Drifting across the Sea; hasn't been very Eventful.

"This is a compass," Titus explained to Cross, patiently, "It always points north."

Cross, leaning over the deck across the two boats that were joined with rope, leaned toward the map and device Titus was showing. "Where's north?" he asked, tilting his head aside unconsciously.

Leer leaped off his hood to Titus' boat, taking a closer look.

"North is where North Blue is," Titus chuckled, "Do you know where that is?"

"The top left side of the map!" Cross raised his hand enthusiastically.

"Gao? Gao!" Leer joined in his excitement, absolutely confused.

Titus made a cheerful 'ding dong', "This needle always points that way. So if we look at this map, we can tell which way we're going."

"How?" Cross was intrigued, "With a needle and a piece of paper?"

"That's what Navigators do," Titus smiled, "It's a hard thing to learn, but some people have an inborn talent for it. To be a pirate going through the Grand Line, a skilled Navigator is essential."

"Woooah," Cross gaped, "Navigators are magic!"

Titus couldn't suppress a laugh. "It's the world, after all!"

ー

"So, what has Mister been doing over there?"

Takara, noticing the address, lifted his head.

Cross had, at some point, transferred to the other boat. The three cheerful bunch had been on the other side slouching around. Takara was on his boat, carving something out of scrap wood.

"I'm uh," Takara grunted in the shade, squinting from the sun over there, "carving something."

"Carving?" Titus had to repeat. That was a strange hobby, especially out in the sea.

Cross pulled out a black thread necklace around his neck, lifting the wooden pendant hanging at its end toward Titus. Titus eyed the object with a strange interest-- It was in the shape of a diamond, with two round rings encircling it.

"Takara made this," Cross gave a sheepish grin, "he has one too!"

"I did it during rehab," Takara quickly added on, as if he wanted to avoid a misunderstanding, "I made it for myself but Cross insisted he wanted one too."

"Gawrahh!!" Leer nudged his head at Titus to catch his attention. "Gaa," he said, lifting his head back to show Titus his collar.

And embedded in the center of the collar was a green gem, held together with an X-shaped buckle. It resembled the pendant quite a bit.

"We match, yay!" Cross and Leer did a high five at each other.

The entire scene made Titus smile. It was adorable, if he could say-- for them to have something in common-- having a physical representation of their bond, even though it was a childish thing to do. Titus was excited to see the future. They seemed more familial than anything now-- Titus wondered what sort of pirates these three would become if they succeeded in it.

"Why not make it your pirate mark?" he suggested.

"Pirate mark?" Cross asked, "Like our flag?"

"That's a jolly roger," Titus said, "A pirate mark can be simply a representative of your group. Something special, eh?"

"Like a matching symbol for everyone?" Cross' eyes sparkled at the idea, "I wanna!"

"That's weird," Takara fought back with a high-pitched voice, "I mean, most pirates mark themselves with their jolly roger and all..."

"Like the Sun Pirates and the Spade Pirates?" Titus cut in quickly.

"The Spade Pirates melded in with Whitebeard, but yeah... they mark themselves with something meaningful to them. This is just a random cutout I made in leisure, Cross--"

"I'm the captain and I say I wanna!" Cross retorted.

"When did you become the captain?!?" Takara and Titus snapped back.

"Captain Leer what do you say?!" Cross turned to the bear.

"Gao!" Leer thought that was his cue.

"Captain says he wanna too!" Cross reported.

Takara tutted, "Well," he swallowed his words, "If the Captain says so..."

"Am I the only one finding this weird!" Titus despaired.