"Hey, why is Leer called Leer?" Visul spoke up to the two males on the boat.

The bear 'gao'ed on her head. Maybe he wanted to know too.

Visul had taken root on the roof of the cabin, and Leer was starting to prefer her company to Cross'. Cross, hood up and asleep, hung dangerously at the edge of the boat, snoring.

Takara threw his fishing line into the sea-- "Leer loves money as much as a perverted old geezer loves young girls. So we called him Leer, cause he's always leering at people that look like they'd have money on them."

At that, Visul burst into laughter. The bear cuddled under her arm whined in protest like a child with their father exposing embarrassing secrets.

"You really like money that much?" Visul asked the bear, who nodded and growled in response.

"When we were fighting on the mountain, he ravaged the towns and filled up the cabin with cash. Wanna see?" Takara asked, "it's under the desk and inside the kitchen cabinets."

Visul paled.

Leaping off the cabin, she ran into the cabin and opened the closet. Wads upon wads of pure cash just spilled out of it.

She turned to the bear.

The bear grinned almost cheekily.

  ー  

"O...ha...ra?" Visul read off the map, "I think. Hey, Takara, why did you cross this one out?"

Takara turned off the stove, transferring a fried fish onto a plate carefully.

"That map's from nearly fifty years ago, it's a treasure," Takara told her, "but it's oughta be a little inaccurate now. For example, that island-- Ohara-- has been gone for about twenty years."

"Huh?" Visul perked up, "an island can disappear?"

"It can," Takara answered simply. Leer hungrily poked at the fish-- and Takara flicked the bear in the nose. "Very easily, at the push of a tiny golden button."

Visul didn't quite understand, but she dismissed it as the mysteries of the world she had yet to see.

The caw of a pelican stretched in the air. Takara leaned out of the window.

"Ah-- hey, News Coo!" he called, spinning a coin in the air, "get me one of those!"

"News Coo?" Visul picked up Leer in her arms, "what's that?" 

She went out of the cabin, turning in the direction of the sky--

The white, hat-wearing bird spun around the catch the coin in its beak-- cawing in panic at the sudden action. It dropped a roll of newspapers on Cross' face.

Cross jolted awake, drifting dangerously to the right-- "Huh--" Cross' arms swung around, saving the newspaper and tossing it upward before it fell into the sea--

SPLASH!

"Cross!!" Takara freaked out.

Visul, catching the newspaper, was bewildered by the situation. Leer, freaking out, shrieked rabidly and threw himself into the ocean after the boy.

"Stop!" Takara burst out of the cabin.

  ー  

"Takara, you burned the fish again," Cross whined.

Takara smacked him in the head with a pan, "it's your fault!" Takara sighed, scrubbing the pan in the sea, mourning another burnt pan.

"I was sleeping!" Cross argued, "and you burn food on a normal basis, Takara, only one of them came out great today, that's a miracle!"

"Shut it, Cross, that one was for Visul!" Takara grumbled defensively, lying his way out of his shitty cooking skills, "I like it burned!"

"I'm cooking next time!" Cross yelled back, facing his black fish angrily, poking at it and stuffing a forkful in his mouth, "even Leer wouldn't eat this!"

Leer, halfway through gulping down the fish, looked up with curiosity. Was he not supposed to eat it? he swallows another whole mouthful.

"Leer, that's bad for your health, don't eat it!" Cross ran over.

"You can go hungry, Cross!" Takara retorted, grabbing the younger child at the scruff.

"I'm eating!"

The two bickered vigorously, shaking the boat a couple of times, making it swerve dangerously across the sides of the ship. They saved each plate that slid off the sides without even looking, arguing but not breaking anything.

Calmly enjoying her food, she finished it quickly and quietly, radiating peace around her as she ate in the midst of chaos.

"Thank you for the food," Visul mumbled to herself, her hands held together. 

Seeing that, Leer flipped his paws inwards and clapped them together, "gawrah raaah."

  ー  

"Monkey?" Cross read it out, "Monkey?"

Takara held the wanted poster in his hand, looking at it almost exasperatedly. "A 30 million beri bounty in East Blue?" he gaped, "what in the world did this guy do?"

"Uh," Visul leaned over from the top of the cabin, "the 'Captain of the Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy'. Hey, Takara, what does the D mean?"

"Well, who knows..." Takara mumbled, reading the article, "the Arlong Pirates? Are you serious? He defeated a shark merman, Cross."

"A merman?" Cross perked up curiously.

"It's a mix between a fish and a human, I've read about it in a book," Visul spoke up, drawing on a piece of parchment-- "kinda like this?"

She held up a picture of a stickman with a fish tail.

Takara burst into laughter so hard he actually choked, "no!"

"What if the head was a fish?" Cross scribbled a fish with human legs, "uh, he was a shark merman, so..."

He held up the picture,  fish with the word 'shark' on it, with human legs.

"Fishes don't work that way!" Takara had to retort, unable to stop laughing. He snatched the pen from his hand, "gimme that, I'll draw it!" 

Within seconds he sketched out a whale shark fishman, a ^ as a mouth and two large white teeth jutting upward from the corners-- it had a face like a japanese demon, swirled sideburns like the hairs of a komainu statue--

"Oooh!" Cross and Visul gawked at it exaggeratedly, "Takara, this is so cool, you can draw?!"

"You guys just suck too much!" Takara grumbled, "I at least know how to sketch a few faces down."

"Ehhh, that's awesome, Takara," Cross rolled in next to Visul atop the cabin, "then, who is this? is he that Aarlogue guy?"

"Arlong," Takara corrected, "This guy is called Jinbei, he's a really strong Pirate."

"Kimba?" Cross asked.

"Janken?" Visul supplied.

"You guys line up over there because I'm cleaning your goddamn ears out," Takara cracked his knuckles, a dark expression on his face.

Cross ran. 

Takara, screaming, started chasing after him. They ran circles around the boat, the fishing boat miraculously not capsizing.

Visul and Leer slouched at the roof of the cabin, the newspaper in hand.

"Lessee here," Visul began reading the smaller articles, "oh, it mentions Shikke Island! A witch overthrows? It's really vague. Wait, was there anyone there to report this event to the Marines? Strange..."

Leer poked his head in curiously, although he didn't understand a word of it.

"Eh?" Visul saw something strange, "the 'Gyra' was spotted..."

The article was tiny, but spoke ominously of a-- a person, perhaps? A wanted character, someone everyone thought dead... it insinuated danger, and warned of a traitorous...

"A former Commodore... that defected from the Marines?"

The article ended there.

Visul sighed.

"Hey, Leer, do you know what a Gyra is?"

  ー  

  ー  

"Look, Leer," Visul sat on the cabin of the fishing boat, her legs dangling off the sides. The bear was on her lap, his fur being gently caressed, "it's a shooting star."

It was the dead of the night-- the boat swayed in the gentle tides, quiet and soundless.

Cross and Takara were sound asleep inside the cabin, resting after a long day.

Visul had only just finished mending their wounds-- Cross' were spectacularly deep and required a full day's rest for the threads to set; while Takara, who had to fix his broken parts, tore a new hole in his shoulder when Visul wasn't looking, so he got one hell of a lecture.

The bear lifted its head excitedly, eyeing the cobalt blue sky sprinkled with stardust. Scattered pieces of a little sun blanketed over their heads like a surreal satin sheet, their falling form tempted for wishes; their light gleaming, illuminating the world in their eyes.

The moon was nowhere to be seen-- but the unblinking fairy lights very much made up for that little loss.

Leer hopped around excitedly, ecstatic despite the hour of the night. His little legs scampered around joyfully, not loud enough to make too much noise at all.

"Do you like the stars too, Leer?" Visul spoke up softly.

Leer nodded, "Gar!"

Visul broke into a smile, "me too."

She lay down on the roof of the cabin, overlooking the scenic roof with the bear by her side.  

She came to realize that this was a form of love.

Cuddling the bear in her arms, she smiled.

She loved this ship, this crew, this mundane, journey that's just a little awry, chaotic and dangerous-- she loved it so much-- and nothing can ever change that.