FIVE WHAT WAS I MADE FOR?

⚓️

KEELI STARED AT ZORO. Zoro stared at Keeli. No one dared to move. The tension was high in the deckhouse; the air had gotten so thick that you could cut it with a knife. They studied each other, analyzing each other's facial expressions for the tiniest sign. Keeli's eyes roamed Zoro's face — and then his left eye twitched, so slightly it was almost undetectable. But Keeli noticed it. Internally, Keeli smirked. Externally, she kept a stoic face.

"All in," Keeli said.

She pushed the rest of her Berry forward to the center of the table between them, her eyes remaining trained on Zoro, watching his reaction. And there it was. Panic. Just a quick flash. It was there for just a second before he reigned in his features and looked down into his cards. For a moment, he studied them. Then he looked back up, his eyes scanning Keeli's face, searching for something that Keeli knew wasn't there — and he realized that.

He sighed, defeated. "I fold," he grumbled as he put his cards down.

Yes!

Keeli jumped in her seat, a grin breaking out on her lips. She'd won — again. She looked down at the money in front of her — her money. Which had almost doubled. Now she could go on an excessive shopping trip. She could buy some new pants and shirts, stock up on nice clothes, now that she had the space to store them somewhere. (As practical as one satchel was to travel from place to place, it was not great when you loved clothes — three pants and three shirts didn't allow for much variation.) Maybe she'd get the chance the next time they went on shore. I could ask Nami if she wants to join me, Keeli thought, we could have a girls' day. Yeah. That sounded nice.

"You didn't bluff, did you?" Zoro asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Keeli put a hand over her heart in mock hurt. "I would never bluff."

Zoro crossed his arms as he leaned back in his seat. "Prove it."

Her lips formed a smug smile as she presented her cards: a full house. Zoro cursed under his breath.

"Don't beat yourself up," Keeli said, grinning. "I'm simply unbeatable."

"I'm broke now, y'know that?"

Keeli shrugged while she took the money and put it into the pouch dangling from her belt. "You didn't have to keep playing."

Zoro huffed but didn't disagree. At least he's not a sore loser, Keeli thought. Although it was obvious that he wasn't happy about losing all his money. Which Keeli could understand. But that didn't mean that she felt bad about it — that was the game after all. And, really, Zoro could've stopped playing when he realized that there was no way he could beat her. She was just too good — there was only one person who she couldn't beat at poker (or any other card game for that matter), and that was because he had been the one to teach her...

At the thought of him, Keeli's throat closed up, sadness and anger washing over her. No, no, don't think about him! she told herself, He abandoned you, don't waste your thoughts on him.

Keeli gathered the cards scattered on the table and stood up. "I'm gonna go outside."

She left the cabin to join Nami and Luffy on deck — and she almost stumbled over Luffy, who sat on the floor right in front of the door. But she managed to sidestep him at the last moment. "Goodness, Luffy," she huffed, but Luffy didn't even react, too focused on what he was doing. So, she let him be and went over to the railing, looking out at the horizon, at the vast blue sea stretched out in front of her. And instead of the usual melancholy and longing crashing down on her, she was engulfed by a wave of emotions she couldn't identify.

It was like a part of her still couldn't believe that she was here now, sailing the seas as part of a pirate crew — again. Sure, she'd been part of a pirate crew before, for eight years, but that wasn't by choice. It hadn't been... real. Keeli had never been a real part of the Cobra Pirates. They had kidnapped her when she was seven years old and had forced her to work on the ship — she had simply made the best of a terrible situation.

Still, her time with the Cobra Pirates had made her fall in love with the sea, with the world, because it had shown her the wonderful things it had to offer. Before she was kidnapped, her village had been all she knew — she had her own little bubble, and she hadn't bothered to imagine what was outside of it. But as a pirate, she'd gotten the opportunity to see islands she'd never even heard of before, to visit towns so colorful and full of life that it was overwhelming.

... Only to watch them being destroyed by Captain Krait. He'd raided them, stolen everything of value, not caring about who he hurt in the process as long as he got what he wanted.

And Keeli hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Not until that day, anyway.

Now Keeli was here, on a ship, with a new crew, and a captain that was the complete opposite of Captain Krait. And she didn't know how to feel. There was still a part of her that believed she didn't belong here; she was a Banished One, she shouldn't be part of a pirate crew. But Luffy didn't care about her past, didn't care about what she'd done to betray her former crew. He had simply decided that he wanted her on his crew. Keeli should be happy — and she had been when they had set sail in Orange Town. But now...

She sighed, looking at the deck of cards in her hand. Maybe she'd simply forgotten how to be truly happy. Maybe she simply had to relearn it.

"Hey, Keeli," Nami said, and Keeli turned toward her. Nami sat at the front of the deck, wearing her glasses, and studying the map to the Grand Line. Keeli walked over to her and Nami looked up from the map on her lap, her brows furrowed. "Have you seen this before?" She pointed to something on the map, and Keeli followed her finger: at the entrance to the Grand Line, there was a river, and... a mountain...? Keeli frowned. "It looks like the river is going up the mountain, it doesn't make any sense," Nami said.

"No," Keeli said, starting to play around with the cards in her hands. "I've never seen that before. But... a river going up a mountain? That's impossible."

Nami looked back down at the map. "Yeah..."

Keeli sat down on a crate next to Nami, focusing on the shuffling of the cards. She moved them around in smooth motions, twisting them, restacking them, performing artistic cuts, all without dropping a single card. Shuffling the cards like this helped the dexterity and agility of her fingers, which were useful for sleight of hand and pickpocketing. She'd lost most of her strength, of her skill, because of the acid that had been poured over her arms — it had been four years since, but the wounds had taken long to heal. And Keeli had not yet regained all her strength. There were still times when her arms and hands were stiff and clumsy and weak.

"Where'd you learn that?"

Keeli looked at Nami, her hands freezing mid-movement. "Oh, um—" Her heart clenched as memories resurfaced. Memories of a man with shaggy black hair, black-rimmed eyes, but a friendly face, and a smile that had once made her feel safe, at home. She shook herself out of it and continued shuffling the cards. "Someone—" She cleared her throat. "Someone taught me a long time ago. He showed me how to play — and win — poker and other card games, how to do magic tricks, and how to shuffle them in a way that looks cool." Keeli leaned forward a little, a conspiratory smile appearing on her lips. "It also makes you better at pickpocketing."

Nami raised an eyebrow, intrigued, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Luffy cut her off: "Did you say magic tricks?"

He jumped up from the floor and rushed over to the two girls, grinning from ear to ear.

Keeli chuckled. "Mm-hmm. Wanna see one?"

Luffy's eyes widened. "Uh — yeah!"

"Alrighty," Keeli said, smirking, already knowing which trick she would show him and Nami, who put the map aside to watch as well. Keeli stood up. "First, I'm gonna shuffle the cards." She shuffled the cards, making the movements more exaggerated than they had to be (all for the show). Then she saw Nami's skeptical face, though, so she held the stack of cards out for her to take. "You can shuffle them if you don't trust me." Nami hesitated for a moment before taking the cards and shuffling them as well. She handed them back to Keeli when she was satisfied.

"Now" — Keeli spread out the cards like a fan in her hands, the backs of the cards facing upward, and looked at Luffy — "pick a card."

Luffy glanced at the cards, then up at Keeli. "Any card?"

"Any card. But don't show it to me."

"Can I show Nami?"

"Sure."

"OK." He pulled out a card and studied it, then held it out for Nami to look at, covering it with his hand so Keeli wouldn't be able to see it no matter how hard she tried. (She didn't try at all.) Meanwhile, Keeli put the cards back into a normal stack.

"You guys memorize it?" Keeli asked.

Luffy gave a firm nod. "Yes."

"Good. Now put it back." She held out the stack of cards. "Anywhere," she added, as Luffy stared at the many cards. Then he slit the card back into the stack. Keeli gave him a grin, and, to cover up what she did next, she shuffled the cards around, twisting them, sliding them between her fingers, flipping them around a couple of times, all the while she pulled out Luffy's card, letting it disappear from sight without neither Luffy nor Nami noticing.

"Wow," Luffy commented, "You're good."

Keeli smiled.

"Alright. Now, using all of my magic, I will locate your card within the stack. Remember, I have no idea what your card is or where it is — you saw me shuffle them." Keeli gave a little flourish with the hand that didn't hold the cards. Luffy's eyes widened. Nami raised an eyebrow. Keeli's grin grew bigger — she'd bet it would rival Buggy's — and then flicked through the cards, pretending to concentrate very hard, and stopped at a random place. She pulled out the card and showed it to Luffy, a proud look on her face. "Is this your card?"

He pulled a face. "No."

Keeli mimicked his confusion and looked at the card herself: eight of spades. "OK, let's try this again." She pulled out another card and held it up. "What about this one?"

"No."

She pulled out another card, getting desperate. "This one?"

"No."

She sighed theatrically, letting her hands fall to her sides. "Hm... This is weird. I'm sorry, it usually works—" She stopped in her tracks, narrowing her eyes at Nami, studying the side of her face. "Wait a second." Nami sat up straighter, looking bewildered. Keeli reached forward, to Nami's ear, and flicked her fingers, the card appearing behind Nami's ear. Luffy gasped. Keeli made a dumbstruck face and showed the card to Luffy and Nami. "Might this be your card?"

Luffy's jaw dropped. "Yes! That is my card!"

Keeli looked at Nami, who couldn't hide her astonishment any longer. "Can you confirm, O Skeptical One?"

"Um, yeah. That's the card. Two of hearts."

"That was amazing!" Luffy exclaimed.

A grin lit up Keeli's face and she bowed dramatically.

"How did you do that?" Luffy asked.

Keeli shrugged, a mysterious smile appearing on her lips. "A magician never reveals his secrets."

Luffy's face dropped. "Oh, man."

"Where's the fun in knowing how a trick works?" Keeli said and winked at him. "It takes away the magic."

The disappointed look in Luffy's chocolate brown eyes disappeared and was replaced by the usual excited — and slightly insane — twinkle. And that made Keeli happy; she was glad that she could bring them joy with a simple card trick. After all, that was why she had learned them. She wanted to cheer people up with them because they had cheered her up when she was a prisoner on the ship of the Cobra Pirates. The difference was, though, that Keeli couldn't accept not knowing how a trick worked. She kept asking, kept pestering him until he taught her everything he knew.

At the memory of him, Keeli looked down at her shoe, her thoughts circling around the object she had hidden in it. Goodness, why couldn't she just let him go? She hated him, he'd betrayed her — and yet she couldn't erase him from her mind. Why?

"I have something to show you," Luffy said all of a sudden.

Keeli's head snapped back up, and she watched as he ran back to where had sat on the floor, picking up a black piece of fabric. "It's ready!" he yelled, excited, and unfolded the fabric, presenting — a pirate flag. It showed a misshapen white skull that was wearing a straw hat. Keeli tilted her head to the side and put her index finger to her lips, regarding the flag.

Nami raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "And what is it?"

"Our Jolly Roger," Luffy said, grinning. "Every pirate crew has to have one. And now we do!"

"We're not a crew, and you're not hanging that on my boat," Nami declared.

Keeli looked at her, an amused smile on her lips. Not a crew. Right. And yet they were still sailing together. Keeli suspected that Nami (and Zoro, too) just didn't want to admit that they wanted to be part of Luffy's crew. But they'd get there — sooner or later. (At least, Keeli hoped so.)

Zoro came out of the deckhouse.

"Zoro! Zoro! Check it out!" Luffy showed him the Jolly Roger.

Zoro eyed it for a moment. "That's unique." He leaned against the railing and looked at Nami. "Nami, I think the toilet's busted."

Nami blinked. "We don't have a toilet."

"Oh," Zoro said. "Well, then something back there's leaking."

"What?" Keeli and Nami exclaimed simultaneously. Nami jumped up and rushed inside the deckhouse, slamming the door shut behind her. Oh my goodness, Keeli thought, dragging her hands down her face. They hadn't even gotten far, and they were already about to sink. This was great. Just great. Nami came back out, fixing Zoro with an irritated look on her face, "We're taking in water, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Zoro said, crossing his arms.

"The way you're clanging those swords around all the time, you must've broken something."

Luffy and Keeli exchanged a glance.

"If you're such a good thief, maybe you should've stolen a better boat."

Keeli leaned over to Luffy, whispering, "I think you should step in, y'know, as Captain."

Luffy nodded. "Guys, guys, guys. OK, crew meeting."

"Not a crew!" Nami and Zoro said in unison — Nami sounded more emphatic than Zoro, though. Like she wanted to convince herself just as much as everyone else. Zoro seemed to have more or less accepted it and simply disagreed for the sake of his pride — or for the sake of disagreeing. Keeli didn't know which one. But either way, his heart wasn't behind his words.

Luffy ignored them both. "We're gonna need a better ship if we want to make it to the Grand Line. A real pirate ship — worthy of the Straw Hat Crew."

Keeli scrunched up her face, perplexed. Straw Hat Crew? That didn't sound very piratey.

"Wait," Nami said, "Straw Hat Crew? Really?"

"Yeah! I thought it had a nice ring to it," Luffy grinned.

Zoro scoffed. "'Demon' has a nice ring to it. Headgear? Not scary."

"Who says pirates have to be scary?"

That made all of them fall silent and stare at Luffy with equally dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Then Keeli thought, that's a good point. Pirates were scary because they did horrible things to innocent people. But Luffy wasn't like that. And Keeli wouldn't have said yes to being a part of his crew if he were. No, he was different. So, Keeli smiled. "I like the name," she said, which made Luffy beam at her.

"Seriously?" Zoro asked, regarding Keeli with an odd look.

Keeli nodded.

"The point is," Luffy said, "we need a new ship. So... Where do we get one?"

Nami picked up her thick leather-bound notebook, opening it to a page that showed a map of the part of the East Blue they were in right now. Keeli stood next to her and looked over her shoulder, noticing that the map was hand-drawn — and it looked impeccable. Nami had talent. No wonder she was such a good navigator. "Our closest bet is..." Nami started, scanning the map, "the Gecko Islands. We can probably make it there before our ship sinks. Ditch this one and get a better one."

Zoro nodded. "Good. With a working toilet."

"Great job, navigator," Luffy praised Nami.

Nami didn't react. She simply said, pointing to the Jolly Roger in Luffy's hand, "You're still not hanging that on my ship."

Keeli frowned. "Gecko Islands... I've been there before." Luffy, Nami, and Zoro turned toward her. "I was there a few months ago — not for very long, though. But someone told me that there's a village that is known for their shipbuilding. Uhhh..." Keeli snapped her fingers, trying to remember the name of the village. It was on the tip of her tongue— "Syrup Village. That's the place."

Nami looked back into her book of maps. "Then that's where we'll go."

"You've gotten around a lot," Zoro said.

Keeli shrugged nonchalantly. "Being on the run for four years does that."

⚓️

SYRUP VILLAGE WAS NOT AS EXCITING as Keeli had wished. Sure, she hadn't expected it to be a huge town with lots of stores and restaurants or whatever because it was, well, a village. But if you hear that a place is known for something (in this case shipbuilding), then you'd expect the place to be a little livelier too. Instead, the narrow dirt streets were almost empty except for a few people milling about. Keeli had actually wanted to do some shopping, but she guessed that wouldn't hap—

Keeli stopped in her tracks as she entered the shipyard — where a flea market had been set up.

Here, people bustled around — men, women, young, old —, working on building and repairing ships, selling things from behind market stalls, strolling from stall to stall, shopping. This was more like what Keeli had expected.

All hope wasn't lost yet.

A bright grin appeared on Keeli's lips as she turned to Nami at her side (Luffy and Zoro were still at the beach, getting rid of their boat). "Wanna go shopping?"

Nami, who was scanning the shipyard already, narrowed her eyes at Keeli. "We're not here for shopping, we're here to get a new ship."

"One doesn't exclude the other." One of Keeli's eyebrows quirked up as she gave Nami a challenging look. "And after beating Zoro at poker a couple times, I've got some money to spend."

Nami opened her mouth to disagree, but then closed it again, like a fish. "I can't argue with that."

Keeli clasped her hands together, happy. Then she grabbed Nami's hand and dragged her to the first stall, one that sold all kinds of bracelets and necklaces. Keeli was not a fan of bracelets because she was always scared it could get caught somewhere and then she'd be stuck and if someone was after her at that moment then she couldn't escape— Yeah. She was definitely overthinking this. Anyway. Nami seemed interested in the jewelry, though. She picked up a golden bangle and tried it on, checking if it would fit her wrist — it did.

"That looks great on you," Keeli said.

"Really?"

"Yes. Which is why I'll buy it for you."

Nami's eyes widened. "What? No, you don't have to—"

"I know I don't." Keeli winked and handed the salesman the money.

A bit taken aback, Nami thanked her.

Then, they went from stall to stall, checking out the goods they had to offer. Nami got herself a pink shirt with white edges, while Keeli bought a thin and shimmery dark red velvet coat that she instantly fell in love with and a new golden septum ring that looked like a sun — the one she wore now was a simple ring and she thought it looked a bit boring. This new one, though, was not boring. She also got two ocean-blue notebooks so she could write down everything she observed about the places they visited and the people and their culture and customs. (She still couldn't believe that she would finally get to follow her dream, to discover everything this world had to offer, to uncover all its secrets, to find all its treasures. She couldn't wait!)

And while the two girls talked and laughed and had fun, Keeli checked out the shipyard — and its security.

They wouldn't be able to afford a ship, none of them had that kind of money, which meant they had to steal one, and that meant that they had to know how tight the security around here was. And — as Keeli started to notice — it wasn't tight at all. It should be fairly easy to steal a ship. Sure, they would piss off the people here, but they couldn't really do much about it. Now they just had to choose a ship.

They both stood at a stall that sold bandanas (yes, bandanas, again — Keeli loved bandanas) and also necklaces and rings, when Luffy and Zoro finally joined them. "Hey! You got us a ship?" Luffy asked, putting his hands on his hips, an excited grin on his face.

Nami and Keeli exchanged a look before the former said, "Not yet. Did you push the sloop out to sea like I told you?"

"Yeah. No Marines are gonna be following us here."

Keeli nodded. "Good."

Zoro looked at the bag in Keeli's hand, the one in which her new coat and the notebooks were. "I thought you two were supposed to get us a ship, not go shopping," Zoro said, crossing his arms.

Keeli rolled her eyes, picking up an orange bandana. "Loosen up a little, sunshine." Keeli tilted her head, looking from the orange bandana in her hand to Zoro. "We should get matching bandanas."

"What?"

"The black one you wear" — she gestured to the black bandana tied around his biceps — "is boring. And orange would look nice on both of us. And, look! — it's even similar to Nami's." Keeli held the bandana up next to Nami's head to compare the two. They were very similar in color, the print was just different; while Nami's had yellow flowers on it, the one in Keeli's hand showed an intricate pattern of white lines.

Zoro gave her an unimpressed look, not relenting.

Keeli sighed theatrically. "OK, fine — no matching bandanas for us." She clicked her tongue. "You're no fun."

Luffy laughed.

Then Keeli noticed that Nami was distracted, staring at a necklace with a charm that looked like a tangerine. With her index finger, Nami softly touched the charm, a faraway look on her face. Keeli frowned. She knew that look. That longing. It was the look of wanting something that you couldn't have, that was out of reach. It was the look that had adorned Keeli's face every time she thought about the ocean and her dream of exploring the world before Luffy had found her.

Keeli lightly touched Nami's elbow. "Hey, you OK?"

Nami snapped out of her trance. "What—? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She forced a smile, but Keeli could see right through it. "Let's go find us a ship." With that Nami walked away, down a pier that led her deeper into the shipyard, Luffy and Zoro following right on her heels. But Keeli stayed where she was for a moment longer, looking down at the tangerine necklace. Something was weighing down on Nami, she could see that clear as day, and Keeli wanted to know what — she wanted to help her.

"Look at 'em all," Luffy said, admiring the ships surrounding them, as Keeli caught up with them.

"How much do these even cost?" Zoro asked as his gaze wandered over the various ships.

"If you have to ask, you can't afford it," Nami said.

Keeli slowly spun around, one of her hands holding onto the strap of her satchel, while she walked alongside Zoro, checking out the various ships and their accessibility. They should definitely choose a ship that was easy to steal, otherwise, they could get in trouble — lax security didn't mean they couldn't run into a multitude of problems.

"OK, so — we need to get one with a very very impressive figurehead," Luffy spoke, "At least two... No, no, three masts! And a really high crow's nest."

Keeli pulled a face while she listened to him — stealing a ship like that would be hard, mostly because to sail a ship like that, you needed a bigger crew.

"We are not gonna be able to sail a ship anywhere near that size. There's only four of us," Nami said, thinking the same thing as Keeli.

"Three of us right now," Luffy emphasized.

Nami chuckled. "Well, unless you can find another weird, desperate soul to help us."

"Speak for yourself," Zoro said.

Keeli shrugged. "I admit it — I am weird and desperate."

"Yeah, you are."

Keeli's gaze snapped to Zoro. "Hey—!"

Zoro smirked.

"Listen," Nami said to Luffy. "We are going to need something a little less flashy if we want to sneak out of here."

Luffy slowed to a stop, which made the rest of them stop as well, looking at him curiously. "You want to steal a ship?"

Keeli frowned. "Luffy, none of us can afford a ship."

"How else did you expect us to get one?" Nami asked, scoffing lightly.

"I don't know," Luffy said. "But we can't steal one."

Nami narrowed her eyes at him. "What kind of pirate are you?"

Luffy's face became serious as he looked from Nami to Keeli to Zoro and back to Nami. "A ship is not just a ship. It's a part of our crew." Nami rolled her eyes. "We need to find the perfect one. And we're gonna get it the right way." Keeli looked at Luffy with a pitying look on her face — she didn't want to crush his dreams of the perfect ship, but reality was not on their side here.

Nami remained unimpressed. "OK, pitch that to the salesman, I'm sure that'll win him over."

Luffy started to grin. "Exactly!" With that, he turned on his heel and walked away.

"Um—" Keeli said, looking from Zoro to Nami.

Zoro hung his head. "So what are we actually gonna do?"

Nami sighed. "Find a ship and see how lax the security is around here."

"Very lax," Keeli immediately said. Nami and Zoro's eyes darted to her, surprised. "While we were shopping, I checked out the place." She tilted her head to the side, smirking. "Seeing everything is my thing, remember?"

That was always the first thing Keeli did when she came to a new place — gain an overview of the situation, assess it for possible threats, look out for pirates and Marines, search for escape routes, and so on. Keeli liked to be ten steps ahead of everyone around her, so she would never be caught off guard. She hated the feeling of not knowing — not knowing what could happen, who could come after her. Hence, she always tried to be as vigilant as possible. Know your surroundings and what you're dealing with.

Nami and Zoro exchanged a glance before Keeli told them what she'd observed regarding the security of the shipyard, and they agreed that it shouldn't be too hard to steal a ship — although Keeli knew that just because something seemed to be easy didn't mean nothing could go wrong. Something could always go wrong.

"Uhh..." Zoro looked around, frowning. "Where did Luffy go?"

Keeli turned in a circle, scanning the area for a sign of Luffy, but she could only see workers bustling around the wooden scaffoldings that surrounded them. How could Luffy just disappear like that? Keeli thought. Disappearing was her job, as the spy, as Luffy had dubbed her. "Let's find him," she said, and the three of them walked off in the direction in which Luffy had gone before they lost sight of him.

They passed a few ships that Keeli thought might be good options, easy to steal, before they spotted Luffy standing on a scaffolding, admiring the figurehead of a big ship. The figurehead looked like a sheep's head, and Keeli had to admit that it was cool. Luffy didn't see them coming, too focused on the ship and the boy he was talking to who was on the ship, seemingly cleaning it. The boy had dark skin and dreadlocks that reached his shoulders (The same length as my curls, Keeli thought.), and an orange-brown bandana was wrapped around his head.

"There you are," Nami said, which made Luffy turn around to them.

"Guys!" Luffy exclaimed as he descended the stairs from the scaffolding. "I found it. I found our ship." He gestured to the boy on the ship. "And this guy will sell it to us."

Keeli raised her eyebrows as she looked at the boy, who started stammering while also climbing down from the ship to meet them, "Uh, wait. Whaaat? Uh..." OK, this guy has nothing to say here, Keeli thought.

"Yeah! The ship, we'll take it," Luffy said to him.

The boy came to stand beside Luffy, opposite Keeli. She smiled at him. "Technically, she's not for sale," he said slowly. Luffy gave him a confused look. "And technically, I'm not a salesman."

Nami put her hands on her hips, looking at the boy skeptically. "Do you even work here?"

"Of course I do," the boy replied, indignant. "I'm Chief Technician in charge of encrustation removal and aviary waste eradication."

Keeli frowned, translating the words in her head into simpler synonyms, and when she understood what he'd said, she couldn't help but grin. This guy certainly had a way with words.

"Encru what?" Luffy asked, making a grimace.

Zoro said, "He scrubs barnacles and cleans bird shit."

"He can't help us," Nami added and turned to leave.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," the boy spoke up and Nami turned back around. "I can help you." He smirked, smug. "The owner of this ship just happens to be my closest friend in the world." He accentuated his words by moving his head from side to side. Keeli let out a little laugh; she found the way he was emphasizing his words amusing.

"Your friend owns this ship?" Nami asked

"Not just this one. She owns the whole shipyard. She's ... rich rich." Luffy's face lit up with astonishment. The boy grinned. "I'm sure you could strike a deal with her."

"Seems like we found the guy with the best connections around here," Keeli said, crossing her arms.

The boy pointed his index finger at her. "That you did."

Luffy turned to look at Keeli, Nami, and Zoro, excitement radiating off of him.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to say hello," Nami said, smirking slightly. And Keeli knew what Nami was thinking: rich people meant money, which meant, even if they could not strike a deal with this person, there was stuff to steal, valuable stuff. Now, Keeli started to smirk as well.

The boy then navigated them out of the shipyard and through the village and led them over dirt trails to a huge mansion with a huge garden — there was a well, a variety of flowers, and rose bushes, and the whole plot of land was surrounded by trees. The mansion itself was three stories high, four pillars decorated the entrance, and there were countless windows. It was the kind of place where you expect to find a lonely princess being kept away from the world, for her own safety, as the stories always said. Keeli stared with wide eyes, stunned.

And she wasn't the only one:

"I've never seen a house this big before," Luffy said as he came to stand next to her.

"Impressive, right?" the boy — Usopp, as Keeli had learned on their way here — said as he passed by Luffy and Keeli. They followed him. "Kaya's given me an open invitation to drop by anytime I want."

"She must be a really good friend," Keeli said.

Usopp turned to her, a soft smile on his lips. "She is."

Oh? Keeli thought.

Usopp leaned against the well while Luffy looked around once more. Nami and Zoro stood behind Keeli — they were talking to each other but Keeli couldn't make out the words.

"All of this just for one person?" Luffy asked.

"Well, she lives here with her butler and a few other staff," Usopp answered. Keeli frowned. And she couldn't help but think that that must be very lonely. All alone with only three people that work for you in a home this big? Kaya had to feel pretty isolated. Maybe the thing about the princess who was kept away from the world wasn't too far off...

Usopp led them further through the garden, and Keeli marveled at the hedge sculptures that they passed. She let her fingers trail over the pink roses until she saw one that she particularly liked. She picked the flower and smelled it; a nice and fresh scent filled her nostrils, and Keeli couldn't help but smile. Keeli kept the rose in her hand as she followed Usopp and Luffy, noticing that Usopp was not leading them to the front entrance, but around the house, somewhere else...

Keeli couldn't help becoming a little suspicious.

It was a good thing she'd memorized the way and scanned the place with a watchful eye, searching for any possible threats. She wouldn't be Keeli Arata if she didn't. Well. This version of herself anyway. The version that could never relax, always thinking that something might happen when she let her guard down. The version that had a hard time trusting people, scared that someone would stab her in the back. The version that had to become a ghost in order to survive in the world. The invisible girl with observant eyes and footsteps that made no sound on the ground.

But... was she still that girl? Was she still that version of herself? Her life had changed. She was part of a crew now, she had people she trusted. Luffy gave her a home, her freedom (as free as she could be), a chance to follow her dream. Keeli wasn't sure what that made her, who that made her. Was she Keeli Arata, the girl who got kidnapped when she was seven? Was she a Banished One, disgraced and ostracised, forced to become a ghost? Or was she someone entirely new?

"So if you have an invitation, why are we going around the back way?" Luffy asked, which made Keeli perk up. That answer she wanted to hear.

"Oh, I never use the front entrance. This is more of a VIP entrance reserved for special guests," Usopp said.

Keeli scrunched up her face, skeptical.

"This guy is full of shit," Zoro said behind her.

"Yeah," Nami agreed. "But as long as he gets us inside the house, who cares?"

Nami was right. They just needed to talk to Kaya — maybe they could strike a deal with her about that ship, one that they could actually afford. And if that didn't work, there was still the option of stealing a ship.

They reached a pond, and, without hesitation, Usopp jumped onto a huge lily pad, then onto the next, in order to cross the pond. Keeli raised an eyebrow. The lily pads apparently functioned as a sort of bridge. Luffy followed Usopp onto the lily pads, and after a moment in which Keeli thought, oh, well, she did the same. With her feet flat she landed on the first leaf. It was a little wobbly, but Keeli didn't lose her balance. She jumped onto the next—

"Oops," Usopp suddenly exclaimed, turning around abruptly. They all stopped in their tracks. "You know, there's actually a more exclusive entrance this way." He gestured in the direction they came from.

While Usopp spoke, Keeli caught sight of a big burly man standing inside a stone pavilion, who lifted a knife and threw it at Usopp— "Look out!" Keeli yelled.

The knife lodged itself into the lily pad, right between his shoes. Usopp inhaled sharply. Keeli stared wide-eyed, her hands slipping into the pockets of her shorts, grasping for her brass knuckles, ready for a fight if it came to that. But Usopp didn't seem too panicked as he turned around to the man who threw the knife, who, followed by a woman with blue hair holding a broom, came down the steps of the pavilion.

"The hell are you doing here, Usopp?" the man asked, a mean grimace on his round face.

"Buchi, buddy, uh, Kaya's expecting me," Usopp quickly said.

"Another one of your lies." The man — Buchi — grabbed Usopp roughly by his lapels. "You ain't welcome here and you know it."

But Usopp wasn't intimidated. No, he kept on grinning, smoothly saying, "I know nothing of the sort. I'm here to give Kaya a extra-special gift."

Buchi's face contorted into an angry scowl and Keeli was scared he might lose it. Before he could, though, a female voice sounded, "Usopp!"

Keeli's gaze darted to the girl who had appeared on the steps of the mansion, her arm interlinked with that of a tall man in a suit. The girl had light blond hair, so light it was almost white, and she wore a pink dress that reached the floor. A smile lit up her face as she looked at Usopp, carefully taking one step at a time. And Keeli couldn't help but notice that she looked awfully pale. Keeli exchanged a glance with Luffy, who turned around, confused about what was going on. She just shrugged, just as confused as he was.

"What a wonderful surprise," the girl said, her voice bright, clear as a bell.

Usopp freed himself from Buchi's hold on him and walked toward the girl. "Kaya!"

Oh, so that was Kaya.

Kaya giggled.

"Happy Birthday," Usopp said, his voice soft.

Keeli, Luffy, Nami, and Zoro finished crossing the pond, solid ground under their feet once more.

Kaya beamed at Usopp. "You remembered."

"Of course I did."

Keeli lifted her eyebrows at Usopp and Kaya's interaction. Oh?

The man in the suit  — probably the butler Usopp had mentioned — cleared his throat while adjusting his glasses with the palm of his hand. "Usopp. We've had this discussion. You mustn't show up unannounced," the man said, his voice refined — his vowels were tense like a taut rubber band, his plosives cut the air like gunshots. Usopp scratched the back of his head.

"Nonsense, Klahadore," Kaya said to her butler, Klahadore. (Weird name, Keeli thought.) Kaya turned to Usopp. "Have you come to tell me another story? I do love hearing about your adventures."

"I'll do you one better," Usopp said and gestured toward Keeli, Luffy, Nami, and Zoro, "I brought some of my crew!"

Keeli blinked, surprised.

"Is he talking about us?" Luffy asked. They all exchanged confused glances.

"It's so nice to meet you," Kaya said, looking at them with a truly genuine smile on her pale lips. "You all must stay for dinner."

"Miss Kaya," Klahadore said. "It is a bit last minute. I'm afraid the kitchen hasn't prepared for any extra guests." Keeli frowned. Wasn't he the butler? Shouldn't he do whatever Kaya wanted?

"Please, Klahadore?" Kaya pleaded. "It's my birthday. Can't be too much trouble, can it?"

There was a beat of silence. Then: "Of course, Miss Kaya," Klahadore relented, "Anything for you."

"All right!" Luffy exclaimed suddenly, which made Keeli jump slightly. "When do we eat?"

"You don't," Klahadore immediately replied, a disapproving look on his face as he eyed them from head to toe. "Not dressed like that."

Keeli pulled a face. What was that supposed to mean? Affronted, she looked down at herself, at her usual black boots, the lime-green socks that almost reached up to her knees, the brown high-waist shorts, and the faded lilac tank top she'd chosen to wear today. And, of course, gloves covered her arms, hiding the scars underneath them — she wasn't wearing her sage green gloves, though, but simple black ones, because she thought that matched the rest of her outfit better. Keeli liked her outfit. What was that butler's problem?

"Sham" — the woman with the blue hair and the broom in her hands stepped forward at Klahadore's mention of her name — "kindly show Usopp and his friends to the guest suites." Then Klahadore addressed them again. "You will bathe and change before dinner."

Keeli crossed her arms defiantly in front of her chest.

"A bath does sound nice," Nami said, smiling.

Keeli sighed; and she had to admit that yes, a bath did sound nice.

⚓️

WEARING A FLUFFY BATHROBE, Keeli walked into the dressing room, where they were told to choose something to wear for Kaya's birthday dinner. And as she stepped inside, Keeli couldn't help but smile. There were so many clothes! More clothes than Keeli had ever seen in one place. It was amazing. And she could choose to wear whatever she wanted. This was the dream of every person who loved fashion and looking nice.

Nami stepped out from behind the screen where she had been changing, her hands on her hips. She was wearing a dark blue dress with an intricate black pattern. "Well? What do you think?"

"You look like Nami," Luffy said, to which Nami gave Luffy an unimpressed look in response.

"I think you look nice, love," Keeli smiled a charming smile. "But I think there are dresses here that would look even better on you."

For a moment, Nami looked down at herself, her hands smoothing out the skirt of the dress. "I think you're right."

Keeli smirked, proud. "I'm always right."

"Well, I wouldn't know about that."

"Shut up."

"Hey, Keeli," Luffy said, and Keeli diverted her attention from Nami to Luffy. He was sitting on the ottoman in the middle of the room, while Zoro sat in the corner on a chair. "What you gonna wear?"

"I don't know yet," Keeli shrugged, then motioned toward the many clothes around them. "I have to look through aaaall of these first." And that's what Keeli did; she started next to the door, looking through all the clothes, and worked her way around the room, picking out the dresses that she thought were pretty, and would match her olive skin. (She found a pink knee-long dress decorated with lace, a pale blue one with a button-up corset, a yellow one with small flowers on it and ruffles that reached her calves, and a few others as well.)

"Hey, does that butler seem familiar to you guys?" Zoro suddenly asked. Keeli turned to him, seeing a frown on his face.

Nami peeked out behind the screen she was behind. "Yeah, I think he was at the last dinner party I attended," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Keeli snorted.

"I swear I've seen him somewhere."

"He seems weird," Keeli said. Zoro gave her a questioning look. "I don't know, the guy gives me the creeps — I mean, what kind of name is Klahadore?" Luffy chuckled at that. The butler had also insulted her outfit, which Keeli did not appreciate at all.

Then, Keeli went behind the second screen in the room, took off the bathrobe, and slipped out of her boots. She was wearing her black gloves already, she'd put them on right after her bath, together with her underwear. She didn't want to risk anyone seeing her scars. The first dress she tried on was the blue one. She buttoned up the corset, and while she adjusted her gloves, she heard Nami ask, "How's this?"

"Still Nami," Luffy replied.

Keeli stepped out from behind the screen as well, her eyes landing on Nami — she was wearing a black dress and a glittery black jacket. This outfit was definitely better than the first one—

"I said I'm wearing black," Zoro said.

Well, so much for that.

Nami gave him and Luffy an annoyed look. "I hate you guys."

"How do I look?" Keeli gave a little twirl.

"Like Keeli," Luffy said, just as helpful as he'd been to Nami. Keeli sighed.

"Hmm," Nami hummed. Keeli looked at her. "I don't think that shade of blue is your color."

Keeli turned around to the mirror on the wall, a frown on her face as she scrutinized herself. She tried not to focus too much on the gloves covering up her scars. "You're right, not my color." Quickly, she turned away from the mirror and disappeared behind the screen once more. For a moment, she looked at the pink dress and the yellow dress, before choosing the latter. She liked the little flowers on it and the ruffles.

While she changed, she heard Luffy say, "I feel kinda bad for Kaya. All this stuff. All this space. It's gotta make a person feel... lonely." Keeli agreed with that; especially because Kaya only seemed to have her butler, that unpleasant man called Buchi, and the blue-haired woman named Sham. And Usopp, of course. But still. That had to be lonely.

"Rich people don't have the same emotions we do. This stuff doesn't make her feel lonely, it makes her feel important," Nami replied. Keeli thought that was a little harsh.

"Well, Usopp likes her. And she invited us to dinner. I'm sure we can work out a way to get that ship," Luffy said.

"No way. Rich people don't stay rich by giving things away."

"You wanna bet?"

A beat of silence. "What are the terms?" Keeli could practically hear the smirk on Nami's lips.

"I bet I can convince Kaya to give us that ship," Luffy said.

"And when you can't?"

"We go with your plan — steal one and move on."

"You're on," Nami spoke.

As Keeli stepped out behind the screen, she saw Nami and Luffy shake hands, finalizing their bet. "How about this one?" she asked them, their attention diverting to Keeli.

Nami eyed her for a few seconds, then nodded, smiling. "You look beautiful."

Keeli returned the smile, tucking a curl behind her ear.

Nami turned back to the rack of clothes behind her, skimming through them, until she found a caramel-colored dress shirt. She looked at it for a moment, then threw it at Zoro, who caught it. He eyed it, then said, "Nice."

Luffy sat back down on the ottoman, his gaze still fixated on Keeli, which made her feel slightly uncomfortable in her own skin (well, more uncomfortable than usual). But Keeli decided to ignore that — he probably just zoned out or something and he wasn't actually consciously staring at her. But then, out of nowhere, Luffy asked, "Why are you always wearing gloves?"

And Keeli's blood turned to ice in her veins. Instinctively, her hands went to her arms, wrapping around her forearms, and she could feel the uneven scars through the fabric of her gloves. Her skin started prickle, as if thousands of ants crawled over it in crisscross patterns. Luffy's question knocked the air out of her lungs. Sure, she had expected that questions about her being a Banished One would come up sooner or later, she just hadn't expected it to be now...

Keeli took a deep breath. She saw that Nami and Zoro had stiffened as well at the question, which made sense — they knew what happened to Banished Ones, what the punishment was for betraying one's crew. They were aware of the gruesome nature of it. But Luffy wasn't. He had no idea about any of it. Before Buggy the Clown explained it to him, Luffy hadn't even known what a Banished One was.

Luffy deserved to know.

"Um..." Keeli swallowed. Her voice was strained. "You know I'm a... a Banished One, right?" Luffy nodded, his brows furrowed. "Yes, right. Well... What—What happens when you get banished is—" Keeli stopped when Nami took her hand in hers.

"You don't have to talk about it," Nami said.

Keeli shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. It's just that I never... I've never talked about this before." She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her wits. And then, with her voice more firm than before, she continued, "The punishment for betraying your crew is banishment. But the captain has to make sure that pirates recognize Banished Ones. So the usual procedure is that acid is poured over your arms, leaving them—" Keeli faltered. "Leaving them scarred."

Slowly, and with shaky hands, Keeli slid off her gloves, revealing the disfigured skin beneath them, the deep and hideous and indelible scars that marked her as a Banished One, as a traitor. The pivotal marks that robbed her of every chance to ever be completely free. Her heart was pounding anxiously in her chest. She had never shown her scars to anyone — willingly, that is; she was ashamed of the ugliness that she hid beneath her gloves. And she was scared. Scared of how Luffy, Zoro, and Nami would react.

Luffy gasped when both her gloves were off.

Keeli's stomach churned, and she balled her hands into fists. "This is what happens to Banished Ones." Her voice was thick with emotion. "This is why I never take off my gloves."

Finally, she found the courage to look at Luffy. His eyes were wide, his brows pulled together, as he stared at her scars. Nami covered her mouth with her hand. Zoro averted his gaze. They think you're ugly, a voice in her head whispered, mocking, taunting, ugly ugly ugly ugly—

"Your captain did that to you?" Luffy asked. Keeli nodded. "Why would he do something like that?"

"Yeah, he could've just sent you away without... that," Zoro added, now looking at her again, into her eyes. It seemed like he was purposefully not looking at her arms, and Keeli wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse.

Keeli scoffed. "Yeah, well, Captain Krait is a fucking monster." Hastily, she put on her gloves again, eager to hide her ugliness.

"Yes," Nami said. "He is a monster." Keeli turned to her, just to see that her face had darkened, a withering look clouding her sky-blue eyes that made Keeli think that she wasn't just angry about this, but also about something else, something more personal. "I hate pirates," Nami whispered and turned away, focusing on the many clothes around them again.

"Was there no one to protect you?" Luffy asked.

She looked at him, at the sad expression on his face. And, without being able to stop them, memories flooded her mind. Memories of the one person she thought she could rely on, the one person she thought she could trust. Memories of how he had made her laugh with his magic tricks, how he had taught her how to play poker, how to shoot a gun, to use a knife, to paralyze people with only just a few precise hits. "I thought there was," Keeli said, tears welling up in her eyes. "But I was wrong."

With that, the conversation was over. Keeli plastered a smile onto her lips to shake off the sadness and shame, and searched the dressing room for some accessories and shoes. She found a wide brown belt that she tied around her waist, and ankle boots of the same brown color with block heels and square toes. She put them on, tying the shoelaces. Only one thing was missing now... Keeli went back behind the screen, reaching for her left boot and taking out the object she had hidden in it; she never went anywhere without it, and she hated herself for it. She wished she could simply throw it away, get rid of it, but she couldn't. Just like she couldn't get rid of her memories of him.

She looked at the card in her hand, the Joker card to be exact. In and of itself, it wasn't anything of value. But what made it so special was the history behind it, the memories attached to it, memories of the best birthday she could remember, and the message written on it:

'Happy birthday, Kiwi, my little explorer.
Love, Jonah.'

She smiled sadly at the card before she slid it into her shoe, between the leather and her skin.

keeli:

i have never played poker in my life so don't come for me if the scene was inaccurate - i tried to understand it but i failed miserably. also, we found out a BIT more about her past, not much but a little, AND jonah was mentioned.

I'm sorry this chapter took so long, i had a lot to do for uni and this chapter was kinda hard to write. i hope i can get the next chapter out faster but no promises, uni is crazy.

soo, i hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought!