A/N: Glad to be back after a long week!Thanks for the support folks and now we shall proceed with the story, but first...

orca3553;

Thanks, glad to have you around!

Blue VanLocke;

Definitely it is!

Perhaps this chapter you may find something to write then :P

The atmosphere in the kitchen was very light from what Monet could ever expect, to say they were having a party was most likely.

The scent of delicious food caught her off guard. It's been so long since she tasted anything decent once she left Dressrosa. To see that table filled with the most amazing stuff she has ever seen in a while made her desire to leave immediately dissipate a bit.

"Ah, Monet, just in time, I'll be serving your plate soon," Sanji announced from his cooking area behind the balcony. The harpy shot a quick glance at him, it was a wonder how he could cook all this stuff so fast and don't make a single mess over himself and the balcony.

She hated to admit but she was looking forward to get whatever food they had, she carefully took a seat as far as possible from the others, not only to isolate herself but she really needed the extra space to move her wings.

Unfortunately someone else decided to sit at the other side of the table near her.

"I hope you don't mind some company," Robin said as she laid down a book near her plate. Monet avoided eye contact the best she could. Not that she didn't want to talk with that mysterious woman, but the fact the harpy nearly impaled her to death hours ago didn't make the situation comfortable at all. "I sure needed the first time I came into this ship."

This brought Monet's attention towards the woman sitting in front of her. From all the Straw Hats she made a study about, perhaps Nico Robin was the closest match of personality when comparing with the harpy. At least Monet believe it so until she meet Chopper.

"Perhaps the first time was this explosive as mine?" Monet wondered while watching a mess developing at the far other side of the table.

"At least you had someone to support you more firmly than I had, when I came in everyone was afraid and suspicious, Luffy being the obvious exception. It took me a while to have a more friendly interaction with one of them," Robin said while taking a piece of cooked meat.

"And that first one was?" Asked Monet saving the guess for herself. Robin chuckled.

"Chopper of course. I have to say it was much harder for him to deal with this kind of thing at that time. He was very young to the seas and the rest of the world, from what I learned he only leaved his homeland for the first time few days before we meet. The conflict on Alabasta was quite an experience to his character. It was hard for him to know who he could trust."

"I imagine he didn't have much of a choice if you two ended alone somewhere?" Monet asked while trying to keep her face serious. This was just too suggestive. Robin laughed a bit.

"Now that I think about it, that really sounds weird," The archeologist took a quick glance at her nakama. Luffy tried to steal the food from the others, now he was paying dearly with punches from Zoro and Usopp. "But again, weren't you two alone for few times?"

This set the harpy on the edge.

"What's that supposed to mean?I have nothing to do with him," Monet responded while sounding almost challenging. Robin took a moment to answer this time.

"Still you're in debt, the least you could is help him somehow. Caesar is our prisoner, but since you're not you need to do something useful in the ship to earn anything. Each crew member has a functionality for this ship,"

"I'm not part of this crew," Responded the harpy harshly.

"Still you're in the ship, crew member or not," Robin responded as if was the most simple thing in the world. That calm and serene behavior of her managed to keep Monet's temper down despite her nervousness.

"What exactly do you want me to do? I'm not really looking forward to sweep any floors, and why I am even thinking of that if I could just leave?" Monet wondered angrily while glaring at the dark haired women.

"Do you wish to leave?"

"Ye-

Monet interrupted herself. That question touched a delicate subject once analyzed on bigger proportions.

Going back to Dressrosa wasn't a very interesting option, even if her younger sister was there. The shadow of Doflamingo covered everything at this side of the seas. She wouldn't get anywhere without Joker finding out. The place he least would suspected was exactly the Straw Hats ship. Monet simply had nowhere to go.

"I don't know," Admitted the harpy quietly. "I really don't know what to do,"

Robin observed quietly as Monet stared sadly at the wooden table, perhaps Monet had a bigger dilemma about Joker than Robin could've imagine.

"Do you have any dreams?"

An even trickier question, Monet stood quiet while wondering if she really did have a dream after all. After what seemed minutes she managed to found an answer.

"Objectives maybe, not dreams…..none,"

This surprised Robin a bit, a person without dreams wouldn't never get too far in this world.

"Why don't you take your time here and maybe you'll find one? Definitely it's much easier to think about it when you're not trying to hide who you truly are from everyone else around you," Robin suggested before raising from her seat with an empty plate. Monet blinked at confusion, how had the archeologist ate her food so fast? Only then Monet realized there was already a plate of food in front of her the whole time and she didn't even notice.

Never she had been this bad at her awareness, could this more relaxed atmosphere be making her relax too?

Or she actually felt safe enough to trust the environment around her?

"Doctor-san, can you come here for a second?" Robin called the reindeer from the other side of the table, he seemed somewhat distracted but heard Robin's call. With two steps he reached the other side of the table thanks his taller form. "Why you're still using jumping point after so long?"

"Húh? Oh yeah, that….I really don't know…." He said while glancing around nervously. "I think I grew used with it." Robin couldn't help but snort at the inadvertent pun.

"Well, anyways, I was talking with Monet about her functionality in the ship. Do you have any field of experience Monet?" Robin asked turning her head around towards the harpy.

"Lab field and espionage, sabotage, and few others that I don't think will fit here," She said rather coolly.

"Lab field? So you do have experience with medical and vet areas?" Chopper asked rather interested. Monet nodded. "Perhaps…"

"Perhaps what?" The harpy asked while gazing firmly at the reindeer.

"Well, I could use someone to help me with the med-bay. I have so many theories to work with, I hardly find time to organize that mess over my desk and check on the crew constantly as I should. It's hard to get some free time…" Chopper's tone was suggestive. Monet was between laughing and yelling.

"You want me to be your nurse?" She asked sounding disgusted.

"I didn't say that," Chopper tried to defend himself but to no avail.

"Assistant? Partner? Servant? What else then?" The harpy's voice was slowly getting lower and icy.

The reindeer was nervous about what to do, he stared at Robin looking for support.

"Perhaps partner it's the most fitting thing for now, I don't think Cook-san would survive a heart attack if we had you as nurse," Robin said while smiling friendly. Monet raised an eyebrow.

"Do I least get to participate on anything else if something bad happens?"

"Such as?"

"A fight of some sorts, you can't really expect me to sit and watch everyone else having fun. I've been stuck for too long in that lab, I didn't develop my abilities as I wanted to."

Now this caught Zoro's interest. While the three of them were talking among themselves the swordsman has been sitting at the mid of the table listening the whole deal. So Monet could develop her abilities much further than what they saw, he could easily imagine that the harpy would reach at least Sanji's level without much problem, being a Logia type would help immensely on that. The only doubt was where her loyalty resided. She could become a great add for the crew if she wanted to.

"That's up for the captain, we are not forbidding you of doing anything Monet, we just need to know how much we can trust you,"

"Why would you trust me? Why would I want to be trusted by any of you?" She asked looking undignified.

"Because you need people you know you can rely on during difficult times, as so do we need to know we can rely on you when we need."

Monet paused her fork while thinking carefully about this. She did not intend to join the Straw Hats, but she's been given free pass aboard the ship as long she could cooperate with their routine. Her loyalty was with Joker, but they weren't asking for her to be loyal, just for her to help, just as she needed their help.

For now it was a fair deal.

"Fine, I'll do what I can," Monet said firmly. "Just don't forget to tell me where I can take a bath and sleep."

Robin seemed quite satisfied with that answer, she slowly turned around to meet with the rest of her nakama, but not before saying few last words.

"Chopper will be most than happy to assist you on that matter, have a good night Monet,"

The reindeer muttered something under his breath after he was sure the archeologist was out of range. Thankfully this went unnoticed by the harpy.

Monet felt that sense of surrealism possess her for a second, it was unbelievable that she just agreed on helping the Straw Hats, even if not defined for how long.

"Once you finish your food I'll take you to your room, I'll be waiting outside," Chopper said before turning around to leave.

"Thank you….Tony,"

Chopper stopped very slightly and turned around a bit startled towards Monet. Very rarely anyone ever called him by the first name, such coming from Monet was quite an occurrence that he hardly would forget.

Just by looking at her eyes he could see how honest she was about what she said.

"You….you're welcome…."

Chopper slowly turned around and went outside of the kitchen room. The others had finish their own meals and left earlier. The only person left aside Monet was Sanji.

The cook was washing the rest of the plates and cups left, he seemed somewhat relaxed while keeping his eyes focused on the balcony. For someone that was annoying her to no end hours ago Monet felt a bit relieved the cook wasn't flirting with her again.

"Robin-chan is right, we could use some extra help aboard the ship. I really don't see a reason for you to think this is a bad idea, of course I won't judge you because you work for Doflamingo. It's not like you really wanted to, right?"

Monet felt the seriousness in his voice this time, she stared at him briefly while eating. The food tasted so great that she nearly lost the focus on what he said.

"Joker saved me and my sister from a…..difficult time. We've a debt to him,"

"How long this debt lasts?" Sanji asked out of pure curiosity. Monet wondered that for a second. Was it really a life debt like she always believed?

"I don't know," The kitchen room went very quiet for a whole minute before anything was said.

"I see…" Sanji finally said after standing quiet thinking over her words carefully. "…but you have a similar debt with Chopper, isn't that right?" He asked, looking straight at her this time.

"Yes, I do," She said unsure of what the cook was trying to get at.

"What I mean is that if you have a life debt with Chopper, but also had one with Doflamingo, and normally Doflamingo is our enemy by now…..wouldn't one debt neutralize the other? Both sides have saved you. So this means you do have a choice to do, overall you're free to go wherever you want."

Monet felt like she's been hit by a frying pan. That actually sounded decent enough in a sense. She had debts for both sides, which means she does have a choice to make. There was only one problem.

"My sister still has a debt, I can't leave her," Monet said with some sadness. Perhaps having a choice was too much to ask for.

"Well, if you choose to join us you can save your sister and she also will have that choice. This may sound crazy but it's quite simple, it's only up to you now. Changing takes time, so I suggest you take yours."

"Joining your crew isn't a thing to be discussed with the captain?" For the first time Monet took into consideration this possibility.

Sanji chuckled while moving around the balcony towards the door. He stopped briefly to light up a cigar.

"Well…it's not like it's been already decided…but I think that he would like you to join the crew, it's just up to you like I said."

With that Sanji opened the door and left Monet alone with her thoughts. The harpy was truly astonished with everything they've said, to think these people were willing to give her a second chance was almost overwhelming.

To think that few of them would like her around was simply too much to deal with, she hated to admit but she was afraid about this whole deal. What if it isn't what it looks? What if Joker finds out? What would happen with Sugar?

And worse….how could Monet risk seeing people like Robin, Nami, Sanji, Luffy dying if they decided to fight Doflamingo and the others?

Would she risk their lifes? Would she risk seeing her sister dying? Would she risk seeing Chopper die?

The price of freedom would come eventually, but now...

She did have a choice for the first time, despite her fears she actually felt that little bit of feeling that she haven't felt for years.

Happiness.

After few minutes Monet left the kitchen room and met with the reindeer outside, just as instructed Chopper presented Monet to her room and the bath area. Much to Monet's delight both fit perfectly her needs. She also received instructions of what to do for the next few days of routine. Helping the reindeer was one of the main tasks, the other tasks seemed fairly decent for her, at least no moping the floor to her. Chopper assured her saying that physic tasks were reserved for the male crew members.

"Does this imply I'm weak?" Monet asked somewhat sarcastically. Chopper sweatdropped.

"Hum…no, it's just a matter of courtesy…." The reindeer said feeling the word coming out weirdly of his mouth. Monet chuckled.

"Oh, I suppose it is then. I just reminded that my glasses were left behind, I really need them to read since I'm farsighted."

"Really?" Chopper's been fooled thinking Monet had a very good vision because her eyes resembled those of a predator. "Oh, I'll make an exam on you tomorrow, we'll get you new glasses as soon we reach the next island."

"Which would be pointless since it's probably Dressrosa," Monet felt exasperated. Chopper sighed.

"Well, Robin uses glasses and so does Nami sometimes, I can check their lens and see if any fits for you,"

"That would be nice, thank you," Monet said politely.

Few seconds of awkwardness passed by with them staring at each other, at least Monet was staring, Chopper would always glance at her sides as if afraid of getting his eyes burned by looking at the harpy.

"So…..what do you think?" Asked the reindeer timidly.

"Think about what?" Replied the harpy clueless.

"About joining the crew. Would you like to do that? I don't mean to push you about it, I'm just curious," He added quickly before Monet could reply.

The harpy stood silent while wondering exactly what to say about that.

"Perhaps. I have a lot to think about it. Like I said before, I'll be getting myself into a very difficult position if I do that, especially my sister,"

"Sister? Is she at Dressrosa?" Chopper wasn't expecting that Monet would also have family members involved with Doflamingo.

"Yes, her name is Sugar, she's about a year younger than you," Monet said with a genuine smile on her face. "I'm worried about her, but I'm sure Joker won't do anything because her powers allow him to keep the kingdom under control. Even if…"

Monet's voice died along the way, she just notice the shy smile Chopper had on his face while looking at her.

"Something funny?"

"No, no, no!" He said quickly while blushing furiously. "It's just that….it's the first time I see you smile after we meet,"

This confused the bird woman tremendously.

"What you're talking about? I've smiled dozens of times before we got here," She said defensively. Chopper scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well….you actually look happy this time,"

He could actually notice that difference? This amazed her to no end, how could he know? It was some kind of animal instinct?

Speaking of it….

"Why did you choose the reindeer form?" She suddenly asked surprising him. Chopper felt instantly worried about answering that.

"I didn't. I was a reindeer since birth, but then I ate a Devil Fruit and gained physical characteristics and abilities of a human. The best word to describe would be anthro."

If Monet was seeing Chopper different during the last hours now her view has been totally changed from what she just heard. So he was a pure animal before!

"Tony," Monet's voice sounded much softer than Chopper ever heard before. "Why did you decide to join their crew?"

"Because they would never give up of me, I knew they would care and help me no matter what," Chopper replied almost instantly. "They don't leave their own behind, Enies Lobby is the solid proof of it."

Enies Lobby incident is something the whole World knew about, Monet read about it countless times but she hardly believed the story that was wrote on the papers.

"So all that…..to save one of your nakama?

This is the kind of support she could expect from them during a difficult time? Would they go that far to help their own? This is what Robin was talking about?

"Yes, that was one of the many things we did for each other," Chopper said rather proudly.

The more she heard, the more doubtful Monet felt about her loyalty towards Joker. When he ever helped her aside saving her and her sister? Perhaps that occasion in which she was given a Devil Fruit, but that's it.

Could she really find much more along the Straw Hats?

"I see..." She slowly made her way around and went back inside her room. "…hum…I think there's some other stuff I'll need while I'm here."

"So you're not leaving?" Chopper said with a slight bit of excitement, though he quickly regained his posture. The harpy watched that reaction with curiosity, she couldn't remember when was the last time someone would be happy about having her around.

"For now, can you find those items for me? I would be most thankful for it,"

"Yes, of course, I'll do the best I can," The reindeer turned around and walked away through the corridor. "Good night Monet,"

"Good night Tony," She said before closing the door. Again Chopper felt weird by being called by his first name, probably something he would now have to get used to.

The reindeer made his way up the corridor, his room being close by.

"Chopper, can we talk for a second?" Said Nami while peeking through her own door.

"Eh, sure. I'm coming," He said while turning around and entering Nami's room once she gave him enough space to enter.

"Why you're still in jumping point? I would expect you to be at regular size by now," Nami wondered aloud at him.

"Why everyone is asking that? Is there something wrong with this one?" The reindeer seemed rather intrigued by all this questioning over his taller form.

"No, not at all. It's just we got used with the smaller one I guess…" The navigator responded feeling a bit silly by questioning Chopper's appearance. "Anyways, what do you think about Monet? Can we trust her?"

"Do you?" Chopper asked back while looking at her worriedly. Nami was clearly concerned about the harpy staying on the ship, but she still had to decide whether it would be a good thing to have Monet around or not.

"I just don't understand how you don't have some resentment towards her because of the children back at Punk Hazard."

"Because I have all the reason to believe that Monet did care about the children after all, she was the one who gave me the paper so I could find the antidote for the poison made for them," This was a piece of info that puzzled Nami.

"She helped you?...well, I guess that's a good thing to know about. It means she's not heartless as she appears to be. Still I'm not really sure she'll change sides that easily, for her to trust us may be easier, but for all of us to trust her it's a much bigger deal."

"I know Nami, but still she needs a chance. I don't know why not give it to her, she proved to be greatly skilled, strong and intelligent."

Nami stared at the reindeer with both eyes widened.

"I've never heard you throw so many qualities at someone since Dra. Kureha," She said with a tone of voice clearly suspicious. "What's the deal Chopper?"

"Deal? What deal?" Chopper was finding this conversation to be going on a very turbulent road. Just the mention of doctorine was enough to mess a bit with his nerves.

"Well, between you and Monet. Are you…..I dunno, in love?"

"Lo…..what?! Nami, what just you…..no!" Chopper seemed terrified of what he's just been asked about. "How can you say that?!" Nami held her hands up defensively requesting for Chopper to calm down.

"Sorry, I was just wondering. I mean there's nothing to be ashamed of," She said while taking a step back instinctively. "I mean, you're a guy and-

"She's human! I don't have any interest on a love relationship with a human!" The reindeer was getting quickly upset.

"Well, she's half-human….just like you,"

That was it for Chopper, he quickly turned around and opened the door abruptly, leaving Nami's room without looking back. The navigator stood speechless, she never saw the reindeer behave like this before, normally he would be incredible shy about such and behave with silliness over it.

This Chopper was incredible mad and in pure denial of everything, feeling insulted Nami believed he helped the harpy for personal reasons, questioning his good intentions.

Perhaps Chopper was really growing up.