Hey guys, hope you're all enjoying what is a beautiful summer afternoon where I am. I can only hope you all enjoy reading these new chapters as much as I enjoy writing them haha.

Also, thanks for all your reviews. I literally love reading what you guys have to say, even when what you have to say is quite random, such as the review left by 'Martyn' last chapter. I really hope you keep that up for me.

".. And then what happened?"

Ace sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well… we lost him. The car he was in turned a corner and he disappeared. No doubt in my mind though, he was definitely trying to get away from us. That car was moving way too quickly and taking way too convoluted a route for that not to be the case."

Robin frowned. She had initially been a little pissed off when Ace and Zoro had left her at parent's evening, but now she knew the full story. Looks like Ace was right though. Sabo was hiding something.

Nami, standing a bit away from the two, glared at her watch before looking up at the departures board. "Our train's soon, where the hell is he?"

'He' was Sabo, the only person yet to arrive. It was Saturday morning, the day of Luffy's trial at Dressrosa. On Friday evening, as soon as school had ended, Garp had picked Luffy up and drove him to the city of Dressrosa that night so that he and Luffy could prepare in the morning for the afternoon trial. The rest of Luffy's friends plus Ace and Sabo would join them before the trial after taking the Saturday morning train.

As if on cue, just then the blonde man appeared, jogging up to join the rest of the gang on the platform. "Sorry I'm late everyone. I just had some things to take care of before going."

Ace narrowed his eyes. What he would give to know just what exactly those 'things' were. Nami, however, rolled her eyes. "The train'll reach here in a couple of minutes. You really cut it close…"

Sanji chuckled nervously, the one-sided friction between Nami and Sabo clear. "Well, at least we're all here now…"

Franky grinned. "I'm SUPER hyped to cheer on Luffy today!"

Sabo nodded. "Yeah, me too. I hope Dressrosa like him."

"Of course they will," Zoro replied dismissively. "They won't ever find another keeper like Luffy."

"Hey guys, the train's here," Sanji called from the edge of the platform, the first to notice the approaching locomotive in the distance.

Everyone quickly made their way to the edge of the platform, joining Sanji. Robin raised an eyebrow at the sight of Nami smiling. "What is it?"

"I'm just so excited for Luffy. I mean, today is his big chance to become a professional player. If he makes this… I mean, he's made it, hasn't he?"

Ace, overhearing this, smirked. It was moments like this when he was glad Luffy had Nami. She didn't show it necessarily all the time, but it was nice to see her like this, genuinely excited at the prospect of Luffy succeeding. She really did love him.

######

Donquixote Doflamingo grinned widely, leaning back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling of this spacious office. Life certainly was sweet.

After spending a couple of years as a High School teacher so that he could accomplish a few certain goals, Doflamingo was glad to be back in his actual job, the real head of Dressrosa FC, the country's number one soccer team, both in terms of quality and prestige. He wasn't the public head, that 'honour' belonged to Riku, but Doflamingo was the one who ran things behind the scenes. It was a pretty good deal Doflamingo thought, it meant that he could get on with his 'less orthodox activities' knowing that if he was exposed, Riku would take the heat.

Just then a knock sounded on the door. Doflamingo swivelled his chair so that he was facing away from the door and out onto the beautiful city of Dressrosa, his office's back wall a giant window basically. "Come in!"

The door opened, a woman with glasses and dark hair entering. She curtseyed slightly, even though Doflamingo had his back to her. "Sir."

"Baby 5. It's a fine morning, huh?"

"Yes sir," Baby 5 mechanically replied, before remembering what she was doing there in the first place. "Mr Trebol just called. He asked me to inform you that the prospective players have arrived at the training facilities, and the trials will begin in roughly an hour. He wanted to know whether you planned to attend."

Doflamingo, his back still to Baby 5, shook his head. "That depends. Tell me… is a 'Monkey D Luffy' present?"

Baby 5 blinked, her not high up enough in Doflamingo's organisation to know about Bellamy and his mission. "I believe so. Mr Trebol said there were no absences."

Doflamingo frowned. Had Bellamy failed? Or had he simply not acted yet? Either way, this was certainly disappointing news. "Is that so? Well, in that case, I won't be attending. Do me a favour and call Pica and Diamante though. I want them to both be there If I'm not going."

"Understood."

With that Baby 5 disappeared, leaving an annoyed Doflamingo behind. What was Bellamy doing?

######

Robin frowned slightly as she watched Zoro sleep, the two sitting next to each other on the train. It had been a month now, but Robin hadn't told Zoro about that incident with Law in the school corridor, when he'd nearly kissed her. She figured since nothing actually happened, there was no reason to tell him anything. This seemed like a logically sound argument, but when Robin thought about how she'd feel if the roles were reversed and something like that happened with Zoro, Robin couldn't help but feel she'd want Zoro to be honest with her.

But then, what would be the point? Since the incident with Vergo, Robin and Law and the rest of the group had interacted as normal. Law hadn't mentioned the incident to her at all since. Would there be any use in bringing it up now when it was already like it had never happened.

But then what did this mean for Law? Robin was always aware he had feelings for her, but he'd never acted on them before that afternoon and he hadn't acted on them since. But… would he act on them again in the future?

Robin shook her head. Law knew she loved Zoro. What had happened that day must have been a minor lapse in judgement, the fact that nothing had happened since was surely proof of that. And if that was the case, Robin had nothing to worry about.

"It's pretty beautiful, huh?"

Robin blinked, pulled from her thoughts by Nami's voice. The orange haired girl was sitting opposite her, a table between her and Sanji and then Robin and Zoro, staring out of the window. Robin followed her gaze, having been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the train pulling into Dressrosa.

And like Nami had said, Dressrosa really was a beautiful sight with it's paved roads and bright, colourful odd-shaped buildings. The city looked very exotic to Robin, palm trees generously dotted around the streets of the town. However what caught Robin's attention particularly was a giant circular structure in the distance. It looked like a modern version of the traditional Colosseum. Sanji, noticing her looking at it, smirked.

"That's Dressrosa's stadium, the Dressrosa Colosseum. If Luffy does well today, that's where he'll be playing week in week out."

"It's giant."

Ace, seated across the aisle alongside Sabo, nodded. "It's the biggest stadium in the country. Seats a little over 100,000. Well, anyway, it looks like we're here. Say, I wonder what Luffy and Gramps are up to now?"

######

"Hey! Luffy, right? Long time no see!"

Luffy and Garp turned around to see a grinning Diamante approaching the two. The two were currently outside with the rest of the aspiring players, watching as the official Dressrosa FC first team trained. Well, the first team minus a couple of the star players, Diamante being one of them. Garp smiled politely at the professional player. "Mr Diamante. I can't thank you enough for giving my grandson this opportunity."

Diamante laughed. "You don't have to thank me. Luffy here's the best young player I've seen in a long time, probably ever. If anything, it'll be Dressrosa's pleasure to be the team who'll secure his services for the future."

Luffy grinned, glad to receive the compliment, before realising something. "Say… why aren't you training with the other players?"

Diamante smirked cockily as he watched the rest of the squad being put through their paces. "Because I don't need it! Honestly, I think they're stressing too much about our game on Monday. We'll win easily, like we always do."

Just then in the distance, one of the Dressrosa players took a shot at goal from long range, the ball going straight into the top corner. Garp's eyes widened at the incredible shot whilst Diamante laughed. "Nice shot Gladius!"

Gladius, a first team player for Dressrosa, glanced over at Diamante and flashed him a thumbs up before returning to the training session. Garp was about to say something when he noticed some of the other players preparing for the trial and their respective parents/family/friends were looking at him, Luffy and Diamante suspiciously. "What's their problem?" The old man grumbled.

Diamante glanced over his shoulder. "They're probably worried that if I'm already familiar with you two that you'll have an unfair advantage. I wouldn't worry about it, once the trials start it becomes obvious who's gonna get in and who won't, favouritism never even plays a part."

Just then the door to the training facility opened and out came Pica, who looked over at Diamante. Said man nodded, before turning back to Luffy and Garp. "Well, looks like we'll be starting soon. Good luck."

Luffy smiled as Diamante began to make his way over to Pica. "Yeah! Thanks!"

Garp, however, watched the man curiously. Dressrosa had a game tomorrow, and Diamante, one of the players who would undoubtedly be playing, wasn't training? How could it be possible he performed at the level he did without even training properly? Dressrosa were on an incredible 15 game win streak at the start of the league season, leaving them comfortably at the top of the league table. Diamante himself was the league's top scorer with 20 goals in 15 games, an absolutely incredible ratio. How could he do that if he didn't even train properly before a match? It didn't make sense to Garp…

Was their some secret to Dressrosa's incredible level of performance?

######

About ten minutes into the trials, whilst the players were still being made to warm up, Ace, Sabo and the others arrived, quickly making their way over to Garp, who was surprisingly relaxed when compared to the rest of the parents. "Sorry we're late," Ace apologised, "We got a little lost on the way here. Have we missed much?"

Garp shook his head. "Nope, not really. They're still just warming up."

Ace eyed the players jogging in the distance. "So what's our competition looking like? How many other keepers are there?"

"Two other ones. One's tall and skinny, the other's around Luffy's height but bulkier. But, they haven't started actually training yet, so I have no idea how good they are."

Standing a few metres away from the group was Pica, silently watching over the young players as Diamante led them through the warm up, Gladius and Dellinger, another one of Dressrosa's big name players, assisting. Spartan, the veteran Dressrosa goalkeeper, was sitting by the goalposts. It looked like he'd be the one dealing with Luffy and the other goalkeepers when the warm up was finished.

Just then the door to the training facility opened and out came Baby 5, Doflamingo's secretary, heading straight for Pica. Sanji glanced over at her, at first merely noting she was attractive, before glancing back to the trials. However, as he watched the warm up ending, he couldn't help but feel a strange feeling. Something about that woman seemed… familiar. But what?

Sanji frowned and turned back to Baby 5, who was still talking to Pica who seemed to just be listening. He gave the female a proper look over, trying to figure out what it was about her that seemed so familiar. Nami, noticing Sanji's attention had shifted, snorted. "Seriously? This is the biggest day of Luffy's life probably and you're checking out girls?"

Much to Nami's surprise, Sanji ignored her, continuing to examine Baby 5. Zoro rolled his eyes. "Stupid Love cook," he muttered, before looking back at the players, Luffy and the other goalkeepers separating from the outfield players and heading over to Spartan. Just at that moment, Baby 5 finally turned away from Pica and began to head back inside. Sanji glanced back at the others, all concentrating on the trials, before following after her.

"Sorry Luffy," he muttered to himself. "But my gut instinct's telling me to follow this girl…"

######

Baby 5 hurried through Dressrosa FC's state of the art training facility, wanting to get back to the Dressrosa Colosseum and her boss quickly now that she'd delivered her message to Pica. However just as she was about to open the front door of the building, her phone started ringing. Baby 5 sighed before answering it. "Hello?"

"I want to speak to Joker," Violet's voice immediately replied.

Baby 5 narrowed her eyes. "Violet? About what?"

"SMILE."

Baby 5 paused. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes. I haven't received the ingredients necessary to synthesise the next order yet. I was told I'd receive them by the end of last week."

Doflamingo's secretary frowned. That didn't sound like Doflamingo. "I see. I'll speak to Joker when I return to the stadium. Thanks for informing me Violet."

With that, Baby 5 hung up and left the building, not realising someone had been listening in on the conversation. Sanji's eyes widened, both shocked because of what he'd just heard, but also because it had finally come to him as to why this woman was so familiar. It was because he'd seen her before, it was only briefly, but now that he replayed that night in his head, he had no doubt.

That woman was the one who'd killed Crocodile.

On that night at the hospital when he'd caught a glimpse of Crocodile's killer escaping, he had no doubt that it was this woman. He wasn't sure how he was so certain, but he was. Furthermore, having just eavesdropped on the phone call, he knew that that woman was working with Joker, who Sanji knew from Law was Doflamingo, and Violet, who again Sanji knew from Law was working with Doflamingo. This then meant that Doflamingo was the one behind Crocodile's death. But why? And this SMILE? Law had said he thought that they were making something, so was this SMILE what Doflamingo was making? But what was it?

Suddenly, Sanji's blood ran cold. This woman, who was apparently working with Doflamingo was clearly also working for Dressrosa FC. Did that mean… that Doflamingo was somehow associated with Dressrosa? If so…

The blonde quickly spun on his heels and sprinted outside. He had to go warn Luffy. He wasn't safe here.

######

"That's my boy!" Garp roared, as Luffy kept out a strike on goal with a splendid save.

After training with Spartan for a while with the other goalkeepers, Diamante had called all the players together for a large practise match with rolling subs to ensure everyone got game time. Luffy had been on for a while though, since there were only three goalkeepers and two teams, and was still yet to concede, making a string of top class saves. By contrast, the other goalkeeper had already let in three goals and seemed to be losing more and more confidence with every save Luffy made.

Nami grinned widely. "Luffy's too good," she proudly boasted. Robin giggled. Normally she would have warned her about getting ahead of herselves, but it was looking like a foregone conclusion already to be honest. Luffy was going to be signed up.

Just then, Luffy went off the pitch, allowing the goalkeeper currently sitting out to come on. Ace smirked. "That's a good sign. My guess is that they're taking him off because they've seen enough now. They don't need to test him any more. They've already decided he's good enough."

"Guys!"

Everyone turned around to see a panicked looking Sanji running towards them. Nami glared at him. "Just where the hell have you been? You've missed everything!"

"That doesn't matter, we need to take Luffy and get out of here, now!"

Zoro scowled at him. "Oi, Eyebrow, quite messing ar-"

"I'm not messing around, this is serious!" Sanji retorted, his panicked expression starting to freak everyone out now.

Ace frowned at him. "Sanji… Calm down. What's going on?"

Sanji looked between the Dressrosa players, first Pica, then Diamante, then Gladius and finally Dellinger. "The people here… are working with Doflamingo. And what's more, it was Doflamingo that killed Crocodile!"

Everyone shared a collective shocked look, including Sabo who'd been told what had happened during the summer by Ace. It was said police officer who was the first to recover. "Just how did you find this out?" he demanded.

"That woman who came outside earlier… I recognised her from that night at the hospital. I only saw her briefly, but I'm certain she's the one who killed Crocodile. I just followed her and heard her talking to Violet about Joker. According to Law, Joker's Doflamingo, so…"

"But even so," Garp argued, desperate for it to not be true for Luffy's sake. "That doesn't mean the club itself have anything to do with Doflamingo. It could just be this woman."

Sanji glared at him. "Are you seriously willing to take that risk? If these guys are with Doflamingo, they're bad news. Hell, for all we know, they could be trying to harm Luffy! Crocodile targeted Luffy before, and so did that Police Officer! How do we know that he's not working with Doflamingo and this is their way of dealing with Luffy?"

Everyone was silent, Sanji raising a valid point. Garp gulped. What should he do? Sanji was right, this could be dangerous, but at the same time it could be that Doflamingo actually did have nothing to do with Dressrosa and it was just this woman who was dangerous. But this was such an incredible opportunity for Luffy, Dressrosa were the best team in the whole country. If Luffy signed a professional contract with them, which was looking likely, he'd be set for life. Hell, he wouldn't just be set, he'd be a guaranteed superstar. How could he lose that opportunity on a hunch basically?

"Hey, Gramps," Ace muttered, seeing the dilemma he was currently mentally grappling with. "I have an idea… Let's go through with this for now, but…"

"What the hell?" Nami shouted, alerting Pica, who up until then hadn't been paying attention to them. Nami waited until he finally turned away from them before continuing in a quieter, but still concerned voice. "If Luffy's in any sort of danger, then we need to stop this now!"

"Let me finish. If Luffy's offered a contract, we'll sign it, however… I'll contact the Police force here. Tell them everything we know. They'll investigate the whole club, see if anything's up. If they notice anything suspicious, we'll pull Luffy out of here. If they don't, then we'll let Luffy stay."

Garp frowned. "I don't know…"

"Gramps," Ace began, his voice deadly serious. "I promise I will personally keep on top of the investigation. I'll contact the police here every day. Believe me, if my little brother's in any danger at all, I'm not gonna take any chances. I'll watch over Luffy as closely as I can. Trust me."

Ace and Garp looked at each other for a few moments, everyone else wondering what was going to happen. Garp finally nodded. "OK then. I'll leave this to you Ace."

"Hey… Garp?"

Said man turned around to see Diamante approaching the group, Luffy close behind. Both of them were grinning. As soon as Diamante reached the group, he held out his hand to Garp. "Congratulations. I've spoke to my colleagues, and we've decided, unanimously actually, to offer your grandson a professional contract at Dressrosa FC. Welcome to the club."

Garp, immediately forgetting what they'd just been discussing, took the hand. He couldn't believe it. This was up there with the proudest moments of his life. As of today, Luffy was a professional soccer player. Diamante, sensing Garp was spacing out, cleared his throat, bringing the older man back to Earth. "If you and Luffy would join us in heading to the Colosseum now, we can sort out the finer details and get that contract signed as soon as possible. We're planning on unveiling Luffy and the other couple of guys to the press tonight. It won't be front page news obviously, but they'll have their pictures taken with the manager, answer a few questions, and the whole thing'll be put up on the club's website. I'm sure all the fans will be looking forward to finding out about Dressrosa's newest star."

"Y… Yeah," Garp muttered, still in shock. Diamante squeezed his hand once more before releasing it and going back to join Pica, Gladius and Dellinger, who were heading inside.

"The cars'll be waiting round the front. Join us when you're ready. Take your time though, we're in no hurry."

As soon as Diamante and the rest of the Dressrosa players had disappeared from sight, Ace pulled Luffy into a tight hug. "This is amazing! Luffy, you've done it! You're gonna sign for Dressrosa!"

Luffy didn't say anything, just laughing, the two brothers sharing the euphoria of the moment. As soon as Ace had released Luffy it was Nami's turn to hug her boyfriend, babbling about how proud she was of him, trying to put her feelings into words before just giving up and passionately kissing him. One by one, the rest of Luffy's friends congratulated him, deciding not to mention what Sanji had found out and risk ruining the moment. When they were done, Sabo hugged Luffy too, as proud of his little brother as Ace was.

That left Garp, who's eyes were glazed over. For a year now, he'd trained Luffy as hard as he could, all for this moment. There wasn't one moment where he'd ever thought Luffy wouldn't make it, but now that he had… the feeling was truly surreal. Luffy beamed at Garp, understanding everything he was feeling. No one had believed in him as much as his Grandpa. He was his number one fan, his number one critic, his number one everything. He'd pushed him hard ever since he was a little kid, even before he'd taken up soccer, and now it felt like the two of them were being rewarded. Suddenly, Garp put his right arm around Luffy, pulling the teenager against him.

"You did good kid…" he muttered.

Luffy smiled into Garp's chest. "Thanks Grandpa."

Pretty interesting chapter hopefully, a few new things being mentioned.

The next chapter (which I haven't quite finished yet, but I'm nearly there) is going to be way different from usual, so just a heads up there. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. As always, thanks for reading guys, and leave a review if you can!