Alright here is book two of Luffy and the USS Iowa. Uploaded 7/0/17.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[Creature speech]

/Radio communication/

:Demonic Speech:

Disclaimer: See heading to chapter 1.


Chapter 1: Dead End Adventure

"THIS IS NOT WORKING!" Usopp yelled with tears in his eyes and bumps on his head. He, along with Zoro, Gin, Sanji, Johnny, Yosaku, Anna, Arlong, Kuro, Jones, Chris, and Nojiko were all training with Luffy on how to use Haki. They were all sitting lotus style on the deck of the Iowa with blindfolds on while Luffy hit them with a broom stick, leaving the others to watch in amusement. After some major yelling and complaining from Sanji about how the women shouldn't need to train and get hurt because they're ladies, they decided that Luffy would fling a few metallic pellets of Usopp's at them. Zoro, through instincts, dodged a few strikes before his head was covered in bleeding bumps. Johnny and Yosaku couldn't dodge shit, but didn't give up in a small attempt to catch up with Zoro. Sanji dodged twice before he was whacked on the head, which was now a giant lump. Gin had dodged once, but the rest of the strikes hit. Usopp didn't stand a chance, both with the training, and his earlier attempt to weasel out of it with a fake disease. He was now holding onto the bumps on his head before he sat back up and cried. "This isn't training! This is us sitting on our asses while you smack us with a piece of wood!"

"It's how I was taught." Luffy said with a grin. "It just takes some time. Zoro, Sanji, Arlong, Jones, Kuro, Chris and Gin dodged some."

"Don't compare me to these monsters!" Usopp yelled as he stood up, only for Zoro to pull him back down onto his ass.

"We need this training." He said with a glare. "The people we fight on the Grand Line are gonna be stronger, so we need to get stronger as well."

"If they don't kill me, this training will!" Usopp whimpered with tears cascading down his face.

"Alright." Luffy said as he picked up the metal pellets and looked to Nojiko and Anna. "It's your turn."

"I thought you wanted to relax." Said Nojiko as she turned her head towards Anna.

"If I can get a little stronger, I will be of better use in the crew." She said. Truth was, she wanted to just sunbathe and relax in the nice weather or make some chocolate. But when Zoro's earlier comment about how if the four strongest on the ship did all the fighting, then the rest would just get soft. "Okay Captain. Take your best shot."

"You better not throw them at full speed Lucifer!" Nami warned from the tangerine trees. She didn't want to see her sister with a hole in her head because Luffy used too much strength.

"I got it." He said as he picked a single pellet out and aimed at Anna. "Here we go!" He said as he threw the first one at Anna. The pellet flew and hit Sanji in the chest.

"Oi, sit down Ero-Cook!" Sergeant Kelly Kroger barked.

"No way." Sanji said as he lit a cigarette and blew some smoke out. "I won't stand by when a lady's in trouble."

"She volunteered for the training like the rest of us." Gin said, with Usopp slapping the air with an 'Oi'.

"Come on Brother Sanji." Johnny said.

"Yeah." Yosaku added.

"I said I'm not moving." Sanji said while giving Luffy a defiant look before he found himself smashed against the cabin of the ship.

"That takes care of that." Kroger said as he lowers his leg

"Let's get this training done." Nojiko said.

"Right." Luffy said before he started lightly flinging the pellets at them. After a full minute, both Nojiko and Anna had a few welts on their foreheads, shoulders, and arms. "You guys didn't dodge any at all."

"Sorry." Nojiko said. "Maybe we should try something else."

"This haki stuff sounds really hard to use." Vivi said from the sidelines, earning a quack from Carue.

"How does he expect us to learn this?" Elizabeth asked as she painted another picture, with Robin reading a book next to her.

"Everyone!" Nami suddenly shouted. "Get to your positions! A big storm's coming!"

"Marines!" Chopper shouted from the crow's nest. "There's a marine ship off the starboard side and it's turning towards us!"

"Where'd they come from?" Anna asked as alarms start to ring out on the ship.

"Terrific!" Nami groaned as the wind picked up. Soon the Iowa's forward deck guns turn and start firing at the marines. The Iowa sails straight into the storm making the marines give up as they knew they would not survive in the storm.


Later

The crew had safely gotten away from the Marines and were now at an island with a huge town on it. It was night, but practically everyone was awake and lively as people were everywhere living it up or just talking. The Straw Hats were eating a meal inside one of the bars.

"These meals weren't half bad." Sanji said before asking the women if they wanted desert.

"Can I have some more cake please?" Elizabeth asked while Robin asked for some coffee.

"So we're a little tight on money?" Sanji asked after getting Robin her coffee and Elizabeth her cake.

"We haven't really been earning anything." Nami said as the others were either sitting at the bar or standing against the nearby wall. "And we'll be practically broke after we stock up on food."

"That's not good." Sanji said as he puffed on his cigarette.

"Maybe we could turn in some bounties while in disguise." Johnny suggested.

"Yeah." Yosaku said as he and Johnny reached into their jackets and pulled out wanted posters. "We made it a habit to collect any new wanted posters at every town we visit, so we could choose any of them."

"You know we can always request supplies to be brought to us." Luffy says.

"Oh yeah, we always could do that." Nami muttered before remembering that Luffy has a fleet of ships that are dedicated to resupplying the other ships in the Caspian Fleet, before she noticed the barkeep and a pirate talking, with it ending with the pirate leaving through a door. Some of the others asked her what it was before Zoro said that Nami could smell money with a grin despite being repeatedly hit in the head with tiny bones.

"Listen up guys." Nami said, stopping the ruckus that Usopp, Chopper, Gin, Johnny, and Yosaku were causing. "I smell an adventure, so quit fighting and get ready." She said. Gin smirked while the others had stars in their eyes while Nami walked over to the barkeep. The boys were cheering before they began to wrestle each other, with Carue joining the fray as Nami chatted with the barkeep. He said that it's not worth throwing their lives away, but she countered by saying that they're used to danger and that her crew wasn't one to turn away from danger, especially her captain. The barkeep sighed, saying that there's no cure for idiots or pirates and that he was sure they wanted to die young before telling them to follow him. He lead them through a locked door and into a room that held a dark mine shaft and told them to just go straight and they'll reach where they want to go.

"This is as far as I go." He said.

"Thanks for leading us here." Luffy said before Usopp started yelling that it might be a trap. Elizabeth stayed close to Anna, who leaned down next to her.

"Afraid of the dark?" She whispered. Elizabeth nodded before they held hands before Luffy told them he was going.

"This is gonna be a great adventure!" He said in excitement. Usopp stated he had a Can't-enter-this-creepy-mineshaft disease.

"I have a cure for that." Gin added. "It's in the form of a suppository the size of my foot."

"I've never heard of a suppository like that." Said Chopper in naive confusion. Some of them facepalmed.

They kept on walking with Zoro leading them down the tunnel before he squinted his eyes. He looked back when they asked what was wrong before looking ahead and screaming at the creepy face that appeared in the darkness. Nami stepped forward and presented the password, making him resheath his hidden blade and open the door to them. The more eager Straw Hats ran inside and were immediately left in awe at the sight before them. They were in an enormous room that held hundreds, if not thousands of pirates all around the room on many of the floors that they were on. Each little room they were in had their Jolly Roger hung up, showing who they were as they all laughed, ate, and partied. They looked down to see two giants sitting on the ground floor laughing before they looked up and saw a ship being suspended by ropes.

"Where'd all these pirates come from?" Nami asked. "There should be more ships with all these people here.

"Yo, hotstuff." Called a man. Nami and the others looked at him as he smiled at her. "Here to bet? Bookmaker's on the top floor." When she asked what he was talking about, he asked if they were gonna enter the race. "I wouldn't throw away your lives for that dumb race."

"Now I recognize this place." Robin said. All of them turned to her as she explained that she had been to this place before with another pirate crew. "It's an underground race they hold every few years. Organized by pirates, for pirates, the anything-goes Dead End Race." She told them all that citizens of the town were former pirates, and that the goal was always different, but started from the island that they were on. Each vessel was provided an Eternal Pose that pointed to the island they were to travel to, and that the rules were that the winner was the first one there. Whatever happens while traveling there was their own problem, and that they'd receive a prize at the end.

"Sound like this race will be a little dangerous." Nami said.

"And yet you were the one who wanted to come here because you smelled money." Nojiko said with a small smile. Nami asked who else would be entering, which the man from before said that around a third of everyone there would be in the race.

"That's a lot of people!" Anna said as the man pointed out the third and second favorites. The two giants named Bobby and Pogo were the third favorites, while a fishman, and old Rival of Arlong's, named Willy was second favorite. Arlong was glaring at his rival and used all his willpower to turn away. Nami and Usopp had calm smiles on their faces before Nami tried to convince Luffy that they shouldn't enter, but changed her tune after hearing that the prize is 300,000,000 berries.

"WE'RE WINNING THIS RACE!" She yelled to the others. Most of them agreed while Zoro and Usopp looked like they wanted to slap her. They soon found themselves following Nami as she went to sign them up, none of them noticing that Luffy had suddenly vanished.


With Luffy

Luffy was looking around on the bottom floor.

"Hey, that looks good. Gimme."

"I can't! This was ordered by those guys." Luffy turned his head to see a waiter trying to keep some food away from a man with wavy, light brown hair and a yellow jacket with the word SICK on the left breast of the jacket.

"Hey, asshole!" Came a shout. Luffy, the waiter, and the man in yellow looked to see a bunch of people with sinister grins on their faces stand up and walk towards the guy. "What's the big idea holding up the waiter with our food? You know who we are? We're Gasparde's crew." The man in yellow removed the napkin from around his neck and stood in front of the guy with pink, buzzed hair that looked like a clawed hand was grabbing his head from behind.

"It's too late for apologies." Sneered the pink haired pirate. "We'll enjoy our meal after we kill you."

"Hey, Shuraiya." Luffy called. All of them looked at Luffy as he waved at the man in yellow before he looked up.

"Shuraiya Bascud is my name, though how do you know it?"

Luffy grinned and laughed while some of the pirates whispered about him being the 'Pirate Executioner'.

"What does a man with 48,000,000 berries on his head want?" Shuraiya asked, completely ignoring the pirates that were threatening him earlier. Luffy snorts as yet again someone has still gotten hold of his wrong bounty and has not seen his new or current bounty.

"HEY! DON'T IGNORE US, YOU BASTARD!" Yelled the pink haired man.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked, making one of the men pull out his gun and fire at Luffy. Luffy disappeared in a black cloud of mist, making them all blink and look around for him.

"What the-? Where'd he go?"

"How'd he disappear like that?"

"Is he like General Gasparde? Another Fruit User?"

"Over here." All of them looked to see Luffy grinning and waving at them. The pirates, either from fear or rage, all began to pull out pistols and fire at Luffy, who didn't budge an inch as the bullets all hit him.

"Stupid brat." One of them said with a grin as Luffy just stood there with his head down before jerking it up, scaring the shit out of the pirates. Shuraiya's eyes were as wide as theirs as Luffy smiled and opened his hand letting all the bullets fall to the floor. All the pirates started sweating at the spectacle that they just witnessed, with Shuraiya blinking in shock as well.

"That won't work on me. I ate the Water-Water Fruit. I'm a Waterman." He said keeping his other Devil Fruit ability secret, before he turned his hand and arm into water, making the lot of them freak out at the sight of him.

"This is bad! We should tell General Gasparde-"

"ARE YOU ALL COWARDS?!" Shouted the pink haired pirate before he glared at Luffy and Shuraiya. "Gasparde has a higher bounty than this water freak! All we gotta do is gang up on him! Then we'll take care of this food stealing bounty hunter! GET THEM!" The pirates charged at his command as they ran at Luffy, who was easily swatting them away like flies. Shuraiya just grinned as he used everything and anything he could get his hands on and fought back the pirates that went after him as well while the spectators ran off in a panic.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Shuraiya asked as he smashed a chair over someone's head.

"I heard from some pirate that you want to take down Gasparde, so I thought that I'd offer some help." Luffy said as he grabbed two pirates and smashed their heads together. Shuraiya raised an eyebrow at his statement as he grabbed one of the pirate's swords and was now using it against them.

"You have something against Gasparde?" He asked.

"Yeah." Luffy said as he elbowed one of them in the face.

"Hey Luffy!" Called a voice. Luffy looked to see Zoro, Gin, Usopp, Jones, Arlong, Johnny, Yosaku, and Chopper walking down the staircase and watching him fight.

"What's going on?" Zoro asked in a bored tone.

"Nothing. Just a fight." He said as he reached behind himself and threw another pirate without moving the rest of his body.

"Hogging all the fun by yourself, huh?" Gin said with a smirk.

"Friends of yours?" Shuraiya asked as he flipped a table up and used it as a shield.

"They're my nakama." He said with a grin.

"Then they're no friends of ours!" Yelled a few pirates as they went after Luffy's friends, only for Zoro, Gin, Jones, and Arlong to effortlessly take them out. While they were fighting, and yelling at the other four for either admiring them or hiding, Luffy and Shuraiya were now hanging onto a giant chain that was going up the floors, with the Gasparde pirates right behind them.

"Hi everybody!" Luffy yelled at the girls and Kuro, Merry, Chris, and Sanji as they passed by.

"Lucifer? What are you doing?" Nami asked in surprise as they looked at him.

"Just a fight." He said.

"Why am I not surprised?" Anna asked with a smile while Kaya laughed.

"Have fun Luffy!" Nojiko called.

"I am!" He called back while laughing before he, Shuraiya, and the pirates were now standing on the boat that was suspended in the air.

"Got you now!" One of them yelled as the ship rocked in the air.

"Watch it morons! You might cut the ropes!" Shuraiya yelled.

"As if we'd be scared of something like that!" Said the pink haired pirate with a grin. Shuraiya just sighed before he kicked an oar that was connected to the ship, making it twirl and knock all but the pink haired pirate off the boat, leaving him, Shuraiya, and Luffy the only ones left.

"It's raining men." Elizabeth said as she watched the swaying boat with the other women and four boys while the pirates fell into the water below.

"Guess Luffy's having a lot of fun up there." Anna said with a laugh.

"Too much fun." Luna added when the boat tipped over and the three men fell out. Luffy grabbed the pirate while Shuraiya safely jumped to the upper ledges.

"You saved him?" Shuraiya asked. "You're a strange one."

"Felt like it." Luffy said before dusting himself off and turning to him. "So, as I was saying before-"

"I'm not done with you yet." Said the pirate as he got to his feet and shakily pointed his sword at the two of them.

"You're starting to annoy me." Luffy said.

"Be quiet." Echoed a deep voice. The three of them looked to see a dark room littered with debris and bodies, with two figures in the back. One was a man with pale skin, tattoos on his face and biceps, and claws in the holsters on his hips. But their attention was on the tall, muscular man wearing an elaborate Marine jacket with the Marines insignia crossed out in red. Luffy and Shuraiya were calmly looking at him, while the pirate turned blue with his mouth gaping open.

"General Gasparde!" Whimpered the pirate as Gasparde looked at the three of them. "Why are you here?"

"You got a problem with me being here?" He asked in a deep voice, making the pirate stutter and flail in terror while saying he thought he was on the ship. "Since when do I need your permission to do as I please?" He asked, causing the pirate to apologize. Luffy just watched before the pink haired pirate was painfully thrown over the balcony by Needles. "Scum." Gasparde huffed while Needles bowed. Luffy frowned as a group of people from around the area were watching to see what was going on. "Seems that you've been enjoying yourself." Gasparde said as he looked at Shuraiya. "Who are you?"

"My name's Shuraiya. A poor, no-name bounty hunter." He introduced as he put on his black hat while a few pirates began whispering about him.

"I've heard of you too." Gasparde said as he looked at Luffy, remembering what he had read in the newspapers about him. "A man with 48,000,000 berries that likes to piss of Royalty one way or another. Very interesting. How about this?" He said with a grin. "You two wanna work under me?"

"I'm the one who's supposed to be hunting you guys." Shuraiya said with a grin.

"Look at me, an ex-marine." Gasparde said. "You have guts and skill. I only like strong guys after all."

"Didn't expect this to happen." Shuraiya said with a dark smile before looking at Luffy. "You gonna join him?"

"Nope!" Said Luffy, making Shuraiya frown. "He smells like trash." He said before he disappeared when Needles lunged at him for insulting Gasparde. He reappeared a few feet away while Gasparde laughed.

"You've got guts kid. But I'd watch your mouth in the future." He said. "Come to my ship if you reconsider." He said before he stood up and walked away, with Needles joining him as they disappeared behind a door.

"Back to the matter at hand." Shuraiya said as he gave Luffy a serious look. "You said you wanted to help me take down Gasparde. Why?"

"Because he's a jerk who treats his crew like they're nothing." Luffy said. "Even the guy they call a bookmaker's gonna die because of him."

"You mean that bookmaker that's in charge of the race registration?" Shuraiya asked.

"Yeah." Luffy said. "All of this is nothing but a game to Gasparde to amuse him."

"Heh. Bastard." Shuraiya said. "So, how would you help me against Gasparde?"

"Flour." Luffy said, remembering hearing about how flour affects Gasparde.

"Flour?"

"Gasparde ate a Devil Fruit. I think it was called the Candy-Candy Fruit. It's a Logia that turns his body into candy syrup or something." Luffy explained as they walked.

"Is that so?" Shuraiya said with a small smile. He didn't know who Luffy was, but if what he said was true, then Gasparde would finally pay for what he did eight years ago. "So how does flour help?" He asked.


Morning came and the Straw Hats were up and getting the ship ready to race that was soon to start. Nami was staring at the Eternal Pose the bookmaker had given her, looking right through it towards the mountain in the distance. Everyone was now joining her on the deck as they were trying to figure out what they were supposed to do before Robin explained how the race starts. She told them about the rivers that branch in from the sea and meet at the main stream in front of them, the other ships were probably at the other branches, and that the ship would be going up the mountain like Reverse Mountain. She also explained that a strong back current and a fierce gale arrives at the island once every few years, which is what they would be using.

"Robin-chwan is so smart~! You know everything~!" Sanji said with a goofy face and hearts for eyes.

"Well, I can understand the theory, but..." Nami said before Luffy took the Eternal Pose out of her hand. "Huh?"

"What are you doing Luffy?" Vivi asked before they heard something snap.

"YOU BETTER NOT HAVE BROKEN THAT LUCIFER!" Nami yelled furiously with shark teeth. "I'M NOT GONNA LOSE 300,000,000 BERRIES BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY!"

"This thing is a fake." Luffy said. Nami blinked a few times while the rest of the crew looked at him in mild confusion.

"What do you mean it's a fake?" Gin asked. Luffy held up the Eternal Pose to see the nameplate removed, revealing the true location the needle was pointing at.

"That's the name of a Marine Stronghold." Robin said with slightly wide eyes.

"WHAT?!" Most of them shouted.


The whole crew was grinning in excitement as the light at the end became brighter until they sailed out. They were immediately greeted by the sight of both sides of the river being packed with pirates, all of whom were cheering, but faltered as they see the huge gray ship that exited the tunnel covered in guns. The Straw Hats were looking around as the ship sailed on while they looked at the crowds of people before they saw the competition sailing up the other rivers.

"That's a big one." Sanji said while looking at a huge ship with the Marine's Insignia crossed out in red. "Never seen a steam powered ship, besides this ship, but..." He said when he noticed the smoke stack. "This ship doesn't run off steam does it Luffy?" Sanji asks.

"No, when I got ownership of this ship, it was steam powered, but I modernized it and put in a different engine, that puts out more power than a steam engine." Luffy says.

"That's the top favorite, Gasparde's ship, the Salamander." Nami explained. She then told them that he was a former marine that turned pirate with a 95,000,000 berry bounty on his head.

"That's pretty high!" Anna said.

"Higher than Crocodile's bounty!" Gin added.

"We have to be careful. He's eaten a Devil Fruit." Nami went on. "He's been dubbed 'General'. There are also some nasty rumors about him."

"He's also the one who rigged the race." Luffy said as he held up the fake Eternal Pose. "You can ask the stowaway about it when we get out to sea." He said before another ship came up next them, it's captain laughing his ass off by trying to be brave at the sight of the Iowa. Two other ships showed up next them, with Nami shouting who each of them were. They looked on ahead to see all the ships sailing up the mountain while they began a rapid incline. Some of the crew were standing on the wall of the cabin as they continued upward before they reached the top and sailed off. Everyone was looking out for a few seconds as the sun hit them. "YAHOOOO!" Luffy shouted as they began to fall. Luffy, Usopp, Carue, and Vivi were floating off the ship before Usopp tried swimming back to it, Luffy reappeared back onto the deck, Carue flailed while crying, and Vivi began screaming in fear.

"I GOT YOU, VIVI-SWAN!" Sanji called with his arms held open before they hit the water. Carue landed on Sanji's face, earning a laugh from Zoro, Jones, Arlong, Kuro, Sgt. Kroger and some of the others that were on deck, Usopp landed on Johnny and Yosaku, and Vivi fell into Luffy's arms.

"Thank you, Luffy." Vivi said while trembling before Luffy set her back on her feet.

"No sweat!" Luffy replied with a grin before almost every ship began to either explode from fighting one another or crashing due to the strong currents. It was tense, but they had managed to get out to sea unscathed. They sailed on into calmer waters before they all gathered around Luffy.

"So what were you talking about when you said Gasparde rigged the race?" Johnny asked.

"And what's this about a stowaway?" Yosaku added before Zoro flicked a blade out of its sheath.

"They've got a lot of guts stowing away on a pirate ship." Zoro said.

"Either they're here to sabotage us for another crew to win, or to collect the bounty on our heads." Anna added.

"She's below deck in the bathroom." Luffy said with his eyes closed.

"She?" Sanji asked. "If she's here to take your heads, aside from Anna-swan and Robin-chan, Nami-swan, Nojiko-chan, Elizabeth-chan, Vivi-chan..." He said before he exhaled some smoke. "Then that's fine."

"ASSHOLE!" Yelled the men before Luffy walked off inside the ship and opened the bathroom door.

"Come on out." Luffy said. "I know you're in here." Nothing happened for a moment before a little kid jumped out of the bathtub and shot at Luffy with a gun. Luffy only smiled as the bullet hit him and making his chest ripple like water, as his body turned to water, making the kid freak out as the bullet fell out of his hand as it fell to the floor, making her turn blue.

"W-w-w-what the heck?!" She stuttered as she dropped the gun. "What are you?!"

"I ate the Water-Water Fruit. I'm a Waterman." Luffy said before turning his arm to water.

"W-W-Waterman?" She stuttered before Luffy walked over and picked her up. She protested the whole way as Luffy brought her into the cabin, where everyone was lounging around and talking before they saw Luffy walk in.

"That's the stowaway?" Chris asked as Chopper ran over to examine her.

"Yeah. She's the one." Luffy said as he put her down.

"How'd you know she's a girl?" Zoro asked. Luffy reached down and lifted her white hat off, letting her long brown hair flow to her back.

"Hey!" She yelled before she yanked it out of his hand and put it back on. "Okay, so I'm a girl. So what?!"

"You the one that fired that gunshot?" Thomas asked. "Not a very smart idea to shoot at a pirate."

"He's right." Nami said while Nojiko walked over to her. "If it was any other ship, you'd probably be dead now."

"Shut up!" She yelled as she glared at them all before Nojiko lifted her up by her overall straps. "Hey! Put me down!"

"Sanji, would you mind making some food?" She asked. "I'm gonna give her a bath. You still have some of those old dresses of yours Nami?"

"Yeah." Nami said as she stood up. "I'll help. Then we'll talk about that Eternal Pose." She said as she turned to Luffy.

"Food~!" Sang Usopp, Chopper, Johnny, and Yosaku.

"Let's just hope there's still some food by the time we're done." Nojiko laughed as the two sisters took the screaming little girl out of the cabin.

"Wait a minute!" Usopp yelled. "If it's a fake, then where are we going?"

"Follow Gasparde's ship." Luffy said. "He rigged the race, so he knows where to go."

"You know of Gasparde's plan?" Asked the little girl in surprise.

"We'll talk about that after your bath." Nojiko said.


20 minutes later

Sanji had just finished making food before Nami and Nojiko walked into the cabin. Nojiko's outfit of a green top and pants had changed to a blue tube-top and shorts that were similar to Nami's shorts. And right behind them was Anaguma in a yellow dress with purple spots near the top, sandals on her feet, and a tiny red welt on her left cheek.

"What happened to her?" Chopper asked as he examined the wound, making Anaguma yell and point wildly at him, calling him a deer. "I'M A REINDEER!"

"EVEN WEIRDER!" She yelled.

"SHUT UP YA JERK!" Chopper yelled before Luna bopped them both on the head to stop the screaming.

"She said something about not having any hope." Nojiko said.

"So I slapped her." Nami added.

"Was that really necessary?" Vivi asked as she fed Carue some food while Sanji began serving the women their food, with the men griping about him feeding them last.

"Ladies get top priority." He said before he walked over and gave Nami and Nojiko their meals. "Just a moment little lady. I'll get your plate."

"First a bath, then a dress, and now food." She said. "Is this all out of pity?"

"Hmm. Call it an exchange." Nami said as she walked the little girl to the table as Johnny and Yosaku stood up to let her have the table.

"An exchange?" She asked as Sanji placed a meal in front of her. "For what?"

"I believe our Navigator is hoping for some info on this Eternal Pose that we've been given." Robin said as she held up the Eternal Pose and nameplate that was on it.

"Luffy said that this Gasparde character's behind it." Usopp said. "That true?"

"Yes." She said as she took a bite. "It's good." She said.

"Tricking the other racers, along with us, isn't good!" Yosaku said.

"She meant the food moron." Elizabeth said as Anaguma ate some more.

"How do you know Gasparde anyway?" Gin asked. "Are you in his crew?" Anaguma stopped eating and lowered her head.

"No. But my grandpa works on the ship, keeping the boiler in good condition, and I'm his assistant." She said. "But, the pirates on his ship don't see us as crewmates. That's why..." She said as tears threatened to fall. "That's why they won't give him any medicine, even though he's sick."

"He's sick?" Chopper asked. "What does he have?"

"I don't know." She said. "And we don't have any money of our own to buy medicine. That's why...THAT'S WHY I'M HERE!" She yelled with anger and tears in her eyes. "GASPARDE TOLD ME IF I CAN KILL A PIRATE, HE'D MAKE ME A CREWMATE AND HAVE THEM GIVE MY GRANDPA THE MEDICINE HE NEEDS! EVEN THOUGH WE'RE NOT BLOOD RELATED, I WANNA SAVE HIM! HE SAVED ME EIGHT YEARS AGO, AND I CAN'T EVEN SAVE HIM!"

"So that's why you're on our ship?" Kaya asked as she ate. "To prove yourself and to help your grandfather?"

"Yes." She said. "But I couldn't do it. Now Grandpa's never gonna get any better." She said with a sniffle. "Grandpa." All of them were looking at her with pity before Chopper looked to Luffy, who had Iowa sitting on his lap.

"You're stupid." Luffy said, making them all look at him. "The old man didn't save you so that you could do something stupid like that."

"I know that!" She yelled.

"If you get it, then live!" He said as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "If your resolve is that strong. Go and rescue him from that ship! If you're not gonna do anything about it, then you have no right talking about risking your life."

"Someone like you," She said as her tears fell. "Doesn't have to tell me that!"

"Luffy, Can we help her and her grandpa out?" Vivi asked. Anaguma cried while Luffy grinned.

"Sure thing!" He said. "I already planned on doing that! Along with kicking Gasparde's ass! You all with me?"

"AYE!" They all cheered while Anaguma just cried.

"And you, Anaguma?" Luffy asked.

"YOU BET I AM!" She yelled.

"Good. Now," Nami said as she looked at the fake pose. "About our question earlier?"

"There were tons of Eternal Poses inside the cargo hold on the Salamander." Anaguma explained as she wiped her eyes.

"That lousy bookmaker!" Kuro growled. "He's the one who gave us this pose! That bastard's in on it?!"

"If you got that pose from him, then yes." Anaguma said while Vivi and Valerie suddenly had dark clouds hanging over their heads.

"What's wrong with you two?" Zoro asked.

"I thought we could make a little more from winning." Anna said.

"So we took my life savings, plus the money Anna had on her, and we bet on us." Vivi added.

"If the bookmaker that gave us this pose is the same guy who kept track of the bets." Johnny started.

"Then kiss your money goodbye." Yosaku finished, both of them earning a severe bashing from the two women.

"We'll thut ub now." Both men mumbled in pain.

"Why didn't you two say you had any money?" Nami demanded. "How much?!"

"I took along the 500,000 berries I had in my personal savings." Vivi said.

"And I had 100,000 leftover from some bounties Chris and I turned in." Anna said.

"You two had 600,000 berries altogether?!" Nami yelled. "AND NOW THAT LOUSY BOOKMAKER HAS IT ALL?!"

"We're sorry!" They said as Nojiko held Nami back so she wouldn't throttle them.

"Alright, that's enough." Nojiko said in a calm voice while Chopper and Anaguma hid behind Vivi and Anna.

"She's scaring me." Anaguma and Chopper said in unison.


Some time later

The Straw Hats kept on sailing as the weather changed a few times, with Usopp in the Crow's nest keeping an eye out for Gasparde's ship while they sailed on, despite the other pirates appearing from time to time.

"What a dinky ship!" Yelled a pirate from their left. "We'll get rid of an eyesore like you!" The Straw Hat's only grinned as the other crew threw out grappling lines and began to swing across. Usopp, Nojiko, Gin, and some sailors shot down a handful of them with their pistols/rifle, while the rest of the crew easily dealt with any that managed to land on deck.

"This is too easy." Zoro said as he slashed another pirate. "Let's get rid of these flies quickly and find that Gasparde bastard."

"I agree." Nami said as the last pirate was flung off before one of the deck guns turned to port and fired and blew a hole into the enemy ship, sinking it. "If we can get control of his ship, we can find an Eternal Pose to Partia and get my 300 million berries!"

"And help Anaguma's grandfather." Nojiko reminded her.

"Right, right." Nami said with a smile as she waved her hand.

"Still, how are we gonna get there?" Usopp asked. "I mean, what if he's already going there?"

"We'll use Chopper's nose." Luffy said.

"Leave it to me!" Chopper said.

"Is that even possible?" Usopp asked in disbelief.

"Just leave navigation to me!" Nami said as the ship was now sailing off towards their new goal: Gasparde's ship, the Salamander.


On the Salamander

The clouds overhead darkened the sky as the Salamander sailed on, it's course readjusted so that it was heading towards Partia. Shuraiya was wandering the ship before stopping in the boiler room, where he talked to the old boiler stoker for awhile. They talked about the ship, how it reminded him of a ship he and his little sister went to see eight years ago before Gasparde showed up and set the town ablaze, leaving less than 100 people alive. The old man just looked at him in astonishment as Shuraiya said he'd finish himself off after dealing with Gasparde, claiming he couldn't live with all the blood soaked into him. He left the old man with his name before walking out of the boiler room, then headed towards the deck after hearing Gasparde's voice ring out. Gasparde was sitting on some stairs on deck, with Needles standing next to him. He told Shuraiya that he heard his story and that he'd done well these past eight years.

"All to kill you." Shuraiya said as with a shovel over his shoulder.

"I'd love to play, but Needles here asked to kill you himself." Gasparde said.

"Doesn't matter who's first." Shuraiya said as Needles lunged at him, making him jump up to the upper railing. "You're both targets!" He yelled as the two of them began to fight. The fight was intense for a few short moments before Shuraiya and Needles brought down one of the masts on the ship, despite Gasparde's orders to Needles not to break the ship. Gasparde sighed in boredom and irritation before he spotted a ship off in the distance. He watched as it got closer before smirking.

"Hope this little brat entertains me better then this kid here." He said as he looked to see Needles and Shuraiya fighting each other.


With the Straw Hats

"Here I come Gasparde!" Luffy said in anger as he twirled his scythe around in circles while standing on the Iowa's bow.

"Alright," Said Zoro as he looked down at Anaguma. "You're sure you can take us to where your grandpa is, right?"

"I know where the boiler room is." She said as they sailed closer to the ship.

"Hey Luffy." Gin said.

"Yeah?"

"When we get over there, how about we see if there's anything worth taking?" He said. "Gotta be something worth plundering."

"I think some of the crew on his ship know if he's got any treasure." Anaguma said.

"Be quick about it." Nami said as she looked out at the sky.

"I thought you'd want them to search thoroughly." Nojiko teased.

"The weather's acting up. Something's coming." Nami said.

"Sure, but leave Gasparde to me." Luffy said before they started firing at them. Luffy stretched his arm over his head and a barrier of water was over the ship, catching the cannonballs. He disappears in a cloud of black mist and appears on Gasparde's ship with his head down and his hat covering his eyes.

"Surprised you've made it." Gasparde said with a grin while his crew all ran to the deck.

"Straw Hat?" Shuraiya said as he and Needles looked at him. Both fighters were severely wounded, but didn't take their eyes off of Luffy.

"Who's that guy?!"

"Isn't he the waterman from Hannabal?"

"He is! Get him!" They all charged at him with their swords raised, ready to gut him where he stood before they all felt a surge of power and fainted. Gasparde's eyes widened for a moment before he smirked, while Shuraiya and Needles eyes seemed to forget how to close.

'W-what the heck was that?!' Shuraiya thought.

"You're no ordinary man." Gasparde said.

"Just a run-of-the-mill pirate." Luffy said. "Unless I find the One Piece, then I won't be ordinary." He said with a grin.

"Pretty big talk." Gasparde said after he laughed. "Another dreamer on this boring sea."

"And another moron who only cares about getting more power." Luffy said. Gasparde's grin turned to a mad smile as a muscle stuck out on his forehead.

"Hey, Straw Hat." Shuraiya called. "He's my fight in a moment, so don't interfere." After that, Needles and Shuraiya began to battle once again, with more of the ship falling apart on the deck.

"I told Needles not to break the ship and he ignores me." Gasparde said before looking down at Luffy. "Still, he was here before you. I'll let you entertain me after I get through with him."

"Fine." Luffy said before a grappling line hooked to the side of the ship. Zoro, Sanji, Anaguma, Gin, Johnny, Yosaku, Jones, Arlong, Kuro, Chris, Luna, and some soldiers all boarded the ship to see Luffy and Gasparde talking before they saw Shuraiya knock another man overboard with a shovel.

"Hey Luffy, what are you doing?" Zoro asked.

"I thought you wanted to kick his ass?" Gin said.

"He was here first." Luffy said just as Shuraiya walked towards Gasparde.

"So, how will you entertain me?" Gasparde asked with a grin just as a small door opened up on deck, revealing an old man crawling out.

"What's going on?" He wheezed before Anaguma ran towards him.

"Grandpa!" She yelled as she hugged him, causing everyone to look at her while she begged him to come with her.

"That sounds like the old man's assistant." Gasparde said to himself. Shuraiya took the opportunity to throw something inside his pocket at Gasparde, who brought his arm up to block it before he felt a searing pain in his arm. "What?!" He yelled as he looked down to see that his hand was now a bloody stump with white powder mixed in. "Flour?!"

"Hey! You guys get whatever you can from the ship!" Zoro ordered as he picked Anaguma up by her waist to take her back to the ship.

"Right." Said the rest of the crew before they scattered.

"Tch. They wanna raid my ship when I'm still alive? Fools." Gasparde said before Shuraiya turned to see Anaguma yelling.

'That voice...Adelle?' Shuraiya thought while Gasparde noticed him looking away and smirked.

"She seems important." Gasparde said as he turned his remaining hand into a hardened point. Shuraiya looked up just in time to see Gasparde's arm shoot out towards her.

"NO! ADELLE!" Shuraiya yelled. He didn't know if she was Adelle or not, but right now he didn't care. Zoro noticed too late to move as the attack was closing in. Adelle face turned blank with fear as the point stopped just a few inches from her, with Luffy holding the attack back with a blackened hand.

"She's not part of this fight." Luffy said as he glared at Gasparde.

"Interfering little-" Gasparde said before his vision was clouded with white...then red...then nothing. The only sound any of them heard was Gasparde's flour covered head hitting the deck with a thud. Shuraiya was breathing hard with a bloody shovel in his hand while glaring down at Gasparde's dead body.

"Eight years." Shuraiya said before the shovel fell from his hand and he fell to his knees. "Eight long years...and it's finally over." He didn't move at all as Zoro jumped back to the ship with Adelle in his arms while Luffy walked over to Shuraiya. Shuraiya didn't even look at him as Luffy stood next to him. "Sorry Straw Hat. Guess I didn't leave any for you."

"You fought him and won." Luffy said. "That's all there is to it."

"Hey Luffy!" Gin called. Luffy looked back to see Gin hold a sack of something in one hand and the pink haired pirate covered in bandages in another. "We got what we could get. Come on! The old man's gonna sink the ship and a cyclone's coming." He said as he looked out at the raging storm in the distance while the others came back with some other bags in their hands and were now heading towards the ship.

"Alright!" Luffy said before turning to Shuraiya. "Come on. Let's go."

"I'm staying." He said. "My soul's soaked in blood. I can't be allowed to live." Luffy looked down at him before he smashed his fist into his face, knocking Shuraiya out cold before throwing him over his shoulder.

"You've got a family that you don't even know about, so don't talk about dying." Luffy said as he threw Shuraiya overboard onto the Iowa before taking off into the ship until he found the old man staring at a boiler that was moments from blowing. "Time to go." Luffy said. "Everyone else is off."

"Right." Said the old man as he looked at the boiler one last time. "Sorry old girl." He said before the Salamander exploded into a massive ball of smoke and debris.

"LUFFY!" Called his friends from their ship that had sailed away. They were sailing towards a nearby island for safety until the storm blew over and most of them were panicking at the thought that Luffy didn't get off in time. Zoro just kept a calm face and looked out at the wreckage before a cloud of black mist appeared and vanishing depositing Luffy and the old man.

"There he is." Zoro said.

"Safe!" Luffy said as they all cheered before sailed towards the island.


Later

The storm had passed and the crew, thanks to the Eternal Pose supplied by the old boiler man, was now sailing towards Partia to claim their prize. The pirates that the crew forced to tell where anything valuable was were tied up to be let off at the next island while the old man told Shuraiya about a little girl of three that he had saved from the river at the town that Shuraiya lived in eight years ago. He didn't want to believe it, but his little sister was alive all these years. The two of them slowly accepted that they were siblings with the help of the old man as the island they were sailing to came into view.

"AHHH! THE MARINES!" Usopp yelled as he pointed out to the three marine ships that were sailing closer to them all.

"It's the same one's that were chasing us before the race!" Sanji said.

"We gotta turn back or they'll sink us!" Anna said.

"No!" Luffy ordered. "You guys sail towards the island and get the prize." He said as he summoned his scythe and Nodachi. "I didn't get to fight Gasparde, so I'm gonna take it out on them." And with that, he vanished in a cloud of black mist. The crew didn't argue as they did what they were told and sailed towards the island.

"You think he'll be okay?" Elizabeth asked as a few small explosions and a small wave of Haki came from the ships, with Luffy jumping and bouncing around from ship to ship.

"He'll be fine." Zoro said with a smirk.


Later

Almost everyone was gathered around a table inside the cabin as the ship sailed away, with Partia long out of sight. The pirates that they had dragged off the Salamander got off along with Shuraiya, Adelle, and the old man, with the Marines too focused on Luffy's rampage to even think of anything else except capturing him. The crew were safely away from the Marines, but were now focusing on something else.

"Well?" Sanji asked as they all stared at it.

"Is that...what I think it is?" Johnny asked.

"It's so...small." Yosaku added.

"But powerful." Anna said while Elizabeth gently poked it.

"Looks different from mine." Luffy said.

"So," Vivi said as she picked it up and gently held it in her hand. "This is a Devil Fruit?"

"Yeah." Luna said as they all stared at the tiny fruit. It was about the size of a lime with spirals all over it, was blueish-green in color, had a twisted stem, and had a glossy shine to it. "I found it when I was helping Sanji with unloading the food we took from the kitchen. Strange thing though is that it was an ordinary fruit when I grabbed it."

"Well, they say that when a fruit user dies, the power that they had leaves the body and finds its way into the nearest fruit." Robin explained.

"And since we saw Gasparde's dead body on the deck, then it must be his power." Zoro said. "What did you say he had Luffy?"

"This is the Candy-Candy Fruit." Luffy said.

"Candy?!" Chopper said as his eyes sparkled.

"That's a Logia-type fruit." Robin said. "I've heard that it's a rare kind in that it lets the user turn their body between a semi-liquid to a hardened form of candy syrup."

"So what do we do with it?" Gin asked.

"One of us could eat it." Nojiko suggested.

"I'll eat it!" Luffy said with a grin as he took the fruit and put it towards his mouth jokingly.

"NO!" Anna yelled as she tackled Luffy. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"What are you doing?" Luffy yelled as the fruit rolled away.

"No one can eat two Devil Fruits." Robin said. "I've never seen what happens, but all the rumors I've heard end fatally."

"If you had eaten it, you'd have died." Anna said as she got off Luffy with them all forgetting that he has eaten two fruits.

"I was joking. Why would I want to eat a third?" He says making their eyes widen in realization that he has survived from eating two fruits.

"We could sell it." Johnny said.

"They say that a single one of these things can sell for 100,000,000 berries easy." Yosaku said.

"Shh." Nojiko said with a finger up to her smiling lips. "Nami's already going crazy below deck with the prize money we got."

"And the treasure from Gasparde's ship." Vivi said. "And the winnings from our bet that we placed."

"If she hears that we could get more, she'll try selling it every chance she can get." Nojiko said.

"So what should we do with it?" Kaya asked.

"Well, having a Logia on our side would be nice. The only one with a logia power is Luffy." Sanji said, remembering Smoker's powers and how they couldn't fight him.

"But which one of us would eat it?" Usopp asked. "Anyone interested?"

"Why not you Usopp?" Chopper suggested. Usopp looked down at the fruit with a thoughtful expression before Elizabeth giggled.

"What's so funny?" Anna asked.

"I can see it now. WANTED: Dead or Alive. 'Candy-Man' Usopp." She said.

"Pass."All the men said while the girls laughed. None of them could live with being called 'Candy-Man'.

"Why not Carue?" Chopper said. "Animals can eat them too. Look at me." He said. Carue only shook his head in refusal.

"Well, most of us can't eat it." Robin said. "The only ones who can are Miss Navigator, Miss Nefertari, Miss Artist, Miss Doctor Assistant, and Miss Gardener."

'Why does she give us these weird nicknames?' Zoro thought.

"Well, Nami would sell it." Nojiko said.

"I don't want it." Elizabeth said.

"So, it either goes to you or me." Vivi said as she pointed at Nojiko, Kaya, and herself.

"So what now?" Zoro said.

"Well, we would be a little stronger." Vivi thought.

"Why not draw straws for it?" Chris joked. "Whoever wins gets the fruit."

"Hmm." Nojiko said. "Alright."

"Okay." Vivi said.

"I was joking." Chris said as Anna pulled out straws and presented them to the three girls.

The three girls slowly reached and grabbed a straw with everyone's eyes glued to them as they drew. They saw the decision and let it be final.

CHOMP!


And there is the first chapter of the second book. Next chapter will be 7/21/17. As always leave reviews.

ElderH