Still doing introductions, sorry if this seems like its taking a while to get going. Still plowing ahead. As always, every review is appreciated! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Warnings: Brief Language.

The skeleton. The giant, talking skeleton.

He's harmless, I reminded myself quickly. He's a pervert, but he's harmless… I opened my eyes to see Nami standing at the door of the women's room, fully dressed.

"Sounds like the rest of them are already moving around," she said casually. "Let's go see." She gave me a pointed look when I stayed where I was, ignoring my wide-eyed expression. "You coming along?"

"Those two," I started.

"Are here as well," Nami grinned. "Relax, it's fine. Let's just go have breakfast, okay? You'll have to meet them sometime anyway, right?"

I sat up and straightened the borrowed nightgown, re-tying the front to keep the extra material from slipping. "And Ussop?" I asked. I was a little disappointed the sniper hadn't been in the kitchen with us the night before.

"Yeah," Nami smiled. "He's around here somewhere. I don't think anyone's told him yet, though."

I returned the smile, happy that I would finally get to see Ussop again. I felt bad that I hadn't been able to see him one last time on that island and nodded to Nami in agreement. I was just moving the covers back when another voice, loud and obnoxious, rang through the open door.

"Hey Renna! Get your lazy ass down here so we can eat!"

"That guy," I growled, leaping from the bed and running past a confused looking Nami, out into the hall, "is in for a world of hurt!"

Nami turned away from the sound of Zoro's voice to watch me from the doorway. "Wait a minute, Renna."

There was just something about the swordsman that got under my skin sometimes, and I conveniently disregarded the fact that I had spent the last year missing his scowling presence as I hurled myself through the ship. Forgetting I was still in nothing but the nightgown I stomped down to the kitchen and threw the door open, shouting as I did so, "What the hell is so important, Zoro! You can't wait two minutes, you crazy cave man?"

Zoro was sitting at the long table between Luffy and a woman with long black hair, leaning back in his chair and looking completely unfazed by my outburst. "See?" he smirked at Luffy. "Told you."

Sanji had paused in the middle of carrying a platter of hot cakes to the table, glancing toward the swordsman with a startled expression. "I can't believe that worked," he mused.

Realizing I had been tricked, I lunged angrily at the still smirking swordsman, only to be stopped by the black-haired woman as she stood and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I took a closer look. "Robin!" I said happily. I had seen her new physical appearance before, of course, but still hadn't recognized her immediately in person.

Robin released me with a smile. "Miss Renna," she greeted. "I see you've been doing quite well in your absence. Still very determined too, apparently."

"Ah, well," I grinned sheepishly, then pointed at Zoro. "He started it." It was probably not the most mature argument I could have made, but I stuck with it.

"Hey," the swordsman scowled. "You were taking too long. I want to eat sometime before my hair turns grey, you know."

I had just opened my mouth to point out that it would probably look better than 'green' when a polite cough caught my attention.

"Excuse me, young lady," a cordial voice came from behind me. "May I see your-"

"Knock it off!" Sanji shouted. There was a loud thump and a low groan, and I turned my head to see what was taking place beside the counter.

The cook was standing next to an incredibly tall skeleton sporting an afro and dressed in some kind of suit-and-feathers get-up. The platter was still in Sanji's hand and his foot was in the air about where I guessed the skeleton's chin had been a second before, as the bone mass was now leaning back against the wall. Damn, that cook was flexible.

"Harsh!" The skeleton squeaked as Sanji put his foot back down on the floor. He straightened himself immediately and directed a sweeping bow toward me. "Of course he is correct," the jaws of the skull clacked together around the audible words. "I must introduce myself first."

"You're Brook, right?" I asked, pushing back the absolute absurdity and plain creepiness of an animated skeleton talking to me like a normal person. Not that anyone on this ship was normal, per se. The pile of bones froze for a moment and, to my astonishment, crumpled to the floor in a sobbing heap.

"That's-my-line," Brook muttered.

"Uhm," I hesitated, unsure whether to apologize or not, but was saved from the decision by Nami coming into the kitchen.

"Ignore him," she waved a hand at Brook's shuddering form, tilting her head to Sanji as he set the platter on the table. "He'll be fine." She turned to Zoro, giving him a calculating glare, before shrugging and sitting down opposite Luffy. Zoro raised the eyebrow above his good eye at her but didn't say anything, his smirk back in place.

I glanced between the two, trying and failing to decode the silent exchange, when I felt something warm and soft being placed around my bare shoulders. I looked over in surprise as Sanji pulled away from me. He had removed his jacket and was walking back toward the kitchen counter. As expected, I lowered my gaze to see the black material now successfully covering my top half. "Thanks," I nodded to him, pulling my arms through the sleeves.

Brook picked himself up off the floor and sat down at the other end of the table, long legs stretched out in front of him. He seemed to have rebounded from his earlier depression at an alarming speed as he gave a skeletal grin to the captain.

"Come sit down, Renna," Robin gestured to the seat next to her and sat herself beside Zoro again. "We'd better hurry if we want to have anything to eat."

Belatedly, I remembered the appetite of the captain and hastily took the offered seat. "Right."

Luffy reached for the entire platter and Zoro grabbed him by the elbow to stop him. I heard the faint click of metal as Luffy stretched his other arm around to clutch Zoro by the sleeve, glaring at his swordsman. Three seconds into the meal and they were already itching for a fight.

"Not at the table," Nami warned. "There's plenty to eat here, so at least try to control yourselves. Unless you want to end up paying for your food, if you know what I mean." Her glare became dangerous and the two men quickly let go of each other as Sanji returned with several more platters and bottles of sauce. The cook left briefly, only to come back a third time with a tray of drinks.

A kind of controlled chaos followed and Robin managed to grab a couple of hot cakes before they could disappear, setting them on the plate in front of me. "You're hair is shorter," she noted.

I reached up and tugged at my dark curls, which now fell to just past my shoulders. "Yeah," I agreed. "It was getting too long." I bit into a hot cake and practically melted in my chair. So. Damn. Good. I must have been making a dreamy face, because the sound of Nami's chuckling could be heard from across the table.

"Bet you missed this," she smiled.

"Definitely," I agreed, not just to the wonderful food reference but also the company. It may be like eating at a zoo, minus the smell, but it was still much more relaxing than any other meal I had eaten in a long time.

"So, Miss Renna, is it?" the skeleton, Brook, spoke up above the clatter and semi-quiet squabbles around the table. "How is it such a lady has, inadvertently I'm sure, come to be acquainted with such fierce and noble pirates as these?"

"Hm," I shrugged, still chewing on a piece of hot cake. It wasn't really a simple story to begin with, and I wasn't sure where to start.

"She died," Zoro filled in helpfully. "This one can't keep herself out of trouble for more than a few minutes at a time."

"You're one to talk," I shot back, leaning around Robin to glare at him. "How many times have you almost kicked the bucket now? About three hundred?"

Zoro only looked confused. "Why the hell would I kick a bucket?"

"Is it a game?" Luffy asked, spitting bits of chewed food all over his plate and the swordsman. Zoro gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs and he closed his mouth.

"No," I directed at the captain, "it's-"

"You'd better not be kicking any buckets," Sanji had come to the table and was sitting next to Nami, scowling darkly at Zoro. "I need those for cleaning, shitty moss head."

"Well, it's-" I tried again.

"Why wouldn't you just cut a bucket?" Luffy asked, looking at Zoro as if the green-haired man had done something incredibly stupid. "You're a swordsman, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Zoro rounded on Luffy. "And I have never-"

"I believe it is only an expression," Robin cut in before another fight could break out. She turned her head toward me with a knowing grin. "Right?"

"Yes," I said, exasperated but amused despite myself. I had forgotten what a wild bunch this crew could be at times. "Just an expression for dying."

"Yohohoho!" Brook slapped the table with mirth, making the half-empty glasses around him tip dangerously. "The young lady is certainly interesting, isn't she?"

Zoro scoffed and sat back, apparently having eaten his fill. "She's just a pain in the ass, is all." He leaned back around Robin to frown at me. "And I've never died yet," he said. "So that still leaves me a step ahead of you."

I reached around Robin to pinch that gloating look right off his face but was distracted mid-move by the kitchen door opening again. I stopped as Chopper and Ussop filed in, followed by a hulking, blue-haired man I had to assume was Franky. Forgetting about Zoro I stood from the chair and hopped around the table, launching myself at the sniper. "Ussop!"

Ussop looked up from talking to Chopper just in time to catch me as I reached him. "Renna!" he said happily. "I almost couldn't believe it when Chopper said you were back! But," his grin faded just a little. "How did you get here?"

"Apparently she 'tipped over'," Zoro quoted from the table.

I spun around just long enough to snap at him, "Would you knock it off?" before turning back to Ussop. "Not sure," I shrugged. "Just kind of happened."

He pulled the brim of his white bucket hat up a little to see me better and stepped back. "Doesn't that worry you?" he asked.

"A bit," I admitted. I gave him a proper once-over and smirked. "Been lifting weights, or what?" I asked, and bit down on a laugh as Ussop began to visibly preen.

"Yes, well," he said dramatically, "I am the great Captain Ussop, after all. You didn't expect me to stay the way I was forever, did you?" He grinned fully and raised his arm in a mock muscle-show, and I really did laugh at that.

"Hey now, bro," the big cyborg stepped closer to us. "You gonna do introductions, or do I have to guess?"

"Sorry," I stepped away from Ussop before the sniper could reply and looked up at Franky. He was huge, bulging metal frame taking up a good amount of space on this side of the kitchen. Despite his size, I wasn't as intimidated by him as I though I would be. "My name's Renna." I nodded to him and gave a polite wave. I was getting strangely used to the name. It was surprising, considering I had only used it for such a short time before now.

"Nice to meet you," the cyborg grinned down at me. "I'm Franky."

"She knows," Sanji said as he stood from the table to make breakfast for the late-comers. "Remember the 'Mermaid Seer' we told you about before?" he turned at the counter and tilted his chin toward me, as his arms were now full of discarded plates. "This is her."

Franky stared at the cook, then back to me. "You mean," he said slowly, "the one who vanished just before we met? The one," he gave a loud sniff, "who struggled in this world, looked danger bravely in the face and forged such strong bonds of friendship before returning to her safe haven like a fallen angel?" Franky was nearly in tears at this point and I backed away from him quickly.

"Eh," I said, "that's not really how I would describe it, but yeah. Essentially, anyway." I looked over at Ussop desperately, but he simply shrugged. Shooting the sniper a look that said, thanks a lot pal, I took a cautious step forward, toward the big man now bawling like a baby. "If it makes you feel better," I started slowly, "I'm…uhm…sorry?" I had been apologizing quite often lately, and for something that hadn't even been my fault.

Franky covered his face with one enormous hand and sniffed again.

"Really," I said as comforting as I could, "there's no need to cry."

"As if I would!" Franky sobbed. I was starting to see a resemblance to the dear little doctor as he continued. "I wouldn't waste my manly tears on a stranger, anyway! Haven Renna!"

"Did you just re-name her?" Nami asked, looking on from her seat at the nearly empty table. She turned to Robin, Zoro and Luffy. "Can he do that?"

Zoro was too busy ignoring everyone to pay attention, so Robin shrugged for the both of them. "I don't see why not," the dark haired woman answered. "If it's alright with Renna."

Luffy was busy scrawling something on a napkin with what I guessed was a piece of charcoal, although where he had unearthed that from I wasn't about to ask. He finished his project, tongue caught between his teeth, and flipped his head up with his trademark smile. "Got it!" he announced and held the napkin out for Nami to take, still grinning.

Nami took it gingerly and set in on the table in front of her. "You've misspelled 'Haven'," she told him. "It's H-A-V-E-N, not H-A-E-V-E-N. But whatever, I guess it works."

I, watching the exchange from where I stood between Ussop and Franky, gave Nami a wondering look. "Did I just get a last name?" From Franky of all people? I added silently.

"Seems like it," Nami nodded.

"Okay!" Luffy leaped from the table and right over Brook, landing in front of me. "Tour time! I wanna show you the ship!" He grabbed my wrist and began tugging me toward the door.

"Alright, alright," I pulled back gently. "Just let me get dressed first, Luffy."

Luffy pouted for a fraction of a second before shooting out the door, his head staying in place long enough to yell. "Kay! Meet me on the deck!" Then his face was gone, as well.

I chuckled and turned back to Nami. "I don't actually have a choice, do I?"

"Nope," she answered cheerfully. "Let's go."

I waved to the others as we left the kitchen, feeling nervous for the first time as to what I was getting myself into. I hadn't thought about it before, being too preoccupied with seeing everyone again, but I recognized that the part of the Grand Line the Sunny was currently sailing was at least ten times as dangerous as the one I had seen during my last visit.

If I wasn't dead already, I could very well be by the end of this trip.