A/N: Salue omnis!

I hope that you're having a good day, and that the world has been kind to you recently. I know that it's been a while, but I hope that this chapter makes up for it! It's a little shorter than some of the others, but I hope that you all enjoy!

"If you're still sure about going after Teach, call for back up."

Was the first thing Marco had told him when he had called the Moby Dick.

"I knew that you'd say that! Everyone's been saying that!"

Marco was curious, it was obvious in his voice.

"Who told you to take back up?"

"Ebony for a start. And Doke no Buggy."

There was an intake of breath, "The blue-haired, red nosed guy?"

"Yeah, him. Sabo and I crashed a party on his ship and we talked for a bit." Ace replied, not entirely willing to say what the conversation they'd had was about and wondering where Marco was taking the conversation.

"I had wondered where he had gone, especially when he didn't show up in the New World with Shanks all those years ago."

Ace rolled his eyes at the tiptoeing that Marco was doing, "I know he was on that man's ship when he was younger, but he never said a word. He only talked about mum."

He could hear the sound of a snail hitting the ground, as his own made a face of pain as its twin fell.

A moment later he heard Marco shout, "ROULETTE ROUGE! I FUCKING KNEW I KNEW YOUR NAME FROM SOMEWHERE! THATCH, YOU OWE ME MONEY!"

That was the first Ace had heard of a bet between his elder brothers, but he really shouldn't have been surprised.

All the pirates he knew had a bet on something or other happening, himself included. It must have been a pirate thing to do, constantly gambling away what little money that one had in exchange for a rumour or theory.

"Sorry Ace! I've gotta go and get my money, but you have to either come home or call for some back up if you're going to take the traitor on!"

Marco had hung up before he could get a word in, leaving him more than slightly bewildered.

Ace though had other things to be doing, like contacting Whitey Bay and Deuce.

He hoped that they would be able to get to the island in time before he jumped the gun and did something that he would later regret.

Ulpia wasn't too sure what to think of Captain Luffy's older brother.

He was clearly of noble birth, but either didn't want anyone to know or had taken himself out of that situation and hoped to never go back to it again. She had mixed feelings about nobles, primarily due to a certain Stormcloak, but this noble and the King and Princess back in Alabasta seemed to be decent enough people.

"Where are we going?"

Ulpia was expecting Sabo to answer, but Saalem beat him to it.

"Baltigo, correct?"

Sabo's look of surprise almost made her laugh. Almost.

"How did you know that?"

That was something that she wanted answers to as well, but wasn't sure about how to ask a child who had only recently lost everything they had ever known.

Saalem, on his part, looked shy.

"Ebony.. she didn't mean to tell me, or show me, but keeping control of my telepathy has never been a strong point. Ko'mekh was trying to teach me, but…"

Sabo and Ulpia shared a look of alarm.

Both had secrets that they didn't want getting out there, but the kid was clearly trustworthy if Ebony had allowed him access to her own mind. Ulpia may not have known her long, but even she knew that the other Outlier held things incredibly close to the chest and only let what information out that she wanted to be known.

"No offence child, but how do we know that you haven't been reading our minds?"

Saalem turned an affronted look at her question, "I wouldn't do that! It's touch telepathy. I can't read your mind unless I touch your skin."

That was when Sabo and her had realised that Saalem had avoided most physical contact with everyone. Except for the first time the two of them had met.

"Were you testing me?"

Saalem nodded, "Ebony said that you were a good person, but I had to see for myself."

"And?"

"She was right, and that you should stop feeling so guilty."

Ulpia wondered at what Sabo was feeling guilty over, when Saalem continued.

"You had, still have, amnesia. You're not at fault for forgetting your brothers."

Sabo froze, before stopping and clutching at his chest.

"I could have stopped before being an idiot who flew their flag in front of a Celestial Dragon ship."

"You would have been a child, not much younger than myself."

"I still would have known not to go up against those people, though."

Saalem looked as though he wanted to roll his eyes, but being who he was stopped that.

"And if you didn't know of their visit, how could you have been aware enough to stop yourself?" Saalem turned away, seemingly lost in his own thoughts "Ebony showed me enough, showed me flames and ash and people loosing their home. You couldn't have known. Stop blaming yourself."

Ulpia, who had remained silent up until that point spoke up.

"Saalem is correct, you were a child. You cannot be blamed for any piss poor decision made by an adult that you had no control over."

Sabo turned away, clearly very lost in his own thoughts on the matter. Ulpia knew that he would forever blame his own actions for the loss of ten years with his brothers, much like she would blame herself for ever trusting that bitch Astrid and her dog of a husband with the lives of the Dark Brotherhood.

Foxy was a piece of shit, and an even poorer loser.

The plan that we had haphazardly thrown together had somehow worked out in our favour. Somehow we'd stolen each and every crew member that Foxy had, leaving the poor, poor Captain all to his lonesome.

And now he was wailing, and complaining about how it hadn't been a fair fight.

His former crewmates all looked at him in both pity and shock; they'd never lost a Davy Back before and to now lose everything?

"Can't I just knock him out?"

Luffy was annoyed, that much was clear, at the way the man was behaving.

"Put him out of his misery Captain."

And so he did, sending him flying into the sky.

Luffy then turned to the new, temporary members of the crew, hands on his hips and a serious look on his face. "If you want to leave, leave. Go back to your captain."

"But… you've won, surely you'll want…"

"To keep you? Why? When you obviously want to go back to your captain."

The former Foxy Pirates looked at Luffy, dumbfounded at this strange piece of generosity.

"You still won," Itomimizu covered his face, shamed, "You still need to take a prize."

Before Sanji could get his words out, clearly aiming to invite another woman to the crew I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Not too tight, but tight enough that it made him go silent.

He turned around, pouting at my reaction.

"So who'll be?"

The Captain stared at the man, his eyes showing no emotion before suddenly grinning as bright as the sun, his eyes now filled with mischief.

We knew as a group that he was about to be a little shit, and we were all going to enjoy it.

"Give me your jolly roger!"

"This'll be good." Zoro muttered, to which I most definitely agreed with.

The redesign was hideous.

Everyone of us, including the man who drew it, knew it and so did the Foxy Pirates.

I could admit to myself that I was almost feeling sorry for them, having to continue on sailing with that monstrosity of a pirate symbol. But at the same time, I think they would have to prefer it over loosing one of their own forever.

They swore vengeance of the Captain and the crew, but Luffy (still in mischeif making mode) laughed it off, cheerfully waving them goodbye.

"Now to get this back to those two from earlier."

I had forgotten that we'd meet the man so damn soon. I had completely forgotten and now I felt guilty that I hadn't been able to warn Robin in time.

The admiral was even taller than I recalled him to ever be. (If he was this tall, the others had to be massive. And that terrified me.)

I knew that the people of this world had some incredibly strange, and at times wonderful genes, but the marines had to be feeding their recruits some drugs that made them shoot through ceilings and grow a stupid amount of muscles that rally shouldn't have existed.

One thing that I could admire, was the fact that he (at least appeared to be) sleeping standing upright.

Robin, the only other person in the group who knew who he was took a wide step back. I knew that I was shorter than her, but I could at least attempt to hide her from view. A fact that she must have appreciated, since the tenseness of her shoulders loosened slightly.

"Well, well. Look who grew up well."

Don't mouth off to the powerful admiral. Don't mouth off to the powerful admiral. Don't mouth off to the powerful admi—

"Do you have to sound like such a pervert?"

I slammed my hands over my mouth, in complete and utter disbelief at the fact that I'd just mouthed off to a man who could kill me without blinking.

But he seemed to take that in stride, "I'm only telling the truth."

"I'd extend the same compliment, but I don't know you. I do know Nico Robin though."

"I wouldn't have guessed."

He snorted, either admiring the audacity that a rookie pirate had or thought that I was at least amusing enough to not warrant immediate execution by icicle.

"Ebony, Robin.. You know this guy?" Luffy got into a defensive stance directly in front of us, causing both Sanji and Zoro to react in a similar manner.

"I don't know the blonde, but Robin? Well, we go way back."

Robin let out an almost silent whimper, but being so close to her meant that I definitely heard it. I took a slight step back, holding out my hand just in case she may want to comfort. I wasn't actually expecting for her to take it, but her slightly sweaty palm gripped tightly onto my own.

Aokiji's appearance had shaken her to the core, but with someone like myself who knew (most likely at least) what she had gone through she had at least a small bit of grounding.

Nami had also noticed how agitated Robin had become, voicing it aloud. "I've never seen her so agitated. Who are you?"

Aokiji chuckled, reaching for his eye mask and placing it into his pocket with slow deliberate movements.

"Oh my… now, now don't look so murderous. I'm not here on orders friends, the weather was nice and I was just taking a stroll…"

"Orders? What organisation do you belong to?" Zoro barked, hands clutching at the hilt of Wado Ichimonji.

"It's obvious, isn't it? He's from the Marines" "The Marines, he's Admiral Aokiji from the Marines Headquarters."

Robin and I had spoken at the same time, her grip getting ever tighter the longer this strange confrontation went on.

"Admiral!" Shouts in unison were ever so rare amongst such a large group of people, but it still happened. Nami, Chopper and Usopp took a wide step back, further than even Robin had and they were now trying to make themselves look as unobtrusive as possible.

"An Admiral! Just how high up is that?"

It didn't surprise me that Sanji wanted to know, but it shock me a little that everyday folk (even ones from royal bloodlines) didn't know about the Marines system. Either it was that, or he'd just forgotten or had perhaps never learnt.

Damn Judge. Damn him to the depths of the ocean.

"Below the Fleet Admiral. There's only three that hold the rank of Admiral."

"There'd be four, but Vice-Admiral Garp keeps turning the position down." I muttered, causing Luffy to look at me quickly, before his attention turned back around to the threat that was in front of us.

Robin though continued on as though I hadn't spoken.

"Kizaru, Aokiji and Akainu."

At the last name I hissed, drawing Aokiji's attention.

"What have you got against the Red Dog? I mean, besides the obvious." He gestured at our crew.

My words came out in a snarl, this time my grip on Robin's hand got tighter.

"Apart from the fact that his version of Justice is a complete and utter crock of shit? The man doesn't care who he kills in the face of his pursuit of justice. A small child could be in front of him, but if a criminal was behind them, he'd go through the kid in an instant to get to the criminal and then site collateral damage and how they shouldn't have gotten in the way of Absolute Justice."

By the end of my rant, I knew that I was red in the face and panting.

Aokiji nodded, hands in pockets. "Ah… that's reasonable."

A moment of silence, "He is like that."

He was a man of many moods apparently, because he switched his attention towards Nami. "Another curvy hottie, you free tonight?"

"Again, making pervert comments."

Sanji and Usopp, not hearing my own words started shouting at the man.

"Just go away!" "How dare you, you jerk!"

"I was just taking a scroll…" He lay down on the ground, preparing for another nap. "That and confirming Nico Robin's whereabouts. I knew she was with you lot, but I had to be sure."

"Now that you're sure, what will you do now?"

I had more bravado than sense, but that still seemed to amuse him.

"Not much, my pursuit of lazy justice is good like that. May try at a latter time to capture you lot, may not. First though, I'll help these two back to their island."

The others had loosened their defensive stances slightly, majorly confused as to what was actually happening. Never had they met a Marine so less interested in actually performing their duties before.

"How?"

Grinning, he got up and walked towards the ocean.

"Just watch."

Leaning down, Aokiji reached into the ocean and was met by an incredibly large, incredibly angry seaking. Nonplussed, the Admiral continued on despite the nervous shouts from the crew.

I took multiple steps back, getting ready to run but trying not to make it too obvious. Not that it would help any, what with his near perfect use of kenbunshoku haki.

Robin noticed what I was doing, and still holding my hand, moved alongside me.

"Ice Age."

The ice spread everywhere at an alarming rate, overtaking the fast moving seakings who didn't have much of an option but to dive deep beneath the surface to escape it.

It was beautiful, though.

Terrifying, but beautiful.

Ebony hadn't been in contact for a few weeks at that point, and Bailey was getting worried.

She'd seen the wanted poster, and had even very proudly displayed it upon the wall behind the bar. Her grandfather had moaned about having another pirate in the extended family, but she knew that he'd been proud when she had taken off on her own adventure.

What Bailey was worried about, was Ebony's information network.

It had gone silent.

Maybe silent wasn't the right word, but without Ebony whispers were abound and some even said that she'd been "raising" Bailey to succeed her to the position of the Morrigan.

No way!

Sure, Ebony had taught her how to listen in when no one thought they were being overheard. She'd even taught her to gather pieces of information that weren't whole to form her own conclusions. And even if she had been teaching her all these things to overtake her position (which she hadn't) Ebony was still the Morrigan. She'd just gone on some leave.

An extended break if you will.

A holiday.

But Bailey would have to call her back, not to the town, but to the job. The whispers and rumours were getting a bit much and Bailey wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle it alone.

Where was Barto when one needed him?

We didn't get far, as after the man and his injured horse had left the Admiral turned sharply to face us.

"I've changed my mind," the air got colder and ice started to form on the ground. "Maybe you should all just die."

Me and my big mouth.

"I don't think a particular grandfather would be all to happy about that."

He gave me a droll stare, "That's his fault for having a pirate grandson."

Two in fact, but I wasn't likely to say that out loud. He had two pirate grandsons, a Revolutionary son and another grandson who was also a Revolutionary. I would probably hazard a guess, but if Garp hadn't have helped to stop Rocks way back in the day with Roger, he would have been kicked out of the Marines years ago and been marred with the same brush as the rest of his family.

He turned back towards the others, who had all resumed defensive if slightly confused stances.

"The government doesn't think very highly of you, but now that I've taken a closer look I can see you all have grit. Small in number though your crew may be, you're a little collection of troublemakers that are bound to become bothersome in time."

He rose from his slumped position, stare becoming harsher.

"I know all the details, from your first bounties, to your exploits and seen how quickly your strength has grown. I've face many ruthless criminals over the years and you lot… are starting to scare me."

"But weren't you just taking a walk?" Usopp was nervous, his voice was shaking and his hands were up in a 'please think about this' sort of gesture.

Aokiji spoke as though Usopp hadn't spoken, "Especially you, Nico Robin."

The tone of his voice was still undecided, but his accusing finger made Robin even more nervous.

Something was going to happen, I could tell, as she pulled her hand from my own.

Whatever she planned to do meant that she needed both her hands, and whatever it was would probably end badly.

A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment and a favourite, I really do appreciate it!

Stay safe and hydrate everyone!