We keep going! With this we've got 6 more chapters to go!

Thank you tons to nyuh98, SupImHere, Demon-night24,12slytherin and Lily Noir for their continued support, you guys rock.

In cas you missed it, I started a side-story prequel thing from Smoker's point of view retelling Luffy & co's journey to the Grand Line, covering Loguetown, Alabasta and an Aftermath of Marineford -it's supposed to be 3 chapters long but... we'll One Piece plot bunnies are the new thing in my life so we'll see. So, go show it some love :) Here's the blurb:

Smoker knows a pirate when he sees one -no matter what's written in the coat he's wearing.

Take lots of care!


Ace is upon him in a moment, dragging Luffy back as Shanks' sword clashes against Akainu's magma fist again and again. Seeing them is jarring, as if only now has he been conscious that the Emperor and the Admiral actually live in the same plane of existence. It's been more than 10 years since Luffy met Shanks but his heart squeezes when he glimpses the empty sleeve and red hair. From where he's standing, he can only see the Emeperor's back and it seems to go on forever.

"Stand back, Luffy." The man says, unmoving and dangerous and Luffy's brain doesn't really thinks any of this is real.

Then bring me my hat back, when you're a great pirate and we meet again.

It's surreal that the two people who had influenced him the most are now trying to eradicate each other. Sakazuki had stopped his blow. Luffy had been ready to shield his brother with his life, but his sensei had stopped. When they locked eyes he's not sure which one of them was more surprised. Not to say that there isn't agony on a smoking shoulder joint. It strikes him that he's not sure who's going to win that clash when he's already running towards the ship, body moving on instict and his mind scrambling to keep up. He means to turn back, he does, something in him desperate to stop the result of that fight, but Ace catches his arm and there's agonizing pain in his brother's eyes, his grip on Luffy's arm shakes and the movement has jarred the burning on his collarbone -making the edges of his vision go dark. Luffy freezes, whether from the look or the pain he doesn't know.

"Don't you dare." His brother threatens, but he looks like he's going to cry, haunted as if speaking to a corpse and Luffy cannot do that to him. So, he turns and keeps making his way towards the ship, he doesn't dare look back. He cannot stop trying to figure out, why would Shanks come for him? When a sword grazes his arms, Luffy shakes his head because right now there's no time to think.


Shanks has a feeling. His clash against the admiral cannot be called easy by any means but there's something off about it. Shanks saw the attack on Ace, and his throat closed up when he'd seen Luffy jump in front of it and then Akainu just... stopped. By the time, Shanks jumped in between them anybody paying attention could've seen the admiral not kill the young marine at his execution.

Luffy needs us, we'll be there.

"Don't think I'm going to be beaten by a cripple, Red Hair." The gruff voice of the Admiral drifts in his direction, it's unsurprising how wide a berth the other combatants give him. Shanks has never crossed swords with Akainu before, but even an untrained fighter can spell out the explosive combination.

It's not that Akainu isn't ruthless and vehement in his attacks, it's in the fact that his gaze doesn't stray from the Emperor even once. As his escaped prisoners spring to freedom, Akainu makes no further move on them, he doesn't even spare them a glance. It hardly sounds like the thoroughness of the famed Admiral's abosolute justice.

"I gave up that arm for the boy you're trying to kill, did you know?" He answers, dodging under burning projectiles and leaning forwards in anticipation. It works better than expected when Akainu stumbles, it's graceful and someone with less skill would've missed it, but Shanks has been waiting for it and catches the Admiral across the chest, shoulder to navel. Blood splatters and the admiral steps back, but in seconds the wound is cauterized. That'll slow him down, however Shanks knows this isn't anywhere near over. "I've always known no one could resist Luffy's charm." He adds. And maybe, if he hadn't been surrounded by mayhem and death he would've laughed. Akainu doesn't answer him -apparently done with the taunting- but his gaze hardens impossibly and strikes with vengeance.


Marco is twisting around Kizaru's attacks, the admiral is successfully running away from Rayleigh, but he cannot outfly the Whitebeard Pirate that easily. He's not flying particularly high, careful to keep an eye on his siblings in case they get in over their heads. He hasn't spotted neither Ace nor Luffy, but he trusts Ace to take care of himself, that man is a force to be reckoned with.

It's when he spots some member's of the fourth division fighting Doflamingo that he makes a sharp turn and he feels a hand grab on to his foot and pull and the empty, empty cold hits him. Seconds later, so does Kizaru.


"It's the weather witch!" Someone's yelling and Chopper knows then than Nami -for all her history- is going to be a great pirate, because as terrified yelling reaches her ears, her grin splits her face and she cackles.

Nami's scary, Chopper thinks. He's smart enough to not mention it out loud. They're over the right side of the battlefields, with the pirate ships behind them just far enough that very few pirates have made it this far into enemy lines. Far on the other side of the battlefield colorful bursts of lights show where Zoro must still be battling Mihawk.

"Okay Little Zeus," Nami coos, "why don't you show the marines what happens when they go back on their word, yes? I have all these thunderbolts for you!" Chopper feels Zeus shake a little in excitement under them and then proceed to shoot copious amount of lighting through the enemy lines. Nami's smart enough to stay away from combatants who can block her attacks, but even these marines are still the best of the best and some of them skywalk around the lightning. Nami doesn't deviate from her careless frying of marines, trusting Chopper to have her back. The way Chopper is trusting that Luffy's friend, Shanks, will make it to him in time.

Chopper is a doctor, and he has an oath to never do harm.

Now, he is also a pirate, and there are no rules in his life.

"Kung Fu Point" Chopper makes sure the officers go back to Earth, if they get electrocuted in their way down... well, Nami's scary.

The battlefield is mayhem and chaos and honestly, a part of Chopper is very scared because he can see people dying and his friends might be among them and what if Chopper's not there to help? Chopper has to have faith in them, Luffy -who is free!- wouldn't want Chopper to worry over his nakama like that.

I trust you with my life.

A giant vice-admiral sneaks in the fight between Sanji and Brook versus Admiral Aokiji, and Chopper is a bit relieved. The duo make quick work of the giant, but Aokiji has returned to guard the gates of HQ by the time they disengage.

Chopper's surprised to see the fleet admiral smack in the middle of the fight, putting down pirates effortlessly, he's not sure what his powers are and is having trouble seeing from the distance, but his golden shape is very easy to distinguish.

Kizaru is zapping along the battlefield, still on a quest to take out the boats, but someone is being eerily accurate at aiming for him which has the man dodging as much as he's attacking. From the water the Fishmen pirate keep raising waves and waterwalls to further thwart his attempts. At first, Chopper thinks the shooter must be Ussop, but the projectiles do not explode nor turn into plants. Those must be bullets.

Chopper's trying to catch a glance of Luffy or Ace when suddenly they world blurrs around them, Chopper heart stops, did something hit them?

"Little Zeus, catch him!" Nami's voice is commanding and she's holding on to the cloud with practiced ease. Chopper immediately looks up to catch the falling form of a blond man, who gasps painfully as he lands. For a moment the pirate and Chopper stare at each other in complete confusion, and then he notices blood covering the man's chest.

"Oh my god! You're bleeding! Someone call a doctor!" Nami whacks him upside the head.

"You're a doctor! Handle it!" And then she turns around, carelessly flipping her baton and blowing a bunch of marines off their feet. "Little Zeus, get us to a more covered spot, closer to the wall... and higher, keep the wind on our favor."

"Yes, m'am!" The cloud answers happily, munching on thunder bubbles.

"...Is this Big Mom's cloud?" The cloud shudders and stops.

"Mama..." It whines. Nami's right there cooing and feeding it and glaring murder at the injured man. Chopper rather thinks he'd be sporting a bruise if he weren't already injured... or maybe Nami's just busy.

"Got it..." He coughs, and blood comes rushing along his words. "No mentions of the cloud." The man says wryly, wincing when he jostles his injuries trying to sit up. Chopper, who still has him in his arms, helps him sit up, careful to not jostles his injury. There are two holes in the unknown man's chest and Chopper can feel the projectiles went right through. The blonde flinches when Chopper grazes the wound.

"The bullets..."

"It was Kizaru, hah," the man pants and the wounds must have been just made because now that he's been on the cloud for a couple minutes the man is turning pale. "You need to cut it off." Chopper's confused, the man gestures to his foot with a hand. Chopper notices the cuff on his ankle for the first time, it's already rubbed the skin raw from how tight it is.

"It looks bad but your chest should be our priority." The man looks at Chopper stunned and then laughs weakly.

"You don't know who I am." He says in realization. Chopper scrutinizes the man's face, but he'd just assumed he was one of the allies he didn't get to meet. "I'm a devil fruit user, I'll heal without the cuff." The reindeer frowns.

"Sea stone cannot be cut."

"I meant my leg." That catches Nami's attention.

"How is your go-to plan cutting off your leg?! You're just like Zoro!" The navigator screeches. "Chopper, check that we don't get targeted. Little Zeus, behave." Then she switches positions, and she's the one hunched over the pirate. Chopper keeps an eye on them as he searches the field, but ever since they reached a higher altitude it seems like they've fallen out of the fight's radar.

"I'm telling you, with the sea stone off, I'll heal." The man protests, Nami ignores him in favor of eyeing the cuff. She reaches for her back pocket where she pulls out a case, pulling out a pair of lock picks, without consent she gets working on the cuff.

"You're the woman who saved Ace." He says.

"Our crew did." Nami corrects, not even sparing him a glance, but her tone clearly says what about it?

"I, ah, thank you." The blonde answers. "I'm Marco, from the Whitebeard pirates." Something shines in the distance and Chopper knows the only person on this battlefield capable of causing such distinctive light.

"I only accept thank you's in berries." She dismisses, tongue picking out in concentration as she jostles the locking mechanism in the cuff.

"Incoming! Kizaru's spotted us." Choppers yells back, readying himself for a confrontation he's not looking forward to having so high off the ground. "Zeus can you lower us?" They immediately begin to descend but they're stilll several hundred feet off the ground.

"Just a little... aha!" Nami looks at Marco as she removes the cuff. "I hope you're strong Marco from the Whitebeard pirates." Instead of answering, the man smiles, shoots a 'thank you' and jumps off the cloud. He sprouts bright blue wings, tufts of flame covering his chest. He flaps them once, twice and he's climbing through the sky like a comet, meeting Kizaru half way.