A/N: I lost my flash drive of most up-to-date writing and will therefore be sulking until I find it. I will try my best to keep updating this and Pirate Conqueror, but Third Time's the charm will be on hold.

Chapter 37

Return to Headquarters

Shanks dropped his fork in shock. "Luffy? In trouble? Why didn't you say so earlier?" the pirate captain spluttered. "C'mon men! Let's hurry up and get this ship moving!"

The whole crew was rather fond of the young boy and they all pushed their seats away from the table to follow orders, leaving their food uneaten. Well, that wouldn't do, Harry thought to himself. He pulled his wand out and raised it into the air before using a spell many speech-making wizards were familiar with.

BANG-BANG!

Like firecrackers, an explosion of light emitted from the tip of Harry's wand, stopping all the pirates in their tracks.

"There's no need for the rush," the wizard scolded. "I can take care of the ship's repairs far quicker on my own. Finish your food. Dealing with half-eaten leftovers is annoying." And with that, Harry grabbed a loaf of bread to munch on before leaving to magic away the damage from the earlier fight.

"Hey Boy." Shanks turned to Spaz with an excited look. "Is he -?"

Spaz gained a look of dawning realization. "Yes sirree!" he exclaimed happily. "I bet he is!"

Together, the two quickly piled their plates with food and escaped out the door after Harry. The remaining pirates looked at each other with curiosity and confusion, unsure what was going on. Eventually though, Greg also piled his plate with food, having some idea of what the previous conversation was referring to, and left the dining room. The other pirates followed his lead until the table was cleared of food and everyone was on the deck.

The sight that greeted them was one that struck many of them dumb. From the waters around them, bits of wood and metal emerged to flock around potholes on the deck and gaps in the railing. Each part slotted itself against the raw edges of the ship like puzzle pieces before sealing together as if they never parted. Further observation revealed gunshot holes sealing together, the burnt black edges regaining its original color while tears in the ship's sails stitched themselves back together without a single seam, glass windows pieced back whole, and the distorted metal of dented door hinges straightening out before the doors themselves slid back into their proper positions.

"Whoo-hoo!" came an excited yell. "Do another trick, Kid!" Shanks was standing on the roof of the dining room with Spaz who was jumping up and down while twirling in circles, trying to watch the show in its entirety.

The addressed 'Kid' came floating down at the call before calmly pulling his robes into order. "Do finish your food Shanks," he sighed. "The sooner you're done, the sooner we can get moving. I don't know any weather magic, so you guys are on your own for the sailing."

"Ah!" Shanks screamed. "That's right! Luffy's in trouble!" The pirate captain stuffed the rest of his food in his mouth. "Huur-ee u' me'!" he called out to his crew around the meal stored in his cheeks.

As Shanks hurried off to ready the ship, Harry slipped through the dining room roof to find the more level-headed first mate. "Beckman, just in case, can you have someone go around the ship to check if everything's all right? If some of the pieces were blasted too far away, they might not have come back."

Beckman chuckled and lit up a fresh cigarette. "Considering we would have had every man on board working the rest of today to finish fixing the ship if it weren't for you, I think we can spare a man now to spot-check your results."

"Thanks," Harry smirked, amused by the man's reply. He summoned the abandoned plates scattered by rushed pirates and called Spaz in. They had dishes to wash and another meal to plan.

"We're approaching the docks!"

Harry leaned over the railing. The island could be seen now, but unlike previous returns, the shore was empty of people. Generally a villager or two would spot the incoming ship rather quickly and alert the rest of the town. Between Shanks' charm and the rest of the crew's casual party-loving nature, there was always a crowd gathered to welcome them back and join them at Partys' for a drink and stories, with Luffy leading the pack. This new quiet didn't bode well.

"Should we hurry?" Shanks asked as he approached the wizard from his place at the wheel.

"That might be best," Harry muttered as he worried his bottom lip with his teeth. "Actually, Spaz and I could probably take care of anchoring the ship and pulling the sails in. Why don't you take your crew to shore?"

Shanks beamed. "Thanks, Kid. Oi! Let's go find out what's happening, men!"

Harry turned to call for Spaz when suddenly, as his gaze passed over the pirate captain, blood filled his vision. The wizard choked on his own breath for a moment in shock before his sight cleared up again. What was that supposed to mean? Harry couldn't think of any possibility where the bandits stood a chance against Shanks, so why was there blood? And just how serious a problem was this a warning of? The man wasn't going to die, was he?

The crew lowered their rowboats and clambered down the ship's rope ladders. As Shanks swung himself over the railing to follow suit, Harry called out, "Wait!"

Shanks paused and turned to glance over his shoulder with a questioning glance.

Harry gave the man a nervous glance over. The vision of blood didn't return, and in the end, it was a very vague prediction. As a pirate, Harry was sure he'd been injured before plenty of times, and he wasn't dead yet. In fact, for all Harry knew, the blood was from a previous injury or even an injury he dealt to an enemy.

That's right, there was no need to panic. Harry would just hurry to anchor the ship with Spaz and then join Shanks ashore to keep anything serious from happening. But as he raised a hand to wave off his worries and say goodbye, something tugged the limb forward and he plucked a few red hairs.

"Ow, hey!" Shanks protested, rubbing his head under his straw hat. "What was that for?"

Harry stared down at the hairs. "I'm – not sure," he said slowly, "but I guess I'd better keep these?" he wondered aloud. This whole being a seer thing was really confusing. "Anyway, be careful, okay? Spaz and I will try to finish up as soon as we can and join you ashore. Keep Luffy safe!"

"Dahaha! You don't need to tell me that," Shanks grinned, and with that, the pirates left.

Harry looked back at the hairs in his hand. Strange, what use could they possibly have? He conjured a glass vial for them and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Spaz! Let's hurry and take care of the ship, alright?"

"Yes sirree!" Spaz agreed, already hopping up the netting to start pulling in the sails. "I wanna help make sure Luffy's alright, too, yes sirree!"

Harry phased into his ghost form to fly up and join his friend. Between Spaz's limitless energy and Harry's magic, the sails were pulled in and the anchor thrown over the side at high speed.

"Alright." Harry grabbed Spaz's arm. "Let's go."

Concentrating, the wizard apparated the two of them ashore, not daring to try popping closer to Partys as he wasn't sure about the wisdom of revealing his magic to the civilians and bandits.

Not two seconds after landing on the beach, Harry and Spaz were surprised to see people in the distance wandering around in what seemed to be random directions.

"Ah!" someone exclaimed. "Kid! Boy!" Shanks quickly sprinted towards the duo with a slightly panicked expression. "The bandit leader ran off with Luffy – do you have any way to find them?"

Harry frowned. Tracking people was never his responsibility during the war, though that wasn't to say he didn't pick up some basics. Homenum Revelio wouldn't be any use in this scenario. It would pick up everyone's presence equally, and if all the villagers and pirates were scattered around searching for Luffy, there's no way of pinpointing which pair of life signals would be the bandit and Luffy. He learned a few tracking runes along with the runes he used on Shanks' ship to build a temporary silencing ward, but without Luffy's blood or a magical signature, they were pretty useless too.

So what about his Seer skill?

With the prophecy's huge role in the war, a lot of people tried using divination to find a way to victory, much to Hermione's disapproval. While she couldn't deny the reality of such a power, she disliked how vague the practice was. It took a lot of experience to correctly read tarot cards and tea leaves, and debates over how to interpret the prophecy always led to more questions and less answers.

But visions. Visions were another story. While it was still dangerous to depend too much on visions as they rarely come with context, they were certainly more solid glimpses through time and space. Unfortunately, visions were a form of divination limited only to those gifted with the Inner Eye the late Professor Trelawney was so proud of possessing. Hers was too weak for visions, however, though it never mattered either way as she died so early on during the war.

Now Harry had an Inner Eye which, according to Rakma, is no longer 'clouded' by his involvement in a prophecy. He's had several involuntary visions already. Now how can he force one to occur right now and show him Luffy's current location?

The answer nearly smacked his face in.

"There you are! What in the world are you guys doing in such a small village like this? I hope you don't plan on sticking around for too long. I'd have to find someone else to tag along with."

Harry stumbled backwards from the person who stepped out of a door mere inches from his face.

It was a woman – a relatively elderly one as well, with gray hair and wrinkles but a lively spring in her step. Harry glanced quickly between this unfamiliar face, the fading door behind her, and finally landing on the very familiar large translucent pearl she was spinning in her hands.

"Cantora?" he asked, tentatively.

"Harry?" she asked back, teasingly.

"Harry!" Spaz suddenly yelled, closing his mouth from its gaping position when Harry identified their unexpected visitor. "The pearl! Can you find Luffy with it?"

Harry snapped his gaze to Cantora's eyes. "Cantora, can I borrow this again? And maybe discuss the price later – it's an emergency." He asked urgently.

Cantora blinked, but was soon smirking. "You shouldn't say such things, dearie," she replied, but placed the pearl into Harry's hands anyway.

Harry focused on his desire to find Luffy, not too worried about seeing the future instead of the present because if the boy had a future then there would be nothing to worry about in the first place. The orb's depths soon cleared away to show an image of the ocean. What was a mountain bandit doing on the ocean?

The scene faded quickly, but not before Harry managed a glimpse of the mayor's house in the background.

"Harry? Harry, are you alright?" Spaz caught the falling wizard by the arm. "Harry!"

"I'm fine," Harry reassured, finding his footing again. He wasn't nearly as exhausted this time, having received a vision of the present this time. "He's out at sea, a short distance away from Mayor Woop Slap's home."

"Thanks, Kid!" Shanks called out, already running in that direction. Harry watched him with a bit of bemusement. The rowboats were docked in the other direction, so maybe the pirate captain was planning on swimming after Luffy and the bandit?

"We'd better go after him, Spaz," Harry smirked. "At the very least, Luffy might appreciate a boat to row back to shore in, not knowing how to swim and all."

Spaz gave him a puzzled look. "Is the bandit not in a boat of his own? 'Cause that guy didn't look like someone who'd go swimming with a hostage, no sirree!"

"Oh, he had a boat, alright. But by the time Shanks is done with that idiot, his boat probably won't be in fit condition anymore either. Not to mention," Harry switched his gaze back to Cantora who was listening to the conversation with a bemused expression, being completely out of the loop, "maybe you could explain why you're here, Cantora?"

Cantora smiled. "Only if you don't mind telling me what's going on with you guys. Who is this Luffy fellow you always seem to be worrying about? I dare say you've yet to use the pearl for anyone else."

"Sure," Harry agreed easily, starting towards the docks to fetch a rowboat. "It's not a terribly complicated story, after all."

"Your Captain is a rather odd fellow," Cantora wondered aloud, tucking her feet under the simple wooden seat of the row boat.

Harry snorted between strokes of the paddle he was trying to match with Spaz. "Speak for yourself. How many women can claim dissolving the most infamous trading business of the five oceans for the purpose of spending the last years of their lives going on adventures with an almost as infamous pirate, joining his many tag-alongs such as a former marine, an impossible magician, and a, err, Spaz," he finished lamely. He was going to say a runaway from a secret underground government training program, but it probably wasn't wise to get into the habit of throwing Spaz's secret around like that.

Cantora gave an indulgent look as she graciously chose not to pursue the topic. "I suppose that's a good thing, all in all. I don't think I'd have as much fun if I chose to spend the rest of my time with a more conventional pirate."

"Not to mention, if you're willing, we could tell Shanks about the whole Merchant deal and he really wouldn't care beyond maybe being really excited about meeting a legend for the first day or so," the wizard hinted. He didn't really want Cantora to be keeping secrets from Shanks, but he didn't want to push when he and Spaz had so many of their own secrets they were unwilling to share.

"Well it's true that it'd be simpler to take care of the last few strands of business once in a while if I don't have to hide the issue from the captain of the ship I'm trying to get a ride on," the woman agreed. "But I'm not sure if it'd be any easier to live with someone who will insist on idolizing my legend."

"Eh, he won't idolize you, I don't think. I mean, so far, other than you, Spaz, and Roxy, Shanks has seen the most of my magic's capabilities and he pretty much still treats me like a friend who knows some pretty cool card tricks. I don't think I could've stuck around for so long if he acted like Roxy does sometimes with the Oohing, and the Aahing, and the constant demands for bigger and better spells." Not that Harry minded Roxy all that much, really. It was better than his days as the Boy-Who-Lived or the Man-Who-Conquered, but he was glad nonetheless that Shanks wasn't like that.

A sudden swell of water that tilted the boat unexpectedly halted further conversation on the issue.

"What was that?" Spaz asked nervously, pulling his paddle back in and peering down into the water as if he could see the cause just over the edge of their vessel.

A low roar answered him.

Suddenly, Harry remembered the circumstances which allowed the Red-Hair Pirates to use this town as headquarters during trading season.

"Oh no. It's finally come out."

The sea monster roared again in agreement.

A/N: I'm still writing. Really. I'm actually more shocked that I'm still getting new alerts and favorites for this story after so long.

Many thanks to my beta, PyromanianBlackWings.

741 reviews, 10/14/12

Thanks everyone!