Author notes:

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I don't own one piece!

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This chapter was beta'd by the Wonderful Black' Victor Cachat and Amazing Gerbilfriend. Thanks for all their patience, ideas, love and encouragement. Please check out Gerbilfriend Marine!Lina below, and her own stories! Send lots of love!

A real heartful and special thanks goes to Black' Victor Cachat for his help with planning those chapters. All hail the one true king (night or Day? hmmmm). Check his stories if you're looking for a good read, especially save Ace stories.

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Warnings:

English is my fourth language. The story will include cursing and spoilers to the latest chapters in the manga.

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Reviews answers.

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Black' Victor Cachat

The one and True King of Justice and had that ruled them all! You will bestow on my son name "Gerbil" or "Blacky". How generous!

Thank you for your review and all your support, ideas, and motivation!

Thank you, yeah, I always wondered why they didn't use Red Port as something against the marines.

"Ah, the magnificent end of Buggy. Roger would be so proud of him! X-D"

He would, wouldn't he?

Maybe I should write some scenes about it? Oden and Roger looking over Buggy! XD

(Not that I know anything about that... )

Now, is there something you wish to tell me? ;)

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OTrizy

Thank you for your review!

Yeah? Tell me more. I usually have those strange ideas and need to get them out.

You should have commented on all of them ;) lol I will have Lina find you and give you a talking.

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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Girl-luvs-manga

Thank you for your review!

I promise nothing. You will have to read to see. ;)

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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K.C.96

Thank you for your review! OHHHHHH I am glad. Here hoping for even a better week now.

(I could see his expressions in my mind). Music to my ears. That was what I am aiming for.

Thank you. I added Oars last minute. I am glad you enjoyed it! I think he deserved better.

Benn can't be the mother hen when Shanks taking the role! Glad you liked it.

I decided way back there to do different scenes all over. Here are some of them. What do you think? ;)

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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Nougat-XP

Thank you for your review!

Glad to hear! * blushing in the corner *

I promise nothing, but I hope you enjoy it to the fullest nonetheless.

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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scl04

Thank you for your review! :D appreciate the long one!

Did you see it coming? The attack on red port? I did give some hints.

Yeah, I didn't want Oars to be left there. He is a character that I felt Oda could have developed and presented more. In my story Moby Dick's New Residents I have Luffy and my other OC (Marcy) meet him, and he's such a fun character to write.

" I'm complaining since it's hilarious no matter how many times it happens."

LOL, true! I can't wait to see your reaction to my last chapter, not gonna spoil you, but it connected.

"e to her character (which he wouldn't know about so it's understandable)."

What I love about different POV! It give a lot of range to present a character.

Benn is a very fun character to write! He will suffer more and more in my writing it seems!

"...just perfection"

*hidden in the corner and giggling and blushing* thank you.

"we won't forget you Buggy! "

XD

Thank you so much for your amazing review!

Hope you really enjoy the new chapter. And that it surprise you! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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Hellibleri

Thank you for your review!

Me too! I thought it fit perfectly!

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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rowlan

Thank you for your review!

Glad to hear! Yup! You could almost hear them too! Right?!

Here some taste of what to wait!

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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rai1515

Thank you for your review Rye!

As someone that usually doesn't like OC unless really well developed, and fit with other characters it was challenge!

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...: D

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Read notes at the end (and Marine!Lina).

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Five old men were having a crisis.

Their names and ages were known to only a select few but their influence and power reached every nook and cranny of the world.

This conversation may or may not have happened. Confirmation will never be given.

Four of the five elders were wearing a tailored black suit that fit their frame perfectly.

The one that didn't wear a suit, was wearing a white gi instead. His bald head was sparkling with sweat as he stared with disapproval over glasses resting on the tip of his nose. He was clenching in his hands a long samurai sword as his face showed a grim expression. (For convenience sake he will be called Samurai).

Beside him, was sitting another bald man, who had a huge large birthmark on his forehead, and a large white mustache. His hands were also clenched, even if resting in his lap, while also looking quite anxious (Birthmark).

In an armchair beside them sat the youngest looking of all five. His suit was missing a tie, and the long-sleeved shirt he wore had an open V-neck, proudly exposing a scar on his chest. His usually immaculate glossy blond hair was tousled a little on his forehead, and he kept crossing and uncrossing his legs, unaware of, or maybe ignoring, the annoying looks thrown at him from the other occupants of the room (Blondie).

In front of the first three, sat a man with a scar on the left side of his face. A Black hat was sitting over gray dreadlocks. He was resting his two hands on a cane between his legs. His eyes were unfocused and he seemed deep in thought by the frown between his eyebrows (Dreadlocks).

The last one was a tall and thin bearded man with long white hair. He was striding back and forth across the room like an infuriated lion since the last report that they had received (Tally).

They were gathered here for an emergency meeting on how to handle a crisis which had seemed to only grow worse with each passing moment. Truthfully, they had been so busy helping put out individual fires, even while fresh intelligence kept coming in, that part of the purpose of this meeting was to make sure everyone was properly up to date on the sheer scale of it.

"This is a disaster!" murmured Birthmark. Blondie snorted at the obviousness of it all, while the other three regally ignored his outburst.

"We can't change what has already happened, we need to control the narrative," said the man with dreadlocks, calmly.

"Indeed, this isn't the first time we had to handle something this big," The pacing man said pointedly, yet continued in his endeavor to make a hole in the floor just by the power of his stare.

He didn't need to elaborate for the others to know that he was speaking about incidents such as Ohara.

"It was really unfortunate that the Visual Den Den Mushi was still broadcasting."

"Has Cipher Pol Aigis Zero caught Morgans yet?" one of the other occupants asked the room. He had arrived late to the urgent meeting, missing a few of the reports. Usually, they would never imagine dispatching CP0 for something like this, except CP9 was currently on the run after being framed for the incompetence of others, and no one else was qualified for something as serious as this.

One of the others explained they had yet to receive a report from the CP0. If they could catch the fleeing Morgans, they could halt the story until it had been properly tweaked to fit their needs. Fortunately, the other newspaper companies had been properly persuaded to cooperate.

Some would call it propaganda. The five occupants of this room thought of it as keeping the balance, and as such maintaining the peace.

It was all for the greater good.

Morgans was the biggest fish in the newspaper and information world, while the rest of Cipher Pol had a handle on the other, smaller fishes.

"We should have taken care of him after the accident on Sabaody."

"We should have taken care of Strawhat Luffy and his crew then too," said the Samurai from between gritted teeth.

"Who was the bright idea to let this fight be broadcasted?"

"We will have Sengoku resign!" came the furious answer from Birthmark. The look on all of their faces was saying that 'that was a given'.

"But when exactly, and for what public reason?," asked Blondie. "As a punishment?"

"We should let him deal with the mess. That would be a punishment," grumbled the still pacing man.

It had always fallen on them to deal with any serious mess anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, this mess had already grown so big, and they knew they had yet to grasp its extent.

"He failed! And you want him to handle this delicate situation!" shouted the bald man, waving his hand around, while the man beside him was grasping the sword tightly.

"We can't give him any visible punishment! The morale of the Marines has been seriously compromised as it is," pointed out another one. Although he clearly didn't seem to be happy about saying it.

"We will have him retire quietly after a while," agreed the man with a cane, hitting it on the wooden floor once to end this discussion. The others nodded their reluctant ascent.

"What about the brat Akainu?" asked the youngest, almost spitting the name.

"The search for him is still underway, they found some pieces of his clothes."

"It's safe to assume he is dead!" another added.

"He better be, or I will kill him myself," the tall pacing man declared. His pacing rhythm not flittering as he said those words.

"Huh? Why?" asked one in confusion. The man's zealotry had made him their unofficial favorite of the three admirals.

"The fool attacked the pirates after Sengoku had already ordered the end of the war. We lost the Red Port because of it, and god knows what else we could have lost if that D Lina decided to retaliate and attack the city! Her brother had already shown that he didn't care about the nobility class and the Celestial Dragons."

"And we lost a powerful devil fruit," someone added, with a sigh.

"The possibility that the city could have been attacked if those pirates were inclined isn't something we can ignore," said the man with dreadlocks, tightly clenching his cane in his hands. "I've already assigned people to address the security ramifications of that."

The others nodded gravely.

"Do you agree with his decision?" asked the oldest man with a white gi, softly.

"You mean the Fleet Admiral?" Tally paused in his step, before adding.

"It's his sole responsibility that we get into this dreadful situation. But with circumstances, as they were it was the most logical decision, and he could have organized some of the elite forces and sent them after the retiring pirates, or mounted a sneak attack. Targeting the main players."

"Specifically those cursed Ds," growled another one.

"It's truly a cursed bloodline," grunted the man with a sword. His eyes narrowed with pure hatred.

"Indeed. But instead, Sengoku had to send all the forces to help with securing the Red Port. And stopping the spread of the fire and damage to salvage what he could of it." Large quantities of invaluable trade flowed through there, as the sole legal route past the Red Line. Without it, not only would the World Government's income visibly suffer, they would not be able to hide it. Thanks to that quick action, they had a chance to repair it, while claiming the delays were due to security concerns regarding potential pirate attacks.

"Did anyone in Mary Geoise wonder about the fireworks?"

"No, they assumed it was part of the celebration of the war."

A few of the others snorted and shook their heads. It saddened them to say this, but most of their fellow Celestial Dragons were not known for their brightness.

"How long would it take to fix the place?"

"That's not important, what are we going to do with those bloody D's? We need to eliminate them! We had them right in the palm of our hands, and they escaped!" demanded the tall man, he stopped in his pacing to face the other four.

"The scope of the war had grown beyond our expectations!"

"We should have expected this when we had Five D's in the same place! It never could have ended well."

"Five?"

"Garp, and his two cursed grandchildren, the spawn of Roger, and Marshall D. Teach."

"The one that calls himself Blackbeard?" asked another for clarification.

"Called."

"The report said he was dead, emm… dismembered. Killed by the Red Hair crew."

"Good riddance, one less person to worry about."

The others nodded dismissing the dead man from their thoughts.

"We also have reports that Doflamingo is dead."

"His body disappeared, so I wouldn't count him as dead just yet," corrected Dreadlocks

"Good riddance if he is."

"He had been a pain in our side with his demands, and the threat of what he knows. Or knew. We need to confirm his fate. If he is indeed dead, we need to ensure his former crew is not liabilities either." How they would do that was a question for another day. Right now they, and their most trusted subordinates, had enough on their hands. It could keep a little longer.

"Still, the Seven Warlords system has become a liability," said the bearded man as he shook his head, his dreadlocks slightly moving.

"What, are you saying you want to disband them? The three powers are already unbalanced enough, what you are suggesting will take out one power from under us, leaving two, the Marines and the Yonkos, and as it is, the scales of power are leaning against us!" shouted Samurai, using his sword as a crutch to stand up.

"The Warlord system is already on its way to be destroyed. Crocodile was taken down by Strawhat Luffy, and so was Gecko Moria," pointed out the bald man sitting beside him.

"At least we were able to keep that from the public," murmured another.

"Doflamingo may be dead, and even if he is not, he is of no use to us right now." Blondie paused, and added, "Blackbeard, our new recruit, in place of Crocodile, attacked Impel Down and freed some of the deadliest prisoners. Before his death, he was about to join the war, and probably not to help our side. Even the fact he was taken out weakens the image the Warlords are supposed to portray.

"Jinbe resigned."

"Obviously, as he publicly turned traitor. And isn't he dead?"

"No body was found, and he is a Fishman in a body of water."

"Ah, of course. Regardless, that leaves us with Dracule Mihawk, Bartholomew Kuma, and Boa Hancock, and the last one is a loose cannon," concluded the tall man before he resumed his pacing.

The man with the samurai sword sat back, giving a nod to acknowledge their points.

"By all accounts though, Kuma had been successfully converted into a Pacifista cyborg, correct? No issues on the battlefield?"

"Indeed. One of the finest works of Dr. Vegapunk."

"We will need Vegapunk to create more advanced cyborgs and weapons. This technology is our main advantage right now," pointed out the youngest man.

"The other Pacifista were all utterly destroyed in the war," remarked the man opposite him.

"Before they were deployed. It wasn't because their performance was lacking," he countered.

"I am more worried about the D's right now. We can't have them run free to wreak more havoc."

The other four either nodded or declared their vehement agreement.

"Monkey D. Luffy and Lina are not only Dragon's children, but those two and their crew had caused us lots of trouble, from taking out Warlords, to invading Enies Lobby and defeating CP9, to causing the breakout of Impel Down, and then ruining our plans for the War of Marineford."

"Crashed and burnt," someone murmured bitterly.

"Don't forget the son of Roger, he shouldn't have survived until adulthood! We took steps to stop that, and look at what had happened."

"We need to have a plan on how to get rid of them. All three!"

"What about sending the three remaining Warlords to get rid of them?" someone suggested.

"Especially the Monkey girl. Have you seen what they call her? The Goddess of Chaos."

This comment brought chaos into the room, as the five elders began speaking over each other.

"It does fit, as they destabilize the world. They need to go."

"We need to take care of her fast! Have her bounty increased!"

"How much?"

"The higher the better"

"One billion?"

"Isn't that too much?"

"What about her brother? Who is the captain? According to the reports, breaking in and out of Impel was mainly his work, and we still don't know how he did it."

"The same bounty for both of them!"

"Maybe we should send an Admiral after them?"

"Who? Akainu is dead, and did they find the fool Kizaru? The only Admiral we have left right now is Aokiji, and he is busy keeping the Marines afloat."

"Did you just pun us?"

"I—"

"Who would have thought that the lazy one would be the most reliable?"

"He will have to be the new Fleet Admiral"

"What will we do if we find Kiraru?"

"Shouldn't we just not find him?"

"He does have one of the most powerful Devil Fruits, and his own strength is impressive."

"It's wasted on him."

"We can still use him! The situation is precarious as it is, but if we lose two admirals, then Kaidou or Big Mom will attack! That is if he is alive!"

"Maybe not as an Admiral! We need to find new replacements quickly!"

"If he is found, we should have the CP0 interrogate him thoroughly."

"You don't really believe the ridiculous rumor that he is a traitor," asked one of the five with a deep frown.

"No, not really. We do thoroughly check them before they get to this rank, and he has been with Marines for a long time. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious, especially now."

The others nodded their agreement.

"Indeed. I really want to know how exactly he got caught. It was what started this whole fiasco. The reports we received remain inconclusive. If he is alive, he better have some answers."

"If we are keeping him as an Admiral, we will need something drastic for him to redeem himself to the public. Right now he is the butt of the joke, and dragging us down with him."

"Something like killing the bloody D's! Even if it isn't him, we can give him the credit."

"An excellent idea. And if we decided we want him gone, we can always make it look like he had avenged Justice by killing the pirates before succumbing to his wounds. That he died a true hero of the marines."

A few snorted, while others had contemplative looks.

"It may just work."

"It will. It makes for a good story. The public loves good stories. We just need to find him first. If at all."

"In terms of the greater threats we face, what we need to do now is to buy enough time, so Vegapunk can continue his own technological breakthroughs to give us the edge we need."

"And if we are keeping the Warlords, then replacement pirates too!"

"We need really strong ones if we are to restore the balance."

"What about Buggy?"

"I feel like I am repeating myself, but isn't he dead? "

"No body was found."

"He is a good candidate. He's one of Roger's original crew, and he flew under our radar for so long."

They all calmly considered this, before one of them pointed out, "He was involved with Straw hat Luffy leading the breakout of Impel Down and then leading a large number of pirates to fight, and he had played a big role in Lina's plans. Even leading the attack and the destruction of the Red Port."

"Indeed. He is dangerous, better to have him on our side than against us if he is alive."

"If he refuses?"

"Given what he has already done, and who he associates with, like those D's we need him dead before he becomes an even greater threat..."

"Maybe not," mused one.

"Oh?"

"We should catch him and see if he knew about how they were able to block Observation Haki. He was so prominent a leader, that the Monkey girl may have been forced to share it with him"

"Do Veapunk and Cipher Pol still have no idea?"

"Until we can question Kizaru, the best they have to offer is that it has something to do with seastone. They have some experiments planned."

Silence descended as each of the five people in that richly paneled room sat quietly contemplating all the information they had shared.

"So..." clearing his throat, the man with bald head and spots over his eye asked quietly. "Who will tell .. Imu-sama?"

Silence meets his question.

"I was the one that spoke with their majesty last. So it won't be me."

There were a few people muttering 'coward' under their breath.

"Draw straws?"

The suggestion got cold glaring eyes. Were they little children?

"Rock, paper, scissors?"

"No way, you all cheat!"

"It isn't our fault that your Observation Haki is undeveloped." At least in comparison to the absolute mastery the others had.

"Very lacking!" tusked someone.

"One must use all his full abilities to his advantage."

"Do we have… to tell Imu-sama?"

They all froze and stared at the speaker. Emotions ranging from incredulity to suspicion. To not tell their majesty seemed to cross beyond mere treason into heresy!

Blondie cleared his throat.

"I mean… shouldn't we … isn't it better to make our report after we have taken care of the problem?"

Contemplative silence met his proposal.

"Hmmm…. That's a good idea."

"Yeah, which means we need to take care of it soon. And... make sure they don't see the newspaper just yet. Create some distractions.''

"It will be an incentive for us!"

Yes! indeed! The Five Elder Stars were merely choosing to wait to inform the supreme ruler of the world of how wonderful everything was after taking care of the problems. It was not all because they were scared shitless, trembling like a leaf in the eye of the storm at the sheer colossal mess they could be held responsible for. Not at all.

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"Really?" Lina demanded from Jinbe and Rayleigh. Her voice was laced with disappointment and ridicule. "I expect something like that from Luffy." She tilted her head to point at her brother, sitting on the ground between the two old men.

Luffy was beaming at her, flashing his million-volt smile at full riddance. The straw hat, his treasure, was finally back on its owner's head. Its rightful place.

"But you two?"

The older men had the decency to look a bit sheepish. Jinbe even looked a bit guilty and was finding it hard to meet her eyes. Rayleigh was mostly amused.

Goddess, men were soooo stupid.

It's a good thing that they at least didn't involve Ace With their plans. What a disaster that will have been.

If Luffy had not come to say goodbye, she wouldn't have even known. She shuddered at the thought.

They were now on an abandoned island near Amazon Lily, laying low for a while. It was a temporary solution.

She really needed to keep a closer eye on Luffy (in general) while he was still recuperating.

For a second, she entertained asking Ace to do the job but dismissed the idea. She wanted him to look after their idiot brother, not join in. If he knew about it beforehand, Ace would go with Luffy on his trip back to Marineford, and throw a Fire show, flames, sparks, everything, all while trying to outperform the earlier fireworks. He would do it intending to really give those reporters something to witness and write about.

"We needed to tell the crew that the plan had changed!" Luffy explained, with a glare and a huff. As if she was the stupid one.

"Sure," she agreed.

She had been busy with so many things. They had been on this island, hidden from the world for less than a week. And she didn't have a moment to breathe. So many things to do, so little time.

Truthfully, it was her own fault that she was this busy. She didn't...couldn't sit still and do nothing. If she stopped, she would be forced to confront her own tangled thoughts. Where she was constantly analyzing every decision she had ever made —not only on the war, she could go back to her childhood just as easily— second-guessing herself, her thoughts process, her actions, others' actions and motivation.

Hindsight was a real tough bitch, and her biggest flaw.

Lina could slide so easily down this specific rabbit hole, deeper and deeper. It wouldn't be easy to stop the slide, harder to get out. She was down that road before, when she had lost a brother. It wasn't something she wanted to remember.

If second-guessing was an art, she would be the most infamous artist of her time.

She tried to sit beside Luffy's bed, bandaged in white, tubes connecting him to machines she didn't understand. She tried to stare at his pale face, at his chest as it raised and fell, and she just couldn't.

Ace clearly was faring no better, as he was blaming himself. What for? Well, for everything. Even then he had tried to comfort her and fretted about her. She wanted to comfort him, but couldn't find the words. That didn't mean she hadn't hugged him extra hard each time she had seen him, and murmured how glad that he was here with them, in her arms.

So, she volunteered to help the pirates they were staying with. She had insisted when they had gently told her she had done enough and should rest. She had refused their refusal.

(Luffy would be so proud.)

A war, either as winner or loser, had devastating consequences. Those that survived were the ones that had to shoulder them. She had buried herself with helping mostly to keep busy, but also to alleviate some of the guilt. Helping figure out who lived or died, logistics of supplies, safe routes for the Whitebeard's allies to return to the New World, making records of people and things of note during the war, checking on Oars as much possible, trying to keep the giant's spirit up, and reading and re-reading newspapers to get some insight into how the world was reacting, etcetera (even though she skipped the eulogy section, she already had enough guilt to bare, thank you very much! Who the hell put eulogy at the front page?!). Not that she had seen any of those lately.

Ace had taken upon himself, as his solemn duty as big brother (and you know how obsessed he can be), to kidnap all newspapers from her sight. According to the very healthy, well-balanced, mentally resilient Ace, it wasn't healthy physically or mentally to obsessively read and check the newspaper as she was doing.

Let the past stay in the past, he said. She had laughed in his face at that, pointing out it was the kettle calling the pot black. Maybe she used the wrong example because he would not budge on the issue.

That didn't stop her from sneakily trying to get one or two newspapers, but her brother did know her too well and foiled the attempts. It just wasn't worth the fight, she did make him promise to tell her if any of their crew were mentioned, and to let her know of any prominent events.

They ended up putting her in charge, maybe thinking they would keep her from the hard, dirty work, or they were impressed with her work in the war. Either way, she was overworked and content.

Although at one point she did still manage to have a long hot bath and a night of good long sleep. Meanwhile, Ace threatened anyone trying to wake her like the good older brother he was.

Her captain, the sleeping beauty, had woken up yesterday, and after checking on her and Ace and hugging them to death, he had begun trying to find a way to reach their crew.

Well, the issue was always on the back of her mind, but she had so many things to attend to and she wasn't able to conjure any plan for them to connect with all of their friends. Their family. Their nakama...

Except to wait in the last place they were all together before separating, Sabaody Archipelago.

At first, she thought of having some of Ace's crew wait there undercover, keeping an eye out for them. After all, she and Luffy had become too high profile to do it themselves without attracting attention. Lina had already sent a few people to check on the Sunny, but she had yet to hear from them. She was trying not to worry too much, and she hadn't mentioned it to Luffy, yet.

Luffy in a very Luffy manner, had right away chosen to focus on the thing that mattered the most, and with help of those two fools had cooked up a plan. There's a reason why Sanji doesn't let Luffy set foot in the kitchen, except for snacks and mealtime.

It had warmed her heart and filled her with confidence to see that Luffy had never even once entertained the notion that something could be wrong with their crew. That maybe they wouldn't want to come back. Or maybe they would take this as a chance to part ways from them. Or that they could be...dead.

Don't get her wrong. She loved their crew. She looked at them in almost the same revering way she looked at Luffy and Ace. And she definitely trusted that they had the ability to survive on their own.

But that was what she did best: second-guessed.

Her twin perked up at her acknowledgment, while the other two were smart enough to know better than to say anything.

"And your very brilliant idea is to go back to Marineford, and to ring some bell."

"The Ox Bell," supplied Rayleigh. He clearly was not impressed with her ire. Mostly, he seemed to be amused by the whole situation the longer it continued.

Lina glared at him, heatedly. It didn't seem to faze him.

Jinbe cleared his throat and explained, "We thought... Luffy..." he winced, but continued. Still avoiding her gaze. "...would ring it 16 times, 'cause the ringing of the bell signifies the end of one year, and the beginning of another. Except then it is only 8 times."

"Aha," she singled for him to go on with her eyebrow first, but he was still not looking, so she emitted a sound.

"There will be reporters there, and then they will take pictures of Luffy..." he trailed off as Luffy showed off his arm to her.

Painted on it in black ink was: "3D," with big X crossing it, and below it appeared "2Y."

Very easy to understand to anyone from their crew. Instead of 3 days as they had promised, it will be 2 years until they meet, which meant that Luffy had decided to take Rayleigh on his offer to train him.

This whole thing (Sabaody, Impel Down, Marineford) had shown them that they were very lacking. For the New World, they needed to be stronger. Much stronger. To be able to protect those they care about.

She had few offers herself to consider, now that she knew what Luffy was planning…

Luffy excitedly explained. "We don't know where they are, but newspapers reach everywhere! They will see it, and they will know we are okay, and that the time for us to meet up again has changed."

"Also after what happened all the eyes will be on your crew," Rayleigh calmly explained. "In two years, you would be more obscure. Not completely after the feats you pulled, but enough that you should be able to move more freely."

"That's a good idea," Lina murmured to herself. It was surprisingly well thought out. The message part of it at least.

Luffy immediately jumped to his feet.

"See… let's go before the reporters leave." Luffy was halfway to the boat, while the other two stood still, frozen in their place.

"No one is going anywhere!" she shouted to the retreating Luffy.

"But, you just said..." Jinbe began to say and abruptly stopped from one look of her eyes.

Luffy turned and stared at her intently. He was giving her time to explain.

She didn't back down.

"We just need a clear picture of your arm, the writing has to be seen, and for it to be published in every paper," she said and after a small pause added. "Better if the picture is on the front page."

"Yes, that's why we need to go now," Jinbe tried again, but stopped without her even needing to turn to face him.

When she finally did, the look on her eyes reminded him of a weird Human saying about a cat that ate the cream.

"Why go to them when they could come to us," she simply stated with a big smile almost rivaling Luffy's.

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"It's a pleasure to meet you, Goddess of Chaos. It's an honor really. Thank you, thank you. I, Morgans, the president of the World Economy News Paper, am very glad for this exclusive interview. Delighted really."

Lina looked at the two older pirates behind her with a raised eyebrow. Her face was carefully blank.

See amateurs? This is how it is done.

It was the KISS rule.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

"My demands..." she said shortly to the eager birdy. It was really funny, especially considering he was towering above her with his impressive features. The brains of the Monkey twins had to keep her hands to her sides, mostly because she wasn't sure she would be able to resist the urge to ruffle his feathers! They looked so soft! She could see herself plucking away each feather and putting them into pillow cases and mattresses (He was big after all) to comfort her very deserving head and backside.

While she couldn't ruffle his feathers literally, she relented to ruffling them figuratively.

It wasn't as much fun, but it would do in a pinch.

The tall man-bird was a step away from jumping out of his feathers, mused Lina. Maybe he would leave enough for at least a pillow.

"Of course," the albatross hybrid said, unlocking a few boxes that he had brought personally with him for the small ship, or was it a small submarine? He had needed to do a few trips.

Their meeting place barely qualified as an isle, more like a rock sticking out of the water, with barely enough room for six people to stand on comfortably. As it was, Jinbe had to tread water to the side as a silent bodyguard. He assured her it was fine though, and pointed out a Fishman in the ocean was a more pointed threat than one on land.

"800 million beli, as agreed upon." Prudently, he made a point of also shifting the money so she could see the bills went all the way to the bottom. No tricks.

Nami would have been in heaven. Lina could almost see the beli sign pulsing out of her eyes, and after hugging her to death, Nami would have taken charge of every single beli. And would have counted each coin before starting over fresh several times.

The albatross zoan in front of her had a similar look. The problem was that he wasn't looking at the money, but at her.

Like a magpie, fascinated with shiny things, and by his look she was a very shiny jewel (no, not Luffy's kind of jewel).

He waited for a nod from her, before adding. "And my top photographer is here to take wonderful pictures of Captain Straw Hat Luffy, and you will have the last word in which one we will use."

A man with a Den-Den Camera was moving around swiftly and easily in the tiny space, taking picture after picture of Luffy from every angle possible and not possible. He was shouting something each time before the flash. Lina wasn't sure, but she could swear it was 'Fire.' Rayleigh and Jinbe were there so she wasn't really worried. Wait, how the hell did he go underground to take pictures from that angle? Was there a hole? Wait, was he standing on water? Okay, better not think too much about this. Roll with it!

Luffy in his turn, was striking pose after pose, making sure the writing on his arm is always visible.

"Attachan, the cap isn't on, right?" the president asked with an awkward chuckle.

The man stopped moving (Yes, he was standing on water! How? And could he teach her!?), checked his camera, gave the okay sign, and continued to take picture after picture. Luffy was making faces to try to look scary, or maybe intimidating, and failing spectacularly. He always ended up laughing.

Lina looked back at the reporter with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. But the man-bird gave an embarrassed laugh.

"Front page?" she demanded.

This time, he let out an amused laugh. "Kuwahahaha, of course, and you will get a copy of the whole article beforehand, and we will wait for your approval before we publish it." He vowed; she narrowed her eyes on him. Trying to be intimidating, and hoping not to fail like Luffy.

She really didn't care about what was written in the article, but she wasn't going to let him know their true purpose. Let him think it was all about the money and fame.

While keeping herself busy, she had read some of the articles he had personally written about the war (before Ace's intervention had snatched some away from her that is), and he had gotten most of the details right. She had been impressed by some of his insightful speculations, and how he had subtly made fun of and criticized the Marines and the World Government in a manner he could plausibly deny. All of which had been promising, yet what sealed the deal for her was the fact that he had the biggest newspaper company, which reached everywhere in the world via news coo.

The agreement she had cooked up, was that he could ask her five questions. Any five questions. If there was one she couldn't or wouldn't answer, he got another one. She was very intrigued by a man like him, especially with what Marco and Rayleigh had told her about his other role. That he was an Underground Emperor.

What would his first question be?

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Morgans felt like a little boy, buzzing with excitement. He was anxious, excited, fidgeting, and he really was trying to be patient.

He had five questions. Only five. No, he got to ask the Goddess five questions. Only him!

Especially after he lost one of his scoops. He can't believe that those small news journals had beaten him to writing about the fact that there was now a way to block Observation Haki!

He should have known that he wouldn't be the only one to notice it. His mom used to tell him that his arrogance will be his downfall. He got greedy and wanted to keep it all to himself for a bit longer. Or at least to have a fuller picture before he shared the news. Despite the pressure the World Government was bringing to bear to keep things under wraps, it was too late now, and the cat was out of the bag. He was hoping that the Goddess of Chaos would be willing to share that information with him; he intended to use his last question to ask, so as not to seem demanding from the start.

Speaking of which, the World Government was stretched thin trying to radiate the charade of Business As Usual. Except Morgans could see the thin cracks, and how they were starting to grow. The war did a number on them, and things were only getting worse.

That didn't stop them from showing their serious displeasure by sending CP0 of all groups after him. They would never admit it, but public opinion mattered. It mattered a Lot. It was easier to rule when the masses saw you as all-powerful and didn't dare to even entertain the idea of revolting.

It was only his great mind and the preparation he had begun when he was still at Sabaody that made possible his escape and disappearance from their radar. (Kuwahahaha! so long suckers!)

Either way, he knew what he would ask first, without a doubt.

Lina D. Monkey tilted her head purposely, giving him permission to start. The Goddess was a woman of few words he had noted. She used nonverbal cues to give instructions and communicate.

The open cases of beli he had brought her as per her request, were left open and untouched, she had hardly given them a courtesy glance.

He wasn't naive to think that she trusted him. No, it was a clear power move.

Lina D. Monkey was sure he wouldn't dare cheat her. She knew the strength of her position, and it wasn't like she was bluntly flaunting it. It was more like she was gracefully welding it.

A flash of her wielding a sword with the cape she was wearing flying behind, appeared in his head.

Examining her clothes, the only thing extraordinary about it was the oversized cape she was wearing. It was too big for her thin frame. It was being held by strings over her shoulders, but she seemed very at ease in it. She didn't trip or seemed to be conscious of its bigger size.

At first impression, Lina D. Monkey would seem a small and unassuming figure, but her eyes…

Over the years, Morgans had met many different and dangerous people. From spies and assassins who posed as whores, ruthless merchants, and even the Emperor Big Mom and most of her Ministers. So he could say with experience that this young woman's eyes had a calculating depth to them. They poured into your soul. He knew then that for this interview, he needed to look further, beneath the surface, much deeper. And each minute passing in her presence added to that feeling.

Morgans wasn't able to hide his surprise at the people that had greeted him when he arrived at their meeting place. At least the visible ones, he could see several ships surrounding them and recognized some as Whitebeard's allies.

One wrong move, and he would be a toasted albatross. Worse, he had a disturbing feeling that her captain would be the one to eat him.

Those that greeted him in the flesh were 'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe, as he had suspected the Fishman had survived the explosion. He was a fishman after all in a body of water. Need he say more? Pity that the Great Captain Buggy didn't survive. No, not really, his death made the story better.

And beside him stood the 'Dark King' Rayleigh. The first mate of the Pirate King was alive, and had a connection to the D siblings. He almost choked trying to stop himself from shouting BIG NEWS. Any other day, and he would be drooling at the possibility of interviewing either one of them, but definitely Rayleigh. He wondered what his feelings were about the passing of the Great Buggy, his former crewman, in the way he did? He wished he could ask, but best not press his chances.

Today?

Today these two living legends were only here as witnesses and bodyguards.

The President of the World Economy News Paper had no doubt that the Dark Knight appearance in front of him was a calculated move. A test maybe? Was the Goddess testing his resolve? If he would keep his end of the deal? Or was it to keep him hooked? To make him aware she was a mine of unknown and exciting information, and if he wanted any, he better stay on her good side?

It was so hard to say, as she had proven herself a master strategist and tactician, surpassing even the likes of Sengoku and Tsuru.

Her brother was another mystery. His moves since he became a notorious pirate were all over the place, and there was no rhythm or reason to it. Morgans had done extensive research after the war had ended. In one word: excitement!

The picture in his mind was the complete contrast to the goofy person that was striking poses for Attachan to capture. How much of it was deliberate?

He resisted the urge to ask Attachan again about the camera cap.

Really, he had already lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of his cameraman's carelessness.

Kizaru in seastone cuffs.

What a loss!

Morgans wasn't too prideful to admit that he had cried. He was grieving such a lost vision.

He was swinging between the two last stages of grief, depression, and acceptance when he received the Goddess' request. That didn't mean he had forgiven the cameraman. Kizaru in cuffs!

He did say that words were even better than pictures. But the picture here was the proof, and that's why it was needed. Kizaru in cuffs!

Honestly, the man was only here because Morgans had no other cameraman with him, and Lina had (prudently) only given him a short amount of time to appear.

With some effort, Morgans forced his bitter disappointment down his throat, and focused on the present. And a very exciting one at that.

He can smell the future's Big News.

Morgans cleared his throat one more time and tried not to rush his words.

"If I may ask a bold question, why did you call your genius plan F?"

The only reaction he had received was a narrowing of the eyes, and tilting of the head.

Had his question surprised her? He thought gleefully. Did she not expect him to know of the plan or its name?

He had made sure not to mention it in the papers yet, and discouraged others from bluntly naming it. He wanted to know the origin of the name before revealing it. Both for accuracy, and to milk out as many details over what happened in Marineford for as long as possible.

"Where did you hear about it?" she finally asked. Her question was clearly vague, that she was trying to throw him off. Fishing for information? Trying to find out how much he knew?

Taking a chance, Morgans decided to put his cards on the table. Hopefully, it would surprise her, and maybe he would catch her off-guard and learn a few things. He would not publish them, but that doesn't mean he can't use them in other ways in the future.

"I see, you are trying to see how much I figured out," he smugly announced, she only raised an eyebrow as if challenging him.

Morgans loved challenges. Without much ado he explained.

"The Legend, and your Dear friend and Ally, the Great Captain Buggy, held the key to the whole plan…"

He kept on talking, explaining in as much possible detail every step of her plan as he had inferred.

While he spoke, he was unflinchingly watching her every facial expression, every emotion that flickered through her eyes, just like a hawk (Yes, he is aware that he is an albatross. Thank you very much for noticing the obvious).

He tried to keep his face blank, and voice professional, filtering out his excitement.

Granted, it was their first meeting, and he didn't know her well enough to be able to deduce much, but the only thing he was getting from her was confusion. Was she confused by how much he found out? Or maybe by why he hasn't published the whole details already? It was just like his reasons with Plan F. Except of course Plan F was but one small part of what he had planned for the Genius Jester! The Great Buggy.

The article he had planned for that man would cover his entire life story, and take up several pages! Even readers who loathed pirates would lap it up! It would be his (latest) masterpiece!

After he finished, he asked right away, eagerly. "Did I get everything right?"

She seemed to hesitate, before reluctantly answering, "Mostly". Her voice was low, almost a whisper. Doubtless she was still grieving the loss of such a devoted friend.

Sensitive to her feelings, Morgans only gave a solemn nod, while inwards he was jumping up and down in excitement, shouting Big News.

He cleared his throat and brought the conversation back on track.

"Then back to my question, F?"

"Emmm… Freedom," she blurted out.

F for Freedom. So simple. So elegant.

It fits. Of course.

"Freedom, yes of course. It makes sense!"

Morgans mumbled to himself,

"Freeing your brother. Free Ace. Yes. Freedom from the rules that the World Government is trying to impose with the use of the Marines. Freedom is like the sea. Freedom is a pirate's dream. Sailing the sea. Like Free spirits!"

Morgans was marveling about how one letter could hold so much profoundness.

"I wanna be the Pirate King because he has the most freedom on the sea. Pirate King is Freedom!" Captain Straw Hat Luffy announced, suddenly appearing beside his sister.

Morgans had an unexplained shiver run down his spine when looking at the black eyes of her brother at his announcement. The way he spoke left you with no doubt of his conviction. He still looked goofy and his smile was stretching widely across his face. Yet, it rang True.

And right there and then, he knew the young captain was going to be the next Pirate King.

It was only at that moment it truly registered for Morgans how the twins standing side-by-side had the same eyes. He wondered if he could get a picture of the two of them together; that would be just...perfect.

And just as he suddenly appeared, the Captain was back to his previous spot, making poses to Attchan's extreme delight. Being no slouch himself, despite his comical appearance, Morgans noted the impressive degree of speed for one so young.

The Pirate King was the freest.

That was the most quotable line he ever heard. He wondered if he could tweak it and use it as a title.

Luffy D. Monkey's ambition was to be the Pirate King, but he was not chasing after the treasure of One Piece like many others, but after Freedom.

And to be Free you had to be strong. The strongest.

The name of the F plan had the hidden meaning of the Straw Hat Crew ambition. They were aiming to be the freest, the strongest.

Morgans forces his spiraling thoughts to pause. Freedom!

"Freedom, very poetic! Indeed. Thank you."

The Goddess was looking at him strangely. Morgans composed himself and asked his other urgent question.

"How do you feel about the death of the Great Buggy? And any words you wish you could say to him? Or words for a eulogy?" he hurriedly asked. He hoped she would not call him on the fact that it was two questions looped into one.

But she surprised him once more.

"Is Buggy… dead?"

"Yes, I mean isn't he? I wrote him an eulogy. The greatest one I ever wrote. You didn't read it? Wait, are you imp— saying that he isn't? That the Great Buggy lives… he is alive?" (He lives in you~~)

She merely looked at him, and shrugged her shoulders as if it was no skin off her nose if the Great Buggy lived or not.

But she couldn't fool Morgans, he knew of her plans with the Great Buggy. The bond they shared. The sacrifice he had done in her name.

Yet, her facade was effortlessly telling him that she didn't care, while her words indicated otherwise. How scary.

Goddess of Chaos indeed.

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Damn, he knew it.

She would not answer his last question about blocking Observation Haki.

Morgans was hoping she would either bluntly tell him the method in that unpredictable way of hers, or let it slip. He wondered if he offered her more money would she agree to part with the secret? Maybe if he promised to keep it to himself, for personal use only.

Better not chance it. Plus, he already had a thousand more questions swarming through his brain, but the Straw Hat's Captain's earlier statement was still in the forefront of his mind.

The Pirate King is the Freeset in the sea.

Before he could think better of it, he asked, "Do you think One Piece exists?"

The Goddess of chaos caught her breath. Her unguarded response told him that while he had maybe caught her off-guard with Plan F, now he had finally truly surprised her.

She hadn't expected this question.

Morgans, barely able to contain the wild glee bouncing around inside of him, explained his rationale.

"It had been more than twenty years, but no one had found even the tail of a clue." Which wasn't the most accurate statement, he was confident that Big Mom and Kiadou knew something, yet still he let stand.

Lina seemed to be pondering for a few seconds, and then she nodded to herself.

Morgans with bated breath, clenched his pen closer to the papers he had been writing on.

She opened her mouth to say something, but—

"The One Piece does exist!" A loud decisive voice announced.

Monkey D. Luffy was back by his sister's side.

He was looking at Morgans with a strange frown, as if wondering if Morgans was stupid for asking a question with such an obvious answer.

"Does it?" insisted Morgans. As subtle as possible, with all his skill as a journalist, he shifted his gaze between the siblings, and out of the corner of his eye kept part of his attention reserved for the Dark King's reaction.

Morgans was mentally berating himself for almost missing the obvious. In his presence was one of the original crew of the man that announced the existence of One Piece. Standing mere feet away.

As much as he had decided earlier to focus on the D's, he had become too immersed in them.

They had pulled him under, into the ocean with shimmering waves of different shades of blue and green. As Rays of warm sunshine filtered through.

So breathtakingly beautiful, that it was hard to remember that other things existed on the surface.

Yet, the First Mate of the Pirate King was staring with amusement at the younger captain. So was Jinbe. Not mockingly either.

Both of them had a similar look lurking in their eyes. He was able to easily recognize it, only because he had seen it so often, almost every day when he had looked at himself in the mirror. Something akin to blooming wonder. To watch with a kind of hold-your-breath excitement to see how it would grow. Until now, that feeling was always associated firmly with the latest piece of Big News.

Definitely no sign they thought him foolish or naive.

It seemed all eyes, including his sister's, were looking at the rookie captain. Even Attachan, who stopped taking pictures.

Morgans also stared.

He was searching to see what no mere regular mortal could see. And he saw . . .

Something beyond people's ability to comprehend, or for even a journalist like himself to put into words. Yet he still could see it. Knew it, deep within his soul.

The best he could attempt was an 'endless passion,' 'hunger to succeed, 'or 'resolve.'

Maybe, assurance?

Yes. Absolute Assurance.

That was what he saw in his posture, face and eyes.

Assurance, determination, and pride. It was engulfing him like a halo. His eyes shimmered like an inferno with fierce, wild light.

A will of flame that can't be extinguished.

The Will of D, came unbidden to his mind. Was that what he was looking at right now?

Straw Hat Luffy was standing in front of him, Morgans' tall frame towering over him. Physically. Yet, right then and there, the President of the World Economy Newspaper, and Emperor of the Underworld, felt so very small in front of him.

It was as if Luffy D. Monkey was carrying the history of the world on his back, and challenging the whole world to fight.

But Morgans needed verbal words; answers. Not only assurance.

"What do you know? Did you ask the Dark King about—"

"Why would I ask him?"

"To know of cours—"

The young pirate snorted, shaking his head at him. The look on his face was saying clearly that Morgans had missed the point. It felt like the both of them were talking about utterly different topics.

"Why wouldn't you ask?"

"It would be boring!" he said as if it explained everything.

"Boring?" repeated Morgans, feeling completely lost. Had he misread him? Was his previous impression of the young promising captain wrong? The thing he had just seen, was it just a mere illusion?

Before the disappointment could settle inside of him...

"The One Piece exists because everyone is searching for it. Everybody set out to sea, risking their lives to search for it!"

No, maybe his first impression isn't wrong.

"But don't you want to be the first to reach it, to conquer the sea?"

"I Don't Wanna Conquer Anything. It's Just That The Person With The Most Freedom On The Sea Is The Pirate King."

"You would have to face strong enemies in your journey, you already met some of them, fought them!"

Straw Hat's posture seemed to shout 'so what?'

"I don't care how many enemies I have to fight! I'm gonna be the Pirate King! If they are strong then I have to be stronger! I am not going to give up because of such a thing. I will regret it. If I die while I am fighting for my dream, then I die."

And with that, once again the captain was gone from his eyes. He could hear him complaining loudly to the Knight of the Sea and the Dark King about how hungry he was and when they would eat.

The Goddess had a pleased and fond smile as she looked at her brother's back. The other two pirates were also smiling, although theirs had a more approving vibe.

Even Attachan was staring after the enigmatic captain in a daze. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to reprimand him, when he was in the same predicament...

The young rookie had a magnetic pull about him.

Morgans cleared his throat, trying to find his footing.

He caught the attention of his sister, who turned to him. She gave him a knowing look, and with a shrug answered his question, the tiny snowball that had brought down the avalanche.

"What he said," with a final look, she gave him her back and joined her brother.

The interview was over. He had had his five questions.

One Piece Does Exist.

Oh, he definitely intended to use the words the Strawhat captain had said.

He was a D.

The grandson of the Hero of the Marines.

The son of the Revolutionary Leader.

The Brother of Ace, son of Kings: Roger D. Gol and Whitebeard. The latter had gone to war to prove it.

The sister of Goddess of Chaos. Who chose to follow him, instead of striking out on her own.

A D chasing after another D's achievement. The Pirate King.

Has the blessing and approval of the Pirate King's first mate.

Two Yonko's seemed to favor him, yet he had never shown allegiance to any of them. Neither had they put him under their blunt protection.

Two ex-Warlords respected him. One of them was standing guard over him right now.

The young rookie in front of him in his first sailing did what others never dared to do. He had conquered the three places that the Gates of Justice are linked to: Enies Lobby, Impel Down and Marineford. A feat never done before.

Morgans believed him.

The One Piece exists.

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Dammit! Another great title.

Which should he use?

It was such a hard decision to make. Life-altering even.

Freedom Spells Pirate King, or The One Piece Exists.

They both have an impact, grab the eye, pull you in….

Oh.

Why should he choose? When he can use both.

He had several editions to plan, write and publish.

..

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XXXXX

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..

"Sir, you are urgently needed. Please, sir, follow me, please."

He was always urgently needed somewhere as Fleet Admiral, and these days it has only gotten worse. Sengoku didn't even raise his head from the reports he was reading at his desk. Unfortunately, he couldn't skim reports these days because he doesn't know what was awaiting for him in each one. Too many little details to strangle his navy.

What was supposed to be a decisive blow against the Great Pirate Era had only inflamed it to even greater heights.

"Sir," the marine insisted. His voice had an anxious and urgent undertone.

The Fleet Admiral raised his head and stared at the intruder. God knows where his secretarial staff were at, for the young marine to be able to stroll in just like that.

Sengoku sighed inwardly. He shouldn't be too hard on them. They were all overworked.

They were all stretched thin. Too thin as they tried to cover the entire globe.

Everything was.

Resources and staff.

He felt he was living stretched too thin in every breath he took.

He had made the mistake of mentioning this analogy to Garp, who laughingly had to remind him that it wouldn't work on his grandson, who was made of rubber. Of course, then Garp would remember why his grandson was rubber to begin with, by whose helping hand, and the laughter would disappear.

He was sending the vice-admiral all over the place where things needed urgent care. It was only right; his grandson and granddaughter were the reason they were in this mess.

The Fleet Admiral wondered what Shanks had originally planned to do with Gomu Gomu no Mi that he had stolen from the World Government. And as curious as he was, he dared not ask Garp if the man had known of the significance of that Fruit to the World Government.

To make matters worse, he had been dealing too much to his liking with the Five Elder Stars. Fortunately not in person, due to the minor detail that the remaining destruction at Red Port made that impossible, but that did nothing to stop them from demanding meetings with White Den-Den Mushi to keep things secure. Privately, he suspected that having to use such means only irritated them further.

Sengoku was under no illusion, he knew before entering the war that one way or another, he would have to retire or resign. Even if they had a smashing win, killing Whitebeard and Ace, and even some of the top commanders of Whitebeard pirates and allies, which reality was far from it, he would still have to retire. Ending his career on a high-note, and leaving before anything could happen to possibly tarnish it.

In their minds, whichever vice-admiral distinguished themselves the most would be promoted to Admiral to fill the vacancy of whoever took Sengoku's seat. The newbie would then be brought up to standards for his new rank; all of which was a gamble built around the assumption that declaring Fire Fist's public execution would lead piracy to dwindle.

Obviously that had not happened, and he honestly had no idea what they were planning (dreaming) to do now.

As it was, in their discussions, the Five elders were still civil, but elegantly condescending. God forbid they ever be rude like common people. They had clearly shown their displeasure, and told him that they held him as the sole person responsible for the whole mess.

They would not retire him yet, but soon enough. Even with his perilous and shaky position, or maybe because of it, he had fought them with everything he had to officially acknowledge the full scope of the Impel Down breakout, and to allocate resources to catch the escaped prisoners, and to protect the public. Instead, they had refused to even entertain the notion of renewing the escapees' wanted posters.

The Fleet Admiral suggested they do it covertly then, using the different CP divisions. Only to find out that they were already assigned top priority missions. He had felt the displeasure radiate from them for daring to suggest such an absurd idea.

Only later, he had found out that those top-priority missions were all related to reporters and journalist personnel. Trying to control the official story of what had happened at Marineford and Red Port, all while lives were being lost.

Yet even with the might of Cipher Pol they couldn't stop the news from spreading near and far. Especially taking into account the fact that the strongest and brightest of CP0 had failed to locate Morgans, the president of the World Economy Newspaper. Of course, he was unable to take even the slightest satisfaction from that embarrassment, since inevitably it would mean his bosses demand his already precious few marines pick up the slack.

He had another fight about preparing a ceremony for those they lost in the war. The Five Elders ordered him not to make a big deal of it. They were more interested with the efforts made to catch and kill the Straw Hats.

The only bright side he could see in this mess was that Kuzan would be the Fleet Admiral following his retirement, and there would be no active competition.

He pitied the man really.

Search was still underway looking for Sakazuki. Sengoku really had given hope of finding him only after one day, but he didn't have the heart to stop the eager marines from searching for him. Crushing hope was never an easy part of the job, but it was his. He would let it go for a few more days, and then put a stop to it. It was not like they could truly spare anyone right now anyways. He would make sure the fool got a proper burial and ceremony with whatever pieces they find.

He really didn't like how Sakazuki would probably become a martyr of some kind. His ideals would live on, if only by the number of people who refused to acknowledge his idiocy in the last moments of his life. The Fleet Admiral would prefer to use these resources on other things, but morale was also important, especially given recent events, so a few more days before it was over.

For example, one of the projects he wanted to have started before he left, was recruiting more giants to the marines, the bigger the better. That would take a lot of resources and personnel to properly work though, and he currently lacked them.

Now, to the fidgeting Marine in front of him. He wasn't even sure which division he belonged to.

"Sir," begged the young marine.

Sengoku arched an eyebrow questionably. He didn't have time for games, his grave face was saying.

The young marine looked around cautiously, and after confirming that there was no one around (They were in the bloody Fleet Admiral office, you twit!), he moved closer and leaned across the desk and whispered two words, making the Fleet Admiral jump to his feet, and in whirlwind of activity he followed the young man as he expertly navigated different corridors of the base, stopping at an obscure storeroom of some kind, guarded by two marines who hurriedly greeted him and opened the door right away.

He strode in, followed by the young marine, to be greeted by grave looking Vice-Admiral Doberman. The Fleet Admiral did not spare a glance to the other occupants of the room, but he still noted the white uniform of the medic division.

"Here, sir," Doberman said, showing him to the open box. It was a large box, made of stone or what seemed like stone. It was glued together by wax of some kind. A makeshift kind of box. Someone or some people had hurriedly made it.

He could feel the energy coming from it before he had entered the room. Seastone.

Were they keeping him inside it because of his Devil Fruit Powers? Wasn't that an overkill? He had seen a few of the pirates with seastone cuffs. Why a box of seastone then? And where did they find so much seastone?

Sengoku stepped inside, followed by the Vice Admiral as the latter explained.

"... we found it a few minutes ago, seastone I think, or at least some of it. I had the sailor I sent find you immediately, and called for medics. But I wanted you …" he trailed off.

The young marine had whispered into his ears: Admiral Kizaru.

Pink ribbon caught his attention at first glance. The bloody brat had mentioned it. A pink ribbon.

Kizaru was alive, he was breathing from his mouth, emitting voices reminiscent of snoring. His eyes were closed. Was he unconscious? Sleeping?

On his head, in his hair was a bow of silky, pink ribbon.

Sengoku let out a sigh of relief in his mind, the man was alive. She —a pirate— had kept her end of the deal.

He tried to ignore everything else, and focused on the unconscious person.

Borsalino's usually tall frame seemed to shrink into itself, his wrists were bound behind his back with a seastone cuff and his legs were also bound together. His body seemed thin-skinned and his complexion sickly, and what he could see from his face was dry, chapped open lips with remains of pink lipstick and dried saliva dribbling down his chin. A remains of tape? His mouth had probably been shut with duct tape.

But no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, the fact that his signature yellow suit was missing was impossible to ignore.

The Fleet Admiral tried to examine it clinically rather than… whatever.

Black lacy bra.

Matching purple thong.

Black garter belts holding up see-through thigh-high stockings, with lacey, purple tops.

And his bounded feet had on them five-inch purple heels.

How the hell were they able to dress him up while he was bound?

That was without speaking about the heavy makeup on his face. Can eyelashes be that long? Wait, were his nails done? They were long? Too long? With strange shapes drawn on them. Letters? He could make out an F and a U and a K….

"We are trying every key we have to open those cuffs! If we can't find it soon, we will try and pick the locks, or break them by force," Doberman vowed, interrupting his contemplations.

The Fleet Admiral gave an acknowledging nod, his brain whirling with all he had seen, and with his one and only conversation with Lina D. Monkey. The bringer of Chaos.

Sengoku took a few steps back to let the medics and a marine with a ring of keys do their job. He frowned his face as he noticed what he had missed in his haste to check inside the box.

Outside the hastily made box, there were several words written on all sides. Things like: 'Top Secret,' 'Fragile,' 'Carry With care,' Touch with care,' 'Made of glass,' 'Tread lightly'…

And in Bold letters:

'To the esteemed Fleet Admiral,

'An Admiral with Pink ribbon as requested.

'Returned (mostly) in the same shape as received.

'Best regards,

'The Straw Hats.'

"No one is to know about this. No one!" Threatened the Fleet Admiral as he stormed off that place.

Where was bloody Garp?

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XXXXX

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Morgans was in heaven.

The interview was worth every beli. Indeed, he would have paid triple to get his hand on this information.

His mind was already planning several editions. He had promised the Goddess of Chaos to send her a copy by the end of day, and to print the first article with pictures of the captain by tomorrow. She had already chosen one.

She had refused for her pictures to be taken. A real pity!

He had wondered why she had needed the articles to be published so fast, but knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The Goddess was walking him to his mini-submarine. It was a good practice run for the one he was already having designed. Figuring what kind of constraints he would have to work under, before building a bigger, more sophisticated one as his new headquarters.

The World Government would never be able to catch a feather of his gorgeous tail!

It's unfortunate that she would not reveal her secret about blocking Observation Haki. He would have loved to use it on his new mobile headquarters.

She seemed deep in thought, noted Morgans.

Lina suddenly cleared her throat and hesitatingly asked. It was very out of character which intrigued him even more.

"I wanted to ask for your professional opinion. I had to come to possess a picture of unique nature, and I was wondering what best to do with it."

A picture?

Morgans frowned, why all this hesitation? What kind of picture?

She carefully took something out of her back pocket, and slowly showed him.

Morgans took a glimpse of a very colorful picture and froze.

Not even two seconds and the picture was back in her pocket.

"I feel that such a piece of history should be shared with the world, don't you agree?"

Morgan's closed his peak. When had he opened it?

He swallowed the drools that almost poured off it as he nodded enthusiastically.

Yes, yes, yes. It needed to be shared. Preferably by him.

"How much do you think I should sell it for?" Her coy and unsure demeanor was gone, the ruthless businesswoman was back.

In the back of his mind, he noted that Lina had spoken in these few minutes more than the whole interview. The other parts were trying to compute what he had seen.

"Maybe in an auction? As an expert, what do you think?"

If Morgans had ever thought that maybe Kizaru and Lina were in cahoots, that doubt was dished out of the bloody gate.

"800 million beli?"

"Tempting, tempting," she intoned. She clearly had a purpose.

"1 billion?"

He had to have it! Kizaru in cuffs! Hope was not lost. The vision was even more beautiful than before. Very… hmmm… Colorful!

She seemed to ponder.

"I will take the 1 billion, but I wanna see your true face," she paused, letting her demand sink in, before adding, "it's only fair!"

(Somewhere out there, an orange-haired girl felt an urge to leap into the air and shout! She dismissed it as gas.)

He shook himself literally from his frozen state, his feathers getting rumpled.

Damn it! She drove a really hard bargain.

He expected nothing less of the Goddess.

He didn't want his disguise to lose its effectiveness, no one must know, but this beautiful, glorious picture.

He felt it slipping out of his hands.

NO!

Kizaru in cuffs!

He clenched his feathered hand.

"Deal, but only you."

"Great, I will let you have two days to prepare the money. Your face, I will see now!" She said in a matter-of-fact voice, as she was staring expectantly at him.

Morgans swallowed. He felt that he got the real short stick out of the deal.

But.

But…

Kizaru in cuffs!

He nodded.

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Fools! Thought Lina.

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So were the Five Elders right? Were there five D's in the war? (Hint: nope.)

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To those who are confused or wondering about Plan F. In chapter 12, after Lina 'sacrifices' Buggy's group (they just tried to execute Ace). She used Plan F ( it could have been as easily plan C, H, M or anything really) as a ruse to make it look like it all was according to plan (her shouting 'Buggy kill the Admiral' as she run to Buggy's group), and they should continue as planned, and take over Mr.1's group.

Lina is confused and has no idea what the plan they keep talking about. She is just going along with it. It doesn't concern her after all or does it?!

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If you were Morgans, which question would you have asked Lina?

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Looking forward to your thoughts. Send M&Ms, love, and long reviews (or you shall not pass!)

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Marine!Lina: Owed

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Lina hated owing people.

She hated it. She hated the idea of debts. They were unreliable: she could never plan for when someone would call one in, saying, "I helped you so now you need to help me." She hated it.

She hated that she was helpless enough that someone else needed to help her in the first place, but that was a whole other issue.

Either way, she owed now.

She owed now and she hated it. She hadn't been the one to think through getting Luffy out of danger.

It had been the pirate in the brig who had solved the problem.

Solved it at the cost of his own freedom.

So, yet again, because fate hated her, she had a pirate that knew Luffy in the brig of her ship, except this time it was worse because A: this pirate wasn't Luffy's enemy, B: this pirate called Luffy his friend, and C: this pirate had helped him, and helped her as well.

Lina hated fate. She hated it dearly.

Why? She hated fate, she hated how many times she had run into Luffy's ex-friends, ex-enemies, and sometimes ex-both, because leave it to her twin to make frenemies everywhere he went, and she hated owing people.

Now it was all happening at once, and she needed to do something about it. That was probably the sucking cherry on top of this whole stupid ice cream Sunday of misery, and she could only be glad that Luffy wasn't there so she could eat the whole thing on her own. Except she wasn't glad because that meant she had to spend all her timing worrying about her twin.

That could be the hot fudge on her misery Sunday. Worrying about Luffy.

Either way, she owed Bon Clay, Number Three, so she did the only thing that she could. She visited. She visited and made sure he was treated fairly despite being a pirate, and one who had ensured the 'worse' pirate had escaped. He might not know why, because if she told him that she cared because he helped Luffy, then she was endorsing a criminal escaping, instead of just making sure that a prisoner was being treated fairly (it won't help when he gets to Impel Down, a voice in her head reminds her, she tells that voice to shut up).

It still sucked.

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And then she found out that Fire Fist Ace, who was supposed to be in the New World, safely away from her and unable to cause his little sister problems, was actually breaking into marine bases.

Had broken into the very marine base they were now heading to.

Why?

Just Why?

It couldn't be because of her? Could it?