Hello everyone! I'm finally... mostly satisfied with this chapter and I've finally have the oppurtunity to post it! So here you are!

I hope that this chapter will answer some of your questions and I thank all of you who have favorited, followed and reviewed! the reviews really help give me ideas and help point out stuff that I should probably address so, again, thank you all very much!

not sure what else to say really... Oh! I've seen a picture of an animal called a 'pine marten' and if Rita wasn't an Ottsel that is what she'd be it is incredibly cute! Anyways, onwards to the story!

disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC's

And as always enjoy!~

Chapter thirteen

Rita sat there for a few minutes before the cold began to bother her and she knew she had to keep going. Sitting up she began to feel her way around again being extra cautious about where she stepped and tried to keep her mind away from the fact she was still in a creepy dark cave.

'Why does it have to be so dark…?' She whimpered as her mind began to mess with her, visions of monsters lurking around her. 'NO! Don't think like that! Think of something cheerful! What's cheerful? Something like… flowers? Flowers are nice. Rainbows are pretty, I like rainbows. The color pink isn't scary.'

"If there were monsters in here they wouldn't want to eat you, you're too thin and furry! Okay how's about another song? You have a large arsenal of music to sing! Hakuna Matata? Bink's sake? Uh, just keep swimming? Oh! Maybe the lion sleeps tonight? Yeah those are all good choices…" She rambled to herself as she climbed, walked, and slid her way around the cave hoping that there was an exit somewhere. Because she was kind of screwed if there wasn't.

She knew that the others would come look for her once they realized something was wrong. However how would they ever find this place? Also she didn't want to be so useless as to get this lost after barely getting into the adventure that was One Piece. Honestly it felt kind of embarrassing. But then she should never have underestimated the ocean. Something she was determined to never do again.

She didn't know for how long she had been traveling in the dark when, finally, she spotted something in the distance. Something that gave off a soft glow. Which meant light. Which meant her salvation.

"Yes! Awesome!" She exclaimed as she made her way over to the light. As she climbed over a stone she realized where the light was coming from. "Whoa…"

The soft light was coming from crystals embedded in the ground, walls, and ceiling. The crystals came in variety of colors and shades ranging from blue, red, and yellow. In size they went from being tiny fragments to large clusters, and each and every one of them glowed softly so though the cave was still dark it wasn't pitch black anymore.

"…Okay this is beautiful and all... but why are there glowing gems here? Where am I? What are those? And is there an exit anywhere around here?" Rita asked nobody particular. It didn't bother her much that there were glowing gems around, as it gave her light, but all that really mattered was finding an exit.

Well no, it did kind of bother her. A lot actually. Why were there glowing gems? There were no glowing gems in the show or manga anywhere. This… this was different. And if this was different…

What else was different?

It never occurred to her that, because she was in an alternate universe, the one piece world may not be exactly like that of the anime or manga. And if it wasn't exact then there was the possibility that she couldn't help.

She swallowed deeply at that thought and, now that she actually had some alone time to sort her thoughts, she decided to sit down against one the larger crystals and just… think.

How… was she supposed to help?

'I've kind of just been going along for the ride, because I mean it's One Piece! Adventure, fun, and I just wanted to have fun like they did… but it's not all fun and games. Of course not. And I am going to help… somehow.'

"But, what am I supposed to do exactly?" She mumbled, feeling her heart beat heavily in her chest. "I can't help fight I mean I almost died from water! So, that's out. I really should have thought ahead… but I was going join the crew no matter what I know that much. What else would I have done? Or could have done? But maybe I should've told them I was aware of things to come… yeah, I should have made something up sooner!"

She groaned and tugged at her ears before shoving her palms against her eyes. 'This is too complicated for me! But… maybe I'm over thinking it?'

"Okay, how can I help? Well, I know that keeping stuff to myself ended in disaster." she winced as she recalled Ash's slumped body as blood soaked her shirt.

"Moving on! So, the way I'll be most helpful is if I tell them about stuff that'll happen or at least what should happen anyway… but what do I need to tell them?" Rita frowned as she struggled to plan ahead. "Well, I know Kuro is a bad guy who's going to try and kill Kaya there's that. I know about Arlong that's something."

She could, in theory, have everyone deal with Arlong earlier allowing Nami and her village to be free sooner rather than later…

"I mean I want Nami to be happy and I want her to be free from him but what would saying anything about that accomplish? She'd probably hate my guts for speaking up."

Her heart dropped at the thought that any of them would hate her. She never wanted to make anyone upset and she always strived to be cheerful and funny because laughter always made people feel better. But would it be selfish of her to keep quiet? To just let things play out and only help when she decided too?

And the most the disturbing thing was, she realized, was that that was exactly what she had planned to do. To treat everything like it was still a story that she could ride along with or like playing a game. No real consequences.

"I'm so messed up." She smacked herself upside the head. Because, as the burning sensation in her leg let her know, this wasn't fiction anymore. There were consequences and these were real people now.

"But, so what? They're real what is that supposed to mean? Why do I feel… bad!? What is it that they need to know exactly? That I'm from another world?"

No, that wasn't it. They wouldn't care about that. Luffy would think it was cool, Zoro would shrug it off because he wouldn't think it was big deal where they came from, and Nami wouldn't believe them anyways. And really it didn't matter. What she said before about where they came from… wasn't exactly a lie. Their home was isolated… from the rest of the world of One Piece. And because of that, and the fact they had never left it before, would explain why they get stuff wrong sometimes. And really this would be more of a problem for Ash then anything.

'I can get by without seeming strange because I know at least the basics of what's going on like who the marines are, what berries are, what the Grandline is like, etc. And we could get away with that by saying that Ash wasn't into learning about the rest of the world which also isn't exactly a lie because I tried a lot to get her into One Piece but she just wasn't interested…'

"I really need to have some alone time with her to explain some stuff." Rita sighed and started fiddling with some of the crystal fragments nearby.

So, the whole 'we come from a different universe' malarkey isn't important.

What's important is that she knows some deep personal stuff about most of the crew and she has a general idea of what's going to happen.

"But what am I supposed to do with that!?" She growled and slammed her head back against the large gem in frustration. "What am I supposed to say? When do I speak up? How do I even bring this up to them? If I say something wrong… then what will happen to everyone?"

Anxiety gripped her heart as awful events started playing out in her mind: Nami leaving the group and never returns, Nami looking down at her furious that she talked about her past with anyone let alone knew about it, Zoro equally furious she didn't speak up sooner as they face off against some opponent like Buggy or Crocodile or even that bounty hunter town, Luffy angry that she spoiled any of the adventure for him, everyone furious that she could have prevented more deaths and saved everybody time by opening her mouth about Crocodile or Robin… Good grief what would she do about Chopper!? The only reason they headed to Drum kingdom was because Nami got sick. Was she supposed to let somebody from the crew get infected by a deadly virus just so they could get their doctor?

"I…I don't know what to do!" tears were burning against her eyes as the weight of her foreknowledge bared down against her. "I'm such an idiot! I can't even think of how to help anyone! And what am I supposed to do when I don't know things anymore!? I only read up to when we meet Brook! And I only watched till when they arrived at that weird island with bubbles and I didn't even learn what that place was called! I'm not smart enough for this! I barely understood everything that happened at Water Seven! There's just so much that happens...and I can't-I don't know… I'm so useless! And I'm a crybaby great! Just great!"

She couldn't stop crying. Her body wouldn't allow her to quit sobbing her heart out and for once, just once, she was glad to be alone in the cave. She never really had any alone time to think about everything and talk to herself about this. And it clearly showed.

'I'm way in over my head… I'm actually really envious towards Ash right now. She doesn't have to think or worry about these kinds of things… she can just take the adventure for what it is and not have to worry about if she screws up anything.'

She didn't know how long she cried for. And honestly she didn't really care she was just relieved when her tears finally seemed to slow down and she could think more clearly again.

"Okay… It's okay. Calm yourself, it'll be fine. Nobody is expecting perfection or anything you know. And you're just a little freaked out because you're alone… in the dark... where there might be some monstrous creature waiting to eat you…" She shivered and glanced around making sure there really wasn't anything near her person. "…Well you monsters were probably bored all down here by yourselves. I'm probably the most interesting thing that's been in here for ages! I'm like a walking soap opera! Over dramatic entertainment at your service!"

She waited for moment as if something was actually going to respond, though she knew nothing would, and was happy to hear only drips of water echoing as response. Whenever she was truly frightened and alone in the dark, like heading down into a basement or walking outside in the middle of the night for example, she would make up a conversation with her imagined monsters and convinced them that they wouldn't want to eat or kill her. It was usually enough to take her mind off of things until she achieved her goal of finding some light or leaving the area.

After waiting another a minute she sighed in relief, happy that she could feel her racing pulse slowing down to a much calmer pace and then began to think of a general plan for the future.

"Right, okay, now we just need to be calm and think… if… we get Usopp and Merry that's good. I don't know how I'm supposed to tell them that I know Kuro's a villain but he kind of reveals it anyway so really… well there was that butler that Kuro injured but he was fine… So do I do something about that or what? I know I can convince them to go to the right shore or at least have both sides covered that's something! I mean, really I don't need to do much there now do I? Yeah that could go well… And maybe, maybe after Usopp joins then… then I can tell them I know stuff." Rita nodded to herself, satisfied that her rambling was actually beginning to help.

"Because if I wait too long it'll only hurt everyone more and I think waiting to tell the truth during the Baratie arc when a whole lot is going on probably isn't the smartest choice. I think Luffy worked there for like a week though so I could possibly mention something then but… yeah we'll see. I know for sure it isn't going to be today too much has happened already." Rita sighed before standing up and stretching her arms. "However all of this would be for nothing if I don't figure out a way out of here! So, let's see where this cave will take me… also I'm grabbing some of these."

Rita bent down and pulled some of the more loose blue crystals out of the ground and held on to them like they were her lifeline as she began to explore more of the cave.

The cave itself was much better now that she had all these crystals around her and the floor didn't have as many pitfalls as it did earlier. She wondered idly to herself what they could be… she had a hunch anyways but if what she thought was correct then she definitely didn't want to waste any of these. But if they were just normal crystals, or at least normal by One Piece standards, then she bet she could make a pretty penny off of them.

Because in her mind the more treasure she had to call her own the less she would have to worry about Nami and her ridiculous interest rates…

Her search for an exit was beginning to look hopeless as she looked at every corner for a possible way out when, finally, she heard someone talking.

"H-hello?" She yelled clutching the glowing gems closer to her as she was still somewhat irrationally afraid of some creature that might be lurking with her in the cave. When she didn't get a reply but still heard distant voices she took a deep breath and began to follow the noise. This led her towards the back of the cave and there way up high she could see a small tunnel which she realized must be where the voices were coming from.

"Yes! Finally! HEY CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? I NEED SOME HELP HERE!" She yelled as she ran over and leapt up to grab onto the tunnel… only to just come a bit short and fell back down to the ground.

'Are you kidding me?' She glared at the wall feeling her eye twitch with irritation.

"Okay, let's try this again…" She wrapped her tail around the gems as best she could so she could use both of her arms as she tried to jump again all the while yelling for someone to come find her. "HEY! ANY BODY? SOMEBODY! HELP! PLEASE! I'M STUCK HERE! HELP!"

Back with Ash…

"Hel…some..dy!...lease…help! I can't… out! Is anyone there!?" Ash swiveled her head toward the voice calling for help and ran over yelling back.

"Hello!? Can you hear me? Keep yelling!" they seemed to be coming from… that bush?

"Please! Help! Ash? Luffy? Nami? Zoro? Anyone!?" the voice kept yelling.

"Rita!?" Ash instantly dove down to the ground and crawled underneath the bush, moving branches and dirt out of the way get further under. "RITA IS THAT YOU? WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"Ash? Oh, thank god please get me out of here!" She heard her plead. Looking around she finally spotted a very small tunnel leading into the cliff and realized that Rita must be inside it.

"HOW DID YOU-WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!?" Ash yelled as she crawled closer to the tunnel if it could be called that. It was so small that she'd only be able to stick her arm inside.

"Trying to get out! I can't reach the hole up there!" She sounded clearly frustrated by the predicament she had found herself in.

"Oh, Rita how do you get into so much trouble?" Ash mumbled to herself before yelling to her friend. "LISTEN, I'M GOING TO TRY AND REACH DOWN AND PULL YOU OUT ALRIGHT!?"

"Yeah!" And with that confirmation Ash plunged her arm in and reached as far as it could go… but she couldn't feel the furry Ottsel at all. Pulling back she heard Rita was yelling again.

"I still can't reach! Crab baskets!" She then heard a muffled 'ow' and imagined that Rita had kicked something in frustration and it most likely hurt.

"LISTEN, I'M GOING TO GO FIND LUFFY! HE CAN STRETCH HIS ARM AND GRAB YOU! SO DON'T MOVE!"

"Kay!" and with that Ash crawled out and began running down the hill in search of the others.

Meanwhile with the rest of the crew…

"Is it seriously hurting you that much to think!?" Nami snapped at the Captain whose red face began to sweat as he tried to think of how they could help Rita if she were stuck in the ocean.

"Can't swim… nobody else can swim or else they'd get taken too…"

"We still don't know if she was taken by the current…" Zoro brought up. "She could be just fine and we had been worried for nothing."

"Oh, you're right." Luffy realized his face becoming its normal color. "Then we should just wait for her to come back!"

"But what if she was? And what will happen the next time there's a current?"

"If she was then it was her own fault." Zoro scowled. "She should know the dangers of swimming in the ocean if she didn't take that seriously then that's her problem."

"HOW HEARTLESS ARE YOU!?" Nami shrieked.

"I'm not heartless I'm realistic!" he snarled at her.

"Hey! Guys!" They all looked up when they heard Ash call them and were started to see that she was covered in dirt, cobwebs, and leaves.

"What happened to you?" Zoro blinked as she stopped a moment to catch her breath.

"Luffy I need your help! It's Rita, she's stuck in this hole over by the cliff and I can't reach her!"

Everyone, excluding Ash naturally, breathed a sigh of relief.

"See I told you guys she was okay!" Luffy grinned.

"How did she end up all the way over there?" Nami wondered.

"I'm so glad your friend is okay, sorry to worry you all." Gaimon smiled.

"What are you all going on about? Wait, no tell me later. Luffy let's go." Ash shook her head and grabbed Luffy's arm, rushing back to the cliffs.

"…So for this party of yours do you have any sake by chance?" Zoro asked the shrub man.

"Home brewed!" Gaimon grinned. "Follow after me everyone! The animals probably grabbed all the fruits by now!"

…

"Okay this is was the place!" Ash grabbed the bush, moving it as best she could and pointed at the hole.

"Got it!" Luffy nodded, crawled over, and stretched his arm. He stuck his tongue out and hummed as they waited until his arm found something…

Rita glanced up when she heard voices then gasped and clapped her hands excitedly when she saw Luffy's arm shoot through the hole. Leaping up she hugged the limb happily and rubbed her head against his hand feeling so very, very happy… that was until he pulled her out way to fast, causing her to scrape against the sides of the small tunnel and be pulled thru a few cobwebs… but hey she was free now!

"I got her!" She heard Luffy cheer as he finally got her out into the fresh open air.

"You could've been a bit gentler there Lu…" Rita mumbled, her teeth slightly chattering as the wind blew across her wet fur.

"Ri are you okay? What happened? You're shivering like crazy!" Ash noticed the small tremors ripple through her small body.

"Yeah you're all wet and cold." Luffy frowned shifting the Ottsel to be more comfortable in his arms. And she gladly took the opportunity to frantically rub the dirt and stray cobwebs off her person.

"It was freezing down there!" Rita exclaimed before she buried her head against his body, content now that all the dirt and webs were gone. "Aww warm…"

"How did you get stuck down there anyways?" Luffy asked. "I thought you went looking for fish?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Rita replied dully. The stress of the entire day was finally beginning to take its toll. She had to deal with Buggy the clown, explosions, emotional explanations, and a fight with two full grown men. Then after all that she nearly drowned from being dragged into a current, was trapped in a freezing dark cave, had a mild anxiety attack, and to top it all off her leg still stung! What she wanted to do more than anything in the world at that moment was to curl up and have a nice long nap.

"Alright then, how about we get a fire started and get you warmed up huh?" Ash smiled and rubbed Rita's head in a comforting way. To Rita, that sounded like the kindest offer anyone could give…

She hummed in response looking ready to nod off at any moment. "Sounds good… I want to take a nap now okay?"

"Okay… but I do want answers later understand?" Ash spoke softly as she could tell her friend was completely worn out…

"Kay… Oh could you hold onto these? I found in them in the cave and I don't want to lose them." Rita yawned and then held out three crystal fragments.

"Wow never seen gems like these." Ash blinked as she inspected them. "I mean, they kind of look like sapphires or maybe Tanzanite… Wait are they glowing?"

"Cool mystery rocks!" Luffy grinned.

"Mmhm." Rita mumbled and finally nodded off completely.

"Rita? Ri? Annnnd she's out." Ash shoved the mystery gems into her pocket and started to walk down the hill. "Let's see if they got the party set up yet, would love to have some fruit right about now."

"Meat sounds awesome…!" Luffy drooled at the thought.

…

"Aw…" Nami and several of the other animals cooed as Rita's feet twitched cutely in her sleep. Everyone was relieved to see that she was fine, although her appearance was rather shocking to Gaimon.

"So where's your crew member? And what's that you're holding?" Gaimon had asked when he Luffy and Ash had returned to the beach.

"You're looking at her! This is Rita she's a mystery ferret!" Luffy introduced his furry companion to the shrub man.

"WHAT? YOUR CREWMATE IS AN ANIMAL!?" Gaimon yelled shocked.

"I thought she was some kind of otter…" Zoro commented from the sideline.

"Oi! Keep it down would you? She just started her nap." Ash glared at the group knowing that they all were pretty noisy people.

"But she's gonna miss the party!" Luffy pouted before Ash grabbed a hold of the Ottsel and brought her near the fire.

"No, she won't. Her naps are always pretty short, I give her like ten-fifteen minutes tops. Then she'll be as riled up as the rest of us." Ash snorted.

"Oh, okay then! ALRIGHT LET'S PARTY EVERYONE!" Luffy cheered along with the rest of the animals.

"What did I just say about volume control?" Ash's brow twitched as the animals brought out drinks for everyone and handed out food.

"So you guys are pirates right? Have any treasure maps?" Gaimon asked wanting to make some conversation as they ate.

"W' Ot' em mamph oph ne and nine!" Luffy answered with his mouth full as he stuffed his face nonstop with food.

"SWALLOW YOUR FOOD BEFORE YOU SPEAK!" Nami yelled at him, appalled by his lack of manners, and smacked his arm.

"Gulp! Sorry about that what I said was we a have a map of the Grandline!" Luffy repeated for the shrub man's benefit. "I'm going after the One Piece!"

"What the One Piece!? You're not seriously thinking of going to the Grandline are you!?" Gaimon exclaimed.

"Obviously…" Ash rolled her eyes. They literally just said that's where they were heading. What was so scary about that place seriously? Everyone keeps going on and on about it and they had never even been there as far as she knew…

"...Where is the Grandline anyways?" Gaimon asked.

'ARE YOU SERIOUS!?' Ash whipped her head around to glare at the man in exasperation. 'Honestly acting all horrified that we're going there and he doesn't even know where it is…!'

Luffy hummed and pulled out the map to look it up and then turned to the man after having scanned the page. "I can't read maps. Can you?"

"Nope." and the two dissolved into laughter over it.

"And you two call yourselves pirates!" Nami groaned in exasperation. Taking it upon herself to try and put some sense into Luffy's skull she grabbed the map and then began to explain catching the attention of not only her captain and Gaimon, but Ash as well who listened intently.

"Okay this is the red line! You know where that is right?" She pointed to a large strip of land mass on the map.

'No…' Ash thought to herself. 'But hopefully you guys will tell me a bit about it.'

"Yeah… that's the strip of land that separates the oceans." Gaimon said and Ash silently thanked him for not leaving her in the dark.

Then Nami went on to explain how there were only two oceans and that the Grandline divides the oceans into two pieces on either side which is how you get the four blues. It was also one of the only ways to travel across the entire world.

This… left Ash a little confused.

"Yes Ash?" Nami turned to her when she saw the blonde had risen her hand up in question.

"Okay so… the red line is like a ring that goes around the entire world?"

"Yes." Nami replied though she had look of disappointment that Ash didn't seem to know that basic shape of the world either...

"And the grand line cuts through that," At Nami's nod Ash continued. "So what's to stop people from just entering the Grandline from the sides?"

"That's… a good question actually." Nami smiled seeing that she was at least getting through to her. "What some don't realize is that on either side of the Grandline is the calm belt See?"

She pointed at a strip of blue that bordered the sides of the grand line clearly marked as 'CALM BELT'.

"Okay…"Ash nodded to show that she was following along.

"I take it you don't know what that is either?" she addressed this to, not only Ash, but Luffy as well.

"Nope!" Luffy laughed.

"The Calm Belt is the most dangerous area for any ship. There isn't any wind and the waters are calm, hence the name. Without either of those a ship becomes a sitting duck.

"What if you just rowed the boat?" Luffy asked.

"Normally that would be fine, however this is also the breeding grounds for sea kings and they are very territorial about it!" Nami warned.

"Huh…" Ash frowned for it seemed to her that a windless sea should be impossible. But then, as she glanced at Luffy and some of the odd animals that had taken a seat next to them, she supposed it wasn't that crazy.

'What's a sea king though…?' She pondered.

"That does seem like a nightmare. And that's not even in the Grandline…" Gaimon commented.

"The Grandline is sounding more and more exciting as I hear about it!" Luffy grinned eager to head there as soon as possible… right after some more of the delicious grub he was having.

"Exciting? I've heard it was a pirate graveyard. Some men who had come to this island searching for treasure had been from there. They were broken almost like zombies you could tell right away that they had undergone something horrific…" Gaimon shivered as he recalled those men.

'Says the man who's never been there or had a decent conversation with people in twenty years.' Ash mentally deadpanned. Then her eyes happened to look at Luffy's recently patched up hat and she had to wonder…

"Say Luffy," She caught his attention. "Do you know if Shanks ever went to the Grandline?"

"Sure he did! He only stayed by my village as a temporary base but they told me about it! I don't really remember much because that was years ago." Luffy shrugged though was happy to mention his hero again.

"And were they broken zombies?" She rose her brow playfully. Surely they weren't if Luffy looked up to them so much.

"Absolutely not! And most of them called the Grandline...Paradise? I think? It was a pirate's paradise anyways."

"Who in their right mind would call the Grandline a paradise!?" Nami yelled seeming to understand who might have influenced Luffy about pirates and his unrealistic portrayal of what they are or should be.

Luffy ignored her comment, stuffing his face with some more food before running over to some of the other animals and started a conga line with them.

"Well looks like his attention span has been used up." Ash mumbled while Nami groaned.

"I just hope he took what I said seriously." She frowned but decided to let it go for now and get herself some of the home brewed drinks the animals prepared. "Mmm! This is delicious!"

"The food tastes great too…" Ash commented as she offered some to Nami who accepted and promptly agreed.

She and Nami relaxed and enjoyed watching Luffy in his element as he found a pair of thin sticks to shove into his nose and they laughed as the animals followed his example.

However Nami hadn't forgotten their 'disagreements' earlier. So when a gorilla hippo approached them with more drinks a humorous idea emerged.

"Hey you over there come here!" Nami called raising her cup towards him. When he moved to refill it Nami swiftly whispered in his ear. "See that blonde over there? She's been having a rough time lately but I know that she secretly loves to be hugged. She's incredibly shy about it though, so I want you to go over there, shower her with embraces and don't take no for an answer!"

The gorilla hippo frowned and glanced over at the blonde who was casually sipping her drink, then back to the lovely red head who smiled sweetly at him. After debating about it in his mind for a few second he shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"Really? Thanks you're the best!" Nami smiled and patted his shoulder before lightly pushing him towards the unsuspecting blonde.

Ash blinked at the approaching creature and nodded her head at him in greeting before turning her attention back towards the growing conga line idly wondering how many animals were on the island…?

Then she wondered why she felt herself being picked up and squeezed to death.

"Oi! Get off!" Ash growled trying her best to shove the hippo gorilla off her person. This was not an easy task.

He was far stronger than she thought he would be and the more she struggled the tighter he held her. Snarling she kicked her legs about in frustration feeling like a little kid who was throwing a temper tantrum, especially when the hippo gorilla patted her head with his free arm.

"Aw, don't be rude Ash he's only trying to be friendly!" Nami laughed looking as sweet and innocent as she could be.

'I don't know why but I do not trust that smile…' Ash thought as she bared her teeth at Nami her brow twitching away. 'Nami, if I find out you had anything to do with this vengeance will be mine…'

…

It took a while but Ash finally managed to get the gorilla hippo to leave her in peace when she said she wanted to check on how Rita was doing.

Rubbing the fur off her clothes the best she could she walked over to sit near the fire clutching a stick she found to use against the gorilla in case he had any more funny ideas. In the corner of her eye though she noticed that Rita was beginning to wake up from her nap.

And apparently so did a few of the animals because they stared at her as she yawned and stretched her limbs…

'Man what a good nap! Is that a camp fire I smell? Lots of people around by the sound of them…' Rita rubbed the sleep away from her eyes and was met with the sight of a rooster dog, a rabbit snake, and a bear giraffe staring down at her. 'Ah…So we did land on Gaimon's island. Well time to try and give a good impression.'

"...Hi!" She smiled and tilted her head at them, giving them a little wave.

"SO CUTE!"the three animals squealed in delight, their eyes turning into hearts.

"What's cute?" Rita blinked and looked behind her to see if she was missing whatever cute event was happening.

"You are!" They smiled at her, the rooster dog's tail wagging rapidly in particular.

"Wait… you guys think I'm cute?" Rita pointed at herself in surprise to which the animals blushed and nodded.

Her cheeks burned as she rubbed the back her head and giggled feeling highly flattered by their opinion. "Awww haha, that's so nice of you! I don't know what to say, thanks I suppose!"

"You're welcome lovely lady! Is there anything we could get for you? Food? Drinks?" The rooster dog offered.

'Lovely?' she thought to herself feeling more amused and flattered as they kept talking. 'Aw, they can't mean that! I always have to prod people into saying I'm cute…'

"How about a dance?" the rabbit snake slithered up to her, swiftly wrapping himself around her before spinning her around, holding onto her hand with his tail.

"Whoa!" She laughed as she spun around and threw a hand up to her cheek to see if it really was as warm as she thought it was. 'This is too much!'

"Do you like hugs?" the giraffe bear asked who, in her opinion, sounded a little bit like Winnie the Pooh.

"I love hugs…!" Rita gasped her eyes shimmering like stars at the idea of getting to cuddle with somebody.

"I call dibs!" the snake wrapped her up close in his coils.

"Wha-? You can't call dibs!" rooster dog barked at the snake who in turn stuck his forked tongue out at him.

"Shouldn't we let the lady decide hmm?" the giraffe bear pointed out to them.

"Oh, right… what would you prefer to do?"The snake asked as he loosened up so she could leave if she wanted too, looking a tad sheepish.

"Well, first before anything I'd like to learn your names! My name is Rita!" She smiled up at them appreciating that they were taking her feelings and wants into consideration.

"Oh dear we never did introduce ourselves did we?" the giraffe bear facepalmed in embarrassment before offering his hand."My name is Winston"

'Funny I thought his name would be spot or something…' Rita took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. "Hello Winston! Hey is it alright if I call you Winnie?"

"Winnie… My, it does have a nice sort of ring to it. Yes, you may!" He smiled and Rita clenched her fist and whispered a soft 'Yes!'

"I'm Rocket!" The Rooster dog introduced himself next puffing up his chest proudly. "And I'm making it my personal mission to make sure you have a blast at this party. I can introduce you to the rest of the gang if you want."

"Yeah I'd love that!" Rita smiled. She was looking forward to seeing what sort of personalities the animals on Gaimon's island actually had.

"And I'm Paris!" the snake smiled when she turned to look at him. "I also happen to be the best dancer on the island."

"Yeah only because you have the most flexible spine…" Rocket mumbled rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"I'll be sure to dance with everyone who wants too, but we can't do that just sitting here so, who wants to go have fun and party!?" Rita grinned and hopped out of Paris's grasp to join up with the rest of the animals, Gaimon, and Luffy who were all dancing around the fire.

"Yeah!" They all cheered and soon everyone was dancing and having a good time.

...

"Phew…" Rita plopped down next to Zoro wiping away the sweat from her forehead as she caught her breath. "Who knew partying could be such a work out? Oh hey food!"

"Having a good time?" Zoro smirked as Rita stuffed her cheeks with sliced mangos, feeling pretty relaxed himself now that he had a good drink.

"Mmhm!" She hastily swallowed her food and turned to him with a smile. "They're all so nice! And did you see the panda bat? Her name's Jazz and she tells some great jokes! Shame the rest of you can't hear them."

Zoro made a grunt of acknowledgment as he took another sip of his drink. Rita hummed happy that he was listening and took a moment to scratch at her bandaged leg that Nami had put on her.

Apparently she had started to bleed enough that it was starting to show through her fur so when Nami noticed she didn't have her Band-Aid anymore she sent a worried Ash back to the boat to grab a sturdier bandage. Although Ash might have just been looking for an excuse to flee from the hippo gorilla that seemed to have made it his life's mission to hug the crap out of the blonde.

Anyways, after Ash retrieved the bandage and had firmly wrapped it around her leg she was free to have fun and goof off like normal.

"How's the leg?" Zoro asked noticing her slight discomfort.

"It'll be fine. Stings a lot but Ash did a good job with it." She replied and then pouted as she added. "Sorry I didn't get any fish."

"Don't worry about it. Although to ease my curiosity how did you manage to get from the ocean all the way to the middle of the island?" Zoro shrugged and leaned back against the tree he was next too.

"Yeah," Rita laughed and grabbed another mango. "Well, there was an underwater tunnel and I wanted to explore it. Then that lead me to a cave inside the cliffs apparently. It was kind of pretty in there…"

Zoro glanced at her when her sentence trailed off and noticed that she was just staring at the mango in her lap, a frown on her face. Her drooping ears and hunched shoulders gave the appearance of extreme exhaustion. But then she shook her head and ate the piece of fruit looking as happy and energetic as ever again. It was little worrisome.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Zoro turned his head to look at her straight on, searching for any change in body language from the little critter that seemed off in anyway,

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine really. I think I'm just getting tired it's been an exciting day after all." She waved him off and smiled in the general direction of his face. But he noticed that she wasn't actually looking him in the eyes. So in response he rose a brow at her and idly wondered if she would come out with what was bothering her or maybe he was worrying over nothing and she was just tired.

Her smile faltered a bit until she leaned over to grab her own cup of coconut milk one the animals had kindly made for her and took a deep gulp. Humming happily as she wiped away the milk from her face she noticed that Zoro was still staring at her.

"It's rude to stare you know." She pointed out to which Zoro rolled his eyes and took another gulp from his beverage.

'Yeah she's fine…' Zoro grumbled mentally as he enjoyed the burning sensation flowing down his throat as he drank.

"Zoro?" He turned to see her smiling gratefully at him. "Thanks."

He grunted at her in true Zoro fashion and started to rest his eyes, knowing that nothing else needed to be said between them.

…

"Good luck on your journey straw hat!" Gaimon and his animal friends waved the straw-hat's off the next morning. They had partied well into the night and decided it would be better to rest there then leave as soon as the sunrise began.

Rita had personally made sure she had hugged every single animal that she could get her paws on. Rocket and Paris seemed particularly sad that she was leaving while Winnie seemed content with it all and only asked that she wouldn't forget them.

Ash kept a wary eye on the hippo gorilla, who waved at her and yelled out encouragements for her to 'get out of her shell someday' though she didn't understand his words.

All in all the straw hat pirates had a good time on this little island. It was nice to have some relaxation after yesterday's events.

"Bye Gaimon! See ya later!" each crewmember gave their own variation of a sendoff.

"They're such good kids!" Gaimon cried bitter sweetly as he was going to miss them all greatly but knew they were all going to have some great adventures. He felt a bit bad for not mentioning the large monsters that lived near the island, but he was sure that they'd be okay...

SPLASH!

"WHAT IS THAT!?" Ash shrieked as a monster burst out from the water.

"I call dibs!" Luffy shouted and stretched out his arm to punch the beast away.

"If another one comes up it's mine!" Zoro called out.

"I don't care whose it is! Let's just get out of here!" Nami yelled at them.

"Aw, it's okay Ash it wasn't that big." Rita tried to reassure the frightened teenager.

"Are you telling me they get bigger!?" She exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah…" Rita's words faded as they were traveling out of hearing range and Gaimon smiled.

"Oh, yes they'll do just fine! Hahaha!" the shrub man laughed.

Alright! finally done with Gaimon's island and now off to meet Usopp! I'm both looking forward to getting there and dreading having to type it all up lol. but anyways I'm a little dissatisfed with some parts of this chapter but over all I hope you all enjoyed it ^^

so some of you are probably wondering what's up with the crystals. Well this is mostly set up for much later and if any of you have played Jak and Daxter (or just googled it) then you might get where i'm going with this. Cause I figured if I'm using elements of that game anyways why not run with it?

Anyways not sure when the next chapter will be due but we will be seeing our favorite long nosed lying sniper!

until next time have a fantastic day!