Coming seemingly out of nowhere, is this new story. I know I haven't been really active, but nowadays I'm more of a Co-Author working with swift56 on his various stories. This here is an idea that I had and with a bit of help from him, we finally started working on.

As such, consider this story a joint work by the both of us. Have fun!

The sound of laughter could be heard over the ocean, emanating from a caravel ship that on its mast bore a black flag of a skull with a rather smug expression inside of a crescent moon.

"Great haul today!" the crew of pirates laughed as they drank and ate to their heart's content. Nearby, several civilians cowered in fear at what might happen to them as they were all bound and gagged.

"Of course, we're one of the most feared pirates of these seas!" the captain, a middle-aged pirate with a crescent shaped moustache with a rather stocky physique said with a grin. He was dressed in what could only be described as a stereotypical pirate outfit, a tricorn on his head and a dark blue captain's coat over a simple shirt and pants.

"That's right, we're the unbeatable Galley Pirates, with our Captain worth 5,000,000 Berries!" the crew laughed as they raised up their mugs in a toast to their captain. However, the celebration was suddenly dampened when something shook the ship.

"What was that?" the captain growled.

"Whoo! That was one heck of a ride! And looks like I'm in East Blue too! Yosha Lucky!" came an energetic voice, as the pirates looked over the edge of their ship...and spied a rather small boat, one that could easily be manned by one man...with a marine flag on it. And standing on the boat was a young man with short black hair, dressed in a white collared shirt and blue pants...but wearing a cloak over his shoulders, bearing the word 'Justice' in Kanji on the back, with red and gold epaulettes on the shoulders.

"Crap, its a Marine! And a Captain at that!" one of the crew members panicked, only to be conked on the head by another. "Idiot! What are you afraid of? There's only one of him and many of us!" another hissed.

"Hey, do any of you guys know how far this is from Dusk Island?" the marine asked with a friendly grin, seemingly not noticing the jolly roger that was proudly waving in the wind.

"...is he serious?" one of the pirates deadpanned.

"Now now, this could be our chance for even more notoriety," the captain smirked, before turning to the marine. "Why of course, we'd be happy to show you the way. Come on up, we'll consult our maps," he said with a faux smile.

"Really? Thanks!" the marine grinned and went up the rope ladder that was tossed down.

Once he was up and on the ship...he was promptly surrounded.

The captain laughed as he kept his sword pointed to the marine "I can't believe a fool like you is a marine captain, their standards must have dropped low in recent years." he said before grinning "I wonder how high my bounty will get once I kill you?"

The marine captain blinked several times as he looked at the swords levelled towards him, before looking at the pirate captain "Are you… attacking me?"

The pirates all looked at him flatly at his question, before speaking in unison "Yes!"

"Oooooh." the marine nodded slowly at that...before what felt like a small gale hit them, blowing them all back, the marine having suddenly drawn a cutlass he had hidden in his cloak. "I was wondering if you were good or bad pirates. Thanks for confirming it was the latter," he chuckled lightly. "A chance to get a lead to my destination AND a chance to bring a pirate crew with a bounty in. Yosha Lucky!"

"H-how did he do that?!" one of the crew gasped.

"Don't get discouraged men! We still have the number advantage!" the captain said...before the marine suddenly surged towards him, forcing him to block with his swords, before a flash occured...and suddenly his swords broke...and his clothes followed too, leaving him in his underclothes.

"Whoops, guess I'm still getting the hang of using armament. Sorry about that," he grinned a bit sheepishly as the captain was frantically trying to save his dignity.

"What are you waiting for?! Kill him!" the captain roared, as several of the braver crew members tried to help their captain, but the marine was now cutting through them like paper...leaving them collapsed on the ground unconscious as somehow he'd managed to avoid causing any serious injuries.

The fight they were expecting to be a slaughter was one alright. Only instead of THEM slaughtering one marine, it was the other way around. The 'fight' didn't even last 5 minutes as by the time it was over, the entire crew had been subdued, and the marine, having found the hostages set them free.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" one of the hostages said when they were freed.

"No problem. It was really lucky I happened to end up here on the way to Dusk Island," the marine waved off with a friendly smile.

"Can we at least know the name of the man who saved us?" another hostage asked.

"The name's Lucky," the Marine grinned. "Now does anyone know the way to Dusk Island?"

XXXX

3 Days later…

"And that should be everything. Make sure they all get back to their families safely," Lucky said as he finished signing a few papers in the local Marine Headquarters of Dusk Island. They'd arrived at the island just this morning, and immediately he went to work on making sure everyone he'd saved was properly registered so that the marines could see to bringing them back to their families. The process was rather tedious, but necessary.

Once everything was said and done, the people he'd saved thanked him for everything as they were soon ushered into a ship that would take them back to their home islands, while the Galley Pirates were being shipped away to be taken to prison. Now that that was taken care of though, it was on to the next issue.

"Captain Lucky reporting for duty," Lucky said as he placed a paper down on the table. "As per my assignment orders," he said.

The marine at the reception counter nodded as he looked over the papers. "I see...so this is a special assignment paper...and it says here that you're also allowed to form your own crew, albeit with the stipulation that you'll need to fund yourselves," he read. "As such, I assume you will be claiming the bounty for the Galley Pirates?"

"Yep, I'll be claiming that," Lucky nodded. "Gotta start somewhere," he said with an enthusiastic grin.

The marine at the counter couldn't help but smile a little. "Alright then, everything seems to be in order. We'll have your ship fixed up and ready for you to set sail within a few hours," the marine nodded. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yeah, actually there is. Are there any strong guys around here? As you said, I'm looking to recruit if there's anyone around," Lucky said.

"Well...can't really help you there. We're mostly peaceful here, so we don't have many strong fighters. Just the usual bunch. They can work well enough for East Blue, but if you're aiming to go anywhere else...I wouldn't recommend it," the marine sighed.

Lucky mused a bit at that. "...what about any prisoners you've got?" he asks.

The marine looked at Lucky as if he was absolutely crazy "Why would you ask about the prisoners?"

Lucky shrugged "Well, I figured I could try to change one's life around, show them that being a marine is the way to go!" he said with a grin.

The marine continued to look at him oddly, before blinking and humming in thought "Well… maybe… there is ONE guy that comes to mind. He was just arrested for causing a disturbance, so he won't stay behind bars for too long."

"Yosha Lucky." Lucky said with a small grin, the marine chuckling in response.

XXXX

The prison of the marine base wasn't anything fancy, and honestly...it could do with a fresh coat of paint or two, but the important things like the bars and the like were well maintained, so that the prisoners wouldn't be able to escape, while not making the place inhumane to hold prisoners. Not that it stopped some of the more violent prisoners from making a ruckus whenever any of the marines came by.

"You can see why I say most of these criminals are NOT marine material," the marine escorting Lucky deadpanned, before using a stick to bang the bars and drive some of the prisoners back.

"Yeah...even I'm not THAT optimistic," Lucky sweat dropped at the sight of the angry, and in some cases, almost rabid, looking mix of thieves, vandals, arsonists, and even a few minor pirates. "So, about the guy you said isn't in for anything beyond 'disturbing the peace'?"

"Oh, his cell's right here," the marine said with a small smile as they came upon the only cell that had occupants...who weren't cursing up storms or throwing violent threats at the marines. In fact, most of the occupants of the cell didn't even look at the marines, pointedly ignoring them.

"Okay, which of these guys is it?" Lucky grinned.

"Oh, none of these guys. He's over there," the marine said, pointing to the other end of the cell were a hooded figure sat on one of the cell beds, before the figure noticed them and gave a small wave… one the marine returned. "His name's Garu from what little he says so far. Real model prisoner and even got his cell mates to shut up. He'll be out in a week really."

"Oh? Didn't think I'd made that kind of impression," came a gruff voice belonging to Garu. "So to what do I owe the visit from a Marine Captain?"

"Heh, you sure seem strong if you managed to make these guys quiet down, and I can tell you've got a strong will. A LOT of other Captains might have taken offense at your tone," Lucky grinned.

"That so? Well, that's how I talk. Sorry if you took offense," Garu shrugged.

"Oh, not at all. If anything I'd say you're perfect," Lucky's grin widened, before turning to his escort. "I'll take him if he's interested."

"Okay, seriously though, what's going on?" Garu sighed, seeing as he was feeling a bit...lost.

"Long story short, this guy here, Captain Lucky, is looking to getting together a crew. And you just passed the interview," the escort said with an amused snort.

"...I'm sorry, what?" Garu asked flatly.

XXXX

"Okay, I think I get the picture," Garu sighed after an explanation. "But as for your offer, I gotta decline," he said with a small huff.

"Eh? Why not?" Lucky blinked. He wasn't planning on giving up THAT easily.

"Because of a few reasons. First of all, I'm traveling to become the strongest warrior of my people, something I can't really do if I'm stuck having to follow orders left and right. Second, I've already got someone I follow. I'm not about to jump ships THAT easily just cause he's not around," Garu said simply.

"That so?" Lucky frowned a bit, before he grinned again. "Well you don't need to worry about that first one. My future unit is gonna be more or less independent, so we don't have to follow orders all the time. As for the second thing...you don't HAVE to stay all the time. You can always go back eventually."

Garu looked at him, well, Lucky assumed he did at least, couldn't see much beyond the hood, considering his words "Alright… how about this one then? You sure you want someone like me on your crew?" he said and pulled back his hood, revealing a surprising sight. It wasn't a human under the hood. Instead it was a humanoid wolf with dark blue fur on what appeared to be most of his body, though there was some white fur around his muzzle and down his neck. On his head he had grayish silver hair that was kept at a neck length and was rather wavy, styled in a way that covered his left eye, leaving his right eye exposed which was a shade of blue that reminded anyone looking of a clear sky.

There was a pause for a moment before… "That's it?" Lucky blinked, the expression on his face making it clear he wasn't the least bit off put or affected by what he was seeing.

Garu blinked "You aren't gonna scream or something?"

Lucky shrugged "Not really. I mean… I've heard of Minks before, even if you're first I've met though. Let me guess, your hood came down and since this is East Blue and pretty much nobody has ever seen or heard of a Mink, the people panicked, right?"

"There was the part of where he beat up a few people, but those were all self defense," the escort added.

"Those morons stunk of booze," Garu snorted. "But yeah, long story short, some morons came at me thinking I was some kinda monster, and I had to kick their butts to get them to stop, but seeing as I was 'disturbing the peace', I got arrested. Didn't fight arrest though, so I got a short sentence," the wolf mink shrugged.

"Well, the offer is still open, and you can get out a bit earlier if you take it, so that's a bonus, right?" Lucky said.

"You're not gonna let it go, are you?" Garu deadpanned.

"Nope," Lucky grinned.

"...fine, how about this. You and me, one on one. I don't want to follow someone weaker than me, so if you win, I'll think about the offer. But if you lose, then I decline the offer and there's nothing you can do to change my mind. Deal?" Garu said.

"Sounds fine to me," Lucky grinned, before turning to the escort. "Do you have a training field or somewhere we can use for our fight?"

"Uh...well...there's the empty court not far away. I suppose you could use that. But I'll have to get some guards first. Protocol and all that," the escort said.

"No problem. How long before you'll be ready?" Lucky asked.

"...about an hour."

"Great, so in an hour we fight," Lucky said.

"Heh, at least you're willing to put your money where your mouth is. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do," Garu nodded.

XXXX

An hour later saw several marines standing around a large empty courtyard and at the center were Lucky and Garu standing across from each other ready for their duel. Once the cuffs were taken off, both of them threw their cloaks aside, revealing a simple brown shirt and worn blue pants which clearly have seen a lot of traveling (and also showed that Garu had a dark blue tail that was straight and reached down to the back of his knees), and over his shoulders was a green cape, that judging by how well it was maintained, Lucky had a feeling had a bigger significance. Whatever the case both got ready.

Nearby, a nervous looking marine took out a pistol and raised it to the sky. Gulping a little he pulled the trigger, the gun shot signaling the start of the fight as both combatants charged forward.

Garu made the first move, his claws extending as they were suddenly covered in what appeared to be blue electricity, before he lashed out with a fast strike, forcing Lucky to block with his sword, but not before some of the electricity went through, pushing Lucky back.

"So that's an 'electro'," Lucky winced, his arms feeling a bit tingly from the clash. "Guess I'd better be serious from the start too," he said as his sword turned dark in color. Quickly regaining his footing, he charged forward and returned the attack, forcing Garu to catch the sword with his claws, his arms buckling from the force when they clashed.

"That's not a normal sword, is it?" Garu growled, the two struggling to push the other back.

"Against someone like you, only a moron would keep swinging a normal sword," Lucky smirked, before they broke the clash.

"You're definitely stronger than anyone from these seas I've met. You're from the Grand Line aren't you?" Garu smirked as they began a deadly dance of claws against sword, Electro against Haki, and neither side was giving an inch.

"I'd say the same to you," Lucky grinned as he narrowly avoided a powerful slash, and countered with one of his own. "So which half you from? Paradise or the New World?"

"The latter!" Garu roared with a wide grin as he kicked Lucky in the chest, sending him skidding back.

"That just makes me want you for my crew even more!" Lucky's grin was practically splitting his face at this point.

What followed was nothing short of a see saw battle as both sides duked it out, neither giving an inch. The fight….okay there was no other way to say it…

"...how long have those two been at it?" One of the marines asked, wiping some sweat off his brow.

"Judging by where the sun is...I'd say 3 and a half hours now...and counting," another sighed.

"And don't look now, but I don't think those two are slowing down anytime soon…" a third sweat dropped.

"They've got to get tired soon," a fourth sighed.

Three more hours passed and said fourth was nursing a goose egg on his head. Why? His co-workers dope slapped him for invoking Murphy.

"Are those two monsters?" the first groaned as once again Lucky and Garu were clashing their weapons of choice, causing another small shockwave at the impact, before they began trying to find an opening. Again. Fortunately, they finally did reach their limit, when in a last clash, Lucky's sword was knocked back.

"You're mine!" Garu roared, a fist ignited with Electro.

"Not that easily!" Lucky shot back, letting go of his sword...before his fist turned black, and in a flash, both had punched each other at the same time. Both stopped for a moment, the fists still hitting each other...before Garu fell over first, Lucky following a few moments later.

"H-Had enough…?" Lucky gasped, looking completely exhausted.

"N-Not yet…! Not gonna lose...so...easily…!" Garu gasped as he tried to get up, something Lucky did as well...but in the end both flopped over.

"And the match is a draw!" the referee said, partly cause that was the only way to rate the fight...though technically maybe Lucky won if you count him falling a few seconds after Garu, but mostly...he just wanted to be able to do other things than wait for stupidly long fights.

XXXX

"So, I'm still waiting for that answer," Lucky said with a light grin...as he was standing in front of Garu's cell, the wolf mink once more in there as per the agreement.

"Our terms were I'd consider it if you beat me," Garu pointed out...though it seemed rather half hearted.

"The counter terms was that you would decline if I lost," Lucky chuckled. "Besides, if you want to be technical, you hit the ground first."

"You're a really stubborn guy, aren't you?" Garu said rhetorically but he had an amused expression on his face. "But fine, you're definitely strong. I'll consider the offer. Give me a few days."

Lucky grinned at that "That's all I ask."

XXXX

Meanwhile, on an island not far away…

"Oh? What was that you just said?" a young man said, looking at a pair of marines who had been chatting over their lunch.

The young man had light auburn hair in a bowl cut, a rather round head with a thin, flat nose and narrow eyes. He was wearing a simple shirt with frills and a cravat with a short coat and a pair of pants held by suspenders with a polished pair of shoes.

He had been out for a walk, when he passed by a pair of marine guards on their lunch break and heard something interesting.

The two guards looked to him in surprise, before glancing back to each other and shrugging, as one of them turned back to the young man "Apparently, the base on Dusk Island arrested someone interesting a few weeks ago, a wolfman of all things."

"A wolfman you say?" the man said in interest. "Are you certain?"

"Oh yeah, we're sure that's what they said. Was caught disturbing the peace and all that," the marine shrugged.

"Interesting," the man mused before walking away, not even bothering to thank the marines much to their indignation. "A Mink out in East Blue? What in the world would one of those animals be doing out here," he muttered...before a thought crossed his mind. "They did say its a criminal, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I took it off their hands," he smirked a bit.

XXXX

A few days later…

Garu lay on the prison bed, thinking about the last few days. After he'd told Lucky he'd think about the offer, the man pretty much came to visit him every day. Fortunately, despite being stubborn, it seemed Lucky at least had some sense of boundaries and didn't hound him about joining or anything. He just wanted to talk….though could saying he 'wanted to get to know his future crewmate' count as hounding? Whatever the case, it seemed harmless enough, so the two talked. Nothing too big, just their recent travels, what they wanted in life, normal stuff. Suffice to say Lucky seemed to be a nice enough guy. Easy going despite having a pretty stubborn streak, and generally a likeable guy. Honestly, now the idea of being part of his crew didn't seem so bad. Maybe he could even…

His train of thought was derailed when the door to the prison area opened up, and in came one of the more...fishy looking guards. He also had someone else with him, so Garu quickly pulled his hood over his head. He wasn't ashamed of being a Mink, but well...the humans (not 'lesser Mink' as many of his kind used to like to call them, as it turns out some people do take offense at using the word 'lesser') tended to get spooked when they saw him so he really couldn't be bothered to deal with that. However, it was pretty much pointless, when the guard stopped at his cell.

"Here he is," the guard said, as the visitor came up...and Garu could tell he was a jackass from just one look at him.

"I don't see any wolfmen," the visitor said with a snort.

"The one in the hood, he doesn't like showing his face." the guard said, pointing directly at Garu, who rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"That so? No surprise there. I know I'd be ashamed if I had the face of a mangy beast," the visitor snorted.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Garu deadpanned. He knew where this was going. It was people like this dope who made the world so full of bigotry these days.

"Watch your mouth, beast! Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?" the guard hissed.

"Nope. Should I?" Garu said, his tone bored.

"This is Lord Sterry of the Goa Kingdom! You have no idea how privileged you are to be visited by someone as distinguished as this!" the guard said.

"That's correct," Sterry smirked. "Now learn your place and apologize."

"...yeah...no. I ain't never met a 'Sterry' so I have no idea why you'd come here," Garu said, completely bored.

The livid look on Sterry's face was almost worth the boredom for Garu, considering he could see the vein ready to pop on his forehead, the flaring nostrils, the huffs and puffs of air, and the overall redness of his face.

"Keep that up and you'll get a heart attack," Garu snorted at the face Sterry was making.

Sterry seemed even more livid...if that was even possible, before his glare turned into a smirk. "I get it now. I guess I should have expected a beast to need some taming."

"Wait, what?!" Garu blinked.

Sterry didn't respond. Instead, he turned to the guard and said, "I'll take him off your hands. How much?"

"Hey, wait just a damn minute here!" Garu glared. He did NOT like where this was going.

"I don't know...I mean, we're not actually supposed to sell prisoners…" the guard made a show of thinking.

"I'll pay 2,000,000 Berries for the mutt," Sterry said.

"Sold!" the guard said wholeheartedly, much to Sterry's grin...not noticing everyone in the prison looking at him like he's the biggest idiot they'd ever seen. Which he kind of was, cause everyone in the know knew that the standard price for a Mink was like 700,000 only. Of course, said Mink was anything BUT thrilled at what he was hearing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing you bastard?! I did NOT willingly get arrested over a misunderstanding just to be sold into slavery! You can't do this!" Garu roared, grabbing the bars as his claws ignited with electro...and were the bars starting to bend a little?

"Actually, I just did," the guard smirked. THAT was the last straw for the wolf mink, and with an enraged roar, the bars he was holding on to were bent apart, allowing the wolf to step out of the cell.

"The only way you're dragging me off to be a slave is over my battered and broken body!" Garu growled.

"Back beast! I am your master now!" Sterry growled...as if that would actually do anything.

"Go die!" Garu growled as he socked Sterry in the face and went straight for the door.

"Hey, come back here!" the guard shouted, before taking out a Baby Transponder Snail and reporting a 'prison break'.

Garu didn't listen and kept running...though he didn't get far as he was suddenly pulled aside and into a few bushes. He struggled against whoever had grabbed him, before he saw it was Lucky, who was giving him the 'keep quiet' gesture, and got out of the bush.

"Captain Lucky, sir! We got a report that one of the prisoners, the wolf mink, escaped!" several marines said.

"I know, I was nearby when I got the message. He went that way! I'll go the other way and we can catch him in a pincer maneuver!" Lucky said quickly, earning salutes from the marines who ran in the way he was pointing. After a few minutes. "They're gone for now."

Garu poked his head out of the bush "Why did you help me?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"Let's just say my name is REALLY fitting," Lucky chuckled. "It really was lucky that I happened to pick now to visit and well...I heard the shouting going on in the cell," he said, before his face frowned in distaste. "I can't believe that guard had the gall to up and agree to try to sell you off into slavery. Okay, I CAN believe that, but it's utterly disgusting. Problem is, since you did 'break out', its your word against theirs, so unless we can prove you're innocent...we're sunk," Lucky sighed at the end.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Garu blinked.

"I'm helping you, aren't I? If you get caught, I'm in the fire too," Lucky chuckled awkwardly. "Now let's get out of here before they come back. We can figure something out as we go."

"But still…!" Garu almost protested, before sighing and nodding as they quickly got out of the area. "That still doesn't answer why you'd help me. I mean, I know you want a crewmate, but you're putting your own neck out."

"Isn't it normal to help someone who needs it?" Lucky said simply. "Sides, this isn't about helping a future crewmate anymore, it's about helping a friend."

"Friend?" Garu blinked in surprise.

"We spent a few days talking to each other, and we kicked each other's butts a day before that. I'd say we're friends," Lucky grinned. "And that's all the reason I need to help you out."

Garu...really wasn't sure HOW to respond to that. Some might call the answer childish or even stupid...but there was no doubting the sincerity behind the words...and that really struck a chord with the wolf mink. Whatever, the case he couldn't help but feel gratitude for the human. With that in mind… "About your offer," he started. "If we get out of this free, you got yourself a crewmate. I'm in," he said with a grin.

Lucky grinned widely at that. "Then that's even more reason to expose what happened."

"How do you plan to do that?" Garu frowned.

"Easy, we can get witnesses AND we just have to find the surveillance Transponder Snail," Lucky said. "It's a prison, and a marine one at that. There's bound to have been one or two."

"Eh?" Garu blinked, not expecting it to be THAT easy.

"Well, it's not going to be THAT easy, but hey, it's better than having to stow away right?" Lucky grinned.

"Well...fair point. But...how do we get back in?" Garu blinked.

"Well...I'm not the one they're after, right?" Lucky chuckled.

"...I'm not gonna like this next part, am I?" Garu sighed.

"Probably not, sorry," Lucky said apologetically.

XXXX

"There he is! He must have gotten away somehow!" several marines shouted before giving chase, Garu doing his best to send them on a wild goose chase...at least until Lucky got what they were looking for.

Until then, he'd do his best to keep them busy.

XXXX

"Excuse me?" Lucky asked as he went into a room in the base, specifically one that dealt with the Transponder Snails.

"Yes?" the marine taking care of the room asked. Specifically the very same one who'd agreed to sell Garu.

"I was hoping you could help me with something. See, I heard something weird from some of the prisoners in the jail and well...I can't say what it is, but I'd like to check on the surveillance transponder snail that was used in the prison. Maybe some of its recorded images could be useful?" Lucky asked.

"Well uh…" the marine fumbled. "I'm sure it's nothing. I mean, prisoners, they always like to cause a ruckus to make life harder for us," he tried to reason.

"You never know soldier, best to check every possible lead." Lucky said seriously, staring down the marine.

He recognized his voice as the one that been trying to sell Garu, so he knew there was an attempt at bullshit right in front of him.

"C-come now sir, you can't be…" he started, but was cut off by an intense glare.

"Soldier, as a Marine Captain, I ORDER you to show me the images," Lucky said flatly, the usual good-natured tone in his voice gone.

"O-Of course," the marine gulped and prepared the Transponder Snails. Once they were ready… "Th-they are ready for your perusal," he said.

Lucky nodded and walked past him, going over the images, but while he was bent over examining the images recorded, the Marine was shaking like a leaf, before… "RAAAAGGGHHH!" he roared and attempted to plunge a knife into the captain's back. Tried being the keyword.

"Next time you try to do foul play, don't make it so obvious," Lucky said flatly as the knife had snapped, seemingly failing to pierce through the captain's back. With that, he unceremoniously backhanded the marine, sending him into a wall. "Now then...here we are…"

XXXX

"Jeez, you guys don't give up, do you?" Garu deadpanned as once again he was staring down a small army of marines. Small fries he knew, but he wasn't about to add more to his plate if he could help it.

"There's the beast who attacked me! Marines, arrest him!" came a gratingly familiar voice as Sterry came into view...sporting a black eye.

"Hey, I'm not the one who was trying to go slave shopping," Garu shot back, loud enough for the Marines to hear.

The marines all paused at that, before slowly turning to look at Sterry as if he was crazy, which honestly, he probably was.

"What are you looking at?! Arrest him!" Sterry shouted...before realizing what this was. "You can't honestly believe the words of this violent criminal!"

"They don't have to. They can believe me," came Lucky's voice, as he came with a visual Transponder snail, and the marine responsible who was hogtied and gagged. Raising the snail, the recording of the little 'transaction' was shown for them all to see. "Sorry I took so long Garu."

"Oh no, you came at the PERFECT time," Garu smirked, looking at Sterry who looked like a fish out of water.

"Th-that means nothing! I am nobility! Of a higher class than all of you and I ORDER you all to arrest that beast!" Sterry grit his teeth...only for his bravado to die a screaming death when he felt the glare Lucky was shooting him and suddenly the air felt heavier.

Lucky slowly walked up to the man, who just felt more and more like he was looking up at a giant, even the other marines felt a bit weak in the knees from his presence, Garu sweating a bit as Lucky stood in front of the now cowering Sterry "First off, you should know slavery is illegal, and that no one is above the law, not nobility, not marines even. Second, I ought to arrest you for this, but sadly, because you didn't actually complete the transaction, I can't…" and here Lucky's grin was like a shark "I CAN however fine you to pay quadruple what you were offering, plus a 200% tax."

"Y-You think I can't pay that? Money isn't a problem!" Sterry stupidly tried to put on a brave front. "I don't know who you think you are, but you're just some low born trash! You can't-"

He was cut off when the pressure increased, Lucky grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up.

"I don't care if you're a Noble or King! NOBODY is or should ever be above the law!" Lucky snarled. "And for the record, that's my friend you were trying to enslave, and I don't appreciate that at all. But okay, since you clearly don't care about that...I heard the Goa Kingdom has had a sort of rocky position here and there. It'd probably be bad if word got out that one of its nobles was dabbling into illegal activity."

"Y-You wouldn't…!" Sterry gasped.

"I can, I would, and I honestly should," Lucky said flatly.

"Alright! Alright! I'll let the mutt go!" Sterry panicked. If word like this got out, it'd be very bad for him. "And I'll pay the fine too!"

"Good," Lucky nodded, the pressure vanishing. "But just so the lesson sticks...that's a pretty bad shiner you got there…" he said...before promptly punching Sterry in the other eye, giving him matching black eyes. "Remember it well. Doesn't matter who you are, it NEVER excuses you for treating others like dirt or acting like you're above the law. NEVER let me catch you pulling something like this again or there WILL be trouble."

"YES! YES! I PROMISE!" Sterry was wetting himself at this point, and now that the pressure was gone, did an about face and ran away.

With that done, Garu spoke up realizing something. "That's...not gonna get Lucky in trouble is it?"

The gathered marines looked at each other, before shaking their heads. "Nope, from what we could see, just a Captain doing his job," they said.

And that's the first chapter. I'm sure there are a ton of questions, but suffice to say, its us reworking the characters from Kyurangers into the world of One Piece, which is so diverse that it works well. Leave any questions in the comments, and if its not spoiler, we'll try to answer them.