Here is chapter 25.

Answer to reviews.

Captain James H00k: Later on you will see a quality that the Iowa can do and this also applies to the Caspian Fleet in later chapters, but I won't say what it is. I will say this though. they do use rocket man in the Water 7 Arc-Enies Lobby Arc, but that is all that I will say on that, you'll have to wait till the water 7 Arc to find out more. Regarding the Queen Anne's Revenge, I'm still not sure yet.

LightningBlade49: I am trying to use more of the military talk as you can see. That is why this story deals with old United States Navy ships, as I love Navy stuff, thus why the Caspian Fleet are a bunch of ships that have been decommissioned or sold as scrap in today's time.

And as always, the disclaimer: If you want to see the disclaimer, then first go to chapter 1 to see it, I'm to lazy to type it every chapter.

CHAPTER 25: FIGURING OUT APIS'S TROUBLE

Luffy walks into the briefing room after everyone. The sound of someone being slapped is heard and everyone sees Dragon with a red hand mark on his cheek and Makino with a look of fury on her face

"You bastard! What the hell are you doing here!" Makino seethes as Thomas and Luffy hold her back.

"I let him on mom." Makino turns and stares at her son with wide eyes.

"Why Lucifer?"

"I had no choice. Hell, I even tried to shoot the man for being on my ship, but I ran out of ammo." Luffy says glaring at his father.

"Do you really hate me?" Dragon asks.

"Did you just ask that? Abandoning your wife, who was pregnant with a third child and two kids, I believe that justifies my hatred to you." Luffy snarls now, who is being held back by Thomas and Dallas. Dragon looks down.

"And for that I am sorry."

"You weren't a Revolutionary yet when you left me, Ace and Luna." Makino says as Luffy had walked over and was hugging his mom to comfort her as she had broken into crying.

"So...Admiral, why did you call us here?" Linares asks wanting to change the subject and to prevent the Admiral from possibly killing his father. She knows that he would be able to if given the chance.

"We should try and figure out what to do with our new house guest. We can't take her with us to the Grand Line. That leaves us one of two options." He looks at Apis.

"Figure out where she came from and bring her back, or shunt her off on somebody else." Gin absently twirled his tonfa.

"What would you like, Apis?" Apis, however, was preoccupied with staring at the flag displayed on the wall behind Luffy. The big, bold skull and scythe and sword for crossbones on the flag, to be precise.

"PIRATES!" She screamed, backing away into a wall. Sanji blinked.

"You didn't know? I thought Luffy told you…" He trailed off as she pulled a pathetically small knife out of the folds of her skirt. She brandished it wildly, shoving it towards anybody who moved. "Oh, come on! If we wanted to kill you, we would have done it a long time ago!"

"I knew I didn't like her…" Arlong muttered. Nami stepped forward.

"Come on. Put the knife down, and we'll talk."

"Shut up! Get away from me!" Apis stabbed wildly. "I-I'll do it! I'll really do it!"
"You were fine with us until you found out we were pirates. Come on. We"re not that bad…" Nami continued. With tears in her eyes, Apis cried out and lunged forward. Metal striking metal is heard as the small knife was stopped by Luffy's nodachi. Apis screamed and dropped the knife like it burned her. Luffy bent down and picked it up and put it in his pocket.

"We're not going to hurt you. Calm down, Apis." Apis was merely frozen at losing her means of protection. Makino inched closer and managed to wrap her arms around the trembling girl.

"Please, Apis you need to relax.." Makino soothed. Apis started to relax and lost some of the trembling. Makino picked her up and walked out of the room.

"Well that solves one problem." Luffy mutters. Dragon slowly inches his way to the door. "And where do you think you are going?" Luffy asks making him flinch.

"Uh...I was just going to go outside and get some fresh air." Dragon says.

"Wilkes! Booth!" Luffy calls and two sailors walk in with M16s.

"Yes Admiral?" Wilkes asks as he and Booth salute.

"You are to go with the Revolutionary here and guide him about and keep an eye on him."

"Yes sir and if he should do anything that we don't approve of?"

"Then feel free to throw him in the brig. After all since he is miles away from other revolutionaries and this is the only ship in East Blue that will be heading for the Grand Line. So he better behave or he gets thrown in the brig or I might just throw him overboard, after all, we are still in the calm belt." Luffy says in a cold tone.

"Yes sir!" The two salute. They turn to Dragon with dark smirks. "Come on Revolutionary Dragon, allow us to guide you around." The two say as they each put a hand on both of his shoulders and squeeze tightly making him gulp slightly as he is lead out of the room.

"What now Luffy?" Usopp asks.

"Well we wait for Apis to calm down and try asking again why she has marines after her." Luffy says before turning to Gunther.

"Thomas you and your staff are on duty. Get up to the bridge and have the engines at all ahead 2/3 we are not in a hurry to get to the Grand Line till we figure out Apis's deal."

"Yes captain we will travel engines ahead 2/3." Gunther and his staff salute then leave to go to the bridge. Luffy stands and exits the briefing room and makes his way for his quarters. The others go do their own thing.

Zoro ambles over to the hangar to where a massive set of weights and picked it up.

"1…2…3…" Gin held out a knife to Arlong.

"Mumblypeg?" He offered. Arlong pulled out his own knife and tossed it at Gin's boot. The blade thudded a fraction away from the shoe. Arlong grinned.

"That's a record, ain't it?" Gin tossed it at the ground. The blade landed straight between the man's toes, slicing into the sandal.

"No. THAT is!" He laughed. Arlong fumed. Nami stared disbelievingly. She then leaves for to go talk to Luffy before asking.

"Why do you even play that game! You'll stab yourself in the foot!" Gin turned to her.

"Why not?" Was all he said, before tossing the blade over his shoulder. Arlong yelped and ducked to the side as it passed where his head had been.

"HEY!"

"RUN AWAY!" Gin shouted, a laugh on his face as Arlong chased after him with teeth castanets.

Makino walked into her quarters and lays Apis down on the couch. Apis sits up and looks around the room as Makino walks away and into the little kitchen. As she is looking around she notices a little girl with red hair that is about her age. The little girl looks over and sees Apis and walks over.

"Hello. Who are you?" The girl asks.

"I'm Apis. Who are you?" The little girl smiles.

"I'm Iowa."

Apis then notices the bandages covering Iowa.

"What happened to you?" Iowa's smile disappears.

"I got shot by a pirate in the shoulder and I got a bad cut right above my eye." Iowa says and Apis's eyes widen.

"P-Pirates?"

"Yeah. Those bastards, but my daddy killed them all since he was pissed." Iowa says with a smile.

"Iowa! No swearing!" Makino exclaims. Iowa blushes.

"Sorry grandma." Apis is shocked.

"Grandma? I thought that she was your mom."

"No. This is my granddaughter. Her parents you have met already." Makino says confusing her.

"Her mother has orange hair and her father is the one that stopped your knife with his sword, also he is the captain of this ship." Makino says shocking Apis.

"So tho-Wait!" Iowa exclaims cutting off Apis as she turns to Makino.

"Daddy and mommy are on board the ship?"

"Yes dear. If I had to guess they are probably in their quarters." Makino says in thought. No sooner had the words left her mouth did Iowa jump off the couch and vanish in black mist as she was running to the door. Apis's eyes widen.

"Aaahhh! Where did she go?"

"She went to see her parents. She has been missing them for two days now. She has the same power as my son, so that's why she was able to vanish in that cloud of black mist." Makino says with a smile.

Luffy and Nami are currently sitting on the couch in their quarters with Nami resting her head on Luffy's shoulder. Luffy then snorts.

"What's so funny Lucifer?"

"I just pictured the look of Sanji's face if he ever found out that we are married and living in the same quarters." Luffy says with a smile. Nami is quiet then starts to laugh as she pictures seeing Sanji on the ground crying.

"That is a funny image." The two go quiet and enjoy each others company, which is disturbed by a cloud of black mist.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Iowa cries as she leaps at her parents who happily welcome her. She starts to cry in her parents arms. "I-I thought that I would never get to see you again."

"Iowa, my baby girl. You're alright." Luffy says as tears roll down his cheeks happy to see that his daughter is alive. Nami is happy as well. When she saw Iowa get shot after seeing Luffy up on the execution platform with a sword hanging a foot above her head, she was afraid of losing them. But she is happy to be united with Luffy and Iowa. The two hear a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Luffy calls.

"It's me Lucifer." Luffy hears his mother.

"You can come in mother. The door is open." Luffy calls back. A minute later Makino walks in with Apis behind her. Apis's eyes widen at the display she is seeing and couldn't help but blurt out.

"You don't look like scary pirates." She then covers her mouth. Luffy chuckles.

"Well we aren't like most pirates. Yes, we are indeed pirates, but we aren't like the kind who kill, plunder and destroy villages."

"Then what kind of pirates are you?"

"We are the kind who like to sail the seas and have fun." Luffy smiles. "And for a six year old girl you are really observant." Apis blushes and looks away.

"Well dear are you ready to see more of the ship?" Makino asks as Apis gets her blush under control.

"Yes I am." Apis says with a smile.

"Well then don't let me stop you." Luffy says with a smile. Apis and Makino leave so that Apis can continue to see the ship.

Apis, who was at the door of the galley was peering down the hall, chuckled nervously as Gin and Arlong ran by the dining hall.

"They're all idiots, aren't they?" Sanji said as he shuffled through his fridge. Apis nodded.

"But they're nice… right?"

"Yeah, I guess. If you're nakama, they'll go to the ends of the earth for you. Especially Luffy."

"Luffy?" Apis echoed.

"That's right. If somebody hurts one of his nakama, he'll hunt them to hell and back, just to kick their ass. There's only been one case where he has spared somebody, and Arlong still hasn't told me why."

"The… merman?" She stumbled, unfamiliar with the word. Sanji nodded, finally rustling all of the ingredients out of the fridge.

"Yeah. Why do you hate mermen, anyways? They look scary, but they're nice enough if you get to know them." Apis shook her head wildly.

"Oh, no! I don't hate them! It's just…" She trailed off. Sanji looked up from his work.

"Just what?" Apis shook her head.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Sanji finished his work and held out the small dish to her.

"Here, Apis-Chan! A rare and delightful treat!" Apis took the spoon from him and dipped into it. It touched her lips, and she gasped with delight.

"It's so delicious!" Sanji smiled.

"It's called 'ice cream'. It's incredibly hard to make, and even harder to preserve, but it makes one of the best desserts ever."

"It's so good! I've never had anything so tasty in my life!" She exclaimed as she gulped it down. She yelped and clutched her head. "COLD!"

"It'll do that if you eat it too fast. Slower, next time." The cook admonished.

"Apis!" Luffy calls out, walking towards the girl. She flinched a bit, but held her ground. The captain crouched down in front of her. "I've asked you several times, but you've never given me a straight answer. Why were those marines chasing you?" She looked down, abashed.

"…I can't tell you." Luffy sighed.

"I was afraid of that. Then, could you tell me where you're from?" She looked up, faintly surprised.

"Oh! Um… I'm from Gunkan Island!"

"Gunkan island, eh? No points for guessing why it's called that." Gin drawled, looking over his shoulder.

"They call it that because it looks like a big battleship!" Apis chirped. Luffy grinned.

"Like he said, no points for guessing!" Luffy stomped on the ship, and a circular wave pulsed out. Luffy closed his eyes and followed the wave. "I'd say Gunkan Island is about… a day's hard sailing away. Should we take you there?" Apis' eyes widened and she shook her head.

"Oh, no! You've already done so much for me, protecting me from the marines! I couldn't possibly ask you to do more! If you find another ship, I could find my way home alone…" Luffy considered this for a moment, before shaking his head.

"No good. If you had told us this before, we could have done that. But…" He jerked his head towards the Jolly Roger. "The natural reaction to pirates is to run away screaming. The Queen's already headed off towards Reverse Mountain, the Dutchman is still trying to catch up to us, and the Bruzel, and the Black Pearl are with the Queen of the Seas." He continued, stroking his chin.

"In other words, we're stuck with only one option." Kuro finished, leaning against the door frame. Apis yelped and Luffy flinched.

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough. You said that it was a day's hard sailing away."

"Yes that is with the Iowa sailing at full speed ahead. Well, it's settled then! We'll take you back to Gunkan Island!" Apis's face lit up like a light bulb.

"REALLY! Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you, Luffy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! Thank you!" Gin smiled.

"We'll have to book it back to avoid the marines. They've bound to have sent somebody from Loguetown after us." Luffy grinned.

"Yeah, smoker seems pretty obsessive. He's probably trying to catch up to us once that storm let out. But he thinks we're making a beeline for Reverse Mountain! He doesn't expect us to double back on him."

"So he's in front of us, and the hunter becomes the hunted. Clever." Kuro pushed his glasses up his nose. "Not the most elegant of plans, but it works for our purposes." Luffy walked out of the kitchen.

"Wake me when it's dinner." And with that, the captain left for his quarters to fall asleep. The ship sailed onward, towards Gunkan Island.

"...ffy! Luffy! Wake up! There's a ship off the port bow!" Nami shouts and shaking him trying to wake him up. He cracked an eye open, yawning blearily.

"What, what? I'm up!" He sat up stretching.

"I said there is a ship off the port bow." Nami repeats. Luffy gets up and follows her to the bridge and looks through his binoculars.

Squinting in the offered direction. Indeed, in the morning fog, there was a shadowy silhouette of a battleship. He thumped the bridge, sending a pulse shoot out. He smirked as the information was relayed.

"That's no ship, Usopp! That's an island! Apis!" The girl ran out of the kitchen to the bridge, clutching a frying pan with… something caked onto the insides.

"Yeah?" Luffy blinked and stared down at the stuff in the frying pan.

"What the hell is that?" Apis smiled happily.

"Breakfast! Do you want some?" Luffy stared at the indiscernible clumps.

"…is it edible?" Gin inched his way to Luffy's side.

"Don't eat it, whatever you do. She cooked some for dinner, and it was horrible!" He whispered out of the corner of his mouth. Luffy arched an eyebrow.

"Really now?" He picked up a clump, eying it. "Well, down the hatch!" Gin yelped and all present on the bridge had wide eyes as Luffy swallowed the clump. Luffy swirled the taste around in his mouth, frowning as Apis shuffled nervously.

"Ummm… how is it? Sanji told me I used too much spice last time, so, I tried balancing it out with sugar…" Luffy tapped his chin.

"Well… you used way too much spice still…" Apis slumped. "And the sugar was overpowering…" Apis wilted. Luffy grinned. "But that's one hell of an interesting taste!" Apis perked up.

"You mean it's good!" Luffy laughed.

"Hahahaha! Yeah! I've got a stronger stomach than these guys." Luffy then snapped his fingers and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, yeah! Apis! Is that your island coming up there?" Apis gasped and ran out onto the bridge wing.

"It is! That's Gunkan Island!" The fog slowly cleared, and an island full of rocky precipices formed. Luffy smirked.

"Alright, everybody, prepare to go ashore."

"Sir!" Everyone says and the ship is a buzz with activity. An hour later the Going Merry lowers its sails as she makes her way to the island.

"PIRATES! PIRATES ARE HERE!" The alarm sounded out throughout the small fishing village as the skull and crossbones sailed closer and closer. Quick as lightening, the women and children were locked inside their homes, and the men were at the coast, armed with harpoons and flaying knives. With a final creak, the Going merry slammed into the coast. The small rope ladder fell down automatically, without any prompting from humans. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife… until Apis appeared from the hold.

"Yo! I'm back!" She cried out, waving. The men jerked back, startled.

"A-Apis!" The small girl scampered down the rope ladder quickly. "Why are you… on a pirate ship…?" Luffy and company quickly climbed down the ladder.

"What"s going on here?"

"They don't seem very prepared, do they?" Nojiko peered out over the numbers. Luffy shrugged and turned to them. His hat shaded his eyes ominously.

"You there." The apparent leader sobered up and flinched back.

"W-What do you want…?"

"Where's the nearest meat store!"

Silence.

"Huh?" The protectors said as one.

"What's with these guys?" A man muttered under his breath. Arlong, who had opted to stay behind as ship guard, laughed softly.

"Apis, what are you doing on a pirate ship?" Apis perked up.

"Well, you see, even though they're pirates, they're GOOD pirates!"

"Is there even such a thing as a good pirate?" The leader and Gin said as one. Gin snickered.

"But weren't you taken away by the marines?" Another asked.

"That's right! But then I ran away! Then Luffy and his crew saved me, right?" She pointed up at Luffy. He nodded.

"Straw hat Luffy, at your service." He bowed.

"Apis, what have you done? The marines are after you, and we don't know why! There're even still some back at your house! You shouldn't go back there right now."
"Oh no…" Apis moaned.

"We'd like to help you, but… these guys are pirates!"

"But she just said we're good pirates…" Usopp muttered. Gin snickered.

"Kid, there is no such thing as a good pirate. There is only a skilled pirate and an unskilled pirate."

"Man, what a fix…" Apis scratched the back of her head absently.

"Apis!" An elderly voice called out. The crowd parted to reveal an elderly, hunched-over man with several more pounds at his gut than necessary. "Come here this instant."

"Who's he?" Nami asked.

"Don't know." Zoro answered. Apis rushed forward, laughing.

"Grandpa Bokuden!" Bokuden laughed as the girl slammed into his chest, hugging her close.

"I'm glad you're safe." He looked up at the straw hat crew. "I thank you for saving Apis. I'd like to give you a warm welcome at my house. How about it?"

"Let's get butaman!"

"Sure, let's go." Zoro shrugged.

"I haven't had butaman since I was a kid! Wonder if his are any good." Gin pondered as they walked up the roads to his house.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! With slow preciseness, Bokuden placed the lid over the carefully formed butaman, sealing the foodstuffs inside the steam cooker.

"There we go. Everything is set, now we just have to wait." Luffy and Usopp stared at the cooker with obvious relish.

"Cool!"

"It smells so good!" Gin arched an eyebrow at the apparatus.

"Damn, this thing is ancient. Even my grandpa had a faster thing than this." Sanji peered at the woven basket.

"Well, it certainly IS old-fashioned. Gramps, how long is this going to take?"

"Oh, I'd say they'll be ready… in four to five hours, I suppose." Luffy, Johnny, Yosaku and Usopp gave a start.

"EH!"

"Are they ready yet~?" Luffy moaned as he lay slumped against the wall of Bokuden's home. Nami delicately sipped a cup of tea.

"Bokuden-san, do you know why the marines are after Apis? Any idea?" Bokuden turned to the girl.

"Apis, do you have any idea?"

"None!" Luffy arched an eyebrow.

"Now, this is where we have a problem. You said on the ship that there was something you couldn't tell us. Now you say that there was nothing. Get your stories straight."

"Oh, well, I lied!" Apis adapted quickly. Luffy, however, could tell that she was hiding something. What it was remained to be seen.

'I'm very tempted to summon my servants to find out what she is hiding from us.'

"Well…" Bokuden wormed himself back into the conversation. "There is something."

"But she just said there wasn't!" Usopp shouted, pounding the table.

"Spaz much?" Gin snorted. Bokuden ignored them.

"We don't have much on this island, but what we do have is our Ancient Legend."

"Legend?" Zoro echoed, pulling out of his semi-coma. Bokuden seemed to light up.

"The people of this island are known as the descendants of the Lost Island that sank thousands of years ago at the peak of its prosperity." Luffy, having subtly stolen Nami's tea and being in the process of drinking it, choked and spat out the contents loudly.

"Huh!" He exclaimed. "What did you just say?"

"Hey! Isn't that my tea!" Nami shouted, miffed about not even noticing the theft.

"Hah! The cat burglar was pickpocketed!" Usopp crowed, before shrinking down at the devil-like look on her face.

"The Lost Island sank thousands of years ago, at the peak of its prosperity." Bokuden repeated, as requested. Luffy, however, was no longer paying attention.

"But I don't understand. What do the marines have to do with this legend?" Sanji took a drag on his cigarette. Kuro gently pushed up his glasses.

"Everything, Sanji. In my experience, if there is anything in the world that is in any way mystical and power-granting, there is some sort of corrupt marine official trying to claim it for their own."

"But then, wouldn't there be some sort of clue in the legends?" Bokuden smiled.

"Well, then, why don't we go through and look for clues? To begin with, the Lost Island's first king was Istandaq…"

"There he goes again…" Apis muttered beneath her breath.

"What, he does this a lot?" Luffy questioned. Apis rolled her eyes.

"Only every other day. Nobody ever mentions history around him anymore because of it."

"Now, Popeko soon had three sons." Bokuden continued. "The eldest was Bokehontasu. The second son was Bokebonbon. And the third son was Bokebokepon."

Apis stood up and quietly tiptoed past the enraptured crowd. She turned to Luffy, who was staring intently at her, and made a shushing motion. Luffy nodded. 'She's probably memorized all of this living with him.'

"…and then, in the 317th generation, Ingrimoni the 3rd's son, Yugrimoni, became a great ruler…" Bokuden continued, undaunted by the tale's enormous length. Nami leaned over to Usopp's ear, who was lagging from information overload.

"Hey, how long do you think he's going to go on?"

"Dunno…" Usopp whispered back. Zoro was blissfully asleep.

"…he went on to have eighteen children. Those eighteen children…"

"…the king implemented a great revolution. But that king sure had a lot of children!" Usopp's moaned as his stomach screamed in protest.

"So hungry…"

Sanji smoked the last of his third box of cigarettes.

"When are we gonna eat those butaman? I'm famished!" Gin squirmed in his seat. Kuro pulled out a box of snack sticks and munched on one absently. "When did you get those! Share some with me!"

"No. Get your own." Kuro held them protectively to his chest. Luffy, who had at this point passed out from hunger, suddenly stood up, slumped into himself.

"Butaman…" He moaned, taking slow, shuffling steps. Nami quickly noticed his movements.

"Luffy?"

"Gonna take a piss."

Apis quietly slid open the steam cooker, emptying the pork buns into a massive sack.

"Hang on, Ryuuji. I'll be there soon."

"Butaman…" Luffy moaned, shuffling along to the small hut. Apis gasped quietly and ducked behind a wooden pillar.

"Oh, no!" The lidded gaze of Luffy told her that the pirate captain was not entirely lucid. "Please, don't come in here!" She pleaded, picking up a frying pan that happened to miraculously be there. Apis clenched her eyes and raised the pan over her head

CLUNK! Luffy hit the ground directly in front of her, out like a light with a bump on the back of his head.

"…and in the 1,111st generation, no, it was the 1,121st generation, it was Hokehontasu." The straw hat pirates were on their last limbs. Sanji plucked the limply hanging cigarette from his lips and ground out the ash. The ashtray was overflowing with other dead nicotine sticks. "Thereupon, Nemenemetasu entered the civil service and thought, 'how shall I protect this man?'"

"I am seriously considering killing him right now…" Gin mumbled. Nami frowned and began slinking across the floor. Usopp turned his head loosely to face her.

"Oi. Where are you going?" she placed a finger to her lips and winked cutely.

"I'm worried why Luffy's taking so long, so I'm going to check up on him."

"Nami-san's so wonderful when she's stealthy~!" Guess who said that.

"…but before the other countries could invade, he ordered the preparation of the kingdom to commence." Do I need to spell it out for you?

"Yeesh… what a relief." Nami walked along the wooden walkway leading to the cookhouse. Nami walked inside and froze as she saw Luffy on the ground.

"Lucifer! Lucifer can you hear me?" She asked as she started to shake Luffy.

"Ugh...what the hell. My head hurts." Luffy put a hand on the bump and immediately pulled it a way as he hissed in pain.

"Are you okay?" Nami asks concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, but who ever hit me will greatly regret it." Luffy says a little angry.

Nami's scream of horror roused him to his surrounding.

"THEY'RE ALL GONE!" Luffy sat up.

"The hell are you talking about, Nami?" Luffy rubbed the back of his head.

"The butaman is gone."

"Hello, what's this? That wasn't here before!" Luffy slid his butt along a deep groove in the floor.

Nami wiped her finger along the groove. Her eyes followed the path along the path and out the door.

"Where do you think it goes?" Luffy grinned.

"Only one way to find out!" He ran out the door, nose to the ground. Nami protested as she chased after him.

"L-Lucifer!" She suddenly bumped into his broad back, blushing furiously as she realized just where her hands ended up in the collision. Luffy peered back, amusement on his face.

"Err, Nami? Are you fondling my ass?" Nami's hands leaped away from said ass.

"Err! It was an accident!" She protested, face a deep red. 'Although it was a nice ass…' Her face invented a new shade of crimson at the thought. Luffy sticking his head into the bushes and giving her an eyeful of it wasn't exactly helping eith- wait, what? "Lucifer, what are you doing?"

"I found a hole!" Nami didn't want to touch that particularly bad phrasing with a ten foot pole. She did, however, stick her head in through the bushes. And there, at the base of the cliff, was a hole leading up through the precipices. "Let's go." Luffy pushed his way through the bushes, Nami shortly behind him. The two made their way up through a good stretch of the path, until they met a Cliff side. Nami peered over to see that they were still on the right track.

"Looks like the butaman swung their way over. Lucifer!" Luffy nodded.

"As you wish." He waved his hands, and the rushing water beneath them flung itself upward. The water condensed many times over, until there was a solid block of watery stone. He waved his hands dramatically. "After you, madam." Nami giggled and walked across airily.

"Thank you, my lord." Luffy grinned and followed after her, waving his hand dismissively. The water-stone dissolved, turning back into river. He looked up at the towering juts of stone. "Looks like we're pretty much behind the mountain now." Nami blinked and peered at an opening.

"Hey, what's that?" Luffy grinned at the cave.

"The end of our runaway butaman!" The pirates walked into the cave confidently. As they walked, they heard a girl talking.

"Yep, I was okay. Some weird pirates saved me." Apis said from behind a cluster of stalagmites and stalactites. "Nah, they're not that bad! I bet you're hungry! I have some of grandpa Bokuden's butaman for you!" the sound of rapid eating filled the air.

"No, don't eat them all at once!" Luffy's gaze hardened.

"She's stealing our butaman!"

"I'm sorry, I still don't know. I'm trying hard to find out, but I still don't have any clues." Nami looked over at the clump of rock blocking their view.

"Who is she talking to?" Luffy stepped forward boldly.

"So, you mind telling us why you stole all of our butaman?" Apis, to her credit, didn't seem surprised to see Luffy there. She whirled around and spread her arms across an indiscernible shadowed mass. It was far larger than her, though, so the point was moot.

"Don't shout out suddenly like that!" Luffy stepped forward. "No, stay back!"

"Not until you tell us why you stole our butaman." He countered. She flinched as he grew closer. "So, not going to- GHHHHH!" He froze, staring with dinner sized eyes in awe at the revealed object. Nami tilted her head.

"Lucifer?" She stepped after him. "Lucifer, is there something wr- GYAAAAAAAH!" She screamed, unable to help herself.

There, lying prone on the floor in a curled heap, with a single golden eye staring at them, was a massive feathered dragon.

As always leave reviews! And no flames. I just ignore them.

ElderH.