"Luffy!" I scream as I race through town towards the one place I know that the bastard will be: the docks. "You better not leave without me!"

If there is one thing that people learn about me, it is that I never forget a promise. When I was three, my mother promised to get me a dog, that I made sure she kept when I turned five. At seven, after a year or so of having Shanks the Red-Haired Pirate in town, my best friend became a rubber boy (long story), and I made him promise me that he would take me with him when he decided to start his pirate adventure. Then at ten, the blacksmith promised to make me shurikens if I helped him for six months in the shop. I got those shurikens, and kept getting one for every month after that. The last big promise I made was to myself, and it was just last year when I was sixteen, that I would stay true to who I was no matter what happened. There have been smaller promises sprinkled here and there, and I have made each person keep their end of the deal.

That is why today I am busting my ass to get down to the docks so that my best friend, Luffy, keeps his promise to me about our pirate dream.

"If you are gone, when I see you again, I will kick your ass, Luffy!" I skid to a halt, so I don't fling myself into the ocean, frantically looking for a black-haired boy with a straw hat in a small boat. My backpack finally stops thumbing against my back, and the bag at my hip filled with shurikens no longer clinks with the metal rustling around. "Luffy!"

"Akari?!" A voice that I could pick out of a crowd fills my ears from not that far away.

"You bastard," I spin on my heel, focusing in on Luffy as he stops from stepping into his boat. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" I angerly point at him.

"Um, getting ready to leave to start on the path of a pirate?" Luffy tilts his head to one side like a confused puppy. His brown eyes staring at me as if waiting for me to say something else.

"Monkey D. Luffy, did you forget the promise you made to me all those years ago?" I stomp up right in front of him, glaring up at his face with anger that causes my eyes to go dark blue.

"Oh," he chuckles, making the tension float right out of me. "I forgot that you wanted to come with me."

"You are lucky that Makino told me that you were leaving, and that I can run fast," I jab a finger at his chest.

"Welcome to my crew then, Akari," he stands up straight, looking down at me with that big goofy grin on his face. "What is your title?"

"I'll think of something," I slide past him, stepping into the dingy he has for a starter ship. "Are you the captain then, Luffy?" I pull my light blue curls up into the messiest ponytail to stay cool.

"Of course I am," Luffy hops into the boat, causing it to rock a little more than I would like.

"Careful there, Luffy," I chuckle, setting my backpack down my feet. "Can't have you going overboard on the first day as a pirate."

"You'd save me, wouldn't you, Akari?" Luffy pushes the ship away from the dock, setting us on our first journey out to sea.

"Only so I wouldn't be alone at sea," I smirk, letting my hand skirt across the ocean water.

"I would save you from anything," Luffy firmly nods, adjusting the bright red vest that he wears instead of an actual shirt. At least he wears jean shorts and sandals like a normal person. "That's what friends do. They keep each other safe."

"A pirate's life for me," I sing out, adjusting my short shorts and tie-dye t-shirt. Thankful for the comfortable sandals that I am wearing that have more straps to make running convenient. "Are we really doing this, Luffy? Are we really becoming pirates?"

"Of course we are. What else would we be doing?"

"Opening a pub, becoming fisherman, taking care of all the dogs we can find," I shrug. "I don't think you could handle being stuck in that town for much longer though. You have a traveling soul."

"I am a pirate," he fixes the straw hat that has rarely left his head since Red-Haired Shanks gave it to him ten years ago. "With a one-woman crew."

"Do you have any idea where we are going?" I kick my feet up on the middle seat, pulling my hand out of the water.

"Nope, no clue," he picks up the oars, giving the ship a little help in gliding out into the great unknown sea.

I chuckle, shaking my head at the boy. "I'm not surprised."

"We'll just sail until we reach an island," he looks out at the horizon with the tiniest smile on his face. "I'm sure that we can find a crew if we just keep traveling."

"Hopefully we can make enough money to find a real ship."

"What's wrong with what we have now? I think it fits two people just fine."

"For now, but what about when we have a bigger crew?"

"Then we get a bigger boat, but I only have you right now."

I sigh, not letting the heat of a blush reach my cheeks. "Don't you forget that either. I'll always be by your side, Luffy. No matter how crazy it gets."

"What will your family think when you have a bounty on your head with 'Wanted Posters' all over the place?"

"My dad is a drunk, so I doubt he'll ever understand a 'Wanted Poster' with my face on it. My mother is dead, so she's rolling in her grave already," I nibble on my bottom lip. "And my sister is off someplace with that boy, so I don't care what she thinks."

"You're just like her, going off with some boy," Luffy chuckles, pulling the oars back into the boat.

"You aren't some boy, Luffy. You're my best friend, and we made a promise. Besides, being wanted would be one of the better things to happen in my life."

"I'll be wanted for a lot of money by the Marines when I become a big pirate," he leans back, getting comfortable for the journey.

It goes silent from then on, and I have time to reflect on what this means for me.

I never really had the chance to think about what my future could have been like if my family could just be like all the fairy tales my mother would tell me at bedtime. My mother passed away when I was eleven, and then my dad spiraled into a depression that lead to drinking and doing whatever he could to push my sister and I away from him. We look too much like our mother that he couldn't stand being in the same room as us. Then my sister, older by three years, ran away with some boy from another village just last year. I have been doing whatever I can to keep busy as I waited for Luffy to get ready to become a pirate. If we had not made the promise when we were kids, I'm sure I would have gone mad living in the city that has taken too much from me.

The pirate life has always been a dream of mine that I never thought I would be able to partake in. Shanks coming to town opened my eyes to a world that I had only heard my father talk about with anger. It is the reason that I took up the art of shurikens because I would need to be able to fight in some way. The promise with Luffy was a split-second decision made because I realized how much fun it would be to see the world. Then, over the years, as we grew closer as friends, I realized that it was never going to be just that to me. That the boy I had grown up with, the one who would always go visit Makino at the bar, the one who was so much more outgoing than me and helped me go after my dreams, the one who has wanted to be a pirate for as long as I can remember. That boy could never just be a friend to me. We are bound together by fate, and my feelings for him will only continue to grow.

"What are you looking at, Akari?" Luffy's voice shocks me out of my reflection.

"Huh?" I rapidly blink, focusing in on the boy in front of me.

"You've been staring over at me for a while now, but it doesn't look like you were looking at me, so what were you looking at?"

"Nothing," I shrug, looking to the side to avoid his gaze. The last thing I need is for a blush to take over my cheeks and him asking why my face is all red. "I was just thinking about stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Just the past and all the shit that I have had to go through. Wondering how long before my freckles take over my cheeks. Is there something you would like to talk about?" I turn my head just enough to be able to see him.

He shrugs, "You like to retreat into your mind a lot, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

I grimace, knowing he is referring to the hard months after my mother's death where I refused to talk to anyone, and people thought I was going to never speak again. Luffy would visit every day to try and cheer me up, eventually getting me to laugh and talk.

"I should ask the boy who stabbed himself below the eye if he is okay," I smirk, turning my head to fully look at him. "Though, I have to admit, the scar makes you look a bit badass."

"I'm a total badass," he widely grins. "I think that I'll get a hundred more scars now that I am a pirate."

I giggle, "It will make you look tough, and show others not to mess with you. I don't think I want to get too many scars, but I am sure it will be unavoidable."

"No," Luffy shakes his head. "If you get scars that means I didn't protect you."

I roll my eyes, "I already have scars from the shurikens, so what do you have to say about that?" I hold up my hands to show of the small scars caused by trying to learn how to throw the shurikens.

"You did that to yourself, and even if I wanted to try and protect you, you would just tell me to stay away."

I chuckle, dropping my hands back onto my lap. "Now I am probably one of the best with shurikens, so I can help when needed."

"Could you even hurt another person?"

"If they are attacking my friends, then hell yes I could."

Luffy chuckles, "I'd like to see that happen, as you only practiced on a tree."

I stick my bottom lip out in a pout, "Why do you have to doubt me?"

"Ah, Akari, don't be sad!" Luffy leans forward, stretching his cheeks out like he does when showing someone that he is a rubber man.

I giggle, shoving the boy away with a foot to the chest. "You are such a goof, Luffy."

"I know how to make you laugh, and that is something I promise to always do. Even if you call me a goof."

"You know that I never forget a promise," I grin. "I'm sure you said that four years ago when my mother died, and once again when my sister left, and many times when my father yelled at me."

"It's so I don't forget," he looks out at the vast ocean.

"I wouldn't let you forget." I would normally go and give my best friend a hug, but I fear standing up in this little boat would not end that well.

"Hey, Akari, what's that?" Luffy points out a dark patch of ocean in the distance that is growing larger as the seconds go by.

"I think that is a whirlpool," I squint to try and get a better look. "That will suck us in, and our adventure will be over."

"What do we do?"

"Try and get away," I reach down to grab the oars. "You can't swim, and I may be good at swimming, but that will drown me along with you." I start rowing, but the strength of the whirlpool is already too much for the little boat. "Damn it," I throw the oars back onto the floor of the boat. "Luffy, is there anything else on this boat that can help us?"

"Just a barrel that I was going to fill with food later," Luffy places a large empty barrel in the middle of the boat.

"Where was that this whole time?" I furrow my eyebrows. "Never mind, I don't really care. As long as it is empty," I wearily stand up, noticing that the whirlpool is only about a minute from swallowing us whole. I snatch my backpack off the boat's floor.

"Empty for food," Luffy widely grins.

"You should have let Makino fill it up before we left," I roll my eyes. "But it being empty is helping us now, so I can't really complain." I take the lid off, looking inside to decide if we both can fit.

"What are we going to do?"

"Hope that this barrel was made to withstand anything, and pray that we land on shore," I hoist myself into the barrel.

"Won't we be squished?" Luffy looks down at me.

"The other option is death, so pick your poison."

"I don't want to be poisoned, so why would I even pick it?"

"It is just a figure of speech, Luffy," I sigh, feeling the boat rock more as we get even closer to the whirlpool. "Now, hop in with me or you will drown."

"Okay, okay," he carefully steps in, placing the lid securely on top.

To say that being trapped in a barrel made for alcohol with the boy that has my heart is not amazing would be a little farfetched. I won't lie that it is uncomfortable, and it would be just our luck to run into a whirlpool on the first day of our journey. Still, my cheeks are on fire as Luffy has his arms and legs wrapped around me. I could be trapped with someone I hate, so it could always be worse.

"This is nice," Luffy hums.

"If we die here, I need to tell you something, Luffy," I blurt out.

"We are not going to die."

"How do you know?"

"Because I made the promise not only to you, but to your mother, that I would protect you, and I am not going to go back out on that promise."

I feel all worries float away, resting my head on Luffy's chest. "A promise is a promise, and I will never forget."

+~*~*~*~*~*~+

I have no idea how I ever fell asleep, but I am sure it has to do with going down the whirlpool. I must have knocked my head against the side of the barrel when we were sucked in, and now my body is aching, forcing me awake.

"Luffy," I croak out, feeling like my throat is full of sand.

The only response is a soft snore coming from the boy trapped with me in the barrel. It would be extremely cute if my body wasn't aching to standup and move around.

"Luffy," I groan, but I don't even know if my voice can be heard.

The boy doesn't say much, but he gives me a squeeze.

"Asshole," I groan, doing whatever I can to move my limbs. "Wake up."

"Why don't we open it up and drink it," a masculine voice from outside the barrel slashes through the silence. "Lady Alvida will never know."

"She will know!" A less masculine voice shouts. "Just leave it, please. We can't make the captain mad."

"She'll never know," another man's voice joins the conversation, chuckling with whoever is out there.

"Luffy," I rapidly blink, trying to see in the darkness of the barrel. "Please, Luffy, wake up," I try to shake the boy, but there is no way to get a good grip.

"I'm opening it, and I don't care what anyone says, she'll never find out," the first voice speaks up again.

"Akari," Luffy's voice finally fills my ears.

"We're alive, Luffy," I try to clear my throat as quietly as possible.

"That was such a great...nap!" Luffy shoots up, bursting out of the barrel like a bullet.

"Holy shit!" One of the men exclaims.

"Nice going," I sigh, pushing up enough to peak over the top of the barrel.

On the floor of the room looks to be an middle-aged man, with two other large men standing off to the side. There is also a young kid with pink hair and glasses looking over the whole scene. He must be the less masculine voice that I was hearing.

"Huh, who are you guys?" Luffy looks around at the guys in front of us, placing a hand on my head.

"Us? Who the heck are you two!?" The three men shout as one.

"What are you even doing in there?" The fatter of the three men questions. "That barrel is too small to do anything."

"Are you pirates?" I rapidly blink, swatting at Luffy's hand to let me go.

"Pirates?" The man who was on the floor laughs. "Of course we're pirates."

"And Lady Alvida is our captain," the pink haired boy nervously says. "And she is not going to be happy with this."

"You're right, she's not!" A lady's voice fills the room before a battle mace knocks the three guys on the ground. "What is going on in here? Who was talking about a nap?" In the next moment, the biggest lady I have ever seen steps into the room.

"Damn, she's something else," I stand up, looking up at Luffy. "Help me out of this barrel please."

"Sure thing, Akari," Luffy grabs my waist, hoisting me over the top of the barrel.

"It was none of us, Lady Alvida," one of the big men trembles in the sight of Lady Alvida, who must be his captain. "We would never think about sleeping on the job."

"Don't play dumb with me," Lady Alvida glowers. "I heard it clear as day, one of you was talking about the great nap you had."

"Hey, you two," the pink-haired boy whispers to Luffy and me. "Follow me, you don't want to be around when she figures everything out."

"Why not?" Luffy asks, stepping out of the barrel and handing my things to me.

"Doesn't matter, let's go," I sling my backpack on, keeping my Shuriken bag close to my body to avoid noise. "Lead the way," I nod at the boy, grabbing Luffy's hand.

"Koby let in an intruder," a man defends himself. "That good for nothing cabin boy was trying to get you killed."

"An intruder?" Lady Alvida furrows her eyebrows together. "Must have been a bounty hunter after my bounty, and the only one clever enough to that is Roronoa Zoro."

"The marines have him though," the first man speaks up again. "There's no way he could have escaped."

"This way," the pink-haired boy, that I assume is Koby, motions for us to follow him through a doorway.

"Thank you," I breath out as I tug Luffy to follow me.

It takes a few minutes for us to escape the ship and make our way down to the forest for cover. The whole time my mind is reeling with questions I need to ask as soon as we are safe.

"Um, so, are the two of you okay?" Koby questions as we stop in a clearing.

"I'm going to slap some sense into this boy here, but I don't feel hurt," I let go of Luffy's hand, poking him in the side a few times.

"I only got a little dizzy, and surprised, but not hurt," Luffy chuckles. "The name's Luffy, but the way, and this is Akari, my best friend. Where are we?"

"You have to ask his name, Luffy," I shake my head. "I think they said it was Koby back in the ship, though. Is that right?" I tilt my head slightly to the left as I look at the boy.