Hey guys, I'm so happy to be writing this story again. It means a lot that people have been actually bugging me to update this since I didn't think that anyone was even still bothered about this story. So yeah, I'll try and be better from now on. But you know, I have a full time job and so I really don't have a huge amount of free time. So Idk how often I'll be able to update, but I will try my best.

Nami excitedly nudged Robin, their train finally rolling into Baltigo. it was late afternoon now but since it was December at this point, it was nearly totally dark now, the skyline of the city a view worth waking up her dozing best friend for. "Robin, look, we're here!"

Robin eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked drearily at Nami, who nodded in the direction of the window. Robin complied, looking out just to see their train pull into the station. "Here we are…"

Law stood up, taking both Robin and Nami's bags down from the overhead storage and handing them to the two girls before taking his own. "The college is about a half an hour walk from the station. That, or we could split a cab…"

"What about Sabo?" Nami asked. "I was hoping we'd meet him after getting off the train before leaving for the college."

Law shrugged. "Alright then, I have no problems with that."

And so the three made their way off the train onto the platform, Nami immediately heading towards the back end of the train where Sabo's carriage was, Law and Robin trailing behind her. Her timing ended up being perfect, Nami reaching Sabo's carriage just as he and Dragon emerged from the train. Sabo gulped. He had been hoping to avoid Nami, hence why he'd waited a bit before getting off the train. Nami smiled at him.

Over the last month or so, Nami had began to realise just how important Sabo was to Luffy. Every day, without fail, Sabo would stop by their homeroom in the morning to say good morning to Luffy and the rest of the gang. The teaching assistant was also always trying to spend as much time as he could with Luffy, offering to drive Luffy wherever if he asked, or offering to accompany him to Dressrosa. Sabo wanted to be at Luffy's beck and call, as if he was making up for lost time. Although Nami had initially been jealous of Sabo and the attention Luffy gave him, Nami had begun to realise just how happy Luffy was to have Sabo back in his life and this made Nami realise that she should be happy too for Luffy's sake that Sabo was around now. If the man she loved was happy, then she was happy too.

"Hey you two! How was your journey?" Nami asked.

Sabo glanced at Dragon, really wanting to get him as far away from Nami as possible. "Oh, uh… great…"

"So whereabouts are you two headed now?"

"Oh nowhere…" Sabo quickly replied, although Dragon cleared his throat.

"Actually, we're going to get some dinner before going to the college."

Sabo shot Dragon a warning look as Nami gasped. "You guys are going to the college too?"

Dragon nodded. "That's right, Sabo told me you and your friends would be interviewing here this week. I actually happen to be a Professor at Baltigo."

Sabo kicked Dragon in the back of his foot, but that didn't stop him talking. "In fact, from what Sabo has told me, I'll be interviewing a student from your school tomorrow. A Nico Robin I believe?"

Nami mentally slapped herself. "Of course, I thought your name sounded familiar earlier. Robin told me she was being interviewed by Mr Dragon earlier today…"

Dragon smirked. "You know, you should join us for dinner, along with the rest of your friends. My treat."

Sabo's eyes widened as Nami beamed. "Really? Thanks, I'm sure Robin would love to get a chance to talk to you! I'll just go and get her and Law. One sec…"

As Nami walked away, Sabo glared at Dragon. "What the hell are you thinking! We need to keep you as far away as possible from those three! And why did you mention the interview, I told you you had to find a professor to switch with you!"

"Why is any of that necessary?" Dragon asked. "They don't know who I am. This is the perfect opportunity for me to get to know Luffy's friends. Plus, if I can make a good impression with them now, that may help matters when the time comes…"

"Or it may totally fuck things up when they find out you've lied to them!"

"When have I lied? I simply haven't told them the complete truth."

"You think they're really going to accept that?" Sabo asked angrily. Dragon shrugged.

"Who knows, but don't forget Sabo… I'm the one who's in charge here."

Sabo sighed. "Fine… but if this goes up in flames*, it's on you…."

######

Usopp yawned, him and Franky the only people who were still awake. They'd been driving for over three and a half hours now. "Are you sure you don't want to take a break and let someone else drive? I mean, we're nearly there, but still…"

Franky shook his head. "No way! Only I can drive Sunny!"

"I'm not that bad a driver, you know…"

Franky laughed. "You know it's not about that…"

Usopp was about to reply when he noticed a sign coming up on the left. "Oh, our exit's coming up. We're finally here!"

As soon as Usopp had said that, Luffy's eyes shot open. "Yosh! Wake up everybody, WE'RE HERE!"

Luffy's shout was enough to wake up Chopper and Brook, but Zoro continued to sleep soundly. Luffy grinned and reached behind his chair. He punched Zoro in the side of his arm, finally waking up the green haired teen. Zoro scowled at his laughing best friend. "Luffy! What the hell was that for?"

"We're here!"

"Wow," Chopper gushed, looking out of the window. "This sure is a big city huh?"

Usopp nodded. "Totally. Say, I wonder whether Sanji and Hancock have got here yet. Maybe you should text them Luffy."

"Text Robin too," Zoro said. "Maybe we could grab a bite to eat with her and the others before going back."

Franky gulped slightly. "That's right, we have to drive back, huh? I SUPER forgot…"

Brook frowned. "I could drive on the way back if you'd like Franky."

Usopp snorted. "Forget about it. No one drives the Sunny but Franky apparently."

"Well, maybe we can find somewhere to stay tonight," Chopper suggested. "It'll be fun, like a sleepover."

"But we have school tomorrow," Usopp replied.

"So?" Zoro said. "Missing one day won't make that much of a difference. Robin, Nami, Law and Hancock are missing the whole week."

"Yeah, but they have a reason."

Luffy laughed. "Don't worry, we'll come up with something. But for now, I want to eat! I'm so hungry!"

Usopp rolled his eyes. "As always, Luffy's stomach comes before the actual problem at hand…"

######

Nami's eyes lit up as she looked at her phone. Her, Robin, Law, Sabo and Dragon were seated in a restaurant a short distance from the college. After the five had taken two separate cabs to the college, Dragon and Sabo had given the three teenagers about an hour to find the rooms they'd be staying in for the week and get settled in before the five had met up at the main entrance and headed over to the restaurant. Robin looked over Nami's shoulder, wanting to see what she was so happy about. "Oh my, did Luffy and the others really come all this way here?"

Dragon's eyes widened at the sound of that name. He looked over at Sabo, who was choking on his drink. When he recovered, he looked worriedly at Nami. "Luffy's here? In Baltigo?!"

"Yeah, he, Zoro, Franky, Usopp and Chopper drove all the way here in the Sunny. Wow, that must have been such a long journey! Apparently Sanji and Hancock are here too."

Dragon smirked. "Is that so? More friends of yours? Invite them here."

Law blinked. "Are you serious? All of them?"

Dragon shook his head dismissively. "Don't worry about me, I've got more than enough money. Plus, I'd love to get to meet more of Sabo's students."

Sabo looked desperately at Dragon, who ignored him, whilst Nami beamed. "Thank you so much! That's so generous of you! But we insist of splitting the bill."

Dragon shrugged. "I'm more than happy to pay for everything, but if that's the only way you'll invite the rest of your friends, then so be it."

Sabo gulped as Nami began excitedly texting Luffy back. This was going to be an interesting night, that's for sure.

######

Sanji looked over at Hancock, hearing her shiver slightly in the cold December evening. The two were currently walking over to the restaurant Nami and the others were in, her having texted him the address. He smirked and put his arm around Hancock, her gladly cuddling into the side of his body as they walked. Sanji grinned widely, his eyes turning to hearts. "I'm so happy! I still can't believe such a beautiful lady like yourself chose me-"

"WE HA HA HA HA HA!"

Hancock tensed at the sound of the following scream coming from an alleyway just in front of them. She looked at Sanji, who had snapped out of his daze and looked equally as serious as she did. The two hurried forwards and looked into the alleyway, just in time to see a giant muscular man turning the corner out of sight. A woman was on the ground. Sanji and Hancock ran over to her, the blonde helping her up. "Are you OK? What happened?"

"I.. I was just taking a shortcut through this alley when that man suddenly appeared with a knife. He took my purse and then shoved me to the ground."

Sanji growled and turned in the direction the man had headed. "Sanji!" Hancock shouted, knowing instantly what he wanted to do.

"Sorry…" Sanji muttered. "But I've got to teach some table manners to the jerk who goes around hurting ladies. Go to the restaurant, I'll meet you there!"

Before Hancock could say anything else, Sanji sprinted after the giant man with the weird laugh. The girl looked worriedly at Hancock. "Wait, is he going after the guy who mugged me? That's way too dangerous, we need to stop him!"

Hancock sighed. "There's no stopping him when he's like this. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine. He's one of the toughest guys I know. The best thing we can do is wait for him here…"

######

"Yay food!" Luffy shouted, kicking the Thousand Sunny door open as it parked next to the restaurant Nami and the others were in. He was out of the car before any of the others had even removed their seat belts. Without waiting for the others Luffy opened the door of the building and went in, it not taking him long to locate Nami and Robin in far corner of the room. He could also see Law and Sabo with their backs to him, but there was one other guy sitting down, the view of him partially obstructed, that he couldn't make out. Luffy however didn't think too much of this, just glad to see his friends.

"Hey guys!" he shouted as he hurried towards their table, ignoring the looks the other diners were giving him. Nami beamed at him.

"Luffy! I can't believe you came all this way for us. Although… where are the others?"

"Dunno, I guess they're still in Sunny. Hey Robin, Traffie! And Sabo, I didn't know you'd be here too! And…"

Luffy trailed off, him at last making eye contact with Monkey D Dragon, who was just staring spellbound back at his son for the first time in seventeen years, unable to find any words. Sabo eyed Dragon carefully, wondering what was going to happen next. Suddenly, Luffy grinned and held his hand out to Dragon. "I'm Luffy! What's your name?"

"I… I know. I've wanted to meet you for so long, Luffy, I-"

Sabo kicked Dragon hard in the back of his leg under the table. Dragon sighed. "I… Sabo's told me a lot about you. I'm Dragon."

"Yeah, Sabo's my big brother!"

With that, Luffy sat between Nami and Law, the former handing him the restaurant menu. They had put off ordering their main courses until everyone was here. Sabo breathed a sigh of relief, glad that no one seemed to suspect anything, however he was so focussed on Dragon and Luffy that he didn't noticed someone eyeing him curiously.

Robin frowned. She had been watching Sabo's face during that entire exchange, and he had been sweating bullets. Ace was right, there was definitely something suspicious about him. Plus, what was this Mr Dragon? He was currently staring down at the table, looking seriously troubled. She was broken out of her thoughts by the restaurant door opening, Zoro and the rest of the guys entering. Their table was nearly full though, so after saying hello, the five sat down on the adjacent table.

After everyone had been sitting down for a while, Nami looked down at her phone. "I wonder where Sanji and Hancock are. Do you think they got lost searching for this place? I've tried texting Sanji again, but he hasn't replied."

"That's kind of worrying," Usopp said. "Maybe someone should go look for them."

"I'll go," Law offered. "Me and Straw Hat-ya will probably be able to cover a lot of ground quickly."

Luffy, who was tucking into an appetiser, stopped mid bite. "But food…."

"Luffy!" Nami yelled.

Said boy sighed, him and Law getting up and heading out of the restaurant.

######

Luffy's stomach growled loudly. "I'm soooo hungry!"

Law scowled at him. "You ate two full plates of starters at the restaurant. How is it possible to still be hungry?"

Luffy cupped both his hands around his mouth. "SANJI! HANCOCK! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Law rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's not going to work…"

"Man, I'm so hungry. Hey Traffie, do you think we could find somewhere to get some food real quickly?"

A vein popped on Law's forehead. "We'll eat when we get back to the restaurant. Can we just focus on finding-"

"ZE HA HA HA"

Law looked around, startled by the odd sounding laugh. "What was that? Anyway, Straw Hat-ya…"

Law trailed off, seeing Luffy's expression shift. He had tensed up completely and clenched his fists. Luffy gritted his teeth, he had definitely heard that laugh before….

Before Law could say anything else, Luffy bolted in the direction of the voice, running full speed. Law blinked, before running off after Luffy, not understanding what was going on at all.

######

Sanji skidded to a halt. There was no doubt about it, he'd completely lost the man he was chasing after. "The hell did that guy run off to?" He grumbled, kicking a nearby stone into the wall of the alleyway.

"TEACH!"

Sanji blinked at the sound of the familiar voice shouting. "Luffy?"

The blonde followed the source of the voice, stepping out of the alleyway just in time to see Luffy sprint past, Sanji taken aback by the look on pure rage on Luffy's face as he ran past. Luffy, noticing Sanji, was running so fast that he ran a good way down the road before he finally skidded to a halt. He turned around. "Sanji! You're here! Just wait there, I need to go find someone!"

Before Sanji could respond, Luffy had continued running, disappearing from sight when he turned left into an alleyway further down the road. Just then, a panting Law appeared, him stopping when he reached Sanji. "There you are, me and Straw Hat-ya were looking for you…"

"You are? So where's Luffy going now?"

Law shrugged. "I don't know. We heard this weird sound, like someone laughing, and then he suddenly ran off looking really pissed off."

"A weird laugh? Then that must be… We have to go after Luffy, he's going after the guy I was looking for!"

"What do you mean guy you were looking for?"

Sanji began running after Luffy. "Just go back to the restaurant and make sure Hancock's there! Leave this to me and Luffy!"

#######

Nami looked expectantly at Law as he re-entered the restaurant alone. When he met her gaze, he knew he was going to have to offer an explanation, but honestly he was as confused as they were probably. He was about to speak when he noticed Hancock had joined the group. "Ah Boa-ya. You're here now. That's good, Sanji will be happy."

"So where is he? And Luffy?" Nami demanded. Law shrugged.

"They're both chasing after this guy, but I don't know who he is or why they're so angry with him."

Nami glared at him. "And you just came back here instead of helping them?"

"I came back to make sure Boa-ya made it here. Now that I know she's safe, I should probably go look for them. Roronoa, you wanna come with me?"

Zoro yawned. "Do I have to? I'm sure Luffy can handle it."

"Luffy and Sanji, right?" Usopp asked. Zoro shook his head.

"Nope."

Hancock pointed her finger accusingly at Zoro, doing her famous 'looking down on you' pose. "How dare you disrespect my beloved like that!"

A vein popped on Nami's forehead. "We're getting away from the point here! Zoro, go with Tra-guy and make sure Luffy and Sanji are OK!"

Zoro sighed, lazily standing up. "Fine…"

######

Luffy increased his pace, hearing the same laugh coming from just up ahead. "TEACH!"

The dark haired teen quickly turned right into an alleyway, closing in on the source of the voice. "There you are!"

Standing there were two men, both with their back to Luffy, one new, but one he definitely recognised. "TEACH!" Luffy shouted.

Both Teach and his companion turned around, the former looking surprised to see Luffy there. "You're… Ace's brother?"

The other man, giant with long purple hair and a mask over his head, turned to Teach and grinned. "This kid is Ace's brother. WE HA HA HA HA!"

"Oi, who are you!" Luffy shouted. "Are you friends with Teach? If you are, I'll kick your ass too!"

"WE HA HA HA HA HA! I'm the CHAMPION, JESUS BURGESS! This kid's pretty funny boss…"

Teach grinned at Luffy. "Ze ha ha… You know Straw Hat, you're at a disadvantage here. There are two of us and only one of you…"

"Hey Luffy!"

Luffy turned around just in time to see Sanji enter the alleyway, stopping when he reached Luffy's side. He glared at Jesus Burgess, instantly recognising him as the one who had stolen from the girl earlier. "Ha… I finally caught up to you, you shitty jerk…"

Burgess laughed. "We ha ha! Do I know you brat?"

"No, but it doesn't matter who I am. All I want is to beat some manners into that ugly mug of yours..."

Burgess chuckled loudly. "WE HA HA HA! Well well, looks like we've got even numbers now! Whaddya say Boss, you wanna have some fun with these brats?"

Marshall D Teach grinned and stared straight at Luffy. "Sure. I owe this kid payback for what happened before anyway."

*get it? Because it's Sabo... lol

So Teach and Burgess vs Luffy and Sanji. Freaking awesome. But why is Blackbeard in Baltigo anyway?

As always, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can.