"Yo ho ho ho, yo ho ho ho."

It was that song again.

Holly's eyes slid closed as she softly swayed along with the words she didn't understand but had long ago memorized. Never had she heard what it sounded like with full instruments, she didn't know what it would sound like sung by a dozen voices. All she knew was that it was one of the few songs her soul mate knew. One of the few he'd sing again and again with a voice that danced with joy and excitement.

"Binkusu no sake wa," she said softly to herself, never allowing her voice to change into a song. She could speak the lines only; for if she dared properly sing, Holly knew she'd suffer for it. The first and only time she'd sung, she had been taught a painful lesson by her aunt.

Now she only ever mouthed the words during school sing-alongs. Holly knew better than to bring upon her aunt's ire.

"Sora nya wao, kaku tori no uta~."

She swayed even if she didn't understand a single word of the song. Oh, Holly had most certainly tried to find the language, she'd failed quite brutally. It was not any language currently known across the world. No matter what book she read or what language she sought for, it appeared not to exist.

Except it did, because her soul-mate sang in it.

It seems Petunia was right; Holly was a freak. It was clear from the way her soul mate sang in what her aunt would most likely call tongues.

"'Bink-usu no sake wo, todokeni yuku yo,'" she said instead of sang attempting to copy the language her soul-mate sang it. At the same time, he eagerly belted the same words, his voice slightly slurred. He sounded like her uncle did when he was drinking; which meant her soul mate was drunk, another thing for her aunt to laugh at. For, of course, her soul-mate was like her 'drunk' of a father that had gotten himself and her mother killed. Drunk or not, he sounded like he was having fun.

She wished she could sing along with him. How would he react, she wondered, to know his soul mate was her. A pathetic freak who couldn't do anything right, who was trapped in a cupboard and would never sing. Like a caged bird, she thought.

It was unheard of for people not to sing and those that didn't were stared at with such fierce pity. Those that had permanently lost their voices, those that were mute were like leapers. Everyone sang, everyone. Singing was how you found your soul mate; their songs was the one in your ears. The only way to locate them was to sing to them hints, which is why people had songs for everything.

Honestly, even her relatives sang. Holly had caught her cousin singing about brushing his teeth, though he tended to get winded quite quickly and never finished any song he started. Petunia meanwhile warbled hers like some incredibly bizarre bird. Holly could admit Petunia's voice was kinder than her personality at least. Vernon meanwhile was like a dying cat rasping and choking while trying to hack up a lung.

Holly ruthlessly preferred her soul mate to their voices. Every song he sang was filled with endless enthusiasm and energy. Her soul mate sang like every moment could be his last, and like he wanted the pleasure of every note. It was soothing to her and by the sheer amount he sang Holly was often only able to sleep if his voice was in her head.

She didn't know, let alone remember, what her own singing voice sounded like. She couldn't remember that the only time she'd sung was when her mother had danced her around her nursery. Back then, what came out of her mouth had been complete gibberish, but it had been singing. Unfortunately back then her other half had been too young to realize what it was and certainly didn't remember it either.

"Yo hohoho Yo hohoho~."

"Yo ho ho ho," she whispered wishing so dearly that she could respond to him.

Shanks sat arms over the railing of the Oro Jackson as he sighed. The rest of the crew was singing nearby in full party mode. Usually, Shanks would be eager to join them, to sing at full volume, to enjoy himself and dance the night away. But the fact was Buggy's harsh words spoken earlier in the day had gotten to him. Shanks seemed to be the only person in the entire crew that did not seem to have a soul-mate. Shanks had been convinced for a long time that his soul-mate simply didn't like to sing, that eventually, he'd get them to crack with his own voice. But after so long without a peep, he was beginning to doubt he even had one.

As he sat, a form dropped beside him, Shanks glanced to the side and looked up at Roger, who crossed his legs and got comfortable.

"Any luck tonight?" Roger asked after the barest moment of silence as he smiled underneath his mustache.

Shanks sighed, dropping his head to his chest, he looked away shaking his head in a negative. Roger hummed and looked skyward leaning back slightly and almost tipping too far. "A stubborn lass you've got."

"Stubborn is right," Shanks bemoaned his luck relaxing in the fact that Roger wasn't going to tease him for his silent soul-mate. It eased his heart that Roger thought Shanks had one, a stubborn one, but one at all. In the crew, everyone did after all, and as they partied, their soul-mates sang along. Many of them had even met their soul mates during their travel across the seas. In fact, Roger himself had recently discovered his match, a beautiful woman named Rouge who was sailing with them in disguise.

The truth was everyone on the crew had heard their other half sing, even Buggy! Everyone that was, but Shanks. He'd never heard their voice, not a word, not a hum, not even a couple sing-song'd words. His theories of why that was changed every day, maybe she didn't like to sing, perhaps she was mute, perhaps she was too young to sing, maybe her tongue had been cut out - and if it had, he'd hunt down the person that had done that to his soul-mate, and would rip them apart.

"Don't look so upset kid," Roger pat his back, "She's around, we'll get her eventually! After all, how could she possibly resist these songs! She can't! We'll coax her out sooner or later!"

Shanks gave a half-hearted smile and a small nod, he had to have faith. She'd have to respond to a song eventually; no one could resist singing forever.

"She probably just hates your voice," Buggy snarked from nearby trying to recover from his earlier comment which he'd begun to regret, "she'd sing if you didn't warble like a dying newscoo,"

"It's more likely she's shy, or young," Rayleigh said shoving Buggy away by swatting him over the back of his head because that was not helpful.

Shanks thought over Rayleigh's words as Buggy yelped and fled, he knew it was possible, but bizarre coming from his mouth considering what Rayleigh's Shakky was like.

Roger nodded confident in his first mate's words: "Aye, she could be shy! Let's try Another round! We'll get Shanks' girl to sing! BINKS SAKE!" Roger cried, and the crew yelled eagerly. Shanks smiled a bit his captain was right; one day, one day she'd crack and then he'd find her. It was only a matter of time.

"Our gums are black, our teeth are falling out."

Holly clamped her lips shut and shot a wide-eyed look toward her aunt, the woman had a sixth sense to know when Holly's soul-mate was singing. Holly prayed the woman didn't realize, didn't notice, and punish her. After all, Holly was already on thin ice since Miss Figg - whose singing voice was shockingly pretty even if she only ever sang about cats - wasn't able to babysit her that day. Instead, Holly was going to be going to the zoo with Dudley which she honestly had mixed feelings about.

"We've got spots on our backs! So give it up and shout."

They piled into the cart, leaving her in the middle, which was a disaster in the making. She spent the whole drive being punched and bruised by her cousin and his friend as they screamed along to the radio while she remained silent.

"We've got scurvy! We need some vitamin C"

Holly followed her aunt and uncle ghosting behind them as quietly as she could. As she did later soul-mate sang a multitude of songs all in that same language. From the song, she knew the best to the others that were new and exciting to her.

She reasoned he must be having a singing party. Different cities and towns collected together to sing songs once a month, each song was set to a location. That way, you could research the song you heard and match it to an area getting a better idea of where your soul mate would be.

Holly personally wasn't allowed to use the computer at home, it was Dudley's, but the one at the school she'd taken full advantage of. She'd researched every song her soul mate sang trying to find both the language and location for the song. Both had come up empty.

"A pirate ain't worthy, till he got some scurvy!"

Music classes had become a problematic thing for Holly, she wasn't allowed to sing, but her teachers expected her to. Thankfully she'd been able to take up an instrument - which no one ever wanted to do, why would they? When they could sing instead. Holly used it to cover up that she was only ever mouthing the words to her class songs, instead of really singing them. Holly knew if she did then somehow, someway her aunt would find out and Holly wasn't willing to suffer the punishment. Especially since Holly knew the truth 'freaks don't deserve soul mates.'

They passed a group of people watching the various animals a few were lightly singing. One woman was singing the lion king while watching the lions and had all kinds of children belting out with her uncertain of the words but uncaring. Holly bounced slightly as they passed. She'd always been quite fond of 'the lion sleeps tonight,' and the woman had a lovely singing voice.

"You unnerve me when you sing that song. Scurvy!"

They entered the reptile house, and Holly accidentally hummed for a brief second under her breath. Her aunt shot her a sharp look and Holly blanched. She rushed forward avoiding her aunt's hand, not that it would make a difference for long, her aunt had heard. When they got home, Holly would suffer for joining in on her soul mates song.

Unfortunately, Holly would be doomed either way, because apparently, she could talk to snakes.