AN: So this story has gotten a lot more people looking at it and liking it than what I thought it would, but I'm really happy that people seem to really like it! I'm going to try and update every three weeks after this on a Monday. I can't guarantee this, but I'm going to try and stick to that as a schedule. I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

After we had left Reverse Mountain, Crocus and Laboon behind I sat down in the kitchen with the log book, a pen and a cup of hot chocolate (provided by Sanji, of course). I wanted to start recording the adventures from Loguetown and Reverse Mountain, as Nami had already filled in previous adventures (including her own tragic past in the form of the arse kicking that Luffy gave got Arlong).

She'd left a bunch of little notes in the margins between filling out the adventures, 'Who thinks it would be a great idea to eat the Gomu Gomu no mi as a devil fruit?' 'Zoro sleeps more than he does anything else.' Were alongside a comment reading, 'How does he train while he sleeps? WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE?' and the compliment of 'This food is a gift from the gods!' There were a whole bunch of these that made me laugh, before I started to fill the log out.

I must have been in there a while, as the others started to come in for dinner that night.

"Have you been in here all afternoon?" Usopp asked, taking a seat next to me.

"What's the time?" I asked, dry grin on my face and he laughed, confirming that I had been there for a while.

"What have you been doing?"

"Just filling out the log book, captain. Did you want to take a look?" I offered the book to Luffy, who took it into his hands gently. He flipped open the book but stopped and looked up. He looked shy all of a sudden, something that you definitely didn't see on the Captain's face very often, if at all.

"I, uh, can't actually read." This stopped everyone short.

I had an inkling that the environment that he grew up in didn't really allow for any sort of formal education. Garp honestly probably thought that there would be no need to teach Luffy how to read (or probably write) because with the Marines they teach you. He did grow up with mountain bandits, too so education probably wasn't a top priority with them. Only the need to survive.

"I can teach you, if you want me to?" I offered, not knowing if Luffy would take me up on my offer. Everyone should have the choice of learning to read and write, it shouldn't be a privilege.

"I would love that!" Luffy beamed. "Sabo tried to teach Ace and I, but he didn't have the patience! Ace knows how, a little. I don't know how to write, either."

He sounded so incredibly sad when he mentioned Sabo, but too caught up in the moment of finding out that the captain had brothers, the crew didn't take notice.

"I can teach you how to do that, too. Although, according to most the way I hold pens is strange and something not to be copied."

Luffy nodded.

"Who are Ace and Sabo?" Zoro couldn't help but ask. Luffy stared at his first mate for a moment before answering, everyone was silent waiting for him to answer.

"My older brothers."

"EH?"

"Wait, didn't you mention an older brother earlier Ebony?" Usopp turned to me, hands on his head and threading his fingers through his dreadlocks.

"I've met Portgas D. Ace, he was kind if a bit boisterous and not really able to hold his liquor too well."

"Really? He used to be pretty good at drinking." Luffy looked as if Christmas had come early, as if sensing some good blackmail material on his older brother. I grinned at the captain, happy to oblige.

"I think it's due to the fact that he's a logia made of fire. Fire and alcohol usually don't mix very well." Thinking for a moment, "Unless that's the intent? I wonder if we purposely got him drunk? How much do you think he'd set on fire?"

Luffy laughed until he cried. "That would be the funniest thing ever!"

No one had noticed, except for Luffy, that I had manoeuvred the conversation away from the plural of brothers. He gave me a grateful nod and mouthed that they would talk later. I was a little wary, but if I could tell anyone anything it'd be Monkey D. Luffy. Maybe he thought that Ace had told me about Sabo?

Sanji brought over our meals; some sort of fish with a hollandaise sauce and vegetables that looked as though they had been steamed. (It reminded me a little of the steamed salmon dish that I used to get every time I would go to IKEA.)

"Where's Zoro?"

"Still sleeping."

Wow. I didn't realise how much he actually slept, it was a wonder that he got any training done at all.

"Where are the two freeloaders?" Usopp asked.

Through a mouth full of food Luffy answered, "Out on the deck."

That was the end to the conversation, as Sanji took out something for Zoro to eat (begrudgingly if I might add) and we all ate our meals. I had to keep a sharp eye on my food, as rubber hands were getting a little too friendly with whatever food I had on my plate, swatting the captains hand away a good dozen times before I glared at him and he smiled sheepishly.

"Who is on watch first? Do we have a roster?"

The others looked at each other and shook their heads. So we don't have a roster for watch order.

"I can take first watch if you want me to? Say three hour shifts?"

"That sounds good!" Nami nodded in agreement.

"I'll take the next watch then?" Usopp asked and I nodded.

"I'll take the next one, then." Nami volunteered herself.

"I'll write up a roster then, so we can rotate around." The others nodded in agreement and I took out a notebook and started to work out a timetable.

"I'll stay up with Ebony!" We all looked at Luffy for a bit, "She can start teaching me how to read then!"

"If that's what you want, Captain." He nodded. "Alright then. Just reading tonight?"

"I'll work on writing another time! I want to be able to read our adventures!"

And that was that.

Marco and Ace stood in front of their Captain, Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate, one of the Four Yonko. Whitebeard was currently looking forlornly out onto the ocean, heart aching due to the despair that a man he called his son had put him through.

"He must have been planning this for a longtime."

These were the words that they didn't wish to hear being said aloud. But they had to be, otherwise it would fester and poison the thoughts of the crew; that one of their own had sought out joining the crew purely to secure their own future, callously disregarding the trust that had been placed onto his shoulders. When a person sets out to be a pirate, they are putting their lives in the hands of their crew; the crew being pretty much the only people that they could actually trust.

To go ahead and betray that trust was something unthought of. It was unforgivable. Marco couldn't help but want to bash some heads in.

"This friend of yours, is there anyway of contacting them?"

"I have her Den Den number." Ace replied to his father, barely stemming his rage at the bastard who dared to betray his nakama.

"Give her a call after you've left."

This pulled Ace up short, having thought that his Oyaji would say no to him leaving to chase after Teach.

"You're letting me go after him?"

"Yes, Marco will take over your division until you get back." Whitebeard looked down at his sons. "I expect you to keep in regular contact."

Ace nodded, having expected that.

As an afterthought Whitebeard added, "I want to meet this friend of yours, too."

"OYAJI!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that they didn't know if Thatch would survive Ace blushed bright red and buried his head in his hands as his captain and brother laughed at him.

"GURARARARARA!"

It was around nine thirty at night, every else had gone to bed with the exception of Luffy and myself. Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine were stowed away in the empty captains cabin, partially because there was nothing in it and partially because it would be easier to keep an eye on them.

"Ebony!"

Turning around, I could see my captain's sunny smile before he sat down beside my with a plop. It was nice to see someone who despite all the hardships could still smile so brightly.

"Evening captain. Where do you want to start?"

He looked at me for a moment. "How did you meet Ace?"

Whatever he was going to ask me I didn't expect that.

"I'd only been in Loguetown for about two months at that point when I met your brother. I was working as a bartender and a rookie crew walked through the doors, their Captain was pretty drunk at this point and continued to get even drunker. I realised pretty early on that they were the Spade Pirates that people had been talking about."

"They must have been partying before they went into the bar."

I couldn't help but laugh at the accuracy. "They were. I believe at this point they were just getting noticed by the marines. I think they got their first bounties after they left Loguetown."

Luffy laughed, "That would probably do it. I didn't know everyone on that crew, but I knew a few of them. They keep in touch and let me know how everything is going, especially now that I'm out on the open seas now. They think I'll get into too much trouble."

He had a pout on his face at the last bit. They weren't entirely wrong to worry about him getting into trouble.

"They're probably right about the trouble part though, Captain. What about Ace?"

"He rang me every month from the time he left to the time I left Foosha Village. What about you?"

"He rings me every now and again, something about liking to keep me updated and to see how I'm doing? His first mate, Deuce sends me letters every few months."

We sat in silence for a moment.

"Ace and I are the only ones left, you know."

Now that was something I wasn't expecting and I wasn't sure how to respond without blurting that Sabo was alive.

Luffy continued. "He ran away from his parents, nobles. And then his boat was shot down by the Celestial Dragons, he left us a letter. We didn't even find his body"

"I'm sorry Luffy." Thinking quickly, maybe I could give him a little hope. "Maybe he's still out there somewhere?"

Luffy turned and stared at me, with sharp calculating eyes. He didn't have access to his Haoshoku Haki just yet, but you could feel it simmering in the background, ready to be set free. (You could also see the similarities between Ace and him when he gave a person that look.) "What do you mean?"

"Stranger things have happened, but what if. What if he survived somehow?"

"He would have told us!" Luffy sounded like he was going to cry. I put a hand on his shoulder and he leant into it.

"A kid being shot at, by what I'm assuming a massive cannon might have knocked him out. Maybe he just doesn't remember? I don't know, I just think that without seeing him you may never know."

"Hard evidence, right?" His voice was muffled by him squishing himself against my shoulder.

"Exactly."

There was another long moment of silence. I have a feeling that if Sabo doesn't show up in Alabasta when we next see Ace and Luffy spills my 'theory' about their dead brother not actually being dead, regardless of how much he liked me, I would be barbecue a la Ebony. Scorched and fried. Char grilled. How many metaphors for deader than and more loathed than the Pirate King could I come up with? Lots and lots. And everything to do with fire.

"No more depressing stories! I want to learn how to read!"

"Mah, mah! Okay, okay." I grabbed the little book from my pocket and a pen. "So we'll start with the alphabet; do you know how to write your name?"

"I know how to spell my name, Ace's name and Sabo's. Nothing else."

"Well that's where we can start from." I started to write them down on the book, spacing them out to clearly show each individual letter. "Are there any other words before I start the alphabet?"

"Meat, nakama. Oh and King of the Pirates!"

"Of course, so meat is M. E. A. T. and nakama is N. A. K. A. M. A." Sounding out each letter, I wrote down each letter as I did so with Luffy following along beside me. "And the last is King of the Pirates, so K. I. N. G. O. F. T. H. E. P. I. R. A. T. E. S."

After this I started to teach him the alphabet, singing it first something that Luffy really seemed to enjoy as he joined in on the second round. I wasn't much of a singer, and was lucky to have escaped my cousins curse of sounding like a strangled cat. Luffy however could hold a tune. This continued on until Usopp came and took over the watch.

"Why is it so freaking cold?" I was shivering, despite wearing at least four different layers. Gods how I hated cold weather. "Why is it snowing?"

I know I was complaining but I was more used to the warmer weather and had only very rarely seen snow in my life.

Luffy on the other hand was having the time of his life, "May I present to you, the Man Who Fell From the Sky. MR SNOWMAN!"

Usopp laughed, "Really? Kids snow games…"

"What?"

"Behold the Snow Queen!" Usopp's work wouldn't have been out of place in an ice carving exhibition (despite being made of snow rather than a solid block of ice).

"That's amazing, Usopp!"

"SNOW MAN PUNCH!" Usopp's wonderful creation was now just a pile of snow on the deck and he launched himself at Luffy. The two play fought whilst I stood beside them, shivering.

"NAMI-SWAN! How much longer do I continue with my shovelling of love?"

"Until is stops snowing, Sanji-kun."

That was the first that I had heard the suffix on the end of his name. Come to think of it, people within the world of One Piece keep swapping between using continual Japanese suffixes and English suffixes. I shuddered, the longer I was here the more I was loosing my mind. Or acclimating to the craziness. Not sure which it was anymore.

"Of course!"

Lightening suddenly flashed through the sky.

I honestly thought that back home had bipolar weather patterns, but home had nothing on the craziness of the Grand Line.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" A panicked scream came from Nami.

"What is it?" Everyone looked up at Nami, curious to see what was wrong.

"This can't be happening!" She'd rushed out onto the balcony, looking down at the log pose on her wrist with trepidation. "TURN THE SHIP AROUND! HURRY!"

"Why are we turning around, have we forgotten something?" Usopp and Luffy paused in their play fight to look up at the navigator.

"This ship has turned itself around and is going in the opposite direction!"

"How long did you take your eyes off the log pose?" I couldn't help but ask.

Nami gave me a dirty look, "A second or two! GAH! The calmness of the waves deceived me!"

There must have been some commentary from our not so welcome guests because they were sent flying by Nami's kick to help us all on the deck.

"Catch the wind from the right, we need it to turn the ship one hundred and eighty degrees around!" Nami continued to give out orders. "Usopp take the jib sail!"

"Got it!"

"Sanji, Ebony take the rudder!"

"Leave it to us, Nami-swan!" "Aye, aye navigatrice!"

"Nami! The winds just changed!"

"They can't have!"

"Ah, the first breeze of spring." Now don't get me wrong, I liked Vivi, but by the Gods was she annoying as Miss Wednesday. I kind of wanted to box her ears in.

"ZORO! IT'S AN EMERGENCY! WAKE UP!"

The swordsman must have been exhausted, because not only was last nights meal still sitting beside him from when Sanji had taken it out to him, but he was still snoring away.

The chaos of the next few minutes was a blur, shouting and kicking, punching and with the Going Merry grazing an iceberg we safely made it out onto calmer seas, and in the right direction.

"That was a good nap."

Zoro had finally woken up, it seemed. How he could have slept through all of that I'm not entirely sure.

"Come on, I know that the weather is nice but don't you think we should be doing something? Are we going the correct way?"

I laughed from where I was laying on the ground. That was rich coming from the man who could get lost walking in a straight line, even when given the right directions!

Zoro had only just noticed Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine, "Since when were you two on our ship?"

"YOU JUST NOTICED NOW!"

I sat up and commented, "Well he did just wake up. Have any good dreams, Zoro?"

"Yeah, one where I was kicking Swirly brows' arse."

"What did you say, marimo?"

"Nothing, cook." The word 'cook' had never sounded more like an insult than it did in the moment.

"Shishishishi! We're dropping them off at their town, Zoro!"

"Why? It's not like we're obligated to do so."

"I know."

Zoro leant down in front of the two not-guests, "There is something sinister about your faces. What are your names again?"

The two started to sweat a little at the evil grin on Zoro's face.

"M-mister Nine…" "I'm Miss Wednesday."

He scratched his chin. "Something about those names is familiar. Been bugging me since I heard them."

"I've got to agree with Zoro." I cut in before Nami could throw a punch and land it on Zoro's head.

"Something bugging you too, huh?"

"Yeah."

The evil aura coming from Nami made Zoro stiffen. "Did you have a nice sleep? You wouldn't wake up no matter what we did."

Danger! Danger! Warning signals were going off in my head.

"Huh?" Was probably one of the singular, most stupid things that Zoro could have said to Nami in that situation, which is why I didn't stop the next three or four punches that landed.

"You really didn't think that through, did you?"

"Shut up!" He sulked a little before asking, "Did you really try to wake me up?"

"Definitely, you were out of it. Completely and utterly."

"Wow, sorry."

"I know that this is probably a stupid thing to say, but stay safe okay?"

Marco was worried about his brother, he couldn't help it. Marshall D. Teach may have killed Thatch, he still wasn't out of the infirmary and no one but the doctors were allowed to see him, and now Ace was going after him. Alone.

"I'll try my best. My little brother should have set sail by now, so I'll try to meet up with him."

"How old is he now?"

"He'd be seventeen. Where did all that time go?"

Marco laughed, "That's what happens when you're an older brother!"

Ace had finished setting up the small boat that he was going to use and turned to Marco. "I'll ring every few days, yeah? And when I see Luffy I'll see if I can set up a video Den Den, so that Oyaji can meet my little brother."

"Sounds good, don't forget to contact your friend. See if she knows anything that might help."

"Will do."

They stood there in silence for a moment, when suddenly there was a bunch of cheering.

"GO ACE! FIND THAT BASTARD!"

With the cheers and encouragement of his crew behind him, Ace set sail.

"There's Whisky Peak!" Luffy was sitting upon the reattached head of Merry. The crew were all standing at the railing looking to where the captain was pointing.

"Thank god we arrived alive!" Miss Wednesday couldn't help but cheer.

"We ask that you please drop us off here!"

"Thank you ever so much for taking us here, my dears." The two leapt up onto the railing. "If it is the design of fate, let us meet once again!"

"Bye bye!"

Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine both left off of the railing and dived into the water, swimming the rest of the way back to their Island.

"What is up with those two?"

"Forget them, prepare to land!"

Usopp started to look worried for a moment. "There wouldn't be monsters on this island, would there?"

"Considering this is the Grand Line, there's a possibility." Sanji had said at the same time that I had said, "Vampires? Possibly. Ghosts more than likely."

Luffy didn't pay any attention that Usopp looked close to fainting all of a sudden. "We can always run if that's the case!"

"Guys, don't forget to be able to move onto the next island, the log pose has to set again." Nami held up here arm. "It depends on the island as to how long this could take. Some islands it's a few hours others can take a few days."

"Does that mean if there are vampires we have to stay here for a few days before we can leave?" Usopp was really stuck on the fact that there might be vampires on the island.

Nami nodded. "That is correct!"

"We'll worry about it when it happens! Let's just leave already!" Luffy was grinning happily.

"I've suddenly developed the 'can't enter islands' disease."

"With a side ordering of 'pants on fire', too?" I snarked at the sniper.

"The river is waiting for us!" Luffy was egging us on to go towards the island.

"There's not much use worrying about it now, lets just go." Zoro agreed with the captain, as I kept making ghost noises to further freak Usopp out.

I couldn't help it. I know that it was childish but I needed to do it. Well, not needed to but sometimes he took it a little too far.

"Cut it out, Ebony!"

"No can do, Usopp. Besides, what about the ghosts?"

He gave a squeal of fright, making me laugh. A little evilly. Well, what could I say? I was a pirate now, I had to get my fun somehow.

"Hey, can you guys hear anything?" Nami asked.

"Maybe it's the ghosts."

"Stop it!"

"Jokes aside, I can hear something. It sounds like people."

"WELCOME!" A loud shout was heard through the fog. As it cleared the island was in full view.

The cactus like mountains were odd, you could see the fine prickles rising up and down all of them. In front of the cacti mountains was the town, a scattering of buildings and a strong stench of alcohol filtering through the air.

"PIRATES! WELCOME TO OUR TOWN!

"WELCOME TO THE GRAND LINE!"

"No vampires or ghosts, there's people greeting us."

"This is off. Somethings not right." I couldn't help but say and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Zoro had come up beside me and nodded. He could feel it too.

You could see banners waving and cheers. The whole situation made me uncomfortable and even though I knew exactly what was going to happen I still would have felt off.

"LONG LIVE THE BRAVE HEROES OF THE SEAS!"

"Lovely ladies!" Sanji was waving and swooning at the same time. It was a little gross.

"Really Sanji?"

"All the pretty ladies!" He was lost, completely and utterly.

Coming into port and disembarking from the ship was an odd experience. Especially being welcomed by cheers as a criminal was just wrong.

"Ma-ma-maa! Welcome, my name is Igarappoi." The mans curls were absolutely insane, and there was no way that they could have been natural. They had to be a perm or set in rollers as they were. "You may be a little bit shocked at the warm welcome, however this is Whisky Peak. A town famous for it's music and liquor. We pride ourselves on our hospitality."

"We have an oceans amount of fine liquor, so do not worry. I, on behalf of Whisky Peak invite you to our banquet." He cleared his throat. "I hope that you share your tales with us."

Usopp and Sanji swung their arms over Luffy's shoulders. "GLADLY!"

Nami sighed, Zoro glowered and I face palmed. The Idiot Trio.

"How long will the island take to record on the log pose?"

"Don't worry about such matters at the moment, rest and relax."

"PLEASE PREPARE THE BANQUET!" He put his hand on Nami's shoulder. I could see her flinch a little and I narrowed my eyes at the movement.

"Would you please let go of our friend?" I asked, my tone mild. Igaram, well, Igarappoi instantly let go of Nami's shoulder

"My apologies, Miss." Nami nodded. "Let us sing to these adventurers!"

This was going to end badly, I could feel it.

Why was this crew full of drunkards?

Usopp had somehow surrounded himself with a bunch of admirers, telling tall tales about his wonderful adventures as Captain Usopp. It was unbelievable.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on my crew mates, you sea king Bastard."

"Don't forget the mermaid princess, Usopp."

"I couldn't forget the mermaid princess now could I?" My interjection brought him another round of applause and questions.

Men.

Nami and Zoro were outdrinking a number of people. Zoro was almost completely out of it, but Nami was still going strong. How that woman did it, I honestly had no idea.

"What a couple of heavy drinkers!"

At least that was something they got right.

"MORE!" The captain was eating as much as he could possibly digest at any one point, his rubber body expanding to keep up with the intake of food. There were a couple of cooks, completely passed out underneath the table.

An eating competition between Jewelry Bonney and Monkey D. Luffy would either be a spectacle to witness or an absolute disaster in the making and I'm not sure exactly which. It would be fun to find out, though!

"Look at this lady killer! Twenty ladies to be flirted with at once!"

Did Igaram really have to announce it to everyone, everywhere?

"And the quiet mysterious one! Reading in the corner with one of our fine wines!" And so I was. Well, I wasn't reading and I definitely wasn't drinking the wine. I don't even much like wine. I was keeping an eye on the situation under the guise of reading, Nami and Zoro would be fine but it was the others that I was worried about. Maybe not so much Sanji, but then again if you put a female in front of him he'd be putty in your hands. Luffy and Usopp were the kind of naive that was adorable, but could potentially be very dangerous.

"WHAT A PIRATE CREW!"

The party got louder and louder, and I could see Igaram slowly slipping away and out the door.

In the next twenty minutes, the crew was pretty out of it and slowly slipping into comas of the various sorts. I pretended to sleep but I wouldn't and couldn't allow harm to come to anyone here.

We were all carried to a small hotel after we had all 'passed out'. Once I was sure that nobody was watching I quietly got up.

"You to?"

Of course it was Zoro.

"Well if it wasn't the welcome we got, the weaponry in their pockets was something that was definitely happy to see us."

We made it onto the roof without anyone noticing we were gone, until a panicked shout came running out of the room where the rest of the crew was sleeping.

"MISTER EIGHT! MISS MONDAY! TWO OF THEIR CREW HAS ESCAPED!"

"Well it looks like we've been found out, huh Zoro?"

"True, Ebony."

"Why you!" Igaram was red with fury. "Weren't you passed out after drinking so much? And you, weren't you exhausted from the trip?"

"A true swordsman never allows alcohol to take control of himself."

"I'm the oldest, so my crew is my responsibility."

"Really?" Zoro asked, not taking his eyes off of our opponents.

"I'm turning twenty-one."

"You are the oldest."

"I did tell you."

"Ch.. This is a den of bounty hunters and you take advantage out newbies, rookie pirate crews who have just entered the Grand Line."

"There's what, one hundred of them?"

"Around about, yeah."

"Well what do you say Zoro? Baroque Works?"

"They'll make a fine opponent for us."

Our banter had definitely shocked the Baroque Works members, having not expected any of our crew to know of their organisation. And they made that perfectly clear.

"I don't know about Ebony here, but I refused an invitation to join you lot once upon a time. You're an organisation whose members know nothing about each other and refer to each other by code names."

"I'm an information broker." Was my only answer.

"Of course your boss' location and identity are a complete mystery ." Zoro gave a chilling grin, that I matched. "A criminal organisation that asks for the complete obedience from their members; Baroque Works."

I cocked my head to the side, "Was that supposed to be a secret?"

"We must eliminate them both, we have no choice. They know to much." Igaram cast his eyes downwards. "Two more tombstones to be added to the cactus rock tonight."

"KILL THEM!"

Zoro and I jumped out of the way, landing in the middle of the Baroque Works group.

"Their gone!" "Where did they go?"

They only noticed us when I started to giggle.

Zoro gave a sunny, albeit creepy grin. "Shall we get started then?"

"You bastard! Shoot them!"

I crouched as low as I could whilst Zoro cut the group, their bullets and their once again disappeared, this time ending up behind Igaram.

"Hurry up and kill them! The woman's defenceless and he's only was swordsman!"

Defenceless? That wanker! I'll show him defenceless!

Zoro had place one sword at Igaram's neck, whilst I had a knife pointed at the back of his thigh. I dug the blade in a little, cutting through the fabric and drawing a little blood.

"Are you sure that you want to only add two headstones tonight?"

Guns were pointed at Igaram, Zoro and myself.

"ARE YOU PLANNING ON SHOOTING ME TOO?!"

We moved before they could even think about shooting at us, hiding behind a wall in front of them.

"Where did they go now? They can't be planning on taking us all on by themselves, can they?"

"Those two don't seem to be taking us seriously. They don't understand the power of Baroque Works."

"Are you going to test the new ones out?"

Zoro grinned and nodded, "No need to hold anything back, right?"

"Pretty much."

"FOUND THEM!"

The sound of a gun being cocked caused Zoro to roll forward into the house and myself to dive. Once in the house we were surrounded by guns pointed at us on all sides. Hiding behind the table and using it as a shield was the only thing that we could really do.

"YUBASHIRI!" Cut straight through our shield and made the bounty hunters in fromt of go flying, hitting right into the wall knocking themselves out.

"I'll go this way, you go that way!"

We separated from there, probably not the best idea but in a small confined space with swords and guns it probably wasn't the best idea for me to be involved .

"FOUND THE WOMAN!"

"I DO HAVE A NAME YOU KNOW!"

"WE DON'T CARE!"

Those that were chasing me had blades, not a gun in sight. There was a good thirty of them.

Good. I should be able to handle you lot. Cannon fodder that you are.

"Well, come closer. If you dare." And they did dare.

I took a couple of blades to the palms of my hands, and they were blunt.

"Really? You should take better care of your weapons."

I grabbed the blades, as brittle as they were snapped easily in my hands. Punching another couple out, and another one was kicked into the wall. The last few were easier to knock out, slamming their heads together.

I looked down at a pile of unconscious bodies in front of my feet. "Seriously, is this the best you lot can offer?"

If I smoked this would have been the perfect moment to pull out a cigarette and light it. No wait, a cigar and smoke it. Like a badarse.

"HE'S COMING THIS WAY!"

I looked up into the sky and saw the silhouette of the first mate. Rather dramatic, especially when bullets went flying past him.

"NITORYU TAKA NAMI!"

"Not bad. Does it work well for you?"

"It's working good."

"ABOVE!"

"Don't worry about it." He grinned at me, motioning towards the fact that he'd already cut the ground we were standing on.

THWACK!

Fudge! That hurt!

I winced inwardly, but gave no outward sign that being hi with a ladder had hurt in any way, shape or form.

"Too close!"

Hearing the cracking of knuckles from above us. Miss Monday had stood on one of Zoro's arm and my leg.

"SUPER HUMAN FLOUR GRINDER!"

This punch landed right on Zoro's face, surprising as I didn't hear anything crack.

She went to continue her attack on my, but Zoro had reached up with one hand and grabbed her face.

"Where's that strength you're so proud of?" Zoro mocked the woman

"Now, now. Let me have a go." I cracked my own knuckles, the dusters I used primarily making their way onto my hands.

I grabbed the Baroque Works woman by the arm as Zoro let the woman's face. I used only half of my strength, but the woman was knocked out completely and utterly.

"Defenceless am I?"

"They both beat Miss Monday in terms of pure strength!"

"That's impossible!"

"No way!"

Turning to face the others, we stood almost back to back.

"Shall we continue?"

"This isn't a game, you know?"

We grinned at the Baroque Works members who had seemingly come to a conclusion of their own.

"Ah huh! That wanted poster must be for the swordsman!"

I rolled my eyes, this could not be happening.

"I could understand that! He must be the real captain!"

"And the woman is the first mate!"

"I feel insulted now." I stated. "Honestly, shouldn't you guys know better than to judge a book by there cover?"

"Luffy could have kicked all your arses." Zoro finished off.

AN: I wanted to thank everyone who has commented on this so far, your encouragement and kind words mean a lot!

duaba, Vongola10, MadelVer, FIREmizuchi and Lammergeier13 thank you so much!