And Brock liked Nadie already. He managed not to make a desperate grab at the offered muffin, to his credit, and took it instead with a smile.

"Thanks," he said. Taking a bite, he savored it for a moment. It wasn't the greatest muffin he'd ever had, but at this point it was food and that was a huge, huge selling point. He polished it off before speaking up again, his opinion of Nadie raised a few notches higher. "So did you find out the hard way about this place or you still in the dark?"

He didn't like holding newbie's hands, but since Nadie had given him some food, he supposed he could go through the whole run-down with her. He had to wonder if she had any special powers; the people he'd met so far had been a freak in some kind of way, whether it was a human Gumby like Luffy or a mind-reader like River.