Hello, guys ! Finally, after a week of holidays, I came back to offer you the continuation of this One Piece fic. Before starting, I have to tell you that I might do some small changes in my writing rhythm. Before, I was giving myself defined period of time to work, but now I'll write whenever I want to but I'll always make sure to publish a new chapter at least every weeks and a half (roughly 10 days maximum between two chapter being published) That way, I might even get some free time to work on new project, who could be published from time to time without any real publishing schedule, at least not while the 2 fic I'm working on actually are still ongoing.

I hope that this change of rhythm will not disturb you that much.

I'll have you remember that I do not possess the rights of One Piece, everything belongs to Oda, except my OC.

Let's go !

Chapter 2: Ice threat and Sea Train

After the defeat of Foxy by the hand of Luffy, everybody had gathered in front of the huge boat, each camps all around their respective captain. On the Strawhat side, Luffy, who had taken off his afro, was laid out sleeping on the grass, surrounded by his crewmates and Ash, Chopper on his knees next to the captain, taking care of his wounds.

- "You ! You ! " 'Congratulated' Ussop, unable to hold back some tears of joy from pouring down his face, tapping his finger hard on his captain cheek.

- " You're poking too hard ! Are you trying to kill captain ?! " Roared Chopper by turning to Ussop to prevent him from continuing what it was doing.

- " I was scared too ! All that talk about the afro making you strong…. " Commented Nami, squatted next to the doctor, her eyes aimed at Luffy, Ash noticing an intense concern in her eyes, but he was careful not to make any comment about it.

- " Nami-swan, the afro does make you strong" Added Sanji, Ash looking at him with a look which said a lot about what he was thinking of it.

" I'll never understand all of that afro shit. "

It was at this moment that Luffy began to open his eyes, taking a moment to understand where he was and his situation. Then he sat all of a sudden, as if he was, in a way, afraid of something.

- " Huh ! The game ? What happened to the fight ? Didn't I win ? Was I dreaming ? " Asked Luffy, doubt thick in his voice and by the way he was shaking, he was really afraid he will lose a friend.

- " Don't worry, rubber band. You won, but you were exhausted by the fight. Everything is okay. " Reassured Ash arms crossed, massaging his temples, trying to calm a headache which had gained in intensity as the Davy Back Fight went on, his brain not used to such an amount of aberration and stupidity.

Luffy allowed himself to fall on the grass once again, heaving a sigh of relief.

- " That's good… " he simply said, his usual smile returning on his face, the contagious smile invading his friends face, each one of them making a small comment about the situation, but that nice and friendly atmosphere was broken by a voice.

- " Boss ! You should be resting ! "

Indeed, Foxy had approached the Strawhat, he too had been looked after by his crew and was covered with bandages. But his presence implied nothing good and the Strawhats all put themselves in a fighting stance, ready to defend themselves.

- " Hey, Strawhat. It's all because of you that I've lost my perfect record… "

- " The one of being the ultimate dumb face ? I reassure you, you still are. " threw Ash, which made Foxy fall on his knees, whining about being called a 'dumb face'. But he recovered and got up to come to take place in front of Luffy, who was now sitting, his straw hat back on his head.

- " Not bad. Brother. " He Congratulated while holding out his hand to Luffy, aiming for a friendly handshake, much to the surprise of Foxy's crew. Luffy, naturally, took Foxy's hand in his own, but naturally…

- " EAT THIS ! OVERHEAD THROW OF VENGEANCE ! " Foxy pulled Luffy's arm over his shoulder, wanting to send the young captain to the ground with this last trick, except that he had forgotten a pretty important detail.

Luffy had not move an inch, the arm had just stretched and thus Foxy was the one who ended up crashing on the ground, head first, under the unamused looks of the Strawhats and Ash, whose headache worsened.

This last humiliation passed, Foxy reminded the rules of the Davy Back Fight. There was one last thing to do.

- " That's right ! " Resume the commentator. " The winner, captain Strawhat, gets to take a new crew member ! They seem to be looking for a carpenter. In that case, will they take the leader of our 50-men mechanic team, Sonieh ? Or will they pick the battle-ready mechanic, Donoban ? Or the downright sexy carpenter, Gina-chan ? Only the captain can decide who to pick ! Now, decide please."

The answer Luffy gave came out quickly and one might as well say that nobody was ready for what he had chosen.

- " I choose your flag. "

- " WHAT ?! " Roared all the Foxy Pirate who couldn't get why Luffy made that choice and were all complaining, even though it was legal to choose their symbol, but they weren't the only ones to complain about his decision.

- "Hey Luffy! Think again ! Isn't sexy Gina-chan a lot better" Sanji was naturally disappointed that he wouldn't have another woman on board.

- " Is it a custom with you all to go back on your captain decisions. Furthermore, can you make a decision with something else than your dick ? " Criticized Ash which, naturally, made the cook react violently.

- " SHUT UP ! " Roared Sanji by sending a kick to Ash face who took the blow quite hard. But he disappeared in a puff of smoke, surprising everyone, Strawhats and Foxys.

- " But where is he ? " Wondered Chopper before getting his answers seeing Ash farther away, dressed in an orange and black tracksuit with some kind of whiskers drawn on his cheeks and a blue headband with a metal plate on it around his head. His hands where joined in front of his face, his finger forming a cross.

- " Kage bushin no jutsu ! " Mumbled Ash

- " BUT WHAT!? " Roared the cook, completely lost and annoyed. " BUT WHAT ARE YOU EXACTLY ?! "

- " AWESOME ! " Said Luffy with stars in his eyes before returning to Foxy while answering Sanji. " And concerning my choice, if we had fought for something like that, it wouldn't be worth it. "

- " You're… evil ! You didn't even give it a thought and you want to rob us of our pride !? " Foxy got indignant, while knowing that if such was Luffy's wish, he would have no choice but to accept it.

- " I don't want your sail. Just the flag. " Explained Luffy to calm them, but that had not the effect he wanted, because Foxys had all begun grumbling saying that this was way too clement and that since their symbol was on the sail, the couldn't keep her. But Luffy tried again with another proposal.

- " OK. I'll erase your symbol for you. Then I'll give you a new one. That way you'll be able to use your sail. "

This proposal created a wave of gratitude among the pirates, which were all grateful to the straw hat wearing kid. But this gratitude did not last, because Luffy's pitiful artistic talents had cursed their sail by covering it with a real horror, a parody of their former emblem as if it had been drawn by a handless 3 years old kid. Honestly, for the Foxy's Pirate, it was the almost worse than to get their emblem stolen. And after the closing ceremony of the Davy Back Fight and a promise of vengeance made by Foxy, the Merry was finally free, but the Strawhats still had unfinished business to attend.

- " An old man and his mare ? You did all that shit for that ? " said Ash, surprised to know the reason why Luffy had accepted the duel to begin with.

- " Yep, now I need to go tell him that we succeed. " Confirmed Luffy with a big smile, satisfied with himself, getting ready to leave with his crew.

- " OK. If that is okay with you, I'll stay at the boat. I'm not feeling that well, all this bullshit gave me headache. "

- " OK, as you wish. See you later. "

And they left heading to this old man house, leaving Ash behind aboard the Merry, getting an aspirin ready and resuming his reading which had been interrupted by the Davy Back Fight.

/-Later-/

His headache finally gone, Ash had just ended his book and had put it back where it should have been before going out on the deck of the ship. He let his eyes wander on the various hazardous repairs which were covering the Merry like a patchwork, his face showing concern towards the boat health. He knew quite well the dangers of Grand Line and suspected that this poor little boat might have reached its breaking point. And he was afraid, in view(sight) of what he had lived, the fate of this boat already is to seal.

" If I am right, they are going to have a hard time accepting the reality. "

While he was inspecting the mast, which was hardly standing up, he caught something in the corner of his eye something which had appeared suddenly. Intrigued, he took his binoculars and focused on this mysterious thing. By looking at it closely, he saw that it was about a big chunk of ice which had appeared on the ocean. Waves were frozen and he even saw a sea king coming out of the surface, frozen up to his bones too. Getting the binoculars out of his eyes, Ash seemed perplexed. He was thinking about the reason behind the sudden appearance of this ice when he caught something else. Putting back his binoculars before his face, he saw a group of people that he easily identified as the Strawhat, Chopper and Ussop fleeing with a statue of ice looking like Robin, but by seeing the stranger who was with them and the absence of the archaeologist, fear rose on his face while his heart skipped a beat, jumping overboard and rushing towards the group.

/-At the same moment-/

A heavy and tense atmosphere clouded the group of pirate which was facing a tall man dressed in a white sleeveless vest wore over an indigo shirt, white pants and black dress shoes, with dark hair and a mask on his forehead. It was Aokiji, one of the 3 Admirals of the Marine who was of passage in the area and who was destroying the Strawhat. Chopper and Ussop were running away, carrying with them a completely frozen Robin, leaving behind them Nami, Zoro, Sanji and Luffy, the three last ones having their arm, or leg in the case of Sanji, seriously frozen. The Marine had just pushed away Nami, who had vainly tried to intervene before landing on the ground beside Luffy.

- " NAMI-SWAN ! " Shouted Sanji, whereas Zoro took once again a fighting stance, while being stressing a lot, before his captain intervenes.

- " WAIT, YOU TWO ! " Shouted Luffy, gaining the attention of his companions, taking too a fighting stance, his fists raised. " Don't fight him. I want to fight him alone ! Let's settle this… You and… "

WAVE KNOCKBACK !

Luffy did not have time to finish making his duel proposition that Ash had appeared in a blink of an eye between him and Aokiji, the latter literally blowing up to smithereens by the same technique which had scattered Ener on Skypiea. The ice shards spread out on the ground of the meadow, thus needing more time than usually to re-form.

- " BUT WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING !? " Roared Ash towards the pirates who were surprised seeing him turning up without any warning.

- " Well, can't you see ? I was about to … "

- " TO DO NOTHING AT ALL ! Go back to the boat, I am going to hold him back. "

- " Because you think you can do better than us ? " Asked Zoro, not liking the fact that he was underestimated like that.

- " YOU CAN'T BEAT HIM IF YOU CAN'T TOUCH HIM ! At least I can. SO, FUCK OFF AND RUN ! "

- " Hey ! Don't you order me around ! I'm the captain, not you ! " Luffy complains, sulking but Ash was not in a joking mood.

- " Except that I'm not a part of your crew, man. So if you have a minimum of common sense, run away and let me hold him back. You will not manage to beat him. "

Luffy, becoming serious again, assessing Ash and he saw in his red iris that there was no room for discussion. Against his own reason and against all odd, Luffy moved back a step, eyes hidden in the shadow of his hat.

- " Zoro, Sanji, Nami. We are going. "

- " WHAT ?! You are going to listen to him ? We can do … "

- " IT'S AN ORDER ! " Roared Luffy, apparently really mad, interrupting Sanji and taking everybody by surprise. " If he have so little trust in us, let him shows what it is capable of. " And after a few seconds of heavy silence, only disturbed by the noise of the ice re-forming, the 4 pirates left, leaving behind them Ash, who once the pirates far enough, loosened, heaving a sigh while lowering his head.

- " You really chose your moment to appear, Aokiji. My plan could totally fail because of that." Said Ash by half turning towards the Marine who looked at him, surprised.

- " You know that for you, it should be ADMIRAL Aokiji. But I am going to let it slide this time, Ashuku. " Answered Aokiji, suddenly serious. " You let your past wounds guide your steps, then ? You had an future all ready for you. "

- " I don't plan in letting my inheritance decide of what my life is going to be. What I am going to do is going to do a favor to this world. I'll go to the end of my plan whatever the price I'll have to pay. "

- " I believe that it will be no use to discuss with you and convince you to stop. You seem decided for everything. " Concluded Aokiji by fetching his bike.

- " You are going to leave like that ? And the Strawhat ? " Asked Ash, intrigued by the sudden change of situation.

- " If you are with them, there's no need for me to stop them. Moreover, whether it's because of you or not, they are condemned. Goodbye, Ashuku. "

And Aokiji left the island on his bike, building up his own path of ice on the surface of the ocean, leaving Ash behind him, the young man perplexed by the Admiral last words. But now was not the time to think about that, it was necessary to return to the boat because there were some things to be told to the pirates.

/-Later, aboard the Merry-/

The pirates were all aboard the Going Merry, gathered on the deck with the exception of Robin and Chopper, the small reindeer busy taking care of the archaeologist who had been almost completely thawed, the Strawhat waiting with apprehension for the doctor to go out, the latter finally appearing on the deck, trembling and in tears.

- " Her … Her heart is beating again ! "

Naturally, joy overtook the whole crew, Sanji in particular, but Chopper prevented him from going inside to see her since she was still sleeping. Once the relief died down, Ussop allowed himself to slide along the mast, ending up laid on the ground.

- " What, Ussop ? Are you hanging in there ? " Asked Zoro by seeing the sniper spreading out on the ground.

- " Are we going to run into more strong guy like that ? "

- " Yeah. And you are off to a bad start. "

This voice, that they all recognized as Ash, drew their attention on the young man who had just gone on board. Luffy was the first one to go to see him.

- "Okay, before saying anything else, Aokiji left the island. Since I'm not a pirate, he has no reason to do anything against me and he was too lazy to go after you after that." Explained Ash when he saw everyone looking at him, not understanding how he could have come back unscathed. But Luffy was just pouting, arms crossed.

- "Okay, but you know, I had the situation in hands back there."

- " But yes, of course. And I'm a Marine Admiral. " Countered Ash not amused by the situation. " This guy could freeze you completely in a snap of his finger and transform you into shaved ice. It is not a Logia you can even hope to beat at your current level. "

- " I have already beaten 2. I can redo it with him, I just need to find the right element and I'm good. " Explained Luffy, still arms crossed and a proud expression on his face, that disappeared immediately because of Ash.

- " You were lucky when you faced Ener and Crocodile. Your rubber body gave you a natural advantage against thunder and it's the water you had on you who allowed you to touch Crocodile in spite of his sand made body. "

Hearing Ash talk about Crocodile made the whole crew react, Nami being the one to voice that reaction.

- " Wait a minute, there. How do you know about the fight against Crocodile ? "

To answer this question, Ash just showed them the book he had just finished reading not long ago, answering the question without saying a word, but making the navigator react violently.

- " But it's my logbook ! You have no right to read it ! Who do you think you are ?! "

- " I don't care and it allowed me to learn a lot about your adventures up to this moment. " Threw As, not giving a shit about it. "Well, all of this to say that you were lucky against these Logias but using the elemental weakness against a guy like Aokiji shall be of no use. You don't become a Marine Admiral if you're not capable of by-passing a weakness as obvious as this one. "

- " Hey, calm your horses down. If we all fight him together, we can beat him. I won't allow himself to be impressed by one Marine. "

*CRAC*

A silence followed the crackling noise which had just rung. All have their eyes turned to Zoro, leaning against the mast and his eyes wide open, in shock, a fact rare enough to be underlined. Ash had moved so fast that even the sharp instinct of the swordsman saw nothing and he had pressed his index in the mast, piercing the wood like butter, with almost no crack around the impact point, which reminded Sanji of his fight against Bon Clay in Alabasta.

- " You consider yourselves invincible because you survived things which were thought to be insuperable. But the world is vast and those who are too confident in themselves don't reach the end of their journey. Nobody is invincible in this world, not even Logias. You'll all have to carved in your brain that you are nothing for those who have lived and sailed on this sea for a long time. "

- " Hey ! I was about to propose to fight him in a duel. He would have to face me and he should have left the others alone. " reminded Luffy, rather proud of his plan but Ash send him back on Earth.

- " It's not the kind of deal you can make with Marines. 90 % of them won't gave a shit about the deal and they'll go after them. And even though you find one who would accept the deal, either he kills you, or you get arrested and in both cases, a crew like yours without a captain is doomed to disappear. So the next time you have such a brilliant idea, forget it. "

He ended his monologue by taking his finger out of the mast, his index still intact, and began to go away when he was interrupted by Nami.

- " I knew there was something wrong with you. How can you know so much about the Marine ? Are you one of them ? And if we are as stupid as you think we are, you are free to go find yourselves another crew to bother."

- "Me being a friend or a foe is something you should have worried about when I first showed, it's a little late for that. And I'll 'bother' whoever I want. Just know that if you keep thinking like ou are, you'll die before reaching Grand Line's end."

And on these words, he went inside the boat, leaving behind him the pirates who were shared between surprise and incomprehension.

- "What's his problem, seriously ?" Wondered Ussop

- "I don't know but he hides something big. We'll need to keep an eye on him." Indicated Nami, supported by the rest of the crew.

/- A few days later -/

The Going Merry was sailing peacefully on Grand Line in the direction of the next island. The events which had followed the Davy Back Fight had been, more or less, forgotten, except for the fact that Robin still didn't woke up. Nami was resting on a deckchair, Sanji and Zoro were fighting once again and the 3 kids of the crew were laughing their ass off thanks to Luffy and his impression. In the crow's nest, Ash was looking at the scene, completely bewildered by the lack of seriousness of this crew even if, he had to admit, it was a part of their 'charm'. On the other hand, he was worried by something. The last words of Aokiji, auguring that the end of the crew was near, worried him a lot. A disbanding of the crew so soon wouldn't help him carry out his mission. He had taken a lot of risk and had did a lot of thing he wasn't necessarily proud of, so it was not so the time for everything to go out of hand.

"And with my outburst the other day, I have lost a big part of the trust they had in me. I have to make things right again, I can't lose their trust while I need them."

The organized chaos which reigned over the deck stopped immediately when the door of the cabin opened and Robin came out, finally woken, even if Ash suspected that she had been awake for a long time already.

- "Robin ! How're you feeling ? Do you feel cold ?" Asked the young reindeer like the good doctor he was.

- "Thanks to you. I feel great, now. Thanks, doctor." Answered Robin with a smile, the Zoan user asserting that it did not please him to be called like that, even if his waddle and his smile fooled no one.

- "Robin-chwan, I'll make you something warm. What would you like ?!" Proposed the cook, the archaeologist accepting the proposal.

- "Um, may I have a cup of coffee ?"

- "Of course !" Exclaimed Sanji by rushing in a whirlwind of hearts towards the kitchen to satisfy his dark haired goddess, the whole ordeal happening under Ash's eyes who looked at the scene amused but every time his look fell on Robin, he thought about happened a few days ago.

"There is something who changed with her. I don't know that happened with Aokiji before I intervene but that marked Robin. At the same time, seeing her history, we can't blame her for that."

Letting his spirit wander following his random thoughts, he turned his head to the ocean and saw something strange who caught his attention.

- " Uh, guys. There is a toad swimming on the port beam. "

Of course, such a statement instigated the curiosity of the crew and by looking on the port beam, they did find a toad, of impressive size, with a light brown skin and dark hair combed in some kind of bun. He also had his body covered with scars and moved forward without paying attention to the pirates next to him.

- " So cool ! Quick ! We will catch this frog ! "

Once again, a whim of the captain obliged the crew to take the toad in hot pursuit, which led them to a small island, occupied by a simple building and a lighthouse. What was the weirdest part about it, beside the fact that there was a bridge in the middle of the water, was that the toad was standing on the water, like he was ready to face something. Ash, already intrigued by all of this, was the only one to hear a strange noise which got closer and closer, the others too noisy to realize it. Turning his head to the origin of the noise, the face of Ash paled suddenly seeing what was coming to them.

- " HANG ON EVERYBODY ! " Roared Ash by throwing himself down from the mast, hanging by his chains and falling against the stern of the ship, his legs plunged into the water up to his knees.

SHOCK TAKEOFF !

Ash made his legs 'explode' underwater, the power of the shock wave throwing the boat violently forwards, and just at the right time, because an enormous green steam train almost crushed them, drilling the waves and moving such a volume of air that the boat was blown outside of its trajectory and the train collided with the toad which had not moved, sending him flying him too. While the crew recovered with difficulty from what had just happened, Ash climbed up to the deck and was welcomed like a hero by the crew.

Or not.

- " WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, IDIOT ! " Roared Nami by pummeling Ash who was buried in the boards of the deck. " You could warn us before doing something like that ! "

- " You are right. Next time a similar thing occurs, I'll ask you before doing anything. Just to be sure to end up under the train before I even get an answer. " Countered Ash, his voice seeping with sarcasm. But fortunately, the situation, which was going to be quite difficult, was defused by the arrival of 3 new characters. One old obese woman with blonde hair, her face 'deformed' by a constant smile which gave her an creepy look. And it's not the bottle she had in her hand which was going to help things out. There also was a little smiling girl with the same kind of hair combed in 2 pigtail raised on her head and a red nosed blue rabbit.

- " My name is Chimney ! " The girl with a big smile appeared before pointing at the 2 other people. " She is my grandma Kokoro ! And that's my cat, Gonbe! "

- " It's a fucking rabbit, not a cat. "

- " I'm Luffy, the one who will be the next Pirates King ! " Luffy said to introduce himself, ignoring Ash comment.

- " Say, what was this steam-powered boat ? " Asked Nami, intrigued just like the rest of the crew by what they had just seen.

- " That's no boat ! It's the Puffing Tom, the Sea Train ! " Explained Chimney. " It is moving on rails which are just under the water. It transports passengers and many other things from one island to the other. It's by the way very dangerous for a boat to be on its road. "

- " Thanks who ?! "

- " Shut up, Ash ! And this toad which put himself in front of the train, you know why it did that ? " Ussop's question changed the expression on Chimney's face, which seemed more sad suddenly.

- " It's Yokozuna. He likes to compete his strength with others, and he has been trying to beat the train. He won't die from a crash like that. He'll come back again. "

- " That explains the scars on his body, he probably fight the train for a long time, already. " said Ash, by looking at the rails which were hardly visible under the surface.

- " That being said, where is your Log Pose pointing ? " Asked the old woman named Kokoro, finally going out of her silence.

- " To the west. " Answered Nami and Kokoro talk about their destination.

- " In this case, your destination is Water Seven. Also called the 'City of water'. This city built its worldwide reputation thanks to its shipyards. This is where you'll find the best carpenter of the world ! "

Naturally, it was more than enough to motivate the crew to know that they'll be able to repair their ship on the next island while finding the carpenter they need. They went back on the boat, all very enthusiastic, after receiving a letter from Kokoro for someone at Water Seven. But Ash did not totally share their enthusiasm. Now that he knew where they were going, Aokiji's last words made much more sense. But Water Seven was not as dangerous as that.

" I might have to step up my plan if I want to succeed. I just hope no one will jeopardize it. *sigh* I have a bad feeling about it. "

OK. And two done ! I hope that you liked it. I'll be back soon for the next chapter. Goodbye !

Next time: The city of water ! A treasure for a boat. Unexpected meetings.