A/N Hey guys! Four chapters down in just three days, ;) hope you're enjoying the story so far. As a disclaimer, I still don't own anything. Enjoy!

Nexus HWR 1.5 Why They're Here:

"Hey Nami, what're ya' doing?" Ben asked. He walked into the ship's library to find the navigator writing something at the table.

She turned to see the child and smiled at him. Although Sanji and Usopp made jokes about them running a daycare now, she liked having the kids on the ship. Ben walked over to her and looked over her shoulder down at the book in front of her. Nami closed the book and for a second Ben thought it was a secret.

When she closed it though, she pointed at the title at the top of the front cover. "It's the Logbook," Nami began as Ben looked at the faded word at the top. "I started it back when I first joined the crew."

"What's in it?" Ben asked, turning to look in Nami's brown eyes.

She chuckled and opened up only the front cover. "I logged all of the adventures we've had. Even the ones after coming to Nexus." She explained to him. He looked interested and she slid the leather-bound book to the edge of the table, "Want to take a look?"

Ben nodded really fast and he sat down next to Nami at the table. Normally he wasn't one for reading, but this sounded like one book he could get behind. Once he started reading his eyes widened and darted back and forth across the page. When he flipped the first page Nami sighed. She was in the middle of adding a new addition to the Logbook, but this seemed like it would take a while. Guess I'll go check the course... and get Sanji to make me a snack.

Nami stood up and said, "Read as long as you'd like."

Ben nodded without turning to Nami, making the navigator smile again. He became so engrossed with the book that he didn't even notice when she left. He flipped page after page of what seemed less like the travels of a crew and more like an epic novel.

Ben finally reached a part of the story that made him jump up. "It was a whale?!" He turned to the sides to see if anyone else thought that was as crazy as he did. Ben suddenly came to remember that he was alone up here, no one to enjoy his fun with, making it noticeably less fun.

Alright, who would want to hear about Luffy's crew's adventures? Gwen would, but she's not here. His smile faded a little without him noticing it. ...Dash! His eyes lit up and he ran off.

Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, Dash was sitting on the counter wearing a bored expression. His increased speed also increased his metabolism, so along with Goku and Luffy, his appetite was difficult to keep up with. Sanji had to make snacks for him every once in a while as per request from Nami who was looking out for the kid in place of his parents.

Sanji murmured to himself in annoyance while smoking some fish Usopp and Luffy had caught earlier that day. He stood up straight all of a sudden and his head turned a little. Dash looked at him confusedly, and then out of nowhere a purple blob appeared right in front of Dash. "Ahh!" the blond boy reeled back and fell off the back of the kitchen counter.

"Hahaha-" a flash of green light surrounded the purple blob that sounded like it was laughing. When the light was gone, Clear Body was too, leaving only Ben in its place. "Haha," Ben finished laughing now in his own body.

Dash got up angrily and ran to the front of the counter where Ben was standing. He was about to yell at his friend when he noticed Sanji standing behind him. Ben started sweating and he did not know why until he turned around a little.

Right behind Ben stood a man on fire. Sanji stared down at Ben with the look of a madman. "You can turn invisible?! That's my DREAM!"

"Dash," Ben began nervously, taking a step backwards. A flash of green surrounded him again and XLR8 stood in his place. "Run," Ben finished, and his black mask covered his alien's face before he sprinted off faster than Sanji could kick him.

Dash was going to say that he had nothing to do with this, but one look at the insane chef told him to get far away. He ran after Ben's blur, one of the only people actually able to follow him. "Over here," Ben called back.

"Where are we going?" Dash asked.

Usopp and Rin stopped fishing for a second and spun around. The two could have sworn they just heard a voice behind them, but no one was there. "Huh," Rin mumbled and scratched the side of his head.

Dash chased Ben all the way until the six foot tall lizard alien stopped running. A flash of green turned him back into Ben and he took a deep breath to calm down. Dash was going to ask him again, but he figured out where they were. "The library? Lame."

"No, look at this," Ben ran over to the table and lifted up the Logbook. "I figure we can look through this until Sanji calms down."

"Logbook?" Dash questioned as he saw the title.

"It's all of Luffy's adventures," Ben replied, and a second later Dash was standing next to him ready to read the book. "Read up real quick and tell me when you get to the whale."

"The whale?" Dash asked as he opened up the book.

"You'll know what I'm talking about," Ben answered with a grin that made Dash want to read so much more. As Ben sat there he thought about Sanji's reaction to him being invisible. He looked at his friend whose nose was buried in the book, "Why do you think Sanji wants to be able to turn invisible so badly?"

Dash shrugged and kept reading. "He must have a good reason if he got that mad about it." The boy offered while flipping the pages.

"Hmm," Ben hummed, thinking about that.

In the middle of reading, Dash's eyes turned huge. Ben saw the boy looking at the page in amazement and asked, "Did you reach the whale?"

"No, not yet," Dash said. He turned the book and pointed at the page he was on. "You read this right?"

Ben read it aloud while the page was facing him. "'The Grand Line's entrance was in sight. With the rain pouring in buckets and the imminent departure to our new lives bearing in, we needed something to set us off on our next adventure. Sanji suggested a launching ceremony and each of us declared our goals for traveling the world. I'll put those here now as reference. Sanji: "To find All Blue." Luffy: "To become-"'"

"Ben," Dash interrupted, shutting the book in front of his friend. "Let's do this!"

"What?" Ben deadpanned. He was not following whatever train of thought Dash was on.

"We're going on a new adventure right?" Dash asked. Ben nodded and he continued, "Then let's get everyone together. We can all declare our goals for going to Aebrith!"

"Umm," Ben mumbled, not thinking it would be as much fun as Dash was making it out to be. He really just wanted to finish looking through that Logbook. "Well, I don't think we can do something similar like that."

"What? Why not?" The younger boy complained.

Ben looked at the book in Dash's hand. "When they did their ceremony, they had already been through a lot. They were a close knit group. Everyone knew each other."

"We all know each other," Dash argued back.

"Really?" Ben asked skeptically. "Before a few days ago I had never seen a few people here before. When I saw them on the ship that was my first time meeting them." Dash nodded along as he felt the same way. "And even the rest who I do know, I'm not great friends with all of them. Like, I know Natsu, Juvia, and the Mayor really well. Luffy too, and Riku of course."

"Of course," Dash agreed with that last one.

"But everyone else I barely know," Ben finished.

Dash agreed and his excited look from before fell. He thought for a little about what Ben said and then started in a quiet tone, "How's that guy Kirito? I heard he was an Underworld member."

"Kirito's a jerk, but he's okay." Ben said and shrugged his shoulders. He could see Dash was disappointed by all this. He started back up, "I'm sure Luffy's crew and any member of Fairy Tail are all great people, but I'm just saying maybe the whole 'shouting our dreams' thing could wait for another time. Okay?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just..." Dash faded off, "nevermind."

"No, what?" Ben asked, not wanting to discourage his blond friend.

"I, I just kind of wanted to know why everyone else decided to come. In the book everyone had such defined goals, but I," Dash frowned and looked down at his feet. "I only really came to prove I could leave."

"Well, maybe you just haven't found your real reason for being here yet," Ben suggested.

Dash hummed to himself and looked deep in thought. "How about this," Ben started. The blond kid looked up at his friend who had a small smile on his face. "Let's go ask them anyway. We don't need a special ceremony to learn more about our new crewmates."

"I, guess that sounds cool," Dash said. He smiled and nodded his head a few times. "Let's go!" The two boys turned and ran off.

"So Gray's returning to look for his friends, and Juvia came for obvious reasons," Ben explained as he and Dash walked along the outside of the Thousand Sunny. The two of them were leaving the stern where Gray and Juvia were hanging out.

Dash snickered thinking about how Juvia followed Gray around all day every day. "Obviously," he repeated, then pointed as he saw someone walking around the outside of the cabin towards them.

"Natsu," Ben called out. He and Dash ran up to the pink haired mage who stopped and looked down at them. "We've got something to ask you."

"Why are you here?" Dash asked, looking up excitedly at the magician.

Natsu looked back and forth, then back down at the kids. "I'm walking to the stern." He said slowly, scratching the side of his head wondering if he was missing something.

"What he means," Ben cut in. "Is why did you decide to come on the ship?"

Natsu continued staring strangely at the top of them for a few more seconds. Why did I come? Is this a trick question? He stared closer at them and furrowed his brow making the other two look at each other confusedly. "I came, to have fun," Natsu answered confidently.

Ben lifted up his eyebrows. "Really?" He asked.

Natsu's confident expression vanished. Was that not the right answer? Crap! How do both of them know this and I not?!

"Dash was just wondering since he didn't really have a reason for coming," Ben explained.

Natsu sweatdropped and wondered what the Hell he was just thinking about. "Oh," he said in a deadpan tone. "Well, I came to help Gray find his new nakama."

"Yeah, that's what Juvia said too," Dash mumbled. He turned to Ben, "Maybe I should just go with that too."

"Hmm," Ben hummed. He looked up at Natsu again, "Sure there isn't any other reason you're coming?"

"Other reason?" Natsu muttered. He looked deep in thought and he started scratching the side of his head. "Well there is one goal I've had since I was a kid."

"What?!" Dash and Ben both exclaimed together.

"Haha," Natsu chuckled at their enthusiasm. "I'm looking for my dad."

"Your dad?" Dash asked, somewhat disappointed as that was not a goal he could adopt as his own. He already knew where his dad was: back in Pao.

"Yeah," Natsu said, and he looked up in the sky. "He disappeared one day when I was a kid. His name is Igneel. He's a dragon."

"Wait," Ben stopped his older friend. "Your dad is a dragon?"

"Yep," Natsu said and nodded. He was still looking at the sky and in a quiet voice he whispered, "Igneel. Where are you?"

"What if he never came to this world?" Dash began. Natsu looked down and Ben turned in to his friend who had a thoughtful look on his face. "What if he's back on your world?"

"No way," Natsu said confidently. "Everyone else is here, so Igneel's gotta be too! I didn't see him on Awul, so he's gotta be somewhere in Aebrith."

"Yeah," Ben whispered under his breath. "Maybe my parents are too."

"Huh?" Dash asked, thinking he heard Ben say something. The older boy shrugged and shook his head like it was nothing.

"Anyway. Thanks Natsu," Ben said.

The pink haired mage nodded at the younger boys. As Natsu turned and walked off for the stern, he looked up at the sky, Igneel.

"Why I'm here?" Kirito asked the two boys standing inside the crow's nest with him. Kirito stood there sweaty and shirtless with his long black wings spread behind him. The fairy wings that his avatar in ALO, a virtual reality game on his own world, were wished to him by Timmy back in the Battle of Metropolis close to a month before. During the battle he utilized them as best he could, but he was out of practice and had never used wings in the real world before. He figured he needed some more training with them if he was heading somewhere as dangerous as Aebrith.

"Yeah," Ben replied. "We're going around asking everyone."

"What for?" Kirito muttered.

Dash opened his mouth to explain but Ben snapped, "Could you just tell us? I didn't see you for weeks after Metropolis. People wondered where you went. Then all of a sudden you're on the ship coming along. How'd you even know we were going?"

Kirito frowned at the boy but he saw that Dash really wanted to know and he sighed. Kirito wiped some sweat from his forehead and started, "I did disappear after Metropolis. I know I should have stayed, but I've done things. Things I needed to make up for…"

FD + 818

Kirito lay back on a rock next to a huge lake. His clothes were set out to dry on another rock behind him, as he stared up into the sky at the three hot suns high above. Summer was in full swing and sun-drying was going fast. Not far from his rock was a fire with a single stick sticking out of the ground next to it and hovering over the flames. There was a huge blue fish impaled by the roasting stick and it smelled good.

There are rumors about some new criminals trying to take the Underworld's place as the top guys on Awul. Could go after them. Or maybe do what those wizard guilds do, get a job and help some people that need- no, that's not enough. I, I've gotta think bigger. I have to...

"Hey Kirito."

The teen jumped so high off his rock the man who was standing next to him looked impressed. Kirito dropped down and spun around with a shocked expression as he did not even feel the man approaching with his Observational Haki. He thought for a second that the man purposely snuck up on him, but quickly realized that he himself was probably just too distracted. "Goku," Kirito said, calming himself down even though his heart rate was still through the roof. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to tell you that I'm going on a boat ride to Aebrith," Goku told the younger man. Kirito looked confused and Goku continued, "I thought you might want to come."

"Me?" Kirito asked, wondering why the man was asking him. "Why not ask your son? Or Vegeta?"

"They're too busy training," Goku said with a small pout. "I tried convincing Gohan but he wants to stay behind. You want to come though, right?"

"Why- what are you-" Kirito shook his head around a few times. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Goku began, and he scratched the back of his head. "There are some bad guys on Aebrith, a lot of them actually. It's a much different place than Awul, and Gray says he wants our help to save his friends and help the Resistance."

"Gray said he wants my help?" Kirito asked skeptically, as he was pretty sure Gray was one of the people angrier at him than most for his former role in the Underworld.

"Not specifically," Goku answered and laughed. "He didn't ask for my help either though," Goku added as a sentiment that really just made Kirito sweatdrop. "Anyway, I thought you would want to come. Help the Resistance, defeat some monsters, free the slaves…"

"Slaves?" Kirito questioned, perking up.

Goku nodded his head with more of a frown. "Aebrith is a lot different than here," he repeated. "It could use your help."

Present

"Goku knew I wanted to make up for the things I've done, or the things I let happen," Kirito told the two boys in front of him. "I'm glad he searched me out, and I'm going to do my best to stop this evil King that Gray talked about."

Dash and Ben nodded at Kirito as the teen stopped talking. Dash hummed and mumbled, "So you want to help people? Join the Resistance and fight this King guy, and I guess Goku probably does too huh?" The blond kid scratched the side of his head, "Thanks," he muttered.

Dash turned around and Ben nodded once more to Kirito before turning too and walking out with his younger friend. "Did that help?" Ben questioned. Dash shook his head and his older friend sighed. "Well, lots of people still on board to ask. Let's go see who else has an idea."

Two hours later.

Ben and Dash were back in the library sitting on their chairs in front of the open Logbook. Dash had his chin in his hands and Ben was listing off everything they heard so far, "Finding friends, finding dads, fighting for good, freeing slaves, adventure, following Luffy, looking for a brother, and fun. Sure is a big list to choose from," Ben joked.

He looked at the blond kid but Dash had nothing to say. The light-skinned speedster was deep in though and he closed his eyes. He decided in that moment that whatever appeared before him would determine the course of the rest of his journey. His eyes snapped back open and his face took a look of shock to it. He nodded his head slowly though, accepting the image he saw when he closed his eyes. "I've got it," Dash said.

"Really?" Ben asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Dash said and nodded his head. He lifted up the corners of his lips and clenched his right fist in front of him. "I'm going to help everyone out finding their family and friends and fighting the bad guys all over Aebrith." Ben sighed as that did not sound like his own goal but just a combination of all of theirs. Dash was not done though, "My most important goal however, is that before this journey is done, before our adventure comes to an end, I am going to find my baby brother. I am going to find JackJack, and I'm going to bring him home."

A/N Short chapter, short but sweet. Why would Sanji want to become invisible? XD Small flashback with Kirito and Goku to the time after the Battle of Metropolis. Dash decides to go searching for his baby brother JackJack while helping the others with their goals. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, as the crew moves ever closer to the continent across the sea! Leave a review telling me what you think below!

Espada-001 chapter 3 . 8h ago

Well I liked the short battle between Rin and the liar but I'm not entirely sure why a demon was so far from thier territory. Other than that I would kind of think that's Devil Fruit users would be able sense or even see demons since the eater would already have a natural connection to the supernatural. Other than that I don't really have anything else to say as you've already answered most my other questions and we aren't to far into this one so I don't have to many things to question yet. Well hope to keep this wonderful relationship of Q/A as the story goes on! Until the next chapter, have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you next time!

Glad you liked the last chapter, and I do like writing review responses as often as I can. I don't remember if you asked in a previous review or in a PM, but instead of an entirely other story of just the crew traveling, there are quite a few chapters of them getting to Aebrith. An entire arc in fact ;), with several sub-arcs inside. Demons, Gray did mention that Satan is different from other High Lords and his soldiers probably have a lot more range than the others' men do as well. As for Devil Fruits being supernatural, One Piece has still left us in the dark mainly about what they are so I don't wanna make any claims but I always figured they were just a natural part of the One Piece world and because of their strange powers some people attributed them with supernatural properties, though that was mainly back in East Blue. In the Grand Line they're more commonplace. Let me know what you think. As always, thanks for the review!

-Finally, I figured I'd give a list of the 19 main characters and the shows, movies, anime, etc. I got them from here:

Fairy Tail: Gray, Juvia, Natsu

One Piece: Nami, Franky, Robin, Sanji, Usopp, Luffy

Blue Exorcist: Rin

DBZ: Goku

SAO: Kirito

Incredibles: Dash Parr

Ben 10: Ben

Hunter x Hunter: Killua

Kingdom Hearts: Sora, Riku, Kairi

Fairly Oddparents: Timmy Turner