Hey peeps, sorry this was a bit late. My Sundays are usually busy and that's why I update in the morning, but today I slept through my alarm lol.

Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 40: An Unwelcome Reunion

By the time that Luffy had made his way to the town square, dark and stormy clouds were already over him. This sudden shift in weather however, was not enough to calm the bubbling excitement deep inside the straw hat teen.

"Oh man! There it is! The place where the Pirate King was executed! This is so cool!"

And indeed it was, for the boy was staring right at an important piece of history. Right before his very eyes was the tall metal execution platform where Gold Roger himself took his last breath…

It was enough to get any self respecting pirate all riled up.

So without further hesitation, Luffy sprinted up to the platform, ignoring all of the curious stares he was getting as he jumped up and began climbing.

"Hey, kid!" Get down from there!" A marine soldier yelled from from the middle of the square. It looked like guard duty was actually gonna land him some action today.

Once he finished the short climb to the top of the platform, Luffy cooed in awe at the sight before him. "Wow, I can almost see the whole town from here!"

"Grr, don't ignore me brat! Get down from there!"

"Hmm?" The boy questioned, looking down and meeting the marine's eyes. "Eh, no thanks, I'm fine up here."

Clenching his fists in annoyance, the marine prepared to give his final warning. "One last chance you stupid kid! Get down from there right n-"

"I don't think he's gonna listen, you genius," A soft angelic voice spoke from behind.

The marine quickly turned around, only to find that the courtyard was now filled with more than just civilians. "N-no… It can't be… Are you two working tog-"

"Damn it woman!" A loud and obnoxious voice called. "I was supposed to say the first line! What you said wasn't flashy at all!"

Blushing lightly, the woman cupped her burning cheek and smiled. "Oh my, I'm sorry Captain, I don't know what came over me. I guess I just lost control when I saw… him," she finished dreamily, staring directly at Luffy.

And speaking of the boy, he was watching the situation with quite the puzzling look. He knew these people, that was for sure, but from where. Who did those voices belong to?

…

…

…

Man… Where was Nami when you needed her?

"Uhhh, do I know you people?" The boy asked, scratching his head.

The oddly familiar, yet silly looking man fell backwards comically at the teen's question. He didn't stay down for long though, because boy did he have a bone to pick now. "Are you serious!? It's me! Buggy The Clown you idiot!"

Luffy blinked a few times, taking his sweet time before his eyes finally lit up in amusement. "Oh yeah! You're Shanks's best buddy! Now I remember!"

Before the clown pirate could freak out over his lack of fame, his partner spoke up with a sultry tone in her voice as her hands ran all over her body. "How about me, handsome? You remember me?"

The rubber man wanted no time in shifting his eyes over to the well endowed woman and scanning her up and down.

"Hmmmmm… Nope, sorry lady, never seen you before in my life."

Unlike Buggy, the woman did not seem offended in the slightest at not being recognized. As a matter of fact, she preferred it this way. "Perfect. It would be better for everyone if my appearance before was... Forgotten."

Luffy squinted even more at the lady now that she had gotten a chance to talk. Her appearance before? What was that all about? The only thing that was kinda ringing a bell right now was her voice.

"Straw Hat Luffy, my name is Iron Club Alvida, and I am here to ask for your strong, rubber hand in marriage."

The name itself probably wouldn't have clicked with the rubber man right away if it hadn't been for the pose the woman struck. Right then and there, when she raised her club in the air and declared her statement, it all came right back to him.

...

...

...

"WHAT!?" He screamed, his lower jaw falling to the floor with an audible thud. "You're that fat old lady from before!? What the hell happened to you!?"

Alvida looked slightly irked at the boy's comment about her old self but quickly buried it in a smile. "Indeed I am, I ate the smooth smooth fruit, and now my body surpasses the beauty of even Empress Hancock!"

Luffy only blinked a few more times at her confusing statement. "Uh, what?"

"Nevermind that," Alvida rushed, wanting to move onto the main reason she came here. "Do you accept my offer? I can give you the entire world with this perfect body. Just allow me to sail with you and be your queen."

Suddenly the rubber man's facial expression completely changed from shock to utter confusion. With eyes that looked like they were seeing an alien directed at her. "Wow… uh, thanks for the offer lady but I'll pass," he said almost nonchalantly.

"WHAT!?" Every man in the crowd shouted. It didn't take a mind reader to know that most of them wanted to take the rubber man's place right about now.

"W-what? B-but why!? Look at me! I'm perfect!"

Luffy yawned slightly before explaining his simple thought process. "Yeah but I don't even know you. And sure, you look great now, but I can't stop picturing what you looked like before, and that's really messing with my brain."

Alvida looked absolutely dumbfounded at the straw hat teen's blunt response. How could he turn down perfection so easily? "I… I don't understand I-"

"Alright, shut the hell up already woman! I let you have your fun. But now it's time for the great Captain Buggy to take the spotlight! Do it now men!"

All of the sudden, the hidden Buggy Pirates in the crowd all drew their weapons and aimed for different civilians.

"Ha! Now I've got you, straw hat! What are you gonna do!?" The big nosed pirate mocked, attempting to back his enemy into a corner. But unbeknownst to him, the marine from earlier had now mysteriously slipped away…

"Captain Smoker!"

The grey haired man's head shot up in the blink of an eye when he heard his name called up ahead of him. "What is it!? Are you coming from the plaza?"

The out of breath underling did his best to explain the hectic situation that he observed not five minutes ago. "Yes sir, I was guarding that sector when the Buggy Pirates showed up out of nowhere! They have Iron Club Alvida with them too, and they're up against some kid with a straw hat. I don't know what's going on now, but I think they might have taken hostages."

Smoker grunted when he heard the last part, that was gonna make things a whole lot harder. "Alright then, gather up every soldier you can and secure the perimeter from afar. I need to go in alone for a situation as delicate as this one. Where the hell is Tashigi?"

"I'm not sure sir, I'll try calling her right away."

"Good. Now you have your orders, get it done."

"Yes sir!"

With that, Smoker took off into the sky at full speed. And funnily enough, a trail of smoke following him where his legs used to be. How about that?

With the elevated top speed of his logia powers, Smoker reached the town square in no time at all. And as he landed and observed the situation, it seemed things were just now starting to heat up.

"Do you hear me straw hat!? Get your ass down here or I'll start killing people! I know you have a soft spot for them, otherwise you wouldn't have saved the villagers back when you met me! I've got you all figured out, so get down here and surrender."

Getting his game face on, Luffy stared daggers into the clown pirate, not giving him a single inch in the mental battle that was about to come. "You got me figured out huh?" He began in a dark tone, tipping his hat forward to help with his intimidation and growing an opened tooth grin on his face. "Well last time I checked, I was a pirate, not a hero. So go ahead and do what you want with these people. But just know it's probably gonna piss me off, and that won't end well for you."

Buggy audibly gulped at the sincerity in the boy's eyes. Somehow they looked both calm and furious at the same time. And there was a constant buzzing in his ear that wouldn't go away. Was anyone else having trouble breathing? Or did the atmosphere just get thicker?

The icing on the cake came when a large lightning bolt struck the platform with all its power, sending out a flash of light that shot brightly across the whole plaza. And when the sparks calmed again, Luffy was still standing there, tall as ever, and a death stare still in his eyes.

"Oh my!" Alvida buckled, falling straight backwards and fainting out of pure affection.

"Aw crap," Buggy mumbled, looking around frantically and reassessing his options. "Damn it! Everyone, focus your fire on straw hat! He can't stop all of us!"

"Aye Captain!"

But this was a grave mistake from the clown pirate, because the second the pedestrians were free and out of harm's way, a large plume of smoke appeared and shot right at him.

"Ahh! What the hell is that!?"

Even Luffy had to cock his head and look down awkwardly. He was ready to fight to the last punch with Buggy and his crew, but right now they were all being trapped by… Smoke?

"I'm putting a stop to this little hostage crap right now you scumbags," Smoker bellowed. His two smokey arms full to the brim with Buggy Pirates.

"Woah!" Luffy yelled in amusement, jumping down from the platform and landing right in front of the marine captain. "That's such a cool devil fruit! My brother has one just li-"

"Shut the hell up kid, what are you waiting for, an invitation? Get out of here."

Luffy squinted at the man like he was crazy. "What?"

Smoker sighed before taking a long puff of his cigars. "Count yourself lucky I don't take you in right here with the rest of these dirtbags. But as you can see, my hands are a bit full at the moment."

The rubber man's incredulous look slowly turned into a blank stare, looking deep into his eyes for anything he could find. And after about a minute, Luffy frowned. "Cut the crap, I know you're lying. You can probably hold way more people than this."

Smoker grunted at being called out so quickly. Take a hint you damn brat! "Alright fine… You helped me out with all of these hostages, there I said it. Now I don't know what in the hell possessed you, but pirates aren't supposed to get pissed off over any deaths outside of their crew, so you wanna explain that?"

Now understanding the man's thought process, Luffy grinned as widely as he could. "Is that it? Heh, you sound like one of my crewmates. She was saying that exact same crap about how all pirates are bad," he explained, his smile widening even more as he punched his open palm. "But guess what? Some of us just wanna find the One Piece… Some of us just wanna be the King of the Pirates!"

That smile… It's just like…

"Hmph, like I said, get going. We'll meet again, straw hat. And next time I'll have a few more questions for ya," the marine captain said slowly, a smile of his own creeping up on his face.

"What's your name?"

"Smoker, Captain Smoker."

At that, the rubber man took off out of the plaza. Only turning back once to say his final goodbye. "Got it! See ya around Smokey!"

What went unseen however, was the man watching the teen from atop a tall building. His green cloak covering most of his body as he watched the straw hat captain with a grin on his lips. "Well would you look at that. Already fighting your own battles, eh Luffy? I knew I didn't need to come here."

And just like that, he vanished.

"This battle is over, now give me my sword."

Tashigi ground her teeth in fury at the words presented to her. This wasn't right, such a horrible man should never be a wielder of such an honorable sword. "Go to hell," She stated, beginning to stand up again slowly despite the seriously looking gash on her arm. "I refuse to let scum like you dishonor such legendary items! So I won't stop until you kill me-"

"Shut the hell up lady! I couldn't give a rat's ass about what you thought of me, but I'm not gonna kill you when my life isn't in danger. So hand it over!"

"Screw you jerk!" She burst out, finally letting all of her thoughts run free. "I will win this! And if I don't then you will strike me down honorably. Unless you have some stupid code about not hurting women."

This statement made the swordsman's eyes darken instantly. He was not about to hear this nonsense again. Wordlessly, he drew Wado Ichimonji again, noticing that the woman was now smiling about the fight continuing.

"Wow, looks like you're not a coward after a-" But she was unable to finish, the harsh strike of a blade cutting her right in the stomach when she least expected it.

Sheathing his only sword away safely, Zoro reached down to her bleeding form and picked up Kitetsu. "There, you got you're honorable defeat, but I'm still not killing you, you have to actually be a threat for me to do that."

Gritting her teeth even more, Tashigi felt the pain of her pride shattering hopelessly. It could not be denied, this man was stronger than her.

Zoro seemed to notice the tears running down her cheeks and smirked confidently at her. "Heh, I know how you feel right now. Your pride just got squashed and there was nothing you could do to stop it. But you can't let this be the end. In fact, it's only the beginning, a powerful man taught me that the hard way. So quit being a baby," he finished as he unwrapped the bandanna around his head and tied it back to his arm.

The man was about to get to the next order of business when he heard a very familiar shout echo behind him. "Zoro! Start running!" Luffy screamed as he sprinted down the road, an entire crowd of marines hot on his tail.

"Oh crap!" Zoro's eyes turned to saucers. Immediately, he looked to his right to find the very surprised shopkeeper trying not let his jaw drop. Zoro couldn't really tell if it was from the match he just had or from the huge crowd of navy men heading right for them. "Hey! Old man! A deal's a deal, cough up the sword!"

The man looked down at his precious blade and let tears come to his eyes. "No… My Yubashiri… Damn it! Fine take it! But you better take good care of it!"

Snatching the black scabbard out of the man's hands, Zoro quickly bowed before taking off in a mad dash alongside Luffy. "Don't worry about it! I'll make this blade even more legendary!"

"Wow Zoro, those sure are cool! Can I see them?"

The swordsman grunted at the silly request of his captain. "Yeah sure, whatever. Lets just get some more distance between us and them first."

Speeding up and growing the gap between them and the army, Luffy and Zoro ran in a comfortable silence for a while.

"Gee," Luffy started. "I wonder where everyone else is-"

"Ouch!" five voices yelled together as they all fell to the ground.

Luffy looked up to see the three other members of his crew right before his eyes. With Zoro, Usopp and Sanji all buried under a giant fish and Nami right under him as he laid on the floor. "Oh hey guys! What have you been up to?"

Before anyone could give a serious answer however, Nami pushed and struggled at Luffy's chest from where she was being pressed to the floor. "Get off of me Luffy! Ow!"

Springing up in an instant, Luffy looked down at the girl concerningly. "You ok Nami?"

"Oh hell no!" Sanji yelled, doing his best to squirm out from under the fish. "If she's hurt I'll kill you!"

"Damn it blondie! Stop moving so much! You're putting all the weight on me and Usopp!" It was very obvious that this was indeed true by the way that Usopp was turning purple from a lack of air.

Sitting and grabbing her lower back, Nami moaned in annoyance when she felt pain shoot up her spine. "Yeah, don't worry about it Luffy, I'm fine, just give me a minute. You're a lot heavier than you look."

Luffy smiled and was about to show his gratefulness for her well being, but the familiar sounds of the marine crowd were starting to get louder and louder.

"Aw crap! Looks like we don't have a minute! Lets go guys, to the ship! Zoro, help Usopp and Sanji with the supplies!"

"Aye captain."

"Up you go Nami!" Luffy grinned as he bent over and picked the girl up from under her back and knees.

"Huh? W-wait! Luffy!? What are you doing!?"

Sanji also appeared to have a problem with this choice. "Hey, what gives! How come you get to carry Nami!?"

Luffy just stared at the cook with utter cluelessness in his eyes. "Uh… Because she was right in front of me? You can carry her if you want Sanji, I don't really care."

The blonde lit up at that. "Really!?"

And he would have gotten to do it too. That is, if Nami didn't interfere in the situation herself. "No! Just start running you morons!"

The group turned back to the oncoming marines getting closer and closer, deciding that the navigator's preferred course of action was most likely for the best.

"Woohoo!" Luffy yelled as he ran for the docks, his family and crew right behind him. "Now we can sail for the Grand Line!"

Alrighty, that's it, that's my version of the East Blue. feel free to tell your thoughts and how you feel about the story going forward. Any kind of feedback is helpful so I would like to thank all of it in advance. Again, feel free to PM me about anything your heart desires and I will do my best to answer it in a quick and polite manner. See yall next week for the start of Alabasta :D