A pirate's flag was a symbol of freedom, but also great pride. Any crew worth their salt had an emblem by which civilians, friends, and foes alike could recognize them. Their reputation hung on their flag, so it needed to be absolutely perfect.

Not… whatever kind of horror Luffy had somehow dragged right out of Hell.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," groaned Nami.

Zoro grunted in agreement, looking a little pale.

Brynlee's eye twitched. "It's so horrifying… yet I can't look away…"

"What is that!?" cried out Usopp.

Luffy pouted, holding up his… masterpiece. "What are you guys on about? It's our flag!"

"No."

"But—"

"Luffy, you wanna grow stronger and fight a bunch of cool people, right?" cut in Brynlee, subtly pulling the thing out of his hands.

"Yeah!"

"Then trust me when I say this: if we pull up that flag, you'll never fight anyone."

"What? Why?"

"'Cause they'll all be too busy running away."

Luffy appeared positively puzzled, and Brynlee used that opportunity to throw the cursed object overboard. It was admittedly cute, to see him trying to think over what she'd said without frying his two functioning braincells, but she decided that their Captain losing his mind over his poorly-drawn flag would be too sad an end for him, so she promptly pulled him out of his thoughts by pinching his cheeks and pulling on them.

"Hey!"

"Don't think too much – you'll hurt yourself. You trust me, right?"

"Well, yeah. You're my crewmate!"

"Good. Then trust me when I say: leave it to Usopp."

Luffy stared for a few seconds, then beamed. "Okay! Usopp, you do it!"

Zoro exhaled in relief, while Nami sent a quick prayer of thanks to whatever God had bothered helping them, and Usopp promptly got to work. Brynlee subtly kicked his leg when she noticed he was drawing his flag, shooting him a warning look when he shot her a puzzled one – he gulped and quickly changed the design to a more appropriate one.

"There you go!"

There was a moment of silence, before Luffy cheered loudly. "Awesome! Our flag looks great!"

"Eh, eh, I'm known as one of the greatest master painters in East Blue," gloated Usopp.

"Great work!" beamed Nami, squeezing tightly his shoulder. "Since it looks so good, I'm only going to charge you half-price for the paint used!"

"What!? It was for the common good, you money-grubbing witch!"

As they bickered, Brynlee watched Zoro and Luffy heaving the flag up the mast. A strange weight settled in her heart as she watched the emblem of the Straw Hat Pirates proudly crowning their ship – seeing it suddenly made everything look much, much realer.

It was an adventure, yes, but also a story of bloodshed and cruelty.

And more than a story, it was her life, now.

Her life and countless others at stake, at risk, at loss – if she didn't play her cards right.

I won't let them down, she swore upon their flag and their ship and the crew. No matter what comes our way, I'm a Straw Hat, now – and I'll do everything in my power to ensure my crewmates all achieve their dreams.

[SUBQUEST]

Dream Catcher

Having a dream is easy – achieving it is where the real challenge lies.

Help all of the Straw Hats achieve their dreams!

Reward: One (1) Wish

ACCEPT/REFUSE

Brynlee grinned.

Wow, so many new people joining our adventure still! I really didn't expect this story to gain as much attention as it did ah ah, but it definitely motivates me! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and/or followed, it really means a lot to me.

See you guys in a few days!

PS. I've decided to no longer put the [CHARACTER PROFILE] every single time there's an update - I'll just keep on posting it along every tenth chapter.