.: This will conclude the second arc of this story! I will be very surprised if we reach thirty chapters total. I expect to fall short of that because I do not want to needlessly extend content just for the sake of extending it. But being this close to the end does mean I have to start preparing for the third installment of this series. I am struggling with a title more than anything. Maybe by the end of summer, we'll be finished and I'll have it figured out. :.

The Girl with A Half-Soul

Chapter 20:

The Race Is On

There was no better way to end the day. The sun was setting, temperatures were stabilizing, but the hot springs were still steaming. Nami completely submerged herself up to her neck and exhaled with relief. When Usopp had said he found one the other day, he was not lying for once. It was his turn to retrace his steps after the crypt was looted, and it only took them an hour or so to make it close to the volcano. Camp was set up here for the night. Tomorrow, they would leave the island in search of their next destination.

Robin lifted her leg out of the water for a moment but gently settled it back down. "Relax, Aurilee," she said, seeing her sitting on the edge with only a towel around her. "I know you can't come in with us, but you're tense."

Aurilee tightened her hold of the towel. Communal nudity was not an issue for her, but knowing the males were close by made her uneasy. She could not join in the full submersion due to her pregnancy. Raising her body temperature was dangerous for the little ones. As Chopper described it, she was an incubator, not an oven. As a result, she was left sitting in the open air with just her legs enjoying the warmth. "What if they see us?" she nervously questioned.

Crossing her knees and lounging back with hands behind her head, Nami was fast to shoot down her worry. "They know that peeking will cost them a hundred-thousand berries each. Chopper is the exception, though. He's just a kid."

The reindeer lazily floated in the center of pool. The men were told they could get a turn in the hot spring after the ladies were finished. He was the only one who could join both times if he wanted to. And boy did it feel nice against his fur.

"You sound like you have experience," Aurilee observed.

Nami chuckled. "Getting money goes a long way."

Out of curiosity, Robin sprouted an eyeball on the tree that was mostly supporting the tarps. Usopp jumped at the sight of the bark moving. He hated it when Robin pulled stunts like this with her freaky powers. Luckily, all she needed was a head count. "Everyone but Sanji is accounted for," she reported.

"Oh, great," Nami mumbled. "Keep that towel on."

As if summoned, the bushes rustled. Nami's temper was peaking. Suddenly their relaxing bath was not very relaxing. But to everyone's surprise, Twitchy was the one who appeared. "Mehhh!"

Chopper lifted his head from the water. "Huh?"

"Oh shoot. My bad, ladies," Sanji tried playing cool as he reached through the bushes to drag the goat back. "I let him wander off."

"Get lost, Sanji," Nami criticized.

"I am, I am."

"Yeah, right."

Robin chuckled at the exchange. It did not matter how many times the navigator curtailed him. The cook would always come back looking for trouble. With that in mind, she doubted that he would actually leave them be.

But Aurilee did not know that about Sanji. Since he was so nice to her, she was more willing to trust him. While he was spying out of sight, he watched her finally slip off the towel from her body…only for Chopper to jump in her lap and block his view of everything that made her beautiful. He wanted to curse at him for the missed opportunity, but instead ushered Twitchy back to camp so he did not have to keep babysitting.

"Are you excited for tomorrow, Aurilee?" he asked her.

"Because we're leaving?"

"Yeah. That means we can keep looking for your family."

She smiled at him, stroking a hand up his furry head. "I am looking forward to seeing them again."

"I can't imagine how much you miss them," Nami stated. "I've only been away from my sister and village for over a month, and I'm already a little homesick."

Hearing Nami hint at her past got her interested. All of the Straw Hats knew about her life and how she ended up how she currently was, but she had not heard about anyone else's. "You have a sister?"

"We're not blood related, but yes. We were adopted by a former Marine and raised on a tangerine orchard."

Aurilee thought about her own adopted sister Millie. With her head of blonde hair and eyes as blue as a diamond, she was the first true friend she ever had. Millie was the eye of her storm. She understood how important a bond like that was. "Oh yeah," Aurilee recalled. "Your mom's orchard, right?"

"Yep. And I couldn't just leave without taking a part of her with me."

Chopper turned around to sit on Aurilee's knees. He joined the crew after Nami did, so he had no recollection of her past either. "Did you leave because Luffy needed a navigator?" he questioned.

"Well, yes, but also because he's my friend. He helped free my village, after all."

That was a reason Aurilee could not fathom. Leaving behind her family for a few friends? What could friends give what loving parents could not? "Doesn't your mom miss you?"

Her smile faded. She sat up in the water. "She's dead."

Hearing that even got Robin to look her way. It was something they had in common, but this was the first time she knew it. Meanwhile, Aurilee felt insensitive for assuming that Nami was selfish for abandoning her family. Maybe she left because what was keeping her there? "O-Oh," she stammered. "I'm sorry, Nami."

Thinking back to the last night she spent in the house she grew up in, she had already made her decision to officially join the Straw Hat crew. Something told her to follow through and go chase her dream. Still to this day, she acknowledged the phantom push to be Bellemere's spirit. "It's okay," she replied, her smile returning. "Even if she was alive, she would have wanted me to go anyway. She knew my dream was to draw a map of the world, and I couldn't do that if I stayed in Cocoyashi Village my whole life."

Chopper kicked his dangling feet as he listened. For him, Doctorine was the same way. She pushed him to go travel the world and become the greatest doctor it would ever see. That was basically why all the Straw Hats were together; they all had dreams and goals they wanted to achieve.

All the talk about Bellemere had Nami remembering the happy moments of her childhood. Helping with the orchard, selling tangerines, drawing maps in her free time. But there were also the tender moments. Nojiko and herself shared a bed with Bellemere, and sometimes she would hum them a lullaby until they both fell asleep. When they got scared during overnight storms, Bellemere was there to hold them in her arms and ease them. She truly did miss her mother. They may have never called her "mom," but she was and always would be.

"I actually had a dream about her recently," Nami revealed.

"Really?" Chopper responded with intrigue.

She nodded. "Mmhmm." Her eyes wandered into space as she recalled it. She heard her voice and everything in that dream. Waking up from it made her a little sad. "It was so vivid."

Aurilee could see just how much love pooled in Nami's heart. In a way, she was envious of such an experience. The dreams she had were vivid in a bad way. And if they did start out happy, they ended negatively. But still, if Nami's mother had passed, that had to have meant something happened to cause it. Whether it was natural causes or not. But a good dream must have meant good memories surrounded it more than bad memories.

"If you could go back to when she was alive and be with her again, would you?" Aurilee inquired.

It was a genuine question from the expectant mother. Being back with her parents was the only thing she ever wanted in life. To be back as a child, living with Paititi and Tayen and the wolves. They all had something special going on during that time. How much she wished to have continued that lifestyle to this very day.

But Nami's insight challenged that mindset. She was someone who had come through the other side of her life's biggest ordeal. It was settled and done, so she had the entire rest of her future to look forward to now. "And lose everything else?" She slightly shook her head and smiled. "No way. I like my life. It's not perfect, but everything I love – now – is in it."

Robin closed her eyes as she also smiled. She was a much newer crewmember, and she still had friendships to stitch together, but even she resonated with her last statement. Luffy's band of misfits was an opportunity to start a new way of life. She was a runaway felon for many years before joining forces with Crocodile. Now she was a pirate. She had no clue how long she would stay, but she had to admit that she felt like she belonged. It was a nice feeling.

The navigator's sentiment pulled at Chopper's heartstrings. His eyes grew misty, and his face contorted. "Nami?" he said with a cry crawling up his throat. He slipped out of Aurilee's lap in exchange for a hug.

Nami was surprised by the gesture, but she snuggled him against her chest and nuzzled her face into his fur. "Aw, Chopper."

Suddenly an unhappy and jealous wail erupted from the bushes. Sanji stood up, pointing at Chopper being all up in Nami's bosom. "It's not fair!" he claimed.

Nami and Aurilee screamed at the sight of the pervert looking directly at them. But one was horror and the other was angry. "I said go away!" Nami yelled with pupils gone and teeth pointy.

Aurilee turned bright red as she quickly returned her towel to its original position around her torso. Sanji was there the whole time, and she was exposed! "Get your eyebrows out of your ears!" she forcefully reprimanded in the middle of her flustering. "And go that way!" Her finger pointed in the direction of the camp, which had a bunch of laughter coming from it (thanks to Luffy and Usopp) in reaction to her loud choice of words.

Sanji stood in shock at the insult, which also got Chopper laughing, but he also got nervous from Aurilee's threatening wrath. He felt like he was getting told off by someone's mother. It was a sign that she was already a good candidate for the role. As he slunk away with indignity, Nami covered her mouth and tried hard not to join in on the fun. Talk about a personal attack. She would be surprised if Sanji returned after something like that. Instead of having his tail between his legs, he had his pisser between his legs – both figuratively and literally.

The Going Merry was still anchored and floating when they all returned to the beach the next day. They were relieved, considering how bad the monsoon got that one night. But that was not the only thing that managed to stay the same. The hogs had returned, too. They were scattered around the sand doing whatever hogs did. While half of the crew worked to restock supplies and get things ready to set sail again, the other half dillydallied around.

Usopp asked Zoro for his help to cut down trees for lumber, so the swordsman was at work taking them down with one a single slice. Nami was tucked away in her map room on the ship, adding the Highlands and this jungle island to a map. Luffy was laying on Merry's head, mindlessly telling her what their little adventure consisted of since they left her alone. Robin had all of their new treasure laid out on most of the deck as she worked to have it all cleaned and polished with all of her hands working. Chopper worked on new medications with the organs he harvested from the jaguar. Sanji was simply filling a jar with seashells he found on the shoreline.

As the cook dropped in half of a scallop shell, he noticed Aurilee step out from the jungle at last. She had fresh-kill dangling from her shoulder, which would subsequently give him something useful to do. But his visible eye was more focused on the outfit she wore. The white jaguar pelt was originally a cloak for her to wear on her shoulders, but last night she took the time to make proper alterations. Now the skins covered her waist and chest like a brassiere set would, and the leftovers made up legwarmers and a diagonal section that crossed over her rounded belly. Something about it was just beguiling to him. Like she was some kind of representation of Mother Nature.

In the blink of an eye, he was kneeling in front of her and taking her hand in his. "Ah, how I wish for a woman as gorgeous and strong as you to someday marry me and love me enough to carry my children," he flirted. "I simply cannot fathom going without as time passes. You alone have set a standard for my preferences that will be difficult for another to surpass."

Aurilee watched him pour out his heart like a poet. He was so passionate and raw, revealing the deepest desires of his being. Her initial unease loosened from her growing admiration of him. "Aw. You wanna get married one day?"

His gaze lifted. Was she wanting to marry him?! He was totally unprepared to hear it! The big red heart that replaced his visible eye throbbed with elation. His time had come!

"That's so cute," she continued, pulling her hand from his to pat his head. "I'm sure there's someone out there for you. And she might appreciate it if you don't spy on other girls using hot springs and bathhouses. I know I would."

Disappointment filled his psyche at that moment. When she passed him up to go over to the dinghy, his head slumped. Still a single man with no woman to call his own. But would be stop pursuing and adoring the females of the crew? Never. They all had something different to offer him, and the variety kept him wanting more. It was only a matter of time until a lady returned the favor.

After she placed the furry carcasses in the boat, Aurilee felt one of her triplets grow restless and start stretching its limbs. The feeling lifted her mood more, and she rubbed the spot tenderly. Now that they had decided to be active, she appreciated every little nudge and push. "Hi there," she greeted. "Don't worry. We'll set sail in a few minutes."

Usopp and Zoro carried the lumber on their shoulders. After it was all sliced into reasonably sized planks, they filled the boat to the brim. "What's all the wood for?" Aurilee questioned as Zoro pushed it into the shallows.

"I'm having to make some repairs to the Merry and build some things," Usopp answered. "Like a cradle."

"Cradle?"

"Yeah. Your babies will need one eventually." He gave her a thumbs up and smiled at her, letting her know that he had her back for little DIY projects. It was true that their goal was to get her home before her triplets were born, but the chances of that actually happening were slim. So, they might as well start prepping for little humans now.

She smiled at him. "Thank you. That's really nice of you."

Zoro bit on a rope that was tied to the front of the boat and started swimming toward the ship. When everything was loaded, he would come back to bring the others on board. That was, if he could make it to the ship. It was right in front of him, but he started straying in another direction. Usopp ran into the water and called out to him. "No! Go left!"

He went right.

"YOUR OTHER LEFT!"

Sanji sighed next to Aurilee. "That idiot never learns."

She flinched from surprise, but realized it was just him.

"Sorry," he said, presenting her with the jar of shells. "Forgive me?"

Looking at the gift, she noticed differing colors inside and old shards of glass that had been tossed around in the sea for who knew how long. "You made me something?"

"I just collected shells is all. I thought it was pretty."

"It is pretty." She gently took it from him to get a better look. Many of the shells were broken and fragmented, but there were a few that were intact. There were also some small rocks and coral bits. Nothing was a big size. "I don't think I've ever been made something before."

The reveal shocked him. Aurilee was close to his age, and yet this was the first gift she ever received? If that was the case, he did not want the gifts to stop. The way she gazed through the cylindrical glass with awe pulled at him. He wanted to get that reaction from her more often. It was so beautiful.

In her peripheral, she saw red bubbles floating in the air and popping. But it turned out Sanji was just lost in his yearning for her. A blush covered his cheekbones, his eye went back to being a heart, and somehow his body was releasing a bunch of airy hearts that were illustrating how much he adored her and her looks. The display scared her. How the heck was he doing all that?

"She is so beautiful," he mumbled to himself. "She is so beautiful."

"Uh…T-Thank you?" she replied. Although in reality, she was just appreciative of the gift. She did not perceive herself as remotely pretty as Nami and Robin.

Zoro eventually got the dinghy to the Merry, and all of its cargo was loaded onto the deck. The rest of the crew joined up afterward. Then Nami emerged from her map room with her eyes checking the log pose. It was clearly pointing to an island now. She instructed everyone to set sail. Usopp and Sanji unfurled the sails, Chopper pulled the anchor, and Luffy pulled the helm. In the middle of it all, Robin started gathering all of the treasure back into the sack and planned on putting it away.

It felt so good to see the island get farther and farther behind them. Aurilee stood on the back upper deck thinking. She arrived on that island as a traumatized person who struggled with her own chronic internal conflicts, but she was leaving as someone who was a little bit healed. There was still a long way to go, but it was a start. She rotated the jar of seashells to see what all Sanji had managed to put inside. It was not an extravagant gift, but he put forth effort. And only she received one instead of the other two females. That part she did not understand.

Someone joined her without saying anything. He was not interested in being involved in the noise right now, and Aurilee happened to pick a good area to visit. She glanced to see Zoro's bandaged face sharing the view with her. His forearms rested on the railing. "Guess you're ready for some peace and quiet, too," he assumed.

"It's possible to get peace and quiet with this crew?" she questioned.

He chuckled. "Not often."

There was no unsteadiness in her from this encounter. Her mind was not associating him with the father of her children like it used to. The trust she had in him was unmatched. Maybe the jungle had not only affected her. Granted, she came out unscathed compared to him. The swelling in his face had probably reached its pinnacle today. As for his broken nose, she had no idea how long it would take until it mended back to normal. What was bad about it, though, was that Zoro did not have to end up like that. He could have easily pushed her off and not taken the abuse.

"Sorry about your face," she said.

He did not bother looking her way. "What's wrong with my face?"

The reply took her aback. How could he possibly not know what she was talking about? It looked like it hurt. "It's in bad shape…?"

"Huh. I thought that was the other guy."

Hearing that made her understand. She looked away, not planning on mentioning it again.

Thank you, Zoro, she thought.

"You idiots!" Nami suddenly yelled from below, alerting the pair.

"Like I said, not often," Zoro reiterated.

Both of them went to go see what it was this time. Right when they came to the other railing on the other side of the tangerine garden, they saw Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji laying on the lower deck with noticeable knots having grown from their scalps. It appeared Nami's fist had reintroduced itself.

"What do you mean Twitchy chewed a hole in my treasure bag?!" she admonished.

"He's a goat! They eat everything!" Luffy highlighted as he rubbed his head with annoyance.

"And you all just let him?!"

"It was funny!"

"I can just stitch it back up anyway," Usopp reasoned as he waited for Nami to hit him again.

"Nami is so sexy when she hits that hard," Sanji swooned.

"But we could have lost some of the treasure and not realized it!" Nami protested as she threatened her wrath again.

Zoro shook his head. This was one of the few times he was not also on the receiving end of that. He was relieved and decided to be a spectator like Robin and Chopper, who was trying to convince the goat to not consume what was not actual food. While he was used to the treatment, Aurilee was not. The only other woman she had ever seen rule with an iron fist like that was Calypso. "Nami really rips you guys some new assholes," she remarked with enough volume so that only Zoro could hear her. "Which is really ironic coming from me since that's literally what happened to me in Lollybroch."

The comment really caught the swordsman off guard. He cringed as the memory of Aurilee being hauled back from her solo trip and being minorly operated on came back to him. Nobody knew what really happened to her, except now he did. If he was drinking rum right now, he would have spit it out. What kind of a twisted joke was that?

Aurilee suppressed a laugh by covering her mouth and looking away from him. Even she had no idea where that came from. Her mouth just moved on its own. Of course, her sexual assault in Lollybroch was anything but funny. But at the same time, the opportunity was there, so why not take it?

The sight of her shoulders shaking with a silent laugh horrified Zoro. "That was not funny," he told her, trying to be the mature one.

She turned around with her thumb and pointer finger close to touching. "It was a little funny."

"No! It wasn't!"

"If it wasn't, then why did I say it?"

"I-I don't know!"

Seeing him get flustered tickled her. Just a few days ago, she was terrified of him, but now here she was cutting up with him. People from the outside looking in would have never guessed that about their relationship. And this would not be the first time an inappropriate joke was shared like that. They had a little more than five weeks left to go until she was up to term. She knew time was borrowed for her stay here. Either she would meet her children or be reunited with her parents first.