Raya's POV

"So, what's this for again?"

Zoro finishes tying the white bandages around my forearm. He looks up at me, frowning. "Didn't Luffy and the others tell you about that Mr. 2 guy?"

"Well yeah," I say, running my fingers over the crisp white bandages. I've been injured a lot lately, but this is the first time I've worn bandages without some sort of wound beneath them. "But I don't get why I need these. It's not like he saw my face, or copied it or whatever."

"He didn't copy Sanji either," Zoro reminds me, pulling me to my feet from my perch on a flat gray rock. "But it's just a precaution. And a sign of our friendship."

I blink. "Really?" He nods, and a radiant smile claims my lips. "I'll wear em with pride then," I announce loudly, throwing my hands on my hips.

Zoro chuckles.

"Mr. Bushido! Raya! We need to keep moving!"

"Does Vivi even know your name?" I ask, walking side by side with Zoro back to the others. He stopped them all because he remembered that I was the only one without the bandages. Even Vivi's duck, Carue, has them, apparently.

"Yeah she does," he replies, shrugging. "I guess she just likes Mr. Bushido better."

I smile. "Funny," I say. "I actually like the name Roronoa Zoro. Sounds like somebody famous."

"One day," he says, his eyes suddenly distant. He sounds like he's reaffirming a promise. I frown at him, but don't comment. If he's remembering something or someone, I should let him be.

We rejoin the others and begin walking through the harsh desert again. I don't mind the walk, at least not yet. To reach Nanohana, I had to trek through a few miles of sand. I'd docked my small boat too far down the coast, and paid for it epically. But at least it got me somewhat accustomed to Alabasta's dry heat.

I pull my hood down over my eyes, fighting off the dark spots crowding my vision. The sun keeps reflecting off the pale sand, not brightly, but enough to blind me. The only issue? I can barely see with my hood like this. It was worse when we were in Erumalu.

That was a deserted, dried up desert city. When the droughts began, and the water ran out, the city perished. Now it's only ruins, slowly being swept away by the cutting winds.

Vivi had taken the sight of Erumalu badly. But I'd barely seen it at all. My best view of the city came when I tripped over what used to be a well and slammed into the sand. Really, this damn sun will be the death of me. If I can't use my eyes, I'm just gonna fall off a cliff or something. Granted, I'm in the desert and I'm not sure just how many cliffs I'll find here but still!

Chopper had patched me up, and we kept moving.

Now, I'm walking with Zoro, listening to Luffy pant and moan and groan as he struggles forward, digging his walking stick into the sand weakly with each step.

"Aaahhhh!"

"Would you stop going 'Aaahh Aahh' already?" Nami complains, shooting our captain a glare. "You're just wasting energy!"

He ignores her. "Ahhhh! I'm burning.... Can't even sweat," he pants his tongue fully out of his mouth. How he can actually talk like that, I don't know. But it's kinda entertaining.

"I can't stand the heat," Chopper says weakly also panting. "But I'm fine in the cold." He's lying on his back on a small, makeshift sled that Zoro is pulling along. I offered to help, but he just waved me off. Damn macho Swordsman.

"It's because you're all fuzzy," Usopp says intelligently. "Why don't you take off that costume?"

Chopper suddenly expands in size, growing taller and buffer than even Zoro. He roars at Usopp, "Don't mess with a reindeer, punk!"

"Gyaaaaaaaa! Monster!"

I let out a small squeak of my own, ducking behind Zoro. He looks at me for a second then calls out to Chopper, "Don't get big like that, or I won't pull you!"

Evidently, the thought of walking through this desert himself is enough to knock some sense into the doctor. He shrinks to his 'normal' child-like size and collapses onto the sled like he's just run ten miles.

"You aren't scared of Chopper are you?" Zoro asks me, smirking. Dammit! It's more annoying than Mihawk's smirks!

"That was the first time I ever saw something like that!" I retort, shoving away from him.

"Sorry, Raya," Chopper pants, smiling up at me. "Didn't think about that. But I've got five other forms that I can use. I developed an extra four while working on Drum Island."

I smile appreciatively. "Can you show me some time?" I ask. "You know, when you aren't dying?"

He gives me a closed eye smile. "Can do Raya!"

Then he returns to "dying".

"Wow."

I raise an eyebrow at Zoro. "What?" I ask.

"Nothing. I'm just surprised Chopper trusts you already. It took a while before he accepted the rest of us as friends."

"Didn't Luffy and Sanji try to eat him at first?" I question, shooting a glare at the back of the blonde's head.

Zoro shrugs. "Even so," he says.

I roll my eyes playfully. "Guess I just have that kind of personality. You guys became my friends pretty quickly. Besides Sanji, anyway."

He turns around when he hears his name, and when he realizes it was me who spoke huge pink hearts replace his eyes and he swoons. "Raya-chan! Did you need something?" he asks, sounding as though he'd run all the way to Maya just to get whatever I asked.

I groan and bury my face in Zoro's shoulder, wishing, not for the first time, that Sanji was only a bad dream.

"No," I reply, waving a hand at him, gesturing for him to just go away, turn around, something that didn't involve talking to me. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Eh?! Moss Head! What are you doing to Raya?!"

And he just ignores me. Again.

"Nothing," Zoro and I snap. This causes the others to look back at us curiously. Nami raises an eyebrow suggestively, and I scowl at her. Just my being near Zoro apparently sets her off. And I thought after two months she might have forgotten about all this.

I was dead wrong, and I'm paying for it now.

"Hey, Dartboard Brow!" I growl, narrowing my eyes at him. "You are the only person on his crew who genuinely makes me want to kill somebody. And that somebody continues to be you. So stop hounding Zoro and get off my back!"

And with that, we continue moving.

"Why are there so many damn hills?!" Usopp demands after a while of walking. Ok, yeah, there are a lot of dunes, but Usopp's being a baby. "It's like we're climbing mountains!"

"This is an ancient desert," Vivi tells him. "The largest dunes are over 300 meters tall.

"T-three hundred meters?! No wonder it feels like a mountain."

I gently smack the back of his head, to which he complains greatly. "Stop with the complaints," I chastise as he rubs his head and glares at me. "You're only making things worse for the rest of us."

"You're not even walking!" Usopp exclaims, gesturing to the sled I'm sitting on. I grin deviously at him.

"You're ruining my atmosphere," I say sweetly.

After a pause, he just shakes his head. "Why aren't you walking again?" he asks.

"Chopper wanted company, and Zoro said he was fine with it. Right?" I ask, titling my head back to look up at the Swordsman. He looks over his shoulder, smiling faintly. "It's good strength training," he says to Usopp.

I'm almost tempted to get offended. Strength training? Is he implying I'm heavy? But I know Zoro didn't mean it like that. So I only smile victoriously and readjust Chopper's hat, while Usopp rants, "But you said no when I asked you to carry me!!"

From his place up ahead, I hear Luffy pant, "WATER! NEED WATER!"

"Just enough to fill your mouth," Vivi reminds him.

I look around Zoro and catch sigh of Luffy as he raises a barrel of water with a straw attached to his lips. He sucks in enough water to fill his mouth alright. You know, when he swells his rubber cheeks like a chipmunk that is.

"That's too much!" Usopp cries, and he and Nami both pound Luffy over the head. "It's my turn! That was your thirteenth swallow!"

"Wait! No, it's my turn!" Sanji counters, his face drawn angrily and his teeth sharper than a shark's.

I giggle, shifting Chopper in my lap so that his antler doesn't stab me in the stomach. "Luffy sure knows how to bend the rules," I note.

Zoro replies, "He doesn't even know rules exist."

I shrug happily, deciding he's probably right.

"Hey Sanji! Lets have lunch! Pirate Lunchbox time!" Luffy says, recovered from his beating.

"Not until Vivi-chan says so," Sanji says, puffing out a cloud of smoke.

"C'mon Vivi!"

"But we're not even a quarter of the way to Yuba yet," she reasons.

Luffy pouts. "Haven't you ever heard the proverb: 'Eat when thou art hungry'?"

"You just made that up," Usopp says.

"I understand," Vivi says, smiling agreeably. "Why don't we eat when we reach the next rock?"

"Next rock?! Ok! Rock......?"

I shake my head, amused. At least I know I'll never be bored with this crew.

"You ok, Chopper?" I ask, rousing the little reindeer. He blinks at me, tongue hanging from his mouth in a mirror image of our captain.

"Tired..." he breaths. I chuckle. "Not surprising," I say. "I don't think reindeer were ever meant to come to the desert. Here." I pull my personal canteen of water out from under my cloak and hold it to his lips.

"But... but this is your water!" Chopper says, surprised. I smile reassuringly and pat his head. "I know that," I say. "But you obviously need it more. You're going to overheat a lot faster than the rest of us. And like Usopp said, I'm not even walking right now. I'll be fine. So drink."

A little reluctantly, Chopper swallows the mouthful of water I give him. I'd let him drink more, but Vivi warned us all about conserving water in the desert. To waste water is a sin to the desert dwellers.

"You just rest, ok Chopper?" I say. "I'm sure we'll be in Yuba before you know it."

I catch Zoro looking at me, and send him a smile. With slight hesitation, he smiles back. I don't know why it's so hard for guys to express their feelings. Was it programmed into their DNA? Or do they choose to act that way? With examples like Sanji, Luffy and Usopp, I'd have to go with the latter. They usually don't hide their feelings at all, especially Sanji. Damn cook...

Zoro, though, is different. The only emotions I usually see from him are irritation and indifference. Oh I don't mean he's mean or anything. Just that it takes a little more for him to join in the fun.

Speaking of Zoro, I've still got to ask him about that promise of his. It's been plaguing me for the last two months. What would make him risk his life against a man so out of his league? I wonder if it was a girl he loved...

I shake my head, dismissing the thought. It makes an unwanted ache form in my chest, and I have no idea why. Why would the idea of Zoro in love with someone affect me so much?

"Is it really fair to let Luffy carry all that?" I ask Zoro, nodding towards our captain, who is currently struggling to lug all our supplies on a large wooden sled, connected to him by ropes, across the sand.

"He lost the bet," Zoro says simply, not sparing a glance at Luffy.

"No, I lost the bet," I say pointedly. "And Luffy offered to take my punishment. Shouldn't I be the one pulling all that stuff?"

"I'm not going to mess with Captain's orders," he replies, in a tone that suggests this is as far as the conversation goes. But I'm persistent.

"Do you all think I'm weak or something?" I demand, tempted to cross my arms but unable to, because of the small reindeer cradled in my arms.

"No one thinks you're weak."

"Then why aren't I the one--"

"Luffy's just being nice. Damn, are you that incapable of just being grateful?"

I sigh. He's right. I should just be grateful. As usual, my stupid stubborness is preventing me from seeing the point. Thanks Mom. Of all the things you could have given me, I get your inability to take a defeat in an argument gracefully. Really, you couldn't have helped me out more in the chest department over this? Then again, I think I'd get even more attention from Sanji if that were the case. So basically I'm at a standstill. Damn.

"Next rock! Dead ahead!" Usopp suddenly calls out, adjusting his sniper goggles to get a better look at whatever he's seeing.

Luffy takes off in a flash, clouds of sand thrown up in his wake. I cough, waving my arm through the tainted air, trying to brush it away from my mouth, nose and eyes.

"Luffy, wait!" Nami cries. "You'll just get lost!"

"How can he move that fast with all that weight dragging him down?" I wonder aloud. Zoro chuckles. "You know how much he loves lunch," he says, and I sigh, thinking back to all the food that was snatched from my plate. I'm not a heavy eater, so it didn't bother me. But Zoro almost killed him a few times for stealing stuff from him.

I get to my feet, hopping off the small sled and landing softly in the sand. Zoro looks back at me, one brow arched. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"We're taking a break soon, aren't we?" I ask, tugging at the hood of my cloak while keeping a firm grip on Chopper with my other arm. "Might as well give you one too. I'll carry Chopper from here on out, and you won't have the pull the both of us."

"You guys aren't heavy, if that's what you're worried about."

I smile, thinking back to his earlier comment. "No, that's not it. But I've been lazy for the past few hours. I want to do my share. After all, I'm basically a new crew member, right? Gotta earn my keep."

Zoro looks at me for another moment, then turns back around, pulling up the sled so that he can hold it over his shoulder. He begins walking again, and I start after him.

"You're not a new crew member."

I stop abruptly, tripping over my own feet. I hadn't been expecting him to say anything.

"You were never not a Straw Hat."

And that's it. He just keeps walking, and I'm left to follow, frowning in concentration as I ponder his words. If someone, anyone else said that to me, I wouldn't be surprised. But Zoro? I don't know. It just seems uncharacteristic of him for some reason.

"Why's he coming back?"

I blink, dragged from my thoughts by Sanji's question. I look past Zoro, who's stopped along with everyone else, and peer at Luffy's approaching figure.

"GUYS!" he shouts, waving his arms.

Uh, where's our stuff?

"Sick birds!" he yells. "There's a bunch of dying birds back there! Come one Chopper, heal them!"

The tiny doctor in my arms is awake instantly. Groggy, but awake. He jumps down to the ground and takes off with Luffy, the rest of us in hot pursuit.

Luffy leads us to a large outcrop of rocks, many of them towering over us. Delicious pools of shade fan out behind them, an escape from the hellish heat and burning sand. But Luffy is uninterested in the dark reaches of Heaven; he's more concerned about the lack of dying birds.

And the fact that all our supplies are gone.

"Oh no," Vivi breathes from beside me. I regard her curiously, as beads of nervous sweat are now tricking down her forehead. "Warusagi are called the 'Thieves of the Desert'. They fool travellers and steal their luggage. I should have told you." She sounds so despondent and regretful, I can't help but reach out and squeeze her hand. I don't know her well, but everyone needs a little reassurance from time to time.

"They're sagi?!" Usopp cries, eyes bugging out of his head, teeth sharpening to points. In the background, Luffy dances around in a panic, both hands on his hat, feet stomping wildly in the air.

"Yes, they're sagi," Vivi replies, clutching at her cloak.

I'm about to point out the irony that just occurred, but Sanji's next outburst cuts me off.

Shaking Luffy violently, and with a look of pure anger on his face, the cook shouts, "That was luggage for three days Luffy!! How could you let a bunch of birds steal it?! And that was all of our luggage!! Without food or water, how are we going to--"

"But I was tricked!" Luffy insists, seemingly just as angry as Sanji, for the accusation and harsh treatment. Really, we all know how vulnerable Luffy is, how gullible and childish. None of this should come as a surprise. "I can't help it!"

"You're dumber than a bird!" Sanji shoots back.

"What?!!"

"Cut it out!"

Everyone swivels to face Zoro, as he sinks down to the ground, his back against a huge gray stone. He is bathed in the shadows, the frustrated look on his face only deepend because of it. He pulls back the orange keffiyeh he's been wearing on his head so that it rests around his neck, holding the gold chain that keeps it in place in one hand.

"Let's take a rest.... You're getting angry because of the heat. Chill out for a minute." He looks up and locks eyes with Vivi, who I hear swallow nervously. "We're going to get to Yuba at night, right?"

"Yes..."

"If it's an oasis, then we'll just have patience. We're not gonna die!"

I smile to myself, pleased by how level-headed Zoro is being. While everyone else is panicking and worrying, he's being calm and rational. If he chose to pursue it, I think he'd make a great captain.

Giving Vivi's hand another squeeze, I slip away from her and take a seat beside Zoro. This close, I can see the sweat trickling down his face, how his throat moves, like it wants to swallow but has nothing to drink. I feel kinda awful, because the heat isn't affecting me nearly as badly as the others. It's part of the reason I had no qualms about giving some of my precious water to Chopper. Even though I haven't had anything to drink in hours, I'm perfectly fine. And my lack of movement the past few hours has made it so that I'm not sweating. Or at the very least, not as profusely as the others.

"Just forget about this," Zoro continues, hooding his eyes as he looks down at the gold chain in his hand. "Thinking about it makes my throat dry up. We'll rest 10 minutes, then leave."

In the next instant, Luffy spots one of the theiving birds he'd been duped by, practically seething as it gulps down a barrel full of our water. He shoots off after it, shouting, "THERE THEY ARE!!"

"Don't follow them Luffy!" Nami shouts. "How will you get back?!"

"Yeah that would be even worse!" Usopp agrees. "Come back, Luffy!"

But our captain is oblivious to their warnings. He soon disappears behind a hill of sand. "That moron..." Sanji mutters, running a hand through his hair, somehow keeping from dislodging the locks hiding his left eye. Does he even have an eye?

I decide Luffy will be fine on his own, and turn my attention to the Swordsman beside me. "That was pretty cool of you Swordsman," I tell him. His reaction: Confusion. So I explain. "Everyone was freaking out, and you were as calm as ever. I respect the fact that you can keep a cool head in these kinds of situations. You kinda remind me of my Dad. Shanks," I add after a pause, feeling the need to clarify. He's been my dad for two months; sometimes even I have to reaffirm that fact.

"I remind you of Red Haired Shanks?" He's skeptical, and that's to be expected. It's not every day people get compared to a Yonko.

I smile. "Yeah, you do. The only time I ever see his cool demeanor ruffled is when I'm in danger. Thank Kami that didn't happen all that often on his ship."

While he thinks about that, fiddling with the chain in his hands, I pull my water flask from its holster on my hip and offer it to him.

"Hey," he says, pushing it away, "I get why you gave some to Chopper, but he was right. It's your water. Don't waste it on other people, especially not after we lost all our backups."

But I push the water towards him, closing both his large hands around it. "Nah, I don't need it all," I assure him, smiling my most convincing smile. I can see how parched he is, and I don't recall him taking a single sip of water on the way here. He, like Chopper, needs this way more than I do.

"I think it has something to do with my Devil Fruit power," I say, looking away from his skeptical face and watching the clear, blue sky. As far-reaching, as vast, and as beautiful and moody as the ocean, the sky is a puzzle one needs to solve everyday. Right now, it's easy to put the pieces together. Weather: Zero clouds, blue as far as the eye can see, and blazing hot sun.

"The heat isn't that terrible to me, and I don't feel thirsty at all. Maybe fire is at home in the desert," I muse, tapping my fingers against my knee. "Of course," I say, looking back at him with a sly smile, "if you aren't drinking because Chopper was the last person--reindeer--to use it, then I can't really help you.... Actually, I guess I can."

I swipe the flask from him, and take the barest of sips. The sloshing of water, clearly audible as I pull the flask away from my lips, doesn't bother me. It's still pretty much full.

"Better?" I ask, once again placing the flask in his hands.

"HA! You're blushing!"

Both Zoro and I snap our heads around to stare at Nami. She stands triumphantly off to our right, hands on her hips, leaning slightly towards us with her feet spread apart. "What are you talking about?" I ask. She smirks and moves to stand in front of us.

She jabs her finger into Zoro's face, making him go cross-eyed as he fights to focus on her finger. "He's blushing," she says, then swings her finger into my face. But I just glare up at her. Really she's pulling this now? "And so are you," she finishes, as smug as I've ever seen her.

"No I'm not," I say. I don't feel any heat in my cheeks at all. What's she referring to? I press my fingers to my cheeks and immeditaley hiss in pain.

"What's wrong?" Zoro and Nami ask, with Nami crowding my personal space. I gently push her away. "Sunburn," I moan, and she relaxes.

"Is that all?" she says, rolling her eyes. "You had me worried there."

I swing my attention to Zoro. Yeah his cheeks are red too. Before either of them say anything else, I press my thumb to one cheek, cupping his face with my other fingers. They're warm too. I pull my thumb away, but the color of his skin doesn't change. Usually, when you get sunburn, if you apply pressure to the afflicted area, it turns white. So he hasn't got sunburn.

Does that mean he's really blushing?

Why in hell would he be blushing?

I remove my hand from Zoro's face and sit back. "You don't have heatstroke or something, do you?" I ask, unwilling to give Nami the satisfaction of discovering her accusation was true. I'm also a little worried his face is flushed from dehydration.

But he shakes his head, his cheeks slowly returning to their natural tanned coloring. I sigh, somewhat in relief. "That's good," I say, letting the corners of my mouth lift in a smile. "Now stop being stubborn and drink!" I wrap my hand around his, the one holding onto the flask, and bring it to his lips. Once I'm satisifed he's actually drank something, I return the flask to its place on my hip and resume glaring at Nami.

"Stop trying to cause trouble," I mutter, climbing to my feet. She looks at me innocently, smiling as though she hasn't got a care in the world. Ugh, she should be caring about the fact that I want nothing more than to slash her with my sword. But I'm too nice a person for that. Usually.

"I'm going to see how Chopper is doing," I say, directing my words to Zoro only, seeing as how I'm utterly pissed off at Nami. "Poor guy... the desert really doesn't agree with him."

I take only a few steps away when the sound of familiar shouting reaches my ears.

Oh Luffy, what sort of hell have you gotten yourself into now?

"He's being chased!" Nami's exclaims.

That he is. Luffy, about three hundred yards away and closing in fast, has on his heels the biggest lizard I have seen in my entire life. All rough scaly skin, vicious teeth and ferocious claws, this lizard drawfs even our ship. It's eyes, compared to the rest of it, are small and cold, focused soley on our frantic Captain, and the four-legged figure running beside him.

"A giant Sandora lizard!" Vivi cries, her eyes wide and fearful for our Captain.

The lizard chases after Luffy and... and the camel, climbing giant dunes, that would otherwise take us a half hour or more to scale, in a single step.

"Jeeze," I mutter, tugging my hood down so that it shields me from this atrocious view. How humiliating to see my captain in such a situation...

"I suppose we should save that camel running beside him..." Sanji says, starting to walk forwards. Zoro, just behind him, hand on a sword hilt, says, "What star was I born under that gave me all this damn trouble?"

I smile at him as he passes. "Want some help?" I ask, peeking out from under my hood. He smirks, before placing his white hilted katana between his teeth. "We're good," he says around the hilt.

It's amazing to watch, actually.

Luffy, Sanji and Zoro all attack the Sandora lizard together and take it down as fast as lightning. Sanji lands a heavy kick, Luffy bashes it with a punch, and Zoro delivers his own deal of slashes and hacks.

And while everyone else gapes, ooh-ing and ah-ing, I just laugh. However harsh this desert is, my fellow crew members will always be scarier.

In no time at all, Sanji has the lizard meat roasting, held atop the scalding stones. Nature's stovetops, I guess.

I settle beside Zoro again, mostly because Nami still has all of my negative feelings geared towards her, I don't know Vivi, I've learned not to get bewteen Luffy and his food, and the others are cooking, something I have no talent with. He casts me a quick glance, then looks back at Luffy.

"What's with the camel?" he asks.

"Dunno," Luffy replies, shrugging. "When I was chasing the birds, he came running up. Then I saw the lizard chasing him, so I started running too."

"It doesn't look wild," I comment, pointing to the sadle on its back. "I wonder if he's lost out here."

The camel, with exceptionally long lashes, shifts its eyes from one person to the next, as Luffy suggests we could ride him. Personally, I don't like his shifty-eyed stare, but if everyone else is on board, it's not my place to argue my point.

"Alright!" Luffy says, attempting to haul himself onto the camel's back. "I'll go fir--"

Chopper tugs Luffy down to the ground, as the camel makes some camel noises that have no meaning whatsover to the rest of us.

"'I am just a passing camel,'" Chopper says, I guess speaking for the animal. "'I will let you ride me but... I won't let any guys ride.' That's what he says."

Luffy, Usopp and Sanji all crowd around the camel, pissed off and violent, attacking the poor thing. "You stupid punk!" Sanji yells. "Who do you think just saved your worthless life?!"

"In all fairness," I say, my voice lost in the din of the writhing camel, "I offered to help!"

Nami approaches the now injured camel, reaching up to pat his cheek. "I'm sorry my bandits are so mean to you," she says sweetly, a tone I've come to realize she only uses for manipulation. "What a good boy. What should I call you?"

Luffy, Sanji and Usopp all raise their hands in the air, ready to offer their own suggestions.

"Idiot."

"Moron."

"Dumbass."

"Ok. How about 'Eyelash'?" Nami says, climbing onto the camel and settling herself on his sadle.

"That's worse than the other names..." Zoro says, sweat dropping. I agree, grimacing at the hearts in Eyelash's eyes.

"As if we needed another pervert," I mutter, dropping my head into my waiting hands. "Now I've got to keep away from two idiots."

Nami has Eyelash kneel down in the sand. "Get on, Vivi," she says, but the princess declines, saying, "No, I'm fine. I can still walk.

"It's ok, really," Nami says, pulling Vivi up to the seat behind hers. I faintly hear Luffy and Sanji mutter, "Pervert camel," and snicker. At least Sanji can see it too.

"Hey, Raya!" Nami calls, waving at me. Eyelash's eyes lock on me, and I groan under his adoring gaze. "I'm sure Eyelash could carry three people!"

"Hell no," I say, waving my hands in front of me. "No way I'm even going near that perverted animal. If you wanna take someone else, take Chopper. He's the one who suffers the most out here."

But, after my rejection, Nami is no longer listening. She gently kicks Eyelash's sides and urges him forward. He takes off like a gunshot, zipping through the sand, and consequently leaving us totally in the dust.

"Hurry up everyone!" I hear Nami shout. "If you get lost, you'll never make it out of the desert alive!"

"Still love you Nami-swaaaaan!"

"Screw you!" both Zoro and I shout at Eyelash's retreating form. Then I double over and cough the sand from my lungs. Damn desert. Because the heat won't kill me, I'll die of some other stupid reason. Like choking on this godforsaken sand.

Able to breathe properly again, I sigh and shuffle over to Chopper. I scoop him into my arms and start after Nami and Vivi, and their new friend. "Come on guys," I say. "She's right. Getting lost out here is a really bad idea. Best to keep the only person here with any idea of where we're going in sight, right?'

Nami and the others are just barely kept within range as we trudge after them. I really hate that moronic camel. If he hadn't shown up, we'd all be together and perfectly fine. Now I'm stuck here with the guys and we risk the chance of becoming totally and completely lost in one of the harshest climates on the planet. Even I won't be able to go forever without water.

It's a few hours later when the first sign of trouble crops up.

"AH! IT'S A TSUNAMI!"

Of course, there is no tsunami. It's just Luffy, practially high on the juice from some cactus or another he picked up. He flails around, screaming nonsense, until Chopper hands me a syringe and instructs me to jab its contents into Luffy. I happily oblige.

He drops to the ground, snoring like he's sleeping in a luxury bed without any problems at all.

"Tranquilizer," I say, whistling appreciatively. "Nice going, Chopper!"

"Ah!" Usopp cries, catching all our attentions. "Look how far away that stupid camel is!"

"Hurry!" Zoro shouts, pointing at the camel off in the distance. "We gotta follow it!"

Dammit! I can barely see Nami and the others now!

Zoro grabs ahold of Luffy leg and drags him along as the rest of us sprint after the girls.

I am so going to kick Nami's ass when we catch up with them!