Wow! That took a bit longer than expected to write. I apologize for the wait. I have officially started another semester at school last week and between all of these projects, homework, and other activities that are going to take up my schedule, I'm not going to have much time to write fanfiction in general. So expect long waits between updates.

Alpenwolf: Yes, that scene is hilarious. It cracks me up every time. XD For me, it's a tie between Smoker and Garp, although with the recent manga chapters, Smoker is starting to get into the lead.

Noitalapsi: I agree. He's one of those people that can't go anywhere without causing some kind of mayhem. But that's why he's such an entertaining character, even though the crew will beg to differ at times.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Terra/Myka is my OC.

Chapter 35

"You think it was a good idea to send them?" asked Sanji. The group was still waiting for the trio to return with water. They were using the down time they had to rest.

"It's just a simple errand. Besides, I also sent Terra with them to make sure they don't do anything stupid. They'll be fine," reassured Nami.

"I don't know. Those three are magnets for trouble. Be ready to run," warned Zoro. Just as he finished saying that, Terra skidded to a stop in front of them. That startled a few of them.

"Guys, we got trouble," she said.

"What trouble? Where are Luffy and Usopp?" asked Vivi. Terra frowned and pointed behind her.

"What do you mean? They're right . . ." Terra looked over her shoulder to see that she had, inadvertently, left them behind while running from the (wet) Marines. They were quickly catching up, though. As well as the Marines still chasing them.

". . . Oh. Well, the Navy's here, so we better run," she said.

"What? Why did you lead them to us?" asked Nami.

"Well they weren't that far away," said Terra, mentally smacking herself for the mistake. But she wasn't keen on admitting that she had overlooked that little detail, so she settled for sounding annoyed. Besides, they really weren't that far away.

"Wait! Chopper's not back yet!" said Vivi as everyone got up to take off running.

"Leave him! He'll be all right!" said Zoro.

"HEY GUYS! THE NAVY'S COMING!" yelled Luffy as he and Usopp got closer.

"YEAH! YOU LED TO RIGHT TO US!" shouted Zoro.

"TERRA! STOP RUNNING AHEAD OF US!" complained Usopp. Terra sweat dropped as she began to run with the rest of the group. This time she was minding her speed so that she didn't leave anyone behind. She still ended up being at the front of the group despite the pace.

"If we keep running around like this, Baroque Works is sure to notice!" said Sanji. However, Terra noticed from the corner of her eye a group of men looking between the papers in their hands and their crew.

"Shit . . ." Too late. They already knew they were here. Luckily, she wasn't the only one to notice this. Zoro was quick to point out that detail to the rest of the crew as well.

"Then let's go to Crocodile's place, Vivi!" said Luffy. Vivi nodded. She pointed at a large, pyramid-like building that was topped with a head of a crocodile. For some reason, there was a banana on the crocodile's head as well.

"There! See the building with the crocodile on it? That's Rain Dinners, Crocodile's casino!"

"We should split up!" advised Sanji.

"Good idea," said Zoro. Terra almost did a double-take there. Zoro and Sanji never got along under the best circumstances. To hear them agreeing with each other was something Terra didn't think they would witness.

. . . Should that be considered as a bad omen?

"Okay! We'll meet up later at Crocodile's place!" said Luffy as everyone went in separate directions at the end of the street. Luffy went off by himself by jumping over the building in front of him and proceeded to taunt Smoker. Sanji, Nami, and Usopp ran off in one group to the right. Vivi, Zoro, and Terra ran to the left. However, after running up the stairs, Terra had split off from the group. She ran in a random direction and as fast as she could.

When she looked over her shoulder after about a minute, she saw that no one was chasing her.

"Huh . . . that's kind of disappointing," she muttered as she slowed to a jog. She was kind of hoping that some of the Marines would have followed after her so that there would be less people chasing Zoro and Vivi. Either they didn't notice her splitting off, or she had lost them soon after she booked it.

Either way, she was now free to head towards Rain Dinners without anyone tailing her.

"Hold it right there!"

. . . Or not. She had almost forgotten that Baroque Works had a lot of underlings in the city. Her path was now blocked by ten of them. All of them were carrying guns.

"Damn it." Ten goons she could take care of easily. The problem was trying to get within reach of them without getting hit by a bullet. Maybe if she ran fast enough towards them, she could reach the first guy before they could get their aim straight. The move might also catch them off guard somehow.

"Looks like we got lucky. She's alone and unarmed," said one of them. While the comment did irk her, this was a bit of a problem. But she'd be damned if she admitted that out loud. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and something flashed from the corner of her eye. Terra looked at the disturbance in question.

. . . The plan she now had in mind was doable, that was for sure. And it would be less likely that she would get shot if she could pull it off. However . . .

"FIRE!" Crap. There was no time to think. Terra ran towards the side, aiming for the flashing object.

Due to her speed, the first round of bullets missed her completely. But, when they saw what she was running for, they aimed at her destination. Terra had reached the stand when the second round of bullets went off. In one fluid motion, she grabbed the knife from the stand and unsheathed it.

Terra wasn't really thinking as much as she was reacting instinctively as she blocked the bullets with the knife. Her bruised hand throbbed slightly at the action, but she ignored it as she ran forward towards the assassins.

It only took a few seconds to beat them up. She kept the knife in her left hand, holding it in a reverse-hand grip as she used it to block more bullets. She pummeled them all with her right hand. Chopper was probably going to scold her for that, but she could worry about that later. It was when they were all down on the ground and Terra turned her back to return the knife it had happened.

One of the men got up and pointed his rifle at her. However, she was upon him in a flash, staring him down with cold, amethyst eyes. She knocked the rifle out of his grip with one hand and used the other to bring the knife to his neck. Just as she was about to slice his throat . . . she stopped. He froze with the knife being centimeters from his jugular vein. She had a blank look on her face as she brought one knee up to hit him in the stomach. That attack was followed by a hit to the head with the hilt of the knife.

Terra watched as he crumpled to the ground. Then she looked to the knife in her hand. It was perfectly clean and brand-new. Just as it was when she picked it up from the weapons stand behind her. But when she blinked, she saw it covered in blood, both fresh and congealing. In her shock, she dropped the knife. It was clean again.

She was snapped out of her shock by the sound of other voices shouting. More assassins had found her. Terra ran off without the knife. She was sure that as long as she could outrun her opponents, she would be fine. However, if it came to a fight, she would stick to her fists. It wouldn't be a good idea for her to pick up a blade again soon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Later on, at Rain Dinners, it was now seven o'clock. Crocodile's plan in Nanohana had begun and Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and even Smoker were all stuck in a cage made of sea prism stone (which neutralized all Devil Fruit powers) as it happened. Vivi was sitting on a chair at the end of a long table with her hands tied behind her back. Crocodile was in the middle of gloating about his victory so far.

"Your love for your country moves me to tears, Princess. But that love will destroy Alabasta!"

"YOU LOUSY RAT! If it weren't for this cage, I'd . . ." shouted Luffy as he pulled one of his sleeves up. However, Crocodile laughed at the little tirade.

"I had to overcome a great many obstacles to get to this point. I had to find the right people. I had to raise enough money to buy the silver needed to manufacture the dance powder. I had to orchestrate acts of sabotage in order to destroy crumbling towns. I had to . . ." Suddenly, something ran across the room in a flash and into Crocodile, making him burst into a cloud of sand. The figure skidded to a halt at the end of the room and turned around to face her opponent.

"God damnit! Don't tell me this guy ate a Devil Fruit," said Terra, irritated.

"Terra! You made it!" shouted Luffy.

"He's a sandman! He can turn into sand!" warned Nami. Well, Terra could already see that Crocodile's body was made of sand, but she didn't retort. She'd just wished she knew that earlier when she tried to attack him with his guard down. Apparently, it was down for a reason.

"That's just plain annoying," muttered Terra. Crocodile rematerialized where he stood, not looking in the least bit worried.

"Looks like the missing rat found her way here, so now we have captured all of the pirates," he said. Terra raised an eyebrow at him.

"Captured? I don't recall one of your wimpy underlings wrapping chains around me or throwing me in a cage," she said. Then she turned her attention to the cage everyone was in.

"By the way, how the hell did that happen?" she asked, waving her hand over the cage in general. She thought that everyone was holding up well on their end. And just why was Smoker in the cage as well?

"Don't ask now! Just get us out of here!" demanded Nami. Terra huffed, but crouched down into a defensive stance when she faced Crocodile again. Just how was she supposed to hit someone who could dissolve into sand? It reminded her of the time she tried to fight Smoker. That didn't end well. There had to be a weakness somewhere. What was sand weak against?

Before she could come up with an answer, two arms suddenly grabbed her arms and forced them back. Then another two hands grabbed her throat and forced her head back. Right when Terra recognized that she was in a submission hold, she heard a crack and her world went dark.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"GAH!" She landed on her back painfully. She wheezed as the air was forced out of her lungs.

"Myka!" Her brother, 5 years old at this time, came running over to her. He grabbed her arm and helped pull her up. Her arm was considerably skinnier at this time. She didn't have as much muscle yet. She was also much shorter. She staggered as she got back on her feet.

"What did you expect? The both of you are still children. It will be decades before you can match my strength," said a harsh, feminine voice. She looked up to see a woman with waist-length, raven hair. At her hip was a saber. Her face, however, Myka couldn't make out. It was still a blur.

"Then why be so harsh on us? If we need time to learn, then teach us! Don't beat us up!" said her brother, defending her. The woman scoffed.

"I'm not being harsh. I've been far too lenient with you two. You said you wanted strength so that there won't be any repeat of that 'incident' that happened a month ago, correct?" she asked. Her brother nodded, hesitantly.

"Yeah, but . . ."

"No buts!" said the woman harshly, "It doesn't matter where in the world you live. It's not only the elements that will be harsh to you, but the people as well. There's no end to the number of people who want you dead for any number of reasons. You either need to shape up or die. There is no ship out option here for you." Myka was now recovered from that last attack and shifted herself into a defensive stance. However, her brother stood his ground between her and the woman.

"But there's no way the whole world is against us! There are some people who are willing to lend us a hand!" Myka could only look at his back as he refused to accept the woman's knowledge.

"If you're referring to what happened back there, you should know that people like that are almost impossible to find. You're better off fending for yourself," said the woman, although her tone wasn't as harsh this time.

"Then we won't let them go when we find them. We'll stick with those people!" There was a moment of silence before the woman started walking towards them.

"Well, until you can find those friends you claim to exist, you need to learn to fight for yourself or you won't survive long enough to see even half of the people in this world," she said. The boy stood his ground as the woman stopped in front of him. Then, without warning, the woman moved to punch the kid.

Without thinking, Myka stepped between the two and crossed her arms into an X, blocking the punch. Myka stumbled back, but she didn't fall. Damn woman was holding back that time. Myka looked over her shoulder to see her brother watching with wide eyes.

"I'll admit, you have a tendency to rely too much on others," Myka told him. Her brother was about to raise his voice to argue, but Myka had cut him off.

"However, since you don't know how to fight, I guess it can't be helped. Should more people come after us again, rely on me to get us out of trouble until you can hold your own in a fight." The boy smiled and nodded.

"Since when can I not?" he asked.

"As touching as this all sounds, you should always be aware of your current situation and prioritize your own safety as well," said the woman. Myka turned to look back at her. A fist coming at her face took her by surprise.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"AAAAH! THE WATER!" screamed Luffy.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" cried Usopp. Their current situation was an almost hopeless one.

After Ms. All Sunday knocked Terra out and threw her to the side, Crocodile had thrown the key to their cage into the Bananagator pit. The key got swallowed by one of the Bananagators. The worst part was that the room was rigged to flood and they would drown if they remained trapped. It had sounded like Sanji was going to help them at one point, but then it sounded like he got injured over the Transponder Snail, so no one knew what things were like on his end. Crocodile and Ms. All Sunday left to see what was going on with "Mr. Prince" (the alias in which Sanji had addressed himself). Vivi had managed to avoid a Bananagator that had crawled into the room and tried to eat her. She jumped up the now destroyed staircase and promised that she would come back with help.

That had been a little while ago and the water was rising fast.

"If this cage gets flooded, we're goners!" said Usopp.

"It's up to my knees! The water's up to my knees!" cried Luffy.

"Hey, you stupid gators! Come and get us!" yelled Nami, gaining said gator's attention.

"What are you saying, Nami?" yelled Usopp.

"I'm gonna make them so mad that they chomp open this cage!" she explained.

"That's a great idea!" praised Usopp. Luffy jumped onto the idea immediately.

"Come and get us, you stupid bananas!"

"No, you got that wrong! They're not bananas! They're gators with bananas on their heads! They're animals, not fruit! It's like the Monkey Dance. It's not a kind of monkey, it's a dance!" Usopp tried to explain to Luffy, who had been calling the gators bananas for quite a while now.

"Well, gators and bananas are both edible," was Luffy's counter-argument. Before this discussion could go on further, the gator took a big bite of the cage . . . only for it to crack its teeth on it. The cage remained intact.

"What kind of cage is this?"

"Hey, you guys . . ." said Smoker. He was sitting cross-legged on the bench, staying out of the water.

"How come you're so calm?" Usopp asked Smoker, incredulously.

"Help us think of something!" demanded Luffy. Both comments were ignored.

"How much do you guys know? What is Crocodile up to?" asked Smoker, "That woman with Crocodile, the World Government has had a bounty on her head for 20 years. A bounty of over 70 million berries!"

"What? 70 million?" exclaimed Usopp, shocked.

"From the moment those two joined forces, there's been more at stake than just the fate of this country. If they're not stopped, the whole world could be in trouble," explained Smoker.

"The whole world? What do you mean?" asked Nami.

"Th-That's b-big!" stuttered Usopp.

"What're you two talking about?" asked Luffy, annoyed, "I don't need any more reasons to kick his ass!" Smoker stared at him for a moment.

"I see. So how do you plan to escape?" he asked. That question, however, was ignored in the next second.

"IT'S UP TO MY THIGHS!" screamed Luffy, remembering that the water was rising.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" cried Usopp.

"NO!" cried Nami.

"What the hell is with all the screaming?" asked an annoyed, slightly groggy voice. Everyone looked out of the cage to see Terra getting up from where Ms. All Sunday threw her.

"TERRA! You're okay!" cheered Luffy.

"Terra! The room is flooding! Get us out of here!" demanded Usopp. Terra stretched out her back. Since she had been in a slumped position against a wall, she was soaked up to her shoulders.

"I can see the problem with the flooding. But where am I supposed to find the key to that cage?" asked Terra, more alert now. She would ask about Crocodile and Vivi after this crisis was over with. This wouldn't have been as urgent if Luffy hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, but she digressed.

"The banana ate it! Go get it!" shouted Luffy. Terra gave him an incredulous stare. What the hell did he mean by . . . wait, never mind. Now she saw the HUGE gator standing in front of her. He had a banana on his head. He was also coming at her now that he saw that there was a meal outside of the cage.

". . . Of course it is. Why did I even bother asking?"

Finally got to the end here. Took me forever to figure out what to do after a certain point.

Terra's had another flashback, and I think you can guess who the woman in the flashback is. Slowly but surely, the past is being explained.

Anyway, I finally have a result for that poll. Majority of you guys didn't want to school-based AU story, so I'm not going to bother with it. That's all I have to say about that.

I'll try to get some kind of pattern going in my schedule so that I have time to write, but I'm not an organized person, so it might be a while until I post the next chapter.

In the meantime, please review and tell me what you think and I'll be back. Later!