Author's Note: Thank you all for sticking with this story! And I apologize for the update taking so long! I've been having issues here out side of the writing world, but they have been resolved and therefore I was able to bring you another wonderful chapter for all you lovely little readers! Also, I hate writing this chapter due to the fact that it was a long Arc in Impel Down and so much happens in here that effects Emma that I more or less cannot skip anything major. But, I hope you enjoy like always! Expect this chapter to be much longer than others in the past!

"I see how it is, you rescue him and not me?" I stopped, my eyes widened as my mouth gaped slightly. The darkness held an all new meaning to "eery" for me as the voice continued.

"Running around with a handful of pirates, I knew that one day you would grow tired of the life you had." I turned slowly, my body stiffening as my eyes widened while I looked down at the cell at the very end of the hall, which caused everyone else to stand there confused and looking around in the darkness until the voice continued allow them to know where it came.

"So, my proposition still stand for you." Everyone else turned around with me and saw who it was that was speaking to me. Luffy, for the first time in his whole life of ever knowing me had for the first time seen the scared expression that held on my face as my eyes never left that cell. Locked inside of the cell, was a large man who's jet black hair was slicked back and had a long scar running across his face. However, the item that topped it off, the item that truly allowed you to know just who the hell he was was the large golden hook that was on his left hand. I narrowed my eyes as I felt my stomach bubbling up with a sickness that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.

"Sir. Crocodile." I whispered, standing still in my spot as his eyes fell upon mine and that genuine smirk fell upon his lips.

"Hello, Little Miss. Red."

Crocodile chuckled, standing up from his position on the bench and walked forward toward the bars of the cell.

"Long time no see, Straw Hat." Luffy's eyes widened and his mouth gaped, holding the same shocked expression as myself, only knowing that mine was much worse as Jinbei had moved in front of me to block Crocodile's view of myself in order to protect me.

"You know, if you were to release me, I could use my powers to make an exit through the ceiling. What do you say, Straw Hat?" Crocodile asked, standing at the edge of the cell and going as far as the bars would allow him. Luffy gritted his teeth and tightened his hands together tightly. I stepped out from behind Jinbei, placing my hand on his arms, showing him that I was alright.

"Hell no! You nearly destroyed Vivi's kingdom and-"

"I no longer have any interest in that country." Crocodile said, his eyes on me as the words slipped through his lips. Luffy followed his gaze with his own eyes and had seen just what Crocodile was looking at with such an intense stare. Luffy's eyes turned back to Crocodile as they narrowed.

"What do you want with Emily?" Luffy asked, his face serious as the question hit the air. Crocodile closed his eyes and chuckled deeply, his laughter sending chills down my spine.

"It's a long story. Also, one that you will never know about either." Luffy growled, stomping his foot forward as he got closer to the cell.

"What are you talking about! There's no way you're getting out of here if you're going to hurt Em-"

"He won't hurt me, Luffy." I piped up, taking a few steps toward the cell, stopping just before the bars and gazing up at the much taller and older male. I frowned deeply, looking from his hook up to his face. Crocodile gazed back down at me, his eyes narrowed slightly as he threw his hook out between the bars and caught me by the back of my neck and pulled me into the bars. Luffy shouted, cursing at Crocodile as he lowered his head having his lips close to my own.

"Do not underestimate me, Red." He snarled, his eyes locked in a heated gaze with my own as his hot breath brushed my face softly.

"If you wished to kill me, you would have doe it when you had that chance that day, but you didn't." My tone was harsh and serious, nearly deadly, but my body betrayed me and was tense and shaking in places.

"Did you?" I continued causing Crocodile to smirk before he chuckled darkly and pulled away from me while letting me go.

"I kept you alive for reasons that would benefit me later on. Such as right now. Now, release me so that I may have my revenge on Whitebeard." My eyes widened. So, Crocodile had a grudge against Whitebeard? That was why he wanted out so badly right now, he wanted to cross blades with Whitebeard on the battle field at Marine Ford. I frowned deeply as I took a step back away from the bars and glared up at the smirking man.

"No." I said simply.

"What?" Crocodile snapped as he frowned deeply. I closed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest before re-opening them and gazing up at him.

"There is no way that we can control you once you are released. In order to save Ace, we need everyone to work together in getting us out of here and to Marine Ford. I know you too well Crocodile, you will turn against us the moment it suits you best and go about your own way of getting out of here."

"I know of a way we can control him," Ivankov spoke up, stepping out from behind me. I glanced over to him, seeing him with a look that he gave Crocodile, I knew something was up. "Long time no see, Croco boy."

"Ivankov," Crocodile growled, gritting his teeth toward the male behind me.

"And how are you suppose to be able to control Crocodile?" I asked, wondering if it was even possible to control the man behind bars. Ivankov smiled widely and laughed, placing his hands on his hips and looked my way.

"I know his weakness! Not only that, but I know of his past and have known about him ever since he was just a Rookie. If he gets out of hand," Ivankov looked down at Crocodile. "I will reveal his past!"

Crocodile growled and cursed under his breath before he looked over toward me.

"Luffy, what do you want to do?" I asked, never taking my eyes off of Crocodile.

"This is your rescue mission and you're the one that will have to deal with him in the end." Luffy took a moment, still gritting his teeth toward Crocodile and growling as he obviously didn't like the idea just as much as I, but what else was there to do? He needed all the help he could get and he knew this to be true.

"Let him out."

I closed my eyes and slowly drew my sword.

"We have to hurry!" I shouted, running up the stairwell next to Luffy, Jinbei, and Crocodile. Luffy glanced my way, out of breath as he ran up the long and lengthy stairwell.

"How much time do we have left?"

"It's only ten right now, Ace isn't to be executed until three! We still have time, but let's not waste any of it if it can be helped!" Luffy nodded and quickened his paste as he started moving away from us a bit. The determination shone deeply in his eyes and I found myself wondering if I was only doing this as I now knew everything that had been kept from me for all this time.

"Garp, Old Man, why did you tell me about the past? Why now? What were you expecting to get from me by giving me this information?" I pondered to myself, wondering if I was doing the right thing.

"There's the door!" Jinbei shouted, pulling me from my thoughts and caused me to look up at the door.

"Alright, now we just have to find a way to open it!" I told them, causing Crocodile to rush ahead of us and leaving us on the stairwell while he placed himself in front of the door. Placing his hand on the wood he narrowed his eyes and pushed his hand against the wood.

"Doors are no match for me." We all watched as he used his Devil Fruit powers to suck out all of the water from the wood and having it dissolve right before our eyes. From the sudden disappearance of the wood, the main component of the door, it exploded and caused dust to fly everywhere obscuring our vision of level 5. When the smoke cleared, the four of us were face to face with the guards of Impel Down. They were shouting at us to stop and come quietly, but of course they thew that it wasn't going to happen. They raised their guns, pointing them at Crocodile, and ready to fire.

"It's too hot for this," I commented, the instant heat making me sweat and causing my hair to stick to the sides of my face. Everyone else seemed to be effected by the heat, everyone but Crocodile.

"Commodore Sengoku, what are you doing with these prisoners!?" One guard shouted, expecting an answer for all of this confusion that had arose the moment I saw seen by them. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply, placing my hands on the hilt of my blades I knew that battle could not be avoided, still, I wished it could.

"Commodore!" They warned, but I ignored their warnings and continued to draw my blade from the hilt, but it was then that sand arose around me and caused me to lose sight of them.

"Crocodile, what is this?" I asked, turning to the man who was next to me. He took a drag out of his cigar before exhaling the smoke into the hot blistering air. He looked down at me, that look in his eyes told me that he was planning something, but what it was I had no clue. My only hope was to get out of here as quickly as I could and head straight to Marine Ford before the execution.

"If we plan on getting out of here, we need to work together. Isn't that what you said, Red?" Crocodile asked, using my own words. I blinked, wondering if what he meant was really what I was thinking and if it was then Crocodile was more determined to get out of here than what I had originally thought. Guns went off and bullets went flying into Crocodile through his sand and all through his body. I watched, knowing that unless it was sea stone bullets he would not be harmed. When the shooting stopped, it seemed that the men knew that they would have to switch over to the other bullets in order to hurt him, but Crocodile never gave them the chance. Launching forward, Crocodile created a crescent blade shape out of his right arm and sliced through some of the guards, sucking the moisture out of their bodies and leaving nothing behind. It was a ghastly sight to see, but I didn't allow it to bother me as I pulled out my own blades and raced onward with Luffy and Jinbei right beside me.

The guards shot sea stone nets toward Luffy, in which he dodged by jumping up out of the way as he then used his powers to attack the guards. Jinbei also used his karate, though due to his imprisonment he was slowed, to defeat other guards. It was my turn to do some damage now, and some damage would most definitely be dealt. As we raced through level 5 Luffy and myself ran side by side, I had never actually seen Luffy in action at his age and I had to say that I was rather impressed, he had came far from the small boy who couldn't hardly land a hit on me to someone who was strong and even more hell bent and determined than ever.

"H-Hey! Over here!" Someone called out, I stopped and looked into one of the cells and seen Buggy the Clown. I shuttered, I hated clowns, but what in the world was he doing on level 5 when someone of Buggy's bounty was suppose to be on level 1 or possibly level 2?

"Luffy! What is Buggy doing on this level?" I shouted, grabbing the boys attention as he then ran over to my side and looked into the cell.

"Straw hat! Y-You're alive!?" Buggy screamed, as Mr. 2 was also rather startled to see that Luffy was alive and well.

"Yeah! Hey Emily, do you think you can break these bars and get them out of here?" Luffy asked as I took a step back and sliced the bars in half, along with all their cuffs before replacing my sword.

"Hey! Wait just a minute here! What is a Marine doing helping out Pirates!?" Buggy screamed at Luffy, who ignored him and started to run onward, leaving us all behind. I took a deep breath, knowing that I would have to explain things later, but as for right now, we needed to go and get out of here as quickly as we could so we could make our way to Marine Ford and rescue Ace.

"Come along everyone, we must hurry!" I told everyone as I ran ahead to catch up with Luffy.

"Blackbeard..." I gulped, what was that man doing down here? Surely Mullgen knew of his arrival and was on his way here, which was going to cause even greater trouble for myself. The large man laughed as he threw the dept. Warden, who we all had a hell of a time trying to beat, across the room and into an adjacent wall and no longer moving. Blackbeard laughed loudly before looking around at us all and smiling like normally.

"Zeheheheh! Commodore Sengoku! What a surprise to see you all the way down here in such a ,slanderous, place such as this one, zeheheheh!" I narrowed my eyes and smirked wickedly, no longer in the mood to play these games any further because I was hot, sweaty, tired, and aching; I no longer had time for this bullshit.

"You should learn to watch your tongue, Teach, you might just lose it one of these days." Blackbeard seemed taken back by my remark, I had never shown any hostility around him or the other War Lords or the Navy so I knew he was shocked.

"Zeheheh. It seems running around playing with pirates has really shown everyone your true colors." His eyes narrowed as a sinister smirk appeared upon his lips and he lifted up his hand out toward me.

"I like it, join my crew!" I felt Jinbei's hand land on my shoulder as his lips landed down to my ear, speaking words of wisdom to me to keep me from slicing Blackbeard into dice.

"Emily, calm yourself. You must not let your emotions take control of your reasoning!" Jinbei whispered, his other hand holding onto my wrist as I continued to try to pull forth one of my two blades. I was shaking, I was beyond pissed and the current environment wasn't helping my thinking. Blackbeard laughed again at my struggling, causing one more mockery to leave his mouth that made me snap.

"Keep a hold of her real good. Wouldn't want her to end up having the same fate as that idiotic Ace, who I beat to a pulp before turning him in zeheheheh!" Luffy's eyes widened from behind me and was suddenly in gear second, I whipped my body around to tell him to stop, but he disappeared without a trace and I soon found him above me while launching an attack toward Blackbeard. Blackbeard went flying into the wall behind him, blood flying from his mouth from the impact and falling down the wall, landing on his ass and huffing for air.

"Luffy you idiot, stop!" I called out, still being held by Jinbei, who watched wide eyed as Luffy continued an attack on Blackbeard. Blackbeard laughed and raised his hand, suddenly darkness flooded from his body and pulled in Luffy like a magnet and threw his body into the ground with his large hand.

"Jinbei, let me go, please!" I begged the fishman, his eyes looking into mine. "If I don't stop him, Blackbeard will kill him!" Jinbei allowed me to go. I sprinted toward Luffy and jumped in front of one of his attacks, right in between him and Blackbeard. I coughed, choking on the blood that came up through my body from the impact of Luffy's attack against my body as I held him closely to my body trying to calm his rage and anger.

"Luffy listen to me," I whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "Blackbeard is trying to stall you. He wants to see Ace dead and he knows that by keeping us here for any amount of time the window to save Ace closes a little bit at a time. Please, calm down and let this go for now. You cannot forget why you broke into Impel Down in the first place, we must work together to save Ace!" I felt Luffy's body relax ever so slightly from my words and the pull back a bit from me. He looked me in the eyes, ashamed that he had gotten carried away instead of staying level headed. He glanced from me over to Blackbeard, who wore a smirk, before looking back at me.

"You're right Emily, but I won't forget about him." I nodded, understand Luffy's want to destroy Blackbeard in a way that would make him feel the same pain that we have all felt due to his confrontation with Ace.

"Zeheheheh! What's wrong Stawhat? Don't tell me you're finished already?" I turned toward Blackbeard, the hate showing clear in my eyes. His own eyes widened slightly as I glared at him, my patients with him no more.

"We're calling this fight off for now, and I trust you to do the same, Teach."

"Oh? And why is that little Sengoku?" Blackbeard mocked, no longer using my full title.

"Simple, the longer you stay down here, the greater the risk of yourself getting captured by the warden and trust me, he is not a man you wish to go against." I watched as the small gears turned in his mind as he realized that I was correct and snorted at me before moving past me with his crew.

"I'll see you later then, Sengoku, Strawhat! Zeheheheheh!" I watched as Blackbeard and his crew took their leave, allowing us to take ours as well. I pulled away from Luffy and pointed toward the stairs.

"We don't have much time we need to get a move on for lost time." Luffy nodded, agreeing with me before we all ran toward the stairwell and started our long climb back up.

"Jinbei! What are we gonna do?!" I screamed out, pain coursing through my body from the poison that was sinking into my body. Mullgen had caught up to us and had attacked us with everything he had to bring upon us. I had been careless and had gotten hit with his attack as I tried to slice his poison dragon attacks in half. My left upper arm burned as the poison numbed my body and caused me to be immobilized with my left arm. Jinbei dodged an attack and turned toward me, his mouth open and screaming as Mullgen stood above me, ready to launch another attack my way.

"You've betrayed the Marines and for what a foolish attempt to save a prisoner!? Such a stupid child you are and here I actually gave you my respect! Perhaps some time in level five shall change your attitude!" He launched his attack as I closed my eyes and laid there helplessly. I tried to move, but my body functions had left me by this time.

"What!?" I heard him yell out as my eyes snapped open and I looked sideways as I had been hidden underneath a large cover of candle wax. I then felt a hand wrap up underneath my back while a hook came underneath my legs, I knew then who it was that had a hold of me.

"Honestly Red, you're a pain in my ass." The rough voice of Crocodile captured my ears and caused me to smile softly as I lolled my head against his chest, the poison causing my body to become numb by this point.

"Sorry, I was always causing trouble for you and the others ever since I was small... forgive me." Crocodile raised a brow as he looked down at my half conscious body shocked and slightly confused before biting down on his cigar hard and gritting his teeth before snorting.

"You're no good with the "helpless girl" act, so shut up and hang on." I couldn't help but smile as I faded out to the sound of the battle that continued to rage on in the real world.

"Cabin boy! Get over here!" The solider ordered, causing the small red haired girl to peek up from scrubbing the floor and rush toward the solider.

"Yes sir?" She asked, wondering what he could want with her. He had a look of fear that washed across his face that Emma was oblivious to at her age.

"Th-there is someone here to s-see you! Head outside now!" Emma yelped and ran past the solider and before she knew it, she was out in the yard and standing before the large blue man. She smiled and laughed loudly before rushing forward and jumping toward the much larger man and having him catch her in his scaly arms.

"Jinbei! You're back! I've missed you a whole lot you have no idea!" Jinbei chuckled before drawing the much, much, smaller young girl into his arms and positioned her to where she sat on his arm and looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry Emily, but I had trouble with some fellow War Lords." Emily's blue eyes widened as she gasped and leaned closer to Jinbei.

"It wasn't Mr. Mihawlk was it Jinbei?" Jinbei gave a slight chuckle and shook his head.

"No Emily, do not worry about it though. He will not be bothering you anytime soon." Emily blinked, there were only three of the War Lords, besides Jinbei, who she interacted with and if it wasn't Mihawlk then it had to have been one of the two; Doflamingo or Crocodile.

"Now then, how has your training been coming along?" Jinbei asked the small girl causing her to smile largely.

"Between you and Garp, I'm gonna become a strong warrior in no time!" She laughed as Jinbei smiled softly and placing her on the ground.

"Well, I'm glad to hear about it. Now, why don't you show me a little of what you've learned." Emily smiled and nodded, determined to prove to her friend that she was growing stronger all the time.

"Emma, I would like to introduce you to someone of great importance." Sengoku said, walking into the young teen's room. Her fiery red hair was pulled back behind her head into a messy bun that let her hair fall whatever way possible. Not currently dressed in her full uniform, just her sleeveless white undershirt and her slacks and boots, Emma looked a bit out of line, okay, a lot out of line.

"Emma, I would like for you to meet Admiral Suzukimaru." At the announcement of the title, a tall and older man walked into the study room. His rank radiated from his compositor and the look he gave Emma more or less scared the crap out of her. She jumped from her desk, nearly knocking the chair over in the process, and saluting the man before her.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Admiral! I am solider number 67943245-A, Emma Lee Sengoku!" The burning gaze never left her even after he had looked away from her to look at Sengoku.

"This is the niece you have spoken so highly about, Sengoku?"

"She is my only niece, yes." Sengoku replied, confusing Emma. Sengoku had never once mentioned this man to her before now and was starting to wonder why someone of his rank and history would even wish to be introduced to someone like herself.

"I see, I would like to see what she is capable of doing before making any decisions."

"That is reasonable to understand. I shall have her do a performance test for you-"

"Em-wa-Emi-"

"and allow you to decide once you have seen what she is can do."

"Emily-can you-Emily"

Both men turned to look down at the young teen before Sengoku placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure though you won't be disappointed. Garp has been her train-"

"Emily, wake up, can you hear me? Emily!"

"Huh?" And suddenly, it was dark before it became light once more.

My eyes slowly opened to a room full of people who all started crying as soon as I had awoken. I winced at the pain in my head, but I pulled myself to sit up anyways. Luffy was among the ones who were crying as I sat up and looked around the room.

"Emily! You're alright! You're okay! I'm so glad you're okay!" Luffy cried, clinging to me and pulling me into a hug. I growled and tried to shove him away, only to keep him clinging to myself due to him being made out of rubber. I finally gave up and allowed him to do as he pleased. I blinked, turning toward Ivankov and gasping, he was alive!

"Ivankov! B-but how are you-"

"Yeeeeeehaw! Don't underestimate my abilities little lady! Without me, you'd be dead anyways!"

"Him and Crocodile both saved you." Luffy spoke up, no longer clinging to me but instead standing before me. I blinked, he was right I do remember Crocodile plucking me up from the ground and then I passed out in his arms. I had forgotten about it. But, why would Crocodile do something like that because it wasn't something he would just do? Actually, he should have left me there to die. I had to find him and properly thank him, though it made me want to vomit, and ask him about his motives behind rescuing me.

Wait... where were we?

There was a settle rocking and we were no longer in the walls of Impel Down!

"Where are we?" I asked Ivankvo, who smiled and stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"We're all on board a Marine vessel that we borrowed in order to get to Marine Ford. We passed through a gate a few hours ago." I understood everything now. We had gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire as we sailed toward Marine Ford. I would need time to prepare for the upcoming fight that we were all about to face together.

"What time is it now?"

"A little after noon." Jinbei answered me, entering the room and smiling lightly to see that I was alright. I pushed myself off the bed slowly, seeing that I wasn't hurt, and taking a look at my arm. It looked as if I had never been burnt by Mullgen's attack all thanks to Ivankov's help.

"Thank you, Ivankov." I looked toward the man, he was still smiling before chuckling.

"I must say, it was mostly your determination to live that kept you going. My abilities can only do so much. But you're welcome, little lady." I nodded, understanding that if I were to get into a situation like that again, I would probably die. I looked down at my clothes and for the first time noticed just how destroyed they had become. My cape though, was the worse part of the whole outfit, it had been ripped to shreds where the kanji "Absolute Justice" had all but disappeared. I thought about it for a moment, but decided to shove the rising question to the back of my head. Now was not the time to become distracted with such silly thoughts.

"If you will excuse me, but I will need to make my way to the deck." The now newly freed prisoners parted the way for me to walk out to the deck, the light hitting my eyes and causing me to go blind for a moment's time. As I walked out onto the deck I was greeted with Buggy and Mr. 3, who I thanked for saving me. Mr. 3 gave me a stunned look, but accepted my thanks before I passed by him to allow him and Buggy to continue their talking. The one person I was looking for though, I was unable to find until I made my way to the front of the deck.

His back was to me as he took a drag of his cigar. His cape fluttered with the wind that caught and wrapped up underneath it, causing him to have a much more mysterious aura about him than usual. I climbed the steps and walked up behind the tall man before finding myself standing next to him and on his right side as I too gazed out at the sea with him. He spared me a glance before returning his gaze to the open sea, we were both alone save for the man who was steering the ship.

"I suppose thanks are in order-"

"What makes you think I want your gratitude?" I turned my head sideways as my mouth gaped, stunned by his interruption. Crocodile took another drag of his cigar and peered down at me, his cold eyes seeking their way into the depths of my soul.

"You and Mr. 3 saved my life. I am inclined to give you my thanks, no matter how stubborn you might be." I snorted at the end and turning my head back toward the sea, crossing my arms over my chest. Crocodile raised a brow and chuckle at my sudden uncaring reply, finding it amusing at how quickly I was starting to drop my "civil" act with him.

"It seems that Blackbeard was correct after all." My eyes snapped open as I jolted my body sideways to face Crocodile, my hands down out by my sides and my stance made me crouch slightly.

"What?!"

"You're starting to show the real you after running around with us pirates." I calmed down slightly and regained my posture as I turned back toward the open waters and gave a deep breath.

"There's more to things than what you think..." Crocodile smirked before taking another drag and letting the smoke go out from his lungs by pulling the cigar out from in between his lips and looking down at me with amusement.

"Why did Blackbeard ask you to join his crew?"

"No clue." Crocodile raised a brow and turned to lean down toward me.

"Is it due to this reason that I supposedly don't know about?" I shook my head and recrossed my arms.

"Not even I knew about it until a few hours ago. So, I highly doubt that Teach knows about it."

"Want to fill me in on it?"

"Hell no." Crocodile chuckled before pulling back away from me and standing to his full height before putting the cigar back in between his lips.

"I'm sure whatever it is I'll find out soon enough." He chuckled, causing me to roll my eyes. And walk away from him, leaving him behind me as I approached the very front edge of the deck. I leaned my body up against the railing and sighed as I glanced down at the water the rushed up against the ship. It wasn't long before Luffy, Jinbei, Ivankov, Buggy, and Mr. 3 all joined both Crocodile and I at the front of the ship. It seems like it was time for the battle plan, and seeing as how they had me with them, they had a slightly greater chance of succeeding in this rescue mission to save Ace. It seemed that there was nothing that was going to surprise us... at least until we were sweep up by a giant wave and then frozen at the top for a while before the ice cracked and the whole ship, along with us, started to fall to our death.

Little did we all know, we were falling right into the middle of the on going battle for Portgas D. Ace, and in front of the whole world too.