HOME | DD

Description
Your chest hurt.

That was the first thing that rang through your mind as you woke up. Carefully, you propped yourself up on the bed and looked around. Where were you? What happened? A hand instinctively rose to your chest, it was bandaged. You winced as a sharp pain shot through your body as you prodded further.

"Hey, you shouldn't be up yet, you're still healing. It's a miracle you're alive at all," an unfamiliar voice came from the doorway. There, you saw someone you didn't recognize. Your face must have conveyed that because the man said, "th' name's Paulie. I'm a shipwright here at Water 7."

He was gruff, but he didn't seem like a hostile person, "what happened to me?" You asked, your mind still hazy and unable to remember how you got here.

"You were hurt pretty bad by one of those Cipher Pol guys, thankfully we had a pretty good doctor with us or else you might not have made it." It was then that you noticed the... creature that was 'hiding" behind Paulie. What was that?

"Are you- are you okay?" the thing asked, and you nearly jumped out of the bed. It talked? That animal thing talked? Maybe you shouldn't be surprised, you are in the Grand Line after all, anything can happen. That was apparent when you ran into Kaku.

Kaku.

Suddenly images flooded your mind, the meeting, the private talk, the confrontation the kiss, the-

"Ugh!" You cried out in pain as the pain in your chest throbbed. The wound that he gave you. You curled up in the fetal position, only barely taking note as the animal ran to you.

"That's why you shouldn't move! You're still healing," the creature scolded you as it gently pushed you back in bed, "you need to rest until this thing heals."

"Thank you, doctor?" You guessed, if an animal could talk, it might as well be able to practice medicine. By the way the animal bashfully smiled, you must have guessed correctly.

"H-hey! It's not like calling me a doctor is going to make me happy or anything," the animal bashfully batted the air, and you swore you could see him blushing under his fur-did animals blush? The animal cleared its throat and continued to talk, "but you're lucky that--"

"Chopper! We need you to fix Zoro again!! He keeps on reopening his wounds," an obnoxiously loud voice rang through the hallways as a boy with a strawhat barged into the room. You winced as you pressed a hand to your ear and looked at the boy. Your eyes flew open with sudden realization, the strawhat being the obvious giveaway.

"W-wait a minute, you guys- you're the Strawhat Pirates!" Why would they bother with helping you out? Aren't pirates supposed to be a sort of 'keep an eye out for yourself and your crew only' type? Thats how your crew functioned.

"Yeah!" Was the only confirmation you got from the boy, whom you now recognized as Luffy.

"Wait, why are the Strawhat Pirates looking after me? What about my crew? What about the people in that building? What about--" his name caught in your throat, "Kaku..." It came out as a whisper, "Is-is Kaku okay? He was acting weird when I went to see him and-" your hand instinctively flew to your chest. Just thinking about what happened made it throb. A grimace spread across your face as you looked around the room.

Nobody was meeting your eyes.

Chopper just silently continued to tend to your wounds. You looked at the captain of the Strawhat Pirate, Luffy's expression was unreadable. Desperately you looked to Paulie, "Paulie, you-you said you were a shipwright. That means you work with him, right? You were saying something about Cipher Pole doing this to me-I-I don't know what that means, Kaku he-he did this." Your vision started to cloud as you continued to babble on. You were crying.

They didn't have to say anything.

You already knew.

"Kaku," Paulie sighed, "Kaku was a member of CP9. They do th' government's dirty work, all secretly n' shit."

"They took Robin," Luffy finally spoke up, "and we followed, and we fought, and we won." He said in a very matter of fact tone, he was now looking at you with an unwavering gaze, almost as he were questioning you. "You're not one of them, right?"

The words sent a chill up your spine, you felt like if you were 'one of them' you would be facing some very hostile circumstances. "N-no, I just..." tears continued to fall from your face, "I knew Kaku in a past life, before all of this, whatever this was, happened. Maybe even while it was happening to him." The edges of your mouth wavered, "this isn't fair, I just got him back. I don't want to lose him again. I can't lose him again."

An awkward silence fell across the room as you cried silently, only the choked sobs that managed to escape filling the room with any sound.

When you had calmed down enough, you gently pushed yourself out of bed. You could see Chopper protesting in the corner of your eye, but you didn't care. The dull pain in your chest spiked as soon as you started to move, but that didn't matter either.

"Luffy," you said, your puffed eyes keeping the same eye-contact he had made with you earlier, "I want you to take me with you."
---
"..."

"You're thinking about her again."

"I'm just thinking."

"Yes, but of her."

"Kalifa, what do you want?"

"I just thought you'd like to know that she's alive."

Description
Your chest hurt.

That was the first thing that rang through your mind as you woke up. Carefully, you propped yourself up on the bed and looked around. Where were you? What happened? A hand instinctively rose to your chest, it was bandaged. You winced as a sharp pain shot through your body as you prodded further.

"Hey, you shouldn't be up yet, you're still healing. It's a miracle you're alive at all," an unfamiliar voice came from the doorway. There, you saw someone you didn't recognize. Your face must have conveyed that because the man said, "th' name's Paulie. I'm a shipwright here at Water 7."

He was gruff, but he didn't seem like a hostile person, "what happened to me?" You asked, your mind still hazy and unable to remember how you got here.

"You were hurt pretty bad by one of those Cipher Pol guys, thankfully we had a pretty good doctor with us or else you might not have made it." It was then that you noticed the... creature that was 'hiding" behind Paulie. What was that?

"Are you- are you okay?" the thing asked, and you nearly jumped out of the bed. It talked? That animal thing talked? Maybe you shouldn't be surprised, you are in the Grand Line after all, anything can happen. That was apparent when you ran into Kaku.

Kaku.

Suddenly images flooded your mind, the meeting, the private talk, the confrontation the kiss, the-

"Ugh!" You cried out in pain as the pain in your chest throbbed. The wound that he gave you. You curled up in the fetal position, only barely taking note as the animal ran to you.

"That's why you shouldn't move! You're still healing," the creature scolded you as it gently pushed you back in bed, "you need to rest until this thing heals."

"Thank you, doctor?" You guessed, if an animal could talk, it might as well be able to practice medicine. By the way the animal bashfully smiled, you must have guessed correctly.

"H-hey! It's not like calling me a doctor is going to make me happy or anything," the animal bashfully batted the air, and you swore you could see him blushing under his fur-did animals blush? The animal cleared its throat and continued to talk, "but you're lucky that--"

"Chopper! We need you to fix Zoro again!! He keeps on reopening his wounds," an obnoxiously loud voice rang through the hallways as a boy with a strawhat barged into the room. You winced as you pressed a hand to your ear and looked at the boy. Your eyes flew open with sudden realization, the strawhat being the obvious giveaway.

"W-wait a minute, you guys- you're the Strawhat Pirates!" Why would they bother with helping you out? Aren't pirates supposed to be a sort of 'keep an eye out for yourself and your crew only' type? Thats how your crew functioned.

"Yeah!" Was the only confirmation you got from the boy, whom you now recognized as Luffy.

"Wait, why are the Strawhat Pirates looking after me? What about my crew? What about the people in that building? What about--" his name caught in your throat, "Kaku..." It came out as a whisper, "Is-is Kaku okay? He was acting weird when I went to see him and-" your hand instinctively flew to your chest. Just thinking about what happened made it throb. A grimace spread across your face as you looked around the room.

Nobody was meeting your eyes.

Chopper just silently continued to tend to your wounds. You looked at the captain of the Strawhat Pirate, Luffy's expression was unreadable. Desperately you looked to Paulie, "Paulie, you-you said you were a shipwright. That means you work with him, right? You were saying something about Cipher Pole doing this to me-I-I don't know what that means, Kaku he-he did this." Your vision started to cloud as you continued to babble on. You were crying.

They didn't have to say anything.

You already knew.

"Kaku," Paulie sighed, "Kaku was a member of CP9. They do th' government's dirty work, all secretly n' shit."

"They took Robin," Luffy finally spoke up, "and we followed, and we fought, and we won." He said in a very matter of fact tone, he was now looking at you with an unwavering gaze, almost as he were questioning you. "You're not one of them, right?"

The words sent a chill up your spine, you felt like if you were 'one of them' you would be facing some very hostile circumstances. "N-no, I just..." tears continued to fall from your face, "I knew Kaku in a past life, before all of this, whatever this was, happened. Maybe even while it was happening to him." The edges of your mouth wavered, "this isn't fair, I just got him back. I don't want to lose him again. I can't lose him again."

An awkward silence fell across the room as you cried silently, only the choked sobs that managed to escape filling the room with any sound.

When you had calmed down enough, you gently pushed yourself out of bed. You could see Chopper protesting in the corner of your eye, but you didn't care. The dull pain in your chest spiked as soon as you started to move, but that didn't matter either.

"Luffy," you said, your puffed eyes keeping the same eye-contact he had made with you earlier, "I want you to take me with you."
---
"..."

"You're thinking about her again."

"I'm just thinking."

"Yes, but of her."

"Kalifa, what do you want?"

"I just thought you'd like to know that she's alive."