Kaede

"Yeah, that's right." Luffy replies and Chopper moves over towards me.

"Can you give her this? I would but I'm not the best with needles." I say holding out the antidote for Daft in my hand.

"Sure," Chopper says instantly getting to work and I stand up looking at the two girls again.

"How could I have said all those awful things? She was there in the room and I was so careless to say that Shiki was the East Blue's problem now. I can't even imagine how much I hurt that poor girl." The woman says and the child starts wiping her eyes and I notice that she's holding a tone dial.

"I didn't even think about the people there." The little girl says and I crouch down in front of her.

"People will always place the ones they care for ahead of others. It's normal to only think about how happy it'll be with Shiki gone from this place. He's been terrorizing you for the longest time so it's natural for the reaction you had." I say patting her on the head. "May I see the shell you're holding onto?" I ask and she nods handing it over to me while trying to lessen her tears.

"Thanks." I say taking it and lightly tossing it to Luffy who catches it just as easily. "If you're still feeling bad about it then just remember that you are worrying about the people from the East Blue now. You have nothing left in your village and you'll have to start over again but you're worrying about the people living in the East Blue who are living peacefully at the moment. You're also worrying about Nami's feelings during a time like this so never forget that your good people."

"That's true. Shiki's the bad guy here and I'm going to make him pay for what he did. So, cheer up." Luffy says standing up with the crew right behind him.

"I'm going to help them back to the others and when I get back you better be ready to go." I say standing up.

"We'll be ready as soon as we listen to what's on here." Luffy says and I nod before picking up the elderly woman again and starting to lead the way back to the other villagers. Once I make sure the family makes it there safely I head back to where the Straw hat crew was and I see Luffy off to the side in anger. I sit down beside where Luffy was fuming and he instantly deflates.

"Why would she say something like that Tempest? Why would she just leave like that?" Luffy asks in an upset tone and I'm truthfully surprised he remembered to call me by my nickname.

"Luffy you know first hand that people lie to hide their emotions as well as to protect the ones they love. Nami's just doing the same thing and I know there must have been more to what she was saying then what you originally heard." I say.

"I know but I'm pretty sure there's nothing else to what she was saying." Luffy says and I shake my head.

"I argue against that. I don't know how it was before I joined up with you guys but I do know one thing about from the time I joined to the time right now. Your crew is together because of their trust in you as well as the fact that you guys are a family. There is pretty much nothing that could tear you guys apart forever. Listen to the message. I can promise on my life that there's more to it." I say helping Luffy up and we walk over towards the rest of the crew.

"Play it again." Luffy says and Usopp nods before pressing the button on the dial.

"Please forgive me for being unable to say farewell to you all directly. I've decided to join Shiki's crew as their navigator. Shiki is a legendary pirate whom Luffy and you guys can't oppose. You will only be wasting your life if you come after me. That's why I'll say this: Definitely... Come to save me." The dial finishes recording and Luffy has a smile on his face now.

"Let's go save Nami guys." Luffy says smiling and I can't stop the small smile that appears on my face.

"I'll give you a lift to the Sunny." I say gesturing to the two tigers who are still sitting there bored.

"When did those get there?" Usopp asks surprised.

"They've been there the whole time." I say walking over towards the tigers.

"What?" Usopp asks surprised.

"They were. That's how we got here." Robin says following me with the rest of the crew coming as well.

"Split into two groups." I say climbing onto the blue one. In the end, it ends up with me, Zoro, Robin, Chopper, and Usopp on the blue tiger while Franky, Brook, Luffy, and Sanji are on the red tiger.

"Why couldn't I be on the same tiger as Robin and the white-haired beauty?" Sanji asks and I look at him in annoyance.

"You're annoying that's why." I say and the glare Zoro was shooting Sanji turns into a smirk. "Let's go. You guys have got to change if you want to be able to enter Shiki's castle." I say giving the tigers the direction to head in to reach the Sunny. Once we reach the Sunny everyone goes to get changed as I send the tigers away. I change my outfit into a medium black dress and wait for everyone to gather onto the deck of the Sunny. Surprisingly Zoro's the first one out and I can't stop my breath from hitching slightly at the sight of him in a tux. Sure, he looks great in all the other clothes he owns but this is just amazing. I spot Zoro checking me out as well and when our eyes meet I smile at him. He gives me a small smile back and come to stand near me.

"Robin found out by the way." I say and Zoro raises an eyebrow.

"About your background or us?" He asks.

"Background, I already knew about you two." Robin says coming out onto the deck next in a short black dress that only covers to her mid thighs with tights underneath and a long black coat over top.

"Isn't that a little too short?" I ask.

"No this is perfect for me." Robin says.

"I guess so. You aren't really planning on kicking anybody anyway." I say and the rest of the straw hats join us a couple seconds later. I watch as the crew scurries around getting everything ready for busting into Shiki's place.

"Here take these." Franky says holding out two guns out to me.

"What are they for?" I ask.

"We're going in shooting since he's got a lot of pirates there at the moment who'll listen to him." Franky says and I nod in understanding but still don't take the guns. "Aren't you going to take them?"

"I got my own." I say reaching behind my back and pulling out three guns. Two are assault rifles and the third's a sniper rifle. "The sniper rifle's the backup plan. I can fall back and pick people off then." I say strapping it to my back while hanging the two assault rifles off my arms.

"Alright Franky let's go." Luffy says once everyone's ready and armed.

"You got it. Grab something and hold on tight. Co-Du-Burst." Franky says firing the Co-Du-Burst and we go soaring towards the island Shiki's castle is on. After some fine sail work the Sunny lands a few feet from the entrance to Shiki's castle. We take out the guards out front easily before marching our way through the castle towards the room Shiki's having his meeting in.

We go single file with me placed at the very back and soon enough I see the room Shiki's meeting in. We stop in front of the doors and Zoro cuts one of them apart while Usopp tries to kick it in but his foot gets stuck so Sanji does it for him. We march into the room first while Luffy stays behind to make the dramatic entrance. Luffy marches in a second later and we walk further into the room.

"You're planning on attacking the East Blue, aren't you?" Luffy asks with his hat covering his eyes.

"So, what?" Shiki asks with a cigar in his mouth.

"And Nami. She's okay?" Luffy asks revealing one eye.

"Sure, she's doing peachy." Shiki says and some of the guys in the room start chuckling. I narrow my eyes at this and send my senses out to search for her.

"You sure put up a dangerous front but you don't think the nine of you are going to walk out of here alive, are you?" Shiki asks and the walls around fall down to show thousands of pirates. "I would think only one of you is naïve enough to sacrifice yourself to save your own but now you rush in with an entire suicide squad." Shiki says.

"You're as dumb as you look. Nami would never sacrifice herself idiot. She joined your crew so she could attack from the inside." Luffy says and we all aim our guns at the area around us. "Now prepare yourself Shiki the Golden Lion we won't lose the same fight twice."

That was the que to start firing and that's exactly what we do. We take out as many as we can in the initial surprise attack until we all run out of bullets.

"Let's take them all down." Zoro says and I smile throwing my assault rifles back in my dimension pocket.

"What should I use today? I know. Let's use my claymore." I say pulling it out and swinging it once.

"Usopp, Chopper, go look for Nami." Luffy says and I let out a low whistle catching Chopper's attention before pointing in the direction she's in.

"Let's get started." I say rushing ahead and slicing down eight people with one swing.

"Go help Usopp and Chopper." Luffy says walking past me.

"Fine I'll go help them." I say punching some guys out of my way as I go to assist Chopper and Usopp with Nami while mumbling profanities under my breath. I cut up anyone who's in my way and walk through all the walls taking a direct route to the orange-haired Navigator. I bust through the last wall and as soon as I step out into the snow an explosion sounds from where I sense Nami. I start running despite sensing that she, as well as Usopp and Chopper are still alive. The explosion took out all the Daft Trees in that section meaning all the animals will be rushing in soon. I can already see the dust trail from them in the distance and I pick up my pace applying more pressure into my push offs to send me farther with each step.

"Damn it." I say noticing a couple things. Nami's stuck in between some iron bars that are wedged into the ground pretty well and the animals are almost upon them. I skid to a stop and slam a palm into the ground. Over by the three Straw hats a huge rock slab appears in between them and the animals. I then punch my fist against the ground lowering where the straw hats were before getting a rock slab to cover the hole once I was certain none of their heads were above ground. I can hear Usopp and Chopper's screams from over here. I roll my eyes as I make my way through the huge heard of animals that was now storming towards the castle and stop beside the covered hole. Once all the animals are past I slam my foot into the ground causing the rock cover to slide out of the way and the lowered ground to return to it's original height.

"We need to get Nami the antidote for Daft." Chopper says inspecting the now freed Nami.

"Let's get to higher ground first. More animals will come with enough time." I say and the two nod before standing up. Chopper gently picks up Nami and I place my hands on there shoulders when they go to start moving.

"I thought you said we need to get to higher ground." Usopp says.

"I did." I reply.

"Why are you stopping us then?" Usopp asks.

"I have a quicker way." I say stomping onto the ground again before flicking a finger up and the ground we're standing on rises from the ground, more like extends upwards. I slide my other foot backwards before sliding it forward in a half circle. The rock underneath us slides forward with that motion and I bring it towards the second story on the gate house since it's closest.

"How's she doing, Chopper?" Usopp asks.