Raya's POV

I groan as I roll over in my half sleep. I'd semi woken up about ten minutes ago and I'm cursing myself now because I can't fall back asleep.

"Hey, are you awake?"

Almost involuntarily, my eyes blink open, revealing a very worried looking long nosed boy, sitting in front of me.

"Yeah, I'm up," I mumble, pushing myself into a sitting position. "Hello Usopp."

"How are you feeling?"

I shrug a shoulder carelessly, only to realize it's the one that got shot with a freaking canon! I hiss out a breath. "I'm doing just dandy," I reply sarcastically. "How about you?"

Just then, Nami stalls down the steps and faces Usopp, her hands fisted at her sides, shoulders hunched. "Didn't I tell you to keep out of here?"

Usopp practically yips like a whipped puppy and scurries from the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Nami takes his place, sitting in front of my hammock.

"Wow," I comment, whistling appreciatively. Nami smiles, her other half shining through. "The whole crew act like that with you?"

"Well, Luffy is usually too stupid to understand and Zoro doesn't care but....what?" she asks, seeing me tense up suddenly.

"Really didn't think it was him," I mutter, mostly to myself.

"Who? Zoro? Wait, do you know him?"

I shake my head, pressing my fingers to my temple in a vain attempt to halt my incoming headache.

"I only know OF him," I correct her, leaning back against my pillow. "People in my village loved him at first because he was so great at capturing 'unwanted' pirates. But then the rumors started."

"That he's a demon," Nami supplies knowingly.

I nod. "Yeah, those exact ones. And so their opinions of him totally went south."

"What about you?" Nami questions, tilting her head slightly. "What do you mean?" I ask innocently. "Well, you say that the villagers didn't like him, but you haven't indicated yourself once."

I laugh lightly, nervously. "Damn," I say, snapping my fingers. "I was hoping you wouldn't catch onto that. Anyway, in the beginning I REALLY hated the guy. Like, with a burning passion."

"And then...?"

Damn how does this girl keep figuring out I'm not telling the whole story? It's uncanny. And frankly, annoying.

"Well to be honest, I had a crush on the guy."

...............

Silence.

................

And MORE silence.

..................

And oh my freaking God, more silen---

"YOU HAD A CRUSH ON ZORO?!?!?"

I slap a hand to her mouth as she struggles to make another obnoxious outburst. "Shhh!" I admonish, my eyes flicking to the door, praying no one is nearby.

Finally, Nami calms down enough that I risk removing my hand. She stays silent for a while, her features scrunched together in concentration. "Well," she says finally, laughing a bit. "I guess I can see why you liked him. He's all strong and muscular--"

"That wasn't it."

"What?"

"I mean yeah, I guess that's why MOST girls would like him, but not me. For me, it was his eyes."

".......... You've lost me."

I laugh again, forcing a smile onto my face, which must be redder than the tomato I got hit with by now. "This is where I lost the last girl I told too, so don't worry."

"But.... his eyes? What do you mean?"

"Well it's sort of hard to explain, but I'll give it a shot. It's just that, whenever I'd see his picture in the paper, I'd think his eyes were what stood out to me. And this is why I didn't recognize the guy at first; the only thing about those pictures I remember is his eyes.

"Anyhow, his eyes... Every time I saw them, they'd be dark and guarded but I could see something familiar in them. Pain. And the weight a person carries when they're forced to lose someone close to them." I pause, debating whether or not I should say what's just come to mind. In the end, I decide to go for it. "All of you on this crew have the same look in your eyes. The same one I got when my parents were killed."

Nami surprises me by NOT freaking out and hitting me on the head like she did to Luffy when I first came back from the dead. Instead, she deftly wipes at her eyes, even though there are no tears that I can see on her cheeks. She throws a smile my way, albeit grudgingly. "Is it really that easy to spot?" she asks, somewhat worriedly.

"No, no!" I quickly assure her. "Thing is, everyday for the past eight years, I've looked at myself in the mirror, watching for the day when that look would disappear. When the ache would vanish from my heart."

"We're going to have a long wait, aren't we, Raya?"

I smile sadly, inclining my head to her. "'Fraid so," I say, as soft as I've ever been.

Nami then clears her throat and gestures at me to continue. "So you were saying...? His eyes?"

"Oh yeah," I mutter, rubbing he back of my neck nervously. "But it wasn't just the pain that I found familiar. It was the determination, the dream, the goal he so obviously had."

"He wants to become the World's Greatest Swordsman," Nami says, appearing surprised at my intuitive guess. I shrug my OTHER shoulder and continue. "I didn't know that back then. What was it? Three years ago? Sounds about right. Well I guess that isn't important. The point is I liked him because I could see my own thoughts reflected in his eyes."

Nami nods as though this makes perfect sense. I'm not really sure it does, but hey, I'm also not her.

"But you said you remember his eyes right?" she asks, tapping her chin in thought. "So WHY didn't you recognize him again?"

"Honestly, I'd never seen him so relaxed before. Ever other picture I've seen, he looked like he was ready to slit some poor pirate's throat."

Ooh, bad choice of words on my part. But I push down the pain flaring in my chest and refocus on Nami.

"Roronoa Zoro the Pirate Hunter and Flynn D. Raya.... It sounds so cute!" She lets out an excited squeal, which makes me clamp a hand over her mouth again. "What are you talking about?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at her. She throws off my hand and smiles slyly at me. "I think the two of you would make a great couple! Maybe you could even curb that attitude of his."

I blink a few times, sure I"ve heard her wrong. "Couple?" I ask stupidly, giving her a blank expression. She frowns. "Of course," she says slowly, like she's talking to Luffy. Geeze, I'm not that slow! "If you like him, we'll tell him, and you two can be happy together!"

"Ah..." I sigh, and shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. This is precisely why I don't like talking about this sort of thing. "That's all well and good," I say, rolling my eyes. "You know, if I still liked the guy."

Nami blinks. "You don't?" she inquires.

"Well, I had a crush on him when I was thirteen, three years ago. It's not going to magically flare up again just because I'm on the same crew as him. That reminds me, why the hell is he a pirate? Wasn't he a pirate hunter?"

"That's a long story," Nami says boredly. She obviously doesn't care much for the Swordsman's past escapades, or, I guess, for him. Then she brightens, her tone shifting to devious. "Why don't you ask him about it? I'm sure he'd love to tell you!"

"Ok, we're done with this," I say, swinging my legs to the floor. I stand, a little wobbly at first, but I soon regain my balance. Nami stands to help me, but I wave her off and make my way to the steps, climbing them slowly, and push open the cabin door. It's bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. A small smile touches my lips as I move out of the doorway and to the bow, leaning my elbows on the railing.

I hear Nami enter onto the deck after me, but she heads inside, where the kitchen and the rudder are located. Soon, the ship turns slightly, angling to the South.

At least Nami's given up on this whole "crush" thing. For now anyway.

I stare out at the rolling ocean, thinking. I can't believe I'm finally going to fulfill my dream, that I've had since I was four years old and heard my first story about Gol D. Roger. My father had told it to me, some tale about his raid on a Marine Base or something. It was amazing, to a four year old who had never seen anything beyond the vast ocean that kept her stranded on what had to be the most boring island ever. And then, when I was little older, Dad told me about Roger's execution, in Logue Town. I always found it disgusting that they would kill the Pirate King in his hometown, where no one even treated him with the respect he so clearly deserved. But I could usually put that behind me, thinking about the smile Roger gave as he told the world about his treasure, One Piece. That smile... He was a man who didn't fear death. He didn't welcome it, but he didn't allow it to rule his life, and his final moments, either. To me, that was the coolest thing he ever did.

Besides start the Golden Age of Piracy, that is.

A breeze starts up, whipping my hair back and away from my face. I close my eyes momentarily, lost in my thoughts of the King of the Pirates. So lost, in fact, that I don't notice the hands wrapping around my waist. That is, until I'm forcefully pulled backwards, only to slam into a surprisingly hard chest.

I look up, blinking at my captain. He smiles his goofy smile, eyes closed as he looks back down at me. "You're awake!" he says happily, laughing a little. "Yeah," I agree, my lips twitching up to match his enthusiastic grin. "Nice to see you too, Cap'n."

He lets me go, and I spin around to face him. Sadly, he's taller than me, but then again, most people are. So I don't let it get to me. That much.

"Guess what?" Luffy asks, grabbing something that he must've dropped on the floor. "What?" I ask warily, taking in the black canvas in his hands. Before he answers, he calls out for the rest of the crew to join us. Nami steps out of the cabin, Usopp scurries down from the upper deck, and Zoro appearss from somewhere, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

When we're all standing across from him, Luffy unfolds the black canvas, and I anime fall.

Picking myself up, I raise both eyebrows at Luffy, who's smiling like a baka, obviously proud of his flag. "The pirate flag is finished!" he shouts. "I put a lot of thought into it and this is our pirate flag!"

"Ours?" Zoro asks skeptically.

"Yup!"

Usopp's jaw nearly drops to the floor. "His drawing really sucks!"

"Maybe it's supposed to be abtract?" Nami suggests, rubbing her chin.

Zoro, arms across his chest, says, "Well, a pirate flag is the symbol of death. This looks scary... in a way."

I say nothing, my eyes glued to the poorly drawn skull and cross bones that Luffy painted onto the canvas. He added what I think is a straw hat to the skull's head. The Straw Hat Pirates... We'll be the laughing stock of the high seas if people see this! My God, the Marines won't even come near us because they'll think we're a bunch of mentally challenged freaks playing pretend!

Usopp angrily snatches the flag away and stalks over to where Luffy left his paint supplies. "You really don't know how to draw," he mutters to Luffy, pulling out another peice of canvas and beginning to paint. "I'll do it myself!"

A few minutes later, we have something... even worse.

It's like Usopp's face, if you removed the skin and muscles. The skull has a long nose, curly black hair, and a bandana. One of the cross bones has been replaced with his signature sling-shot. I say signature because whenever I've seen him, he's had the thing sticking out of his back pocket. Maybe I should ask Nami why Usopp's even here...

Usopp, holding the flag up proudly, gets pounded in the head by both Zoro and Luffy. "You drew your own symbols," they say together.

After a while, we get Usopp to understand that, no matter how much he wants to be, he is not captain of the Straw Hats. And he redraws the flag. The finished product is something like Luffy's but drawn about ten times better. I smile, satisfied, as Nami says, "There, it looks good now."

Everyone praises Usopp, and Luffy calls out, "OK! Draw it on the sail now!" Before doing so, Usopps crosses his arm smugly, chuckling to himself. "Ever since I was little, I've painted on people's walls. I've achieved much in the arts."

I want to tell him that drawing a skull and cross bones is nothing compared to some famous artwork, but I also don't want to severely damage his ego. He seems a little skittery, and I doubt he'd take criticism like that well. So I let the thought slip away, watching him paint the same symbol on our sails.

Luffy cries, throwing his fisted hands into the air, "Now Going Merry is finished!!"

I chuckle, watching Usopp and Nami, sprawled out on the ground, exhausted. I would have helped, but I have absolutely zero talent at anything relating to art. So I sat back and encouraged them, and recieved several death glares.

Zoro, beside me, leaning against the mast, dozed for most of the time. I've chosen to forget about my conversation with Nami, because I know it will only make things awkward. And anyway, I really don't feel the same way I did three years ago. It's not a big deal anymore.

"Oh hey," Zoro says, stirring. I look over at him; he's yawning, while reaching for one of his swords. He pulls out a familiar ruby sheath and my eyes widen against my will. "Picked this up a while ago," he says, handing it to me. I hold it reverently, hugging it to my chest. I must've dropped it when I went overboard. I skim my fingers over the leather sheath, flashing my teeth in a small, satisfied smile. "Thank you," I murmur, turning back to the green-haired Swordsman. "I don't know what I would've done if this fell into the ocean with me."

He shrugs, accepting my thanks easily. "No problem," he says, then pauses, as if debating whether or not to say something. "About that sword--"

We both jump, at the sound of a cannon being fired. Zoro, recovering, shoots a glare over at Luffy. Our baka captain is shooting cannonballs into the middle of the freaking ocean! "What are you doing?" Zoro demands, sweat dropping. Luffy waves to us, smiling his goofy smile. "Practicing cannon shooting!" he states, and now I sweat drop as well. A little warning would have been nice.

Usopp stomps over to Luffy, looking a little pissy. "Apparently I'm really bad at it," Luffy says, shading his eyes, no doubt looking for where the ball went. "Let me take a look," Usopp says, taking hold of the cannon. Luffy instructs him to shoot at an island, and Usopp takes aim. He shifts the barrel a few degrees, then fires.

It hits the small rocky island dead on.

"Damn," I mutter under my breath, furrowing my brows. "So that's why he's here! He's a sharpshooter!"

"Oh yeah, that's right," Zoro says. "You don't know everyone's purpose here."

I shake my head, smiling as Luffy and Usopp cheer in sync, hands thrown into the air with childish delight. "Well, like you said, Usopp's the sharpshooter, and resident liar."

"Got that one," I mumble, thinking about his "80,000" crewmembers that he promised upon arriving at Maya. "Nami is the navigator," Zoro continues, resting his folded hands behind his head, and closing his eyes.

"Really?" I ask, curious. I kinda though Nami was the doctor or something. Navigator, huh? Yeah, Luffy does seem like the type to get totally lost if he didn't have someone guiding him.

"Mm hm," Zoro agrees, already half asleep. I'm about to just leave him be, when I spot Usopp and Luffy heading into the cabin, where Nami currently is. Not wanting to be left out, I grab Zoro's hand and drag him to his feet, against his wishes of course. "You can sleep in there," I tell him, rolling my eyes as I lead him into the cabin.

He does just that, sitting down with his back against the wall, glaring at me resentfully. I give him a sweet smile, sitting down next to Nami, across from Usopp and Luffy, who appear to have been arguing. "Alright," Long Nose says, sounding defeated. "But if you ever admit you can't do something, I'm captain."

"Sure," Nami agrees off-handedly, flipping through some charts in front of her.

"Listen," Luffy says, leaning back on the bench, both hands gripping the back edge. "I've got an idea. Before we enter the Grand Line, there's one more crewmember that we should try to find."

"Yes," Nami agrees, her hand resting in her palm, staring at the kitchen beside her. "Since we have this beautiful kitchen, I'll hire someone if I've got the money."

"If," Zoro scoffs, though I think I'm the only one to hear him. "Wouldn't give up your money if one of us was dying." I smother a laugh, making some obnoxious snorting sound that is just oh so attractive. Thank God, everyone ignores me.

"It is the most important crewmember for a long journey," Nami goes on, and Luffy nods eagerly. "You think so too?" he asks, grinning. "Yeah! Pirates should have... a musician!"

I fall off my chair in exasperation. A musician! What the hell is going on in my captain's mind?!

"Are you nuts?!"

"For a second, I thought you had a good idea! But now you've ruined it!"

"What do you think being pirates is about?!"

"What?" Luffy asks, pouting again. "Shouldn't pirates have some kind of entertainment?"

I take the reigns on this one, shooting the others a look to say "I've got this". They all just sigh, and let me talk. "Luffy," I say calmly, getting back onto the bench. "We didn't think you meant a musician. And even though you're right, that pirates should have something to entertain them--"

I have to glare at the others again, because one or two of them tries to butt into the conversation, probably wanting to yell at me, or call me as stupid as Luffy.

"--there really is someone who's more important," I finish. Luffy frowns, obviously thinking hard about who I could mean. I give him some time to ponder this, and when it's clear he hasn't got an answer, I say, "We need a cook, Cap'n. Or else the five of us will starve out here."

"Oh!" Luffy says, brightening. "Makes sense," he says, grinning at me lopsidedly.

"SHOW YOURSELF! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!"

I jump nearly a foot in the air, caught completely off guard by the sudden shouting coming from the deck. Usopp falls to the ground, his face scrunched up in surprise and fear.

"What's that?" Luffy asks, jumping to his feet and jogging to door, which he throws open with an audible slam. "Hey! Who're you?" he asks, to whoever was shouting. I get to my feet also, curious about the commotion. There's a short reply I don't hear, and Luffy walks out to the railing, overlooking the small deck. I step out after him.

There's just one guy, looking POed, waving a sword at us. I raise an eyebrow at him, when he suddenly dash forward, jumping to reach Luffy, slashing his sword at the railing, as Luffy jumped into the air to avoid him. I flinch away from the sword, backing into the now closed door.

Who the hell is this guy?