With the sun beating down on them, the Going Merry pulled to a stop beside the rough stone shores of Alabasta's coast. The crew was a-flutter with activity, anchors dropping and plans being made. Vivi looked like if she leaned to far forward she was going to tip right off the edge and into the sea.

Luffy had his sights set on the city that rose out of the sand ahead of them. The buildings were the same dull brown of the surrounding dunes, and dark pockets marked windows and doorways. The city buzzed with activity, and the docks nearby were colorful with sales and goods being shipped in.

They'd docked themselves around the cove to avoid being seen, so he could only catch a glimpse of their sails from here, but they'd seen more on the way in.

It was the first city in Alabasta they'd seen, and he just knew there was gonna some kind of awesome restaurant in there! Nothing would be as good as Sanji's cooking, but Vivi had told them that in Alabasta there were all sorts of spices that didn't exist anywhere else, and the food was just as hot as the sand was. Luffy was drooling just thinking about it.

He listened with one ear while Vivi and Nami talked about provisions, and something about wandering sand dunes? That was a thing?

Luffy would ask later. Right now, food!

With a quick jump he was on the ground, springing towards the city and all the restaurants inside it. He was gonna eat lots of meat, and try yummy new kinds of roasts and-

Land face first in the sand?

Luffy peeled his face off the ground and spat out a mouthful of sand. That wasn't what he wanted to eat today.

"Gross."

Once he was done wiping all the sand off his tongue he looked back to see what he'd even tripped over. A big, shiny red rock lay embedded in the sand. He must had tripped over it. It glittered pale green in the light.

Luffy cocked his head and knelt beside it. He tried to lift it up, but it kept going down and to the right, into the sand dune next to him. It must have been huge. He bet Nami would love a rock that was that big. But, Luffy still wanted food. If he went to get the food now he would probably lose the rock when the sand dune moved. So he needed to get it out before he ate. Which sucked, because he was really hungry.

Of course, if he left the giant gemtone in the sand and Nami found out she'd be pissed.

Luffy made a face. Nope. He wasn't dealing with that.

He just had to go quick. The sooner he got the rock out the sooner he could go find a restaurant in town.

So he started digging. And digging. And digging.

The rock, he found, wasn't actually the deep under the sand dune. More like that sand had just settled on top of the stone like snow, and he just had to brushed it off when he got higher up.

When he finally got the whole thing unburied all Luffy could do was gape at what he saw.

Inside the shining green gemstone was a ship maybe half the size of Merry, and in another gem that was connected by a thin cord of stone was a girl.

She was in the middle of screaming, frozen in the green crystal, with one sword drawn in hand.

Luffy knocked on the gemstone. "Hey!" he shouted. "What are you doing in there?!"

He knocked harder when there was no response. "I'm talking to you!"

Maybe she was sleeping with her eyes open? But then why did she look like she was fighting? Luffy paused when he realized a crack had formed when he'd hit the stone. Hopefully this wasn't some kind of bizarro modern art. Did Alabastan's do that? It seemed weird, but you never knew.

The cracks spread across the surface of the crystal like spiderwebs until they covered the entire thing. All at once they burst apart and the woman in the gem dropped to her knees with a shout. Wind swept outwards and the chunks of gems fell to the ground. A flag snapped out from the mast of the ship.

A black flag.

The skull on the top had two rubies for eyes and two horns that sprouted on either side.

A pirate!

Luffy grinned and ran across the broken fragments of gemstone until he was drawn up short by a sword point aimed at his throat.

The girl was on her knees, and this close up Luffy could see she was covered in bruises and cuts. That didn't take away from the vicious determination in her eyes. They were red, like the jolly rogers'.

Luffy shot her a cheerful grin. "Hi-ya."

Her brows pinched together. Her hair was dark and wild around her head, like a lion's mane.

"Who the hell are you? And where are the others?"

"Huh? Other's?" Luffy looked around. Were there more rock people around here? That would be so cool!

"My crew. And the navy. We were-" she grimaced. "We were fighting. Where is everyone else?"

Luffy could only lift his hands up and shrug. "Dunno. You're the only one here I see. Hey, you're a pirate right? Is that your ship? What were you doing in that rock? How did you get in there? Are you a rock person? Can you poop?"

Slowly, the sword lowered from his throat.

"Yes I am, yes it is, I was trapped by a Devil Fruit power. I guess I am a rock person. And, also yes? Fuck, how long was I in there?"

"How should I know?"

"Good point… You're not a Marine, are you?"

"What? Hell no! I'm a Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

She gaped at him, and kept looking at his hat, too.

"You- what? Huh? How?!"

"I just am," he said firmly, and nodded to himself.

"Oh. Well, I'm Roche Rao. I am- or, I guess I was the captain of the Gem Pirates. That's our ship, the Blood Stone," she gestured behind her. A shadow fell across her face. "If I'm the only one here, that means we really did lose."

Luffy frowned. He couldn't imagine losing even one member of his crew, let alone all of them. The mere thought of it made him sick to his stomach, and all he could think of was fire on the water, fire eating a jolly roger, and the reek of burning garbage.

"If that's the case, then come with me," he demanded abruptly.

She startled.

"Huh?"

"Come with me! My crew and me are here to fight some jerk with one of our friends, so come with us for a while. Maybe we can help find your crew."

"You literally just met me. Why would you help me with anything? Let alone something like that?"

Luffy grinned at her. "That's easy. Because I want to!"

She eyed his hat again, to the point he was starting to wonder if she was gonna try to steal it, before slowly she sheathed her sword and got to her feet.

"Okay. Monkey D. Luffy, I might take you up on that offer. Just give me a minute, okay?"

"Fine, but hurry up! I was gonna go get something to eat in the city, and now I'm getting really hungry."

"Okay, okay!"

Rao scrambled up onto her ship and lowered the flag and pulled the masts with practiced ease. When she came back a short black cape was around her shoulders.

"Okay," she clapped her hands together. "Lead the way, Luffy."

Luffy punched the air. "Alright! Meat here we come!"

He turned the direction of the city and set off at a brisk run, with Rao at his heels.