A.N. Well, all good things must come to an end, and this story is no exception. I hope to recieve such great reviewers on my next major project. Thanks everyone!

Ch. 17

Epilogue

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Said an unfamiliar voice as Kaicen cracked open one eyelid.

Where am I? He wondered. He was in an unknown room made of wood. Judging from the slight motion he was on a ship. But what he noticed above all of that was that his hands hurt like hell! By all that was holy, he felt like they were on fire!

Looking down at his hands he saw that they were wrapped in snug, yet not tight, white linen from his fingertips to mid biceps. Kaicen had no idea why he was all bandaged up like this, or even where he was, but he was determined to ease the pain in his hands. Reaching with his left hand he went to unwrap his right arm when he was stopped by something that he was sure was a fever dream.

The 'thing' was short, kinda cute in a plush toy kind of way, and looked like a bipedal reindeer, a small one. It wore an odd pink top hat and pink shorts. Strangely enough it spoke in a high squeaky voice, the same voice Kaicen head when he had woken up. "Stop! You'll never heal if you do that!"

"Oh?" Kaicen asked, bemused. What a vivid imagination he had, dreaming of talking reindeers whom knew medicine. "What's your name, little fella?"

"I'm Chopper, doctor here on the Merry Go." The deer responded taking Kaicen's chin in its… hands? hooves? And turned his head from side to side. "That's a vicious bruise you have on your neck. Clear signs of an attempted asphyxiation."

"You know, Doctor Chopper," Kaicen mentioned, laughing slightly "If this was real, and not some kind of hallucination, I'd be freaked out of my mind right now."

"Right…" Chopper said, clearly unimpressed. Moving his investigations lower he unwrapped the arms to change the now soiled bandage.

Looking down at his hands, Kaicen couldn't help but laugh. This wasn't happening. HE was a bard; he made his living by his dexterous fingers and his keen memory. These charred and mangled limbs couldn't be his. No, the ugly burns he saw and felt must be on someone else's body. Things like this didn't happen to him, they happened to someone else… anyone else.

"You've suffered third and fourth degree burns along the insides of your forearms, and hands. Your fingertips managed to avoid the greatest damage, and can be upgraded to second-degree burns soon. I'm sorry, but the out come doesn't look good." Chopper said, as he pulled out a wire brush. "To minimize scarring your skin needs to be brushed daily with this. It's gonna hurt really bad, but it'll help you regain the use of your hands."

For a long while Kaicen merely looked at him, his mind utterly blank as he tried to wrap it around that fact. Then, he started laughing hysterically as if Chopper had told him the funniest joke in the entire world. With tears of laughter in his eyes, and gasping for breath he shook his head. "I'm just so damned happy that this is only a dream!"

"Sure, a dream… can you feel pain in dreams?"

"Of course not." Kaicen laughed.

Taking Kaicen's newly bandaged hand in his hoof, chopper pressed down lightly, eliciting a muffled scream from Kaicen. "Does that hurt?"

Suddenly everything clicked for Kaicen. If he felt pain, then he wasn't dreaming! Then this little reindeer was a doctor, and his hands... As his eyes rolled back in his head, he fainted dead away.

"Well, that went better than I had hoped for. "Chopper chirped as he tidied up.

When next Kaicen awoke he had more unfamiliar people around him, but thankfully there were a few friendly faces, most notably Nico Robin.

"Bard-san, you're awake!"

"We thought you were dead." Added a young man with long curly black hair, and an exaggeratedly long nose.

"You're not the only ones…" Kaicen replied, sitting up carefully, trying not to put undue pressure on his hands. "Pleased to meet you all, my name's Kaicen Aliotto. I'd shake hands, but… you know."

"I'm the great Captain Usopp!" The long nosed man declared, thrusting out his chest. "I'm in charge of this pirate ship, and its 80,000 man crew."

"Baka!" The blonde man spat, literally kicking Usopp clear out of the room. "That idiot's the ship's marksman, and resident liar."

"Cook-san…"

"Hai, Robin-chan?" the chain-smoking gushed, his one visible eye taking on the distinct shape and hue of a heart.

"I'm sure our guest is hungry and thirsty."

"Robin-chan is so adorable when she reminds me of my duties!" he said, squirming in a distinctly unmanly fashion. Ushering himself out he set about fixing something for Kaicen to eat.

"… Just who was that?" Kaicen asked in confusion, not sure what to make of the man.

"That was Sanji, possibly the best cook in the world." The second woman in the room replied. She was young, much younger than Robin, and dressed in a manner that took advantage of her curves. She had reddish orange hair and a friendly smile, but there was an under current of… something in her manner. "I'm Nami, the navigator, and something of the informal banker here on the Merry Go."

"Pleased to meet you."

As she strode out the door, she glanced over her shoulder, smiling at Kaicen. "By the way… anytime you need to borrow funds for, whatever, you can come to me. My interest rates are quite manageable."

"Oh?"

"Only 33.2 …Compounded daily."

And there it was, avarice. That was the glint in her eye, the desire for lucre, filthy or otherwise. Smiling, Kaicen shook his head. "Actually… I think I'm alright money wise."

"More's the pity." She said, quickly loosing interest in Kaicen now that she found he wouldn't actually take her up on her very generous offer. Sauntering out the door, and past a very excited Sanji, who watched her as she walked away, she made her way to parts unknown to the bard.

After the overpowering distraction that was Nami left his line of vision Sanji seemed to recall what he was doing, and brought a food laden tray into the room. Most of the food was of very high quality, but there was one dessert that looked to be exquisitely crafted. "Lunch is served." He said, placing the tray beside the injured man's bed.

Kaicen was a firm believer of the old adage: Never bite the hand that feeds you. It was for that reason that he took raised no objection to the foul smelling smoke that issued forth from the ever-present burning twig clenched in the cook's lips, even though the smell irritated his sinuses and made his head ache. His problems with Sanji however, began when the cook snatched away the incredible dessert.

"Hey!" Kaicen protested. "Give that back!"

"It was never yours to begin with, Baka!" Sanji retorted in contempt. "This is a special Love Parfait for Robin-chwan."

"But I'm injured!"

"And she's a lady!"

"…" Kaicen sulked a bit. "…Fine."

Smiling, Sanji offered the love parfait to Robin. "For you, Robin-chwan"

"Thank you cook-san." She said, accepting it. Taking a delicate bite she smiled, showing him how much she appreciated it. "It's wonderful."

Sanji practically floated out of the room muttering the word 'Mellorine!' over and over.

"He seems to have a crush on you." Kaicen remarked with a grin.

"Cook-san has a crush on my entire gender." She replied with one of her simple, sexy smiles.

"Lady Nico…" Kaicen asked tentatively. "One question."

"What is it, Bard-san?"

"How am I going to eat and drink all this in my condition?"

"Don't worry." She replied, a pair of disembodied hands blooming from Kaicen's shoulders. "I'll always lend you a hand."

Pulling Saros from the rubble, Theron sighed. Headquarters wasn't going to be happy that the Mugiwaras had escaped. He only hoped that Saros had found what he was looking for. "Come on then, let's get back to the ship." He told the battered crew as they began to recover from their unexpected battle.

He had never liked Saros, but he would be damned if he ever left a man behind, even him. Looking down at the man draped over his shoulder, he muttered darkly "Semper Fi. You bastard."

"Just one thing bothers me." Kaicen said as he ate one last bite of food off of the fork that Robin's hands were holding on the fork.

"Oh, what's that?"

"Where's Luffy? I'd been half expecting him to pounce me awake the second time."

"Oh, that…" She smiled. "I've been keeping him bound to the mast ever since you woke up the first time, doctor's orders."

Smiling, he shook his head. "Well, that's alright then. But since I'm feeling better I suppose it's ok to let him go now."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Well, I wouldn't want to impose upon you anymore."

"It's no imposition, I assure you."

"Still… you'd better release him."

Not two seconds later Luffy sprang into the room, his usual hyper self. Hopping up onto Kaicen's bed he sat on the other man's legs and stared him in the face, a wide grin on his lips. "Hey, are you going to eat that?" He asked, pointing to the remnants of the meal Sanji made.

"What? Oh, that?" Kaicen asked, shrugging as his extra pair of arms blew away in a puff of sweet smelling flower petals. "Go right ahe-"

Almost too fast for even Kaicen to see Luffy had grabbed onto the food and was in the process of noisily consuming it, a happy grin on his face as he chewed it happily. "Theu eriort rriushgf…"

"What?" Kaicen asked in confusion. What was this boy trying to say? Unfortunately Luffy's answer was even less intelligible than his original statement, if that was even possible. It was rather frightening to watch Luffy in action. Turning to Robin, Kaicen asked, "Does he always eat like this?"

"No, not usually." Robin replied, causing Kaicen to breathe a sigh of relief before she continued, "Most of the time he's much faster."

Looking at her, Kaicen could only stare in disbelief, at which she laughed.
"Ah! Much better!" Luffy sighed, rubbing his now less empty stomach. Looking at Kaicen, he grinned once more. "So now that we've eaten, are you ready to set sail?"

"Set… set sail?" Kaicen asked in bewilderment. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do I mean?" Luffy asked "For the next island of course, we're not getting any closer to One Piece just sitting here all day!"

"We?"

"Yeah, we." Luffy said laughing. "What's wrong? You hurt your head too?"

It took a while for Kaicen to comprehend just what Luffy was saying, and when he did, he couldn't believe his ears. "You… you mean you want me to come too, even though my hands are ruined, you want me to be part of your crew, your Nakama?"

"Well yeah, if I'm gonna be king of the pirates I'm going to need only the best of the best in my crew." Luffy explained. "And you've proven yourself the best, so come with us."

Suddenly Kaicen understood exactly why Robin had had such faith in her Nakama. This young man sitting here on his legs explained it all with the simplicity and clarity of youth, The pure hearted fool with no common sense who would offer to Kaicen the one thing he had been searching for so many years, and thought he would never find again; a home, a place where he belonged.

"Although, you know Captain, with my hands like this I'm practically useless." Kaicen said, holding up his bandaged hands.

"I don't care. I want you as part of my crew, and that's that." Luffy said. "Hands heal, and plus, Sanji could teach you how to kick."

While the thought of getting 'trained' by the cook didn't exactly appeal to Kaicen this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Grinning, he agreed. "Alright, count me in! What would you have your humble bard do for you captain?"

"First thing, take a bath, you still stink!" Luffy responded, pinching his nose, and waving his hand in front of his face. His job done here, he sprang off the bed, and sauntered out onto the deck to play with a willing crewmate, most likely Usopp, grinning. "Cool! We've got a bard! Now all we need is a musician and a shipwright!"

"Does he even know what a bard is?" Kaicen asked, turning to Robin.

"Perhaps not, but I think he will soon enough." She said smiling once more.

A.N. Ano, there you have it, Kaicen lived, and joined the Mugiwaras. I know, I'm such a freakin' hypocrate, I hate reading about OCs, but LOVE making my own! If you liked the story, be sure to be on the look out for other Kaicen fics by yours truly... and maybe he'll make an appearance in one of Charlett's works.

History lesson: Bards in the olden days were not warriors who used Music, or jack of all trades, like we think of them now, instead, Wikipedia has the following to say: A bard is a poet or singer, in religious or feudal contexts. Really they were Singer/historians, and could make quite a living if their memories were up to the task... anyway, I urge you to go to Wikipedia and look up the word Bard if you want to know more.

Sa'avryn