So, I noticed that there was some confusion about whether Ace was alive in this story or not. The answer is no, he is not alive. I'm trying to include characters that are still alive from the manga. This story is basically a prediction as to what might happen in One Piece. But anyways, this chapter took me foreverrrr, I put so much thought into how I was going to write it. So without further or due, enjoy!


(Everyone except Luffy back at the Sunny)

"Alright. Everyone listen up!" Nami announced getting everyone's attention in an instant. Nami looked around to make sure she had everyone's undivided attention. She felt the crew's eyes returning her gaze as they all knew the dire situation they were put in.

Of course that is, if everyone knew that, then it wouldn't be much of a problem. That being said, the whole ship was quiet except for one loud snoring green haired man who was on the floor leaning against the mast. Everyone's gaze turned away from Nami to Zoro. Getting irritated with Zoro's behavior, Nami calmly walked over to him, her Clima Tact already in one hand. Everyone's eyes switched from Zoro back to Nami. They all knew what was coming.

Standing over Zoro, Nami raised her weapon and quickly swung it down on Zoro's head. "WAKE UP! WHO SAID YOU WERE ALLOWED TO SLEEP?"

Zoro woke up the moment the weapon touched his head. His eyes looked like they were popping out of his skull as he felt the blow. Zoro propped himself up while rubbing the top of his head,"Ow, that hurt you know."

"I DON'T CARE IF THAT HURT OR NOT. HOW COULD YOU SLEEP IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS?" Nami screamed at Zoro frustrated with his carelessness.

"*fake cough* Loser", Sanji said holding a fist to his mouth. He looked over at Zoro to make sure that the stupid marimo had heard him.

Turning to Sanji, Zoro stood up and pulled out his swords, "WHAT WAS THAT, CURLY EYEBROWS?"

Nami slapped her hand at the back of Zoro's head causing him to rub it again, "That's enough you two." She looked up towards everyone else who were patiently waiting to hear the news of their situation. "Anyways, let's get started."

Nami turned to Usopp, "Usopp, just to be clear, you the one who shot up the red flare. Am I right?"

Usopp nodded, "Yeah, it was me."

Nami folded her arms, "So then, tell us what happened."

"Alright, let's see..."

(Flashback)

"Usopp, Luffy's missing!" Chopper said waving his arms frantically out of worry.

"Oh no, this is bad! This is really bad!" Usopp said equally as worried as Chopper.

"Usopp, what are we are gonna do?! Luffy's the one who said we weren't supposed to separate! What if Luffy gets lost?! What if Luffy is hurt?! What are we going to tell the others?! What if we get lost?! What then?!" Chopper was pacing back and forth not knowing when he should calm down.

Usopp lifted his head to his forehead, "Oh man, if Nami finds out that we lost Luffy, she'll have our heads big time." He paused to notice Chopper pacing around everywhere while going on and on about "What if Luffy this?" and "What if Luffy that?". Usopp walked over to Chopper, kneeled down and patted his head while smiling, "Don't worry. I'm sure that once we get out of this forest of look-a-like trees and get back to the ship, everyone will help us find Luffy. *he paused* And besides, our captain isn't that weak. If he runs into trouble, I'm sure he'll be able to take care of it in no time."

Chopper wiped away his tears and smiled back at Usopp, "Yeah, your right! No one can beat our captain! Especially, not after two years of training."

Suddenly, the two felt a strange presence watching them nearby. Chopper stepped away from Usopp and raised his arms ready for a fight. Usopp had his Kuro Kabuto ready at hand. He used his haki to try to locate the person and to determine his or her strength. He had Luffy help him improve his haki after he discovered it on Dressrosa when he took down Sugar.

But before Usopp had attempted to use his haki, the person walked out from behind a tree. It was a short old lady with a bob haircut. She was wearing a small hat and had glasses on. She had a black cane an a wore a leopard printed coat on.

Usopp thought to himself. Who is that? What's an old lady doin in a forest like this?

The old lady spoke first, "You two shouldn't be wandering in this place. You'll easily get lost."

Usopp answered first, "Well, we were with someone else, but we seemed to have lost him. Do you by any chance know a way out of this forest?"

"That depends on you", she answered back careful not to say too much.

"On us? What do you mean?" Chopper asked confused and a little lost in the situation.

"I mean, tell me your names. Do that and I might tell you how to get out of here", The old lady said.

Usopp thought about telling her their names but hesitated a moment. The Strawhat crew were famously well known around the world. And after what happened on Dressrosa, they've become even more well known. Not to mention, their new bounties. I can't be fooled by her. She seems smart and careful with her choice of words. One wrong move and we'll be in trouble.

Usopp spoke again, "Fine, but you have to tell us your name as well."

"Very well, my name is Miss Bakkin."

Miss Bakkin? Don't think I ever heard that name before. Usopp thought before replying to the old lady, "Never heard of you before. My name is Usopp and this here is Chopper." He made a gesture with his hand showing the woman that the reindeer was Chopper.

"God Usopp. Sniper of the Strawhat crew. And, Chopper. A cotton-candy loving reindeer, the pet of the Strawhat crew. You two are quite famous."

"I'M NOT A PET! I'M A DOCTOR!" Chopper yelled frustrated with people calling him a pet.

"Doctor? You sure don't look like one." Miss Bakkin said.

"WELL, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I AM A DOCTOR!" Chopper yelled again.

"Anyways, we told you our names. Now tell us a way to get out of here", Usopp said.

"Fine, follow me. If your going back to your crew, it's this way", Miss Bakkin said pointing her cane in a random direction. She began walking toward that direction.

Usopp and Chopper looked at each other and rushed over to keep up with Miss Bakkin.

"By the way, how did you find us anyway?" Chopper asked.

"I was waiting for someone on the beach. I got fed up with waiting and I fell asleep and the next you know, I was sleep-walking in this forest." Miss Bakkin replied.

"Do you sleep-walk a lot?" Chopper asked curious.

"What are you? My interrogator?" Miss Bakkin demanded.

Chopper waved his arms attempting to clear up a misunderstanding that was placed, "No. No. I was just curious."

"Whatever. All you need to know is that I came here with my son and that I am waiting for someone to show up. That's all." She said.

"Who are you waiting for?" Usopp asked hoping to sneak out more information about the person that was leading him out of the forest.

"A high bounty pirate", she replied.

"Really? How big is his bounty?" Usopp asked raising an eye.

"Again with the interrogating questions. I'm also a pirate you know. I won't answer any more questions that you have." Miss Bakkin said swinging her cane at Usopp who dodged it in time thanks to haki.

After that, the three of them had stayed quiet. Every now and then, Usopp and Chopper would exchange glances at each other for only a single moment before returning their attention to the old lady they were following.

Of all the things I could've done. I just had to fall asleep and let myself get taken into this stupid forest. Normally, Weeble would stop me from sleep-walking off and wake me up. But, nooo. He just had to let me go into these trees. What was he doing anyway? Messing around again? I swear, I will make sure to punish him when I see him again. When I saw that red flare, I thought it was Weeble. And when I went to where it was shot, who did I find? Not Weeble, but two useless beings who just so happened to be a part of the Strawhat Pirates. Wait. Strawhat pirates? When did they arrive at the island? And if these two are here, then that means that Mugi-wara is here as well. *evil smirk* Maybe I could get them to lead me to their captain.

Miss Bakkin broke the silence and asked, "If you two don't mind, I'd like to meet your captain. Mugi-wara Luffy was his name?"

"We're headed back to our ship because we need help from the others to find him." Chopper answered not realizing the true intent of that question.

"So he was the one you mentioned that got lost in this forest?" Miss Bakkin asked.

Usopp broke into the conversation before Chopper could say another word, "Why are suddenly interested in our captain?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just that your captain is a high bounty pirate himself." she replied.

It wasn't too long that the 3 of them were out of the forest and on the outskirts of the town nearby. Miss Bakkin bid her farewells to Usopp and Chopper and turned to leave back into the forest.

"Wait! I thought you wanted to meet our captain." Chopper said.

"You said he was lost." she said not looking back.

"But if you help us along with everyone else, then I'm sure you'll get to meet him soon." Chopper insisted.

"It's not my interest to help other pirates. I'm just going to head back to the beach to find my son." She said, already walking back in the forest.

"Let's go Chopper. We need to head back to the ship." Usopp said.

"Yeah, you're right", Chopper replied. The two of them turned away from the forest and began walking towards their ship back to their crew.

(End Flashback)

The crew listened to every word Usopp said and for once, he didn't make up some lie of a story that was impossible to believe. They were all thinking the same thing. That this situation was suspicious. Very suspicious.

"If I were to guess. I'd say that Miss Bakkin and her son are after Luffy." Robin suggested holding a few fingers to her chin.

"I thought the same thing. It didn't make sense to me that she would suddenly want to meet Luffy. But when she heard that he was missing in the forest, she went right back in there. She said was going back to the beach on the other side of the forest, but I get the feeling that she'll probably go look for Luffy instead and try to get to him before us." Usopp said.

"Luffy did say that he had a bad feeling about this island. I'm not surprised that Luffy went suddenly missing because he does that to us all the time. What I am surprised about is how fast it all happened and that old lady...Hmmmmm... It definitely seems that she's after our captain. But why?" Nami said.

"Probably to capture him." Franky suggested.

"Underestimating our captain's abilities?" Zoro asked Franky.

"Dude, it's just a suggestion." Franky said.

"In any case, we need to find Luffy-san before the old woman does." Brook said jumping into the conversation voluntarily.

"Hold it right there! There's still my end of the report." Nami said holding up her hand at those who were already leaving to find Luffy.

"But if we don't go now-", Chopper exclaimed.

"I know! I know! But before any of you go, there's something you need to know about those trees in that forest." Nami said interrupting Chopper.

Everyone except Nami, Robin, & Franky all stopped in their tracks for a moment. They all turned back to face Nami, awaiting another report of another mystery that was yet to be revealed.

Nami didn't begin until she once again had everyone's full on attention. She looked around to make sure that everyone was listening this time. Especially Zoro and anyone else who might be sneaking a quick nap. Let's just say, she's pretty strict with things like this and if your not listening, well, you know.

"Nami-san, you have everyone's attention. Please continue." Brook politely said.

"Thank you Brook. Alright. As you all know, me, Robin, & Franky all went to town to seek out any leaking information about this island. Now let's see...It started when we entered this weird bar.-" Nami began.


(Meanwhile, back in the forest...)

Those useless Strawhats! Getting my hopes up for just a split second! Jeez, they even made me believe that getting Mugi-wara would be easy. Now here I am, looking for him in this stupid same-tree forest. Guess I'll be going back to my original plan. Miss Bakkin thought to herself. Even though she was alone, she didn't feel comfortable speaking aloud, so she kept everything that she considered a secret, in her thoughts.

I feel like I've been walking forever. Well, it's not like I'm getting any younger. I'm pretty sure Mugi-wara is running around like those dumb numskull idiot pirates like that Red Hair Shanks. Speaking of which, I wonder if that's who Mugi-wara got that hat of his. She thought.

"*heavy sigh* That's it! I'm going back to the beach! I'm sure that by now, Mugi-wara is already there fighting Weeble. Hehehe, he should be losing. He's no match for my son." She said aloud before turning in another direction that led to the beach.