"Remind me to buy you a better weapon when we're done with this shit." Zoro nudged my side as I stared at the island, a knife in my hand. "You know you remind me of a little girl I met once. She liked to make sweets too. Sucked at it tho, so I told her what I'll tell you: Being good takes practice!" He patted my head and chuckled at my widened eyes.

"I've heard those words before." I said in disbelief.

"Well you must have known some pretty smart people. So back to what I was saying - each battle makes you stronger, and just like you can't learn to cook by reading recipes, you can't learn how to fight by doing push ups." His next words were silenced by the sound of Luffy's yelling. I was too shocked to hear what he was saying, because a realisation overtook my entire mind.

"You're that boy..." The one I met years ago. He must be. "Zoro." I reached out for him, but he was already walking towards the boat that would take us to Wolf island.

"C'mon, idiot. We're only waiting for you." He gestured me with his hand to come closer and I did as told. Usopp dropped us into the water, promising to stay behind and watch over Going Merry, because he still needed to patch her up.

While Zoro and Sanji rowed to the island, Luffy noticed I was quieter than usual. He sat down on the boat's rear and pulled me closer. "Hey, Candy!" He chuckled. "Don't tell me you're scared." I shook my head, smiled and ruffled his hair.

"No, I was just... thinking about stuff."  Luffy's eyes narrowed at my response and he scratched his head seemingly confused. "It was nothing important, I promise! I just don't want to distract you from the rescue that's all." He looked at me sideways, his glance screaming 'I'm confused and my head hurts from all the thinking.'

"Yeah, Luffy. Let's focus on the task at hand - we have to save Vivi and get the hell out of here. You'll talk about nonsense later." Nami sighed, clearly not feeling the confidence she was trying to portray. We arrived at the rocky shore a few minutes later, almost crashing in the process. The air had gotten chillier and I could see my breath in the air.

"Man this island is depressing!" Sanji exclaimed after taking a deep breath of his cigarette. Chopper whimpered and stood closer to Sugar who was yawning as if she had just woken up from a nap. I rolled my eyes and ran my hand across her soft fur to eliminate any negative thoughts. This was about saving Vivi, not talking to Vickie. Maybe I won't even have to see her. 

Our feet lead us on a path towards the cave. It was about an hour long walk and I could feel everyone's anxiousness surrounding us. The huge dark hole in between the mountains grew with each step and floating black flags with Vickie's sign appeared round it. I felt like I was being swallowed by the darkness as we entered and stopped to figure out where Vivi could be.

Luffy immediately started to yell her name, his voice ringing in my ears and echoing in the cave. Nami smacked his head and whispered: "Shut up, you idiot! We just need to find Vivi and go, no need to get into a fight! Our fight is in Alabasta."

"Hey Zoro, which way do you think we should go?" Sanji asked the swordsman in a grumpy voice. The man thought for a moment and answered with 'right'. "Okay guys, let's head left!" 

Zoro's eyebrow twitched at the cook's response and I barely stopped him from putting a sword in Sanji's back. "Stop acting like children! Let's just split up and see who finds her. I'll go right with Zoro and Sugar. We'll come back here in an hour and if not... "

"We'll come look for you." Chopper smiled up at me and I nodded.

"Hey, I'm going with Candy too! I want to see her fight." Luffy wrapped his arm around me like a snake and laughed at my freaked out expression. Freaking devil users, I'll never get used to this! I heard a loud whine and watched as Sugar sneaked behind Chopper to go with him.

"Ugh, fine. Go wherever you want, traitor." I said in a normal voice thinking she wouldn't hear me, but she looked back as they were leaving and winked at me. I scoffed and pushed Luffy's stretched arm off me, then continued down the path, not waiting for the two boys to follow. "Why is this cave so dark? I thought people lived here."

"I thought you knew." Zoro complained and looked around as we kept walking. Suddenly the path turned up and got way rockier. I had to watch my every step carefully not to fall. Luffy seemed to be the only one enjoying it, swinging himself every few steps and yelling Vivi's name. Sweat poured down my back from exhaustion and we had to take several breaks before a sudden light appeared before us. I ran towards it and almost bumped into a steel door with a tiny window in it. I pushed it open, gasped and stared.

Before us was a beautiful stone hall, it's walls decorated with purple and blue crystals which shone in the dim foggy light, creating a visual trick of walking on rainbows. The roof was made of glass showing the dark clouds raging above it. A storm had hit the island while we were walking. I turned around to call Luffy and Zoro, but I could only see one of them. 

"Luffy, where's Zoro?" I asked, horror creeping in my voice.

"I though he was with you." Captain shrugged and I gritted my teeth worried. "Zoro's a strong guy, he'll be fine. He's probably just lost somewhere." Luffy laughed and took a step to cross the hall. As soon as his body touched a ray of crystal light, an alarm went off.

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Hey guys!

I feel like shit for not updating sooner. I had everything planned out and was gonna do it last week, I even had half of the chapter written, but I knew that if I didn't finish it before friday I wouldn't be able to write for five days. So as you can see i couldn't finish it before friday and now here I am.... 

I can't believe I broke my promise. Anyways what can you do, right? I hope you liked this chapter- A lot of you have already figured out who the mean boy from Candy's childhood was and I thought it was time she realised it. There's a big fight coming up so stay tuned!

XOXO

~ChocolateLuffy