Again, it changes when I upload it. My apologies for the layout.

-x-

"..." Luffy stared down at him. He was now standing on the dock, over the marine captain whose head he had punced into the dock. Unspeaking and pale, but Polchemie could not tell if the boy was pale with anger or with fear. He decided it should be fear. The brat did not know how much strenght he had build up over the years. If the boy was not white with fear, then he was going to make sure that it would be in a matter of seconds. Luffy watched Polchemie stand up without moving a muscle.

Then Polchemie took out a pair of gloves Luffy knew all to well. It were the spiked gloves the man had used to beat Luffy into a bloody pulp (-on a leash) till Ace and Sabo saved him.

'Remember? *smile* You better watch it!' Polchemie looked really taken in by his own "smartness and cunningness" 'I'm much stronger now! I gave up being a pirate, but as a marine, my strength increased tenfold! And do you remember these?' He put the gloves on 'This time your brothers won't save you! And I don't see those worthless crewmembers of yours' anywhere. They probably left you here didn't they? They have the devils luck leaving just in time. They'd got sick of covering yous weak ass all the time, ney?'

Polchemie hit the mute captain with a fist 'You can't even defend yourself properly!' He underlined each word with a punch. Luffy glared through the blows which resounded through the dock, while Zoro observed from the Sunny. Finally he raised his fist, which was the last Polchemie saw that day.

'Don't talk about my nakama!'

'You're all talk' he said with something similar to his usual grin, after he made quick work of the Marine admiral. 'A weakling like you' then he added quietly 'a weakling like me...'

He sunk the small galley to relieve his anger and went to sit on the lions head till the others returned. He didn't notice Zoro standing, or Franky, who came on the deck after hearing the commotion outside. He just went back to his fishing.

From their position on the deck it looked as if he wiped the blood from the shallow wounds on his face quickly.

'Hey! We have to hurry! Prepare to set off immediatly!' Nami yelled from the coastline 'There is a big marinebase closeby and today one of their admirals will be coming to this i-...island.' She finished her sentence at the sight of the crushed galley. Oh.

'Anyway, we're all done now. Let's set off'

Never had an encounter with a marineship gone so smootly. Almost none of them had to anything at all. They didn't even notice that something had happened, the reason they left was because of the rumor of a big marine vessel, carrying a big marine admiral who had big business on their big island. It took a while for them to process that the townspeople had exaggerated, if only just a little~. They laughed at the thought that they mistook a rumor in a small town for actual trouble, and joined for dinner.

'Oi Luffy! Dinner!'

'Yeah' was heard from the figurehead.

Sanji shook his head. The idiot would normally come rushing at the very smell of food. Well, he couldn't be sick because he's Luffy so, no need to be worried about that. Luffy was just admiring the sunset, and even as this was odd, Sanji didn't blame him for it. The sunset looked spectacular; beautiful shades of red surrounded the dying sun. Several clouds drifted before the sun, colored red by the light. It looked as though the clouds had pierced it, leeking all those other, beautiful crimson clouds.

Sanji went back inside, his dinner was getting cold. He knew better than to wait till it cooled down enough to be eaten properly, because all too soon the kid would come raid the kitchen and every plate on the table. Luffy would come eventually, especially since those red clouds indicated rain.

'Oi Robin, have you ever heard of something called the Gray Terminal?' Zoro suddenly asked. Dinner was almost finished and there was still no sight of their overly-active captain.

Robin looked a bit surprised at the question, but did not hestitate to ask 'In east-blue?'

'Guess so'

'That is a trash mountain from the kingdom of Goa. There are supposed to be more... but I only heard of one when I was with the Revolutianaries. I had never heard of it before, or after, up till now swordsman-san.'

'Was there a fire some time ago?'

'Yes, but how did you know that? It never appeared in the newspapers.'

'?'

'The burning of the trash heap called Gray Terminal was to get rid of the trash'

'So it was not important enough to be put into the papers?' Ussop decided to join in on the conversation. It had to be something lifetreatening if Zoro was interested in it.

'Not only that. The people who lived there were also considered part of the trash that was burned. Moreover, the fire was intended to get rid of the people who were labeled as trash' The crew was silent after that.

'How come you asked about this, swordsman-san?'

'I heard a marine talking about it and I got curious.'

The conversation was cut short when Franky noted that he was full. This got everyone's attention, because Luffy always stole more then half their food. 'Where's Luffy?' Chopper asked. 'Now you mention it, I have hardly seen him the entire afternoon' Nami replied.

'He probably fell asleep somewhere, let's finish our own dinner before he decides to wake up and steal it' Zoro said. He was bothered with what the marine had said, but he was not going to tell the entire crew just yet. If Luffy wasn't going to tell, then he should respect that.. for now, then.

After everyone finished and cleaned the plates, they wondered not for the first time where their captain was. He had been a little off ever since they regrouped.

"Zoro, go look for him"

"Shut up, do it yourself"

"I'll increase your debt"

Zoro had already left.

He didn't need to search long. He found the captain sitting on the figurehead, steadily watching the horizon, where all light now had dissapeared. There would be a new moon in a few nights, so the night was almost completely black.

'Oi Luffy, you missed dinner' Zoro chuckled as the kid suddenly jarred awake from the sound, as if he'd been sleeping with eyes open. Or thinking, that was not as likely, but the former mentioned feat (sleeping with eyes open) was not even accomplished (yet) by the narcoleptic Zoro.

'Not hungry'

Zoro got an uneasy feeling in his gut. Luffy was always hungry.

'Anyway, it's nighttime. Brook is on watch. Maybe you should get some sleep before it's your turn.'

'Good thinking' He slowly got up with one hand on his hat, a smile beneath the dark shadows leaking from under it.

'Are you okay?'

Luffy smiled and went to his hammock, as if nothing was wrong. Trying to let everyone believe nothing was wrong. But as he was able to maintain his composure during the day, he couldn't control the memories flowing back in the dark.

-x-

As I said I'm putting it up in parts now. Last time there was a huge difference in length through the chapters, but hey, it was my first fic, have mercy on me.