"Nami! I see it!" Tani cheered from the crows nest. It was a sunny, early afternoon, the wind was warm and the clouds were lacking. Tani had a packet or gummy bears beside her, surprised that Luffy hadn't noticed the snack. An island had just come into view, just the place they all wanted to find.

Jaya

Nami let out an excited whoop of joy, happy to finally have land in sight. It only took the Merry an hour or so to make it into the dock of the small town. A place called Mock town if the massive sign was an indication of the communities name. Luffy wanted to explore the town before they'd even landed, rocketing himself onto the dock with the widest grin Tani had seen in ages. Nami was already tired of his shenanigans and decided to appoint Tani to Luffy duty, while Zoro had to tag along for moral support.

"Oh and before you guys run off," Nami started. All eyes on her, her gaze hardened. "No starting fights, I mean it. We don't want to start trouble," she said with dead seriousness. "Sanji, Usopp and I will be gathering supplies, Chopper and Robin are on ship watch." Nami declared. Robin gave her that signature smile.

"Perhaps Mr doctor and I could sort through all the treasure that Mr swordsman brought back," she suggested. Nami clapped her hands together and nodded.

"Wonderful idea Robin, Chopper knows where the treasure is stored so just ask him to put any of it away," Nami stated. Luffy was bouncing on his feet, ready to make a run for it once Nami gave the word. "Well, aren't you gonna go explore? You have until sundown," she declared. Luffy was bolting before the final word left her mouth. Tani looked at Zoro with a sigh, the man huffed and started wandering in the opposite direction of Luffy.

Boy, Tani sure had her work cut out for her today...

...

The trio had been walking through the streets for about twenty minutes before the first sounds of conflict hit their collective ears. Understandably so, as this was was a lawless town. Tani already had her hands in her pockets, new strings attached to her pointer fingers perfectly. The sound of a gun shot rings through the air, she freezes for a moment. The air around the town goes static before everything resumes as usual.

Luffy can see the discomfort on his nakama's face, so he loops his arm through hers. She instantly calms down, embracing the contact with a relaxes smile.

"Hey I wanna look in that place," Luffy grins, pointing at the entrance to what looked like a hotel or inn? Tani doesn't know the difference. Zoro and Tani followed him. They pushed open the doors to find a rather dodgy looking place. Smoke filled air, cut throat pirates roaming the main lobby, there was blood on the wooden floor... Swell.

Luffy trotted around while Tani hung back to watch from afar, Zoro stood beside her. The pair know that Luffy can hold his own in a fight so there's no point in guarding him. Luffy looked excited, pointing at everything that peaked his interest and just acting like his Luffy self.

The door beside Tani and Zoro opened, all sound from the room suddenly vanished (excluding Luffy and his excited exclamations of "Oh what's this?"). The mood soured and the atmosphere grew thick as lard. Tani's throat tightened as she watched some man with bluey white hair and purple science goggles (you know the kind schools make you wear before you do an experiment) and this white pimp coat that wouldn't have looked out of place on Crocodile.

People's gazes avoided this new man and his entourage, he clearly held power here. So when Luffy didn't stop to acknowledge this guy, well he wasn't very pleased.

"What kind of low life pond scum has the ocean washed up here?" he said with a snort. Luffy paused in his excited ramblings and stared dumbly at the guy. Promptly ignoring the guy and turning back to Tani and Zoro, pointing a thumb in the guys direction.

"Who's this guy?" Luffy asked. The guy beside him clenched his teeth together with annoyance.

"You low lives aren't even worth my time," the man spat, pulling out a couple golden coins and tossing them on the floor. "Here, get yourselves some better clothes you useless filth," he snickered to himself before walking away. Two women draped over his shoulders as they passed the trio.

Tani grabbed the coins for Nami, no point in leaving them behind. Luffy and Zoro exited the premises, before Tani could leave the room she heard the 'lowlife' guy call out to her.

"You know," he started, Tani already didn't like where this was going, "An exotic little thing like you shouldn't be hanging around losers like them," he smirked. The women around him giggled and leaned their heavy cleavage all over him. Tani felt her face heat up with a mix of anger and disgust.

"You're right," she smiled a forced grinned. "I shouldn't hang out with losers. That's why I'm on their crew and not yours," Tani clapped back. The coins she collected finding their way into her hands again. She tossed then at his feet and gave a charming grin. "How about you buy yourself a personality and manners. Adios," she waved with her fingers and pushed out the door. Luffy and Zoro looked at her as she stormed past and growled.

Luffy and Zoro caught up with the angered girl. The boys remained silent, knowing that if she wanted to speak she would. Tani was letting her feelings bubble under the skin before finally she burst.

"Ugh! He called me 'exotic'! Like what's that supposed to mean? Haven't seen a black girl or something? The nerve!" she ranted, her arms being thrown with every statement. Luffy frowned, his gaze turning towards a bar just up ahead.

"How about we get something to eat? That always cheers me up when I'm mad," Luffy suggested. Honestly a drink of something fizzy was definitely in order, Tani nodded. Luffy locked his arms around Zoro and Tani, dragging them to the alluring aroma of what smelt like cherry pie.

The bar itself looked cozy by pirate standards, the man running the place still had most of his teeth and both his eyes so that was relaxing for Tani.

Luffy wanted to time running to the bar and demanding food. The bartender complied and handed him the last couple of pies they still had. Apparently the large man with the long, greasy black hair beside Luffy had eaten over half their supply that day. Tani silently prayed for his crew mates.

Luffy ate just as fast as the man beside him. The pair of them reaching over each other to snag more pies from one another. Tani and Zoro looked on in disgusted interest, it was like a horrible car accident that you just couldn't look away from.

"This is the worst pie I've ever had in my life," Luffy complained, spitting pieces of the cherry pie out of his mouth.

"This is the best pie I've ever had in my life!" the man beside him said with a dumb grin, all 6 of his teeth on display.

The two looked at each other, offended by the others declaration. The pair yelled back and forth, throwing insults and generally being childish and petty. It was like watching two Luffy's interact, only one was a large man that looked like he could crush you with one belly flop.

The door to the bar opened, Tani turned her eyes to find a familiar red head walk through the door. She gave Tani and Zoro a pleased wave, walking over to them and looking at the train wreck that was going on.

"Didn't I tell you guys not to start fights?" she groaned. Massaging her temple. Zoro shrugged. The women of the crew could tell he was amused by this. Nami sighed, she marched over to the bar and clamped her fingers over one of Luffy's ears and dragged him away kicking and whining. The man at the bar looked at the small crew and gave a rather unique laugh. He dropped a couple coins on the counter and left the bar without sparing the straw hats a glance. Tani felt a chill crawl up her spine, something felt off about that guy.

"So are we gonna eat now or what?" Luffy asked. Nami and Tani thwacked him on the head.

"YOU ALREADY ATE!" The women shouted in sync. Zoro let out a snort of a laugh. Luffy sulked to himself.

"But that pie tasted bad!" he whined. Tani was taken aback by the statement.

"Luffy? You never hate food... Like ever," she was right. In the month or so that she's known him, not once has he ever hated something that he's shoved into his mouth.

"Tani, can I have one of your snacks?" Luffy asked, draping himself on her side with his hands motioning towards her bag. The girl gave a laugh and shoved at him.

Everything felt normal again.

That is until the bar doors burst open again...

The sound of chatter and laughter within the bar died out, a kin to the hotel lobby from moments ago. Tani already felt the air grow static as gazes averted the newcomers.

In walked a blonde man with a dark tan and hyena like grin, pink shirt contrasting the blue coat that hung off his shoulders. Honestly he didn't seem that special in comparison to the other pirates Tani had seen wandering around mock town. Though that smile was unnerving.

Nami huffed and turned her attention back to Tani, a new excitement glittered in her warm brown eyes.

"Oh check this out," she spoke, Tani turned her attention to the aged sheet of paper in the red heads hand. "Robin was looking through all the treasure that Zoro brought back with him and she found this in a waterproof chest. It's a map of the sky island," Nami said with barely bottled excitement.

"Does it say anything about how to get up there? Because unless there are aeroplanes, which I know isn't a thing here. We are pretty much stuck," Tani asked with a thoughtful face. Nami gave her a grin, not her regular looking one that always had some ulterior motive behind it, but a genuine one.

"I decided to start asking around, there's bound to be someone that knows about the island that's right above them," Nami stated confidently.

The pair of women walked to the bar together, ignoring the conversation that the hyena guy was having with Luffy. Nami was dead set on discovering more about the world around her, and Tani was just curious as to how the hell they were going to get into the sky.

"Excuse me sir," Nami waved the bar tender over, who had just handed Luffy a glass of juice. Which the hyena man laughed about and promptly tipped all over Luffy's head. Tani rolled her eyes, knowing Luffy could handle himself in a fight but she still felt a tinge of annoyance. Tani turned back to Nami. "I was wondering if you had any information about the sky island? The one on this map," she asked, pointing at the map in her hands.

The bar fell silent, should a pin clatter on the floor it would be as loud as an explosion. The tension from before tripled to the point of suffocation, all eyes were on Nami and the rest of the straw hat crew. The hyena man scowled, the glass that he emptied on top of Luffy's head was shattered in his grasp. What was his problem?

"The sky island?" he chuckled darkly. "Did you say the sky islands?" more laughter, growing more and more hysterical by the second. The rest of his crew started laughing with him. Zoro and Luffy moved towards the navigator, forming a loose barrier around her should this get ugly.

"Yeah? You have a problem with that?" Tani found herself spiting. She was still irritated with the unsavoury comment from earlier, so anything was bound to bug her. The tan man gave them a look that just screamed arrogant.

"Guess you losers really aren't worthy of the new era of pirates," hyena guy chuckled loudly before his face dropped into a seriously pissed off expression. The glass shards still in his balled hand, he reared back and threw his arm towards Luffy.

Luffy didn't react at all, he simply took the hit. The man decked him in the face and sent him flying into a window, which shattered upon Luffy smashing into it.

"Oi-" she shouted angrily, her weapons already spinning. Before she had the chance to do anything, Zoro grabbed her arm and shook his head. Tani looked up at him quizzically, the sound of glass sprinkling the wooden floor drew her attention to the now bleeding captain.

"Nami said... D-don't fight ba-ck," Luffy coughed, bloody cuts sprinkled his face and arms. His cheek already turned that ugly brown colour, signalling a bruise would form. Tani sighed and pocketed her yo-yo's, Nami was in total shock at the boys inaction.

"Wait Luff-" Nami began, but a single look from Luffy, shut her up really fast. This was an act of pride? Boys really could be dumb, but as a Straw hat pirate that kinda came with the branding. So here they were, four straw hats watching and waiting to get totally pummeled by these self proclaimed 'new era pirates'.

A pirate punched Zoro hard in the gut, the swordsman took it like a champion. He didn't make a sound, neither did Luffy. The two of them were kicked, punched, tossed, pushed and humiliated by the lot of them.

When wandering hands and sleazy comments were tossed at Nami and Tani, that's when the girls finally snapped. The pair of them grabbed the boys from the pirates and dragged them towards the entrance. After leaving the bar, the hyena man and a couple of his goons followed behind. Snickering and spitting at the straw hats. Tani and Nami death glared them.

"You guys are so pathetic! you couldn't even defend yourselves?" he laughed like it was the joke of the century. "Remember this, and remember it well." the man started.

"Real pirates don't hunt mythical bullshit like sky islands or one piece. Learn it now and maybe you'll be ready to actually take on the likes of me. Bellamy of the hyena pirates," Bellamy declared. OF COURSE HE WAS ON A CREW CALLED THE HYENA PIRATES! Tani almost wanted to scream with laughter. One of the goons came out from behind Bellamy and held up a wanted poster of the man.

"Our captain has a bounty of 55 million berri, you're all worth less then the dirt beneath his feet," the random guy snickered. Many joined him in praising the captain. Who revelled in their praise.

The man in white from before somehow showed his ugly mug and pointed Tani out. Bellamy and the others all turned their eyes to her. She felt her throat close up, she didn't like how this was going.

Luffy's grip on her shoulder tightened, a comfort that Tani didn't know she needed. She turned her gaze back at the pirates that looked down on her. She wasn't weak, not anymore.

The pirates sent ridicule at them for a couple more agonising moments before growing bored and turning back to the bar for some celebratory drinks. The straw hats remained frozen...

"Zehahaha, you did the right thing straw hat brat! "

A laugh drew their attention to the man from before. He was sitting on a blue cloth, drinking from a bottle of something expensive. His gaze on the younger pirates.

"One piece exists, and only the dreamers will find it," he declared before laughing again. "Those who don't put in the effort, aren't worth raising a finger at," his voice bellowed.

Nami turned away from the man and dragged Zoro with her, Tani's gaze lingered on them and for a bit longer before she too turned away. The laugh replaying in her mind.

Walking back to the Merry was awkward. Nami was annoyed with the boys, hell Tani was just as annoyed! They could have taken everyone in that bar, Luffy on his own would have been enough!

Once they made it back to the ship, Chopper went crazy on the medical attention. Luffy and Zoro weren't seen for the next hour, though the scolding they received from Chopper could be heard all over the ship. Robin pulled everyone onto the deck to share some information she gathered.

"It appears that this isn't the only side of the island with life," she started, pulling out a map of the island. She pointed towards the other side of the island. "There's a man by the name of Mont Blanc Cricket, apparently he's got information that could prove useful for our endeavours," she spoke with a relaxed tone. The crew unanimously agreed to sail the ship to the other side of the island, after all who wanted to stay in this shit show town anyway.

Nami got the ship sailing with Sanji and Usopp's help, since Chopper wanted Luffy and Zoro to rest. Usopp showed Tani how to tie a knot when pulling up the sails, so she could help out more with sail preparations. Tani decided to sit in her favourite spot on the ship. Her head phones playing some sweet sounds from home. She was so warped into her own little world that she didn't notice when Luffy sat down on the mast head, practically beside her.

The dark skinned girl closed her eyes and laid back onto the deck. Her long, wavy hair flicked out so she wouldn't accidently pull on it if she do much as moved. Her mind drifted back and forth between listening to her music and thinking back on the events of the day. Always a brilliant idea after a bit so great day now isn't it?

Her head decided to go over the events of today this time Luffy didn't have a secure hold on her. Her mind removing everyone and throwing her into the void, what would have happened if she was alone? What would that man have done? She can hold her own but this was her head and it would throw worst case scenario's at her if it wanted to.

Small green eyes staring at the shadowy figures that clouded her thoughts. Insults, attacks, mockery, the works. She'd had this dream before, many times in fact. Though not since she'd joined the straw hats... Maybe it was what that man said today? Exotic. The word felt dirty to her now. She wanted out, she wanted her nakama back! Not this negative shi-

*Poke*

Tani scrunched her nose, opening her eyes to see Luffy's stretched arm retracting back to his body. A playful grin played at the tips of Tani's smile, her negative thoughts retracted back into her brain, for use another day... Luffy smiled back at her, his arms stretching out to poke her more. She laughed and rolled to her feet, standing up to lean back on the figure head. Luffy leaned into her, back to back. The warmth radiating from one another being a comfort that Tani needed. Luffy's breathing in rhythm with her own.

"What were you dreaming bout?" Luffy asked curiously, though his tone suggested that he didn't matter if she answered or not. Tani let out a sigh, leaning further into his warmth.

"It's dumb stuff, don't worry about it," she waved off. Luffy huffed.

"Someone told me that when things make you upset, you talk about them with nakama," he stated, oh here we go again. "I'm your nakama, and you're sad. Why are you sad? Should I ask Sanji to make something to eat? Now I'm hungry," Luffy rambled. Tani snickered, her mood already lightening. Luffy considered that a victory.

"It's nothing important, just something one of the pirates said. Don't wo-"

"The one that asked you to join his crew because you're a pretty girl?" Luffy asked shamelessly. Tani chocked on the air she was breathing in, wow he was as blunt as ever! He continued. "He was weird, why would you want someone on your crew just because they're pretty? That's dumb," Luffy questioned. Tani let out a snicker.

"Well when you're a 5'4" girl with brown skin and an hour glass figure, many people tend to look at just the physical values," Tani explained. Luffy blew a raspberry at that.

"But you're way better than all that boring stuff. You can fight, and have cool magic powers, and you're really cool because you bring us all snacks and stuff," he listed. Tani felt herself grow a bit flustered at that. "The best thing about you is you're my nakama!" he said with a joy in his tone that felt completely at peace. Tani pulled her cap down over her eyes and smiled like she was seven again.

"It sure is Luffy,"

...

After a run in with yet another monkey pirate crew (how many could there possibly be?) but his annoying singing was silenced pretty quickly. The straw hat crew made it to the other side of the island, finding a deceptively large house which turned out to be a wooden cut out that covered a small cottage looking place. The crew explored the house, finding nobody inside.

"Oh hey! I haven't seen this story in ages," Sanji called out, holding a largish book that looked worn. Nakama gathered around Sanji to examine the book.

"Noland the liar?" Usopp questioned. Looks like somebody has competition for that liar role. "never heard of it," he concluded.

"It's a popular story in the North Blue, my mother would read it to me all the time when I was a kid," Sanji stated with a nostalgic smile.

Tani grabbed the book and opened to the first page. Inside was a picture per page and a couple lines of text.

"It's just like a fairy tale book, my mum would read these to me as a kid too," Tani grinned, turning her attention back to the book to read out the tale.

"In a certain country in the northern seas, there was a man named Mont Blanc Noland." Tani started, sitting on the table outside while the others crowded around her. She flipped the page.

"Noland the Explorer's stories were always grand adventures that sounded like lies. But the people of the village could never tell if they were true or not." she continued. A couple eyes drifted to Usopp, who huffed at them. The next page.

"One time, Noland went on an expedition, and came back to report to the king. "I saw a mountain of gold on an island across the great seas."," Tani put on a little voice for Noland, attempting to mimic the voice of Pinocchio from the Disney movie. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper seemed to enjoy it. Page flip.

"To see for himself, the brave king took two thousand warriors and crossed the great seas in his ship.
He fought powerful storms and huge sea monsters." she made hand actions and grand gestures. The crew all smiled with enjoyment, it felt like a show. The next page.

"Finally, the king, Noland, and one hundred soldiers landed on the island. But what they found there was nothing but jungle. Noland was sentenced to death for his lies." the big reveal had finally been played. Another page flip.

"These were his last words.
"That's it! The mountain of gold sank into the ocean!!!" The king and the others were shocked." Tani declared Noland's final words with a last ditch effort tone. The final page.

"Nobody believed Noland anymore, but he never stopped lying until he was dead." thus the fable had been complete. Tani clapped the book together. "Well that's not how the "don't lie" fairy tale ended where I live," Tani claimed, that was a pretty grim ending.

The sound of something breaking the surface of the ocean caused the crew to quickly drop everything and investigate. It was a hazelnut? Like a big hazel nut the size of someone's head was bobbing on the sur- no wait that's someone's hair. A man with aged features tread the shallows of the water. Looking up at the young teens and adults with a deadpan stare.

"What are you kids doing outside my house?" he sounded tired and breathless, probably from the long dive he'd done. Honestly he must have been down there for over five minutes!

"You must be Cricket then?" Robin asked, stepping forward. The man nodded, hauling himself out of the water with a pained groan. Chopper's ears stood up as he trotted towards Cricket. Letting out a worried gasp as he noticed the bruising on Cricket's ribs. Going heavy point, the reindeer doctor got straight to work, ignoring the protests Cricket made. Chopper was stubborn when it came to his practice. Cricket didn't stand a chance.

"Hey hazelnut Gramps," Luffy questioned. Cricket lifted his head with obvious annoyance in his gaze but softened at the sight of Luffy's excitement. "We wanna go to the sky island, and Robin said you know how so can you get us up there?" Luffy grinned. Cricket lessened his hardened features, a spark glittering within his eyes.

"The sky islands you say? Those old myths?" he let out a hearty laugh, one that lacked any malice. "How romantic, pursuing a dream that might only be legend?" he said with a hint of dreamy. Luffy gave a nod of affirmation.

"Well theoretically, the only way to get to the sky islands would be through the knock up stream," Cricket stated, pointing towards a spot in the ocean though when the straw hats turned to look they only saw empty space and two oddly familiar boats. Are those those monkey crews again? Oh boy.

Cricket had a grin as the ships ported beside the Going Merry. The two captain's rushing over to Crickets side with worry in their tones.

"Leader leader! Look out! Those straw hat menaces are-"

"They attacked my whole crew within minutes! They're here on your-"

"And and-"

"Calm down you lot," Cricket said, patting both their shoulders with a fatherly gentleness. "These youngsters seem just fine, leave then be," he commanded. The two monkey captain's turned to look at the straw hats with a level of concern, though one look at Luffy seemed to melt away all their fears. Captain was a natural at friend making.

"Oh leader sir," Masira (he was the one in the orange if Tani's memories served her correct) beckoned. Cricket turned to face him. "How did today's dive go? Find anything?" he asked.

"Yes yes! How was the dive? You didn't over exert yourself did you?" Shoujou asked. Cricket let out a huffed laugh. Chopper gave him a glare.

"Don't even think about moving, you hear me?" the tiny doctor puffed. Cricket sat down at the picnic table outside, noticing the book the straw hats were reading before he resurfaced. Mixed emotions washed over his features.

"Something on your mind Mr Cricket?" Robin inquired, sitting opposite him with her hands resting under her chin. He gave her a shake of the head before explaining. The crew all sat around the table to listen to his tale.

"For 24 years now, I've been diving deep into the ocean in search of the city of gold," he stated. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper all glowed with awe. "Destiny brought me to this island, and I plan on finding that city. Not to clear his name... But to fulfil my dream, no matter who laughs. There's a romance to it, don't you think?" he concluded. Tani clicked her fingers.

"How did I not connect the dots sooner! Same last name, same hazelnut thingy on your heads! You're Noland's relative," she questioned, pointing at Cricket.

"Kids right, the blasted man caused nothing but trouble for the whole family bloodline after that stunt he pulled," Cricket said with an undertone of annoyance. "Everyone of us got called liars, so we all left. Searching for the city of gold, but never succeeding," he sighed.

Luffy was balancing on his feet atop the table, clearly done with this conversation. When the speaking stopped, he interjected.

"So how do we get up there?" he asked. Cricket gave a chuckle.

"Really going through with it aren't ya? Well you're going to need a south bird first, they're head only points south," he explained. "That's the direction you'll be wanting to go, and thanks to compasses being useless in this god damn sea. That's the only way to guarantee you'll go in the right direction,"

"So find the bird, find the sky islands!" Luffy affirmed with a fist to the palm. Cricket nodded with a smile. He pointed towards the dense forest just behind them.

"You'll find them in there, good luck. The buggers are a pain to catch," he wished them good luck. Before they made to leave, Nami and Usopp asked a couple more questions.

"How much will this cost us?" Nami asked with suspicion. Cricket shook a hand at her.

"Not a berri, just the romance of this adventure is enough for this man," he answered.

"What are you going to do to Merry?" Usopp asked defensively. Cricket pointed to the monkey duo and their crews already working on the Merry.

"Just a couple of add one that can be removed later, you'll need them to ride the knock up stream," he answered clearly. Usopp nodded, a nervous glance at Merry.

"Come on! Let's find that bird!" Luffy demanded. Everyone called back in affirmation. The hunt for the bird began!

...

The forest was dark and dense, with night falling swiftly and the thick foliage that blocked any and all trickles of sunlight. The atmosphere just screamed horror flick final act. The calls of creatures echoing and droning, it sent a shiver up Tani's spine. 

"Kyoooo~" 

"That's the call," Robin said matter-of-factly. Luffy gripped the bug net in his hand with a big grin. Sanji and Zoro also had nets, there were only three that could be found at Cricket's home. 

"We only have three nets, so let's split up." Sanji stated. Zoro gave a nod, agreeing with Sanji for once! An achievement in human evolution. 

Luffy was already sprinting off to who knows where with Chopper by his side, Sanji was wandering away from Zoro with Nami and Usopp clinging to him. So that left Tani with Robin and Zoro, not that she minded. Robin was probably the one who would catch the bird, being so level headed… and her arms fruit would be really helpful. 

"This is so creepy," Tani mumbled, her hands in her pockets in case she had to protect herself from enemies. Robin and Zoro weren't exactly the most talkative people on the crew, so Tani had to fill in the silent air. Even if it was just to comfort herself. 

"Maybe the forest is full of bugs the size of a house, the kind that could eat us in one bite." Robin said as an off hand comment. Tani wanted to throttle her for planting such an idea! She turned to tell her off, only to notice a giant shadow slinking about in behind the party. 

"Oh my god!" she shrieked, whipping her yo-yo's out and attacking the creature. Zoro took hold of the situation, whipping out his sword and slicing the bug in two. He picked up the limp beast and looked at it with a grossed out expression. 

"A giant centipede?" he said holding its leg up. Robin looked at it with a hint of sympathy. 

"That's rude, what did it ever do to you," she said lazily. Tani pointed at it and bounced on her feet. 

"It's a giant bug! It was gonna eat me!" she said with a squirm. She didn't hate bugs, some looked really cool. She just didn't want them near her. Plus Robin's comment from earlier put her on edge. 

"AHHHHHHHHH"

The hair on the back of Tani's neck stood up. That sounded like the mixed shrieks of Nami and Sanji? Usopp has a very feminine scream so it must have been Sanji… Where's Usopp? 

"Well that sounded unfortunate," Robin said with a hint of humour. Not that Tani found her form of humour particularly funny. 

"Kyuuuuu Kyuu~"

"There it is," The older woman declared, turning on her heel and speeding towards the sound of the south birds call. "Be careful of quicksand," she commented off handedly. Zoro didn't pay attention and decided to charge after her.

The swordsman found himself quickly sinking in the deep muddy forest version of quick sand. His entire lower half sank fast, and Robin was out of sight. Leaving Tani to save the idiot that didn't pay attention to her warning. 

Tani flicked a yo-yo towards a sturdy looking branch, the new yo-yo strings that Usopp used for the gem based weapons, we're made of a strong material that could apparently withstand great stress. Let's test this shall we? 

The other yo-yo was tossed to Zoro himself. He grabbed the string and pulled at it, Tani held onto both yo-yo's tightly. Letting Zoro do most of the pulling, he was the stronger half of this equation after all. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Another scream rang out over the forest, Tani felt herself grow even more terrified. Pulling even harder to get Zoro out of the mud pit. 

*Tug*

Come on, come on!

*Tug*

His thighs were out of the mud, just his calves and feet and they're home free. 

*Tug*

The squelch noise, followed by a pop! Zoro was sent flying with a rain of mud. The swordsman flopping on top of Tani with a thunk, completely covering her in mud. She let out a cough, and pushed Zoro off her. The man rolled beside her, his arm fanned out. 

"Where's Robin?" he asked, lifting himself up into a crouch. Tani rubbed her head, cupping around her ears to listen for the bell. 

"That way," she said, pointing towards a single bell sound. No wait… That's two bells. 

"HIYAHHHH" came a shriek, followed by the running forms of Chopper in walking point, Luffy, and a swarm of wasps that chased them. Tani and Zoro watched as the pair rushed past them. Not even opting to question the situation. 

"Ok… That way instead," Tani said, pointing in the opposite direction. Zoro nodded and followed after Tani as she walked towards the sound of a bell. 

They found Robin in no time, after stopping Zoro from wandering off a bunch of times. 

Robin stood before a tree, looking up at it with an enigmatic expression. The tree was empty, Tani knew she heard the south birds call. Maybe she was slightly off? Or it had moved. More screams filled her ears. The others sounded like they were having fun. She gave a strange smile. 

"The bird took off before I could catch it," the older woman stated. Zoro gave her a dirty look, probably thanks to the dirt that coated his pants. Tani was just as grumpy but that's just because she felt gross with all the mud coating her shirt and face. 

Another scream rang through the forest. This time it sounded like Usopp, so that's new. Tani just wanted to catch this asshole bird and get this over with! 

"Maybe if we-"

"Kyuuuu~" 

Robin snapped her neck towards the sound before Tani had the chance to finish her sentence. The woman threw her arms in front of her chest.

"Tres Fleur" she called out. The sweet smell of flowers filled the air, as did the snap and shriek of a bird. A net with a bird bagged in it was dropped on the forest floor right beside Tani's feet. 

There it was… The bastard bird that caused all this trouble. 

Zoro picked up the bagged bird and turned to the two women before him. 

"Let's go find the other idiots," he said with his usual stoic expression. Tani nodded and lead the way towards all her screaming companions

...

This isn't what the straw hats were expecting to see when they returned with that asshole of a south bird.

Cricket and the monkey crews... All of them beaten and bloodied. Cricket looked destroyed.

"Hazelnut Gramps!" Luffy cried as he ran over to the down man. Tani grabbed Chopper and rolled over to them. Her skates being the fastest way to travel. "What happened?!" Luffy asked quickly. Cricket coughed harshly.

"They... They took-" he coughed up blood laced spit. "The gold, my gold... My treasure," he sounded so broken, Tani almost wanted to cry. Luffy's entire vibe spiked. He wasn't the jovial boy that was gushing about beetles just a moment ago. He was in "Let's hunt down the big boss" mode.

"Who?" he asked darkly, the setting sun really adding to the atmosphere. Cricket didn't get to answer before Zoro snarled demonically, his gaze on what everyone had turned their eyes towards.

"Bellamy," Nami scowled through clenched teeth. Sanji and Usopp rested their hands on her shaking shoulders. Tani stated at Luffy, his eyes hardened as he turned back to the forest... Oh no he wasn't!

"I'm going with you," Tani declared. Already tightening the laces on her skates. Nami snapped her head at the two of them.

"You're what!?" she asked, though she already knew the answer. "You can't be serious! We don't have-"

"He hurt hazelnut Gramps! Stole his treasure! I'm getting it back," Luffy declared. The stubborn kid wouldn't ever budge. He turned to Tani, who was already lowering herself to the ground. He wrapped his legs around her waist, her arms locked around them.

"We'll be back by sunrise," Tani promised. Zoro and Sanji promised to defend the camp if anyone came back to attack. Tani clicked her heels together before taking off towards the other side of the island.

The ride was silent, with Luffy's angered breathing being the most deafening noise. Tani wanted to scream, she wanted to throw a punch at that bastards face! This anger furled her to go faster.

"I don't want you to do anything," Luffy said with authority. Tani understood, that doesn't mean she was happy about it. The sounds of drunken laughter could be heard in the distance. They were getting close. "I don't want you getting hurt," Luffy clarified. Tani nodded, speeding up.

The pair of them stopped behind a building. Tani let Luffy get off her back, but before he ran off, she grabbed his arm and held it. Determination in her eyes.

"If I see that white haired bastard, can I punch him in the face?" she asked. Luffy gave a soft smile and nodded. Tani smiled back, her hand grabbing at the bell around his neck and giving it a quick shake. Luffy looked at the action and clasped her hand in his. She gave him a sheepish nod and let go. The bell letting out a healthy jingle as she dropped it.

"Good luck Luffy," Tani wished. Luffy smiled that bright grin that he only reserved for his nakama. Then rocketed himself to the top of the roof. Tani snuck towards the main street, Bellamy was the kind of dickweed that would wanna make a big deal out of this fight. Tani pulled her hat down to shield her face from any observation.

"BELLAMY!"

Heads turned to face Luffy, the boy stood tall on the rooftop. His expression making Tani's spine shiver. She pushed through the gathering crowd, she wanted a front row seat for this.

"Oh look it's straw hat Luffy~" some men sang out mockingly. "The little runt with a bounty of 100,000,000 berri~" they teased. They must have been rock off their knockers, because Luffy only had a bounty of 30,000,000. Luffy didn't seem phased, he just stood his ground and waited for Bellamy.

The smiling blonde pushed himself out the door of a bar. His expression was cocky and had this snark to it that made Tani's blood bubble with rage. This wasn't her fight, she had someone else to deal with should his ugly little face show up among the crowd.

"Give back the gold you stole!" Luffy demanded. Silence reigned over them all...

Laughter... They all snickered, chuckled, spat and practically pissed themselves with laughter at the demands of her captain. It made Tani sick to her stomach that such disrespect could be tossed so easily at Luffy. He's show them, all of them!

"Now why-" Bellamy let out a hyenas cackle, "Why would I ever do that, runt?" he wiped a tear from his humoured eyes. Luffy didn't falter at all. Luffy stared him down like weakling he was, which didn't sit well with Bellamy at all. The man scowled, before cackling again.

"I'm a man worth 55,000,000! You and those little crew mates of yours are nothing! You hear me! The gold is mine, and you're boring me," Bellamy snarled, his voice going that deranged tone that someone would use when trying to sound crazy.

"Hahaa! Bellamy is gonna wipe the floor with you, straw runt!" called out a drunken man. Then another, and another, until a whole choir of drunken pirates chanted for Bellamy. Tani remained still and quiet, observing Bellamy and his next move.

The man crouched to the ground, his legs rather than bending like regular bones, shifted into a grey colour and twirled around like a slinky. Great! A devil fruit. Bellamy launched himself at the roof top Luffy was standing on, bursting right through the flooring that Luffy had. Sending her captain tumbling, though Luffy only had to flick out his arm and swing to safety.

Bellamy was springing off of every surface his legs landed on. Bouncing around like a pinball in an arcade machine. The only indication that he was there being the blurs of pink and silver. Tani felt dizzy just watching. A couple more roof tops were destroyed before Luffy landed on the streets, his straw hat covering his eyes from the world. Bellamy shit talked Luffy, his range of bounce closing in on the "weakling" Luffy's shoulder fidgeted, without a seconds notice...

SLAM!

The sickening crack of wood splintering under the pressure of something being launched into it. The dust from the dirt underneath the wooden boards cleared. Revealing Luffy, who was dusting himself off and not batting an eye at the one hit KOed man that he just took out. He instead walked over to the white haired man (oh that's where he was!) and demanded the gold again. The white haired guy only snorted.

"Come on Bellamy, the fun's over you can get up now..."

Silence

"This isn't funny anymore Bellamy, take out this weakling!" he cried angrily.

Still silent

"Bella-"

THWACK!

Tani's fist collided with his face, sending him backwards. It was no one hit Smack down, but it made her feel so much better. He held his cheek and widened his eyes. Oh nice she broke his dumb looking science goggles.

"Gruh-gruh-grab the gold!" he shrieked. A pack of women scattered around to find the gold. Luffy stood beside Tani, the pair didn't look at each other but they didn't really need to. They knew they'd won this fight, their pride for one another was clear to them.

Two women practically tossed the aged cloth with a heap of gold at the duo. Luffy caught it with ease. Tani handed him her bag so he wouldn't have to carry the gold as is.

"It's really true then... Your bounties are real!" a man wallowed fearfully... Wait bounties? As in plural? As in multiple bounties? She turned to face the man, looking as intimidating as she could. The man cowered and tossed the pages at her. What she was made her eyes bug out.

"Monkey D Luffy, dead or alive. 100,000,000"

"Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro, dead or alive. 60,000,000"

"Silent bell Tani, Alive. 45,000,000"

"WHAT?!" Tani shrieked, dropping the page like it was poisonous. This can't be real! First off how the hell did she have a higher starting bounty than Luffy? Second! How did she even get a bounty?! Thirdly! Why just alive?!

Luffy looked at her curiously before spotting the pages fluttering away from her. He stretched his arm to grab the pages and pulled them back to read. His face lit up with excitement, shoving the pages into Tani's bag before strapping it to his back. She wanted to rip the pages out of the bag, but he'd already jumped onto her back (almost knocking her over).

"Let's go!" Luffy cheered, leaning forward. Tani clicked her heels for safe travels and sped away from the drunken town of Mocktown.

...

"Wait a minute!" Luffy burst, frightening Tani a bit. She jumped from the shock and accidentally smacked Luffy's head into a tree branch. He unwound his legs from her waist and pushed off her back, scampering up a tree. "Where'd it go?" he pouted, scratching his head. Tani looked at her captain, tapping her wrist.

"We don't have much time Luffy. Nami will have our heads if we show up late," she informed. Luffy was ignoring her, because he found his sights set on something else. His tongue poking out as he searched. It was cute. Well Luffy's always cute... It's not weird to call your captain cute is it?

"Found it!" Luffy called as he threw one of his arms rocketing past Tani. The air current he made making her wavy locks dance around her exposed eye. His arm pulled back just as quickly, leaving her waist long hair to be thrown over her head with the pull. Man she should really tie it up.

"I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid!" Luffy cried with elation. His normally childish tone was dialed up to maximum. Tani cleared her mess of hair away to find a golden bug being shoved towards her. Her eyes shifting back and forth between said bug and Luffy. Who had the brightest smile she'd ever seen, and coming from the king of smiles that was saying something!

"What bug is it?" Tani asked with a finger pointing at the large bug. Luffy vibrated with excitement.

"It's a gold-shelled horned Atlas beetle! My brothers and I would catch them all the time and make them fight. Ace was the best at catching them," Luffy gushed. It was so adorable listening to him praise his brother... Single brother... He said brothers.

"Do you have more brothers?" Tani asked. Luffy's expression fell, his smile less radiant than before. That could only mean... Oh... Oh no,"I'm sorry I didn't me-"

"His name was Sabo. He was really cool and wore this big top hat with goggles. He was the smartest, he even taught me and Ace how to read," Luffy praised. Tani gave him a solemn look, her hand finding its way to her captain's shoulder to give it a comforting squeeze. He turned to her with his eyes shining brightly.

"Do you wanna keep the beetle? I'm sure I could buy a bug enclosure or something at the dimension store," Tani offered. Luffy shook his head.

"He needs his family," Luffy smiled, letting go of the beetle and watching it fly away with a buzz. Luffy turned back to Tani and gave her a hug. She was left stunned, this felt like such an intimate moment. Slowly she caged her arms around her nakama. Luffy nested his head into her soft hair, almost like a child after having a bad dream.

"I'm so happy to have my nakama, I won't let anything bad happen to any of you," Luffy promised. Tani smiled.

"I'm sure the crew feels the same way Luffy," she declared. "After all," she lifted her face to look into his bright black eyes.

"What kind of crew would we be, if we couldn't support the future king of the pirates?" she grinned as bright as a star. Luffy looked at her radiance with wide eyes.

"Only the best can be on my crew, that's why you're here." he shot back. Tani felt her heart beat accelerate. So loud she thought Luffy could hear it. She averted her eyes and shyly spoke.

"Nami's gonna be mad if we don't hurry up," she said softly. Luffy climbed onto her back and clung to her limbs just a little bit tighter than before.

He was warm... Tani felt warm...