Hi there^^

Here it is the next chapter of 'A different journey'.

Before the chapter even if it will be a little spoiler maybe (I don't know), but do keep in mind that they travelled with Garp for nearly ten years. That's all I want to say before the chapter. Well, not really, I want to thank you guys for all the favos/follows/kudos, I got. I really appreciate this silent form of support, too ;) (Even if I like to ramble by answering to reviews^^)

SinOfTheFox: I will say a few things about Luffy's devil fruit and why I choose it. So I won't say anything more on the part of the restriction etc. But I do like the suggestions. They sound great. The cryophoenix looks beautiful *-* I definitely have to write this down. But like I said, I will say more about Luffy's devil fruit when it will be 'public' to you.

Thank you for the list 3 I really appreciate it.

Also, you don't know how happy it makes me just to read the part "I really love this story. Keep up the great writing!". These type of parts in a comment really do help me ease my mind about writing in English, despite it not being my mother language. So thank you again 3

SakuraKoi: Thank you. I hope the wait was/is worth it^^

~Chapter 7 – Fishy Detour with trouble~

"We will dock in Loguetown and get everything we need. Food, wood for repairing the ship, Log Poses. Also, Zoro can get some new swords there. I heard the shops are pretty decent from the perspective of going to the Grandline ", Law said and pointed on an island on their map.

"I don't think we need to stock up the food, yet. Even with these two black holes our food supply should last for around two weeks. So the marimo could buy his swords when we are on the Grandline", Sanji said. The last words sounded a bit bitter.

For some reasons, Law didn't know, yet, the cook and the swordsman always clashed. These two could be like children when they were in the same room. Something that irked the surgeon. Especially since Ace had started to use it to tease him by appointing Law to the mother figure. The logia user had now to get used to being hitten more on the head.

But that wasn't important at the moment.

Law shook his head. He wanted to start explaining, but Bepo already started.

"Loguetown is on the last island before we enter the Grandline. It is close to Reverse Mountain, which lays the entrance. So it is the last place before we don't know how long it will take us until the next island", the polar bear mink stated. "The maps we have from the Grandline are only from some islands, which only shows the island a bit from the sea around it."

Sanji looked curiously at them. There was a question in the visible eye which the cook didn't need to say. Because Law already started to answer: "To navigate on the Grandline, we need a Log Pose. A normal compass doesn't work on the Grandline because of the magnetic fields of the islands. A Log Pose notices the magnetic waves of the island and it locks onto them. So a Log Pose always points to the next island, but you don't know how long it will take to get there."

"But it will always take us a step closer to the New World which means becoming pirates and chasing after the One Piece", Luffy cheered with a grin.

That was typical. He had wanted Luffy to sit by to learn about the responsibility as a captain. But it looked like the younger one wasn't really paying attention to the important details. Law sighed and poked against the smaller one's forehead.

"Stay focus on the topic of this meeting, Luffy", he scolded him lightly. Law then turned back to Sanji, but he could out of the corner of his eyes that a pout formed itself on Luffy's lips.

"Just out of curiosity, you said that you have to fulfil a promise first before you can hoist the colour. Mind sharing a bit more details, so it is possible to be prepared in case something goes wrong?", the blonde asked.

That surprised Law a bit. The details of the promise hadn't been made clear to either Zoro or Sanji, yet. Both only knew that they could only hoist the colour when they reached the New World.

"Jii-chan made us promise that we won't hoist it until we are in the New World", Luffy said. He could hear the hint of disappointment in the younger one's voice. Law sighed and patted Luffy's head.

"He wants us to stay low for reasons we can't tell you, yet. Not because we don't trust you. Luffy's instinct is incredible when it comes down to choosing people, you can trust. But… for your own safety as well", the surgeon said. "Also, be lucky if you never met Luffy's grandpa. The man is bat-shit crazy but also really strong. He would probably have taken on Krieg and his men alone without getting hurt and one shot all of them, either at the same time or one after another. He has also a very bad habit of either throwing stuff at you or hit you when you do something wrong or for training matters." Law shivered slightly as he remembered how Garp decided that they were using cannonballs for their Observation Haki.

"Nothing hurts more than Jii-chan's fist of love", Luffy mumbled and buried his face in Chouchou's fur. The dog had been on the boy's lap since the meeting had started. It was a way to keep Luffy to sit still.

Sanji looked at them with an open mouth. It seemed as the other wanted to ask something but a loud noise outside interrupted them. What were these two now doing on watch-out-duty?

Law stood up and went outside. He could hear that the other followed him.

Neither Ace nor Zoro was in sight. But there were two men with each a sword. Great… they got boarded and now had to deal with these two because two certain idiots weren't doing their job.

"Johnny, Yosaku, what are you doing here?"

Looked who was talking now… wait… Zoro knew these two idiots.

"You know them, Zoro?", Ace appeared with the green-haired swordsman behind them. Law noticed how despite not having dealt with the stowaways, yet, the Alpha was prepared to fight.

"Yeah, I know them. They are bounty hunters. I teamed up with them sometime. They are fine", Zoro explained, before he looked at the two. "No one has a bounty on board. So you shouldn't have any business to do here."

"That's right, Zoro-aniki." "We heard on our way to capture Arlong that Zoro-aniki got in a big fight." "So we decided to check on you and get the full details." "Because there is no way that Zoro-aniki would loose."

Law didn't really listen to them. These two talked like you would expect twins to do some time or on rare occasions Luffy and Ace if something important to them like food was involved. It was enough for him to deal with these rare occasions and since two were Zoro's friend the swordsman could deal with it.

"You know where fishy is?", Luffy suddenly asked and let Chouchou down.

Fishy…? Wait, that was the nickname Luffy had given to… "You guys are after Arlong?" Law was surprised.

Neither Yosaku nor Johnny looked like they would be able to do well in a fight against a Fishman. Well… Luffy didn't look like it either but his step-brother/cousin had a much stronger aura than these two.

"Yeah, we heard where he has his base and thought about checking the area first before we attack", the black-haired one of the duo explained.

"Mind if we tag along? We wanted to check Fishy out for some rumours we heard about Fishman", Ace spoke up. He could feel how the other seemed more relaxed now.

Law took a side-glance at the youngest of them. He knew that the only reason why Ace had relaxed this quick was Luffy's behaviour.

The youngest had the best instinct with people, at least if they were worthy to trust. So since Luffy didn't get all defence with them. They should be fine.

Law looked back to the two bounty hunters.

Johnny and Yosaku mumbled something to each other before they looked at them and nodded. "We would be honoured to meet and travel with Zoro-aniki and his friends."

This got Luffy cheering. "Sanji, Food. We need a party", he happily demanded.

"Well, looks like we are really going to need the stop in Loguetown even more after the detour", Law said.

He could hear Sanji sigh. The surgeon would have pitied the cook a bit but… he had been with Luffy and Ace for nine years now and had to deal with their appetite that long as well. So it was nice to not have to deal with it the whole time ever again.

"Conomi Islands are in sight", Bepo shouted from the crow's nest.

"Don't dock somewhere close to the village", Ace ordered.

For some reason, he had a bad feeling about these islands and he didn't know why.

This only grew when Law next to him mumbled something which sounded like the word 'bad'. His mate had been through a lot with him and Luffy during the time they were on Grap's ships. So when Law said 'bad' now it was very bad to a normal person which meant it could be dangerous.

The surgeon was looking with a telescope to the islands.

"Are we in trouble, yet?", Ace asked.

"Not yet. But it is probably as I thought. There is something wrong about Arlong's low bounty", Law said and offered him the telescope to look.

Ace didn't know what he should expect when he took it. He lifted it to his eyes and was … well shocked at the sight of the village.

The houses were upside down. The windows and doors were broken or left hanging in a weird angle. The only slightly positive thing was that there were no people who had to deal with these living conditions. But… the thought was followed by a bitter one. Where there even people who survived this attack?

"You think Arlong and his group have done this?", Ace asked and lowered the telescope to look at Law. The other one nodded. "There is no other person in the East Blue who has the power to do that. Well, no other person we know of. Also, according to the information Johnny and Yosaku had, Arlong has been in this area for around ten years. So he had come here shortly after his stay in Impel Down", the surgeon said.

"So we better be careful because the bounty most likely doesn't say anything about his true potential? Maybe we should leave someone else with Bepo on the ship then."

"To be true, I thought we could hide the ship and this time take Bepo with us. I know we are still in the East Blue and people will be shocked if they see a mink. But when dealing with Fishman, Bepo's Electro technique will be very helpful. Also, I don't think some of the others want to be left behind."

Ace thought about it and then nodded. Yeah, none of the others would like to stay behind if there was a chance of fighting against a Fishman while being on the island.

"We could tie Zoro to the ship", he then offered more as a joke than a serious idea. Law glared at him. So the other hadn't understood that it was a joke. Now since Law glared him like that. It only meant … "I swear if Shippy gets damaged because of one stupid idea from you, you repair Shippy yourself and you will sleep on the floor!" There it was. A typical threat from Law to him. Luckily, the surgeon didn't threaten him to cut him open any longer.

But wait… "You support Luffy's stupid name for the ship?!" Ace could only stare at the other in shock. He never expected that form his mate.

"You know there could be worse. Remember the one time your grandpa asked to name the new marine ship?

The logia user thought for a moment before he started to laugh because of that particular memory.

~Flashback~

A nine-year-old Luffy, a twelve-year-old Ace and a thirteen-year-old Law stood with Cora-san and Garp in front of the new dog-themed marine ship.

"The doggy looks like Ji-chan's mask", the youngest declared loud.

Garp laughed out loud and petted Luffy's head. "Want to name it, Luffy?", the oldest of the group asked.

"I'm allowed to name your ship?", Luffy looked up in surprise but was cheerful.

"Be ready for a strange name", Ace whispered to Law. The slightly taller one didn't change his expression. So there wouldn't be a vocal reaction from the other.

Ace rolled his eyes and looked back to his adoptive grandfather.

Garp had lifted Luffy on his shoulders and was now standing directly in front of the ship.

"Now crash the bottle on that point and name it."

Ace wanted to laugh. Their grandpa let Luffy just name the ship without hearing the suggestion first.

His baby brother tilted his head. Then he crashed the bottle on the ship. "I'm naming you bad doggy."

Ace was on the ground laughing about the name.

~Flashback ends~

"The shitty geezer never learned after that", Ace said with a grin.

"See, I think the name is fine. I don't think our ship will las long enough when we don't find a shipwright in the East Blue or early on the Grandline", Law mumbled and touched the railing.

Ac sighed. "Pity… I somehow hope we are able to reach the New World with the ship. After all, we saved up for this since we promised each other to travel together seven years ago", he said and looked a bit sad at the ship.

"Tell the others to prepare to dock. We will carefully check out the village and then the area", Law said. "And make sure you hold Luffy's hand."

Ace looked at him in shock. The surgeon couldn't mean that. But one glance at the other told him how serious the taller one was.

"I'm not Luffy's babysitter!" "I know. But you are his big brother and don't dare to deny it, but you have a brother-complex. It makes me sometimes wonder if you would want to mate with Luffy."

Law's voice had a teasing tone. Ace felt his cheeks heat up. Yes, he admit that he had a brother-complex. But who could blame him for not developing one after they had lost a brother? Luffy was his precious baby brother. But it wasn't that bad!

"Luffy is my baby brother. I would never do that with Luffy. In case, Luffy should stay innocent until he is thirty!" Law chuckled. "Isn't that kinda mean? I mean as far as we know Luffy already had a crush on someone, we didn't meet because we were sick. But you saw how sad he was that he couldn't really say goodbye. Are you going to survive a pouty, sad Luffy?"

"Stop teasing me or I'll show you later…", Ace let his sentence open in the end. But he had stepped closer to Law. His lips slighted over a certain spot on the taller one's neck. A delicious gasp escaped the surgeon and he felt the other's hand on his shoulders.

"Bastard."

Ace grinned. He seriously started to love teasing the other this way. "You know you love me." A groan was his only answer which made him chuckle.

The part of the Conomi Islands where they had docked and had hidden their ship was empty. There wasn't anything in the closer area except the destroyed town. So after a short discussion, they decided to look around in a bigger area.

The result was a tangerine plantation.

Law sighed. Why did it have to be food? They had to hold Ace and Luffy back because the soft smell of the plants was delicious and only made their black-holes of a stomach growl. Law hit both of them slightly on the head. "Don't just go after every food you guys smell. Someday it will get us into trouble. How about you start thinking with your brains first instead of thinking your stomachs", he scolded them.

The reactions of the two brothers were different.

Ace looked at him with a challenging glance and some kind of a smirk which reminded Law of the moments when the other teased him after they started this 'relationship'.

Luffy instead just pouted and whined: "But Torao, they smell so nice." Law groaned and wanted to say something.

But a female voice spoke up first. "You can buy some. For the right price of course." A light blue-haired woman appeared in front of them. She had a friendly smile on her face and winked at them during her last two words.

"I'll pay any price you say", Sanji said and even kneeled in front of the woman. "Oi, ero-cook, don't think about spending all of the money tangerines. I still want some booze…", Zoro said.

Law sighed. He had a feeling that this would end in one of their discussions again.

"What did you say, you stupid marimo? These tangerines are much more worthy to buy then some stupid sake."

How he hated being right about these two.

"Don't even think about fighting against each other. Otherwise …" Law let the threat open. He was sure that they both know what he would do. So he didn't need to say it in front of this woman who would probably be a bit sceptic if he threatened his crew to cut them apart.

"We would like to buy one bag. If these two black holes say it smells good they have to be worthy. Also, mind telling us a bit of the destroyed town at the beach close by. It looks like a monster rampaged there", Law said to the woman.

She had a sceptical look in her eyes. It made him wonder if she would tell them or not.

"How about you wait inside? I'll prepare you tangerines. It will take a few minutes", the blue-haired woman said.

So they waited. Sanji and Zoro were still biggering. But that was acceptable because they didn't try to beat each other up and he was able to ignore them so he could think in peace while Ace kept Luffy busy and Bepo looked around curiously but didn't move. Johny and Yosaku just stood in one corner and watched Zoro's and Sanji's biggering.

Law wasn't really sure if they would get the story from Nojiko, as the blue-haired introduced herself. She had an unsure look in her eyes which hinted at an inner conflict.

But Nojiko surprised him when she came back inside with a bag and started to talk: "You don't know how right you are with your suggestion of a monster. It will probably be the best for you to leave as quickly as possible before they notice you." She did look a bit worried.

"So your guess was right that Arlong and his crew are responsible for that, Law", Ace said, but Law lifted a hand. To make sure that the others didn't speak. Nojiko already looked a bit shocked that they seemed to know exactly who the monster was.

"Just out of curiosity. Arlong has been here for quite some time, right?" A nod was all he needed as an answer before he carried on: "So what happens when some Marines come here? Arlong is a pirate with a bounty. They won't just let him be if they knew what he is doing." Law's eyes were fixed on Nojiko.

The woman sighed and there was a sad gleam in her eyes. "I don't remember seeing any Marine ships in the last years… well, before last week. There had been a ship close by. We were quite surprised because after what happened to Gosa Village, the destroyed one, we didn't have any hope left to be helped by them… But as quickly as the little hope to be saved appeared, it disappeared as well… the ship didn't last long against Arlong and his crew…"

Law nodded. So the marines around here seemed to be powerless against Arlong. He frowned. Even if the ship had been destroyed and everyone on board killed, the headquarter in the East Blue would know. A week without the sighting of another Marine ship to investigate seemed off.

Especially with the rumours, Johny and Yosaku had told, about Arlong being in this part of the East Blue, Law would have suspected that they would call for higher-ups to investigate. Because that was the standard.

If there was an opponent too strong to be beaten by the Marines in the Blue, they would either get help from another Blue or directly from Grandline Marines.

The one week seemed also too long since this stupid "Absolute Justice"-fraction within in the Marine had gotten stronger. This kind of people wouldn't let any pirate or person, who they saw as a criminal, run wild that easily. Even if it meant that some of the more radical examples of "Absolute Justice" had no problem killing or hurting innocent civilians as long as they reached their goal.

It was laughable to even think that these Marines would be fine with letting a pirate group stay anywhere on an island with a headquarter.

So there had to be more… much more than they thought.

Maybe he should call Cora-san. His adoptive father should still be in the East Blue with Garp. Maybe they had some more information or they could help the people here, because as strong as Arlong was, Law believed that Monkey D Garp was stronger. And that way, they wouldn't be the 'heroes' again. Something that would make Luffy happy to be not called a hero.

"Hey, stay away from the mikans!"

A loud female voice interrupted his thoughts.

Nojiko looked shocked before she hurried outside.

Law jumped up to hold Sanji back. "We don't rush in until we know what is going on", he ordered.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Law saw Ace snarling. So the other had a little trouble with this order but from the way he moved, the surgeon knew, that his mate would follow the order.

The scene they met outside was definitely not what he was expecting.

Marines went around the tangerine plants to search for something. A young woman with short orange hair was chasing after them to make them stop. So she must be the one who had screamed or well more shouted.

But it seemed like her efforts would be useless.

"Captain Nezumi, we found the treasure."

"Chichichi, good work. Now, little girl, you should be lucky that we don't charge you for your little acts as a thief. So we only take the treasure. It should be close to 100,000,000 Berry."

Nojiko, the young woman and a man with a pinwheel on his head looked shocked at the Marine.

Law narrowed his eyes. This captain definitely didn't have a devil fruit and he also couldn't see the treasure. So how was the man able to guess its content with such an accuracy that it seemed like a shock to the owner.

"How do you know the amount?", Nojiko asked tonelessly. "If you know the exact amount, then you must know the reason, too. Nami collected this money for the village. To free us from Arlong! Why are you doing this instead of capturing Arlong and his crew?", the pinwheel man shouted, but he was hit by a marine.

"Don't question us. We know what are we doing", the marine captain said with a cruel grin. It made Law feel anger deep down inside. These types of marines were even worth than these believers of 'Absolute Justice'. This marine captain belonged to the type of greedy, power-hungry, easy corrupted ones.

"You are working with Arlong…", the orange-haired woman mumbled. "You are working with Arlong! Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to know the exact amount!", Nami now shouted and attacked the marine captain. At least, she tried.

The young woman was pushed out of the way by Nojiko who took a shoot for her.

"Nojiko!"

"Luffy, no!"

The voice of Ace next to him made Law turn his head to see what the youngest was up to. Only to find out that Luffy wasn't with them any longer.

The youngest of their group had already sent the marine captain flying with a Haki infused punch.

"You don't deserve to be called Marine!", Luffy shouted. The hands clenched to fists.

Well, that meant they will be in lots of trouble when Garp heard that.

He could already feel the fist of the crazy old vice admiral, Luffy and Ace called their grandpa.

And to make it wors, the fight wasn't over, yet.

It just started with taking out corrupted Marines.

Luffy was angry. He didn't care what his brother and the other screamed after him.

He was running straight to the place called Arlong Park.

What was wrong with the people who had "power" on this island?

The Marines didn't protect the innocent. No, instead of doing that they were helping the bad pirates. These Marines were a disgrace to his grandfather's and his adopted granduncle's work.

So he had a good reason to hit them. Luffy believed that his grandpa would have hit the Marine, too.

And the Fishman… from what he heard they acted… they acted a bit like Celestial Dragon! Perhaps not as wors as them but close.

It made Luffy angry because he had heard the stories about Fisher Tiger from his grandpa.

A man who had invaded Mariejor and had freed many slaves despite their race. A man who then had become a pirate with many former slaves to protect the citizens on his home island.

Fisher Tiger was a Fishman that his grandfather respected despite the piracy. The man had only attacked when needed and never killed.

His grandpa had even ignored the pirate ship when it was in their sight.

"Why should I try to catch them for some people who don't know anything about morals?"

That had been his grandpa's words to his crew every time the boat of the Sun pirates had been in their sight. His grandpa didn't want to catch because he didn't want to support the slavery done by the Celestial Dragons. He also wanted to give people a chance for a peaceful life despite their heritage or their race. Something he shared with his granduncle. Both of them did a lot against slavery even if it wasn't known to the world because then they would risk their ranks within in the Marine and wouldn't be able to help people as much as they did now.

These Marines and Fishman acted against everything Luffy had learned from his grandpa and his granduncle about this justice they believe in. He had forgotten how they called it… but he couldn't let these pirates and marines go on, because they went against the dream of a better place for everyone. He couldn't this happen.

He was fine with people going against the World Government to protect people dear to them. He would even support them when he wasn't called a hero then.

But… hurting people who couldn't defend themselves, disrespecting his grandpa's dream (even if they didn't know about it) was something he couldn't let happen.

Luffy could already see the gate to the so-called Arlong Park. He wrinkled his nose. It did remind him of the amusement park his grandpa had taken Ace, Law and him once.

The park had been nice… but the environment hadn't been.

Luffy shook his head slightly. He didn't have time to think about the amusement park and he definitely didn't have time to do "sight-seeing".

He clenched his right hand into a fist and let Haki colour his arm in a dark black.

With one punch the gate was shattered and thrown backwards.

Luffy stopped in its place. His hat shadowed his eyes, in which seemed to burn a fire.

A Fishman with a long nose looked annoyed at him.

"What does a pipsqueak like you want here?"

Luffy cracked his knuckles slightly. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

The statement seemed to surprise the Fishmen or not. Laughter could be heard. So they didn't take him seriously. Well, that would be an advantage for him.

"Take the brat out quickly."

Two Fishmen started to run towards him. He easily dodged their attacks. But when they tried to cut him he was pushed down from behind by a human hand.

He could feel the slashes go over his head and heard the sizzling noise of fire. His attackers gasped.

"I would appreciate it if you don't try to cut my little brother apart."

Looked like the others caught up. Damn, it would have been fun to fight them all on his own. But well… at least his big brother didn't sound angry at him. To be true he sounded more amused than everything else.

"The attacks went right through him." "He is made out of fire?"

The attackers sounded surprised. So they weren't familiar with devil fruits. Nice, that would make it even easier. He took a quick turn under his brother's hand and kicked the two shocked opponents away.

"Stop being shocked. I have to say it is indeed a surprise to see a devil fruit user here in the East Blue. But remember, they are weak to water. So how about we throw them into the ocean to teach them a lesson. Shahahahaha."

The long-nosed Fishman laughed.

Luffy growled in anger. He hated opponents like that. He only wanted to crush them more than. He felt the hand of his brother patting his shoulder.

A slight grin appeared on Luffy's lips. He knew what his big brother wanted to tell him with that. He tapped his left foot quickly on the ground before he speeded over to the laughing Fishman and sent him flying with a punch.

"Arlong-san!"

So this one was Arlong. The man who controlled all of this. Arlong snarled at them. He did look kinda angry.

"Arlong-san, let us deal with them. Perhaps Mohmoo will finish them even before we need to do something", a black-haired Fishman said.

Another one with six arms stepped forward and used his mouth to make some trumpet-like sounds.

Form the ocean surfaced a big sea king which reminded Luffy a bit of a cow.

"Ace, look. How much meat would we get from that?", the straw-hatted boy said with a grin. "I wonder how it would taste", Ace spoke with a thoughtful voice. But flames were already dancing around his hand.

"Stop thinking about food, you two idiots, when you decide to start a fight", Law's annoyed voice cut through the air.

The surgeon stood in place of the gate, which Luffy had destroyed. Right and left from Law stood Sanji and Zoro. Behind them was Bepo who seemed ready for a fight, too.

All four of them seemed prepared. Zoro even had the swords from Johny and Yosaku who tired to hold the villagers back.

"Aye!", Bepo shouted and hit the big sea king cow with an Electro enhanced kick.

The creature let a painful sound, which made Luffy shudder, out, before it slowly sank back under the surface.

The boy felt pity for the monster because it only seemed to be used as a tool for the Fishman. Despite it being closer related to them.

But Bepo's attack had one advantage. The Fishman seemed shocked how easy the sea king had been defeated. So they weren't familiar with Minks. This would give Bepo a great advantage in fighting them when he could get close to them.

The Fishman captain screamed angrily. This got their opponents out of their shock and they attacked.

"Try not to have too much fun", Ace teased him and heated up a blade which would have scratched him. "Meanie", Luffy only answered and kicked their opponent.

During the fight, it became clear that there were three main fights going on.

One was between this long black-haired ray fish (if Luffy remembered it right) and Sanji. Even if Luffy was a bit away from them, he could still hear the Fishman boosting about his strength. Something about being a level 40 practitioner of this martial art and being superior over Sanji. Even if it was clear that the blonde cook was able to hold himself against the Fishman in the fight.

The second fight was Zoro against an octopus who felt kinda nice, well at least he did have honour. The Fishman introduced himself as Hatchan and was the second best swordsman on Fishman Island. The octopus fought with six heavy looking swords but despite that and the fact that Zoro hadn't recovered fully, yet, the fight looked even.

It made him grin proudly. The two crew members they had picked up in the East Blue were already strong enough to hold their own against Fishman on the land. So the transition in power difference between opponents in the East Blue and opponents in paradise wouldn't be too difficult for them.

Luffy had to giggle about Bepo's fight with a smelt-whiting Fishman. The guy shot water from his mouth like a pistol. But Bepo was too quick for the other. The polar bear mink landed a few hits on the Fishman which only seemed to piss him off more. It made Luffy a bit wonder why Bepo didn't use Electro because he was sure that the other would one-shot his opponent.

But he didn't have the time to think about it or even look how Ace and Law were handling the other members of the crew because Arlong attacked him.

There was a dangerous gleam in the eyes of the Fishman captain. It only seemed to get worse when he dodged every attack delivered in his direction.

Luffy had a very uneasy feeling about this. It wasn't that he thought that he wouldn't be able to win a fight against the other. No, he felt bad about Arlong!

Something he hadn't felt when he first had caught a glimpse of the eyes. What could be the reason for this change? It must have happened in the last few minutes.

Wait…. It couldn't be the punch or the fact that they were able to compete with them in fights. That couldn't be the reason, right?

"Stop dodging, you pipsqueak!", Arlong sounded angry while he still tried to hurt him. Was the other angry because he can't land a hit on him?

Well, if it was that way. He should lead Arlong away from the others. Sure Law and Ace could use Haki. Sanji, Bepo and Zoro were also quite good at reading their opponents but… they still had their own fights to fight. So he would only put them into danger when he let Arlong stay close to them.

"If you want to hit me, you need to be faster", Luffy teased with a grin. The pure intention to just piss off this man more on his mind.

And it worked well. Because the movements of the Fishman got angrier and even easier to predict for him. This fight just became a little easier because of his speed advantage.

Ace grinned when they were victorious. Law had kneeled down to take care of Zoro who had won but was now suffering the effect of pushing him more than his body was able to at the moment.

Ace would feel pity for the swordsman when Law started to scold him for not taking care enough. But well it was nice to see to someone else getting scolded by his mate.

Ace looked to Bepo and Sanji who seemed fine except being a bit tired after fighting against the Fishman.

That was good. With this crew, they would be able to pass the first half of the Grandline. Only a shipwright would be nice to make sure their ship would last as well.

Ace turned to the building. It was the only thing left which demonstrated the power of the Fishman. He grinned and set in on fire.

He might have respect for other races but not for bad pirates. Heritage be damned in this case.

A devilish grin on his face he turned away from the building.

But then stopped…

Where was his baby brother?

His eyes wandered around and widened when he didn't catch a glimpse of a straw hat or a bright grin.

He felt a panic started to rise inside him. Luffy wouldn't be inside the building he just set on fire, wouldn't he?

Then he heard it. Rumbling sounds which hinted a fight coming out of the building he just set on fire!

Oh shit…

"Law, please tell me … Luffy… Luffy isn't inside the building."

He felt something hit him… He probably deserved it.

"You idiot, check before you set a building on fire!", Law scolded him.

That was all he needed to hear to know that his precious baby brother was inside.

"Sanji, Bepo, make sure everyone stays safe. I'll get Luffy", he screamed.

How stupid could he have been to not check where Luffy was?

His baby brother had developed a strange fear of fire since the fire in the Grey Terminal. Small ones Luffy could handle. But this was going to a big one and Luffy was inside a building. He was sure his baby brother wouldn't be able to move any longer he would be trapped by the fire.

Ace took the first steps to run inside but stopped when something well more someone flew out of a window on one of the higher floors, which the flames hadn't reached, yet.

It was Arlong.

The Fishman crashed into a wall close to the sea entrance and stayed there. Most likely not even conscious any longer.

Then he heard it. A very light noise he had grown sensitive for. It made him feel eased and he looked to his left side to see his baby brother who had landed on his feet.

The two pairs of transparent wings with a red-brownish colour near Luffy's back were still showing but also slowly disappearing.

Ace didn't notice the reaction of their crew members. He was just happy that Luffy was outside the building. Ace pulled his younger brother in a hug which got him a confused look.

"I'm sorry…", he whispered in Luffy's ear.

"Huh? Why are you sorry? Did you have your doubts again?"

Ace couldn't believe the air-head… He hits baby brother on the head lightly.

"Everything is all right. How about we just celebrate our victory?"

Nezumi was angry. How could this low-life pirate scum destroy his business with Arlong and beat him up twice?

He growled. He lost a lot of money because of them. He was going to make them pay.

Making sure that there was a bounty on their heads or at least one of them would be the first step.

Three of the crew had a devil fruit. He may not know which type but in the right places one could get a lot of money for devil fruit users. Maybe he could tip a friend of and get lots of money from the deal.

A smirk graced his lips. He was going to be rich because of them or they will be punished for what they are.

Low-life pirate scum.

On the next day, there were three new wanted posters in the newspaper.

All three showed black-haired males. One being a teenager and the two others being young adults.

One of the young adults with a with northern-style fur hat with black spots showed the photographer the middle finger, which had an A tattoo on it, and had a very annoyed expression. But the lips showed the hint of a smirk.

Trafalgar Law 25,000,000

The other young adult wore an orange cowboy hat with two smiles on it. The young man had a devilish grin on his face and in the background was a burning building.

Portgas D Ace 30,000,000

The picture of the teen was friendly. He looked over his shoulder in the camera. A big grin on his face and one hand on a straw hat. A bit blurry in the background was something orange with an angry expression.

Monkey D Luffy 35,000,000

Ending Note (Please read^^):

I can't promise you that I can keep my update-schedule for this story because well stuff in life and being a little busy and a little too lazy to type my outlines and edit them a little there and then in the evening. But I promise you that I won't stop writing it. After all, I have written down ideas for "arcs" which will happen in paradise and even in the New World there are already some.

The other thing. Their bounties. If only judged by power, they would all have the same bounty. But since Ace set a building without any real reason for the marines at least on fire and Luffy had hit a marine twice. They have a higher bounty.
I hope that fits. Otherwise, I'm open for suggestions on better bounty fits. I'll just find the concept a bit confusing how the marines really judge about the height...

So until next time ^^