I hurried up the stairs that led up to the deck. The sun was so bright and warm against my skin as I stumbled passed all of my crew mates "Pops!" I squeaked with absolute excitement flooding through my veins, "Pops guess what!" Whitebeard glanced up from his conversation with Marco and gave me a smile, "Feeling better?" "Pops! I know who I am!" I jumped over to stand in front of him, thrusting my arms up into the air as my voice raised "I know my name!" I looked up at him with a huge grin as his smile turned into one of a grin as well, "That's wonderful my daughter!" I turn from him and rush to the front of the Moby Dick, standing out as far as I could go on the white whale head. "I KNOW MY NAME!" I shouted as loudly as I could, my voice echoing through the vast sea "I KNOW WHO I AM!" I couldn't help the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I panted as I turn my face up to the sky, the sun warming my body as I took in the sweet sea air. I will make you proud Father. Mother. No matter what I do, I will carry our name with pride.
I turn back to face with crew with a large grin "Let's par-" my words catch in my throat as I was met with not my crew but my mother and father! I tried to push out the words to screech out my utter confusion. I know that they were both dead and couldn't be standing before me. "...did I lose my mind...?" My father laughed loudly, pushing his white hair back out of his face, "No, you didn't lose your mind." "Then how-?" "We don't have a lot of time to explain." My mother quickly interjects, steadying my father as he nearly tumbles to the ground at my words. "Not a lot of time?" I asked and my mother turned to me, the icy stare from the painting firmly on her face, "We just want to tell you that we love you dearly but it's time for you to get up."  "Get up?" I echo, slowly making my way towards them. "What?" "She means it's time to wake up, Clarity, open your eyes." My father hummed out after he calmed himself down. "You have a long way to go and everyone is worried about you." "Worried?" I turn around violently to see that we were no longer standing on the Moby Dick, but in pitch blackness, "Moby? Pops!" I turn around again, "Ace? Marco! Where is everybody???" I whip around to see that my parents were slowly fading away "Mom? Dad??" I could feel the sudden lump in my throat, "Don't leave me too! Not again!" I rush to them as fast as my legs could carry me. They just give me a gentle look, "Don't give up Clarity, keep pushing through." "No wait! Explain! Where is everyone! Please!!" I stumble as a piercing pain shoots through my back and begins to engulf me entirely; I reach out to their fading forms as I crash to the ground, "Don't leave!" The tears streaming down my face. "Keep fighting Clarity, and remember we love you." Their voices echo as their bodies fade away completely. I slam my eyes shut "This is a stupid nightmare! I want to wake up!" I sob into my arms. "Wake up." A different voice whispers and I jolt up.
I squint in the low lighting of the pale moon hanging in the sky to see that I was surrounded by deep jungle. What? I take in the strong scent of fresh soil and glance around to see that I was laying face down on the ground. What happened? Where am I? I shift my arms before trying to push myself up, only to yelp out in the mind-numbing pain that overtakes my senses. I blink away the dots that dance across my vision and take in a shaky breath as the memory comes back in harsh chunks. I had been captured for the wedding, convinced the maids to help me escape, we rush into the woods cloaked by the night. I frown as I rest my head onto my hands. I had explained to everyone to run to the ship that looked like a whale and then we were shot at! I told everyone to spilt up as they couldn't catch all six of us before I turned in a different direction. I look up to see that I had stumbled upon another hole. I must've fallen in while escaping the hunters... I shift forward, every movement that shuddered through my back made me dizzy and I tried to fight the urge to throw up. I grabbed the closest tree, beginning to try and pull myself up off of the ground. I felt so weak. Must've I lost consciousness when I hit the bottom and it created a fever dream. I hug the tree as tightly as my legs wobble shakily underneath me. I took in shallow breaths as the deep ones caused too much pain to pulse through my back. Glancing up, I could see the top of the hill. It wasn't a steep or tall hill but with the shape I am in, Can I even climb it? I reach up for the next tree and let out a silent cry as the pain in my back begins to throb now, F-fight through it...
I blink away the tears that began to blur my vision as I reached for the next branch, trying to place my shaky feet onto the hill. I take in another breath, the soil scent now mixing with the sweat that beginning to gather on my brow. The night air was humid and each breath made my throat dry. How long have I been down here? Did everyone else escape? I furrow my brow as I pull my body up to the top of the hill and glance around, trying to see where I was. The vast ocean was all I could see in front of me and behind me was nothing but jungle. I shivered from the cool sea air, "Where am I?" that fought against the humid jungle air. I looked down at the oversized gown that I had been forced to wear to bed earlier that evening was barely clinging to my skin. Everything hurt. I tilted my head down a bit more and let out a shaky gasp, "T-tashigi? Captain Smoker?" "Kana!?" I heard their familiar voices, apparently mine carried farther than I thought. "Help..." I let the small cry escape my lips. I didn't really have a choice. I needed medical attention and I had no idea where I was. It felt so good to see familiar faces. Tashigi hurried up the hill after jumping up off of the Navy ship that used to be my home before the Moby Dick. "What happened to you??" She asked in shock as she pulled me closer to her, "I thought the ocean drowned you." I just gripped her jacket, leaning into her body warmth as my body began to shake. I felt a mix between hot and cold, sweat was dripping uncomfortably down my back. She pulled me closer and then jerked her hand back to stare at the crimson liquid that was now staining her skin, "You're bleeding!" She turned to the ship, calling out to the rest of the crew. I squinted at the trees, my vision blurred and her voice was beginning to grate my ears slowly turning into some kind of unintelligible nonsense.

"What happened after you fell off the ship? You've been missing for several weeks." Tashigi asked after I had awakened. "What happened to my body?" I look up at her. Her face scrunches up slightly before it goes back to a more neutral look, "I'm not hundred percent sure. The doctor said that you had been shot by a shotgun and something burned your left thigh, tearing through several layers of skin and muscles." I took in her words, listening to everything but letting out a soft sigh, "Am I allowed outside?" She gave me an odd look, "I really don't think you should move around too much Kana, you have been out for a few days and the doctors want to keep you monitored." "Monitored? What for?" I gave her a quizzical look. "They said that while they were trying to work on you, that they found marks on your wrists that call for concern." I gave her a blank look then look down at my wrists to see deep scratches from fighting through the deep forest. "I was fighting through briars." I rubbed over a few of them, "I'm not suicidal!" I felt enraged that the doctors assumed that I just wanted to kill myself. "They said it was typical of people suffering from amnesia for several years." Tashigi spoke softly, she looked down to the tile floor and I could see the tears gather in her eyes. "Is your life really that bad...?" "Of course not!" I placed my hand against my chest, "I would never! Especially not when I have told you literally everything!" I couldn't help the guilt sink into my heart at her hurtful look. She wiped the tears away after moving her glasses out of the way, "Then where did you go?" She seemed very upset. "Tashigi, you're my best girl friend." I started softly but I didn't know what to say as I thought about my adventure with Whitebeard's crew. Did it actually happen? Or was that part of my strange fever dream? Did I actually wash up onto my home island, get kidnapped again, and then almost die trying to escape? "It's hard to tell." I mutter more to myself then to her, "My memory is all hazy. It's hard to tell the difference between what might be fever dream and what actually happened." Was my relationship with this Ace person even real? Did we really party and then kiss at a festival? Or did I make it all up?
"Tash," I turn my eyes to my friend as she sniffed a little and cleared her throat before looking back at me, "Yes?" "...would you hate me if I left the Navy?" I awaited her answer. I gripped my blanket slightly, feeling my heart turn and twist with anxiety. The air felt heavy and thick, I swallowed roughly; feeling like I was going to choke. She gave me a look that was first one of confusion and then it slowly changed to a blank look. I could see the gears in her head turn as she tried to put together her feelings. "I think..." She started slowly, carefully, her voice soft as if she was afraid of speaking too loud. Would we crumble apart? Am I breaking our friendship? Am I wasting my time hoping she would still be my friend after such a decision? "...it would be hard to accept at first but if you want to leave you can." She ended her sentence. "But why?" And there was the question. The question that squeezed out the remaining air in my lungs and shattered my brain. Why? Why was a good question. Why am I leaving? To search for me? But I know me. I know who I am. Do I know everything? I wasn't sure. Leaving to search for Ace? To search for heartbreak? To search for true love? To search for a true family? But Tashigi and Smoker had been nothing but kind to me when they took me under their wings years ago. Was it wrong for me to want to spread my own wings and fly away?? Or was I running from something that even I didn't know about? I sucked in a breath, "I need time." Was the only answer I could manage from my drying lips. "I need time to figure out a lot of things." She smiled softly and I could only assume she was beginning to understand my dilemma. "As long as we can stay friends." I gave her back a sweet smile, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes, "I would want nothing more."

Not far away from the marine ship, the G-5, sat a smaller ship. The crew had paced around nervously as they tried to figure out what to do. The Navy had gotten to Clarity before they could and now they had to get her back somehow before Pops finds out who has his daughter.
"It's been a few days, do you think she's okay?" One shifted on his heels, "Is she dead?" "No, I don't think she's dead." Another replied, "She was badly wounded and it has probably taken her a while to wake from all the damage." He rubbed his chin as he stared over at the larger ship, "We need to come up with a plan and get Clarity back." "The crew is so boring without her." Clarity's best friend whined, "And I haven't been able to properly train for a while ever since she had disappeared on that island." "Should we wait a few more days for her to recover? What if she is in a critical state and moving her could do more harm than good." They all agreed that they needed to figure out how to get onto the G-5 and figure out Clarity's health.

Farther away, in the vast ocean, sat the Moby Dick; resting in the calming clear waters as the crew mostly slept. Ace sat leaning against the railing of the ship, glancing up at the star filled sky. He was exhausted, yet he refused to go back to his room to sleep. His room had felt empty without Clarity. She had a warmness around her that he didn't realize was so special until she was gone. He had time to think about his feelings. As after he lost her on the island, he had strange doubts that he wasn't actually in love with her. Was it just some fling created by him? He frowned slightly and just tapped a soft rhythm with his thumb. He didn't think it was just a fling. He had flings before and never felt such a passionate flare in his heart around any of his past partners. He shifted to reposition his arms and get more comfortable as sleep was gently tugging at the corners of his mind. His aching body was begging him to just give into the sleep and figure out everything in the morning but he just couldn't seem to shut his mind off long enough for even his narcolepsy to kick in. It was like a raging storm and it was beginning to give him a migraine. What was Clarity to him? Was she his lover? Partner forever?
"Ace, don't you think it's time you get some sleep? You've been sitting there since this morning." Marco's voice interrupted the train of thought that seemed to have a never ending track. Ace slowly turned to face his older brother, the exhaustion was hard to hide, "I'm not tired." Marco frowned a bit before walking over to stand next to Ace, his back leaning against the same railing, "Something is bothering you." "...yeah..." Ace gave a half hearted shrug and turned back to stare at the ocean, the train trying to start again before derailing by Marco's voice, "Do you want to talk about it?" Ace gave Marco a side look, he wondered if he should express his strange feelings, "It's kind of silly." Marco gazed up at the starry sky, "I don't think it is, you aren't acting like yourself, so it must be serious." Examining constellations. Ace gave a hum in acknowledgement before he let out a heavy sigh, "I just...was Clarity a fling?" He sat up and turned to his brother with genuine eyes. Marco turned his eyes from the sky above to his brother's freckled face and rose a brow slightly, "Do you think she was?" "I don't know!" Ace exclaimed with an exasperated sigh. "I don't think so." "What makes you think that?" Marco asked him, the calmness in his voice soothing the other as his mind was beginning to rage again. "Ever since we got separated on the island, I have felt this weird doubt." Ace furrowed his brows as he tried to explain the mess inside. "That we weren't really a thing and she was just a fling but at the same time I have feelings of utter distraught that she's missing from my person. I can't go into my room, it feels so..." "Lonely?" Marco filled in the missing word Ace was grasping for, "Desolate." "It seems to me she means more to you than just a fling." Marco shifted his hands behind his head as his gaze returned to the lighting sky above them. "You really seem to miss her. I think the doubt is just trying to discourage you from finding her because you lost track of her to begin with." "She's fast." Ace defended himself. "Ask yourself, would you give anything to have her back at your side." Marco stretched his arms out before giving Ace a pat on his shoulder, "If the answer is without a doubt yes, then Clarity means more to you than a fling." He excused himself to the kitchen for morning coffee. Ace watched his brother's figure trail off before turning back to the ocean. Would I give anything to have her back? Yes.