Her Wanderlust Odyssey

A Run-in with a Yonkō

About a year later, Sakura is now 22 and had been promoted to the rank of "Captain." She was assigned on an away mission to hunt a pirate down from Tsuru-san. As she was in her little sailboat, she noticed in the distance that a storm was brewing and was heading her way. She looked around to hopefully find a ship or an island to wait the storm out. Luckily, there was a ship nearby and she began to sail towards it.

She jumped onto the back of the ship with Geppo and tied her boat to it with some rope. Afterward, Sakura started to walk towards the main deck to hopefully find people. Hm, I wonder what kind of ship this is: a cruise ship of some sort or maybe a pirate ship! What if that Mildred McCoy dude is on this ship?! Sakura excitedly wondered. "Hello, anyone there?" Sakura yelled as she walked around the corner. She saw how huge the ship actually was and was in awe. Then, she noticed people readying their weapons and realized, it was a pirate ship. Whoops.

"Woah there, I come in peace," Sakura announced as she put her hands up.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get on the ship?" a tall, lean, muscular, blonde-haired man asked.

"My name is Sakura Amari, and I got on this ship from the back, on my boat. I was just wondering if I could wait out that oncoming storm on this ship?" Sakura turned her head and noticed a relatively large person. Oh, it's Whitebeard. Wait... "Wait Whitebeard?!" He was abnormally large and even though he was sitting down, he still towered over Sakura.

"Young lady, you look more excited than scared seeing me," Whitebeard pointed out.

"Well of course I'm excited, I've always wanted to meet one of the Four Emperors!" she replied excitedly.

"Wait, pops I recognize who she is, she's a Captain in Vice-Admiral Tsuru's Crew, also known as the troublemaker of the Marines," some pirate from the crowd announced.

"Wow, yes your right, but how did you know about that last part?"

"Are you here to have our heads?!" another pirate laughed.

"Ha! Me? Take Whitebeard's life? Impossible, never in a million years!" Sakura laughed back. "I'm just here to ask for shelter from the storm." Most people looked confused since they were expecting a fight. Whitebeard started to laugh.

"You sure are an odd one, but sure, feel free to take shelter from the storm on my ship."

"Thank you, sir!" Sakura saluted.

=~+~=

Even though Whitebeard allowed Sakura to stay, the rest of the crew was very cautious of her since she was apart of the Marines. "What? If you want someone to follow and watch my every move, go ahead, but there's no way in hell that I'll ever win a fight against you all!" she stated. Thus, there was always at least one pirate watching over her as she wandered around the ship.

=~+~=

As she arrived at the kitchen and dining room since it was time for dinner, she found everyone already eating and drinking. Sakura walked up to Whitebeard and thanked him again. "You can just call me pops!" Whitebeard replied. He reeked of saké.

"Are you sure Whitebeard? Even though I consider you and your crew as my friends, I'm not sure that they consider me as a friend, let alone as an equal," she cautioned.

"You're not my friend, you're family now!" Sakura knew that he probably wouldn't let it go if she denied so she walked away and got herself a meal, a drink, and a towel and started to walk out the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" She turned around to see the same person that questioned her when she first appeared.

"Marco right?" He nodded. "Well, I'm just gonna go eat outside since the rain stopped for a bit and look at the night sky. It's a habit of mine. Don't worry I'll just be out on the deck, you can check on me every once in a while since I'm 'untrusted'," Sakura reassured as she walked out the door.

"I might as well come along since someone's gotta watch you," Marco sighed as he followed her.

"But don't you wanna stay with everyone else in there?" she asked.

"Eh, not really, they can get drunk pretty quickly and things start to get crazy in there."

"What a lively crew Whitebeard has," Sakura laughed.

"I thought pops said not to call him that."

"Well, he is drunk so I don't know if he actually meant it."

=~+~=

When they got on the deck, Sakura laid the towel on the railing of the ship and faced the calm ocean with her legs hanging off the ship and Marco just stood near the door. "She looks pretty calm for a marine who's on an Emperor's ship," Marco quietly thought out loud. "Maybe she ain't so dangerous after all."

"Oi! Oi! Marco! Catch!" Sakura suddenly yelled and threw an apple at him. He caught it in shock and yelled "What the hell kid?!"

"I only threw to get your attention, you were zoning out. Anyway, Marco sir, what do you think about stars?"

"What?"

"Stars!" Sakura said excitingly as she pointed at the starry night sky with storm clouds in the distance.

"Oh, they're alright I guess."

"Just alright? I grew up with the stars being one of the only things that can give me peace of mind when there was chaos everywhere. I personally think that they're beautiful because even in the darkest of nights, they shine as bright as ever."

"That's a delightful way to think about stars."

"Come, come sit with me," Sakura patted next to her.

"I mean, the stars are beautiful, but I don't really have any connection to them," Marco stated as he sat down next to her.

"Well, everyone views everything differently, I just happen to connect to stars better than you." They both sat, talked about random stuff, and stared at the stars together for a good half an hour before the storm clouds gathered again and it started to pour. Both of them ran back into the ship laughing about something. "Wanna get a drink?" Sakura asked. He nodded and they headed towards the kitchen and dining room.

=~+~=

There weren't as many people as before since most of the crew either went to sleep in the sleeping quarters or were knocked out here. They had a couple of drinks and Sakura left to go to sleep.

[End of the 1st Part of the short story The Whitebeard Pirates]