Her stage

Dawn Island

"Are we gonna climb here?" Uta asked looking Luffy while looking at the mountain in front of

them. "I don't wanna do that, it's gonna mess up my clothes and hair!"

"The first one to climb is the strongest, stinkyhime. You can't be the strongest if you stay down here and girls who are not strong can't be princesses" Jack with his droopy eyes provoked Uta. He wants her to be stronger so he can invite her to his crew, since he has already decided that he will only invite those who are already the strongest as well as those with potential. Ofcourse, that's entirely unrelated to his complete belief to the things he says.

"And? What does being strong have to do with being a princess, Jackson?" Uta asked. She already got used to Jack's absurd logic and found that the best way to deal with him is to not get dragged into his pace no matter what.

"The Pirate King is the strongest, and a princess is like a king, so a princess should be the strongest" Jack argued with his seemingly perfect logic while staring at the mountain grinning. If he can climb this mountain fast, he might be able to take a quick nap before the two got to the top. It's a flawless plan and is something that would never work with Sabo and Ace because they're strong and fast unlike Uta and Luffy.

Thinking of Sabo and Ace, Jack can't help but have thoughts of being left out. The two doesn't bother asking him to come with them either. He knows this is partially because they don't want him to help them steal from others. Both of them view Jack as their precious little brother, and even if they understand that he himself wants to be a pirate, they still rather avoid him getting exposed to that kind of stuff as much as they can.

It's a sentiment Jack doesn't understand, but their intent is very clear to him so he just respects their decision.

"Wrong. It's not about how strong you are after.

Diva's are meant to be the stuff of dreams" Uta cut Jack's thoughts short, bringing him back to the present.

"I don't get it" Jack really doesn't get it. To him, the way Uta said that made it seem like she doesn't dream about being the strongest.

"Ofcourse you don't" Muttered Uta under her breath.

"If you can't even climb an ordinary cliff like this, how are you gonna help Shanks?" Luffy said in a childish manner, teasing Uta. He was busy finding a fruit because eating it would make him stronger for the race.

"Hmph" Uta put her arms on her hips, turned her head sideways and said, "Don't underestimate me. It's not like I can't climb it."

She stretched back and hopped towards the foot of the mountain like a bunny. She then turned around to two and said, "If you're too slow, I'll leave you behind ne!"

She and Luffy dashed up the mountain as fast as they can. This immediately woke up Jack from his dizziness and he, as well, quickly went up the mountain leaving the two behind in the blink of an eye.

He laid down on the grass for a while before he heard Luffy's shout gradually getting louder. It was only a few more minutes later when the two managed to reach the peak.

"You're *Huff* pretty impressive *Huff*" Luffy said to Uta while laying on the grass and extremely out of breath.

"You should be! There isn't one thing you two can beat me at." Responded Uta, similar to Luffy, she was also laying down on the grass.

"Jack doko?" Luffy wondered. He knows they had a headstart, but he didn't expect Jack to be this far behind. Just as Uta was about to check up on him, the two kids heard a cute sounding snore from behind them.

"AH! How did you get here?!" Both Luffy and Uta was shocked. They didn't see him catch up to them so they assumed he was behind them all this time.

*Pop* Jack woke up the same time his snow bubble popped. He had droopy eyes with drool flowing at the side of his mouth and some grass sticking to his cheeks. He didn't expect for the two to take this long having grown up with a bunch of monsters and being a monster himself, the two kids never stood a chance.

"I've *Yawn* been here the entire time"

"But we didn't see you!" Protested Uta. It seems impossible for Jack to have climbed fast enough for him to fall asleep while waiting for them to catch up.

"I'm fast?" Jack replied, not sure what to say. It's not like he understands why the two were so weak either.

"That doesn't explain anything!" (Uta)

"No fair!" (Ace)

Just as Jack was about to fall back to sleep, Uta suggested, "Why don't we compete in other things? I'll teach you a lesson!"

And so, the three kids competed in various things like height, cuteness and arm-wrestling with Uta winning two of the competitions and Jack winning one. He feels like he's cuter than Uta, but Uta insisted she wins because she's a girl.

"Then... a shouting contest!" Luffy said with a wide smile. Even though he hadn't won once, he's, for some reason, still full of energy.

Luffy turned to the cliff and shouted "YAAA-HOOO!!!!" The echo didn't last for a while and receded soon after.

Uta also had her turn and the echo of her more refined shout seemed more like a melody, but it definitely lasted more than Luffy's.

When it was Jack's turn, he was already fighting the urge to sleep so he slugged his way to the cliff, sat down, then yelled, "yaaaa-zzzzz"

""He fell asleep!"" Yelled the two kids with their eyes popping out like cartoon characters. Never in their life had they met someone as random as Jack. From his thoughts, to his speech and his actions.

Just when they were about to wake him up, Jack woke up by himself then asked, "Did I *Yawn* lose?" while yawning and scratching his eyes.

"Okay! One more competition!" Luffy ignored Jack's question and shouted all pumped up again.

"You... do you always run around like this?" Uta asked. To her, these two are strange. One sleeps a lot but is strangely enthusiastic in some ways while the other is constantly moving and seems like he's never going to run out of energy.

"It's boring to stay still, na!" Luffy answered smiling.

"Hah. You really are a kid..." Uta replied, seemingly thinking about something.

"Why?" Luffy asked with a frown with visible disagreement in his face. He didn't like being called a kid because kids are not allowed to do a lot of things and go to a lot of places.

"Because you haven't realized that the most fun place in this world is inside yourself" Uta stated while turning around to the two showing the biggest smile they have seen of her.

"Inside myself?" Luffy, being the kid that he is, went and checked inside his shirt.

"She meant your tummy, dummy.

You can't have fun without your tummy because then you won't be able to eat."

Uta sat down on the ground, totally choosing to ignore the insanity the two boys were saying.

"Inside myself, I always see great concerts"

She caressed the grass, stood up then

continued, "This field of grass is my space... this open sea is my endless dream."

The world seemed to have been filled with water and a bright sun, with the three stepping on the sea as if they're not capable of sinking at all.

"Let's visit your stages! I know a lot of them!" Luffy said with a smile. Both him and Jack looked at Uta seriously, with Jack reeling in his initial impression of the princess being a spoiled brat.

The three bickered some more until the sun was about to set. They may not be friends yet, but with Luffy's energetic naivety, Jack's nonchalant attitude and Uta's diva disposition, the three quickly grew closer together.