She Came From Outta Space... I Think?

See Ya Around Cowboy... Luffy Don't Drink That!

"And that's how Luffy earned his first bounty," Tani recounted to Ace who was still piggy backing the sleeping captain. He gave a hearty laugh at the wild story.

"I knew the kid was destructive, but the whole building? Guy must've really pissed him off," Ace chuckled.

"He made our lovely Nami cry, honestly that Arlong guy deserved much worse..." Sanji included, his curly brow furrowing in anger at the memories of Nami's crying and bleeding form that day.

"You know you mean a lot to someone, if they're willing to take down a whole ass building for you," Tani concluded with a nod, Ace gave a nod in agreement.

"We all owe the idiot a lot," Nami added to the conversation, "He may cause a lot of trouble, but the lucky moron always seems to come out on top," she sigh with contentment. Turning to look at the sleeping rubber man.

"Oh look there's some rocks we can use for cover tonight," Vivi called out with her finger pointing towards the jagged rock cluster in the distance. The crew picked up the pace, exerting what little strength they had left and powering through the ache in their legs. Usopp practically passed out once they made it to the opening of the rocks, leaving Sanji to drag him the rest of the way.

"Tani have you been holding all those bags this entire time?" Sanji asked as he dragged Usopp past the drowsy girl. Tani looked at her back and found that yes she was indeed holding all of those bags still.

"Huh, would you look at that. Guess I was," she tiredly snickered, her eye lids felt heavy as the days adventures finally caught up with her. She let out a massive yawn, stretching her limbs out as far as she could before bringing them back in and falling limp with sleep.

...

"...ni..."

"..tani..."

"Wake up Tani..."

"Oi, Tani wake up,"

A poking to the sleepy girls cheeks and the calling of her name, broke the girl out of her well deserved rest. Her eyes lazily opened to a face full of Luffy. His wide obsidian eyes staring into her swampy green orbs. Tani groaned, rubbing her eyes and wiping away the drool that pooled out her mouth.

"I found this really cool thing!" he whisper shouted. Who would have thought Luffy had a volume setting lower than car horn.

"Can't it wait?" Tani drawled with a yawn. Luffy shook his head, his hand already clasping around her wrist. He moved, dragging the girl through the rough sand. "Hey! Luffy stop I'm tired," she whined. Luffy just kept walking.

The pair was just outside the rocky shelter, Tani woke up enough to get up off the sandy ground and dust herself off. She was going to find sand on her person for the next seven years...

"Look! Isn't it the coolest?" Luffy said while pointing with both his arms at a small crack in the rocks. Tani rubbed her eyes, shuffling over to take a look at the crack.

What her eyes found was the most bizarre thing! It was a small gem, well a cluster of small gems. What was odd about them was the strange glow of them. A swampy green and aqua colour that mixed within the gem like a pool of water trapped inside the coloured shells of the gems.

"They look like you," Luffy beamed, showing off all of his pearly whites. Tani was at a loss for words. Her eyes flicking from the small gems, back to Luffy who looked like he'd just found the greatest treasure ever. Tani's hand grazed over the smooth surface of the cluster, a smile lit up her cheeks as she looked back at Luffy with glittery eyes.

"They're awesome," she cheered quietly. Luffy scooted over to her side, their cheeks pressed against each other as they both pressed their faces close to the crack in the rock to get a closer look at the treasure they'd found. "Should we grab some?" Tani whispered to the captain.