Author's Note: Welcome back! Now on with the show! Without further stalling,

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Scene 11

Truth of the Matter

"No way," Ace said in disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me."

"No, I'm serious," Luffy replied back.

Ace then became angry."I can't believe he…" He couldn't say another word before he punched the ground to let out his frustration.

The two men were currently sitting around a fire while cooking the meat from one of the Black Brothers. Not only them but the kids and animals sat around the fire as well. Akio ate the scorpion meat quite willingly while Mika looked at her food with disgust. He tried to persuade his friend to try the meat, but Mika remained stubbornly against eating it. She had then taken off to hang with her mother and not eat the gross food. There also with them as well was Bite-Bark and the yellow bird, both eating the scorpion meat. They both seem to like the meal as well. Finally, Nami was nearby as well. She was changing her clothes behind a rock while also leaving her stuff to hang and dry. The outfit she chose, having gotten them off the Thousand Sunny nearby, was a skin-tight, string, crop top with red-yellow-green vertical stripes. She also decided to wear incredibly short shorts. Finally, after tying her hair into twin pigtails, she finished by putting on her ringlets and stepped out to join the group. Bringing Mika along with her.

"You know," Ace said angry, "the next time I see Gramps, I'm going to kick his-"

"Ah-ah," Nami said quickly, stopping her brother-in-law. As she walked up to the group, she rubbed her daughter's head affectionately. She then stated clearly for Ace, "No cursing in front of the kids, Brother."

Ace chuckled, though feeling a bit nervous. "Heh, 'Brother', huh." He said amusedly. Then, he apologized, "My bad, 'Sis'."

Mika then looked up at her mother. "Mama?" she asked curiously. "Why did you call Mr. Ace 'brother'?"

"Because Mika," Nami said bending down to Mika's height. "Mr. Ace here is your father's brother which makes him my brother by our marriage and your uncle."

"Oh," Mika said understanding.

Akio suddenly choked on food after hearing Nami's explanation. "What?!" he said surprised. "A member of Whitebeard's crew is related to my captain and friend."

"Yeah," Nami said impressed. "Didn't know that you would know about Whitebeard though."

Ace laughed out loud. "Yeah," he said jollily. "Gave me quite a run because of it."

Putting her food aside, Mika stood up and walked over to Ace with a smile on her face. Once in front of the man, she surprised him by hugging him. "Nice to meet you, Uncle Ace," she said cheerfully.

Immediately, Ace felt awkward. He had said once that he was not all that great with kids. That was when Mika was just a baby, now he was dealing with an actual child; he's niece no less. And yet, he didn't know how to respond back.

Watching this, neither Luffy nor Nami could hide their amusement of this scene. Sending his awkwardness, Nami decided to help her hapless brother-in-law out. "Just hug her back," she told the man, "she doesn't bite."

"Um, right," Ace said. He then cautiously wrapped his arms around the girl, giving her the lightest of embraces.

Luffy and Nami laughed lightly at the display. Even Akio chuckled a little seeing the member of the feared Whitebeard crew look so flustered with a girl. Ace and Mika hugged for a little while longer before finally, Mika released her uncle from her arms. Though he had been awkward, Ace had found himself enjoying the interaction with his niece. He showed this by smiling at the girl, who in returned beamed up at him with a familiar grin he had often seen on Luffy.

Mika then returned to her seat. She sat down, noticed the pleading look in the bird's face, and feed the bird her piece of scorpion meat. It happily accepted the meal, and once it finished eating it affectionately nuzzled the girl's face. Mika instantly giggled as she accepted the bird's affections.

Then, Ace decided he needed to ask an important question. "So, where is the rest of your crew, Luffy?" he asked.

Grabbing a piece of scorpion meat, Luffy answered, "They're around." He then took a bite of the meat.

Nami then answered more clearly, "They're probably lost on this island too."

"How did that happen?" Ace asked further.

Beginning to chew angrily, Luffy spoke out, "It was that Shiki guy." He then swallowed his food and explained further, "And he kidnapped Nami."

Ace looked at his brother surprised. "You've met Shiki," he said concerned.

"You know about Shiki?" Nami asked.

"Yeah," Ace said nodded, "Pops mentioned him from time to time. Shiki's a pirate from back in the heyday of Pop's and Gramp's time, and an ambitious one at that."

"So, he's old?" Mika said curiously.

The comment made Ace chuckle. "You're not wrong," he admitted amusedly.

Akio looked at Mika incredulously. "That's what you got at of that," he said. The girl responded back by sticking her tongue out at him.

Ace continued, "But he's a tough one as well. He's even fought the Pirate King a few times."

That caught Luffy's attention. "Wow! Seriously?!" he shouted amazed. "He's fought your pops?!"

"Yeah," Ace said with a nod.

"Luffy," Nami said shrewdly. "Don't be…" While she was about to reprimand her husband for being so easily excited, she quickly made a realization. One that made her shout, "What?!"

Luffy asked out confused, "Nami?"

"Are you saying Ace's father is the legendary pirate Gold Roger?!"

"Yeah," Luffy admitted.

"How?!"

Ace let out a sigh. "It's a long story," he explained, "but all that's important is that I owe everything to my mother and that's that."

"Whoa…" Mika and Akio said amazed.

Nami looked at Luffy. "Why'd you never mention this before?" she asked.

Giving her a shrug, Luffy told her, "It wasn't that important." He then smiled and explained, "Ace is Ace, not the Gold Roger."

With that kind of logic, Nami couldn't fault her husband. Those kind of details weren't important to him, and she knew they shouldn't be important to her. After all, he was her brother-in-law now.

"Let's get back on topic," Ace said, full of concern. "How'd you guys get mixed up with Shiki?"

Agreeing with Ace, Nami told him with an angry frown. "We helped the jerk out of a storm, that's how," she told him disgruntled.

"And he offered to take us to the East Blue," Luffy added on.

While arching his brow with interest, Ace asked, "Why the East Blue?"

"You didn't hear?" Nami asked surprised. Once Ace responded by shaking his head, she then explained, "Something is attacking villages in the East Blue, so we were going to go back and protect our homes."

"I see," Ace said understanding. Still, he there was still something confusing about their story. He thus asked out, "Then why did Shiki offer to help only to abandon you guys and take Nami."

Thinking for a moment, Nami had a thought. "I don't know about the first part," she explained, "but I can bet he wanted me for my skill in predicting the weather."

Ace nodded. "That is a pretty useful skill, especially when traveling through the unpredictable weather in the Grand Line, and especially for a man known as the 'Flying Pirate'." He stated knowledgeable.

As Luffy finished off the rest of the scorpion meat, he had then made his decision. He stood up and proclaimed, "Well, now that we have Nami back, we can focus on getting everyone else back so we can head to the East Blue."

"Yeah!" cheered Mika and Akio.

"Luffy!" Nami shouted out angrily. "What about Shiki?"

"If we run into him," Luffy said grinning as he pounded his fist into his hand determinedly, "then I'll kick his butt."

Nami sighed but smiled. "Of course," she admittedly knowingly.

Mika cheered out again, "Yeah!" She then added, "My dad's the best!"

Chuckling, Ace spoke, "Geesh, my little brother is such a hassle." He then stood up and proclaimed his intention, "I better stick around to make sure you don't disappoint my favorite niece."

Again, Mika cheered out with glee, "Yeah! Uncle Ace is coming with us!"

"Cool," Luffy said happily.

As everyone prepared to leave, Mika turned to the animals. "What about the doggy and Biri?" she asked out curious. "Can they come too?"

Nami looked at her daughter confused. "Biri?" she questioned.

Mika nodded excitedly. "Yeah." she said before looking at the bird, "because he makes a 'biri' sound when he goes zap!"

STRONG Dex, update: "Identification: Biri. This odd bird is a bit finicky but can be awfully brave. When threatened this bird will produce a shocking amount of electricity to defeat its opponents."

Before Nami could answer, Luffy did so first. "Yeah, sure," he stated cheerfully. Then, as Nami gave him a disapproving look, he decided to reiterate. "I-I mean," he said nervously, "if they want to come…"

Immediately, both dogs barked out joyfully. Both heads in clear agreement to stick around these people. The then showed their affection by licking Akio's face, which the boy both enjoyed and was disgusted by it. The bird, now named Biri, looked equally ready to follow the group. After all, the big female had defended him, helped him escape, and feed him. He felt fully indebted to the group. Plus, he had been really warming up to the little girl.

Despite her obvious disapproval, Nami relented when seeing how the animals behaved around the children. "Fine," she stated before becoming stern. "But no promises on keeping them."

"Aw," whined Mika.

Akio frowned also. He had the same thought for Bite-Bark.

Ace soon smothered the fire. Once done, he turned to Luffy and asked, "So, which direction should we go?"

After finishing the rest of the meat in one gulp, Luffy chewed and swallowed quickly. He then responded with a cheerful smile, "No idea!"

Sighing, Ace admitted in realization, "Of course…"

"Hey, Mika," Luffy spoke curiously. "You were pretty good finding Mama and the Sunny, do you think you can find the others?"

Mika looked at her father confused. "Um," she said unsurely.

Luffy asked curiously, "Mika?"

"I don't know," Mika admitted confusedly. She tried to explain, "I just...knew!"

Nami looked down at her daughter confused. "That doesn't really make much sense," she told the girl.

"She was probably just lucky," Akio stated.

Feeling bad, Mika apologized. "I'm sorry," she said downtrodden.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Luffy said reassuring his daughter cheerfully. He gave the girl a hearty pat on her back and stood up. He then stated, "We'll find everyone eventually."

Ace chuckled. "Yeah," he said optimistic, "you guys seem to make a lot of noise anyway, I bet we'll find them soon enough."

"Yeah!" Luffy then declared, "Let's go!"

Immediately, the group began to move. While the boy and men grabbed their stuff, Nami walked up next to daughter along with their two animal companions. Once next to her, Nami felt Mika's hand on her shirt. Quickly, she looked down at her little girl concerned. She was quick to notice that her girl was still feeling down. So, like any mother, she comforted the girl.

"Hey," Nami said to Mika nicely, "don't worry about it, okay?"

The young girl then looked at her mother, frowning sadly and innocently. "I really missed you, Mama," she admitted.

"Aw, Mika," Nami said sorrowfully. She then hugged the girl and reassured her, "We'll find them, for sure."

Meanwhile, somewhere else on Merveille, the Mature Trio - Robin, Franky, and Brook - had left the autumn land or ruins and lake to now be in a desert. It was a great, big area with terrible dry heat that could take some time without proper preparations. Luckily, Franky had made "alternative" preparations. Thanks to the upgrades he made onto a large crayfish, he and his companions now traveled through the desert on a motorcycle. Together, they traveled through this desert environment at top speed looking for their crew or even some sort of civilization. It hadn't been long though for them to spot something luckily. Coming up ahead of them, there was a large town built on a plateau. Every human became relieved at the sight of the town.

"We finally found civilization," Brook commented in cheer. Then, he patted the crayfish and spoke to Franky, "You've really outdone yourself, Mr. Franky, with this crayfish."

Grinning proudly, Franky told the skeleton, "Don't just call it a 'crayfish', call it the Crawly Davidson!"

"Ah, yes," Brook said amusedly. He then sang out, "Crawly Davidson! Crawly Davidson! La la la Crawly Davidson!"

STRONG Dex: "Identification: Crawly Davidson. A crayfish modified by Franky, it goes from speedy water-dweller to high-speed ride. Reaching speeds of 50 mph, this crustacean can outrun most predators now."

While amused by her crewmates antics, Robin kept her eyes ahead. As such, she noticed an unusual line of trees between them and the town.

When the group got close enough, the crayfish picked up an awful scent. Immediately, it reacted negatively to the smell. It stopped on its own, using its newly acquired brakes, that surprised the driver and his passengers. The crayfish then hopped back placing more distance between it and the scent. After only a few hops, it stopped and calmed down. Regardless, its riders were not happy with its sudden action.

"My word," Brook commented in distress. "I nearly bit my tongue, but I have no tongue since I'm dead."

Ignoring the joke, Franky got off his creation. Angrily, he berated the crayfish, "Why'd you do that!" He then bopped the animal vehicle on its head as punishment.

Robin got off the crayfish next followed by Brook. Observantly, she noticed that the crayfish was reacting to something. "It's shaking," she explained curiously.

"Why would it be shaking?" asked Brook concerned.

Stubbornly, Franky sat back on the crayfish. He then ordered, "Come on, go forward!" He attempted to get the motorcycle beast moving. Unfortunately, it refused adamantly; thus, Franky gave up on it.

"Well," Franky told the others, "looks like it doesn't want to go forward, looks like we're walkin' from here on."

"Very well," Brook said pleasantly. He then followed behind the cyborg.

As she followed them, Robin observed as the crayfish motorcycle ran off. Curious, she looked at the only thing that had changed since they had entered the desert; the trees. Neither Franky or Brook seem to pay much attention to them as they passed the plants by, but Robin had some interest. She wondered if there was a connection between how their ride acted and the trees that seem strategically planted around the town. It was something she would have to figure out later as she moved on to follow her crewmates