After properly storing the chess set I set out to find Luffy. Along the way I ran into Tashigi.

Tashigi obviously has it in for me, and I think it might just be because Smoker told her that I might be a pirate. "You!"

"Sargent Tashigi! Always nice to see you!" I smiled.

"Leanah, I think it's time you payed back your debt." Did I fail to mention that I may or may not have accidentally bent her sword Shigure?

"Really? Is it that time?" I shifted, damn, if she forces me to work at the marine building I'll never be able to find Luffy.

"Yeah, besides you can help this guy who broke my glasses." She pointed behind her. I leaned to the side so I could see who it was.

I smirked slightly at the sight of the green haired man muttering to himself. "He broke your glasses you say? That doesn't seem very swordsman like."

Tashigi sighed, "Then he tried to tell me that he'd pay me back but he's completely broke!"

"Oh my... first breaking your glasses then trying to weasel out of paying." I tsked.

Tashigi glared at me, "You're not much better." She started walking and I followed behind her, the green haired man behind me.

"I payed!"

"Half the fee."

I grumbled, "half the fee, shmaf the fee. At least I paid some of it."

We walked in silence. I glanced back at the man, He was missing two swords, but the green hair gave away who he was. I fell in step with him, in a hushed voice I said, "You're Roronoa Zoro."

"Why do you care?" He shot me a side glare. I bet he remembered me from the Baratie.

"Come on! A person goes up against Hawk-Eyes and lives!? I only me-" I rethought what I was going to say, "Heard about some of the stuff that guy does and he gives me the creeps!" I patted him on the back, "I'll bet you'll be famous in no time."

Zoro turned from my touch and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

After we arrived Tashigi told us we would have had to clean the hall way. It was a large hall way. Zoro and I immediately started complaining. Tashigi stopped us.

"Once you start working for the marines you never have to worry about money issues." She said cheerfully, "There will always be a job here for you."

My shoulders dropped, "Um.. Sargent Major, I don't think Captain Smoker would be all to happy with my sudden employment here." Yes, I was trying to get out of this.

Tashigi rolled her eyes. "I'll inform Smoker you're working to pay off a debt you owe me."

She turned and left the two with a bucket of water and several mops.

Zoro cursed, "Great, this is gonna take the whole damn day."

I sighed, "Now I'll never find him." I grabbed a mop.

"Find who?" Zoro grabbed a mop as well.

We started mopping before I replied. "A man who, if I'm not mistaken, you know rather well. His name is Monkey D. Luffy."

He stopped, "Luffy?"

"Yep, saw his wanted poster. My old captain swore to high heaven that Luffy was going places." I smiled thinking of Shanks, If only he could see me now!

"You're a pirate?" He scoffed

"Was." I corrected, "I was a pirate, but I didn't exactly fit in on my old crew so I left."

"Why?"

"I didn't want them pulling my weight around. I was an amateur sword user compared to my old captain, and he was missing his left arm." I mopped a section of the floor while Zoro set out on a different section. "All of my techniques are self-taught..."

"So are mine." He said, "And you don't see me complaining."

"Says the swordsman who earned the personal praise of the greatest in the world." And what did I get? A slap on the wrist. "Speaking of, you only have one sword. I thought you used three."

He frowned "I do."

"So... what happened to your other two?" I knew exactly what happened. I still remembered what I saw back when I first locked glances with Mihawk.

"They broke." Came the simple, yet angry reply. I had hit a sore spot.

I wanted to change the subject. "That Sword you have there... That's the O Wazamono Wado Ichimonji isn't it?" I didn't know how I knew the name of his sword, but it seemed as familiar to me as knowing Luffy and Usopp were friends.

"Hm?" He glanced down at his sword.

"May I see it?" I propped my mop up against the wall, grabbing Ami, "Just for a second, I swear I'll give it back." Zoro seemed a little hesitant, but after a moment he did the same with his mop and reluctantly handed me his sword.

I knelt down, placing the Wado Ichimonji just above my Amaterasu. The craftsmanship looked the same, despite the different color patterns.

"Hey, That your sword?" He asked, staring at Ami.

"O Wazamono Amaterasu." I answered. "It's the same class as your Wado Ichimonji." As I was handing his sword back to him I got a flash of memories again.

A girl, Sort of like a younger Tashigi, standing, crying about something. A younger Zoro, outraged at her crying. Kuina.

A promise. To be the greatest in the world!

And accident, a funeral. Fiery determination to complete the promise. I'll get stronger, stronger than she ever was, you hear me? So strong my name reaches up into the Heavens! I AM going to be the worlds greatest swordsman!

"Kuina..." It slipped out, along with pinpricks of tears in my eyes.

"What did you just say?" He snatched his sword back, not quite glaring at me, but just staring.

I wiped away building tears, "Nothing... There was..." I hated making things up on the fly, but there was no way out of this without doing so. "There was a girl... I knew when I was younger. She had a sword just like that one."

Zoro seemed shocked. "You... knew Kuina?"

I nodded, "We weren't close... It's been awhile since I thought of her." I stood up, "It's been... what... 8 years since the accident?" I finished quietly, grabbing my mop and going back to cleaning.

Zoro did the same. "This is her sword. I got it from her father."

"I'm glad. You seem just as ambitious as she was. Earning the personal praise of Hawk-eye Mihawk is no easy task."

He just grunted and went to mopping. We spent a little more time mopping before Zoro had finally had enough.

"To hell with this!" He shouted as he grabbed two more mops, he placed one in his mouth and held the other two like swords. I tried not to laugh. He looked absolutely ridiculous, but still, it was an effective way to get the job done. He cleaned the entire rest of the hallway by himself.

He glanced back at me triumphantly, "Three-mop style worked like a charm." I smiled at him.

He attention was drawn by the marine sword practice outside, I stood there and watched him as he stared out the window. I looked out the window too. Tashigi was leading the younger recruits through sword training. She looks like an older Kuina... I shrugged and leaned on the mop I was holding.

Two marines came by who seemed to have more common sense than Tashigi in being able to recognize Zoro. I watched his stance shift subtly, and a tingling feeling erupted on the back of my neck. It wasn't on par with Hawk-Eyes, but it had potential to be even stronger. Zoro ever so masterfully knocked out the two marines and dropped some money and a hastily written note on their unconscious bodies.. I cocked an eyebrow and followed him out of the building.

"That was some stunt you pulled back there." I said as I caught up to him. "I mean you do realize you may have just compromised the perfect cover right?"

Zoro snorted, "What do you mean?"

"You mean you don't know?!" I laughed, "Oh man you guys really came to the wrong town, you see the captain of this marine base seems to have made it his personal business to capture any pirates in the East Blue before they can get to the Grand Line. You see that's why I'm laying low, I mean I already have one strike on my record with the marines just because they saw me disembark my old captain's ship and-" I stopped because I suddenly became aware that Zoro wasn't listening at all. In fact he'd wondered off into a sword shop.

I ran my hand through my shoulder length hair and sighed, "Well... I guess he'll find out eventually." I shoved my hands in my pockets and sauntered off down the street. After about an hour there was talk about Daddy the Father and some new crack shot having a shooting contest, I blissfully ignored this news. But when I heard about a cooking contest, well... being on the Baratie for as long as I was seemed to have (possible re)awakened a passion for food in me.

I arrived to the contest area about half an hour before it started, which was just enough time to see all the contestants before the contest. Including one blond haired chef whose name rhymes with Manji.

"Leanah?! Oh can it be true?! Leanah is that you?!"

Oh shoot me! I thought as I turned to see Sanji, hearts fluttering all around as per the usual. "Sanji! What a surprise!"

"Oh my darling angel! Is it really possible that you've returned to me?" He said some other romantic gibberish, but I had tuned out by then. It wasn't until someone else called out to him that he finally stopped spouting his romantic nonsense.

When the contest started it was obvious that... oh.. what was her name again? Carmen! That's right... it was obvious that Carmen was confident in her cooking skills, hell she even had to apprentices with her. Yet, if you compared her cooking to Sanji's her cooking seemed to lack... Hm... what's the word Sanji would have used... Passion. Carmen cooked like she had passion, but she didn't really seem to have it.

The contest went on for quite some time and got very heated, the final round was Carmen VS Sanji, which really wasn't all that surprising. Carmen got to work straight away laughing like a man woman while she peeled carrots, but Sanji on the other hand seemed to be taking his time, pouring his heart and soul into every movement and ingredient.

For a cooking event it was really on the edge of your seat action. Somehow though, I just knew Sanji was going to win. And he did, I cheered for him and watched as Carmen swore she would get better. Then disappeared from the crowd before Sanji could find me again.

I went back to my hotel room, I had an odd feeling that something big was going to happen today and I didn't want to be ill prepared. I grabbed my suitcase and swords.

I ran out on to the street and saw a whole bunch of people in capes pass by. "What the hell?"

One of them stopped, "Hey girl. Have you seen a idiot in a straw hat?" The guy sounded like he'd been gargling razor blades and extract of torn vocal cords.

"Depends." I said nonchalantly, "I mean I did know an idiot who had a straw hat at one point. Then there was that one guy a couple islands back who had one, but then again just about every guy on the island had a straw hat sooooo... No I can't actually say I have."

He growled and stomped off.

I smiled triumphantly. I had never felt greater joy in piss some random stranger off before, but I doubted that he wanted to give Luffy something nice.

Quite some time later it had started to rain and I was ambling about town I heard several people scream "PIRATES! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" I ran in the direction of the screaming people.

Luck must have been on my side that day despite previous encounters, because I arrived just in time to see a weird clown pirate gloating over... wait... was that Luffy?

There was some commotion in the middle of the crowd, I couldn't quite see it from where I was but it looked like two people fighting their way to the execution platform through every pirate and marine that got in their way. I was about to go join them when the weird clown had finally finished whatever he was doing he gave Luffy the chance to say one last thing.

Luffy called out four names, three of which I recognized. Then he said, "I'm dead!"

My heart stopped, "LUFFY!" I cried, though something inside me knew he wasn't going to die. I forced myself to look away just before a giant lightning bolt stuck the execution platform. "Woah."

Everyone seemed to share my surprise, except Luffy who most likely thought that being stuck by lightning was a cool. After everyone got over the initial shock the marines called attack along with the other band of pirates. Luffy and his three friends ran off.

I looked at the ensuing chaos around me, "I never knew Luffy could make such a lasting impression on people..." I shrugged and and into the path of some marines who were pursuing Luffy.

"Get out of the way!" One of them yelled.

"Not a chance!" I yelled back as I set my suitcase down and drew Ami and Ana.

"We don't want to hurt civilians!" A different one called.

"I have news for you buck-o! I'm not a civilian! I'm a pirate and I'm goddamn proud to be one!" I ran at them.

I didn't kill them I swear. Killing just isn't my style OK? I pushed the knocked-out marines off the street so they wouldn't get trampled, then continued to the docks, suitcase in hand.

The rain was almost blinding, I knew where I was headed but it felt like I couldn't see three feet in front of me. I bumped into some one, "Oh god, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." The person I bumped into helped me up.

"It was my fault," I tried to brush off my sleeve, which was more or less plastered to my arm because of the rain, my bandana really wasn't helping either because it kept slipping over my eyes. "This rain is really making it hard for me to see."

"Is it really?" The person asked. "How very interesting..."

I bowed, "Once again, I'm sorry." I squinted through the rain, Wait...Why am I getting pelted with rain when it doesn't look like he's getting hit with any rain at all?

"An unidentified element," The man said calmly. "Interesting." I shielded my eyes to try and get a better look at him. "Tell me, What do you want out of life?"

I gulped, What? What do I want out of life? Seems an odd question. And yet... "Adventure, and getting my memories back would be nice too." I answered quickly. The man just laughed and disappeared. What the fudge? Did he just-? Am I going insane? I shook off that feeling and braved farther on down the path towards the docks.

I was almost there when suddenly a HUGE gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked me off my feet. I actually think I blacked out for a moment, but anyway I got up from the pile of rubble I landed in. I hadn't lost any fingers or limbs, I wasn't bleeding so I considered myself good on all counts. I checked my suitcase, it wasn't broken thank god and my bandana was still plastered to my forehead. I looked around, I was all the way at the docks, awesome! Now all I have to do is fin- My thoughts were cut off by the sound of several people coming at me and several miles per hour.

I looked in the direction it was coming from only to see that I was standing in a collision course with Luffy and his friends. "HOLY SHI-" Next thing I know I'm being catapulted on to Luffy's ship.

There was a terrific crashing noise when we all hit the deck. I pushed myself up and took a look at the deck. There was an orange haired woman, Nami, who was fuming. How did I know her name was Nami? Eh what ever. I looked at everyone else.

I laughed as Zoro and Sanji began beat Luffy up. This got their attention away from Luffy and onto me.

"Leanah!" hearts hearts hearts.

"It's you!" pointing pointing pointing.

"NEW CREWMATE!" smile smile smile.

"Hi." I waved.

"Leanah I just knew fate would bring us back together!" Sanji gently took my hand in his.

"Uh... yeah no." I removed it and held it out to Luffy, "If you didn't hear Sanji over there, my name's Leanah."

"Leanah? That seems like a weird name!"

"Hey, don't judge!" I smiled, "I like the name, My old captain liked the name too."

Sanji stood up straighter, "Wasn't your last pirate captain that tall red haired guy who-" I elbowed him in the stomach.

"Ignore him, he knows not of who he speaks."

Luffy's eyes lit up even more. "Cool you were a pirate before this?"

"Yeah," I stretched my legs, "And uh... I wouldn't mind being one again, really." Luffy wasn't complaining, neither was Sanji. Zoro seemed a bit on the fence about the whole deal. I offered to train with him, he accepted though was till cautious. Smart guy. I thought. Usopp didn't seem to be complaining, but Nami seemed to think this was just all to coincidental.

"Wait Luffy! Here you are allowing a complete stranger onto our crew! We don't even know if she's really telling the truth!"

I bit my lip, opened my suitcase and pulled out a fist full of berries, I had a feeling that they might help Nami accept me as a member of the crew. They did.

After awhile we all knew we were nearing the Grand Line, so we deiced to make some vows.

"King of the Pirates!"

"To make a map of the world!"

"Find the all blue!"

"Greatest swordsman in the world."

"Brave warrior of the sea!"

"To find my old memories and make new ones!"

We smashed the barrel. I smiled, Never gonna be a dull moment now!