Captain Francois Vane was as his name suggested, vain as the gods themselves.

It didn't stop him from deserting the Navy when he found their crusades to be a useless, non-profitable venture.

It didn't stop him from stealing one of their many warships, The Black Widow, as his own and pressgang those who opposed him into service.

It didn't stop him from targeting underworld figures and pirates for their bounties; especially those with ties to organized criminal groups that could boost his already precious image.

But all that didn't matter in the end, for he was always searching for more ways to improve his infamy on the high seas and personal vanities that he coveted from the flesh of a brothel wench to the fresh rum he drank every morning. Even if the efforts of many former navy comrades and other criminals were to stand in his way, the older man would simply bowl them over. It worked with Xebec, he didn't let anyone take him down until the bitter end Vane applied a thin layer of powder to his sweaty face, before placing the makeup can and mirror away. Strolling down the gangplank, he was awaited by his own private troop of cutthroats holding a similar crew in pink hostage. Tonight was a routine boarding of a passing ship, this time a scouting vessel for one of the emperors; not that it fazed the foppish pirate captain in the slightest.

"Oh lovely night for me, boys, what do we have for spoils today?" Vane chirped with faux niceness.

A chorus of "booze", "sugarcane", "beli", and other survival plunder for scoundrels were passed around; Vane ordered three of his heavies to clear out the lower decks of everything back onto his steamship. However, another timid, scared voice spiked the chorus of ruffians.

"I've something treasured if you spare me kind sir…"

Vane and the others stopped their moving of stolen wares to see a battered, scrawny buccaneer pleading to them. "Oh come off it you bloody whelp, Cap'n want me to slot this one before he speaks lies" Caliban, a monstrous first mate who was more ape than man held a dagger under the man's throat; waiting for his leader to say the word. Vane did not, for he only laughed a deep laugh; continued by all of his crew bursting into chuckling sans Caliban. "Heh...No, let him speak," Vane said with a predatory gruffness, his bo'sun backed off at a roaches speed. The buccaneer shuffled his throat before speaking at a timid speed befitting a prisoner at the sword's length.

"As you know by our flag and ship contents; we're scouts for the Big Mom Pirates and their territories…"

"Go on" Vane said.

"One of which is Port Marzipan; a protected territory under control by Captain Linlin, she enjoys their production and exportation of weapons…."

"This is boring me to sleep, Caliban! Cujo! slot him over the deck" Vane said irritably. Both his hulking bo'sun and a female doberman mink had gripped the buccaneer as he started to gibber in panic, they almost had him face the railing of the ship until he screamed louder than everyone else.

"I KNOW WHERE TO FIND A 12 BILLION BELI AMOUNT IN GOLD!"

Vane perked up at the mention and raised his hand, the two mooks stopped with disappointment. "Now what was that again, my friend" The captain swaggered to the prisoner as he laid at the ships edge by a furry talon. Sweat broke his face as he gulped down some fear, avoiding the death glares his mates gave him. "At Port Marzipan, in a cemetery behind the execution yard is a hidden cache of gold stashed by the mayor. He once owed twice as much to Big Mom only to be executed by her for frisking away the money that is paid for her protection services. She hasn't found it since...but I know where it's hidden" buccaneer whimpered as the minks breath grazed his face. Vane had his mink pull he man backup, laying a laced cuff on the man and pulling him aside, the captain decided to use his best schmooze technique that opened victims up to him.

"Why didn't say that before!" Vane gave a fake smile. "How about you do me a favor and I'll do you one."

"Like what?" the prisoner inquired.

"Like maybe a share of the gold and a spot on my crew, if you lead me to it that is" The prisoner took in Vane's words as his former mates hollered curses of cowardice and betrayal, save for a scowling lionfishman crawling away from the notice of the jeering crew. He accepted with a whisper in the captains ears and a shake of palms, much to the displeasure of his ex-comrades. "Gentlemen gather the rest of the valuables and scuttle the ship, we have an emperor's booty to salvage!" Vane said as he walked back on deck with the prisoner; Caliban and his men chained the scout crew to the mast as they set the ship ablaze like a stake, ignoring the spiteful screams or pleads of god as it burnt asunder. However, they missed one scout as he laid in the shallows like a shark.

Arrow would not forget this treachery; he had a frog's hair chance to swim over to the supply island his crew had passed and they had a snail phone service. It was risky but it had to be done, Big Mom is not the type of person to take in being betrayed underneath her notice lightly.

-0-

In the darkness of a Navy HQ meeting room, amidst the smoke and scent of disappointment, Vice Admiral Mozambia flicked over the wanted poster to the middle of his conference table. "If you are all done speaking about the ills of politics, then you know why I summoned you all in here today. As you may have heard from various accounts in New World countries or islands, our dearly departed friend, Francois Vane is on a pillaging rampage since he deserted our protective service" Mozambia blew back blue smoke from his cigar, the other three remained unfazed save for one singular cough. Over the darkness sat two marine vice admirals and one lone elite member obscured the dimly lit lamp above them.

"Why can't one of the Big Three go out there and hunt, why the secrecy?" Vice Admiral Cancer pondered. "Kizaru and Aokiji could take care of this without any cost of lives, maybe even the red dog if we-"

"No,you know that the Admirals are busy with their own conflicts, Cancer. Even if we did, how should we explain that Akainu brought scorched earth on a matter of stealth!" Mozambia replied, slightly irked at the suggestion.

Cancer raised his already hoarse voice. "Then how can we deal with this matter! Should we send one of the warlords out? I bet that neither of them or our own men could hunt this deserter down in emperor territory," He smacked a hardened fist into the table, breaking a piece off cleanly.

"I've have one and he's sitting across from your presence. Vice Admiral Cancer meet Captain T-Bone, one of our finest enlisted men that has brought many criminals to justice" Mozambia said, pointing towards the shadowy silent figure stepping into the conversation. He was a gaunt skeletal man dressed in military tunic that most marines acquire, his black curly hair blended into the darkness and a massive broadsword was girted on his back. Cancer shook hands with the grinning bony man as the conversation turned to the captain.

"The good captain has offered his hand in this stealth mission, for he intends to arrest Vane under the glare of Charlotte Linlin" Mozambia explained.

T-Bone replied with a strong, hearty voice very unlike his face would suggest. "I've volunteered for the Justice that we stand for, though this angle we are pursuing is still rather crooked to me; why is it such a problem to dealing with the emperor's? I doubt that my skills and forces at disposal will be a failed match to theirs," T-Bone said. Cancer opened his voice to reply rashly but the other Vice Admiral canceled him out at the first second.

"Unlike the rashness of my comrade here, my superiors have made it clear that tampering with the four emperors will only bring more chaos that we can manage," Mozambia drew back on his cigar. "Taking on one emperor alone can uneven more territorial conflict or corruption that our dear men can handle in the other blues, that is why we're completing this in secret. Vane has been targeting ships belonging to the witch and beast respectively, using a stolen prototype that was made after the Gasparde incident two years back. That steam-powered warship has been poking the bears of the New World into near uproar and that is why I hired you to catch him!"

T-Bone clasped his hands together in a contemplative finger-tent, mulling over this information in his head. The lone "Ship-Cutter" and former knight of the Lvneel Kingdom in the North Blue had made his own impression of justice quite known, often nicknamed a straight-edged or white knight of the Navy. However, this did not mean he could find a angle in his rigid morality, he always did when something proved difficult. Upon finishing his thoughts, he exhaled and broke away the hand tent. "I'll do it, someone has to capture him before the lions are roused. But I will need two other galleons to accompany me on this endeavor, any escape will need a guard to give covering strength" T-Bone said with a huff.

"Done and Done, you will be escorted to Sabaody for transport to the New World and twin ships will be provided when you get there" Mozambia said with a grin, his other admiral comrade was he opposite.

"But he...We only have few bases in those wild waters to provide such aid!" Cancer bellowed. "How can this be stealth if has two fucking hulks watching him-" Cancer was halted before he could leap from his chair, a thin slash of air cut through his lit stogie and the burning tip fell to the floor. Captain on the other end of the table had sheathed his sword as if it didn't leave its spot.

"Cancer, the captain here is a skilled hunter of scum and exterminator if needed. You shouldn't really be arguing against this, just let it go and this mission will go ahead smoothly. So do please as my comrade, Garp would say; shut yer cowardly mug or I'll have you court martialed" Mozambias final word made his friend storm out in a string of arduous curses, slamming the door behind him.

As he left, Mozambia muttered some other information to the knight in marine fatigues. T-Bone then left in a dash towards his duty, the shipyard was waiting for his leave of the headquarters; while his superior sat with a gleaming smile on his face for this whispered information.

-0-

Arrow clinked the transceiver to the snail as he sat in the dingy pub, strewn below him were the poisoned barflies who thought they could take on a fishman barefisted, despite the poison spines no less. But that didn't matter, he sipped a bottle of rum from the drunken tender.

Hope that Momma's boys get word of this He let the burning red liquid course in the stomach. For she will unleash Judgement Day on the souls who betrayed her for gold.

-0-

Crammed into a tight meeting room built for a select amount of people, I was jammed between a girl with a Afro twice the size of a truck tire and my lion-mink advisor, Pekoms. But other strange fellows, maybe children of the captain or other crewmen took up every nook in the spot; a pirate with straw-esquen hair and a red nose overlook the room, chain smoker with purple bat wings sat close with an air of I don't want to be here, the young woman with a glasgow smile was chatting fast to her horned sister, and a massive bearded giant was speaking to a long legged man dressed in a broken eggshell. Pekoms told me that the speaker was Charlotte Mont-d'Or, Minister of Cheese and Chief Officer of Interrogation on the crew. However, I remained quiet as the rest of the chatter amongst crewmen flew by, non-one batted an eye to me. Striking a gavel, Cheese Minister brought the meeting to a start.

"Okay siblings settle down, as you may know, we are dealing with current attacks on our small scout ships have increased" Mont-d'Or said, pointing his mallet to a map covering the table. Pinks dots obviously showed the places captured or in allegiance with Big Mom but there were other dots colored in, what were they? I scrunched into my stool as the speaker continued. "Luckily, this hasn't bothered our territories until a call came up from yesterday by my friend, Mr. Arrow. Mr. Arrow has alerted me to the sight of betrayal and backstabbing in that order; a former crewman has sided with a certain Captain Vane."

"The commodore?" giant had spoken in a voice that rumbled the floor.

"Yes, the Navy deserter from the South Blue," Mont-d'Or answered. "Our sources say he going out to Port Marzipan to pillage a hidden cache that wasn't sent to Momma, maybe even savaging our weapons exchange as well."

The twin redheads pried the conversation in unison. "Why would Vane target us and not some of the unprotected islands?"

Mont-d'Or turned a finger to a section between a pink dot and green dot, in-between the dotted islands were a few illustrations of fog or sunken ships laying about. "That's because our dear Vane hasn't discovered the foggy wall diverting him from Port Marzipan, a literal catacomb of destroyed vessels left by us as a warning, plus a decent entrapment for rugged ships" The minister said, others broke off into different whispered thoughts on the matter, some finding it simple or others finding it complicated. I turned to Pekoms and he shrugged at this, guess the mink didn't know either. Raising a hand at this, the speaker eyed me from his huge legs, I didn't anticipate him being taller than me.

"Yes, straggler in the back"

"Arkady Grey if you please. Do you think there is a slight chance that he would get through the fog? Maybe his ship had armor or weapons…" I was caught off by the horned redhead across from me.

"I agree, Captain Vane was alleged to have stolen a prototype steamship; The Black Widow, the same mood used in the flagship of Admiral Gasparde!" The redhead said, later I would find out to be called Charlotte Galette.

"Then his paddles would get caught in-"

"We should let the Beasts know about this! Vane is already passing through Jalapeno Island!" The giant roared.

"Brothers! Sisters! Please calm down, There is a solu-"

"How are the combatants not getting involved, they practically go out for these types of missions" chain smoker puffed out harsh smog.

CRASHACK!

Mont-d'Or had slammed his gavel so hard that it splintered a crater into the table. "Good, your attention is back here again. I have a solution and its the same we always do in times like this; Our fellow combatants will take one of our sailing tartes and venture off to pluck this new splinter in our side, along with finding that score of gold Mr. Arrow had reported about" Mont said with a smile, the latter would be fruitful in covering the damage if mother finds out. The Long-Leg raised a palm, then a paw from Pekoms, and finally the Afro woman next to me who simultaneously gave me a flirty wink. Blushing a deep red, I squirmed for a minute in my seat. Haven't felt like this since college my head swam nervously as the three were called in hand order.

"Oui, what are we to expect of this Capitan Vane? I think we should not be rash" The Long Leg said.

Redhead spoke in agreement with the other, her twin nodded as well. "Baron Tamago is right, dear brother. What should we expect from this rabble of troublemakers?"

"Expect what? Captain Vane is a podunk ex-marine riding on his forty-nine year old career to help him scuttle tiny supply ships; his only claim to fame is stealing that steam ship and nothing else. Give me and the Baron and my newest pupil, Arkady a few days to settle this and we'll be back with that gold by the Friday" Pekoms answered nonchalantly, crossing his furred arms over. "We're the Big Mom Pirates and this small fry is going to learn that name before I send him dickless to his navy buddies GROWR!"

Mont-d'Or clapped his palms together. "Then it is settled, the combatants will go out on a usual mission and bring this pest down before Momma finds out. Meetings adjourned, everyone back to their places in the crew, times wasting!"

After the meeting concluded on Pekoms reply, all of the pirates exited the premises at a hummingbirds pace. I was left the only one standing aside from Pekoms and the long legged fellow who introduced himself as Baron Tamago, my mink advisors partner on the combatants. However, the Afro-pirate left a little later than I did, she took a period to converse with the redheads in a huddled mass; as I left the room. I turned my head back to see what they were doing, the lone redhead poked her head out with her black horns poking from each strand; she smiled warmly and winked back at me. Pekoms called for me to follow, I reluctantly ran down the candied corridor blushing; don't know how the crew will feel about crushes being formed.