Lightningblade49: Yeah, pretty much. It's part of what I had intended for this story, and I can't wait to begin writing it.

bcgcdak: It's understandable that you'd be annoyed. He is one of the four emperors after all...he can literally eat a dozen sea kings for breakfast.

Hanashi: Yeah, I wouldn't exactly want to be Sabo at that point either. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and that goes triple for Nami. XD

partner555: Yep, basically.

F-ckthesystem125: Glad you liked that scene. :)

demonfox2140: I'm flattered you like my story so much, thank you. As for Kuina's fate, well... as I said last chapter to bc, I can't tell you without giving away some things I don't want to reveal. All I can really say is that Kuina's fate will not be exactly the same as it was in the anime, as for the Kuina Tashigi thing, I still find it hard to believe their not the same person already, or at least related in some sort of way. I'm still expecting one day Oda will reveal that it's actually her, even if it already has been said that isn't the case. Mind you at this point I accept that their two different people, and think along those lines most of the time, however I would not object, hell I'd probably approve, if Tashigi did turn out to be Kuina.

On a completely unrelated note, I got to watch Film Z, English dub, since the last time I updated and damn was that a great movie. Anyone else seen it as of yet? Can't wait to do this story's version...though that's a long ways away...

Anyway enough of my rambling, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

Luffy let out a loud yawn as he made his bed, one of the things he had to do regularly at Bellemere's. He had just gotten dressed for the day, but he was honestly still halfway between asleep and awake, even as he finished and prepared to exit his room. However he was soon broken out of his morning daze as Nami opened his door and he saw her smiling face. Just seeing her face made him happy these days, so most of the drowsiness he felt vanished as a large grin spread across his face and he chirped, "Hey there Nami."

The orange haired girl's smile got a little wider at his cheery demeanor, "Good morning Luffy. Bellemere's making breakfast, it should be done-"

The young straw hat wearing boy dashed out of the room at those words, leaving Nami standing in his doorway by herself, "-in a minute."

She stood there for a moment blinking before shaking her head in slight amusement, he loved Bellemere's cooking and since he had tasted it he came a running whenever it was meal time. The young girl fully entered his room and made her way over to his bed, before remaking it, doing so the right way, as her black haired friend had not. She had been doing this since he moved in, he was pretty bad at chores, so she helped him do basically everything, though he didn't know it most of the time. Sometimes it annoyed her just a bit, but she didn't let him know that either. Of course Nojiko and Bellemere also knew of this, though the latter didn't mention it, the former did so regularly, telling her younger sister that if she didn't let him do it himself he'd never learn. In response the six year old girl would shake her head and say, "The chance of Luffy ever learning to do chores the right way is about as small as Zoro's chance of getting a sense of direction, so I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing."

Once she was finished fixing his bed, she exited his room, closing the door behind her as she did of course, before making her way to the kitchen and sitting down next to Luffy at the table. Just as she did Bellemere served breakfast, Nojiko already being seated so everyone was at the table. The young straw hat wearing boy dug in immediately, saying thanks just before he did, and the ex-marine couldn't help but smile at him as he did. He usually said thanks with his mouthful, but after a couple dozen bops on the head, one for each time he did it, he was slowly starting to get it. It looked like today might be the first day he didn't talk with his mouthful at all, "Thris is freally good."

As Bellemre picked up her ladle and proceeded to bonk the only male in her house on the head with it, she couldn't help but think to herself, letting out a sigh as she did, "Scratch that, I was wrong."

"Srorry."

Bonk.

After the second hit Luffy stayed quiet for the rest of the meal.

Luffy and Zoro fist bumped as Nojiko closed the front door, and then the green haired boy exchanged his usual glare with Nami. The blue haired girl had seen this, and she couldn't help but sigh, "This is honestly getting ridiculous, it's the same thing with you two day in and day out. You two get along almost as perfectly as you could with Luffy, but you yourselves fight like cats and dogs, wet and starving cats and dogs."

The navigator to be was the first of the two to reply to her sister, "What do you expect? He's a big jerk with no sense of direction, he's dumb and he smells too, we couldn't be more different."

The swordsman trainee scoffed before saying, "You're right about that one, you're evil, weak, ugly, can't stop nagging, and are just about useless in every situation, we couldn't be more different from each other if we tried."

Nami's sharp teeth returned, a vein throbbing in anger and irritation on her forehead as she shook her fist at Zoro, "What'd you just say!?"

"You heard me."

Before a fight could break out between the two, it was Luffy who put a stop to it. "Come on guys, we're supposed to meet up with Ace and Sabo, we don't have time for your usual wrestling match."

The straw hat wearing boy grabbed both of his best friends by their wrists, before proceeding to lead them away from Bellemere's house and towards their meeting place where Sabo and Ace were surely waiting. And as he pulled them along, Nojiko stayed back for a few moments, laughing to herself about the situation, quickly following along after though.

Fifteen minutes later Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Nojiko entered the same small clearing they had first met Sabo in. As they did Luffy let go of his two best friends wrists, and they huffed and looked away from each other, having been bickering the whole way there. Nojiko just rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, "Those two'll never stop fighting..."

That's when Ace and Sabo entered the small clear area, doing so from the opposite direction of Luffy's group. They walked over to the four until they were about five feet apart, which is where they came to a stop. The straw hat wearing boy smiled and greeted both older boys, Sabo smiled and returned his greeting, Zoro, Nojiko and Nami however didn't give any greetings, and before Ace could give his, as he was going to, the orange haired girl's eyes met the only blonde within the vicinity's. As they did a scowl graced her face for a moment, before she proceeded to stick her tongue out at him, which the best dressed of the six responded with an annoyed glare. This prompted an angry glare from the navigator to be, which got the same from the adventurer to be. And as they did what they did everyday, Nojiko couldn't help but sigh and face palm, "And then there's him, I swear if I didn't know any better I'd think she was just trying to find people to fight and bicker with."

The young blue haired girl couldn't exactly be blamed for being so annoyed at this, as it had been a little over two months, the exact count was sixty nine days, since the group of six had officially all met. While the eldest black haired boy had met Zoro and Nami, he hadn't met Nojiko, and then no one had met Sabo except for him, but now they all knew each other to some extent.

Luffy and Sabo got along very well, the two already getting near the point of becoming as close as the young black haired boy was with Ace, something Zoro and Nami had already accomplished. It could even be argued they were closer to Luffy than his older brother was, of course no was willing to, mainly because whoever did so in regards to it not being true would be pressed to prove it.

Zoro and Sabo were best described as acquaintances, as they never interacted unless it was through Luffy, though they did seem to have some sort of mutual respect between each other. Nojiko and Sabo could barely be described as that, as they barely interacted with each other unless the others were there and there was no avoiding it.

Nami and Sabo had a relationship almost exactly like the one she had with the green haired swordsman trainee, except there was never a moment where they would stop fighting, arguing, bickering and just plain old disagreeing, as the day they met had put them at odds and they have yet to work past that. Sabo had tried to apologize for what he had done, and at first it seemed like it would work, Nami was coming around as she found he was a pretty nice kid, but the moment he accidentally let it slip that if he hadn't done what he had done they'd both of ended up dead, it took a turn for the worse. From there they began bickering, and when the inevitable happened and they found out that both of them were trying to be good navigators, though that wasn't the blonde's dream and he was only doing it to help him achieve his actual goal, it made things even worse. So with Nami's stubborn personality, the two had come to develop a type of rivalry, though one without much of a friendly aspect to it.

Nojiko and Ace, now they had a bit of a complicated relationship. While Ace had grown softer over the years of knowing Luffy, he still had a bit of a temper, and he was just as blunt as his younger brother, he also had only a minimal amount of extra tact than him, and Nojiko, well she had a sharp tongue, a quick wit and sometimes a sarcastic way of speaking, and they ended up butting heads more often than not because of these traits of theirs. In fact their relationship was almost a complete mirror image of Nami's and Zoro's. except for the fact they fought more with words than their fists, and...well they might have mixed feelings about the one their fighting with, which the orange haired girl and green haired boy couldn't be farther from feeling.

Zoro and Ace tended to butt heads a lot...literally rather than figuratively. It wasn't that they hated one and other, or even that they disagreed all the time, it was primarily the fact that when they did argue, it turned physical quickly. Plus there was the fact that the swordsman trainee had a general dislike for the older black haired boy, which was born from Luffy's stories of him. The two things that got to the green haired boy more than anything else were people who were all bark and no bite, and people who were in any kind of way mean, cruel and or disparaging towards Luffy. While the straw hat wearing boy acted as if the things Ace had done to him when they were younger were nothing, that didn't mean they were nothing to Zoro. After all, breaking most of someone's bones just because they want to be your friend isn't even remotely a kind thing to do. However, the swordsman trainee also recognized the fact that Ace was much better than that now, and while he still had a small mean streak in him, he was starting to become a real big brother.

Nami and Ace didn't actually have much of a relationship, as most of the time the orange haired girl would give him the cold shoulder, because Zoro told her what he had done to Luffy when they were younger, except he didn't sugar coat it or laugh it over as if it was some joke like the straw hat wearing boy did. He did not hold a grudge, that however didn't mean Nami and Zoro didn't hold one for him. Though every now and then she would basically come out and tell the older black haired boy that she was glad he was being so nice to Luffy, at least compared to each day before the last. This was because he was steadily growing kinder and kinder, mostly in regards to his younger brother, but also in general.

Ace did not try to keep the look of annoyance off his face as he spoke, some anger in his tone as he did, "Would you two cut it out? I'm getting sick and tired of you two and your crap, we've got more important things to deal with, don't we Sabo?"

The young blonde snapped out of his glaring contest with the orange haired girl at those words, proceeding to give a sheepish smile afterwards as he said, "Yeah, sorry, you're right."

The eldest black haired boy nodded at that, before continuing, "Now what we had to tell you guys today, was that we found ourselves a stash of cash that could get us a great deal closer to getting those two pirate ships we need."

Those words got Luffy's, Zoro's, Nami's and Nojiko's complete undivided attention on Ace and Sabo, ready to listen to everything they had to say. Sabo was the one to speak next, "We've been saving up as much money as we could, stealing each and every berri we could get our hands on for over a year. Then you four began helping us two months ago, we did the stealing, you did any and all odd jobs you could come across so as to help us reach an amount that could buy us two ships, so that we can set off once we're old enough. One Ace would captain, the other Luffy would captain, and going in we all knew it'd cost a large sum to purchase them, but according to some brokers in the city, we're only halfway...to buying a single ship. However with this new plan of ours, we could acquire enough berris to put us at the halfway point for the second ship, tripling our total amount of cash in one swoop."

Ace picked up after that, "There's only one problem, we're gonna have to steal it from Bluejam and his crew."

Both Nojiko's and Nami's eyes widened real wide at those words, before they could say anything though, the black haired nine year old finished his statement, "And for the plan to work all six of us will have to work it together."

Noticing the sudden tension, Zoro quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Who the hell is Bluejam, and why are you four so worried about him?"

Nami looked at the green haired boy as if he was stupid, remarking in her head that he actually was, speaking as she did, "You want to be a pirate and you don't know who Bluejam is? He's pretty known in this region of the east blue, and he's very well known on this island. Back on our island we had only heard a rumor or two, but here everyone talks about him, speaking in hushed whispers, worried for their lives. You've got to be a moron to live on this island and not know who he is."

Zoro was quick to retort, "No, you have to be a moron to be worried about some dumb ass named Bluejam."

That's when all eyes went to Luffy, the young straw hat wearing boy picking his nose with his little finger, looking completely bored and wholly uninterested as he said, "What kind of idiot calls themselves Bluejam?"

The swordsman trainee gestured to his best friend as he spoke, "There, see? Proves my point."

Nami face palmed, groaning in annoyance as she did, "No, that just proves that you're both stupid."

Nojiko then continued where her little sister left off, "Bluejam and his crew are the poster boys for pirates. Their ruthless and vile, greedy and arrogant, brutish and nasty, they are everything pirates stand for and aspire to be."

Luffy's whole demeanor changed at that, removing his finger from his nose, he proceeded to vehemently object to the blue haired girl's words, "No way! True pirates stand for the love of adventure, and being able to do anything you want, whenever you want, because you're free!"

The eight year old girl snorted in amusement at that, replying quite sarcastically, "Yeah right, that's why the world is filled with tales of pirates saving people and fighting monsters, their real heroes alright."

Luffy huffed and crossed his arms as he replied, "That's not what I said, pirates aren't heroes at all. Their adventure loving, free men. I want to be a pirate, not a hero, because then I'd have follow all the rules and share all my meat, and I want all the meat for myself."

Zoro, Ace and Sabo closed their eyes and nodded in complete unison with Luffy's words, doing so with absolute certainty in the fact that those words were sagely, showing their agreement by speaking in unison, "That's right."

Nojiko and Nami both rolled their eyes at the four boys, thinking their thinking ridiculous. The blue haired girl decided to just move past that point, "Regardless of who's right and who's not, stealing money from Bluejam is just plain crazy. He'll kill us without so much as a second thought."

The eldest black haired boy was the one to respond to that, "So? We're all going to have to learn to deal with that since we're going to become pirates. The only person here who isn't dead set on doing so is you, you stated that you wouldn't become a pirate, even if it was one that wasn't cruel and selfish. And yet you've been helping us gather the cash we need, exactly why is that?"

The eight year old girl scowled at the nine year old boy, but answered him nevertheless, "Because my little sister here is determined to follow your little brother to the ends of the earth because of her infatuation with him. And since she's stubborn and won't be swayed, I've no choice but to help her out as much as I possibly can, so as to insure she'll be okay when she finally does become a pirate."

The young orange haired girl couldn't help it as her face turned a dark shade of red, blushing greatly because of her older sister's words, Luffy on the other hand was scratching his head in confusion. The black haired boy turned to his green haired friend and proceeded to ask, "Zoro, what does infatuation mean?"

The swordsman trainee shrugged at that, "Something about a large amount of attention, or affection, or something like that."

Nami's face was red as tomato from embarrassment, even so it was still easy to tell she was mad, as the glare she gave her sister was proof enough, "Nojiko, you're lucky Zoro's so stupid and that Luffy doesn't know what you're talking about, otherwise I'd tear your hair out."

The blue haired girl gave a wry smile at that, liking the feeling of messing with her younger sister.

That's of course when Sabo tried to explain the word to his younger friend, "Well Luffy you see, if someone has an infatuation with someone else, it means that-"

Before the young blonde could finish his explanation, Nami had closed the distance between them and slapped her left hand over his mouth, keeping it there as he tried to speak, muffling his words and rendering them useless in the way of helping someone understand something. She was boring holes into his head with her eyes as she said, "If you finish that sentence, I swear I'll-"

The young orange haired girl was then cut off as Ace pulled her from Sabo, and then got everyone's attention once more by speaking, "That's enough! We need to focus on the task at hand, no more bickering, no more fighting and no more smart remarks, we have to go and get this done. We have less than three hours before Bluejam comes to pick up the case of berris that we're looking to get our hands on, so we need to get a move on, that way we have enough time to get in, get out, stash the cash and get back here before anyone's the wiser."

It took a moment, but with that being said everyone got serious, nodding their heads in affirmation. "Good. Now then, let's get going."

Ace and Sabo then led Luffy and his friends deeper into the forest of Mount Corvo.

Soon enough they came to a cliff, which looked out upon a massive junkyard piled as high as it could be with all sorts of garbage, ranging from half eaten food, rotted wood, used utensils, cups, and all manner of dishware, as well as rusted metal, unneeded trinkets, broken guns and swords, any and every kind of trash you could possibly imagine was piled up here. This place was known as the Grey Terminal, past it lie the great gate of Goa, which led into Goa, the kingdom of Dawn Island, and this city that was surrounded by tall walls, it was also where the six children needed to go. More specifically they were heading to edge town, the seedy and run down part of the city, where all the criminals and the people who could barely get by lived. Of course it was better than most got, as half the population was forced to live outside the walls of Goa, stuck inside the dirty and nasty Gray Terminal. All six kids knew this well, Ace and Sabo better than the others of course. Sabo had also explained to them to never look anyone in the eye and to just keep moving, which during the first time they had come here they had done successfully.

As they made their way down the face of the cliff, slowly and carefully, they reminded themselves of that day. They had to keep their heads down and their ears open until they were back at Fusha village, because edge town was even worse than gray terminal, at least when it came to crime that is. They were also planning on trying their best to keep low profiles, that way it was impossible for anyone to find out that they were the ones that were about to steal Bluejam's money. Once they were finished descending the cliff face and made their way into the gigantic trash heap, that's exactly what they did. They didn't draw any attention to themselves once so ever, getting through the junkyard and into edge town without so much as a second glance from anyone, which couldn't be said for the first time they had tried to get through the gray terminal unnoticed.

While they had indeed kept themselves from looking anyone in the eye and had tried to keep moving that first time, they were stopped a few times, once by a drunk man, another time by someone who was too interested in the fact that they were children to be safe to be around, and one more who specifically wanted to speak to Sabo, something or other about a shack that got torn down. But this was beside the point, as this time they had succeeded completely, and were now one step closer to pulling off their little heist.

Now inside of Edge Town, the two eldest led the other four into the system of back alleys they knew how to navigate best. Using these alleyways the six moved from the great gate of Goa into the deepest part of this shady section of the city, it taking them less than twenty minutes to do so. And from there it only took another minute or so to locate the very building that Bluejam and his crew were currently using as a temporary base of operations, it was a warehouse. However instead of getting too close, they cut through another alley beside a building that was across from the warehouse, which allowed them a vantage point of the building, so they could examine it without being spotted, so long as they didn't poke more than their head out of the cover of the building that is.

At first glance they saw three of the Bluejam pirates guarding the front door, and one on either side of the building, making five in total. So they pulled their heads back so they were no longer exposed, and as they did Zoro scoffed, "Only five? This barely calls for two of us, so long as Nami isn't picked of course."

Nojiko then had to hold her sister back, so as to keep her from pouncing on Zoro, starting a fight and blowing their cover.

Ace shook his head at the green haired eight year old's words, "No, there are three more in the back. We've been staking this place out for a week now, so I know for a fact that they always have two guys guarding the back entrance. Then there's the inside of the building. We're not sure what they have hiding in there, but we never see more than one or two of them come and go at a time."

Sabo nodded his head in affirmation, "That's right, and going by that, it's safe to assume that they never have more than four of their guys guarding the case at once."

Nojiko then asked, "How can you be so sure? I mean Ace said so himself, you guys have never been inside of that place, so how could you possibly know that?"

As the blue haired eight year old asked this, she was still holding her sister back from trying to clobber Zoro, who was currently picking his left ear while staring at her with an almost bored expression on his face, which just managed to egg the orange haired girl on further.

"It's only speculation...or rather, an assumption, we simply figured they'd need two guys to guard it minimum. One to keep an eye on the case, the other to keep an eye on the first guy, so as to make sure he didn't take off with it. And they wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the case completely unattended, no matter the time of the day, so that means there has to be at least two guys guarding it at all times. Which means since we only see one or two guys come and go at a time, it's safe to assume that there's never more than four guys in that warehouse of theirs, at least it is when Bluejam's not here in town."

While scratching his head in confusion over what Sabo had just said, Luffy turned to Zoro and asked, "Any idea what he's talking about?"

The swordsman trainee simply shrugged, "Not really. All I understood was that there are eight guys guarding the outside, and a couple guarding the inside."

The young straw hat wearing boy allowed an annoyed expression to encompass his face for a moment, "I got that, I was asking if you knew what else he was saying."

Once more he just shrugged, causing the dark haired six year old to sigh.

Nojiko on the other hand understood what he had said, and wasn't pleased by his words, so as loud as she could be with whispering, she spoke, "You mean this whole plan is based entirely around a guess!? You have got to be kidding me! You're gonna get us all killed!"

Nami, who had been let go of by her older sister a moment ago, was going to agree, but before she could do so, Ace interrupted, "Just calm down, everything's gonna be fine. Sabo's smart, the smartest person I've ever met in fact, and I trust him not to get us killed. Just don't be stupid, and this will all go according to plan."

Nojiko wanted to protest further, but Ace and Sabo both left their crouching positions, since they had all been doing so, and prepared to make their move, the black haired one of them saying this as he did, "Some of them are changing positions, get ready to move."

Poking their heads out once more, the four younger children saw that a couple more of Bluejam's crew had arrived and were indeed relieving their fellow crewmen. So they all got ready. As they all had went over the plan a few times on the way here, they all knew what was needed of them, some of them to a greater extent then others, but that was beside the point.

Once they had been relieved, the pirates who had been on watch didn't take more than a moment or so to be on their way, so as to go and enjoy themselves, rest or whatever else they wanted and or needed to do. The six kids waited until the relieved pirates were a reasonable distance away, before they set their plan in motion. When they had reached that reasonable distance from the warehouse, Ace signaled for the plan to start, "Alright...go!"

Ace jumped from his place of hiding, before rushing straight down the middle of the dirty street that led to the warehouse, heading directly for the front of the building, drawing the three Bluejam crewmen who guarded the front entrance's attention immediately. Seeing him brought scowls to their faces, showing they knew him, and that was confirmed as the nine year old came to a stop about eight feet from them, and with an air of cockiness that only he could exude in this situation, he began to taunt the grown men, "Remember me losers? It was easier than I'd thought it'd be giving you guys the slip a couple of months ago, guess that means you're even more pathetic than I thought you were!"

"Did he just say what I think he said!?"

"How dare that little punk insult us!"

"Get him!"

As the three moved to get him, Ace made a quick left and took off running down the street, getting them to follow him as they did, leading them away from the warehouse. As he continued to sprint down the street, he turned his head to look back at them and taunted them once more, just for good measure. "Come and get me you bastards!"

Sabo went to the right instead of the left, entering another back alley, where he proceeded to rush down it, until he met a dead end, where he made a quick left and began dashing down that alleyway. Because he was running as fast as he could, he reached the back of the warehouse rather quick considering how he went around, and when he did he forced himself to come to a stop, almost stumbling past the three guards who were at the back entrance as he did so.

Their eyes were on him, mean looks on their faces, trying to intimidate him. He however merely turned to face them, gave them a smile and a wave as he said, "Hey there, you guys remember me?"

At that their full attention was solely on him, as they did finally recognize him, and they became quite angry, as he had led them on quite the chase a little over two months ago. "It's him!"

"That little brat had us running about all over the place trying to catch him!"

"Well now we've got him!"

As they moved to grab him, Sabo raced past them through one of the alleys of the warehouse, barely avoiding the guard there as he did so. He would have chased after him as well, but the three currently on his tail bowled the guy over in their pursuit of him.

The blonde nine year old led them out to the front of the warehouse, and down the main street, which led to and away from the front entrance of said building. And just to make sure they continued to follow him, he turned his head back so as to look at them and said, "Catch me if you can!"

Nojiko waited until Sabo and his three pursuers passed her, before running down the street to the front of building they were trying to get into, where she could see both of the guards that were left. The one in the left alley was at the end of it closest to her, looking out to his right, her left, as that was the way he saw a kid being chased by some of his fellow crewmen. The one in the right alley was currently in the middle of getting to his feet, as he had just been knocked over.

Thinking quickly, the blue haired girl picked up a rock that was about half the size of her hand, and chucked it at the guy looking away from the building he was supposed to be guarding. It just barely managed to hit him in the head, but he winced and cursed in pain nevertheless, before noticing who had thrown said rock and letting a look of anger cover his face. Knowing that he was guaranteed to follow her, she took the right alleyway of the building, came to the guy who was just about on his feet, except that he was bent over at the waist, and kicked him as hard as she could in the face, since it had been lower to the ground with him in a bent over position, causing him to stumble because of the pain and surprise, as well as swear in pain.

She then rushed passed him to the back of the warehouse, before turning to see both of the outside guards now standing next to each other, wondering what the hell had happened to each other, since one had a bruise on their head, and the other had a bloody nose, when she got their attention by calling out to them, "Hey morons, over here!"

Both recognizing her immediately, they said in unison, "That's the girl!"

As they came running towards her, she went to her left, their right, back into the same alley system Ace and Sabo had led everyone in. They of course chased after her, which meant they were soon running through back alley after back alley trying to get ahold of the blue haired girl.

Luffy, Zoro and Nami stayed in hiding until they saw Nojiko run past them, doing so from their right, with two men following her. That was their cue, so they too left the original hiding spot they had all shared and approached the warehouse. They stood at the front entrance for only a moment, before all sharing looks between one and other, they began their part in the plan after doing so. So the two boys stayed at the front entrance, while the girl circled around to the back and prepared to enter from that doorway.

The black and green haired kids then burst into the building, calling out as they did, drawing all attention to them so as to allow their orange haired friend to slip in the back. Having busted in like that, it took the two a moment to realize it, but Sabo had been absolutely correct, as there were exactly four Bluejam pirates in the building. Judging by the fact that their were chairs by each of them, it was an obvious conclusion that they had all been sitting before the two children had suddenly came in, taking them by surprise with the door slamming into the wall and the two screaming something about bringing it on.

Both Zoro and Luffy could see a large metallic case on the table that the four men stood around, and beyond that, they saw that Nami had successfully snuck in while they caused all that noise by slamming the door into the wall and shouting, but now they had to get these guys away from the case and keep them busy, so their orange haired friend could get the case and get a safe distance away before anyone noticed her presence. So, being the big mouthed children that they were, the two began to goad the grown men into attacking them.

First they knocked over a shelf that was in the building, it of course fell towards them, so they all moved out of the way, forgetting the case in the process. It slammed onto the table, causing it's legs to collapse beneath it. And, thinking they hadn't gone far enough, the two spoke up...

Zoro, "Hey weaklings! Come and fight us, unless you're too scared you'll get beat by a couple of kids!"

Luffy, "Yeah! What are you, chicken!? Bring it on!"

The biggest of the men was the one to say anything about that, "I don't know who these kids are, but I already hate them! You're dead brats!"

His three friends seemed to agree with him, as they all chased the two outside of the building into the streets.

Now that the coast was clear, Nami could now grab the case without fear of getting caught...at least imminently that is.

She came to the collapsed table that lie underneath a heavy wooden shelf, said shelf also being on top of the case, which posed a problem. Despite that, the young child bent her knees, grabbed ahold of the shelf and began trying to lift it, hoping it would budge at least enough for her to push the case with her foot so it would be away from said wooden construct. However, as she honestly knew would happen, it didn't budge an inch. Standing back up straight, the orange haired girl huffed and stamped her foot in frustration, "Dang it! Look what those two did! Now how am I supposed to get to it?"

After a few moments, she thought to herself, "Well, it couldn't hurt."

So she put her arm through the space of one part of the shelf and another part, slipping it through and placing her hand on the case. It took several tries, but she was able to grab a hold of the handle, and began trying to pull it out through the space between one board of the shelf and another board of said wooden item holder. It was a big case, so she slipped her other arm through to help. The case got caught against another board, but after a few tugs it came loose and out of the space, allowing the six year old to pull it out altogether.

Despite one of the boards scraping against her left arm and bringing a bit of blood, Nami couldn't help but blink repeatedly in surprise as she stared at the case she now held in her arms. "Huh...that was so much easier than I'd thought it'd be."

Nami hustled out of the warehouse after that, coming out to the front and moving back to everyone's original hiding spot, behind the building across from the one they just robbed.

Only a few moments passed before Ace showed up, a foot long pipe in his possession, which had just a bit of blood on it. "You got it? Good."

The nine year old then took a quick look around, "Where's everyone else?"

Before the orange haired girl could answer, Luffy and Zoro showed up, both panting a bit. The only one of them wearing a straw hat then smiled, before saying, "We gave them the slip."

His older brother smiled in return, but as he was going to speak, Nojiko came around the corner from the alleyways. "I managed to lose them in the alley system you used to get us here."

Ace nodded his head at the blue haired girl's words, "Now then, we just have to find Sabo and we can get out of here."

"No need."

All five of the children's heads snapped in the direction that voice came from, to see a large, brutish, hulking man, with long whitish blue hair and, one of his more distinct features, that he had no eyebrows to speak of. He was standing in the middle of the street leading to the warehouse, three more of his crewmen standing behind him, and he also held a bruised and slightly bloody, as well as unconscious Sabo by his collar, with only one hand as it was all he needed, as his hands were each around half the size of the children themselves. "I've got him right here."

A scowl crossed the eldest black haired boy's face, "Shit, it's Porchemy."

No questions were asked amongst the young children, as they were able to understand the situation well enough without anything else being said. Seeing the distressed looks on all of their faces didn't do anything to lighten the huge angry man's mood, as he was downright pissed. Ace of course knew how bad that meant the situation was, and seeing as how badly they needed that money..., "Nojiko, Nami, take the case and run!"

The blue haired girl looked ready to comply, but her orange haired sister protested, "We can't just leave you guys!"

Luffy and Zoro then both looked back at her, while the green haired boy's eyes said what needed to be said, the black haired boy used his words, "Do what Ace says and go Nami!"

"Their right Nami, we have to go!"

In what most would call a growl, Porchemy interrupted with, "You girls aren't going anywhere with that case!"

All three of the boys turned to the large pirate and his three friends, before lunging towards them, crying out together, "Yes they are!"

As the three began to fight the grown men, Nojiko forced Nami along despite her protests, so they could escape.

Luffy kept fighting even after his brother and best friend were knocked unconscious, he kept fighting even as they snatched him up and carried him away along with the other three unconscious boys, and even now he continued to struggle, until Porchemy had had enough, and strung him up to a support beam of the old, almost decrepit wooden building they were now in. As that was the case, he could no longer move his arms, and was now suspended several feet up in the air, he continued to kick his legs though.

That didn't bother the brutish man all that much, though that could be because he was currently tying the other three unconscious boys up as well, he didn't suspend them in the air though, he just tied them up to some support beams that connected to the floor, rather than the one that went from one side of the building to the other like with Luffy. Just as he finished doing that, six more of his fellow crewmen entered the medium sized wooden structure, looking almost fearful as they approached Porchemy.

When he noticed their presence, he turned to them and spoke, "Did you find the girls with the case?"

The bravest of the six was the one to reply, "No Sir, I'm sorry, they managed to get away."

Grunting in dissatisfaction, the burly man then asked, "They escaped the city then?"

Once again it was up to the same man out of the six to speak, "I-I'm not sure Sir, they gave us the slip awhile ago, we've been trying to track them down."

"So they could be anywhere then!?"

"Y-yes S-sir."

It was quite obvious that Porchemy was now beyond just angry, however instead of lashing out at one of his fellow crewmen, he turned to them and gave them a firm order, in the form of a shout, "All of you, get out there and find them, now!"

The three that had been with him, who were all injured in someway because of the three boys's tenacity, and the six that had just returned quickly all gave a yes sir and scrambled out of the building, fearing for their safety as they did.

The large muscular man huffed in anger and annoyance, before turning to the only boy who was conscious in the room, who was still kicking and trying to wiggle his way out of his rope binding, to no avail of course. He took a few steps towards him and spoke, "You, you know where they are, don't you?"

Luffy stopped squirming long enough to glare at the man and say, "No I don't! And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

Porchemy growled at the boy, before replying with, "We'll see about that, now won't we!?"

The long haired man then turned and walked off, stopping at a shelf full of weapons he began to look over a few of them, speaking as he did so, "I already know from our little scuffle a couple minutes ago that physical blows don't work on you. I'm guessing you ate some kind of devil fruit, though I don't care which one."

Finally deciding on a method of attack, the hulking man grabbed a pair of spiked gloves that were his size and proceeded to slip them on, talking to his soon to be torture victim as he did so, "However I did notice that when one of the guys pulled a knife, you did everything you could to keep away from it. So I'm guessing anything and everything sharp is your weakness, and since that's the case..."

Now within the reach of the child once more, he cocked his right arm back, preparing to deliver a heavy blow, "...this should hurt-"

Shooting his arm forward, he rammed his spiked fist into the side of Luffy's face, piercing his flesh in a multitude of spots, as well as tearing a bit of his flesh open, and causing him to scream at the top of his lungs in agony, as well as swing to the right and back again because of how he was strung up. "-like a motherfucker!"

All three unconscious boys woke with a start at Luffy's scream, and when they saw his state, and the blood on Porchemy's right spiked fist, their eyes grew wide with shock and disbelief. And as the large long haired man hit him a second time, causing him to cry out at the top of his lungs once more because of how severe the pain was.

Porchemy then began to pound on the defenseless six year old relentlessly, hitting him with those spiked gloves of his over, and over, and over, and over again.

Nami and Nojiko had slipped inside of an old medium sized wooden building, allowing their pursuers to run past them. However they weren't even close to being out of the woods yet, as they heard some of them double back, and they were coming towards the front doors. So, acting quickly, the two young girls hid inside of an old and musty wooden closet, taking the case of berris with them of course, leaving the door of it cracked just enough to allow them to see out of it. Though they couldn't see the whole room, they could see a bit, and because of that they were able to know when the men who were looking for them left. They took a moment to catch their breath, before exiting the closet.

The two then headed to the back door and peaked out, however those guys were running about all over the place looking for them, so that way was a no go. So they turned and headed back for the way they came in, but only a step out the building and they saw that big brute heading their way. Because of that, they went back inside and tucked themselves back into the old musty closet, as despite it's stench it wasn't a bad hiding place.

From there they watched as Porchemy came in, tied the four boys up, his crewmen came in and left once more to find them, and he went to the weapon shelf. As he talked, the orange haired one of the girls couldn't take her eyes of Luffy, who they had a perfect view of from their hiding spot, as she felt worry fill her over his well being. And as the seconds passed, her concern for him quickly began to gnaw away at her.

As Porchemy came into view with those spiked gloves of his, the six year old girl felt fear consume her, and when his fist connected with Luffy's face, and he screamed like that, her eyes went wide with horror, just as Nojiko's did. She had involuntarily dropped the case as she gasped at the scene before her, but all the noise covered the sound of it hitting the bottom of the closet.

From that point on she was in a trance like state of shock, disbelief and horror, until the burly man hit Luffy once more, causing him to cry out again, which snapped her out of it. Tears welling up in her eyes, she opened her mouth to call out, just as she prepared to exit the closet, as she would not allow this to happen to her best friend in the whole world, not for money or her own safety, as neither were worth it to her. However before she could, Nojiko wrapped her left arm around her and pulled her close, and used her right hand to cover her mouth, so as to muffle any noise she might make, which combined with all the noise would keep them hidden.

Nami immediately knew what her sister was doing, she was keeping her in the closet, she was keeping her from saving Luffy, and she also knew why. Nevertheless, the orange haired six year old began to struggle as if her very life depended on it, and while it was very difficult for her, the blue haired eight year old managed to keep her sister restrained and from alerting the huge guy to their presence.

With tears in her eyes, she leaned forward to whisper into her little sister's ear, "I'm sorry, so sorry, but I can't let you go out there. He'll kill you, and I refuse to let anything bad happen to you."

The young girl continued to struggle, but no amount of time changed the fact that her sister was older and stronger at that current moment in time. And as she continuously tried and tried to break free from her sister's grasp, she was forced to watch as Porchemy ruthlessly beat the hell out of Luffy, filling him full of holes with every punch, bringing more and more blood from his tiny body to run down and drip off of him.

As this vile act went on, the other three boys kept yelling and crying out, sometimes begging, sometimes demanding, but every time was about getting him to stop hurting Luffy. However it mattered not, not only because he didn't care, but also because the young straw hat wearing boy was screaming bloody murder with every blow, effectively drowning the other boys out.

After a little over twenty blows, the dark haired six year old's eyes lazily landed on the old wooden closet, as he was doing anything he could to try and keep himself from focusing on the pain. And as they did, he saw through the crack and his eyes locked with Nami's own, causing the black haired kid's eyes to widen to the fullest extent as he realized the very reason he was being beaten like this was in the room.

Both Nami and Nojiko realized he saw them, and as they did, they both wished...

Nojiko, "Please don't tell him, please don't put my sister in danger!"

Nami, "Tell him Luffy, tell him where we are! Don't let yourself get killed over some stupid money!"

Luffy's mind was racing once he realized Nami was in here, that not even twenty feet separated them, and that she had the case of berris, and if she were found out, Porchemy would hurt her, probably even worse than he was doing to him. "I can't let him find out Nami's in here, he'll hurt her, he'll kill her, and I can't let that happen! I have to keep his attention on me, no matter what!"

The young boy's thoughts were interrupted by the words of the very man who was causing him so much agony, "Don't you get it boy? All you have to do is tell me where those girls are, and the pain will stop. Hell, if you tell me right now, I'll even spare your life."

As a look of determination appeared on his blood and tear stained face, Luffy stared the large man down and spoke, "I won't ever tell! I'll never give my friends up, ever!"

This just served to piss the man off further, and he began to beat him once more, even more ferociously than last time in fact.

Nami began to cry even harder as Porchemy went to town even harder on her best friend, "Why!? Why Luffy!? He's going to kill you! You're going to die! Just tell him, please, please, just tell him, I can't take this anymore!"

Nojiko was honestly shocked, she hadn't expected that, not even a little bit. Before she could think about the boy's actions though, her attention was once more on her little sister, as despite the hand over her mouth, she began to cry out. "Make it stop, make it stop, somebody please make it stop! Someone make him stop!"

The ferocious and merciless beating lasted for god knows how long, before finally Porchemy stopped for a moment for a breather. As he did, he saw the other boys out of the corner of his eye, all of them had tear stained faces as they had been crying the entire time. And as they noticed just a flicker of Porchemy's attention on them, they cried out.

Ace, "I'm gonna get you for this you sunuva bitch!"

Sabo, "Get away from him you bastard!"

Zoro, "When I get free, I'm going to kill you!"

Not wasting any more of his attention on them, his eyes went back to the limp form of Luffy, who was absolutely bathed in his own blood. "How about it kid? Last chance to tell me where those girls are."

His throat was raw and sore from all the screaming, so his voice was extremely hoarse and hard to hear, but the young dark haired boy responded with, "I'd...rather...die."

Sighing loudly, the long haired large man said in return, "Alright then, have it your way."

With that he removed the gloves as he walked away, taking them back to the weapon shelf and placing them back where they once were, which would cause some of the blood that covered them to drip onto some of the other objects. He then picked up a large cutlass, before turning back and walking to Luffy once more, where he prepared to strike him down with said blade, "Time to die kid!"

Just before he could go through with it, Nami and Nojiko tumbled out of the closet, courtesy of the younger girl finally getting the best of her older sister, hitting the floor and causing the case of berris to slide across the floor as they did. And as they hit the ground, Nami called out as loud as she could, "No, Luffy!"

Because of this everyone's attention was on them, but only for a second, as only a moment later the loud bang of a gunshot rang through the building, and Porchemy cried out in pain as he collapsed, drawing everyone's attention to him and the direction the gunshot came from, over to the right, from the front entrance.

Standing there, a rifle with a smoking barrel in her hands, was none other than Bellemere, wearing a pair of black jeans and a white short sleeve button up shirt, the look of a stone cold killer on her face.

Everyone was shocked into silence at the scene before them, everyone but Porchemy that is, who was now on his knees, despite one of them literally being blown out by a gunshot, causing him to bleed all over the floor. "Who the hell are you!?"

Instead of answering, the red haired woman instead quickly made her way towards the man, and as she did he picked his cutlass back up, as he had dropped it when he hit the ground, and began to get to his feet. "If you think you can just burst in here and butt into Bluejam pirate business, then you've got another thing coming you cun-"

Just before he could finish that sentence, Bellemere kicked him dead in his chest, knocking him back onto his back onto the floor, and not giving him time to say anything else or try and get back up, she stepped over him, leveled her rifle with his head and pulled the trigger once more, blowing his brains out and splattering them all over the floor.

She then proceeded to stand there over Porchemy's now lifeless body for a moment or so, not so much as batting an eye, the look of a killer still carved onto her face, until she heard her youngest daughter cry out once more, "Luffy!"

That snapped the former marine out of her killer state, causing that look on her face to vanish. She then quickly droped her rifle and picked up the cutlass the bastard had dropped, and cut Luffy down, catching him as she did so, before gently lying him down on the ground with Nami, while she went to untie the other three boys.

Nami was crying her eyes out over the half conscious black haired boy, as she asked him what she hadn't been able to answer herself, "Why...why Luffy? Why wouldn't you tell him where we were? He could have killed you...he could have killed you! Why would you endure all that? For that dumb money, for that stupid ship you want so much, their not worth your life you idiot! why Luffy, you have to tell me why!"

Through half lidded eyes, the dark haired boy locked eyes with the orange haired girl, as he reached across from himself and grabbed ahold of his straw hat, which had been knocked off at some point, and proceeded to lift it into the air. "I did it..."

He then, as gently as he could in his state, placed the hat on Nami's head, "...to keep you safe."

The six year old's eyes widened to the max as her heart sped up, "Luffy..."

A small smile made it's way across Luffy's face as he said, "I'd do anything...to protect you..."

And with that, the young rubber boy finally slipped into unconsciousness.

To Be Continued...