Chapter 46 (Halloween Filler)

The Grand Line has always been a place full of mystery and terror. No one knows if the next island a pirate visits will be their last. The Straw Hats have surely learned that throughout their adventures on this treacherous sea.

However, there is one adventure that not a single member of the crew could've seen coming.

It was a cool autumn morning on the open waters where the Going Merry has been sailing freely. With the crew fully recovered from their adventure in Navarone's base, the Straw Hats are more than eager to reach the next island.

The same goes for the wind girl, who's relaxing on the crow's nest with the guitar on her lap. With the date with her captain last night still fresh in her mind, she's trying her best to avoid any questions from any of her nosy crew mates.

However, there's another reason for her to stay away from everyone. Whenever she saw her captain today, she couldn't stop feeling her heart fluttering, because the picture of Luffy trying to kiss her keeps coming back to her. It's gotten so bad, that she even dreamt of Luffy succeeding in the kiss last night.

She groans at the memory as she pinches the bridge of her nose to try to calm down. She can't let this bother her all day, so instead she focuses back on her guitar rehearsal.

Since it's been chilly all day, she decides to let herself fall into the Halloween spirit by playing the chords of "Come Little Children" from Hocus Pocus.

Come little children~

I'll take thee away~

Into a land of enchantment~

Come little children~

The time's come to play~

Here in my garden of shadows~

As the alluring melody plays on, a calming cool wind flows off her from how relaxed she is. She doesn't realize the mood breeze is working, but she wouldn't care otherwise as she continues on with the song.

Follow sweet children~

I'll show thee the way~

Through all the pain~

And the sorrows~

Weep not poor children~

For life is this way~

Murdering beauty and passions~

Usopp slightly shivers from the ominous tune, that's picked up through the wind, on his seat on the railing where he's fishing with Chopper and Luffy. Thankfully, he could barely hear the lyrics from the distance, so he's not completely creeped out by the Halloween song. "What kind of a song is she playing?"

"I don't know, but it sounds nice." Chopper says because he enjoys the strange song while staring at the water for his next catch.

Luffy though, is the most entranced by the song, because he can pick up the lyrics as well as the guitar chords. Thanks to him being able to hear the full extent of the song, he can feel his heart fluttering all over the place.

He always feels like this when Rose performs, but for some reason it's stronger than ever. Probably because he keeps thinking about last night's date, and the kiss she gave him.

Even though it was just on the cheek, he couldn't stop himself from feeling like fireworks exploded in his stomach from the contact. He barely understands what's going on, but right now, all he wants to do is enjoy the music.

Come little children~

I'll take thee away~

Into a land of enchantment~

Come little children~

The time's come to play~

Here in my garden of shadows~

Rose finishes the song with a ghost of a grin and sighs in content of playing it well. She barely remembers her troubles thanks to the music, and keeps the distraction of her rehearsal up with another song.

As she plays another piece, she's remains blissfully unaware of the listeners down below her.

Robin keeps her usual calmness as she listens to the music while she reads on her sun chair.

Nami however, stays by the railing with her own thoughts occupying her mind. Her date last night with Sanji keeps coming back to her thoughts, because he acted differently than how she expected him to act.

She expected him to have given her just a bit of his time before he went off to flirt with another pretty lady. However, he only paid attention to her throughout the festival. She also got to see him just have fun, instead of his usual gentleman persona. It was a nice side to see in him.

Nami chuckles at the lingering thoughts before she gets back to her duties as navigator. She looks down at the log pose on her wrist to see that they're heading in the right direction. The redhead feels the cool breeze hit her skin, and remembers feeling this chilly air all day. "With the weather this stable, we might be close to another island…"

Luffy perks up at the mention of another island before he looks up. "ROSE, YOU SEE ANYTHING UP THERE?!"

Rose snaps out of her relaxed daze from her captain's shouting, and accidentally hits a sour note on her instrument. She groans at the rough sound before she takes the guitar off her lap and looks to the horizon.

She squints her eyes when she sees a small dot in the distance, and when it doesn't move, she quickly assumes that it's land. "I SEE ONE COMING UP AHEAD!"

"ALRIGHT! SET SAIL!" The captain yells out before he reels in his line, and runs inside to tell Sanji.

Rose chuckles at his excitement before she looks ahead to see that the spec is growing close enough to be confirmed that it is an island.

This land's coast is filled to the brim with trees, that are bursting with all sorts of beautiful autumn colors from the brightest red to the lightest shade of yellow. With a small black mountain at the center of the island, it brings out the color of the trees even more to give a breathtaking sight.

The wind girl quickly grabs her camera from her bag to capture this lovely view. She quickly captures a few shots before she notices something odd.

That being a wooden watch tower set up on the coast. A man climbs down from the tower quickly, and runs on a dirt road straight into the depths of the island before anyone could say anything.

Zoro also notices the strange man, from his spot at the front of the ship, and points it out to the others just as they dock. "I don't think they're a fan of pirates."

Nami looks at the dirt path that the local took, before she looks to her pose. "Well, we need to deal with it. The log won't reset until tonight…"

"It should be fine as long as the townspeople don't shoot us on sight." Robin casually says which freaks out Usopp and Chopper.

"Let's check it out!" Luffy calls out, as if there's no risk of the townspeople attacking them, before he jumps off the ship and runs ahead.

"Luffy, wait!" Usopp calls out as he rushes off after him.

Most of the others head off on their own, with Robin staying behind to watch the ship, but every one of them keep their guard up.

However, their alarm seems to be unwarranted for when Luffy finds a village in the middle of the island, he finds no hostility. Just a friendly town that's acting like nothing is wrong.

He only hums in disappointment of no adventure awaiting them, before Usopp and Chopper catch up to him.

The sniper quickly catches his breath before he looks to the small village. He doesn't see any danger, and is relieved, but at the same time confused as to why they have a lookout if the town wasn't going to act…

He cautiously decides to be on his toes as he, Chopper, and Luffy check out the town.

In the meantime, Rose enjoys the foliage by exploring the woods. She flies around just to the height of the leaves on the trees, so she can surround herself with the foliage as she floats around.

The wind girl tries not to use her power too much, in order to keep as many leaves on their branches as possible, before she notices the small mountain that she saw when they arrived.

For some reason, when her purple eyes gaze at the black rock, she gets an ominous feeling from the structure. Her curiosity grows by the second, until she decides to quench it by venturing up there.

Halfway through the forest though, she stops when she suddenly hears the sound of a tree falling, followed by weak barking!

"The crap?" Rose looks around for the noise, but freezes when she sees an adorable wolf cub below her with his front left paw trapped under a fallen tree!

Rose flies just above the tree, then looks at the silver haired cub, and feels her heart stabbed by his cuteness when he whimpers up to her with tears in his dark eyes. "Hang on little guy! I'll get you out!"

She flies over the timber until she finds a sturdy limb before she grabs it and starts pulling it up. She turns her legs into air to get enough force for her to start lifting the tree off the ground. In a matter of seconds, she's able to flip it over to release the cub from the weight.

The poor thing is still in a lot of pain, so Rose gently lifts the animal up on a gust of wind to bring him to her. She takes a look at the injured paw, and is grateful that he wasn't trapped in the base of the tree, because the paw looks like it can be saved.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Rose flinches at the loud yell, but makes sure that the cub doesn't fall before she looks behind her to see a young man running towards her. The pale man ignores the brush of the woods hitting his jean pants, and black jean jacket covering his white shirt, as he approaches the pirate.

The muscular man barely seems out of breath as he narrows his dark eyes on the flying girl. He doesn't look phased at all by the sight of her floating as he practically growls at her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT CUB?!"

Rose is slightly surprised by the pale man's anger, and notices a few fangs in his mouth that remind her of Kiba Inuzuka's teeth. However, her thoughts of the anime character stay quiet as she lands in front of him to avoid any conflict.

She floats the puppy between them, and within his reach, to show that she means no harm. "He was stuck under a tree. I just got him out, but I need to take him to my crew's doctor to get his paw treated."

He barely believes the story, but before he can say anything, the wolf starts barking at him.

Rose can see him visibly relax from his barking, and slightly nodding as if he can understand what he's saying. She wouldn't be surprised if he actually could, but at least now she doesn't have to worry about him trying to attack her.

When the pup is done, the handsome guy slightly sighs as he runs a hand through his unruly, dark blond, bangs, that match the hair he has wrapped in a short ponytail. "Sorry for being so aggressive, but wolves are really important on this island. I thought you were poaching him..."

Rose is absolutely sure now that he can understand the wolf, but she doesn't act surprised when she gives him a small grin. "Don't worry about it. If it'll make you feel better, you can come with me when I bring him to my doctor. Or if you know of a doctor that'll treat him, we can take him there."

He blinks at the adorable smile, and looks away to try not to embarrass himself. "Yea, I know a doctor that can treat him. I'll take him there myself though."

He goes to take the wolf from her, but the puppy barks in protest. He quickly retracts his hands, and groans at the puppy's whining. "Sorry, but it looks like he likes flying. Can you come with us?"

Rose chuckles at the request before she nods. "It's no problem. Lead the way."

He quickly agrees by heading out the woods with Rose walking beside him with the floating puppy.

Rose keeps her attention to the wounded puppy and tries to comfort him by gently petting his head. The pup is more than happy with the sweet affection, and pushes his head further into her gloved hand while his tail wags.

The wind girl giggles at his affection, without noticing the local's eyes on her. He's seen plenty of foreigners, both good and bad, but not one who's so quick to help someone in need. Also, he senses something odd about her, but he can't understand what. If anything, it just makes him want to know more about her.

Which reminds him, he completely forgot to introduce himself…

He groans to himself, which catches both Rose and the pup's attention, before he awkwardly looks at her. "Mind if we start over? My name's Axel, and the cub's name is Toby, what's your name?"

Rose is surprised at how that's what's bothering him, before she gives him a sweet smile. "My name's Rose, it's nice to meet you."

Axel relaxes by the friendly reply and gives her a grin of his own. "Pleasure's mine, so when'd you get here?"

"A little while ago, my crew docked here while we're waiting for the log pose to reset."

He's taken aback by the explanation, when he realizes that she's not alone. "You're a pirate?"

The brunette nods to him. "Yup, I'm a member of the Straw Hats."

He chuckles at the weird name for the crew, and acts like he's never heard of them. "Seriously? Where are the others?"

She casually shrugs when they reach the edge of town. "We usually split up to do our own thing, when we reach an island. I'm sure most of them are around here."

She looks back at the dark mountain, and points to it. "Hey, is there anything special about that mountain?"

Axel looks to her direction, and loses his smile when he sees the mountain. "That's Mount Fang. You should stay away."

"Why?" Rose curiously asks, but instead of getting her answer, he opens a door to the town's clinic for her.

She enters the room with Toby in tow, and sees an elderly woman behind the counter. The short doctor widens her eyes to the pup, and rushes over to them. "What happened to Toby, and what's with this wind?!"

Rose gently picks up the puppy, much to the wolf's dismay, and stops the gust. "Sorry for the scare, I ate a wind devil fruit."

"A tree fell on Toby's paw; can you help him?" Axel asks the elder.

The doctor quickly takes the puppy before she nudges her head to the seats across the room. "I'll take a look, you two stay here."

Rose eagerly nods before she goes to take a seat. When Axel goes to follow her though, the doctor stops him by grabbing the bottom of his shirt.

He bends down to her level in curiosity, but soon regrets it when he sees the mischievous smirk on her face as she whispers. "Don't blow your chances with her."

Toby barks in agreement as he gives him his own smirk, which quickly embarrasses the poor teen. "Shut the hell up!"

The doctor just giggles before she goes to the back room with Toby to work on his paw.

Axel groans at their nagging before he spots the cute girl staring at him.

Rose slightly tilts her head in confusion of why he's suddenly stressed out. "Are you alright?"

He just nods before he quickly sits down next to her. "I'm fine…"

Rose can see that he's still annoyed, but shrugs it off and looks around the clinic. The more she scans the room, the more curious she becomes because she sees posters of not only humans, but wolves on the walls. There's even a giant pillow on the opposite side of room that's big enough for a full grown wolf to lay down on. "I know you said that wolves are important to this island, but what did you mean by that exactly?"

Axel calms down from the harmless question, and is more than happy to answer it. "On this island, wolves and humans live in harmony. We have sort of an unwritten law against hunting one another, so we tend to treat one another like family."

He awkwardly chuckles when he thinks about the cub she helped. "Toby for example, we always go explore and hunt in the woods together."

Rose softly grins at the closeness that he and the townspeople have with the wolves, but then remembers the watchtower on the coast. If they have this closeness with the wolf pack, then the watchman was probably warning the town, so that they can protect the wolves.

Still, there's one thing that doesn't make sense to her. "Then what about Mount Fang? What makes it so dangerous?"

Axel blinks at the question before he looks out the window, where the mountain can be seen. "That mountain holds the island's hermit. He's able to warp the minds of anyone who visits him."

Rose widens her eyes at the tale before stars begin to form in her eyes. "Seriously?!"

Axel sweat drops at the girl's excitement, because every time he tells a foreigner this story, they immediately leave it alone. This time though, it looks like he just motivated her to go even more. "Yea, he doesn't have a devil fruit, but he knows ancient spells that do it. He can alter any one of our memories if we cross him."

"Cool!" Rose says before she looks back at the mountain. If she talks to the guy, then maybe she could ask him to make her forget about her knowledge of her crew mates' past. With those memories forgotten, it would be easier for her to rack up the courage to tell them where she came from.

The blond man sees that she's more than willing to go, but grows worried about the outcome if she goes now. "Hold on, you can't just go as you please."

Rose settles down by his warning and grows confused so he elaborates. "The hermit doesn't trust anyone outside the island. If you even try to reach his home at the summit, he would just warp your memory so that you'd forget why you even went there."

The wind girl cringes at the possible outcome, but the local eases her worries with the next thing he says. "Which is why, I'd like to bring you there."

The brunette widens her eyes at the offer, but can't let him go out of his way like that. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to impose."

"There won't be any imposing!" The two teenagers flinch at the shrill voice and look to see that the doctor came out, but without the wolf.

"How's Toby?" Rose asks to try to change the subject.

"He'll be fine. Just needs to keep off the paw for a while." She keeps her dark eyes on the girl and gives her a soft smile. "And don't worry about imposing. From what I heard, you helped Toby a lot. Getting you to meet the hermit is the least Axel can do. Right?"

She turns her head to the young man who tenses up when he's put on the spot.

He quickly nods his head and gives the pirate a small grin. "T-that's right, I can help you. The hermit likes to sleep during the day though, so how about tonight? We have an open party at the tavern almost every night, so your crew can enjoy themselves there while we visit him."

Rose brightens up at this opportunity before she gets up. "This is perfect, thanks so much! I'll meet you at the tavern tonight!"

"See ya then." Axel says as he waves her off while she runs out of the place.

The doctor lightly chuckles at the foreigner's enthusiasm before she looks to Axel, who's staring at the doorway fondly. "Man, you really got it bad."

The teenager flinches at the comment before he growls at the nosy woman. "Shut up old hag!"

She laughs at his embarrassment when the door begins to slowly open.

"Is the wind girl gone?"

The doctor looks to the young, tan, boy, wearing a t-short and blue shorts, while also wearing a sling to support his broken left arm, nervously watching her at the doorway.

The elder sighs at the dark silver haired child's rashness, but nonetheless nods. "Come on out Toby."

Toby happily smiles before he comes out of the room. "Man, her power is really cool! You think I can get her to let me fly again?"

"Don't count your luck, if I was her I would've let you stay under the tree." Axel says which earns him a pout from the ten year old.

However, the wolf kid's pout quickly changes into a shit eating smirk. "You're just jealous, because even if you showed her your mutt form, she'd still think I'm better looking."

"I LOOK WAY BETTER THAN YOU, YOU BRAT!" Axel yells with the two meddlers laughing at his expense.

The embarrassed man groans at their stupidity before he looks to the kid, and smirks when he comes up with a revenge idea. "You do realize, your mom doesn't know about your injury yet."

The child flinches at the comment when he watches him leave, so he runs after him. "WAIT AXEL, I'M SORRY!"

The old woman keeps giggling at the lively events before she relaxes in her chair. "My, what a great day this is becoming. I hope a few more of our pups have the same luck as Axel."

She sighs to herself of the hopeful outcome before she grabs her medical book, and brushes up on her study of werewolf anatomy.

On the other side of town, Sanji is having the same luck as Rose.

Earlier today, the chef was out and about in the market to search for new kinds of ingredients. He searches through the various fruits and vegetables and only selects the finest quality ones for his crew.

As he performs this duty, he notices how a young woman is fumbling with her ten bags of groceries. Being the gentleman that he is, he's quick to help out the lady in distress with the bags.

The thin woman is grateful for the help, and leads him to the tavern where she works as the chef. As thanks for the help, she quickly offers him a free lunch.

Even though Sanji tried to politely refuse, she wouldn't have it at all. Especially when she heard his stomach growling to help in her argument.

So that's how Sanji found himself sitting at a small table in the tavern's kitchen while watching a pretty woman about to cook a meal for them.

The lovely tan woman shows a look of determination as she ties her wavy dark pink hair in a loose ponytail, rolls up the sleeves to her blue blouse, and ties a white apron around her dark green skirt before she gets to work.

As she cooks up a few pieces of fish for them, Sanji can't help but admire the way she cooks. She cooks with the swiftness and grace of a dancer, flipping the fish both at once while having them spiced to perfection.

Normally, he would swoon about the beauty of both her looks and her craft, but for some reason something is stopping him.

Every time he goes to make a comment about her beauty, his mind wanders back to Nami's own beauty just as on their festival date last night. All he could think about was how to make Nami happy last night, regardless of how many beautiful women were out there. And thanks to him keeping his love to only his navigator, not only did she have a great time, but he himself had an amazing night because her smile was given to only him.

The sound of plates lightly clicking the table quickly snaps him out of his thoughts of last night. He looks down at the plates on the table, and is taken aback by the professionally made dish.

He looks up sees that his hostess is taking a seat across from him with a sweet grin. "I hope this matches your tastes Sanji."

"I'm sure your meal is delicious Lila." Sanji says with a small grin, and with one bite, he confirms the claim. He can taste all the ingredients dancing in his mouth just as beautifully as how she cooked.

He makes sure not to waste a single crumb, while keeping his manners in check.

As Lila eats, she notices how he enjoyed the meal and smiles in satisfaction. "I take it the meal was to your liking?"

Sanji nods as he cleans his mouth with a napkin. "I have no complaints. I don't recognize the fish though, what kind of fish was it?"

"That was red swordfish. It's one of our island delicacies. It's one of the town's favorites for the evening parties." She brightens up when she remembers the party and looks to him. "Hey, if your crew isn't eager to leave, why don't you guys join us? We're always welcome to more people joining us."

"I'm sure our captain will agree, he's always up for a good party. I'll let him know of it after I take care of these." Sanji takes the empty dishes and heads over to the sink.

When Lila sees her guest rolling up his sleeves to wash the dishes as well as the cooking utensils, she's completely shocked by the gesture. "Oh, you don't have to do that."

"I know, but I'd like to." Sanji says as he washes the dishes for her.

Lila is surprised by his sweet manners, and absolutely admires that, so she grabs a rag to help him dry.

As Sanji finishes the last plate, he looks through the window above the sink and notices the mountain. For some reason, the mountain gives him the creeps, and looks over to his hostess to see why that is. "Hey Lila, what's with the mountain?"

She looks at the mountain before she sadly sighs. "Don't feel bad, a lot of travelers feel it."

Sanji raises a curly eyebrow at her answer, so she continues. "You feel something malicious off the mountain, right? You see, a hermit lives up there with the ability to alter memories. Strange enough, whenever a newcomer has memories that they'd rather forget, they get a bad feeling from the mountain."

The chef shivers at the explanation when he thinks back on his childhood in North Blue, and stares at the mountain that holds a possible answer to his problem. In all honesty, if he could just forget about the whole ordeal with the disgraces that share his blood, but keep the ones about his mother and sister, he wouldn't have to worry so much about one day seeing them again…

He jolts when he feels a hand on his shoulder and sees Lila giving him a concerned look. "Are you alright?"

Sanji slowly nods to her, but the awful memories that he tries to keep buried are still lingering in his mind. "Yea, I'll be fine. Sorry to worry you."

"It's ok." She looks at the window before looking back at him. "You know, if you want to forget any bad memories, I can take you there. The hermit will only see foreigners with a local guiding them."

Sanji widens his eyes at the offer, and barely hesitates to accept. "When can we go?"

"He's only awake at night, so if you help me with the cooking tonight, we can slip away while everyone is eating and drinking at the party."

The chef quickly nods to the agreement. "I'll come by before sunset to help you out then. Thank you!"

He rushes out of the restaurant to find the others to try to get them to stay for the party.

When he reaches the Merry's deck, he sees that everyone is already grouped together. "Did you guys hear about the party tonight?"

Luffy eagerly nods with a toothy grin on his face. "Yea, it sounds like a lot of fun!"

"I'm still not sure about it. I get a weird feeling about the town…" Nami says as she looks back at the seemingly harmless island.

"It's not so much as the town for me than the mountain…" Robin says when she keeps her eye on the mountain that has been bothering her since the crew left for town.

Sanji softly frowns at her before he explains it. "I heard from one of the locals that the mountain that there's someone up there that can erase memories. Apparently, if we have memories that we want to erase then we'll get a bad feeling from the mountain."

The others are surprised by the explanation, but for most of the crewmembers that have been getting that malicious feeling, it makes perfect sense to them.

Luffy, who hasn't been feeling odd at all, looks towards the distant mountain with furrowed eyebrows. "Just looks like a big rock to me."

Usopp feels the same way when he looks at it, but knowing that someone with such a frightening power is up there, he's having second thoughts about tonight. "Maybe we should just leave now. The log pose is ready right Nami?"

Nami looks towards her log pose and frowns in disappointment when she sees that it's not ready yet. "Sadly, we still have hours until its ready. As long as we stay away from the mountain though, we should be ok, right Sanji?"

The chef slightly tenses up at the question, and slowly nods to keep what his true plans are a secret. "That's right, it can't hurt to go to the party."

"I agree, it could be pretty fun." Rose says as if she doesn't have plans of her own at the mountain.

Luffy grins at the chance for a fun party and speaks up. "Then it's decided! We're staying!"

"Yea…" Nami, Chopper, and Usopp simultaneously say because they still have second thoughts, but they know that they can't do anything to stop this.

As everyone splits up to do their own thing, Rose flies up to the empty crow's nest.

She takes a seat on the floor and rests her back to the wall, so that she can look at the island. She keeps her eyes to the mountain that holds her answer, and can only hold excitement. Even with the dangers, all she can think about is the chance to open up to everyone without any reason for fear.

"You're going, aren't you?" Rose flinches at the masculine voice and turns to see that it's just her and Zoro around.

She calms down when she sees that she's with the only other person that knows her secret and slouches back to the wall. "Is it that obvious?"

"It's written all over your face." Zoro says before he looks to the mountain, that's been giving him the same bad vibes. "I don't like it. It's all too shady."

"I know, but it's better for everyone if I get rid of this knowledge."

"Better for everyone, or for you?" Zoro asks which earns him a weak glare from the outsider.

"That's not fair. I'm sure you want to go to the mountain too."

"Actually, I don't." The swordsman says as they stare each other down.

Zoro knows how stubborn she can be, so he tiredly sighs before he steps away. "I won't stop you, but think about what you'll be losing before you do it."

"Got it..." Rose quietly replies before she watches him head down to take a nap. When she's alone, the wind girl rubs her aching head, because the last she needs is to be lectured about this. After all, the only reason he knows her secret is because he eavesdropped on her. If he knew what about the kind of secrets she knows about everyone, he probably would have let her go without saying anything right?

She groans at the doubt that's growing in her mind, but she can't back down from this chance. She hasn't told the crew about the truth, because she didn't want them to think of her too differently for what she knows. Without the knowledge of the past, she would only hold useful knowledge for the future. There's no reason for them to reject her for that.

With this reason in mind, she gets up, vaults over the crow's nest, and heads inside to rest up for the long night that she has ahead of her.

With the setting sun on the horizon, the tavern is filled to the brim with life for both the townspeople and pirate crew are partying like there's no tomorrow. Music can be heard all around the place thanks to the local band, so when people aren't eating, or drinking, they're dancing up a storm.

Sanji and Lila are hard at work to cooking up enough food to feed everyone including the pirate captain's ravenous appetite.

Zoro keeps himself busy with a drinking contest with the locals while the rest of the crew is either eating, dancing, or sitting on the sidelines to watch the festivities.

Chopper happily dances around for fun with Usopp and the large crowd.

Rose couldn't find Axel at first, so she gave herself some time to enjoy a meal with Luffy, Robin, and Nami.

From time to time, Nami sneaks a few glances at Sanji to see him smiling and laughing with the fellow cook. What's weird for her is that Sanji isn't flirting, but he looks so relaxed with her. She barely sees him like that around the others, let alone her…

She sees Sanji and Lila finish placing the last dishes out, before the girl takes him by the hand. Nami widens her eyes at what she's seeing when she leads the chef out of the building.

A part of Nami's mind is screaming to go after them, but then what? If she sees them doing anything romantic, it would just hurt her more than watching them leave. It's better to just avoid the chef from now-!

"Navigator-san?" Nami snaps out of it when Robin calls to her from across the table.

She sees Robin carrying her usual smile, so she just calms down. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was wondering if you would like to get some air with me?"

The navigator starts to wonder if this woman has mind reading powers as well as her devil fruit, but quickly shoots down the invitation by focusing on her meal. "I'm fine, thanks though."

The archaeologist nods in understanding before she gets up and goes outside.

Nami tiredly sighs at the drama before she returns to the conversation with Rose and Luffy. The three pirates happily chatted away as they ate, while protecting their meals from Luffy's thieving hands, when a tall figure overshadowed them from behind Rose and Luffy.

All three pirates look up to see a blond man waving at them while giving them a toothy grin, which scares Nami because of the fangs. "Hey Rose."

"Hey!" Rose grins back at the familiar teen before she looks to her friends. "This is Axel, we met in town today."

She looks to the new friend to introduce him to her crew mates. "These are my crew mates, Luffy and Nami."

The others wave to him, which causes him to return the gesture before he returns his attention to the wind girl. "You wanna dance?"

Rose is surprised by the offer, but thinks of it as just a cover to get her away from the others to leave, so she gets up. "Sure, let's-!"

She's cut off when Luffy takes her hand to stop her. Rose is surprised by the sudden action, especially when she sees Luffy clearly upset. "You alright captain?"

"Captain?!" Axel asks in surprise because he thought Luffy was just a cabin boy.

However, Luffy just ignores the other guy when he gets up and runs to the dance floor with Rose!

"I'll be right back." Rose says to Axel as she stumbles along to keep up with Luffy's pace.

Luffy acts like he didn't hear what she said to Axel as he stops at the dance floor, with his normal smile on his face, and lets go of her hand. "Let's dance first!"

The brunette is shocked by his quick change in attitude, but she lets it go to have some fun with her crush. "Ok."

Axel can only stand and watch as Rose and Luffy dance along to the fast song, and grows jealous of the sight. Even though they're not holding each other like lovers, he can clearly see the admiration that they have for one another as they dance.

Nami notices the look on the local's face when he sees them dancing and frowns at him. "Sorry, but it won't work."

The blond flinches at the comment before he frowns at the navigator. "What are you talking about?"

"Those two have been into each other for a while. And Luffy's not one to give up." The navigator answers him in hopes of him not trying anything.

The teen keeps a soft frown at the answer, but if he has to be warned, then doesn't that mean they're not lovers after all?

He gives off a small smirk, which alarms Nami before he runs off to the band.

The pianist continues to play to the music when Axel approaches him. The musician's fingers continue to play on while Axel whispers a song request in his ear.

The pianist quickly nods to him while Axel beams in excitement and heads to the dance floor. He finds a large, slightly robust woman sitting at the sides before he walks up to her. He leans down to her and whispers to her ear while she widens her eyes in intrigue.

Once he's done, she happily grins to him. "Of course, I'll help you!"

"You're the best Ami." He grows more excited by the minute as both of them head closer to the dancers for their chance.

In a matter of seconds, the tempo of the music changes from a fast song, to one that sounds like a folk dance.

Rose and Luffy stop dancing when they hear the new song and look around them to see that Usopp and Chopper are getting off the dance floor, while everyone else is pairing up by taking each other's hands. Luffy and Rose go to take each other's hands, but are swept away when Ami grabs onto Luffy's arms while Axel takes Rose's hands.

"Hey!" Luffy calls out, but the bigger woman keeps a vice like grip on him as she spins around the room with him.

Axel keeps a small smile in victory before he looks down to the shorter, oblivious, girl he's dancing with. "Sorry about that, I didn't think you want them to know about our mission."

Rose mentally scolds herself for almost forgetting about the plan, thanks to the fun she was having with Luffy, and quickly nods while she keeps up with his footwork. "You're right, sorry for getting distracted. I'm ready to go whenever you are."

As those two keep discussing the mission, that's drowned out to the others by the music, Luffy keeps giving a jealous glance over to them. He grows more annoyed by the second when he sees her dancing with him, and has a feeling that something's not right.

Every time he gets close to them, he tries to get his dance partner back, but he keeps getting turned away by the lady who has his forearms in a vice hold.

Axel sees the poor captain's attempts, and is more than happy with how the plan worked out. When he sees the two of them near the door, he quickly releases one of her hands, and bolts out of the tavern with the wind girl!

Luffy saw the whole thing, and finally manages to free himself from the lady and runs outside. Once he's outside, with Nami and Usopp following to see the show, they find that they're nowhere in sight. "Dammit!"

"They went to the woods." The group jumps at the voice before they see Robin hanging out by the side of the building for fresh air.

Luffy is the first to calm down before frowns at her. "Do you know why?"

"No, but since this is Wind-chan, my guess would be they're heading up the mountain to meet the hermit."

The captain widens his eyes at the possibility before he rushes to the woods in hopes of finding them before they reach the summit.

Nami widens her eyes to how fast that he ran, before she looks up to the mountain, that's been giving her a bad feeling all day. When she remembers seeing Sanji leave with that girl, she starts having a bad feeling that he'll be going there as well. "We're going too."

"Are you nuts?!" Usopp cries out, but the navigator isn't going to take no for an answer when she drags him by the collar into the dark woods with Robin following along.

The three pirates venture out through the woods with no idea if they're even close to where their friends are. With the only clue that they have being the mountain hermit, they aim for the mountain.

As they get closer to the mountain, Nami grows more upset by the second. She's used to seeing this from Rose, but for Sanji to go off with a random girl to some mind wizard, who could do god knows what to him, just pisses her off. "I can't believe this, what were they both thinking?"

"It could be that they want to forget something in their past." Robin says with her usual smile gone to show a frown at the thought. Honestly, she's been tempted to go as well, but not knowing why the World Government is after her would cause too many problems.

Nami softens up at the reason before she sighs. "They could've at least told us. This guy could just wipe their memory of us for all we know."

"I know what you mean. This was stupid even for them, so let's find them as soon as possible. I'm getting an even worse feeling than usual…" Usopp says with his slingshot fully ready to be fired at any time.

It took all he had to not to fire at every owl hoot, rustling bush, they came across. Even now when he hears a low growling nearby, it's hard to keep his nerves… Wait, growling?!

Usopp and the girls turn to the sound of the growling to see beady yellow eyes shining in the darkness. Both sniper and navigator scream in fright just when a fully grown wolf jumps out to them, but Robin wastes no time in using her power on him.

The red furred wolf's eyes bulge out of his head when four arms grow out of his sides before they wrap around him to put him in a clutch!

The poor creature howls out loud in pain before he collapses on the ground.

"THERE ARE WOLVES HERE?!" Usopp yells while he looks at the passed out creature.

However, Robin is more curious about why this animal is wearing a stretched out red t-shirt, and black pants. "What kind of a wolf-?!"

She stops when streams of steam leak out of the animal, and his body starts to slowly change.

Nami and Usopp shiver in fear, while Robin watches in fascination, when they see the wolf's limbs turn into human limbs. The steam stops as soon as he completely changes into a buff, rugged man.

"WEREWOLF!" Nami and Usopp scream out, but Robin acts like seeing a werewolf isn't a big deal at all.

"MANNY!" A masculine voice calls out from the shadows and alerts the pirates when three more men come out of hiding.

When they confirm that their friend was taken down, they grow furious at the three pirates responsible for this.

"You'll all pay for this! Prepare to die!" The lead man growls out as he goes on his hands and knees while transforming.

When Usopp sees the others transform, with all their clothes stretching out, he gets ready to fire. "You're the ones who will bow under the great Captain Usopp! Usopp exploding star!"

He fires the bomb at the wolf's face while Nami grabs her weather staff. As soon as one charges at her, she manages to summon to summon a thundercloud right above his head. "THUNDER TEMPO!"

A bolt of light fires straight down from the cloud and strikes down the wolf before he could even lay a paw on her. As soon as the lightning stops, the charred animal falls face first on the ground with no intention to move for a while.

"Nice work Navigator-san." Robin says with a calm smile as she uses her powers on the remaining wolf and the one Usopp attacked to lock them in a camel clutch.

The black haired wolf man struggles in the hold, but Robin quickly reinforces more arms on him to keep him secure. "Let us out of this!"

"No way in hell!" Usopp calls out, while staying at a safe distance from the werewolf.

The wolf besides him snarls at the sniper, which makes him tremble. "You don't get it do you? This entire island is inhabited by werewolves, if you kill us then there's no way you're getting out alive."

"It's not like you'd let us live since we know your secret now any..." Nami trails off in realization that Rose and Sanji are being led up the mountain by werewolves! "We gotta get Rose and Sanji now!"

"Agreed." Robin says before she tightens her clutch on the werewolves, while adding hands to cover their mouths so no one else will be alerted, until they hear their bones cracking from all the pressure.

Nami and Usopp pale at gruesome sound before Robin finally releases them, when she sees that they lost consciousness.

When she stops using her powers, she turns to her two allies. "I'm sure there's going to be more of them as we continue, but I don't think they'll bother Wind-chan or Chef-san until they reach the summit.

Nami nods in agreement before she gives them a plan. "Robin, go to the ship and protect it. Usopp, go to the tavern and round up Chopper and Zoro. When you get to the ship, you guys need to get it ready for our escape."

"Why do I get sent to the wolf den?!" Usopp argues, because he'd rather be at the ship than run into the heart of danger.

Robin keeps on smiling as she points to the direction of the Merry. "The ship is farther than the town, so it's more likely for wolves to lurk in that direction. If you don't mind the chance of being torn limb from limb then I won't mind trading."

"Robin!" Nami argues because her comment is scaring him even more, so she reassures him. "She's right though, it's less dangerous to go to the town. The locals there still think that we don't know their secret, so if you're quick about it then you guys can get out unharmed. You don't want Chopper to get killed, do you?"

The sniper is still terrified out of his mind, but he can't just leave the cute reindeer alone in a wolf den. He tightens the hold of his slingshot before he steels his nerves. "Alright, I'll do it!"

He runs off in a flash in hopes of not being spotted by anymore wolves.

Nami tiredly sighs in satisfaction before she faces her other crew mate. "Good luck."

"Same goes for you Navigator-san." Robin responds before she runs off to the direction of the coast, while putting any wolf that she sees into a painful clutch.

The redhead turns her eyes to the mountain. "Those two had better be grateful for this…"

She runs towards Mount Fang at full speed while her knuckles turn white from holding onto her weapon as tight as possible to brace herself for the danger of what's ahead.

After Rose and Axel ran straight to the woods, they ran as fast as they could, under the crescent moonlight, until they reached a clearing. When they stop to catch their breath, they softly laugh at how they bolted.

"Seems you two had fun." Axel and Rose freeze at the feminine voice before the look up to see Lila and Sanji waiting.

Sanji and Rose are both completely shocked that the other is here.

Rose quickly breaks the tension by asking the question that's on both their minds. "You're going to the mountain too Sanji?"

The chef only grabs his cigarette before he sighs in defeat. "Yea, I didn't think anyone else in the crew would come."

"That makes two of us, but it's fine as long as this stays between us, right?"

Sanji nods in agreement as he lights the cigarette and takes a smoke. They're both looking for the same thing, so there's no reason why they can't do it. Especially if anything goes wrong, they can have each other's back.

The locals however, don't act surprised to see each other at all when Axel walks up to Lila. "Do you know of any others who are coming?"

"I haven't heard of anything, so I believe it's just us." Lila answers before she grins at the female pirate. "How do you do? I'm Lila."

"I'm Rose." The wind girl responds while the two boys share brief introductions.

Just as the group starts making their journey, they begin to hear weak howls in the distance.

Axel and Lila grow concerned when he hears his friends' painful screams, but if they try to help, these pirates will know their secret.

Sanji can see the worried looks on their faces then looks to the direction where the noises are coming from. "We can make a detour to see what's going on if you guys want."

"Yea, we should go check." Rose says as she starts walking, but Axel blocks her off.

"It's alright, the pack's pretty strong. I think they're taking on a bear right now."

Sanji doubts that claim, but Lila distracts him by taking his hand. "We shouldn't wait too long or your crew could be suspicious."

Sanji looks back towards the howling then back to the girl before he slowly nods. "Very well."

"How about we fly there?" Rose says as she starts to ascend, which shocks Lila, but Axel stops her by taking her hand.

He gently pulls her down before he points to the mountain. "Trust me, that won't work. Have you heard of an ability called observation haki?"

She hums in acknowledgement as she lands on her feet, so he continues. "He's had this ability since birth, and has mastered his magic to be cast at a long range. If he senses large auras flying towards him, then he could attack us before we can even get close to him."

Rose gulps at the possibility, especially with her aura being different from everyone else's, so she nods in agreement. "That's a good call. Lead the way."

Axel and Lila didn't need to be told twice as they lead them on a trail through the wood with the two pirates close behind.

As Rose keeps up the pace behind Axel, she starts to think about how much power this hermit has. If he could really use his mind charms at long range, what could stop him from doing anything else to her and Sanji when they ask him for help?

She starts to think up a countermeasure by getting one of the straps of her backpack off so she can swing the bag forward to start digging through it. Once she has her journal and pen, she readjusts the backpack back to normal then nudges Sanji with her elbow.

Her crew mate hums in curiosity as he leans down, so Rose whispers her plan to him. His face slowly changes from curious to surprise before he nods to her. "I think it's a great idea."

She skims through the book until she reaches a blank page, then hands the writing tools to Sanji for him to write down important memories that he wants to be kept safe.

He writes them as fast as he would with a recipe before he neatly tears the page off.

Both locals notice the sound and see Sanji handing the book and paper back to their owner.

"What are you two doing?" Lila asks when she sees Sanji folding up his paper.

"Just making some mental notes." Sanji answers before he walks up to the kind woman just as they reach the base of the mountain. "I've been meaning to ask Lila-chan, the dishes that you made at the party. What kind of spices were you using?"

The female chef happily grins at the question before the two of them go on a full conversation about the various spices can be used.

As they trade secrets on different cooking techniques, Axel looks back to see that his new friend is writing up a storm of her own in the book. "What are you writing?"

She snaps out of her daze before she chuckles and catches up to him. "I'm just making some notes on things I need to remember in case something goes wrong."

He hums in interest as they continue the trek up the gentle slope.

As Rose continues to write as if no one is around, Axel looks at the page, and silently reads a few of them.

My name is Catone Rose, I'm seventeen years old, and I'm a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. I have a 17 million bounty.

I've been practicing the guitar since I was seven years old.

I was loved by my parents, Catone Joe and Catone Teresa, until they died when I was ten. Better to forget how...

I ate a devil fruit that gives me the power to turn my body into air, but at the cost of my ability to swim.

Monkey D Luffy is the greatest friend I can ever ask for. He's always fun to be around, and his bright smile can lift anyone's spirits. Beware when eating with him though, he likes to pick off other people's plates.

He frowns at the mention of her captain, but he's not too upset since she only wrote 'friend'. The list continues on like this about her crew mates, and other details about herself.

When he sees the piece about the Timore comet being illegal in this world, he grows confused. "What's a Timore comet?"

Rose flinches at the question when she looks up to see him looking at her page. She quietly sighs before she looks down at the book she has dedicated to her family's research. "It's a comet that I'm researching. It's said to have the power to travel to other worlds. I'm looking more into inter-world travel though."

Axel widens her eyes at the explanation, but Rose just keeps her head down to keep to her notes.

"When you say other worlds, you mean all kinds right? Like one for wolves?" Rose shoots up at the question to see him genuinely curious about her work.

She furrows her eyebrows at the question before she nods. "I don't see why not. I've read about plenty of worlds that have both regular wolves and werewolves inhabiting them."

Alex brightens up at the mention of werewolves and looks at her with stars in his eyes. "Are you serious?! What are the ones with werewolves like?!"

The outsider chuckles at the question and more than happily tells him about the various worlds where werewolves receive the credit that they're due.

"Don't find me! Don't find me! Don't find me!" Usopp repeatedly pleas to not be found by the werewolves, throughout his run through the woods until he's finally back to the village.

As soon as he makes it back to the tavern, he has to stop at the door to catch his breath. He continues to pant from exhaustion, as he listens to the band's music. With how loud the band is, it's highly unlikely that they heard the howls coming from the woods.

Still, he nervously looks through the window to make sure. To his luck, there's not a single furry animal in sight except for Chopper. Sadly, his crew mates are still there, because he sees Zoro still at the bar drinking, while Chopper is dancing around with some girls.

Usopp takes a deep breath to get himself ready before he goes inside. He decides to get Chopper first, so he goes to the dance floor where the reindeer is doing a happy dance after some girl complimented his cuteness.

"Sorry girls, but we gotta go!" Usopp says before he picks up Chopper from behind.

The three girls only whine when their cute dance partner got taken, with Chopper complaining as well.

"Usopp!" Chopper whines as he struggles in his grasp, but the sniper won't have it.

He keeps both his arms around Chopper from behind while he goes to the bar. "Zoro, we gotta go!"

The only way to see that Zoro is tipsy is the red hue on his cheeks, but he acts completely fine when he looks at Zoro with a confused look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"We gotta leave right now! Get up, we're in trouble!" Usopp says, with only a few of the locals being interested in the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Zoro asks, because he doesn't want to waste his time on one of his lies.

Usopp grows frustrated by his stubborn crew mates, but he needs to say something. "Luffy broke his leg!"

"WHat…?" Chopper calms down when he realizes that it's a lie and looks up at him blankly. "Luffy's made of rubber. He can't break his bones…"

Usopp cringes at being found out, before Zoro turns his body back to the counter.

"If you're going to lie, then do it to someone else." Zoro grabs a drink and goes to drink, but it spills all over his face when Usopp kicks the leg of his chair.

"I'm being serious!"

"Then tell us what's going on." Zoro demands as he wipes his face with his hand, then turns around with his eyes narrowed on him.

Usopp can tell from the look Zoro is giving him, that he can't lie again without the risk of getting his ass kicked, so he leans in for the two pirates can hear and starts whispering. "We're on an island full of werewolves…"

Sadly, the two pirates couldn't hear because of how loud the music is, so they give him a look of confusion. "What?"

The sniper groans before he says it a little louder. "We're on an island full of werewolves…"

Zoro still couldn't hear so he raises an eyebrow to him. "We're on an island full of what?"

"WE'RE ON AN ISLAND FULL OF WEREWOLVES!" Usopp yells out in frustration that not only was heard by his friends, but everyone in the bar!

The musicians accidentally hit a bunch of sour notes which signals that the party is over. The entire tavern is stuck in a silence that's so still that even a cricket can be heard as the locals turn their eyes on the pirates.

"Oh crap…" Usopp mutters as he and Chopper share the same look of horror when they find themselves surrounded by about thirty of them.

Zoro gets off his seat, gets his hands on his swords, and unsheathes them when he sees them already starting to transform.

"You should've kept your mouth shut long nose." One of the women says just when she finishes her transformation.

Usopp yelps in fear before he quickly jumps back when a wolfman tries to bite him.

Chopper falls off his grasp before he transforms into heavy point. "Wait, can't we talk this out?!"

The nearby wolves drop their jaws at the sight of the humanoid reindeer and flinch back. "THE RACCOON DOG CAN TRANSFORM?!"

"I'M A REINDEER!" Chopper yells back at them.

"YOU GUYS ARE FREAKED OUT BY HIM TRANSFORMING?!" Usopp and Zoro yell out in shock of how werewolves are surprised by another transforming animal.

One of the wolves snaps out of it and snarls at the pirates. "We don't care how weird you guys are, you're all going to die."

The swordsman only smirks at the challenge of taking down a wolf pack, and charges forward to take them on with Usopp and Chopper backing him up from the sidelines!

For what feels like hours, Luffy has been storming towards the mountain with nothing stopping him. If a wolf dares to try to stop him, Luffy would beat the living shit out of him without another thought.

After at least five encounters, with the rubber man being the winner every time, he finally reaches the base of Mount Fang with his arms, legs, and face littered with scratches.

He stops to take a short breath before he looks up at the tall mountain. He grows annoyed at the distance to the summit, especially if Rose flew them to the top already. With no time to waste, he runs up the mountain trail with a mission.

"LUFFY!" The captain doesn't stop running, but looks back to see Nami catching up to him.

When Nami makes it up to him, she lightly pants while she looks to Luffy. "We need to hurry, they're in more danger than we thought."

"What do you mean?"

"This island is full of werewolves! Sanji and Rose are probably being led up there by some too!"

Luffy widens his eyes at the explanation before his rage is re-fueled. "Dammit!"

The two pirates run up the gentle slope as if their lives depend on it until they see a light from a campfire in the distance. As they follow the light, they see an entrance to a cavern near the summit.

They approach the cavern, and stay quiet when they see both Rose and Sanji inside, with the two locals, and standing in front of a fire.

Across the small bonfire is an old man, who looks like he could be at least a hundred years old, wearing an old blue, captain jacket over his shirtless torso that covers his black pants. It's easy to tell that he's the hermit, as he sits cross legged on a giant cushion with a stern look on his face as he stares down his guests. "What's the meaning of this?"

The two pirates flinch at the booming loud voice from such a frail looking man, before Axel and Lila step up.

Lila is the first to speak while she gestures her hand to the chef. "Please hear us out Zeki, this man's name is Sanji. He would like your help in erasing his past."

Axel follows Lila's lead by moving his hand towards Rose's direction. "And this girl's name is Rose. She also wishes for her past to be erased."

Luffy frowns at the demands as he heads to the entrance, but Nami stops him by grabbing him from behind and moving away from the opening.

Nami is barely able to hold him back as she puts him in a hold and worriedly whispers to him. "We can't barge in just yet."

Luffy groans at behind held back and frowns back at her. "What are you talking about?"

"If this man's magic is as powerful as Sanji said, then he could wipe our memories as soon as we step foot in there. For now, we should wait for a chance to swipe in and grab them." Nami suggests with a stern look on her face.

Luffy scowls at the plan, but nods in agreement to try to get them out as soon as possible.

She settles down, and lets go of him, before they peek at the entrance to see what's happening.

Lucky for them, Zeki's observation haki is completely focused on Rose's strange aura, so he doesn't notice the eavesdroppers.

He keeps his red eyes narrowed on the nervous girl for a moment before he looks towards Sanji, and finds that his aura is the same as the others.

Still, he can see that he is almost as unique as Rose is. He's impressed that Lila and Axel were able to find them, but he doesn't show it as he focuses on the pirates. "I can help, but not for free."

"What do you want?" Rose asks with a small scowl.

"First, you must know our secret." Zeki answers before he, Lila and Axel begin to transform.

Sanji quickly drops the cigarette, that he was using, from the corner of his mouth as he watches the beautiful woman transform into a full grown animal.

Rose however, doesn't act surprised at all. If anything, she gawking at the transformation with admiration. She's impressed with how all their clothes can stretch with them, but other than that, there's no way to tell that these beautiful creatures were once human.

The dark pink furred wolf walks up to Sanji with full confidence in herself, before she sits in front of him and talks as if she's still human. "This island is a land of werewolves."

The chef is completely surprised by the explanation before he grins at the pretty wolf. "You're beautiful."

Lucky for Lila, her pink fur can hide her blush from the kind compliment. "Thank you..."

Sanji sweetly pets the animal, all without knowing that Nami is jealously watching.

Luffy isn't faring any better as he watches Rose admiring the dark blond wolf that used to be Axel.

Rose doesn't notice the angry eyes at the entrance as she practically fangirls about the wolf that's a little more than half her height. "So this why you could understand Toby! Makes perfect sense, and you don't even need a full moon to transform! I have so many questions! Do you have a humanoid form like zoan type devil fruit users? And do you have super strength?"

Axel is taken aback by the new questions before he answers them. "We can only take that form during a full moon, but we do have super strength."

He freezes for a moment when he realizes that she's way too relaxed about this, and narrows his dark eyes up to her. "Wait a fuck! Why the hell aren't you freaking out?! Even the suit had to adjust!"

Rose giggles at Axel's name for Sanji before she gives him a genuine smile. "What's so weird about this? Werewolves are awesome! And you're a good guy, so there's no need for me to freak out."

Axel could hardly believe how quickly she just accepts all this, but doesn't mean that he's not grateful for it. As a sign of thanks, he nudges her leg with his head to show he wants to be petted. She blinks at the push, but takes the hint and pets the top of his head, before she softly giggles when she sees his tail wag.

The old, silver haired wolf that is Zeki releases his stern facade for a moment when he sees how the two pirates reacted so wonderfully. However, he needs to move things along, so he clears his throat. "May we continue?"

Axel and Lila come back to their senses and step away from the kind pirates to return to business.

None of the werewolves change back while Zeki stares them down. "Thank you for showing how kind you are. However, there is one problem. You see, my magic has weakened over the years to that I can only erase a human's memories by a day."

Both pirates widen their eyes at this before Sanji voices their complaints. "If that's true, then why didn't you tell us in the first place?!"

"Simple, my magic has weakened against humans, but since it's an ancient wolf spell, my power properly works on werewolves."

Rose starts to realize what he's talking about and looks to Axel. "You want to turn us into werewolves..."

Sanji looks at her in shock before he looks to the wolf who convinced him to come here. "Is this true Lila?"

She slowly nods her head as she looks up to him with cute puppy dog eyes. "It's true, only members of our clan can receive his help. I brought you up here, because I want you to join us. You're an amazing chef, and you're really kind. Won't you stay with me?"

The chef can feel an arrow stab his heart from the adorableness, but he's still not swooning. All he could think about at this moment, is Nami's crying face if he were to stay behind.

With no intention of making that image a reality, he sadly looks down at the sweet wolf woman who tried to help him. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept. I have to follow my dream of finding All Blue, and I don't want to make Nami-san sad."

Lila is frozen with dread from the rejection while Axel comes up to Rose. "What about you? We don't have to be stuck on this island. We can travel to all those worlds that you were talking about."

He shyly looks down before he adds one more piece to his pitch. "I also really like you. You don't judge others, you're fun, and you're really cute. If you join us, I would be your partner for whatever comes our way. What do you say?"

Rose widens her eyes at the confession, and is completely shocked because this is her first time experiencing something like this. She didn't expect this at all, but for some reason, she feels disappointed.

When she tries to understand why, only Luffy's smiling face would appear in her mind. Since her captain isn't the one telling her this, she feels saddened by the confession because she thinks Luffy would never tell her this. And yet, she doesn't want to leave him because of how happy he makes her everyday...

The wind girl softly frowns at her own stupidity, and gives an apologetic look to the werewolf. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept. My heart was already taken by someone else…"

"WHO DID IT?!" Everyone in the cave jumps at the loud roar before Luffy runs into the scene, and leaves Nami at the hiding spot!

"Luffy?!" Rose nervously asks when he runs up to her with a furious look on his face.

He isn't fazed at all by her shock, when he holds onto her shoulders and looks her in the eyes. "Who stole your heart?! How long have you lost it?! How are you still alive right now?!"

Axel is surprised by the questions and realizes that he thinks that someone literally took her heart. "I lost to this idiot?"

Rose ignores the question as she snaps herself out of shock, and tries to calm Luffy down. "No one took my heart!"

"Then why did you say someone did?!"

Rose starts to blush at the question before she mirrors his irritation. "I'm not fucking telling you this now!"

"Why not?! If someone took it, then we gotta get it back in your chest!"

The wind girl groans at his crazy antics and waves her arms up. "That's not how this crap works! Just-!"

"ENOUGH!" The three pirates flinch at the uproar before they look back at Zeki to see his red eyes glowing. "Since you refuse to join, and know our secret, I can't let you leave with memories of this. Prepare for an excruciating exp- AH!"

Rose interrupts the monologue, by creating a gust and sending him flying into the cavern wall!

Lila widens her eyes at the attack, while Zeki lays unconscious, before she growls at the girl responsible.

"You're dead!" She rushes to the pirate with every intention to kill, but before she could even get near, Luffy covers for her by giving the wolf an uppercut. The punch lands a direct hit under her chin to send her flying to the ceiling, but she lands on her feet.

As the two pirates work together to take care of the girl, Sanji is in a one on one fight with Axel.

While the wolfman doesn't look fierce on his own, his inhuman strength is proving to be a formidable challenge for the kicker. With each kick Sanji delivers, Axel brings back with a scratch. After dodging a roundhouse kick, the wolf takes the fight into his own hand by swiping Sanji's side so hard that he flies to the wall, right next to the cave entrance.

The chef slowly gets up, with the wall as support, as the wolf gets ready to pounce. He bares his fangs at the when he charges in, but before he could take a bite out of him, he's suddenly hit by a bolt of lightning!

Sanji widens his eyes at the electrocution before he looks up at the small lightning cloud above Axel, and only knows of one person who could do that.

Nami immediately shows herself and rushes next to the chef with a worried look on her face. "Are you ok?!"

The chef happily smiles at the concern as he shows hearts in his eyes. "I'm more than ok now that I was saved by my beautiful goddess!"

Nami rolls her eyes at the swooning, but can't stop herself from smiling when she heard Sanji say that he won't leave because of her. She gives him a kiss on the cheek as a show of appreciation, and cheekily smiles at him. "Glad to see you're fine."

Sanji swoons at the sudden affection while Nami looks over their crew mates to see that they're barely having a problem due to their powers. Whenever Lila tries to take a swipe, Luffy would either block or dodge while Rose just lets the hits go through her logia body. However, the wolf didn't get the same results because when she dodges one of the pirates' blows, the other is ready to strike with a rubber punch or a tornado arm that sends her to the wall every time.

After the third time flying into the wall, she finally collapses from exhaustion.

Rose quietly sighs in relief that she doesn't have to harm them anymore, even if it was to protect herself and the others, and turns her arms back to normal.

Luffy is more than relieved that it's over, and gets back to the conversation with Rose. "Now, who took your heart?!"

The wind girl twitches an eyebrow at his persistence and narrows her eyes at him. "Can we not fucking do this right now?!"

Nami and Sanji sweat drop at the conversation, but they know Luffy won't let this go so they just sit back and watch.

Luffy grows annoyed by her stubbornness to avoid it, because if she really lost her heart, then they need to get it back. "What do you mean?! You need your heart to live!"

"I didn't mean that literally! I meant that I really like someone!"

"What?! Who?!"

"You don't need to know that shit! It's not a big deal!" She tries to reach the entrance, but Luffy stops her by grabbing her shoulder.

She tenses up at the grab, and keeps her head down. She slowly turns around with her eyes hidden under her bangs while her captain refuses to let this go. "It is a big deal! As captain, I need to know who has your-!"

Rose has had enough, so in order to shut him up, she does the most drastic thing she could think of. Which is to grab his shoulders, bring him down for a small dip, and locks their lips together!

Luffy widens his eyes at the surprise attack, and feels like his heart is about to explode from the hot kiss.

Nami and Sanji are both speechless by the brave move, and don't do a thing to stop it.

Rose couldn't care less about the audience because of all the aggravation she's been through, and stands her crush back up while she releases his lips. She keeps her angry eyes on her shell shocked captain, with both of them wearing matching blushes. "You're the one who fucking has it, you happy now?!"

Luffy blinks at the confession, before he brings his hand to his chest, where his heart is beating faster than ever before. If Rose's chest hurts the same way as his does, then that must mean she took his heart too!

He smiles from ear to ear with the conclusion that he made, and pulls her into an embrace. "Yea, you took my heart too, so this is perfect!"

Rose's anger blows away from the confession, and can feel her heart flying out of her chest from hearing that. She wastes no time in embracing him back with content to just stay in this position forever.

However, the sound of a wolf's groaning brings her back to reality in that they're still in danger. Especially when the one groaning was Zeki, so he'll come to at any moment!

Nami grows scared when she sees Zeki twitching, so she calls out to the two lovebirds. "We gotta go! You can continue your love fest later!"

Rose's blush couldn't get any darker when she remembers that Nami and Sanji saw the whole display, and pulls away from her love. "You're right."

She creates a gust of wind for the four of them to fly on before they flying off the mountain in hopes of them getting to the ship, before the hermit wakes up.

Sadly, there's no such luck because just a moment after they left, Zeki wakes up to see that his fellow wolves are unconscious while the humans have escaped.

Enraged at how they got away, he begins to mutter ancient incantations to begin his memory magic. As he casts the incantation, that sound like complete gibberish to anyone else, the bonfire's color slowly changed from bright yellow to dark blue. Small embers begin to fly above the flames and transform into wolves to obey their master's command.

As soon as a pack of four fiery wolves appear, Zeki growls out his orders. "Go forth, and find the pirates who traveled to the mountain! Erase all memories of what they learned on this land!"

The wolves obey their master's wishes and glide through the air as if they're running on free land in pursuit of the pirates.

The blue flames light up the night sky as they search for their targets.

It didn't take long for their yellow eyes to spot them because they're flying high under the crescent moon.

The four pirates don't know what's after them as they try to reach the Merry.

"Is everyone else back to the ship?" Sanji asks as he turns his head to Nami.

The navigator nods her head before she looks down at her log pose to see that it's ready to reset. "Yea, Robin's at the ship and I had Usopp round up Zoro and Chopper at the bar. We should be out of here soon."

"Good, I don't want to come back here." Luffy says when he remembers Axel's confession, and still feels a little jealous.

Rose knits her eyebrows at his attitude, and starts thinking about how they worried them. She gently nudges him with her arm, and gives him an apologetic look. "Sorry for worrying you guys, and thanks for coming after us."

Luffy looks to her in surprise before he widely grins at her, and pulls her into a hug. "It's fine, a lot of good came out of it!"

Rose blushes from the kind words and embrace, and awkwardly returns it with a soft grin creeping onto her face. "Y-yea, it did..."

Nami looks back at the new couple with a smirk, but the smile immediately drops when she sees the flames running close behind. "GUYS, BEHIND YOU!"

All the pirates look behind to see the flaming pack in horror just when the wolves reach them and engulf them in blue flames!

Even though their bodies are enveloped in the fire, they don't feel the heat anywhere except for their minds!

Every one of them screams in agony as they clutch their heads to futilely ease the feeling of their brains being burned to a crisp.

Rose accidentally loses focus on her wind and drops the crew in mid-air just as the flames fade away from the crew. The four pirates are still out of it from the spell, so they do nothing when they fall in the autumn trees, with the branches breaking their fall, until they land in the small hill of leaves that's piled underneath them.

The rough landing wakes up the group, as they groan from the pain of both the splitting headaches and aching bodies from their fall.

The leaf pile slowly breaks from the pirates' movement until one by one each of them get out.

Rose is the last to leave as she shakes her head to get the leaves out, but regrets it when it feels like her head's been punched by Saitama. "Ugh, what the fuck happened?!"

Luffy keeps a hand on his head to help with the headache, and furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "I don't know, when did it get so dark?"

"And, where are we? Weren't we just on the ship a minute ago?" Nami asks, but before Sanji can answer, an explosion in the distance!

"What the crap?!" Rose asks when she and the others follow the sound into town to see a tavern filled to the brim with smoke.

Usopp, Zoro, and Chopper hack from the fog, as they run out of the place with two werewolves close behind!

Usopp quickly notices the dumbfounded pirates as they run towards them and screams at them. "WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR?! LET'S GO!"

The group just goes with the flow at this point with Rose getting the crew flying in the air, and gaining distance from the worn out wolves.

"What the hell's going on?!" Sanji asks when he looks back to see that the wolves are collapsing in the street.

"We were on having a barfight with the werewolves, and I had to use a smoke bomb to keep them from biting us!" Usopp says with the newcomers looking at him in utter shock.

"THERE WERE WEREWOLVES ON THIS ISLAND?!" All four of them shout at once which surprises all three pirates.

Usopp widens his eyes at the question when he hears it from Nami. "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO ROUND UP ZORO AND CHOPPER!"

"I did?!" Nami asks, because when she tries to remember anything from today, all she draws is a blank. "I don't remember."

Chopper furrows his eyebrows at the answer. "None of you remember anything?"

They all just shake their heads before Rose speaks up. "The last thing I remember is rehearsing in the crow's nest. That was today right?"

Zoro nods before he looks back at the ominous mountain. "You guys were talking about some mind wizard. He probably erased your memory of today."

"That sucks!" Luffy says as he looks back at the cool island.

Rose looks back at the mountain, and can't shake the feeling that what happened today was something important. Sadly, she can't remember even with the headache making it hard for her. If it was one day though, it can't be too important, right?

She shrugs off the itching feeling of what she wants to remember just when the Merry comes into view.

When Nami sees Robin readying the ship, she lets out a breath of relief that everyone is present before she lets out the log pose. "Losing a day's worth of memory is better than losing our lives, so let's just get out of here. I'd rather not remember anything about werewolves anyway."

"I couldn't agree more Nami-san." Sanji says as they land on the deck.

Robin gives them a calm grin as if she didn't put at least fifteen wolves into a painful clutch. "You all have fun?"

"We don't remember it..." Luffy disappointedly answers as the crew gets to work on getting off the island.

Rose softly stares at the man before she pats him on the shoulder. "Don't worry captain, we just need to double the fun at the next island to make up for it."

Luffy blinks at the positive attitude before he happily grins at her and gives her a hug. "You're right, thanks!"

Rose blushes at the sweet embrace before she looks away. "N-no problem."

The captain quickly lets go and heads off to help the others while Rose is left alone.

She tries her best to bury her feelings back down, as she looks back to the island only for a surprise to be there. That being a dark blond, slightly charred, wolf, wearing Axel's clothes, standing near the coast and staring at just her.

Even though the wind girl doesn't recognize Axel, she feels a sense of familiarity with him. Something that tells her that he was a part of her forgotten adventure. She can tell that he's not going to harm them, so as the Merry leaves the island, she waves the wolf goodbye as if he's a dear friend.

Axel is slightly surprised by the friendly gesture, but still lifts his paw to return the wave and show that they're still friends, before he turns around to get some much needed rest.

Rose lowers her hand when she sees him leaving, and the island growing smaller by the minute. While it can't be said that this adventure is one that she'll never forget, her body feels like it went through a crazy one. With sleep sounding like a wonderful thing at the moment, she heads below deck and wonders what exactly happened today. And if she and the others would ever remember.

Well, who knows? With all the wonders of the Grand Line, it's possible for their memories of that land to return to them. It's only a matter of time.

TO BE CONTINUED