One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.

-Chapter Seventy-Seven-

"That's right, yeah! I'm drunk, honey!" Zenny boisterously laughed.

"Really?" Usopp asked, tilting his head.

"This straw hat kid has got me absolutely intoxicated and not just with wine, so here's to looking forward to the day when the Zenny Pirates finally set sail!" Zenny exclaimed, causing us to cheer while at the same time anxiously glancing at one another.

-Everybody's P.O.V-

Zoro snored, his arms wrapped tightly around Skylar who was currently sprawled over top of him—his nose occasionally twitching whenever a stray strand of her hair would brush against it. Every now and then he'd feel her twitch against him, her body jerking as the occasional whimper would slip past her parted lips.

"Stop it..." she muttered, face scrunching up into a look of agonizing fear as her fingers curled and clutched at his shirt—roughly twisting the fabric around as she soon started to squirm against him, jerking back and away. Grumbling, he tightened his hold on her as if to still her body before eventually sighing in contentment when he finally felt her settle down and go lax once more. Whatever nightmare she had was now fading and seemingly being replaced with something far more pleasant. Once he was certain she was settled, he tiredly peeked an eye open and peered down at the sleeping woman on top of him.

"You really haven't changed all that much..." he quietly huffed, softly smiling as he gently brushed away the stray strands of hair that had fallen into her face.

He remembered her.

Of course, he remembered her—how could he ever forget a pretty face like hers? Although...if he's being honest...he really didn't know what to say to her to let her know that he remembered. He was never the greatest at putting his emotions into words, always preferring actions over them anyways. He's tried to breach the topic with her many times before—tried to talk to her...yet, every time he'd open his mouth and got ready to speak, his mind would go blank. He knew what he needed to say...and yet, couldn't find the words to say it. It was embarrassing really, normally he had no issue saying whatever he normally needed to say...

But this was different.

This wasn't just some stranger, but someone he held very near and dear to his heart who had the chance of crushing him if there was the slightest chance he was wrong in his assumptions. Despite how odd it sounded, part of him wanted her to be the one to bring up the past they shared. She remembered, that much was obvious to him from the way she effortlessly fell back into old habits alongside him. It was as clear as day that she remembered—she was never this easily affectionate with strangers or people she didn't feel completely comfortable with as far as he remembered...

Despite this fact, he still couldn't find it in him to speak.

It was humiliating how difficult it was to just ask her if she remembered—to ask her if she still thought back on those days they spent together as children and if she remembered how badly it had torn him up when she suddenly left. It was embarrassing how even with all this certainty, there was still this sliver of doubt deep inside him that feared the worse. The thought that she truly didn't remember him despite everything they had been through together in their youth shook him to his core and made his stomach churn with the unfamiliar sensation of anxiety. Even as he kept telling himself that it was ridiculous to think she had forgotten due to how close they had been, he couldn't make that rock in the pit of his stomach go away because...

What if she did?

What would he do then if she had just simply gone and forgotten him like the friendship they had built nothing to her at the end of the day? He knew how stupid he sounded thinking that, but he couldn't help it as such thoughts only seemed to grow and fester the longer they both went without talking about the promises they had made. They were like a disease in the way that they grew, always developing and getting worse the longer he ignored them. He felt like a coward in wanting to push the responsibility onto her to breach the topic they both had seemingly and unanimously agreed not to talk about and instead let it mockingly hang there above their heads despite knowing that it was only human to fear the thought of being hurt and humiliated.

Heaving a tired and annoyed sigh the second his head started to hurt the longer he thought and stressed over such possibilities, he gently smiled when he peered down at her peacefully sleeping face. Though his smile didn't last long when he suddenly spotted Baxter sleepily standing up and moving closer toward him, seemingly wanting to rest near the brunette. Lifting his foot, he pressed it gently against the top of the goat's head and nudged him back, only to earn an annoyed bleat in response as the goat instantly pushed right back.

"Back off, we're trying to sleep..." he grumbled, quickly drawing his foot back when the goat suddenly tried to chomp down on it. "Fine, I guess you can sleep there..." he huffed as the goat plopped itself right down beside him and instantly fell back asleep. 'I'm not jealous, I have no reason to be jealous of some dumb animal...even if it does keep taking her attention anytime it's in the vicinity' he grumpily told himself as he shifted around to get comfortable before falling back asleep.

-Skylar's P.O.V-

"Emergency! Wake up!" I groaned as I was awoken by the sound of Chopper's screams. Sluggishly rolling off the still-sleeping swordsman underneath me, I dug the palms of my hands into my eyes, trying my best to rub away the sleep that still plagued me and coaxed me into wanting to slip back into slumber.

"Five more hours..." I moaned, stretching myself out as I squinted my eyes and stared up at the bright sky. Zoro only grumbled, rolling onto his side so that he could continue sleeping as my ears soon pricked at the sound of a gentle bleat. Standing from his spot, Baxter walked over to me, beaming happily as I reached up and started to pet him all over. "Good morning, handsome, how is my favorite boy doing today?" I cooed, fingers running through his fur as he leaned into my touch.

"I slept good, what's to eat?" Luffy asked as he sat up stretching.

"The Marines! The Marines are here, guys!" Chopper cried out as he frantically waved his arms around.

"What's that?" we asked, now more awake than ever as we all scrambled up and rushed down to the shore.

"Just one ship?" Usopp questioned.

"They don't look like they're about to attack either" Nami remarked.

"If that's the case then what are they doing here?" I frowned.

"Straw Hat Pirates, greetings" a redheaded Marine greeted, catching our attention. "I'm Sergeant Minchey of the Marine Core, it's a pleasure."

"I bet it is..." Nami grumbled.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about the other day, okay" Minchey suddenly apologized. "Forgive us, if we had a better idea of who you were, we wouldn't have spent all day chasing after you—please accept our apology" he bowed.

"Maybe I'm paranoid, but I always thought the Marines were supposed to chase pirates" Sanji said.

"They are, it feels weird seeing one apologize for doing their job" I frowned.

"It's like he's campaigning for the congeniality award, stay sharp" Usopp warned as a few of us got into an offensive position—ready to fight if need be.

"Hold on, let's not be hasty" Minchey quickly said when he saw that we were readying ourselves for a fight. "We know all about how you guys defeated Crocodile back in Alabasta, okay—the last thing we want to do is go up against pirates as great as you guys are without any back up" he pointed out as he held his hands up in surrender. "Think about it, I'd have to be dumb as a sack of hammers to come with just one ship if I was planning to take you on."

"Well, what do you think of that, huh? This Marine is actually afraid of us!" Usopp laughed.

"I can understand a subordinate being afraid, but not a sergeant" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"You're right, there's something fishy about this" Zoro nodded in agreement.

"Assuming we were foolish enough to risk our lives fighting you, we wouldn't be earning any money on the deal" Minchey said.

"So what are you doing here?" Sanji asked.

"Oh, well, you know how it is—this is a newly uncharted island, we're just here to…uh…investigate it?" Minchey responded, not really sounding all that sure of himself despite his reasoning not being too far-fetched. It wasn't uncommon for the Marines to be put in charge of charting and registering newly discovered islands on the map with a few exceptions here and there.

"What's to investigate? There's just an old man and his goats" Nami told him.

"Hey, guys, where did the old man go?" Usopp suddenly asked, just now becoming aware of Zenny's absence.

"Perhaps he's still asleep" I suggested.

"Ah-ha! So Zenny is being taken care of here, is he?" Minchey excitedly asked, causing Nami's eyebrow to raise.

"Zenny?" she mumbled.

"Once our survey is done, we're planning on returning to our base" Minchey told us. "I don't want to be pushy, but I suggest you set sail out of here as soon as possible" he suggested. "No one would blame you considering what a frenzy Marine Headquarters is in to eliminate you all" he smiled.

"He's got a point, we should get away now while we still can" Usopp agreed. "I'll go grab the supplies...got to call Robin too..." he said, muttering to himself as he started to head back toward the hut.

"So what should we do? Set sail?" Sanji asked, looking to the rest of us for answers.

"The weather's really good when you get past the fog—gentle waves, a steady breeze, and we won't lay so much as a finger on you, I swear it" Minchey promised as if trying to coax us into leaving the minute he saw the hesitant look on Luffy's face.

"What do you say, captain?" I asked. "Should we leave or stay?"

"I'll go when I'm good and ready, you're not the boss of me" Luffy finally said, harshly glaring at the redhead. "You know, if I were a Marine, I'd be fighting against us no matter what the odds were against me."

"And there's another thing that's strange" Nami suddenly spoke up. "How did you happen to know his name was Zenny? We didn't say a word about it, but you came right out with it like you knew he was here" she pointed out, causing the Marine to tense as he clenched his jaw.

"I was just—"

"And I'm getting just a tad bit suspicious of this survey you're planning to conduct" Nami interrupted as the man started to nervously sweat. "You're not after gramps' treasure now, are you?" she glared. "That's it, right? Don't trust this guy, he lies!" she huffed.

"Well, so much for the innocent routine, she sounds like she knows all about the mountain of treasures Zenny the Moneylender received in order to settle the pirates' debt" Minchey sneered.

"Well, now she does!" I laughed as the ginger started to excitedly jump up and down in glee upon hearing this while everyone else stared on in shock.

"I knew it! See, there is a treasure!" she happily squealed.

"I smell gunpowder" Chopper suddenly piped up, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air.

"Are his ship's cannons loaded?" Zoro asked, squatting down to be closer to the reindeer's height.

"Maybe, it's from more than one ship" Chopper responded as he continued to sniff the air. "It's from more ships than I can count!" he frowned.

"What's that? Look!" Nami pointed just as from the fog that surrounded the island more Marine ships appeared.

"So, there were more Marine ships" I frowned.

"If we had set sail like our friend here advised, we would have been caught in a sneak attack by that fleet" Sanji scoffed.

"That does it" Zoro frowned as he stood up, already placing one of his swords in his mouth while getting into a position of attack. "Just come and get me!" he sneered.

"Wait! Please, wait!" Minchey frantically pleaded.

"Luffy!" our ears pricked at the sound of Usopp's cries. Flickering our gazes toward him, we watched as he came walking toward us with his arms straight up in the air while a few Marines followed closely behind him. Their guns pointed at his back.

A/N: Enjoy

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