"We're here at the restaurant!" I heard Johnny call out and I cracked my eyes open. I had been having a short nap before he had called that out, you can never get much sleep around here with these guys. "Brother Zoro! Brother Luffy! Brother Usopp! Brother Nami!"

I heard Nami grit her teeth and ask, "Why am I brother?"

As we sailed up to the restaurant everyone started to gather at the front of the ship, their faces glowing with excitement. I lazily stood up, shaking out orange and white fur. I had finally gotten the bandages off this morning and it felt great without them; they were way too uncomfortable and restrictive.

I had spent the last few days watching over Yosaku while we recovered from our fight with the Black Cat Pirates. He was an idiot though and didn't understand the concept of resting as he was constantly running around with Johnny. I took it upon myself to nip the back of his legs whenever I thought he was doing too much. Thankfully he seemed to get the idea pretty quick as he stopped to rest whenever I nipped him.

"What do you think, everyone?" Johnny called out.

"What a huge fish!" Luffy called out in reference to the shape of the restaurant.

"Wow!" exclaimed Nami in awe.

"That's so funky!" cried Usopp.

My eyes flickered to the side as another ship pulled up next us, the word 'Marines' written across its sail.

"It's the Marines!" Usopp yelped, his eyes wide.

"When did it…" muttered Luffy, his mouth making an 'O' shape.

"They are not going to attack us now are they?" whispered Usopp.

"Hey! We aren't pirates!" called Johnny as he and Yosaku ducked behind the railing of the ship.

"Ah! Something coming out!" Yosaku said.

Someone on the marine ship was near the railings, looking at us before he called out, "Never seen that pirate flag before. I'm the Lieutenant of the Marine Headquarters known as 'Ironfist Fullbody'. Who's your Captain?"

"I'm Luffy," our own idiot Captain replied with a straight face. "I just finished making our pirate flag the day before yesterday!"

"He said the day before yesterday, haha," laughed Johnny.

"Ahaha! Good one!" Yosaku laughed.

They thought it was a joke, too bad it wasn't.

"And I'm Usopp," Usopp said as he butted in.

Feeling left out so I put my front paw on the railing, lifting up my head so I could see better. I then proceeded to let out several challenging barks at the marines.

"Wait a minute, I think I've seen you two somewhere before," Fullbody said when he spotted Johnny and Yosaku. "You frequent the government offices on some business. If I remember correctly you're small time bounty hunters. Yosaku and Johnny I think your names were. So, you've finally been caught by pirates have you?"

"Hey, Yosaku, I think this bro's sticking it to us," Johnny muttered to his partner.

Yosaku took a drag of his cigarette before exhaling and stating, "Well, we can't just let some guy walk around calling us small time. This ain't gonna net us a single beli, but I think we better teach this kid how to keep his mouth shut."

"You cocky little yuppie!" they both screamed, launching themselves towards him with their weapons at the ready.

Under less than a minute, they were found laying back on deck with their faces a bloody pulp.

"Almost had... Him," they both muttered at the same time.

Well if they were going to get in stupid fights like that, I wasn't going to help them.

"You sure you guys aren't super weak?" Luffy questioned bluntly.

"N-no, it's just that that guy is not too shabby himself," Johnny defended.

"It was a close one..." Yosaku muttered.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Zoro sighed.

"Darling, enough beating up on weaklings, let's get going already," a female voice said from the ship, an arm reaching out of the door to grasp Fullbody's arm.

"Ah, yes, let's do that," he said. "Consider yourself lucky pirates because I am on a break today. I only came here to eat at the restaurant, but consider your lives forfeit when I run into you next and I'm not off duty."

"Huh, what's this Johnny?" Nami asked, kneeling down to pick up some papers that were scattered around Johnny.

"Oh that," he said. "Those are just the bounty posters, sister. It's just another type of business, kill anyone of them and you'll get the bounty reward written on the posters."

I didn't miss the look that crossed Nami's face as she clutched a certain poster tighter.

"Is something the matter?" Johnny asked Nami.

"GUYS! WE'RE IN DEEP SHIT!" Usopp yelled so suddenly that my eyes shot towards him. Did no one here know how to use their proper inside voice all the time? "THAT BASTARD IS AIMING HIS CANNON AT US!"

Oh, maybe that was a good enough reason to raise his voice.

"WHAT!" everyone screamed.

BANG

"He fired!" Usopp cried, I had frozen up, looking with wide eyes at the cannon ball coming towards us. There was not much I could have done.

"Leave it to me!" Luffy exclaimed, jumping up onto the railing of the ship. "Gomu Gomu no…FŪSEN!"

Suddenly Luffy's stomach had expanded, much like a balloon, as he blocked the path of the cannonball. It sunk so far into his stomach that I could see it denting the skin through to the other side.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku cried out in shock, their eyes bulging out of the sockets.

"You can have your cannon ball back!" Luffy yelled, and the ball was flung away from the ship as the rubber caused it to bounce back.

We all watched on in shock as the ball went the complete other way, our jaws all hanging open in shock, even my own. It then headed straight towards the floating fish restaurant and it ended up smashing a huge hole through the roof.

"JUST WHO ARE YOU GIVING IT TO, YOU DUMBASS?" yelled Zoro.

Everyone continued to gape as Luffy froze in shock at what he had done. He then slowly fell back, landing on his back on the deck. Wow, just wow, Luffy.

"Luffy is sure taking his time," Zoro sighed, leaning back against the railing off the ship's front deck.

Nami, Usopp and myself were also sprawled around random places. I was laying on my side, my legs stretched out and my head laying on in the deck. Hey, what can I say? It was nice and warm in the sun.

"You don't think they'll force him to work here for like a month or something do you?" Zoro asked.

"He should just explain to them that it was all the Marine's fault. That idiot is too honest for his own good..." Nami said.

"Hey, let's go and see him!" exclaimed Usopp. "We could get some food while we were at it! Whaddya' say?"

I closed my eyes slowly drifting off to sleep as they got up and went to go see Luffy. If the only major downside of being a dog was the fact that I wasn't allowed in restaurants, than I think I could put up with it. I might as well not bitch about it.

My eyes slowly cracked open and I knew straight away that something wasn't right. Something felt wrong. I saw only white above me and I was confused for moment as I tried to figure out what was going on. Everything seemed jumbled. I slowly sat up and saw that I was in a bed. I looked down and the shape of legs under the sheets, human legs. I froze, my brain coming to a halt.

'What… How?' I stumbled over my thoughts.

I pulled the sheet of the bed off of myself and saw that I was in some sort of gown that would be commonly used in a hospital. What shocked me more was the fact I saw human legs poking out from under the gown. I slowly brought my hands in front of my face and saw that they too were human.

Still my brain refused to comprehend what was going on. Wasn't I a dog on a ship moments ago?

Maybe I really was in a hospital? There was only one way to find out. I quietly slipped out of the bed, my feet touching the cold ground. It felt so weird, going from two legs to four and then back to two. I swayed for a moment before I cast my gaze around the room. There was a small bathroom with a toilet, a basin, and shower connected to it from what I could see. In the room there was a plain white bed with white sheets and a brown chest of draws next to the bed.

I shook my head and slowly padded across the floor and towards the door, reaching out for it with my hands. My hands rested on the cool knob of the door, but when I turned it I found the door locked. So much for that plan...

I decided to go see if I was finally back in my own body, so I walked to the small bathroom. I stepped up in front of the mirror, squeezing my eyes closed so I could build up my confidence to look at my reflection.

It took me a few minutes before I finally worked up the nerve to open my eyes, and once again I was shocked at what I saw.

I was staring back at myself, but I looked like shit. My pale checks were sunken in and even the freckles that dusted my checks looked pale in comparison to what they used to be. My once flowing curly locks of brown hair was lifeless and springing up everywhere. It looked like it hadn't had a proper wash or brush in ages. The only thing that remained the same was my steel blue eyes, they still looked the same at least.

I heard the lock to door click and then I heard as the door swung open.

"Braylie darling, are you there? It's time for your medicine, Hun," a soft female voice asked from the main room.

I went to open my mouth to reply but suddenly it seemed like I was shoved into the backseat of my mind. I felt detached from my body, like I was looking through a window at what was going on. My body turned around and stumbled out the door with awkward movements. I sure as hell wasn't in control of my body. I saw that in the main room there was a woman with long blonde hair and an old face. She was dressed in the uniform of a nurse, but somehow it seemed off. It didn't look like the nurses uniform from the main hospitals.

"There you are, Honey," she cooed as she walked forward, placing down a glass and a small medicine cup full of pills on the bedside table.

She then walked back over to my body, grasping my elbow and gently pulling me towards the bed. It still felt like an out of body experience; I wasn't in control in of anything. Oh, but it only got worse. My mouth opened of its own accord and a grunting barking sound came out of my throat followed by a whine. Of course it didn't sound exactly like a dog's because the human vocal cords only have so much pronouncing capabilities, but it still sounded pretty convincing. And I know I sure as hell wasn't the one making the nose.

She just smiled faintly, although I could see a deep sadness behind her smile as she looked at me. Well, it wasn't me really, it was my body.

She gently pushed me down onto the bed before picking up the medicine cup and placing it in one off my hands. Using her own hand she closed my hand over the cup and guided it up towards my mouth. With gentle coaxing she got me, well, rather my body, to swallow the pills. She then picked up the glass of water and using the same motions as before she coaxed me to drink the water.

After I had taken the pills my body opened her, its, mouth and let its tongue hang out as it/I began panting softly. To say I was disgusted as to what my body was doing was understatement. Why was my body doing this? It's like I got put in the dog and the dog got put into me! ...Oh dear gods, Mother have mercy on me… I think that's exactly what has happened.

If my guess was correct then that most likely meant I was in a funny farm, thus the locked door. Oh my gods, that must mean my whole family thought I was crazy! My friends and everyone I knew, what do they think? They wouldn't know what happened to me, only that I was now acting like a loony. They have probably disowned me by now…

The nurse gathered up the glass and medicine cup and began to walk towards the door. My body jumped up off the bed and began trailing her to the door. She paused at the door and turned to me saying, "Stay."

My body did just that and didn't move, it only just tilted it's head to side.

"Good night, Braylie," the nurse said quietly before slipping out the door and locking it behind her.

I felt a strong sense of sadness wash over my body, and my body brought its head back and began a long mournful howl.

"Arrrooooooooooooo-"

My awareness of what was going on slowly came back to me, the ship was rocking and I could hear the wind hitting the sail which meant we were sailing. Wait… What? It was quiet, way too quiet. If we were sailing, where was everyone? Normally I couldn't manage a five minute nap on this ship without something waking me up, and yet I'd woken up naturally this time.

I cracked my eyes open, lifting my head up so I could stare at the sky. It was still daytime… So it's not like everyone could be asleep…

Oh… Shit… Zoro and Usopp went to help Luffy when that huge ship came. I had hopped up onto the roof of the main cabin so I could get a good view of what was going on because I was not allowed on the ship because I was a dog... I must have fallen asleep… Shit! Shit! Shit!

Suddenly what happened in the dream… No, the nightmare, came back to me. What the hell was that? Was it real? I'm guessing I don't want to know the answer to that… Maybe it wasn't my fault that I fell asleep then? The dream must have caused me to pass out.

'Now isn't the time to stew on the dream!' I snapped at myself.

I jumped up on my paws with my head spinning around quickly to try and see if I could find anyone else on the ship. I noticed that it was blue ocean all around the ship; no fishy restaurant in sight. Suddenly I got a sinking feeling on the bottom. I had slept through Nami taking the ship hadn't I? I'm stuck aboard with Nami then. Great... I couldn't bring myself to be angry with her though, after all she did have a good reason.

I finally spotted Nami, standing at the front of the ship and staring out into the sea. I jumped off the roof quietly and made my way to the front of the ship without her noticing me.

"They were good people…" I heard her say quietly to the wind tears streaming down her face. "I wonder if they'll count me as their friend, the next time we meet…I wonder if we can ever meet again…" Nami began sobbing, her shoulders shaking. I felt sadness twisting uncomfortably in my stomach; she was so upset. I hated watching others be upset when there was nothing I could do about it. "I want to hurry up and become free, Bellemere!" She then began to sob harder with her hands gripping her shoulders tightly, hugging herself.

I crept up to her, rubbing my head against the side of the leg. I heard her gasp in shock and she pulled away from the rail to stare at me with wide eyes.

"O-oh God, I for-forgot you were h-here," She sobbed and I sat back and on my haunches and looked up to her with a whine.

She slowly sunk to her knees by my side and hesitantly wrapped her arms around my neck. She pulled me close to her and began to sob into the fur of my neck, her whole body shaking. I let out another soft whined before hooking my head over the back of her shoulder and resting it there. I closed my eyes and stayed still while she cried. Poor Nami, she's had to put up with this for so many years. My minor doggy problems where nowhere near as bad as this.

I was trotting quietly along after Nami with my eyes darting around in suspicion. Nami had been silent ever since she had cried and she hasn't spoken to me once after that. She was giving me the cold shoulder, so I just stayed silent to and followed her like a dog was meant to do. We had docked the ship earlier, gotten back onto solid land and were now walking along a dirt path that led to God knows where. I was just hoping that I didn't met Arlong and that he didn't try and kill me. I didn't think Arlong would like dogs very much considering how he treats humans like they would a dog.

After walking for a while we reached a house that was next to a large orchard of tangerine trees. A girl just a bit older than Nami walked out and was looking at Nami curiously. She had blue hair and tattoos on her arms and across her chest, I think this might be Nami's sister.

"Nami…" the woman addressed her quietly.

"Nojiko, do me a favour and look after Mamori for me would you?" Nami asked bluntly and didn't wait for a reply before turning around and walking back the way she had come.

I sent Nami a large eyed look before looking back at Nojiko who was looking just as shocked as me.

Oh boy…

Gomu Gomu no Fusen: Gum Gum Balloon