"And there you go," Tani grinned at her handy work. Chopper looked in awe at the small bell necklace that Tani made for him. "Now if you get lost, just shake it and I'll come running ok?" she explained. Chopper nodded in understanding.

"Tani! Come fish with us," Luffy waved at the girl with the spare fishing rod in hand. She snickered and walked over, grabbing the fishing rod and plopping herself in between Usopp and Luffy. Chopper walked over to watch. They sat there peacefully, nothing was biting the lines but that didn't really bother them much.

"Hey what's that?" Usopp asked, pointing towards a steamy spot on the ocean. Nami walked down the stairs, approaching the boys (and girl).

"That's the steam from an underwater volcano, the heat from the volcano causes the water to steam up," she explained. Tani looked at the spot, she remembered something her science teacher had mentioned.

"That means in a couple million years there should be a new island," she added to Nami's statement. Usopp and Luffy looked amazed. "At least that's what my teacher said, because of all the magma and stuff from the volcano builds up into and island or something... I think?" she questioned herself. The boys were too busy talking about how cool it would be to see an new island rise from the ocean.

"What if it was a meat island? Tani will it be a meat island?" Luffy asked, his mouth watering buckets of drool onto the deck. Tani laughed at the display, slapping at the wood with her hand as she laughed. Usopp and Chopper joined in with her contagious laughter.

Nami looked at the group with a pleased expression. Tani really brings out something special within them all. Nami can't imagine returning to the girls room without finding Tani sitting on her bed with her headphones... She was such a mystery to the world. The crew was lucky that of all the ships in the world that she could have appeared on, she managed to find her way to the Going Merry.

Tani still had many quirks that the other crew members didn't have. The bells being a big one, the bags of random snacks and clothes she managed to bring back with her at random without having any Berri to spend. Then there were the physical differences, her healing rate was much slower... Maybe that's something she should bring up with Chopper.

"Chopper, mind if I pull you over here for a second?" Nami asked the little doctor, Chopper nodded and followed Nami over to the closet turned medical bay.

"What's up Nami," Chopper asked cutely. Dear lord he's so cute what the hell. Nami had to hold back a squeal to explain.

"It's about Tani," she started. Chopper stilled, expecting the worst. "She's probably made this clear already but, Tani's not from around here." Nami said vaguely. She sat on the exam table which Chopper jumped up next to her.

"Tani actually appeared on Merry right before we met Sanji," Nami recounted fondly. That was a day, they really got off on the wrong foot that day. "She's from a world that we've never been to. Her body heals much slower than ours do, so she might have more differences that we don't know yet." she stressed. Chopper nodded at this.

"I'll have to pull her over and have a chat, thank you for bringing this up," the little doctor smiles sweetly. Nami held her heart at the pure reaction.

"Can't have Tani dropping dead on us when she has dreams to achieve," Nami winked.

"I think we just caught a guy?!" Tani shrieked from outside. Nami and Chopper ran outside to see what the commotion was about.

Attached to the trios fishing lines was a man? He had the face shape of a man but dressed in a more feminine manner. They pulled him onto the boat, the man looked grateful for their rescue. Which he expressed in a very flamboyant way.

"Nyoooo~ thank you so much for saving my life," he thanked, twirling on the tip of his toes like a ballerina. Yeah! He looks like a male ballerina. Luffy found his act very amusing. "For you lovelies see, I can not swim~" he sang.

"Devil fruit?" Tani asked. The ballerina pointed his leg her way, his back bending in an arch that hurt to look at.

"Correct!" he rolled the R. His energy was insane. As to be expected on these oceans. "Shall I demonstrate?~" he sang.

Luffy nodded enthusiastically, which the ballerina responded with by slamming his palm into the unsuspecting boys face. Luffy smacked into a wall. The shockwave woke Zoro from his nap and left him on high alert, his thumb brushed against the handle of his most beloved sword. Only to lower his guard and walk over to observe the oddity on the ship.

"Who's the weirdo?" Zoro whispered to Tani, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Some guy who we caught on our fishing lines, he just smacked Luffy in the face so I dunno what his deal is," she replied blankly, keeping her distance from the guy. Luffy got back up and rubbed his head, he stomped over to the guy to give him a piece of his mind when he came face to face with a mirror image of himself.

"Woah! It's me! But I'm me?" Luffy marvelled, the Luffy copy mimicked his movements. The copy tapped his cheek, changing back to the ballerina man. "Now you're you again! That's awesome," Luffy praised. Clapping his hands like an awestruck child.

"Such is the power of Bon Clay nyooo~" Bon Clay exclaimed while taking a bow. He tapped everyone's faces, well except for Sanji who wasn't there and Vivi who was standing back with a concerned look in her eyes. "You see, I can become anyone I've touched~" he said with a sing song voice. Taping his other cheek and showing off the many faces he had collected.

"I can mimic their voices," he said with Zoro's voice, the swordsmans face contorted in discomfort. "I can even copy their body," he said with Nami's face, slipping his clothes off to reveal more of the poor women's body than anyone present wanted to see.

Nami slammed her fist into his head, embarrassment clawing at her cheeks. Bon Clay laughed it off with Tani's voice, sending a shiver up the girls spine. It sounded just like her... It was weird. He cycled through many faces the crew didn't know, it was wild. So many different people were forever remembered by this man.

"Bon Clay!? Bon Clay!?" chanted a choir of men from a small pink swan boat that rolled beside the Merry.

"Nyoo?~ what's this? My lovely crew?"  Bon Clay turned on his toes to face the swam boat, "My lovelies! I'm here my darlings~" he waved at them with his flamboyant arm movements. They all cheered at his appearance.

"I'm afraid this is where we must part ways Straw hat," Bon Clay cried, Luffy got emotional as well. Crying as they parted ways. "We will always be nakama! Nyooo~" Bon Clay cheered with teary eyes, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper all choked up with tears as they bid their new friend farewell. What a weird experience.

"Oh shoot, I forgot to give him a bell," Tani said with a little disappointment. Luffy pouted sadly as he watched the swan boat speed ahead. "Wonder if we'll ever meet him again," she thought aloud.

"We will..." Vivi answered ominously. Curious looks turned to her. "Because that man is Mr 2..." she looked panicked. Everyone on the ship seemed surprised, he was such a riot and friendly to boot. How could he work for such an awful organization?

"How can you be sure? I mean you wouldn't have met him because of the whole ranks and secrets thing," Tani asked. Vivi nodded with a scrunched face.

"One of those faces was my father's, I've heard about Mr 2's devil fruit power... This can only spell out trouble," Vivi sounded defeated. Zoro let out a small chuckle, attention now on him.

"Then I guess it's lucky that we met him," Zoro smirked, Vivi looked confused. "Because now we know what he's capable of, we can counter it," he explained.

"That's genius," Usopp said excitedly, lightly punching Zoro's shoulder. Who scowled back, scaring Usopp away. Sanji walked out of the kitchen, looking confused about the conversation.

"So how do we counter someone who can copy everything about us?" Nami pondered. Zoro's smirk grew, already having a plan in mind.

"With these," Zoro pulled out a handful of white cloths, from where? Who knows. "Not just these though, does anyone have a marker?" why would we need a marker?

"I've got one," Usopp said while rummaging his bag, handing the black marker to the swordsman. Zoro proceeded to draw an X mark on his lower arm and wrapped the cloth around it.

"The true marker is the X on our arms. Mr 2 won't know about it so if you ask someone to prove they're who they are, and they don't show the X first, they're a fake," Zoro said matter-of-factly.

"Wow even the idiot moss head can have a good idea for once," Sanji mocked, Zoro shot him a death glare.

"So what did I miss?" Sanji asked, Nami proceeded to inform the chef of what had occurred. The flushed cheeks at the mention of Nami's body being revealed to the crew left him feeling fired up to fight the guy.

Everyone took it in turns drawing an X on their arms and tying a cloth around it. Even Carue got one. The crew held their fists out in a circle on the count of three, raised them with a cheer. The crew was ready to take on whatever the evil organization had to offer.

...

"Luffy!" Tani called out as she skated through the streets of Nanohana. The rest of the crew found a spot to hide while Sanji and Chopper left to grab supplies. Luffy had dashed off the second the boat landed, so Tani was left to wander the streets of the desert country in search of the ever hungry captain.

She'd entered every eating establishment she could find, none of them had seen the straw hatted vacuum cleaner. It'd been half an hour and she still hadn't found him! She rolled around until spotting the last restaurant she could have entered. If he wasn't there, than boy was she going to kill him when she found him.

Rolling into the small establishment, she found herself staring at a rather odd sight. Everyone was crowded around this one guy with his face fallen flat into a pile of fried rice, his hand still held up a fork with shrimp on it as if ready to take a bite, only to fall asleep or die. People were poking and prodding at his lifeless body. Tani didn't really have time to watch, she had her idiot captain to find.

"Excuse me," she waved her hand in front of the bar tenders face to grab his attention. "Have you seen a guy with a straw hat, red vest, probably able to clear out your entire stock of food in one sitting?" she asked for the thousandth time. The man looked at her with a sigh.

"Same thing I told that guy," he pointed at the man with his face buried in food, "I haven't seen this Luffy kid," he said.

Hold on a second, this guy was looking for Luffy too? What did he want with him? Was he a bounty hunter?.. On second thought, that looked like a Jolly Roger tattooed on his back. She kept her eyes on him, trying to figure out if she'd seen a bounty poster for him in the newspaper yet. His rancid orange hat stood out so there's no way she would have mister hot and bothered cowboy man. Honestly why did he have no shirt on, it was hot sure but you'd get a bad sunburn in a country like this-

Tani was so focused on questioning this man's fashion choices, that when he woke up, she shrieked and fell off her chair. The crowd around him looked shocked that the man wasn't dead. In fact he just picked up from the middle of a sentence he was probably saying before passing out.

"-see him then can you tell him to find me..." he blinked his sleepy eyes at the people that swarmed him, "What's with the crowd?" the man said nonchalantly, the crowd of people all yelled at him about thinking he was dead. He just shrugged at them and turned back to his meal like he hadn't just passed out for who knows how long.

Tani didn't know whether or not she should confront this guy about his need to find Luffy. Luffy is a tough guy, but if this man is a threat then she doesn't want to take any chances. She decided to eavesdrop on the man's conversation with the bartender.

"Look I've already told you, I haven't seen him. What are the odds that he'll show up here?" the bartender sounded annoyed. The man laughed, biting the food on his fork.

"Where there's food, there's a Luffy," he said. Does he know Luffy? Or is this just information he's gathered? Tani felt nervous... And thirsty.

"Can I have a water please?" Tani asked the bartender. The man looked at her with a sigh, but complied and handed her the glass. She felt the cowboy man staring at her with curious eyes. She side glanced him, making eye contact which she quickly broke.

"Do I know you?" he asked, leaning his face on the palm of his hand. His gaze held fire, a hint of recognition in his eyes.

"Nope," she said into her cup, the water bubbling some of her voice. The man's eyes squinted as if trying to analyse her more. He turned away with a sigh.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen a kid running around with a straw hat?" he asked. Tani froze, and he noticed. "You have!" he leaned in closer. Tani pulled away, the cup still in her hold. The bartender rolled his eyes.

Before the guy could say anything more to her, the door to the restaurant opened up. A familiar smokey smell filled the air. Tani turned to face the new arrival, only to turn her head back as fast as she could. Cursing under her breath at the familiar face. The guy next to her turned around in his chair and smirked.

"Fire fist Ace? What are you doing this half of the Grand line?... You know what, never mind. I'm not here to catch you anyway," Smoker grunted at Ace. Tani lowered herself closer to the counter, her hat now in her lap. Ace gave her a side glance, noticing how nervous she looked. "I'm looking for straw hat Luffy," he said aloud. The bartender threw his hands up in frustration.

"Kids not here!" he ranted, Smoker raised a brow. Looking back at Ace in realisation. He looked like he was ready to fight the pirate, Ace was pretty much the same. "Get out of my bar!" the bartender yelled, shooing at the three of them. Smoker and Ace ignored him, Tani sat there with her breath caught. Smoker hadn't noticed her yet.

Tani decided not to focus on the tension between the two men. No, her attention instead shifted to the jingling of a bell. A sigh escaped her lips.

"Refill please," she said. The man gave her an annoyed look, but took the glass anyway. She turned to look at the entrance, noticing the hands now grabbing the frame of the door.

3

Ace stood up from his seat, flicking at his hat with a smirk.

2

Smoker grumbled, pulling at the weapon he had strapped into his back.

1

Tani braced for impact, leaning away from the seat that Ace was sitting on just before.

"Rocket!" Luffy announced, his rubber body slamming into the back of Smoker. The momentum sent Smoker flying into a shocked Ace. The pair being shot through... One, two, five. Five different buildings. Luffy of course didn't notice anything and just ran to empty spot that Ace once sat, and started eating his food. Stay classy Luffy.

"Luffy..." Tani sighed, the boy turned to her with stuffed cheeks and smiled.

"Oh hey Tani!" he said with his mouth still full. She deadpanned at him but he was too focused on 'his' meal to notice or care. The bartender walked back with the full glass, dropping it when he noticed the damage done to his place. Tani shrugged at him and turned back to Luffy.

"Straw hat!" Smoker's angry voice growled from the rubble. His smoke danced around him as he approached the pair. Tani grabbed Luffy by the shoulders, hoping to pull him away from the bar. Luffy looked up at Smoker with wide eyes. Pausing in his movements... Then shoving the rest of the food into his mouth, turning around and bolting out the door. Smoker looked at Tani, oh shit.

"You're the kid from the fountain!" he growled, Tani had no time to reply before a rubber hand grabbed her shoulders and pulled her backwards with a shriek. She shot in front of a grinning Luffy, her blades still attached to her feet. Luffy pulled himself onto her back just as he had in Little Garden. Piggy backing off her as she zoomed through the streets of Nanohana.

"Luffy after this I'm going to kill you!" she yelled as she almost slammed into a barrel.

"Hold on!" he said. What does he mean hold-

His arm shot upwards, attaching to the top of a building. His legs tightened around her waist as he pulled them off the ground. Tani screamed, because of course he would pull her off the ground and into the air! What kind of action adventure would this be without that!?

The landing was wobbly, Tani's legs turned to jelly from her initial shock. The sound of Smoker shouting at them snapped her legs back to normal, she raced across the rooftops.

Now jumping between buildings was the most terrifying thing she had ever had to do, more scary than her fight with Pearl, more horrifying than the avalanche, heck even Luffy chasing her with murderous intent had nothing on this. She wanted to clench her eyes shut everytime a jump came up. She couldn't though because that would risk them falling from at least 15ft and that would break her legs.

"Hey! I see everyone," Luffy called to Tani, without warning he grabbed the edge of the building they were on and tossed them off together. She let out a shriek, closing her eyes tight and clinging to Luffy with a knuckle whitening clutch.

"You idiot!" Nami scolded Luffy, smacking him upside the head. "You just had to start trouble in the first town we dock at didn't you?" Nami groaned. Sanji rubbed her shoulders to ease the the tension from them.

"Straw hat! Where are you?" Smokers angry voice shouted through the streets. Tani turned her head to spot a small group of white uniformed men heading towards their direction.

"Quick! The marines are here!" Tani shouted. The straw hats turned towards the now gathering crowd of marines charging at them from both ends of the street. Zoro smacked Luffy atop the head.

"You couldn't have lead them away before coming here?" he shouted, grabbing the handles of his swords.

"Run!" Usopp shouted as he took the lead and bolted. The rest of the crew following close behind. The marines were nothing against the force that is the straw hat pirates, but that doesn't mean the crew wanted to be running for their lives.

Smoker was catching up, his smoke making it easy for him to just float through the air. At this rate the straw hats weren't going to make it to the boat. A burst of fiery heat exploded from behind them, the already yellowy desert glowed an orange hue. The crew turned around to face the back of Ace. Fire danced atop his bare skin, his body language screaming confidence. He turned his head and shot the crew a smirk. Luffy's eyes widened in surprise.

"Ace?!" Luffy exclaimed. The crew collectively glanced at each other in confusion. So Luffy knew the guy, and didn't seem hostile. That's a good sign. "Since when did you get a devil fruit?" Luffy looked both excited and curious. Ace turned away to face Smoker.

"I'll tell you later," he replied, his skin lit up like a fireball. Guess that's where the name 'fire fist' came from. "Get to your ship, I'll hold old Smokey off," Ace said with certainty. Like he already knew the outcome of the fight before it even began.

"Well let's go!" Nami called out, everyone returned to run for the ship. Luffy was rather distracted by the fight going on behind them.

"Luffy, who is that guy?" Zoro asked with concern. Luffy grinned from ear to ear.

"That's Ace, my big brother," he said with great pride. Many jaws dropped, Tani's included. He had a brother? He always came off as the single child with no parental attention to her. "Woah his devil fruit is cool!" he exclaimed while running backwards to watch fire and smoke collide.

...

"What do you mean he got split off!" Nami shouted at the unfortunate Tani who was standing on the deck of the now sailing Merry.

"I mean just that. He went poof, vanished, gone without a trace," Tani deadpanned, her hands making motions with her words. Honestly how could he have gotten lost? Did he catch Zoro's direction deficiency? Hopefully that's not contagious...

"Ugh!" Nami threw her arms in the air in anger, stomping to the railing and looking back at Nanohana. The massive fire/smoke ball was gone meaning Ace and Smoker were finished with their fight.

Now that Tani thought about it. Ace was a bit of a surprise, Luffy had never mentioned a brother. Hell he'd never mentioned anything about his family, the only person she'd heard anything about was this guy who gave Luffy his treasured hat. Now that Ace had shown up, maybe she could learn more about her captain.

"Oi!" shouted the very familiar voice of their idiot captain. The straw hatted boy flapped his arms around wildly. Everyone on deck gathered around the railing beside Nami, who was foaming in the mouth with how annoyed she looked. Luffy's radiant smile could be seen from miles away.

"Gum gum!" he threw his arms forward, stretching the length between the dock and the Merry. Landing on the railing right in front of Sanji and Chopper. Tani paled a bit when realising what was happening.

"Chopper get down," she said, grabbing the little reindeer around the torso and pulled him away from the landing zone. Unfortunately for Sanji...

"Rocket!"

*Slam!*

Sanji was sent backwards under the weight of their reckless captain. Who laughed off the whole situation, Nami was not please. Her fist collided with his skull, sending him straight into the ground. Tani felt a squirming in her arms, Chopper was struggling to escape her hold.

"Ah, sorry," she dropped Chopper in a movement of panic, the poor doctor fell to the floor with a thunk. Luffy recovered and returned his attention to the crew.

"Oi Luffy," Zoro called, Luffy hummed in question. "So that Ace guy's your brother? What'd he want?" he asked. Luffy's expression lit up just as bright as Ace when he was on fire.

"Ace said he would tell me everything later, so we gotta wait for him!" he looked excited, how long had it been since they last saw each other? Tani never really had this kind of feeling, her only family was her mum and she was always home when Tani needed her. "He's so cool!" Luffy said with admiration.

"So is Ace strong?" Tani asked curiously. She'd seen him fighting... Sorta? He dissolved into a fireball and did that thing against Smoker which was cool, but she didn't know if that meant he was strong. He could have lost for all she knew... Yet her gut told her that was very unlikely. His confidence was too certain.

"Of course he is!" Luffy almost looked offended, "Ace is so strong that even without a devil fruit he was stronger than me!" he praised with dazzling eyes. "Though if I tried now, I think I could beat him super easy," he laughed, leaning against the ships railing.

"What was that?" a new voice chuckled. A shadow flew through the air, landing on the railing behind Luffy. The bright orange cowboy hat was flicked up to reveal Ace's droopy eyes. Luffy beamed, bouncing on his legs with excitement. It was just... So cute! Tani had turned away to not draw attention to herself. "So this is your crew Luffy?" Ace asked, turning to look at the crew.

"Unfortunately yes," Nami grumbled with grumpy eyes glaring at Luffy. Usopp pat her back in a comforting manner, shaking his head in defeat.

"Thanks for putting up with my little brother, I'm sure he's quite the handful," Ace said with a bow. He was so polite, a stark contrast to Luffy's more demanding nature which lacked any real manners. Ace lifted his head to look at everyone on the ship, his eyes landing on Tani. "Hey, I saw you at that bar earlier," he pointed at her.

She pointed at herself, before sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. Something about Ace was making her really shy for some reason.

"Uh yeah, I was looking for Luffy. He ran off the second we docked, and because I'm the tracker of the crew it's my job to find him," she said. Ace didn't take his eyes off her until Nami began talking to him. Tani sighed with relief when his gaze stopped burning into hers.

"Oh Tani," Sanji called for her attention, she turned to him. He held out clothes and jewellery, the girl grabbed them. "I went out and bought you some new clothes to better suit the weather," he's face seemed to heat up with all the blood rushing to his cheeks.

Tani lifted the pieces of clothing and stared at them with a quirked brow. They were a two piece that looked something akin to princess Jasmine from Aladdin. The top half being cropped to fit around her chest and not much else, it also had straps so it wouldn't slide down her body when running around. The bottom half looked like a long skirt, but if you looked closely it split off into pants. So she wouldn't be tangled up when rolling around in the sand. She stared at Sanji with questioning eyes.

"Hey quick question," she said, looming straight into Sanji's eye. He felt a nervous sweat. "How do you know my size?" she asked with suspicion. The blonde rubbed the back of his neck.

"I've always had to take into consideration everyone's sizes when preparing dishes, so I kinda just know-" he answered. Tani didn't believe him and he knew it. He let out a sigh, "I have a natural skill when seeing any woman, I just know their proportions." he breathed. Tani gave a nod, that sounded more Sanji.

"Well that's a useful skill. If not, a really weird and specific one. You're very in-tune with women aren't you?" Tani commented, before turning away to head into the girls room.

The clothing itself wasn't half bad, with its bluish-green hue and airy design. Sanji had taken into consideration not only her comfort, but her fighting style too. The only issue she had was her exposed stomach and arms which would surely get burnt in the scorching sun... That and she didn't particularly enjoy showing off her skin in the first place.

She wasn't ashamed of her looks, her mother always made sure of that. Peppering her with compliments and praise for how pretty she was, whenever school got her down.

Sanji had taken her needs into consideration though. Plus she didn't think any of her clothes suited the weather like these did. Tani sighed and proceeded to slip off her clothes to swap outfits.

*Bang!*

Tani paused as the ship rocked back and forth. Did they get hit? Who was firing at them? Was it the Marines? She ignored grabbing shoes in order to run outside and check out what was happening.

She burst through the door to the deck, nobody paid her any mind as they all looked towards the front of the Merry.

Ace was absent from Tani's view, where'd he go? She stepped forward to stand beside Luffy, who was looking at the Baroque work ships with awe... No, he wasn't looking at them... He was looking at the small boat speeding towards them. It's engine roared as it sped towards the six ships firing at Merry. Ace's orange cowboy hat clearly on the head of the smaller boats occupant.

That thing was like the coolest jet ski boat thing she'd ever seen! His feet were on fire to power it up, like how much cooler can you get? Man if only she could set herself on fire without getting third degree burns.

Once the smaller boat had gained enough momentum, Ace jumped off of it. The small boat dove under the ocean while he soared through the air. It was like a super hero move! He flipped around in the air, the baroque workers had no idea what to do. Tani couldn't see Ace when he landed.

What she did see was a blast of fire so ginormous that it burned through all six ships like they were melted butter. The heat from the flames warmed the wind that blew over the awestruck straw hat pirates. The crew was left in awestruck silence.

So this was the power of a high rank pirate?

The small boat Ace was piloting zoomed back to the Merry, Ace waved at the crew. Luffy waved back enthusiastically, bouncing around on his feet with excitement. Luffy looked like he was about to explode.

Ace casually jumped from his smaller boat onto the deck of the Merry, as if what he just did was the norm. Tani didn't snap out of her awestruck state until she was knocked in the shoulder by Luffy, who Ace had slung his arm over the shoulder of.

"That was awesome!" Luffy cheered, his arms flying in the air to emphasise his words. Ace gave a chuckle, his free hand messing with Luffy's scruffy black hair. "How did you do that? I wanna do that!" Luffy wouldn't stop bouncing.

"Maybe someday Luffy," Ace said with a glowing expression. He was just as happy to see Luffy, his expressions were more reserved, but the fire (no pun intended) in his eyes were alight.

"Sorry to interrupt the reunion," Nami cut in, "Sorry if this comes off as rude but I was just wondering how long you plan on staying?" she asked. Ace thought for a moment.

"Not long, there's someone I need to find somewhere in Alabasta," he answered. His face growing more serious at the implications of his mission.

"Ace should stay with us!" Luffy suggested, "We need find that place Vivi wants to go to, maybe Ace can find that someone he's looking for as well," he reasoned. Nami gave a quick nod.

"Only if you want to stay around," Nami said, pointing towards Ace. He gave a chuckled.

"Well if you're willing to have me, I'll stay around for a bit," Ace declared, Luffy cheered happily. Tani smiled softly at her captain's joy. A hand tapped at her shoulder, this time it was Vivi that held out a cloth to her.

"Here, you'll want to wear this when we journey through the desert," she suggested. Handing over the light green cloak with yellow stars lining the rims. Tani sighed with relief, slipping the long cloak over her shoulders. Now she won't get sunburnt! Oh maybe she should grab some of that on her next-

"Damn it," Tani cursed to herself. Not loud enough for anyone to hear her. She didn't have time to go shopping at IDCS because she was so busy finding Luffy! Stupid captain cost her a chance to get more supplies.

She turned to find Luffy still prancing around his brother, excitedly showing off all he could about the Going Merry and her occupants. The pure happiness that Luffy displayed at the sight of his family was adorable!

"Tani,"

Speaking of adorable.

"What's up Chopper?" the girl asked, her arms crossings round her chest as she faced the reindeer doctor.

"I was wondering if I could take you in for an examination," he said while holding his hooves together. "Nami brought up some concerning information and I wanted to make sure I was prepared to take care of all your wounds should you get them," Chopper voiced. Tani nodded.

"What kind of concerns? Am I sick?" Tani said with slight worry.

"What? Tani's sick again?" Luffy yelled way louder than he should have. Chopper looked at Luffy with wide eyes.

"Again? Have you been sick before?" Chopper questioned. Tani grabbed her chin to think... There was-

"When I first arrived, I had a really bad fever that lasted about a day. There was also the time Luffy punched me so hard I went flying off the boat," she recounted. Chopper panicked at the mention of the last injury.

"Luffy did what?!" he squeaked. Turning to face the guilty captain, who was laughing it off.

"Oh right! When she shoved that Johnny guy out of the way," he laughed. Ace smacked him upside the head. "Ouch, Ace that was mean!" Luffy pouted.

Ace just chuckled, but didn't say anything. Instead focusing on the strange girl Luffy had on his crew. There was something about her story that sounded way too familiar.

"Anyway that's not important," Tani waved. Pulling the doctors attention back. "Did you need any more information?" she asked. Chopper nodded.

"I need to know your blood type in case we need to give you an emergency blood transfusion," Chopper says with all seriousness that shouldn't be possible for someone so small and cute.

"Oh! We did this test in high school," She says with realization. Thank god she doesn't have to do it again, "My blood type is A, so someone's bound to have it on the-"

"A what?" Chopper asked.

"Huh?"

"A what? I've never heard of blood type A," Chopper said with slight worry. Tani blinked.

"What? You don't have A, B, AB or O here?" Tani said with just as much worry. This could be a problem.

"That's where I've heard it!" Ace interrupted, his fist hitting his open palm. "My division partner has the same thing Tani does. Her blood type is O, she made a huge deal about how cool that made her because it was rare it something like that." Ace explained.

"So this partner of yours is the same as Tani?" Zoro joined in, the mention of blood must have peaked his interest. Ace gave a nod.

"Yeah, she appeared on my old ship. Back when I was the captain of the Spade pirates," Ace chuckled. The memories resurfacing in his mind. "She hasn't changed much, she still this aggressive asshole that can and will kill you," he says with pride.

"Ace has a mystery girl too?" Luffy added. Ace laughed and pat Luffy on the back.

"Yeah you could say that."

"Can we get back to the topic at hand though," Chopper pulled them all back. "Tani," she turned to look at him. "This means I'll need to draw blood from you so we have some backups in case of emergency," Chopper stated. Tani felt herself pale, but nodded in agreement.

"Better safe than sorry I guess," she added with a lopsided smile.

"We can do that later," Nami popped in out of nowhere. "We have a country to save and lunch to eat." she called out. Earning cheers from the crew.

Tani paused for a moment in her ascent to the kitchen. A realization just hitting her.

She wasn't the only one.

She wasn't the only bell user here.