So, I've rewritten this story, because whenever I go to write the next few chapters I can't get it to flow. I'm hoping this attempt is better, and there is more in it. I hope you enjoy this more.

Monkey D Phoenix

Harry Potter and One Piece Fanfiction

Chapter 1 ~ I'm Coming For You...

The Wanted Poster had been dropped onto the bench soundlessly, the boy staring at it with a range of feelings. Shock was prominent, joy was small but getting bigger, and relief was almost overpowering. Fifteen year old Monkey D Luffy was stunned into silence, a rare sight to behold, but nonetheless the poster before him meant the world to him.

It had been a whole year since he had last seen his younger sister, a year of hoping that she was still alive despite what everyone else was saying, and a year of worrying. Tears filled his eyes, worrying Makino the bar keeper momentarily, but the blinding smile on his face was confusing her. She had never seen him in such a state, not even when Ace got his first bounty a few months ago. She looked over at the Wanted Poster, curious as to who could provoke such a reaction from the usually insanely happy boy.

"Who's that Luffy?" she asked. She turned the poster around so that she could see it better and gasped as she recognised the child in the photo.

"She's alive," Luffy whispered, his voice thick with tears. "Phoenix is alive."

"That's impossible," Makino breathed, though she didn't doubt Luffy, especially not after seeing the poster. Staring back at her was a young girl, between ten and twelve years old. Her long dark hair was pulled back under a yellow bandana, only allowing a few strands to dangle across her face. Blood dripped down her cheeks from a head wound and various cuts across her face, staining her clothes red. She looked to be in pain, yet her green eyes were bright and she was smiling off camera at someone. She looked terrifying, covered in blood but smiling, yet Makino would recognise that smile anywhere.

"How did she survive?" Makino asked, setting the poster back down and staring at the boy.

"Phoenix is special," was all he said. "Ever since we were little she's been able to do things no one else could. Do you think Ace has seen this?"

"Not a doubt in my mind," Makino said with a smile, seeing the boy she knew return to normal. "After all, her starting bounty is very impressive. Not many people get 70 Million Berries as a beginning bounty."

"I'm going to beat it," Luffy said, standing up as his tears dried up. "I'm going to find the best nakama, go to the Grand Line, and become the King of the Pirates!"

The other customers were looking his way, some smiling, some shaking their heads, but none seemed to doubt him. He'd been saying the same thing since he was seven and Red-Haired Shanks had given him his hat. Conversations started up around them, about how Luffy was becoming his old self again. There had been a slight fear from everyone that the D Brothers would storm the Marine Base and attack them in retaliation for what they had done. Vice-Admiral Garp hadn't been seen in town since the attack, and tension was noticeably high within the family. Many thought it was best that the Marines stayed away for a while, until tempers cooled somewhat.

Luffy walked out of the bar smiling, the Wanted Poster clutched tightly in his hand and the treasured straw hat sitting on his head. He started to sing, off-key, as he walked to the ocean where he would spend his time every day. Villagers stopped to watch him past, some going to the pub to find out what had happened. It wasn't long until the entire village knew that one of their own was still alive.

Monkey D Paige, or Phoenix as Luffy called her, was still alive.

Luffy remembered the first time he met Phoenix, though she hadn't gone by that name to begin with. She had introduced herself as Paige, but not much more than that. She had been very quiet, and she could move around as if she were nothing more than a shadow. You wouldn't even notice her until she was right next to you, and by then she could have done any number of things all in the name of Fun. He had been nine years old when Grandpa Garp had introduced her to them, and she was instantly their ally in everything they did…though they did try to protect her as she was a girl.

She was good though, and exceptionally fast. Nothing could hit her if she didn't want it to. Even during their daily duels to get stronger they wouldn't be able to hit her, and Ace stopped going easy on her when she crippled him with a fast kick between his legs. They could never beat her, but they did get faster because of her. She would disappear during the day sometimes, always saying that she was training, but she was three years younger than Luffy so every time she disappeared, the two brothers would search for her.

"Why do run off?" Luffy had asked her once. They had been lying in their little hut, 'Luffy's Country', and Ace had already disappeared into his own hut, 'Ace's Country', so they could talk without being overheard.

"To train," Paige told him simply.

"But why can't you train with us?" Luffy moaned. "We can help."

"But I'm not fighting," Paige stated. "I'm practising so when I go out to sea I will be ready."

"Ready for what?"

"To do my job. There are many souls stuck here, and they need to be set free so that they can be at peace. It's my job to get them to leave."

"Souls?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"Uh huh, when people die, their souls can either go onto the next great adventure, or remain here and wither away. It's bad if that happens," Paige explained.

"But why do you have to do it?"

"Because I'm the Master of Death," Paige stated easily. "I can see the trapped souls, hear them crying out for anyone to answer them, and I have the ability to help them."

She wasn't really able to explain more than that, and Luffy hadn't understood that much anyway. As the years went on and they grew, Paige demonstrated a few of her powers, the main one being that she was unable to die.

The first time it had happened, Paige was eight at the time, the three of them had been running from a bunch of pirates wanting them dead for one reason or another, and instead of dodging the bullets Paige had jumped in front of them so that Luffy and Ace wouldn't get hit. They carried her away as she 'died' in their arms, but as they watched her wounds glowed softly before healing, leaving nothing but a scar behind. When she woke up she explained a bit more about what she was.

"The Master of Death is someone who can command the dead, while at the same time being forever barred from death. I won't ever die, and in payment for that I am required to help those who are dead to move on. The number of times I've died and woken up again is depressing, but the stories the dead tell are pretty interesting."

"So you can't die?" Ace asked.

"No," Paige said with a nod. "I can also turn into a phoenix, but I haven't perfected it yet so I'm still practising."

"What's a phoenix?" Luffy asked curiously, still clinging to her as he was worried she would die if he let go.

"A fire bird," Paige explained. "My song will help those move on, and as soon as I master the transformation, I'm going to help the souls in the Grey Terminal move on, there are so many there that I can't go there without getting a headache. A phoenix is also referred to as the mythical bird of life and death, as when a phoenix dies it is just reborn from the ashes, to begin life again."

"How many times have you been reborn?" Ace asked suspiciously.

"Enough times to know that even as a midget I can kick your ass."

It was shortly after that that Luffy decided to call her Phoenix, and Ace caught onto the name until no one aside from Grandpa Garp actually called her Paige again. The two brothers swore her in as their sister, which helped as Garp had apparently adopted her and given her his name. Thus she was known as Monkey D Phoenix.

Phoenix was also infinitely more comfortable when it was just her and the boys. She hated crowds with a passion, and she was also uncomfortable in small spaces. She didn't panic, she just didn't like being trapped. The boys understood, somewhat, and made sure that whenever they were in town she was between them and thus 'protected' from danger.

And then everything changed when she was eleven.

Luffy scowled as the thought crossed his mind again. It had only been a year, but still just thinking about the attack was hard. It had been the one time that Grandpa Garp was visiting and not training them, just bonding over the fact that Ace would soon leave to forge his own destiny. Garp still thought that he was going to be a marine, but Ace was definitely going to become a pirate. Somehow, the conversation ended up around Phoenix's future, and Garp told her that she would join the marines, marry a marine, or get thrown into Impel Down for possessing a power greater than that of the Devil Fruits.

No one had liked that, and Phoenix had stormed off to be on her own. That had been the last time they had all been together. Slavers had been in town, and as soon as they spotted Phoenix on her own, they trapped her with a group of children and carried them onto their ship. No one really knew what had happened on that ship, only that all the children who had been caught had swum to shore after sliding off the back of the ship and Phoenix hadn't made it off. The marines had charged in to rescue everyone, but in doing so they accidently blew up the slavers' ship, killing all who had been aboard.

Luffy's last glimpse of his sister was her standing on the railing, calling his name, before flames enveloped her body and the ship exploded. He had been the only one to believe she still lived, and Ace had believed that it was possible, but they had never found her body. The marines responsible for the destruction of the ship were reprimanded for not searching for prisoners first, and acting without thinking, but Garp ensured that the marines were as far from his grandsons as he could make them.

He hadn't returned to the island after that, and only a few months later Ace had left to go and search for her.

"I'm almost ready Phoenix," he whispered, staring out across the ocean. "Just two more years, then I'll find you, and help with your mission. I promise."

Two Years Later…

They had arrived at Lougetown, the town of Beginnings and Endings, the last stop before reaching the Grand Line. Luffy almost couldn't believe that he had made it so far in just a short amount of time. He had only left Fuusha Village, his home, two months previously, and now he was almost to the ocean where he would find everything he had ever wanted and searched for:

The legendary treasure, the One Piece, and his little sister, Phoenix.

He had gathered a small crew so far, just another four people. Zoro, a swordsman he had blackmailed into joining; Nami, a navigator and thief he had chased down in order to keep her on his crew; Usopp, a liar with too much pride who had leapt at the chance to be a pirate; and Sanji, a cook who had been worn down enough that he joined just to get Luffy to stop pestering him. They were great, and very diverse in what they liked and didn't like. They also had their own pirate ship, the Going Merry, which they had received at Usopp's home town as a thank-you gift for defeating the Black Cat Pirates.

As soon as they docked, Luffy announced that he was off to find the place where people were killed, and vanished before anyone could order him not to. It was his intention to find the execution platform before they left for the Grand Line, just so that he could see what Gol D Roger saw before his death, but that was not his main priority. He was scouting for information.

Every island they had docked at so far, including those ships they bumped into on the open water, Luffy went off and did his own thing in order to hear news that he wouldn't normally get back in Fuusha. He wanted to find Phoenix, needed to find her and see her with his own eyes, but any news he learnt was old. The most recent news he had gotten was from Hawk-Eyes Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, and that was only that he knew her well and that last he had heard she was making her way to the Grand Line, but not where.

Since Lougetown was the last stop before the Grand Line, there would be plenty of people talking about big-name pirates and with any luck he would have a destination in mind for when they started to explore. He could hear Usopp yelling at him as he disappeared into the crowd, and a grin crossed his face briefly before it faded and he ducked into the nearest alleyway. He was quite proud of how he had managed to trick his crew into thinking he couldn't navigate his way out of a paper bag, but truthfully he knew exactly where he was. It was one of the tricks Phoenix had taught him and Ace when they were younger, navigation, plus reading body language, and becoming invisible whilst staying in plain sight.

"I heard Phoenix had been caught."

Luffy froze and leant against the nearest wall, spotting the talking man immediately. He and two others were sitting at a bar, clearly drunk, but Luffy figured they were bounty hunters as one had a huge pile of Wanted Posters in his hand, flicking through them to look for the next big catch.

"No way, no one can catch the Phoenix," his friend muttered, not believing the man. "The Marines have been trying to catch her for years, if she doesn't want to be caught she won't be."

"I know that," the first man snapped. "But I have a Contact in Alabasta, Crocodile caught her, but he didn't know if Crocodile had handed her over to the Marines."

"Maybe he wanted to recruit her, for whatever the reason," the third man wondered aloud. "I heard she's still really young, she doesn't look much older than twelve on her poster."

"She's a Demon," the second man cut in, still not believing the other two. "I saw her once, about a year ago. She died in front of me, I'm absolutely positive about it, but as I watched her killers' crowd around her, her body started to glow and she got up as if she had just fallen asleep. It was most unnatural, I want nothing to do with her."

"Chicken," the first man chuckled. "Oh well, is there anyone in this ocean we can track down?"

"Newest bounties came out today," the third man said, ruffling through the posters in his hand. "There's a new rookie making his mark on the world, some kid in a straw hat. Thirty million he's worth."

"Thirty million? From this sea? What the hell did he do?" the other two asked in shock.

"Who cares? It's a good bounty, and he's probably on his way here before heading off to the Grand Line. A bounty like that means he won't be here for long."

Luffy chuckled to himself before disappearing and walking off. His hat shadowed his eyes as he thought over what he had heard, and it scared him. He knew that Phoenix could escape from anywhere, but whether she would or not depended on who was around her. The only reason the slavers had gotten her was because there had been other children nearby and if she had fought they would have been hurt. He had no idea who Crocodile was, but if he had caught her he was probably planning on doing something horrible.

He needed to get to Alabasta as fast as possible.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Luffy ran off towards the execution platform. They would be leaving soon, and the platform was one of his reasons for even wanting to come to this island. Phoenix was strong, and would wait for him, but that didn't mean he was going to delay much longer.

One Week Later…

Luffy stared down at the little girl they had picked up from the water. She was really young, possibly about eight or nine years old, and her eyes were wide and hopeful. Her name was Apis, and she really wanted to get home, and no one on the crew had any problems with taking her back home…no one except for Luffy. He wanted to go to the Grand Line as soon as possible, and feared that any delay meant that Phoenix would disappear from his life again. But, looking down at her he couldn't say no. Phoenix would be disappointed in him if he turned his back on a child asking for help.

"Sure, we'll take you home," he said, grinning wide enough that his cheeks hurt. "We're in no rush."

He really hoped that no one caught his lie, but from the corner of his eye he noticed that Zoro looked at him sharply with a confused look on his face. He hadn't told his crew about his family, and they hadn't told him about theirs. He didn't care for their pasts, all he cared was that they would be strong enough to support him as they worked towards their dreams.

Apis jumped around in joy, her laughter sending small daggers of pain straight into Luffy's heart. He walked out of the cabin and leapt onto his special seat, the figurehead of the Going Merry. Nami would start barking orders to get the ship moving shortly, but he wanted this time to send an apology to Phoenix for being delayed again. His eyes fastened onto the black band on left wrist, and he grasped it tightly as he closed his eyes.

"I'm going to be a little late Phoenix," he whispered, sensing Zoro come up behind him. "Just wait a little longer for me."

Zoro said nothing as he came closer, but he got the feeling that there was more to Luffy's rush to the Grand Line than excitement. He made no mention of it, but he knew that his silent presence meant a lot to Luffy. The boy captain turned and smiled, leaping off the figurehead in order to get to work.

"It'll be alright Zoro," Luffy told him. "Don't worry about me."

"Don't hide," Zoro told him, a frown on his face. "You've been there for us, so let us be there for you."

"It can wait," Luffy promised. "Like I said before, we're in no rush to get to the Grand Line."

"Maybe we're not," Zoro admitted. "But you are desperate to get there. I don't know why, but if you want to vent I'm here to listen."

"Thanks Zoro."

The two looked at each other, and then darted off to get the ship moving. They needed to get to Warship Island…after that they could sail to the Grand Line.

Three Days Later…

The Grand Line. It had taken longer than Luffy thought it should, but they were at the entrance to the Grand Line and gaining information from Crocus, the lighthouse keeper, on how to navigate. Well, Nami was learning about how to navigate, Sanji was cooking, Usopp was fixing the ship, Zoro was sleeping and Luffy was painting his pirate mark on Laboon the whale's forehead. They had gotten off to a rocky start, with Luffy firing a cannonball at Laboon, Laboon swallowing them whole, meeting two weirdoes who tried to kill the whale from the inside, and then finally Luffy having a 'spar' with the giant island whale to get him to stop smashing his head against the Red Line.

"There are seven different routes that depart from Reverse Mountain," Crocus explained so that they could all understand him. "But no matter route you take they all lead to the one place, the island at the end of the Grand Line where only one pirate crew is known to have reached…Raftel."

"Raftel…" Nami breathed, excitement in her eyes.

"That's it!" Usopp cried. "That must be where the One Piece is hidden!"

"That's the most promising theory," Crocus told him. "But no one has been able to set foot on Raftel Island since Roger."

Luffy was almost bouncing on his seat in excitement. He couldn't wait to get to the end, but he also knew that the path he took now would determine if he was to meet up with Phoenix again. Crocus started to talk about something called a Log Pose, and Luffy pulled out a small compass like device that he had found on the ship. He figured that the weirdoes they had caught and then tossed overboard had dropped it, but all Luffy got for his trouble was a punch to the head when Nami demanded to know why he hadn't mentioned that he had one until that moment.

While Nami was inspecting the new device, Luffy slunk over to Crocus to talk to him without bothering the others.

"Hey, which route is Alabasta on?"

"Alabasta? Why would you want to go there?" Crocus asked curiously.

"My sister's waiting for me there," Luffy explained happily. "I haven't seen her in forever, and I know she's there."

"Whiskey Peak would be your best shot," Crocus eventually told him, staring at Luffy's childlike expression of excitement with an indulging smile. "It's a few islands in, but you will get there eventually."

Luffy cheered and jumped back to Nami to stare at her map over her shoulder, bugging her about the route instantly. Sanji chose that moment to kick Luffy across the face for crowding Nami, and accidently broke the Log Pose as the change in air currents shattered the protective glass casing. Nami, absolutely furious, threw the two boys into the ocean, not caring that Luffy couldn't swim, and with a sweat-drop Crocus promised that she could use his spare one as a thank-you for helping with Laboon.

The rubber captain, however, was too excited to be bothered with his near drowning experience. Sanji had saved him, and the two weirdoes from before, and as the two weirdoes wanted to go to Whiskey Peak Luffy agreed to take them. Nothing could remove the smile from his face, they were finally on their way and he couldn't have been happier. His crew put it down to him being on the Grand Line and living his dream, but Zoro knew that there was more to it. Still, he didn't want to be ordered around by Nami and settled down to sleep for a while, he would think over Luffy's behaviour while he slept.

One Day Later…

Arriving at Whiskey Peak had been awesome, especially as they had spent a few hours travelling through a storm that kept trying to turn them around and send them back to Reverse Mountain. Being greeted by a cheering crowd was a little odd, but Luffy partied all night and pigged out on food. He passed out long before his crew, but he knew that he had been drugged.

There was a reason Luffy didn't drink or take drugs of any kind…they made him irrational. The smallest change in the environment could send him on a rampage until he was either beaten, or the drugs were purged from his body. He had been drugged once when he was younger, and it had taken both Ace and Phoenix to hold him down before he destroyed their home. Ever since then he had been careful about drugs and alcohol, he didn't want to see Phoenix looking at him in fear again, but food was sacred and he hadn't thought that they would stoop so low as to drug the food he and his crew were eating.

So when he saw the carnage everywhere, and heard one man say that Zoro had slaughtered them all, his already addled mind snapped and his vision went red. The only thought on his mind was to make Zoro pay for hurting the people who had thrown them a party. He wasn't even sure how the whole fight went, but when his mind cleared somewhat as the drugs were purged due to the physical activity, he mentally thanked the fact that Zoro was strong enough to defend against him without dying.

"Oh, they were all bounty hunters?" Luffy asked, laughing slightly. "That explains why the food was drugged."

"You're an idiot," Nami told him with a harsh glare. She turned back to talk to one of the weirdoes from earlier, the one called Miss Wednesday. As she was talking, Luffy turned back to Zoro with a serious expression on his face, and spoke quietly so that Nami wouldn't hear him.

"Sorry Zoro, drugs make my mind black out and I stop thinking."

"I was wondering why you weren't listening to me," Zoro admitted. "I've never seen you like that before."

"Don't let me have alcohol or drugged food and you won't see me like that again," Luffy told him seriously. "Something about how my brain is wired makes it impossible to have those things."

Zoro nodded, but before he could say anything he noticed that Luffy had become slightly more alert in the conversation that Nami and Miss Wednesday were having. He tuned in and realised they were talking about a civil war in a country called Alabasta. Miss Wednesday was actually the princess of Alabasta, Nefatari Vivi, and when the country began down its self-destructive path she infiltrated the organisation behind it in order to discover the culprit, Baroque Works. That had been two years previously.

"You've got some guts, considering you're a princess," Zoro stated, a little impressed at how bold the girl was. "So…were you able to find out what their plan was?"

"To create an ideal nation," Nami stated. "Anyway, that's what Igaram said it was. Is that what you found out?"

Igaram was the guy known as Mr 8, and the mayor of Whiskey Peak. He was also Vivi's loyal bodyguard, and had joined up with her in order to keep her safe. Vivi stared at the older girl before looking down at her knees.

"It's not," she said. "That was only a cover story the boss was using. It's a lie to cover their tracks! Their true goal is to take over Alabasta Kingdom!"

Nami seemed to realise that she wouldn't gain any money out of protecting her, but there was something in Vivi's story that had Luffy feeling tightly wound. He didn't let his unease show, but he did ask for the identity of the Boss of Baroque Works. Vivi freaked out, before blurting out that the mastermind behind everything was one of the Seven Warlords…Crocodile.

I have a Contact in Alabasta, Crocodile caught her

"…who?" Luffy asked, his expression frozen in place as he desperately tried to remain calm. Crocodile was the name that bounty hunter had dropped back in Lougetown. Nami started to freak out, but before she could do anything they were interrupted by the arrival of two creatures. They were clearly members of Baroque Works, judging by Vivi's expression, and Nami had a mental meltdown at the thought of already being wanted by a Warlord after just arriving in the Grand Line.

"A Warlord? This should be pretty fun," Luffy stated, cracking his knuckles eagerly in anticipation. Even if Crocodile had just been a bystander in Alabasta, he would have gone and beaten him up just for capturing his sister.

"Not too bad," Zoro agreed.

"Being hunted by a Warlord in the Grand Line? That's more than I can handle!" Nami screamed.

"Relax Nami, it was going to happen sooner or later," Luffy told her with a wide smile.

"Shut up!" she screamed at him. She turned around and started to walk off. "It's been nice knowing you idiots! Thanks for everything!"

"Where are you going?" Luffy called after her, silently worried that she was trying to leave him again.

"They don't know what I look like yet!" she called. "I'm leaving!"

As she turned the corner she noticed that the otter and vulture, the two Baroque Works creatures, were waiting for her holding three detailed drawings of the pirates, waiting for her to see them before flying off.

"Wow, that's so lifelike," Nami praised. She turned back to Luffy and Zoro and cried: "No use in leaving now!"

Luffy sighed in relief, but all he did was laugh. He would never admit it aloud, but he was worried about all his crewmates one day deciding to leave him alone. It was his greatest fear, and he had only ever confided in Phoenix once when they were younger, discussing their futures and what they were afraid of. Luffy was scared that he wouldn't be a good captain, and his friends would decide that their paths would be better off away from his. Phoenix was afraid of forming attachments with people, knowing that she would see them die. They were both somewhat broken, but they had also promised to always be there for the other if they needed help.

With Phoenix missing, Luffy was convinced that he had failed his promise to her.

"Where was she planning on going anyway?" Zoro asked, breaking Luffy from his thoughts. A twisted grin appeared on the swordsman's face. "Well then, it looks like the three of us will be sitting right on top of Baroque Works' hit list."

"That's so awesome," Luffy stated.

Shortly after that Igaram appeared wearing the exact same thing that Vivi was wearing…and he looked awful in it. Luffy just laughed at the image, and agreed to take Vivi home as they were heading that way anyway, and as Igaram sailed off his boat was annihilated. The explosion of fire and wind pushed them back slightly, and for the briefest of moments Luffy felt like he was fourteen years old again, staring out at the slavers ship as cannonballs collided with it, igniting the gunpowder, and causing a massive explosion.

Luffy!

"They're already after us?!" Nami screamed, shaking Luffy from his flashback violently. He didn't know it, but his face had gone very pale and his eyes were wider than normal. Zoro managed to snap him out of it, ordering him to get their two sleeping members, Sanji and Usopp, so that they could get off the island and out to sea. Luffy was gone before Zoro had even finished speaking, and as he ran he realised that he felt very cold. Crocodile was a man who ran an organisation devoted to assassination, he clearly had no problem killing to get what he wanted. So then, what did it mean if he had someone who couldn't die in his clutches? What was he doing to her?

He grabbed Usopp by his nose and Sanji by his foot, ignoring both of them as they woke up demanding an explanation, and ran straight to the ship so that they could leave. He had a horrible feeling that something bad would happen to Phoenix if they delayed any longer, or that she would be gone by the time he even made it to Alabasta. He needed to know that she was alright.

His body was almost on autopilot as he got the ship ready to sail, and if anyone noticed his out of character behaviour, they didn't mention it. The sun was just cresting the horizon as the ship left the narrow river, and Luffy stood next to Nami as she started to comment on the light.

"I'm just glad we got away from the people chasing us."

Luffy went still as a new, foreign, voice echoed over the ship. Nami didn't seem to think anything of it as she responded, but Luffy slowly turned so that he was looking up towards the base of Nami's tangerine orchard.

"With all this fog, we need to be careful to avoid the rocks," a dark woman stated calmly. She was dressed in a purple cow-girl outfit, revealing her figure for the world to see with no shame whatsoever.

"I'll take care of it!" Nami stated confidently. Her posture changed suddenly, as she realised that she didn't know who was talking to her. She turned slightly to look at Luffy, hoping that he had been the one to talk, but when she noticed his dark expression she turned further to stare at the new passenger on the ship.

"This ship is nice," the woman stated as everyone turned their attention towards her.

"It's…it's you!" Vivi cried in horror.

"I just happened to run into your dear Mr 8 a while back," the woman continued. "He didn't look so good."

"So you killed Igaram?!"

"What are you doing on my ship?!" Luffy demanded of her, his voice cold. "And how did you get here? Who are you?"

"Answer him!" Vivi yelled. "What are you doing here, Miss All-Sunday?!"

"So you know who she is?" Nami asked. "Which of the numbered guys is she partners with?"

"Her partner is Mr 0, the Boss," Vivi said gravely.

"She's a bad guy?" Luffy asked, his hat shadowing his eyes. He was not in a good mood and he didn't know how long he could keep pretending to be fine. Already Zoro was watching him closely, and it didn't help that he still had some of the drugs in his body to mess him up further.

"She was the only one who knew the Boss' identity," Vivi explained as she continued to glare up at the woman. "That's how we found out who he actually is! By following her back to him!"

"To be accurate… I allowed it," Miss All-Sunday said with an amused smile on her face.

"So she's a good guy then?" Luffy muttered.

"I know you knew we were there!" Vivi yelled, "You're the one who told the boss what we knew! Weren't you?!"

"That's right," she answered in a bored tone.

"Alright so then she is bad!" Luffy finally concluded, pouting and Zoro told him to cut it out.

"You still haven't told us what it is you're doing here!?" Vivi yelled again and Miss All-Sunday was looking annoyed at the rudeness.

"Oh, right," she said coolly, "You were just so serious about the whole thing I couldn't help myself. A princess doing whatever it took to help her country while making herself an enemy of Baroque Works? The idea was just so… ridiculous."

But Vivi was looked enraged as she screamed out at the top of her lungs, "YOU KILLED HHHHHHIIIIIIIMMMMMM!"

The five Straw Hats had leapt into action. Sanji and Usopp were both up on their feet, Usopp with his slingshot loaded on one side, and Sanji on the other with a gun pointed directly at her head. Zoro was below them with Nami, both of them had weapons as well.

"I would really appreciate it if you would…" she said softly, and it all happened so quickly that they all missed seeing what actually happened. She threw the two off the railing, "Stop pointing those at me?"

"You mean…?" Zoro said gasped,

"She's eaten…" Nami went on before her staff and Zoro's sword were knocked out of their hands. And then Zoro finished, "A Devil Fruit?!"

"But which one? What's her power!?" Nami cried out, now standing farther back with the others in front of her like shields. Sanji looked up to get a good look at her and hearts appeared in his eyes.

"Wow!" he gasped, as if he had never seen anything like her before, "now that I get a look… You're beautiful!"

Robin chuckled a little at past Sanji's words before she looked back to Vivi. "Now there's no need to get so excited," she informed her, "You can all calm down. I haven't been given any orders to follow you here. I have no reason to fight you."

Holding up her hand, she used her powers to get hold of Luffy's straw hat—spinning it around on her hand in a bored way. "So, you're the captain," she said, looking over at Luffy. "I've heard so much about you…Monkey D Luffy."

"Give me my hat back!" Luffy yelled enraged, shaking his fists at her. He was already emotionally unbalanced, she wasn't helping by taking away one of the few things that grounded him. "You don't want me to come up there and take it!"

"You are a bad person! I demand you leave this instant!" Usopp yelled from his hiding place behind the mast.

"Bad luck," Miss All-Sunday told them as she put Luffy's hat on top of her own before going on, "Picking up a princess who Baroque Works already made up their mind to see eliminated… protected by a mere handful of pirates. But your luck gets even worse. Because of the direction your Log Pose is indicating… you see?"

Nami was looking at their Log in fear as the woman answered. "The name of the next island… is Little Garden."

"We won't even need to lift a finger," Miss All-Sunday finished up. "You'll all be dead long before you reach Alabasta."

"My hat! Give it to me!" Luffy screamed, obviously not caring about anything she said. He didn't care how hard it would be, he was going to get to Alabasta one way or another, even if it killed him.

"Leave now evil… doer!" Usopp yelled.

"Evil-doer?" Zoro repeated, rolling his eye, "Seriously?"

"You don't think it's a little foolish allowing yourselves to be wiped out?" Miss All-Sunday asked as she threw back Luffy's hat and something over to Vivi. When she held it up, they saw that it was an Eternal Pose.

"An Eternal Pose?" Vivi whispered as she looked at it suspiciously.

"Using that, you can just skip right past Little Garden without stopping," the woman answered her a little smugly. She also explained that this one island was near Alabasta and that none of their agents know that course so they shouldn't be followed.

"What? So she's good after all?" Nami suddenly asked as she looked up at her, trying to figure out what was going on.

But the gesture seemed to make Vivi angry as she yelled up, "Why are you giving this to us?"

"It's gotta be a trap," Zoro said firmly, but Vivi was staring at the Pose with a wondering expression and they could tell that she was trying to figure out what to do.

"Oh, does it?" Miss All-Sunday asked as Luffy walked over to Vivi and grabbed the Eternal Pose out of her hands.

"Forget your thingy! We don't need it!" he yelled as he then crushed it until it broke into nothing but shards of glass and wood. Nami and Vivi were both looking horrified at what he had done. Nami obviously kicked him hard in the face and knocked him to the deck.

"YOU JERK!" she screamed out, pointing up at Miss All-Sunday. "SHE JUST WENT OUT OF HER WAY TO SHOW US AN EASIER COURSE TO FOLLOW! MAYBE SHE ACTUALLY IS TRYING TO HELP US GET AWAY!"

But Luffy didn't react at all for a moment before he turned to look up at the intruder and declared that she wasn't the one who decided where the ship goes.

"Well, that's too bad," she told them all casually as she walked along the upper deck, looking a little satisfied as she did so. It was as if she was glad that he had decided not to accept her offer.

Nami looked ready to yell again but Luffy answered, "She blew up that funny old man and he was nice so now I hate her."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Miss All-Sunday stated looking back at him. "And I'm sorry you didn't accept my offer. But onto other matters."

"What other matters?" Vivi asked. She was shaking in either fear or anger, but Luffy didn't care about that. His attention had been caught on the necklace Miss All-Sunday pulled from her top. She flung it at the captain and he caught it before bringing it closer to his face so that he could see it clearly. He could sense Nami itching to take it to add it to her collection of jewels, but his hand tightened on the chain and his newly returned hat shadowed the hate growing in his eyes. Zoro put a restraining hand on Nami's arm, warning her off silently.

"Why did you have this?" he asked in a quiet and deadly tone.

"A souvenir," the woman stated carelessly. "She said that you'd come, but I'm afraid with the route you're taking, you will be too late."

"What did you do to her?"

"I believe the Boss has tired of her, he may be in the process of handing her to the marines. Or maybe he's going to keep her for a little longer, who knows?"

"GET OFF MY SHIP!" Luffy roared, and an uncontrolled blast of energy sent the woman off the edge of the ship with wide eyes. She landed on the back of a turtle, and as soon as that turtle saw the promise of pain and death in Luffy's eyes, it swam away as fast as it physically could. Luffy watched them leave, his grip on the necklace tightening.

He had recognised it the second he had seen it. He had given it to Phoenix for her birthday one year, a golden pirate ship. On the back she had engraved what she called the Deathly Hallows mark, and she had used some form of magic to hold a picture inside the gold. When she cradled it, a picture would form inside a ball of light just above the ship, and it was a picture of the three of them playing in the forest.

Look Big Brother! Now whenever I feel lonely, I'll hold onto this, and you and Ace will be there with me. It will be my treasure, and I will never take it off!

He wanted to destroy something so bad, but there was nothing on the ship he could vent with. Instead he screamed out his hate and launched himself into the crow's nest, the closest place he could go to be alone. He could hear his crew talking below, but he made no move to go down to talk to them. He was so afraid for Phoenix, she had vowed to never take off her necklace, it was a promise between the three of them that she would never be alone, but now she no longer had it.

"Crocodile will pay for this," he muttered. "I will make him pay for this. Phoenix, please be safe…"

To Be Continued...