Disclaimer: I do not own Inyasha, One Piece or How to Train Your Dragon. All characters and their affiliations are owned by their respective creators. I am not making money off of this work of fiction. The characters Rock and Rain do belong to me.

A Family of Outlaws

Chapter Seven: The Island of Zou

It had been two days since everyone set sail on the borrowed ship from Dressrosa. This day Kagome had an idea that she wanted to try on Luffy. The two of them were sitting on the deck in a meditative state. Well, Kagome was meditating while Luffy was fidgiting. "Hold still Luffy," Kagome sighed.

"But I want to go fishing with Usopp," Luffy complained. He could hear Usopp snickering from off to the side as he held a fishing pole.

"You can't go fishing," Kagome said. "You're still grounded for the next two days."

"Oh man," Luffy slumped in his position.

"Sit up straight now. I'm almost done."

Rain laughed from her place on the railing of the crow's nest. It was always fun to watch someone else be on the receiving end of Kagome's mother hen mode. Darkess was on the deck with Shadow, enjoying the rays of the sun as they napped. "Is she always like that?" Zoro asked. He was standing in the crow's nest, looking over the rail at the two below.

"She can be worse," Rain confirmed. "She's a bit on the over protective side. I remember when Darkess and I first bonded. She set a list of rules so long that my father had to veto them. He then put my grandmother in charge of watching over me as Darkess and I learned how to fly together. Kagome and Shadow are good friends, but they never fly in a combat situation. Kagome prefers to be on the ground, firing arrows at people."

"You fight from the air?" Zoro asked.

"There's nothing like it," Rain smiled.

"I would imagine not. I'm a swordsman, I fight better with both feet on the ground."

"I'll have to introduce you to air combat sometime," Rain said. "Darkess seems to get an extra burst of speed from the adrenaline that fighting enduces. We haven't found any dragons faster then the Night Fury. As her rider I have to be alert on her back. It'll be dangerous if she takes a corner too sharp and I can't make the clearance."

"Sounds interesting." Zoro watched as Rain pulled out a set of binoculars from her pack. She put them to her eyes as she leaned forward a bit. "What do you see?" he asked.

"I see an island off to starboard," Rain answered. She put the binoculars away. Rain looked down to the deck and people below. "I see an island," she called. "I'm going to scout it out and see if your crew is there." At the sound of her voice, Darkess perks up.

Rain jumps off of the crow's nest. Darkess is quick to leap up and allow Rain to fall onto the saddle halfway down. The two start to head in the direction Rain spotted the island.

Luffy leapt to his feet. "Wait for me," he called. "I'm coming with you. Gum Gum Rocket!" Both of Luffy's hands stretched outward. They grabbed a hold of the back of Rain's saddle. Once he had a good grip Luffy pulled himself into the air. He landed securely behind Rain, only causing Darkess to falter in her flight a little.

"A little warning would be nice next time," Rain chastised.

"I did warn you," Luffy said. "I told you that I was coming too."

"I wasn't finished Luffy!" Kagome yells. The two on the dragon pretended not to hear as they got further away from the ship.

"What free spirits," Robin commented.

"It's my curse," Kagome sighed. "To be around and raise such willful children. Even Shippo was hard headed when he wanted to be."

"Who is Shippo?" Law asked.

"He was a small child I took in when both his parents were killed," Kagome said. "It was before I met Luffy's father. We traveled together for a time and eventually had to part ways. I had to go home and he had his own life to live."

Sensing a change of subject was needed Robin decided to ask something else. "Rain certainly has no fear of heights," she said. "More then once I've seen her standing on the crow's nest like that. Also, it's not the first time she's jumped off to land on Darkess. It's a little startling at first."

"That's Rain for you," Kagome said. "Her whole family is like that. They love to fly in the air on their dragons. Valka has told me it feels like freedom to all of them. They have no fear of falling because they trust their dragons so much. In fact, Valka will travel from one dragon to another in mid-air. She trusts all of them so much."

"Do you trust them like that?"

"I trust Shadow," Kagome said. "But I'm not much of a flyer. I'm more of a 'both feet firmly planted' kind of girl. Of course, I wasn't introduced to dragons and flying until after Luffy had been born. It wasn't something that I was raised with." Robin nodded her head in understanding.

~ Rain and Luffy were flying over the island. "I see a village not too far from here," Rain said. "I can't really sea their sea port though."

"The Sunny wouldn't be at a Sea Port," Luffy said. "It's a pirate ship and needs to dock somewhere out of sight."

"Then we should look for a ship in a hiding place along the shoreline," Rain added. Darkess leaned to the right, changing their coarse to fly closer to the shore of the island. "What does your ship look like again?"

"It has a lion head as a figurehead," Luffy said. "My Jolly Rodger has a Straw Hat."

"Fitting."

"Of course it is."

The three flew for a few more minutes. "I think that I see it," Rain said. "It's next to a yellow submarine."

"That would be Tra-guy's pirate crew," Luffy said with a grin.

"Then we've found them," Rain nodded. She noticed several people running around below them. "We should head back and tell the others."

"Where's the fun in that?" Luffy leapt out of the saddle and fell to the ground.

"What the...? Is he insane?" Darkess let out a laugh as she and Rain maneuvered in an attempt to catch Luffy before he hurt himself. "Don't sprain a wing trying to catch up," Rain smirked. "He jumped on his own, he can deal with the consequences."

~ Momonosuke was walking around the clearing, looking for pretty stones to impress Nami with. He wasn't having any luck. Momonosuke lifted his head as he let out a sigh of boredom. Upon looking at the sky he noticed something was flying in their direction. His head cocked to the side as he tried to figure out what it was. Obviously it was still far away. The closer it got the larger it did as well. Momonosuke's eyes widened in fear. It must have been a huge bird that saw him off on his own and thought he would make a good meal. With a frightened shout he headed back to the others.

"Nami, save me!" Momonosuke cried out. He leapt into her arms and buried his face in her chest. "That huge bird is going to eat me."

"What huge bird?" Nami looked to the skies now. Her action was copied by Sanji, Brook and Chopper. The Heart Pirates were doing their best to ignore them. Bepo was curious enough to see what they were looking at. He too saw a huge black creature flying to them.

"Why do you think it will eat you?" Nami asked Momonosuke. It was her attempt to try and keep things calm. "You have us here and we won't let anything get to you."

"It's because I'm small," Momonosuke continued to cry. "I'm small enough to make it a convenient snack."

"Hey I'm small too," Chopper noted. "That means that it could eat me too." Sweat started to pour out of Chopper's fur in nervousness. He let out a cry and started running circles around the area. Getting into the moment, Brook also started to run around and cry out that he would be used as a toothpick.

Nami sighed and looked to Sanji. The cook was glaring at Momonosuke as if he would kill him. "Sanji, do something about that bird."

"What giant bird?" Luffy asked.

"The one that's going to eat us," Chopper cried.

"Hey Luffy," Sanji started. "Were you riding that thing?"

Luffy started to laugh, "I sure was. It's so much fun, you should try it."

"I think I'll pass."

"Luffy, you're back!" Panic forgotten, Chopper launched himself at Luffy. "I was so worried about you guys."

"It was nothing we couldn't handle," Luffy bragged.

The sound of wings broke the conversation, followed by a vibration on the ground. "Hey Luffy, next time you decide to bail warn us."

Sanji turned to the new voice. Darkess and Rain were on the outter edges of the two groups of pirates. He watched in curiosity as she removed her helmet. Instantly hearts formed in his eyes. He spun in a strange dance as he rushed to Rain's side. Once he was there he stopped and gave a gentlemanly bow. "Allow me to assist you down," he offered.

Rain blinked at the man. She instantly noticed the eyebrows he had. "You're name is Sanji, right?"

"You know me?!" Sanji looked up at her again, with hearts in his eyes.

"I've been told about you from the other members of Luffy's crew," Rain admitted.

Sanji cleared his throat and bowed once again. "May I know the name of such a beautiful woman?"

Rain's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened. Darkess gave a dragons version of a laugh. "Oh hahahaha, right back at you," Rain pushed a hand down on the top of Darkess' head. "You just like to tease." Rain looked back at Sanji. She glanced behind him to see Luffy just staring at them.

Blinking back towards Sanji, Rain began talking. "My name is Rain and this is Darkess."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Rain," Sanji cried out, ignoring Darkess all together. "I would be happy to help you down."

"I guess it's okay," Rain hesitantly said. She was expecting Sanji to offer his hand to help keep her steady, not that she needed it. What she got was far different. Before she realized what was happening Sanji had lifted her out of the saddle and was holding her bridal style.

Darkess once again started laughing as her legs gave out from under her. She was rolling on the ground now, fully enjoying Rain's predicament. "Um, you can put me down now Sanji."

With a look of disappointment, Sanji let Rain stand on her own two feet. His hand lingered across her shoulders until she physically removed it. She cleared her throat and walked towards Luffy and the others. Still giving light laughs, Darkess followed. As she passed Sanji she shouldered him. Sanji stumbled, but quickly regained his balance.

Rain joined Luffy and the others. She noticed the child and who she assumed was Chopper from everyone's description get more nervous as Darkess approached. "I wouldn't worry about Darkess," she said. "She's a big softy."

"How can we trust you?" Momonosuke charged.

"It's alright Momo," Luffy said. He then jumped onto Darkess' back himself. "She likes humans as friends and not as dinner."

"What about reindeer?" Chopper asked.

Rain gave a reasuring smile as she moved to where Chopper 'hid' behind Nami's legs. "How would you like proof that there's nothing to worry about?"

"What sort of proof?" Chopper asked.

Rain offered her hand to Chopper. "Let me show you something," she said. Chopper slowly eased out and let Rain take a hold of his hoof. The two approached Darkess, who was now laying down and trying to appear as non-threatening as she could.

Rain let go of Chopper's hoof and got on her knees in front of Darkess. On que, Darkess opened her mouth to show that there were no teeth. Rain reached in and pet her tongue. "As you can see, her mouth isn't big enough to make a snack out of you."

Chopper got close to Darkess' mouth and looked inside. "There are indentations here," he noted. "It's like she lost all of her teeth."

Rain pulled her hand out of Darkess' reach and put the other hand on Chopper's shoulder. "Does anyone happen to have a fish on hand?"

Bepo slowly approached the group. He had a salmon in his grip. "I was going to eat it for lunch," he said.

"I'll get you some more fish just as soon as I'm finished showing everyone they don't have to be afraid of Darkess," Rain promised. Bepo handed over his fish, surprised that Rain hadn't pointed out that he was a talking bear.

With one hand still on Chopper's shoulder she extended the other with the fish, offering it to Darkess. Darkess took small steps closer and opened her mouth. Once she was close enough, she let her teeth out and grabbed the fish from Rain. She swallowed it and licked at her mouth and teeth.

"She has retractable teeth?" Chopper asked.

Rain put her helmet on as she moved closer. "Her main food source is fish," she announced. "I would think that she would find the taste of reindeer not that appealing." Rain climbed onto Darkess' saddle once Luffy moved off. "Who wants to go with us to gather some more fish?"

Sanji raised his hand and started running closer. "I will g..."

"I'll go," Chopper interrupted. Rain scooted back so Chopper could sit in front. She didn't think that his small arms would be able to reach around her if he needed to. Chopper climbed into the saddle with help from Luffy and held onto the grips Rain pointed out.

Rain leaned over Chopper and held onto the grips as well. "Okay girl, let's do some fishing." Darkess leapt into the air and headed for water.

Sanji's shoulders slumped and he looked defeated. It had been a perfect excuse to hold onto a woman. Yet it always seemed that they all payed more attention to Chopper. Brook siddled up next to him. "I know how you feel," he said. "I too had hoped to go along for the ride."

Nami rolled her eyes at the men. She turned to Luffy, who had been adnormally quiet. "Where are the others?" she asked.

"They're on a ship not far from here," Luffy pointed out. "Everyone is heading this way."

~ Rain decided that a side trip was called for before they went fishing. Darkess headed back towards the ship they had borrowed from Dressrosa. Everyone was on deck, waiting for some news.

When they landed, Robin walked up to them. "I'm so glad to see you Chopper," she said.

"Robin!" Chopper leapt out of the saddle and hugged Robin. He then gave his greeting to Franky, Usopp and Zoro. "I'm so happy to see all of you."

Rain turned to Law and pointed to the island. "It's Zou alright," she announced. "Luffy and I met up with the rest of his crew. Your crew is also there. That bear in your crew is a very helpful person."

Law raised an eyebrow at this. "You're not curious about how Bepo can talk?"

Rain shrugged her shoulders. "I've seen a lot of strange things. A good number of them since I joined Kagome on her quest to find her family." Rain turned to Chopper, still catching up with his friends. "I have a promise to keep," she announced. "You can stay here with everyone and join up with Luffy and the others when they do, or you can come back with me."

"I'll come with you," Chopper broke away. "I'm curious about how you plan to go fishing."

At the word fishing, Shadow perked up. Her movement drew Chopper's attention. "There's another one?" he panicked.

Rain laughed and patted Chopper's head. "That dragon is Kagome's friend," she said. "Shadow wouldn't hurt you anymore then Darkess would. It's right around lunch time so I would assume she wants to go fishing as well."

"Go ahead and take her," Kagome put in. "I'm a little busy preparing lunch for everyone here."

Rain nodded and looked to Chopper. "Still want to come along with us?"

"You bet I do," Chopper said. Rain helped him get back into the saddle. "I'll see you all when you reach the camp. We've anchored in a cove on the other side of the island."

"We'll SUPER see you there," Franky announced. He gave them a thumbs up.

Rain nodded to everyone and urged Darkess into the sky once again. Shadow followed after them. The two dragons flew along the coast of the island. Their heads were down, watching the water.

Darkess slowed down and started to circle one area in particular. Shadow dove into the water where it was deep enough. The three still in the air waited for a few seconds. Chopper was watching the area where Shadow had dove. Soon the surface of the water started get small waves and take on a silvery hue. Chopper was surprised to see a school of fish start jumping out of the water. With a burst of water, Shadow was in the sky. Her action pushed a number of fish further into the air then what they would have achieved on their own. Rain wrapped one arm around Chopper and held onto the saddle tighter as Darkess suddenly dove for the falling fish. The two dragons repeated this until both were satisfied. Shadow returned to the ship and to Kagome while Darkess headed to the group waiting on the island. She now carried a giant tuna in her claws.

~ Sanji was pacing back and forth. "Chopper better not let anything happen to Rain," he growled. "She's such a delicate flower."

"You better not let her hear you call her that," Luffy commented. "If you spent any time with her you would know that's not true."

"Why are you so defensive?" Nami asked. "This isn't the first time that Sanji has behaved like this. You and everyone else knows that. So why are you acting so protective of her?"

"I don't really know."

A light lit in Nami's eyes. She had a feeling about what was going on, but she needed more proof and to talk to Robin. She thought about the things that had changed in Luffy over the last two years. A lot of his personality was the same, but he had matured. It seemed natural to her that he would also start taking an interest in women as well.

Thinking on Luffy reminded her of the paper they had gotten. "Luffy, there's something I should tell you. As we were sailing here a paper was dropped off. It showed a picture of a woman with long black hair and the article described her as your mother."

"I've already met her," Luffy responded.

"Oh, that's fine then. Wait, what?"

"I've already met my mom," Luffy repeated. "She and Rain were traveling together to find my dad and I. They found me first."

"How can you be sure it's your mom?" Nami asked.

"She knew things about my grandpa that no stranger would."

"We're back!" Everyone could hear Chopper calling out. Bepo stood up, excited to have his dinner now that Rain and Darkess came back from fishing. To his surprise they didn't bring back a salmon for him. Bepo's eyes widened impossibly large as he stared at the tuna that was clutched in the dragon's claws.

"I hope you don't mind tuna," Rain noticed Bepo staring. "It's hard for Darkess to carry a small fish like salmon in her claws. I hope that it's a suitable substitute."

Bepo carefully approached them as they landed. The tuna was set off to the side to give them room to land. Bepo picked up the large fish and turned to Rain. He remained silent as Rain helped Chopper out of the saddle and get down herself. Once she had her helmet off, Bepo wrapped a claw around her waist and lifted her. "I love tuna," he announced. He carefully put Rain down and patted Darkess on the head in gratitude. He then sauntered off to enjoy his meal in peace.

"Food always soothes the savage beast," Rain joked.

"I thought that was music," Nami said.

"Have you ever seen a bear hug someone over playing a song?"

"No."

"Point made."

Brook was in front of Rain at this point. "I would gladly play a song for you," he said. "If you let me see your panties."

The statement shocked Rain into silence. Darkess wasn't so shocked though. She started to walk away, but she managed to sweep her tail under Brook, knocking him over.

Rain edged closer to Nami. "Are they always like that?" she asked.

"They can get worse," Nami sighed. Momonosuke was still clutching onto her leg.

"You must be Kin'emon's son," Rain said. "He's told me a great deal about you."

"You know my father?"

"I've been traveling with him these last few days," Rain confirmed. "He and his strange friend, Kanjuro. They are looking forward to seeing you."

"Oi, everyone," Sanji got everyone's attention. "Lunch is ready." Sanji then offered his hand to Rain and bowed. It was a silent invitation to escort her. Instead of a hand he felt something hard. He looked at his hand in question, instead of a soft woman's hand there was a bare leg bone. He dropped it and started looking around. Luffy was dragging Rain off towards where the food was set up. He was giving accolades on Sanji's cooking. When Rain wasn't looking, Luffy shot a glare at Sanji.

"What was that?" Brook wondered.

"I think someone might have been struck with the love bug," Nami said. She had a knowing smirk as she watched Sanji's reaction.

"Luffy is too uncouth to woe a lady," Sanji snapped. "I will not allow this."

"Why not leave Luffy alone?" Chopper asked. "He's never shown to have an interest in women beyond friendship. You, on the otherhand, are the exact opposite. It wouldn't kill you to concede this once and let Luffy try his hand."

"He'll give a bad name to men everywhere," Sanji growled. "He has no idea what he's doing." Brook voiced his agreement.

"The two of you are no closer to woing a woman then you were two years ago. Let him try," Nami said. "And don't you dare try to tell him how to get on her good side. He seems to be doing alright as it is."

"Rain has no idea what he's doing," Sanji continued to press his point. "I would bet that Luffy doesn't even know what he's doing."

"All the more reason to leave them alone to figure it out. Now get over it or else."

"Yes Nami-swan."

~ Two hours later the rest of the crew arrived. Before anyone could get off the ship, Shadow leapt off and onto the island. She and Darkess immediately began to play now that there was room to run around.

"There's another dragon?" Nami screeched.

"That's Shadow," Luffy laughed. "She's my mom's dragon."

"In that case you're just like her," Sanji said as he blew out some smoke.

"He's just like who?" The group on land turned to the ship. Kagome was walking down the ramp at that moment. She stared at the group hard. "Are these your crew also Luffy?" she asked.

"They sure are," Luffy said with a grin. He put his hands behind his head.

Kagome got into Sanji's face at that moment. "How old are you?" she asked.

"I'm twenty-one," Sanji answered.

Kagome gave a little hum in thought. "Has anyone told you that smoking is bad for your health?" Luffy started laughing at this.

"Don't be too put off by Kagome, Sanji." Robin made her way over to them. "Kagome has been keeping an eye out for all of us."

"She's means she's been mothering us," Usopp whispered in Sanji's ear. "If you don't want her to nag then don't let her see you smoke."

"What was that?" Kagome demanded.

"I was just telling Sanji how worried you are that he smokes," Usopp covered. He quickly backed away from the possibly dangerous situation.

"Also," Luffy chimed in. He put his arm around a blonde man in a blue blazer wearing a top hat with goggles around the band. "This is Sabo. He's my other big brother and he ate the Flare-Flare Fruit so that no one else will have Ace's power."

"Just how many son's did you have?" Usopp asked Kagome.

"Just Luffy," Kagome said. "Apparently he took on two older boys as his brothers when he was a child. I'm happy that he had someone that he could look up to when he needed it."

"You're too kind Lady Kagome," Sabo grinned. "Luffy isn't a bad guy when you get down to it. It was actually a pleasure taking him on as a younger brother."

It was Franky that broke the cheerful atmoshpere. "Kagome, Rain, were you two the only ones that ride dragons?" he asked.

"Outside of the East Blue we are," Kagome answered. "Why?"

"Because I think I see more dragons flying this way."