A Splash of Trouble

The ocean didn't care about her plans.

One second Y/N was floating on her back, humming to herself with her eyes closed and Grimm napping on her stomach. The next? Boom. The sea erupted beneath them like it had a personal grudge.

"Oh what the NOT AGAIN!"

She barely had time to grab the cat before the Knock Up Stream blasted them into the sky like a cannon shot. Wind screamed past her ears. Water sprayed in every direction. Clouds smacked her in the face.

Wood. Big, solid, very much in-the-way wood.

"Oh, no no no—NOT THE FACE—!"

THUD.

—

"Something just hit the ship!" Nami yelled.

A soaked body slammed onto the Going Merry's deck, taking out a barrel and a good chunk of someone's lunch. Another bundle hit the mast with a wet splat and rolled.

Zoro's sword was drawn in an instant. "Enemy?"

Robin raised a brow but didn't move. Usopp screamed. Chopper panicked. Sanji jumped in front of the girls, ready to fight, then stopped when the figure groaned and rolled over.

A girl. Young, drenched, hair tangled with seaweed, blinking like she'd just fought the sea and lost.

"She's beautiful..." Sanji breathed.

Then scowled. "Wait. She could be dangerous."

Y/N coughed up seawater and pushed her hair out of her face just in time to see a sword pointed at her nose.

"Okay, rude," she wheezed. "I land on your deck once and suddenly I'm the enemy?"

"Who are you?" Zoro asked coldly.

"Y/N," she said, dropping flat on her back again. "Frequent flyer of water-based disasters. Zero stars, would not recommend."

"You fell from the sky," Nami said. "That's not normal."

"Tell that to the ocean geyser that sent me flying like a human cannonball," she muttered.

Robin tilted her head, amused. "You seem very... calm."

"Oh, trust me, I'm screaming inside."

Zoro didn't lower the sword. "Explain yourself."

Before she could, a second groan came from the soaked bundle that had hit the mast. A large black cat in a water-resistant poncho dragged itself out of the fabric, soaked and offended, and plodded across the deck like he owned the place.

"Grimm!" Y/N called weakly. "You alive, buddy?"

The cat gave a wet, grumpy mrrrow, shook his fur, and flopped dramatically next to her.

"...You have a cat?" Nami asked.

Y/N grinned through her exhaustion. "Cat and best friend. That's Grimm. He's mostly attitude with a side of fur."

Grimm sneezed in Sanji's direction, unimpressed.

"He's huge," Chopper whispered.

"He's not fat, he's powerful," Y/N said, petting him with one hand.

Sanji finally snapped out of it and knelt beside her, towel in hand like it had materialized from thin air.

"Forgive our poor manners, mademoiselle! Let me take care of you—dry clothes, hot meal, a warm fire!"

Y/N blinked at him. "You were just accusing me of being suspicious."

"I contain multitudes," Sanji said dramatically.

"She's weird," Luffy grinned, crouching down to inspect her face.

She grinned back. "Takes one to know one, Straw Hat."

"You can stay."

"WHAT?!" came a chorus from half the crew.

"She's funny," Luffy shrugged. "And she didn't attack us."

"Yet," Zoro muttered, still eyeing Grimm with suspicion.

Y/N groaned, sitting up carefully. "Cool. Just—nobody touch my left side. I think I broke it. Or the ship. Or both."

Zoro lowered his sword slowly.

Grimm stretched out beside her like he'd been on the ship for years. She looked around, offered a weak peace sign.

"Not here to kill anyone," she said. "Unless someone touches my stuff. Or wakes me before noon."

No one noticed the way her eyes flicked toward the sea or the way Grimm's ears twitched like he was listening for something deep, deep below.

For now, they were just castaways.

And neither of them planned to leave anytime soon.