The bar isn't all that crowded, and the village doesn't seem to be all that different… no, it's just another lazy day in the village as far as anyone is concerned. A stack of empty plates sits in front of Luffy, who chews on a number of fish bones as if it's completely normal. He and Zoro had practically inhaled the food once again, and this time Haru had joined them. Turns out that nearly getting sliced to ribbons could work up quite the appetite. "Whew! That was a good meal!" compliments Luffy.
"Agreed, but now that we've eaten we should be going," Zoro tells him. "Unless we want the welcome mat yanked out from under us." Haru chuckles a bit but nods in agreement. The door to the bar opens, and to the surprise of the crew, Kaya enters. She immediately spots them, and smiles brightly at them as she approaches.
"Hey, there, Kaya!"
"Hello," replies Kaya. "I'm glad I caught up with you all. I was really worried that you would leave before I got a chance to thank you for everything you've done. You helped not just me but the village with what you did, even though you didn't have to. So, if you'll just follow me to the beach, I've prepared a gift for you from the very bottom of my heart. Please, accept it!" They pay the bill and then head out of the restaurant when Haru catches a whiff of a familiar perfume… one he's only ever smelled from a certain woman in a purple cowgirl hat.
"Luffy," calls Haru, earning his attention. "I'll catch up with everyone. I need to use the bathroom." Luffy laughs but nods in understanding while everyone heads off towards the beach. When he believes himself to be out of their sight he turns on his heel and walks around to the opposite side of the restaurant. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed and cowgirl hat tilted down slightly to block the sun is none other than Nico Robin. "Seems that we just can't help meeting, Robin."
"Mm, that's one way of looking at it I suppose," Robin replies, smiling a bit. "I heard that the Black Cat Pirates and their Captain were dealt with. I thought I might come to offer my congratulations… I seem to be one of few to do so."
"Are you sure you only heard?" Again she refuses to respond to his prodding and he chuckles a bit. "Well… if you happen to know who helped Luffy and I out then would you kindly tell her I said, 'thanks'? After all, someone like you could easily track that person down, hm?"
"Since you asked me so nicely… I'll be sure to pass on the message."
"Thank you. Now..." Haru steps closer, placing a hand on the wall beside her head and leaning in slightly, and lowering his voice. "... I think you owe me some answers, Nico Robin." He'd believed her to be the same height as him but… she was just a bit shorter after all. Two or three inches difference in height but it's enough. She's calm as ever despite his invasion of her personal space, expression unreadable to the red-head. He is close… close enough that she can feel the heat from him, that she can smell him, smell his cologne. It's a heady, distinctly masculine scent. Her perfume surrounds him, fills his head, makes his whole body feel light. "I think… I'm owed that much… right?"
Her eyes drift down to his chest, exposed by a half unbuttoned maroon shirt. Haru feels a cool hand press against his chest moments later and Robin chuckles. "My, you can certainly be charming when you want to..." Nimble finger-tips trace a thin scar across his tan skin. "... but don't you have to catch up with the rest of your crew?" She applies a little pressure and he takes the hint, stepping back from the woman and turning away from her. "Until we meet again, Haru..."
The walk to the beach is a short one, made shorter by Haru losing himself in thought. Nico Robin seems to know something about him, and his family… but getting any sort of answers out of her is akin to pulling teeth. And, of course, try as he might, he can't seem to recall meeting her at any point. He'd certainly remember any sort of run-in with her. The more he thinks about it the more his head begins to hurt. "How hard is it to give me a straight answer?" Haru mutters to himself in question. "Haah… why do I have such rotten luck with women?"
"Haru! Hey, Haru, look!" bellows a voice in the distance, breaking him out of his private thoughts. He looks up to find Luffy, no, the whole crew in front of a ship anchored close to the beach but ready to sail. It's a proper pirate ship! Their OWN ship! "Look what Kaya gave us! Isn't it great?!"
"Yeah, it is, Cap'n!" The red-head draws closer, looking at the beautiful ship. "Our own ship… it's a beautiful thing."
"Geez, Red, just how many times do you plan on being left behind?" Zoro taunts him, earning a glare from the red-head.
"Speaking of that, don't think I've forgotten for even a moment who left me all alone at the bottom of that slope, Zoro! It's your fault that I was late to the battle!"
"Are you still bent out of shape over that? You got up the slope, didn't you?"
" Still ?! Don't say it like it happened last week! It only happened a little bit ago!" It was at this point that they heard Usopp's yelling from behind, and the man came rolling down the hill on a collision course with the side of the ship.
"Is that Usopp? What's he doing?" Luffy wonders aloud, watching as he rapidly approaches.
"Who knows? Let's just stop him before he damages the ship," adds Zoro.
"I'm on it," Haru tells them, stepping forward and holding his fist out. He impacts, nose first and stops in place. "Yo, Usopp." While Usopp shucks off his swollen back-pack, the others board the ship. While they can't hear what he is saying it was clear that he was saying his goodbyes to her, and when he is finished he approaches the side of the ship and smiles up at them.
"You guys take care, ok?" calls Usopp. "Let's meet again someday, alright?"
"Meet again? Why?" replies Luffy.
"Obviously, I'm going to become a pirate so there's a chance we'll meet again on the seas!"
"We're meeting here and now!" Haru shouts back simply. "Get on! We haven't got all day, ya know?"
"Yeah, we're friends right? So, let's go!" agrees Luffy, grinning. After a moment he nods in agreement, smirking slightly.
"Yeah, I am the Captain, right?" asks Usopp, receiving a quick "No!" from Luffy in response…
Zoro sits silently, eyes closed and leaned back against the railing of the deck with his swords close by. Luffy is kneeling down on the deck, drawing on a piece of black cloth and Nami is familiarizing herself with sea-charts and maps. Usopp is doing something on the deck above with the figure-head and Haru is around… somewhere. When someone touches a cool bottle to his cheek, however, his eyes snap open and he looks up at red-head. "Let's have a drink, Zoro," Haru tells him, and he takes the bottle from his hand with a smirk. "We got a proper ship. We need to celebrate, right?"
"Well, since you put it that way," retorts Zoro, opening the bottle and tilting it back to take a long pull from it. Haru hops up to sit on the railing of the deck, and opens his bottle to do much the same. "Hey, this stuff is actually really good."
"I was down in the hold taking inventory. We've got a ton of booze on board. It's some pretty high quality stuff, too."
"Hey, Red, I was wondering something. Is your father really 'Red Haired' Shanks?"
"Yeah." Haru chuckles a bit. "But you know, I never once thought of him as 'the pirate' Shanks, he was just 'my dad' Shanks. Even so, I'm not blind to his strength. After all, it's that strength I'm gonna surpass." Hearing Luffy chuckling and giggling to himself, Haru finally decides he has to know what his Captain is up to. "Oi, Luffy, what are you up to over there?" Luffy looks over his shoulder at them, and grins from ear to ear before standing and showing to them all a rather poorly drawn skull with a straw hat.
"Since Usopp joined there's five of us now, so I decided it was time for us to have our own flag!" Luffy tells them, grinning. "What'cha think?"
"Honestly… it's a little lop-sided, Luffy." Usopp jumps down to the deck, waving a length of wood around wildly as he does. "Maybe someone else oughta take a whack at it."
"Huh? Is THAT supposed to be our mark? If you want someone to draw something then why not just ask me?" Usopp questions them. "Just leave this to me." He then proceeded to paint his own version of a jolly-roger onto the flag, which earned him a smack in the back of the head before he drew a much better looking version of Luffy's original idea onto it.
"I like it," agree the three men in unison.
"Paint one on the sail, too," Luffy tells him. An hour, and several can's of paint later and their sail was finally sporting their mark with their jolly-roger raised high. "Alright! Everything is ready to go! We finally have our own mark for the Going Merry...!"