28~ We're Inside A Whale... Great...

Mira

A long, loud groaning sound came from this oddly shaped thing in the water some far distance from us. I stared in shock, not sure what it was.

"Did you guys hear that?" Zoro asked beside me.

"Yeah!" I shouted over the winds. "It's coming from that thing!" I pointed at it.

"Mira, I can't see through all the clouds and mist!" He came back with as he squinted his eyes to see what I was seeing.

"It might just be weird landforms!" Nami suggested.

"I don't know..." I stared harder at the large mass. "I don't think landforms sound like a dying animal and are supposed to be in the middle of the water!"

"You're just seeing things," Zoro said beside me as he wrapped his arm around me. "There's nothing to worry about!"

"Nami-san!" Sanji yelled down from above. "I see a mountain ahead!"

"A mountain?!" She called back to him. "That's not possible!"

"Told you I wasn't seeing things!" I said over my shoulder to her. "And you didn't believe me." I poked Zoro's stomach, to which he grumbled in return.

"It's really there!" Sanji said back to Nami. "Mira isn't seeing things! There really is something ahead of us! I'm a little shocked she saw it first!"

"Who cares!" Luffy laughed. "Go! Don't stop!"

"After passing the Twin Capes, there should be nothing but open ocean!" Nami's voice quivered a bit.

"Well, there's definitely something there!" I stated once more. The mist suddenly cleared up and all of our mouths fell open.

"Oh crap!!" We all screamed in unison.

"It's not a mountain!" Sanji cried out as he clung onto the rope ladder.

"It's a black wall!!" Luffy said in a panic as he held his hat down tighter.

"No it's not!" Nami's whole body shook when she spoke.

"Then what is it?!" Sanji nearly lost his grip. Zoro and I took a few steps back, trying to put distance between us and the railing.

"I-I-I-it's a whale!" Usopp ran around in circles in the bird's nest.

"Ah, shit!" I dug my nails into Zoro's arms. "We're gonna be crushed into a million pieces! We're coming in too fast!" I screamed just as the whale let out another ear splitting cry. The whole ship quaked as the nearly visible sound waves bashed against it.

"What're we gonna do?!" Usopp began to panic even more as tears streamed down his eyes.

"Shall we fight?" Luffy, are you freaking serious right now?!

"Idiot!" We all shouted at him. "There's no way we can fight that!" Nami added.

"B-b-b-but our path is blocked!" Usopp stammered. "What're we gonna do?!"

"Hold on!" I focused to Sanji. "If it looks like a wall from this close, then where are it's eyes?!"

"You're right!!" I looked back to the whale. "This thing must be so huge, we can only see one side of it!"

"Sanji, Mira, you guys might be on to something!" Nami glanced between the two of us. "It's possible that it might not have noticed us!"

"But unless we do something, we'll run into it!" Zoro interjected. His eyes suddenly widened a bit and looked up to Usopp. "Oi! We can go through on the left! Port! Hard to port!"

Usopp quickly scampered down from his perch. A few seconds later he screamed. "But the rudder is broken!"

"Do something about it!" Zoro suddenly took off and leaped over the railing onto the main part of the deck. "I'll see if I can help!"

"I-I'm coming with!" I followed after Zoro. We reached the front of the ship. "What're we gonna do from here?"

"I don't know..." His eyes narrowed. "But we better think fast!"

"I've got an idea!" Oh, Luffy, please don't be something stupid! I turned back to see him run inside for something.

"While he does that, I'll go see if I can move the rudder." Zoro placed a hand on my shoulder. "Yell if we start moving!"

"Right!" I gripped the railing and listened as his feet pounded behind me.

After a few seconds, I felt the ship twitch to the left just slightly. "Keep going!" I shouted in Zoro's direction.

"We're trying!" Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp's voices rang out at once. "It's hard to move when there's barely anything to grab on to!"

"Guys, we're getting super close!" I nearly fell backwards as I tried to look at the whale in its entirety. I could literally count all its teeth on the right side of its mouth.

If this ship doesn't move, we're so dead and I don't think my Neko blood could save me from this. Well, if I do die, at least I know it wasn't in vain. I got to experience the world, make friends who accepted me for who I am, and... and I got to fall in love.

I could hear the guys shouting at each other as they struggled to get the ship to move. I simply closed my eyes and bowed my head. Even if I tried to freeze time, there would be no way that we could all move the ship and get it out of the path of the whale.

A hand suddenly grabbed mine. "Mira," I looked up to see Nami with wide, horror filled eyes. "Is... is this it?"

I gripped her hand tighter. "If it is, I'm glad I got to sail with you."

A ghost of a smile graced her lips. "Yeah..." Suddenly, the whole ship lurched with the sound of a large explosion. Nami and I lost our balance and fell over. Had I not been holding onto the railing, we both would have fallen into the raging waters below us.

With the shot and us being so close to the whale, the ship seemed to back up a bit and lose its momentum.

The whole ship was silent as we slowly drifted forward.

Then it registered what had just happened. "Did someone just launch the cannon?!"

"Alright!" My blood ran cold. "Did it stop?" Luffy shot the cannon...

The ship drifted right up the whale and bumped into it. I watched as Luffy's perch got knocked off its place. The head spun right for Nami.

"Look out!" I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way.

"We're screwed..." Nami barely whispered as the head of Luffy's perch bounced off the deck and rolled over on its side.

"My special seat!" Luffy screamed.

The hairs on the back of my neck raised as the whale seemed to take a deep breath. Nami and I flinched and clung to each other, sweat and water rolling off our bodies. Up close, the whale was intimidating, especially with the scars that covered where its mouth would be. The rest of it was shrouded in shadows as the sun beat down on its other side.

"Let's get out of here before it's too late!" Zoro suddenly shouted. Zoro came up with oars for the boat and the guys began to paddle.

"What the heck is going on?!" Usopp asked, his voice cracking.

"Did he not notice the cannon shot because he's so big?" Sanji grunted and he paddled with all his might to get the ship to move port side. "Or is he just slow?"

"I seriously hope that's the case..." I whimpered. "A Neko isn't supposed to become food for the fishes, and I don't feel like eating something like him..."

"Let's just get out of here now!" Zoro cut in as the ship made it around the whale. Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp paddled with all their might to get away from the whale as fast as we possibly could. I just hope the whale doesn't notice us.

Suddenly, the whale opened its giant mouth and seemed to emit a sound that almost seemed like it was saying "Ow" in a very long, drawn out tone. I covered my ears and grimace from how loud and close the sound was.

"I'm gonna go deaf from this!" I shouted, even though I knew no one could hear me.

The whale's sound rocked the waves and shook the ship, throwing off everyone's balance. We didn't dare uncover our ears, but we didn't want to fall into the water either. I looked up to see Sanji's mouth moving, but I couldn't hear anything but the whale's cry. Despite that, the guys continued to paddle.

Just as we reached his eye, the whale stopped calling out. Nami and I slowly came out of our crouch and came face-to-eye with the water beast.

I gulped and stayed perfectly still.

"Luffy...?" I slowly lifted my head at Nami's voice.

Luffy stood on the deck, staring directly at the whale. "You..." His fists clenched. "What the hell did you do to my special seat?!" I swear my soul left my body when he swung his arm back and punched the whale directly in it's eye.

This is it... We're dead...

"Dumbass!" Everyone, excluding myself, shouted directly at Luffy. I couldn't speak and my legs shook worse than Usopp's when he was scared.

Luffy's arm snapped back. The air was stiff as we waited for something to happen. The eye suddenly focused on us and we all flinched.

But dumbass Luffy stood his ground. "How was that?! Bring it on, you bastard!" He raised his fists to make himself seem bigger and more threatening. All this for his little perch... We could have just avoided this and repaired his seat had we just calmly paddled on by.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Usopp and Zoro kicked Luffy's head and knocked him to the ground.

The whale made an "Oooohhh..." type of noise. We all froze exactly where we were, hoping he would just ignore us.

He suddenly opened his mouth as wide as possible. "OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!"

The ship lurched and we began to drift towards his open mouth. "Oh my god!" I screamed and clutched my hair. "He's gonna eat us!" Terror exploded on the ship as we all screamed and tried anything we could to avoid the black pit of its throat.

"Whoa, whoa! AAHH!"

"Luffy!" Nami and Zoro cried. I looked up just in time to see Luffy's feet disappear over the edge of the ship.

"NO!" Tears instantly sprang to my eyes. "LUFFY!" I screamed again as the whale tipped his head up and we began to spiral down the whirlpool leading down the throat.

"I don't wanna die I don't wanna die!" Strong arms suddenly wrapped around me and I clung to the familiar feel. I shut my eyes just as the whale shut its mouth, the light from the sun vanishing. Farther down we went into the abyss, saying our last goodbyes to everyone.

Two fingers lifted my chin and strong lips pressed against mine. My breath hitched into my throat, but I soon accepted and gave in, allowing my lips to move against theirs. A single tear ran down my cheek. This was the last time I was ever going to kiss him.

I just wish it had been on other terms...

~~~~~~~~~

A harsh light suddenly shone down, warming my skin. Is... is this death?

"So... what do you think?" A soft voice asked.

"What do I think?" Another voice answered back, equally soft, but a deeper tone.

I slowly pulled away from the one holding me. Zoro wasn't looking my direction. "How should I think...?" His chest rumbled as he spoke.

I glanced around slowly, taking everything in. Blue sky... Birds... Water... The ship, my crew mates... It's all here, as if we'd never been eaten.

"H-h-h-h-h-how...." Usopp could hardly speak.

"I was sure that we had been swallowed by that whale." Sanji held his head and stood.

Zoro helped me to my feet and held me steady. "Was..." I swallowed to wet my throat. "Did... we just imagine it?"

"It seemed all too real..." Zoro held me tighter. "Wait, was that house always there on that tiny island?" He all followed his gaze to see what he saw. There it sat, a house probably no bigger than a front room in an average home.

"Is this a dream?" Usopp asked more to himself.

"Yeah," Zoro replied anyway. "It's probably a dream."

"A dream that we're all in at the exact same time?" I questioned him. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"If it is a dream..." Nami took a step forward. "Then why are we all here, as Mira had asked, and why is this house here?"

"Must be illusions." Sanji guessed. Suddenly, the water began to bubble. My mouth popped open as a squid of unimaginable size broke through the surface of the water.

"Then... this is..." Nami barely whispered. "A Great King Squid!" Nami and Usopp quickly ran off. Zoro gently set me down then readied his sword, preparing to protect the ship with Sanji.

Before they could even move, three harpoons shot through the squids head, killing it instantly. It fell back with a tremendous splash. After the shower of water subsided, I could see a silhouette of a man in the doorway of the tiny house.

Zoro grinned. "Looks like there's at least someone here."

"I hope it's really a person." Sanji added.

"I've had enough..." Nami whimpered and sniffed from behind me. "I wanna go home..."

"As much as I hate to say it, so do I..." I wiped my eyes and sat up a bit. "We just barely made it into the Grande Line and we almost got killed within the first two minutes."

"Luffy went somewhere, too." Usopp held back a sob. "What's gonna happen to us?"

"Come to think of it, where's Luffy?!" Nami asked aloud.

"He fell off the side of the ship," I replied. "Who knows what's happened to him?!"

"He fell into the water?!" Nami slumped against the deck. "There's no hope for him now..."

Usopp suddenly leaped to his feet. "Theres' someone at the door! Should we fire the cannon at that island?!"

"No, hold on a second," Sanji stopped Usopp in his tracks. I rose shakily to my feet and clung onto the railing like my life depended on it. "Someone's coming out, and I think it's a person."

The person in question bent down in the shadows and grabbed the ropes and began pulling the squid in. He stopped when it was close to the island and slowly stepped into the light, the sun glinting off his glasses.

My eyes widened at his appearance. He was a big man in a dark pink, over-sized shirt with various other colors on the underside of the shirt. He wore khaki shorts and green flip-flops. On top of his scraggly white hair was what seemed like yellow and purple petals from a flower.

"It's a flower!" Sanji exclaimed.

"A flower?" Zoro tipped his head a bit in confusion.

"First a whale the size of a mountain, then the squid, and now a flower man?" I bit my lower lip. "What's next? A seagull that can speak twenty-seven languages and can dance the Hora?"

"Oh, never mind." Sanji continued to stare. "It's a person."

"My statement still stands." My lower lip jutted out a bit in a pout.

"What is he?" Usopp asked quietly.

"That old man killed a King Squid with his harpoons..." Nami said. "He can't be human."

"Was he fishing?" Sanji messed with his cigarette. "Or did he do it to save us?"

We all watched intently as the old man stood upright and kept perfect eye contact as he slowly walked across his small island. The tension was thick in the air as he locked eyes with each one of us. He hesitated slightly when he saw me, but continued on after he blinked.

With that blink, he sat down in a lounge chair and picked up the paper, ignoring us.

"Say something, you jerk!" Sanji broke the silence with his shout. The man slowly looked back up to us.

"If you wanna fight, we'll fight you, you bastard!" Usopp stated from the other side of the ship. "We've got cannons!"

I gave him a deadpan expression. "Says the guy who can't keep his body from shaking with fear." I focused back to the man in time to see him lock gazes with us once more, his glare intense and cold. I flinched back a bit when he stared at me just a little longer than the others.

"You'd better not, or someone will die." The man finally spoke, his voice hoarse and gruff. Nami and Usopp squealed in fear as both Sanji and Zoro readied for a fight.

"Oh?" Sanji said in a challenging tone. "And who're you saying will die?"

"Me." The old man said bluntly.

"You?!" Sanji lost the cool guy act. "Why you..."

Zoro placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, calm down."

"He's mocking us..." Sanji growled. "That bastard."

Zoro pulled Sanji out of the way and smiled toward the man. "Old man, tell us where we are and who you are." A cold chill ran up my spine as he turned his icy glare back on us.

"When asking someone a question, isn't it proper manner to give your name first?" The man replied calmly.

"Huh? Oh, us, right. Sorry." Zoro tried to hold his smile in place. "My name it Roronoa-"

"My name is Crocus." The old man suddenly interrupted Zoro. "I am the lighthouse keeper of the Twin Capes. I'm seventy-one years old and a Gemini."

"Can I cut him?!" Zoro whisper yelled to Sanji as his hands fought to not pull his katanas out.

"Now, calm down," Sanji tried to reason.

"My blood type is AB," The old man rambled on about things.

"Mr. Crocus," He fell silent and looked to me. "Hello, my name is Mira. Would you mind telling us where we are?"

"You're asking where we are?" He answered my question with his own. "How dare you run your mouth when you barged into my private resort?"

"Uh..." I gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, uh, you see... we didn't necessarily barge in on you. See, last thing I remember was getting swallowed by a whale and-"

"Does it look like we're in a rat's belly?" He spoke over me.

"W-well, uh, no sir, but-"

Usopp cut me off this time. "So we were eaten by the whale..." We all looked back up to the "sky" to see the clouds not moving and the birds stationary "But is this really what it's like inside a whale's stomach?"

"Wait a sec!" Nami cried out in a panic. "What's gonna happen to us?! I don't wanna be digested!"

Oh god, he's doing it again; glaring at each of us. "Would you cut that out?!" We shouted in unison.

"Haven't you guys heard of the 'repeating gag'?" Crocus asked calmly as he went back to reading the paper. So this is all a game to him?

I shook my head. "Is there a way out of here, Mr. Crocus?"

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "The exit is over there." He pointed. I looked in the direction indicated and found a door resting on the edge of the water against the fake sky. Has that always been there?

"Hold on," Nami paused for a moment. "Why is there an exit in a whale's belly?"

"Nami, look at it carefully." Usopp looked at the "sky" and pointed to it. "The clouds, the birds, they're all painted!"

"Call it a doctor's creative mind." Crocus said casually.

"Why are you even here?!"

"Leave him alone," Zoro pulled Usopp away from the man. "Well, there's an exit. Let's get out of here quickly."

My stomach started to churn. "Please tell me that's not the exit I think it is..." Suddenly, the whole area shook violently, throwing us all off guard. The stomach acid ocean swayed and churned, sending tall waves up and over us.

"What's going on?!" Zoro launched himself at me and held us against a railing.

"It's started..." I barely heard Crocus over the commotion.

"Wait, look!" Nami pointed to the island. "That's not an island! It's a ship! On top of that, it's made of iron!"

"Of course!" Usopp said in awe. "That's 'cause the sea is made of gastric acid!"

"I guess that means wooden ships would melt if they stayed here long," Sanji pointed out.

"Never mind all that!" I cut in. "Why is the whole sea moving?!"

"Oh, right!" Usopp leaned over the railing. "Oi! What started?! Tell us!"

Crocus looked to the "sky". "This whale has... Laboon has started hitting his head against the Red Line."

"What does that mean?!" I called out. "How does one hit their head against the Red Line?!"

"Come to think of it, this whale has strange scars on its head." Nami said softly. "He was also howling at the sky."

"Does he intend to break the Twin Capes?" I asked Crocus. "He's insane! He's only hurting himself!"

"He's suffering!" A cry reverberated through the whale as a large bang followed soon after.

"The old man must be trying to kill the whale from the inside!" Usopp whispered to us.

"Likely, but why?" Nami asked.

"What a vicious way to kill it." Usopp ground his teeth together.

"That doesn't seem like something he would do, though..." I said to myself as I watched Crocus walk to get something from the house.

"Now that the mystery has been solved, it's time to hurry and get out!" Zoro called over to Nami to get her attention. "If we take our time here, we'll be digested."

"We have nothing to say about his whale hunting." Sanji pointed out as he walked towards us. "We're also not under obligation to save the whale. Let's get out of here."

I grabbed a paddle to help the guys. "Alright, let's go!" The second the four of us put the oars in the water, we almost lost them.

"Ah!" Usopp cried as he shook some of the stomach acid off his hand. "Damnit! With the waves surging like this, I don't even know if we can reach the doors!"

"We have no other choice!" Zoro stuck his oar back in and grunted. "Get the oars and paddle!"

"We gotta leave now!" Nami urged us as we tried to maneuver through the water. "I'm worried about Luffy! We may still have a chance to save him!"

"He's outside!" Zoro called to her. "I saw him outside the mouth!"

"So there's a chance he found land?!" I grunted as I paddled as hard as I could.

"Most likely, but it's a slim chance!"

I nodded. "That's all I needed to hear." I groaned as I swung my paddle harder through the waves, urging to go faster.

"The old man just jumped in!" Nami called down to us.

I stopped mid-swing. "Are you kidding me?! I'm not going in after him!"

"What's he gonna do?" Zoro asked. "He's gonna be digested."

"We can't help him now." I sighed to myself. "Stomach acid is potent stuff. We'll be turned to goo before we can even try to get to him."

"Right..." Nami agreed.

"Oi!" We looked to Usopp. "The geezer just came out!"

I watched in disbelief as I saw him come out of the water and climb a metal ladder. "He must be used to this stuff... There's no way a normal person could have survived this."

"Never mind that now," Zoro stated. "We've gotta focus on the main issue right now. How do we get these doors to open?"

Just then, the doors that sat above the metal ladder Crocus was climbing flew open and three figures flew out, one screaming voice sounding very familiar. "Luffy?"

"Hey! Everyone's okay!" Luffy cried happily. "In any case, help me!" They splashed into the water a short distance beside us.

We stared over the edge of the ship. "Aside from Luffy, there's two weirdos." Usopp propped his head up on his hands.

"Isn't that the norm by now?" I asked with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Hey, the old man disappeared." Nami called to us.

Zoro scoffed. "Don't bother! We gotta focus on saving Luffy! This may be stomach acid, but it's still water! He'll sink!"

"On it." I placed my hand on Zoro and closed my eyes. Soon everything became very still.

"Mira?"

"Don't worry about me." I cut him off. "I'll try and hold this for as long as I can. Get in there and save our captain!"

"R-right!" He leaped over the edge and landed on the water. "So cool..." He quickly shook his head and slipped into the water. Within a short while, Zoro resurfaced with our captain in tow. Just as Zoro got back onto the ship, time restarted.

"Is he okay?" I asked as Luffy was laid on the deck.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." He raised his fist and hit Luffy square in his chest. Water instantly shot from Luffy's mouth.

"Zoro!" He coughed. "Why'd you do that?! That hurt!"

"Well you're breathing again." Zoro shrugged. "I don't see the issue."

"It still hurt!" Luffy pouted as he rubbed his chest.

"Hey, you guys feel that?" We looked over to Nami. "It calmed down! The whale is quiet now."

"Seems like it." Zoro stood and tossed a rope over the side. The two people who had fallen in with Luffy climbed the rope. Zoro took them by their arms and sat them before us for questioning. "We did save you guys for the time being, but who are you?"

I studied the two. The woman was in a purple swirled top and short tan shorts. Her long blue hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Despite it being warm out, she had a long light green overcoat draped over her.

The guy, on the other hand, was in a formal dark green suit, now practically ruined from the water. He wore a golden crown and had the number 9 on both his cheeks. These two really are weird looking.

"Mr. 9, they're pirates..." The woman shied away from the hearts coming off Sanji.

"I-I know, Miss. Wednesday..." The guy stammered. "But if we talk to them, they'll understand, perhaps."

"Those are interesting names." I pointed out.

The two flinched. "H-how did you hear us?!"

I wiggled my ears. "Being a Neko gives me an advantage."

"A Neko!" The woman gasped. "No way!"

"You thugs are still around?!" I followed the voice and saw Crocus standing on a platform. "Don't make me say this again! I won't let you lay a finger on Laboon so long as I live!"

"He's back," Usopp said softly.

Luffy turned to Usopp. "Who's that pops?"

Before we could answer, the woman we pulled from the water chuckled. "Even if you say so, we can't leave!"

"Taking down this whale is our mission!" The two stood. "We won't let you interfere with our whale hunting this time! We'll open an air vent in this stomach! Let's go, Baby!"

"Holy crap! Where were they hiding those guns?!" I quickly pulled my katana to try and stop them from shooting the whale or Crocus. Before I could even move, they shot cannon balls out of their mini cannons, aiming right for Crocus.

"Look out!" I reached after them, hoping they would stop. Does my time freezing only work when I'm touching someone? Does it not work on individual items?

I gasped in horror as Crocus dove off the platform and caught the cannons with his body. They exploded on contact and he fell into the water hard. "Mr. Crocus!"

"He protected the whale!" Sanji said in disbelief.

A shiver ran up my spine at the horrible laugh coming from the woman. It set my teeth on edge and the only thing I wanted to do was make her stop talking. "Stop this pointless resistance!"

"If you want to protect the whale that badly, go right ahead!" The guy chimed in. "We'll turn it into food for our town!" Then he joined in with his own obnoxious laugh. How can people be so horrible?! I swear, when I get my hands on them, they're gonna pay!

I took a step forward to slash at them with my katana, but a hand held me back. I glared up at Zoro, who simply gestured for me to watch.

A shadow cast over the two weirdos and they stopped laughing. Within two seconds, Luffy cracked their heads together with a swift punch, instantly knocking them out.

"Luffy...?" We had no idea what to say.

"I just..." Luffy straightened his posture. "I just felt like hitting them." Well, there's a valid reason.

I looked back to Crocus floating in the water. "Hey, we should probably get him out of there."

"Right," Zoro tossed him a rope and pulled him to the ship. Instead of climbing the rope, he went to his own little ship island.

"Thank you for saving me, but why?" He asked once he got situated.

"I wasn't trying to save you," Luffy stated. "I just didn't like them for some reason."

"Say," Crocus looked to Nami. "Who are those guys?" As the two of them talked, my attention became divided as Luffy tried to climb the palm tree on Crocus' island. I tilted my head in confusion. Surely there isn't real food growing in here.

"They're after whale meat," Wait, I missed something. The guys we pulled from the water want the whale meat? Doesn't hardly look like there's any meat on the whale. Just what Crocus has done to keep the whale from hurting itself.

"If they capture Laboon," He continued. "It can feed the townspeople for two to three years."

"Holy crap..." I looked around again. "Three years of meat..."

"Precisely." Crocus nodded. "I can't let them take Laboon."

I smiled. "You're a good man to Laboon. What kind of whale is he?"

"He's what's called the Island Whale, the worlds largest whale." Crocus sighed to himself. "They only live in the West Blue. I won't let them have him as food."

"There's a reason he keeps hitting his head on the Red Line," He looked to the sky. "There's a reason he keeps howling at Reverse Mountain. He's a whale with a human heart. He's been devoutly waiting for a certain pirate group. He's been waiting... for fifty long years."

~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys! Sorry for the huge, long wait between chapters! Between school and work, it was nearly impossible to actually write anything, given how long it takes to go through a chapter and find nifty ways to add my character in.

Well, now that I'm out of school, I may have time to write more, but don't expect weekly uploads. I do need to spend time with family and my fiancée.

Without further ado, I present to you, the long anticipated chapter for Neko Pirate! I hope you enjoyed and can understand why it took so freaking long to upload.

-M12

ps, it is currently 3 am where I am... I'm getting over a nearly two week cold...