Ureshiitamago: well, instead of updating my other stories (like I probably should), I decided to start on something that's been bugging me for the past few weeks, so here it is!

Aave: She doesn't own One Piece…or me.

Ureshiitamago: I made you.

Aave: No, no, no. the unicorn made me.

Ureshiitamago:….

Chapter 1: A Ghostly Friend

Dying is painful. Dying means that you're leaving your loved ones behind. Sometimes it's a good thing, if you're old and grey, and can get no more out of life than you already have. But most times, especially for a 12 year old, it's the hardest thing ever. When you leave the friends you had promised to play pirates with the next day, even though you had the feeling you'd never see them again.

In a way, a child's mind is an incredible thing. The imagination is endless, and they never expect anything except for their loved ones love in return for loving.

They also seem to know things, the good and the bad, and see them not as bad or good things, but things that can't be helped. Like dying way before their time. Like I did.

I was born and raised in the East Blue, on an uncharted Island called Tom's Island by the natives that lived there. No one lives there anymore, except for me and the flora and fauna. I should probably introduce myself.

Hi. My name is Aave. (pronounced Ae-va). I had a last name, but forgot sometime 300 years ago. Aave D. something. I think it started with a T…I think… Moving on. (Not spiritually, otherwise I wouldn't be here…) (Or literally either for that matter…)

I am 422 years old, but mentally and physically I am still 12 years old. Ghosts can't age you see. I was told by the Shinigami that had come to collect my soul that for some reason, I couldn't move on. I think it was because I wanted to play pirates with my friends again…ah, I'm off topic.

Let me tell you a little about ghosts. Our colors are typically washed out, and any clothes we wear (we can change clothes) are white except for one of our choosing. We stop aging mentally and physically the moment we die. (Well duh.) If you would like an example, I'll be one.

I have washed out light brown hair that is wavy and goes down to the middle of my back. I have a fringe that makes a straight line across the top of my eyebrows and has two locks on either side of my face that are longer than the others that are curly. My skin is white when I make myself 'solid,' and translucent when I'm 'normal'. My eyes used to be sea blue, but are now washed out and look more like the horizon of the blue sky when the sun is at its zenith. I have pale freckles splattering my nose, and I like them. I don't know about my height or anything, because I float off of the ground almost all of the time, but I'd assume about the same height as any other average 12 year old child.

The one article of clothing that I chose to keep its normal colors was my hat. It's poofy on top, and has a small brim with a checkered ribbon running across the top. The poofy and the brim are the same sea blue that my eyes were, and the checkered part is grass green and sky blue. A/N: Like an old fashioned newsboy-cap. Look it up if you don't know what I mean.

This hat is special to me because my friends and family made it together for my 12th birthday. My clothes I can change whenever I want to whatever I imagine, but normally, I wear an oversized white t-shirt with white jean shorts, gloves that are tight on the hands, but poof around my wrists, the knee pads I used to wear for ice-skating in the winter, and knee high socks that are striped white and grey. No, I don't wear shoes, I don't need them since I float all the time. I have one accessory that I always wear (aside from my hat). It's a watch; it's circular and is on a necklace that I never take off. It's faded gold and light brown, and it doesn't tell time anymore, but I treasure it.

I'll explain more about ghosts. We can float and fly wherever we want, and we can float through things, but despite popular belief, we can touch things at will. We can also feel things, smell things, and eat (though I still don't know where it goes). We don't starve, we don't get thirsty, and since we're dead already, we can't die in a normal way. We eat (if we want to) for the taste and nostalgia of life. We do all the stuff humans do for the same reason. The rumor of spirits who could hurt was started by a vengeful ghost. Normally, people don't even notice us when we walk amongst them. It's only when a vengeful ghost attacks someone that our bad name flies even higher. Unfortunately.

Most of us are good, but some are bad. But there isn't really a 'bad' or a 'good'. There are 'unhurt' and 'hurt'. I'm one of the 'unhurt' ones.

This is probably confusing, but over time, it will clear up. Besides, I'm a 12 year old kid mentally and physically. I don't think anything is bad or good. :P

Moving on to current life on a deserted island.

Normally, on a normal day, I fly around pretending to be a guy named 'Peter pan' that I heard about from a spirit from a different universe. This day, though, was different. I had flown up above the trees that had grown where my hometown had been, and was about to start fighting a 'Captain Hook' character, when I spotted a dot on the shore. I was curious, so I turned completely translucent, and floated down to see.

Pirates.

Normally, that's enough to scare someone out of their wits, but I'm a ghost, and I'm 12. Curiosity killed the cat? Hah! I'm already dead! *raspberry*

I hovered about ten feet in the air with a position like I was hanging on my stomach over a tree branch. Arms and legs pointed towards the ground, waist bent, head up. My hair, defying the law of gravity, floated around my hat, which was holding the majority of my hair down.

Pirates huh…hmm? I had seen their Jolly Roger. It was a skull on its side on top of the crossed bones, and there was a heart bit in its skull. My gaze flicked down at a thunderous noise.

"WHO IS THE FAIREST PIRATE IN ALL OF THE SEAS?!" an extremely obese woman shouted. The force of the shout sent me pin-wheeling backwards a few feet. I lay on my back in the air for a few seconds before sitting up cross-legged and crossing my arms with a pout.

That hurt my ears… I stuck my tongue out at the black haired lady even though she couldn't see me.

"That would be you! Alvida-sama!" the rest of the ships people shouted. I imagined a sword in my hand, and it appeared. I grabbed it and danced in the air.

Yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me! I sang in my head. I swung the sword through the air a few times, imagining myself fighting off hordes of marines while the pirates disembarked and set up a shack by the woods. Boom boom! PPhhhhhh thrthrthrthrthr shing! CRASH! I giggled as my imaginary foes ran away screaming. I let my sword fade away, and looked back at the crew. There was one who looked out of place, so I floated down to get a better look.

He was small and pudgy, wearing a marine striped t-shirt and navy blue pants and tennis shoes. He had round glasses perched on his nose, and pink hair. Pink hair. I blinked. Had a unicorn decided to bless him with the color when he was born? I lifted a lock and examined it closely. I could see no sparkles. Ergo, no unicorn had blessed him. What a pity. Disappointed, I let the lock drop, and flew back to my clearing.

The clearing was beautiful, and had flowers growing in it. I twirled around for a few minutes, pretending that I was a fairy in a fairy circle, and we were creating the most beautiful rainbow. I finished the dance by chasing after my hat, which was blown off my head. I flew after it, and crashed into something soft.

"AAAAH!" shouted a youngish voice.

"AAAAH!" I shouted back, grabbing my hat off of the ground and pulling it back onto my head.

"A GHOST!" it was pink-hair. I smirked and decided to play dumb.

"WHERE?!" I looked around in fake panic, trying not to giggle.

"YOU ARE!" he was pointing at me. I couldn't take it any longer, and giggled.

"Well of course I am, dummy!" I said brightly. "I'm not translucent because I choose not to be!" I smiled at him, and floated above the ground, my gloved hands resting behind my head. He gaped at me.

"Hi there, pinky! My name is Aave! You?" he appeared flustered for a few moments before responding rather politely.

"My name is Coby." He said, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you Aave." I grasped it, and he shivered from the contact. Touching a ghost is apparently like jumping into an ice cold lake. Not that I would know. I am a ghost, so I don't feel it. I noticed that he was sweating and his knees were knocking together. I crossed my arms and pouted.

"You can't be cold and warm at the same time." I said in my most pouty voice. He stared at me for a moment, all thoughts of hot or cold gone, and then laughed nervously.

"Well, I'm f-f-frightened see." He said with another nervous laugh. I was confused, and blinked a few times.

"What is there to be frightened about?" I asked curiously. He looked from side to side.

"Uum…you and…Alvida." He said this last name in a whisper. I laughed cheerily.

"You don't need to be frightened of me!" I said airily. "I'm mostly harmless!"

"M-m-m-m-mostly?" the knock in his knees was back.

"Yup! Just don't touch my hat or watch, and we're golden!" I gasped as I thought of something. "Ne, ne, Coby?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that if we were able to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the leprechaun would paint us gold?" I asked excitedly. My eyes had sparkles in them, and the air around me was shining with anticipation. Coby sweatdropped.

"What, like with a paint brush?" he asked. I nodded fast. Another sweatdrop appeared over his head. "I don't know…how old are you anyway?" I pouted, crossing my arms.

"There's two questions there, which do you mean?" I asked. "How long have I been around, or how long I was alive?" There was a pause as Coby stammered apologies and waved his hands in front of him.

"B-both I guess." He said after a while. I grinned happily at him.

"Well, I died when I was 12, and I've been around as a ghost for 410 years, so I'm 422 years old I guess." I watched as he fell to the side, and then laughed until tears were (figuratively, because I'm a ghost, duh) streaming from my eyes.

"You're funny, Coby!" I said as he stood up and stared at me with a shocked look on his face. I did a few somersaults in the air, and imagined a teddy bear.

"Poof" I said as the teddy bear appeared in front of me. I imagined a small top hat and cape for it, and a cane, and then attached them to the bear as they appeared. I looked over to Coby, and saw him looking through the trees in fear.

"What's wrong, Coby? Kuma." I asked in as deep a voice as mine would allow me to go. Coby looked back and saw only the bear moving on the ground. I was floating an inch from the top, invisible. He laughed for reals this time, and I found that I liked it when he laughed for reals better than he did when he was nervous.

"Is that you, Aave?" He asked, squatting down until he was face to face with the semi-translucent teddy-bear. I grinned, and made the bear bow.

"No, kuma. I am…" I paused, trying to think up a name, "St. Bearnaby Bearette Angelique Vann Marco the third, kuma." More sweatdrops appeared on Coby's head as I listed off the long name.

"Ok." He said, holding out his hand. "My name is Coby, it's nice to meet you, St. Bearnaby Bearette Angelique Vann Marco the third." I giggled, and placed my teddy bears small paw in Coby's much bigger hand.

"'Tis a pleasure, kuma. Would you be my friend, kuma?" I asked hopefully, looking up into Coby's face. It had been so long since my last friend…around 20 years, in fact.

"Of course!" Coby said with a smile. I laughed, and made St. Bearnaby Bearette Angelique Vann Marco the third do a little victory dance.

"COOOBYY!" A fearsome and irritating voice called out. Coby jumped, and I saw the fear that had almost vanished as he was talking to the bear return in an instant. I frowned as he turned to me.

"I have to go now, Aave, St. Bearnaby Bearette Angelique Vann Marco the third." I smiled as I made myself visible again.

"Can I see you again?" I asked hopefully. Coby grinned.

"Of course! We're friends, aren't we?" I grinned wider, and looked at Bearnaby. I concentrated until a furrow appeared in between my eyebrows.

"POP!" I shouted as Bearnaby became real. It fell through my hands onto the grass, and I picked it up and flew over to Coby's retreating form.

"Coby!" I called, almost bumping into him again. The small boy looked at me in confusion.

"Yes?"

"Promise to see me again?" I asked, holding out the teddy bear. Now that it was real, I could see that Bearnaby had fuzzy purple fur, round black bead eyes, and a lighter purple nose. His cape was red, as was his top hat perched smartly on his head. The cane attached to his paw looked like it was shiny metal of some kind. Coby looked at Bearnaby for a second, before taking it and hugging it.

"I promise!" He said.

"COOOOOBYY!" Coby jumped.

"I'll see you later, ok? I have to go before she kills me!" I smiled and waved after Coby and Bearnaby's retreating forms. He promised I would see him again.

And I did see him again. Alvida had apparently decided that my island was a great place for her base, and had permanently moved onto the beach. For two years we visited with each other, and I helped him to build an escape boat. (He did most of the building while I sang what he called nonsense songs and played with Bearetta, Bearnaby's sister.)

Two years later, Coby looked more grown up, but still was scared stiff of Alvida and her iron mace. All throughout those two years, I played pranks on the ugly lady. I deformed her mirror, rearranged her room while she was sleeping, replaced the salt with the sugar, and other things that other people would consider childish, but I thought were genius. Coby always kept Bearnaby tucked into his belt, and soldiered through the name calling thrown his way for it. It was a somewhat peaceful life, and then everything changed.

I was hanging over Coby and glaring at the ugly woman in front of us. I was invisible to everyone (excepting Coby), and made the most of it by pulling the corners of my eyes down and sticking out my tongue. I then pushed up the tip of my nose until it looked like a pig snout and made snorting noises. Coby was shaking. However, I suspected that he wasn't shaking because he thought that what I was doing was funny, but because he was scared of Alvida. I scowled at her. She had just finished beating up a crony with her iron mace for not dusting the bulwark. I thought it was stupid.

"Coby!" She planted the mace solidly onto her shoulder. "Who is the fairest throughout all of the seas?"

"Not you, pig." I said, sticking my tongue out at her. Of course she couldn't hear me. I had learned early on that if I actually voiced my opinions so she could hear them, she would blame one of the crew….mainly Coby. Coby responded 'correctly'.

"Ahem…heh heh…" he scratched his head while he laughed nervously. My scowl deepened. "Why you are…Lady Alvida." He said. "No one compares to you." I sighed and started to swim in the air.

"As I was walking down Paradise Street, to me, weigh, hey, blow the man down. A pretty young damsel I chanced for to meet, give me some time to blow the man down…" I stopped singing as I saw Alvida kick Coby on the head. I felt anger surge through me, and the sky above the island suddenly became cloudy.

"Calm down!" I heard Coby whisper as he polished Alvida's shoes. I blinked, and the feeling was gone, as were the clouds. I tightly reigned in my emotions as Coby was kicked by Alvida again.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU'RE PATHETIC!" Pig-Alvida shouted. I blew a raspberry at her. Ppppphhhhhhtttthhh

"Heh heh…sorry." My anger turned to worry as I noticed that Coby's cheek was bleeding. I hovered over him worriedly as Alvida gave him her next orders in a yell.

"IF YOU'VE GOT TIME TO GROVEL, YOU'VE GOT TIME TO SCRUB THE TOILET!" I scowled at her as I placed an ungloved hand on Coby's owie. He was getting better at not shivering whenever I touched him, and when he got hurt, my ghosty hand acted as a very good icepack.

"Yes M'lady…right away!" There was a pause as Coby held back tears. "…right away…" I kept my hand on his face as I moved with him off of the ship. Then I noticed something weird.

"I believe in genies!" I shouted, shooting over to a barrel that was beached. I flew circles around it, waiting for Coby to catch up.

"Genies?" Coby asked as he started to roll the barrel to the shed. I nodded, humming Bink's Sake under my breath.

"Genies come out of barrels…or was it bottles...and grant three wishes!" I said triumphantly. Coby laughed, and I grinned, glad that my friend was laughing for reals.

"Where'd you hear that one?" he asked. "I've never heard it before." I floated until I was in front of him and then turned around and flew backwards, kicking my unshod feet underneath me.

"From a ghost from another dimension." I said with a grin. She was the same ghost who had told me about Neverland. Second star to the right and straight on till morning. I especially liked Tinkerbell. Coby's eyes widened.

"There are other dimensions?" He asked in a wondering voice. I nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup! So unicorns named Bob are real!" I shouted this last bit at the sky, shaking my fist. A sweatdrop rolled down Coby's head.

"How do you figure that?" he asked as we reached the shed.

"I just know." I answered happily, breezing past the pirate in the doorway to get inside. I had actually met him, he was running across a rainbow to beat up the Leprechaun King because the King had stolen Bob's fruit…but that's a different story.

"What's that, Coby?" asked one of the pirates in charge of counting supplies. "Did a barrel of rum wash up the beach?"

"Rum? I thought it was a genie!" I pouted and floated up to the roof of the shed, stopping myself before I actually floated through it. Genies are waaay better than rum. Genies grant three wishes. Rum just makes your head all spinney. Coby rolled the barrel inside after a bit of one sided discussion on what to do with it. The three guys who were occupying the shed for the moment wanted to drink what was inside it. Coby was helpless to refuse.

"We're the only ones here." The fat one with stripey clothes was saying. "Just Coby and the three of us know about this." I snickered at his obliviousness.

"Yeah, you're right." The one who had been in the doorway said.

"And you aint seen nothing, right Coby?" Stripy said.

"Ahaha…right! I ain't seen nothing! Heh heh…please don't hit me." Coby responded shakily. Bad grammer, and bad manners. This isn't how pirates back then acted…I crossed my arms and summoned Bearetta. She was wearing a 'Red Riding Hood' outfit. I yelped and almost dropped her when the barrel's top suddenly exploded and a person appeared shouting;

"THAT WAS A GREAT NAP!" The boy shouted. I stared at him wide eyed, and in the process lost the hold I had on my translucency. Suddenly, I was visible to everyone. I didn't notice this right away though, because I was busy staring at the barrel-boy. He was wearing a strawhat on his head that had a red ribbon running around it. His hair was black and messy, and he had a scar under his left eye. He wore a red vest that was held shut with three yellow buttons, and jean pants. He was still in the barrel, so I couldn't see the rest of him, but I was interested in his smile. It was happy-go-lucky to the point of stupidity.

"Hmm, looks like I survived somehow!" He was saying. His hands were clenched, and he was stretching them above his head. "I got so dizzy I thought I was gonna barf! Hahahaha!" Finally, he seemed to notice the people in front of him. "…?!" There was a pause, and his eyes wandered a little bit up to me. A look of surprise crossed his face for a moment, but he turned back to the people in front of him.

"Who are you guys?" He asked with a frown. A genie? I thought confusedly. I tilted my head to the side and clutched tighter to Bearetta.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Shouted the three baddies in synch.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THERE?!" Shouted Stripy in Strawhat's face. Strawhat didn't seem to like that very much.

"BACK TO WORK YOU SCURVY DOGS!" Shouted the well hated voice of Alvida. I hear a sound like a whup whup whup CRASH and then her mace destroyed most of the shed and sent Coby and Strawhat rolling into the forest and the direction of my meadow. I gasped and flew after them. A genie? Ahead of me, I saw that Coby had come to a stop, and was now chasing after Strawhat's barrel. I caught up to him quickly and flew beside him, adjusting Bearnaby in Coby's belt so it wouldn't fall.

"Told you it was a genie!" I said happily. Coby fell, his arms out in front of him. I sweatdropped. "Are you okay, Coby?" We ran for a while longer and finally reached Strawhat.

"Um, are you ok? Are you hurt? After being knocked around so much, you must be-"

"Shishishishi! I'm fine, just a little surprised is all." Strawhat said. He seemed friendly enough. "My name's Luffy! Where am I?" Coby looked at me. Stra-Luffy looked at me. Wait…Luffy looked at me?

"Can you see me?" I asked tentatively, dreading the answer.

"Yup." He was very nonchalant about it. Oh dear… I waved to Coby to answer for me.

"This island is the hideout of Ironmace Alvida, the lady pirate. I'm her cabin boy." I rolled in the air silently, and then poked Coby's head. "Hmm?"

"I'm going to sleep in Bearetta." I said, handing the now real bear to him. "Don't drop her or I'll haunt you." I waited until he nodded, and then I slid into Bearetta's now furry blue body and blacked out.

That's what I call it, black out. It's when a ghost needs to think about something, and so they black out for a while, literally dead to the world, to think about it. They need a 'host' though, and it's usually something that doesn't have a soul, like a doll or a stuffed animal. It isn't as creepy as it sounds. When a ghost blacks out in a doll or stuffed animal, the doll or stuffed animal doesn't move, or make any indication that it's housing a ghost. Black out is literally black out. I can't see or hear or move. It's a place to think. It's like moving on, except you don't. Move on, I mean.

When I woke up, I was in Luffy's hands, and he was holding Bearetta (me) up by her paws.

"Leggo." I demanded. Startled, he dropped Bearetta, and I floated out of her before picking her up and returning her to 'ghost' form. Then I dismissed her. I looked around. We were at the beach, and there was a small boat in front of us. I saw Coby by the boat, looking at me nervously. I hadn't seen that look from him since two years ago, and I didn't like it.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking at Luffy.

"I'm leaving, and Coby's comin' with me." He answered.

"Alvida?" he pointed back at the forest. I nodded, and looked at Coby.

"You're going to become a marine, aren't you." I said, as a statement instead of a question. Coby nodded. I looked at Luffy. "And you?" His grin eclipsed the sun. I wondered if it was possible that the tooth fairy charmed his teeth. I mused, it was possible.

"I'm going to become pirate king!" He announced proudly. I looked at him in slight shock, and rose several inches. I looked at the boat, and then back at the island. Alvida's crew were just casting off, and I knew that there wasn't any real wildlife to speak of. I turned back to them.

"Can I come with?" I asked. "I've always wanted to be a pirate." Luffy grinned.

"Sure! Join my pirate crew ghostie!" I stuck my tongue out at him.

"No! But I'm going to haunt your ship until I find a crew to join." I said with a grin. I would join when he gave me no room to say no. He pouted childishly.

"But what about your memories here?" Coby asked. I looked at him blandly.

"I love memories, but I have my treasures right here." I pointed at my hat and watch. "And the island has just been a shadow for around 200 years." Coby looked confused. I smiled. "You'll see when we get far enough away."

I floated above the boat while we drifted away from the Island. Suddenly, it started to flicker, and then it disappeared. Coby gasped. Luffy laughed, and I settled onto the tip of the mast.

"She was round in the corner and bluff in the bow, to me, weigh, hey, blow the man down. So I took in all sail and cried, "Way enough now" give me some time to blow the man down…."

This chappie has been redone!