AN: I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, so I thank you for your patience and continued support. I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter, but I'm tired of rewriting it, so here it is. Hopefully, future chapters will cooperate with me more. You know those Straw-hats, they never want to do what you tell them. Anyway, enjoy!

The next time Nightwing woke up, the world was a lot clearer. He wasn't sure if it was the sleep, the food, or just knowing that his family was here for him, but he felt better. His spirit felt lighter than he had since he's fallen through the door way into this crazy world. He had never felt so alone, those first few hours. The scientist that fell through with him, had died of a broken neck, leaving Nightwing with no information about where he was or how to get home. After the first few days, living as a stranger in the nearby port, he had almost given up hope of ever seeing Gotham again. Seeing Robin and Red Hood had been a very welcome shock.

The first thing Dick saw when he opened his eyes was the little animal who was apparently his doctor, changing out his IV bag. Reflexively the hero scanned the room for threats, but the only other person was Damien, who was fast asleep in the corner.

"Thank you," Dick tried to say but it came out as a raspy groan. He painfully cleared his throat and tried again. "Thank you, Dr. Chopper." At least he recognized his voice that time.

The little creature blushed bright enough to glow through his fur. He danced in place, grinning as he murmured, "It doesn't make me happy to be called doctor, you bastard!"

Dick smiled at that, but he had a bruise on his jaw that twinged painfully. "You look happy," he pointed out.

"Shut up, jerk," Chopper scolded before getting a hold of himself. "How are feeling?" he asked. He finished with the IV bag and grabbed his stethoscope and held it to Nightwing's chest. "Breathe as deep as you can please."

It hurt to breathe. That marine captain had enjoyed kicking him, and Nightwing recognized the feeling of cracked ribs. Chopper nodded as he listened before turning and making some notes. Nightwing looked over to see Damien watching him with narrowed eyes.

"Grayson," his little brother acknowledged before turning to Chopper. "How long have I been asleep?"

"For quite some time, actually. You missed breakfast, but I decided that you needed your rest. Your brother said you haven't been sleeping," Chopper replied distractedly. He started looking at Nightwing's fingers, still making notes every once in a while. "It was quiet last night, if you were worried."

"I would have woken up if something happened," Damien shot back defensively. "Especially if it was Luffy."

"Who's Luffy?" Dick asked, as he watched Chopper's cloven hooves prod gently at his shoulder.

"Luffy's our captain," Chopper explained. "Try to lift your arm, but if it hurts, stop immediately."

"I'm remembering now. You said we are on a pirate ship?" Nightwing asked, suspiciously. Chopper didn't look like a pirate, not that he would know what a pirate of this world would look like anyway.

"Yes," Chopper said, cheerfully. "We're the Straw Hat Pirates and everyone is very excited to meet you." He paused in his ministrations to share a look with Damien. "Though maybe meeting the whole crew at once will be too much of a strain on you."

Damien rolled his eyes. "I can barely handle them, but waiting is pointless. Grayson is strong enough to deal with those lunatics, even stuck in bed."

Dick shot a grateful look at his little brother. "I see no reason to stretch this out. Bring on the pirates."

Chopper looked worried, scuffing his feet nervously before nodding. "If that's what you want, I'll…" he paused to look at the door.

The two humans went still as they listened. Outside, someone was fighting, loudly. Crashes and the crack of splintering wood could be heard through the door, but it was the gunshot that had Nightwing reaching for his belt that was hanging off the chair next to his bed, he didn't care how it got there. He couldn't lift his arms higher than his chest, but he refused to be defenseless again so soon after captivity. He felt a lot better with a baterang in his hand, and he looked toward the other two, expecting them to be preparing for the worst as well. They surprised him.

Damien sighed. He nodded at Chopper, who continued to deal with Nightwing's injuries with no further acknowledgment of the ruckus. "It sounds like Todd is having a disagreement with your crew," he said distastefully. "Shouldn't we do something about that?"

Chopper finished checking over Nightwing and stood up, purposefully. "I'll go see what the fight is about and send Jason in here. I'll let the others know you're ready for visitors," he said, returning to his usual cheerful personality.

Nightwing relaxed his grip on his batarang and glanced at Damien, who shrugged indifferently. "I'd love to meet your crew, Dr. Chopper. I should thank them for helping my brothers rescue me."

Chopper blushed again and danced out the door, still cursing Dick for the compliment.

Damien handed his brother a glass of water. "You might regret that," he said, avoiding Dick's eyes, which meant he liked something and didn't want to admit it. "These people are insane."

Dick chuckled. "I think you said that already," he teased.

Before Damien could retort, Jason pushed through the door, a ferocious glare on his face, his gun in his hand, and mumbling about rubber, and strangest of all, dripping wet. Damien turned up his nose at Red Hood, but Dick couldn't help reaching for his younger brother to try to fix whatever the problem was. He was maybe a little more protective than he liked to admit. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do in his condition, and his worry went unacknowledged.

Jason flung himself into the open chair and let out a string of curses in several languages, all of them inexplicably involving rubber. "That idiot tried to break in here, so I diverted him into the mess, hoping that Sanji would distract him but he was already mad from something the mosshead did and kicked us out. I did manage to grab some food, but that glutton bit me trying to get at it and wouldn't let go of my finger until I shot him. Do you know what rubber bullets do to a rubber man?" he finally vented in English. Damien snorted but Nightwing was just confused. "Not a gosh darn, freaking thing. It took jumping overboard to get the bastard off my finger, jumping overboard! Then I had to save the idiot because he can't swim and Zoro said it was my fault in the first place. And do you know what he said when I got us both back on the deck?"

Damien grinned at Jason's misfortune. "Next time, maybe you should just let him have the food," he suggested, looking down his nose as Jason toweled himself off. "Really, idiots like that are hopeless."

Jason glared at the youngest Wayne. "He said, 'Oops, sorry,'" he continued. "Like that fixes anything." He held up his finger which was wrapped in a clean bandage. "Chopper checked my finger and sent me in here to cool off. Sanji should be in here soon with food," he finished in a much calmer tone.

"Good, I'm starving," Damien said, before pulling out a knife and a whet stone. The sound of sharpening steel filled the little room.

"Who bit you?" Dick finally managed to say after a few minutes. It took that long for him to pick through the rant to decide what he wanted to ask. Jason's whole story raised a lot of questions.

Jason shook his head, "Don't worry about it, Goldie. It's not really that big of a deal, I'm just…venting. I don't like being stuck here waiting for the others to get us home. That rubber idiot was just being himself."

"Red Hood not holding a grudge to the end of time? Are you sure you're him?" Dick teased gently. He reached over to pat his brother's shoulder but couldn't get his arm high enough. He bit back a groan as he let his arm settle back done at his side.

"Forget about me, how are you?" Jason said, sounding a lot more worried than Dick liked.

"Sore," Dick admitted before brushing it off. "But it's not my worst. Two-face hit harder and Slade was better at it."

Jason didn't look like he believed him, but wasn't ready to argue. "Fine, just get better so we can go home okay. Alfred's been worrying."

A knock on the door interrupted further discussion. Damien opened the door revealing a young man in a very dapper suit. He was carrying a large covered tray displaying his strength and flexibility as he bent to put it on Chopper's desk. He was tall with bright blond hair. His face was hidden from Nightwing by a fringe of hair, but Dick's attention was on the wonderful smell seeping from under the cover.

"Oh!" Jason said, getting to his feet. "That smells amazing, Sanji." He reached toward the cover, but the young man kicked him back, making the hero fall back into his chair.

"Hands off, you shitty bastard, women and invalids first," the cook scolded. "I've brought enough for all of you." He pulled off the cover with a flourish, revealing three bowls brimming with thick noodle soup. "Welcome to the mad house, Nightwing," he said with a nod. "I'm the ship's cook, Sanji."

Since he had only met Chopper, so far, Dick had no expectations for the rest of the Straw-hats, but if he was honest, he was a little disappointed. Sanji looked normal enough. He was a handsome man, with a groomed goatee and styled blond hair that hid one of his eyes. His most striking feature was his curly-cue eyebrow, but other than that he looked kind of normal. Dick scolded himself, he should know better than that. Any hero should know not to judge a person based on their appearance. He should reserve judgment until he got to know the man better. Besides, Sanji was obviously an amazing cook if nothing else.

"Thank you," Dick replied, forcing himself to sit up a little more. Jason and Damien quickly jumped to help him get settled into a more comfortable position. "I'm grateful for the rescue."

Sanji shrugged, but he was smiling. "Well, eat up. There is more coming, if my captain didn't eat it all, so don't worry about going hungry. I made sure it's all easily digestible for you. But before I leave you to enjoy my mastery, do you have an allergies or anything I should worry about?"

Dick shook his head. "No, I can eat pretty much anything and have at one time or another. And it smells amazing. It better than I could have imagined back there," he said, trying to explain how much this meal meant to him without getting into details of his ordeal.

Sanji got an odd look in his eye and he diverted his gaze to stare into the middle distance, his mind a million miles away. None of the heroes knew it, but Sanji was thinking of a rock out in the middle of the ocean where he had once been stranded with a violent old man who would become his mentor. With a jerk, Sanji pulled himself out the memories and nodded. One hand strayed to his pocket where he kept his lighter, but he didn't pull it out. Chopper would kill him if he lit up in here. "Don't worry about, just enjoy the food. That's my job as the ship's cook, to feed whoever is hungry."

"Thanks again, Sanji," Dick said. "It is nice to meet you."

"Nice to see you awake," Sanji said. "These bastards were worried about you." He pointed his cigarette at the two younger heroes who glared at him.

This time there was no knock to warn of another young man bursting in, also caring a tray.

"Sanji!" the boy whined as he came in. "This smells so yummy, why can't I eat it?" He put the tray down and turned sad eyes on the cook.

Sanji sighed, running a hand through his hair. Then when the new pirate peeked under the lid, slipping his fingers inside, the blond kicked him in the chest, sending him flying across the room, where he slid down the wall in a heap. "Your lunch is on the table with the rest of the crew's. In fact they should be starting about now," the cook said with a scary smile. "So you should take your time getting to know our guest here so we might have a chance to have a quiet meal for once. Okay, captain?"

The young man pouted, his lower lip hanging unnaturally low. Dick, however, couldn't be quiet. "Captain?" he asked.

"Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw-hat pirates," Luffy introduced himself cheerfully, turning to give Nightwing his attention. Sanji took the chance to slip out with a nod. "I'm going to be king of the pirates!" Luffy continued, undaunted by Nightwing's surprise.

"I know he doesn't look it," Jason said as he finished eating his soup, "but he really is the captain and he's pretty strong too."

Dick turned to Damien, to get his perspective. "He's an idiot, but his crew's loyal to him for some reason. And he agreed to help us rescue you, so he's not completely intolerable."

"High praise from you," Dick said with a smile for his littlest brother. "It's an honor to meet you, Captain Luffy. Thank you for your help and your hospitality."

Luffy laughed and climbed up on Dick's bed to sit at the foot. "Just call me Luffy," he laughed. "It was fun, like an adventure. And your brothers are really strong, so I like them." His smile was blinding, if a little disturbing. The only people that grinned that wide, in Nightwing's experience, were clowns. "Hoody was awesome, he fought the Marine captain even though he had this really cool mystery sword that burned everything it touched and he was good! Not as good a Zoro, of course, but Zoro's the best. It was so cool. I wish you were better, I bet you're an even better fighter than them. I could never beat my big brothers."

"Okay?" Dick agreed, not really following Luffy's explanation. He looked at his brothers for help, but Jason was laughing and Damien had his habitual glare on.

"Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up. Sanji has plenty of meat, and Chopper's the best doctor on the Grand Line. And Traffy should be here soon, so it will all be okay."

Again Dick agreed, though he wasn't sure what taffy had to do with his recovery, but he knew this world was strange, so he didn't want to question it right now. He'd figure it out later.

"Anyway," Luffy said, getting to his feet and pulling his straw-hat onto his head. "I'm going to go eat now, so you rest up and you can meet everyone else after lunch okay?"

"Of course," Nightwing promised. "I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of your crew, they sound amazing."

Luffy lit up at the compliment and quietly, for him, slipped out of the infirmary to get his own dinner.

Damien sighed as the door closed. He moved to help Dick eat; apparently having decided that would be his chore. "So, that is the leader of this circus."

"So, I'll fit right in," Dick said, teasing. He wished he had better use of his hands. He'd love to eat on his own, the food was amazing.

"Honestly, we all fit in," Jason said. He was investigating the tray that Luffy brought in. The silver dome hid a heaping plate of perfectly fried tempura that went wonderfully with the noodles. The rich variety of vegetables on a seafaring vessel was impressive. "These are amazing," he said around a mouth full of fried squash as he split the bounty into piles for each of them. "Anyway, we all fit in fine with this group. Even the demon-spawn."

"Is that, so?" Dick teased Damien, who huffed and didn't comment.

Silence reigned for a while as they all ate. The food was even more amazing then it smelled, and not even the need for help kept Dick from eating his fill. It felt so good to be warm and full and safe.

"After we introduce you to the rest of this mad house, we should probably report in," Jason offered into the silence. "B isn't known for his patience and everyone's been worried about you."

Dick nodded, looking at his bandaged hands to avoid eye contact. He heaved a heavy sigh before admitting what was on his mind. "I'm sorry for worrying you," he whispered.

Damien put down his bowl hard enough to crack it. "Stop that right now, Grayson!" he hissed at the table as the last of his broth leaked out all over the table. "You are not to apologize for what those bastards did to you. You are not to apologize for getting stuck in another universe. And you are not to apologize for doing your job! That is not the brother, no the Nightwing, I know, so just stop right now!"

"Damien," Dick said softly, reaching for his brother's back. "I..."

"He's right," Jason interrupted. "None of this is your fault, it's just bad luck. Honestly, you're supposed to be the lucky one. How did you end up like this?" He glared at the bedridden hero. "Yes, they've all been worried about you, especially that one," he jerked his head at the frustrated pre-teen, "but that's just what family does, so just leave it alone."

Dick considered the two of them for a minute. He was used to being the responsible one, the one who worries and cares. Being on the other side of the coin was not fun, but he understood. He nodded. "Fine. But I will thank you for coming here. I wasn't sure if I'd ever see you or home again."

"Don't mention it," Damien growled to hide his discomfort.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Yeah, forget that. Mention it all the time, in fact you owe me big. You have no idea what I've been through to get you back. You owe me a new jacket at the very least."

"Sure, whatever you want, as soon as we get home," Dick agreed as he laid back. His eyelid felt like lead as he struggled to stay awake, which was almost impossible with a warm, full stomach and his brothers watching over him.

"Get some rest, Grayson," Damien said, pulling the blankets back up to his shoulders. "You can meet everyone else after a nap."

Dick wanted to say something, a joke about how Damien should take a nap too because he was a growing boy, but he was asleep before he could finish the thought.