The blue sphere had scarcely started to spread around the suspicious customer when the regular ones already decided that it was too much for them to handle. Many of them tried to go around him, as well as the masked man, in a wide arc while heading towards the exit in an attempt to beat a hasty retreat.

Even before the strange sphere included the entire hall, the masked man appeared atop its maker and tried to slash his throat in a whirl of blades.

But instead of the expected warm drops of blood, only hard and spiky splinters of wood smacked loudly against the white-blue mask, when the rotating blades hit their presumed target.

In the nick of time his opponent had brought himself to safety by switching places with one of the wooden tables. Because of his action he was standing in the middle of a flabbergasted family, one of the few who had continued with their lunch, bravely ignoring the two fighters in the middle of the hall. That is, until now…

Promptly Killer turned around, ready for the next attack.

"Do those two really want to tear each other apart right in the middle of all these people?" Whoop asked, while skeptically raising an eyebrow.

The clashing of steel got to their ears when Law blocked another attack with his sword. In the meters around them, there wasn't a living soul, since everyone had tried to keep his distance from the swordsmen. Only a mess of broken tables and whatever had been placed upon them before was left at the scene.

"Alright, that's the perfect position!"

"Huh?"

During the period that it took for Woop to turn around to Luffy, the straw hat boy had finished preparations for his very own contribution to the chaos.

"Gum-Gum Rocket!"

And that was about it, before he let go of one of the big stone columns decorating the room and flicked forward with a stunning speed towards the two men opposing each other. The masked man had his back turned towards the people he had sat with at the table before while he was simultaneously blocking the view of his opponent towards them.

The two of them had switched to an alert stance, simply eyeballing each other, waiting for their opposite to make the next move.

At the very instant Killer decided to take action, before the other one could perform another of his odd tricks, the masked man suddenly felt a violent blow against his back.

Not a second later, it carried him off his feet and catapulted him forward in a pace not even his opponent had anticipated who thus wasn't able to react on time.

The final outcome was that the entire hall was suddenly free of any violent troublemakers. Only the destroyed remnants of wood, food and dishes as well as a large hole in the southern wall of the room hinted towards what had happened.

Makino sighed quietly, whispering to Woop, "I think we should check if everything is alright with Luffy, and prevent the other two from letting their anger out on him."

When the two tourists arrived in the corridor on the other side of the wall, a surprisingly peaceful scene of three intertwined bodies was awaiting them.

Law had the tough luck to lie at the farthest end, and judging by his face he wasn't really sure how to react to the entire situation while he loosened an abnormally long arm slung around his neck.

Thanks to his mask, one couldn't easily tell what Killer was thinking at this peculiar moment but the fact that he had clenched his fists, and a few bumps started to grow out of Luffy's head, spoke volumes.

The straw hat boy himself didn't seem to be disturbed by any of it. Quite the opposite – he waved happily towards Makino with the free hand that wasn't smacked into Law's face.

"Problem solved!" he announced proudly.

Law finally succeeded in freeing himself completely from Luffy's arm, so that it whipped back abruptly. Apparently he had found his voice again. "What was all that about?"

The culprit only slightly bowed his head with puppy-eyes. "I just felt like it."

Law frowned, before his eyes started to scan the area around him. His beloved hat was laying in front of the giant hole leading back into the dining room.

Then he glanced towards Killer, who was busy thrusting Luffy off himself.

"By the way," Law remembered, "instead of fighting senselessly against me, maybe you should start helping your friend first?"

"What do you mean?" Killer stopped in his tracks and turned towards his chosen opponent.

Law gave him a friendly smile. "I happened to coincidently witness headhunters dragging Mr. Aviator Googles, sleeping peacefully like a baby, towards the local marine base. I presume you know whom I'm referring to?"

For a while Killer remained silent, but the way his mask remained still hinted at the possibility of him measuring up his opponent, trying to guess if he was telling the truth.

"Why should headhunters drag your friend to the marines?" Makino wondered, though she already had a vague suspicion.

Law took the liberty of answering instead of the blond, while leaning his head against the cold wall behind himself. "Because his esteemed colleague carries a bounty of fifteen million berry around with him. Quite tempting for your average, puny bounty hunter, who most likely will never be able to go after the really big fishes on the Grandline strength-wise."

"Fifteen million berry?" Woop's esteem for Killer shrank by the minute. For the East Blue, this would've been an enormous sum. "How did this happen if you're still not officially pirates?"

Killer stood up and dusted himself off. "It just happened. Someone saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, making someone else react accordingly, the end result being property – as well as personal – damage on more than one occasion," he answered with a shrug.

Law stood up as well. "So we've got ourselves a temporary truce? If I defeat you now there won't be anyone left to rescue your friend. He didn't strike me as a person with many friends."

"I'm coming with you!"

Immediately all eyes turned towards Luffy.

Law shrugged it off pretty fast though. "Doesn't involve me. I wish you good luck." With this he turned around to see what had been left of the buffet.

But the man didn't get far, since he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder. "Join my group as well."

Law shoved the hand off. "Are you in your right mind? Why should I?"

"Because I need people like you. You seem like you're strong and you have this blue-bubble thing going on. Can you do any more magic tricks besides switching tables? For example, pulling a rabbit out of your hat?"

Law wasn't entirely sure what to answer, while glancing towards said fur hat which was waiting for him on the ground. "Maybe?"

But Luffy still wasn't finished. "Also, there was that thing back at the market, when I was so hungry I was about to die and you paid for my food."

"You noticed?" Law couldn't hide his surprise – and here he had thought his actions had been too sudden for anyone to pay closer attention, especially for someone as... simpleminded as Luffy.

But the straw hat boy just smiled innocently. "Nope. I just thought it would be funny if you were and if not to see how you'd react, since I think I saw that fluffy hat of yours in the masses there. But now that I know, thanks anyway. So what do you say, do you wanna join us?"

First of all the other man picked up his hat from the ground and put it back onto his ruffled black hair, before turning around for a last time towards the straw hat boy a hand, on which the word "DEATH" was tattooed, still remaining on his headgear.

"I'm awfully sorry but I have neither the time nor the nerves for such jokes–"

"– and believe me if I say you don't want someone like him in your crew," Killer, who had appeared right behind Luffy, added with a threatening undertone. "Maybe there is a chance for me and Kidd to actually join you if you help us. Right now we don't have any promising alternatives anyway. But we wouldn't be able to work together with this wretch."

Luffy pursed his lips. "But I want all of you to join."

Law gazed thoughtfully towards Killer, then to the ground, then to Woop and Makino and in the end towards Luffy. "Come to think of it… your goal is the Grand Line, isn't it, Strawhat-ya?"

"Naturally. How else would I become the pirate king?"

"Well, then I might accompany you guys after all. That is, on one condition."

"Being?" Luffy smiled as if his new crewmembers were already a done deal.

"You guys actually succeed in freeing the redhead from his cell and don't die on your escape route. You wouldn't be of any use to me if you weren't even able to do that much."

"It's a deal. Let's shake on it!"

Law hesitated for a moment but then he seized the proffered hand.

The straw hat boy meanwhile remembered something else. "By the way: What's your name?"

"Trafalgar Law, I'm – well, you could say I'm a freelancing doctor. "

"More of a sadistic quacksalver," Killer mumbled quietly, though everyone ignored his words.

Luffy turned around to him. "My first crewmember and I will help you under the condition that you and your friend will join my crew."

"Didn't I tell you, I will only join after you've proven your worth to me?" Law complained in the background, before realizing something else. "What about those two?" He nodded towards Makino and Woop.

The woman raised her hands defensively. "Oh, we're just out of the same village. We're no pirates."

"As if things weren't bad enough already," Woop grumbled. He obviously wasn't happy at all about Luffy finding his first few crewmembers already.

Then he crossed his arms and announced, "Makino and I don't want any part of this. Luffy, if you're really serious and intend to form a crew," he threw a deprecatingly glance sideways towards Killer and Law, "with those guys, then this is where we part company. Right here, right now."

"All clear. Thank you for everything!" With this, the boy bear hugged Makino and Woop for a last time, before he signaled the other two to follow him out of the building.

"Well then let's go… uh…"

An uncomfortable break, before his new companions decided to help him out.

"Trafalgar Law."

"Killer."

Resolved Luffy kicked the entrance door open and threw his arms up in the air. "Let's start our adventure, Trala – Trafga – Traffy and Killer!"

"I won't help you to rescue the brute!" Law urged for a last time, but his perhaps future captain ignored his objection and instead turned towards his masked companion. "Where's the marine base?"

While asking for the directions, Killer thought about how he should break the news to Kid. In the worst case scenario, they could simply turn their backs on Luffy whenever they wanted, but at the moment a little bit of support didn't hurt. Provided that – he glanced at Law – Kidd was really imprisoned at the local marine base.

At the moment Trafalgar Law was already questioning if he had made the right decision. Originally his plan had been to found his own pirate crew. But who knew how much time this might consume? He was quite sure he wouldn't follow the straw hat boy forever, just as long as he was of any use to him.

Should he succeed in freeing Kidd, this would be enough proof of his usefulness, at least for the time being. If not and the straw hat boy got captured in the process, well, that wouldn't be his problem. All he had to do was wait in front of the base and, depending of the outcome, search somewhere else for help in reaching his personal goals.

While Law was deep in thought, Luffy was busy begging Killer for more info about his mask, though the pleading simply bounced off on the other, as if the man was surrounded by an impenetrable mental wall.

But one thing bothered the doctor after all: Was the straw hat boy really as simple minded as he appeared or did he just pretend to be?

A/N: Well, thinking about a way for them to join Luffy relatively comprehensible wasn't easy (If Kidd had been there in person I doubt Luffy would've even considered him in his crew-.-`). This whole chapter actually strayed quite a bit from its original version, even more so when my beta reminded me that Luffy may still came across a little bit too smart so that I gave his passages even more extra work xD

Convincing or not, I leave that to your judgement, but it had to happen somehow, since it was a necessity for the development of the story... Though since the entire story is based upon it it might turn the whole thing questionable if Killer and Laws decision didn't convince you... Hmmm. Anyway, hope you liked it :)

I'm actually surprised there are already so many of you (at least in the point of view of a ffnet-newbie) who follow/faved this fanfic. Now, let's hope I won't disappoint all of you in the near future and my work continues to interest and amuse you guys ;)

Special thanks again to those who took the time to leave a little review as well. I'm always quite intrigued about which kind of reactions or emotions I can provoke from my readers. (No matter if positive or negative, as long as they explain the negative ones) I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have as long as there aren't too many spoilers involved, and am open to any kind of constructive critic, which might help to improve my future writing or advises me of some logical mistakes I made in the past few chapters.

So... seems like Luffy is going to try and rescue our redhead in the next chap. Hope you all said your goodbyes to Makino and Woop because those two most likely won't cross our paths again so soon...