A/N: edited February 18, 2021

"I can't believe that just happened…" I said, watching in disbelief as the statue that Luffy knocked down crashed onto the ground. "How the hell..did his arms..stretch?" I said to myself, fascinated. Coby and I walked over to where Zoro was still tied up. "Yo!" I greeted, and he scowled at me. Coby cowered behind me but I just rolled my eyes. His mean looks don't scare me.

"What the hell are you doing here, Aela?" he said, and I was confused. "What the hell do you mean?" "I told you to be careful coming around here! There's military officials everywhere. You're gonna get caught! I still have ten days…"

"And you're gonna get executed!" I shouted, cutting him off, and he stopped. "What the hell do you.."

"Helmeppo never intended to wait out the full month to execute you.." Coby broke in, and I looked to see that he was already working on freeing Zoro from his ropes. "That's right," I nodded, eyes sharp. "He was gonna kill you out of boredom," I growled. "He's planning on executing you tomorrow." "Bastard…" Zoro cursed.

Coby and I worked together to try and break the knots, but they were tied pretty tight. "Damn knots…" I went to reach for my knife that I always kept holstered on my thigh but it wasn't there. "Son of a bitch! Zoro where's my knife?!"

"The one you sold at the last town we were at? The one you sold so you could get more sweets?!" Zoro growled out at me, and I sweat dropped. "Oh yeah…" Coby fell down to the ground anime style, before bouncing back up a second later when we heard someone yell, "Hold it right there!"

I looked over from where I'd begun gnawing on the ropes with my teeth to see Helmoppo and his shit load of marines headed right towards us. Luffy had left to get Zoro-nii's katanas, only when Zoro agreed to join his crew of course though. I had already decided that we would be joining, but I made sure not to tell Zoro that; he tends to get rather pissy about that kind of stuff.

"The three of you have committed treason and will be executed on the spot," Helmoppo sneered, and at his words I released the rope from my mouth and took up a defensive stance in front of Zoro and Coby. "Committed treason? Against who?" Coby shouted bravely. When Helmoppo threw an evil smile in his direction he hid behind Zoro and shook in fear, making me sigh. "Against me of course," he smiled, and I scoffed.

"Sounds like someone is full of himself," I shouted over to him, and his face turned red, and then his smile became darker. "Men, prepare to fire!"

Coby began to cry in fear when the marines raised their guns toward us, and I felt anger rush over me for making my new friend cry. "This is very interesting what you all are doing," Helmoppo said casually. "Were you three and straw hat planning a coup?"

"Something like that," I said and he looked my way. "It is a pitty that I have to kill you Roronoa Aela," he said, and my eyebrow rose. "Oh?"

"Yes," he continued, "You and I could go far in our conquests," he finished, licking his lips. I gagged, my stomach literally turning at his words and actions, and heard Zoro growl. "The only place you and I will ever be heading together is the cemetery after I kill you. You'll be the one in the box," I winked. Zoro snorted and Helmoppo choked. "You bitch!"

I shrugged. "Guilty." "It seems the three of you along with straw hat have underestimated me." I ignored Coby's indignant cry of, "Three?!" and readied myself when the marines aimed their guns toward us again. I got in front of Coby and Zoro, naturally settling into my fighting stance; one leg behind, one in front, solar plex and skull protected by arms.

"Aela!" Zoro said, his voice full of panic. "You can't handle that many bullets!" I could hear him struggling with the ropes, trying in vain to loosen them. "You can't either Zo-Zo," I said, throwing a grin towards him. "You might be strong Roronoa Aela," Helmoppo began, "but not even you are strong enough to withstand this kind of attack."

"You might be surprised," I said, and he grinned evilly.

"Fire!"

The guns were shot, the bullets racing towards us. "Aela!" Zoro shouted. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the chaos. I felt the sting of a bullet hit my leg, but before I could feel more, I felt a huge swish of air in front of me. My eyes shot open and I gasped at surprise when I saw that Luffy was suddenly in front of me. "Luffy no!" I shouted, ready to push him away, but was even more shocked when I saw that the bullets were bouncing off of him.

"What in the hell…" I said breathlessly, fascinated. "What the hell?" I heard Zoro share my sentiments. "Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. "That won't work on me!" And he was right. Every single bullet, except the one in my leg, had bounced off of the boy and right back towards the marines, who looked about ready to shit their pants.

I grabbed Luffy's arm and turned him towards me, checking for wounds. "Are you okay? How…" He cut me off laughing, and grabbed my hand from where'd I'd been running it over his shoulders and chest checking for wounds. I didn't see any blood but…. "Shishishi I'm fine Aela," he began, and released my hand. "I'm a rubber man, see?" He took his hand and put it to his mouth, stretching. His mouth just stretched!

"Holy shit…" I breathed, and grinned, jumping up and down. "That's so cool! Zo-zo did you see that?" I said, pointing at Luffy and looking at my brother. "That's not important right now!" Zoro shouted, and suddenly looked down at something. "Aela damn it you're bleeding!" I looked down and grimaced. That fuckin' hurt!

"Ouch!" I shouted, grabbing my leg, and everyone sweat dropped. "You're just now feeling it?!" Coby shouted, and Luffy laughed. "Shishishi! Oh yeah! I brought your swords Zoro. I didn't know which one was yours so I brought all three."

"They're all mine," Zoro replied, and I nodded. "I use a three sword style technique." "That's so cool!" Luffy said, and I laughed. "Give em here," the green haired man grunted. Luffy stopped then, looking seriously at my brother, and then me. "If you take these swords right now, you'll be an enemy of the government. Are you prepared for that?" "What are you, the devil's son?" Zoro replied, and I snorted.

"Excuse me?" a grating voice said, and we all turned. "Did you all forget about me!" Helmoppo shouted. I turned around grinning. "Who the hell could forget that butt ugly face?" "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Helmoppo shouted, and I giggled.

"What are you all doing standing around?" Helmoppo shouted to his men. "Shoot them!" "I'll be a part of your damn crew," Zoro shouted, panicking a bit when he watched me get in front of him again. "Just gimme the damn swords!"

Blocking out what was going on behind me, I held out a hand, grinning when a visible shield formed in front of me. The shield looked like it was made of air. It was white around the edges, and clear towards the middle. (If you guys have ever seen The Incredibles, imagine Violet's shield at this point, that's Aela's power).

"Woah!" Coby exclaimed, the boy looking at me now with wide eyes. I winked at him. He wasn't just looking at my shield right now. When I used my devil fruit, my eyes changed. Like I stated before, my brown eyes lightened to an icy blue when I ate my devil fruit, along with a permanent ring of white located around the pupil. When I activated my devil fruit, the white ring expanded to where it looked as though my eyes were glowing white. I think I looked pretty damn cool.

I heard the marines and Helmoppo gasp in surprise, and grinned in delight. "Yes! It worked!" and then frowned when the shield began fading in and out, before disappearing completely, allowing the bullets that the shield had stopped to come through. I prepared myself for the sting of bullets, closing my eyes and still holding my hands out, but before they hit, Zoro had leapt in front of me. He had a sword in each hand and one in his mouth, and was blocking the bullets from hitting their mark.

"Make one move closer and you die," Zoro warned the marines around him. "Today, my sister and I officially become criminals, having fought the marines," Zoro announced expertly, sword still in his mouth. "We'll become pirates, that I can promise you. Know this though. While I'm with you, the only thing I dedicate myself to is fulfilling my ambition."

Luffy smiled. "Which is?"

"To be nothing less that the World's Greatest Swordsman." I smiled with pride and inwardly agreed. I would be right next to him when he did it. "If somewhere along the way I have to give that up, then I want you to accept responsibility," Zoro added. "After which you get to apologize to me."

"The World's Greatest Swordsman," Luffy repeated, thinking. "Sounds awesome to me. The King of the Pirates wouldn't have any less than the best on his crew." At Luffy's words my heart leapt a bit. His confidence was inspiring,and I knew that this guy would die to protect his dream, and that's someone I would be happy to follow through life.

"From this point on," Zoro smirked, "no matter if I'm a criminal or not, I will spread the name Zoro throughout the world."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL STANDING THERE FROZEN FOR?! KILL THEM ALL RIGHT NOW!" I heard a huge yell come from behind me.

"Who the hell's this guy?" I asked Zoro and Coby. "That would be the esteemed Captain Morgan," he said, rolling his eyes.

Captain Morgan was an extremely tall man. He had a large amount of muscles that most definitely overpowered his brain cells. He had very blonde, almost white hair and a steel jaw-like an actual jaw made of steel, probably from an old injury. He was appropriately deemed 'Axe Hand Morgan,' probably because of the fact that his right hand was gone and had been replaced with an actual axe. Quite an appropriate name for the man if I was being honest.

"Oi, Zoro, Aela, duck!" I dove for the ground as directed, and watched with big eyes as Luffy unleashed hell upon the marines. "Gomu gomu whip!" He yelled, and the boy extended his leg out, kicking all of the soldiers away. I watched Helmoppo's mouth drop in shock and laughed out loud. "That's so freaking cool!" I shouted, excitement soaring through me. This guy's my captain?

"A demon and a rubber boy?" I heard the Marines talking to themselves. "We don't stand a chance." I frowned when I heard them. They don't sound like bad people. They seemed a little reluctant to follow through with their captain's orders, and I realized then what was happening. None of the men respected their captain, they followed him out of pure fear, nothing more.

My conclusion was supported with Captain Morgan's next words. "This is a direct order: every marine that just spouted weakness, pull your gun out and shoot yourself!" I gasped in shock. What the hell?

"I can't do anything with weak soldiers," the man finished, and my face turned dark. Coward! "What babies," Zoro grumbled, preparing his swords again. "This'll be a piece of cake." I readied myself as well, concentrating on bringing my shield forward. Before anything else happened though, Luffy had charged forward. He cut straight through the marines, heading straight towards their over confident 'leader.'

I watched to see if any of the other marines would approach, but relaxed when I saw that they were in as much awe as the rest of us, abandoning their weapons and watching as the rubber boy made his way towards Captain Morgan. One well aimed kick to the face later, and Captain Morgan was out. The huge man hit the ground with a giant thud, and Luffy began scolding the cowardly wimp for ruining Coby's future dream of becoming a marine. He finished the fight out with a few more punches to the face.

"Straw hat!" a familiar voice rang through the air, and I groaned. "I would stop if you value your friend's life!" I looked over and cursed when I saw that Helmoppo had Coby in his grip, holding a gun to his head.

Luffy completely ignored the idiot, throwing another punch at Morgan. "Are you stupid or something?" Helmoppo said, shoving the gun at Coby harder, making the boy whimper, and I grit my teeth. "I said stop. If you would pay attention to me, I have a hostage situation here that calls for your attention!"

"Hey," Zoro said quietly, stopping Luffy from continuing his assault. Luffy finally stopped and looked towards the activity. "If you value your squatty little friend's life, you won't move a muscle!" He warned, and I scoffed in disgust when I noticed he was shaking like a leaf. He's too much of a coward to even follow through with his own threat!

"I'm serious - one move and I'll shoot him, I swear!" I highly doubted that, and I guess Luffy did too, because he just smiled. I noticed when he did that Coby stood straighter, and could practically feel the courage now soaring through him. "Luffy listen!" the boy began. "Don't let anything that happens to me stop you, no matter what. Even if I die!"

I smiled in pride towards the boy. I'll be damned. He's not as big of a coward as I thought! Luffy began walking forward towards Helmoppo and Coby. Luffy began readying himself to send the dumbass flying, and the daddy's boy began visibly panicking, making more empty threats. Suddenly, multiple things happened.

Coby shouted a quick warning as Morgan stood up and had almost brought his axe down on Luffy's head. I quickly threw my hands out, erecting a shield over Luffy's head. The axe slammed down on the shield just in time, as the tip of the weapon had already made contact with the boy's straw hat. I grunted in pain when the shield shook, threatening to give out. Luffy looked up in awe at the shield, stars in his eyes.

I tensed when Morgan growled and threw the axe up again, preparing for a second hit. The shield wouldn't be strong enough a second time! He swung down again, but before it even came close to the shield Zoro was there. My brother intercepted the axe right as Luffy threw a punch at Helmoppo.

"Thanks," Luffy sent a grin in my brother's direction, along with mine, and I grinned right back. "No problem, cap!" and he laughed in delight. "Shishishi!" "Just doing my job, Captain," Zoro smiled around his sword, and then looked to me. "You alright?" His eyes scanned my form for a second, stopping at my leg ever so often. "I'm fine," I nodded, and he searched my eyes a quick moment before nodding in acceptance.

The marine soldiers were in shock. "Captain Morgan's been beaten." "Unbelievable! These guys are unreal!"

"If there's anyone who wants to step forward to fight," Zoro started, "Do so now." The marines exchanged glances before throwing their weapons into the air with loud cheers. Luffy was confused and spoke out as such. "That's weird. They're happy that their captain was defeated."

"They must've been afraid of him for a long time before we showed up," Coby explained, and I nodded in agreement. "They didn't respect him at all; they just followed him out of fear," I threw in, and Luffy looked at me very seriously for a moment.

Suddenly, Zoro collapsed on to the ground with a groan. "Zoro!" Coby shouted, but I just rolled my eyes. His energy felt a little weak, but nothing too serious. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" "What's wrong is this idiot hasn't eaten a proper meal in almost a month and just fought as though he was up to full strength," I scolded. "Shut up, Aela," he said half heartedly and I grinned.

"Don't worry, Coby," I said, kneeling down next to Zoro. "He's just hungry." I ran my hand soothingly through my brother's green hair, and he closed his eyes with a sigh, relaxing on to the ground.

Luffy laughed, watching our antics. "I'm hungry too! Let's go get some meat!"

There wasn't a huge difference between post edit and pre-edit here, but there will be in the next chapter! Thanks guys!