a long time ago, but then Prusia got the three of us together, and-" (culata means butt, NOT anything else.)

"Who's Prusia?" I asked.

"Mein bruder," Germany piped up. "Prussia in your language, Preußen in our language."

Austria looked angry, or at least annoyed. "I defeated you," he protested.

"No, Hungría was the one who beat us," Spain continued. Austria was getting more and more annoyed by the minute, but Spain wasn't paying attention. "So that was after we divorced, and after that, they got married and-"

Austria stood up. "Zat eeiz enough," he said, and left.

Spain looked confused. "What did I say wrong?"

Romano sighed. "Tomato jerk is always like this…"

"You mean, totally insensitive?" I asked dryly. After last night, I could barely believe that he could be like this one moment and a manic the next without being in some way bipolar or crazy.

"Si!" said Italy happily. "He once pulled on fratello's hair curl!"

Romano muttered something else angrily.

"What it with that curl, anyway?" I asked. Both of them had one, heck, America and Canada had one. I would have touched it if he wasn't so sore about it.

"Hey," Luffy came over. "What happens if I touch-"

"CHIGI!" screamed Romano.

"VE~~~~~~!" squealed Italy.

"Eh?" said Luffy. "All I did was tug on it a little…"

Germany tugged on Luffy's vest. "Zat eiez not a gute idea," he said. It wasn't a threat.

Austria stood up. "Vhat are you doing?!" he scolded. "Zat eiez zeir-" he paused. "I vill not say vhat eit eiez."

"Eiet eiez zeir…" Germany cleared his throat. "For lack of a better vord, zeir 'veak point'."

Spain looked surprised. "So that's what it was!" he said as if it was news to him. He leaned closer to Romano. "Romano, I'm sorry about the incident after the Ottoman Empire and-"

The others yelled at him to shut up in a dozen unrecognizable languages.

"Lo siento," he apologized.

"What happened?" asked Robin.

"R-"

His friends yelled at him to shut up again. I guess they didn't trust him to tell us what happened without spilling the secret…

"Hey!" shouted Franky. "You're the guy I'm supposed to fight, right?!"

France got up, and Arthur began emitting a negative aura. "Ein zat tacky Speedo? And zat-"

"Why you…" Franky was getting angrier by the second.

"That is it," said Arthur fervently as he stood up. "You're not going to insult my-"

"Friend? 'ow long 'ave you known me for?"asked France.

Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but he had a sudden thought, and refused to speak a word. He was still glaring at France, though.

"Hey, why can't you two calm down?" Canada tried to ease the tension, but as usual, Robin and I were the only ones who noticed him. I was still wondering about what he was lying about… he told us he was lying, but he never said what.

"Ve~ what was dat?" said Italy.

"Canada," said Arthur and France in unison. They were grabbing each other's collars until they were interrupted.

"Canada?" asked Russia creepily. "I vanted to ask you zis."

America crouched down, threatening to tackle Russia any minute. "Shut up, you-"

"How does von plant sunflowers vhen it is cold?"

That statement was so out of my scope of Russia that I almost fell over.

"Wh-what are sunflowers?" asked Chopper.

"Dude!" America shouted. "They're these giant flowers that grow where I come from!"

"Da, my старшая сестра loves them," said Russia. (Older sister in Russian [2]) "Vhat I vant ze most eiz to be in a varm field full of sunflowers."

Wow… I had no idea Russia was like that…

"After everyvone becomes von with mother R-"

America screamed, "That's it!" and tackled Russia head-on. Russia retaliated with a blow from his pipe, and received a kick to the face in exchange.

France sighed. "What must zey fight so much?"

"Like you're one to talk…" said Canada resignedly. "By the way, you'll need a greenhouse to make it warm enough. And try to plant them when it's summer, there's too little sunlight in winter where you live."

"What was zat?" France replied menacingly, suddenly regaining the ability to see Canada.

"He's got you right on the mark, frog," said Arthur. Why did they hate each other so much, anyway?

"Dude, he's talking about your constant fights with France!" America butted in loudly.

"I aglee with Amerika-san," said Japan.

"Aiyah, you fight so much, it is annoying," said Yao.

"You both fight a lot, da?" said Russia.

Canada sighed. "You two finally have something to agree on…"

They nodded, and continued fighting.

The one thing that annoyed me was… Russia said "Become one with mother-" something that began with R. I might have heard it somewhere before… or not.

X

We marched back up the hill, taking note of the time we would have to leave. According to the residents, the log pose always turns at eight o'clock in the evening on the second Tuesday of the month. Handy, but a little confusing. Come to think of it, Arthur was in this town before us… wasn't he working in a bookshop?

"…So, that was actually my last day at the shop," Arthur said to Chopper, who had asked while I was thinking. "The owner had to leave, and I happened to be there, so I took over while he was gone. I left a note and took my wages, and locked up the shop as soon as I left."

Ah. So he didn't leave behind the shop. That actually said something that I didn't notice earlier… he didn't like leaving things unattended. I wonder why? Does it have something to do with him leaving Robin? And what exactly was Canada lying about, anyway? I knew that he was lying on intuition, but his reaction suggested that he was hiding something big. That secret must be important…

"Ze match vill be," announced Germany, "France against Franky!"

Franky stood up dramatically, in his full exposed-chest-with-Speedo glory. Not one to be outdone, France-

"Fine! I don't care if you take your shirt off!" shouted Canada in an uncharacteristic fit of rage. "As long as your pants-"

They didn't come off. It appeared that they were either stuck, or glued on with something.

"I took the liberty of covering it with superglue beforehand," Arthur told Robin. "If I didn't, then that bloody frog would have stripped totally naked."

(A/N I have to keep within the rating. If I don't curse, what did you think I would do with stripping?)

"Vous buveur de thé stupide ..." France cursed under his breath.

"What did you call me, you-" Arthur retorted, sword suddenly appearing in hand.

"Ve, he called him a stupid drinker of tea," whispered Italy. He lit a fire in the confusion, and was boiling water for pasta.

I looked at them again, and they were fighting with swords. They do fight more than necessary, granted. Not even Zoro and Sanji break out the swords and the kicks that fast.

"Something's not right…" whispered Canada. "They usually argue about something whenever they fight like this… Maybe it's because Engl-Arthur can't remember, and France won't yell at him if Arthur can't say anything back."

As if on cue, France began blabbing something in his language. So much for keeping quiet…

"What did you say about Ita-chan?" Spain rose, a psychotic gleam in his eyes. His axe was out in its full giant glory.

"Austria said it, not France," Peter blurted out.

"Nein, I said zat he vas small."

"Oh, lo siento."

"His name starts with Engl?" I asked. While they did say that he had multiple names, I could write most of them off as translations from another language, but the ones remaining began with u, b, g, and e. America, Canada, and Peter were the ones who came up with them, and they all speak the same language. Well, Canada does speak France's language as his first language, but France came up with a different letter. I could come up with a few names from those letters (though I would have some trouble with the u), but I can't think of any names beginning with Engl.

"Maple! I shouldn't have told you that…"

"CHIGI! Don't touch dat-"

"Vhat kind a pervert are you?! Und your shirt needs sewing!" Austria took Luffy's shirt off, and began patching it up.

"Hey! I liked that vest!"

"Shut up!" shouted Germany. "Ve came here for France to fight Franky, not E- Arsur!"

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, even us. That's how big of a presence Germany had. Instantly silencing an entire crew of pirates and a large group of super-hyperactive people… I had no doubt that he could get an entire squadron of Marines to stop, if only for a moment.

"Zat eiz better," he said. "Now, vill you please get ready?"

"Oui…" said France disenheartedly. He grabbed his sword from out of nowhere, and pointed it at Franky. On closer inspection, his sword looked different from the one he had before. For one, it looked heavier, and the blade was broader. The hilt had a different guard, and its blade had one edge… It was a sabre [3]. The one he had before was a rapier. Arthur had a rapier, too, and he did say that he fought with a sword… it probably wasn't the one he was dueling France with. Just a guess.

"Eins, Zwei, Drei, PAINT!" roared Germany. Franky dabbed it onto his chest, and France smeared a sticky chunk on his hip. I saw him look at Italy's chest for a moment, but Germany gave him a sharp look [4].

"BEGIN!"

Franky lifted up a huge rock next to him, and threw it at France. As I expected, he dodged, but Franky was ready. He threw a punch at him, which made France stagger back.

"Take this!" Franky raised his other arm, and his finger bent backwards, revealing a gun. BLAM!

"Zat looks a lot like Lithuania's finger when my little sister got to him," said Russia calmly.

Both of the Italy brothers gave an involuntary shudder. "Ve… your sister is pretty…"

"But we are almost as afraid of her as you," Romano finished.

"Oui, your sister is a great belle," said France… Wait, he's okay?! "But she is too aggressive for me to go near."

Franky stepped back. "I guess you're not someone to be underestimated…"

"We must have fought at least a dozen times…" Arthur muttered.

CLANG! France slashed at Franky's chest with his sword, but to no avail.

"HA!" Franky declared. "I'm a cyborg! I can't be cut by-"

"Ze vinner is France," said Germany.

Franky stared at him in shock. "B-but he-"

"He did say that the winner was the one who struck the paint," said Robin. "Look at Nami."

Ussop couldn't complain, either. He had won because Spain collapsed.

Zoro sighed. "What do you think, Luffy?"

He was eating pasta. "Eh? This is really good!"

"Ve~~" said Italy.

"If I had to say who was best at cooking," whispered Canada, "They'd be pretty high on the list."

"What list is that?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Okay, so here's how it goes." He thought for a moment. "I'd say that the best cooks are France, your friend Sanji, both the Italy brothers, and Ch- Yao. Japan and I are right below them. Spain and Russia are in the 'not worth mentioning' category, Germany isn't bad, but…"

"But what?"

"Arthur and America are horrible cooks," he said shortly. "Their cooking isn't poisonous, and sometimes something they make turns out good, but most of the time… [5]"

Germany looked around. "Vell, Peter?" he asked.

Peter trembled a little. "I'm ready."

I picked out the box and pulled out a slip of paper. "!"

"Eh? What is it, Nami?" asked Luffy.

"This is…"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Romano's angry mutterings- About Austria. Remember Chibi Romano? The House of Hapsburg ruled the HRE and Austria, and Spain, and… I never got to this in school. So, it was Austria's fault he became Spain's.

[2] Sunflowers and Ukraine- Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine.

[3] France and sabre- Sabre, or saber, is a kind of sword. It was used by Napoleons' army according to Wikipedia (Yes, it was used by everyone), and sabre sounds French.

England and France using different swords for fighting each other when angry- that's more like dueling. When they fight in a battle (more people, not a match), I figure they use something else. I'll keep Iggy's weapon a secret! (But many fics have him use this weapon…)

[4] Part of Italy's chest represents… something. I can't remember what it was, but it belongs (or belonged to) France. France considers it his, but Germany stops him. Let's call it Corsica, France has it now.

[5] This list represents both my own opinions, and canon statements. First, France and China are excellent cooks in canon, and Veneziano is also great. Japanese food is pretty good (my opinion), and Canada was French, so it must have rubbed off. Spain and Russia never have their food mentioned, and I've never had Russian food. Germany's food isn't as bad as Iggy's. America and Iggy… ew. I may be American, but I don't eat that gunk. Actually, British food doesn't sound that bad to me.

The part about 'sometimes they make food that isn't bad' refers to the huge spectrum of people.

Who did Nami pick…? No, wait; I don't have a majority vote. I have a poll, please vote?

Anyway, onto the questions!

When will the figure find them? Who is she? And why do the nations keep beating the pirates?