Chapter 6

Sleazy's name was actually Fifillo Archibald, Annie told him as they cleaned up the mess from the fight after she got done treating his injuries.

"His family was one of the first to settle on this island, just like mine was, and somehow he got it into his head that that means we should get married," Annie sighed, "that's when he started making a nuisance of himself; before that we were just passing acquaintances. The reason he gave when I asked why he was being so persistent was something like 'unifying our families since both are pillars of the community and have such a long history on the island'." She shrugged half-heartedly.

"What do you think the real reason is?" He asked, since it sounded like there was more to the story.

"Well, my sister thinks it has something to do with an old story that's been passed down in my family," Annie admitted. "Legend has it that my twenty-times great grandfather was actually a pirate; he and his crew ran aground while pursuing a merchant ship that was carrying several million Beri in cargo and the ancestors of half the other families on the island. Both ships were too badly damaged to make it to the nearest civilization, stranding both crews on Orango."

"With no choice, they worked together to build shelters, the pirates invaluable in fending off the native bobcats. The story goes that by the time a passing ship saw the signal fires on the beach, none of the stranded men and women wanted to leave, having started new lives on the island that they named Orango in honor of the pirate captain who saved them, and my family carries his name to this day." Annie finished.

"That doesn't explain Sleazy wanting to marry you," he pointed out, the name causing Annie to snort in laughter. Then he asked curiously, "Your name is Orango?"

Annie blinked, "I never told you? My name is Orango Annie."

"Huh." And because Annie was being honest with him, shouldn't he be at least a little honest with her? "My name is Marshall D. Teach." He admitted.

"Huh." Annie echoed. "...Why do you go by Marshall?" People didn't usually go by their last names, after all.

"Because Teach isn't who I want to be." He said sincerely, the truth ringing in his voice.

Annie smiled in understanding. "Anyway, a few generations later a rumor started that my ancestor buried his treasure somewhere on the island and it's hung around ever since," she concluded. "Archie probably believes it though, seas know why."

"There anything to it?" He asked.

Another shrug. "Who knows?"


It was during a brawl down at the docks that he came to the realization that he needed a haircut. Since the fight in Annie's store, he'd taken to wandering the port and surrounding bars to get more experience in fighting humans instead of wild animals. It was a change, but not an impossible one. Two weeks later and he already had the beginnings of a reputation.

He happened to get caught in the middle of two crowds of drunken sailors when they staggered out of the bars. He didn't know who threw the first punch, but a minute later the fight was on. He was having fun until his bangs got in his eyes and he had to rely on his haki to dodge various sword swings. He blew out a puff of air, clearing his line of sight for a few seconds before the hair fell back into place.

He was glad that he'd kept in the habit of coating his hair in Armament. That habit saved his life; he was kicking one drunk away when another pulled a knife and jumped at his back. His hair reached almost to the bottom of his shoulders, and the knife's angle meant it stabbed right at the middle of the black strands.

A loud snap and half the blade broke off, spinning away to bury itself in the leg of one of the drunk's friends. The drunk was still staring blankly at the broken blade when an uppercut sent him into lights out.

Damn it, he grumbled as the sailor hit the ground. Turning on his heel, he left as the fight started winding down.

A plus side to his worry over Sleazy Archie trying anything to Annie while he was training was an increase in his Observation haki's range. He could sense Annie over at Mary's house, happy and relaxed, and there was no one else in the store as he made his way to his room above it. He still had the blade Knify had left behind; it was a good blade, and it occurred to him that he'd need to learn to use a weapon besides his fists at some point. A knife was as good a choice as any to start with, and the very next day Annie had presented him with a sheath for it.

Now he unsheathed it, examining his reflection in the polished blade critically. Then he grabbed a chunk of his bangs, releasing his haki as he started cutting. The result was a small pile of hair at his feet and an uneven edge where he'd cut the curtain of hair in front of his eyes, but he could see clearly and that was what counted.

Why go to a barber when this worked just as well?


It turned out there was something to the rumor about the Orango family treasure, he learned a few days before his thirteenth birthday. He was a few inches over seven foot tall and still growing, his appetite bigger than ever as he resumed his mountain-climbing. Today he coated both his hands and the muscles of his legs with Armament (it was a new thing he was trying), so it seemed as good a time as any to finally climb the mountain. If he happened to fall, he had a somewhat passable Moonwalk so he'd probably be fine.

He was sweating by the time he reached the halfway point, and panting for breath by the three-quarters mark, but he kept going. And then, right as the sun began to set, a hand rose over the edge of the summit and dug haki-darkened fingers into the soil there.

Marshall heaved himself up onto the hard ground of the mountaintop. He sprawled out on his back gasping for breath, grinning like a loon at the bright reddish orange sky. He made it, he really made it!

Looking around curiously, he was somewhat disappointed to see that there wasn't a lot there. Just dirt and a few bushes and a weird pile of rocks-

Wait. He narrowed his eyes at the rocks, pushing himself up to sit cross-legged. The position of the stones was strange, too evenly placed. It was like someone had stacked them up...and maybe they had. The rocks looked like they'd been there for a long time, heavily weathered but the positions were unnatural. The whole stack was shaped like a lopsided pyramid, a few stones having shifted from their places over time.

He spent a while enjoying the view of the sunset before getting up to take a closer look at the stack of rocks. Close-up it was obviously manmade, and when he removed a few stones he found an old, rusted metal box. It wasn't that big, he saw, just a little over the size of a hardcover book. Pulling it out, he examined the lock on it, judging it to be easy enough to break but holding off on that until he got done examining the area around the rocks. If the stones had been placed as long ago as he was starting to suspect they'd been, it was possible that they were meant to be a version of 'X marks the spot'.

Deciding to find out, he darkened his arms with haki and started digging at the base of the marker. It was fully night by the time he quit, but in that time he managed to unearth three good-sized treasure chests and his instincts were telling him there was more to be found. If the buried treasure was what he thought it was, he was going to hold off on digging until he could talk to Annie.

He took the rusted box with him when he headed back towards town. It had been hidden in the rocks instead of buried, so it was probably important.


Annie took the news that her houseguest had discovered the lost treasure of Orango surprisingly well. She only fainted once.

The rusted box turned out to contain Captain Orango's logbook, miraculously preserved. Despite the time and elements, the book was in decent condition and still very much readable. A cursory look revealed that it told the tale of Orango's pursuit of the merchant ship Orestes, which carried not only goods and passengers but also slaves. Captain Orango was determined to capture the ship, so much so that he chased it straight into the jaws of a New World maelstrom. Somehow both ships wrecked on the same island, the Orestes having been torn practically in two but with most of the passengers and slaves alive. The actual crew of the Orestes, on the other hand, had abandoned ship.

Orango's own ship, the Barracuda, was in moderately better condition. Though lacking a mast or rudder and with several gaps in the hull, his shipwright judged it repairable if they took the needed supplies from the survivors of the Orestes. Because his entire goal had been saving the slaves aboard the merchant vessel, he wasn't about to take away the things they were using to survive, so he instructed his shipwright to do what he could to rig up something that would at least get them to an inhabited island.

The repairs took several weeks, Orango faithfully noting down the events of each day, chronicling how the former slaves and passengers had begun to work together, building makeshift huts and salvaging what they could from the debris that washed ashore. The doctors of the Orestes and Barracuda soon found out that several plants on the island had various medical properties, and the discovery of fruit trees eliminated the fear of scurvy. The pirate crew fended off the attacks of several deer and bobcats, using the pelts to make tents and roasting the meat for food.

Finally the work was done a month later, a patchwork ship having been put together from the remains of the two ships. It would hold to the next island, the shipwright warned, but only if the weather was fair. By then Orango had a decision to make. The ship was no longer big enough to hold all the people and still sail, and there was a chance they wouldn't make it to another island at all, so what should he do? Who should he choose to leave behind? He himself was reluctant to leave, having grown fond of this peaceful island in the New World. After gathering the people together and explaining the situation, Orango let them decide what was to be done. In the end, they decided that no one was to take the risk, and instead signal fires would be set up along the shore.

It was indeed a safe solution, as they need not fear either hunger or thirst on the island, and so it was done. At his heart, however, Orango was still a pirate, and without anyone's knowledge took his share of the treasure that survived the wreck and buried it on top of the mountain on the south side of the island, secure in the knowledge that of all those on the island, he was the only one strong enough to cross the jungle and climb the mountain.

The log ended with the mention of Orango's growing feelings for the woman who organized the passengers and former slaves when they first wrecked and the sighting of sails on the horizon.

Annie closed the book softly, clearing her throat. "Well," she said, pausing and then trying again, "Well. That was...interesting." Her knuckles were white where she gripped the sides of the book.

"I dug up three chests before it got too dark, and there's probably more, so it looks like that legend you told me is true," he offered.

She hesitates, looking down at the book in her hands pensively. "Looks like it," she breathed, then straightened up, "while the money would be good, I'm not exactly hurting for it, so I think it can stay where it is. It's been fine so far, after all." Then she smiled, clutching the logbook to her chest. "This is a real treasure."

And yeah, he couldn't deny that.

What he didn't expect was Annie to look over at him and say, "You know, since you found it, it's only fair that you get to keep some of it,"

What could he say to that except, "...Thanks?"


Annie never told anyone that the rumor of Orango's treasure had been confirmed, and he also kept his mouth shut.

He left the treasure chests where they were, reburying them after digging up the other seven chests and making sure they were intact. He had no idea what was in them and Annie felt no need to find out, saying he could just pick five whenever he wanted.

The logbook was kept at Mary's house.

(Annie's sister took one look at the book and crowed, "I knew it!")