A/N: This was written far quicker and is a little shorter than I had hoped for, but I hope that you enjoy it regardless.

It was quiet amongst the crew that morning, the previous nights conversation having been a lot to take in. I hadn't really slept, too busy trying to put together two separate timelines down on paper. I needed to do it, not just for my own memory, but also to see the differences the Outliers coming into this world made.

There was a knocking at the door before it opened and Sanji walked in, breakfast in hand.

"You've been up for hours, did you manage to get any sleep?"

"About five hours? I can come out, I'd probably prefer to eat breakfast with everyone whose awake anyway."

He nodded, "right be a good idea, you've got a visitor."

I was suddenly on high alert, a visitor out here? That could mean a number of things, not limited to bounty hunters or even marines who had issues. But this close to Water 7? It was hard to say for sure.

"I'll be right out."

I wasn't expecting the first crow that I had trained, and basically raised from a chick to be the one siting on the table, clearly in deep conversation with Chopper over who knows what. There were very few human words being spoken, just a series of what could only be described as chirping noises.

Melkor had made his way aboard the Going Merry and all I could think was that I was going to get chewed out for leaving him behind.

And I was right.

"Where on earth have you been! I've had to train the rest of those idiots myself! I'm not leaving your side! You'll get into too much trouble without me to look after you!"

"Good to see you to, Kor."

He turned his beak up at me, sulking as his scolding had apparently done nothing to me as I was looking as nonchalant as I possibly could.

"I missed you, and you didn't even bother saying goodbye." If birds could pout, he certainly would be.

By that point the rest of the crew had come into the kitchen and were watching what was probably to them a very amusing situation.

"I missed you to, pavulus corvus, but if I had come and said goodbye, what would you have done?"

Melkor turned back to me and made his way closer, slowly at first before he took flight and landed on my outspread arm. "Wouldn't have left you alone until you let me come with you."

"Exactly. Now, what've you got for me?"

"It's all work and no play with you, isn't it?"

Rolling my eyes I held out a hand, "Don't get smart you, I'm sure if you're nice and say hello to the rest of the crew you may even get fed something nice from Sanji here. And besides, I'm not the one in charge here. If you ask Luffy if you can stay, then I've no issue."

Melkor couldn't help but look at the Straw Hatted Captain, "Can I stay, Captain Luffy?"

Snorting, I couldn't help but shake my head at the act the crow was trying to put on, "Don't act cute little idiot, you've taken out eyes with those claws of yours."

The cackling that the bird let out freaked Usopp out so badly that he dropped his plate of food and hid behind Chopper, who had hid behind Zoro.

Sighing, I picked the crow up and turned him upside down onto his back in my palm, and began to tickle his stomach. "Enough of that, it's bad enough that you've taught the kids how to do that, it's another to do it to friends, you know that."

Sulking, the crow turned his head, "Apologising to friends."

"And don't be a sarcastic little shit."

I put Melkor back down onto the table, muttering, "Why did I name you after that valar? Did I curse you to be a little shit?"

The crow, now back on his feet began to cackle again, "Does the phrase 'get thee gone from my gate, jail-crow of Mandos' ring a bell? I liked the name when you told me the story, thought it was a bit funny that was the first thing you thought of when you saw itty-bitty baby me, and then I wouldn't let you call me anything else."

"And then somehow I raised a smart mouth." I said, whilst rolling my eyes and opening up the sling bag that had been attached to Melkor's back.

"Takes one to know one, maybe you shouldn't have raised me in a bar."

Luffy burst into knee slapping laughter, "He's a riot! He can stay if he wants!"

"Thank you ever so much for the permission." Melkor turned to Sanji, who was still holding a plate of food that was steadily getting emptier. "Any of that roast meat?"

Sanji nodded, "You want some?"

Melkor was as enthusiastic as ever about food, flapping his wings, flying and hovering directly in front of the chef. "Do I ever!"

Whilst Sanji was entertaining Melkor, and the crow trying his best to keep the meat he was being given away from Luffy, I was opening up the package. There was a letter from Bailey and Pa Burgundy, as well as a note from Barto, as well as the devil fruit encyclopaedia and multiple maps that had once been set by the marines for destruction but had been saved. (I'd found some discrepancies at some point in the past on some old maps, marine issued ones at that and got curious.)

The devil fruit encyclopaedia was fascinating, but at that point I didn't have the amount of time to scour through it that I needed to unfortunately. This was also the case with the maps, but I was going to have to consult with Nami on those since she was both the navigator, knew far more about maps than myself and how marine maps themselves actually worked and how often they needed to be redone, as well as their accuracy.

That left the letters from Bailey and Pa Burgundy.

'Hi soror,

We never really talked about that, did we? Well I'm putting it out there. You're my big sister, you've been my big sister since those first few days working at the bar and living with us, and I don't care whatever it is that you've been hiding from Pa and I, you're family and that's all that matters.

I knew that you would miss my birthday, but I still saved you a slice of cake regardless. I think Melkor and Ti ate the majority of it though. It was that one that you taught me how to make, the baked cheesecake one? Pa loves it, and out's easer on his gums so that's probably the cake that I'll be making and the cooks will be too for the rest of our lives!

Barto and his family have kept some of the more violent patrons away, but one of Joker's family did drop by and seemed pretty disappointed that you weren't in; I wasn't in that day either thank the gods. Probably a good thing, too now that Smoker isn't around, chasing after you lot. Hopefully whoever Marine HQ sends to replace him is at least halfway competent, but they'll probably never be as competent as Smoker since he was born here and knows Loguetown like the back of his hand.

I met some friends of yours, Pia and Lem? They were travelling with your captains brother (attractive, right?), I think they were looking around for work? Not sure, I didn't really pay much attention, considering Lem got right to talking with me and we have a lot in common, like sharing a big sister.

I really wanted to facepalm; Bailey had always been blunt about who she found attractive, but I was not expecting her to put it into writing. I wouldn't be surprised if she had a list in her diary though, I had seen her collecting wanted posters.

'Why did you never say you had a brother? Well, he's my brother now, too. We've decided that in your absence and you'll just have to deal with it. Bo said that we'll have to share a cup of sake the next time we all meet, just to make it official. Sake is gross though, why not a nice cocktail? Lem said he'd have some chocolate milk, said something about alcohol not working the same way?'

Up until that point I didn't know I had a brother, but I was apparently now in the business of adopting siblings, who knew? I hope that Saalem knew that the whole point wasn't to actually get drunk, just to partake for sibling-hood?

'We had a proper conversation and have decided that whenever the Rooster sets sail, we'll be going with him. So whenever that is, we'll be looking forward to seeing you out on the Grand Line.'

This time I really did face palm. How on earth had I managed to drag two people into a life of piracy?

'Bo shook his head at that, but said that he wouldn't be stopping anyone from following their dreams. Pa wasn't too happy, but he knows that he won't be able to stop me from doing something I really want to do.

We exchanged numbers after that, so maybe one day soon we can have a round robin chat? That would be super nice!

I won't say much more, Pa wants to write something, too.

Love you!

B.'

Next was the incredibly short note from Pa Burgundy, one that made me go white from shock and a little fear.

'Crow girl,

I knew from the moment we met that Bailey would follow you anywhere you went, why did you have to go off and become a pirate? You're following a captain that reminds all us old-timers who've met him of the old king and I can't work out if that's a good or bad thing.

You stay safe, you here me? Keep yourself safe, keep wearing black and don't talk to anyone who you wouldn't trust your life with, you hear me?

When little B sets out, try and look after her if you can?

Pa B.'

He knew. He hadn't put it into words, but he knew that I was an Outlier. Admittedly, I hadn't really attempted to hide my otherness until about three months into my stay after I had seen another Outlier being chased into the town square by a mob. I wondered why he hadn't done anything, thankful that he hadn't, but he had to have known that he was committing a crime by not turning me I and by that was endangering Bailey, whom he loved with a burning passion that could only be matched by parental love.

There was a knock at the door, causing me to jump and throw the letters into the air. I'd been so absorbed in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed the shadow through the window.

Zoro was looking into the office with a sheepish look on his face, "Sorry Ebony, just thought I'd let you know that we're almost at Water 7."

Nodding, I absentmindedly picked the letters back up, "Awesome, I'll be right up."

He made his way into the room further, "Anything interesting?"

I paused, not really thinking about it before handing him the note from Pa Burgundy and watched his face as he read through it.

"He knows."

I nodded, "Yeah, and he still let me live and work with his granddaughter."

"Good man." And as an afterthought he added, "Risky for him and his family though."

Merry had decided that she wanted to experience a slight bit of adventure for what may have been the last time, but doing exactly what she had in canon. She had taken control of her own steering, and was making her way to race the frog Yokozuna towards the nearest train station.

Usopp had attempted to scold her, but she waved him off saying something along the lines of her only being able to live once and if this was to be the end, then she wasn't going to let it be boring.

Usopp gave her wide, sad eyes and she folded, turning her head and apologising.

Meeting Kokoro and Chimney was certainly a fun experience, and one that I was trying desperately to not ruin. Sanji still had the fantasy of mermaids, and I didn't really want to ruin that, although if it went to the extremes that it had in the canon timeline I was going to have to step in.

"Thank you!" The maps that Kokoro and Chimney had given us were going to be exceedingly helpful, even the Galley-La Company flyer would be helpful, even if to just get a second opinion. (Though we all knew that Merry wasn't going to be able to last much longer, she was holding out as best she could though and we were all thankful for that.)

"No problem! Good luck getting what you need!" Chimney was grinning widely, seemingly happy to just be there and involved in an apparent serious conversation.

Before leaving however, Nami and I had made sure to ask where the safest place to dock would be considering that a number of us, including myself, were wanted criminals. Kokoro had recommended to dock within the small peninsula, nearest to the back entrance and had admitted that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to go through the front entrance as the crew currently was.

"Hear that Merry?"

The klabautermann had hidden herself well enough up until that point, but was always ready and willing to make a dramatic entrance.

"Loud and clear! No dramatic entrances for me today!"

There was an irony in that statement that none of us were willing to point out, but we were all definitely enjoying the looks of shock on Kokoro's and Chimney's faces as we began to sail away.

"Firstly we need to exchange the gold for beri. Usopp, Luffy and I can do that. We'll meet you at Dock One this afternoon."

Nami stated this like she was going to war, and to her she probably was. We were all nervous, but the energy that some of us were carrying was completely opposite. Some of us were excited at the prospect of a fight, whilst the others were most definitely not.

"Zoro and I will stay with Merry, and we can meet you there."

Sanji laughed, "Are we sure Mosshead head can even walk in a straight line, let alone navigate the ship to the right dock?"

Zoro rolled his eyes, "Like I'll be the one steering. Merry is capable enough on her own, we all know that."

As a group, we all turned to stare at the ships klabautermann who was blissfully ignoring us all and the conversation we were having to pet and feed an overindulged Melkor.

The rough plan that we had been talking about the previous night was going to be put into action, although we were all able to tell that Robin was still incredibly nervous about the whole situation.

Sanji was going to be sticking really closely to Robin, who was still going to go out and shop with Chopper. (We did need to stock up on the basic supplies after all, regardless of the situation.)

"So, money, shipwrights, attempting to avoid CP9, that's the plan, right?"

Usopp was nervously ringing his hands together.

Luffy nodded, "We'll probably be fighting CP9 anyway, but hopefully we can keep Robin from being blamed for attacking the mayor."

Robin sighed, "I'll probably get the blame anyway, it's something that just happens."

Luffy smiled sadly at her, knowing exactly that feeling.

"So, we all know what we're doing?"

Nami took charge once more, voice strong and unwavering even though her body was brought with anxious tension.

"If CP9 tries to, or does make contact with Robin then it's war."

The bounty hunters had arrived shortly after the others had left, and had thought that the bounties that both of us had weren't warranted. And though we both knew that this was Merry's show, neither of us were going to let that insult stand.

After we had both taken down several bounty hunters each, we heard what could only be described as a war cry when Merry entered the fray.

Then it got incredibly messy, blood going everywhere and the vicious grin that appeared on Merry's face was very reminiscent of Zoro's own.

"Do we want to intervene?"

Zoro and I were leaning up against the wall, watching as Merry viciously tore through the group of men and women who had raided the ship. They were clearly members of the Franky Family to my eyes, but if you didn't know what that group was they would just look like a regular group of bounty hunters.

Zoro took one look at the tiny little girl, a child if you didn't know who and what she was, in a little yellow raincoat throwing hands and winning with men and women over four times her size. We both winced as she slammed one of the men over her head and into the floor of the ship, creating an indent in the wood.

"OI! You're going to hurt yourself!"

Merry ignored me, proceeding to throw several men overboard with broken arms and noses, before using another as a cricket bat and hitting several more bounty hunters into one another. By the end of it, there was not a single Franky Family member that wasn't injured, or knocked unconscious in some capacity.

"Are we really that brutal?"

The whisper wasn't apparently all that quiet, as Zoro gave me a questioning look.

"Klabautermann take on the ships residents traits and personalities alongside their own, so if she's this brutal in a beatdown, what does that say about us as a group?"

Zoro gave a vicious grin, the exact same one Merry had earlier, "That we're good at what we do?"

Rolling my eyes, I scoffed, "Well, yes, but also that we could be a bit neater in our beatdowns. And that you in particular need to be more careful about your own injuries. I don't think I've seen you without one since we met."

He gave me a droll stare, grin dropping slightly, "Pot, meet kettle. You're getting to be just as bad as me."

"We can have matching name plates in the infirmary then."

Merry at this point was finishing off her beatdown, and was advancing on the singular man that she had left in what seemed to be a relatively uninjured state, and leant down to speak directly into his ear.

"Your boss. I'd like to have a word with him." She gave the frightened man a grin that would have made much stronger men pee their pants, "Send him my way, would you?"

A/N: So now we're at Water 7. Things are going to start happening very quickly, and I hope that you'll stay along for the ride. Once again, thank you for all your comments and remember to stay safe and hydrate!

Translations

soror meaning sister