"Sooo… why do you want to find this pirate guy again? Did he steal your stolen money?"

Nami bonked the younger girl on the head. "…NO."

Lucy rubbed her head. "… Okay then… Do you want to steal his stolen money?"

The red head didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a confidential yes."

Lucy sat on top of a barrel, with a book opened up in her lap. "Was this premeditated or spur of the moment because now you have a bloodthirsty swordsman along for the ride?" She flipped the page in the book. "I don't actually care by the way. As far as I'm concerned, as long as we get over Reverse Mountain, I'll help you do anything. Robbery, murder, espionage, as long as I'm no longer here in East Blue anymore…. Basically- I- want-to-leave-…" She stressed, glaring at the book.

The ravenette gripped her left arm tightly and clamped her jaw shut. "I hate how calm it is… all this sitting is making me anxious…"

Nami sighed. "Then do pushups like Zoro. What do you want me to say?"

Lucy's eye twitched and she despairingly looked at the ground. "I'm not very good at those…"

The navigator raised her eyebrow in disbelief. "Really…? You can't do pushups?"

The younger girl puffed out her cheeks and averted her eyes. "Wh-What's that look for!?" She cried. "Just 'cause pushups look easy doesn't mean they are!"

Lucy hid her face behind her book. "Besides… it's too embarrassing to work out in front of people…"

Nami frowned and scratched her head. "Geez, then sort my money for me, I've gone and lost track with all the new goods I got. You can at least do that, right…?"

The long-haired girl shrugged and walked into the captain quarters behind the navigator. She grabbed the handle behind her and closed it shut, then took off her sunglasses and sat on the bed with her hand out. "Alright, hand 'em over."

Nami flung the big, weighted sack at the girl's head. "Start counting." She grabbed her notebook and pen, and begun to scratch down on a new page, marking the date in the upper right corner.

Lucy bit her lip and sorted the bills into piles of monetary value, then quickly flipped the bills through her fingers and rolled the totals off her tongue.

The red-head kept silent as she wrote the number's down as specified and snapped the book shut.

"Thank you." She stated and slipped a wad of bills into Lucy's pocket. "You can keep the extra. Just pay me back double next month."

Lucy's face twitched. "…Ugh, thanks? But I don't really need it."

Nami glared at her. "You're going to use that money… to buy close you didn't rob from a dumpster, or the good will box… Are we clear?"

The ravenette jumped in her skin, horrified at the discovery. "... I'm in need of goodwill though…! It's not robbing if I need it more than someone else!"

"Maybe if you stopped giving all the money you steal away, you could by your own food and cloths!"

"…! Are you still mad about that? They needed it to fix the marine base! Besides it was my share to do whatever I wanted with…"

"YES! And you choose to give it to people who were just trying to kill you? What the hell's wrong with you?!"

"Hey, we've reached the island, do-" Zoro began as he opened up the door.

Before he finished his sentence, Lucy squeaked and lobbed a book at his head as she shut her eyes and immediately looked for her sunglasses; using her hands to feel around the floor for her bag.

"Don't throw books at the messenger!" Zoro screeched at her as he chucked the book back at her.

"D-Don't sneak up on me then!" She cried finally find her bag and blindly fumbling for her visors. She sighed in relief upon putting them on. "OK! Men, let's go get that thing Nami wants and get the fuck out of here!"

The navigator sighed. "It will all be worth it… We both have something to gain… I get my gold, my map, and she gets to leave… " She mumbled to herself as she followed the two out to the deck to lay anchor.

The waves crashed against the shore line as the three sailors docked at the tiny empty port just outside the main market. Nami had made the suggestion after having noticed the much larger pirate vessel docked at the opposite end.

Lucy jumped over the side of the vessel, and swung her sling bag over her shoulder. "Nami! Before we deal with the pirates I'd like to gather Intel from the locals, okay?"

Nami shrugged. "That's fine you do you. I'm just going to start searching for their store room. I don't really care about anything but the map. Once I have it I'm out of here."

"Oh, you know it's never that simple!" Lucy smiled cheekily. "Besides, I'd rather have all the information laid out before I rush head long into something. I prefer knowing what kind of game I'm playing, you can agree to that, yes?"

Nami sighed and raised her hands in defeat. "I'll scope the area out then…"

The two girls parted ways, the swordsman following behind the younger.

"You, know… you don't talk really talk a lot huh?"

Zoro snorted and scratched his head. "I think the real problem is that you talk too much."

"I'm afraid that if I stop talking, I'll go back to the shell of a person I was before." Lucy rubbed her left arm. "It's a lot of work to keep this particular persona up. But I don't have a place to land right now, so if I screw up I'm going to drown." She began to roughly scratch her arm. "So… Sorry if my constant blabbering bothers you. I just don't feel comfortable because I'm kind of waiting for Nami to stab me in the back…. I know it's going to come. But like me, she's emotionally rattled, and it's driving me up a wall. So not only am I in a strange environment, with new people, now I have to contend with the fact that my nerves are shocked and I can't even smoke or drink."

"Why not?"

"I promised my dad that I'd quit smoking, and that'd I'd stop drinking until I'm legal. The former in my opinion is really stupid, considering my mom used to put me to sleep with rum; but I'm not about to go back on my word… Just have to wait about three more miserable years until I'm seventeen…"

Zoro counted down the numbers several times in his head, making sure he got it right. "You're only fourteen!?"

"Yeah, shocking right? I feel at least thirty… Though sometimes I feel I must be fifty… with the way my joints creak and finding I can barely read fine print anymore without my glasses… -What is it?" She asked noticing the swordsman's red ears.

"N-Nothing… Sorry for… erm… calling you…" He scratched his cheek. "Never mind. It's not important."

"…Sorry for calling you a bitch…?" Lucy questioned.

He smacked his face with his palm and quickened his pace ever so slightly. "It wasn't important."

She laughed. "It's no big deal. Believe me, I've been called much worse, and by people who actually meant what they said."

"Well, at least now I know why you're so short…"

"Shut up! I'm not that short! I'm five foot two you know! Once I've finished puberty I'll be at least six inches taller!"

"Just keep telling yourself that, midget."

Lucy's face flushed up bright red, tears in her eyes. "That hurts way worse than being called a bitch!"

"And I don't feel any remorse in calling you that, so it works out."

"Ye-Yeah well-!... You're hair's a stupid color and looks like moss!" She screamed and ran ahead. "No remorse!"

Upon locating the shelter that the villagers had holed up in, Zoro and Lucy found themselves welcomed in by the citizens of Orange Town. She met several people who were willing to explain the situation to her, giving her details about how long the pirates had been there, the weapon they'd use to destroy most of the town. And how their mayor had left to go check up on the neighborhood dog, Shushu, but hasn't come back yet. They just sent someone to look for him.

"I'm sorry for the deplorable state that that the town is in, I'm sure you'd want to trade for supplies, but we don't have all that much to give." The town doctor apologized to them. "Hey… Listen, if you don't mind, how about we work out a deal?"

Lucy crossed her arms. "What kind?"

He laughed sheepishly. "I hope I'm not being presumptuous, but as a doctor, I usually can get a feeling from those who also know the trade. Would it be much of to ask that you keep an eye on my patients while I grab some more supplies from my house? In return, I'll gather up whatever supplies I can from the others, and give them to you as a gift, sound like a trade?"

She scratched her chin. "What kind of supplies? We could use food, water and medical supplies. We really don't have much of anything."

The doctor nodded his head. "Yes! We'll scrounge up what we can, thanks for doing this for me!" He grabbed her hands and firmly shook them as he and another man ran off into the town.

Zoro looked at her in question. "Was that a good idea? To let them go off into town with those pirates roaming around?"

The ravenette twisted her lips. "The pirates all seem to be in the same place right now. Besides, I'd rather not get overly involved. It was his decision to go, and I'm in no position to tell him no. I'll take care of the pirates without anyone getting involved on our end. I get the feeling these people want to save themselves, and not rely on others. I'd hate to hurt their pride as a community. Better they think the pirates left on their own volition, rather than wonder if they'll come back for revenge."

Lucy kept quite as they walked through the shelter; her eyes scanning over the people that lay on cots out in the building. She bit the inside of her cheek as sweat dripped down her temple; but when her trained eyes caught something she could no longer ignore, she rolled up her sleeves and tied her hair into a bun as she stormed off.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!? Has no one ever shown you how set a bone before?!" She screamed in fury as she rushed to the old man covered makeshift armor. She shoved the man tending to him to the ground and immediately set to work. "First off, you have raise the limb, otherwise the blood will pool instead of returning to the heart. It's especially important in the legs, where the veins only have one means of letting blood pass through." She moved some boxes under his leg and lowered his head. "This will help with his blood pressure. The head should be lower than the body part you want to fix, to reduce swelling." She put simply as she assessed the damage. She grabbed some tools out her bag, replacing her sunglasses with her reading glasses, and slipped on a pair of latex gloves "Now for the fun part… There's some rock stuck in his muscle. Just got to get 'em out, then I can set the bone. " She grabbed a balled up shirt and stuck it in the unconscious man's mouth, then snapped her fingers at the guy behind her. "Do you have a flash light or magnify glass or anything?"

The man stammered his words as he sat up, processing the situation.

"Whatever, I'll make do with what I have… Zoro! Stop standing around like bum on the street and make yourself useful! I need your sword."

"Huh? Why?" He asked.

"Listen, just hold it like this so that sun bounces on to the wound, 'k?" She adjusted her glasses with her forearm and picked up the tweezers. Zoro did as he was asked, and she set to work, removing three small pieces of debris from the tendon in the back of his leg. "Okie-dokie! Now…" In one quick fluid motion she dropped the tweezers and carefully moved the fibula back into place. "Bandage, rubbing alcohol, a pipe and clean screws, please!" She shouted out, with her hands still wrapped around his leg. Someone came running to her with the alcohol and bandages. "Still need that pipe and screws!"

"I'm not sure where-…"

"Fine, fine…. What about a pole? A rifle? A just need something to pin the bone back together, and some kind of rod to keep it supported. What about a box or barrel, you must have one of those right?" The woman nodded and ran off to get a barrel.

Zoro sheathed his sword and sat down next to her. "What do you plan to do with a barrel?"

"Just watch. I got my medical training on a pirate ship under a hail of cannon fire. I'm very good at makeshift doctoring. Never been to a bloody hospital in my life. Hold his leg for me?"

She grabbed the barrel, and smashed it apart with her foot; then stripped the metal binder and ripped the nails out. "Just bend the metal to match the shape of the leg, line up the pin holes like so…" She wrapped the band around the leg and pinned the metal together by pushing the nails through the band, and twisting the end around. After completing two bands, she grabbed the wood planks and propped them on either side and wrapped the bandages around the entire thing. "Tadaa!"

"Wow. So you actually do know what you're doing. I take back what I said before." The swordsman complimented as he stood back up. "Guess we should go find…"

Lucy blinked as she looked at him."Wha-?" Her face turned red upon realizing. She nonchalantly turned her head and grabbed her sunglasses, placing them over her eyes. "So yeah… Nami…!" The girl stood up brushed herself off and quickly gathered her stuff as she hid her face behind her hand.

"Sorry for the intrusion!" Lucy apologized the locals. "If you guys want to stay alive, I suggest you just let the pirates be, they'll leave soon I'm sure. Wish I could help you out, but we're only a meek group of sightseers. Hope things work out for you all!"

She waved goodbye and walked to edge of town and disappeared with the green haired swordsman in tow. "You saw nothing."

"That 'nothing' why you want a bodyguard?"

"…It gets me a lot of trouble. You're a bounty hunter. Surely you understand the predicaments I find myself in. It's why I try to keep them hidden. Swordsman and pirates are always after me for revenge on things I've no involvement in. They think that by killing me they'll feel better for being too week to win in the first place…"

Lucy tsked and undid her bun. "I'm sorry. I don't know you well enough to have decided if it'd make you uncomfortable knowing about... this."

"I wasn't going to say anything, but you pretty much already confirmed my suspicion without telling me anyway…"

The raven haired girl stopped walking and plopped down on the ground, scratching her head. "Grr… Sit down, I'll just lay it out for you since no one else is here, and you slipped into the secret do to my own negligence." She patted the cobblestone street before her, sighing.

Zoro stared at the spot then sat down in front of her. "You don't have to."

"No, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to tell your bodyguards what to expect before you send them off to be meat shields…" She took pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, and looked him dead in the eyes. "For starters my full name is Portgas D. Dracule Lucinda-May; it's the most ridiculously long name in the world, I swear my mom must have been a laughing drunk when she came up with it. I have an inactive bounty 75 million. Got it so far?"

Zoro nodded his head.

"The man you're searching for, the warlord Hawkeye Mihawk? The 'greatest swordsman in the world'? Yeah… He's my dad."

The swordsman deadpanned. "He's your what?!"

"I thought you figured it out all ready!"

"I didn't guess that far!" He shouted back. "For all I knew you just had really similar eyes!"

Lucy slapped her face. "Well, now you know don't you!? So don't go shouting to the rooftops. I don't want every idiot in the world to try and slice me up for it."

Zoro rubbed his chin in quiet contemplation. "So what you're saying is… if people find out, really strong guys will want to come and get revenge for losing to Mihawk, right?"

It was Lucy's turn to nod.

He smirked. "So then… if I continue to hang around you, I'll get to fight a lot strong swordsmen right?"

"Well… yeah, that's kinda the point of me finding you…"

"So then why hide it?"

"Huh?"

"It's like fishing right? If you want to catch big fish, you need high quality bait."

"I'M NOT A WORM!"

"SHUT UP! It's not like I'd let you die! Tch… Listen just here me out, okay? All you got to do is walk around like a normal person and not hiding behind your stupid sunglasses. And if some guy try's to pick a fight with you, I step in and beat them up."

"Still sounds a lot like being bait to me, but…" She scratched her head. "Whatever… I'm not exactly in a position to complain." She held out her hand. "I'll be swordsman bait, but you have to promise to get me across the Grand Line in one piece. Deal?"

"Sure. But... thinking about it… wouldn't you have a problem with me killing Hawkeye?"

"No. He's kind of just sitting on his but waiting for someone strong enough to kill him at this point in his life. Who am I to get the way of that kind of dedication?"

Lucy shook his hand. "Wait… you're not thinkng of challenging him any time soon, right? If you fought him right now, you'd be slaughtered. Like, he could kill you with a butter knife! And don't take that the wrong way, it's not 'cause your weak, it's just that… He can slice a mountain clean in half with one swing! I'm not joking, I saw him do it. He's terrifying! Please don't pick a fight with him!"

"Sorry, I'm not making promises on that one."

"Well, if it happens… at least think back on the advice I've given you today…"

"I'll consider it."

"I…Ugh, whatever. That's all I can ask."