After we left the port Luffy decided to have a party in Chopper’s and my honor. I joined for drinks and was happily watching everyone have a good time. I could feel the happiness radiate off of everyone. Luffy and Usopp were making funny faces and dancing. Zoro was just drinking his fill alongside Sanji doing the same. Nami was the only sense of reason that was trying to keep the crew under control, because Vivi was taking care of the hypothermic Karoo.

Once the conversation came over to him, I could hear his explanation of why he was hypothermic. When I did, my head snapped to the large duck. While Chopper was explaining what Karoo said about trying to save Zoro, then freezing. I went over to Karoo and rested my paw on his shoulder. “Can you say something again?” Karoo looked at me confusedly and spoke. “Like what?” I jumped back at this new information I had about myself.

I could feel Vivi’s worry as she asked me. “What’s wrong Calvin?” I just stared at Karoo and spoke almost in a trance while thinking about what I could do. “I guess I can talk to animals as well.” This made Nami raise an eyebrow at me while coming over to Karoo Vivi and I. “You didn’t know?” She sat close to Vivi and looked at me, her feelings filled with intrigue. I smiled while looking at the shrinking island in the distance. “Well… I used to be human.”

After revealing that bit of information, I chuckled at how comfortable I was in my skin now, just a little bit sad at how others may view me. However it turns out it was heard by all of the crew, and everyone stopped to stare at me. I chuckled and raised a glass of liquor. I never drank before, but being a pirate is all about breaking rules and living free. “But that’s enough about me. Let’s party!” I switched the topic off of me while getting the party back on track. Luffy and Zoro were the first to take my advice and go back to partying. 

I took a drink, and felt it burn all the way down. Soon after I could feel a warm feeling through my body. I started to just feel happy, while feeling others happiness. I made sure to not drink too much though. I didn’t know what alcohol could make me do, so just one glass was enough for me. 

But I didn’t know this at the time, but the alcohol reduced my ability to feel others emotions, like the burning amount of intrigue coming from behind me.

The party continued on until most had drunken themselves indisposed. I was still awake and just staring at the horizon in the crows nest, my favorite spot on the ship. I could meditate up here and focus without distractions. I was training my Aura to encompass my tail, the easiest move that resembled ‘Armament Haki’ that I could think of. It was slow going though. I could control Aura, but making it take shape into changing part of my body like iron was difficult. I could move Aura into my tail, but making it change properties was a different story.

I sighed at my lack of progress, and thought of a way around my problem. I then thought of Lucario. How their punches and kicks sometimes released Aura to deal extra damage. I stood up and was about to try out my idea, but was stopped when I noticed someone behind me. I was able to see very well in the dark, but what was strange to me, was how I couldn’t sense them there. I jumped a bit in surprise, which seemed to cause Vivi to giggle.

It turns out that Vivi had made her way to the crows nest with me, without my knowledge. “What are you doing up here?” I asked, after calming down a bit. She smiled while looking at the horizon. “I’m up to keep watch. The best place to do that is the crows nest. Why are you here?” I stared at her incredulously. ‘She has been here for who knows how long, after I was already up here, and then asks me what I’m doing here like she was here first.’ I scoffed at her, and rolled my eyes.

“I was training. I’m still way too weak to help out the crew.” I sighed at my own shortcomings. It was true, I would have to train like crazy and develop moves to help out the crew. If I couldn’t cook, navigate, heal, then I would have to be a strong fighter. One that could use Haki or Aura well enough to compete with the brute strength of Luffy or Zoro. I gained some more determination from my training and was about to leave the crows nest to let Vivi watch in peace, but she asked me something before I could go down Vivi started talking.

“Do you want to go back to being human?” I stopped in my tracks, and just looked off into the distance of my old life. I didn’t really have anything going for me, and if I was just a normal person now, I would die in a heartbeat. I shrugged my shoulders and started climbing down the crows nest while leaving some parting words. “I do miss my old body, but being here now has been the most fun I've had for a long time.”

I used Aura to attach to the Mast and walk down to the main deck. I made my way inside and went to the men’s cabin. While walking through the halls I bumped into Nami. I looked up at her and she looked down at me. I quickly walked past her, but she spoke up to me as I was almost gone. “You can feel other people's emotions right?” I stopped and looked back at her. “I can feel how anxious you are for some reason, but I don’t know why.” I could feel her anxiety move. Like it went down and up again. “I’m sorry for feeling scared when we first met.”

I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. “It was my reaction when I first saw myself.” I felt her sadness and guilt push against me. “Don’t worry about it. I know you don’t feel that way anymore, just forget it. We’re crewmates now.” I waved at her while I went inside the men’s room to sleep. I found an unused hammock and jumped in. Not long after, I fell asleep.