Author's Note: The opening scene is dedicated to and credited to Mora D Tenshii, whose idea sparked my inspiration for the opening Namizo scene! Also special thanks to nomsujet for being an INCREDIBLE help with story ideas and character design/backstory, on top of agreeing to be my beta for this story!

Chapter beta read by nomsujet.

"M-ma'am, I really can't thank you enough… I thought I was going to die," began a timid young orange-haired man, probably in his middle-teens. He was incredibly handsome, even beautiful, in a cat-like almost genderless way. His huge eyes, surrounded by long, thick eyelashes, stared up imploringly at the large, imposing female pirate captain as she helped him out of his dreadfully rickety little dinghy and onto her luxurious mid-size pirate ship.

The young man swallowed and hugged his once-designer now-threadbare jacket closer around himself, unknowingly revealing how very slim he was. How high his waist, how long his legs, yet with shoulders and chest just broad enough to demand female attention… The kid could easily be a model. The imposing female pirate actually licked her lips, her eyes greedily swiping up and down the teenager.

"I… I really don't know how to repay you," continued the man, taking the woman's hands and dropping to his knees before her, half out of supplication, half out of exhaustion. "I haven't… I haven't eaten or had any drink in nearly two weeks… I'll do anything…"

The captain's eyes actually softened, even as she set a possessive hand on the beautiful boy's shoulders. "Now, now, child. Let's get some food and drink into you first. What's your name, deary?"

"M-me?" The young man's eyes turned towards the ground humbly. No one could see, but a flicker of a smile whipped over his lips and a brilliantly intelligent spark danced in his eyes. He continued his act flawlessly. "N-Namizo. My name's Namizo."

By the end of the day, unsure what had happened, the pirate captain and her crew found themselves deserted on an island, their ship and the mysterious young man long gone, the wailing of a sudden tropical storm roaring against the flimsy walls of their hastily constructed shelter.

Off in the distance, in perfectly clear waters, the young man, now looking supremely confident and mocking with not the slightest trace of modesty, grinned as he watched the huge dark mass of clouds thundering and pouring rain and lightning over the small island. Serve them right. Pirates were evil. They all deserved to die, the quicker the better. To think that disgusting woman had openly bragged about how many people she'd killed, villages she'd razed, had so foolishly showed off her treasure horde to this admiring, honest, attractive, quiet young man…

A storm's coming, ma'am! Please, you must get to land!

He chuckled and, eyes sparkling in mischief, turned toward the helm, happily leaving the pirates to whatever fate had to throw at them. Honestly, what idiots actually thought land was safer than the open sea in a squall?

"Ship should get about 60,000 berries, treasures about 1 million, miscellaneous clothing and possessions another 5,000…" he half-sang to himself, smirking and calculating his haul in his head. "And then on to my next victim…" He grinned, his eyes narrowing.

Buggy the Clown. Owner of treasures totaling at least 3 million berries. And a map. A map to the Grand Line, home of the richest pirates in all the seas.

"I'll have the deed to our village within a year," whispered the pirate thief to himself. "Just wait, Nojiko! Just a little more!" His hands tightened on the helm of the ship. "88,565,492 berries plus at least 1,065,000 leaves me only 10,369,508 berries to go. I can do this. I've come so far. I can do this."

I can't do this! I can't do this! screamed Namizo in his head. He would've been screaming aloud, but his lungs were so tight he was pretty sure they were in danger of imploding. His rapid gasps and sobs for air did nothing to help them. Behind him came the pounding of feet and roaring of enraged pirates. Huge, strong pirates, used to killing people like flies, gutting them like fish. How had he been spotted? He couldn't believe it. Of all the massive slip-ups to make. To think he'd been spotted because he couldn't tear himself away from ogling Buggy's absolutely beautiful horde of treasure.

"We're gonna kill you, brat!" roared a pirate behind him.

"Give up!"

"Drop the map!"

"You'll never escape!"

There HAD to be some way! Namizo had never been caught, and he wanted to keep it that way. Of course, he'd been chased before… But never by half a dozen huge pirates wielding swords and knives right on his tail. They were catching up with every gasp for air that just refused to ease the thief's burning lungs. All his options - diving into a house, climbing onto a roof, scaling a wall, slipping into a basement or pipeline... none would work. He'd be caught within seconds. Smashed to the ground. Pounded, sliced, torn apart, obliterated. Killed.

And then he found himself cornered. Three walls hemmed him in, all too tall and flat to scale, none with windows or doors.

For the second time in his pathetic life, Namizo dropped to his knees and begged chance, fate, god, whatever and whoever for a miracle.

For the first time in his life, his wish was answered.

It came in the form of a teenage girl plummeting out of the sky. She ploughed into the six men, knocking them all off their feet and rendering half of them unconscious and probably with brain damage.

"Stupid bird!" shouted the girl, springing upright with no sign that she'd plummeted out of the sky from who knows how many tens or even hundreds of feet. "You were supposed to be dinner!" she screamed at something far off in the sky.

The girl was kind of cute, if you liked the weird ones. Choppy dark hair, huge, unusual eyes, and a cute figure wrapped in rolled up jeans and a tight red vest. Flimsy sandals adorned her feet, and as Namizo watched, not quite believing his eyes, she reached down to pick a straw hat off the ground. The girl affectionately gazed at the hat before dusting it off and plopping it on her head.

"Whoa!" she yelped, turning and seeing the downed pirates. "What happened to you guys?"

The still-conscious pirates' response wasn't very nice, and Luffy told them so. Naturally, this resulted in them scrambling for their weapons and charging for the teenage girl.

Namizo flinched, but allowed his eyes to dart around for an escape. He hated to abandon a girl, but it was her own fault for falling out of the sky, and he was NOT going to do anything that would turn the pirates attention back to him…

Of course, he needn't have bothered debating the morality of his decision. The girl threw one punch. One punch that blasted through the pirate in front, slamming him into the guy behind him, and the guy behind him, and then all three crashed into the wall. All collapsed, unconscious on impact. They would not be getting up anytime soon.

Namizo quickly recovered, closed his mouth, and turned to look at the girl again – this time with sparkling, admiring eyes.

"I could use a girl like you," he said, his voice full of wonder and trembling with excitement. "How about we join up?"

The girl frowned and flexed the fist she'd slammed into the pirates, then stretched. "Nah," she said, sounding bored. She turned and started walking away.

Namizo quickly hurried after her.

"Come on! We could make a ton of berries!"

"Are berries so important?"

"I need 100 million berries, and I'm willing to do whatever I need to get there as fast as possible."

"Why?"

"Gonna buy a village."

"Why?"

"That's personal. But it's important to me."

"Is the village your treasure?"

"Not really. Treasure is treasure."

"Is buying the village your dream?"

"Goal, yes. Dream? No."

The weird girl sighed. "How boring. I don't want to have a boring person for a nakama."

"Ah, come on! Boring? I'm a thief! A darn good one! What do you want? I'm sure I can help out!"

"Are you a musician?"

"Huh? No. But I can navigate…?"

The girl's eyes suddenly transformed into sparkling pools as she spun around and grabbed Namizo's hand. "Alright! We need a navigator! What's your name?"

"Namizo, the pirate thief." He announced happily, proud that he once again got his way. With a tough girl like this to do any and all fighting, he could focus on stealing!

"I'm Luffy, soon to be the Pirate King."

Namizo's smile of relief and anticipation vanished. His eyes narrowed and he yanked his hand from the weird girl's. "I hate pirates. Forget I said anything." Forget how stupid it was that a girl wanted to be a pirate king, he wanted nothing to do with anyone who claimed to be a pirate!

Luffy didn't seem to hear Namizo. He stormed off, but she continued right on next to him, easily matching pace. "Say, why is this place so empty?"

The handsome young thief glared at her, but decided as long as she didn't do anything pirate-like around him, and didn't force him to join her blasted pirate crew, then he'd tolerate her presence a bit longer.

"Captain Buggy the Clown. One of the nastiest pirates in the East Blue, and one who's eaten a Devil's Fruit. Him and his cronies are holed up in the tavern near the port. All the townspeople fled."

As if to verify his words, there suddenly came a loud whoosh sound and a burst of flame shot in the air. A store only a few buildings away from where they stood had lit up as quickly and efficiently as a bonfire. A heartbreaking howl broke through the air, coming from a small white dog sitting in front of the building.

The dog was actually crying, sobbing out its pain as it howled its misery for the world to hear.

Namizo's fists tightened, immediately recognizing the handiwork of pirates. When would they all drop dead so the world could have some peace?

Luffy trotted up to the dog and plopped cross-legged onto the ground beside the dog. She watched the dog for a long moment. The dog was covered in wounds, some open and still raw and bleeding. The fight had been not even a few minutes ago, probably about the time she was falling out of the sky. She turned her head to the store, seeing the flaming words "Pet Food and Supplies" on a sign that would crash to the ground any second.

"Your treasure, huh."

The dog's howl was interrupted with a pained whine and yelp before it continued.

Luffy reached over and patted the dog's head. "I bet you put up a great fight. I would've liked to see it," she said seriously, standing up. She started down the road.

"Where are you going?" asked Namizo in surprise, not understanding what had gotten into the weird girl.

"Gotta beat the crap out of this Buggy guy," answered Luffy casually, but her eyes were cold and angry. "Teach him not to mess with people's treasures."

"It's just a dog!" exclaimed the thief.

Luffy didn't answer. Her eyes didn't glance from her chosen path. Her gaze didn't waver. A man riding a lion came around a corner, carrying a bag of dog food. The girl who said she'd be Pirate King didn't even glance at him as she grabbed the lion by the neck and pile-drove it into the road. Both the lion and it's rider were knocked unconscious.

And the girl continued onwards, straight toward the tavern at the end of town.

Unsure why, Namizo followed. "It's just a dog…" he mumbled to himself. He glanced at the unconscious lion, then back across town where the flames of the dog's store were still licking the sky.

As they approached the tavern they heard the sounds of clashing swords. As they rounded the last corner, they were faced with a view of an acrobat, with a sword, on a unicycle, fighting a swordsman. The swordsman was rather on the slim side with a green haramaki and a black bandanna…

That wasn't a man! Namizo's eyes almost bulged in shock and he stepped backwards to hide in the shadows, recognizing the infamous bounty hunter and manslayer, Roronoa Zora. The green-haired and freakishly powerful woman who wielded three swords and made a habit of chopping any swordsman to cross her path to pieces.

Was she after him? Namizo shivered and pressed closer to the wall. No, no… There shouldn't be a bounty out on him. He'd been careful, so very careful… And Roronoa was fighting Cabaji the Acrobat, the second mate of Captain Buggy's crew. Logically, that meant Roronoa was after Buggy's head. But didn't she only go after swordsmen? Well, Buggy used knives, so maybe that was close enough?

"Zora!" cried out Luffy excitedly, waving a hand in the air for attention. The swordswoman didn't notice, being too intent on her battle.

"You know her?" squeaked Namizo, before catching himself and clearing his throat, trying to regain his masculine image.

"That's my first-mate! She's going to be the world's best swordsman!"

Namizo stopped listening after "first-mate." How the heck did this scrawny nobody of a pirate queen wannabe get Roronoa Zora to join a pirate crew?

She must be lying.

With that conclusion, Namizo chuckled and glanced at the little liar out of the corner of his flirtatious eyes. "I suppose you have a huge ship and well over a thousand of the finest pirates the seas have ever seen? Oh, and your bounty must clearly be in the hundred millions, right?"

Luffy looked at Namizo, completely missing his sarcasm. She frowned, explaining herself very carefully to her new navigator. "No. Our boat's kinda small, and it's just me, Zora, and you. And I don't have a bounty yet – we'll have to wait a while for that."

"You still insist Zora is your first-mate?" Namizo fought the urge to roll his eyes. Then he realized. "Hey – did you just include me as part of your crew?"

"Yep!" said Luffy, who started cheering as Zora finally cut the acrobat down. The acrobat collapsed to the ground and Zora took off her bandanna and wiped her forehead with it.

Before Namizo could further protest, Luffy shouted towards the terrifying swordswoman.

"Zora!" she called out, running forwards. She'd grabbed Namizo's arm and half-dragged him along. "This is our new navigator!"

"Where the heck you been?" screamed Zora, furious. "First you get yourself kidnapped by a BIRD, then it drops you somewhere over this town, then I have to get directions from a bunch of idiots who start attacking me, and NOW you've got us a navigator?"

"Yep!"

Namizo was frozen in shock. It was true? Roronoa knew this girl? Was this weird girl's crewmate? Was a… had become a pirate?

Zora took a deep breath, looked heavenward for a second, then shrugged. She tied her bandanna around her arm. "Well, we do need a navi…"

She was interrupted by a sickening splurch sound.

Zora froze for a moment, face a picture of pained shock, then her legs gave out and she slumped forwards, revealing a knife, still attached to a disembodied hand, buried deep in her left side. Luffy had caught her and stared in stunned silence at the hand.

Namizo had to cover his mouth to keep himself from throwing up, especially when that gloved hand ripped itself out of Roronoa's body and blood began to pour out. The hand zipped towards the tavern's roof, on which stood the figures of Captain Buggy and the remainder of his crew.

Of course. Captain Buggy's infamous Chop Chop Devil's Fruit powers.

"This is what happens when you become a pirate!" screamed Namizo uncontrollably, tears suddenly pouring down his face. He was trembling and pale white in horror.

"Shut up, idiot. I'm fine," grunted Zora, pulling herself upright.

"FINE? You're losing pints of blood by the second!" screamed Namizo. "You'll be dead in…"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Zora. "Giving me a headache. And it didn't hit any vitals." She wrapped up her bandanna and shoved in between her haramaki and her wound, then pressed down on it professionally. She was sweating and gritting her teeth, but amazingly her eyes were clear, even as she leaned against a low wall for support.

"Do you need to rest?" asked Luffy, frowning.

"Hnnh, kinda sleepy," grumbled the swordswoman.

"You already won your fight," said Luffy, glancing at Cabaji, then further towards the port. There was a veritable trail of unconscious pirates bodies between the tavern and the small boat Zora and her had been given in that marine town. The bodies were undoubtedly the work of a certain infamous ex-bounty hunter. She must have taken out over three quarters of Buggy's crew.

"I got this one. Go ahead and sleep."

"Okay, captain. That was a cheap shot, so beat the crap outta him. Okay?"

"Was planning on it! Get some sleep, Zora."

"Aye aye, cap'n." Amazingly, the green-haired girl leaned back and, instead of falling into an unconscious coma, as Namizo had been expecting, she began snoring. Loudly and obnoxiously, drool leaking from her mouth and everything.

Certainly didn't look like she was gonna die any time soon.

"What kinda monster…" began Namizo.

Then Luffy's arms stretched out hundreds of feet, latching on to the roof-top edge of the tavern. As Namizo watched, completely shocked, the arms quickly retracted with a sort of 'boing' sound and suddenly Luffy was flying through the air towards the rooftop and the rest of the pirates.

Namizo's legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.

"Monsters…" he mumbled, then frowned and shook his head. "No, no, think straight. Devil Fruit user. That's how the girl survived the fall earlier." He took several deep breaths, glanced at the map still clenched in his hand, and quickly shoved it into an inside pocket of his coat.

All sorts of banging and crashing came from the sounds of Luffy fighting Buggy on the roof, along with all sorts of shouts and even canon-fire. Several buildings alongside the tavern collapsed – from what, Namizo wasn't sure. After a few minutes of discovering what destruction sounded like, Namizo had recovered enough to climb to his feet.

"Where you going, navigator?" asked Zora, sounding sleepy and puzzled. She'd woken up to the rustling of the navigator's movements, though she'd slept fine through the incredible sounds of Luffy's fight. "The captain's got this one."

"I'm not your navigator!" hissed Namizo angrily, dusting off his pants. He finished cleaning himself off and started towards the tavern. "I'm a pirate thief! And I hate pirates!"

"Where you going?"

"Getting the treasure while the idiot pirates are busy."

"Huh. Good idea," grunted the swordswoman. "I'll be sleeping here until it's time to go." And within seconds of that statement she was again snoring.

Namizo shook his head in wonderment, almost laughing at the weird swordswoman. He caught himself and killed the smile. "No, no. They're pirates," he whispered to himself.

The pirate thief made his way to an alley, then snuck into the tavern through a window into the basement. The basement full of beautiful, beautiful treasure that he'd been nearly captured for dawdling too long in front of.

The thief slunk catlike towards the door to press his ear to it, making sure he was alone. It was dead silent. Undoubtedly all Buggy's pirates were watching the epic showdown between the monster gummy woman and their split apart captain. He let out a sigh of relief and ran over to the treasure, pulling a couple of large bags from another inside pocket. He quickly loaded up all the treasure, all ten million beautiful berries worth. He'd known Buggy was known for high quality treasure, and a lot of it, but he never dreamed of the likes of this!

His hands trembled as he rushed, desperate to finish up and escape. Ten million berries. He'd gotten a sweet deal on the last haul, so counting these he only needed about 350,000 berries more before he could buy his village from Arlong. Over 99 and a half million berries, he almost passed out at the very thought of it… So very, very close! He could buy his village and say goodbye and good riddance to cursed pirates once and for all! Cursed pirates who only knew how to murder and plunder and injure and blackmail and cheat and lie and…

And get revenge for a little dog's treasure?

He shook that stupid thought from his head. Luffy was just an idiot. She wasn't even a real pirate. Yes, that was it. She wasn't a pirate. She didn't have a bounty on her, and one bounty hunter certainly didn't count as a crew.

That was why it was okay to like Luffy. It was okay to smile at Zora.

His hands clenched around the two bags of treasure and he chewed his lips in indecision.

What was there to decide? He had a small sailboat in the harbor. All he had to do was get the treasure there, hop in, and sail off. He had the map to the Grand Line, which he didn't really need anymore, so he could sell it… maybe for the last 350,000 berries…

If Luffy wants to be Pirate King, she needs to get to the Grand Line. Luffy needs this map…

Namizo growled and smacked his own head. What was that? Who cares if some dipstick pirate wannabe wants to be Pirate King?

I care.

No I don't! I don't I don't I don't! I hate pirates!

I've never met a pirate like Luffy. Or Zora.

They are NOT pirates!

They look like fun.

No they don't!

I bet I could make a lot of money if I hung around them….

… Okay, maybe.

Namizo frowned, then nodded. He hefted the bags over his shoulders and started up the stairs out of the basement. Why not? They obviously didn't murder townspeople or raze villages. He could ditch them later, and they needed a navigator, and they were both undeniably strong and could handle all the fighting so Namizo could focus on the berries…

He made it out of the basement and realized the sounds of the fight were no longer coming from the roof of the tavern, but from outside. Somehow the fight had moved to solid ground…

And it looked like Luffy was losing.

The weird looking girl got a few punches and kicks in, but any serious attack would be avoided by Captain Buggy splitting apart his body where Luffy had been aiming.

No.

Namizo stared, not sure why he couldn't tear his eyes from the weird girl in the straw hat. The girl sweating and stretching and kicking and punching, all with a terrifyingly serious look on her face.

For the dog, who lost his treasure. For Zora, who was stabbed from behind.

I don't want her to lose.

Not giving himself time to think about that very strange realization, he quickly hid the bags of treasure. He pulled out what looked like three sticks from where they'd been strapped to his thigh, but when he snapped the sticks together they formed a pole staff. It wasn't much, but he was experienced enough to hold off two or three average pirates with it. And, using it, he didn't have to sink to the level of those murderers.

He snuck forward, taking out the last few standing of Buggy's pirate crew with cheap blows from behind. None of them saw it coming.

Buggy did some Chop Chop Festival or something, where he split apart into dozens of small parts, all flying in different directions. Luffy rather intelligently went for Buggy's still grounded feet, and Namizo got an idea.

While Buggy was distracted with Luffy, Namizo snatched up all the nearby body parts he could reach, quickly tying them together in a large bundle, bound with a knot filled with years' worth of experience keeping treasures secure.

When Buggy tried to reassemble, he ended up looking like some sort of midget, since Namizo had captured most of his arms, legs, and about half of his torso.

Luffy started laughing her head off, and casually knocked Buggy out with something that sounded like a "Gum Gum Bazooka", which blew Buggy far off into the horizon.

"That's my navigator!" cheered Luffy. "I knew you were a good choice!"

Namizo laughed without meaning to. A full, honest laugh like he hadn't had in nearly ten years.

"Ready to go?" asked Luffy happily.

The thief retrieved the two bags of treasure and tossed one to Luffy.

"You carry one. They're heavy," he said casually, unable and unwilling to lose the huge smile covering his face.

Luffy cheered and woke Zora up just as dozens of townspeople, led by an old man who looked like he had a poodle on his head, charged towards them waving pitchforks and various other farm-implement type weapons.

Luffy, being the idiot she was, cheerfully waved and introduced herself as the future Pirate King. They were subsequently, and literally, run out of town.

They set sail with no more questions of whether or not Namizo would join them. Namizo didn't even look for his boat, cheerfully jumping up into the larger boat with Luffy and Zora and helping them ready for sail.

It wasn't until they were nearly out of sight of the screaming villagers when Namizo realized something very important was missing.

"LUFFY! Where's my treasure?"

"Oh, I left it behind."

"WHAT? THAT WAS MINE!" screamed the orange-haired thief, gripping his new captain in a stranglehold.

"It will take a lot of money to rebuild the town!" cried out Luffy in explanation as she was shaken back and forth by her new navigator.

"FIVE MILLION BERRIES! I'll tell you now, you are going to make up for EVERY SINGLE BERRY! And I'm charging interest!"

Author's Notes: Again, special thanks to my new beta nomsujet! Next chapter will be a bit of a break from the usual, with my first completely original chapter! In which Luffy... well, I'll just keep this a secret! The chapter after next will be Usopp's intro. I'll go ahead and drop a spoiler here: I am LISTENING to my wonderful readers and have thus decided to gender-bend a few choice characters besides the main Strawhat crew! Thus, in Usopp's chapter, we will also be meeting the beautiful, sickly, filthy rich young master, Kai. Feel free to send ideas on just how much to change, if anything, in Usopp/Kaya's relationship! (And everyone else with everyone else, for that matter!) Thanks to everyone for reading and please review!