Hey there ^^
so this chapter is a bit earlier than planned and also a bit shorter. But this is some kind of a filler chapter, but I wouldn't really classify it as one. It just his the link between Little Garden and Alabasta which will possibly come soon, when my mind doesn't take another detour ;)
Now enjoy =)

~Chapter 17 – Planing and Training-Fun~

"Do they ever stop eating?" "Never. They grew up the way to eat as much as possible." Law sighed slightly. This was the start of a typical conversation when most of them had already finished except Luffy and Ace. These two were still stuffing their mouths. "I thought, you would be used to it already, Sanji. After all, you are travelling for around two months with us", the surgeon said.

He was a bit on the edge because his heat was coming close. Even with the suppressant, he used, he felt. It worried the surgeon a bit. He hoped that he got over it before they reached Alabasta. He couldn't be vulnerable when they had some tough fights coming their way.

They had to fight one of the Shichibukai. Law didn't remember much about them. He knew the names of them and some of their powers. Like Jinbei, Mihawk and Doflamingo. But the rest he just knew the names.

They were lucky to have Ain on board. She probably remembered the power of all Shichibukai. Also, the blue-haired former marine would most likely come up with a good plan for Alabasta… at least he hoped. Because they had the unpredictable Luffy-factor.

"After these two have finished, we will start planing for Alabasta. I think I have enough information through Vivi to know what we should do", Ain said. "Beat up Crocodile?", Luffy suggested with a gleam in his eyes.

It was clear that the young captain was itching to fight someone strong.

"Not yet. You can't just fight against him. The country is being divided by civil war. Which is probably caused by Crocodile. Around fourteen years ago, he settled down in Alabasta and became some kind of a hero protecting the people from pirates. I believe around that time he founded the Baroque Work. An organisation made of strong bounty hunters."

"Now I remember why these codenames sounded so familiar. These punks sent a so-called Mister 7 some years ago in the East Blue", Zoro said with a look on his face as he seemed to have difficulty to remember it.

"Mister 7? I heard they had to change him because he didn't come back after one mission", Vivi spoke up. But she didn't look like she wanted to know what had happened to him.

"Shall I guess what had happened? You have gotten quite famous as a strong bounty hunter in the East Blue, so Crocodile wanted to recruit you. Mister 7 was there to recruit you and you possible told him that he can go f…", Law coughed to stop himself saying from 'Fuck'. After all, both he and Ace had decided to keep the cursing as low as possible around Luffy. "You possible told him to get lost by using your swords, right?"

A grin on Zoro's face was answer enough. The swordsman had killed the former Mister 7, possible when the green-haired hadn't been eighteen, yet.

Law slightly shook his head while Vivi looked quite shocked.

"Back to the topic. The structure of the organisation is simple. You can split them into four parts. The Millions, Billions, Frontier and Officer Agents. The Millions are the henchmen of the Frontier and the Billions are the henchmen of the Officer Agents. We have met some of the Millions on Machigatta. It is possible that there some Billions, too. But I think mostly Millions. So compared to our main force they are quite weak, but they do have the numbers. It would be best if we have a plan to not deal with them so we can focus on the Agents. Because I think we will have to confront all Officer Agents we haven't met, yet", Ain started to go on with information they got about a Baroque Works.

"That sounds boring. Can I go play with Chouchou? He seemed bored, too", Luffy said while poking his nose.

"You know as a captain, you should learn to listen to these kinds of meetings", Ace lectured the younger one and pulled his cheeks slightly. "Why should I? I don't need to know all this stuff. I can't even remember all that. That's why I got you on the crew. You can do the stuff, I can't do. I don't need to know everything about this work organisation to know I have to beat them up", Luffy seemed slightly annoyed at Ace for pulling his cheeks.

But despite that, he did compliment them all. A slight look to the others was enough to know that they possible felt the same.

"Maybe it is the best. If Luffy gets bored, we won't get to the point. So we can let Luffy go play with Chouchou with Bepo keeping them company just in case, the idiot goes overboard", Law said carefully. "Thank you, Torao", Luffy cheered and hugged him before he left the kitchen with Chouchou and Bepo, who quickly had gotten up to have an eye on the bundle of energy.

"Is it really good that way?", Vivi asked with a slightly worried look. "Yeah, it is better to just give Luffy a very short form of the plan and Bepo can't come with us. He would slow us down because he can't handle the heat during day. So it is much healthier for him to stay on board", Law explained.

"I'll stay with Bepo in that case. I'm not a good fighter, so I would be only in your way. So I can stay and make sure that Bepo is fine during the day", Conis spoke up.

The blonde Skypiean looked at Vivi with an apology in her eyes. These two had started to become good friends since the young princess had been on board. So it was only natural that Conis had wanted to help her friend as well. But she was also right that she would only be in there way.

"It's fine, Conis-chan. I don't want to risk anyone's life", Vivi said with a slight smile.

Ain looked a bit emotionless. The young woman didn't seem to be quite sure how to handle these interruptions all the time. It possibly wasn't what she was used to from being a marine. It made Law smirk slightly.

"Could we go back to the topic, please? You guys need to be prepared for the battle, we will have to face in Alabasta. Because most of the Officer Agents are devil fruit users, well at least one of the duo", Ain said.

"Does this makes you nervous, Ain?", Ace sounded amused. "Shut up, before I turn you into a little boy. Because you can't expect to march into a country which is divided because of a civil war without a plan. It is possible that just being there might cause more trouble. So now no more interruption, because we should get this over as fast as possible, because who knew what happens next. This is Grandline. Anything can happen here!"

"Bossy woman…" "I love it when Ain-chan is being like that~"

These two…

Luffy had been playing a bit with Chouchou before he had decided to lay on the deck with the dog on his chest and his head leaning against Bepo.

"Ne, are you still homesick sometimes?", Luffy asked quietly. His hand was petting Chouchou's head which the dog seemed to enjoy.

He couldn't see Bepo's reaction. But since the Mink didn't answer right away, it was possible a difficult question.

"I don't remember much… I remember Zou being on a big elephant which was walking in the sea…", the polar bear said thoughtfully.

Luffy had to imagine that. It sounded like an adventure. He really wanted to see that elephant. "I want to see", he said a bit dreamy. "And I want to meet your friends."

Luffy lifted his head when he heard steps.

Zoro had come out of the kitchen. "Is the boring meeting done?", the young captain asked the swordsman. A pout formed itself on his lips when the green-haired young man shook his head 'no'. "What do they talk about that much?"

"About members and possible match-ups. That the Bartolomeo, Vivi, the perverted cook and I should just run when we see Crocodile because he is a Logia-type user", Zoro told him. The swordsman sounded annoyed.

But Luffy could understand him. He wouldn't like it either if someone told him to run from an opponent.

"Logia? Damn… I thought we could try to beat some people without using Haki", the straw-hatted captain said. "Teach me Haki."

Luffy blinked at the swordsman. Then he tilted his head. "It is confusing. I didn't understand most parts of the explanations from Jii-chan. I just follow my instinct, but I know that I have to be focused for Observation Haki", Luffy said.

"Ain-san or Law would be better in teaching Haki", Bepo piped up.

"It can't be that difficult to ask one of them...", Zoro mumbled. "It is. Torao and Nii-chan are training since they both became fifteen and Nii-chan still isn't very good with Observation Haki", Luffy said.

He remembered how hard the training had been for him. Despite the words of his grandpa that he got some talent for Haki and the old man had sounded very proud because of this fact.

"But if they want to prepare you guys, then they should start to teach you Haki soon. Because in the New World lots of people know Haki", the young captain went on.

But then he stopped and started to grin. Maybe there was a way to train with Zoro.

"Oh, I know how to train. At least a bit. Cover your eyes", Luffy said with enthusiasm. This should be fun.

Zoro looked confused at him before he closed his eyes and covered them with his bandana. Luffy giggled.

"Now try to dodge", he said and didn't wait long to punch the other.

"Wait.. dodge?", Zoro was interrupted by the punch and fell a bit backwards because he hadn't expected it. "How should I have dodged that one?!", the swordsman lifted the bandana a bit and glared at him.

Luffy just blinked innocently at him. "Feel the attack. Try to hit me", the boy said while he closed his eyes and keeps them shut. He freed his mind from too many thoughts to be focused.

Just in time. He felt a punch coming from left. With ease, he dodged it. It was starting to feel like a fun game for him. Even it was also training.

A big grin crept on his face when he felt that Zoro was getting a bit frustrated of missing him all the time.

"You are cheating, aren't you?"

"Nope, I'm using Haki to predict your attacks", Luffy chirped quite happily. He jumped a bit backwards to avoid another attack. But he didn't land the way he thought he would. His feet slipped off the railing and fell head first towards the water.

But his fall stopped as soon as he felt a tight grip on his ankle. He opened his eyes and looked up.

"Nice catch, Zoro", he giggled while making sure that he didn't lose his hat. The green-haired swordsman grumbled something Luffy couldn't understand before he was pulled up.

"That was fun. Let's play again", the young captain cheered when he was on the ship again.

Zoro sighed before giving him a slight hit on the head.

"Don't do this stupid stuff, captain."

So now I have just to say. See you at the next chapter
and also again thank you.

Thank you for all your support, even if it is just the click to favourite the story or leaving a Kudo. It makes me very happy to get the notification if someone did it. (I'm also quite happy about comments, but don't want to be greedy even if I really love to read comments xD. But sometimes less means more^^)