"Do you know anyone with super high tech skills?" Milo asked Malcolm the next day.

"Why?"

"Because I want them to hack into a government data base to see what they've got on the other world."

"You're kidding, right?" Milo just stared impassively at him, making Malcolm sigh in exasperation and nod. "I know Jonathan. Mason's old friend. He's good with computers."

"Can I talk to him?"

"I don't know if he wants to talk to you." Malcolm said. "He's gone… weird since Mason vanished."

Milo groaned, "Can I at least try?"

"Be my guest," Malcolm said, pointing to his laptop. "From what I've heard he doesn't answer his cell anymore, so try and get him on Facebook."

Milo sat down at Malcolm's desk and powered up the laptop. He used Malcolm's account. He was already logged in, and Milo didn't want to bring any unwanted attention to himself. He was supposed to be missing, after all.

He was relieved to see that Jonathan was online, quickly sending him a message.

I need help.

The reply was quick.

Fuck off.

Milo frowned, I need someone to hack into the government databases. The ones containing the information about the shifts.

Why the hell would I do something like that for you, Weaver?

Because it's not Malcolm. It's Milo.

Screw that.

I'm serious.

Monkey's gone missing, you moron. You're one of his best friends. You should know that.

Mason's fine. He's alive on the other side.

Fuck you.

He signed off, leaving Milo frustrated. He quickly sent one last message, hoping he would read it when he logged back on. He shut the computer with more force than necessary before shoving the chair back and grabbed one of Malcolm's jackets.

Malcolm looked up, "No luck?"

"I'm going to his house. Maybe I'll get a better response in person."

"Don't destroy that coat," Malcolm ordered. "You fried the one you had on yesterday."

"I'll take it off before I use fire, if I have to. I'm hoping to not cause a scene this time."

Malcolm waved him off as he left the house, pulling the hood over his head and walking down the street. Jonathan lived down the street from his old house, so he took the back streets and arrived quickly. Knocking on the door, he removed his hood.

A man answered the door, "Hello?"

"Hi. Is Jonathan home?"

"Sure," The man said, stepping aside and allowing Milo into the house. "He's down in his room. It's been a while since any of his friends came by. See if you can cheer him up a bit."

"I'll try, sir," Milo said, following the man's directions and finding Jonathan's room in the basement. Pressing an ear to the door, he could hear a television through the wood, and he knocked.

"Fuck off, Jack!"

"It's not Jack! It's not Malcolm either!" Milo called back.

He heard a crash and jumped back as the door swung open and crashed against the wall. A disheveled blond stood in the doorway, bloodshot eyes wide. The television behind him showed the news report from yesterday, paused on an angry looking Smoker.

"I see you got my last message."

Jonathan grabbed the front of Milo's jacket and yanked him into the room. He slammed the door behind him and released Milo, who would have fallen if he hadn't caught himself on the desk.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Jonathan demanded harshly, jabbing Milo in the chest. "Where the hell are the others? Why aren't they back?"

Milo held up his hands in surrender, "Long story. I wasn't with them when I came back."

"And what the hell is that?" He shouted, pointing at the screen.

"Yesterday's stupidity? I don't know. I wasn't really thinking."

Jonathan sat down on a laundry covered chair and placed his hands on the keyboard, beginning to type furiously. "I still have a shit ton of stuff to ask you, but when you mentioned the shifts, I got curious. I'm a good hacker, but I don't know if I can get into the government."

"I just want to know what they're planning," Milo said, dragging over a chair. The screen was covered in numbers and strange symbols, and Milo couldn't wrap his head around it. "I've been over there a while, and I know that something's going to go down, be it good or bad. I want to find out what this world is planning, cross back over, find out what they're going to do, although I already have a pretty good idea of what they want to do, and try and stop it."

"That sounds stupid."

"You do know what I did yesterday, right?"

Jonathan nodded reluctantly, "I thought you were a coward."

"I guess I've changed," Milo said, as Jonathan's fingers flew over the keyboard faster than Milo's eyes could follow.

"You said Mason was alive, right?"

"As far as I know. I'm not travelling with them."

"You said that in your message. Why not?"

Milo nodded at the screen, "Didn't you hear?"

"Your parents are pirates?"

"I've explained it too many times. I'm not doing it again. But you're right."

"So you're with them?"

"Not really. I'm… I don't really know. I want to find them, but I've been offered a position in another crew."

"Whitebeard, right? That's what it said on the news."

"Well, Marco's the Captain, but yeah. Whitebeard's dead."

Jonathan nodded before shushing him and leaning closer to the screen, the green symbols reflecting in his eyes as he hit the enter key and sat back, his fingers crossed.

"If this works, I can get into the first level of security. They've usually got information hanging around there. I can gather what I can, and we can decode it later."

"I don't speak computer."

"I do. But after I've collected that I can get into the next level. I've got to make sure this virus is compatible. Otherwise it'll just be deleted."

"And that's bad."

"Of course it's bad!"

A knock on the door interrupted anything else Jonathan was going to say, "Hey Jonny! What do you want for dinner? Is your friend staying?"

"Whatever's good," Jonathan called. "You staying?" Milo nodded, and Jonathan informed the person outside his door. There was a grunt, and then footsteps as the person left.

"Who's that?"

"My older brother, Jack," Jonathan said, turning his attention back to the currently black screen. Every few seconds a line of green text would appear. "Here's the data coming in. It's going to take a while. Come on, we'll eat while it's downloading. And I want to know how you can light yourself on fire."

"Devil Fruits."

"What the fuck did you say?"

Milo laughed at Jonathan's flabbergasted tone. "It's a really strange world."

Milo called Malcolm to inform him that he was spending the night at Jonathan's house. He crashed on Jonathan's floor while the other teenager spent the night glued to his screen. When Milo woke up the next morning he found Jonathan passed out with his face pressed to his keyboard.

Milo gently shook him awake, and he woke with a start, flailing backwards and crashing to the floor. "Ah shit. That hurt."

"At least it's carpet," Milo said. "Imagine falling out of a hammock onto wood."

Jonathan sat up, rubbing his head and turning to the screen. His eyes lit up when he spotted the flashing icon on the screen. He jumped up and clicked it, lines of readable text appearing.

"I got the information," He cheered, copying it to a word document and printing it. Milo grabbed the sheets as they came out, quickly scanning them.

One word caught his attention, "Nuclear attack!"

"Give me that," Jonathan swiped the papers from Milo and started looking over them. "This is just the preliminary information. Shit that isn't as top secret as bigger shit." His brow furrowed. "It seems they were thinking about planning a nuclear attack." He handed the sheets back to Milo, who stuffed them into his pocket and narrowed his eyes.

"That's not good. That means both sides are preparing to attack."

"What's that side got in terms of weapons?" Jonathan asked.

"Poseidon," Milo said. "I don't know what it is, but I've heard Jozu mention it once. It's supposed to be able to destroy the world. And there's Pluton, going from the stories my parents told me when I was younger. A weapon that can wreak havoc. It's vanished, but people are desperate to find it. One of their friends has been tracking it down since she was a kid. And then there are all the people with Devil Fruit abilities."

"Like being able to light yourself on fire."

"There's more than just that one. The Marine in the castle can turn into smoke. Dad's made of rubber. There's one that can cause tsunamis. The Fleet Admiral is made of magma. Marco can turn into a phoenix. Jozu can turn to diamond."

"That sounds crazy. What are you going to do?"

Milo patted his pocket, "Get these to my parents. Dad's the King of the Pirates. He'll do something."

"Those are just the prep. I'm not going to be able to get into the actual databanks for months. I need to make my virus a friendly."

"That's alright. I can make due with these. Dad never has an attack plan anyway. He'll barge into situations without knowing anything." He looked up at Jonathan, "I don't want either world destroyed. I've got ties to both now. This," He patted his pocket again, "Will give us a head start in preventing anything from happening. Thank you."

"If you see Mason, tell him he'd better come back safe," Jonathan said. "And you owe me big time for this."

"I don't have any money," Milo told him.

"I know. You still owe me. Oh, and happy birthday, by the way."

Milo just nodded, hiding his face in his hood before leaving the house and trudging back to Malcolm's. He had forgotten about the date. It didn't seem as important anymore.

The paper in his pocket weighed him down, and the walk back seemed to take forever. He remembered an offhanded comment Jonathan had said. I thought you were a coward. He had been. He was a loser. He wasn't popular. He didn't have many friends. But now… He held his hand out in front of him. If he wanted to, he could turn it to fire. He really had changed.

Milo spent the next few days hiding in Malcolm's basement, trying to figure out how he could get back to the Grand Line. He had returned to a cake, which Milo appreciated. Malcolm kept him updated on Smoker's actions, also telling him that Amy was angry and was coming over that afternoon for a full explanation.

His worry lessened as the days wore on, and when Malcolm told him that the pirate ships were preparing to leave, Milo borrowed an old hoodie from Malcolm and the two of them joined up with Amy and snuck into the crowd of people gathered to watch them leave.

"How do you plan to get aboard?" Malcolm whispered, as they made their way towards the front.

"Jumping," Milo whispered back. "And a little propulsion."

"You think you can jump that far?" Malcolm asked skeptically.

Milo nodded as he eyed up the ship. He didn't know either of the flags, but then again, he only knew two crews. The ship closest to him had a flag with a plain skull except for three red lines crossing the left eye vertically, and had swords crossed behind it instead of bones.

From his vantage point he could see a fat man in green conversing with one of the dock workers and a scientist. The pirate looked bored as he bit into a piece of meat, and Milo was abruptly reminded of his father.

"You're an idiot for trying this," Amy muttered, but Milo ignored her.

"They're about to go," Milo said. "I don't know when I'll be back."

"If you'll be back," Amy growled.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Milo said. "I have to warn my parents about this. If the worlds are fusing like that Taylor guy said, we're in trouble. And I know that both governments aren't going to get along. It's best if we can stop it."

"But what happens if you do stop the world from coming together?" Malcolm asked. "Andy, Tim, and all the people over there will be trapped. You won't be able to get back."

Milo nodded, "I know. But I'd rather this impending war doesn't happen. Oh, and Jonathan may be stopping by your house, Malcolm. He has some important stuff for me, so please don't lose it."

The lines from the ship began to fall away and Milo gave his friends a reassuring smile and promised to pass on their greetings to their other friends before sprinting forward. His sudden appearance startled the dock workers, guards, and scientists. Some tried to stop him, but he easily dodged and ran to the edge of the docks, bending his knees slightly and shoving off as hard as he could. Fire broke through his shoes, melting the soles and it gave him just enough lift to grab the nets hanging off the side of the ship.

He looked back, seeing Malcolm and Amy waving from a safe distance, and the people on the docks shouting bloody murder at the guards for letting him through. Milo laughed and looked up, nearly letting go when he saw someone staring at him from the railing of the ship.

It was the fat man, who was grinning at him. "Ballsy little brat, aren't you?"

Milo bit his lip before returning the grin, "I can explain?"

"Then you'd better climb up. If I saw what I think I did, you've got Devil Fruit abilities."

Milo climbed up and over the railing, his bare feet slapping against the wooden deck as he landed. The fat man had a huge grin on his face, and despite his cheery attitude Milo couldn't help but feel concerned.

The deck was empty save a grey haired man carrying a long rifle and a red haired man with his back to Milo. The grey haired man examined Milo, and the teenager wondered if he was the Captain. A boisterous laugh erupted from the red haired man, and he turned around, a bottle of sake in one hand and his other hidden beneath his cloak.

"You've got some nerve, kid," He said. "Sneaking aboard this ship."

"I wasn't really sneaking," Milo said, as sirens started blaring behind them.

"Bwahaha! I like you, brat." He lifted his arm, and that's when Milo realized he only had one arm. He pointed the bottle up at the riggings, where Milo saw another person lounging in the crow's nest. "Oi! Yasopp! Give us more sail!"

"Aye, Captain!"

The sail opened further as the man complied with the order, and the red haired man turned back to Milo. "I'm Shanks."

"Milo," Milo introduced. He looked back over his shoulder, seeing several boats following them. "Sorry for invading."

"Eh," Shanks shrugged. "Makes this more interesting."

Milo smiled in relief as the ship picked up more speed and left the motor boats in their wake. He sensed the light approaching and braced himself. He had no idea how stable the shift had become. Shanks took a large swig from his bottle and followed Milo's gaze to the sky.

"What's there?"

Milo made a face, "I can feel it coming."

"Feel what?"

"Can't you feel it?" Milo pointed up just as the halo of light appeared above them.

"Looks like we're going home," The fat man said. "Where do you think we'll end up?"

The question was aimed at the man named Shanks, but Milo answered, "Anywhere."

"You know what's going to happen?" Shanks asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I know that the energy is unstable," Milo said. "The first time I ended up on an uninhabited island. Second time, East Blue. I wonder where I'll end up this time." He placed a hand over his pocket to reassure himself the information he had was still there.

He had to squint as the light descended, and the sound of sirens faded. Milo opened his eyes to see nothing but blue water, and he felt relieved that he had come through safely. Shanks placed his hand on Milo's shoulder, "So where do you need to go?"

"Marco," Milo said.

"The Phoenix?"

"Yes."

Shanks laughed again, "I'd never expect you to be a Whitebeard. How old are you?"

"Si–Seventeen."

"You sure about that?"

"I turned seventeen three days ago."

If you're sure," Shanks said, picking up the bottle again. "We're not sure where we are right now, so you'll have to just bear with us. It's hard getting in contact with the other Emperors."

"That's fine. Could I call them?"

"You do realize transponder snails have a range, right?"

"They do?"

"Where the hell have you been living?"

"It's a long story."

Shanks just shook his head, "'Fraid to say it kid, but you're stuck with us for a while."

"Great," Milo muttered.

"We're not that bad," Shanks laughed. "You don't look like a threat, but as long as you don't do anything to hurt me or my crew, you're welcome to stay. I might warn you through, we like parties."

"I'm used to it. It'll be better than dealing with Haruta when Izo breaks out the alcohol."