I am sososo sorry for the short chapter and how damn long it took me. A lot of things happened and among them, I'll be visiting my dad at El Paso so I wanted to update before most of halloween took my time. Until then hope this is good enough for you all. If anyone ever wants to submit, comment or simply do some QA from my fanfics you can go to my tumblr: toto-the-cactus.

There yall see some art of Unagi-chan's design or just me reposting dumb shit. Now, here the chapter!

Sakura had been violently woken up, with a start, by a sudden earthquake.

At least that's what she had believed thanks to her still sleepy brain, scrambling to hold thigh onto the branch since the tree she had been perched on moved like it had been shaken the same way a toddler would do with a toy.

"What the fuck!"

It wasn't until a loud roar was heard that now Sakura understood what was happening.

She supposed that this could be considered the closest to a fight between titans because there was no other way to describe what she was witnessing. The man was humongous and just as wide as two damn buildings side by side, muscles bulging at the little strain of keeping down a huge reptile trapped in a headlock while his other hand reached for an ax strapped on his back.

Just with a quick swing and the fight was over.

The head and the body from the dinosaur (animals that the pinkette had only known in books!) fell to opposite sides, causing another earthquake although smaller in comparison to the last one. That's when the giant took the head of the dinosaur in victory and bellowed a belly rumbling laugh.

"Gabababa! This will make a good lunch!" and as if fate had wanted it all along, the enormous man looked down right where she stood with her mouth hanging open and eyes wide in wonder. "Hi, there!… Do you want some too?"

There can be a lot of ways to react to this, Sakura knows it. She still needs to get one single plant from the list that Dr. Kureha gave to her and the last thing she wants is for that woman to stay too long alone in the boat with HER personal alcohol stash.

But the green-eyed girl had sailed into this inhospitable world to explore, to experience beyond anything that lay out there and learn what it meant to find your own purpose and dream in a new life that she had been unexpectedly trusted into.

So the pinkette decides that her best reaction can be the same she knows her own brothers would have.

"Um… Sure!"

She was actually very hungry.

"I need this treatment to work… please, Kureha" Crocus said with his ever serious tone and immovable expression, softening only at the sight of the island whale who kept ramming itself against the Red Line.

"Tch… Sentimental old man" muttered the woman while downing another gulp from a new bottle. Just checking every once in a while through the window to make sure that a blur of pink would be strutting back from within the line of jungle trees.

The troubles she put up with for doing an acquaintance a favor, honestly.

Crocus is an excellent doctor, better than he gave himself some credit, but she understood that after the whole execution of Roger, the man had gotten weary of his own skills. Of course, she had smacked some sense in that old bastard and assured him that his solution to help the island whale wasn't half bad.

So she did exactly what he had asked her for; checked the notes and texts and gave her professional opinion like this was just another check up from her daily workload.

If that old fart wanted to waste his time treating that humongous whale, then his damn problem, not hers.

Yet here she was, trying not to worry about a brat that probably chewed up more than she could take when sending her off.

"Bah! She'll be fine!" she told to herself after getting annoyed at her own behavior. "If that brat could tame a damn Sea King and make it to the Grand Line alone, then she can do this"

A very high pitched growl reverberated right outside the window, catching her attention only to come face to face with the ugly mug of said Sea King who, even with those small beady eyes, looked between worried and sad to the tree-line of Little Garden. The sound echoed again and it dawned to Kureha that it was the equivalent of this big guy's puppy whine.

"You too?! Calm down, big baby!"

The oversized fish whined again.

"The girl is strong! What are you worrying about now?" it frustrated the older woman that at this point it felt like she was trying to convince herself again. "Very feisty… She'll need that in the long run… he… It'll be fun to see how far she goes"

It seemed that, against all odds, her final words did manage to settle the slimy pet who was looking at her as if he had been able to understand her whole tirade there.

Good. The last thing she wanted was to look like a crazy young lady.

"This is so good, Brogy-san!" she praised; a giant chunk of roasted meat at her side while the teen ate it away piece by piece. Sakura had forgotten how big her own appetite had grown over the years until she realized that her giant serving was half way of disappearing.

And yet, she doesn't eat that much in comparison to her little brothers.

Luffy would definitely love it here. Lots of dangerous animals to fight and lots of possible food to stuff yourself with.

"It's really good, right!" he granted, huge nostrils wide open to let himself enjoy this shared meal before the fight against Dorry. "It's a shame that you don't have some drinks with you, little girl. It would have made the food taste even better"

Sakura hummed in affirmation. It wasn't like she didn't have any alcohol to begin with, but she had warned Brogy that she only had very few bottles that probably had been already drunk by her… unusual guest. The giant seemed to be very understanding on the matter and as her only payback for the food, the pinkette had offered to set the fire to cook the meat.

It took her a while but this delicious meal was all worth it.

"Say, Brogy-san, don't you happen to know where I can find a flower with 4 yellow petals and it's like… this tall with curious cylindrical pods and hairy branches? It's a Senna plant and I need it for medicine!" she explained cheerfully after swallowing her food. She still had manners, after all.

The giant didn't stop eating but seemed to ponder her question for a long moment only to shrug with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry! I'm too big to notice a plant like that… but I have seen some yellow flowers not far from here. You could check those just in case"

Well, it was better than nothing and it did actually point her to a direction so asking hadn't been a waste.

"Thank you, Brogy-san!"

Her only response had been a happy grunt from the giant man, only to look to the other side where loud 'Gegyagyagya!' was heard along the growls of more dinosaurs. Whatever that had been, a sharp but joyful smile stretched over his face.

Hmm, curious.

Kureha was fucking done!

Wherever that damn brat had decided to run off to, she was ready to simply go there and drag her back no matter if she finished that damn list or not.

Despite sounding like a big hypocrite, the white-haired woman wasn't expecting the girl to find the whole myriad of plants written down in that piece of paper. She still had her own log-pose so they could have gotten out of the island a long while but she had wanted to test the girl and see how much work she needed to work with that little pink head.

The girl was tough, but Little Garden was merciless as it followed the rule of big fish eats small fish and Sakura was probably the smallest thing out there besides the insects.

Besides, she needed to get back to work as Kureha knew that someone as incompetent as Wapol would go and get his laughs by making an stupid or capricious decision as he always does with any of her future clients.

Just as the woman had spun in the air to land perfectly in the sand to where they had docked, she heard some commotion through the trees.

At first it wasn't that clear, but the closer it got, the better Kureha could hear it.

"Right over there, kitty!"

As if Sakura couldn't exceed her expectations even more, the damn girl was riding the back of a sabertooth that looked both uncomfortable and scared, sporting a big bump over its head while running for dear life.

Right behind them, a very angry and mean looking Triceratops followed close while some yellow flowers stuck from its mouth and horns.

Wait, were those…?

"Unagi-chan! Get ready inside Dr. Kureha!"

The woman could only laugh in deranged joy because, damn, this kid did know how to have fun.

"Alright, brat!"

The older woman jumped back on the deck of the boat with ease while the hag-fish Sea King turned around to prepare and get out of Little Garden, his head low enough to give Sakura the chance to board without too much trouble while the Triceratops closed on her and the sabertooth.

And like some ridiculous circus performance, the pinkette jumped from the back of the big cat and landed right on time. The poor feline barely had the chance to make a sharp curve and go back to the depths of the jungle and climb the biggest and closest tree that there was while the furious dinosaur stopped itself, its rage transforming immediately in fear at the imposing presence of the Sea King.

"I had fun, guys! See you later!" waved the teen with good spirits before Unagi sprinted in a spectacle of its speed.

Kureha could say that it was the end of their short lived adventure in Little Garden, but the surprises didn't end there, as she saw an Elbaf giant too waving away at them.

So, the older woman did the only thing she kept doing each time Sakura amazed her: she laughed.

At some point, the pinkette teen had to let go of Unagi mostly because the white-haired woman had warned her that the waters at Drum Island were incredibly cold and the poor hag-fish Sea King wouldn't be able to survive in them.

The poor creature had looked absolutely heartbroken at the idea of leaving but it was obvious that the change in temperature was taking its toll on him and like hell Sakura would let anything happen to the sea monster.

She had gotten a bit too fond of him and it wasn't like it would be a permanent separation.

Just a strategic splitting.

But that being said, it meant that it would take a bit longer to reach Kureha's home now that they depended on the winds.

Most of the days were spent inside the cabin with the cold air biting at their faces each time both females had to go check the sails, but where Sakura wore two layers of warm clothing and her pair of fingerless gloves along thick boots, Dr. Kureha went around wearing a simple jacket to cover her small top, pants and sandals like it was simply a particularly warm autumn.

It was insane but at this point, the petite girl expected anything from her new teacher.

She was too used to eccentricity and that didn't seem to change any time soon, so why not to just go with the flow now that she was free to do and act as the pinkette pleased.

When the two had settled down to a more peaceful routine, Sakura could say with some degree of warmth that the old hag was a nice company, fierce and blunt in her opinions but still a softie in all those rough edges. The woman had been not only bewildered at the sight of all the plants that she had managed to collect, but the fact that she had done it in one day at a place like Little Garden had left the woman laughing hysterically, clear excitement shining through her lenses and that had been the instant that the pinkette knew she had exceeded in whatever test Dr. Kureha had set for her.

"Oi! That's the third bottle of sake you keep stealing from me!" complained the green-eyed teen, already setting the dishes with the half-assed curry she had tried to cook. They had ran out of some carrots and the coldness outside made the rice get an odd texture since it would put the fire out each time. Despite that, the girl managed to keep the food warm and since Kureha only scrunched a bit her nose at the rice without mentioning anything, that meant it hadn't ended so bad.

"Bah! Stop complaining and serve yourself too!"

The teen simply sighed in defeat and got herself a cup.

'This isn't so bad' Sakura thought with a soft smile on her lips.

If this was just the start of her adventures, she could only imagine what would wait for her brothers. The girl worried, alright, but she knew that not enough coddling ould stop those knuckleheads on their ambitions and dreams and that only made her feel even more at ease and happiness.

They were strong.

They will grow stronger and of that she had made sure with their daily training.

But this new life was so unique and unpredictable that there was only the excitement of looking forward to the rest of the Grand Line. To meet new people, new friends… and enjoy a freedom that she hadn't expected to ever possess.

'To be free, huh?' Sabo had wanted that even more than anything else… maybe that would be a nice next step. To help a few along the way no matter if the Marines or the Celestial Dragons said it was otherwise.

Yeah, she wasn't that different from Luffy and Ace when it came to picking fights.

But then again…

Faraway, through the mist on the window from the cabin, she could see the shape of an island with strange cylindrical mountains and completely covered in white snow.

'Those kind of fights sound like they are worth it'

Thank you for reading!