I ended up waking before the sun rose the next morning. I rolled over and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Shanks sitting in the chair again. After calming down a bit I realized he was asleep.

I slowly sat up and became more aware of the room, and the nursing I'd received from the doctor late in the night. I vaguely recalled being roused for a physical, he had checked my pulse and asked me a few questions here and there, and a glass of water.

The memories were hazy but…

I sighed and slid out of the bed. Shanks stayed asleep, which allowed me to poke around the room. The desk behind him was covered in important looking papers, captain's logs, and beer bottles. A guilty pit formed in my stomach. This must've been Shanks's room, and I'd taken it over.

I glaced at the sleeping captain, then quickly and silently took my leave from the room. I needed to breathe.

On deck, in the fresh air just before dawn. The full visit the doctor made slowly came back to me.

"You appear to be healthy." Doc regarded me with the utmost care, his hands never pressed too hard and he never asked questions that he knew now I wouldn't be able to answer. "I'll just take your pulse." He rolled up my sleeve, and paused. I was too out of it at the time to know why but he waved Shanks over. He had looked down at whatever Doc was seeing, and before anything else Doc had pulled Shanks from the room at the time, hushed words exchanged between them followed by tense silence, and then they both re-entered.

"What...?"

Neither of them said a word. Shanks just sat back down in the seat, and Doc went back to his examination.

But now that I was more lucid. Now that I wasn't half asleep and loopy. I rolled up my sleeve, and I knew exactly what what caused it.

Scars littered my arm. Pale, old, and numerous. I rolled up my other sleeve and saw the exact same. My blood felt like ice settling into my veins. I some how knew if I checked other areas I'd find more scars. And some sneering part of me told me they were my fault.

I stood at the railing for hours, the sun rose just over the horizon. Everything about me and my old memories were just as elusive as they had been yesterday. I was a relatively clean slate. I had no family, no friends, no likes, no dislikes. I was a whole new person. I could be anyone I wanted to be, except me. But… did I even want to be me?

"I see you're an early riser." I didn't need to turn around to know it was Shanks.

"I thought you were asleep."

"I'ma light sleeper."

I turned slightly. "I… I want to think, so if you could go back to sleep, that'd be great."

He walked right up next to me. "Maybe I'm not sleepy anymore."

I wasn't winning this one. I already knew that. "I just-" I stopped, realizing I hadn't rolled my sleeves back down and hastily did that. Shanks, to his credit, didn't mention the scars. I leaned on the rails.

"Hey, don't lean on the railing so much."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I'm not on your crew, so you can't tell me what to do! I'll lea- Achoo!" I shook my head slightly after sneezing. "-lean on the railing as much as I want."

"Touche." He laughed. "Do you remember anything?"

"Just… Physical stuff. 18 years old, 5'9", brown hair, grey eyes…" I looked up suddenly, "Oh! Oh! My birthday is May 22nd!"

"Hey! That's great! We should celebrate!"

I chuckled. "I mean, it's nothing big. And that's all I can remember…" I stared out at the ocean, listening to the waves crash against the ship.

"Well, the best we can do is hope you remember soon. For now… I think I'll call you Leah."

"Leah?" I glared at him. "Now wait a minute; When did you decide my name was Leah?" I got the feeling my name started with a J not an L.

He stuck his tongue out at me. "Since right now. Besides, I'll need a name to call you when I introduce you to the rest of the crew."

"The rest of the crew?" I spoke slowly.

"Yeah, you might as well get introduced to them." He said with a big grin on his face as he started walking back to his cabin. "Oh yeah, we dock at the next island tomorrow. You're going to need some new clothes and we need more provisions anyway."

"You make it sound like you're introducing me as a new crew member!" I called after him.

He paused, "The way you look out at those wave, it's the same way everybody on this crew looks at them." There was something else. I knew he was keeping another reason from me.

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I want to be a pirate-" In a blinding flash three people came to mind. A man tied up and beaten with a bandana on his head. A woman with orange hair, a white shirt, and a skirt. And another man in a fine suit. Each of them denying and invitation to join s crew of some sort.

I stumbled back, gripping the rail tight so I didn't fall.

Those three. They seemed familiar but… I couldn't remember them, Why couldn't I remember-?

"Are you okay?" Shanks was by my side, a hand on my back to stabilize me.

"I'm fine." The lie slipped out before I even had a chance to think properly. "I'm fine." I repeated, shaking off the weirdness of remember people that were familiar but I knew I'd never met.

"I haven't known you that long but I know that's a lie."

"I just… I don't know. I might've remembered something?" Except, I didn't? I just ended up getting myself confused, really.

"More memories?" I could tell he was onto my bullshit, but he smiled and clapped me on the back. "Well then! Let's celebrate extra tonight!"

"Yeah. Sure."

The rest of the day is a flurry of introductions and getting-to-know-you type conversations which I really couldn't contribute a whole lot to. I met Benn Beckman, the one who'd been smoking when I woke up, and then a proper introduction to Yasopp, and then I met the rather portly Lucky Roo who happily offered me a piece of meat, saying it might help my memory problems.

Eventually a mug full of beer found its way to my hand and without much thought I downed it, it tasted terrible and burned my throat, but I had another, and another, and another. And then I was cut off for the night.

I wasn't quite blackout drunk but I'd been close. I don't actually recall any of it, other than I had a lot of fun, but something had definitely bothered me.

Now we're getting to some real changes.

Small ones.

But they'll add up along the way.

I'm not doing the signature anymore, it's kinda pretentious.