14~ Arlong

Mira

It was a glorious day! The sun was shining, the breeze calming, and the ship moved smoothly across the ocean. My tail was twitching as I watched the flying fish jump out of the water next to the boat. I opened my mouth and little cat-like chirps escaped my throat. Oh, how I wanted one so bad... I chirped again. A fish jumped up and I swear it stuck its tongue out at me!

I swiped for it, but missed. "Na Na!" It seemed to taunt. I just grumbled and watched the other fish. They were laughing at me! I hissed, gripped the railing hard in one hand and swooped over the side, catching an unsuspecting fish in my claws. I placed it in my mouth so I could climb back up.

"The weather is so great!" Luffy cried out as I got back into the boat. I mumbled my agreement and bit into my fish. "Hey! Mira~! No fair!"

I looked up at him, fish skin hanging from my mouth. "What?"

"No fair! Sanji! Make us food!" He called over to Sanji.

"You just ate!"

"Food!"

"You'll get something in a bit." He snapped. He glanced over at me and sighed. "Mira-chan..."

"Uh..." I quickly looked away from him toward Yosaku. He didn't seem to well.

"Hey, Yosaku!" Luffy called to him. "We're close to where Nami is, right?"

He slammed a hand down on his leg and thrust a finger at Luffy. "You guys're soft minded!" Eh? "Too soft minded! Don't you get it?! Minute by minute, we're heading right for the infamous Arlong! Back at the restaurant, when we threw our completed Wanted Posters toward the Marines, Nami bent down and stared at the Wanted Poster for Arlong. Big Sis' eyes were glued to it when she saw it. She wasn't her normal self!"

He clutched at his knees. "Big Sis Nami plans to take down Arlong and collect his 20 million berry bounty! She may already be inside his compound as we speak!"

Luffy yawned, seeming to be ignoring his story. "Well, let's have some food now."

"Yeah," Sanji stood. Yosaku freaked.

"Don't worry about getting me food, Sanji." I leaned back. "I already ate."

"Yes, Mira-san!"

Yosaku stood. "Don't tell me you guys have never heard of Arlong!"

"Arlong?" Sanji questioned. "Who's that?"

"Never heard of him." Luffy said bluntly.

Yosaku's head was very jerky as he turned to face me. "Big Sis Mira..."

I shrugged. "Sorry. This is the longest I've been off my island, so I don't know the people of the vast waters."

Yosaku seemed defeated. I quickly covered my ears when a high whistle rang out. "Gah! I'm gonna go deaf!"

"Alright! Listen up!" Determination filled his expression. "I'll just have to fill you in about everything!" He closed his eyes and began pacing. "Arlong is a fishman who used to rampage throughout the Grande Line."

"Fishman?" Sanji questioned.

"A fishman, huh?" Luffy seemed slightly intruiged. "I haven't met one yet."

"A fishman..." I began to imagine a platter of a fish acting like a man. It was steaming hot and had mounds of butter on it. "Mmm... Sounds tasty!"

Sanji sat down and hearts appeared in his eyes along with little heart-shaped clouds coming from his lit cigarette. "Say, I hear the mermaid on Fishman Island in the Grande Line are absolutely beautiful!"

Luffy scribbled something down on paper. "Are Fishmen... Like this?" He held up the paper and I burst out laughing at how terrible of an artist he is.

Sanji laughed too. "That's a master piece!" He said sarcastically.

"Can't you guys stay focused?!" Yosaku snappped. "Alright," He sat down again. "I'll explain from the beginning. The reason the Grande Line is called the Pirate's Graveyard in the first place is because of three powers that reign over it." He held up three fingers. "One of which is the Seven Warlords of the sea!"

"Seven Warlords?" Luffy asked curiously.

The three of us were now completely focused on Yosaku. "Simply put, they are government-authorized pirates."

"What?" Sanji interrupted. "Why would pirates need government approval?"

"By paying the government a cut of their loot they get from other pirates," Yosaku continued. "The Seven Warlords are allowed to exist! In other pirate's eyes, they are no more than 'Government Dogs'."

I stretched and sighed. "Well, I hate dogs, so I hate them!"

"But they're strong!" He tried to get me to understand. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and images of pirates slaughtering one another filled my mind. "Even Hawk-Eye Mihawk, the guy who beat Zoro, is a Warlord!"

I instantly sat up. "Whoa, hold up. Zoro was beaten?! When did this happen?!"

"Back at the restaurant!" Yosaku answered. "Mihawk used his huge sword and sliced open Zoro's chest! It almost killed him!"

I huffed and crossed my arms. "You're dead one time and you miss so much..." I grumbled. "I coulda taken that guy for hurting him..."

"No, Big Sis Mira!" Yosaku protested. "He's too powerful for you to take on! You'll die!"

"I don't care!" I leaped to my feet. "He hurt Zoro! He deserves to die."

"Why do you care so much?" Sanji asked. "I'm right here and I was almost defeated!" He whined.

"B-because..." I thought of a quick reason. "Because Zoro is my nakama and he was the first person I knew who didn't know about me being a Neko."

"So," Yosaku drew our attention back to him and I was glad to be out of the spot light. "One of the Warlords is Jimbei, a Fishman pirate boss. And the Fishman Arlong is a pirate right on par with him who used to commit atrocity after atrocity in the Grande Line!"

I glanced over at Luffy who was scribbling again. He held up his picture with a huge grin on his face. "Like this?"

"That's just your last picture standing up..." Sanji pointed out.

"Arlong has ruled over twenty towns since coming to the East Blue." Yosaku continued on. "His strength is far superior to Don Krieg's!"

"But why would Nami-san go to this guy by herself?" Sanji cut in.

"I told you," Yosaku faced him. "She's after the bounty on his head!"

"No," Sanji said in a low, love-stricken tone. "Who knows? Maybe Nami-san is a mermaid... Especially given how lovely she is!"

I glanced over at Luffy and snickered. "Like this?!" All he did was draw hair on his last drawing and wrote down Nami's name.

Sanji got right in his face. "I'll kill you!" I laughed at the two of them.

"Do you guys even get what I told you?!" Yosaku cut in.

"Yeah," Luffy answered. "There's a strange fishman. We get it!"

"No, you don't get it..." He slumped back down into his seat. "You don't know how strong fishmen are."

"We'll find out when we get there." Luffy assured. "Quit worrying." I rolled my eyes.

"Anyways," Sanji stood up. "Let's have some food."

"Yeah! Food!" And there went all the information about fishmen... His head was now empty and was only thinking of food.

"Eh? Food?" Yosaku looked up.

"What do you want?" Sanji rolled up his sleeves.

I rushed to the edge of the boat and caught four flying fish. "What can you do with these?"

"Anything!" He cooed and took them by the tails.

"Meat things with bones in it!" Luffy shouted.

Yosaku ran up beside Luffy. "I want sautéed bean sprouts!"

"Alright," Sanji walked toward the kitchen. "I'll get right on it." He grabbed a ladle and pan. "I'll be done in no time!" I heard him mutter something about my fish, meat, and bean sprouts.

"Having a cook is really great!" Luffy said with a huge smile.

"Y-yeah!" Yosaku agreed.

I pulled him aside and sat him down. "Unlike those two, I listened to what you said."

"Huh?" He seemed shocked. "Really?"

I nodded. "Because of me being on an island all my life, I don't know a lot of things. But these fishmen sound tough. I've heard tales about them and it makes me wonder what they could be like. I'll be careful as long as those two don't do anything stupid."

"Someone actually listened to me!" Yosaku cheered. "Yay! Yay! Someone listened to me!" I sweat dropped. I don't think he even heard what I said...

"Meat!" Luffy cried. "A jumbo serving of meat!"

Yoskau rushed over to be louder than Luffy. "And bean sprouts! Jumbo serving!" I just shook my head at the idiots. While those two bickered about which serving should be bigger, I stared out to sea. Being a Neko sure is a disadvantage. I never know when I could fall into the sea and no one will be there to save me. I need to learn how to swim, even if it does sound impossible.

Soon, it was just the sound of the waves and me. All other noise was blocked out as I stared off in the distance. My ears opened up to any other sound out beyond us. A seagull cawed some fifteen miles from us and a fish leaped out of the water about ten miles north.

"Be careful, Mira." A soothing, calm voice echoed in my mind. I jerked back to reality, frightened by the sudden voice in my mind. Who was that?! She sounded familiar... But I can't place my finger on it...

"That looks good!" Luffy cried.

"Lemme see! Lemme see!" I looked up to see Yosaku and Luffy fighting over who got the better view in the kitchen. Then I smelled it: The beautifull scent of flying fish. My stomach growled, ready for the food. I heard Sanji plating the food and soon, he came out of the kitchen and set up a table for us to sit at.

Luffy shoved a whole plate of rice into his mouth and swallowed it whole. I cut off a piece of my fish and put it to my lips. So good! He made sure to keep its original flavor while adding his spices! He's a genius! A cooking genius!

My ear suddenly twitched behind me. Somthing's coming.

"You're great, Big Bro Sanji!" Yosaku complimented. "This is great seasoning!"

"I want to make dinner for Nami-san and Mira-chan more than I want to for you two." Sanji swirled wine in a cup then took a drink.

"I hope you get Big Sis Nami to join again!" Yosaku said to Luffy. I tuned them out completely and listened to what was coming for us. It sounded huge and monsterous. What could it be? It sounded ten times bigger than the ship.

The boat started to shake and I looked up to see Yosaku chasing Luffy for a piece of meat. While he was distracted, I took his fish. "Quit rocking the damn boat!" Sanji shouted as he tried to pour himself some more wine. "You're gonna make me spill this fine alcohol!"

"Eh..." I glanced over the side of the ship and stiffened. That's a huge monster!

~~~

***No one's point of view***

"Be careful, Mira." A woman said as she transfered her warning to Mira.

"Kira," Her companion sighed. "Do you remember what we talked about thirteen years ago? No contact with Mira except to heal her."

Kira sighed. "I know, Josten. But Mira is about to face one of your biggest enemies. It's your fault he came to Cocoyashi Village in the first place. If you hadn't antagonized him, he wouldn't have followed us."

Josten looked out the window to the snowy landscape. "He insulted me. That stupid fishman deserved it."

Kira sighed. "If Mira dies again, it will be all your fault. I'll heal her and tell her everything."

Josten jerked at her words. "You wouldn't." He glared at her.

"I would." Kira met his glare evenly and didn't back down.

Josten leaped to his feet. "We promised, Kira. We promised not to have any contact with Mira until she found us. We did this because she is our daughter and we didn't want this to hurt her if we stayed. It was out of love we saved her from all this hurt!"

Thunder rumbled outside. "Look at what she's gone through already!" Kira shouted as lightening flashed outside. "She's come close to dieing so many times and she's already died once! Not to mention that she's been whipped by the Marines at the island! This is not what we wanted!"

"But she would have gone through worse if we stayed!" Josten fought back.

"How do you know that?!" The ground began to shake. "You can't see the future! You can't be certain that it would have happened that way! You aren't an Oracle!"

Josten bared his fangs. "I knew in my heart that if we stayed, she would have gone through more hell than she has now!"

Kira shouted in frustration and shrugged into her coat. "Where are you going?!" Josten shouted at her.

"I'm heading out!" She responded. "I won't be back until I know you have calmed down!" Kira stormed out of the little hut and put a protective ward over it so it looked the same, even if Josten tried to destroy the place. It also keeps him from getting outside on a rampage.

Kira trudged through the snow storm. She knew she was the cause of the intensity of it. She swore to herself.

She can't help that she's a witch.

A long, angry sounding howl pierced the almost silent air.

~~~

Mira

I clung onto the railing as we sailed through the water at a break neck pace. "This has to be the best idea you've ever had, Luffy!" I shouted as we flew into the air then landed back in the water. Luffy had suggested we tie ropes to the horns, since the thing was a cow monster. Now, we were riding him like we would a jet ski. It was so much fun! Well, to Luffy, Sanji, and I, but Yosaku didn't know how to handle it.

"We should be there at any second now!" Luffy cried. "Faster, cow! Faster!" I looked to the monster. He had two lumps on his head from when Sanji and Luffy hit him. Luffy because he was protecting his meat and Sanji because he claimed the monster was gonna take off his arm when offered food. The poor guy... Though he does look pretty tasty...

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A/N: Ok, yes, it's short, but I'm saving up my energy for the encounter with Arlong. I'm sick, but I'll be working on the next chapter as soon as I'm better. I blame my friend! I think she has strep.

Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it!

-M12