Author's Note: Here is chapter 25 for your enjoyment. So… enjoy it! xD

Law and Prejudice

Chapter 25

Once they arrived where the day team was now surveillancing Teach, they also looked in at the monitors, and Nami asked, "Any movement?"

"Not yet, and there wasn't any all of last night, according to the night team. There are several teams all around, ready to move in, if needed. We were told to allow the carrier to deal with him first and only come in if needed," the tall, thin man said, who was wearing a type of shades with black puffy hair. "We're to remain on standby."

"You mean carriers," Ace said and smirked, but the thin man as well as the rest of the surveillance team quickly looked at him in shock.

"Y-You're a carrier?" one of the team asked, his eyes wide.

"That's right. Luffy's my little brother," Ace said and snickered to their looks of fear.

"Wh-Why isn't he wearing a collar?" another of the team exclaimed in his slight fear.

"Relax!" Zoro said and instantly frowned, but then he said, "I don't like these orders. We should fight together."

"Orders are orders. They said the suspect may not react as hastily or harshly with just the one, but… not sure about the two. Anyway, we can't risk this guy blowing up anything," another of the Guards said.

"They're right. It's best Luffy and I go in alone at first," Ace said and nodded slowly as he watched the monitors. Zoro kept his frown, and even Sanji and Law were frowning in dissatisfaction.

Luffy moved away from the monitors and moved to a device, which was playing a soft classical melody. He smiled and sat down on the floor before it. He had heard music like this before, from the devices left behind by these people, but this quality was so much better. "I like this music. Sounds pretty."

The tall man turned to Luffy and instantly smiled. "Do you? It's one of my recordings!" he said, looking proud of himself.

"Really?" Luffy asked, turning to smile excitedly to the man. "It sounds amazing! I would like to hear you some time!"

"I would be more than happy to perform a song for you, yohohoho!" he exclaimed with a bright smile.

"My name is Luffy!" Luffy said and grinned to the tall, thin man.

"Ah, it is a great pleasure to meet someone, who appreciates fine music, Luffy. I am Brook," the man said, bowing to him with his arm tucked into his torso.

"It's nice to meet you, Brook! Shishishi!" Luffy exclaimed, looking extremely pleased to have made a new friend.

How did Luffy always manage to make other people smile, especially ones, who were supposed to hate their kind? Ace just quirked a brow and shook his head. Luffy was definitely special. Nami smiled to Luffy with deep affection and love. It really was just natural for him to smile and to make other people smile. It was certainly what drew people to him. It was his earnest and genuine delight for just about everything and everyone, as well as his positive and honest personality.

"Hey, we've got movement!" Zoro called, staring intently at the screen.

Losing his smile, Luffy swiftly got to his feet and moved to the screen. Seeing Teach there, all of his rage and anger surged to the surface, and he began to growl. "Ace, we need to go confront him."

"Yup," Ace replied with a nod, looking ready to kick ass.

"Nami," Luffy called in only a slightly less harsh of a voice, and she quickly looked over to him.

"Yes?" she asked and moved to stand next to him.

"I need you to remove my collar," he said and finally looked to her. "I am going to become very angry, and I need to be able to fight him without the collar shocking me."

"Ah, but I thought our superiors forbade-" Brook started, looking a bit unsure, but Nami spoke up, interrupting him.

"Of course," she said immediately with a nod and dug within her coat pocket to retrieve the small metal bar. She then touched it to his collar, and it came right off. Nami took it and held it out to Zoro, who put it away.

Luffy immediately rubbed over his neck, feeling much better with it gone. Looking down at her, he smiled softly and whispered, "Thank you, Nami."

"You're welcome," she whispered and smiled up at him as well.

"Wait a minute," someone else from the surveillance team called, looking greatly worried about this, especially since the other Guard within their team also did not look concerned by this.

"It'll be fine," Law said, looking over to the nervous Guard. "You let these two worry about Teach, and we'll watch their backs."

"We'll be right there to have your backs if you need it," Sanji said, still watching the screen as he blew out smoke from his cigarette. "He's getting close to us, and he's got the usual bag."

"Let's go, Luffy," Ace said, already moving to leave.

"Coming," Luffy called over his shoulder, but turned his attention back to Nami.

"Be careful, Luffy, please," she whispered, looking worried for him.

"I will be. You be careful too, Nami," he whispered, just as softly, and uncaring of the audience, he leaned in, kissing her gently.

The other Guards from the surveillance team could only gawk as their jaws dropped open. What the hell was going on? They even looked to the other team, but they did not look surprised at all, and they also did not look rightfully appalled, as they felt. Had they known about this?

Kissing him back just as gently, Nami then pulled back and hugged him tight. "Go get him, Luffy. Make him pay for all the pain he's caused us."

"I will," he whispered harshly by her ear, making her shudder.

"Good," she whispered and pulled back to smile at him.

Luffy smiled in return, but then he quickly turned to follow after Ace. "Shit," one of the surveillance team said after the two had left. "We already have people trying to hack into the surveillance."

"Already?" Brook asked and went to see what he was looking at. "Well, we did ask them to evacuate the street, and we won't allow them through. Someone was bound to want to know why."

"I can't stop it," the team member said and shook his head.

"Then don't. We have more important things to worry about. Look, there they are," Zoro said and nodded to Ace and Luffy, who ran out of the building.

As soon as Ace and Luffy exited the building, they looked over to Teach, walking along the sidewalk. "Teach!" Luffy exclaimed, his voice leaving no doubts to his anger.

Hearing the voice and seeming to recognize it, Teach turned around to face the two and smirked, showing off the gaps from his missing teeth. "Well, would you look it here? We were wondering why our plans weren't going so smoothly, it seems a pair of pups were stupid enough to follow me up here and continuously get detected with the alarms. And here that sky dweller made it possible for me not to be found with this DNA scrambler," he said, showing them a device, which he had in his pocket. He then looked about and said, "I was wondering why the streets were barren, when they're normally packed with people. It seems one of the pups is slaving out for these sky dwellers. They're still in these buildings though, aren't they? I can still blow them up! So, stay where you are!" he exclaimed in warning as he pointed to them, but then he smirked in amusement as he looked at Luffy. "I saw you, you know, on a live feed while I ate my pies. The carrier, who cried, is what they said. They were so amazed and awed with you. It was disgusting and you made the rest of us D's look weak and pathetic and like crybabies! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Luffy actually looked slightly startled by what he said. There was a news feed about that? Everyone saw him crying? He was actually quite embarrassed, and so he was left speechless. Ace smacked his chest and said, "Get a hold of yourself!"

"Right," Luffy whispered and his frown slowly returned, as did his anger. "You're going to pay for what you did, Teach! I'm not ashamed of it!" Even if it was a little embarrassing… "You've killed a lot of people, and I'm not going to let you kill more!"

"How could you possibly want to protect these weak and pathetic people? You should be on my side and helping me to get rid of them!" Teach said and scowled back at Luffy.

"Help you? Weak and pathetic?" Luffy growled out, looking extremely offended, and then he cried, "You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Don't I?" Teach asked and smirked, looking greatly amused.

"No, you don't! You haven't gotten to know them, and look at all of this!" Luffy said, motioning his arm as if to indicate everything around them. "These people are amazing! They've created amazing things, and despite who I was, they were willing to give me a chance!"

"Bullshit!" Teach said and sneered at him. "These people don't give a shit about you or about any of us! They hate us, and they're just using you! You think they're going to give you a warm welcome and accept you with open arms after you save them? I don't think so! These cowards will betray you the first moment they get, and you're a fool if you believe otherwise!"

"They would never betray me!" Luffy yelled, though he was speaking about his friends.

"You really are an idiot!" Teach said and laughed at him in a peculiar laugh. "Zehahahaha!"

"Shut up, Teach! You're going to pay for this! Fight us!" Luffy yelled, becoming angrier with this fool.

Teach continued to laugh, but then opened his coat to reveal all of the explosive strapped to him. "Come any closer, and all these buildings go boom with everyone inside, including the cute little piece you were hugging for everyone to see!"

Nami felt her cheeks flushing heatedly as they all listened to Teach, and the whole room seemed to glance over to her. "Are you really serious about that carrier?" one of them muttered to her, but this made her frown.

"Hey, what Ms. Nami does is none of your damn business," Sanji growled, looking angry for her.

"She can't honestly think it would be okay," someone else said, looking disgusted still.

"And who the fuck do you think you are to say so?" Law asked, looking at them from under the shadow of his cap.

"And how can you all actually be okay with this?"

"Okay with it?" Zoro asked in a low voice, looking just as peeved as his fellow Guards. "What does it matter if whether or not we're okay with it? Didn't you hear the curly brow? It's none of our damn business what Nami chooses to do, or who she chooses to be by her side. So shut the fuck up about it."

"And of course we're okay with it," Law said with a scoff, glancing back to the screen. "Luffy's probably a better man than all of us put together," he muttered under his breath.

"Damned straight," Zoro and Sanji muttered at the same time.

"Not true," Robin said and smiled softly. "You're all good men, and Luffy knows it. I believe it's why he chose you as his friends."

"Luffy is amazing though," Nami whispered, and smiling with love at his image, "but Robin's right. Don't sell yourselves so short."

"And he has excellent taste in music, yohohoho!" Brook said with a grin on his face. Everyone seemed to smile to this and nod in agreement, their respect, and in Nami's case, love was evident within their expressions. Though the other Guards still looked skeptical.

Luffy growled out with a sneer at Teach to the mention of Nami. "Don't you dare speak about her through that disgusting mouth of yours! You're not going to hurt her or anyone. You won't blow yourself up. You're too much of a coward, Teach!"

"What did you say?" Teach exclaimed, looking greatly offended, even if Luffy was right.

"Fight us, Teach! If you can beat us, then there would be no one to stop you!" Ace said, glaring him down.

"That's right. Come on, Teach. Let's have a good old fashioned fight like last time," Luffy said, smirking lazily. "I'm much stronger now. Want to see?"

Teach's eye twitched, and he began to growl deeply. However, he removed the explosive vest and dropped it to the ground. "Let's go, pups! Show me what you've got!"

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Oooh, I know! You hate me, right? I am sooo sorry-No I'm not. :P Stay tuned for the next chapter! xD