"They raised the price again?" Nami whined to a News Coo, a medium-sized seagull that delivers newspapers at sea which is convenient for people travelling in the sea. "Don't you think that's a little too high? Why you…" Nami sighed to herself as she pays the fee for the newspaper. "next time the price is raised, I won't buy it, hear?" The seagull saluted to Nami before taking off in the sky.
"Geez, it's just a newspaper!" Usopp said while working on his new Special Tabasco Star.
"But if you get it all the time, it adds up!" Nami argued back as she made her way towards a lawn chair with an open umbrella to keep the sun off of her skin.
"Well, you don't have to save up to buy your village from Arlong anymore…" Usopp stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder towards Nami. "So why keep worrying about money?"
"Dummy! That's exactly why! I don't have that obligation anymore, so from now on, it's all for myself! I can't go around being some kind of cheapskate pirate, can I?" Nami stated with a grin.
"I gotta to give you props for being honest about yourself, Nami." Cecilia said while sitting against the rails and polishing her sword.
"Hey, keep it down! I'm the middle of formulating my 'Special Tabasco Star' here!" Usopp warned while carefully pouring more sauce into the red ball he created. "With this, if I shoot it into the enemy's eyes…"
Suddenly, Luffy crashed into Usopp, causing the hot sauce to splatter all over his eyes. Usopp blinked a couple of times before the burning sensation settled in his eyes, causing him to scream in agonizing pain.
"So that's where the quote 'Fire in my eyes burning like a sun' comes from." Cecilia said with a chuckle as she watches Usopp running around screaming his head off.
Luffy sat upright with a frown on his face and whined, "What? Come on, just one?"
"Never!" Sanji stood in front of the tangerine trees with his arms crossed. "This is Nami's tangerine grove. I won't allow you to lay a finger on it!" He said before his attention shifted to Nami with his eye turning into a heart. "NAMI! THE SECURITY GUARD OF LOVE IS ON DUTY!"
"Thank you, Sanji." Nami said without taking her eyes away from the newspaper she was reading.
If you're wondering about the tangerine trees, here's the reason why they have trees on their ship: Nami couldn't leave home without taking some with her so now they have a small grove of tangerines on the deck under the back sail. Everyone was okay with Nami taking a little something to remind her of home.
"There, all done." Cecilia said with satisfaction of her sword shining brightly.
"Oh, Cecilia! The way you care for your sword is so lovely! In fact, everything you touch shines as bright as your beauty!" Sanji complimented.
"Aww! Thanks, Sanji!" Cecilia said as she sheathes her sword and jumped up to stand by Sanji's side. She placed a hand gently on his cheek and said, "You always know how to make a girl smile." As soon as she said that, she pecked him on his cheek, causing the heart on the cook's eye to get as large as his grin.
"They're using him like a tool, that dork Sanji." Zoro muttered while leaning against the railings with his arms crossed behind his head.
Cecilia turned her head towards Zoro and asked, "What? You want a peck on the cheek too, Melon-head?"
"From you? No way."
"What'd you say?!" Sanji shouted in anger. "How dare you deny Cecilia's offer of her soft lips?!"
Once everything calms down, Usopp was laying on the ground with his limbs sprawling around and a wet cloth resting over his stinging eyes.
"What the hell? It's just one little tangerine! Stingy Sanji." Luffy whined before sticking his tongue at the cook.
"I SAID NO!" Sanji shouted.
"I think you'd better give up on getting a tangerine, Luffy." Cecilia said while sitting on top of the rails next to Luffy.
"Oh, well, whatever. I'm in a good mood." Luffy said with a grin.
"The world's in such chaos right now. There was another coup-de-tat in Villa." Nami said while flipping through the pages of the newspaper until two tan papers flies out, floating through the air before landing right in the middle of the deck.
"Hm? A flyer?"
Everyone took a good look at the flyers before the group let out a scream of shock, except for Zoro due to taking his daily nap.
A knock was made on a wooden door, grabbing the attention of a man sitting on a chair with his legs resting on top of his desk, his arms crossed behind his head and an open book covering his face.
"Yeah?" The man answered, though muffled by the book. The door opened to reveal a marine officer walking in the room.
"Sir!" The officer saluted before continued, "I'm apologize for disturbing you, but…we have just received orders."
"For what?" The man asked.
The officer pulled out a new wanted poster of a grinning Luffy. "For the capture of Monkey D. Luffy."
"A newb? Why should I bother with that?"
"Because it appears that he's travelling with Black Velvet Cecilia, sir." The officer said after pulling out another wanted poster showing a picture of Cecilia staring at the camera with her sword partially drawn and a confident smirk on her face.
"Is that right?" The man removed his legs from his desk as he sat upright and caught the book that fell from his face. "Well, that changes everything. Tell the men to be ready to set sail." The man ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The officer saluted before leaving the room.
The man waited until the door fully closed before running his hand through his dark brown bangs with closed eyes. He opened his eyes to reveal two different eye colors, the left eye was white with a hint of grey and his right eye was brown. If his eye colors don't catch people's attention, then his scars might do it since he has three scars straight over his left eye and another scar starting from the corner of his right eye and ending slightly at his chin.
"I'm coming for you, Cecilia." The man said with a smile on his face.
"Check it out, we're WANTED!" Luffy laughed in excitement while holding up his wanted poster.
"Wanted…Dead or Alive…" Usopp read the wanted poster and blinked at the amount it was offering. "30,000,000 beli?"
"30,000,000 BELI! YEAH!" Luffy laughed proudly.
"I didn't know you had a bounty of you already, Cecilia." Nami said while she and Cecilia were looking at her wanted poster. "Wanted, Dead or Alive. 22,000,000 beli."
"Well, what do you know? It went up again." Cecilia said as if it wasn't a big deal.
"What did you do to piss them off, Cecilia?" Sanji asked out of curiosity while lighting a new cigarette with his lighter.
"Nothing much, just caused a little trouble here and there while I was with Alvida and her crew." Cecilia responded with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Check it out!" Usopp exclaimed as he pointed at his head in the background of Luffy's wanted poster. "Even my back is famous now! Damn, I've got it goin' on..."
"What?! They don't have my pictures, yet they have Long-nose's?" Sanji slid himself over to Luffy and scans the wanted poster. "Hey, where, where? I don't see you."
"Seeeee?" Usopp pointed at the corner of the picture to show the back of his head which was facing away from the camera when the picture was taken.
Sanji sat on the other side of the ship and pouted like a child having a tantrum and anime vein on his head. "It's just the back of your head. It doesn't count."
"Don't worry about it, Sanji. You'll eventually get a wanted poster, just be sure that your actions are big and loud. That'll get the Marine's attention." Cecilia stated with smile.
"Really?" Sanji asked with his face immediately brighten up.
"Would I lie to you?" Cecilia asked before she and Nami watched Luffy continuing to laugh and Usopp and Sanji started to dance around.
"All right, crew! We're going to the GRAND LINE!" Luffy shouted out loud.
"YAAAY!" Both Usopp and Sanji cheered.
"You guys…" Nami sighed at their behavior. "Once again you really don't understand the seriousness of this situation!" She shoved her face in her hand and continued, "Don't you see this means they're coming for our heads? After this…I don't think we'll be able to lounge about in East Blue anymore."
"C'mon, Nami." Nami looked up at Cecilia who walked towards and said, "You didn't really life as a pirate was going to be easy. Everyone knows that once you decide to live like a pirate, you'll be facing constant danger around every corner. Then again, that's what makes it so fun!"
"You're no better than them!" Nami snapped with Cecilia responding with sticking her tongue out playfully.
While that was going on, Zoro looked up at the sky with a frown on his face. '30,000,000 beli and 22,000,000 beli…With a huge bounty like that, even the top Marines will be looking for us. And tough bounty hunters after the money. From now on, we'll be in a whole new league.'
"Let's Go! Let's Go! To the Grand Line! Let's Go! Go! Go! Go! To The Grand Line!" Nami sighed in defeat with the crew's upbeat attitude while Cecilia was laughing at sight of their excitement.
Suddenly, Cecilia stopped laughing and turned her head to the side when she noticed a ship coming their way.
"Look alive, everyone!" Cecilia shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "We've got company." Just as she said that, the Going Merry sailed by a Marine ship that looked like it had better days. The ship looked like it was either put together last minute or done by a craftsman who had no idea what they were doing.
'What a piece of shit. I almost feel sorry for the captain of that ship.' Cecilia thought until she heard a familiar voice shouting orders at his men. 'Don't tell me…'
"Are those pirates? Using a scrapped military boat?" Luffy asked with his hand over eyes as they watched the Marine ship catching up to them.
"How wasteful, the Marines are." Usopp commented with his arms crossed over his chest. "Just throwing them away as scrap…"
"WE ARE NOT SCRAP!" A familiar Marine shouted in anger. "Are you idiot's blind? How could you forget Fullbody the 'Iron Fist'?"
"Fullbody? You mean the guy who got his ass handed by a chef?" Cecilia asked with a teasing grin. "That was quite a show."
"SHUT UP!"
Cecilia looked up and down at Fullbody and said, "You look like hell. What happened? Got demoted or something?"
"Are you in trouble? Do you need us to save you?" Luffy asked with a tilt of his head to the side.
Fullbody growled in anger before shouting, "Stop kidding around! Destiny has placed you in my hands! Monkey D. Luffy! Black Velvet Cecilia!" Fullbody pulled out their wanted posters. "You two are under arrest!"
"Cool! My picture looks good!" Luffy said with a grin.
"And the back of my head looks good, too!" Usopp added with his nose held up high in pride.
"If you wanted an autograph, I'd more than happy to give it to you. All you had to do was asked." Cecilia said.
Fullbody smirked and said, "Dead or Alive." He turned towards his men and shouted, "LOAD THE CANNON!" His men got into positions with cannons and aimed them towards Going Merry.
"They're so noisy!" Nami complained. "What's going on?"
"What're they doing? Attacking us?" Luffy wondered.
"They're aiming right at us…This is not good!" Usopp took a few steps back before hiding behind Cecilia. "Please protect me, O' powerful swordswoman!"
"You're just a baby." Cecilia muttered while looking over at her shoulder with a sweat drop on her head. "I'm surprised you actually defeated one of Arlong's crew members by yourself."
"Alright! Lemme at 'em, I'll bounce it right back!" Luffy stated while flexing his muscles.
"Luffy, I'll handle it." Cecilia said after removing Usopp from her person.
"Right, right. You stand back." Usopp said before placing a hand on their captain's shoulder and dragging him away.
"W-w-why? Why?"
"Don't get involved. Hey, this way, this way…"
"You sure you can handle this?" Cecilia turned her head towards Zoro who was standing besides her with a teasing grin on his face and a hand on top of his sword, preparing to use it if necessary. "If it's too much for you, I can take them."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Cecilia said with her hand resting on the handle of her sword. "I've got this."
"Sink them." Fullbody ordered, giving the Straw Hat crew a thumbs as the Marines fired a cannonball at the Going Merry.
Just as the cannonball was getting closer to Cecilia, she quickly unsheathed her sword and sliced the cannonball right down the middle; causing the cannonball to split in two and separate themselves before flying past Cecilia and over the Going Merry and hitting the water.
"Woooo, Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed in amazement while Usopp and the Marines gawked at the long-haired swordswoman.
"See? Told you I've got this." Cecilia said to Zoro with a teasing grin.
"My mistake." Zoro said with a shrug of his shoulders and the grin still on his face.
"No way, that's crazy!" Fullbody shouted.
Cecilia sheathed her sword before glaring at the Marines and said, "Don't you know it's rude to disturb people while they're working?"
"How many shots can you stand?! Fire!" Fullbody shouted.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Cecilia said in a singing tone.
"Not that I don't want them to, but why?" Usopp asked.
Just as the Marines were about to fire the second shot, the cannon shot backfired right on Fullbody and exploded. Once the smoke cleared up, it revealed Fullbody and his men completely covered in charcoal.
"See that? The cannon had a crack in it." Cecilia pointed out.
"Yeah, that's definitely not good." Luffy added with Usopp nodding his head in agreement.
Suddenly, the Marine ship rammed itself against the Going merry. Luckily, Cecilia moved away just in time before being squashed by two ships.
"Listen, you brats! Do not look down upon an Ex-Captain of the Marines! We'll defeat you in close combat! Let's go, men!" Fullbody shouted before he and his men jumped onto the Going Merry. Fullbody immediately ran towards Luffy and raised his fist over his head. "I'll have your head!" As soon as he said that, he punched Luffy's cheek with his metal knuckles, causing Luffy's head to stretch all the way back.
"Gum-Gum Bell!" Luffy snapped his head back, slamming his forehead against Fullbody. Fullbody was knocked back onto the ship's railing and was horrified to see his men were sent flying away by none other than Sanji himself. Fullbody's facial expression made it seem like he was seeing a ghost when he noticed Sanji standing over him.
"How dare you interrupt a cook in the middle of his work. You frickin' jerk." Sanji sneered in anger while holding a frying pan in his right hand. "We're not serving soup today. You wanna lick the deck?"
"Why is that waiter here?!" Fullbody screech out in fear before he and the rest of his men jumped from their own and swam away for their lives.
"And people are afraid of him? Seriously?" Cecilia thought out loud with her head tilted to the side. "The Marines standards for recruits must be very low if they got him."
"Hmph. He's all talk." Usopp huffed with his arms crossed over his chest.
"So, kinda like you?" Cecilia asked.
"HEY!" Usopp shouted with Cecilia laughing at his reaction.
"That guy's still a jackass." Sanji said before turning his attention to attention to Cecilia and exclaimed, "Oh, Cecilia! You look so beautiful when you split that cannonball into two! You must have cut a barrier cast around me because I've fallen head over heels in love with you again!"
"You guys are so noisy! Can't I get some peace and quiet to read?" Nami complained.
"NAMI! CECILIA! THE FOOD IS READY!" Sanji announced.
"Really? I'm starved!" Luffy cheered. "Food! Food! Foo-food! Food!"
On an island in a middle of the sea, a couple of men were looking out on the edge of the island to see if any ships were making their way towards their location.
As one of the men was taking a break, another man noticed something in the sea. "Huh?" He pulled out his telescope and looked through to get a closer look on the target. "What the hell's that?"
"Huh?" The man who was taking a break got up from the tree he was leaning against and walked towards the other man. "Lemme see." Once the man handed him the telescope, he looked through it for a moment before removing it from his eye and let out a terrifying scream; causing the other man to jump by surprise.
"What?!"
"It's…It's…Hawk-Eye!"
"EHH?!"
Upon arrival of the island, everyone backed away from Hawk-Eye as he walked onto the island.
"H-Hawk-Eye! What are you doing here?" One of the men stuttered out while he and the other men fearfully held up their weapons to try and protect themselves against the well-known swords master.
Hawk-Eye stopped at his tracks and said with narrowed eyes, "Shut up. I have no business with you. Where are your superiors?" Almost immediately, one of the men ran off to get his captain. "Camping on an island such as this…He's much too casual." Hawk-Eye said to himself.
"Boooss!" Once the man reached his destination, he fell on his knees and started to gasp for much-needed breath considering he ran non-stop. Hearing something placed in front of him, the man looked up to see a mug. He took it and gulped down the drink while everyone else was waiting patiently to hear what he has to say. Once he was done drinking, he pointed behind him and shouted, "Hawk-Eye!"
Feeling a presence behind him, the man slowly turned his head to see Hawk-Eye standing behind him. Out of fear, the man got out of the way and watched with the rest of the men the stare down between Hawk-Eye and their captain.
"Yo, Hawk-Eyes. Long time no see." The captain greeted. "I'm not feeling too good right now. You come for a match?"
"I have no interest in challenging a one-armed man like yourself." Hawk-Eye said before reaching inside his coat and continued, "However, I came across some interesting pirates. And it reminded me of something you told me a long time ago." Hawk-Eye pulled out a rolled paper and walked towards the captain. "A story about a small village and an amusing little kid…" He unrolled the paper and presented Luffy's wanted poster to everyone.
"No way-" To say that everyone was speechless would be an understatement of the year. Everyone in the crew knew actually who Luffy was, especially the captain who gave him the straw hat.
The captain, Shanks, let out a grin and said, "So you've come, Luffy!" Shanks was silent for a moment before he said, "Well then, Hawk-Eye. I can't let you go just like that."
If you think there was going to be a fight…then you were solely mistaken. Everyone was breaking out all the beer they've got and all the food they could find and have in their person.
"So, Hawk-Eye!" Shank laughed while pouring Hawk-Eye a mug full of beer. "C'mon, drink up! Drink, drink!" He presented to Hawk-Eye who looked like he didn't want to drink with them at all. "We're gonna party today!"
Hawk-Eye accepted the mug and noticed the redness on Shank's face. "You seem to have already done so." He said.
"Don't mind me. This is a time to celebrate! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Irritated by his behavior, Hawk-Eye downed the mug. "CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!" Shanks laughed out loud before shouting, "I like it! PARTY! PARTY!"
"But, boss! You just said you had a hangover from drinkin' too much!" One of Shanks' crew member stated.
"Dumbass! Don't go ruinin' my fun here!"
"Don't you think it is rather early?" Hawk-Eye asked.
"Don't worry about it! Let's get WASTED!"
"What's this?" Everyone turned their attention to a crew member holding a different wanted poster to his face.
"Whatcha got there?" Shanks asked.
"Another wanted poster."
"Of who?"
The man brought the poster down to reveal a blushing grinning face. "Black Velvet Cecilia!" He exclaimed.
"Seriously?!"
"She's a mega hottie!"
"Let me see!" About a handful of the crew members were fighting over who gets to see Cecilia's poster as it was fluttering in the air until a hand grabbed a hold of it. Everyone followed the hand to find Hawk-Eye giving them a harden glare.
"If you value your life, you'd forget you have seen this poster." Hawk-Eye threaten, causing the men to back away in fear.
Shanks laughed at the sight of crew and said, "You better do as he says! You don't want to make the father of Black Velvet your enemy."
"EHH?!"
After eating Sanji's delicious food, the Straw Hat crew gathered at the stern deck of the ship so they can discuss their preparations to enter the Grand Line.
"We're getting very close to the Grand Line." Nami stated while motioned over to the map placed on the floor in front of her. "The only way to get there, is to go through 'Reverse Mountain'." She pointed at the location of the Red Line.
"That's a pain in the ass." Zoro said with his back leaning against the railing. "Can't we just so straight there, from the sea?"
"That would be a no-go. The Reverse Mountain is the only way in and out of the Grand Line. However, it's also extremely dangerous." Cecilia explained.
"Why's that?" Usopp asked.
"Well, the thing is…"
"Ok! I got it!" Everyone turned their attention to their captain who suggested, "Let's go head-on through the front!"
"Are you even listening to Cecilia?!" Nami exclaimed with a glare on her face.
"Because, won't it be more interesting? It'll definitely be more exciting that way!" Luffy said before being kicked on the back of the head by Cecilia.
"Not unless you think death is fun." Cecilia said while digging her foot on Luffy's head.
"Trying to explain things to him is driving me insane!" Nami groaned out.
"But what's most important is," Luffy pushed Cecilia's foot off of his head and continued, "We should stop at an island and buy some meat. Meat, meat!"
Cecilia kneeled down to the map and pointed at a certain island. "Then might I suggest we go here?" Everyone gathered around Cecilia as she explained, "On this island, there is a famous city, Loguetown."
"Loguetown? Are they famous for their meat?" Luffy wondered.
"It's also called, 'The Town of the Beginning and the End'. Or so I've heard." Zoro said.
"It's the place where the Pirate King, Gold Roger, was born. And also the place where he was executed." Nami added.
"The city where the Pirate King died…" Luffy said.
Cecilia turned her head towards her captain with a smirk and asked, "What do you say? Wanna go?"
"Yeah. I want to see it. The man who owned One Piece. The man who had everything in the world. The place where he was born and died…"
"Well, you guys heard our captain." Cecilia got up on her feet and ordered, "Let's set a course to Loguetown."