*Starts during Chapter 155 of the Manga! Basically when Crocodile is saving the people of Alabasta from Pirates. So, Chopper has joined the Straw Hats, but they have not met Mr. 2 Bon Clay yet, but are soon to arrive at Alabasta, where Mitsu is hanging out.* - Another note, I'm not going to do the Japanese endings for names, so I do apologize for any confusion! Enjoy!

I do not own One Piece( the characters, or the story line)! Simply borrowing!

Chapter One

Sandy Island, Kingdom of Alabata: Port Town Nanohana

A group of citizens of Alabasta were desperately attempting to fight against pirates. A young girl was leaning against a wall, in the shadow of the alley way. Her eyes were closed as she listened to the fighting. She blew a bubble, and once it popped she opened her blood red eyes to look at the crowd. She smirked, and were falling miserably.

She put her hand on the short sword that was attached to her belt, but hesitated. If she took action now, then everything she had done up to this point would have been worthless. Weighing the upsides and down sides, she stopped the calculations when she heard one of the women shout a name.

"Crocodile!" She cried as tears dropped down her bruised face.

"Sir Crocodile!" A man's happy but weak voice joined her as well.

"Oh... Crocodile...!"

"You've come for us...!"

Soon the crowd began to chant, "Crocodile! Crocodile! Crocodile!"

"No way." One of the pirates muttered, "From the 'Seven Armed Seas'?!"

"Silence you ignorant peasants!" A loud and pride voice shouted over the noise. At the sound of his voice, the crowd only began to cheer louder, as the pirates found their knees shacking. "I have only come for that pirate's head!"

"So cool!" A women swooned, completely ignoring the pirate that had been holding a sword to her neck only moments before. The pirate was looking up at the top of the tower in sheer fear.

"But you always save us!" A man howled. "Long live Crocodile!"

The crowd began to loudly chant together, "The guardian Deity of Alabasta Crocodile! Crocodile! King of the Desert! Crocodile!"

The girl smirked and popped her bubble once again. She turned and walked away from the crowd. There was no need for her there.

Suddenly, the dark alley was light up in front of her. A ripped bare chested man was leaning against to the cold wall in front of her. He had a single flame burning over his pointer finger. "Mitsu." He commented almost with a laugh.

"Ace." Mitsu replied in response with a curt nod as she walked past him.

Sighing that his attempts had failed, Ace turned and followed her. "What are you doing here?"

"Work." Mitsu replied with a wave of her hand.

Ace pulled his hat over his eyes, "Same. Want to come with me to eat?"

Mitsu turned to look at him with a twinkle in her eye. "Food. Food is good. Are you treating?"

"But of course." Ace laughed.

Mitsu sighed. "I mean really treating. Not running out on the bill as usual."

"Uh." Ace sweat dropped.

Mitsu just laughed in response. "Come on Ace. We have some catching up to do. How are the White beard pirates treating you?"

"Good! Good!" Ace replied dashing after his fast walking friend.

Later in a Restaurant

Mitsu sat at the counter next to Ace. Sighing, she looked at the huge amount of dirty dishes. Disgusted, she pushed them farther away. She then looked at him. He was asleep, his face in his dish and his arm still stuck upright. Spinning her stool around, she looked at everyone else in the restaurant. Smirking, she noted their "hilarious" responses.

"He appears to have died while conversing with the owner of the shop." One of them commented.

"He appears to be a traveler." One of them added. "And didn't that girl come in with him?

"Everyone thinks he may have accidentally eaten a "desert strawberry."

Mitsu, who had almost joined Ace in sleeping due to sheer boredom, perked up. "Desert Strawberry?"

One of the men looked at her. "A poisonous spider that looks like a red strawberry. If you unwittingly eat it, you suddenly die a few days later."

One more added, "A number of hours after that the body spreads an infectious poison so nobody has approached him."

A women sighed holding her baby tighter, looking directly at the young traveler. "In the desert, what you don't know can kill you."

"Desert Strawberry." Mitsu sighed tilting her head back. "If I could get my hands on that my job would be so much easier!"

"Look at the arm holding the fork. If it's stuck that way..."

"They say it's the strength of the poison in the "Desert Strawberry...!"

Suddenly Ace sat back up. "Aaaaah! He came back to life!" The towns people wailed, and Ace just looked at them like they were insane. He went back to eating as if nothing had happened.

"Damn..." Ace moaned as he finished chewing. "I feel asleep."

"You fell asleep?!" They howled at him.

"In the middle of a meal and conversation?!"

"And he just started chewing again!"

Mitsu laughed. "You guys really thought he was dead?" They looked at her and then back at Ace.

"Jeez, what are you guys so worked up about?" Ace asked staring to eat again. At this point, Mitsu spun her chair around again, giving up on this useless conversation.

At least joining Ace had somewhat payed off. Desert Strawberry. If she could find one and feed it to her target, she wouldn't exactly have to kill him herself now would she. Mitsu shock her head. It probably would be easier to slit his neck than to find a spider in the desert.

Suddenly the door slammed open. "Don't have a problem with eating in full public."

Mitsu glanced at the Marine and rolled her eyes. "Are two cigars really necessary?" Ace laughed.

Completely ignoring their conversation as it had nothing to do with her, Mitsu contined on eating.

"I'm on a search.. For my little brother." Portgas D. Ace commented, and Mitsu choked on the food she had in her mouth.

"You have a brother?" She asked surprised.

"Yep." Ace laughed.

"Did not see that one coming." Mitsu laughed returning to her food. She once again decided to ignore the conversation between the Marine and Pirate.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Rocket!" Both Ace and Smoker crashed through the wall next to her leaving a huge gap. Mitsu looked at the hole, glanced back at the boy who caused, and then went back to her food.

Soon the two men returned and Smoker shouted, "Strawhat!"

The young pirate had joined next to Mitsu and was stuffing his face. He suddenly started talking with his mouth full, spraying food bits all over the Marine. Mitsu looked at him, "How do you get you cheeks that big?" she asked, but both of them ignored her.

Strawhat suddenly ran away. "Seriously!" Mitsu shouted after him. "How in the world do you get your cheeks that big!"

Ace suddenly reappeared from the hole. "Crap!" He howled, and then grabbed Mitsu's arm. "Wait, Luffy! It's me!" He shouted running off, dragging the girl along with him.

"I called it Ace. It's always eat and run with you." Mitsu sighed, pulling her arm out of his grasp and joining him in his race after his brother. "So that's your brother."

With out replying, Ace sprinted after them. Mitsu moaned, but followed. This "race" was pretty much a light jog for her. But, Mitsu was bored. And when Mitsu was bored, she had a habit of looking for trouble. And if there had been one thing she learned from the young pirate she was with, was that Ace had a habit of getting himself in trouble. So, life with him around was interesting.

"You're not getting away!" Smoker shouted using his devil fruit. "WHITE BLOW!"

Ace jumped in front of the attack, and called out, "Kagerou"! (Heat Haze)"

Mitsu slowed down, as the smoke cleared. "Seriously, what's with boys and them naming their attacks..." She sweat dropped and crossed her arms as she watched the fight.

"You may be "Smoke", but I am "Fire". Your powers don't stand a chance against mine." Ace commented proudly.

"Cocky much." Mitsu laughed shacking her head.

"Who's that?!" The people standing next to Ace's brother shouted.

"Ace..?!" Luffy commented in almost sheer shock.

"You haven't changed a bit...Luffy." Ace replied with a huge grin. "Well, we can't talk like this. You guys run, I'll catch up to you. I need to stay here and stop these guys for you. Go!"

"Let's go!" Luffy howled pointing towards the port, running full speed.

"Huh?!" His crew gasped. "Who is that?!" But they received no response.

Ace looked at the young girl who was standing behind the Marine he was still holding it bay. "Hey, Mitsu. Go protect my kid brother will you?"

Mitsu looked at him blinked a couple of times, and started to run after the strawhats. As she passed Ace, she commented, "You owe me big time." Ace's triumph smile widened even more.