The ship was quiet, save for the gentle lapping of the waves against the hull and the soft, magical thrum that the Going Merry now seemed to possess.
The crew, a collection of the world's most dangerous weirdos, was gathered around the dining table, their collective gaze fixed on the small, unconscious girl.
Usopp, ever the brave warrior, decided a tactical inspection was in order. He crept closer, his long nose practically hovering over the girl's face.
"Is she breathing?" he whispered, his voice trembling slightly. "Maybe I should poke her. No, that's not brave. The Great Captain Usopp will simply... observe."
He leaned in, his nose just inches from hers. "Yep, definitely... small."
It was at that precise moment that Sanji, ever the culinary artist, finished his preparations. The rich, restorative aroma of a golden, fragrant chicken-and-vegetable soup wafted from the pot, a cloud of pure, life-affirming comfort.
On the table, the girl's nose twitched.
Usopp, oblivious, leaned in even closer. "I think she's..."
The girl's eyes snapped open. She didn't scream. She didn't panic. She just saw a very large, strange nose invading her personal space.
THWACK!
Her forehead connected with Usopp's nose with the sound of a coconut hitting a plank.
"GYAAAAAAH! MY NOSE!" Usopp shrieked, clutching his face as he flew backward, performing a perfect triple somersault before crashing into a stack of crates. "IT'S BROKEN! IT'S SHATTERED! I'M DYING! NAMI, MY BRAVE WARRIOR'S FUNERAL... MAKE IT LEGENDARY!"
The girl sat up, rubbing her own forehead. She looked around, her eyes darting with wary, practiced suspicion. She saw the green-haired man (asleep, somehow, even after that scream), the blond man with the weird eyebrow, the orange-haired woman, the strange white-haired man who glowed faintly, and the grinning idiot in the straw hat.
Nami, deciding to take charge, stepped forward with a gentle smile. "Are you okay? That was... quite a bump. Don't mind him, he does that."
Sanji, ever the gentleman, glided over, holding a small, steaming cup. "Ah, mademoiselle is awake! A tragedy, what happened to that oaf's nose, but a blessing to see your eyes open. The soup will be ready in just a minute. A special, restorative broth for a beautiful young lady."
The girl's stomach chose that exact moment to betray her, letting out a growl so loud it silenced Usopp's fake dying.
"GRRRRROWL."
She clutched her stomach, a furious blush covering her face. A tiny, almost inaudible whisper escaped her lips.
"...Lucky."
Nami's smile widened. "See? You're safe here. We found you in the middle of the sea; were you shipwrecked or something? What's your name?"
The girl's wariness snapped back into place. She pulled her knees to her chest, her eyes narrowing. "Before asking someone their name, you should introduce yourselves first!"
Nami was taken aback for a second, then let out a short laugh. "Fair enough. You've got spirit, I'll give you that." She gestured around the table.
"I'm Nami, the navigator. This is our ship's magician, Ben."
Ben gave a polite, almost regal nod. "A pleasure."
"That's our cook, Sanji."
Sanji burst into a flurry of heart-eyes and romantic-poetry-infused greetings, which the girl pointedly ignored.
"The one you just... met... is Usopp, our sniper."
"The brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp corrected, his nose now swollen to the size of a small eggplant.
"And the one sleeping... is Zoro, our swordsman."
Zoro let out a loud, bubbling snore, completely unfazed.
"And this idiot is—" Nami began, but she was too slow.
Luffy, who had been vibrating with impatience, bounced in front of the girl, his grin a mile wide.
"I'M MONKEY D. LUFFY! AND I'M THE CAPTAIN OF THIS PIRATE SHIP! WE'RE HEADING TO THE GRAND LINE! I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES! YAY!"
The effect was instantaneous and devastating.
The sound of a record scratching would have been less jarring. The girl's face, which had just regained some color from the soup's aroma, drained to a stark, terrifying white. Her eyes, which had been sassy, now looked like two giant, terrified saucers. Her mouth fell open.
She had been running from Marines—a force of order and terror. "Pirates" were the other side of that same coin—chaos, violence, and pure evil.
She clamped her mouth shut, her jaw trembling, and pulled back, pressing herself against the bulkhead, her entire body shaking.
Luffy, ever the master of emotional intelligence, just blinked.
"Huh?"
He picked his nose.
"Did I say something weird? That was my best introduction." He turned to Zoro, who had somehow woken up from the word "pirate" and was now just staring. "Zoro, what's her deal? She's not even eating."
Zoro, true to form, yawned, his damp clothes still dripping onto the floor. "Who cares? She's awake. What do we do with her now? Throw her back?"
"ZORO!" Nami shrieked, delivering a powerful, common-sense fist to the back of his head. "She's a child!"
Luffy, still confused, scratched his head. "Eh, whatever. She'll be fine." He beamed at the terrified girl. "We'll think about it tomorrow!" He then rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a... thing. It might have been jerky. It might have been a fossil. "Want some of my pocket-meat? It's good!"
The girl just shivered, pressing herself further into the wall.
Nami smacked her own forehead. These idiots! I'm surrounded by the dumbest crew in the East Blue! We just terrified a starving, shipwrecked child!
Night fell. The Going Merry sailed on, her enchanted hull glowing faintly under the starlight, Ben's runes pulsing with a soft, protective energy. Nami had shown the girl—whom they still didn't have a name for—to a small, temporary bunk in her cabin.
Hours passed. The gentle rocking of the ship and the quiet hum of the wood were the only sounds.
In the bunk, the girl, Apis, was wide awake. She was hidden under a mountain of blankets, pretending to be a lumpy part of the bed. She was safe, for now. But she was starving. She hadn't eaten a real meal in... she couldn't even remember.
GRRRRROWWWWWLLLL.
Her stomach, that traitor, let out a noise like a dying Sea King.
She peeked out. The cabin was dark. Nami was asleep.
They're pirates... she thought. They're probably... asleep. And the soup... the cook...
The smell was still in her memory, a glorious, tantalizing ghost.
She couldn't take it.
Stealthily, her bare feet making no sound on the wood, Apis crept from the cabin. She moved like a shadow, a skill clearly born from long, desperate practice. She navigated the dark corridor and slipped into the galley.
It was dark. The moon cast a single, silver beam through the porthole, illuminating the counter. And there, covered with a simple cloth, was the pot of soup.
Her heart hammered. She found a ladle. She lifted the lid, the aroma hitting her with the force of a punch. She dipped the ladle in...
CLICK.
The galley lights snapped on, not with a harsh electric glare, but with a warm, gentle, magical glow.
Apis froze, mid-ladle, her body going rigid with terror. She jumped, startled, the ladle clattering noisily against the pot.
"You shouldn't eat it cold, mademoiselle."
Sanji was there, leaning against the doorframe, a single cigarette glowing in the darkness.
Apis was trapped. She trembled, her eyes darting to the door, ready to bolt.
"Hey, hey," Sanji said, his voice soft, not moving an inch to spook her. "It's okay. Food is meant to be enjoyed, not stolen." He pushed off the frame and walked to the stove, not to her. "A mademoiselle should never have to eat cold leftovers. Let me warm that up for you. A true chef's honor is at stake."
He gently took the pot, lit the stove with a snap of his fingers, and began to stir. Apis just stood there, shaking, her escape route blocked by a kind, one-eyed pirate cook.
A minute later, he placed a steaming, fragrant bowl in front of her at the table, along with a spoon.
"Go on," he said gently, lighting another cigarette and turning away to give her some space.
She hesitated. Her eyes were wide, her hunger warring with her fear. Hunger won.
She took one tiny, suspicious sip.
Her world exploded.
It wasn't just soup. It was Sanji's soup. It was warmth, and safety, and care, and vegetables so perfectly cooked they melted in her mouth, and a broth so rich it felt like a hug from the inside out.
Tears, hot and sudden, welled up in her eyes. She wasn't just eating; she was being cared for. She blinked them away and, forgetting her fear, began to wolf it down, the soup running down her chin.
"Shishishi! I knew she was hungry!"
Apis jumped, nearly dropping the bowl.
Luffy's head popped up from under the table, his chin resting on the wood, watching her with curious, non-threatening eyes.
"GAH!" Apis shrieked, scrambling back.
"LUFFY, YOU MORON, YOU SCARED HER!" Nami's voice yelled as she emerged from a supply closet, where she'd clearly been waiting.
"What?! I was just waiting for my midnight snack! She looked lonely!"
"My nose still hurts, you know!" Usopp's voice complained, as he was revealed to be hiding in a large, empty potato barrel.
"I was asleep," Zoro's voice grumbled, and the crew realized he was, in fact, sitting in the corner, slumped against the wall, actually asleep. He'd just said it in his sleep.
Ben was the only one who wasn't hiding. He was sitting at the far end of the table, sipping a cup of tea, a small, knowing smile on his face. He'd been there the whole time, his Disillusionment Charm making him just a faint shimmer.
"Told you food was the answer," he said, as the charm faded.
Apis looked around at this bizarre, insane, dysfunctional family. They had all been there. Waiting. Not to hurt her, but to... make sure she ate?
She looked at her empty bowl. Then at Sanji, who gave her a short, chivalrous nod. Then at Nami, who sat down opposite her, her expression was kind.
"See?" Nami said gently. "We're... not normal pirates. We're not here to hurt you. We just found you. You're safe."
Apis looked at the empty bowl again, and for the first time in days, a tiny, genuine, trusting smile touched her lips.
Now that she trusted them, Apis finally told her story.
"The Marines..." she began, her voice small, "...they're from Marine Branch 8. They're led by Commodore Nelson."
She explained it all. She had escaped from their battleship. They had been chasing her for days.
"Marines are chasing you?" Luffy said, his mouth full of Sanji's "midnight snack." "Why? Did you do something cool?"
"Luffy!" Nami chided.
"I... I have to get back home," Apis said, her voice full of a desperate, sudden urgency. "I have to get to Warship Island!"
Nami pulled out a chart. "Warship Island? I've heard legends about it... 'The island that looks like a battleship.' It's not on any official maps. It's supposed to be somewhere near the Calm Belt in East Blue."
"THE CALM BELT?!" Usopp shrieked, his eyes bulging. "The nest of the Sea Kings?! No! No way! I'm not going! I have... I have an allergy... to giant sea monsters!"
"She needs to go home, right?" Luffy said, ignoring Usopp completely. "So we take her. It's an adventure!"
"Luffy, wait!" Nami argued. "We don't even know where it is! And we'll be sailing right into a nest of monsters!"
"And a Marine fleet is chasing us!" Usopp added, waving his arms.
Zoro, who had finally woken up, cracked his neck. "Are we fighting Marines or monsters? Fine by me."
"It seems our course is set, Navigator-san," Ben said, his calm voice cutting through the panic. "Destiny seems to want us to go to this island."
Nami looked at the six expectant faces. She sighed, a long, drawn-out sound of pure exasperation. "FINE! Fine! We'll take her to Warship Island! But if we get eaten by a Sea King, it's your fault, Luffy!"
The journey was a nightmare. Days later, Nami spotted them.
"Usopp, binoculars! Ship dead ahead!"
"It's... It's a Marine fleet!" Usopp screamed from the crow's nest. "It's Branch 8! It's Nelson! And they've seen us!"
"FIRE!" a distant voice boomed, and a cannonball screamed past the Merry's bow, sending up a massive plume of water.
Apis was terrified. "They found us!"
"Awesome! A fight!" Luffy said, stretching his arm back.
"No, Captain!" Ben said, his wand already in his hand. "A tactical retreat. Their numbers are too great, and we have a passenger. Nami, get us out of here!"
"They're too fast!" Sanji shouted as the ships began to close in.
"Not for long," Ben said, his white hair whipping in the wind. The Merry, as if sensing his intent, seemed to brace herself. "A little push. Ventus Maxima!"
A colossal, concentrated gust of wind erupted from Ben's wand, filling the Merry's sails with a sound like a thunderclap. The ship lurched forward, blasting off like a rubber band, leaving the Marine fleet in her wake.
"YEEEEHAW!" Luffy howled, riding the figurehead.
"BEN! WHERE ARE YOU SENDING US?!" Nami yelled, fighting the helm as the ship careened over the waves.
"Away from them!"
They were flying... until, suddenly, they weren't.
The wind died. Not just Ben's spell, but all wind. The sea, moments before a choppy, windswept field, became a flat, dead, glassy surface. The Merry groaned to a halt, the silence deafening.
"What... what happened?" Usopp whispered, his voice trembling.
Nami was staring at her compasses, her hands shaking so hard she could barely hold her log pose.
"Oh, no... no, no, no, no, no."
"What is it, Nami-san?!"
"We overshot," she whispered, her voice filled with dread. "Ben's blast was too strong. We're in the... Calm Belt."
Silence. Even Luffy knew what that meant.
As if summoned by the name, a shadow passed under the ship. A shadow the size of an island.
GROOOOAAAAAAR.
A monster erupted from the water just starboard. Its head was bigger than the Merry itself, a massive, serpent-like beast with cold, dead eyes the size of cannons. A Sea King.
"MEAT!" Luffy shouted, purely on instinct.
"NOT NOW, LUFFY!" the entire crew screamed in unison.
"It's... looking at us," Apis whispered, frozen in terror.
Then another one surfaced. And another. They were surrounded.
"WE'RE GOING TO BE EATEN! I'M TOO YOUNG AND HANDSOME TO BE A SEA KING'S APPETIZER!" Usopp was crying, writing his last will on the deck.
"Ben! Do your magic!" Nami yelled.
Ben had his wand out, his face pale with exertion. "Nami, that is a mountain of muscle and hate. I can't Stupefy a god. My magic has limits!"
The first Sea King roared, its breath a foul wind, and opened its cavernous mouth to swallow them whole.
"Everyone, HANG ON!" Ben roared. He pointed his wand not at the monster, but down, at the water beneath their ship. He poured every ounce of remaining magical energy into one, desperate, brilliant, and incredibly stupid idea.
"AQUA-ERUCTO!"
A colossal, high-pressure jet of pure water erupted from beneath the Merry's keel. It was a geyser of impossible force, blasting the Going Merryup and forward. The ship flew through the air, over the head of the lunging Sea King, and landed with a bone-jarring, ship-splintering SPLASH on the other side.
"That... was my last-ditch effort," Ben panted, slumping against the mast, his magical reserves completely drained. "I... I can't do that again."
The Sea Kings roared, enraged, turning to chase. But the Merry was moving.
They had, by sheer, insane luck, landed in a rogue current which was beside Calm Belt, which pulled them free of the dead zone, the roars of the giant monsters fading behind them.
They drifted for an hour, the crew silent, recovering, until they sailed into a thick fog bank. When the fog cleared, they saw it.
An island, its cliffs and plateaus shaped by wind and water into the unmistakable silhouette of a massive, ancient, stone battleship.
"Warship Island," Apis whispered, tears of joy streaming down her face. "We're home."
They docked in a hidden cove, and Apis's grandfather, Bokuden, was overjoyed to see her. But Apis wasn't done. She grabbed Luffy and Ben by the hand. "Please... there's one more thing."
She led them, and the rest of the crew, to a hidden cave deep within the island, the entrance covered by a waterfall.
Inside, lying on a bed of soft sand, was something that stopped even Luffy in his tracks.
It was massive. It was covered in ancient, faded-blue scales. It was breathing, but just barely, its chest rising and falling in shallow, pained sighs.
It was a dragon.
"Whoa," was all Luffy could say, his eyes wide with wonder.
"This is Ryu," Apis said, walking forward to stroke its giant, scaled nose. "He's a Sennenryu. A Millennium Dragon. I... I thought he was just a legend."
"But... how did you...?" Nami began.
Apis looked down, suddenly shy. "I... I can talk to him," she admitted. "I ate a Devil Fruit a long time ago. The Hiso Hiso no Mi. It lets me talk to animals."
"SO COOL!" Luffy and Usopp shouted in unison, their eyes sparkling.
"He's dying," Apis said, her joy fading, her voice breaking. "He's old. He's been here for... for a thousand years, waiting. He wants to go home. To his 'Dragon's Nest.' He says it will give him the strength to... to live on."
She turned to the pirates, her small face set with a desperate, heartbreaking resolve. "He told me the legends are true. The dragons' nest, Lost Island... it's real. But... I can't get him there alone. The Marines... Commodore Nelson... he wants Ryu. He thinks the Sennenryu's bones grant eternal life. He'll kill him to get them."
Apis, the sassy, brave little girl, bowed low, her forehead touching the sandy floor.
"Please!" she cried, her voice echoing in the cave. "You're pirates! You can sail anywhere! You're free! Please... help me save my friend!"
The cave was silent. Luffy walked past her, past the crew, and stood in front of the ancient, dying dragon. Ryu's massive, cloudy eye slowly opened, focusing on the boy.
Luffy looked at the sad, ancient creature. He looked at the desperate little girl. Then he turned to his crew, his face not grinning, but set with the quiet, unshakeable certainty of a captain.
He walked back to Apis and placed his hand gently on her head.
"Don't worry," Luffy said, his voice soft, before his signature grin split his face. "We're pirates, alright. And if there's a secret, legendary, lost island full of dragons... THAT'S AN ADVENTURE!"
He turned to his crew, his fist in the air. "Alright, guys! We're finding that nest!"