.: Sorry for the little absence. Just doing a lot of planning and trying to figure out how to proceed until the next big conflict happens. My fear is readers getting bored with Aurilee or getting annoyed by her lack of character dynamic. I want her to change as chapters keep releasing, but I want it to be natural with some Luffy influence behind it. We'll see how good I can put it together, but feel free to review it, too. :.

The Girl with A Half-Soul

Chapter 11:

With The Help of Friends

Aurilee was born on an island of wolves. Daughter of Tayen and Paititi, she displayed an inherited skin condition from her paternal genes. She was destined to die until her father saved her life on the night of a crescent moon. After that, her mother and herself were excommunicated out of fear of contracting the mysterious disease. A relationship with her father did not exist until she got herself into trouble as a child and he saved her a second time. That was when she discovered why he was absent for so long. Through him, Aurilee learned the mysterious truth of her bloodline and why they were coexisting with the silver wolves. The paradigm that was established between the two species was seemingly eternal. Two halves of the same soul inhabiting two separate bodies. And the only way to reach the zenith of their anlage was to become one flesh. Her father earned it, making him the fiercest warrior on their little island.

The reason why she was taken by pirates was because they thought she possessed shapeshifting powers like him. Nearly the entire crew of the Bucktooth Pirates was wiped out by her parents. Despite successfully taking Aurilee, she lacked what was promised to them. That was why she was mistreated ever since, save for Gerald and Millie becoming her adopted family. As long as her and Luna were apart, they could never progress further. They would always just be human and wolf who experienced each other's tangible sensations remotely.

Every member of the Straw Hat Pirates followed her tales. It sounded so crazy that some little island somewhere in the Grand Line had another race of people occupying it. Humans and fishmen evolving into what they were today made sense, but whatever Aurilee's lineage was? It was very odd. Usopp especially was asking a lot of questions. Like what would happen if one half of the soul died? When Aurilee gave him the harsh truth about the other half having to die, too, he got a little deflated. But Robin lifted his spirits by mentioning if Aurilee was alive, then that meant her wolf counterpart was alive as well.

With the last of his food cleaned off his plate from being stuffed in his cheeks, Luffy innocently questioned the obvious. "What about your babies?"

"What about her babies?" Nami questioned his question.

Luffy swallowed all of the food in his mouth with one gulp before explaining. "Well, if one half of the soul dies and that means the other half also has to, wouldn't that mean the wolf is having puppies while Aurilee is having babies?"

Aurilee aimlessly stirred her fork against her plate. When her parents were secretly meeting each other, that meant Skah and Rikea were also doing the same, but in a different location. So, when she was conceived, Luna was also conceived. Calisto was just a normal human, so if he caused Aurilee to conceive, that left Luna with no matching mate. There was no doubt that the soul linkage meant that both halves felt the same things through their experiences, but it would make no sense for Luna to be pregnant just because Aurilee was.

Chopper was the one who vocalized the same speculation. "That doesn't make any sense biologically."

"But the rest of it does?" Zoro bemused with a chuckle. He met Aurilee's lopsided gaze and clarified: "It's not that I don't believe you. I just think if your kind can exist, it wouldn't be surprising if puppies spawned out of nowhere to keep the balance."

"Or," Sanji spoke up, "they're completely normal human beings with no other half. Nothing wrong with that at all."

"That's true," Robin supported. "Don't sweat what you don't know. We'll find out when we meet your family."

"Two half souls procreate for another half soul to be born. But when a whole soul and a half soul comes together…It should still be a half soul mathematically," Usopp thought aloud.

"But half and half coming together would only be a quarter mathematically," Nami reasoned.

Zoro brushed a hand over his face. "You guys are taking this way too seriously."

Seeing how everyone was finished with their meal, Sanji got up and began collecting dirty dishes. He noticed how Chopper had the side of his face pressed against the edge of the table, looking as if he was bothered by something. "You okay?" he asked, avoiding his hat to get his plate.

"Yeah," he answered, taking a moment before lifting his head and addressing the entire crew. "We're working against time if we want to get Aurilee back to her parents before the triplets are born. I'm estimating that she's between twenty-four and twenty-six weeks along. Normal pregnancy lasts between thirty-eight and forty weeks. But three babies means it'll get cut down to something like thirty-two and thirty-five weeks."

"So that means we have…?" Luffy trailed, counting his fingers.

"At least six weeks," Chopper finished. "Or a month and a half."

"Ah!" Luffy and Usopp both yelped. "That's barely any time at all!"

And they were actually reacting validly. Sometimes they could be sailing for weeks to the next island that the log pose was set on. But if the log pose was set on no island at all, who knew when they could hit landfall again. Nervously, Nami looked to Aurilee. "S-So it's an uncharted island, huh?" she started. "Is it at least on the Grand Line?"

Aurilee nodded.

"Okay. Good. Is it on this side of the Red Line?"

She pictured the great wall of red stone that kept the mightiest of pirates at bay. Whenever the Gunslinger Pirates encountered it, they simply turned around to continue their journeys. There were only a handful of times when they made it to that area, though. "I mean…we never crossed it. So I think so?"

The answer lifted the navigator's spirits some. "That narrows down our search a little bit. Do you remember the name of the first island you visited after you were taken?"

The day they ported in another island was the same day everything transpired. Her parents were hurt badly, the Bucktooth Pirates were decimated, Calypso took over as captain, and her life as a measly chore girl began. But she did not leave the ship for a while as a result. "No," she said, saddened by her lack of resolve to get such information as a child.

"Let's just find a piece of land to stop at and let the log pose set. We'll start there," Zoro stated.

Sanji turned his sink faucet on and began dunking the dishes under water. He looked over his shoulder to speak again. "Moss Head's right. No pun intended, but baby steps."

Nami was getting her hammock set up for the night when Aurilee came down. She heard the footsteps, recognized them to be hers, but then heard Zoro's voice. "Hey, you need anything before you sleep?" he simply asked her.

As if she was not expecting him, she stopped halfway down the stairs and looked up at him. "N-No," she stuttered.

"Alright," he replied. "See you in the morning." Then he closed the door.

When Aurilee made it the rest of the way down, Nami saw how unsettled she was in the face. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Aurilee stopped in the middle of the room. "He kind of scared me…" she admitted.

Nami tried to lighten the mood. "Who? Zoro? I know he's a little ugly and he doesn't smile much, but he's harmless."

She did not understand the humor. Without looking back, she continued going to the bed and began pulling the sheets back. It was not Zoro himself that scared her. It was how he snuck up on her when she thought she was alone.

By not receiving a response, Nami knew there was something more to what just happened. After securing her hammock, she sat at the vanity to get herself ready for some good sleep. The growing bags under her eyes showed how she never slept while up in the crows nest last night. "Is it because he's intimidating?" she questioned.

"No," Aurilee said, sitting down after shifting her extra weight around. "It's just…I don't know. I know he isn't out to get me, or at least, I wanna believe he isn't…"

Concerned, Nami turned in her seat.

But Aurilee perceived it as judgment and felt deflated. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Hey, after what you've been through, I can understand the paranoia," she sympathized. "Was it something he did that reminded you of…you know…"

Aurilee nodded. Calisto always caught her when she was not expecting it, or when she had nowhere to escape to. And then the Marine happened just twenty-four hours ago. Something about having her back turned always had her looking over her shoulder in fear. And hearing a voice sent her reeling and her everlasting stress presented itself in the form of tense heart rhythms. It just sucked that he was genuinely trying to be kind and all she did was compare him to the man who betrayed her trust.

Before she could speak again, the two of them heard the door open again and the sound of heeled boots descending the stairs. Robin's purple leather pant legs indicated her incoming company. When she made it all the way down, the thick book in her hands was what caught Nami and Aurilee's sight. "I finished my little project," she announced, walking to Aurilee to offer it to her.

Accepting them all, Aurilee did not understand what she had just received. When she opened the cover, she found one of Gerald's letters inside. Every subsequent page of the book was a letter! She had actually forgotten about their whereabouts after the escape from Lollybroch. But they were kept safe and even transformed into something greater. The gesture made her tear up.

"I ordered them chronologically from oldest to most recent," Robin explained. "And I thought they could use some protection. Now you can read them like a book. The story of your dad's life, all in the palm of your hands."

Aurilee's fingers traced the subtle evidence of Robin's work. Their condition did not worsen under her care. She was very appreciative but did not know how to express it. "T-Thank you," she uttered, delicately flipping all the pages.

"You're welcome." Instead of leaving her to explore her gift, Robin watched as her eyes did not travel back and forth as what happens when someone is reading. Her mismatched eyes were steady as if she was admiring a series of paintings. Curious, she took a seat next to Aurilee on the bed. "I know you grew up on a small island, and that you were looked after on the pirate ship for a few years," she denoted. "Tell me, were you ever taught how to read?"

The keen observation disrupted her concentration. Was it really that obvious she was not literate? She was embarrassed answering her, but she shook her head.

"Would you like to learn?"

Surprised by the offer, Aurilee looked to her. "You can teach me?"

The reaction made Robin smile. "I'm an archaeologist. I can read two languages. Teaching you how to read won't be a problem at all."

The proposal lit up her whole demeanor. It was still strange having things said to and done for her, but Aurilee was open to making friends.

Sanji leaned over the railing of the back deck as the Merry sailed. The smoke from his cigarette drifted away seamlessly as his nicotine craving was alleviated. Although he was more than happy to keep his habit away from Aurilee, he did notice how he started to itch for a puff after some time. It was going to take some getting used to. Heck, eventually he might break the habit altogether if he was in proximity to the expectant mother for more than six weeks. Not that Chopper would be bothered by that at all.

The one thing that interrupted his quiet time was the sound of the baby goat Luffy stowed away. Somehow he managed to get up the stairs by himself. When Sanji looked down, he saw Twitchy sticking his head between the rails to peer down the steep drop into the sea. Before a tragedy could occur, the cook scooped him up and held him with a hand under his belly. "Mehh!" Twitchy bleated in protest.

"Yeah, meh meh all you want," Sanji mocked, biting his cigarette to keep it in place. He took the baby goat down to the lower deck where the high walls would keep him safe. If he climbed back up the stairs, then Usopp would have to install some gates to keep Twitchy in. Having a pet was starting to become a hassle. And Twitchy was too young to turn him into a dinner; his body was small, and his muscles/meat were not good for eating yet. And since Twitchy was not a female, they could not use him for milk production. Instead, he was just an extra mouth to feed with no real use. Convincing Luffy to see it the same way was going to be a challenge.

Setting Twitchy back on his own feet, Sanji kicked open the trap door and called down to the occupants. "Whoever's on night watch tonight has to keep an eye on Twitchy. He's discovered the stairs."

"Uh, isn't it Robin's turn tonight?" Usopp questioned.

If that was the case, Sanji was going to wait patiently. He kept the door open but walked away from it. Luffy put together a little corner for Twitchy to sleep in, giving him a little ragged blanket that Usopp stitched some patches into. The cook nudged the goat into the corner and then sat down next to him. With a little belly full of more milk, it was a recipe for lulling him to sleep. After some pets and head scratches, Twitchy felt relaxed enough to lay down with his legs tucked underneath him. A few more minutes of the attention had Twitchy with his chin lowered into his cushion. Sanji was almost too nervous to stop, but Twitchy was sleeping with the aid of the Merry's gentle rocking. If it was this easy to get a goat to sleep, it would be a piece of cake to do the same with Aurilee's triplets.

Eventually, a door opened and closed, and Sanji was bestowed with the archaeologist's breathtaking presence. She noticed him and approached, which made him smile and look up at her with a blush on his cheekbones. "I'm surprised you're still out here," she said.

"Well, I didn't want you to think you were completely alone," he flattered, hoping she would grace him with a squat to be eye-level with him. But at the same time, he was enjoying the view of her towering over him.

"I appreciate it. But I think you should get some rest. Your body needs it after all the work you've put in today."

"Oh, I feel great. Don't worry about me."

She tilted her head, not believing him one bit. All the rowing he helped with, and then going out by himself just to carry Aurilee back. He would definitely be feeling it tomorrow. Since he was one to be smitten, though, the last thing he wanted was for her to feel pity for him.

Before she could insist for him to get sleep again, he changed the subject. "How's Aurilee?"

The smile and blush on his face had both dispelled. Robin watched the butt of his cigarette turn bright orange for a moment and then dull back to a red with his respiration. "She's fine. Although, I still think she'll have nightmares tonight."

He looked down and pulled out his cigarette from between his lips. "Not even the letters would help with that?"

"I doubt they would with the nightmares, but I can still put them to good use. We'll use them to help her learn how to read–" She took a seat against the wall adjacent to Sanji's and gazed down at Twitchy as he slept peacefully "–That way she can always read what her dad left behind after she parts ways with us."

While bittersweet, he found a reason to be happy with that proposition. "That's a good idea," he admired. "I bet she'll be a great student under your guidance."

"Why should I be the only one teaching her a skill?" Robin deflected. "You could teach her some cooking techniques so she can survive on her own and provide for her children."

His breath stopped in his larynx for a second. Him? Alone with Aurilee? Of course he loved the sound of that! But from the story of her life she had shared with them all, she revealed how rough living from the island's organisms and its resources was. She more than likely hunted and forged regularly back then, so she could at least make food edible. Teaching her how to make fancy dishes would be useless for her. Something he could show her, however, was how to use every single part of an animal for eating. Not only would food supply last longer, but nothing would go to waste either. And he knew of certain herbs and flavorings that could be found in most places. Once they did find her island, he could go scouting with her and discover what plants were exclusive for the ecosystem.

"Long Nose could also get her back into the swing of things with hunting," Robin continued. "There's a lot she could learn from us."

Feeling his cigarette reaching the end of its life, he took one last puff before tossing it over the side. The burn in his throat was rough, but it felt good at the same time. "It's a good excuse to get to know her better," he admitted. "Maybe it'll help her nightmares, too."