Before you kill me, know that I haven't figured out how to post stories from the spirit world! I know this has taken forever, but I've battled with every authors greatest foe the Blocker of Writing! We duelled long and hard, but victory was mine! Then after that... school, school trips, snow, pain (you really wouldn't think snow was painful to land on, but it is) and a sick friend. Took a while, but I've finally gotten around to it, this is a bit short I'll admit, but the next one will be longer!

Enjoy *hides under blanket*

"So you really beat that pirate captain?"

"Yes"

"How?"

"I gave him tea and biscuits"

"Really?"

"No"

"Please be serious about this"

"I'm seriously contemplating throwing you out my window"

"…"

"Next question?"

"How did you defeat the pirate captain?"

"Do you even know his name?"

"We're working on that, now please answer the question"

"I punched him through several buildings"

"Really? And how did you accomplish that?"

I inhaled deeply, trying to calm my nerves, and rubbed my temple to try and stave off the coming headache. Exhaling slowly, I looked at the reporter. He looked very prim, with a freshly ironed suit that was somewhere around the light blue-grey area, and has been asking me questions for the last thirty minutes.

"Sure as hell not by asking stupid questions" I shot after a few seconds, now normally I'm a patient person but this guy has been just a few notches above condescending for the entire 'interview'. I'm pretty sure more than half the town is disbelieving about what had transpired at the docks, that a little girl had beaten a pirate captain with a Devil Fruit power.

"Miss, I am trying to be civil"

"No you're not. You don't even believe that I was even at the bloody docks; you're just trying to get me to say something that points towards me being a liar" I glared, and he took a sharp breath, clearly not expecting me to be so upfront about it. I knew that this man wasn't the type to put 'women' and 'strong' in the same sentence unless 'are not' was in between. How? It was simply how he talked to me, how dismissive he was of the nurses, and how no matter what he didn't seem to believe that I had put that man through all those buildings.

"People are calling you Traveller, correct?" he said, completely ignoring my accusation. So he either was a very mature man or a serious misogynist, or maybe I'm just being very biased because I hate him.

"I wouldn't know, I have been couped in here for three days" I replied honestly. He nodded and wrote that down in his notebook. I sighed and lent back against the wall, it was cold and a wonderful distraction to the fact that I hadn't been outside in days. After being outside and traveling for months now, I have developed a strong dislike for being indoors for copious amounts of time.

"I see, and how has your recovery been?"

"I should've been out of here yesterday" I said after a long moment, staring out of my window. I wondered if they had found my pack yet. I had left it at the beach, before the pirate attack, when I was enjoying the view. I have a really bad habit of forgetting that thing.

"I see, and why did you decide to join the fight against the pirates?" he asked, though I could hear the 'even though you're a girl' part that was left unsaid. I turned to him with a serious and seldom expression, as though I was going to impart him with a great secret.

"Shits and giggles" I said finally, a careless shrug accompanying my admission. The man seemed to choke on air, and coughed violently, almost sending him out of his chair. He looked up in surprise, and I just gave him a grin.

"Well, not that this hasn't been fun but I have to be going" I said and threw the blankets off my legs; it was nice to see my legs without a magnitude of bandages covering them, even though my left leg did have a few. Startled, the reporter stood and kind of blankly stared at me as I went to the window and opened its glass frame. Inhaling the fresh, salty air I looked at the view like a king might look about a happy kingdom.

Okay, enough stalling, I have chaos and havoc to create and one wayward backpack to find!

"Alley-oop!" I cheered happily as I swung out of the window, feet first, and plummeted the distance of three stories from my hospital room. Landing lightly on a nearby roof, I looked up to see the reporter staring in complete shock at my little jump. I waved to him happily, before turning around and heading to the beach. Jumping from roof to roof, sometimes using streetlights, to traverse easily compared to the traffic of people below. I wasn't going at top speed, but I was going fast enough that the people here wouldn't realise I had passed overhead until I was already gone.

I reached the beach where I had been before the pirate attack, and looked around for my pack. I had been forced into a hospital gown, and they refused to let me change until they knew my hand was perfectly fine. Which it was, mostly, considering it had only been three days and my right hand was still firmly wrapped in bandages, but I could still feel it, so that was good. But all I wanted right now was to wear some comfortable clothes, so it makes perfect sense to run away from the hospital and go looking for a missing backpack.

"Not missing anymore" I muttered to myself as I spied the rather familiar object peeking out from the tree line. Looking back to the town, and then to my bag, and back again a few more time.

"No wonder they didn't find my pack!" I yell, throwing my hands up in exasperation and instantly regretting it. My shoulder had been pierced as well, but it hadn't been as bad as my hand, so moving it like that reminded me of that particular wound. Slowly returning my arms to my side, I looked down at the injury and grimaced at the dark dot of blood that was quickly growing into a blotch. Sighing to myself, I quickly went over to my bag and pulled out the last of my bandages.

Taking off the hospital gown, I sat on a large root –in nothing but my sports bra and undies- and began to unwrap and rewrap my shoulder. Adding in my disinfectant, of course, and once that was done I inspected my work. I don't know if it was a good thing that I was getting better at this, but I suppose it's a good skill to have for my particular occupation.

Remembering that I was in nothing more than my underwear, I grabbed some black biker shorts and slipped them on. They stopped just above my knees, and I looked down at myself. Black sports bra, bandages covering my left leg, left arm, right shoulder and right hand. I sat down on the root again, and just stared out into the expanse of the ocean. It was so peaceful here, now that everything had calmed down, but I had been here too long. I had to leave if I wanted to meet my deadline. I was planning on getting to the Grand Line before the year is out, and I only had a few more months to do that. While normally that wouldn't be an issue, I still had to travel and get informants and continue to develop my spy network in this Blue and then East Blue. And that would take time, time I couldn't waste here.

I sighed and lent my undamaged shoulder against the tree, laid my arms on my lap, and just continued to stare out at the ocean. I knew I would have to leave soon, but for just this short amount of time… I would like to stay still, and experience a little bit of the peace that I will be living without for a long while now. No worries, no thoughts of the future, no fears, no doubts and no concerns for what must come and happen. Just admiration for the view, allowing time to pass idly by as the world continues on unhindered by me.

I didn't react when I heard a figure approach, but when that single set of footsteps developed into many I cast my eyes sideways, not moving my head. I saw a Marine's ship, and a larger one behind that one. Was that why they didn't let me leave the hospital? They wanted it to be easy for the Navy to find me? It doesn't matter, now. I turned my sights back to sand and sea, ignoring the group of people behind me.

"Excuse me miss?" a masculine voice said behind me. Looking back, all I saw were legs so I looked up and lazily stared at the Marine. He looked middle-aged, and wore a large white coat that hung off his shoulders like a cape.

"Yes?" I asked quietly, trying not to disrupt the peaceful spell that had settled over me.

"Are you the person the townsfolk are calling Traveller?" he asked, I sighed and turned back to my view. For a moment I contemplated ignoring the men behind me, but knew that would only lead to unnecessary troubles.

"I suppose I am" I replied, somewhat vaguely. The man sat down next to me, though I made no move to acknowledge the act, I was pretty mellow about the whole thing. The marine, who had to be of a high rank to wear the 'Justice Cape' as I call it, seemed unperturbed by my odd mood and spoke normally but it seemed loud in the calm silence.

"I was led to believe you were still at the hospital, imagine my surprise when I only found an empty bed and a disgruntled reporter" he said, and I couldn't help but laugh somewhat sheepishly when the words actually registered.

"Ah…" I started, rubbing the back of my neck "Well, I was bored and the reporter was an ass so… I decided to join the search for my pack" I said, patting the large bag propped up against the tree. The man smiled and nodded, his men seemed to relax and started to mill about. Finding places to sit that weren't obtrusive but close enough to listen in.

"I see. Well, you can understand peoples scepticism when they're told some random girl managed to beat someone twice her size" he said as gently as he could. While it seemed as though he didn't have any trouble believing I had beaten him, he made it clear that others would. I scoffed at that and crossed my arm, shifting so my back was against the tree and I was facing the Marine with a raised eyebrow.

"I beat a man thrice my size not too long ago" I announced, not bothering to mention the scar that would prove it. I had nothing to gain from their acknowledgement, and it might even be better for them to underestimate me.

I quickly realised that plan wouldn't work, what with my little escapade a few days ago.

"I… see" the man said slowly, his brow furrowed with thought. "You wouldn't happen to be that girl who went to an inn, bleeding heavily from a wound on her leg?" he said it like a question, but it was more a statement. I blinked in surprise at him, how had he known that? In fact, why would the Navy find that the least bit interesting?

"It was a disturbance that I had been asked to look into some months back, since this woman had appeared out of the blue and vanished into the Ring only to reappear with a leg wound. It didn't amount to much though, and we quickly moved on. Didn't expect to find you here, Traveller" he greeted me as though one would greet an old friend. It appeared he could garner the reason for my confusion, so he was sharp minded.

"Oh… um, yeah… that was me" I said, a little thrown by the whole situation. Because really, what are the odds? I didn't even know that was investigated, nor did I have any clue where this… conversation would lead, but whatever I might've expected, this sure as hell wasn't it.

"How's your leg?" he asked, and I gestured to the scar, the raised skin had finally settled and now was a pale colour with some of the jagged edges forever pink. The ghost pains had stopped, now that I thought about it, and for all that I tried to stay in my serene mood, the face the man was making really just made me tumble into a fit of giggles.

"Wow, you look like a kicked puppy!" I managed between my breaths, and when I could breathe again I looked up to see not only the captain but everyone else present giving me a rather odd look. I sighed and rolled my eyes and replied with a quick "How can I blame you if you weren't the cause?" and then stood smoothly, showing just how healed and perfectly fine I was. "Now, is there a reason you went hunting for me?" at my inquiry the captain stood and cleared his throat.

"Yes, actually, I do have a reason for looking for you. You see, news of your… actions have reached some of my superiors and they would like your help in solving a problem that has started in the East Blue" he announced. I stared at him.

What?

Just… just what?

"Don't you have actual Marines to do that?" I blurted, completely thrown by this guy. He nodded as though he expected the question, and he probably did, and looked out to the ocean.

"Yes, but something is happening in the Grand Line and the East Blue is notorious for being the weakest of the Blues, so we don't have the manpower to deal with the situation. A situation that we want dealt with before it can escalate" he explained, and I gave him a more considering look. He was tanned, had blood red hair that went a little passed his shoulders… actually looked really strong, and he had to be to wear that cape of his, but he looked… sharp, mentally I mean, like he could look at a situation and make a plan and a hundred contingency plans as he went. That kind of guy is far more dangerous than any brute, and with his physical strength as well, he'll go far in his career.

"I'm not going to join the Marines you know" he nodded "And for your sake this should be classified, because you may in fact get in trouble for this one day" I got an odd look for my words, but he nodded again. I took a deep breath, and sighed "What's the situation"

And like that, I found myself on a Navy ship heading for the East Blue with the intent of stopping some pirates that have begun taking over the islands there. Though at my request we would be stopping at a few islands so I can at least have some eyes and ears in the South Blue, but it would less than the North and West Blues. Still, it was better than nothing, and I suspected that the East Blue would have even less, mostly because of all the Strawhats-that-were-yet-to-become-Strawhat-pirates that were there.

I sighed at my thoughts, staring down at the water as I leaned against the railing near the front of the ship. What was it called, the bow? Yeah, and the end is the stern. Hey, look at me, being all knowledgeable and stuff!

…I think I'll just stick to martial arts and tea.

"Speaking of which" I pushed off the railing and went to my cabin, and pulled out my tea-making set. Pulling out my remaining ingredients, I endeavoured to make some of my special blends. Mostly pain soothers and sleeping brews, and I made a salve to stave off infections. Geez, I almost felt like a medic. Is this how Chopper feels all the time? Well, as long as he enjoys it I suppose.

It only took a few weeks to get out of the South Blue and into the East Blue, and I had managed to scrape together a semi-decent network. Still, if I had more time I could've gotten something more thorough.

It would have to do.

You can practically see where I stopped and restarted... jeez...

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I've nearly finished the next chapter and should be posting it soon!

I'm outta here!