They had been a rampaging mob only a moment prior. A pirate rabble fleeing from the danger posed by a marine's sudden appearance. A marine currently being held off bravely, inspiringly, dashingly! By their great Captain, Buggy the Clown. But the mob had come to a sudden halt at the scene before them where their ship had been moored.

A marine war-brig sat languidly in the bay. It's crew rather than surging onto the beach to deal with the pirates, waited patiently by the cannons (pointed at their ship the Big Top, they had noticed). The eyes of seamen and officers all trained on the beach.

And its single occupant. A lone marine.

"What's going on?!"

"They've got us cornered!"

"We have to set sail or we're sunk!"

"Just one man? It has to be a trap!"

"It doesn't matter! We need to get through him!"

That one last brave (or foolish) pirate bellowed as he charged forward, drawing a pistol and firing a wild shot that the marine swayed away from. As the pirate approached he tossed the rusted flintlock pistol at his enemy only to see it being slapped back in his direction by the marine's sword. Hoping it proved a sufficient distraction, the pirate ran with a low stance and swung up with the hammer he carried on his belt, hoping to catch the swordsman by surprise.

It didn't. It really didn't. As if he had been waiting for the move, the swordsman caught the caught the corner of the hammer with his blade and pulled it following the motion the motion, yanking the implement out of the pirate's hand and bopping the poor sap on the head with the hilt of the sword in his right hand, knocking the man out cold.

"That guy had guts," Zoro acknowledged. "Guess I'll let him keep them." Done with the bravest of the idiots, he looked on to the foot of the hill where the rest of the mob waited, more skittish than ever before. "So do you guys plan on taking turns? Don't hold back on my account! I can take it!"

Elsewhere, Cassidy gave a sideways look to Cress. "You think he meant it to sound so...?"

"If that's what he's into, I'm not one to judge," Cress answered with an easy smile.

"B-Big Bro Cabaji!" one of the pirates croaked, trying to get the man's attention without drawing the marine's.

"Are the Buggy Pirates truly so scared of a single marine?" Cabaji spoke as he moved out and in front of the crowd of cowed rogues. "A single marine swordsman? Well that's just perfect for me! I'll show you all how it's done!"

"Cabaji, he's not just a swordsman!" the ruffian interjected. "Three swords! There's only one swordsman in the East Blue that wields three swords at once!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Cabaji asked rhetorically. "So swordsman, is he right? Are you a cheap imitation or did the Pirate Hunter Zoro really sell himself to the World Government?"

"There's only one thing I want in this world. They provide a path to it. That's all," Zoro retorted, ready for any sudden moves. Pirates were pirates, after all.

"I'm sure it'll keep me up at night wondering what that is," Cabaji lamented as he drew his own sword. "It won't matter to you after today, though. Consider it my favour to you."

A tense silence fell on the scene. The swordsmen's eyes locked together for any movement, any indication of incoming action. A battle of wills. The first to break would give their intentions away to the other and be at an immediate disadvantage.

Such would usually be the case.

Were it not for the snapping of a branch and the yelp of a big green lion.

Zoro's gaze snapped aside to see one of the pirates with stupid hair riding a lion in the direction of the ship. The beast seemed to have tripped. His own role being a line in the sand the pirates would not cross, Zoro immediately moved to pursue. "Cabaji! You were supposed to be distracting him!" squealed the lion rider.

Given the chance, Zoro would have ended the pair then and there. Unfortunately for him, he had taken his eyes off his opponent. "Acrobatics! Theatre of One Hundred Kamikaze Tops!" And suddenly Zoro was surrounded by... Well there weren't a hundred but certainly enough to be a nuisance. Spinning tops twirled around him, clashing into each other but never straying far from his vicinity. Poorly positioned to dodge one Zoro tried to deflect it with a blade but as it hit home- BANG! A flash and cloud of smoke erupted around the shattered top.

Zoro cursed himself for letting his focus lapse like it had. Cabaji turned out to be the worst kind of opponent with whom to make that mistake. But the tops while distracting and annoying weren't dangerous. Not to him. So he steeled himself to ignore them and searched for his opponent even as another top burst on his midsection. Grunting in pain, he caught sight of Cabaji again right as the acrobat was swinging his sword for the marine's neck.

Also, where did he get that unicycle?

Zoro dismissed the thought as he brought his own sword up to block the acrobatic pirate's attack. "Not much of a swordsman, are you? Using cheap tricks like that?"

"You're not wrong. Acrobatics! Old Man's Flame!" Cabaji yelled as he breathed fire directly into Zoro's face over their crossed swords.

-(-)-

Mohji flipped himself over the rail of the Big Top and onto the deck. Putting his hands on his knees, he panted for breath, the stress of the situation starting to get to him. "Phew. We made it, Ritchie! Now we just ready the ship to set sail and we can all get out of here! Help me raise the anchor, Ritchie! … Ritchie?" Confused, the pirate scanned the deck for his missing pet lion.

"Aww, well ain't you just the cutest cutie-pie Ah ever did see! You want'n' a belly rub, big guy? Coochie-coo! Coochie-coochie-coochie-coo!"

"Mrowwwwwr..." the green lion groaned in pleasure at the pampering he was receiving before switching to a satisfied purr.

Mohji's jaw sank as he watched his best buddy falling to the wiles of some marine hussy with a rifle slung over her shoulder. "Ritchie, how could you!"

"I know," A pleasant male voice sounded from the aftcastle directly above the pirate. "Of the two of you, I thought he would be the bigger threat. But it looks like he's decided to come quietly." The blue-haired marine pulled back the hammer on a flintlock pistol, pointed directly at the lion-tamer. "How about you?"

Mohji, tears streaming down his face from betrayal, very slowly and carefully raised his hands in surrender.

-(-)-

"How?!" Cabaji screamed.

Zoro, looking only more fierce after taking a gout of flame literally on the chin, held his blade firm against the acrobat's. "I know your game now, acrobat," he snarled the final word like it was a slur. "Cheap tricks and distractions. I'm not letting you get away from me again to set up more of that garbage. You're staying right here."

And to follow through on that, Zoro twisted to rip the unicycle out from under Cabaji. To the pirate's credit, he didn't fall. He was an acrobat after all. But he was visibly beginning to panic as Zoro began an onslaught of swordplay with only the one sword. "Come on," the marine taunted. "You were talking crap earlier! Show me your worth as a swordsman!"

"You're a monster!" Cabaji screamed, frantically dodging and parrying sword swings for dear life.

"Oni Giri!" Zoro gritted out as he performed three simultaneous horizontal slashes on his opponent. One deflecting the blade, the other scoring lines across the acrobat's chest.

As he stood over the fallen pirate's form, he snorted. "Not a monster. Just a real swordsman." Looking up at the remaining pirates who just saw their first mate get taken down seemingly easily, he grinned like a shark. "Who's next."

It was at this point two more marines appeared at the rail of the Big Top, one prodding forward a tied up Mohji with his pistol.

As far as the pirate crew were concerned, that was it. Their escape route was taken and one of their best couldn't take a single one of these marines, let alone the crew still watching patiently or the Captain still up the hill. The lot of them raised their hands as one.

And in a bizarre twist, as one of them did that he dropped a pair of shoes that immediately started shifting from foot to foot.

… So to speak.

"Uhh... What?" Zoro asked, utterly baffled.

"RECRUIT!" Bruno shouted from the deck of the Saul, "SECURE THOSE FEET!"

"Aye aye," Zoro said, shrugging. Darting forward he ran one of the shoes through with his sword.

As if blanketing the entire island, a blood-curdling scream washed over everyone present.

Smiling a little viciously, Zoro started poking the other foot with his sword, the foot hopping around in fear and pain.

"DAMMIT ZORO JUST PICK UP THE DAMN FEET!" Bruno roared.

-(-)-

"An ambush?" the orange-haired girl asked, fist still cocked to punch a high-ranked marine in the face. Which she then realised. Didn't stop her doing it though.

"Of course! Who do you think I am?" Luffy asked, acting hurt at the implication.

"A rotten marine that let a pirate get away." the girl growled.

"Oh, right!" the marine realised, slapping a fist into his palm. "I never introduced myself! Captain Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the WGS Saul out of Marineford! Nice to meet you, orange girl!" Looking down at their shared position, namely the girl straddling his midsection, he added, "Could you get off of me?"

"I haven't decided whether you need punching yet!" she growled. "Wait... Marineford?"

"Yup."

"Like, the Marine HQ, Marineford?"

"That's the one!"

"The base at the end of the Grand Line, Marineford?"

"Halfway point, really. But yeah."

"Why are you in East Blue?" she asked, suddenly and strangely less hostile.

Luffy shrugged. "I'll tell you if you get off of me." His orders weren't confidential after all, especially when he no longer had any.

Pursing her lips but admitting to herself that her initial rage was fading fast in the face of new and useful information, she carefully removed herself from the marine. She was wearing a short skirt, after all. She wasn't interested in flashing him the goods.

"Ahh, that's better. That staff of yours kept poking me," the marine grumbled as he got to his feet.

Before she could think to stand up properly, that comment registered in her brain. If she had planned on playing the distressed damsel that had just gone out the window.

Well, realistically that probably happened when she decked him. But, you know. Details.

She was snapped out of it by the marine waving a hand over her face. "Hello? Orange girl?"

She slapped the hand away. "Cut it out! And my name is Nami." she grumbled as she stood. "Now. My question?"

"Shishi, right, right!" the marine laughed. "Well, our orders were to patrol the Grand Line entrance but out of the blue, we get told to basically get out of the way. Didn't really say why. Didn't give us new orders. Just... Go to the East Blue. So here we are. I kinda figured we'd make ourselves useful and hunt down some of the bigger fish, clean up the place a little."

"And how's that going for you?" Nami asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Boring." Luffy answered glibly. "Got some fat lady named Alvida basically without a fight, some marine guy that went kind of nuts and now Buggy. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad my crew will get a workout out of this one but I want to go up against someone I need to fight, you know? Maybe that's wishful thinking."

The girl huffed. "What, you want to fight Arlong or something?" she asked leadingly.

"Oh, that sounds fun! Haven't fought a fishman before."

"You really think you're strong enough?"

Luffy stared a little harder at the girl Nami. There was something strange in her voice there. "Ahh, this'll probably be rude but it would be pretty embarrassing for a marine from HQ to lose to someone in the Blues. Fishmen might be Grand Line strong but I'm expected to fight Grand Line strength. That's the minimum. Otherwise they'd have reassigned me to one of the Blues." He continued to stare and found himself compelled to ask. "Why?"

Nami was at war with herself. She had told people before. Told marines before. It had never made a difference. They had ended up gnashed apart by shark teeth all the same. But they had been local marines. East Blue marines. Marines from the weakest sea prepared to fight things from the weakest sea. They say marines from HQ are effectively three ranks higher than ones from the Blues. So sending this seemingly ordinary marine at Arlong would be like sending the East Blue Vice Admiral herself. Could he do it? Could his crew? Or would she just be sending another crew of well-meaning marines to their deaths?

She didn't know. She couldn't know.

So she would find out.

"Prove it," she demanded finally.

"Huh?" Luffy uttered.

"Prove to me you're strong enough to beat Arlong. Prove you can kill him. If you do I'll..."

She swallowed heavily.

"I'll tell you where he is."

-(-)-

A/N: So. Started this wanting to avoid rehashing canon. That was the plan. Still is. But stuff often stays largely the same. In such cases it's important to rearrange the pieces so it still feels fresh. So the crew are stronger here? Luffy could one-shot pretty much everyone on Buggy's crew? That'd be almost as boring as just replaying canon. So keep 'em out of it. Luffy does things that are important but the fights? They go to Zoro who needs the experience more to earn his stripes.

I'm pretty sure it was New Game Plus that did something very similar and was a great story for it. Curb stomps are fun but you definitely can't do them all the time.

If you would like to support me directly, there is now a way you can do so through popular donation platform that I'm not allowed to say the name of on this site. You know the one. Please consider helping out. As long as I'm receiving even a single dollar from someone who thinks my writing is worthwhile, I guarantee at least a chapter of something a week.

Thanks for reading.