When she looked upon the sea, Aika could never question the choices her mother had made. Who would chose a place over the beautiful, open waters and the freedom they promised? As these thoughts passed through her mind, the girl cocked back her head, one arm wrapped around the mast to keep her from tumbling from her perch. Her twin ponytails whipped around her face, the wind at her current height almost seeming to give the dirty-blonde locks a mind of their own.

Freedom, to be free from so many different things. For example, if her parents could have seen her, they would have died. Just the thought had the Aika's lips twisting up in amusement. She could picture it perfectly, her father's concern, her mother's panic. Her toes curled over the edge of the railing beneath her feet. Aika's shoes had long since been cast over the edge. She would search for them later, at the moment she was far too relaxed to deal with such confining items.

As far as she could see, there was water. As far as she could hear, there was peaceful rocking of the ship and crash of the waves against the weathered wood. At that moment, she could not have felt happier with the result of Flint's dream.

That was, until she was interrupted from her thoughts by Vesper's caterwauling. For some reason, the boy couldn't comprehend that his singing was terrible- or perhaps he didn't care. Either way, she sent a scowl towards where he was sprawled out towards the head of the ship. Only the knowledge that any complaint on her end might very well make it worse kept her from commenting on the matter.

Instead, she sighed and gave the sea one last glance- in case anything had changed in the distance- before dropping back into the crow's nest. Within seconds she'd gripped each side of the latter and slid down to the deck.

"If you stop, I'll make food," Aika announced.

The older boy eyed her with mock suspicion, cutting off mid-song.

"Ya know, they take care of bilge rats like that. Stuff 'em full of poisoned food to kill 'em."

Aika rolled her eyes, already starting towards the doors that led off deck.

"That would be a pointless waste of good food," she retorted. "Dad would have even my head for wasting it like that."

Vesper dragged himself up from deck, a dry chuckle leaving his lips.

"Yer Dad wouldn't have yer head even if ya were to throw the food overboard."

"Maybe, but he'd still be pissed. Now, are you hungry or not?"

That said, she held the door open behind her, turning an expectant look in the boy's direction. He put on an act of carefully considering the matter before ambling through the doorway.

"I'll be watching you," he promised, his twisting upwards in a grin. "And if it don't look right, I ain't touching it."

"Charming. I'll try to be perfect, then," Aika replied, her tone far from sounding ecstatic with his decision.

It only took moments for them to reach the kitchen after that. Aika was only slightly surprised to see their captain seated at the table, a few maps sprawled out before him. Turning her back to the boys, she began combing through their fridge for an idea of what to make while Vesper sat himself down at the table. Flint barely glanced up from the particular map he'd been studying- a sketch of the Grand Line.

"What're ya looking at that, for?" he questioned, catching Flint's attention. "It's not like ya can read it, ya know."

Flint frowned, glancing up from the map.

"I can," he argued.

"Really?" Vesper retorted, a grin slowly forming. "Then where are we?"

At the scowl that appeared, Vesper's grin only grew stronger. Aika simply sighed, deciding not to involve herself in the conversation. In her opinion, the sooner she had the food ready, the sooner there would be something to shut Vesper up for a bit. Flint, on the other hand, simply dropped his gaze back to the map and studied it for a moment before pinpointing a spot.

"There."

Vesper simply continued to grin.

"Aye, there we be. Only, we're going the opposite direction from home and there's a bit of a ten day distance between here and there."

Flint furrowed his brow, studying the map once more. After a moment of frustrated silence- punctuated by Vesper's chuckling- he shoved the paper in the older boy's direction.

"Fine, then you tell me where we are," he retorted.

Vesper glanced at the paper, easily aware that even if he pointed out the wrong place Flint wouldn't know any better. His expression unchanging, he located the most likely spot and pointed it out.

"There."

Flint frowned once more.

"That was fast," he grumbled under his breath, drawing the map back to it's original position and focusing his gaze on the spot that Vesper had pointed out.

"You know, while this is lovely and all," Aika interrupted from the stove, her decision to stay out of the conversation easily forgotten as a matter occurred to her. "Don't we have something more important to discuss while we're all in the same spot?"

As both boys stared blankly at her back, Aika simply let out another sigh.

"We're pirates without a flag or name. It'll be hard to get noticed like that- and I would personally love to make a name for myself."

Flint blinked, then grinned as his previous mood instantly disappeared.

"I've been thinking about that," he announced. "What about the Heir pirates?"

"Heir?" Aika echoed.

Flint nodded, spurred on by the fact she hadn't immediately dismissed the idea.

"Yeah. We're all second generation and we're all out to have an adventure like our parents had! So, the Heir pirates."

Aika considered this for a moment, digging through the drawers that held different cooking utensils as she did. Absently, she was reminded to thank Franky-and perhaps her father- the next time she saw them. Every part of the kitchen had been constructed perfectly for her use. It made it feel like home, even when they'd only owned the ship for a short time.

"It's not bad," she admitted eventually.

Flint grinned.

"That's what I thought."

"Well, I think we'd be painting a big ol' target on our backs with a name like that," Vesper commented, drawing both of his crewmates' attentions.

"Just our names alone will be drawing attention," Aika retorted, then pointed at Flint. "You've got him, Roronoa Edan, obviously marking him as Zoro's kid. That red hair of his will only make the other connection obvious. Then, my last name, Akahoshi. Well, that one might be a bit less obvious, with my being blonde and most of my family having dark hair."

Aika trailed off, having lost her point mid-sentence.

"... alright, I suppose that's true enough," she grudgingly admitted when Vesper grinned once more, although another thought occurred to her within second. "The twins, though! Their last name is pretty attention-drawing, you know! Dracule-Angelus, it leaves little to the imagination on their heritage. Then there's that one bastard and that air-headed kid."

Vesper shrugged, giving into her point without much care. Instead, he focused on her words with a bit of a grin.

"'Bastard'?" he questioned.

She sourly turned back to the meal she was cooking.

"I don't like him," she announced bluntly. "I still don't see why you're so stuck on him."

Her last comment was thrown towards Flint, who simply offered a good natured smile.

"I told you, we're gathering everyone we can," he announced. "That means Portgas!"

She simply grumbled something unsavory about the person in question under her breath, focusing on her food rather than justifying Flint's words with a response. The boy in question simply offered a sheepish smile at her back before dropping his eyes to the map once more. He instantly recalled what his purpose in studying it had been, and drew one of the other papers scattered across the table closer to himself.

"This means we're only about a day from the twins, right?" he asked, glancing up at the other two for confirmation and continuing when he got it. "How far does that leave us from the others?"

"I can't recall. The twins were the closest," Aika said, not bothering to turn around this time around. "That's all I can recall off the top of my head. It'll be practically impossible to find that bastard until his temper's gotten him in the paper, or at least caught enough attention for us to catch word of him."

"We might be able to hear from the twins," Flint added.

"Right," she admitted. "Another reason, I suppose, they're first. Then that air-headed kid... he's wherever that air-headed mother of his is. If we're lucky, the twins will know that as well."

"So, it all depends on what the twins know, then," Flint concluded, eyes flicking over the map of Nikko island laid out before him.

"Yeah... and pardon me if I'm not enthused by the idea. Those two have never been known for being helpful."

_______________

Nikko Island

Sweat drenched his brow, his entire frame heaving with the force of each breath he drew in. At the same time, he couldn't pause to wipe away the liquid even as it slipped down, sending a stinging sensation through him as the drops brushed the edges of his eyes. Rather, the light blue gaze stayed focused on the figure before him. If he lost sight of them for one moment, he was done for.

The person in question matched him perfectly in every way, except perhaps for the matter of the exhaustion flooding through his frame. Their skin was annoying free of sweat, their chest calm and only moving with the occasional, regular breath. Like him, their blue hair fell in shaggy, boyish locks around their face, the light color fading into a darker blue at the ends. Their frames were average, and equally identical, perhaps the only exception being the more athletically inclined signs visible on his twin.

He was torn from his thoughts as his opponent lunged forward, forcing the boy to draw up one of his two, sharp blades in defense. The clash of metal on metal that he'd expected never game, instead the figure caught their foot in the soft earth of the clearing and shifted their weight as to instantly throw up a kick at his side. The boy went sprawling with the blow, a cough escaping his lips.

Within seconds cool metal kissed his throat, a grim grin appearing on the lips of his sibling.

"Dead."

He sighed, head hanging as they pulled back their blade. His sibling simply let out a soft, amused chuckle. He couldn't help but note- with perhaps a bit of sourness- that such a noise only left their lips at a time like this. Rather than take the hand offered to him, he dropped back, the soft earth serving as a decent enough cushion.

"You left yourself open," his twin added after a moment, dropping down to sit next to him. "A really poor move, you know."

"I hadn't noticed, Corin," he replied dryly.

"If I'd been an enemy, you'd really be dead."

"Lovely."

"The truth."

He didn't respond, his mind instead focusing on the realization that his hands were rather empty. That final kick had sent his weapons flying out of his grip and- much to his chagrin- most likely into the thick forest behind them. The idea of searching for them once he'd caught his breath wasn't a pleasant one. As if knowing his thoughts, Corin glanced behind them and pursed their lips in the slightest degree.

"I can go get them, Lynx."

"Leave it, I'll get them in a moment."

"We'll find them in a moment," Corin decided. "It'll be both our hides if you can't find them and Ma finds out."

"That works," he agreed. "Ma'd really kill us."

"Undoubtedly."

"Pa'd stop him."

"Maybe."

"Probably."

"Want to pretend we lost them?" Corin mused.

"Sounds like fun."

"It's a plan, then."

They fell into silence, only the constant, natural sounds of the forest echoing through the air around them as Lynx's breath slowly calmed to a reasonable rate. Sparring with Corin always ended up leaving him in such a state- as he'd reluctantly have admitted if questioned. His sibling wasn't known for going easy on anyone, even their twin.

"We should probably head home," Lynx said.

"Probably."

"Want to stay out late so Ma gets pissed?"

"Sure," Corin agreed.

"Think he'll refuse to feed us?"

"Nah, he gets pissed if dinner gets wasted."

"True."

With that statement, Dracule-Angelus Lynx sat up, rubbing his side with a bit of a rueful expression. His sibling didn't bother to apologize for the harsh blow that had ended their training, rather they simply stood and offered their hand to help him the rest of the way up.

"The weapons?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Whoever finds them first--"

"--gets to say they won?"

"Just what I was thinking," Corin replied.

"Figured as much."

Together, the siblings started into the undergrowth, their sharp eyes searching the ground for the lost weapons. There was no doubt in their mind that once they'd found the things, they'd wander around for a few hours before returning home to their "Ma" turning red with irritation. After that, they'd eat dinner, go to bed, and wake up to the same sort of day that'd just left. It was normal- calm.

The twins had never asked for anything different. The island was their home.   

The island was safe.