•Black Hat•

•23•

A.N. That's Pearl! (With tamed hair) ignore the top she is wearing, my friend Saakurako made her for me but couldn't change the top.

After Sunny managed to sink in the water it started heading towards its destination. The Fishman Island. Pearl, a bit tired from the fight between them and three marine ships, that had ended a few minutes ago was now sitting on the steps that led from the deck to the helm, replacing the blades she had lost during the fight. She had many blades inside her bag, but still she didn't like the fact that she would always lose some of them during a fight.

Luffy had forgotten to introduce the girl to the rest of the crew but Pearl didn't mind, she liked sitting there, enjoying the view under the surface of the sea, on her own.

"Weird fighting technique" she suddenly heard a deep voice beside her and turned to look at the man speaking. "Zoro" he said and sat next to her gazing at the sea above them.

"Pearl, Luffy forgot the introductions!" She chuckled and since she had finished with the replacement of her knives, she was now skillfully spinning a silver blade between her scarred fingers.

Zoro noticed that but refrained from making a comment.

"Are you a sister of his like...?" Zoro paused, not knowing whether he should mention Ace's name.

Pearl's half smile turned into an unreadable expression, that compiled nostalgia, bitterness and regret. With a poker face and looking straight ahead avoiding the man's look she replied:

"I met Luffy at the war" nothing more and the green-headed man didn't continue to ask her anything more about it.

Suddenly something twitched inside Pearl's brain system and she jumped up with all her senses activated to their maximum. Zoro got his hand to his white and gold sword but he couldn't feel any type of danger approaching from the direction the girl looked at.

At that moment Nami came out of the aquarium and both of them forced themselves to relax, or act like they did.

"Hey, I'm Nami, this ship's navigator. If it wasn't for me they would be lost in the seven seas, especially Zoro-kun!" The redhead bragged with a smart smile on her pretty face. "I didn't quite catch your name..."

"Pearl" the other girl replied trying her best to smile. Her attempt not to show how uncomfortable she was feeling seemed to have good results. Soon the whole crew had gathered around the deck and sat on the grass with Pearl being the center of attention. "I feel like I've ruined a special moment between you guys" Pearl admitted tugging on her pants.

After every single one of them reassured her that that wasn't the case they started asking each other questions about how they had spent the past two years. Everyone had their own story, funny or not, all of them were interesting. Pearl had started feeling comfortable around the nine of them and started showing some reaction as the time passed. Her laugh was unfiltered and made the rest of them laugh with how spontaneous and real it was, as she threw her head back and laughed with all her soul at poor Sanji's story.

Suddenly Luffy pulled himself next to her by grabbing Zoro with his extended arms and landing between them.

"Where did you go?" He asked her with his eyes filled with queries. She was the only one from the ten of them that had the privilege to choose where to go.

Pearl swallowed some saliva and hesitated before beginning with her story.

"I... got in a circus that traveled around the grand line and pretty much begged the knife-thrower to take me as his apprentice" she said and looked around uncomfortably. Everyone was waiting for her next word which didn't come much to everyone's disappointment.

"That's it?" Luffy asked baffled.

"Yeah... yes that's all!" Pearl added.

"Not a single funny story from the circus?"

"Did the knife-thrower hit on you?" Sanji asked and she rushed to shake her head negatively. Her teacher would never do that to her, mainly because he was married with his ideals.

"Boring!" Luffy whined and fell back on the grass.

"Luffy!" Nami scolded him again and Pearl shook her head negatively.

"I don't mind" she said and hit him on his forehead with the side of her palm, as if she was trying to break a piece of wood with a karate move. All of them chuckled Luffy pressed on his pained forehead.

"You didn't visit me as you promised" Luffy muttered, his comment hiding some bitterness.

"I did!" The girl protested. "I came with that!" Pearl said pointing at her brain and eyes. "I also visited Rayleigh, he noticed me. You just didn't pay attention, you never did. I tried more than ten times!"

Luffy seemed really confused and fascinated that the same time.

"How do I do it?" He asked.

"You just pay attention to what surrounds you and I do the rest"

Suddenly a weird creature emerged in front of Sunny and everyone took their place on the ship, ready to fight it off and protect their beloved vessel. The creature looked like the Kraken, and his enormous legs were ready to squeeze the bubble round the ship and then turn it to rubble. But Luffy with his weird ways of fighting and communicating with other creatures around him, he somehow managed to bring it under his hold. He returned to the ship riding the animal which he called Surume. He looked really happy to have achieved to tame a wild beast but all his happiness disappeared at once when he took a look at his nakama.

"Where is Pearl?" He asked and everyone looked around surprised. Luffy jumped on the ship and looking at them anxiously he repeated the question. "Where is she? Did she leave? Did you hide her?" He asked with the latest being a hopeful question.

But no one knew where the girl had gone. No one had seen her leave