"Shiina!"

You turned over your shoulder when you heard his voice.

A slight gasp escaped your lips as you were picked up off the ground in his tight embrace.

You could hear his voice trembling slightly as he spoke,

"God I was so worried about you."

You couldn't help but start to laugh.

"Sora we always come out okay, don't we?"

He set you down, gently wiping blood and dirt off your cheek.

The white haired boy stood towering over you. Looking at you with those soft brown eyes.

"You know, it amazes me."

You tilted your head,

"What?"

"You. You're so carefree. I admire that about you."

You let out a soft laugh.

"But you always scold me for it. How it gets me into trouble..."

"That's why you have me to get you out of it."

You laughed.

He was always telling you to be more careful. Not be so reckless. He always did get you out of trouble. What would you do without him?

His expression then turned serious, as he looked at you.

"But seriously. I know I constantly tell you to be more careful, and think before you do things. But Shiina..."

He paused.

"You're... really something... you went through so much. I mean that would've broken any other person-"

"Sora."

"You're brave. You're not afraid. You're happy and free."

"Sora-"

"What?"

You sighed.

"Stop being all sentimental. I'm right here. Alive and okay."

"It's just you never know when will be the last-"

"Don't say that."

You just looked at him.

Maybe you should have said what you wanted to then.

You hadn't realized the next fight with him would be your last.

"You've come too far and been through too much to stop-"

"Sora."

"Yes?"

"I'm not going anywhere. And neither is this crew."

You paused, a slight smile forming on your face,

"What kind of captain would I be if I didn't act recklessly to protect you all?"

A slight smile creeped on his lips.

You smiled back, seeing the worry ease on his face.

"What would I be without you Sora? I need you at my side. I'm not going anywhere. Ever. I promise."

"I know you're not."

You awoke late in the afternoon.

With an aching in your chest.

Sora.

Fuck you missed him.

Did he know you were okay?

Where was he?

You promised him.

You promised him a lot of things.

You stayed under the sheets, knees still tucked in tight to your chest.

You didn't want to get up. You just felt sick to your stomach with sadness and anger. At everyone and everything.

You didn't know how long you had been hiding under the bed sheets lost in your own thoughts when you heard the infirmary door open.

You were ready to snap at whoever the hell came in.

"Miss Shiina? Are you doing alright?"

When you heard the sweet voice, you slowly poked your head out from under the sheets, to see Bepo.

Correction: Had it been anyone besides Bepo you would have snapped at them.

"No. I'm not alright." you mumbled, still balled up under the sheets.

He walked over and stood beside your bed.

"Why? Is there anything I can do to make it better for you?"

Oh my god.

Your heart melted at his words.

You sighed,

"Throw your captain into the sea, find my crew, and set me free."

He looked down defeated and spoke in a somber tone,

"Oh. I can't do that. I'm sorry."

You sat up abruptly as you immediately felt guilty,

"I was kidding! Being sarcastic, there's no need to apologize!"

He looked back up at you,

"Oh, I see."

He paused.

"Do you want to come eat lunch? I'll sit with you while you eat."

Oh my god he was precious.

How could you say no?

Soon you were making your way down the hallway to the kitchen, Bepo at your side.

The kitchen was mostly empty except for a couple of crew members cleaning up. You knew it was late in the afternoon, so most of the crew had already eaten lunch. Meanwhile, you had just gotten up.

Bepo motioned to a chair at the high top table. So you sat.

You noticed a tea kettle brewing already.

A couple moments later, the bear sat a plate of food in front of you and a cup of tea.

"Eat up!"

You smiled at the bear. He really was so kind.

"Hey, I was feeling bad when I woke up, but you made me feel a lot better. So thank you."

A slight pink dusted his cheeks.

"Really?! You're too kind! Captain said he wanted me to wake you, because he knew I would be able to cheer you up! And I'm glad he was right!"

You froze. Just staring at the bear.

There was a moment of silence before Bepo quickly spoke,

"Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that. Sorry."

Stupid fucking captain.

You ate the rest of your meal in silence.

—

You had spent the rest of the day in the infirmary.

You knew you weren't probably leaving the infirmary for the rest of the night so you had changed into pajamas to be comfy, a tank top and sleep shorts.

You were also happy, one of the crew members had brought you a book and left it on the bedside. So you spent a couple hours reading that to pass the time.

It was later at night when Penguin and Shachi came into the infirmary.

You glanced up from the pages of your book to see the two looking at you with smiles.

"How are ya feeling?"

"You okay?"

You sighed.

"Did the captain bribe you to do this too?"

They looked at eachother with confused expressions then back at you.

"Huh?"

You shook your head.

"Nevermind. Sorry,"

You quickly added,

"And yes. I'm okay, really. What's up with you two?"

You noticed cheesy grins forming on both their faces.

And there was the smell of... booze?

Penguin spoke first,

"It's good ole' Riku's birthday tomorrow,"

Shachi added, "And we're celebrating y'know."

"Drinking some."

Drinks.

God, alcohol had never sounded so good.

"And we wanted to ask if you'd stop by for a little."

"Everyone likes to see you."

You nodded your head almost too eagerly. And immediately hopped out of the bed.

You noticed both their eyes lingering on you for a moment before the three of you were walking down the hallway, heading back towards the kitchen.

You were so ready for this. To drown your sorrows in alcohol.

When they pushed open the door, your eyes went wide at the sight. The kitchen was packed with the crew, standing in groups, talking and laughing loudly, some arguing, all with booze in hand.

It was kind of nerve-racking being in a room with a bunch of drunk pirates.

"Hey are you s-"

You were cut off as Penguin grabbed you by the wrist, shoving a cup into your other hand, as he led you through the room of Heart Pirates, who all seemed to eye you as you walked by.

You were still trying to take in your surroundings, eyes darting around the room, when a deep booming voice pulled you from your thoughts,

"The prisoner is drinking with us?"

You turned to see a giant man looking down at you.

Your eyes widened as you looked up at him. He had dark hair, a strange flame looking tattoo on his forehead, and he looked... angry?

Jesus, he's intimidating.

When you didn't utter a word, you heard Shachi speak,

"Yes she is!"

He turned to you,

"Jean Bart isn't all that scary."

You heard the big man speak again,

"Captains okay with this?"

After hearing captain mentioned you immediately started downing whatever the hell was in the cup Penguin had given you.

Penguin and Shachi looked at each other as stupid drunk smiles formed on their faces.

The large man rose an eyebrow at the two snickering fools, and turned to walk away.

Dear god.

You felt strangely relieved when the man walked away.

Then another voice shouted,

"PRISONER GIRL!"

"I have a name dammit-"

You turned to see a drunk grinning Riku walking towards you with open arms.

"Oh, happy bi-"

You were cut off by the drunk pirate squeezing you so tightly you thought your eyes would pop out of your head.

He set you down and you turned to see Shachi and Penguin nearly falling over, they were laughing so hard, while you were gasping for air.

Riku blubbered out drunk words,

"Prisoner girl do ya remember when you first woke up? I was there! D'ya remember?"

"Yeah yeah. I remember."

You turned to look back at Penguin and Shachi who were already holding out another cup for you. You finished the one off you had, shivering slightly at the taste, and took the new cup.

You drank alcohol occasionally. Usually only when you were celebrating something or someone with your crew. And your lightweight ass always got drunk. Too drunk.

But at that moment, nothing had ever sounded so great.

Anything was better than sitting in the infirmary going over the cold hard facts in your brain.

I'm a prisoner.

I lost my crew.

What the hell am I doing?

Before you could think anymore you started downing the second cup they brought you.

You just needed a break from your own head and thoughts.

"Damn, can you handle your booze?" Riku called out laughing.

When you swallowed the burning liquid down your throat, you turned to him and said,

"No, not really."

And they all burst out into drunk laughter.

And sure enough, within the next hour, you were wasted.

But oh, it was wonderful.

Your body tingling and warm. Every word the pirates spoke were suddenly hilarious. You finally had color on your cheeks as opposed to your usual pale skin.

You looked around the kitchen, that was loud with conversations, fights, laughing, and boy, you loved it. The stupid drunk grin on your face said it all.

"Shiina."

Shachis voice brought you back to reality.

"Huh...?"

Riku repeated his question you had missed,

"What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

You asked your words slurring slightly as you smiled.

"Being some crazy world government fucks daughter?"

You burst into laughter.

Why was that so funny to you?

When you finally stopped laughing you noticed the group of pirates were all looking at you with genuine curiosity, like they wanted to know.

Your head was spinning as you spoke, you just hoped your words made sense.

"Kinda weird, he was always gone with business growing up. He was always tellin' me about his work and stuff I didn't even understand-

Oh! Oh! He did give me a devil fruit, that's how I got mine."

One pirate you didn't recognize chimed in,

"Yeah Ikkaku said you shot and sliced up some pirates with your powers!"

You started laughing,

"I guess I did."

Shachi spoke up, "And what were you like as a pirate captain? I bet you were bossy."

"HEY now! I was not bossy! I was great!" you spoke in a defensive tone but you started to laugh.

"I am great! One of these days I'm gonna fight all your asses and then you can come talk to me!"

They were all just laughing as you babbled on.

Then Riku spoke again, "What's with you and the captain?"

You went silent for a moment, but then crossed your arms and spoke,

"Your captain is an old grumpy man who keeps threatening to throw me overboard when he's having a bad day."

A few laughed, trying to hold it back.

But you stopped, as you asked,

"Speaking of, where the hell is he? Please say not here. I don't wanna get my ass dragged again."

Shachi laughed,

"No, no he's not. He's not into all this stuff... he's probably working in his office."

You hummed in response.

Just then your attention was drawn as you heard pirates start yelling and cheering, and a group of pirates started to form standing around one of the tables.

Riku stood immediately,

"Drinking competition!"

He hurried over to the crowd of pirates yelling,

"You gotta get me in on this!"

Penguin looked at you a drunk grin plastered on his face,

"You in?"

Fuck it.

A grin formed on your face as you followed both Penguin and Shachi over to the crowd.

You felt dizzy already as you walked through the crowd of pirates and made your way to the table.

One man with spikey light brown hair and a black and white mask pulled up on top of his head stood up out of his seat, a large amount of empty cups sitting in front of him as he held his arms up to the screaming and cheering crowd around him.

The other pirate sitting across the table from him looked like he would be sick at any moment. And looked angered as he crept out of the crowd, you were guessing to throw up.

You saw the already very drunk Riku practically throw himself into the empty seat and shout,

"Alright, who's going down now?!"

You almost burst out laughing at the sight.

And lord knows what came over you, probably just your drunk stupidity, but you stepped up immediately.

The man with the mask pulled up onto his head rose his eyebrows in surprise when he saw you, but he stepped out of your way for you to stand at the other end of the table. 

He announced to the two of you,

"Winner faces me."

And looked at you with a smirk on his face as he eyed you,

"Nice to finally meet you prisoner girl. Name's Hakugan."

You nodded your head as you said,

"It's not prisoner girl it's Shiina," as you turned to face Riku who was now standing as well on at the other end of the table.

Drinks now lined up in front of both of you.

A lot of drinks.

But while drunk, you knew there was nothing keeping you from not downing every single cup.

You had no care in the world.

You were simply having fun.

When you heard shouts telling you to start, you did.

Downing each cup, feeling the burning liquid go down your throat, some spilling down your chin.

The room was spinning, as shouts and cheers echoed in your ears.

Why had you never felt better in your life?

Or maybe you had just never been this drunk?

Who knows?

Who cares!

The cheers and shouting continued.

You could barely feel your body, and it felt amazing.

You were grinning, as your hand finally found your way to the final cup raising it to your mouth taking in a breath before you started chugging the final cup.

And then, you slammed the empty cup on the table and took in a heavy breath.

And then through blurred vision and ringing ears, pirates started roaring and cheering and crowded around you.

You could barely stand, but you won.

At least I think I won?

You could barely comprehend what was happening, but there you were standing in the middle of a crowd of them.

And you wore a stupid victorious grin on your face as booze dripped down your chin.

It felt hot and overwhelming to be around all these bodies that towered over you, but you felt weirdly comfortable.

Then the guy from earlier came through the crowd,

"Alright missy that means you're against me now."

You just stared at him through half lidded eyes as you gathered words you hoped would make sense as they left your mouth,

"I'm gonna... I'm need a moment to... collect myself."

Before he could even speak you turned around weaving through the crowd of pirates, and found yourself walking toward the exit of the kitchen.

You needed out of there.

You slipped out the kitchen door and into the hallway.

Now, you felt incredibly dizzy, as your finger tips traced along the wall as you stumbled down the hallway.

It was quiet, and much cooler in the hallway which made you feel much better, as you started towards the infirmary.

But, something caught your drunk eye.

A little further down the hall way there was a light under one of the doors.

So of course, you started towards the door.

And without hesitation, you put your hand on the door knob, and walked in.

Bad idea.

You should've hesitated.

Because sitting in the dim room was Law.

Sitting at his desk.

Working.

Shit.

You were in his office.

His eyes flickered up from his work, as an immediate pissed look formed on his face,

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

You could barely even comprehend his words.

"I'm doing- meaning- meant to go into the infirmary."

You spoke as best as you possibly could but your words were so obviously slurred.

He immediately stood up from his desk.

His voice was almost quiet now, as he growled,

"Did my crew give you alcohol?"

You smiled sheepishly as you stumbled towards the chair on the other side of his desk.

"Don't be mad at them... they were just trying to make me feel better."

You plopped yourself down in the chair resting your head on your arms as you looked at him.

He just stared at you with a look of pure annoyance on his face.

You needed to shut your mouth and get out of there, but with the alcohol in your system words just came pouring out,

"I don't like you very much y'know."

He sighed heavily sitting back down in his chair, crossing his legs and arms as he glared at you,

"I don't really care."

For some reason you started laughing as you said,

"You're such a grumpy old man."

He clenched his jaw, his sharp eyes remaining on you,

"May I ask how much you drank?"

"May I ask why you always yell at me for no reason?"

Jesus you needed to shut up.

You were going to dig your own grave.

But of course you kept speaking as you attempted to stand up from the chair,

"I gotta question for you."

He stood up when you nearly stumbled over and lost your balance.

The room was spinning so hard around you.

"Y'know sometimes when we talk it's not bad, you're not all bad and mean but..."

You started to stumble again but gasped as you felt a pair of hands grab you by your waist holding you up.

Everything felt like it was moving around you as you lifted your head to look up at him.

Your body felt hot, and you felt nauseous and dizzy.

But when your eyes locked with his you felt everything freeze as you were made aware of the way that your throat went completely dry.

And your heart started pounding against your ribs.

His steel eyes were narrowed and locked on yours as he leaned closer to your face and growled,

"But what Shiina-ya? Finish that thought."

You stayed silent, hearing ringing and your heartbeat in your ears, as you looked at him through half lidded drunk eyes, with cheeks flushed from the alcohol.

You finally managed to utter,

"But then you act like such an asshole again."

You paused.

"Why?"

You expected something.

Anything.

Him to yell at you.

Smack you even.

But instead he just froze and stayed silent just looking at you.

He finally spoke in a low tone,

"What is it with you?"

"You think you can get away with everything. Talk back. Get all close with my crew."

You could feel his breath on your face as he spoke in a low angered tone.

"I don't care about you."

What?

Where did that come from?

And why did those words kind of hurt?

You then blurted out,

"Then why'd you save me? I know you didn't save me for information because you're like a fucking genius! You already know everything you need to!"

Your voice was louder now as you continued, eyes locked on his as if looking for the answer to your own question,

"So why? Why am I still here?"

He grabbed your jaw with one of his hands and leaned closer to you,

"I don't care about you, Shiina-ya."

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself now.

"That wasn't what I asked."

You managed to utter though his grip on your jaw was almost painfully tight.

"When are you going to learn how to shut your mouth dammit."

His grip tightened, as you felt yourself getting dizzy again.

But still, the drunken words left your mouth before you could stop them,

"What is your problem with me? You send Bepo to make sure I'm okay, freak out when I'm hurt-"

"Shiina-ya, shut up."

"No! You tell me to respect your crew, but then when I interact with them too much you freak out! You check up on me, take care of me, but then you tell me you're gonna throw me overboard!"

You continued your drunken rant,

"Because I know you don't really need me here! You could've thrown me overboard if you really wanted! But I'm still here!"

You were shouting now,

"Just make up your mind! Do you like me or hate me!"

He let go of your jaw and waist, causing you to almost collapse to the ground in your drunk state.

He didn't respond, just stood in front of you with an unreadable expression, while you tried to stay upright with the room spinning around you.

The ringing in your ears started getting louder.

You didn't know if he responded or not, because you felt the tunnel vision start as you felt yourself blackout.