A/N: I'm going to be busy for awhile, so I wanted to get ahead a bit and post a few chapters all at once to give you awesome readers some much deserved love.

I've had this chapter in mind for quite a while, and I finally got to write it! Yay. And guess what…in this chapter, Momo talks! His dialogue will be like this: (Hi) so you'll know when he's speaking. Isn't it great having a reindeer who can speak to both Humans and animals? It makes things so much easier.

Anyway – please enjoy reading, and thank you for faves, follows and reviews.


Chapter 23: Gray Skies and the Fuzzy Bear

**Countdown: Two Months, 13 days left**

It was one of those days where the sky was gray and gloomy, and every little thing that everyone else did or said seemed to get on everyone else's nerves. Even Luffy, who was the most fun-loving, forgiving, and tolerant of everyone around him, seemed to be in a foul mood. Luffy whined pitifully about being bored, tired, and hungry, along with a few complaints about the ship taking so long to reach the next island. Unfortunately, that meant that Nami and Sanji were subject to the majority of Luffy's complaints, and they responded with much less patience than they normally would have.

Law, Kin'emon, Momonosuke, and Aang and his friends weren't free from snapping at each other one way or another that morning for even the smallest of things (although Law easily fixed anyone who got on his nerves with a fierce glare) or having someone from the Straw Hats suddenly upset with anyone of them for a little thing like leaving a towel out of place or not moving fast enough in their tasks.

There was plenty of grumbling on everyone's part as they shuffled from one part of the ship to the next, and very soon the allies of the Straw Hats found themselves being subject to both Nami and Sanji wanting them to help out around the ship (although it seemed Momonosuke was free from any cleaning duties). But nothing seemed to save him from Nami yelling at him for one reason or another, Robin being short with him, or Katara shouting at him for simply glancing her way.

"Hey, I'm blind and already miserable," Toph defended, "I'm not going to add a workload on top of it."

"You think I haven't been working?" Katara demanded with a huff. "I've been doing quite a bit you know!"

Katara then went off on an explanation of how much work waterbending actually was, and somehow Aang had been looped into the conversation and now Nami was arguing with both Aang and Katara.

"Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous, it is!" Kin'emon was shouting at Brook.

"It is not!" Brook defended. He carefully placed a flowerpot that had been shifted a few unnoticeable inches to the left when Kin'emon had walked by and absentmindedly bumped it.

"You see, Kin'emon-san, it matters! A few inches either way, it completely throws the room out of balance!"

The two continued to argue about flowerpots and room décor, while Sokka and Zuko faced off against Franky. Their arguments ranged from taking sides to teaming up with one or the other with impunity, and they argued about damages to the ship, to the tools that were used, the proper uses of hammers, to the names and uses of the weapons that they themselves used, and Sokka and Zuko had to point out that Franky looked ridiculous in his speedo.

"You're ridiculous!" the cyborg defended. "Neither of you super-don't understand the fine art that goes into caring for a vessel like the Sunny!"

It was then Sokka pointed out Franky's habit of adding "super" within his speech and another round of arguing began with Franky calling Sokka out on his habit of telling bad jokes. When Zuko agreed with Franky, Sokka started yelling at both of them and giving them nicknames which only backfired on him when Zuko pointed out that Sokka was only proving Franky's point. Then their arguing somehow turned into a three-way battle of words and rather silly insults.

The normally ever-patient and calm Robin seemed to be a bit short with everyone, and she responded with short, quick sentences and morbid analogies for what seemed to be a fitting end for the people who were getting on her nerves. At that moment, it was everyone on the ship. They were all being so noisy and persistent, and she had a headache that felt as if something was trying to drill its way into her skull.

The worst of them was Sanji and Zoro, who threw insults and curse words each other with reckless abandon. Zoro pulled out his swords and Sanji delivered his best kicks, and their arguing only seemed to intensify all the more. One could say that they literally saw sparks flare up between the chef and the swordsman.

Sanji also felt he had to mention to the women about their lack of appreciation for everything he was willing to do for them. He felt that he very much deserved their thanks and praise. This of course sparked another round of arguments and insults, this time with Sanji facing off against four women who did not appreciate his comments.

Suddenly, Law was shouting at Luffy, "It's TRA-FAL-GAR! Trafalgar! It's not that difficult to say!"

He only seemed to get even angrier and more frustrated when Luffy only laughed at him.

Usopp and Toph were bickering with one another as well, with Toph spewing out nicknames and insults at Usopp while Usopp defended himself with reasons why he did not deserve the nicknames being given to him. He also began to point out that Toph should be more respectful of her elders and a few lies mixed into his reasoning. Toph wanted to earthbend Usopp into the Earth and knock him around a few times, after which she would pull out her hair in frustration.

"Why are we even talking about this?!" she demanded of Usopp. "What are we fighting about in the first place? But know that whatever it is, I'm right."

Usopp was about to tell her, when he realized he couldn't even recall himself what had started the argument. What were they talking about anyway, and how did the fight start in the first place? He of course wasn't going to admit that he had no idea either, but the curiosity caused him to pause and wonder anyway. Toph took his silence as her victory, and nodded in triumph. She was about to tell Usopp off, but he suddenly turned and walked away, leaving her in a bit of a shock.

It was then Usopp realized it; everyone was arguing in one form or another, and for some reason, it irritated him. He couldn't really explain how or why. He felt he wanted to get involved in the arguing or find something to argue about with Toph once again. Just what was going on? He quickly retreated to the men's quarters to avoid everyone; they were getting on his nerves anyway.

Chopper watched everyone with curiosity, wondering why all of them seemed to be at one other's throats. "W-what's going on?"

The reindeer Doctor felt tears in his eyes. He didn't, couldn't understand why everyone was acting like they were the opposite of friends. "Guys…"

His voice came out like a mumble that he barely even heard himself. Momo sat beside him with a look that was just as inquisitive. He chirped a few times.

"Momo…" Chopper started, and the lemur looked up at him.

(You seem upset. Don't worry, they've argued before, so things will be fine.)

"I don't understand it; they're not supposed to be like this." Chopper said, looking down. "We always argue, but it was always fun. This isn't right…they aren't supposed to be like this."

(Maybe we just need to give them some time? My people have argued before…at least I believe it was arguing. It's hard for me to tell. But they're still friends.)

"I don't like it…" Chopper sat on the deck, wanting to do something to get everyone to just stop what they were doing, to just stop the arguing. Chopper began yelling at them to stop, but he might as well have been joining in on everyone else's arguments.

"You guys are all idiots!" Chopper yelled at them before running to another part of the ship to be by himself. Unbeknownst to all of them, as none of them had noticed it, they were being followed. A Bear Spirit sat atop a colorful ornate rug (which he had borrowed from an Eastern Monkey Spirit) and held a vial of some sort in his claws. He smiled to himself, for he felt that he was quite intelligent in thinking up this particular plan on his own. The vial had previously contained a decent amount of a liquid form of a combination of things, such as "Frustration", "Malcontent", among a few other things, and he had infected the entire crew with it as they had slept the night before. A few small drops to any part of the victim's skin would cause them quite a bit of disagreement with everyone around them. But the Bear Spirit had infected every single one of the crew with more than a few drops.

The potion did not work on animals, it seemed; only Humans. This was quite a perfect plan, the Bear Spirit believed, for if he caused rifts within the crew, then certainly their attention would be away from the more serious matters at hand. They would be too busy arguing with one another to notice him, and once he attacked, surely they would argue with each other once again on how to best take care of the situation. Their attention would be away from the Avatar, and the Bear Spirit was waiting for his chance to strike. He was enjoying himself a little too much, (for he felt he deserved praise for thinking up this plan all on his own) and he wanted to enjoy the sight while it lasted.

He had to let out a growling chuckle to himself as he watched the arguments unfold before him, from one man getting upset that no one could say his name to the swordsman and the one in the black suit getting extremely angry and throwing ridiculous insults at each other.

It was sometime past noon, and everyone had finally stopped arguing, but they had stopped talking to each other and were now glaring accusingly at each other.

It was a very welcome relief to every one of them when an island came into view and they docked. A few more snide remarks and insults were given before each of them went their own way, with Franky shouting "Good riddance!" as they disembarked.

Law responded with a growl and an obscene gesture, and stalked away, while Luffy pouted and yelled at Franky saying he was being a jerk. Everyone had their own comments and thoughts to say to Franky before they left, although a few others stuck together for their own reasons; but that didn't necessarily mean that they were free of arguments.

If none of them had been arguing, they would have taken in the rather pleasing sight of the city where they had landed. The city was surrounded by a large wall, and the streets were lined with cobblestone. The shops and houses were made of wood and looked very-well maintained; brand new, even – in spite of being a few decades old.

There were numerous stone bridges and archways with rich green and colorful flowered plants decorating them, and the people were relatively friendly, although they were curious about the boy and girl who were walking together yet they looked as if they were obligated to be together. Each time they spoke, it was filled with snide remarks and insults, yet they continued walking as if it was completely normal.


Sanji and Zoro walked with one another, only because they had somehow crossed paths (with Sanji commenting and complaining that "It was bad luck running into Zoro, why couldn't it be one of the ladies?") Zoro of course responded with, "You don't have to stick around; disappear and die, Ero-cook."

"I'm only here because you would get lost otherwise, but I say good riddance. We can always find another sword user, preferably a cute lady, but we're stuck with you."

The Bear Spirit landed the flying carpet, rolled it up, and tucked it into his satchel. He then walked into the city, although he was admittedly mildly curious as to why none of the residents seemed to pay him any mind; only the occasional curious glance was given – he just seemed to be one of the many travelers that passed through the city. He walked slowly, looking for anyone of the Pirates or the Avatar himself, but with all of them spread out like this, it made his job both a little easier and a bit difficult.

Although he had thinned the ranks, there was still the job of hunting them down. He walked through an alley and passed by a large stone building where numerous posters were plastered across it. He recognized some of the faces on the posters as being those of the Pirates whom he was currently searching. He couldn't read the strange symbols, but he could see that the picture of the Straw Hatted boy was 400,000,000 and the one of the green-haired man was 120,000,000. The one with the strange white and black-spotted hat was 440,000,000, but he didn't know what any of those numbers could mean. He wondered why they were there for a moment, and figured that these must be wanted posters (the Bear Spirit was not the brightest of Spirits, mind you). He wondered at the value of the posters, and was curious about the money of the World.

Anyway, he paid it no further mind and continued on his quest. He finally found one of the Pirates, the one with a white and black-spotted hat, and he had a deep frown on his face as he walked. A few people glanced at him with wary looks, but seemed to act as if they weren't looking. There was a mix of curiosity and fear, but the people had probably come to the assumption that if they didn't bother the Pirate in any way whatsoever, than he wouldn't bother them. The Bear Spirit followed after the man, getting closer and closer while ducking behind objects, buildings and a few startled people, before he was finally right behind the man.

"…Hey," the Bear Spirit started, and the man turned around with a look of irritation which immediately disappeared when he saw who had addressed him. His eyes widened, and he suddenly looked very curious, even amused. Before the Bear Spirit could take any further action, the man was suddenly scratching the top of the Bear Spirit's head, and his hand traveled to the Bear Spirit's jaw. It felt really good, the Bear Spirit had to admit, and he forgot his whole reason for approaching the man. There was a hint of a genuine smile on the man's face, and once he stopped petting the Bear Spirit, he commented, "I really needed that today, thank you, Brown Bear-ya."

And he left, feeling much better. The Bear Spirit stood in place for a good while, wondering what just happened and actually wishing that the man had continued scratching his head (it felt quite good) before he remembered why he had gone after the man in the first place. He growled, as the man was a good distance away by now and had completely disappeared from sight, and the hunt would have to start again.

The Bear Spirit sighed quite heavily, and wished that he didn't think head scratches felt so good. He hunted for any traces of the Pirates or the Avatar to no avail, when he heard some commotion a few streets over, so he made his way towards the noise to see if it was who he was looking for.


"Damned Marimo!"

"Stupid-no-talent-swirly-brow-ero-hack!"

"Dumbass!"

"Bastard!"

"Directionless idiot!"

"Idiot prince!"

The name calling flew back and forth between the pair as the bystanders gathered in the square and watched in curiosity and whispered among themselves,

"Isn't that two of the Straw Hats?" an older woman asked.

"No, it's one of them I believe – the green-haired one. Not sure who the blonde guy is, though...maybe a bounty hunter?" a young man supplied.

"But he looks too dressed up to be a bounty hunter," reasoned a young woman.

"Maybe it's a love triangle!" a young girl called out.

"Why would they be fighting about that?" asked the young man incredulously.

"It's Pirates and the age of romance! They can't be fighting about nothing." The young girl insisted.

"They sure are making quite a bit of ruckus," an older woman said disapprovingly.

They could also swear that there were orange and blue flames flaring up from the fighting pair as their arguing became all the more intense. Zoro pulled out his swords once again and charged Sanji, who delivered a fierce set of blows that were easily blocked by Zoro. The commotion drew the attention of their crewmates and allies, who all made their way to the square, and now Nami was shouting at the pair to stop being idiots, but she was ignored, although noticed by the other bystanders.

The Bear Spirit watched from a distance, and reasoned that he should go after the fighting pair first, as they would be distracted by each other and he could easily slit their throats before they even realized what was going on. He saw their crewmates and allies standing on the other side of the square, and he couldn't get to them easily due to the gathering crowd (this strange fight had been the most exciting thing to happen in while) and so he figured after he slit the throats of the fighting pair, perhaps in all the panic he could take out the Avatar and whoever else was allied with the Pirates.

Perhaps things would have been easier if he had snuck through the crowd and took out his targets that were standing in the crowd, but he was a rather bulky Spirit and couldn't sneak through places without being noticed. He would have had to bump and push his way through, and he would rather have some sort of organized panic of his own doing, so that he could go back and tell incredible stories of taking out the Avatar (and collecting his well-deserved reward of jewels).

Baring iron-like claws that were nearly a foot long, the Bear Spirit charged at the chef, raising a claw to strike. People watched in curiosity (while Nami was the one to question who the bear was and why he was getting involved in Sanji's and Zoro's fight).

Law immediately recognized the bear, and was curious as to what his intentions were. He then wondered if the bear was someone like Bepo, or even like that of Pekoms of the Big Mam Pirates. The reason none of them could sense the Spiritual energy of the Bear Spirit was that he seemed quite like that of a normal bear, or at least like that of a person. Perhaps the bear was actually a bounty hunter, but the bear either didn't recognize him or wasn't interested in collecting his bounty. These were the thoughts that bounced through Law's mind as he watched.

"Is that a bear?" Katara questioned, and thought of the strange and very bland bear that Earth King Kuei of Ba Sing Se possessed. This bear clearly possessed some form of intelligence as it was clear how his eyes shown, and how his expressions showed some form of intent.

"No, it's a platypus-bear," Sokka said in a snarky tone. "Of course, it's a bear! What else could it be?!"

"I was just asking!" Katara shouted, and she turned her attention away from the trio to yell at her brother.

"Is that bear attacking them?" Aang questioned no one in particular.

The Bear Spirit charged and reached Zoro first, and just as he raised a claw to strike, Zoro ducked to dodge a kick from Sanji, and the Bear Spirit was hit with a force he had no idea Humans were capable of delivering in a mere kick. The Bear Spirit was sent flying over the heads of the spectators, and into one of the building behind them. The people gasped and questioned just who the bear was, but Sanji and Zoro didn't even seem to notice.

The Bear Spirit was anything if not durable, and crawled out of the rubble. After a groan, and taking a moment to recover, he thought of a different approach and tried to tackle the blonde man, only for him to dodge, leaving the Bear Spirit to be subject to a very nasty slash from one of Zoro's swords. But the pair still did not notice the Bear Spirit, and their arguing only seemed to get worse. The spectators looked on at the bear before them, wondering why he kept getting involved with the fight. No one thought of approaching him to question him about it, as it was quite entertaining.

The Pirates and their allies were now discussing bears and bear hybrids, along with telling each other off about their intelligence and how they handle certain situations, so the Bear Spirit and the fighting pair were quite forgotten at that moment. The Bear Spirit glanced down at his now damaged armor and felt the wet warmth of blood on his torso. He thought of Cyprus, although he could tell from a quick inspection of his wound that it was not nasty enough to leave behind any sort of scar. Being attacked in such a manner of course annoyed him, and he jumped up to try and get either one of the men to pay him at least some mind.

But the two shouted at each other and when the Bear Spirit sprung up so that he was between them, both the swordsman and the chef simultaneously yelled, "MOVE!"

Sanji was on his last nerve concerning that stupid swordsman, and the feeling was mutual for Zoro. But then this stupid bear popped up between them for whatever reason (they had a very important fight going on) and so in a rare moment of teamwork, Sanji kicked the bear in the neck and Zoro slashed through the armor the bear was wearing, and sent the creature flying once again (although neither of them realized that they were doing this for a second time.)

The Bear Spirit brushed himself off once again, and painfully stumbled out of the second house he had been tossed into in less than ten minutes. With a mighty roar, he pushed his way through the crowd towards the two men once again, and roaring even louder, he caused the Pirates and their allies to stop whatever they were doing and stare at him.

"YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME!" the Bear Spirit insisted, and he hoped that he could finally get this whole ordeal over with. But Sanji and Zoro looked at the heaving bear before them, glanced at each other, then at the same time, with Sanji delivering a kick and Zoro drawing back a fist, both delivered a mighty blow to the annoying bear's face.

"Shaddup, ya shitty bear!" Sanji shouted.

"Don't interfere!" Zoro said with a dangerous glare.

This action caused the two to start a whole new argument: who had hit the bear harder?

The Bear Spirit tried to stand up, but he ducked down once again, just missing getting hit in the face a second time. The chef wasn't paying him attention anymore, and was back to calling the swordsman childish names, while the swordsman listed out childish insults.

"…Would both of you just stop it!" the Bear Spirit finally landed a hit on the swordsman, giving him a decent gash across his back. But the Bear Spirit stopped when the swordsman slightly stumbled from the impact, and he stood straight up and fixed the Bear Spirit with a very dangerous glare.

"What the hell was that for," It wasn't a question.

"You will listen to me!" the Bear Spirit said, and because of his pain, being annoyed, tired of ignored, and because he wasn't necessarily all that bright, he said, "you will die and I will collect my reward! I will ensure that the Avatar never makes it home! You two won't be able to stand against me once I pull out my own tricks!"

The Bear Spirit felt that praise was due as he continued, "And that potion I used which caused all of you to fight and argue worked a little too well. It was entertaining while it lasted, but now, you'll see what I can do!"

Perhaps striking the swordsman and having his attention on him wasn't a good idea after all. The chef pulled out a new cigarette and lit it. Perhaps telling them everything that he had done and was planning to do wasn't a good idea either. Both the swordsman and the chef now had their full attention on him.

"You're a Spirit?" Sanji questioned, and his eye narrowed.

"What do you mean potion?" Zoro asked, as he pulled out his third sword and placed the handle in his mouth.

"…Uh…" the Bear Spirit heard himself stammer, "I thought it was a good idea! Turn all of you against each other and divide and conquer, and now that –"

He didn't get to finish as both Sanji and Zoro worked together to defeat him. The chef delivered fiery kicks while the swordsman had killing intent like that of a Demon. This had been a bad idea. They weren't praising him and telling him how smart he was for thinking up such a devious plan. Instead, the two men now wanted to kill him instead of each other. This was not how things were supposed to go.

And now, a very angry Earthbender had her attention on him as well. "You mean we've been at each other's throats all day because of some kind of potion?"

Suddenly, all eyes of the Pirates and the Avatar and his friends were on him, and each one of them had a look that no sensible being would have wanted to be on the receiving end of. Even with all of his dull-wittedness, the Bear Spirit could tell that he was in trouble.

"This is such an invigorating show!" an old man whispered to his wife, and of course she nodded in agreement.

The Bear Spirit realized very quickly that he would have to flee, and flee he did. He shoved his way out of the crowd and ran through the alleyways in order to escape from the very angry group of people he had very thoroughly infuriated. He managed to get out of the city and out of the wall, and began to fumble with the magic carpet that was in his bag. He had just wrestled it out when an iron cord gripped him and he was mercilessly tossed against a large rock.

When the fog cleared from his head, he was staring at what was supposed to be his victims. "Oh, you don't hit nearly as hard as the little girl does, swordsman!" the Bear Spirit said, trying to start another argument as it was the only thing he could think of doing in order to get out of this situation. Under the effects of the potion, it most certainly would have worked, but then the Bear Spirit remembered something that the Spirit Monkey had told him about the potion; it worked fine and did its job with 100% success rate, but it had a small weakness that he hadn't been able to tweak out. A group of people could be infected with the potion and two or three may take sides, but that didn't mean they were getting along; it just meant that they were siding with the person who they felt had the better argument. It seemed that when the infected people became clearheaded one way or another, and focused on a common goal, the potion's effects would wear off.

As he looked upon all the faces before him, he realized that he had unintentionally cured them of the potion's effects by giving them a sense of camaraderie when he had revealed himself. Upon realizing his mistake, the Bear Spirit was angrier that the potion had such a simple and silly remedy instead of being upset at his own self for causing the predicament that was of his own doing.

"That's only because I was holding back and she isn't trying to kill you." Zoro responded. He had sheathed two of his swords, and the third was currently pointed at the Spirit.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to go…" he mumbled under his breath, and he wondered what would become of him.

"Maybe we should just let him go…" Aang said, and he explained his reasoning before anyone could ask. "He just looks too pathetic; I almost feel sorry for him."

Aang was right of course, as the Bear Spirit had two black eyes, cuts, scrapes, and bruises, along with missing teeth and nasty cuts along his torso and right arm. His armor had a large gash right in the center of it, along with being terribly scraped and dented in places, and any clothing that was on his body was torn and dirty, and had very noticeably large spots of blood. The Bear Spirit was the very definition of misery at that moment.

With a huff, Toph released the Bear Spirit from her metal cords and all of them turned away from the Spirit to head back to their ship. The Bear Spirit sighed heavily, grabbed his magic rug and took off to find his way home. He could just imagine Neko-Mi and even Pukje yelling at him for his failure, and he sighed again, and seriously wished that he had never volunteered to be a part of this game to begin with. It had been entirely too painful and quite humiliating.


Aang and Katara were apologizing to each other profusely, and were now kissing, and Luffy was also very apologetic, and he made a face of slight disgust at Aang and Katara's display of affection. Sokka patted him on the back, and gave a knowing nod. "It's quite disturbing to me too to see my sister like that."

The majority of them looked guilty as they said their apologies to one another, and Toph mumbled about all the "wishy-washy feelings" and just shouted at everyone, "Okay, we're all sorry! None of us meant any of it! So let's just say we all forgive each other."

"I agree with Blind-ya," Law said, as he wasn't exactly the type to openly express any sort of sentiment.

"If you think I'm sorry for what I said to the Curly-brow cook, you're mistaken; I only spoke the truth."

"Same here, stupid Marimo."

The two glared at each other challengingly for a moment or two, but it seemed that even they could get tired of arguing with one another, and so Zoro went to take a nap and Sanji went to the kitchen to scrub something and maybe even cook something as those things always helped to clear his head.

The sky seemed to clear up into a bright and cloudless one as the day went on, and soon the Straw Hats were back to their old selves; laughing with their friends and trying to encourage the more serious allies to join them in doing things like dance with chopsticks up their nose.

Chopper laughed and clapped his hooves, and Momo sat beside him and chirped,

(See? Everything was alright in the end, Chopper.)

That's how it always had been, and how it always will be. They could fight and say stupid things to each other and get on each other's nerves, but in the end, they would always be friends. At that moment, all was right in their world.


More A/N: Sorry in advance for this being rather long. Just to be clear, the potion messed with their reasoning skills, so that would explain their slight OOC-ness, and the chapter being corny. I rather like corny.

Headcanon time: I've heard a theory or two that Bepo used to be Human and was near death, but Law transferred his heart and mind into that of a polar bear along with a few other theories as well. Well, here's mine: I wonder if there is a race of anthropomorphic animals that have all the qualities of Humans (intelligence, speech, etc.), and they've shut themselves off from the World. A few of them do dare to venture out, but doing so means they can never return to their homeland. That could explain the existence of Bepo and Pekoms, and their reasons for becoming Pirates. The existence of this race is so rare, that it's only spoken of in legend, like that of sailor's tales, and why we wouldn't see these anthro-animals listed on what's available for auction. So when people actually do see these beings, they are quite shocked. I would love it if Oda-san showed us just what Pekoms and Bepo are, if anything (or maybe it'll just be OP logic and we have to accept it) but it would still be great if we saw some of the canon of the Heart Pirates as to who and what Bepo is.

Next time: The crew sails to Bháite Island, also known as the "Floating Islands". They meet a group of very interesting people, and a few of the Straw Hats could swear that they have seen their strange tattoos somewhere before.