11:59 pm

In one minute, or

Sixty seconds, or

Sixty thousand milliseconds,

Today will be gone

And today will be yesterday and

Tomorrow will be today.

It's kind of terrifying when you think about it.

Terrifying in the way that everything

You did today- all the

Lists you made,

Places you've been,

Things you've touched,

Scents you smelt,

Conversations you've had- will

Soon become a memory,

Or worse, it would be forgotten.

Lost amidst all your yesterdays.

Gone.

12:00 am.

Today.

-anonymous

"Who dares interrupt the king!" A loud booming voice was heard from behind golden curtains.

"It is me, sire. Toramp."

"Ah, come in. Come in." Sitting on a massive golden throne was a very large man, with a near triple chin, with no neck at all, and a receding hairline. He stunk of sweat, and the pong of rotten breath could be smelt from where they stood, which was the other side of the massive room. He had eyes which sank to the back of his head, which sometimes twitched, and his belly could fit a whole big fat pig in. There was a sludge of drool on the corner of his mouth, and his short fat legs were a long way away from the floor. He basically sank inside his throne, like one would in a comfy couch, but he was sinking into his own fat.

"Your Highness. My name is Summer. I have come to ask for a reason why you send soldiers after orphans."

"Orphans? What orphans. I have never heard of this before."

"Your Grace, it was a trivial matter, I took care of it."

"Of course you did. What a wonderful advisor you are." The man cheered from ear to ear, munching on a slab of chocolate.

"Then, Advisor Toramp. May I ask you, why do you send soldiers after the orphans?"

"Because all they do is bring this country down. They steal from the village, and live in the woods, they're basically like stray animals."

"Ah, but sir. These 'stray animals' you talk of, they are human, like you and I."

"They certainly do not act like one. A human must be civilised, with manners and knowledge, unlike the scruffy, rabid, animals they are."

"A human's quality is not measured by their civility, mannerism or knowledge, sir. They're measured by their person, compassion and kindness. Or that is what I believe."

"Oh do you now? What would a little girl like you understand about the worth of humans?"

"At least more than you."

"How dare you speak like this to me. The royal advisor of king Kashmir!"

"Yeah! How dare you speak so!" The king added sloppily.

"Well, I dared to. What are you going to do about it?" Natsuki, fed up with the king, simply used her haki on him, and he was out like a light.

"Guards!"

"They won't be coming."

"What!?" The advisor searched around the room, and certainly, the guards who stood at the walls were not there, but so was her companion, Winter. "What did you do?"

"Hm? Nothing."

"This is treason!"

"And ruthlessly attempting to murder children isn't?"

"Why do you bother!?"

"Because my crewmates' siblings' are the orphans you idiot."

"IDIOT!? I am by far an idiot! I am the second most intelligent man in the East blue!"

"Who's the first?"

"Benn Beckman..."

"You acknowledge him?"

"I attacked him as a pirate once. His strategy was flawless. We didn't stand a chance."

"Well, thank god he's my uncle then."

"What!? Benn Beckman is your uncle!?"

"Not technically, but he's my father's first mate, so kind of, yeah."

"Father's first mate... Your father- no. It can't be. You father? Your father is Red haired Shanks!?" Fuyuki, who had returned from his small journey of beating up guards gaped at Natsuki.

"Natsuki! You didn't tell me that your father was the one who taught me haki!"

"Natsuki? As in the Stri-" The man fainted, the shock from all the information getting to him.

"Sorry for not telling you Fuyu. I was going to, but we got caught up with all this stuff..."

"I'm sorry too... I didn't mean to snap like that. I'm sure you'll explain why you didn't tell us."

"Yeah. I plan to tell my full story to the rest soon."

"Well, no matter what. I've got your back captain."

"Thank you Fuyu."

"By the way, do you recognise him?"

"Yeah, well kinda. He said something about being the second smartest in the east blue, but didn't that title belong to another pirate?"

"He did stutter slightly when telling us that he was in impel down for thirty years."

"So if we decide that's a lie... Wouldn't that make him Kuro? The captain of the Black Cat pirates?"

"Who cares. He's just a small weakling anyway. He won't cause any more trouble."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Let's go back to autumn, spring and rain." Natsuki grabbed Fuyuki again and they disappeared in a flash of yellow. Leaving behind a captain who nearly lost one of his nine lives.

"What was this business you had?"

"Nothing much, well, boys, girls, good news! No more soldiers would go after you!"

"Really!? Yay!!!" Jumping up and down in joy, the children celebrated.

"How did you manage it?" Aki asked her captain.

"Oh, just a few bits and bobs. It was easy. Also, Fuyu, did you deactivate the traps?"

"Of course."

"So, the villagers can run the kingdom again."

The next morning, Haruki, Natsuki, Aki, Fuyuki and Uki boarded their ship, which still lacked a name.

"What are we calling it?"

"Well, we're pirates, who ride on a boat which was given by marines. Why not a joint name, Kaizoku-gunkan? Since Kaizoku is pirate, and Kaigun is marine, along with gunkan, meaning warship?"

"Yeah! I like it!"

"What about our pirate flag?"

"Well, I already thought about that one." Haruki offered a flag, with a realistic skull in front of the four seasons. Natsuki's three weapons, Kusanagi, and her two rifles positioned behind the skull.

"Isn't that focused on me too much? Also, where's Uki's season?"

"You're the one who got us all together. Of course we would! Also, I don't care!" Uki said.

"We didn't know how many more seasons are going to join, so we thought we would just use the primary four as the background."

"Okay?.."

"Natsuki, as a thank you from the children, we decided to put your, well, our flag on the front deck, to show how this island is yours. Like it would now be your property. Last night, I went to talk with the mayor, and he agreed as well, once he found out you were the one who kicked the king's ass."

"Aki! Language! There are small ears present!" She covered Uki's ears, getting a very giggly girl of rain in return.

"I'm not that small Natsu!"

"You're only nine Uki! Don't give me that look! You've got two more weeks until you become ten! I would certainly say that is small! Now, are we ready to set sail?"

"Aye captain!" Just as they all finished packing, pulled on ropes to set the sail loose, they were called by a bunch of voices.

"Aki! Uki! Good luck!!!" The whole village yelled at the same time, bringing tears to the new recruit's eyes. Soft rain began to fall, in effects of Uki's powers, but it was rain which fell from happiness, and the villagers bid their goodbyes to the pirates, who disappeared, with a rainbow forming behind them.

~o0o~

Another week of training and parties, the crew arrived at the ports of the town where the last Pirate King took his final breath, starting the new pirate era.

His words were scripted at the port of Logue Town, on a small metallic plate.

"My treasure? If you want it, you can have it. Search for it! I left the whole world all in that place!"

"Well, my dear crew. I'm going to be venturing forward to the place where he left the world. Would you stay with me?"

"Never without you captain!"

"Of course."

"Why'd you think otherwise!"

"Duh." Was from a certain pirate of spring.

"Thank you. Let's go!"

They decided to enter the Grand line via the calm belt, since their ship used to be a marine's. It had sea stone on the bottom, thus allowing them to pass without the sea kings noticing. So what they had planned to do was this: to climb up the reverse mountain, but instead of going straight down, to the Grand line, go down to the West blue, and from there, enter the New world, and from their point by the reverse mountain, their journey would be short, as they would arrive at Raftel, very quickly.

They entered the reverse mountain, and when reaching the tip, they didn't change course, but went straight down to the West sea, then entered the calm belt, which had no wind, or waves.

"Everyone! We will be staying here for the next three years, as I told you beforehand. We will be training to get our standards to its highest, so that it would be worthy of the new world. Our only enemy is the occasional marine ship, which we can test our strength upon. Understood!?"

"Yes captain!"

The plan was to stay in the calm belt, where the ship would not move, as if anchored. They would train for those three years, without building reputation, but still go to islands via Natsuki's water-walking, and Fuyuki's ability to fly.

It was a strategy that Natsuki had thought of and was rather proud of. Though when she was asked about more crewmates, she wondered. What if she alone could travel the seas, gathering crews, and placing her hiraishin seal on every bit of land she sees. What if she could collect devil fruits for her crew? What if she could one day be able to proudly send off her crew mates to battle, without the worry that they would die? What if...

Natsuki, after consulting her inner dictionary, searched up, after years of not doing so. It came up with a motto, which was in a newspaper, with her mother's photo on the front. Great people do things before they're ready.

"Alright mother." She whispered to the sea. Deciding that this was the most efficient way, of granting all of their dreams.