Kaede

"Kaede what are you doing here? Everyone thought you went back to sleep on top of the crow's nest." Luffy says as he sits down on a nearby crate and I let out a depressed sigh.

"Is that all they think of me? That I'm just a heartless, emotionless, and lazy person who just sleeps all the time." I say.

"All you do is sleep on the ship and I don't think you've ever really shown emotion since we first met." Chopper says.

"I get bored on the ship and I just don't like showing emotion." I say looking down at my knees.

"You could train or come play with me?" Luffy says.

"If I train the Sunny's gonna be destroyed and I don't feel like playing with you half the time." I say and Luffy pouts. I roll my eyes at him before closing them and drifting off into sleep.

---

I open my eyes slowly before quickly shutting them. I reopen them partially again and after my eyes adjust to the bright lights I fully open them. I scan the room around me to find white walls and a mirror on one wall. Some pieces of machinery littered the room and I notice some items attached to me. I go to remove one to determine what it is exactly but my arm gets caught on something. I follow my arm to spot a grey material holding it against the table. There was one on each wrist, across my midsection, my ankles, and just above my knees. I stare at them in shock trying to figure out why exactly I was tied to a bed but suddenly the previous events flash through my mind. That's right that group of men caught me before I could make my escape.

That means my worst nightmare just happened; my mom warned me about them. I think and a door located on the right side of the room opens inward. Where the fuck did that door come from? It surely wasn't there before or it just blended into the wall really good. Three men walk into the door and I can't help but glare at them. The first man to walk in was old and he was wearing a black suit with the world government symbol on his left breast. The second man wore a Navy uniform and I can sense he's eaten the Magma-Magma Fruit. The last man was wearing a lab coat along with a delighted expression that creeped me out and I can tell he's eaten the Gas-Gas Fruit. The last holder is dead so therefore the curse would awaken earlier than usual I think as I force the tears that threatened to show back. I was not gonna show weakness in front of these assholes.

"Ah it's wonderful to see you awake; child. I was hoping you could help us out a bit by just answering a couple of questions." The man in the suit says as he pulls a stool over towards the bed. "First off what's your name?" He asks but I just turn away and keep my mouth sealed. "Then how about giving me information about your family curse?" I still don't say anything hoping they'd give up and leave.

"Answer him brat." The Magma-Magma man raises his fist to hit me but black suit stops him.

"Akainu we have other ways of gathering the information even though it won't be pleasant for her." Suit says before turning to lab coat. "Caesar I give you permission for that." He says and Caesar gains an even bigger grin which was even creepier.

"Thank you sir I'll be sure to determine everything possible from her." Caesar sends a grin my way and I feel shivers run down my back. Caesar walks over to me after he picks up a needle from one of the carts in the room. "Sleep well my lovely experiment, sorry research project." Caesar whispers into my ear as he plunges the needle into my arm and pressing down on the plunger causing a blue substance to enter my veins. I can feel it rushing through my veins slowly numbing them before it goes to my brain and causes it to slowly knock me out.

---

I sit up straight lightly gasping and I feel a light layer of sweat coating my skin. I pull my newsboy hat off and run my hand through my hair. I let out a sigh before quickly spinning my hair up into a bun and putting my hat back on. I cross my legs and place my elbows on my knees before looking across the room to see Jiro staring at me with wide eyes. I stare at him blankly before raising a finger and giving him a shushing gesture.

I then do a please gesture when he doesn't do anything and when I look up again at him he nods his head. Mumbling comes from the red haired man who was lying on the bed and I look at him in surprise. Suddenly he sits up and bashes his head onto the wooden beam above him. I slightly cringe since it looked like he hit it pretty hard and the man looks around confused while holding his forehead.

"Careful there dude. We don't need to be patching you up again so soon." I say and he stares at me blankly since he has no clue who I am.

"Captain Puzzle! You're awake." Jiro says from where he was now situated beside the bed and Puzzle looks at him.

"Jiro what happened?" Puzzle asks as the now wakened Chopper checks him over. Jiro quickly explains the situation and when he's done Puzzle orders a crew meeting on deck. I stand up and kick Luffy which results in him smashing against the wall.

"Ow what was that for?" Luffy asks rubbing his head now fully awake.

"We're moving to the deck now." I say dragging Luffy behind me with Chopper, Jiro, and Puzzle following us. As soon as we stepped out onto deck I drop Luffy's foot and made my way to the side since we weren't actually part of the meeting. We were just kinda there.

"Luffy I'm heading back." I say after a couple of seconds and Luffy nods still listening to the conversation the other crew was having. I rub my forehead in annoyance since that probably didn't even register in his brain. I don't even try to make sure he heard it and made my way over to the rope that connected the Thousands Sunny with this ship. I step onto the rope and start walking across it easily. I make it about halfway to the Sunny when everything starts shaking.

I sense something approaching fast from below me and when I look down it's just in time to see a huge iceberg shooting straight towards me. I let out a curse knowing full well that it was already too late to get out of its path. The rope beneath my feet break and the impact hurtles me skyward.

"KAEDE!" I hear Luffy and Chopper yell. I know if I'll yell it won't make it in time so I do a mental message to Luffy.

'Luffy keep going. I'll meet up with you guys later and don't worry about me; Yah hear that DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME.' I tell him mentally before I'm too far that the mental connection won't work. I hope that idiot listens. I relax and enjoy my flight time since I know it'll end soon. When I start feeling myself succumb to gravity I turn around to face the ground so I can determine how I'm gonna land. I pinpoint the exact location I'm gonna land at with this direction when I notice something walk into that exact spot.

"Ah fuck;" I say knowing it's too late to scream at the green haired swordsman to get the fuck out of the way since I was going way too fast. As if hearing my voice Zoro turns in my direction and I see his eyes widen when he spots me flying towards him. I brace for impact as well as closing my eyes and when we stop sliding I open my eyes to see Zoro on top of me.

"How the hell did you end up on top?" I ask confused as he lifts himself off my chest.

"We kinda bounce along the ground a couple of times and our positions got switched each time." Zoro says.

"Ah that explains why some of the hits were softer than others." I say and suddenly Zoro's hand slips on a pile of snow causing him to fall on top of me again but this time we ended up kissing. Our eyes widen in shock before we scramble apart and we start coughing while looking away from each other. I could feel my cheeks burning red hot and I was so happy Zoro was looking the opposite way at the moment.

"Never speak of this event again?" Zoro asks me as he still coughs and I nod my head.

"Motion seconded." I say still coughing as well.

"Okay what the hell caused you to come flying at me through the air?" Zoro asks and his coughing has finally stopped.

"You mean what happened after you got separated?" I ask knowing that if he's out here than he got lost and I already have an idea of when he was separated.

"Yeah those idiots went and got lost on me." Zoro says and I shake my head before filling him in on what happened after he got lost. After I explained it we got up and started walking off in a random direction.

"Um you sure you want me to lead? You know I get lost easily." Zoro says and I stare at him in shock while freezing all the other movements I was making. When I didn't do or say anything Zoro stares at me confused. "What're you doing?" His voice snaps me back to reality and I open my mouth to speak.

"Sorry but you just admitted you get lost easily. You never admit you get lost. Are you feeling okay? Did the impact hurt your brain in some way?" I ask Zoro before placing my hand on his forehead to see if he has a fever, which he doesn't. I pull my hand off his forehead and bring my face closer so I could look to see if his eyes where hazing. I notice some red creeping onto his cheeks slowly but that always happens in the cold so I don't have to worry about it.

"I'm fine;" He says starting to walk off again before he stops and walks back towards me. "You ever tell the others I said that I'll kill you."

"Don't worry I won't;" I say as I pat him on the back and take over the lead from him.

~~~

Zoro

"I hope I'm fine. I just don't know anymore." I say after I'm sure Kaede is out of hearing distance and even then I whisper it. I watch as Kaede walks away from me and I couldn't help but mentally beat the crap out of myself. I was never expecting to say that I get lost easily out loud even though I think it a lot but I'm too proud to actually admit it and I know the crew will tease me about it. I slowly start walking after Kaede still thinking. Why'd I say it to him of all people? He's the one I know the least about and he isn't even a member of the crew but I feel like I can trust him. I can sense that he has a dark past and many secrets accompany him. I know Chopper knows one and Luffy knows a couple. I don't really know how I know this but I just do.

It doesn't help that Kaede hides in his emotions as much as he can. He will show some emotion but not the serious ones; I've only seen him show a lot of serious emotion once and that was when he was crying on top of the crow's nest. He'll show little glimpses of emotion but if you aren't paying close enough attention you won't be able to spot them. I plan to crack his shell and get him to spill everything to me. Wait why do I care about this so much? It's just for the crew's safety, right?

I just want to know if he'll endanger the crew with something that he's hiding. He'll only be with us until we reach the island before Fishman Island though so that's a short amount of time. I feel a pull in my chest as I watch Kaede's back and think about him leaving. Is it possible that I care for some other reason instead of the safety of the crew? No that's impossible; one hundred percent impossible. I shake my head before jogging up beside Kaede and I take a quick peak at him through the corner of my eye.