Hi there.

I'm so sorry it took so long. But I was kinda blocked and had to do some research for some scenes in this chapter. Fortunately, I found some answers in the One Piece Wiki, but... yes there is a but and it bothers me, but there weren't any sources given where I could find it in the manga or in one of Odas SBS. So I'm not entirely sure if it works. If something bothers you, let me know.

Otherwise, thank you. Thank you so much for putting up with my upload schedule for a year. That you still read it (I do look at the statistics of my stories) and that there are still notifications I get about favouriting/following or leaving a Kudo for this story. So I'm quite happy, even if the story is still at an early stage, seriously we still haven't really had any adventures in the Grandline.

So yeah, just saying thank you all again. And now on to the chapter^^

~Chapter 13 – The Baroque Works~

Sanji blew some smoke in the air. His eyes focused on the opponents who dared to hurt a lady. The two men seemed dangerous. He couldn't really attack the one with the dreadlocks. Because the other one's abilities seemed dangerous if he didn't calculate his movement right.

It was a bit stupid of him not to have asked Ace or Law more about this Observation Haki. Because now he could really need it. At least he didn't have to worry about Conis-chan and Ain-chan getting hurt, because they were safe behind Bartolomeo's Barrier.

"Well, if you get in our way, we should eliminate you, too", the man with a three on top of his head. It seemed even like the three was some kind of a candle. Wax was dripping from the man's hand.

It was the same wax which was around Bartolomeo's Barrier. It did seem to be very durable. He was sure that he wasn't able to beat these four alone. Especially since there were ladies. He would never dare to hurt a lady even if these were his opponents. So he would need help or a clever plan.

Sanji dodged something the man with dreadlocks shot at him. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but the blonde knew it was dangerous. Because the second it hit the barrier, it exploded.

"The next one you won't be able to doge", the bomb man said and took out a pistol to aim at him. But he didn't use bullets, he used his breath?

"Goodbye, knight in shining armour."

Sanji heard the shot going off, he heard Conis and the unknown lady scream behind Bartolomeo's barrier. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge this. Because he couldn't see the bomb.

A loud boom was all he heard.

"Looked like we made it on time", Law said with a slight grin. He had one hand in the air. His thumb, forefinger and middle finger stretched out for his Shamble-technique.

The cook turned his head to look at him and Ace.

"Sorry, that we made it only now. But we had to deal with some idiotic flies who wouldn't stop bothering us even after they got their asses kicked", the black-haired first mate said with a grin. He seemed to be fired up to have a more challenging fight.

"Don't think about it. The bomb guy is mine. With your powers, you would possibly blow up the whole island", Law said dryly.

He could hear Ace grumble but the other seemed to make good use of his firepower to melt the wax which was around Bartolomeo's barrier.

"What are you going to do? Cut me with that sword of yours? It won't work, I will kill you if you…"

Law rolled his eyes. His room was still active. So it was easy to cut the bomb devil fruit user apart. Now it would be interesting to know if the cutting apart would stop the man from attacking them with bombs.

Well, he could only hope that the man was too confused than to explode if he was still able to explode.

With swift movements, he cut the dreadlock man's head off. But he didn't stop there. He even cut the body multiple times. He hoped that his plan would work and that the man wouldn't explode anymore.

Slowly he let Kikoku slide into its scabbard. His grey eyes fixed on the head of the man. Their other three opponents shrieked.

A small smile graced his lips. That seemed positive for their fight if their other opponents were out of commission a bit.

The blonde woman got out of her shock the quickest. Reacting quickly and going straight for an attack. She seemed to be flooding but then coming crashing down.

Law jumped back to avoid the attack but he felt a movement next to him.

"Got you", Ain said with a smirk on her lips.

The blonde woman was caught in the stony ground that had been flying up when she hit it. The woman tried to free herself but was struggling to get free.

Now there were only the wax-guy and the other one left. The wax shouldn't be an issue with Ace being here.

Law turned his head to the fire-user only to find him on the floor laughing. He felt the urge to hit him. That was something he expected from Luffy. But the younger one was mostly serious in a fight until it didn't feel dangerous any longer.

"Ace, get a grip", he scolded Ace. What was he laughing about?

"It is the colour. You have to remove the shirt. He is under Miss Goldenweek's Color Trap control", the blue-haired woman shouted from behind Bartolomeo's barrier.

Law narrowed his eyes. He never heard about something like this. Was it a devil fruit? It sure wasn't in the book. So it could be an undiscovered devil fruit. They had to be very careful.

"I'll handle her. You get Ace to stop laughing", Ain commanded. Law felt the marine command tone in her voice. She definitely was way to used to order other people around.

But it was really the best plan.

"Lucky, you still wear shirts when we are going on land", he mumbled and pulled the yellow shirt off from Ace. The younger one immediately stopped laughing.

Ace blinked a few times before he jumped up back on his feet. "Who do you think you are …" "Ace, just shut up and take care of this stupid wax", Law interrupted the younger one to get him back on tracks.

Seriously, sometimes it was worse to keep Ace in line than Luffy.

But now that Ace was back into action and Ain had taken care of this strange artist fighter, the fight was easy.

Ace put his hat back on his head with a grin. These guys hadn't been really worth their time. Even if the one woman had been annoying with her skills.

He stretched his arms. It felt too good to be topless and letting the fire dance over his arms. "Nice kick, Sanji", he complimented the cook or at least he wanted to.

Sanji's attention was on Ain, Conis and the light blue-haired young woman who he didn't know. He narrowed his eyes. If he had noticed that right during his laughing, she was the one who had told Law what to do.

He felt slightly uneasy. Maybe she used a trick to gain their trust and then turn them to gain their bounty. With distrust, he stared at her.

Unfortunately, he couldn't voice it because of his brother and Zoro who just appeared now.

"Hey, why didn't you leave one of them for me?"

Oh great, his baby brother was pouting again. "Well, it's not our fault that you are too slow", Ace grumbled despite knowing that Luffy was possibly the fastest of them all.

The swordsman had a more interesting reaction. "Huh, if they went down that easy, there weren't much stronger than these small fishes which ran around in town."

This made Ace laugh.

"Stop that. They aren't even the strongest Baroque Work members", the light blue-haired one said in a slight panic.

"Baroque Work? I heard of them. They wanted to recruit me. Something about being a bounty hunter company. But the one they sent was weak", Zoro said while shrugging his shoulders.

Ace looked sceptically at the young woman. How did she know? But it wasn't the woman who answered. It was Ain.

"This is Nefertari Vivi. She is the princess of Alabasta. She doesn't belong to the Baroque Work", the former marine explained.

"A princess? She doesn't look like one", Luffy said while he picked his nose. "Oi, don't do that in front of a lady", Sanji scolded him and tried to kick the young captain.

"Well, if she doesn't belong to the Baroque Work how did she know about some details or even know that these weren't the stronger members", Law said calmly. The grey eyes of his mate didn't show much emotion. It was the analytical glance, Law mostly had when he followed his profession as a surgeon or something other medical related stuff.

"I infiltrated the organisation to find out how who framed my father and started spreading seeds of doubts in my country. I got to know about them and even their Boss, Mister 0, who is the mastermind behind trying to start a civil war", Vivi had spoken up herself.

"So…"

"We should take along~ It could be interesting and nice training. After all, the strongest members weren't here as Vivi said. Also, it could get grandpa to stop following you for some time if you do something for the justice", Ain reasoned.

Ace grimaced and out for the corner of his eye he saw Luffy do the same. Neither of them looked forward to seeing their crazy grandpa again in the nearer future. But just to avoid him doing this felt wrong.

"I don't want to help someone because of justice. I'm not a hero. Jii-chan is the hero. I don't share my meat", Luffy said with crossed arms.

Ace snorted. That did sound like his dear baby brother. Even if he could understand where Ain was coming from. After all, the other had been a marine. She had really wanted to help people. He suspected that Luffy's answer would have been different if the dark blue haired woman had said that she wanted to help the princess.

"But who is pulling the strings?"

This surprised him. He hadn't expected his younger brother to ask that. But not only him. The others seemed surprised, too, and slightly curious.

"The identity of Mister 0?!", Vivi seemed more shocked than everyone else before she started to shake her head. "No, no. I can't tell you. Even if you guys are strong. You are no match for him. I can't just put your lives in danger."

"Vivi-chan is so sweet~", Sanji gushed with heart eyes. "Be quiet, ero-cook", Zoro mumbled. "What did you say, you stupid marimo?!"

Oh~ here they went again. He started to laugh when these two started to brawl again only to be stopped by Ain who hit both of them.

"Behave yourself both", she said angrily, before she turned back to Vivi. A softer expression on her face. "Vivi, I think you can just say it. It can be that bad."

But Vivi shook her head no. "I told you. Even if you are strong, you are no match for a Shichibukai. You are no match for Crocodile."

Ace blinked. Had she really just said it?

"A Shichibukai? Shihsihsi, now that sounds like fun", Luffy said amused. "You really want to fight against another one?" "That fight against the swords guy doesn't count because only Zoro got to fight him."

"Eh?! How can you be so calm?! I just put your lives accidentally in danger… for that I'm sorry…", Vivi started but Luffy interrupted her.

"Ne Ain, you want to help her, right?"

Ace looked at the former marine who slightly nodded. "A young girl shouldn't put all the pressure on herself alone. Especially by going against a Shichibukai."

"Then it's decided. We kick the Croc's ass."

Finally, it had been found. But why couldn't he have been the one who found it? Now it was in the hands of an idiot who didn't even seem to value it.

He clenched his fists. He needed to get it. A grin appeared on his face. Now was the time to disappear from this ship. Staying here wouldn't bring him any further. He needed to go now. Especially if it was finally in his reach.

Now all he had to was wait until later when everyone was fast asleep and he would steal it and everyone who would get into his way would die.

Now was his chance coming and he wouldn't let it go wasted.

"You called, Sengoku-san?"

An elder woman stepped into his office. "Thank you for coming, Tsuru-san. There is a favour I wanted to ask from you."

"It involves your adoptive grandchild and adoptive grandnephews, right?"

Sengoku sighed. He wasn't really able to hide it. Especially from Tsuru who seemed to be able to read him like a book sometimes.

"Yeah, I know they became wanted and will probably have now hoisted the colour. But still…"

"I know. I visited Garp often enough to get to know them better. They are somehow family to you even if they are wanted."

Sengoku scratched his cheek. This woman really knew too much sometimes. Well, better her than anyone else who would use this information to an advantage.

"Now what is your favour?"

"I want you to keep an eye on Doflamingo. With Law now having a bounty, I think he will go after them at one point. Even if they are pirates now, I wouldn't want them to go against him unprepared."

"Understood. But do you think they could beat him?"

Sengoku caressed his beard. Were Ace, Law and Luffy strong enough to beat Doflamingo?

"Not yet. They are still hatchlings on their journey. Even if they were all quick learners as I heard from Garp. But at the moment, they are no match for Doflamingo."

Tsuru nodded and turned around to leave his office.

"Be prepared, Tsuru-san. It might not be this week or in the close future, but I think the boys will fight Doflamingo because of his crimes towards Rosinante. And when they start the fight from their side, they will win… which will be a victory for us, too, in this corrupt world where we can take actions against the Shichibukai ruling over a country…"

So yeah I just want you to know that the next chapter will be uploaded sometime in August because I might have some ideas for the chapter but I have exams in July on which I will focus.
That means that there will be a break which I can't even fill with a 'filler'-chapter because I only have some unfinished laying around and I don't want to upload them if there aren't finished.
So until August and have nice some nice summer months^^