Kaede

"Not really. Can we just stay like this for now since I won't see you for a while after we hit Sabaody?" I say and I let out a yelp when Zoro moves me onto his lap.

"You don't have to ask." Zoro says kissing my forehead. "How long's this time gap going to be?"

"Just over two years. I can stop in to visit a couple times but I don't know how many times and to what degree I can visit." I say and Zoro raises an eyebrow.

"Degree of visit?" Zoro asks.

"It's the way I categorise if I can just be a voice, if I have an appearance but not solid form, and the last one's if I can pull of a solid form." I say.

"As long as I know you're okay then I can survive but it would be nice if you could visit once and a while." Zoro says and I smile.

"Don't worry I'm planning on visiting." I say snuggling into Zoro's chest.

"You better." Zoro growls lightly as he tightens his arms that are wrapped around me. We fall into silence just enjoying each other's company until we both drift off. I stretch my arms before opening my eyes to be greeted by the sight of an empty crow's nest. I climb down to the deck and notice that everyone's sitting on the deck.

"Morning Kaede. Did you sleep well?" Robin asks looking over her shoulder at me.

"I did surprisingly. Totally thought I'd get a cramp in my back." I say ignoring Sanji who was noodle dancing everywhere.

"Screw catching food I just want to eat it. Sanji dinner." Luffy says throwing his rod onto the deck from where he and Usopp were fishing while Chopper and Brook were on standby with nets.

"Hey look. There's a big school of fish down there. We finally hit the jackpot." Usopp says and I take a seat on the stairs as I watch the horizon.

"See as they say good things come to those who wait." Brook says.

"I change my mind." Luffy says back on the railing with his fishing rod. "Wo there heading straight for us."

"You wanna try Nami?" Chopper asks as the navigator walks over. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure but something feels off here." Nami says and I nod before thinking of something.

"Hey Nami we're almost near the Red Line, right?" I ask and Nami looks over at me as we both ignore Luffy's whining about the fish swimming right past.

"Yeah, we're getting close. We should be there some time today." Nami says and my eyes widen slightly in realization.

"That looks bad." Zoro says and I look up at the sky where he was looking. The sky was starting to fill with dark clouds and I can already hear slight rumbling.

"You're kidding me." Nami says.

"What is it? Don't just make a scary face and say foreboding things like that." Usopp says and in a second the sky is dark while whirlpools are everywhere.

"It's a sea snake current." Nami says.

"Okay but what is that?" Chopper asks.

"A pain in the ass to deal with." I say pretty much groaning.

"Brace yourself." Nami says just as the water in the center of the whirlpools shoot up into the sky.

"The waves, looks like they're alive." Zoro says.

"I get why they're called sea snakes." Franky says.

"This is quite the sight." Brook says.

"Awesome," Luffy says and I shake my head.

"Get ready everyone we're going to have to defend the ship." I say standing up and pulling out my bow staff.

"Hey Sanji." Nami yells up to Sanji who was up at the helm.

"No worry Nami I got it." Sanji says going to steer the ship but it doesn't move. "It won't budge."

"The currents are probably holding it in one place." I say and we start taking out the currents that are heading towards us.

"Franky get down here and help here." I yell up to the cyborg.

"Who's going to cover the crow's nest then?" Franky yells down and I'm already making my way up there.

"I'm coming up to cover it." I say as I climb onto the top of the crow's nest's roof.

"You sure you got it? You'll be ambushed from all sides." Franky says and I nod.

"This is the best place for me to be." I say and Franky nods before heading to the deck. I turn back to face the front of the ship and calm my breathing with closed eyes. I sync myself with the rhythm of life the currents have before using one that was heading right for us to knock out another one that was going to hit us.

"No way that one just hit the other one." I hear Usopp yell from below and I use another current to do the same thing. I keep using the currents coming towards us to take out other ones until none are coming towards us again. Eventually the Red Line is within sight but there's still some snake currents are still in the way. A huge one appears in front of us and we somehow start riding up it. I leave the crew to their plans, whatever they are and I keep the snake currents from crashing down on us. I shake my head with a small smile on my face as we fly off the current and continue flying out of the storm thanks to a coup-de-burst.

"We're here. We're finally here. We made it." Luffy says and I jump down onto the upper deck where everyone was standing near the steering wheel.

"I can't even see the top. It's huge so this is the Red Line." Chopper says.

"It's strange, it feels sort of nostalgic. I'm getting a bit chocked up." Nami says.

"Has been that long since we've last seen it. It feels like we've grown up." Zoro says.

"I can't seem to stop crying 'cause lots happened." Usopp says crying.

"Anyway, we're halfway there." Luffy says. "Twin Capes where we met Laboon is on the other side of the world. We've had some close calls but I'm glad we've made it this far without losing anybody."

"When I was a baby I came from the South Blue down Reverse Mountain. That was well over thirty years ago, Red Line means a lot more to me this time." Franky says.

"I came from the West Blue to this ocean five years ago, it seems like forever now." Robin says.

"We keep this up, sail around the rest of the world and come to this wall one more time. When we do, I'll become the King of the Pirates." Luffy says smiling and I look up at the Red Line.

"What are your thoughts currently Kaede?" Robin asks and I look over to see almost everyone looking at me.

"Nothing as melodramatic as yours. I'm just trying to figure out who I was going to say hi to first and then who's asses I had to kick." I say with a small smile.

"Who's on the top of that list at the moment?" Usopp asks.

"Shakki and Rayleigh are number one right now. I haven't seen those two in years." I say before frowning.

"What's the matter?" Chopper asks.

"I just lost the rest of my list. I'm going to grab my book to write it down on." I say walking to my room and grabbing my book before jotting down the list as quick as I can.

"I thought we knew where we were going but it's like Skypiea all over." Sanji says just as I walk onto the deck.

"No kidding. Even if we know what direction to go it doesn't tell us how to get there. Give me a break Fishman Island. Where are you?" Nami asks and I hear something surface beside the ship but I ignore it.

"We're back." Luffy yells and I walk over to the side meeting up with the group that was already on deck by the railing.

"Oh, boy was that ever fun." Brook says.

"Nice job staying alive you guys." Nami says.

"For all the good it did me. We couldn't see a thing down there. Are you sure this is where Fishman Island's at?" Luffy asks.

"No loss for me. I'd gladly do that again." Brook says.

"We would've gone further down but the water pressure would've crushed us." Robin says.

"I don't know what else to do. The log pose is definitely pointing straight down. What a pain, it's too late now but I should've asked Lola how this works." Nami says and I raise an eyebrow.

"Do you guys not know how to get to Fishman Island?" I ask.

"We don't. We had this exact same problem with Skypiea." Nami says.

"You need to get the ship coated before you can go to Fishman Island." I say and everyone stares at me in surprise.

"Coated?" Franky asks.

"Yeah, it's a bubble coating that they put air into and then the ship sinks into the water allowing you to head to Fishman Island." I say.

"How do you know something like that?" Usopp asks.

"Oh, yeah you're from the New World, aren't you?" Luffy asks perking up.

"Yeah but we didn't take the Fishman Island route when we left. I do have about two years' experience sailing in the New World though." I say.

"You came here when you left?" Luffy asks and I nod.

"Spent about a year in Paradise before going to the New World. I kept making trips back and forth between the two until one trip didn't go the best." I say scratching the back of my neck.

"Did that trip happen to be the one we found you on?" Robin asks and I nod.

"Yup," I say.

"Hold on, that's not the important thing at the moment. You were born in the New World?" Nami asks freaking out.

"Yeah but I was forced to leave when I was eight." I say shrugging. "Don't you remember I said that back when we were at Little East Blue?"

"You did but why is that the thing for focusing on? You've been in the New World and still don't have a bounty?" Usopp asks pointing at me.

"I do have a bounty." I say ignoring most of the shocked looks and a giant sea rabbit takes this time to jump out of the water. Luffy easily takes the thing out with one punch and I blink in surprise when something flies out of the monster's mouth. The mermaid lands on Sanji while the star fish lands on his feet.

"Does anyone want anything to drink?" I ask snapping everyone out of their shock as the mermaid shakes Sanji.

"How are you not surprised by this?" Chopper asks and I just raise an eyebrow.

"Did you just forget that I've been to the New World? The only way to get there is through Fishman Island if you're a pirate." I say and everyone nods in understanding.

"Ahh, there's a lot of humans here." The mermaid yells in surprise.

"Would you like something to drink?" I ask bending down in front of the mermaid.

"No that's okay." She says shaking her head.

"If you change your mind just let me know and I'll make something up for you." I say and she nods as I head towards the kitchen. "I'll have a pot of coffee and tea ready for anyone who wants something otherwise just let me know and I'll make something."

"I'll take a cup of coffee." Robin says as she climbs back on deck and I nod. I enter the kitchen and get the coffee maker going as well as starting to prepare some tea. I make myself a café mocha when the coffee is done and pour a cup of black coffee for Robin. I hand Robin her cup and take a sip of my mocha as everyone stares at the small snail in the mermaid's hands that was dialing.

"Hey it's Camie. Are you doing okay Hachin? Sorry I kind of got lost. So, where are you right now?" Camie asks.

"Oh, so it's Camie is it? You don't know who you're talking to. This ain't your buddy Hachin." A male voice says over the snail.

"Ah, you're not Hachin?" Camie asks.

"Of course not, this is Macro from the Big Dumb Macro gang. I shouldn't say that myself." Macro says.

"My goodness, this sounds like trouble." Robin says.

"What are you doing with Hachin's transponder snail?" Camie asks.

"We stole it from him what do you think?" Macro says.