Hello! Still on time, right?

Thank you, all my wonderful Betas, for your hard work.

"It's actually been pretty quiet since Thatch left."

"Yeah," Namur agreed. "I'm not saying a bit of peace and quiet is bad, but…"

"Pops just had to send Thatch of all people. Everyone except Haruta and Rakuyo could have gone..."

"Well, it has been a while since Thatch has left the ship, yoi," Marco interrupted. "I thought he could use a break."

"That makes sense, I suppose…"

The ship had a somber, heavy mood, likely due to the combined effects of Thatch being off ship and Haruta being 'moody'.

"Haruta's still out of it though. I wish I could just drag her to Bay or something so she could talk… but we know how that went last time."

"I told you that she's a special case. She doesn't want to talk about it, and I get it since it's personal. The best thing we can do now is wait," Bay snapped irritably.

Curiel jumped in surprise. "Jeez, Bay, don't sneak up on us like that!"

The doctor shot him a flat look. "I'm looking for Vista. Where is he?" she demanded.

"We have no idea!"

"He passed by a few minutes ago. He was headed towards the mess hall," Jiru supplied.

"Nice try, brat."

"Ehhhh? How did you know?"

"I didn't… but I do now," she deadpanned.

"Damn it!" Seeing that she had identified him as the next target for interrogation on the whereabouts of her patient, he squeaked out: "I still have to complete a lot of paperwork for the twelfth division, so bye and have fun!"

"Bet you a hundred belli that he doesn't get caught," Curiel whispered to Namur.

"No deal. Jiru never gets caught unless he wants to be."

"Aww, I was hoping for some spare change."

"What do you take me for?"

"It's just a joke! Relax!" Curiel wisely decided to slink off to one of the more obscure areas on the ship in order to clean his guns and to avoid being thrown overboard.

A messenger Coo dodged out of the way as two Sea Kings got into a fight. He was flying as fast as he could, lest one of the Sea Kings lounging in the unnaturally still sea decided they were hungry.

He didn't particularly want to be in the Calm Belt, where there was no wind to help or guide him, but he had to deliver the letter. He had already been delayed for two weeks, which left him with no choice but to take a shortcut that was very, very dangerous.

It wasn't really his fault that he'd been given the wrong location and that the pirates had been long gone; he had been forced to track them down by himself.

Then there was that horrific storm which had left him stuck on an island for days. If he had tried to depart, he would've been blown way off track.

Pirate crews that tried to shoot him for target practice (or for food?) were a pain as well. He usually managed to dodge their bullets, but he couldn't avoid them all, and he ended up losing more than a few feathers.

Now he was finally catching up and could deliver this letter, although... admittedly, it might be a little ruined…

"Well, would you look at this." Izou raised an eyebrow as the messenger Coo tiredly lifted up an envelope that looked like it had been dumped in the ocean, partially set on fire and scratched by a few cats.

"Coo," the bird chirped softly.

"Jiru!" Izou called out to his brother. "Could you take care of this bird? It looks very, very tired."

"It's not often that they manage to find us. Poor thing," Jiru ran his fingers through the avian's feathers. "I'll get you some food and you can stay here for a few nights until you feel like you're up to leaving, okay?"

"To My Dearest Brother-in-Law…?" Rakuyo raised an eyebrow, unamused at the fact that the first thing his wonderful family gave him upon his return from the mission was a damaged letter. "Who is this for again?"

Jiru had opened the envelope in hopes of salvaging parts of the letter, only to find another sealed envelope inside, which appeared to be waterproof and devoid of damage.

Then they ran into the obstacle of having no idea who it was for, and was passing it around to the commanders in hopes one of them would recognize it.

"Just open the letter. This is getting nowhere." Jozu grumbled.

"But this correspondence is private!" Izou glared at him. "Would you be delighted if half the crew were to read one of your love letters?"

"I don't write love le-"

"But we've checked with all the commanders already, and with everyone in the Fourth and Twelfth division as well," Curiel argued.

"Just open it, yoi."

"Opening it right now."

"..."

"Well?"

"Should I read it?"

"Hurry up, Rakuyo."

"To my Dearest Brother-in-"

"Just get on to the letter part!"

"I'm skipping through the greetings…" Rakuyo muttered as he scanned the letter. "In answer to your question, yes. Our status does indeed allow us certain benefits, including access to Impel Down, so long as we give an appropriate reason to do so, one that might pass through the eyes of not only the detestable Fleet Admiral but also the Five Elder Stars. If it is your wish to gain this access, as we believe it may be, you will have my (and that man's) full support. However, there have been rumors that those you are seeking have disappeared and are presumed to be deceased. I am more than willing to visit in your stead to confirm this and you only need to write me back. Should you fail to withdraw your offer to the marines, I will assume that you wish to go yourself."

"..."

"So this is Impel Down. Pretty impressive, isn't it."

"Well, I wouldn't want to go in there even if they allowed us to," Aggie 68 shifted uneasily. "Then again, who would expect we'd become allies to the World Government? That's a rhetorical question, by the way," he added, seeing Skull open his mouth.

"While I would feel better knowing someone's going in with Captain… Bye! Have fun grilling Crocodile for the juicy details!" Banshee grinned at Ace.

"Please, find a way to notify us beforehand if we need to make a quick escape. Like, an obvious plume of flame or something?" Dusty added dryly.

"Glad you're all so confident in me," Ace smirked. "Let's do this!"

A/N:

So, first off, happy holidays and happy new year, everyone! I'm really looking forward to 2020.

I also thought that I'd give you guys some teasers about where this is heading (I'm taking advantage of the break to forge ahead).

Likely, the next chapter will incorporate Ace's visit to Impel Down, and discovering that he can't find what he's looking for. The Strawhats may also make an appearance, depending on my mood (If not in the next chapter, definitely in one of the next few). I'd expect some Revolutionaries to begin showing up. I may or may not be taking a brief break from the Whitebeards, but the whole Thatch/Teach incident should come into play soon.

Yup, I'm not going to say more. :)

Be generous and leave me a review?