AN: So it's been a while since I've uploaded a chapter. I'm really sorry about that, but university has been in full swing and is taking up most, if not all of my time. I really hope that you like this chapter!

"Ebony! Zoro!"

Crap. Luffy sounded mad and apparently Zoro's sense of danger was broken. (That would explain a lot actually.)

"If your here to offer help, we don't need it."

"Don't bring me into this!" I hid behind Zoro. I know that there were other things to worry about at the time, but Luffy was (in that moment) one of the singular most terrifying things I had ever seen.

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU BOTH! FIGHT ME!"

"Abort! Abort! Abort!"

"What? What kind of stupid, idiotic things are you sprouting this time?"

"YOU TWO ARE UNGRATEFUL BASTARDS! AND YOU NEED TO GET YOUR ARSES KICKED!"

"I'll have you know that my parents were married. So technically your argument is invalid."

The two of them were off in their own little world, even if Luffy was addressing the both of us.

"Ungrateful?" Zoro sounded so indignant and offended that it would have made me laugh if I wasn't so terrified that Luffy would try and break my nose.

"Exactly! Ungrateful!"

Luffy lifted his head back and shouted towards the sky. "These guys gave us such a friendly welcome, with really yummy food and this is how you repay them! By cutting them up and punching them?"

"Can't deny that we did." "I did cut them, but…"

"What an annoying bunch of brats."

"Kyahahahahaha! Let's just kill them already!"

Meanwhile Zoro and I were still pleading with the captain to listen to us, but the food coma must have been worse than what I had originally thought. It had warped his sensibilities an absolutely idiotic amount.

"Listen, Luffy these guys were actually-"

I leant backwards, grabbing the back of Zoro's shirt just in time, as Luffy had come barreling towards us shouting about us not having any excuses.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?"

"YES!"

"Oh my god." Dodging the blows coming from the rubber pirate and the rockfall that those blows were causing, there was little time for me to even attempt to talk. Zoro on the other hand was still trying to plead our case to our murderous captain.

"Listen to what we've got to say!"

"Hey! Come on Luffy!"

Luffy had focused his attempts mostly on Zoro, allowing me to try and keep an eye on the blue haired woman behind me. Mister Five and Miss Valentine still wanted to carry out an assassination attempt on her.

"MOVE OUT MISS VALENTINE!" "ROGER THAT MISTER FIVE!"

Luffy went flying through a bunch of barrels, then a building as Zoro kicked him.

"That idiot!"

"That was a good job, Zoro."

He looked at me questioningly, as I pointed towards the now downed Baroque Works duo.

"Heh, not bad. Not bad."

"Please allow us the honour of killing you!" An evil aura seemed to rise up around Mister Five as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Ace rang the number that Ebony had given him, the one that he could normally contact her on, but all he was getting was static. He tried again and once more it went to static. He tried ringing her work number, just in case something had happened to her own Den Den mushi.

"Moshi, moshi. The Underground Bar Burgundy Bailey speaking, how can I help you?"

"Yo Bailey, it's Ace."

"Ah Ace-san, how are you?"

"Could be better, could be worse."

"Fair enough, what can I do to help."

"Is Ebony around?"

There was a silence from the other end and a couple of bottles being smashed. "One moment Ace-san, a fight has broken out."

"That's okay, I'll wait."

Five minutes later Bailey was back, "Ebony's not here, she went and joined a pirate crew. She said something about wanting to keep an eye on her captain because 'who knows what sort of mischief he will get himself into.'"

That was why, she was probably sailing through a storm. Those generally messed with the connectivity of the den den mushi.

"Do you know which crew?"

"From what I heard it was a newly formed crew, a rookie one with a Straw Hat for a Jolly Roger."

Ace froze for a minute. What other crew would have a straw hat on their flag besides his cute little brother? "Do you know the name of the captain?"

"I do. Smoker came through before he took after them complaining about a Monkey D. Luffy."

Ace burst into laughter at this. Of course Ebony would decide to join his little brother! She'd certainly been told enough about him over the years. And she was Luffy's brand f crazy, although to a lesser degree. No one could be a nuts as his brother. "Ace-san?"

"Ah sorry Bailey, it's just that Luffy is my brother!"

"Really? That could explain a lot then!"

"Yes it does."

"Oh! I almost forget! Ebony told me to tell you to be patient, and something about Alabasta?"

"Alabasta?"

"Mmmm, she said that you'd probably see her there!"

"I'll take that on board, Bailey. I've got to go now though, talk another time?"

"Sure thing, Ace-san! Ebony will be happy to see you!" With that call went silent and Ace stared at the silent snail.

He now had something to go off of, following the trail of the now named Blackbeard and meeting up with his little brothers crew and Ebony in Alabasta sounded good for him.

Now there was another call he had to make.

"Oh for… Honestly you two!"

Any protests I had were ignored, as the rubber idiot Captain and the stupid green Swordsman went at it.

I turned to the now very peeved and battered Baroque Works members, "I'd apologise for this but this is technically all your organisations fault."

"SHUT UP! LET'S GO MISS VALENTINE!"

"OF COURSE MISTER FIVE!"

"You two are so annoying."

Says the two idiots fighting over nothing.

Miss Valentine and Mister Five froze, terrified as they came into contract with a fist and the but of a sword.

Enough was enough and if Nami could get between the two during an argument, then so could I. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe? Life or death, I would do it anyway.

"Continue?"

"Yes!"

"How about no?" With immune bravery or latent stupidity, not sure which, I grabbed the two by their shirts and slammed them together.

"Nice going, Ebony." Nami had come up behind me and patted my shoulder. "Not quite what I would have done, but nice nonetheless."

"I suppose you would have punched them both?" I asked her, my tone of voice dry.

"Probably." She turned to the downed captain and swordsman. "What on earth do think you two were doing? Although it should be a good thing that the girl is safe."

"You two idiots were about to cost me one billion beli!"

"Really Nami?"

"Yes! She's a princess! She'd have the money!"

Zoro and Luffy had resumed their fight and this time Nami was the one to make them stop.

"Settle down already!"

"So, how about a contract?"

Vivi looked startled. "A contract?"

Somehow between Nami, Vivi and myself the reasons for Zoro and I fighting the townspeople came out and Luffy laughed.

"I thought you angry with them because they didn't make your favourite food!"

Zoro and Nami face palmed.

"Nah, Captain. I haven't seen anyone make my favourite food, so there's no use kicking up a fuss about it."

"Oh! Oh! What's your favourite food?"

This conversation had gotten wildly off topic, but it was settling the mood so I wasn't going to complain too much.

"Lasagne."

"Lasagne? What's that?" Luffy cocked his head to the side.

"Delicious is what it is. Yummy, cheesy white sauce. Thin layers of pasta and scrumptious marinara sauce with beef layered. Oh how I miss it!"

Luffy's tongue had lolled out of his mouth at my description. "That sounds amazing! (Not as amazing as meat, but still amazing.) We should have Sanji make it!"

"Sounds good, Captain!"

"Can you two focus?" Nami looked mildly annoyed at the both of us.

"Sorry Nami." "My apologies, navigator."

"So about that contract?"

"I refuse!"

"Huh?"

"You do have my gratitude for saving my life just now, however."

"But, but you're a princess! A billion beli should be easy…"

Vivi shook her head. "Have you ever heard of a kingdom called Alabasta?"

I nodded whilst the others said no.

"One of you has, that's less than what I would have thought." Vivi started to explain. "My country used to be a peaceful, highly sophisticated country. However for the past few years it has been in the midst of a Revolution. Due to the radical Alabastian Revolutionaries my country has been in a state of chaos for years."

"One day I heard about an organisation that was investigating the Revolutionaries in Alabasta called Baroque Works, but other than that I didn't know anything about them. I made a request to Igaram."

"The guy with the chikuwa hair?" Luffy asked, demonstrating the curls. I couldn't help but laugh at the movement.

"Yes him. I asked if we could infiltrate Baroque Works, as that would be the only way to clear the shadow hanging over Alabasta and to see what the end goal of Baroque Works actually is."

"You love your country a lot. And the people." I couldn't help but admire this kid, this woman for doing something like this as a person of her position.

She gave me a sad smile.
"Aren't you a brave one, princess?" I couldn't tell if Zoro was being sarcastic or not, but clear admiration was shining for the princess in his eyes.

"What's the deal with the 'creation of an ideal nation' that that organisation is working towards?" Nami backtracked. "Don't tell me."

Vivi nodded. "I'm afraid so. Their true intention is to take over my home, my kingdom, Alabasta. And if I can't get home in time to stop the Revolutionaries and tell my people about Baroque Works, their plan will go ahead unhindered!"

"That explains why you refused a contract. You're in the middle of a civil war, no money to spare."

"Is everything about money with you, navigator?"

"Yep!" She flashed me a sunny grin, beli signs in her eyes and the v for victory hand sign. I resisted the urge to flip her off with my own hand sign.

"Who is the boss dude, anyway?" Luffy asked and I slipped my hood back onto my head. It wouldn't do for the unluckies to get their hands on my identity (or lack thereof), would it?

"Don't ask me that! You're better off not knowing his true identity! If Baroque Works knew you knew they would hunt you down!"
"Not that we aren't already being hunted down, though."

Zoro nodded towards me. "She's got a point."

"Thank you."

Nami laughed nervously. "Please just leave us out of it! I mean, this guy is planning to take over a country, so he must be incredibly dangerous and powerful."

"Yes, exactly he is. Not matter how strong you pirates may be, you wouldn't be a match for Sir Crocodile of the Oka Shichibukai."

Silence, complete and utter silence as Nami and Vivi looked at each other with horror.

Looking up, a bird and an otter had just taken a picture of us and flew off.

I started to laugh whilst Nami attempted to strangle the princess. This was priceless; reading the manga and watching the anime was nothing on seeing it happen in real life.

"EBONY! HOW CAN YOU BE LAUGHING AT A TIME LIKE THIS! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"S-s-sorry Nami, but…" I couldn't finish my sentence as I started to laugh even harder.

Vivi was pleading with Nami by the point. "I'm so so sorry. It just slipped out!"

"Not even really in the Grand Line and we've already got the Shichibukai on our tails!:

Zoro and Luffy were in stark contrast to the crying and wailing of Nami and Vivi. The two were talking excitedly, looking every bit their seventeen and nineteen years.

"I wonder what kind of guy he is?"

"We'll be lucky if we can meet him early!"

"SHUT IT YOU TWO! AND EBONY STOP LAUGHING!"

"Mah, mah. I'll try." I didn't try to stop laughing.

Nami got up and started to walk away. "It's been really good sailing with you guys, see you!"

"Where are you going?"

"They haven't got my face yet, so I'm leaving before they do!"

The otter from earlier was in her path, sketching away. Having shown her the sketches and getting her approval he ran off.

"Now I can't even run away!"

"Where were you going to run off to?" Zoro asked her.

"Anywhere but here!"

"Well it looks as though the four of us are now on the Baroque Works hit list!"

"AWESOME!"

"Could be so much worse." I patted Nami's shoulder as she collapsed into the foetal position.

"I have a plan!"

Turning around Igaram, despite his size and height could definitely pull of a mildly convincing Nefertari Vivi cosplay. I do wonder where he would have got those clothes on such short notice, however.

"I-Igaram? Why are you wearing that?"

Luffy however smiled, "You can definitely pull that look off!"

"Why am I surrounded by idiots?" Nami couldn't help but wail.

"Idiots make the world go around. I mean, look at the Marines and the World Government." Thinking for a moment. "Not to mention the Celestial Dragons."

"You make a very good point, Ebony. A very good point."

Igaram had started to talk again, explaining his plan to Vivi and us by extension.

"Although the boss hasn't got a bounty since he is a member of the Shichibukai, he once had an eighty million bell bounty during his reign as a pirate."

Eighty million beli? That's absolutely tiny in comparison to what some pirates have in the New World. I had forgotten that his bounty was only so large. In the Original Timeline or Alternate Timeline (that's the easiest way that I could put it in my head; think Star Trek and that reboot.) Luffy's had been way higher than that once he had reached the New World and as far as I could remember had never been offered a Shichibukai position. Then again that could be because he had declared war on the World Government.

"By the way, have you decided if you were going to take the Princess back to Alabasta?" Igaram had turned to Luffy, only now recognising him as the captain.

"Huh?"

"He want's us to take her back to Alabasta so that she may be safe." I quickly explained for him.

"Sure, that's fine by me."

Nami on the other hand lost it. "Eighty million? That's what, four times Arlong's bounty!"

"Nami, eighty billion beli is a teeny tiny bounty in the grand scheme of things." She started to tear up more and I wasn't sure if it was an over exaggeration or not.

"Princess, may I have eternal log pose?"

"What's that?"

"I'm surprised you don't know, as you're the navigator." Igaram sighed. "In simple terms it is a log pose that can record the magnetic fields for eternity, whilst a normal log pose can only record the magnetic field of a singular island to guide you to the next one from the ship."

"This eternal log pose will never forget the island that it has originally picked up and this one is set and recorded for Alabasta."

"I haven't sailed to Alabasta using the normal route, however the should be at least two or three islands, logs to record on the way there. Take care." He bowed to his Princess. "I hope we may meet again in our homeland."

Turning to us he stated. "I leave the princess in your care."

"We'll take care of her, don't worry." I wanted to make sure that we would do our best, even if he didn't entirely trust a bunch of pirates and rookie ones at that. Who knows what a group of rookie pirates would do to a civilian, let alone a princess to gain a name for themselves?

He smiled slightly. "I have seen the character of your crew, as you and the swordsman fought to protect the rest of your crew. I am not worried."

That surprised me a lot. We were strangers, complete strangers and all due to one fight where Zoro and I protected the crew in their sleep we were trusted to take care of a princess?

"Be careful, your highness."

"Take care of yourself, Igaram."

And with that he left us behind.

"He was such a funny guy, too!"

"He has always been dependable."

The moment Vivi said this a massive explosion was heard and seen, the ship that had been carrying Igaram had been set alight. A burning furnace in the distance. Normally I would have looked at Vivi, as her having clearly just lost someone. But I looked at the captain instead.

It was like he had seen a ghost.

While Nami had put an arm around Vivi, I had reached out towards the captain, putting my hand on his shoulder. This seemed to shake him out of whatever flash back he had found himself in. He reached up and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze to let me know that he was okay.

"No!"

"Already?"

"NAMI! THE LOG POSE?"

"It's finished!"

"We've got to go! Where's Sanji and Usopp?"

"You go get them, I'll get the ship ready!" Zoro shouted towards Luffy, who nodded and ran off.

"Vivi! We've got to go! If they find us now, Igaram's sacrifice will be in vain!"

"We'll get you back to Alabasta, safe!"

Nami and I comforted Vivi, who was crying and not making a sound. We ended up having to almost drag her back towards the ship before she started to run by herself.

"I'll go help Zoro!"

"Got it!"

I pushed myself to go faster.

"Oi! Need a hand?"

Zoro had been slightly struggling with the odd angle of the anchor, so I jumped onto the Going Merry to yank it over the side of the ship and onto the deck.

"I've got Sanji and Usopp!"

Luffy was half dragging, half carrying the other two. One by his nose and the other by his foot.

"We're ready to leave at any moment!"

"Vivi! We haven't got time to look for him!"

"The duck is on board already!" I shouted down, no time to waste.

"He was here before us." Zoro pointed at the duck.

"THANK GOD!"

Vivi motioned towards the river, "Head down the river and we should be able to reach the ocean to leave as soon as possible!"

"How many guys do you think will come after us?"

"Not sure, but there are meant to be at least two thousand people working for Baroque Works." Vivi thought about it for a moment. "Whisky Peak like towns aren't uncommon, so I expect that we'll run into one of those on our path."

Nami had only heard the amount of people that could be potentially coming after us. "Two thousand people?"

"Well, we do know the name of the boss."

Sanji and Usopp had no idea what was going on, panicking and yelling.

"I'll tell them what happened."

"Good, I didn't want to have to worry about telling them."

"Thanks Ebony!."

"Wimps." Luckily neither Nami nor Zoro had heard that comment, or I probably would have gotten a beating.

"Be careful not to crash your ship into the rocks nearest the shore line." A female voice was heard. Looking up was Nico Robin, or as she was currently known Miss All Sunday. I have to admit that she was pulling the femme fatale look off perfectly. "Congratulations on your escape!"

She looked around a little, "What a quaint little ship you have here."

"Who's that?"

"What?!"

Vivi looked terrified.

"I must tell you Miss Wednesday that I met up with Mister Eight a moment ago."

"What did you do to Igaram?" Vivi's voice shook.

"How did you get onto our ship, anyway?" Luffy was concerned at the fact that an outsider had gotten onto our ship without any of us noticing.

"What are you doing here, Miss All Sunday?"

"Who is that Vivi?" Nami asked her.

"I'd say by the way Vivi's staring at her, she's either a high ranking officer or," I turned to face the woman sitting on the railing in full. "The partner of the boss."

"You'd be right, Crow Queen." The last portion was said a little mockingly and i glared at her, not that you could see my eyes through my hood but the intent was still there.

"She's the only one who know's the bosses identity. Igaram and I tailed her to find out who he was!"

"It was more like I let you tail me."

"So she's a good guy!"

"I don't think she is at the moment, captain."

"I bet you're the one who told the boss that he was compromised!"

"So she's a bad guy!"

"Captain, please make up your mind."

"But Ebony, it's so complicated!"

"It's only complicated if you make it so, captain."

Miss All Sunday was watching the captain and I banter back and forth.

"What is your objective here Miss All Sunday?"

"No need to get so worked up, Miss Wednesday. I only let you tail me since you looked oh so desperate." I could tell that she was milking this for all it's worth. She'd been portrayed as the Devil's Child for so long that she had felt the need to become the devil's child. "Besides, it was amusing to observe a singular princess who thought that she could take on an entire organisation, Baroque Works and save her kingdom."

Usopp and Sanji had made their way up onto the balcony, next to the intruder.

"Don't you underestimate me!" Vivi shouted out, as we all reached for our weapons.

"Hey!"

"This woman is a threat to our lovely Miss Wednesday."

The two went to fire the pistol and slingshot that they had trailed on Miss All Sunday, but were knocked off of the balcony by the use of her devil fruit.

"Would you mind not to point such dangerous instruments at me?"

"She's got a devil fruit!"

"That would have been nice to know before, Vivi!"

"Sorry!"

Sanji and Usopp hit the deck with a thud in front of us, landing awkwardly on their sides. Thankful no bones or noses were broken, so I would count that as a win.

"What ability does she have?"

"I'd say she has the Hana Hana no mi." I tilted my head to the left. "Would that be correct?"

"You are very well informed, Crow Queen." I felt rather than saw two hands come up around my neck. Thinking quickly I reached up and grabbed them, the seastone in my knuckledusters weakening her grip and subsequently making the extra set of hands to disappear.

"I had a feeling you might try that. Don't do it again, please."

She looked at me for a moment, rubbing her hands together to get the feeling of seastone away from her skin.

"You know, some call you the second coming of the Joker in the East Blue."

I went still, cold fury racing through me. I did not just hear what she just said, what she just called me. I was an information broker, not a dick that paraded around as a freaking flamingo and sat on a throne whilst organising an auction house where people were sold as objects.

"Excuse me, but can you please repeat that Miss All Sunday? I could have sworn that you compared me to him."

"Mister Zero wanted you for your information, but you're a fledgling broker little crow."

"I know that, but since when could I be compared to that monster?"

"Your information. It's very valuable. You know things that you shouldn't, Crow Queen Ebony."

"I still shouldn't be compared to him." I muttered under my breath, a little childishly.

"Fufufufu! There's no need to get so riled up." Says you, you weren't just compared to bloody Donxquiote Doflamingo. "I haven't received any orders, nor do i have any reasons to fight you all."

In less than a second the infamous straw hat was taken from Luffy's head and placed a top of Miss All Sundays.

"Give me back my hat!" Luffy was angrier than he was earlier, shark teeth on full display for the world to see. "You are trying to pick a fight with us!"

Miss All Sunday completely ignored the ranting teenager below her. "It is most unfortunate that a bunch of rookies are looking after a princess being targeted by the entirety of Baroque Works. And for a lone princess to entrust her life and safety to a bunch of pirates."

"Fufufufu! But the worst part is that your log pose has been set towards Little Garden. Even if I don't leave a single finger on you, you'll probably never reach Alabasta."

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO JUST LAY DOWN AND ROLL OVER! NOW GIVE ME BACK MY HAT!"

"YOU BIG MEANIE!"

"What are you Usopp, five?"

"Well at least I'm not old like you!"

"Don't insult Ebony-chan, you heathen!"

"How old do you think I am, Usopp?"

"Nineteen?"

"I'm turning twenty-one, so you know. I don't think that's particularly old, do you?" I must have been giving off a threatening aura, because Usopp shook his head violently.

She flicked Luffy's hat back onto his head, where he grabbed onto the sides of it protectively as though it were to suddenly disappear.

"Anyone can present a brave front, yet it's difficult to know what might lay ahead." She stated, flicking something towards Vivi.

"An eternal pose?"

"You should be able to skip over any future troubles with that, it points towards an obscure and uninhabited island right before Alabasta." She continued on, a hand under her chin. "The route will take you somewhere that is unknown to Baroque Works, so you should be safe from being pursued there."

"Why would you give this to us?"

"It's most likely a trap." Zoro kept a sharp eye on the woman who had dared to invade their personal space.

"Hmm, I do wonder about that." Miss All Sunday smirked as Vivi struggled to make a decision whether or not to trust the woman who may have personally killed Igaram.

"Enough wasting time!" Luffy had reached over and grabbed the eternal pose in Vivi's hand, crushing it easily.

"Never change, Captain. Never change."

"Why would I change?" He looked so confused that I laughed and he didn't noticed Nami's incoming attack.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT OR WHAT? SHE CAME ALL THE WAY OUT HERE TO GIVE US A SAFER WAY TO ALABASTA! WHAT IF SHE IS A GOOD GUY!"

Luffy shook his head. "It doesn't matter. No one but us can dare to choose the path of our journey!"

Everyone was speechless for a moment, most being shocked at the moment of maturity coming from the generally childish and jovial Captain.

"I see, how unfortunate."

"Luffy!"

"She blew up Mister Chikuwa so I hate her!"

"Fufufufu!" Miss All Sunday threw back her head and laughed. "I don't dislike bold men, perhaps we will meet again soon. As long as you survive."

Luffy's moment of maturity was gone as he stuck out his tongue at her and pulled down the lower part of his eye.

"Let's go Bunch!" Miss All Sunday dropped down onto the back of a giant turtle, which made its way quickly into the distance.

"Dragon-san, do we have any way of getting in contact with the Crow Queen?"

Sabo had made up his mind, he would go to Alabasta and have his reunion with his brothers dammnit and give Black Ebony one of the biggest hugs imaginable. She had given him back a significant portion of life that he had forgotten, significant people that he had forgotten and promised to never do so again. It would probably kill him this time if something happened.

Dragon looked up from the maps that he was examining.

"I gave her one of the informant den den mushi's. You should be able to contact her via that."

"I'll give her a ring then. I need to see Ace and Luffy soon!"

AN: I have a few make style stories written that will probably be uploaded instead of the next chapter purely because that is going to take me a lot longer than what I had initially believed it would. (And that probably won't be uploaded until after classes are finished for the semester.)