By Your Side is Where I Belong

by TexasBean

All he was supposed to do in Konoha was collect the reward for the bounty and be on his way. But when Zoro defends some kid from a drunk during a festival, he didn't realize he'd get stuck with Naruto. Arriving in Suna, the pair meet Gaara, who ends up leaving with them when he sadly has no reason to stay. Luffy is overjoyed to get three nakama at the start of his journey...

24. Luffy is a Selfish Captain

Chapter Twenty-Four: In Which Luffy is a Selfish Captain and Causes People on his Crew to Cry

*0*0*

After encountering a Weather Spot, the Straw Hats must make an impromptu stop at Little Garden to make repairs. While there, they encounter Giants, along with Baroque Works Agents who take advantage of the situation. Meanwhile, long-forgotten memories within the Bijuu begin to stir.

The Agents find themselves in a perilous situation that they weren't prepared for.

Warnings: Ye be warned, dear readers; lots of violence and colorful language ahead.

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Previously:

"Well, isn't that touching?" Taizo mocked with a sneer, knowing that Sumie was taking care of the others, if that scream was any indication. "I'm gonna enjoy killing you while making your precious Zabuza-sama-"

Something vile suddenly filled the air, and a suffocating, hopeless dread washed over them as a pain-filled roar echoed through the valley. Taizo was cut off when some sort of glowing red object slammed into him just seconds later. Taizo screamed when his arm was ripped from its socket, and it was tossed a fair distance away.

Isha, Koba and Buri just stared in shock, the events not really registering in their minds.

The situation would have been almost morbidly comical, if it hadn't been done by an eight-year-old blond boy.

0000

"So, you can navigate, right?" Johnny asked, concern evident in his voice. "When I say that, I mean, beyond the basics of well, sailing out here in East Blue."

"Yeah," Yosaku agreed. "You do realize how dangerous the oceans are in the Grand Line? And don't get me started on some of the stories I've heard about the islands!"

"Is it really that dangerous?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto-nii-chan, when people go to the Grand Line, they want actual navigators!" Yosaku replied. "There are stories of people getting lost at sea or shipwrecked, and those are the tame ways for people's adventures to end."

Johnny was speaking now, "I've heard that in the Grand Line, there's a phenomenon called "Weather Spots" – or "patches". Basically, they're areas varying in sizes where multiple types of weather exist at once."

The man nodded gravely, to show the seriousness of the conversation. "These patches can last several minutes, and it that time, they can tear ships like ours apart."

"It's not that big a deal," Zoro said with a yawn. "We'll just sail around 'em."

"Aniki, these patches are entirely unpredictable!" Yosaku nearly shouted. "That's what makes them so dangerous! You can't just see them and decide to sail around them! You'll never know when they'll happen, how big they are or how long they'll last!"

Zoro frowned. "We're in the ocean, and those storms are in the sky. All we've gotta do is just cut through it."

"You can't just-!" Johnny started, but then he stopped, and briefly removed his glasses so that he could pinch the bridge of his nose. Replacing his glasses, Johnny spoke slowly, "Aniki… you're an amazing swordsman – incredible, even. But you can't just cut through one of those storms like that. I mean, I've heard of people dealing with typhoons, ice storms, and giant waves, all at once. Those things alone wreck ships."

0000

Later that evening, the crew were settling in for the night; and Usopp suggested they play a game.

"Oh, we can play the shadow puppet game with Gaara's sand!" Naruto announced. "Luffy and I are on the same team, 'ttebayou!"

With Luffy and Usopp's help, they set up a curtain and lantern so Gaara could make his sand-shadows.

"Oh, how fun!" Pudding settled down on a cushion, and leaned on Sanji when he sat down next to her. Sanji looked very pleased, but that changed within seconds when the Chef overheard Zoro make a comment about his "stupid" expression under his breath.

The two started arguing and insulting each other.

"OI! Cut it out!" Nami demanded, slapping the two people who apparently liked swapping the likely malfunctioning shared brain cell between them.

"Of course, Nami-swan~" Sanji complied.

"Whatever, sea witch," griped Zoro.

Nami raised an eyebrow when Pudding was glaring at her…sort of pouting?

"What?" Nami asked.

"Oh, nothing…ha, ha…" Pudding waved Nami off, but still… Nami thought it was a bit peculiar.

"Since there's so many people here now, I can just sit this one out." Zoro settled down on some crates and was promptly asleep.

Nami quickly nabbed Vivi as her partner, and seriously…could anyone else guess what Gaara's shapes were? She was curious.

Usopp was wondering if he would have to be a third member on a team, when Nami spoke up, "Usopp-kun, you should write down stuff for Gaara to make with his sand to ensure there's no cheating."

Usopp thought that Nami was one to talk, but he didn't dare voice that aloud.

"Okay…?" Usopp had a chalkboard and chalk on hand, so he sat down in front of Gaara, but his back was to the others. Usopp at least wanted to be able to see the sand-shadows for himself. He decided to go for something simple, first.

He wrote down, 'horse' and Gaara's sand formed… Usopp made a face. How was that a horse? Was Gaara being serious right now? It looked more like a lumpy seal.

"It's a beautiful girl lounging!" A hesitant pause. "I think…?"

"Is it a turkey?" Pudding asked.

"Um…" Vivi glanced at Nami, as if trying to ask for some sort of answer. "It's a…dog?"

"It's a horse!" Luffy called out excitedly.

"Luffy's right!" Usopp said, marking down a point while Naruto whooped.

For the next one, Usopp wrote down 'flower', but Gaara sent him a frown.

Whispering, Gaara said, "There's lots of those…which one do I make?"

Shrugging, Usopp said, "Whatever you want?"

Gaara made a face at him, then looked thoughtful.

The sand formed, and the guesses were:

"Windmill."

"Lion."

"Cat."

"Seaweed."

And someone even tried guessing that Gaara was going for a profile of himself. Even Karoo tried to offer a few helpful squawks to no avail. Personally, Usopp thought that the flower looked like a deformed wind-chime thingy?

It was Luffy to happily announce, "Cactus flower!"

"Captain got it right…" Gaara looked very pleased.

Usopp marked down another point. The game only lasted a few more rounds; because only Luffy was guessing correctly, and everyone else was so far off in their own guesses they didn't really have a chance of winning.

The next game became cards, where Sanji started teaching the others about various kinds of poker.

It was a lot easier to win this game.

Luffy proved to be terrible at any variation of poker they were playing, because he kept unintentionally revealing his cards. Whether it was accidently showing off his hand; or making an expression when he had a decent hand, Luffy kept losing. He was never good at this game. Both Sabo and Ace had never been able to get Luffy to break his bad habits, no matter how hard they'd tried.

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Vivi admittedly watched the odd scene before her with growing confusion. She even gave the other Pirates a questioning look. Not even they seemed to know what was going on. Their group sat in the kitchen observing the resident Chefs as they made breakfast; their coordination was almost like a dance.

"Oh, Sanji-dear!" Pudding was blushing nearly as red as the tomatoes that Sanji was chopping. "There's something I have to tell you…" Pudding paused for a moment.

Sanji paused as well to look at the woman at his side. "Yes, Pudding-chan?"

"I…I want to prepare meals by your side…I love doing it…together…"

"Are you saying…?" Sanji sounded surprised. "You really want to be with me like that?"

"Only if you want to…"

"Of course, Sweets-chan!" Sanji began to sway and his eyes turned into hearts. "I'll make you delicious meals all the time!"

Sanji calmed down for a moment to have Pudding sample something.

"Oh, Sanji-dear!" Pudding's eyes also flashed into hearts. "You really know the way into a girl's heart!"

"Are you guys seriously confessing to each other again, 'ttebayou?"Naruto made a face that showed his opinion on love and all that romance-shomance stuff.

"We confessed to each other?" Pudding asked curiously.

"When did that happen?" Sanji asked as he expertly stirred and flipped the food in the frying pan.

"Yes, you did!" Usopp said. "I was there!"

"I guess we did." Sanji agreed, completely monotone.

"It's so sweet of you to remember!" Pudding praised, but somehow Usopp felt that she was teasing him.

"You guys are weird." Gaara said.

Zoro's simple opinion was, "It's too early in the morning for this shit."

"So…you two are a couple, right?" Vivi asked slowly, trying to make sure that she was keeping up with the conversation.

"People seem to think that we are." Pudding whispered like it was a silly rumor going around.

"It would be nice if Pudding-chan saw me that way." Sanji sighed wistfully.

"But you just confessed!" Usopp and even Nami, shouted.

"Now, now," Pudding plated some food. She sent Nami a very pointed look. "Shouting is very unbecoming. So is growling and glaring…unless that is your…you know…thing?"

Nami looked ready to stab Pudding with the fork that she was bending with one hand.

"I'll confess my love for you anytime, Nami-swan!" Sanji practically danced around Nami. "You're still beautiful even when you're angry, Nami-swan! It shows your passion!"

Nami's eyebrow twitched and she groaned as she dropped her head into her hands.

Luffy mostly ignored everyone's antics since he was looking forward to breakfast. But he smiled as the various emotions emanating from his crew washed over him and made the hair and the back of his neck tingle – it was a happy, peaceful feeling. Their emotions made him laugh quite genuinely.

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"I can navigate if you have to go," Zoro offered to Nami when she mentioned having to use the restroom really quick.

"No, Nami!" Naruto quickly protested. "You don't want to do that, 'ttebayou!"

"If your goal is to get us lost in the darkest depths of the ocean never to be found, Zoro-nii will surely lead us there."

"Oi, you brats!" Zoro also protested. "I don't get lost!"

Naruto then began to do a very spot-on imitation of Zoro. Which really involved him looking grumpy and scowling. "Look at that amazing cloud, it's going places. Let's follow it and see where the cloud takes us. Who cares about the Log Pose? Don't need it, it's probably defective anyway."

"I don't get lost." Gaara deadpanned in an equally spot-on impression of Zoro. "It's just the birds looked like they knew where they were going. Not my fault we ended up in North Blue."

Zoro finger-flicked the two on their foreheads. "Dumbass brats, quit exaggerating!"

"…you got lost in the desert. It was a few hours before you showed up again. I had to hold your hand."

"There was that time you got lost at that inn. You wandered around for hours, 'ttebayou."

"There was the time you wandered into Kimimaro's sex house. He was thankful for it, though."

"And when we first started traveling together you thought the map was defective. You're the one who's defective, 'ttebayou."

"You're defective, brat!"

Naruto jumped on top of Zoro to pull his hair, while Zoro yanked Naruto off of his shoulders and proceeded to sit on top of him.

"Get off of me, ttebayou!"

Naruto managed to swap with one of the barrels; and both he and Zoro had an inelegant squabble as Naruto pulled at Zoro's face, and Zoro managed to twist Naruto off. Their impromptu wrestling match was interrupted by commentary:

"Wow, you couldn't find your way out of a wet cardboard box blindfolded, could you, you shitty, grumpy cactus?"

"Oh, you poor thing…" Pudding shook her head. She smiled coyly "I wouldn't mind if we got lost together somewhere exotic…hot and sticky…" Pudding began to blush as she imagined it. Though, in her imagination, they'd have to strip down to the bare minimum for one reason or another. Their survival depended on it.

First, Zoro yelled at Sanji, "Shut it, you third-rate cook."

Then he had to glare at Pudding.

"What are you even imagining?!" Zoro demanded, because he noticed how Pudding was staring at him.

Luffy simply laughed. Vivi at least had the courtesy to cover her mouth.

Zoro glared at the crew. Damn them all, thinking he got lost! Wasn't his fault the storeroom moved and he ended up in the crow's nest…just earlier that day…

Zoro dropped Naruto on the deck, and Naruto kicked Zoro's leg. Naruto stuck his tongue out, and Zoro flipped him off.

"Stupid-lost Zoro-nii!"

"Damn brat."

With that, their little wrestling match was over. Luffy found it amusing and was nostalgic over his own brothers, while Nami rolled her eyes and muttered, "Ugh, boys."

"We can navigate," Naruto indicated Gaara and himself.

A grateful Nami handed them the Log Pose, and quickly ran to the bathroom. She'd only be a few minutes; what could go wrong?

*0*0*

Nami had just finished washing her hands, and paused for a moment to admire her reflection. Yes, she'd be the first to admit she was vain. She admired her tan; something she hadn't really been able to acquire due to constantly hiding Arlong's mark unless she absolutely needed it to be exposed.

Turning to go back, the ship suddenly lurched and Nami was slammed into the wall. She nearly hit the mirror with the back of her head before she managed to grab the towel rack to break her fall. She breathed a sigh of relief that nothing was broken. She heard shouting outside, and the ship lurched once more. Nami began making her way outside as quickly as possible; using the walls as support, when the air hit her.

Oh, no…

Nami increased her pace. The air had a heaviness to it and the smell of salt and rain was intense. Shit, this was a Weather Spot!

"Get the ropes!" someone was shouting.

"Look out!"

Nami watched as Zoro cut hail that was easily twice the size of their ship in half. It fell on either side of Merry, and the resulting waves soaked the crew even more. Gaara immediately raised a cover of sand over Merry, and that at least kept them dry from the pouring rain overhead along with making it easier to see.

The wind was whipping every which way, making it impossible to harness the wind and sail out.

"Good job, Gaara!" Nami quickly took over and analyzed the weather and the ocean for a few seconds. They had heavy winds and rain, hail – and thanks to the hail, an iceberg field to navigate. "Alright, everyone, point the ship ten degrees starboard! You guys need to hold the sails steady! Naruto, do that wind blast thing from before when I give the signal!"

"Hai!" Naruto got into position.

Everyone braced themselves, and it was at that moment a large hail that was half the size of their ship hit the front of Gaara's shield and fell into the ocean and bobbed out of the water. At the same time, Merry was rocked forward thanks to a large wave; and the hail struck Merry's figurehead.

The crew went wide-eyed as the figurehead was knocked back onto the deck, and Usopp was shaking at the close call of almost being crushed by an oversized sheep-head.

"My special seat!" Luffy lamented.

There was another crack, and several boards near the bow began to slowly crack and splinter. Luffy moved to wrap his arms around Merry's front just in case; but he gave an audible sigh of relief when it appeared that Merry wasn't going to split in half.

Nami pushed wet bangs out of her eyes, relieved that they weren't shipwrecked right then and there. The ship rocked as it was pointed in the direction they needed to go, and Nami called out with a chopping motion of her hand, "Now!"

Merry rocketed forward, and it was just enough to escape the Weather Spot. But Nami didn't like how close the storm still was, and the ocean continued rocking them somewhat violently.

"Naruto, do another one!"

An out-of-breath Naruto managed another, albeit weaker, Wind Blast. Afterwards, Naruto collapsed and began coughing, and spit out a bit of blood. He had overexerted himself and strained his lungs, but he would be fine in an hour or so thanks to Kyuubi.

Kyuubi didn't really appreciate the casual attitude Naruto had about his healing. He found himself being thankful for the Navigator woman, though.

"Oh, Naruto!" Nami was at his side the moment she noticed. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you would strain yourself like this!" Her worried voice went to sounding annoyed. "You should have told me!"

"I'll be fine, 'ttebayou…" Naruto wheezed.

Nami ruffled his hair affectionately, but she was exasperated all the same. "You guys are all such stubborn idiots."

Then, Nami focused on the real issue. Merry wasn't in the best shape, and by her calculations, they were still about two weeks away from Alabasta. It clearly wasn't a good idea to sail with a ship in this state, anyway. So that meant repairs. But it equally wasn't a good idea for them to sit in the middle of the ocean trying to repair their ship even if there were people who could stand on the water.

Marines, Sea Kings, other hungry ocean predators… Shuddering at the thought, it was a chance she wasn't willing to take.

Nami checked the Log Pose around her wrist, and hoped that they could lock onto an island where they could do repairs.

"How bad is the damage?" Nami questioned, as Usopp and Luffy moved the figurehead someplace where it would be out of the way.

"Well…we aren't going to split, thankfully." Usopp replied with a huff. "I can repair what I can if we dock somewhere…I want to repair Merry right away!"

Nami hummed in agreement. At least there were a few people who could be counted on in situations like this.

As Luffy lamented his special seat, he frowned at Gaara who had a very sullen feeling about him.

"Gaara?" Luffy questioned. "You okay?"

Gaara nodded, but Luffy felt as if the boy weren't being honest with him.

Sensing that something was obviously bothering him, Zoro ruffled Gaara's hair. "That was quick thinking, sand-brat."

Gaara gave a half-smile, but continued looking bothered.

"I'm sorry…" Gaara mumbled, "If I had spread my sand out a bit more then Merry wouldn't have gotten damaged…"

All the ways he could have done at least the smallest thing differently went through his mind.

"Hey, no-one could've anticipated how that hail was going to jet out like that." Usopp said. "Freak accident."

"We would have sunk if it weren't for your sand, Gaara-san!" Vivi agreed.

"Where's your usual 'that hail could have turned us into jelly for sharks' kinda attitude?" Usopp asked.

Gaara looked up at Usopp. "Do I really sound like that?"

"Oh? My impression of you was very good, wasn't it?" Usopp looked very proud of himself.

Smiling a little, Gaara said, "You actually made me sound very optimistic."

That caused Usopp to splutter. "Optimistic?! Oi. Are you serious?"

Studying the Log Pose, Nami felt a sense of relief when she saw how the needle moved. It had already locked onto an island, and they should only be a day or so away. Hopefully…

"We should repair what we can so Luffy doesn't have to hold on like this," Sanji recommended, and Usopp nailed a few planks together as a temporary fix; while Gaara switched places with Luffy so he could hold Merry together with his sand. It was more of a cautious thing than it was a necessity

"I won't know how bad the damage is underneath until we reach the island…" Usopp sighed. "At least we have plenty of materials in case of emergency, but I didn't think we'd be using them so fast…"

That run-in with Laboon had barely even been a week ago.

"My special seat…" Luffy bemoaned very dramatically. He hugged Merry's head and sadly ran his fingers over the patterns Gaara had carved into the woodwork.

"You can pout later, Luffy." Nami said authoritatively. "Right now, we have to set sail – and Naruto's too worn out to help."

Glancing over at Naruto, who wasn't breathing as hard as he had been; but he was still clearly recovering. Luffy was on his feet in seconds. "Yosh~!"

He was the Captain and his crew was relying on him! Luffy quickly set to work helping with the sails. They had to fix Merry and get back to their adventure as quickly as possible.

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The crew reached the island by midafternoon. It was amazing! Luffy looked excited at all the palm trees that covered the island – and – he looked especially starry-eyed at the giant dragonfly that flew overhead. Even Usopp was impressed and tentatively excited. The two teens could definitely agree on the insects being really cool.

Nami and Vivi both shivered at the loud noise it made, while Pudding had a thoughtful look. "That dragonfly was big enough to eat…I wonder how it tastes?"

"We aren't eating bugs!" Nami openly gagged.

"Insects are actually very nutritious, and some can taste like beef, depending on how they're prepared." Vivi happily informed Nami. "They're actually quite tasty…fried scorpion is my favorite."

Nami sent Vivi a glare as if the other girl had betrayed her somehow.

"There are plenty of cultures that have insects as a primary part of their diet, Nami-chan." Pudding informed happily. "You should expand your pallet. There are even some insects that have aphrodisiac properties. There are even a few that help people relax. You could certainly benefit from them."

"I don't want them!" Nami protested quite loudly. "We aren't eating bugs!"

"Why does everyone have to be so loud?" Zoro complained under his breath. He just wanted to nap. Was that too much to ask?

Following Nami's directions, Sanji steered Merry through a canal that would allow them to hide.

Luffy was bouncing in place. "Adventure! Adventure!" Turning very dramatically to point at the two most important people on his ship, Luffy issued a Captain's command: "Sanji! Pudding! We need adventure bento!"

"Oh, wonderful!" Pudding was enthusiastic. "I'll make some delicious desserts that'll keep everyone cool in this heat."

"Yay!" Luffy cheered and hugged Pudding by wrapping his arms around her several times, causing her to blush deeply. "You're the best, Pudding!"

Pudding's arms were pinned to her sides by her Captain! She couldn't move! His face was right there next to hers!

This was something Luffy had seen Shanks doing with Makino almost all the time when the two of them were together – and Makino always seemed pleased. So, Luffy gave Pudding a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Oh…my…Lu-Luffy!" Pudding looked very happy as her face turned impossibly redder. Blood spirt out of her nose and Pudding collapsed into a faint; her eyes shaped like hearts.

"Ah!" Luffy quickly released Pudding. "Pudding?! What happened?"

He gave her a few tentative slaps on the cheek. "Pudding?"

Pudding's emotions had gone wild and then she had fainted, with a pleased grin on her face… Why?! Was she sick?

Pudding sprung to her feet looking determined. "Anything for you, Luffy-sweetie! I'll even find some new ingredients here to make even more desserts for you to savor."

That of course got Luffy very excited and he whooped.

The small commotion caused the members of the crew who witnessed it to stop and stare.

Twirling a lock of her hair, Pudding said, "You're such a tease, Luffy-sweetie."

"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head clearly confused. "I'm not teasing you…Shanks would kiss Makino like that all the time…it was because he appreciated her, right? I appreciate you."

"You shouldn't play with a woman's heart like that, Luffy-sweetie." Pudding said with a wink as she tapped Luffy's nose and then turned towards the kitchen.

Luffy honestly looked confused. How was he playing with Pudding's heart?

Sanji pressed his foot against Luffy's face. "You shitty bastard, appreciate being that close to Pudding-chan more!"

"What'd I do?" Luffy's muffled voice asked.

Sanji fixed Luffy with a meaningful glare, but that only confused Luffy even more. He felt like Sanji was trying to tell him something, but Luffy couldn't figure it out for the life of him… He did appreciate Pudding! He had said so!

Shoving off of Luffy, Sanji practically danced after Pudding. "Wait for me, Sweets-chan!"

"Sanji-dear! What shall we make today?"

"We have lots of leftovers that still need to be used…" Sanji turned around to announce giddily, "I'll make delicious food for you ladies!" He made sure to scowl at the others. "You shitty bastards will just have to be satisfied with getting their scraps."

The two disappeared into the kitchen, and left Luffy scratching his head. His crew could be so confusing sometimes. But Sanji and Pudding were making food, so Luffy simply began excitedly chanting "food" to himself.

With a sigh, Usopp grabbed his toolkit and said, "Gaara, will you lift Merry up again? I want to make sure that there's no damage on the bottom. I wonder if we should probably get some wood while we're here as well…"

Gaara nodded, happy to be of help.

While Nami didn't even dare thinking of leaving the ship; she'd much rather stay here! Not only was the ship clearly the safest place to be on this island, but Gaara's sand would protect them as well if something big attacked them.

Nami began making navigation plans so they could reach Alabasta in a short amount of time. She wanted to leave as soon as possible, mostly because the sounds of the jungle were already freaking her out, and it was in the middle of the afternoon!

Luffy, Naruto, Vivi, and Karoo had gotten their adventure bento, and were off gallivanting somewhere in this gods-forsaken island.

Somehow, Zoro and Sanji had gotten into an argument and went running off to complete some sort of ridiculous hunting challenge.

Gaara could do nothing but watch as Zoro disappeared into the jungle; he could only hope that Zoro wouldn't wander off and disappear for hours or days.

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With Luffy and his companions, they were gathering various fruits and interesting looking things that Pudding had tasked them with finding since they were exploring the island anyway.

Even though Nami had expressed concern for something being poisoned, Pudding didn't seem all that concerned. It was a chance for new recipes, and there were ways to tell if something was inedible or not.

Luffy suddenly cried out and pointed, "Dinosaur!"

Vivi's eyes widened. If they weren't careful, they could get crushed!

"…Whoa, that thing's as big as a mountain, 'ttebayou!" Naruto was ecstatic. They were so tall! How did their necks support their heads? How much did these dinosaurs eat? Were dinosaurs the kings of the land?

Luffy suddenly swung up onto one of the dinosaurs' heads. Vivi wasn't too concerned…yet. Naruto was cheering Luffy on. But then when Luffy went to swing from one dinosaur neck to the other, one dinosaur was probably annoyed by the action, and promptly ate Luffy.

"HE DID NOT JUST GET EATEN!" Vivi screeched.

Karoo looked just as shocked.

"AHHHH!" Naruto yelled and jumped off of Karoo's back. "LUFFY! Can he get out?! Is he gonna have to be pooped out?!" Naruto stopped to think. "Can I cut Luffy out?"

It seemed that Naruto wouldn't have to try, because someone else came along and cut the dinosaur's neck. Disgustingly, Luffy popped out of the bottom of the decapitated head's neck.

Landing with a grunt, Luffy glanced around curiously to see that he was in a very large hand…

"…Whoa…" Luffy stared at his rescuer.

"Gegyagyayga!" the man's laugh seemed to shake the earth.

"That…that's a Giant!" Vivi gasped in awe.

Naruto stared. The man was ridiculously huge! He was the size of Kyuubi!

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Dorry laughed in his unique way as he led the Humans to his side of the island. The Giant easily carried the dinosaur over his shoulder. The Humans and the duck rode on his other shoulder; otherwise, they would never have been able to keep up.

The boys were fascinated by Dorry; asking question after question. It was entertaining answering their questions and listening to them in return.

They sat down for a meal, and Dorry prepared the dinosaur. The fire he set up was more like a large bonfire, than it was for cooking a meal.

Dorry placed a large chunk of meat in front of the Humans. While Vivi took a small portion, Luffy and Naruto started a competition to see how much they could eat.

"Gegyagyagya! You two eat like Giants! Splendid!"

In return for the dino-meat, Luffy and the others offered up their meals; knowing that Sanji and Pudding could just prepare something for them again. It was very amusing, though, that the meals were more like crumbs compared to what Dorry had given them.

He was appreciative non-the-less, and savored the offered food.

Dorry told them several stories about Elbaf, which made him a bit homesick, but revisiting his old memories was a welcome topic.

"Oh, Luffy! I wanna go to Elbaf someday!" Naruto was fired up! This land of Giants sounded truly amazing!

"Yeah, of course we're going!" Luffy declared. "I read that Gold Roger was there."

That of course led them to talk a bit about the Pirate King, and how Dorry himself used to be a Pirate.

"I guess I sort of am?" Dorry ran a hand along his beard thoughtfully. "I haven't stirred up trouble for a long time, so maybe people think I've either retired or up and died! Gegyagyagya!"

This of course led to him telling them about his ongoing rivalry with another Giant on the island, Brogy; because the Humans were wondering what exactly made Dorry go into sort-of-retirement.

Vivi was horrified. "How can you spend so many years hating someone?! Why are you even fighting?!"

She was appalled that Dorry had the audacity to laugh at such a notion.

Inside his prison, Kyuubi could only snort in amusement. Foolish girl. She saw only violence and hatred. Giants fought with honor and pride – no matter how small the slight was. Disagreements were dealt with by weapons or fists, and hardly ever words. A person's pride and convictions were important; and it was important to stand by them; to fight until the other person relented; it was not always about hatred or bloodshed.

Humans did not always understand these notions, and…

Kyuubi's thoughts stalled…how did he know all of that?

A memory stirred from deep within his mind:

A Giant sat down beside Kyuubi. The smell of death and rot was in the air. "This isn't what I wanted, Kyuubi-sama."

Then like that, it was gone.

Kyuubi snorted, and shook his head. What was that? Something uncomfortable stirred in his gut. Knowing he had memories about Giants…and there was a Giant right there… He had seen Giants before, several times, in fact. Kyuubi felt that the memory was important. It was frustrating, so, so frustrating, knowing that he had a memory but couldn't seem to reach it.

Naruto's consciousness reached out to him, wondering if he was okay.

/ "I'm fine…" /Kyuubi lied. There wasn't an easy way to explain this. Naruto simply couldn't understand something like had the distinct feeling that Naruto didn't believe him.

He was thankful that Naruto didn't push.

Outside, Vivi demanded, "Why are you even fighting in the first place?!"

The volcano erupted just then, and Dorry stood. Something about how he stood was different. The air around him seemed to physically shift. Dorry raised his weapon at the ready as he smirked in anticipation.

"Well, to be honest…" he charged forward, "I don't remember!"

When the two Giants clashed, everyone could feel how the energy rippled through the air.

"Wow…" Naruto's jaw dropped. His voice was barely a whisper. "That's amazing, 'ttebayou…"

"I don't really get it," Vivi said, as she sat down rather huffily.

"It's a fight between men, Vivi!" Luffy said. "It's their pride, ya know?"

"Couldn't they just you know, talk it out?" Vivi cringed a bit when the air rippled again and the sound of steel meeting steel echoed around them.

"Hmmm…" Luffy poked his head as he began to think. "Well…maybe they don't have the words? They talk with their fights. I didn't feel anything like they want to hurt each other… Dorry was really happy."

"…Well…I can't claim to understand it, but…" Vivi smiled a little. "If they don't want to hurt each other…"

"Oh!" Luffy turned to his friends, saying, "We should get a barrel of alcohol from the ship! I bet he'll enjoy that! I'll be right back!"

Luffy ran off towards the ship, eager for Dorry to have some of the alcohol. A barrel would certainly be far better than the tiny lunches that unfortunately didn't do his Chefs the justice their cooking deserved. Pudding had been very selective when it came to choosing the alcohol.

The volcano went off again, not long after.

Dorry came back and plopped down, shaking the jungle around him; causing birds and various other creatures to burst out of their hiding spots and loudly complain about being disrupted.

It was a good thing his Human companions were sitting, otherwise they would have fallen down.

"Luffy went to get you some of our alcohol," Vivi said before Dorry could ask.

Naruto sighed loudly as he stood up and stretched. "I'm bored…I'm gonna go explore for a bit!"

"Naruto, you can't…" Vivi started, but Naruto just blew a raspberry and waved her off.

"I can fight; I'm not Zoro-nii, I don't get lost, and…" Naruto waved a hand at Dorry, "There're two Giants here, so nothin' to worry about, 'ttebayou!"

Dorry laughed at Naruto's reasoning, while Vivi raised an eyebrow.

"I can talk more to Dorry later, and 'sides," Naruto felt he had to point something very important out, "this is the first island we've been to – and Whiskey Peak doesn't count! I wanna explore!"

"Fine, fine." Vivi relented. "Just be careful! Either come back here or go with the others, alright?"

Vivi would have continued talking about the dangers and not going off alone just in case, but Naruto had disappeared into the trees with a whoop.

Watching as Naruto began sticking to the trees as he leapt through the foliage, Dorry commented, "…What an odd ability…Gegyagyagya!"

0000

When Luffy reached the ship, the others were gone; very likely on their own adventure. Lucky them! Merry's figurehead had been put back on and repaired.

"Usopp and Gaara did such a good job on you, Merry." Luffy said, as he ran a finger along the railing. The deck was repaired too, so that meant they could leave very soon!

Luffy suddenly shivered as a chill went up his spine and his hair stood on end. He glanced towards a section in the jungle, searching with his mystery power. Luffy had a feeling of…being watched? Was it an animal? He tried again, focusing a bit more…but…nothing? Maybe he'd imagined it…?

Luffy shrugged, grabbed a barrel of alcohol and hummed a made-up tune as he made his way back to the others.

Once he was far enough away, a few people peeked around a tree that had helped conceal them. The odd skill that had kept them hidden from sight dropped the moment they moved.

"That was way too close…" Miss Valentine's Day sighed in relief.

"Your art skills are so useful, Miss Golden Week." Mr. 5 commented. "For a moment, I thought he was actually going to see us."

"Green and brown are excellent concealers." Miss Goldenweek replied. "People easily overlook them."

0000

Upon the Giant's return, Luffy happily opened the barrel for Dorry, who thanked the young lad for his consideration.

Within seconds of his drinking the alcohol, an explosion went off – shocking Luffy and Vivi.

"QUACK!" Karoo flapped his wings and ran in circles.

Smoke wafted from Dorry's mouth as he fell over.

"Dorry! Hey, Dorry! Are you okay?" Luffy asked with growing concern.

Vivi had a feeling of dread…was that? It couldn't be…no way they could be here! Maybe she was overthinking it.

"You…" Dorry groaned as he slowly stood up. "How dare you?!"

Luffy dodged when Dorry suddenly attacked him.

"Hey! What're you doing?!" Luffy asked.

"That was a dirty trick!"

As Luffy dodged another strike, Vivi desperately tried to call out, "We weren't trying to trick you! Please! Calm down and rest!"

When Dorry brought his sword down, Luffy twisted around the blow and delivered a fierce, piercing strike into Dorry's stomach. Dorry went down, felling several trees as he did so.

"Now, calm down!" Luffy commanded. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened with the alcohol, but I swear on Roger, on my honor as a Captain, that it wasn't on purpose!"

Dorry slowly got up, his face covered in shadow. "Hmm…very well…" Sighing heavily, he added, "It seems the god of Elbaf has forsaken me. This was meant to happen."

"Wait, what?!" Vivi was incensed. "What is that supposed to mean?! This was clearly something else, please stop!"

She held up her arms in a rather pointless and feeble attempt to stop the Giant from believing that his gods had left him. It was far too cruel a notion.

"Your god didn't abandon you, Dorry-san!" Vivi looked as if she was about to cry. "It was sabotage!"

Just then, the volcano went off.

"Well, it's time." Dorry gathered up his weapon and stood. "The volcano's the signal for our match to start."

"Wait, you can't!" Luffy's voice was nearly begging. "If you go injured like that, you'll lose!"

"…It was determined I'd lose. Thanks for an enjoyable last meal."

"Then fight me!" Luffy demanded. "If you lose to me, you can't lose to the other guy!"

Dorry only laughed. "This is a Giant's honor, young one! Besides, my vow to fight Brogy was made long before you were born!"

It was pointless to try and change the Giant's mind.

"But it's not fair!" Luffy insisted almost childishly.

Dorry only shook his head and continued trying to leave.

"You can't go!" Luffy insisted on arguing.

Smiling sadly, Dorry slowly lifted up a boulder, and said, "Hey, would you hold this for me?"

Luffy paused long enough to ask a very confused, "What?"

Then Dorry handed him the boulder, and Luffy fell under its weight.

"Hey! Hey! You cheated!"

Luffy squirmed wildly under the boulder but to no avail.

"It was nice talking with you…" Dorry said. "Thank you for letting me relive my memories one last time."

Luffy and Vivi watched as Dorry left.

Vivi tried pushing the boulder off of Luffy, but couldn't even make it budge an inch.

"That pisses me off!" Luffy fumed. "Someone messed with their duel! When I find out who it was, I'll kick their ass!"

0000

Nami, Usopp, Pudding and Gaara stared up at Brogy, who happily shared his meal with them. Sure, he may have killed the T-Rex that was about to eat Nami, but that was just a very convenient excuse.

"He's obviously trying to fatten us up!" Usopp was sure of it. Making sure that the Giant wasn't going to hear him, Usopp hissed, "Gaara, don't eat any of it!"

"…I'm hungry." Gaara replied, and took a huge bite. "Besides, I don't think you have to worry about being eaten…the Giant probably has a better use by using your bones as toothpicks."

"Why, Gaara?!" Usopp tearfully demanded.

"Oh, that would be a terrible end to our journey…" Pudding sighed, though she didn't look particularly sad about it. She looked somewhat pleased. "Being cannibalized in a desolate forest in a desperate fight for survival of the fittest…" She sighed, whispering to herself, "To be ravaged and fought over while the men act like beasts…hee-hee…"

"Uh…what?" Usopp couldn't help but ask in confusion. "Seriously, have you been talking to Gaara?"

"I don't have to worry about being eaten; I'll just use my sand to drill my way out of his stomach." Gaara glanced at Nami. "You'll probably be his pet."

"Gee, thanks." Nami muttered. Knowing where she ranked in terms of being food or a pet made to a Giant made things so much better.

"This is fantastic, having visitors!" Brogy said happily. "It's been so long!"

"Thank you for having us." Gaara replied.

"Oh, yes!" Pudding agreed. "I must say, your cooking is fantastic! Tell me, please – what do you know about the plants here? Can any of them be sustained on a ship?"

"Well, there's plenty to know." Brogy began talking about some of the plants that he knew of for certain. There were a few plants that were actually poisonous that he could eat safely; due to his size. For a Human, it most certainly would be deadly.

"Hey, Mister," Nami decided making more conversation was the best way in delaying their inevitable demise so that they could think of an escape plan. "What is this island called? And do you know how long it takes for the Log Pose to set?"

"Hmm…" Brogy swallowed a mouthful of meat. "Well, it's called Little Garden, ironically I suppose. As for how long it takes the Log Pose to set…about a year."

"A year?!"

It was a good thing they had an Eternal Pose. And that Brogy had no idea about it.

"Gababababa! Don't be so surprised!" Brogy said. His voice became solemn. "Sometimes, it takes a few years for a Pose to set on some islands, unfortunately, it doesn't always work out…"

Brogy pointed to a series of graves off to the side. "Those are the people who stopped here but couldn't survive…everything here is pretty dangerous, and Humans have a difficult time surviving on this island due to all of its dangers."

"It's a good thing we have an Eternal Pose, then."

Both Usopp and Nami looked at Gaara with accusing eyes, mentally demanding why he felt the need to bring that up.

"Very true, that's the way to be prepared! Gababababa!" Brogy praised.

"So, you're from Elbaf, right?" Pudding asked, and Brogy looked somewhat surprised, but very pleased.

"You know about the Giants' island?"

"Mm-hmm, yeah!" Pudding nodded. "What brought you all the way out here?"

"I was a Pirate, actually…then my nakama and I had…something…to settle…and had our crew drop the two of us here. Wasn't right of us to keep the crew here if we had a fight going on between us and they wanted to continue their adventure."

"Elbaf?" Usopp was looking up at Brogy with fascination now. "What is it like?"

Brogy was more than happy to talk of his home island and hometown. He missed it, of course. He spoke of the Giants and their code of honor.

Usopp's eyes began to sparkle.

"I have a new dream! You've inspired me, Brogy!" Usopp shouted as he stood up. Standing straight with confidence, "I'm gonna see Elbaf someday, and I'll become a proud warrior of the sea!"

Brogy laughed heartily. "That's a wonderful dream!"

"…What exactly are you fighting your friend for, anyway?" Gaara asked.

"To be perfectly honest," Brogy laughed, "I don't remember!"

The volcano erupted, causing both Nami and Usopp to practically jump out of their skin. Brogy gave a grunt as he stood up. "Well, I'm off. I'll be back when the volcano erupts again!"

Holding his axe aloft, Brogy grinned. "I'll be victorious for sure this time!"

"Good luck!" Usopp called.

Gaara put his gourd to the side and laid back. He looked at the clouds and the surrounding jungle. He was curious about the strange caverns that Brogy had sat beside; the formations looked worn, and the jungle had encroached into the caverns.

He wondered what his dream should be. Gaara liked the freedom of exploring; seeing new places and new things. His life in the desert was a thing long in the past. When he had been much younger, Gaara remembered staring out at the vast desert plains and thinking they were so big. But now, it was so small compared to everything else.

Giants – his uncle had read a book about them – they had been the thing of fairy tales. But here was a real Giant, and apparently there was an entire island of them. What would Yashamaru say if he saw Giants? Or saw Luffy stretch like he did? What about the Sea Kings?

Gaara was still staring off into space when Brogy returned.

"It was a tie!" Brogy announced jovially as he sat back down. "I'll definitely win next time."

The conversation between the others picked up again, but Gaara wasn't paying attention. Dammit, he was so bored! Right now, he sort of wished he could sleep as easily as Zoro did, but he had been asleep just days before.

"I'm going exploring," Gaara stated as he stood up and adjusted his gourd back into place.

"We should stick together, though…right?" Usopp said hesitantly.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "I have my sand shield, and I'm not Zoro-nii. Besides, I want new materials for my sand." In his perfectly blunt way, Gaara added, "And Brogy's just going to fight his friend again – I already watched the Giants fight."

"But you sat on the ground the entire time…?" Nami questioned.

Gaara then revealed his sand-eye.

Nami cringed.

"This could really be useful!" Usopp was impressed.

"Very true. You could peep in on people in their most private moments with that…" Pudding pointed out.

"Not really what I meant…" Usopp said flatly.

Gaara sent Pudding a look. "Why would I do that?"

Nami slapped Pudding's shoulder. "Don't give Gaara-kun weird ideas! It would be more useful to scout out guards' locations so I can steal treasure."

"You aren't any better…" Usopp muttered under his breath about Nami.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Pudding laughed teasingly. "As long as Gaara-sweetie is careful it should be fine. You can get back to the ship on your own, right?"

Gaara nodded.

"See? Go have fun, sweetie."

Usopp didn't like the idea of Gaara going off on his own. "I really think we should stick together! This is clearly a dangerous island!"

"Then go with him if you're so worried." Nami suggested.

Turning to the Sniper, Gaara asked, "Do you want to go with me, Usopp?"

Usopp gulped as he glanced in the jungle, and he could hear all the dangerous creatures just calling for blood. He was developing a new disease for sure! Then, Usopp glanced down at Gaara – and Usopp mentally cursed because the kid was giving him a look. No wonder Zoro indulged the kids.

"Fine…" Usopp sighed before he went on in his usual bravado. "I've explored many a jungle in my time! In fact, I discovered buried treasure!"

"Really?" Gaara was staring up at him fascinated, so Usopp continued.

The two disappeared into a sort of path in the jungle with Usopp telling an amazing tale of giant gorillas and dinosaurs fighting each other; cannibalistic tribesmen; a city made of gold that housed many secrets…

Because Gaara asked logical questions, the tale began to get even grander and wonderfully more absurd.

*0000*

Meanwhile, Ichibi was staring at the floor of his prison, muttering quietly to himself. "Elbaf…Elbaf…" a distant feeling…he'd always wanted to see Elbaf, but never had a reason to go.

He was sitting next to a Giant – a woman, more like a girl – she was still young, and she hesitated as she spoke, "I want to do the right thing for my Clan…I'm scared…What do I do?"

Dammit! Ichibi slammed his fists into one of the poles. He hated that he recognized the name, yet couldn't remember or understand why. Who the hell was that girl?!

He was missing something important.

*0000*

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the island:

Mr. 3, Miss Goldenweek, Mr. 5, and Miss Valentine's Day were all gathered to discuss their plans on how they could capture Vivi. Of course, those pesky Giants and the Straw Hats were in the way.

But Mr. 3 grinned as he presented a couple of wanted posters. "Those Giants have bounties on their heads, 100,000,000 belli each. Everyone thought that they were dead…who'd have thought they were here? We can just kill them and collect the reward on our own. Those Pirates don't even really matter."

"So, do you have a plan?"

Mr. 3 scoffed in indignation. "Of course, I have a plan. All you lot have to do is listen and follow my instructions and we'll have succeeded with killing those giants and bothersome Pirates, and capturing that foolish Princess!"

Mr. 5 scowled even more than he usually did, clearly not appreciating how his superior was talking to him. Miss Valentine's Day simply rolled her eyes. It was typical for Mr. 3 to think so highly of himself and talk down to those under his command.

Miss Goldenweek ate a rice cracker and doodled in her sketchbook.

The Princess was their bargaining chip; with her, the King would most certainly bend over backwards to protect his daughter. Of course, her life wouldn't matter much once Mr. 2 was there. It would be far better having someone wear her face than have the girl herself.

With Mr. 3's instruction to injure the one Giant, and wait – they could most certainly take out the other one when he least suspected it. He already had a plan in place.

He'd already taken into account the kusarigama kid and the Swordsman. Their fight in Whiskey Peak had made them infamous.

"Now, here's what we're going to do…"

0000

Naruto half-hummed a tune he remembered hearing from when he was a child, "…we are fighting dreamers…hmm-hmm…"

Naruto recalled Gramps telling him about the Forest of Death when he had been younger. He wondered how that place compared to this island. There was jungle and more jungle, and he had found a few interesting things. There were a few interesting animals, and a dinosaur charged him; but was easily taken down by Hayabusa.

And with a controlled strike, too!

Naruto grinned to himself as he wiped the Blade clean. "You're really cool, Hayabusa…"

He was totally getting the hang of this!

Naruto walked in a random direction a bit more until he came upon a rather large river that led out to the sea. The water smelled salty and musky like the surrounding jungle, so was no good for drinking…but whatever.

He started walking across when he noticed something odd…a white thing in the water further into the canal. It was mostly hidden by the surrounding foliage, and really… Naruto would have missed it if it weren't for how the sunlight hit it.

At first, he wondered if it was a water cave or something.

Curiosity got the better of him, and a water cave would be cool. Luffy and Usopp would certainly love to explore it. Was there treasure deep inside? Nami'd love that.

Except… Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that it was a ship. A sinking feeling appeared in Naruto's stomach when he saw that the figurehead for the white ship was that of a skull with wings and crossed sabers…just like…

Naruto turned on his heel and ran. He to warn the others that Baroque Works was on the island!

0000

Usopp followed after Gaara as they walked along the shoreline. Gaara simply rolled up his pant legs and walked in and on the water at times.

"Look at this rock, Usopp!" Gaara was excited as he held it up. "This is good for your ammo, right?"

"Yeah, it is," Usopp agreed. "You've got a keen eye for this stuff."

Gaara sent him a look, and muttered, "Thanks…" he quickly grinded the rock down and sucked the sand into his gourd.

"Hey, a crab!" Usopp pointed out the creature that was climbing a tree, which was actually bigger than his head. It was monstrous! Usopp backed away a little when the crab hissed at him.

Gaara found a large shell – but the creature inside didn't like being disturbed. It squirted out some sort of nasty-smelling substance before flicking itself out of Gaara's hold.

The smell stuck to Gaara's hands no matter how hard he scrubbed them; heck, he even shed his sand armor and that didn't help.

"Here, try this," Usopp said as he cut a lemon in half with a knife. "Hold out your hands."

"What do you use the lemon for?" Gaara asked as Usopp squirted the juice into his hands.

"Very useful for squirting into an unsuspecting person's eyes!" Usopp proudly stated. "Or for getting rid of nasty, lingering smells."

Thankfully, the smell went away.

"Thanks, Usopp."

"Sure thing, you can count on me!" Usopp said proudly.

They searched along the shoreline a bit longer, and when a dinosaur made the poor decision to try and attack them, Gaara excitedly crushed it and was happily thinking about materials for Naruto and Usopp's weapons.

Usopp clung to Gaara, ignoring the younger boy's glare. "I would have died getting skewered by that thing for sure if you weren't here, Gaara!"

Gaara managed to slip away by substituting himself with a sand clone – and Usopp thought that was so amazing he promptly forgot his fright.

"I wonder if the others are almost done…" Usopp said after a while. "We should be able to go now, since Merry's fixed."

Gaara nodded in agreement, and he happened to glance up when a large bird flew overhead. Furrowing his brow, Gaara asked, "What's that smoke?"

Usopp looked as well. Where the fire was coming from wasn't anywhere near where Brogy had been. And he knew it wasn't Dorry, because Brogy had mentioned that he was on the opposite side of the island. This was more in the middle. "Maybe Pudding and Sanji are preparing something? I guess we should go see."

0000

Zoro had found one strange creature; it was large and had three horns. Of course, after he killed it he just had to run into that stupid cook and their argument started over. The two of them dropped their kills off by Merry and were at it again.

Zoro could most certainly curse his luck when he slipped in something – and it wrapped around his ankles. Zoro almost fell on his face but someone caught him, and a hard, white substance wrapped around his wrists and hands.

A man with a face that made a person want to punch it looked at Zoro smugly as he pulled the Swordsman to his feet.

"So, you're one of the two that took out all those Bounty Hunters at Whiskey Peak. Not as impressive as I thought."

Being unable to use his swords or form Jutsu, Zoro used the next best thing. He head-butted the bastard and smirked when there was a satisfying crunch from the man's nose breaking.

The man howled as he cupped his nose, blood spirting out from between his fingers.

Forming a club with his wax, Mr. 3 marched over and raised his weapon.

Zoro was about to ghost out of the wax around his hands when he just stopped for no reason. His attention was drawn to a strange, elaborate Seal that the girl had drawn. Why was he focused so much on that thing?! He could see the guy getting closer.

Zoro could do nothing as the bastard hit him across the head in fierce retaliation.

Zoro went down, seeing stars.

"Miss Goldenweek!" the man snarled. "Get him to the platform!"

"Can't do that." Miss Goldenweek drawled.

"Why not?!"

"Don't wanna move."

Mr. 3 cursed under his breath. He thankfully had a handkerchief in his pocket; so he held that to his face while he awkwardly dragged Zoro towards the platform.

That was how he found himself – laying on top of a strange, layered platform that looked like an annoying oversized cake. And…what the hell?! A Giant was there as well, and he was a sobbing mess. Zoro admittedly had a bit of sympathy for the guy when he saw the large, pillar-sized spikes that had been essentially nailed through his hands and feet.

Zoro was a bit too dazed to stand upright, and he ended up having rings placed around his arms and just below his knees. He watched as Mr. 3 went off somewhere, while the girl simply set up a picnic nearby.

Zoro tried to think. He could probably ghost the wax off of his hands if he shifted just right. If he did that, though; he wasn't close enough to the water to do anything, his feet were trapped, and he could only do so much from this position. Thinking of all his attacks – it wouldn't do much good if he couldn't move easily.

He might end up injuring himself if he simply tried executing his attack – like breaking his ankles or something.

Nami joined him on the platform not long after, and she was placed in a standing position. "Zoro? Oh, damn-Zoro! What happened to your head?"

"Got hit. How'd you get caught?"

"A dinosaur came into the clearing where Pudding and I were, and we had to run…" Nami sighed. "We got split off from each other."

Nami then called out worriedly, "Brogy!"

Brogy simply continued sobbing, lamenting his friend and cursing Mr. 3.

Miss Valentine's Day showed up in the clearing for a moment; she bent down to talk to Miss Goldenweek, and the two left.

"What's going to happen to us?" Nami whispered.

"Maybe it's just our time," Zoro said, and that earned him a glare from Nami. "But do you really wanna go out without a fight?"

"...I guess not…"

Just then, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine's Day showed up, leading Vivi and Luffy to the clearing.

Luffy walked strangely zombie-like and he had an odd look on his face. He gritted out through his teeth, "Today's a nice day for a walk…!"

Luffy took his place next to the others, and his limbs were quickly encased in the wax.

Vivi had tears streaming down her face as she was forced to sit down by Mr. 3. He sent her a look and smiled, making her skin crawl.

"Earl-Grey?" he asked, holding up a teapot. "Might as well enjoy the show."

Vivi accepted the teacup, took one look at the steaming liquid inside and promptly threw the contents into Mr. 3's face. Vivi squared her shoulders. But it was clear how terrified she was. "You won't get away with this! You're going to destroy an entire country! And for what?!" Vivi practically snarled, in a very un-princess-like way, "May the gods strike you down without mercy!"

Mr. 3 slapped Vivi, then scoffed, and slapped wax onto Vivi's hands and feet. Why were these people so insistent on hitting him in the face?! "The gods are just something people made up to feel better about themselves," snapping his fingers, and the top of the wax platform began to spin, raining wax down on those who were trapped. "It's about time you woke up to reality, princess. You have lost, and no-one could possibly save you."

Zoro was forced into a standing position, and the wax around his hands disappeared. With a glint in his eye, Zoro slashed at his ankles, shocking everyone who watched him do it.

"Aw, damn…it didn't work…" Zoro cursed.

"What the hell, Zoro?!" Nami demanded.

"Well…my attacks are easier to do if I can move, so…" Zoro shrugged.

Nami looked down at Zoro's bleeding legs and face-palmed.

Luffy was grunting as he yanked and pulled against Miss Goldenweek's Seal. He just, couldn't move. He wanted to move, but his body wouldn't let him. He glared down at his hands and feet which were still encased in the wax.

More wax slowly began covering them, and Nami wondered what they were going to do…where were the others?! Their only hope was the others happening upon them! Nami took a deep breath to call out, but instead had a nasty coughing fit as she breathed in bits of wax.

Dammit! Nami tried to think. What were they going to do?

Someone burst into the clearing then, and they saw a flash of yellow and red. Naruto appeared in the clearing, and he stopped when he started taking in the scene. He recognized Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine's Day immediately.

"You guys?!"

He saw Vivi, and how she looked so scared and worried and so hopeful. Naruto knew he had to help the others, and quickly. Drawing Hayabusa, Naruto snarled as he charged forward only to suddenly stop and feebly throw his weapon at a circle on the ground.

"What?" Naruto questioned. He tried to execute a more powerful attack to get rid of the circle, but his attacks barely did anything; essentially disappearing before his attack could carry through. Naruto was basically just dropping his weapon on the ground.

"I knew there were more of you on the island," Miss Goldenweek stated lazily as she scribbled in her sketchbook, "So I made sure to prepare."

There were several circles all throughout the clearing.

"Damn you, I'll get out of this, Dattebayo!"

Naruto charged up an attack but just dropped his weapon on the ground again. What was he supposed to do?

0000

Gaara and Usopp ran into a panicking Karoo, who had managed to escape his captors. Karoo could only quack so much, so the two mounted the duck and he ran with all his might towards where he had seen Vivi and the others last.

Upon seeing the platform, and how everyone was trapped, Usopp thought that he might have an understanding of how it worked. If they could just – his train of thought cut off when Gaara ran into the clearing. Dammit, Usopp at least wanted to think of a strategy!

Before the Agents could do anything, though, Usopp figured all he could do for the moment was serve as a distraction. If Gaara and Naruto were there, then things would be fine, right? He wouldn't have to fight directly, and he could serve as a distraction!

Mr. 5 cursed when something hit him. A raw egg?!

Karoo charged forward with Usopp riding the duck backwards, and firing at the man. "Go Karoo!"

Karoo dodged several explosive shots, before Mr. 5 snarled in irritation and chased after them.

He strategically set up various explosives as he ran after the annoying kid, and managed to lead them back through to his traps by firing at them – Karoo and Usopp cried out as they were sent flying.

Miss Valentine's Day sauntered up, and plopped herself down on Usopp. "Mr. 5, go take care of the brat. I'll handle him."

Usopp shuddered as he looked up at the woman who had a cold smile on her face. "I wonder how much you can handle."

"Huh?"

"How much weight can you handle before you get crushed?"

Miss Valentine's Day laughed cruelly as she slowly counted up, increasing her weight bit-by-bit.

Usopp began gasping for air and his vision started going dark. Getting crushed slowly – Usopp tried struggling. He threw dirt over his shoulder. He would make his death as annoying as possible.

Miss Valentine's Day's laugh was cut off when something flew by her face. Her eyes slowly widened when she saw that her bangs had been cut. She reached up to her cheek and pulled away to see blood on her fingers.

Pudding then charged in and sent the other woman flying with a kick. When the weight suddenly left Usopp, he took in grateful gulps of air, and looked up at Pudding.

"My, what a wonderful taste you have." Pudding said as she tapped her foot. That actually kinda hurt… "But Usopp-sweetie is my man, and I don't appreciate your advances."

Pudding then crouched down next to Usopp. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Y-yeah…thanks." Usopp said with a wheeze, not really registering all of what Pudding had said. He was just thankful to still be alive.

Patting his cheek and nodding, Pudding stood up and drew her knives. "Can you move? Good. Go help the others." Smiling at the Agent, "Let's have a bit of fun, shall we?"

Miss Valentine's Day quickly widened the distance between them. Thinking of a strategy because Mr. 5 wasn't around at the moment – she went somewhat weightless and began skipping between the trees, winding through them.

Pudding gave chase, her knives at the ready.

Miss Valentine's Day ran towards a tree and sprung off of it, towards Pudding. Twisting in the air, Miss Valentine's Day suddenly increased her weight as she crashed into Pudding.

"1500 Kilo Wrecking Ball!"

Pudding was thrown back, dazed.

Miss Valentine's Day crashed into the trees, but simply brushed herself off. Pointing her umbrella at Pudding, she began cackling as her opponent quickly moved out of the way, just barely dodging the rain of bullets.

The Agent grinned maliciously. She had earned her spot for a reason; and knew that it was quite foolish to count solely on her partner to fight. She cackled with glee as she finally hit Pudding in the back – her blood flying and body convulsing.

But then, there was a poof and there was a log in the girl's place – that had taken all the damage.

"What?" Miss Valentine's Day questioned. "AHH!"

She cried out when a knife was thrown into her shoulder. The Agent spun around, making herself light before increasing her weight as she struck Pudding. Pudding put up her arm to block and winced when it was like being hit with several hundred pounds. With a deep breath, Pudding focused, thankful that she'd had Haki to block – otherwise that hit could have fractured her arm.

Miss Valentine's Day lightened her weight and bounced along the trees and floated up above for a brief moment, then rocketed downwards with her leg extended – fully intending on skewering Pudding. Pudding dodged to the side and sliced at Miss Valentine Day's leg several times.

Pain shot threw the Agent's leg; even more so when she crashed into a tree, splintering it. She could barely put weight on it. She fired a rain of bullets at Pudding again, and floated up into the air.

Pointing her umbrella at the ground, Miss Valentine's Day began firing haphazardly as she slowly increased her weight so she wouldn't go drifting off.

Pudding dodged, and winced when her arm was hit.

"This is absolutely elating!" Pudding called out. Admittedly, she was rather annoyed. Miss Valentine's Day was good about keeping the distance up between them – and she couldn't see anything with the dust cloud.

If she couldn't see Miss Valentine's Day, then the Agent couldn't see her either, right? Pudding quickly moved through the jungle, using the dust and trees for cover. Miss Valentine's Day was firing indiscriminately, and several bullets came close to hitting Pudding more than once.

Pudding had to jump back when Miss Valentine's Day flew through the air, and the Agent smirked upon seeing her.

"1000 Kilo Pinball!"

The woman began springing off of the trees and gaining momentum. She then began firing her umbrella gun at various times, forcing Pudding on the defensive. The Agent was also stirring dust, making it difficult to see. Pudding felt the woman crash into her, and Pudding went down.

The wind was knocked out of her and her right side protested any movement. A smile went to Pudding's face.

"How wonderful~" Pudding stood up as she watched Miss Valentine's Day float overhead. It was a shame that her opponent wasn't a man.

Of course, that reaction wasn't one the Agent was expecting. Miss Valentine's day grimaced when her wounds felt as if they were burning. Focusing on her current problem, the Agent wondered if…

Just then, there was a roar – it sent shivers through all those who heard it. A throbbing, suffocating dread enveloped them.

"W-what…?" Pudding questioned when she heard the inhuman roar. "Gaara?"

An indescribable, suffocating weight hit them. There was a disgusting feeling in the air; filled with rage and hopelessness. Pudding wanted to run and hide from it.

Miss Valentine's Day nearly passed out, but she had to focus. Using the distraction, she tried firing at Pudding again.

Pudding barely dodged. She had a sinking, worrying feeling. Fighting Miss Valentine's Day was the last thing on her mind. Pudding ran towards the clearing, in spite of everything in her screaming at her to stop, run, and hide. Anything to get away from whatever that sinking feeling was.

Pudding burst out into the clearing, and froze when she saw Naruto and Gaara, what were they - she barely dodged an attack from Miss Valentine's Day that would have crushed her. The attack caused the ground crack and crumble.

"I don't know what you're trying to do, but I won't let you!" Miss Valentine's Day shouted. She was absolutely unwilling to fail here – because failure meant a personal visit from Miss All Sunday who would ensure that Miss Valentine's Day would never fail again – nor would she get any second chances.

Miss Valentine's Day floated up again, and Pudding rapidly went through a series of hand signs then pointed her left hand at Miss Valentine's Day, splaying her fingers just like the Scroll had instructed. Electric sparks surrounded from her fingers. Pudding drew back her right hand as if loading an arrow in an invisible bow and called out,"Inazuma no ya no Jutsu!"

Releasing the charge, an arrow of electricity shot towards Miss Valentine's Day – who cursed mentally – she tried dodging by increasing her weight. The bolt of electricity hit her umbrella and the charge carried through her.

Miss Valentine's Day's body jolted, and she was sent crashing into the jungle below.

Pudding hadn't wanted to kill the other woman, and didn't think she did. She hadn't really had much of a chance to practice the technique, and knew that it wasn't as strong as it should have been.

Pudding ran towards the others, she had no idea what was going on – what was wrong with Naruto and Gaara?!

00000

Frustrated, Naruto uselessly dropped his kusarigama on the ground. His brother and his friends were in trouble! There was some relief knowing that Usopp was there – and Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine's Day went after him.

Except minutes later, Mr. 5 returned and with a bored expression on his face, fired an explosion at Naruto.

"That's for Whiskey Peak."

Naruto went flying, and although the explosion did hurt and caused his ears to ring, he grinned. He was no longer focused on that damn circle! Naruto charged forward at Mr. 5, spinning Hayabusa and he released – only for the kusarigama to target another circle.

Naruto cursed when an explosion hit him point blank.

"Naruto!" Zoro yelled, and the concern in his voice was clear.

Naruto's vision was filled with spots.

Naruto was sent flying again by a fierce kick. He pulled himself up again, and stared at the circle under his palms. He wondered if he could ask Kyuubi for Chakra… The last time he had used Kyuubi's Chakra had been…back in Kiri. While he had talked plenty with Kyuubi, but he hadn't exactly trained to wield Kyuubi's Chakra. While the Fox was certainly more cooperative, the most he had offered was healing.

"Naruto!" Vivi's worried voice cried out. Naruto slowly glanced up into the barrel of a gun.

"Naruto!" Usopp called out as he readied his weapon.

Naruto looked at the others on the platform – feeling utterly helpless. 'Kyuubi…please…help me…'

Kyuubi could sense the full killing intent of the man with the gun, and Naruto's pleading desperation clawed at him. What a fool that man was, thinking he could kill the Kyuubi's host with such ease… Kyuubi would not take such an offence lightly.

Mr. 5 flinched back in shock when Naruto suddenly convulsed awkwardly, and he got down on all fours. The marks on his cheeks were more pronounced and his eyes – they turned from blue to a deep, crimson red.

"Youbastard!" Naruto snarled with a distorted voice. He raised a hand that was covered in red Chakra and tore up the ground. "I'm gonna kill you!"

Mr. 5 wisely widened the distance between him and the kid, not knowing what was going on. He fired his gun, and he saw the bullet tear through the kid's shoulder – but that only seemed to make the kid angrier – and what the hell?! His shoulder wound healed within seconds. Only the blood from the wound remained behind showing that the kid had been injured. The kid charged forward on all fours – the red energy surrounding him tearing up the ground as he went.

At that moment, an enraged roar sounded somewhere else in the clearing. It made Mr. 5 wonder just what the hell they'd gotten themselves into.

Naruto leapt high into the air, and Mr. 5 fired an explosion – only for Naruto to swipe through it with ease.

A suffocating rage crushed down on Mr. 5, making him too scared to even move. He watched as Naruto raised his claws to strike and his instinctive desire to live broke through the trance as he impulsively held up his arm to block. He was going to explode as soon as the kid made contact.

Mr. 5 screamed when his arm was severed from the rest of him, the explosion not doing a thing. Naruto twisted through the air and tore through Mr. 5's abdomen, and he was sent flying back several feet from the force. Pain rippled through the agent's body, and he gasped for air. He couldn't move or even react as Naruto brought down another strike, tearing his throat out. Naruto struck again and again, unnecessarily, cursing this man who dared to try and take away his family. He was bloodying up the dirt at this point.

Naruto stopped for just a moment as his mind began focusing on the next task; gasping and wheezing as he slowly looked across the battlefield. That girl…that little bitch! It was because of her…

The one who had scribbled down all those stupid Seals! He was going to rip her in half! Naruto charged forward, intent on reaching his target.

0000

When Gaara arrived with Usopp, his first thought was about his brothers and the others. Were they okay?! Gaara ran into the center of the clearing, and he could smell blood. He froze when he saw blood around Zoro's feet and – Nami and Luffy were there. Luffy was struggling, fighting against some sort of invisible bond, and Nami was frozen, looking terrified.

Slowly, Gaara turned towards Brogy, who had spikes through his hands, and a man – he had Vivi sitting next to him. Vivi was crying, and her lip was bloody.

He then noticed that Naruto was involved with his own fight. He turned and saw a girl who sat casually as if he wasn't even there. She drank tea and ate rice crackers.

Something stirred in Gaara's stomach. A familiar rage. He clenched his fists. These people were trying to take away his family! He was so furious, his rage at this absolute injustice began to grow. Gaara grabbed his head as he fell to his knees. He began to drool as his teeth started growing into more pronounced fangs.

This was absolutely unforgivable in Ichibi's opinion! Yeah, these people got on his nerves to no end, but Zoro was the one who had treated Gaara and by extension Ichibi, as if he were more than just a weapon.

That idiot, always doing stupid stuff like his so-called training, always stepping up for the brats, always indulging them – in Ichibi's opinion, one that he would never voice out loud, Zoro was his. He had always been selfish, that way.

"Sand-brat!"

"Oh, are you here to rescue your friends?" Mr. 3 asked as he approached, and really, he was amused at the redheaded kid for failing before he could even try. Mr. 3 failed to recognize the danger he was in because this was just a child – and he had his Devil Fruit. He had earned his position for a good reason.

He fired some wax at Gaara, and sand rose up and blocked the attack, causing Mr. 3 to wonder at the shield. Gaara was shaking and he glared at the man – Mr. 3 flinched. One eye had turned completely black and yellow, and sand was wrapping around the kid's face – and some sort of ear or horn had appeared on one side of his head. Then, the other eye changed color as well as more sand rapidly enveloped the kid.

"GIVE ME BACK MY FAMILY!" Gaara roared as sand rose up around him and formed into a tail. More sand wrapped around his limbs forming a makeshift body of sorts.

The kid was a strange mix between being Human and some other creature. The form he took looked somewhat familiar, but Mr. 3 couldn't place it.

Finally recognizing the threat for what it was, Mr. 3 hastily formed an armor around himself. The Candle Champion was not easily defeated! "You can't possible get passed my defense, my wax is stronger than steel!"

Gaara reached out, and his sand shot forward and wrapped around Mr. 3. Tendrils of sand that glowed with a red energy slowly began crawling up the armor. Mr. 3 couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. The sand got into his joints, and he flinched when sand moved passed his eyes and he could feel the grains tickling his cheek.

"Wait! I can help you!" Mr. 3 began begging for his life. Bargaining was all he had. "I can tell you everything I know about Mr. 0!"

Wordlessly, Gaara raised his hand and glared. This bastard tried to take his family and had the nerve to think that he would be spared if he begged. Mr. 3's pleading cries were muffled by the sand, and he stopped when Gaara clenched his fist. The popping of his head was truly satisfying. His sand pulsed a glowing red as it began crushing and grinding the wax armor down until nothing was left.

"Sand-brat!" Zoro called out in desperation. He was hoarse at this point. "Gaara!"

Zoro cursed again when he saw Naruto tearing up Mr. 5's corpse.

Luffy was staring wide-eyed, and Nami felt sick to her stomach.

Somewhere on the island, two different fruits shifted in appearance as they acquired swirled patterns.

Gaara roared as he charged up the platform and knocked the candles to the side entirely by accident – and the flames licked the hostages.

"Gaara!" Zoro called out, and honestly, he had both Luffy and Nami concerned. Zoro turned to Naruto as well, who was now charging at Miss Goldenweek. He could move somewhat, so he began yanking at his legs while yelling, "Naruto!"

Gaara suddenly snarled and took off – right towards Pudding who halted upon seeing him. But Gaara shot passed her – Pudding yelped as he went by, and rebounded off of several trees before stopping. He sniffed at the air before bounding off again – right towards Miss Valentine's Day who stumbled out of the jungle looking dazed.

The woman froze upon seeing Gaara. She could feel the suffocating bloodlust, and she knew right then, she was going to die. Forcing herself to move, Miss Valentine's Day raised her umbrella and began firing as she floated up into the air to get away.

Zoro began frantically pulling against the wax and hacking at it with his sword trying to get out.

The heat was intense, and Nami yelped when the fire began licking at her clothes. With no other option, she ripped off her burning shirt before it could become fused with her skin.

"Luffy!" she yelled, "take off your shirt!"

Luffy stood there shakily. "It's so hot…so hot… AH!"

Luffy cried out when the fire began burning his clothes, finally breaking the Seal. Luffy was quick to pull off his shirt as well.

Zoro was finally able to escape as well, and he was yelling, "Naruto! Gaara! STOP!"

For someone who had always scowled to suddenly look so scared…Nami wondered what was wrong – and why – why were Gaara and Naruto acting like this? Seeing Naruto kill that man so easily and to continue ripping at his corpse… Nami felt intense and disgusting fear. It almost made her want to throw up, or even tear at herself until she was bloody to wake up from this nightmare.

The boys weren't like the ones she knew…they were like…like monsters, a small voice in the back of her head whispered.

Luffy shivered. He could feel Zoro's fear and especially his worry. He felt both Naruto and Gaara's suffocating rage – along with that of the mystery people. Except it felt weird. Off in a way that he knew it somehow wasn't right; but didn't know enough to say what was wrong with it.

Miss Valentine's Day unfortunately, failed to escape. Sandy tendrils reached out and wrapped around the woman's arms and legs and slowly began winding up her limbs.

"Stop! Let me go!" Miss Valentine's Day screamed as she struggled to run away. The sand cut into her the more she struggled.

"Gaara?" Pudding's voice was shaky. This was like – like Mama. Different, but it frightened her that the boys could get like this.

Zoro honestly looked lost at that point, as if he wasn't sure what to do.

At the same time, Naruto had closed in on Miss Goldenweek, who suddenly disappeared out of sight the moment Naruto reached her.

That was it – giving Zoro the precious few seconds he needed to stop them. Zoro ghosted over and grabbed Gaara just before his sand enveloped Miss Valentine's Day entirely. He ghosted with Gaara again, but didn't apply an even layer of Chakra that caused Gaara to become confused and he lost his concentration on the sand. The sand released Miss Valentine's Day and retracted, going back to Gaara.

Zoro went into a nasty coughing fit and spit up blood, but he refused to slow down.

Over with Naruto, he stopped when the girl disappeared. He could still smell her though, and he swiped at the air right around where he had last seen her – and the girl reappeared as she had no choice but to dodge. She rapidly drew another Seal on the ground, and that only held Naruto's attention for so long before he tore through it and charged after her.

"YOU BITCH!" Naruto snarled.

Miss Goldenweek had never been one to be active; only moving when she really had to. Her excessive natural clumsiness was easier to deal with by simply not moving that much. But that would be her downfall, she realized with grim fear. She was terrified, and didn't want to die. Seeing Mr. 5 and Mr. 3, what happened to them – it made her nauseated and terrified beyond words.

Miss Goldenweek tripped on a root and fell, scratching up her hands and arms. She rapidly turned to see where Naruto was, it seemed that her tripping had thrown Naruto's aim off from decapitating her - and she screamed in immense pain as the tips of a Chakra claw cut her cheek, neck, and tore through her shoulder.

It was like hot daggers and thousands of beestings hit her, and wouldn't let up.

Naruto went to deliver the finishing blow, but Zoro grabbed him and ghosted him back away from the girl; going back to the center of the clearing.

"Naruto, stop…it's okay…" Zoro said. He glared at the girl who had tears running down her face. She was shaking and sobbing, undoubtedly beyond terrified. "Get out of here."

When Miss Goldenweek didn't move right way, Zoro shouted, "LEAVE ALREADY!"

Miss Valentine's Day limped over to Miss Goldenweek and pulled her up. "Get up! Now! Let's go, hurry up!"

The two of them ran as best they could. Miss Goldenweek ended up being a support for the older woman since she could barely put any weight on her injured foot. The pair of them disappeared into the jungle, not looking back.

Zoro gripped both boys tightly. "It's alright, we're fine, we're all fine…"

Naruto slowly turned as his eyes became their usual blue. "Zoro-nii…you're…" Naruto gripped Zoro tightly, as if his older brother would disappear if he let go.

The sand around Gaara dropped and Gaara was holding onto Zoro as well. His voice was barely a whisper. "I thought that I was going to lose my family…"

"Sweeties…what was that?" Pudding asked, her expression one of concern. But there was a look of hesitation and fear as well.

"Oi…" Sanji had seen only the last few minutes of the action and was confused as hell.

Those two kids hadn't exactly looked like kids anymore. The things of nightmares, mostly. Seeing Naruto chase after that girl and seriously try and kill her… And Gaara – acting so vicious and animalistic…the sense he had gotten from them was almost maddening.

"Seriously. What the hell…"

"We…" Zoro started, and he glanced up at the others. They looked concerned, yes, but they also looked scared. "We should get back."

Zoro walked quickly, ignoring the others. Unwittingly, he ghosted back to the ship. He had to think. He needed to do what was best for his brothers, and for now, that was getting them away from the crew. Dammit, should he have told them – told them about the Biju and – he thought of how the boys were essentially ostracized.

The crew – they – they wouldn't do that. They wouldn't.

Would they?

What was he going to do?

0000

Dorry thankfully, had minor enough injuries that he could help treat Brogy's wounds. Of course, his insides were still tender, but he was a Giant and this was nothing!

Brogy was especially tearful, and said thought his blubbers, "My win didn't count! It was empty! We have to start again!"

"Of course!" Dorry agreed solemnly.

"You two should still at least relax a bit," Vivi said, but she could only sigh in defeat as the Giants laughed half-heartedly at her suggestion.

Sanji was quick to offer Nami his suit jacket, and Nami was grateful. Nami wheezed a bit and Luffy kept coughing as well. Luffy ended up coughing up a white, lumpy substance.

Even Brogy was hacking up a storm.

"Looks like that shitty wax is still in your systems…" Sanji sighed. "Nami-swan, take all the rest you need, I'll pamper you."

Nami just smiled appreciatively. For once, Pudding wasn't responding to how Sanji was treating Nami. Glancing over at the other Chef, she had a faraway look in her eyes as she rubbed one of her arms in that absentminded way.

The Giants followed after them on their way to the ship. The two were talking somewhat cheerfully, and it made Vivi smile that they truly were friends. If only their disagreement could be settled…

Nami flinched as she slapped at something on her stomach. Gross…bug guts… That thing also bit her! She didn't bother to even say anything, since it was just a bug bite. She'd been bitten and stung plenty of times; as unpleasant as it was, it wasn't that big a deal. She was glad she'd thought of bringing anti-itch cream for bug-bites.

Sanji glanced back at her curiously, but Nami waved him off.

When they arrived back at the ship, they found that the dinosaurs had already been cut up – and Sanji cursed, "That cheating bastard…we didn't properly measure our kills!"

The Giants looked on thoughtfully. Huh…that seemed kinda familiar somehow…? Anyway, the why of their fight didn't really seem to matter anymore; just as long as one of them won.

"Hey, about those two kids…" Brogy spoke up just then, "Are they descendants of Gothi?"

"Huh?" The Pirates tilted their heads questioningly. "Who?"

"Gothi is more of a title, not a name," Dorry explained. "The descendants of Gothi were said to have powers given to them directly by the gods. Gegyagyagya! The Legend of Gothi was one of my favorite stories growing up!"

"Yes, yes, mine too!" Brogy agreed.

Usopp and Luffy wanted nothing more than to listen to those stories, but there were more pressing matters.

The brothers weren't on deck, and Luffy searched for them – he felt their presence in the cabin, and it felt – scared, worried, and Zoro's protective nature was out in force.

The crew had to set out without the help of the brothers, who had decided that hiding was better than answering questions.

Seeing the giant fish was cool, but it wasn't the same – not with the shadows looming over them of what had happened on the island.

Vivi stared at the cabin door. She had her own questions – something was nagging at the back of her mind, and she hoped that the Roronoa Brothers would be willing to answer.

0000

"Are we gonna havfta leave?" Naruto asked quietly.

"If we have to." Zoro replied. He coughed again, and made a face at the specks of blood in the wax. "We'll manage, we've done it before. There's plenty of money – we have a right to it, and…we can just split off from them after reaching Alabasta."

"I don't want to go…" Gaara whispered. "I like serving under Captain."

They weren't sure how long they were there, but there was a knock on the door and Usopp stuck his head in. "Hey, guys…? Uh, Luffy wants to see you on deck."

Slowly, the three of them walked out on deck. The entire crew was there, of course they would be. Zoro stared out at them almost defiantly. When he sat down, both of his brothers instinctively sat behind him, and Zoro had his hand on Wado. He looked ready to fight, very much like a cornered animal.

"What the hell happened back there?" was Nami's question.

"It's…" Zoro began, uneasily. "It's complicated…"

"Well, un-complicate it." Nami replied.

"Those two," she indicated the boys who ducked even more behind Zoro, "turned into – into I don't know what, but they killed those people-"

"You were almost killed by those people, remember?" Pudding spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically serious. She wasn't looking at any of them. "You were able to escape because of them, so…"

"We still deserve answers!" Nami shot back.

Vivi's back was straight and she looked regal in spite of her messy hair, dirt and accompanying bruises.

"Nami, I think you need to sit down and give them a chance to explain themselves, and not demand in such a harsh way." Vivi was looking at the Brothers with an odd expression on her face. "Please, can you tell us what that was?"

"The brats have something called 'Biju' Sealed into them," Zoro replied. Stealing a glance at his brothers, and he briefly considered whether or not Ichibi and Kyuubi would appreciate just being thrown out like that. "They both have one and they can learn control soon, they're really amazing like that. They just…panicked."

Because saying that meant there was less of a chance of them being enemies in the future. At least, that was his hope.

"I just…" Naruto began slowly, "I tried using Hayabusa and my Jutsu, but those weird, black Seals wouldn't let me…I saw Zoro-nii, Luffy, Nami – and I knew they were going to die, and that dumbass kept throwing his exploding boogers at me and – I got desperate, 'ttebayou…"

Gaara scowled quite impressively, and he gripped his scarf tightly in his hands. "I'll kill anyone who tries to take my family from me."

"Hey…so…who exactly Sealed these er…Biju into you?" Usopp was the one to ask. "Why?"

"My dad," Naruto replied. "He didn't have much of a choice, he and my mom had to sacrifice themselves to do it…"

"My…the Kazekage did – the leader of my home village." Gaara replied.

"Oh…" Pudding looked rather skeptical. "Biju? Like the bedtime stories?"

"Bedtime stories?" Naruto repeated.

Pudding narrowed her eyes somewhat. "Children's tales – either it's a happy story about some sort of Tailed Beast that frolics with children in a far off magical land, or monsters that eat naughty children because they didn't adhere their parents' warnings."

"But…we really do have Biju, 'ttebayou…" Naruto insisted.

"If that's the case," Sanji looked equally as skeptical, "How'd you even end up here, of all places?"

"I had to leave my village because there were guys who wanted to use me…" Naruto wasn't looking at the crew. "They wanted…to use me to kill a lot of people…but Dog-chan asked Zoro-nii to take me…" Naruto was picking at a string on his pant leg. "Nobody really wanted me until Zoro-nii…I had Gramps, Iruka-sensei, and Dog-chan, but…none of 'em could adopt me, 'ttebayou…"

Gaara was mostly quiet as he said, "I didn't turn out right, like my...like I was supposed to. The Kazekage ordered my uncle to kill me, but Yashamaru sacrificed himself so I could leave with Zoro-nii and Naruto…"

"They're treated like weapons," Zoro glared at the deck. "The brats are just kids, and people didn't always see 'em like that. There's a guy who was more than willing to slaughter an entire Clan because having the brat in the village is a power-balance. At the same time, the Head of that Clan wanted to use Naruto in his attack on the village."

Zoro wasn't looking at the others. This had been a far too dangerous venture. What if his brothers lost control again – and next time, it was one of the crew who got killed? What if…

"Anyway. Listen Luffy, let's not waste time." Zoro said, figuring he'd get this over with. "We'll leave when we get to Alabasta, but –"

"What the hell?!" Luffy shouted, cutting Zoro off. "'Leave'? You're leaving? Hell no! You can't just decide that! Don't be selfish! I'm the Captain, I'm the only one who gets to decide who leaves and joins the crew and all of you are staying!"

The Brothers could only look dumbly at Luffy and share a collective, "What?"

Luffy went into a hacking cough before he could answer.

"Zoro, you're my Swordsman, Naruto is my Ninja, and Gaara has that awesome mystery sand! You're my nakama!" Luffy glowered at them, as if daring them to disagree with him. "So this is the last time you talk about leaving, got it!"

"But what about…us?" Gaara asked. He didn't really know how to continue with his question "We…our Biju…"

Luffy waved his hand dismissively. "I already knew about the mystery people."

That got the Brother's attention. He had known and hadn't said anything?!

"I could sense them with my mystery power when we first met…" Luffy said casually, "And I wanted to ask you guys about them so bad, but I figured I'd let you guys tell me on your own…besides," Luffy's grin widened; it was friendly, welcoming, and warm, "They're basically our nakama too, right?" Luffy sighed happily, "I have mystery people on my crew! Shanks totally doesn't have mystery people on his crew!

"This is the best!" He looked at the rest of his nakama. "No-one's got a problem with them staying, right?"

The way Luffy said it very much suggested that he would have a problem if someone else did.

"That was so terrifying…I was so scared, I didn't even recognize you guys…" Nami admitted, but she smiled warmly. "But you guys have stuck by my side, even when you had no reason to. Like Luffy said: we're nakama, right?"

She coughed a bit, but was fine.

"Gaara makes maintaining Merry so easy, you know." Usopp spoke up, "And do you realize how much extra work there is for us without you guys there? I mean, I'm pretty incredible on my own, but…it wouldn't be the same…so…yeah…"

"It would be pretty damn inconvenient if you shitty brothers left, shitty Biju or whatever you wanna call 'em." Sanji said. He glared as he pointed his cigarette at Zoro. "And do not think for once, you shitty, Neanderthalic-moss-brain, that cutting up those dinos means you've won. You've won shit! I mean it, my catch was bigger than yours!"

"Oh, you two aren't that scary," Pudding said quite knowingly. In her mind, there was something that had separated them from Mama. She pointedly looked at the boys as she said, "You didn't attack us. Besides, you boys are my family, and you can't leave without a really valid reason. You don't have to explain your powers…but taking inspiration from the Biju is admittedly…odd? Whatever, it doesn't matter, sweeties."

Luffy could sense the utter relief that washed over Zoro. In fact, he even smiled a little.

His decision to follow after Luffy… Well, forced into it – but Zoro decided right then and there – he would do whatever it took to help Luffy reach his goal.

Naruto and Gaara were a sobbing mess, though.

Naruto thought of all the times that people had glared at him; whispered about him when they thought he wasn't listening; when people ostracized him and he had no idea why. Then this crew – they had seen what Kyuubi was capable of, and still…they still wanted him!

Gaara hadn't cried like this since he had first met Zoro and Naruto; and Zoro had made that promise to him. No-one feared him – even after what he had done to that wax guy. The looks of fear from the villagers – that one girl he had tried to give the medicine to when he had accidently injured her – the girl who had shoved him and called him a monster – these people didn't view him like that.

Luffy and the crew was here – and they weren't scared. In fact, they were demanding they stay.

"Hey…Zoro…your ankles are bleeding…" Luffy pointed out.

Oh.

"I uh, forgot…" Zoro had to admit.

"How can you forget something like that?" Usopp legitimately wondered.

"I'll get the medical kit," Pudding volunteered.

"You idiot," Nami gave Zoro a light slap on his head, and he scowled. "Cutting off your feet? Seriously, what the hell?"

"…It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"You're an insane idiot."

Zoro rolled up his pant legs when Pudding came back, and both women worked on his ankles at the same time. He didn't want any numbing, which made Nami mutter about "stupid men and their toughness".

Pudding grinned at Zoro. "Perhaps there are other injuries we could take care of for you?"

"No."

"Shame…"

Zoro rolled his eyes.

Sanji had to grumble under his breath about Zoro, who didn't seem to fully appreciate having two beautiful women tending to him.

Both Naruto and Gaara had finally calmed down, and were feeling exhausted.

"Oh! How were Dorry and Brogy, by the way?" Gaara asked. He did feel a bit guilty that they left like they did without proper goodbyes.

"Oh, they're fine," Nami rolled her eyes in mild exasperation. "They're continuing their fight because well, of interference. Brogy did have a cough, though, but he says he's fine."

"They actually asked if you two were descendants of Gothi – it's like a title or something," Usopp said.

Both boys shook their heads, not having heard the term before.

"So, how exactly did you guys meet and end up in East Blue?" Usopp asked.

That simple question of course led into telling the crew about the Elemental Nations and them being locked behind a barrier (which was absolutely fascinating to Usopp and Luffy both, and Nami was curious about the island). There was talk of his Clan; the Kage; of Zabuza, Haku, and Kimimaro.

Vivi was quiet as she listened to their stories. Finally, she stood up and walked over.

"Um, excuse me…" Vivi sat down on her knees before the Brothers. She had finally mustered up the courage to ask.

"You said 'Biju', correct? That both of you – had Biju…" Vivi pointed at Gaara, "You have all that sand, so you must be Ichibi, right?"

The Brothers all shared an equal look of surprise. Even the rest of the crew shared the look of surprise, but they also had looks of confusion.

"How'd you know?" Gaara asked.

Vivi didn't answer, and instead looked ready to cry. "And please, forgive me my ignorance, but…I don't know who you are…" she looked at Naruto expectantly, but also was evidently nervous, as if she were afraid of offending him.

"Uh…Kyuubi."

Vivi started crying, clasping her hands as her entire body shook. "I never considered you would take on Human forms! You…you're here, you actually exist!"Vivi was elated, "My prayers weren't empty after all! My meeting you was the greatest of fortunes! With two Biju, Alabasta will more than certainly be saved! My people will be spared!"

She didn't notice the utterly baffled looks being sent her way. There were some thoughts of Zabuza who was desperate to save Kiri, except this was…it was something else.

To their shock, Vivi bowed until her forehead was pressed against the deck.

"Ichibi-sama, Kyuubi-sama! I, Nefertari Vivi, beg of you, as the Princess of Alabasta, daughter of King Cobra and the late Queen Titi, please find it within yourselves to save my country!"

00000

Elsewhere, on a ship made of wax that was floating without any real direction through the ocean, Miss Valentine's Day was freaking out.

"That was insane! I am not going up against them again! You saw what they did to our partners! I am not going to return to the base and be the bearer of bad news! No! No way in hell!" Miss Valentine's Day messed with her hair a bit, but no matter what she did it was still frizzy and refused to be tamed. Her stress certainly wasn't helping.

"…Maybe if we explained?" Miss Goldenweek had cool cloths wrapped against her injuries which were still burning terribly, but not as intensely.

"Are you crazy?! We failed and our partners are dead! If you wanna go back and beg Miss All Sunday for mercy, go right ahead but leave me out of it!"

The girl only nodded silently. Baroque Works wasn't that forgiving of failure. The only way people ever left was through being killed; either out in the field or because of their failures.

"Look, I knew I'd be heading into danger when I was first recruited, and I'm not so naïve to think that everything'd be easy, but," the woman threw her hands out to make a point, "I'm not risking my life – not for this, not for the promise of some legend that might not even exist! There's not enough money even Gold Roger himself could offer that I'd accept!"

Shivering, she added, "And those monsters! To think that the Princess has people like that on her side…!" the woman pointed at the girl, "And no, we are not going back to warn the others! They'll just thank us then kill us for our trouble!"

"So…what are we going to do?" Miss Goldenweek asked.

"As far as anyone's concerned, we died on that island." Miss Valentine's Day responded. "We need to get a new ship – or – use your art skills and paint this one brown. We'll start our lives over on some island…" nodding, "Yeah, we'll be like, sisters, or something…"

Miss Valentine's Day finally calmed down as she laid back. Being able to focus on anything else was a blessing. "I've always wanted to be a chocolatier…I wanted to open my own shop after all this…I'll do that, and you can continue with your art, like, sell it out of my shop…people do that nowadays."

"…Okay. That sounds nice." Miss Goldenweek nodded. After seeing that blond kid like that; snarling with wild hair, fangs, and blood-red eyes, she didn't want to go up against him again. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing that monster coming at her, with the intent to rip her apart. Her fellow Agent had a very good point.

"Our names…Marianne, that's my name."

Miss Valentine's Day smiled warmly.

"I'm Mikita." Pausing thoughtfully she said, "We need new names, just in case…we have to be careful."

Marianne agreed, because Miss All Sunday was infamous among the upper Agents for very good and horrifying reasons.

"Yuzu." Mikita nodded. "I'll be Yuzu…and you…how about…Momoiro? Or just Momo? It'd make sense, if we're going to be sisters."

"I can be Momo."

With that decided, it was time to start over, and leave Baroque Works, the Straw Hats and the Princess behind.

The girls found a lovely town on some island with enough residents, soldiers, and even a small Marine Base that was only a few miles away; and the residents enjoyed the chocolate and the art the sisters produced. It wasn't long of course, before they were seeing numerous articles about Straw Hat Luffy and his insane crew. Both of them were completely shocked to see that Miss All Sunday had joined the Pirates.

The Marines complained about them enough; and a select few were even impressed, though this was said in whispers.

It was certainly a good thing that Yuzu and Momo left when they did, or as Yuzu reminded Momo of the fact. Momo most certainly agreed.

0000000

Pudding's attack: Thunder Bolt Arrow

Notes: Gothi or goði (plural goðar, fem. gyðja; Old Norse: guþi) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and communal feasts, but the title is primarily known as a secular political title from medieval Iceland.

The word derives from goð, meaning "god". It possibly appears in Ulfilas' Gothic languagetranslation of the Bible as gudja for "priest", although the corresponding form of this in Icelandic would have been an unattested *gyði.

(Thank you Wikipedia)

An Author's Rambles:

There's a part of me that wants to nitpick at this chapter more, but I wanted to get it published...

"Weather Spots" are going to be something that'll pop up occasionally instead of only being mentioned once or twice and then used for a bit of comedic panic only for the unique weather phenomenon to not happen again.

Even with Nami's skill/Gaara's shield, they still had a problem, unintended as it was. Freak accidents happen. Even with their skills, Merry still ended up being slightly damaged.

There will be future Weather Spots, but they've learned and will be more prepared in the future.

These were moments that I had in mind practically from the beginning when I started planning this fic. The way Luffy simply accepts the Biju as being nakama will ever so slowly break through their hardened, people-hating hearts.

Vivi begging for their help, a person who views the Biju as beings that bring hope; and not being monsters or weapons of war is also something that resonates with the Biju and their hosts.

Another thing is that these people breathed in wax flakes, and they were fine just seconds later in canon. Well, wax-lungs will hang around for a bit, good thing they're going to need a doctor anyway soon.

0000

The Biju: *does something terrifying*

The Elemental Nations: *terrified screaming*

The Pirates: Oh hey, new nakama. Let's celebrate our newfound friendship by partying.

Vivi: *basically worships them*