Because nothing could prepare me for a goat ship. I'm not kidding, it had a goat head on it. Apparently- judging by the fact that they'd been flying a Jolly Roger- they were pirates. The Jolly Roger is what caught them most of my attention, mostly because of the straw hat.

"Straw hat..." I said to myself as I shifted things around in the small boat Zeff had given me. The worst bit was the rather large sack of food, It was supposed to last until I reached the next port town, which was about a month away, and I was under strict instructions not to waste any of it. But enough about the food, I was still stuck on the flag.

Then I got that tingle-y feeling again, I knew it wasn't coming from the Baratie because I'd grown used to that feeling, this one was different, this wasn't from someone protecting something they love, I could just tell that there were people with huge ambitions on that ship. I had to be in awe. The feeling was escalating, now I sorta wish that I'd listened to the conversation that the captain of the pirate ship had been having with the captain of the marine ship.

When I snapped back after admiring the feeling there was cannon fire coming from the marine ship. I stared wide eyed as the captain of the pirate ship stretched to attempt to return fire, only he slipped and the cannon ball tore though Zeff's room! I I didn't think it was possible for my eyes to get any wider, Well, if I'd wanted to go back before, I defiantly don't want to go back now. I thought, then saw a marine aiming his gun at the pirates, Oh heck no! I drew Ami, "Ha-di!" I called out as the familiar energy began to build around my blade.

I'm very proud to say that it didn't hit anything but the Marine's arm, and it didn't slice off his arm either. I couldn't help smiling. Of course the act didn't go unnoticed, I'd in fact attracted the attention of a green haired man on the deck. He shot a look my way.

I tipped an imaginary hat, "Be seeing you." I called out as I let the wind and waves carry my little boat far away from the Baratie. That man's face pricked a point in my memory, but, as always, I couldn't pinpoint where.

About two hours later a song came to my lips, though it didn't help me any seeing as it went something like: "A Pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea." course then I got to a part where I had to rhyme with orange... yeah it didn't help much. I sighed, then took to thinking of other songs. For some reason I started humming various songs that I was sure had to do with time travel and fezzes.

Another two hours later I was singing about running and binary circuits. "And an awful lot of running to do." I sang softly to myself. Being alone was rather boring, though it gave me lots of time to think. I decided about an hour later the kogatana was to long, and nicknamed it Ana. That's right, Ami and Ana. Say it now, I know you're all thinking I'm a nerd.

Eventually I got to a point of boredom where I began to think about odd things like: Are there any Powers That Be? If there are do they have some plan? If they do have a plan is it an ineffable plan? Or just a regular plan? I wonder if it's possible to saunter vaguely downwards? Etc. Etc. until my mind began to slow down, allowing my to drift off into a deep sleep.

Now I want you to think about another month doing something like this every day. Yeah, I know, sounds like a dream come true. The only good thing about this time to myself is it seemed to have helped my memory a bit, I started to remember some stuff about myself, like I love to listen to music, and I can sing kinda well, I'm off key a lot, so as long as I'm by myself I'm OK.

There was one day that greatly differed from the pattern.

I hadn't seen many ships pass by, but there was one day where I saw not one, but two pass. The first one almost looked like a large ghost ship. But I could tell there was major fire power on that ship. Thankfully no one on board took notice of my small boat.

Then not to long after another smaller ship came into view, I watched it carefully, there was something not quite right about it. Still I thought it best to warn the person occupying said boat about the large pirate ship that was sailing ahead of them.

"OOOIIII!" I shouted waving an arm over my head, "YOU'RE GOING TO SAIL RIGHT INTO A LARGE PIRATE SHIP, I THINK IT MIGHT BE BEST IF YOU TURN AROUND!"

There was no definite answer from the person on the boat, but a feeling on the back of my neck erupted and I felt very uneasy. I quickly dropped down. "NEVER MIND. I THINK YOU'LL BE GOOD ON YOUR OWN!" I shouted again, the uneasy feeling slowly went away, but the prickly feeling stayed for quite sometime.

I didn't sleep to well that night. But anyway, sometime later:

"This was a triumph." I had started singing. "I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS." I shifted around in the boat careful to make sure I didn't step on the food. "It's hard to overstate my-" I stopped abruptly as I saw something appear on the horizon. "OH MY GOD YES!" I shouted as the unmistakeable shape of an island came into view.

"Finally! After nearly one whole month of being alone!" I should have been on course to a town called Lougetown. But things seldom go as planned.

Little over two hours later I found myself screaming this: "I HATE MY LUCK!" I punched a tree on my left. There wasn't a town anywhere on this island, in fact that island was uninhabited. "What the heck, I followed the exact directions Zeff gave me!" I started pacing back and forth in the small clearing I'd found.

A fox poked it's head out of a near by bush. I stared at it, "What do you want?" I snapped at the fox, then turned on my heel, "Awesome, talking to animals now. What's next? Talking to myself? Wait... Cheese it!" I stomped around some more. After about half an hour of ranting and half cursing at myself I settled down and looked for some place to camp, because I was most definitely not going to try my luck sailing blind.

I chose a slightly larger clearing, it was sunny but just shade enough to be very comfortable. I went back to my boat and got my suitcase, swords, and food. I dug around in the bag of food, I got out a loaf of bread and some cheese, then just for laughs I opened my suitcase and pulled out one of the four bottles of wine I'd rather unsuccessfully attempted to "borrow" only to have Zeff give them to me anyway.

It was a rare-ish type of wine. In my opinion the name was ridiculous, I mean I'm not dissing the Tonerre brand of wine, but lets be honest, who names a wine "Éclair"? I stared at my lunch... breakfast... snack... thing. I sighed, I left because I was tired of Sanji treating me like a defenseless flower... Now I wish I'd never left... being alone is boring! I thought as I sat down and took a bite from my bread. My luck must have hated me, I was running out of food though I didn't doubt I'd find some sort of food in the forest.

I spent about two weeks on this island, that is before I saw a ship heading my way. I was a pirate ship I could tell that much, and as the ship drew closer I found myself taking a sharp inhale of breath. "It's them." I said to myself. Just seeing that Jolly Roger lit something in me on fire. Though it could be the fact that it was them.

A half-smile came to my face. I moved back to my clearing, I'd assumed they'd find the place seeing as it wasn't hard to find. I grabbed the still mostly full first bottle of Éclair Tonerre, a full smile now fixed on my lips. I can't wait. I thought.