Hey everyone! It's been a while since I first published this chapter, and after some re-reads and some time to think, I decided that I'd update at least chapters 1 through 6 at least. So, here's the first chapter.

So, here we go.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of it's characters. I only own my OC. This story was written purely for amusement.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Mom! Dad!" I shouted, running down the hall to the captain's quarters. I threw open the door and ran to the large table in the centre of the room, where my parents were sitting.

Dad was in his captain's uniform already, which was so white it should have been a warning posted on it.

'Warning. Do not stare at uniform directly. We do not cover cataracts in the ship insurance.'

Dad's honey blond hair was neatly brushed and slicked back against his neck. His skin was tanned like a marine captain's in a picture book.

Sometimes I wondered how we were related, because we didn't look at all alike.

When he saw me, his deep blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "Good morning, Champ." He said, turning in his chair to face me.

Mom was sitting next to him, reading a newspaper. Her nut brown hair was tucked up into a hairnet. Her chef's uniform was so bright, it should have had the same warning posted. She had slight wrinkles beside her eyes, but I never thought of her as old.

Again, sometimes I had a hard time believing we were related. Mom's skin was lightly tanned, and her eyes were a stunning hazel colour. Both my parents looked like they had stepped out of my seafarer stories.

I ran up and jumped on Dad's knee, flattening his newspaper against the table. Dad was reading the business section again. "Can I steer the ship again today?" I asked.

Dad sighed. "Not today, Champ." he said, ruffling my scruffy hair, "You're going to have to entertain yourself some other way today. I have to check with the crew in the boiler room. They said they were having some trouble."

I pouted. "Why not?" I said. " I can steer it on my own, and-"

"No." Dad's tone made it clear. No more arguments. Not before his morning coffee.

"Blech!" I said. "I'm eleven years old today, Dad!" I whipped around so I was looking at him straight in the face. "You and Mom are always so busy with work, we haven't celebrated my birthday as a family in a long time!"

Dad sighed. "I told you we'd make it up to you when the cruise is over." He said in an irritated tone. "Run along now. Your mother and I have a lot of work to do today."

"Fine!" I snapped. I stomped to the door. "I'll have fun without you two! I'll have a great birthday on my own!"

"That's nice dear." Mom said. She didn't even look up from her newspaper. Maybe she was just tired of this argument.

"Don't disturb the passengers like you did last year!" Dad called after me. "I don't want any calls from the steward's office saying you're causing trouble!"

I slammed the door as hard as I could, hoping that somehow I could slam the door off it's hinges.

Why did they always do this? They controlled the ship's schedule! Why couldn't they just postpone their winter cruise until after the new year?

I stalked down the hall, ignoring the bustling passengers making their way to the buffet one deck below. I generally ignored the passengers. They were all older people in ruffley dresses and stiff-collared suits who either didn't bring their kids, or brought their kids, who are adults. None of them payed much attention to me, either, beyond looking at me like I didn't belong here. On my own parent's ship!

I wasn't looking where I was going, and I slammed into someone. I landed painfully on my butt.

"Watch where you're going, you insufferable brat." said a snobbish voice.

I knew the guy all too well. He was an aristocrat, originally from the North Blue, who had sailed with us many times before. He was always wearing a black silk cravat with a cream silk suit. He was staring down at me in that way that I can't stand; the way he looks under his monocle at me and sniffs. "You're ruining the calmness of my cruise. Why your parents don't just leave you at the dock, I have no idea."

Quite honestly, I was asking myself the same question. They never had time for me, especially not on my birthday.

I wanted to tell him to take his opinion and shove it, but I remembered what Dad said about bothering the passengers. And this guy complained about his coffee cooling off before a certain time! I decided not to say anything to him. I pushed past the north blue aristocrat and kept going.

"I hate them!" I growled under my breath. "I hate them I hate them I hate them!"

I needed some time on my own after that.

I opened the door that led to the outer deck, and stepped outside.

Immediately, I shivered. It was seven o'clock in the morning on December 31st. Of course it would be cold. Especially in this end of the New World.

But it was a beautiful morning, despite the cold. The light from the rising sun caught the tips of the ice floating in the crystal clear water, turning everything beautiful shades of pink, orange, red, and other colours that I couldn't place a name on, since I'd never seen them before.

I leaned against the rail, staring out at the sea. I smiled. I was alone out there. It was fairly early, and so cold not even the teenagers would be thinking of hanging out outside.

I stared at the ocean until the sun had fully risen and was beginning to warm my skin slightly.

I waved to a lone seagull that dared to fly out over the ocean to look for its breakfast. seagulls eat fish and other sea life, of course, but this was the New World, so occasionally the fish catch them.

I watched the seagull so a nose dive into the surf and come up again, a wriggling silver fish trapped in its beak.

It was about then that I decided it would probably be a good idea to go in. I probably would have stayed out longer, but I seriously didn't want to catch hypothermia on my birthday. That would just suck. I smiled, and stretched, and then walked over to the door, and placed my hand on the knob.

That's when everything went wrong. The ship gave an almighty lurch, and I was thrown backwards into the railing. I coughed as the wind was knocked out of me, and slumped to the deck.

The alarm blared. Then, the boat started to shake.

I struggled to my feet, supporting myself with one hand against the rail. As soon as I caught my breath, I dashed for the door to the captain's quarters. I needed to find Dad and ask him what the heck was going on!

I ran to the door again, and flung it open. I stepped over the threshold and that's when everything started to rattle alarmingly.

I fell to the floor with a loud thump!

Suddenly, a white flash wiped everything from view.

Before I knew what was happening, there was a searing blast of heat, a loud boom, and everything went red, then black.

Dark. That was the first thing I noticed. The undisturbed darkness around me. I was floating on a sea of pain, rocking in the chop.

I felt like I was in some kind of fuzzy cocoon, I could tell something was happening, but I was otherwise unable to tell what that something might be; completely severed from my senses.

It felt like something was pressing on my chest, but it seemed very far away. Something brushed against my mouth, but it was like passing breeze. Then something hit my chest again. This time it felt like someone was really pushing hard.

That's when I felt something rise from my chest into my mouth. I coughed violently, and something wet dribbled down my chin. Then, someone applied pressure to my nose. Something touched my mouth, and I felt my lungs filled with air.

I opened my eyes, and awareness came rushing back to me.

I sat bolt upright, gasping. I immediately regretted that. Everything hurt. My head was pounding like a drum, I couldn't feel my arms, and every part of me felt burned.

Then I realized it would be a good idea if I opened my eyes. What I didn't understand was, it was just as dark as with them shut. My heart began to race. Why was it so dark?

"Ah, you're awake. Good."

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Of course there was someone with me. I think I was soaking wet, so I must have been pulled out of the ocean.

We were rocking back and forth, side to side. I guessed we were on a small boat.

"Where? What? Who?" I stammered. I bit my lip. "What happened?"

"I found you floating in the ocean." The guy said. At least, it sounded like a guy,anyway. "What on earth happened to you?"

I blinked. "There... There was a flash of light... Everything went red, then black."

The guy put his hand on my shoulder. "How do you feel, kid?" He asked.

I groaned. "Like I've been tossed from the fridge to the fire to the freezer, stomped on a few times, then pummelled into submission by a gorilla." I said, rubbing my temples. Then I decided to ask about the darkness. "Is the blindfold really needed?" I asked timidly. "Did I do something wrong?"

There was a short, awkward pause.

Finally, the guy said, "You aren't blindfolded, kid." He said.

I felt my throat close. "I-I can't see anything." I said in a panic. "I can't see!"

I staggered backwards a step, making the boat rock alarmingly. I could feel my pulse racing.

This can't be happening, this can't be happening!

This was all probably just a nightmare. Yeah, that's it!

I tripped over my own two feet and fell backwards on my butt. I gripped the sides of my head, my fingernails scratching harshly against my scalp. I was hyperventilating!

The man grabbed my shoulders and hauled me up. "Calm down!"

Those words cut through me like a knife through butter. I felt the world spinning around me, then I passed out.

Beep! ... Beep! ... Beep! ... Beep!

I twitched. What was that? It was giving me a headache. I wanted to call to Dad, or Mom, or someone. All that came out of my mouth was a weak whimper.

I tried opening my eyes, but it was really dark. Right. I can't see. Well, that rules out all this being a bad dream.

I tried to sit up, but something against my arms held me back. I could feel a slight tug on the underside of my arms, my elbows, my chest, even over my mouth and nose.

To top it off, I was alone.

I should probably mention this, I'm only slightly afraid of the dark, and this perpetual, open-your-eye-and-see-nothing-but-darkness thing was really starting to scare me.

I felt my heart hammer against my chest, I started hyperventilating. I made a move to sit up, and pull through whatever was holding me back, when someone put their hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back down.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, kid." he said.

"Where...?" I asked, my voice trailing off.

"You're in the ship sickbay." The guy said.

"The Patience?" I asked hopefully.

There was a short pause. I wondered if the guy had left. Then he said, "No. Your ship exploded. I'm sorry kid."

"Exploded..." I groaned. How was I even alive? My voice sounded cracked and dry as sandpaper.

I felt something cold and smooth press against my mouth.

"Here. Drink this."

It was a glass. I couldn't move my arms, but the guy was tipping the glass for me.

I drank the offered water gratefully.

When I drained the glass, I took a deep breath, and tried to turn to the guy. "Who are you, anyway?" I asked.

"My name is Marco." He said. "First division commander of the Whitebeard pirates."

I gasped. Whitebeard pirates?! Oh no... What did I do in a previous life to deserve this?!

I tried to hide underneath my covers, but I couldn't move. Even if I could, I wouldn't be able to move because of the tubes in my arms and the mask over my mouth and nose.

"I'm on a pirate ship." I said weakly. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

I heard Marco sigh. "Look, kid." he said. "You've been in our sickbay for three weeks. If we were going to kill or hurt you, do you think we'd use so much medical supplies? Do you realize you've been on life support for the whole time?"

Ok, that did make a lot of sense. All manners and decency aside, it would have been wasteful to put so much time and effort into healing a stranger.

I sighed raggedly. "I guess not." I said weakly.

Marco put his hand on my forehead.

I flinched at his touch. Oddly enough, it was really warm. The temperature was so different from what I was expecting, I shivered.

"Hm, you don't seem to have a fever anymore. That's a good thing."he said.

"It certainly feels like I do..." I groaned.

"That will go away with a bit of time. Just try to get some rest." Marco said. "Just because you woke up doesn't mean you're in any condition to do much at all."

Somehow, I found the slight drawl in his voice kinda comforting. I sighed and relaxed. I started to feel really tired and groggy. I yawned, and that familiar feeling of falling into the mattress started to take hold.

"So," Marco said. "Are you gonna tell me your name, or do I have to make one up for you?" He sounded very far away, like he was speaking across a large, empty room.

I had just enough energy say one more thing. "Zia."

The last thing I heard before I drifted off was Marco saying, "Zia, eh? Welcome aboard the Moby Dick."

Marco stared at the snoozing kid in front of him. He was glad that he had decided to stop by before his evening watch. He hated to think what would have happened if she had woken up alone.

In the three weeks that the doctors had been caring for her, her burns had started to recover, save for maybe the wounds around her eyes.

Marco had started to wonder whether or not she would wake up at all. She hadn't stayed up for long, of course, but he had hope now that she would recover.

He guessed the painkillers were still taking effect. The doctors had said something about the medicine causing sleep.

He figured she'd be out for another few hours. It was probably okay to leave her alone for a few minutes.

He picked up the empty glass from the table next to Zia's bed, and stepped out the door, gently closing it behind him.

He had better report to Pops.

That's the new and hopefully improved chapter 1! If you liked it, drop a review. I love reading your comments.

-frostmoon13 (AKA Frosty)