"If I didn't need you to hold your head up, I'd knock you out," I said, putting my hand on Yasopp's head and turning it to face forward.

He'd gotten distracted, yelling at Luck, who had made a jab about… Something, I had already lost the thread of conversation.

We were currently sat on the porch of the inn, me in one of the decorative chairs, Yasopp on the floor, between my legs, while I worked to part the new growth at his scalp.

"Do you even know what you're doing back there?" he grumbled.

I paused my motions to glare at the back of his head. "I wish I didn't. Then I wouldn't know how damn nasty your hair is."

A storm was brewing in the distance, still several hours away. The seas on the horizon were nearly black with the occasional flash of lightning. This was typical weather for this island; for the next several days, storms would come down, causing the streams and rivers to run over their banks.

The overflow from the waterfall and subsequent stream flowed into the other tributaries on the island, lighting them up for a few days before the water receded. There were several similar weather events, but none as severe as this one in the summer. As a result, once the storms had passed, but before water levels returned to normal, the locals celebrated the rainfall afterward with a festival, feasting and dancing in the bright blue glow.

Everyone around town seemed to be buzzing with excitement.

Somehow, I'd been roped into letting Lauren, Sota's wife, and her friends turn me into a human doll for the event. Sota had kindly explained the hype to me while I was picking a few things up, and Lauren, who had come in to help on the day, had offered her assistance, roping me in by telling me about her daughters who were old enough to neither need nor want her help.

The excitement also extended to the crew. As they talked about their preparations (which included sleeping in, so they could party longer at night, fasting to take advantage of the feast, and busting open a reported secret stash of the "good shit" from the hold) Yasopp had idly noted that he should do something about his hair, which I had graciously (and now maybe regrettably) had offered to assist with.

I had planned to start early so he could return to work. Per Benn, a lot needed to be done to ensure the ship's safety, even when docked.

However, Yasopp had overslept and had to perform his duties before he showed up at the inn. And now, after detoxing, washing, and conditioning, as the sun was beginning to set behind the clouds, I was finally getting to the actual retwist.

Others had shown up, either done with their chores or avoiding them, so the group had moved from my room to outside, where we could feel the change in air pressure and watch the rain come in. Most of them would take advantage and sleep at the inn, while it stormed.

"I learned from my mom and my grandma. Lots of people had locs back home. I helped them twist my cousins'." While I was a little rusty, I was pretty confident in my ability to get his retwist done quickly. First row cleanly parted, I applied the gel and started palm rolling the first loc.

"Have you ever thought about going back?" Luck asked.

I clipped the first one and started on the next.

I shrugged, trying to remain casual. "I mean, I've thought about it."

I had thought about it a lot.

It had come up with the girls. Mimi, Naya, and Lyric, while they were still traveling with me, had asked about my life growing up, the time before I was captured.

I hadn't thought much about it in Aurora until Shanks and the crew showed up.

There was something about that time before that felt pure, untainted by the tragedies that landed me in Aurora and the ever-growing resentment of the place I was stuck calling home. I didn't want to ruin that image in my head.

But as I talked to them, I realized there were gaps I hadn't noticed before. Things I couldn't quite remember and couldn't quite place, and that had unsettled me in a way I wasn't quite prepared for.

I'd spent the next week in a silent crisis while I tried and failed to cope with the distance and years. More distressing was the fact that I could try. That wasn't an option in Aurora.

"But it's not an actual island, so it's not like there's a logpose that points there. And the Old Man probably thought about it, so there's a chance if I go anywhere close that I'll get scooped by one of my brothers."

I was equal parts excited and terrified at the prospect of going home. It had been over 20 years. Did anyone even remember me? Would they want to? Or was I just the pirate bastard whose existence had gotten their home raided and her mother killed?

"I think I would like to go back. I just don't know if anything is waiting for me there."

"I'm sure they'd greet you with open arms and excited cheers," Hongo said.

"Lizzie! Lizzie! Lizzie!" Luck chanted.

"Thank you," I said. "But Elizabeth isn't my birth name. They wouldn't know that."

"What?!"

"It's not?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I-" I started. "I mean it's my name. It's been my name longer than not, but that's not what my mother named me."

The Old Man hadn't known my mother was pregnant. She hadn't thought she was ever going to see him again. When their paths crossed again, I was already three.

"When the Old Man dropped me off at Aurora, he looked at Rayne and told her my name was Elizabeth Newgate, and that was that. I guess that was supposed to keep me hidden. I was far too traumatized to do anything at the time. And by the time Rayne was finally able to draw me out of my shell, I was just Elizabeth, and it's stuck ever since."

There was silence.

"Don't worry, no one's making you learn a new one," I teased.

It didn't land.

"Every time you talk about that bastard, I just want to kick his ass more," Luck said. "Bad enough that he leaves you on that island but doesn't even have the respect to let you live under your family's name, under your own name. And you don't even know if you can go home to see them again if you want to."

"It's not fair," Yasopp said.

"He fucking sucks," Hongo added.

I couldn't help but snort out a laugh at that. It thankfully dislodged the lump that seemed to be forming in my throat. "Y'all are the best," I said, finishing the loc. I hadn't even realized that I had stopped twisting.

"We try," Luck said.

"I don't think you try at all," Hongo shot back.

"It's effortless."

Hongo scoffed.

I shook my head, opting not to dwell too hard on my thoughts of home and instead focus on their bickering.