Apis waved goodbye to her newest friend. The giant Island Whale, Laboon. When they had first encountered him his voice was so sad, it had brought her to tears just from hearing it. It was sadder even than Ryuuji's voice when she had first heard him.

It was shocking when Laboon had swallowed them, but then again Luffy had been an idiot so maybe they deserved it.

Her crewmates had almost accused the Whale's doctor of trying to kill it from the inside but Apis stepped in and explained to them that Laboon's pain was not physical but emotional, he was lonely. Of course she didn't do it to defend Crocus, he was annoying with his "running Gags" and had succeeded in pissing off each and every one of the crew save Luffy before they had finally left. Still she had to admire him for doing so much for Laboon.

Apis looked to her captain and friend, Luffy, Grinning like a fool from his newly repaired seat. It was thanks to him that Laboon had regained his spirits, of course in doing so a lot more of the ship had to be "newly repaired" The once beautiful Going Meri was starting to look a little worn around the edges thanks to him. The whole damn mast! Who even does things like that?

Apis sighed. Right. Luffy did things like that.

After Luffy had lifted Laboon's spirits she had gotten the chance to actually sit down with the creature and become friends with it. He was fifty three and loved music. He had even taught her the tune and the words to Bink's Sake, when Laboon had actually started to sing it to the best of a whales ability Luffy and the others had joined in happily. He was waiting for his Nakama to return from their journey around the world and still had faith that they would do so, though now he was eagerly waiting for the day when Luffy would fulfill the same promise.

Apis smiled and waved wildly. "Laboon! Bye bye!" Laboon gave a happy call that shook the water a little bit.

They sailed on, the weather nice and sunny for many hours. She checked in with the seagulls that were circling overhead, trading with them for information about the weather in exchange for scraps of food she had convinced Sanji to let her give them. Sanji had allowed her to but told her not to spoil the birds.

A few of the birds were a lot craftier and Apis had found herself actually haggling with them. She had finally learned that the weather became more erratic in about ten nautical miles. She had told Nami this much to the Navigator's appreciation.

It was about midday when they finally got to the point the Birds had spoken of. They had not been lying, not that they had stuck around for her to scold if they had been. Snow. Apis had never been in the snow, it had just never happened on her island, not even up on the mountain. Apis borrowed one of Nami's coats since she had none of her own, it was a yellow and orange plaid coat, fuzzy and warm. It was way too big for her but she made do by rolling up the sleeves. She still thought it looked ridiculous on her but it was cold so she made do.

She walked by Zoro and gave him a confused look. How could he be sleeping so soundly when he was covered in snow?

Usopp and Luffy got into a snow ball fight. Apis had heard of these, they were supposed to be really fun, it looked like it too.

Apis gathered a large scoop of snow into her hands and hurled it at Usopp. It nailed him in the head. Apis gripped her hands. "THAT'S COLD!" her hands were really cold. Apis was hit with a snowball from Usopp.

"You let your guard down." he said before getting bowled over by a massive ball of snow from Luffy.

Apis forgot how cold her hands were for the moment in favour of throwing more snowballs, it took no time at all for the situation to devolve into a full on snow war. Usopp had very good aim and was hard to avoid, but Luffy dominated through the sheer volume of his attacks. Apis opted instead to implement guerilla tactics, since she was small she was able to hide from Usopp and take cover from Luffy's large attacks.

She was having a very good time, it felt good, to be playing like this with her friends. Snow was fun! And really damn cold!

Apis ran inside and put her hands under the tap, warm water poured over her freezing hands. She sighed in relief as feeling slowly came back to her frozen digits. She should have worn mittens or something.

Apis was distracted from her task by a loud scream. Nami rushed out of the cabin. Apis was concerned; Nami was the only one on the crew that had her head on straight if she was the one yelling it usually meant something bad was going to or has been happening.

"Everyone! Turn the ship around 180 degrees!" she ordered. Apis was surprised. Why would they do that?

"Why" Usopp asked.

"Did you forget something?" Luffy looked up blankly with a large pile of snow on his Gunbai, he had been using it to catapult mountains of snow at everyone.

"No!" Nami said frustrated. "We got turned around by the current!" Nami said frantically.

Their two "guests" that Apis really didn't like decided it would be a good idea to make fun of Nami. Nami had none of that and Apis silently cheered when Nami had literally kicked them out of the door.

Apis scrambled out as well to help the crew, she wouldn't pass p this chance just because she was smaller than everyone else.

No sooner had she set foot on the deck had the clouds dispersed revealing the sun and melting the snow quickly.

Apis joined Luffy in adjusting the sails as they turned about, correcting their course. Luffy looked out into the distance with a broad smile. "Hey Nami! There are dolphins over there!" Luffy pointed, Apis noticed their thoughts before she actually saw them. "Let's go over there!"

"Oi Shut up!" Nami snapped.

"Wait Nami!" Apis interjected. "We better follow them, the dolphins say there is an iceberg in our way!" Apis called.

Nami Nodded and gave the orders scrambling the crew into action once more. They watched as the iceberg drifted by not five minutes later only a couple hundred meters from the Meri. Nami gave Apis a thumbs up.

"Oy we have a fog rolling in!" Sanji called.

"No way!" Nami cried.

The fog dispersed and was replaced with a storm, a large one from the looks of it. Apis didn't need any animals nearby to tell her it would be a bad one.

The wind was violent and everyone struggled against it. Nami was having difficulty pulling in the strained and tearing sails and Usopp was overworked patching the leaks that kept springing up below deck.

Sanji made a plate of onigiri for the crew. Apis quickly ate one before running off to help Nami who was still struggling with the sails.

They battled the storm for what felt like hours. It had even hailed at one point. It was almost like the ocean was throwing everything it could at them.

It was finally over however. Apis fell to the deck relieved that it was over. She wasn't the only one either as the rest of the crew fell to the deck right beside her.

It was at THIS point that Zoro decided to wake up. Apis saw Nami slowly and deliberately walking towards the unaware Zoro. Apis had no sympathy for the man, he deserved whatever Nami did to him and Apis was going to enjoy whatever punishment it was. She wasn't even remotely vindictive by nature but Zoro had it coming, especially after that storm.

-o0O0o-

Zoro looked at his Nakama. They had fallen asleep long ago, swept up in the party atmosphere and succumbing to the fatigue from their earlier trials. Apis had been more than vehement about letting Zoro know what they had gone through. She had been the first one to fall asleep, being a child she hardly had enough stamina to stay up as late as the others.

Zoro himself had pretended to pass out, finding their welcome far too suspicious for his liking. He knew Nami was faking as well, she had out drank both him and Kisame when they had faced her previously, there was no way she had gone down after twenty measly tankards of that weak booze. He didn't think too much on her reasoning, she would go about whatever business she had on her own, it hardly concerned him.

Zoro quietly left the room making his way up onto the roof where he saw Igrapoi talking to the two people they had given a ride to earlier and a very muscular woman with pink hair. "I did some digging on them and found this." Igrapoi pulled out two very familiar posters.

"Fifty million belly!? Them?" the three others shouted. They were rightfully shocked, Zoro was ashamed to admit that they had made fools of themselves during the party, whether they were faking it or not, especially Luffy. If he had never seen Luffy fight before Zoro wouldn't have believed it either. "And that little girl? She already has a bounty?"

Igrapoi tuned to the muscular woman. "It is not wise to judge a pirates abilities by their appearance alone. Ms. Mo- cough. Mah mah maaaah~! Ms. Monday."

"Your right. It is very unwise. "Zoro said getting their attention. "Sorry to interrupt, but would you mind letting them sleep, they had a rough day." The group were extremely surprised to see him, Zoro grinned a bit he like the looks of shock on their faces.

A door opened beneath him. "Miss Monday, Mr. Eight, The one with the belly warmer is missing.

"I know." Mr. Eight, the once name Igrapoi said, said.

"He's up there." Ms. Wednesday said.

"You bastard. You should be completely knocked out!" Mr. Eight accused.

"A true swordsman would never fall to something as petty as drink." Zoro said. Zoro watched as the whole town came out, every one brandishing weapons. "I see what this is, a bounty hunter nest. You lure unsuspecting pirates in with the promise of a good time and capture them." Zoro looked over the crowd. "Oh? Is this the whole town? There must be a hundred of you." Zoro gave a predatory grin. "I'll take you all on, Baroque Works."

"H-How do you know that name?" Mr. Eight asked. He like all the others was shocked to hear Zoro say their name.

"Back when I was still in this line of work, one of your people came to scout me. Of course I said no." Zoro said. "The members only know each other by code names and no one even knows where or who the boss is. An organization that carries out its orders as faithfully as a dog. Of course I wouldn't want to join."

"Mah mah Maaah!~Well since you know so much about us we have no choice but to eliminate you. We will be adding another name to the cactus rocks tonight!" Mr. eight gave the command. "Killl him!"

Zoro had a great respect for Luffy and his abilities, especially his strength but he recognized above all other things a genius in the boy. Luffy had been nonchalant about it, not seeing how it was so hard but copying something that you see is difficult. It is beyond difficult, even with Luffy's unnatural vision his ability to transcend years of training in an instant was frightening. Luffy was a genius of combat.

It had taken Zoro a bit of practice and a lot of time watching Luffy do it but he had eventually gotten the stealth foot technique down, The very same technique Luffy had stolen from the black cat captain. He was not as fast as Luffy but it was enough to throw this crowed of weaklings for a loop.

"He-he disappeared?" Ms. Wednesday said in shock.

The Baroque Works agents looked around frantically. Zoro was finding it hard not to laugh especially when they finally spotted him, right in the middle of their number.

Their faces were priceless and Zoro couldn't help but smile. "Did you find him?" He asked.

"Bastard!" They leveled their gun at him and fired. Zoro pulled another disappearing act causing them all to shoot each other. Honestly they were way too overzealous, this kind of shoddy teamwork and practically non-existent skill would get them killed. Well Zoro supposed that it was already doing that.

"Find hi-" Mr. Eight was cut off by a sword blade right next to his face. Zoro had gotten behind him. Zoro was enjoying himself. The intimidation he was able to dish out was nice, he would fully admit to being a sadist if anyone were to ask him now. The thrill of the fight was a powerful thing, though zoro was only toying with them.

Zoro thought that the agents would shoot Mr. Eight but was surprised when Mr. Eight gunned them down with his saxophone. It nearly got him but he was able to dodge and hide himself behind a building.

Zoro drew yubashiri. It was about time he let his new boys loose, gave them a try. He quickly had to dodge some bullets by jumping inside a building. Turning on a dime he moved swiftly through the attacking bounty hunters, cutting them down with little effort. The blade was light, easily moving in smooth arcs. It was perfectly balanced and responded to even his subtle movements well.

Running through the streets he amassed a pretty good number of pursuers. Climbing up a ladder he had to quickly duck as one of the bounty hunters shot a cannon at him. The muscle bound woman from before threw a barrel of wine at him, the smooth movements of Yubashiri made slicing the cask into four pieces easy, as Zoro appreciated the fact that the sword was not only light but incredibly durable.

The durability proved enough to cut cleanly through a large stone hammer that would have taken off his head. Taking the opportunity he drew the Sandai Kitetsu. Zoro unleashed the sword and was surprised as the blade seemed to almost pull his arm forward cutting deeply into his aponent, deeper than was necessary, it nearly cut the man all the way through.

Zoro scolded the sword. This blade was going to be something of a trouble maker, but that is what he got for getting a cursed sword. Not that he minded, he would rein the sword in, it was the swordsman that controlled the sword not the other way around.

Zoro jumped from building to building as the bounty hunters swarmed below him, his following had grown as more bounty hunters came out to confront him.

Jumping towards a group of bounty hunters Zoro held both his blade out landing before the group. "Nitouryuu Takagami!" Zoro pivoted striking the whole group down with his blades.

The feeling of Kitetsu in his hand was like holding a beast it seemed to vibrate slightly as if in excitement. To zoro's ears it sounded as if the blade was purring or laughing. It cut through everything like butter and seemed to be more than willing to do so when Zoro allowed it. the blade reacted quickly in his hands, Zoro was sure that his reaction speed was actually faster when holding the blade making it ideal for fast and vicious if not necessarily precise counter attacks.

Zoro saw a group of Bounty hunters descending from above. His blades were more than sharp enough to cut through the cement roof. Upon landing the group of bounty hunters fell right through, it was such a simple trap, but apparently it works even if it is set up right in front of them.

Zoro sighed. He had thought that there would at least be one challenging opponent, Mr. Eight seemed like a likely place to start but the overall skill of the people he once shared a job with was abysmal. He was almost ashamed to have considered himself one even if he had only done it to pay for meals.

Just as he was thinking this he saw a shadow behind him. Out of pure reflex he ducked as the muscle bound woman from before swung a fifteen foot long ladder at him.

The woman grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air with ease. Zoro was uncomfortable, her hands were huge. "Don't get cocky." She said in a strangely high pitched voice, it made Zoro even more uncomfortable. "No man can defeat me with strength alone." Slamming Zoro on the ground she lifted a fist with brass knuckles into the air. "Superhuman Strength Fist!" Zoro felt the brass knuckles hit him in the face. They were cold and hard and he was sure they would have shattered a normal man's skull with the amount of force the woman had put behind them. He heard the ground crack beneath him.

Zoro grinned. He wasn't a normal man.

Zoro's hand shot forward grabbing Ms. Monday's face. His grip was like a vice getting tighter and tighter. Zoro stood up easily not struggling at all as the woman tried to simultaneously hold him down and free her head. "What's wrong?" Zoro asked as he felt a few of the bones in the woman's face crack under his grip. "Didn't you want a contest of strength?" there was one final crack and the woman fell backwards. He hadn't killed her but he had at least fractured her skull in several places.

Despite the woman's strength it was not enough to convince Zoro that Baroque works were to be taken seriously. They were a joke.

Zoro looked down at Mr. Eight, Mr. Nine, and Ms. Wednesday. They were all that remained. The rest had been cut down with ease. Zoro was surprised he was sure not even a half hour had passed since the fight had begun.

Mr. Nine was first moving to strike him with his bats. He did a bunch of flipping and cartwheels and stuff but Zoro just saw this as an ineffective way to fight as all he ended up doing in the end anyway was swinging his bat at him like a normal person.

Zoro easily blocked the bats, he was slightly surprised at how heavy they were but it was of little importance. Zoro used the stealth foot again bringing the pommel of his sword into Mr. Nines gut and sending him tumbling over the edge of the building. It was over too fast for Zoro to have given much thought.

"Oh Mr. Bushido!" Zoro heard a feminine voice call to him. "Come enjoy the fragrance of my perfume." Zoro watched as the woman. Ms. Wednesday started to sway her hips. "Alluring perfume dance!" Zoro watched on. He was unable to look away.

The sway of her shapely hips , her slender figure, her prominent breasts. Zoro had to admit she was certainly alluring.

Damn it! He was not about to act like that Pervy cook, he was a swordsman and a swordsman didn't succumb to a woman's charms so easily.

The smell of the perfume hit his nose and the pattern on her top was making him feel dizzy, sick even.

The woman charged at him on her Duck thing with a furiously spinning blade on a string. Zoro couldn't move to avoid the attack. Whatever that woman had done had messed up his equilibrium, he had lost his sense of balance.

He needn't have worried however as the woman charged right passed him and over the edge like her partner had done. Zoro got up and sighed. Fighting these people was getting embarrassing.

He heard the sound of a sax behind him. He jumped down the hole he had made previously in order to avoid the attack. Zoro sighed he was going to have to tidy this up.

Stepping out he faced Mr. Nine, who had freed himself from the wreckage of the stall he had fallen on.

Zoro readied himself to end the fight. For, as he had said…

…it was getting embarrassing.

-o0O0o-

Vivi pulled the happy go lucky boy into the alleyway. He was heavy. Even with her trusted friend Carue helping her, the boy was heavy. Not only had he eaten enough food to tire out three chefs, his stomach had become too large to be contained by the boy's red coat, but he also had a massive war fan on his back. At first she thought it was made of wood but to her surprise it had been made from solid metal and probably weighed more than she did. She had tried to remove the weapon but found that it was securely tied to his arm by a very long chain.

She hefted the boy up into a position that was as close to sitting as the very round teen could get. Pulling a knife out from a bag on Carue's back she pointed it at the boys neck and faced the scene she had walked in on.

Mr. Eight, her long-time friend and guardian Igaram, looked down upon Mr. Nine. "So you've captured him." He said with a note of approval. Vivi hoped they wouldn't have to do this for much longer, she already had far too much blood on her hands than she would have liked just to keep her cover.

"No more running away! Kill him Mr. Eight!" Mr. Nine said. Vivi hoped that the swordsman could forgive her.

Vivi steeled her resolve. "Right don't move, Mr. Bushido. Or your friend here will die."

Zoro analyzed the situation and seemed to look at his unconscious crew member with concern and not just a little bit of annoyance.

"IGARAPPAPA!" Igaram yelled firing the guns he kept hidden in his hair.

Zoro Pulled Mr. Nine off his feet. Vivi was amazed at his strength, true he had been able to take down Ms. Monday but the ease with which he was able to throw Mr. Nine through the air was astounding.

Mr. Nine took the shot meant for the swordsman knocking him unconscious. With another mighty heave Zoro sent Mr. Nine towards her. Vivi panicked gripping the nife and bringing it closer to the sleeping boy's throat. She hesitated though as it would be the most personal kill she would ever make, the boy would die in her arms, he would probably wake up before he died, and Vivi was unsure if she could look him in the eyes.

She got no more time to make up her mind and the body of Mr. Nine crashed into her and Carue bringing them both down to the ground.

Vivi sat under Mr. Nine unable to move, thankfully they had not landed in a compromising position or else Vivi would never be able to live it down, even if no one was awake to witness it.

She watched through her hazy vision as Zoro seemed to disappear and reappeared quickly behind Igaram. She was afraid when she saw Igaram fall to the ground that he had died. He landed in front of her a ways and she was glad to note that he was still breathing.

The three of them shakily sat up as feeling returned to their beaten bodies, Igaram was having the most trouble with the task having actually taken a direct hit from the swordsman.

"How pathetic can you get? hm." A voice called out. Vivi looked up to see a tall man with long blond hair that covered one of his eyes. He stood in the middle of the road, the signature cloak him and his partner were known to wear draped around him.

"Mr. Five!" Igaram yelled in surprise. Mr. five, he had only gotten the position in their ranks by killing the previous Mr. Five, personally Vivi thought he was far too strong for the number five position but he had refused to step higher into the ranks despite the offer.

"Where is your partner?" Mr. Nine asked. Numbered agents never left their partners.

"Hm? Oh Mr. Halloween? I told him I could handle this on my own and left him to play with his dolls." Mr. Five seemed to laugh to himself at the mention of his partner's code name. Being the only same sex pair in the organization they tended to have many disagreements, usually about art for some reason.

"Well all it would take is you to take out this swordsman anyway." Mr. Nine said, hope in his eyes.

"You must be joking. Hm. I didn't get sent all the way to this side of the grand line just to clean up your mess." Mr. five said placing a hand underneath his cloak. "Whatever. After I finish my mission I guess I can see what the deal is with this swordsman of yours."

"What is your mission? If you didn't come here to kill the swordsman, all you have done so far is laugh at us." Igaram said glaring at the man before him.

"Calm down. Hm. I'm laughing because I think it's funny. Mr. Five shrugged. "As for my mission. The head ass whole himself said I had to come out here and kill some spy. Said something about someone knowing who he was, some bullshit about baroque works being about secrecy. Blah blah blah."

Vivi froze.

Spies.

There were only two spies in the organization as far as she knew. That Mr. Five was here to kill them was not good.

She couldn't let her mission end here, not like this. But this was Mr. Five. Even if he didn't have the position of highest ranking agent it was well believed that he alone was powerful enough to fill the spot. She had no chance of escaping, even if she had not been thrown around like a rag doll earlier she wouldn't have been able to escape.

"Imagine my surprise. Hm. A person of royal blood infiltrating the organization." Mr. five said pulling out a photograph and looking at it, he seemed to be appreciating what he saw.

"Wait a minute! I may wear a crown but I am not actually a king!" Mr. Nine said frantically.

"Hm? Of course you aren't. I'm not talking about you. The infiltrator is none other than the missing noble from Alabasta." Mr. five turned the photo around. "One Nefertari Vivi."

Vivi's eyes grew wide in shock and fear.

She had been discovered. And no matter what she did, the man before her was to strong to be defeated. She would die tonight.

But she would still take her chances running. She needed to take the chance at least.

-END-

So I wrote and rewrote the chapter a few times before deciding to just scrap it all together. I am finding it difficult to write these not because I don't have Ideas but because my mind is still at the stage of the story after they defeat Crocodile. I have been itching to get to that point and I think for the interest of time I will simply edit the chapters I had written for the previous iteration of this story. I have so many Ideas so I hope you can forgive me if I skip over tediously rewriting things that have already happened.

So I should have one out every few days at the latest. they won't be exactly the same as I will be changing some things I din't really like but once that is all out of the way I should be doing more regular updates. its hard writing when you have a whole head full of other ideas.