I'm really sorry guys, this chapter is long overdue. I know it's been like a month or so now since the last chapter. I've just been really busy with work, plus I've actually been a little under the weather for the last week or so. Seems like a cold is going around.

Anyway, first things first. Thanks for the great reviews I got last chapter. I was really worried about whether last chapter could live up to the hype that a Law centred chapter will inevitably generate. What can I say, you guys love the dude. I feel alanleonard8 deserves a special mention, since he left an amazing review. I was just stunned as I was reading it, I really can't thank you enough for saying such nice things. And of course, huge thanks to loyal readers Orlaith and Sev.

"Yay, Road trip!" Luffy cheered, practically jumping onto the team bus.

Sanji rolled his eyes, stepping onto the bus behind him. "Idiot. Quit being so jumpy, you'll end up hurting yourself. And honestly, we'll probably really need you today."

"More than we'll need you…" Zoro muttered to himself, following just after Sanji, his comment earning him a glare from the blonde teen.

"That's probably not true," Kid said, the next onto the bus. "With Luffy's bro and Marco not here, we'll definitely need you two to come up with the goals."

"Man!" Luffy loudly whined, taking the middle of the five seats right at the back of the bus, which was pretty large with approximately 40 seats. "I can't believe Ace isn't coming!"

"It can't be helped," Sanji sighed, taking a seat on the back row next to Luffy. "He said it was work related, so it's probably pretty important. I mean, if him and Marco needed to sort something out, it's not gonna be something trivial, is it?"

Zoro sat down on the opposite end of the back row, before eyeing Law, who had just gotten on the bus. "Hey man, you OK? You've been really quiet."

Law shook his head dismissively. "I'm fine. I'm always pretty quiet anyway."

Luffy leaned back in his seat and grinned. "Man, I'm so excited! It's been so long since I've played in a proper soccer match! I can't wait, let's go! We-"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP!" Garp roared from the front of the bus, the coach being the last of the team to get on. "I can't even hear myself think, let alone listen to what the bus driver just in front of me is trying to say!"

"Yes Grandp- I mean coach! Yes Coach!"

Garp rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the bus driver, presumably discussing the details of the journey ahead.

It was early August now, which meant that in Europe, some of the major Soccer Leagues, such as the English League, were starting. So, to celebrate soccer returning from the summer, the local team, who were regional champions, were participating in a friendly tournament with some teams from other cities. It was a one day tournament, with only 4 teams participating.

So the team had met up at their usual practise pitch early in the morning, since it was a long drive to the city where it was being hosted. The problem with this was that the early morning made Garp even grumpier than usual.

After a few more minutes of discussion between the bus driver and Garp, the coach finally took his seat right at the front of the vehicle and the driver started the bus. As soon as the bus was in motion, Zoro yawned loudly, before instantly dozing off. Luffy opened his mouth to say something, before noticing that the green haired teen was asleep. So instead, he turned his attention to Sanji, who, realising that Luffy was looking at him, tried to pretend to be asleep. Luffy however, prodded the blonde repeatedly until he dropped the act.

"Hey Sanji, want to play a game?"

"No."

"Aww, come on…" Luffy whined. He gave Sanji his best pleading look, with the blonde teen unable to resist it.

"Fine, whatever," he sighed. "What do you want to play?"

"How about I-spy?"

"Urgh… Fine."

"OK! I'll start. I spy with my little eye… something beginning with… 'X'!"

Sanji sunk back in his seat. This was going to be one long drive.

######

"Are you sure it's OK for us to go?" Chopper asked, boarding the train.

"Sure," Nami nonchalantly replied. "We'll be able to buy tickets there, and if we go by train, we'll at least make it there at the same time as them."

"But shouldn't we have told them that we're going to go watch them at the tournament?"

"No, the whole point is that we're surprising them!"

"Some surprises aren't good…" Usopp, who was already seated, muttered to himself. Nami glared playfully at him.

"Stop being so grumpy. It's a fun day out in another city! What else would you rather be doing?"

"Are you OK with this?" Robin, who was seated next to Vivi, asked the blue haired girl.

Vivi smiled. "Of course. If Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are competing, I'd love to go cheer them on! Although I must confess, I am a little nervous. I've never been on a train before, with other people like this. Normally, father and I just use our private jet…"

"Wow, you have a private jet?!" an excited Chopper squealed, rushing to get the seat in front of the two girls. "That's so cool!"

"But still," Robin continued, conscious of the fact that Vivi was trying to change the subject. "Aren't you worried about Baroque Works?"

"I guess, but… I'd be in danger wherever I go. Besides, hopefully they won't know that we're going away today."

"Yeah," Nami agreed. "They shouldn't know to follow us here, so today will be a Baroque Works free day!"

######

"Alright, we're here!" Garp announced, as soon as Zoro, the last on the bus, had got off the vehicle. "We don't have to be at the stadium for a couple of hours, but the stadium's only a ten minute walk from here. So, you're free to walk around in this area for a bit. Just meet back here for 1:45 at latest."

"Uh coach?" Law said, eying Luffy and Zoro in particular. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Garp sighed. "Not really, but the alternative is spending the next couple of hours waiting around here with you idiots, so…"

Kid looked at Zoro and Sanji, who had launched into some pointless argument, before nodding. "Yeah, I see where you're coming from…"

Garp walked over to the two arguing teens, and clashed their heads together, causing them to both fall to the ground in pain. "Anyway, if you two are quite finished… Meet back here by quarter to two, make sure you're with at least one other person. I don't want anyone forgetting to turn up, and I definitely don't want anyone getting lost."

Sanji, who had by this point recovered from Garp's attack, smirked at Zoro. "Did you hear? No one can get lost, stray moss…"

"Eh? Why're you smiling like that? You think I'm gonna get lost, dartboard brow?"

"Well duh… You always get lost, wherever we are."

A vein popped on Zoro's head. "Oh yeah? Like when?"

Sanji glared at Zoro. "You're kidding, right? I can think of loads of time so far just this summer where you've gotten lost. When we went to see that movie, Saboady Park, The forest in Sabaody, when we were searching for Robin, when you were returning the Christmas decorations… It would be harder to think of times when you've actually made it to the right place!"

Zoro glared back at him. "Yeah, well… you… have a stupid eyebrow…."

"That's the best he could do…?" Kid muttered to himself.

Garp then cleared his throat, getting the attention of the two bickering teens. "Sanji makes a good point, out of all of us here, you are the most likely to not make it here on time Zoro, although Luffy's definitely a close second… therefore you two boys will be sticking with me!"

Both Luffy's and Zoro's jaws dropped simultaneously. "Wait what?!"

"Do I really need to repeat myself? You two are staying with me in the bus. Although try not to make too much noise, I want to finally finish reading my novel today…"

"But Grandp- Coach. I mean, Coach," Luffy pleaded, "That's no fun, I want-"

The dark haired teen was silenced by his grandfather cracking his knuckles. A signal all discussion was over.

######

Nami examined the map carefully, before placing her finger confidently on a single point. "They'll probably be parked in this car park, it's the closest to the stadium."

Franky grinned. "Let's head over to give them a SUPER welcome! I'm sure they'll be SUPER happy to see us."

Robin glanced at her watch. "The tournament doesn't start for over two hours. They might not be there yet."

Usopp nodded. "That's true. Besides, we still need to buy tickets. We have no idea how busy this thing is going to be, so if we don't hurry, all the tickets may be gone by the time we get there."

Nami dismissed that thought with a wave of her hand. "No way. I watch these kind of summer tournaments on TV with Luffy's family all the time, the stadiums are always half empty. And those are when professional teams are playing! Besides, I wanna meet up with them now, so that we can go do some shopping quickly before the matches start!"

"Shopping?" Usopp and Chopper groaned simultaneously.

"I've got an idea," Vivi suggested. "Why don't we split up? Half of us can go get the tickets, whilst the other half go meet up with Luffy and the others."

"That's an excellent idea," Brook agreed. "I'll go with Usopp and Chopper."

"Me too," Franky volunteered. Nami gave the four of them a disapproving look.

"Just what do you guys all have against shopping?"

Robin giggled, patting Nami lightly on the shoulder. "It's OK, I'll come with you."

Nami smiled cheerfully at her best friend. "You always do. Vivi, you'll come too, right?"

"Sure, it will be nice to walk around the city centre. I never do this when me and my father go on vacation. He likes to laze about in the hotel…"

"See, why couldn't our holiday have been like that?" Usopp muttered, nudging Chopper. The shorter boy nodded in agreement.

"Tell me about it…"

"Anyway" Nami clapped, getting everyone's attention. "We have a plan. We'll meet up at the stadium ten minutes before the tournament starts."

"Make it twenty," Robin suggested. "Just to be safe."

"Fine, at twenty to two, meet up outside the stadium."

######

"I don't know… Bus?" Zoro half-heartedly guessed, throwing up and catching a tennis ball. He and Luffy had been waiting together in the bus for around half an hour now, although it felt much longer to the green haired teen. Partly due to boredom, but mostly due to his companion…

"Nope," Luffy smugly grinned, enjoying the fact that Zoro hadn't guessed one of his words yet. What he didn't seem to see though was that Zoro wasn't exactly putting much effort into his guesses.

Zoro sighed angrily, beginning to really get tired of I-spy. Why Luffy loved this game so much, he'd never know. "Back?"

Luffy's grin widened. "Nope. Come on Zoro, you really suck at this!"

A vein popped on Zoro's head. "Is it… Break? Or Beat up?"

Luffy started chuckling, rolling around on his seat. "Hahaha… those aren't even things. Man, you really are dumb, huh Zoro?"

Zoro grasped the tennis ball tightly in his hand, pretending that it was Luffy's neck. "Fine… I give up. What is it?"

Luffy took a second to recover from his laughing fit, before kicking his kitbag, which was resting on the ground under his seat. "Bag."

"How did I not get that….?" Zoro muttered to himself, although Luffy heard him, sparking another laughing fit.

"OI, YOU TWO! SHUT UP!" Garp yelled from the front of the bus.

Zoro glared at the back of the head of the old man. "What's his problem?" He muttered, too quiet for Garp to hear. "It's because of him that we're stuck here."

"Shh, quiet Zoro!" Luffy loudly whispered, although his voice was way louder than Zoro's had been. "Grandpa will hear you!"

"Idiot!" Zoro loudly whispered back, again louder than he had originally been. "You're way louder than me!"

"No way! You're the loud one!"

"No you are!"

"No, you!"

That last whisper was the one at which Garp, who had heard everything since Luffy had started talking, finally decided to intervene. He stood up, instantly silencing the bickering teens, and began making his way to the back of the bus. Zoro and Luffy gulped simultaneously as the old man slowly approached the two. However lucky for them, just as Garp was about to reach them, someone stepped onto the bus.

"Luffy!" Nami called, waving from the front of the bus.

Luffy blinked. "Nami? What are you doing here?" Suddenly, he grinned widely. "You're here to save me from Grandp- Coach, I mean coach… aren't you?"

"Huh?"

Luffy scrambled past Garp and ran up to a confused Nami, tackling her into a tight hug. "Thanks so much! I promise, I'll do anything you want!"

This caught Zoro's attention. "Hey!" He roared. "Don't think you're just allowed to go off with her and leave me back here with… Uh, wait can I start that again-"

"With who?" Garp angrily cut in, lunging at Zoro, who just about escaped the grasp of the old man.

Nami rolled her eyes, still trying to shake off Luffy. "Relax, I wanted you to come along to. And Sanji. Although…. Where is he? And everyone else?"

Garp momentarily paused in his efforts to punish Zoro. "I let him and the other guys have a little free time before the tournament. I didn't let these two do the same for obvious reasons."

Nami eyed Luffy and then Zoro before weakly nodding. "Yeah, I see what you mean... You don't have to worry though, I'm sure even these two will be fine with us."

Luffy blinked. "Us?" It was then that he looked outside and noticed Robin and Vivi standing together outside, idly chatting. "Hey, Robin and Vivi are here too!"

Nami nodded. "Everyone's here, just the other guys have gone to get the tickets for later, since they didn't want to go shopping with us."

Luffy's heart sank a little. "Uh… shopping?"

Nami smiled mischievously at him. "Oh? I could have sworn you said you'd do 'anything I want'…"

Zoro smirked. "Ha! Serves you right! It's your fault we got in trouble with the old man in the first pla-"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN OLD MAN!?" Garp roared, again lunging at Zoro, who this time wasn't able to avoid Garp's attack. "Besides," he said, turning his back on the painfully groaning Zoro and cracking his knuckles. "You're gonna go with them, so I don't know why you're gloating…"

"But I don't want to go shopping… can't I just stay here?"

"No!" Garp defiantly replied. "I want some peace and quiet, so buzz off!"

Zoro groaned loudly, partly because he was still recovering from Garp's attack, and partly due to the prospect of spending the next hour and a bit carrying Nami's bags for her. And there was him thinking nothing could be worse than playing I-Spy with Luffy…

######

Around one hour later

Sanji shoved his hands into his pockets and rolled his eyes. The whole team was gather in the car park now with their kitbags, ready to head to the stadium. The whole team minus two… "What a surprise… Although I thought the whole point was to have those two remain in the bus…"

A vein popped on Garp's forehead. "WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE TWO MORONS!" He roared. "I SWEAR WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM, I'LL WRING THEIR LITTLE NECKS!"

Law struggled to stifle his smirk. "Why did you let Straw Hat and Roronoa go in the first place? That seems like a really bad move."

"I let them go with Nami, Robin and the other girl," Garp grumbled. "I thought that they at least would be able to keep track of time…"

"Speaking of which," Kid chipped in, glancing at his watch. "The tournament starts in twenty five minutes. We need to get to the stadium and get ready, or else we won't be ready in time for the first match, which we are playing in."

Garp glared at him. "You think I don't know that Brat? But we need those clowns, or we won't be able to play!"

"That's right," Law nodded. "It's bad enough without Ace and Marco, but Roronoa's one of our best attacking players… and Straw hat's even more important. He's our only keeper."

"I know that," Kid impatiently replied, "but we don't have a choice, do we? Someone else has to play in goal for the first match, and hopefully by then Straw hat will show up."

Garp huffed angrily, still clearly fuming at the absence of arguably his two key players. "It can't be helped… We'll have to do that… Alright, let's go. Kid's right, we need to get to the stadium soon, or else we won't have time to get changed."

Sanji sighed, before dropping his bag on the pavement. The whole squad gave him a collective questioning look. "I'll go look for them… It's not that big a city, it shouldn't be too hard to find them. If those two aren't here, they probably got separated from the girls, meaning that they haven't got a hope of finding their way on their own."

"Wait, hang on!" Kid called after the now walking away Sanji. "We're losing half of our team here. It's bad enough we don't have a keeper, now we don't even have-"

"I'll do it," Garp suddenly interrupted. Kid blinked at him. "huh?"

"I'll play in Goal."

The entire team's, including Sanji's, jaws dropped. "What?!"

"I've trained Luffy, I know what it takes to be a good goalkeeper. If that runt can do it, why can't I?"

Kid wearily rubbed his forehead. "Hang on now… One thing at a time…"

Sanji shook his head, and set off jogging away from the others. "No time. Take mine, Luffy and Moss-head's stuff to the stadium. We may miss the first game, but hopefully we'll make it in time for the rest of them."

"Just wait one second…." Kid called after Sanji, trailing off at the end. The blonde had gone.

######

"And you're absolutely sure, Zoro?"

Zoro yanked Robin's arm, pulling her into an alleyway. "No doubt about it. Someone was following us. Ever since we left the bus."

Robin frowned. "Baroque Works?"

Zoro nodded, crossing his arms. "Probably. Either way, I think we've lost them now. That or…"

"They've gone after Luffy, Nami and Vivi. I hope they're OK…"

So yeah, that's it. Kind of a set up chapter if anything. There's actually going to be a new character next chapter I think, someone who's not the biggest character I guess, but he's still pretty important. Anyone care to guess who...?

As always, thanks for reading, and please do leave a review. I'd love to hear from more of the people who read this story.