I'm in panic mode. I've got very little time to get ahead of my chapters again and writer's block is attacking. I so don't want this to happen. I do not own One Piece. Reviewer thanks go out to Rose-san and Sakura-chan. These chapters are so long compared to Inherited Will, Destiny of the Age. Naaa...


Illicit Memories

Water Seven Arc: Dead End Adventure

Luffy quickly began to run towards the sound of Maon and Usopp's voices, Nami right behind him. They ran though the mess that the shipyard was, only to find Usopp lying on the ground, thoroughly beaten to a pulp. One of the suitcases was by his side, the contents spilled onto the ground, with the other two suitcases missing.

"No! Usopp!" Nami gasped. "What happened!?"

"Money… guys… Maon… help…" was all that was audible as the sniper tried to talk. Luffy grit his teeth and looked up, where he could catch just a glimpse of Maon as he turned a corner.

"I'll be right back," he snarled right before taking off in a sprint. He quickly followed Maon and saw that the redhead was not making off with the money, but trying to retrieve the cases from the men that had stolen them earlier.

"Give those back!" he cried, trying to punch one of the strange men. The man just chuckled and shoved Maon to the ground with one hand. Maon landed on the bag he had slung over his shoulder, breaking glass and instantly setting off all of the chemicals that he was keeping in there. Acid began to eat away at everything it touched and a blue-violet haze swirling with magenta began to quickly spread, giving the thieves a clean get-away.

"Maon!" Luffy shouted as he entered the mist. His eyes immediately began to water and his chest was quickly constricting. Luffy reluctantly stepped out of the cloud, unable to breathe. Paulie, Kaku and Iceburg ran up to him and stared at the thick, unmoving cloud.

"What is that?" Kaku wondered aloud.

"I never thought the Frankies were capable of such an elaborate trick," Iceburg scowled as he helped up Luffy to his feet.

"We have to help Maon!" Luffy panicked, coughing out the haze. "He's trapped in there and when I went in, I almost suffocated!" Alarm swept across his face, worry for his nakama controlling his emotions.

"Hey Kaku, do you have a sawing mask on you?" Paulie asked, adjusting his goggles so that they were covering his eyes.

"Yes I do, ja," Kaku answered, taking the mask out of his pocket. Paulie snatched it without another word and covered his mouth and nose with it as he ran into the cloud.

"They really have stooped to a new low," Iceburg snarled. Luffy looked at Iceburg questioningly.

"Who?" he asked.

"The Frankies," Iceburg replied. "It's my bet that they're the ones who did this. They're always causing trouble. They were the ones who tried stealing your money before. I'm surprised they actually tried to come back again, since they usually leave after they realize that the people they are trying to rob are aware of their existence. They scrap ships and sell their parts in the underground market normally and have the tendency to rob people when their business is slow." Just then, Paulie emerged from the cloud with Maon. The redheaded man was unconscious, the acid that broke in his bag having eaten away at the worn leather of his bag and vest. His arms and chest were covered in splotches where the acid had gone right through his clothes and seared off his skin.

"What is that stuff!?" Paulie cursed as he coughed and set down Maon on the cement.

"Maon carries a lot of different little glass containers with liquid in them," Luffy said simply. "I think when he fell, the stuff in his bag broke and mixed wrong."

"Sounds about right," Kaku said, bending down to take Maon's pulse. "We need to get him to a doctor, quickly ja."

"Then I need to get Chopper," Luffy said quickly. Before anyone could protest, Luffy had turned on his heels and was running off in hopes of finding the exit. He almost went right past Nami and Kalifa, who were helping Usopp sit up, but paused for a split second.

"Did you get the money back?" Nami asked. Luffy shook his head sharply.

"No! Now Maon's hurt too! I need to find Chopper so that he can heal Usopp and Maon quickly!" He took off again, leaving Nami confused.

"Luffy! Get back here!"

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"Thanks for picking me up, bastards," the reindeer/humanoid Chopper said, snuggling into Gormal's lap for comfort. The deck hand shifted uncomfortably, not appreciating the doctor's actions. He and Sanji had found him wandering about aimlessly, half in tears and without Robin or a clue as to where she could have been. Needless to say that Sanji was not very pleased by this news, but accepted it anyways. He remedied the situation by throwing the once sniffling Chopper in the back of the cart with Gormal, which apparently set off the deck hand when the girls traveling the sidewalks noticed and started twittering again.

"I still can't believe that you lost Robin-chan," Sanji scoffed, taking a deep drag of his cigarette and waited for the rebuttal to come.

"It wasn't my fault she didn't follow me into the bookshop!" Chopper snapped defensively. "There was no way that she couldn't have seen me walking in! Usually she follows me around when we're in port!"

"Relax," Gormal said, gently shoving Chopper at the antler in an attempt at looking manly. "Don't listen to Sanji. He's just sore that he got stuck taking me shopping."

"He must be," Chopper agreed. He looked up at Gormal and smiled hopefully. "He's just jealous of me!"

"Right," Gormal nodded. "You're closer to getting a date with the women than any of the rest of us, him especially. It's because they find you 'adorable'. I heard them talking one time about it."

"You two do know that I can hear you, right?" Sanji replied. He knew even by not turning around that Chopper and Gormal had each made faces at him. The blond clicked his tongue and snapped the yagara bulls' reins, sending the creatures into another canal.

"Where are we going?" Gormal asked.

"Think about it, shit-traitor," Sanji sighed. "What did Nami-san take the idiots to go do?"

"Pawn the gold."

"Right. Now what do we do with the money after we pawn the gold?"

"Hide it before Nami gets her greasy mitts on it?"

"Guess again, genius."

"Spend it!" Chopper said with a joyful squeak.

"That's right," Sanji smiled. "Now what do we need to do?"

"Find a pub," Gormal replied, now purposely getting on Sanji's nerve. Gormal chortled as the cook's ears went red in frustration. Then, from one of the shop fronts lining the street, came a young man with brown hair and a kendo bokken in one hand. His name was Toran, which was unknown to the three pirates.

"'ELLO," bellowed Toran, a grin plastered on his face. "DID SOM'ONE SAY THAT THEY NEEDED T' FIND A PUB?"

"Ano…" Gormal muttered, rather embarrassed. "I was only joking…"

"FUNK'EH'TOWN!" Toran shouted before walking away. Sanji, Gormal and Chopper stared in bewilderment as the young man simply walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

"Pardon me…?" Gormal asked, rather perplexed. Sanji and Chopper both shrugged and they continued on their way, leaving the previous conversation to die. Before long, the imposing form that was Galley La came into view. Sanji pulled the cart up next to the cement pavement and hopped out onto the ground.

"Stay here shit-traitor," he said. "Chopper, come on. Let's see if the others are here yet. I need to know if it's safe for me to bring the food back to the Merry."

"Okay!" Chopper agreed, climbing out of the small boat. Not even two of his hooves were on the ground when there was the sound of a door slamming open and Luffy's voice cut through the air.

"CHOPPER!? WHERE ARE YOU!?" the young captain screamed. He looked down and saw the crew doctor standing on the pavement, staring up at him curiously. Luffy tried to run down the staircase, but ended up rolling down, colliding with Sanji and knocking the chef to the ground.

"What do you think you are doing!?" Sanji spat.

"I need Chopper! Usopp and Maon are hurt!" Luffy replied, his voice filled with worry.

"They didn't try to convince you that they had some sort of werewolf-disease again, did they?" Sanji sighed. Luffy stood up and grabbed Chopper by a hoof.

"No! Usopp was beat up and Maon's chemicals went off on accident! Some guys made off with our money!"

"Maon, you twit!" Gormal snarled, bolting out of the cart and running up the staircase., abandoning the cart to Sanji's care. Luffy dragged along Chopper and followed the deck hand. Once inside the shipyard, Gormal looked around, smelled the air and glanced around the tops of the various storage buildings. He saw the blue-violet cloud growing in size from behind a shed and immediately took off in that direction. Luffy and Chopper followed and it was not long before they came across Usopp and Maon, laying on the ground next to one another with Nami, Iceburg, Kalifa, Kaku and Paulie looming over them.

"Holy shit! What happened!?" Chopper wailed, immediately setting to work treating the two injured pirates. He gave Usopp some sleeping medicine and wrapped up all of his cuts and bruises, while he applied salve to Maon's burns.

"Who did this?" Gormal asked, his voice weak as he stared at Maon with wide eyes. Nami sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"Some jerks that call themselves the Franky Family. Iceburg-san just told me that they prey upon people coming here with tons of money, but they rarely go to this extent." She inhaled slowly and glanced down at her injured nakama. "They first beat up Usopp and tried to run off. Maon tried to chase after them, but they shoved him so that he landed on the bag with his chemicals. We're thinking that the glass in there broke and what he was carrying around mixed and caused a chain reaction."

"Maon, you're such an idiot," Gormal cursed, his eyes beginning to water. He held his palm against his forehead as he tried to not cry. "I always knew those things weren't good for you to carry around…"

"I tried to get him, but I couldn't breathe in the big cloud," Luffy explained, pointing at the blue-violet cloud. "Rope-guy had to get him."

"I have a name you know," Paulie scowled.

"I think that maybe we should take our leave now. There is work to do, ja," Kaku said, pulling along Paulie by the sleeve. The two foremen walked off, grim expressions on their faces from the incident.

"Maybe you can take them to my house," Iceburg offered Chopper. "It is right here on the grounds of Galley La. There you can work in peace."

"We need to get them back to the ship," Chopper argued, shaking his head softly. The reindeer felt Maon's forehead and gasped at the sign of a fever. "There's more medicine on the ship that I'm going to need. Usopp is going to be fine after a while of rest, but Maon… I don't know…"

"Then to the ship by all means," Gormal agreed. He bent down and slung Maon over his back, while Luffy and Nami both took and propped Usopp up between them.

"I do hope that your crewmates recover," Iceburg said as the pirates began to limp away. "Are you sure you do not want any help?"

"Don't worry!" Luffy said, a smile spreading across his face. "Chopper's gonna be the best doctor in the world someday and even right now, there's barely nothing he can't cure."

"Then just remembered what we talked about," Kalifa mentioned before they were out of an earshot. Nami and Luffy could not forget.

Merry was done for.

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The Frankies ran all the way to the other side of the island. There, a house sat, filled with other men who were just as rag-tag and outlandish as they were. In the main room, there was a man who sat on a large chair as if it were a throne, his face hidden by a mask. His attire was not hidden, however, being that it was an unbuttoned shirt with a loud pattern and a black speedo swimsuit. The Frankies with the briefcases brought the money to the man sitting high in the chair. The man opened one of the cases and laughed.

"How were you guys able to get such a haul?" he asked.

"There was a pirate in town carrying these!" the leader of the little gang replied cheerily. He grinned broadly as the man in the chair laughed heartily.

"Mozu! Kiwi!" the masked man called happily. Two women appeared suddenly.

"Yes, sir?" they asked in unison.

"I think we're going to have a little celebration on our hands! Please, coordinate!"

"Yes sir!" the two women cheered. The entire hall erupted into laughter.


Author's Notes

Paulie: I love Paulie. -grins- I am a really, really hopeless fangirl. Just ask my brother... or read "Inherited Will, Destiny of the Age"... or my last chapter notes. No hope whatsoever. I'm such a tard.

Toran: So I was writing this in the beginning days of June, before I graduated from high school, and my one friend comes up while I'm writing during class and asks me what I'm writing. I tell him it is a fanfiction and he asked if he was in it. I said no, but decided to put his character in anyways, just as a bit. I had been, amazingly enough, been stuck on trying to end the "What do we do with pawned gold?" discussion, so it almost works. If you guys want, Toran can be like my version of Pandaman.

Title: "Dead End Adventure" is the title of the second One Piece movie, for those who do not pay much attention to the movies. Yes, One Piece has movies. Eight of them, actually. Eight? Yeah, eight. I like numbers five and six, personally, but that's just me. Go Rosario-chan, go! Angst, Saga, angst!