Open Hearts on the Open Seas

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #1}

---

The waves beat gently against the sides of the ship as it cruised across the open seas, fleeing at a steady pace from Silvers Island where it had last been moored. The morning sun shone brightly, casting a strange gleam over the sapphire seas. Easy winds rippled the sails, guiding the craft on a voyage ever deeper into the unknown. They said the Grand Line was a dangerous place to navigate, where violent storms could erupt at any moment and where the normal rules of seafaring did not apply, but thus far their journey had been surprisingly smooth.

A second look at the ship, however, said a lot. Cracked timbers had been patched up temporarily, sails restitched where necessary, and much of the vessel was showing increasing signs of wear and tear. This was not a boat built to sail through Paradise. Not for much longer at least. But the battered state of the sailboat itself did not deter its crew, even if they were rather packed in like sardines. The last couple of days since leaving Silvers had burdened them with cramped conditions thanks to the addition of eight new souls, doubling the original number of occupants.

“I suppose we’re quite lucky,” said a sleek man in an admittedly dirty white suit as pale green eyes looked to the open skies, broken only by the traces of fluffy white clouds. He ran his fingers through his dark blond hair to straighten it out, but the salty breeze definitely had other ideas despite the shortness of his cut. Nonetheless, there was an easy smile on his face as he turned back around. “The weather’s holding out for us, and no sign of anyone pursuing us likely means they lost our trail rather quickly.”

“Just one problem, Lecter,” said a tall, slim and haggard man with a mostly shaved head further accentuated by a receding hairline. Dark brown eyes observed the vessel’s straights and angles as their owner sat upon one of the wooden benches affixed to the boat’s rear deck. “This boat’s not going to last. I’m no shipwright, but I can tell it’s on its last legs. We’re lucky if it lasts until we make landfall. And if bad weather hits?”

“Oh, stop being so grumpy, Kramer,” Lecter responded.

^{“Grumpy. Grumpy. Grumpy!”}

^{“Chucky,” Kramer pointed:
“Stop bouncing around, please.”}

“Aww,” sighed the short man — no greater than a metre in height — with a shock of auburn frizz and fair, freckled face. Head down with a tight frown upon his lips, the miniature man in patchwork sweater and baggy denim waddled over and climbed to seat himself on the bench opposite. Cheeks in his hands, elbows on knees, he stared with gloomy teal eyes towards the scrawny sir.

Creak! The door to the lower deck groaned as it was opened. From below at first emerged the figure of a fluffy St Bernard dressed in shirt and trousers, walking on all fours and sitting himself cross-legged on the deck sheltered by the shade of the small yet open cabin.

“Hi, Cujo!” chirped a woman with shoulder length black hair and silver-blonde bangs, fair face smiling with deep purple eyes at the canine companion. Beside her stood another girl, shorter by a few inches, whose mass of ragged and unkempt jet hair was currently being treated by the fair hands of the former. Scissors worked to cut away the matted tangles, while skilled work of brush and comb loosened up tenacious knots. The latter gave a small wave.

^{“Sweeney. Sadako. Hello.”}

^{“Oi, Cujo!” A voice shouted:
“How long for the bandages?”}

^{“Until. Say. No. Argue!”}

“Urgh! It’s such a pain not having a left arm,” grumbled the figure of Grimm-Rosa Scarlette as she ascended from the lower deck in the wake of the dog doctor. Now down an extremity after her brief previous conflict with a man with whom she now shared the sailboat, the woman’s left side — and indeed the majority of her form — was now plastered in pristine bandages that allowed for a surprising degree of mobility despite their secure wrappings. Practically a walking mummy wearing white canvas shorts, black boots, and a red Doskoi Panda vest of loose fit, it was mostly hard to tell that a pale and heavily scarred woman was beneath it all.

^{“And whose fault is that?”}

^{“Not mine!” Scarlette retorted:
“Anyway, where’s everybody?”}

Lecter pointed to the forward deck. There, much of the crew — old siblings and new — had themselves arranged around a small standing grill manned by the tall and portly, baby-faced form of Bubba Sawyer, whose wild dark hair was currently kept tamed by a small chef’s hat. Beady eyes and a happy smile were a warming site for the woman’s own eyes as she watched him merrily turning sausages and flipping patties. Krueger, a wrinkled man with wispy hair and a colourful sweater, leaned lazily against the vessel’s guard railing with a half-eaten hotdog in one hand as his yellow eyes stared vacantly at the clouds. A simple sun hat upon his head suited him. Not much further down from him, Voorhees leaned over the side of the boat, observing the waters below with intense focus. Such a bulky, rotund, dark-skinned figure seemed a bit more lively in recent days. She wasn’t sure as to why.

Bateman, Torrance, Myers, and Loomis are all still below deck, Miss Grimm-Rosa confirmed mentally as she recalled seeing the shady, gaunt, and grey-haired figure of the lattermost lurking around out of sight. The massive figure of Myers had been on watch all night, so at the very least he deserved some hours to catch up on his sleep. Bateman and Torrance, however, were still unknown quantities. As too were the likes of additional companions…

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance

[Flame]

Kano #1 / Merle #1

The one whose fault it was, was one of those on deck. Though unlike the others he was sitting off the aft end of the ship. He whistled contently to himself watching the ship's wake. His awakening a few days ago had been a surprising one. For one who was used to flying from place to place, the relaxation of floating from one island to the next was a forgotten pleasure. So he grinned.

Besides, it was a beautiful day, the wind was running through his messy hair and the sun was beating down warming his skin in a wonderful way. The only discomfort he felt was some soreness in his everything and a fairly consistent feeling of hunger. It hadn't gone away after he'd eaten after waking which was unfortunate.

He kicked his legs off the edge swinging them like a child as he smiled and changed from a whistle to a hum. Head bouncing from side to side he glanced back around for a moment. Red eyes slid over the rest of the residents of the overcrowded sailboat they were on. A bunch of interesting folk, the lot of them. Perhaps the most interesting was the dark maiden that he'd only recently learned was named Scarlette. She was less one-arm because of him but taking it in stride. Which he appreciated, Kano smiled happily.

His head turned back around noticing a shadow in the water beneath him. Ahh, there we go. Kano pushed his hands down getting up onto his feet. Stretching his arms out he waited stepping backwards. Suddenly a net filled with fish flew into the air arcing upwards before crashing down into his awaiting arms. It landed with a weird sound, the wet fish still jiggling in his arms. "Foods here!" He called out as a metal harpoon flew out of the air crashing into the deck beside him. Behind it a blue hand reached up grasping the edge of the ship.

She pulled herself up by the arm onto the sailboat. Her fingers gripping the edge of the deck with her strength refound she lifted herself onboard with relative ease. "Hey Merle!" The stupid grin of her companion met her even as he held the bounty of her most recent catch. Shaking her head she sprayed water away from her turquoise hair.

The fishwoman took a relaxing breath as she enjoyed the warmth of the sun with a smile. Then looking back at Kano she broke into laughter. The fool looked ridiculous as he held the large net of fish that she'd so recently gathered up on her most recent hunting trip. "Ahahahahahaha" She laughed grinning in amusement and in pain as she looked at the idiot.

It took a moment for her to finally stifle the laughter. "Right then ..." She held her shoulder spinning her arm about. "Let's make some lunch."

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #2}

---

Brown eyes shifted across to the sight of a young man with brilliant blond hair as he caught a large net full of fish tossed up to him from the waves beneath. The boat bucked slightly with the additional weight, perhaps already straining to maintain the sixteen bodies that occupied it, but that barely made a difference. What did make a difference was the abundance of fresh catch that the blue-skinned woman who clambered onto the deck had provided them. With more mouths to feed and not a lot of time to restock at their last port of call, supplies were running down quickly.

A spatula raised, gleaming in the sun.

^{“Char-grilled fish doesn’t sound all that nice, Sawyer.”}

^{“What?” the baby-faced behemoth replied:
“I can c— c— c— cook other things, too!”}

He seems to really be enjoying himself cooking for everyone… Letting her gaze linger on Mister Bubba, Scarlette lazily pondered a way to pass the time by as they continued their voyage. Boredom was quickly settling in, especially with the presence of the human firework aboard. The itch to fight him properly — no interruptions of any sort — had been growing. It was only the fact that she was down an arm and on a boat that she had refrained. Not the fact that her entire entourage had strongly advised against it and threatened to tie her to the mast until they made landfall. No. Not at all.

^{“Hey,” Miss Grimm-Rosa announced:
“How come you like cooking so much?”}

^{“Huh…?”}

“You… Uh… Look really happy in front of that grill,” the bandaged Big Sister said, rather honestly but with a lethargic nonchalance. Surely the others had noticed it as well, or maybe she was just more sensitive to it than she believed? Emotional pangs had always been a lot more powerful, and she definitely recalled her mentor speaking of Haki’s ability to detect the most prevalent emotional cries of others, no matter how well they tried to hide it. This wasn’t Kenbunshoku. This was intuition. Had she always been like this? She questioned it silently.

“My Ma and P— P— P— Pa,” Sawyer stammered in his characteristic babble, almost as if he was trying to get his lips going. Beady eyes moved from meeting hers to the grill, then back again, dividing his attention equally between cookery and conversation. “They were chefs in a fancy restaurant back home. I always used to sn— sn— sn— sneak into the kitchen and try and cook up my own dishes — to try and be as good as them, you know?” A part of her wanted to ask the question of what happened, but she was unsure as to whether or not she wanted to hear the answer. She could already see his small mouth curling out of its smile and into a sorrowful frown, perhaps remembering traumatic events.

“Hm.” Across the deck she looked once more, this time to the Fishwoman and her company. Voorhees himself was currently beside the two, offering up an excited round of applause to the slippery siren in congratulations of her catch. There was more to it than that. And what she knew prompted a smile, even a chuckle: “Hiihihihihi! Looks like Voorhees is happy he’s finally met an actual Fishman. So!” She turned to the dynamic duo of firework and fish, an eyebrow raised and a slight grin upon her face. “Kano and Merle? I’ve got a question for you…”

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance

[Flame]

Kano #2 / Merle #2

Merle walked over pulling the net full of fish out of Kano's arms. Letting the net filled with slowly dying fish slosh against the deck she glanced up as she heard heard the conversation running across the ship from her. "You can take half and grill it however you like. The rest I'll deal with." Merle grinned as she glanced down at the bounty within her netting. She hadn't actually cooked a meal in ... hmm how long had it been. She thought back, she hadn't cooked anything more than something simple in her travels with Kano. And before that ... well she'd been in prison for a while and a half so ... it had been a while.

Thankfully she'd gotten a nice knife from her uncle on her last visit to the man after her free-ing. Merle reached around her back for it before noticing that she had company as the one called Voorhees was standing beside them clapping happily. The fishwoman raised an eyebrow before grinning at the jolly fellow. "I'm glad you're happy about the fish!" She said with a slightly confused smile before starting to laugh in half nervousness. Merle glanced over at Kano who was just happily clapping alongside Voorhees.

The fool was equally unsure of the reason for the clapping. But perhaps food was enough, he certainly didn't doubt that it was itself a good reason. Even from his simple experience with Merle's cooking he'd been happy. Not that he had specifically hard tastes buds to cook for. In the end Kano really didn't need a reason to be happy, it was just who he was to be that way. And any reason to clap was good enough for him. "It's a great day to be happy anyways." He said with a smile "Bright sun, blue sky, bluer waters, a beautiful day." Kano said amused mostly to himself. Though the statement turned Merle's eye for a moment as she looked at him equally confused but continuing to smile of her own accord anyways.

It was then that the one they'd formally known as 'Big Sis' or that dark maiden but now knew to be named Scar turned and spoke to them. She announced that she had a question for the eponymous 'you', the pair of them. As if in sync the pair turned to look towards her. Merle eyed the dark maiden with a curious gaze. The woman was a bit of a mystery to her. Though from what she'd seen she seemed nice.

For Kano he looked at the woman who'd been so often called 'Big Sister' by the others. His eyes were a bit more sorrowful as he looked to the empty shoulder where once had been an arm. That was his doing, he knew it, been told it a few times now. He responded first "Fire away, what's the question?" Kano asked with a smile.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #3}

---

^{“Wait. Question?” Lecter turned:
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”}

^{“Huh…?”}

“Are you seriously considering asking the two of them first? He blew your arm off!” Mister Hannibal’s apparent outrage prompted little more than a passing glance from Grimm-Rosa Scarlette, who kept her attention upon Kano and Merle. She had made up her mind. The reason she was asking them first and not the other newcomers was not out of confidence, but out of curiosity. Call it gut feeling, but she knew that the answer was more than likely a resounding ‘yes’ from the rest, but these two? The firework and the Fishwoman? They were unknown quantities. She could not be sure without being direct.

^{“All the more reason to ask!”}

^{“Hm?” quizzed Sadako:
“Ask what?”}

^{“She’s going to ask—”}

“Wanna be my little siblings?” Even before Sweeney could recite it, her Big Sister had gone and done it. Lecter placed a palm to his face, while others looked across the deck of the sailboat with curiosity in their eyes. Cujo tilted his head. Sawyer scratched his chin. Sadako screwed her face up slightly in confusion, while Kramer simply stopped chipping away at a small piece of wood and looked up.

^{“That,” Miss Todd continued:
“That’s what she asked us.”}

“Heh! Better be wide awake before you answer that,” laughed Krueger from across the deck, wearing a wide and easy smile upon his lips. Bouncing again, Ray cheered, while Voorhees looked with strangely sparkling eyes full of excitement and anticipation. Finishing off his meal, Krueger spoke again. “I don’t regret saying yes. But… I don’t think it’s for everyone. We’ve all got our reasons, right? For me. I’d like to… see my wife and daughter again. Travelling with Big Sis Scarlette seems the best way to do it, even if it is just a dream.”

^{“You were married?” Sweeney asked:
“How old was your daughter…?”}

^{“Newborn. Barely six weeks when…”}

“When you were shipped over to Mullyssa Nemo,” Scarlette finished.

^{“That would’ve made you,” Lecter counted fingers:
“One of the last to be sent to that forsaken rock?”}

^{“Sounds about right.”}

^{“So!” The Red Terror piped up:
“Whadda you two say?”}

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance

[Flame]

Kano #3 / Merle #3

The question returned, or it did not really return very quickly. Instead a conversation spewed out between Scarlette and her crew. A short one for certain, the pair of Kano and Merle glanced at each other confused. But in the end they got the question,

"Wanna be my little siblings?"

The pair blinked in unison in response to the question before conversation continued among the others. They glanced about looking at the reaction of the others on the deck as they took in the question for themselves. It was quickly made clear that some of them had been asked this before. Obviously they'd said yes to the question. Though as to why, one of them elucidated for him that he'd been married. Conversations continued from it before Scarlette put the question to them once more bringing everything back on track.

Merle tilted her head. Honestly she was not sure what that meant, in her head she tried to rationalize it. What she was asking was to become part of her family was it not. She'd heard a bit about the reality of what these few had been through. Mulyssa Nemo they'd called it, from what it sounded like, from what she'd heard, it was a prison. Which in some sense spoke to her. As someone who'd been to prison, who'd been captured by marines many times and held. She could empathize, even felt a sense of innate companionship with. The fishwoman pursed her lips, Mmmm, how do I answer this ... seems like a strong commitment ... The fishwoman glanced towards Kano who had surprisingly not spoken yet.

"What do you think Kano?"

The fool had been puzzled as well. Little sibling? He eyed Scarlette sizing her up. She was maybe older than him though it was not a noticeable difference. And she was definitely the smaller of the two. That was also true for Merle and for a few of the other crewmates. So what was she really asking? Was she asking to become family? He had two brothers already, two parents, and an uncle. But then, there was no reason he couldn't have more family. He'd never had a sister before, perhaps it would be an interesting experience.

Merle's question startled him out of his thoughts. He blinked glancing at the fishwoman as she looked at him. "Huh? Did you ask me something?" He asked back. The fishwoman blinked before cracking out in a swift bout of laughter. "Yes idiot. I asked what do you think? What's your answer for her?"

The fool made an 'o' out of his mouth before turning towards Scarlette. A clever grin slid across his face replacing his momentarily pensive smile."Why not?" Kano said with a shrug. Then pausing he raised a finger. "Under one condition. I'm not really interested in being a little sibling. I'll be a brother, doesn't have to be older, but I'm no little sibling. I've already got two older brothers, I don't need more older siblings." Kano said with a smile before stepping forward to close the distance halfway between him and Scarlette. He stuck out his hand. The wrong one if he wanted to shake with the one-armed woman but he didn't realize.

"Sound good?" He asked in response.

Merle blinked looking at Kano. His requirement was a little, mmm she didn't know what to make of it other than to laugh. She grinned giggling between her teeth. At the very least she figured she'd decided to stick it out with this fool for a while. So perhaps that should decide her choice. "I'll be a sibling if you take Kano." She also took away the modifier of little. Merle had an older brother, she liked him wherever that fool was. But she didn't need more older siblings either.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #4}

---

Scarlette’s lips pursed into a tight frown. It wasn’t a no, but they also didn’t say yes. This challenged her ideology in a way that she had not anticipated — though foresight was hardly a strong suit of hers. They had both denied the prospect of being little siblings, much to the woman’s chagrin, but neither had demanded a higher status. Equals, perhaps. The concept was somehow strangely baffling to the madwoman. As far as she had been concerned, the answer was black and white, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Ehhh,” she vocalised. Mouth open, teeth slightly gritted, it was clear that the girl was struggling to make a decision despite the directness of her original question. Lecter even went so far as to do a double take of his appointed elder’s expression, equally confused about her reaction.

^{“Ehhh…?”}

^{“Tough call?” Krueger questioned:
“Is it really that difficult…?”}

^{“Ehhh…!”}

^{“Um, Kano,” Sweeney commented:
“You might wanna switch hands…”}

^{“Ehhh…?!”}

“Will you make up your mind already!” Lecter snapped, though it certainly didn’t faze Miss Grimm-Rosa, who ran the fingers of her right hand through her hair as she tried to draw up a conclusion. Whether or not her sibling liked it, she was taking this at her own pace. Eventually, the groans became a deep, deep yawn, lasting long enough to become entirely silent and threatening to dislocate her jaw. It eventually ended, leaving her slouching backwards somewhat and looking a tad spaced out.

^{“Erm,” Lecter stepped closer:
“Big Sister…? Scarlette…?”}

A moment passed.

^{“Did… Did she pass out from—?”}

“Okay!” Scarlette said suddenly, straightening with a start and cutting off Kramer. Chocolate eyes now looked sharp, aware, and directly into the eyes of Kano, catching a glimpse of red in the sunlight to match his own vivid hues. “I’m fine with that. You did blow my arm clean off,” she said, extending her available limb to accept the shake, regardless of which hand was presented, “so I guess that’s a good indication that you can look after yourself! As for you,” Miss Grimm-Rosa turned, suddenly looking down her nose rather coolly towards Merle. “Until you can prove to me that you’re capable of handling yourself, you will be our little sister!”

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance

[Flame]

Kano #4 / Merle #4

The fool glanced back at Merle surprised by her response. If they took him? It was a strange decision by her, but she shrugged it aside. If she wanted to tie her fate to his that was fine by him. It'd be nice to have the fishwoman around. He enjoyed her company as much as anyone else he'd spent a long time with. Not that there had been that many ... his head turned forward again towards Scarlette.

Kano blinked as he waited for his response. Before him the dark maiden was stunned in silence it seemed. She was making a random sound from her mouth and seemed incapable of saying anything else. The fool glanced to his side looking at the others who were also witnessing this. One of them told him to switch hands. He glanced down, What's wrong with my hand? The blonde idiot wondered to himself as he looekd at it. It seemed perfectly fine to him. Was it dirty or something? Kano pulled his hand back and sniffed it for a moment.

His eyes passed over it, running back and forth. Across its contours, nope nothing wrong with it. Not that he could tell, he stuck it forward once again. It seemed just in time because Scarlette responded okay. Why this had been a big deal befuddled him but he didn't really care. She stuck forth her own hand and Kano reached forth to grab it. "Good!" His hand wrapped around as his palm touched the back of her hand and he shook ignoring the clumsiness of the shake. Scarlette continued speaking then to Merle. Kano blinked "Hmm?" The condition for growing from a little sister seemed strange. What did that have to do with anything. Mmmm, well it didn't really matter now did it.

Merle blinked at the response she'd been given. Until I'm capable of handling myself? Little or not it seemed to be a question of strength. The fishwoman cracked up with laughter as she thought over that point. That was definitely one way to look at it. If she were to take herself in comparison to Kano or Scarlette it was true she didn't really stand up. Whether that was a fair comparison was something to question but, she shrugged her shoulders inwardly still laughing out loud.

This was definitely one way to see it, now that she understood. The fishwoman pursed her lips as she stifled her laughter. Personally she cared a little bit about the 'little' tag in this sibling thing, but it was not that big a deal. Especially now that she knew the reasoning behind the naming style. Her head tilted side to side, her hair shifting with the movement of her head.

It'd help with being a good judge of her own strength if she could throw aside the little sibling title. Her eyes spread across the crew before landing finally on Kano. Was he worth it? The fool grinned back at her stupidly, and she broke her lips apart with an amused giggle to herself. He's certainly an amusing companion ... why not ... She thought to herself. Taking a moment to consider that her own thought was amusing itself she grinned.

"Fine. But don't expect me to stick with the moniker for long Scarlette." She said with a grin.

Kano laughed and smiled as well. He turned towards her and gave her a thumbs up. "Guess that makes me your older brother." The fishwoman's laughter stopped as she looked at that fool. Maybe this wasn't the best idea ...

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #5}

---

Scarlette hadn’t actually offered a choice in the matter, but the laughing Gyojin had accepted the inevitable all the same, prompting a clean smile to accentuate itself upon Big Sis’ face. What truly sold the moment was when Kano commented on his own status in regards to her own, putting an abrupt end to Merle’s laughter and prompting Scarlette’s own high-pitched giggling to begin.

^{“That’s the spirit,” she beamed:
“Welcome to the family!”}

Crash! The sound of wood breaking put an abrupt end to the Red Terror’s incessant cackling as she turned about to seek out the source. From the very door to the lower deck that she had previously emerged from came a new figure, ragged of look with brown hair now decorated with a few splinters. It took her a moment or two to realise that he’d literally walked through the door, smashing a hole in it in order to find passage, but now Mister Jack Torrance stood upon the deck. He stretched. He yawned.

^{“Here’s Torrance.”}

^{“D— Did you just,” Lecter winced:
“Break the door to get through it?”}

^{“It was in my way.”}

“I am surrounded by nutjobs and psychopaths,” Kramer said, palming and rubbing his face as he came to realise just what it was he was in for. Satisfied with her answers from the firework and the fishwoman, Miss Grimm-Rosa turned to the likes of him next. His eyes met hers briefly, then he looked down to the piece of wood he had been chipping away at and sighed. “Before you ask, I want to know. What does becoming one actually mean to you? What does it provide?”

^{“Yeah,” Sadako uttered:
“If you’re going to ask…”}

^{“W— W— W— We’d like to know!”}

^{“You. Rescued. Us,” barked Cujo:
“Do. We. Owe?”}

“What’s this about owing people? And what’s with the stench of fish? I hope somebody plans on preparing all of that,” Bateman declared, opening the door properly despite the significant, person sized hole in its woodwork, and exiting out onto the deck. In his wake came the shadow of Loomis, who quickly gave a greeting wave before slinking into a more comfortable position behind the majority of the crowd. Myers too emerged, squeezing his large form through the doorway somehow without dealing any damage to the frame before silently making his way to a more spacious area of deck. The stressed capacity of the vessel was more prominent now that everyone was on deck — plenty of immediate arm space, but little room to manoeuvre if one intended to progress to any other point of the sailboat.

“None of you owe me anything, alright? Let’s get that straight,” Scarlette answered, eyes sweeping over siblings, new and old alike. Such a large family at her side brought a strange kind of warmth to her heart that she could honestly say she had not felt in a while, not since seeing the smiles upon people’s faces after Rhesus’ defeat. Gloom uplifted by the spirits of the people — that was what warmed her. “I used to be… different. I used to think the world was a prison in which we were all wrongly placed,” she explained, open-heartedly, “but now I’ve seen people who were truly trapped — innocent people imprisoned for no reason other than the twisted ideals of others. Nobody should be locked up for what’s not their fault. I’ve been there myself and didn’t realise it…

“So I’ve vowed to myself,” the one-armed woman smiled widely, “that I’ll free the people who truly need to be free. I’ll give back lives to those who’ve had them taken from them. I’ll listen to their pain and do my best to ease it, travel the world to help them realise their dreams, and I will fight to protect them from anyone and anything that dares to try and steal their lives away! … And,” she quietened, small tears forming in the corners of her eyes, “I hope that in doing this I can one day be forgiven for my past mistakes. Right up until the day she died, my big sister was always there for me, no matter how many times we bickered…

“I am Grimm-Rosa Scarlette,” she wiped her eyes, put on her broadest and most confident smile, and stood straight and proud. With a deep breath, she readied herself, steadied herself, and cried out: “I stand behind no one. I will not stand in your way. But I will always be by your side! That is what it means to me!”

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance

[Flame]

Kano #5 / Merle #5

Their induction to the crew was off the cuff and random. Why it happened, Merle was still trying to figure that out for herself. But it had happened, the strange woman, no her 'sister' so to speak declared them family. Kano grinned happily in front of the fishwoman, he was obviously happy about it. He was as always the idiot and just simply happy about many things. He didn't think, he didn't consider. Merle sighed, it was to be expected of the fool, at least from her part she should know this was always what it was like with him.

The fishwoman let a smile fall casually upon her face. What a weird group she was a part of. Her eyes slid across them falling upon Kano. He was the center of this whole situation. Merle wondered what, why she was following this fool wherever he went. He's interesting She reminded herself, that was why. That was the reason ... what a stupid reason. Merle brought her hand to her mouth to stifle some laughter that welled up.

The blonde fool grinned at her noting that he was now to be her older brother. "I'm not calling you that ever Kano." Merle responded. Kano stuck his tongue out in response at her. Before turning around as Scarlette began to talk.

The timing seemed odd, at least to her as she began to talk. Her words were relatable somewhat at least to her. But they spoke of a situation that at the very least Kano and her hadn't really experienced. Merle looked on from the outside in. Her eyes glazed over as she listened and watched. It seemed she had found herself another righteous leader. In a way it felt reminiscent of Marlus ... though. The fishwoman's lips pursed as she listened on.

Well we'll see ... It was a tough dream to live.

Beside her Kano clapped gleefully at what felt like the end of Scarlette's speech. A dumb grin spread across his face as he smiled and listened on. He had heard and listened and though he was clapping and smiling a small line of water was sliding down his cheek. This was for what he imaginged as he had listened to the speech.

The fool was not bothered by the showing of emotional support from his body. It was something he was proud of if anything. The fool smiled happily as he looked on at what were now his brothers and sisters as well. A loud growl emitted itself from his stomach at this time breaking the silence that had fallen in the aftermath of Scarlette's speech. Kano looked down at his stomach , the smell of fish and the sea was still all about them and it was still making him hungry.

The fool reached down and scratched his belly. From behind him Merle was starting to break out into laughter at what had just happened. "So uhh, if you're done with your speech. Can we eat?" Kano broke the silence once again though this time with his mouth rather than his belly.

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #6}

---

“Can we eat?” was the first real interruption to the silence that had befallen an admittedly emotional vessel, but a welcome one it certainly was. Scarlette’s own stomach wasted no time in protesting to its emptiness — a sure sign of a healthy appetite and a swift recovery from injuries that most would be bedridden from.

^{“Hiihihihi~!” she chuckled:
“Sure we can!”}

It took little time for Sawyer to spring into action once more, now adding the copious amount of catch to the menu as he continued to demonstrate such a passion for cookery. Admittedly, all he really had access to was a grill and a small table for chopping, but he seemed to be doing just fine. This clearly was not intended as a boat for sailing long distances, yet that was what they had managed so far.

“So,” Miss Grimm-Rosa began again, “where are you all from? Where do you want to go? What’s your goal — what are your dreams?” A question directed more at the assembly of newcomers than old it was, but that did not seem to sway the original seven siblings from pondering the question of their own accord. Though Kano’s and Merle’s answers had been brief but certain, the newest members seemed more uncertain. She had not actively approached them and asked them such a question, but they — Kramer, Cujo, Sadako, Sawyer, Torrance, Bateman — did not seem too concerned.

^{“Honestly? Not too—”}

^{“I want to be,” Sadako cut off Kramer:
“I want to be your little sister, Scarlette.”}

“You already are,” the Red Terror replied, matter-of-factly, to the girl with lengthened locks. Sadako looked at her, lips curled slightly in a small smile and an eyebrow raised in question. She opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to decide against it. By now, it seemed Sweeney’s absolute mission to tidy the girl’s hair had come to an end, but a glint of curiosity in the hairdresser’s eyes reflected in the blade of her scissors prompted a query of their Big Sister’s own: “What’s wrong, Sweeney?”

^{“Your hair…,” Miss Todd quizzed:
“It’s really dulled the blades.”}

^{“Is that something unusual?”}

“Well, scissors do get a little dull with repeated use, sure, but I haven’t used them since I last sharpened them? Now they’ve really lost their edge,” said the snow-skinned siren as she ran her index across the blade. At a glance, it seemed she was pressing against it with some significance, but drawing her finger away revealed no blood — not even the slightest grazing of her extremity. And, having experienced just how finely cared for Sweeney liked to keep her instruments, that was quite the sight to behold.

^{“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Miss Yamamura muttered:
“I’m originally from a Kingdom called Marchen.”}

“I think I’ve heard of it,” Lecter commented.

“It’s also on the Grand Line. Everyone’s hair grows really strong there because of some rare mineral found in the water,” Sadako explained, clearly having to think hard to recall such information, almost as if it had been stored away. As she was now, her hair was readily reaching her ankles, thick and black and surprisingly lustrous with a slight and mirror-like iridescence to it. Layered was the cut, several times over in fact, thanks to the intricate work of a woman talented in such business as keeping one’s hair groomed.

^{“Huh,” Scarlette blinked:
“What about you, Merle…?”}

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance

[Flame]

Kano #6 / Merle #6

Beside Sawyer, Merle also began to prepare part of the catch herself. She had a preference for eating the fish raw thus took a section separate from Sawyer. Finding where she'd left her small sack of supplies she pulled out her cleaver and a few condiments she kept in a sealed bag. Taking aside a bit of the fish she began to clean the cuts. Splitting bone and skin from flesh she prepared it into fillets. Then bringing it sideways she sliced the fish into thin bite-sized pieces. Out of one of the small glass bottles of condiment she dipped a small spoon in pulling out a small green mass. The fishwoman grinned as she splatted a bit of it into a small dish. She glanced up for a moment mildly paying attention to the conversation going on about her.

Beside the two cooks at work Kano stood eyeing the food hungrily. He was probably the most outwardly hungry member of the group as he watched the food being prepared. Both grilled and raw fish appealed to him, normally it'd have just been the latter but his recent travels with Merle had taught him the worth of her way of preparing it as well. The fool licked his lips, his feet slid upon the deck as he inched closer and closer to Merle. Until his two hands slipped fingers onto the table with him nearly leaning over the food entirely. "If you're so hungry you can have this." Kano glanced up as the fishwoman offered him a slice of fish, a mean spread of green substance was atop it covering more than usual.

Hunger took the best of his nature as he reached smiling and thanking the fishwoman. Merle grinned back at him as he stuck it in his mouth. Kano's eyes flickered as he felt a tickle in his nostril. The fool grinned back, "Thanks! ... Any more?" Merle paused for a moment as she watched the fool as he seemed untroubled by the wasabi's effect.

"Weirdo fireworks fool." She said a small grin coming across her face as she looked down again stifling laughter. Continuing to slice the fish she took a few bites while she worked. Spreading the green paste carefully upon the slices as she ate them she was a lot less generous with its use than she had been on Kano's first bite. Her attention was pulled up once again as Scarlette turned the question the others had been asking onto her.

Kano actually began to answer the question for Merle, there was pride in his face and voice as he began to answer. "She's from Fishman Island, and she ..." Kano paused for a moment realizing he didn't really know what her goal or her dreams were. It was weird, shouldn't he know this? They'd been traveling together for a bit now, did he really not know these? Beside him Merle looked at him curiously.

She gave off an amused giggle "As the fool said, I'm from Fishman Island. I'm not particularly going somewhere, I'm just moving forward. Living. As for a goal? No idea, short term is growing stronger, the how of that is still unknown to me." She said with a shrug. Merle had once had dreams perhaps, changing dreams, very much changed by 'recent' events for her. But she saw reality to clearer to state those as her goals. They were so far away and personal to her. Instead she enjoyed herself in the now, amused by her companion and newer companions as well. "And you Kano? You haven't answered her yet." She said prompting the fool he was sneaking a hand towards where she'd plated some of the sliced fish.

The fool looked up and blinked. "Oh haven't I?" He tilted his head to the side. "Suppose you're right." Kano smiled.

"I've got a simple dream, it appears every night and crosses our sky." He said as if it were a riddle. "I want to go to the moon, see the stars! It's my goal, the dream I will achieve!" Kano said with a smile. The fishwoman looked at him her jaw nearly dropping though she thought she might've known this.

"Oh I'm from Nuovo Romano in the North Blue."

[Vio]

^{Scarlette #7}

---

They say too many cooks spoil the broth, but Merle’s efforts alongside Sawyer’s were proving that was anything but the case as the two somehow each took to their own methods without ever once getting in the way of the other. Harmony in the kitchen. Not that this puny sailboat had a proper kitchen. Still, it was a sight to behold as Grimm-Rosa Scarlette observed the Fishwoman at work, preparing far more traditional dishes with raw ingredients. Something about the way she handled the knife as she sliced and stripped told her, this was a survivor.

Fishman Island…? Scarlette tilted her head. She’d heard of that before, definitely, though she wasn’t too fussed about when or where. All she knew was that it was supposedly the home of the entire Gyojin race — a country somewhere on the Grand Line. All in all, that was about the extent of her knowledge on the subject, picked up only in fits and starts throughout her travels.

^{“Growing stronger, huh?” Miss Grimm-Rosa smiled:
“Well, I think that’s an idea I can help with!”}

^{“And you Kano?”}

“I want to go to the moon,” were not exactly the words Big Sis had expected of her new partner in adventure. In fact, for the first time in quite a while, she was actually shocked by the notion. It was something new, bizarre, interesting, and most definitely impossible even by her reckless standards. With her only available hand, she scratched an ear and looked at him like he was a complete idiot.

Stunned silence befell the vessel.

^{“Oh,” the Firework Man added almost as an afterthought:
“I’m from Nuovo Romano in the North Blue.”}

“Nuovo Romano,” Kramer muttered. “I’m from there, too. I’ll be honest, though,” the haggard man said as he stood up, continuing to fiddle with the piece of wood he had been carving at all this time. “One way or another, we’re all going to have to get stronger. We’re on the Grand Line — the world’s most dangerous sea, by the by — and aside from you two freaks of nature,” he gestured to Scarlette and Kano, “we’re not really that capable of surviving these waters.”

“You have a point,” Lecter nodded, solemnly.

“This is our next priority,” the tinker continued, now holding up the object he’d been fidgeting with for all to see, revealing a small wooden ship just big enough to settle on his palm. “This rickety old thing isn’t going to hold out, so we’ll actually need a proper ship to sail the Grand Line with. I’ve heard tales and done my research back before I was enslaved, so I know, if we get caught in a storm we’re dead. You can cleave Sea Kings in half, Big Sis,” Kramer said with a glare to the one-armed woman, “but you cannot fight the weather.”

^{“Eh,” Scarlette groaned:
“I don’t know about that…”}

^{“That doesn’t count…”}

“If we want to get stronger — if we want to make it farther down the Grand Line, further to each and every one of our goals, even the moon,” Kramer continued with a liveliness that none of them had yet seen in him until this point, “then that’s step one. Plus, a little breathing room would be pretty nice. Step two, for those of us who can’t fight monsters, we’re at least going to have to figure out other ways of defending ourselves. No offence, Big Sis, but I don’t want to have to rely on you to protect us every single time. Situations can change, and I’d rather we be prepared for the worst. By the sounds of it, many of us weren’t, and look where we ended up. The dangers are only going to get more extreme as we cross paths with increasingly more capable foes.”

^{“Hm! Well, Kramer,” the elder sibling replied:
“Do you have any ideas for a ship…?”}

“Well, as I said before, I’m no shipwright,” he answered honestly. “But, I can probably put together some basic plans? Back home, I used to engineer all sorts of devices to try and make life easier on the people. I don’t have the tools, but I’m sure if we can find a proper shipwright, they can do the rest. I’ll get to work on that right n—!” His stomach growled, silencing him. “I’ll get to work on that after we’ve eaten…”

---

Grimm-Rosa Scarlette
Hannibal Lecter
Todd Sweeney
Michael Myers
Jason Voorhees
Billy Loomis
Freddy Krueger
Charles Ray
Patrick Bateman
Cujo
John Kramer
Yamamura Sadako
Bubba Sawyer
Jack Torrance
Kano
Merle