I don't really have anything to say, so enjoy. Also, thanks to those who favorited, followed, and commented. Also, sorry for not responding, I don't really know why I didn't so I'll just say that I'm a bad person and answer them now.

Red Harlequin: Thank you for the compliments, it really did brighten up my day when I read it.

Rumu: I loath past and present tense. It is a bad habit of mine to randomly switch between them. I try to keep in past tense, and I hate writing in present tense, but it just happens at random times. So I'm sorry for that and thank you for pointing that out.

Okay, now I'm done so enjoy for real this time.

Bonney wasn't entirely sure who she wanted to kill first. Hawkins for saying that this was their fate, Drake for losing two of the only things that could cut the rope, or Urouge for getting them stuck in their current predicament. All in all, she was leaning more towards the monk since she wasn't a fan of being captured, and the net was really uncomfortable with three other people, guys no less, sitting on top of her.

Yes, Jewelry Bonney was ready to kill three people but was unable to do so because one idiot didn't listen. She had told Urouge not to touch the beautifully stacked fruit on the side of the road. Dead fruit that looked fresh. When he didn't listen, she just decided that he would get caught again and the other two would have to cut him out again. Why did that plan not work? Simple, the net was bigger than anticipated and she was somehow in the middle when the trap was sprung. It was safe to say that this was not the princess' day.

None of the four were talking, courteously of Bonney yelling at them to shut up or die painfully, but that was the least of their worries. Because of the silence, they were all able to hear the tell-tale signs of the Bonaby creeping closer to the trap. Like Pinnylue, Bonaby was a carnivorous plant, but it was a trapper that set up traps like a human hunter. Bonney was starting to question if her explaining the dangers of the forest to the monk had been a waste of time, this was the fifth time that he had gotten himself nearly eaten by a plant and the third time that it involved somebody else.

The other times, one of the two with weapons had been able to cut down the stupid things, but with Drake's out of reach on the ground and no one in a position to get Hawkins' sword, they were out of luck. The stupid sounds of rustling kept getting closer and closer and no one was there to help them. The wait was beginning to kill them more than the actual knowing what was about to eat them.

Resigning themselves to their fate, the four waited in silence as the bush nearest to them slowly started to shake. Instead of the plant that everyone was expecting, a rather small figure stepped out of the vegetation and turned around to yell at something. As it turns out, that something turned out to be a someone and they were arguing. None of the four trapped humans could completely make out the contents of the conversation, but there were a few words that stood out, mostly from the first man being "useless ape" and "tone-deaf monkey."

As the two continued their argument, Bonney adjusted herself just enough to get Drake's shoe. With what looked like practiced ease, she chucked the thing at the small man's head, easily gaining the attention of the other as the well-dressed man fell to the ground.

"Um," the man stated, looking warily at the people piled in the net, "do you need help?"

Bonney glared at the man, just now noticing that he had a grand total of four elbows but ignoring it in her anger, "No, we're just hanging up here, in a net, for the fun of it. You should try it sometime."

"Bonney, be nice to the man who holds our lives in his hands," Drake reprimanded rather coldly, a little angry that she had to use his shoe to get the others attention.

"He's the one asking stupid questions!" she snapped back.

"He probably wasn't expecting to find people here," Urouge countered, not helping in the least. "Especially not in our situation."

Bonney's anger flared and if not for the fact that there were two men in-between the girl and the monk, she probably would have strangled him. The stranger watched the group in the net with minor fascination, not sure if he should let the girl calm down first or just let them all out. It up being the latter when his companion got up, slashed the net, and demanded to know who threw the shoe at him.

He was ignored.

Bonney went to kill Urouge but was held back by Drake while Hawkins began to gather their fallen stuff. Suffice to say, the well dressed man was not happy in the least. The man with four elbows sat on the nearest rock that seemed safe enough as his companion joined into the chaos. He merely watched, not sure if interfering would be good for his health.

Drake was having a hard time calming the fuming ex-princess. She was adamant in her opinion, and he couldn't blame her, that the monk was trying to get them all killed. To make matters worse, the man who she hit in the head with his shoe decided that Bonney needed to pay. So after Drake had finally convinced her not to kill the monk, the well dressed stranger started to pick a fight just because he got hit with a shoe. Bonney, still mad, took the bait and Drake was in the middle of yet another death match.

Hawkins finished collecting up his cards and slowly began shuffling them. He then flipped the front card and strode towards a tree that looked dead. Urouge watched as the blond reached for a branch and came back with an apple that wasn't there before. The blond then threw the apple to the pink-haired girl, defusing her anger as she climbed the tree to collect more. The well dressed man could only stare as the girl disappeared from his sight and decided that she wasn't worth his time.

Drake sighed in relief and went to collect his weapons, nodding in gratitude to Hawkins. Once the chaos was diffused, a heavy silence fell onto the six people. No one seemed to want to talk. Tension was still between the two groups, but none seemed to want to test it. It seemed like it was going to stay that way until the only man who didn't actually get involved started humming a random tune. The tension dissolved and the shortest in the area groaned.

"Do you really have to start that up again," he hissed out.

The humming man nodded and continued a bit before saying, "I've never been a fan of silence."

Urouge, his grin had never left his face through the whole ordeal, asked, "You are a member of the Long-Arm Tribe, are you not?"

The man with four elbows nodded and asked, "And you are a Skypiean or at least from that area, correct?" The monk nodded. "Never thought I would meet another from the Grand Line here, the name's Apoo."

"Urouge," the monk supplied back, a wider grin than before.

The short man snorted, "Great, then you can travel with them."

"Aw, come on Capone," Apoo sang, "you know us two are heading in the same direction, so even if we went our separate ways here-"

"I didn't take you for a deserting type," Drake interrupted.

Capone glared at the man, "Neither did you, Drake, yet here we are."

"So if you two know each other," Bonney said with a mouth full of apple, "then doesn't make you a king?"

Capone scoffed, "Just because we know each other, it doesn't make either one of us a king."

Bonney glared at the unspoken insult, "Only royals get to meet the puppet."

Drake glared at the pink-haired girl while Capone looked on in confusion. Apoo had taken to humming when he deemed the conversation boring, and Urouge just stood there happily. It wasn't until that moment that anyone noticed that Hawkins was missing, but before anyone could say anything about it, the man spoke up from nowhere, "I suggest that we continue this later, the royal guards of East Blue are coming this way."

After they all got over the shock of the man appearing out of nowhere, they looked at him like he was crazy, well the two new comers did. Bonney, Drake, and Urouge began to head in the direction that the blond started on without a second thought. Capone and Apoo were going to leave it at that, until they heard the marching footsteps of a well-trained platoon.

Exchanging a brief glance, they took after the four.

"I still don't understand why you have to run away from your own army," Kidd grumbled as another member of the royal army fell before him. In all honesty, all of them were getting annoyed with how many times they had to stop to take care of the nuisances. It didn't help matters that Luffy was still weak so someone had to be on constant guard by his side during each encounter.

"They're not my army," Luffy pouted as he was helped up so that they could continue, hopefully before more came, "I haven't been to the main castle in ten years. Everyone was supposed to think I was dead."

Killer looked at the kid when he heard the indifferent tone that had come out when he said he was supposed to be thought dead but didn't comment. Instead, Kidd scoffed, "The people obviously think your dead."

"It doesn't make much of a difference if an enemy knows the truth," Zoro growled out as he pushed the youngest behind him.

Law saw this and unsheathed his sword with his thumb, alerting Kidd to the danger as he reached for a knife. Killer had already heard what Zoro had but made no move, his line of profession demanded speed so he didn't see a need to prepare. Plus, he wasn't sure if there would actually be a fight, whoever was in front of them was clearly not part of any army.

Luffy decided to pick up Bepo since he felt left out with preparing, it wasn't fair that he was never taught how to use a weapon. He could brawl pretty well, but in fights like the ones going on, he was useless. He hated being useless.

"I told you I should learn how to use a weapon," the boy huffed out in agitation, causing Zoro's eye to twitch in irritation.

"And I told you that," he unsheathed a sword and blocked an axe with relative ease, shifting his weight to redirect the attack away from Luffy, "you don't need to because I'm here."

The boy pouted as a man followed the axe and Zoro unsheathed another sword, "That's a stupid reason, you're not always here."

"You didn't have anyone else to teach you?" Killer asked as he knelt next to the teen while Zoro pushed the assailant back and away from the raven head.

Luffy shook his head, "Shanks had things to do so I was alone for the most part. Even when they were there, they mainly liked to party and he always told me that I would probably do more damage to myself than my opponent would."

If Killer could show emotion, he probably would have smiled at that, especially with the way Luffy was pouting, "They were probably right."

The pout changed and Killer was about to chuckle, but a figure caught his attention and instead, he picked the teen up and sidestepped a downward thrust from a man with blond hair and a blank expression.

Killer jumped into the closest tree and set the boy down, watching the other blond closely as Kidd intercepted him from following the other two. Observing the fight, Killer noted that the brick-haired stranger had forced Zoro into drawing all of his blades, and forced Law to act from time-to-time with quick blocks to Zoro's back when the green-haired man was forced forward.

Looking over to Kidd and the blond, it was almost the opposite of the other fight. Kidd wasn't able to get a solid hit in, but the other had to stay on the defensive. The first one to attack was obviously well-trained, while the blond was trained but wasn't meant to actually use it for fighting.

Killer was about to relax his hold when Bepo cried out and the assassin saw a hulking figure standing next to the tree. If not for the bear, the giant of a man would have easily gotten Luffy off of him. Cursing at himself inwardly, Killer went higher into the tree before switching trees and pressing the boy's back to the trunk and making sure the bear was in his lap.

With the close call on his mind, Killer decided to do a quick sweep of the surroundings. Pink, auburn, and two blacks were hiding in the trees while the other two were fighting in the open. To make things better, the Royal Army was closing in both sides.

Luffy was watching the fights and listening to the bear, knowing Bepo would detect another person before he could. The one that looked like a general was pushing Zoro and Law into taking him seriously, while the easy deflects and narrow dodges of the blond was pissing off Kidd to a new extreme.

Luffy looked up when Bepo did to see Killer returning. His eyes held the emotion he never showed, though it was hard to see, even for Luffy, but he could clearly see alarm in the assassin's eyes. When Killer got there, Luffy let himself be picked up, but then was set down again as the blond deflected a dagger that had been thrown at Luffy's head.

The raven-haired teen looked to where the knife had been thrown from and saw something he didn't really want to see. "Van Augur," Luffy whispered in fear. The teen might have been isolated, but he knew the commanders of the one who wanted him dead. The arrogant bastard had introduced them all when they had a run-in not long ago. Why that man wanted Luffy in specific dead was beyond the understanding of the teen since he was the last in line for the throne and killing him didn't gain the man anything.

Killer had heard the name and the fear. He might not have known the teen long, but the fear in his voice sounded wrong. He was starting to understand why Zoro had settled down, the boy was like a beacon of comfort, hope, and warmth. It was relatively easy to fall into step beside the boy. It was natural.

The blond felt a hand grip onto his trousers, shaking slightly but firm. Without taking his eyes off of the marksman, Killer wrapped an arm around the teen and as soon as he saw the faintest movement, he was out of the tree and on the ground, between two fights that he wanted no part of.

Zoro noticed the change in Luffy. He hadn't actually been with the teen long, but the happy aura that the raven head produced was something that Zoro had learned to look for when trying to figure out if something was wrong. The green-haired man would have been more than happy to run to the teen, but he was barely able to hold the brick-haired man back with Law's help, something he would never openly admit.

Without much choice, Zoro returned his full attention to the fight just in time to block a stab aimed at his head. Law rose an eyebrow at the odd behavior and cast a quick glance back to see what had distracted the man, but didn't really see anything. Shrugging it off internally, he took the moment of distraction to his advantage and swiped at the opponent, only to be blocked by the axe the man had been able to retrieve. Great, now he's a bigger threat was all Law had time to think about as the brick-haired man started attacking with newfound vigor.

Kidd had barely noticed the tense shoulders that Killer was hiding with practiced ease. He briefly wondered what was wrong, until he saw the blond he wasn't fighting throw out his arm in a seemingly random direction. The sound of metal on metal reverberated through the area, and Kidd, Zoro, Law, and the people they were fighting actually stopped to see a knife fall to the ground as another embedded itself in the ground just behind the two squatting in the middle of the road.

Zoro no longer cared about the stupidly strong man as he ran to Luffy's side, finally sensing the fear that the boy was emanating. It was the same fear that the swordsman had smelt when he met Luffy's would be assassins. The older teen couldn't blame the younger, that man wasn't one to be taken lightly.

The green-haired swordsman glared up into the canopy, "Which one?"

Killer, at first wasn't sure what he meant, until he heard Luffy whimper, "The Supersonic." Killer flinched at that name. It was the name of an assassin turned traitor. No one knew why he had done it, but he disappeared as soon as he turned on his former employers. The man was a legend, the fastest and most accurate assassin to be known. He was given the alias 'Supersonic' because of his speed. An alias that many assassins strived for, but none came close.

Zoro cursed under his breath, and was when everything went downhill. The two groups of the Royal Army that Killer had seen when he did a sweep of the area had finally reached them. That was when the four others that were hiding in the trees came out, backing away from more soldiers.

Kidd looked far beyond annoyed, Law looked like he was ready to sit down and call it a day, the brick-haired man looked like he no longer wanted to be there, the blank-faced blond looked like this outcome was inevitable, the pink-haired woman looked like she didn't know what to do, the man with four elbows looked like he was prepared to die, the short man looked like this whole situation was pointless, Zoro still looked pale as he searched for the faraway man, Luffy was trembling in fear, Bepo was trying to comfort Luffy, Killer was getting ready to bolt with the teen, and the giant of a man was just smiling like these kinds of things happen every day. I had to, I'm sorry but I didn't want it to be separate sentences

"Fate does not seem to be favoring you today," the voice sent a chill down Luffy's spine and Zoro immediately stepped in-between the speaker and the two people knelt on the ground. "Such a shame isn't it, Roronoa Zoro?"

"What are you talking about?" said swordsman spat out.

The man with light brown hair and dressed like a dark jester walked to the front of the army, "That you have to die for such a pathetic excuse for a human."

Zoro wasn't the only one who bristled at that. Luffy flinched and Killer tightened his hold on the boy, thanking many things he didn't believe in that Kidd didn't just jump the man. Law sauntered lazily over to Killer's side, eyes betraying his calm demeanor.

The others looked on in wonder as the three burly looking men stood protectively around a blond-haired assassin, a boy who looked like he shouldn't even be there, and a polar bear still trying to comfort the boy.

Drake was wary as he watched the exchange. Looking at the two kneeling people, he had to wonder why, out of the whole group, the man was keen on the weakest looking member. Then, he remembered what Hawkins had said about their fate already being intertwined with another's. Narrowing his eyes, he snapped his head back and the grunt that had taken a step forward fell back in fear.

Hawkins watched objectively. His cards had said that they would meet the one who change everything, but was it really who he was guessing? If so, he better act soon or all of them were going to die. Bonney was feeling sorry for the boy who didn't look like he could hurt a fly. She knew from experience that appearances weren't all that reliable, but it was clear that he was scared shitless. Of course, she wasn't much better as she did her best to hide out of the burnet's sight behind Urouge, who just stood there smiling.

Apoo was wondering if this was really the reason he was forced to travel east. If so, he was not liking it. Capone wasn't thinking much better. He was mad at himself for not being the one to do in the annoying monkey that called himself a musician.

Preparing themselves mentally to fight a losing battle, they all missed the looked that crossed Zoro's face. The small laugh that escaped his lips quite literally drew all attention to the legendary demon in human flesh. The man looked up at the dark jester with a knowing smirk on his face. His next words had almost everyone questioning his sanity.

"Are you sure you want those to be your last words?" the jester asked, clearly not amused.

The swordsman said nothing as the boy spoke up, "Strength is not always physical." What happened next, no one was prepared for, least of all the jester.

There are many rumors about the Forest of Treason. None of them are happy, go-lucky, or bright. The most popular rumor is that the forest responds to the 'heirs' fate and will. Who this heir is, no one can say. Some believe that the heir is the crowned prince of East Blue. Others believe that the heir is one of the high nobles. The rest and small minority believe that the heir is what is left of the Great Uprising.

If any of these are true, no one fully knows. No one had been able to find the heir. At least, until that moment. Once the words left the boy's mouth, the forest cut the eleven people off from the Royal Army and the dark jester. It swallowed them, leaving only a path that was not there. The Royal Army was far away, but the plants that surrounded them were more dangerous than any amount of soldiers could ever be.

Drake looked at the green-haired swordsman who was kneeling down and checking the boy as if nothing happened. The only sign that he was just as shocked as the rest of them was the not even there shake of his rough hands as he calmed the boy. The question no longer seeming stupid. In fact, that one question saved all of their lives. It still rang in the back of all of their minds, "Luffy, what is strength?"