Chapter 1, Tory
I sat down on a crate in the alley next to where my fight had taken place. I had just taken out the Nightmare pirates, but thing is, they had 200 freaking people! And of course I had easily defeated them, though now I was exhausted. Who wouldn't? Being a bounty-hunter may seem cool and all, but once your name got on the paper, there wasn't much time for a break. This didn't help my mood at all, and neither did the horrible tasting fruit I had just eaten a few hours ago, before I took on this crew. The guy I bought it from looked a bit shady, and I expected the fruit to actually taste good as he had promised, but hey, it didn't kill me.

Now I had to calculate how much I would be getting from any bounties in this crew, and then send in the photos to get my money, and then send these guys to the nearest prison. Meaning I had to find a camera and haul all 200 of these guys to jail, and being in the freaking hot country of Alabasta wasn't going to help at all! I mean, it must be 100 FREAKING degrees, probably more. Why did this FREAKING pirate crew have so many FREAKING crew mates! And why did I have to FREAKING fight them! Well, I am a bounty hunter and they did start it…But why in FREAKING Alabasta!

"Oh well, better get started then," I said to myself, not noticing the sudden change and completely unreasonable change in my mood. My mood changed back to totally pissed as I turned around, sensing something with my slightly developed sixth sense. Unfortunately, I hadn't sensed the object, which turned out to be a dart, in time to stop it from imbedding itself in my neck. Again, unfortunately the dart was full of tranquilizer, rather strong, and my body started to go limp. I fell off the crate onto my side, which, unfortunately once again, wasn't the side that led to the busy street. If I had I could be seen and maybe given help, but no, I fell on the other side, hidden from view by the very crate I had sat on.

Now where had the dart come from? My vision blurred, and my eyelids started to get heavy. The sound of footsteps came from deeper in the alley, and slowly I turned my gaze towards that direction. Coming my way was two men in Marine uniforms. One seemed familiar, but I couldn't tell who it was since I couldn't see clearly at the moment. They kneeled on either side of me, and I noticed both held an array of restraining devices. With them, they, as expected, restrained me even though I was on the brink of unconsciousness.

"Sorry about this, kid. But I gotta follow orders. Maybe you can prove your loyalty in court, if the higher-ups let you get that far with your life." he told me. Then everything faded to black.

When I woke up, I couldn't see a freaking thing because they had blindfolded me while I had been unconscious. They had also wrapped me in enough chains to wrap five huge tree trunks together! At least, I think it could. Big sis would be able to tell with a single glance. Strangely, I felt slightly weakened at the moment, but that was probably due to the tranquilizer, though my shoulder seemed to be affected the most.

I wriggled around a bit, seeing if there was a way I could get the chains off. In the process I banged my head against something metal behind me. While I cursed silently, as there was a cloth keeping me from speaking, I finally figured out where I was. I was in a cell, and by the rocking of the floor, on a ship. And after seeing those uniforms, I was on a Marine ship, which meant I had gotten what was threatening to come recently: I was captured because I was starting to get rebellious and the World Government was afraid I might rebel.

Well, if I did, it'd be quite a problem for them since I've been earning a name among the top bounty hunters. That was a pretty big thing, if you were in the Grand Line. But they're just being paranoid, even if I didn't like some of the things the Government and the Marines did; I wouldn't up and become a pirate or something! Not after what they did to my island…At least, I probably wouldn't.

I flinched as I heard footsteps coming my way, once again banging my head on what I supposed were metal bars again, and I went into another fit of cursing. I didn't flinch just because someone was coming my way; it was because the rhythm was vaguely familiar. Thump thump tap, thump thump tap, 1, 2, I counted, waiting and listening to see if he was who I though he was. The strangers identity was confirmed when I heard a loud crash, followed by a lot of swearing which bested even me.

This man had to be my Uncle Derry. Or it could be some crazy Marine I met once on my travels. Nearly gutted my eyes out when he thought I tried to murder him. But I only tripped and fell into him, for goodness sakes! I heard scuffling as the man who was either my uncle or a madman got up and walked on until he stopped outside of my cell.

"You had ta go an' show off, didn't ya', Toto?" he asked. His voice was gruff and deep, but yet…calming.

"Uncale Darwee, if thath yow?" I asked, my words muffled, once again, by the cloth around my mouth.

"You bet it is, you weak excuse for a nephew of mine," he said sharply, and I winced. Truth be told, I didn't really like him very much. Though I don't really have much to go on, except for this argument I unintentionally eavesdropped on. And this pirate attack that still haunts me, but rarely. The memory suddenly came back to me, as clear as if it had happened yesterday.

"Let Tory come live with me! He'll be safer an' better cared for at Marineford," I heard Uncle Derry shout. I had come downstairs for a cup of water, but heard my uncle and parents shouting in the kitchen. Derry had come for a visit, as soon as he had heard what my sister had done. Only he had come, say, only a few years after. That was because he had some important mission dealing with the Whitebeard Pirates.

The water all but forgotten, I peeked through the hole in the door where a doorknob should've been. Dad was seated at our old kitchen table, head down and pinching the bridge of his nose. Mother was standing behind his chair, patting his back and glaring at my uncle.

"Do you really think we'll just give up our child, our remaining child?" Mother asked my uncle.

"Lucy-," Father began, but Mother cut him off.

"What, Robert?" she shouted at him.

"Maybe this is for the best. We barely have enough to support ourselves. How are we going to keep on supporting Tory?" he said softly, keeping his natural cool. Yet still, his voice was a bit shaky.

"Ya husband's right, Lucy, listen to him. At this rate ya' won't be able to keep this house! Ya' know what, why don't all of ya' come? Tory won't be separated from ya' two, and I'm sure ya' can find a better job with a much larger pay," Uncle Derry suggested.

"How about it, Hon'?" Father said Mother. Mother looked as if she would never give in, and then sighed deeply.

"Fine Robert, we'll tell Tory in the morning," she said. I smiled, filled with excitement, and went back up the stairs. The next morning, none of us ever made it to the ship. My parents didn't even make it with their lives. I couldn't stand to remember what had happened that fateful day.

"Ya' really got yourself into a tight spot, haven't ya'? I'm not expecting an answer from ya' since ya' got that gag an' all. Anyway, I know ya' are smart enough ta figure why ya' are here," he paused a moment to sigh, which he did rather much, from what I remember, "knowing ya', ya' probably actually was going to rebel, wasn't ya, Toto?" Uncle Derry asked me, and, like he expected, I didn't answer. But actually he was right. I had been planning to become a pirate or join the Revolutionary Army after I had collected enough funds. Though I kind of forgot why…Oh well, it should come back to me sometime.

"Now it's up ta me to fix up the mess, like I always had to with my sister, or rather, your mother. Wonderful woman she was. Ya' are a lot like her, ya know, Toto. Anyway, better check up on the men, gotta make sure they ain't smoking in the bomb storage. Ya'll be heading to Enies Lobby, if things go smoothly," and with that, he left. But not before slipping something small under one of my chains which I had no freaking idea was. Thus leaving me along with my slowly dulling headache and my thoughts on what he had just said.

Now, why bother telling me about his men and the bomb room? Could just be small talk, as I am his nephew an' all. That exact moment the ship exploded, and I felt a sharp pain near my hip, and everywhere else.

"Oh, so he wanted me to escape," I thought before blacking out.

Upon waking up, it took a moment for me to gather my wits. First, I felt the pain, now worse, in my hip. Second, I realized most of my chains were either missing or broken, but I was still in too much pain to move. Third, I slowly looked around and found myself floating on a piece of wood, slightly burned, and my lower half in the ocean. Wreckage surrounded the waters around me, all that remained of the ship after the explosion.

Something bumped into my makeshift raft, and I gagged a little, as it was a corpse. I gagged even more as I realized it was Derry. Floating lifelessly on his back, his handsome face had a rather satisfied expression. His uniform was torn and burnt in many places, his bluish hair, identical to mine, had ash in it, mostly washed away. Horrified by his decision, I kicked his body away. I clenched my teeth, as my thoughtless action caused great amounts of pain.

I didn't know how long I had been floating there. It was a miracle I wasn't attacked by a Sea King. The gods must hate me or something, though, as not a single freaking vessel had even come into view, nonetheless near me. Well, I couldn't really back that up, as I hadn't bothered to turn actually look. But it seemed I had spoken too soon, as maybe 15 – 20 minutes later, the shadow of a freaking huge ship covered me and the surrounding waters.

"Hey guys, I think there's someone alive down there!" I heard somebody on board call.

"Well, haul em' up, then," someone answered.

"You do it, Marco, I can't swim," the first person retorted.

"I can't either," was shot back.

"But you can fly," the other pointed out. Wait huge ship, Marco, and flying! Slowly I put one and one together and…OH MY FREAKING GOD! The Whitebeard Pirates! No, this could not be happening to me, oh why oh why does it have to be me! Then again, what am I worrying about? They don't kill senselessly, and a bunch of islands are under their protection. Further insurance was given at the thought that I'll probably be given a bounty, but if not, I could be in for some trouble.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye, and saw the well-known flames of 'Marco the Phoenix', First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. I could feel the wind generated by the flapping of his wings. He picked me up actually quite carefully with his, er, birds feet, though I almost blacked out. I think I actually did for a moment when he dropped me not so carefully on the deck. For one thing, the next time I opened my eyes, what I saw was definitely the sky.