Supernova

by Primordial Vortex

Luffy's adventures took a much different start. It wasn't the Gomu Gomu fruit that Shanks and his crew brought to that sleepy town, and the consequences will reverberate throughout the Grand Line! With the power of the Sun in his hands, the Mugiwara Crew will take on the world! Different-DF-Luffy! Expanded crew. Harem. No Yaoi.

6. Declaration of Dreams

PLEASE CHECK MY PROFILE FOR PROGRESS. I WILL NO LONGER BE ANSWERING PMS SOLELY ABOUT MY SCHEDULE.

Anyway, as you'll be able to see, I'm taking cues from both the manga and the anime. I likely won't be doing any of the anime-only arcs unless they're mixed in somehow with a canon arc, so you can pretty much cross those off the list unless they were really slam dunks. I MIGHT do some movies, but definitely not all of them. However, some scenes the anime definitely did better on than the manga since they had more time to expand. I'll be taking some cues there for sure, though – again – not all of them.

Also, I have some challenges/ideas at the bottom. Check em out!

ALSO: Zoro's epithet is tentative until the next chapter! If you guys can come up with something better, let me know! Until I post the next chapter, I'll still be willing to come back and edit this one!

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Chapter VI: Declaration of Dreams

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"MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" The excessively loud sound coming from such a tiny snail shocked the Marines tasked with monitoring communications in the Blues.

The Marine taking care of East Blue frowned, "There's no need to shout. I can hear you loud and clear." He took a look at his files, "Is this Captain Nezumi of Unit 16?"

"No sir!" The Marine on the other end said firmly, "…I actually don't think Captain Nezumi will be doing much speaking for a long time." There was a pause, "…Or moving, come to think of it."

The man frowned heavily, "Explain yourself!"

"Sir! At approximately 0800 this morning, Marine Base Three in East Blue was attacked by Pirates!"

He couldn't help but lower his jaw in disbelief, "A base." He mumbled back numbly, "Pirates attacked a base?" He shook himself, "Explain! In detail!"

"Sir! The first attack came from the ship itself. Two cannonballs were shot from it! Just two! The first shot destroyed one of the four moored ships' masts, which then ripped the sails of a second ship as it fell. The second shot hit the powder keg of ship four and destroyed it. The shrapnel from the explosion blew up the powder keg of the ship which was right next to it. In those two shots, they destroyed two ships, damaged a third, and crippled a fourth." Stunned silence was his response, "The ship that only had minor damage sailed out to meet them head on and was destroyed by a wind blade."

"Impossible!" He whipped his Marine hat off of his head as he stood up, revealing a full head of long, dark hair. "There's no way there was a swordsman of that caliber in East Blue!" Shock completely colored his tone.

"It's what happened sir! His attack was not strong enough to cut the ship in half, but it did enough of the job that the ocean finished it." The Marine said somberly, "The one we later learned was the Captain then leapt from the ship and used some sort of Devil Fruit power to rain something extremely hot from the sky. It was too hot to just be regular fire, and it melted straight through our encampments and turrets like they weren't even defended. Many of our men on the ground were blinded by the light. Some said it was like a second sun erupted above them. They landed, and an orange-haired lady used some sort of Sorcery to summon a small hurricane!" The long-haired Marine choked. Could this get any better? How in the world did a crew like that suddenly just appear in East Goddamn Blue of all places?

The Marine on the other end of the call continued, "They then proceeded into the base itself, where they stripped the base clean of all captured treasure and as much of the armory as they could fit onto their ship. All attempts to get an explosive onto the vessel met with failure, and none could actually see its defenders, or if there was more than one. The girl then summoned a lightning storm inside the base and electrocuted Captain Nezumi so badly that we're having to feed him through a tube. We also have a machine pumping his lungs. I am the highest-ranking officer still active."

The Commodore put his head in his hands, an expression of rage on his face, "Did you at least get pictures?!"

"We did sir! Not for all of them, but for some of them! We are sending them over now! From what we able to figure out in the aftermath of the attack, the Captain is Monkey D Luffy. The girl was named Nami, and the swordsman is none other than the famous East Blue Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro! They are the Straw Hat Pirates!"

He ground his teeth, "So the bounty hunter joined his marks." His knuckles popped as he clenched his fists, "I want any information you can find on those three, on the double! You have three days! We will be putting bounties on all three heads!"

"Yes sir!" And with a final puru from the snail, the call dropped.

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A shoot of bamboo was filled almost to the brim with water, and it dipped forward and clacked against a bucket, spilling its contents. This was the picturesque scenery of one of the Marine Headquarters around the world, and they were currently hosting many mid-level Marines. The men and women were all lined up against both sides of the long hall. Each had a fancy suit, with an immaculate white Officer's Coat draped over their shoulders with the emblem of Justice on their backs. All had hard faces and eyes as they sat in front of prepared meals and cups of sake.

"So, at the very least, they're now too much for our Branches to handle?"

"That's right." The man standing at the side of a board with his arms crossed behind his back was tall. He had tanned skin and dark-green curly hair. His eyes were obscured by sunglasses, despite being indoors. This was Lieutenant Commander Brannew, "Even before forming his Pirate group, Mugiwara Luffy defeated Captain Axe-Hand Morgan of one of our Marine Branches, and his crew has shown no sign of slowing down. Their latest atrocity was the sacking of Marine Base Three of East Blue. We have since learned from some of our Branches in East Blue that they even turned in multiple high-profile bounties before they raised their flag. That was how we came to acquire Kuro of a Thousand Plans, who was thought long-dead."

"New information has shown that both Morgan and Nezumi would have been sent to Impel Down had we known of their activities." Another higher-up said gravely, "This attack on Base Three was likely prompted from the Arlong Debacle. We've heard nothing but terrible things out of the people of Cocoyashi, and even if we eliminate their testimony as being biased due to being this Nami's hometown, the other Islands in that chain have said the same things. We've not heard anything of these Straw-Hat Pirates that was actually…well…Pirate-like. They've sacked no cities and several islands considered them heroes."

Another Marine growled, "It is the job of the Marines to police the people in the name of Absolute Justice. The minute they put up that flag they are Pirates."

Brannew cut the discussion off, "While these are fair points you have brought up, they are irrelevant to today's discussion. The higher ups have already made their decisions." He slapped a hand to the board, "Buggy the Clown, ฿15,000,000! Pirate Admiral Don Krieg, ฿17,000,000! Arlong the Saw, ฿20,000,000! Even the surprise capture of a man thought long dead; Kuro of a Thousand Plans, ฿16,000,000! All of them were Pirates who had surpassed the big ฿10,000,000 mark, in a Sea where the average is ฿3,000,000! Not only did these Straw-Hat Pirates take them all out, but Mugiwara himself took out Arlong without taking a single injury! From all accounts, he overpowered Arlong – a Fishman – in a contest of strength! He didn't even bother fighting Krieg himself, and allowed this Nami to do so! Roronoa Zoro is a swordsman of such skill that he is capable of projecting Wind Blades! That is unheard of in East Blue!" He slammed his hand hard onto the board, and it flipped over revealing three new posters, "It is unprecedented to put out such a high starting bounty, and even more extraordinary for a crew to start off with more than one bounty! But we feel this is absolutely necessary! We must nip the seeds of villainy in the bud early before they have the time to take root! There is no telling how powerful this crew could become if they are allowed the time to grow!"

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"You raised the prices again?" Nami asked in irritation. The News Coo looked pretty apologetic, "You're charging too much for them. If you raise it again I won't buy from you anymore."

"What's a newspaper or two?" Usopp asked carelessly. He was hunched over a small table with various vials and hollowed out lead shot.

"They add up." Nami shot back, "Reading is a good for the brain, but when you get one a day it adds up."

"You're being ridiculous." The long-nosed teen snorted, "We have hundreds of millions down in the holds. Even after we left fifty million for every single town on the Conomi Islands, we still have more money than I thought I would ever see in my life! What's a couple Beli to that? And weren't you done collecting money now that your town was saved?"

"What are you, an idiot?" She stomped over to him, "Now that Arlong is gone, I can collect for me. I have no intention of being penniless!" The thought of all the gold sitting beneath her feet almost had her swooning.

She would have gone on, but he hurriedly waved her away, "Stop squawking! I'm trying to develop a new killer star! I'm using hot chili peppers here!" He held up one of the vials and went to carefully pour the red contents into the shot, "Anyone who gets this in their eyes will-" And that was when Luffy's head crashed into his hand.

"Oi, what's the big deal Sanji!" Luffy yelled. Behind him, fire alarm bells were ringing as Usopp screamed towards the sky and shot fire out of his eyes. The plume of flame rose above even the ship's mast. "I just wanted to try one!"

"This is Nami-swan's orchard! I will protect it with all the love in my heart!"

Luffy growled as Nami rolled her eyes as she began reading her paper. She was just about to tell Sanji that it was okay for Luffy to try one when she heard the telltale sound of Soru. Sanji whirled around in panic and ate a kick right to the gut. He went flying forward and crashed into Usopp's work bench, flipping it. Another of the chili bottles had been lying on it, and it went flying. Usopp had now calmed down somewhat, and was laying almost spread-eagle on the deck, rubbing at his eyes. He stopped rubbing them and moved his arm, blinking rapidly. And that was when the second dose hit him in the face. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The fire alarm bells rang once more for poor Usopp.

"Shishishi, stupid Sanji." Luffy turned and went to go grab one of the tangerines, when Nami appeared beside him with her paper tucked underneath her arm.

"Not that one!" She slapped his hand down gently, "It's not ripe yet." She eyed them for a few seconds, before grabbing a ripe one and handing it to Luffy. "Make sure to peel it first." She giggled.

"Shishishi, thanks Nami." He went to peck her quickly on the cheek, but she inclined her head, so their lips met for a kiss, before going back to her chair. Luffy sat next to her and began to eat the mikan slowly, as he always did when he was trying something new. He made sure to savor the taste before deciding whether or not he liked the item, and in this case, he definitely did.

And that was when Nami flipped a page and a large sheet of newsprint fell out and floated to the deck. Luffy picked it up and unfurled it as Nami looked on, and their jaws dropped. "WHAT THE FUCK!" Nami screamed in shock, a little bit of blue on her skin. That awoke Zoro and got the attention of Usopp and Sanji, who were rubbing his eyes and sulking respectively.

Luffy slapped the paper down on the deck as they crowded around in glee, "DEAD OR ALIVE!" He yelled in joy and started laughing boisterously.

"WHY ARE YOU SO HAPPY?!" Nami screamed at him with razor teeth. She fell back in her chair and moaned, "Whyyyy…" She was fine with fighting now, but that didn't mean she wanted bounty hunters all over her! "This is serious! Headquarters is probably involved now! We're going to have the strongest hunters sent after us!"

"Why does the shitty Marimo have one?!" Sanji yelled in outrage, while the green-haired man in question smirked.

'Straw Hat' Monkey D Luffy, ฿50,000,000! The picture was of Luffy smirking confidently. He had a wide grin on his face and parts of his body were glowing golden. They must have taken this picture right before his attack at the base.

'Demon of the Three Blades' Roronoa Zoro, ฿30,000,000! They clearly recognized the background as belonging to the Baratie. Zoro was inclining on his chair with a confident smirk on his face while holding Wadō in his right hand.

'Storm Empress' Nami, ฿20,000,000! This one was clearly taken inside the Marine base. Nami was grinning madly with her new Clima-Tact in her hand with little crackles of lightning around her body. She groaned out loud, "I should have made sure that other Marine in Nezumi's office was actually knocked out! He must have taken the picture…" She started to sulk as she glared at the photo, "This picture makes me look so mean!" Nami whined as she looked at it.

"Can't imagine why." Zoro said blandly.

She grabbed her Clima-Tact with a growl, "You want to be next, Zoro?" She wasn't exactly dispelling his point.

"Bring it, 'Storm Empress.'" Zoro grinned.

"Nami got such a cool name!" Luffy had stars in his eyes as he stared at the orangette.

She blushed lightly, before shaking her head, "Anyway, now that we're wanted, we really shouldn't be relaxing here in East Blue."

Luffy grinned, "Yosh! To the Grand Line then!"

"Yeah!" Usopp yelled cheerfully, along with Sanji surprisingly. They had their arms around each other's shoulders and a fist each in the air.

"Well, let's stop by that island first." Zoro pointed off in the distance. "I need two new swords."

Nami started as she realized just what island they were passing, "That's right." She relaxed and smiled lightly, "If we're seeing that island, then we're definitely close to the Grand Line. That's Loguetown." She turned slightly towards Luffy to watch his reaction, "The town of the Beginning and the End. Where the Pirate King Gold Roger was born and where he died." Luffy had a look on his face, and her smile grew wider. She took a few steps towards him and wrapped her arms around him from behind, "Want to go there?"

He laughed, "You need to ask?"

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"Wow, this place is huge!" Luffy had a look of awe on his face. He'd never seen such a huge city before. His fists were in the air and the look of glee was back, "So this is where the Age of Pirates began…" He punched his two fists together, "I'm going to go find the Execution Platform!"

Sanji smiled, "I can probably find really good ingredients around here." He said eagerly, 'And some fine women too.' His grin turned a little perverted.

"I'll go find equipment then." Usopp declared, "And some more supplies. Maybe I can find some ways to improve our weapons." He grinned over at Nami, who definitely had loved the Clima-Tact he had created for her.

Nami turned to Zoro with an eager grin on her face, "I can lend you some money Zoro. Only 300 percent interest."

But much to her surprise, Luffy shot her down pretty quickly, leaving her stunned, "Nami." He said, and she almost stiffened at having his 'Captain' voice directed at her, "We both know exactly how much money we have down in the holds." Oh boy, did she know. She was also very happy that he spoke softly, not wanting anyone to overhear them, "Everyone gets a personal cut of the treasure whenever we get a good haul. The rest of it is to the crew as a whole."

Nami pouted outrageously at what her Captain was saying, "But that's so unfair!"

"No, it isn't." The rest of the crew said with varying expressions. Sanji was trying not to upset her, so he kept a commiserating look on his face. Zoro was outright smirking, though he at least had the decency to look away from her.

Luffy continued, "Think of it this way… most of the time it won't really matter. I don't see us wanting much other than the necessary stuff most of the time anyway." He chuckled at her mulish expression.

"But!" She continued to protest with a crestfallen look on her cute face. Luffy's face didn't change, and she deflated, "Fine…" She groused, even as he pecked her on the cheek. She turned her head away with a harrumph and crossed her arms.

"Don't be angry, Nami." Luffy wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her on the neck.

She wavered at his actions, "Fine, but I get to decide how much!" She was still whining.

He rolled his eyes, "No, we all come to a fair agreement. For today, just give anyone who wants it a hundred thousand and we'll all come to an agreement later. And if you don't stop pouting I'll tickle you!" To emphasize his threat, his fingers ghosted on her sides and she already started to spasm. Oh, how he was glad to have found that weakness quickly.

"You wouldn't dare!" Nami panicked and tried to escape, but he had a firm hold on her, "Fine, fine! I get it already!"

Luffy chuckled and tilted her chin towards him, kissing her deeply. Again, Sanji turned to stone and shattered. "Damn it!" She cursed once they broke off, the orangette panting slightly, "Stop being so cute and sexy!" Luffy laughed at her and went to run off, "Luffy! The three of us especially need to be careful!" She rapidly zoned back in, "It's only been a short time since our posters came out, but we still might be recognized. Keep on guard. You too, Zoro."

"You got it." Zoro said as he grabbed a stack of 100,000 Beli from her with a smirk. Luffy gave her a thumbs-up and continued on his way.

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Zoro was walking around town looking from side to side, trying to find a sword shop. With the Grand Line so close, he would have thought the place would have been teeming with them. So far though, he hadn't had any luck. "So, you're not with that monster today huh!" A loud voice rang out.

"Our boss is in jail thanks to you lot! Now you're finished!" Another gruff voice sounded off.

He turned to the side in interest, and blanched, 'Who the hell are these guys calling monsters?' One of them could only barely be described as human. He was hunched over, and his head was the size of his torso.

"Well, I'll be happy to take you on. It appears you haven't learned your lesson." The girl they were yelling at replied calmly, not even slightly rankled.

The fat one snorted, "What's that, you want to take us on?" He grinned and drew his sword, mirrored by the skinny monster, "Your funeral! DIE, AND LET THAT BASTARD MONSTER KNOW THAT BECAUSE OF HIM, OUR DEAMS OF ENTERING THE GRAND LINE ARE RUINED!"

The townspeople drew back in shock at the attempted murder, even as Zoro went to draw Wadō. He needn't have bothered. The wrapped-up package the girl was holding fell apart revealing a katana. She moved at a blistering speed and cut down both of the wannabe Pirates in a single stroke, ending with her legs spread and the blade held over her head.

And then promptly ruined it by tripping and falling flat on her face as the bleeding men crumpled behind her. Her glasses clattered to the dirt in front of her, as the crowd began whooping and hollering for her, both amazed and amused. Zoro smirked lightly. She wasn't half bad. He kneeled down and picked up the glasses by one of the arms, "These yours?"

"Ah, sorry!" She exclaimed as she got to her knees, "Thank you very much!" She turned her face up with a slightly embarrassed smile and Zoro sucked in a gasp. "Ah, something the matter?"

"N-nothing!" Zoro stuttered uncharacteristically as he handed back the glasses. He had just barely managed to keep from crushing them. If he had been holding them near the lenses he probably would have, "Try to work on your footing. You overextended that swing." He forced a chuckle and walked past her. Once their backs were to each other, he started to sweat, 'What in the hell? She looks just like Kuina! She's even a swordswoman!' He growled and hunched over slightly, "I was weak."

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"CAPTAIN SMOKER! Terrible news!" The room the Marine grunt walked into was filled so thickly with smoke that it likely could have been cut with a knife. You could only see a slightly darker outline of a heavily muscular man sitting shirtless by a table. There was also a large stack of something that the man was playing with, "There's been a message from HQ! Monkey D Luffy as well as his crew are likely going to be landing here soon! He himself somehow earned a massive ฿50,000,000 bounty, while two others on his crew earned ฿30,000,000 and ฿20,000,000 each!"

The smoke had slightly cleared because of the open door, Smoker was now slightly visible. His hair was white, and he had two cigars in his mouth, "Fifty million for the captain and another fifty for two crewmates. That's a hundred total." He said, "That's certainly worthy of congratulations. I'm legitimately impressed." His tone stayed even the entire time he spoke.

"He's an evil villain who not only took out Arlong, but the lowest bounty on his crew took out Don Krieg! On top of that, they assaulted Marine Base Three and crippled Captain Nezumi." The grunt said.

"Who we now know was practically a Pirate himself. He gets no sympathy from me." Smoker dismissed his words gruffly, "Now be quie-" And the stack of rocks in front of him crumbled, "Damn, your yelling made it fall apart." He stood with a huff, before walking over to the window and opening it. Gradually, the rest of the smoke in the room drifted out, "Don't be tense. I have my own pace I do things at." He turned back, "So what now?"

"Sir! Word is that they'll be landing today!"

"I don't see what you're so flustered for. Has a single Pirate ever escaped Loguetown since I took charge here?" He walked over to a coat and put it on, revealing it to be a modified Marine Officer Coat with fur at the lapels and cigars strapped all over the left side. "No? Then shut up and calm down, or you're going to screw up my pace."

Then another grunt ran in and saluted, "Sir! We just received word that Pirates have landed!"

The other grunt straightened up, "It must be the Straw Hats!"

Smoker grabbed a jitte and strapped it to his back before walking forward, "Mugiwara no Luffy huh? I pray he actually puts up a fight."

A few seconds after the second grunt ran out with Smoker, the first grunt gasped, "Sir, you're not going to look at the poster?!" But it was too late, and the Captain had already vanished.

Outside, the two Marine were calmly walking, "Captain, please give the units their orders!"

"No need." He said calmly.

"But!" The Marine blinked in shock, "But sir, you need to consider how powerful they are!"

Smoker stopped and turned his head, revealing a deadly look in his eye, "You're annoying." The Marine straightened in terror, "Don't tell me what to do. Now where's Tashigi?"

"My apologies sir!" He saluted in fear, "She said she'd be out this morning, but that she would return for training!"

"That dumb girl." Smoker sighed, "Where the hell did she go." A little girl then crashed into his leg and spilled ice cream all over his pants. He stared at the sniffling girl and her terrified father expressionlessly, before leaning down and grabbing her head in what looked like a bear claw, making the father recoil in fear. But then he got to one knee and said softly, "Looks like my pants ate your ice cream. Sorry about that." He pulled out a hundred Beli coin and put it in her hand, "Here, buy yourself five scoops." He waved good-bye and continued toward the docks.

A few minutes later, a Pirate with gray hair, an extremely long, thin, curling mustache, and an equally funny beard was yelling at his crew, "Take everything that isn't nailed down! These supplies will be vital for conquering the Grand Line! The Pirate King shall be me, Crescent Moon Gally!"

"Oi, who's in charge here?" Smoker had shown up while the Pirates were raucously cheering. He eyed the man coolly, "So you're Monkey D Luffy huh. You don't look like much." Smoke started coming out of his sleeves, "I'll test you and see if you're worthy of stepping foot in my town!"

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"How's this?" Nami opened the curtain with a smile. She was wearing a loosely-tied corset with a fur skirt and long open coat.

"Oh my, madam, you look stunning!" An effeminate man with his hair shaped like a coat hanger of all things had a cheesy grin on his face.

"And how about this?" Now she wore a wine-colored dress that showed off her tattoo as well as some leg. She had some sort of animal pelt as a scarf.

"You look so elegant, miss!" He said, drooling at the thought of the coming sale.

"This?"

"Elemental!"

"And now this?"

"Electrical!"

"This one is good too, right?"

"Elegy!" He stood next to a pile of the clothes as Nami got back out of the booth dressed in her regular clothes, "You'll be purchasing all of these, correct?" He was weak at the knees at the thought of this sale.

"Nah." And then Nami rained on his parade, "I prefer more rugged clothes. They're much more comfortable. Thank you though!" She walked out, leaving the furiously sobbing clerk behind. Next, she went to a much less fancy store to actually buy herself some clothes. As the clerk was stuffing her second sack full of clothes, Nami had a feeling of foreboding, "Captain Smoker?"

"Yeah!" The woman said cheerfully, "He's one of the strongest Marines from HQ! Before he showed up this town used to be a pretty big Pirate hangout, since it's so close to the Grand Line. Once he took over, not a single Pirate has made it through. Every single one of them have ended up in the slammer. He's an extraordinarily strong monster! They say he has Devil Fruit powers too!"

Suddenly, Nami stiffened, and cast her gaze outside, "Hmm…sorry, but can you wrap it up in plastic as well?"

"Plastic? But the weather is great!" The shopkeeper exclaimed.

"Not for much longer…" Nami replied, reading the wind caressing her skin, "The pressure is starting to drop rapidly. It's definitely going to rain soon." Later on, the teller would be stunned as one of the worst storms in recent memory smashed straight into Loguetown.

-]|[-

"Excellent work sir! You captured Mugiwara's crew in no time at all!"

Smoker snorted, "Are your eyes for decoration?" He asked derisively, "You think this idiot was worth fifty million?" He sighed, "The world would be ending if this shabby fly was worth that much. Luffy will show up soon enough."

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear! "Oiii!" Smoker turned to the source of the noise, and saw a man wearing a straw hat and grinning happily, "Perfect timing! Do you know how to get to the execution platform?" Smoker blinked as the man turned around and waved his head around with his hand shielding his eyes, "I got lost on my way there. This city is so huge!"

"I've never seen you here before." Smoker told him coolly.

"Yeah, I landed today. This place is so different from Foosha." Luffy said sheepishly.

"Why are you looking for the execution platform?" Smoker asked him, unable to tell whether or not he should be suspicious.

"Isn't it obvious?" Luffy grinned, tilting his head slightly to look at him, "I want to see where the Pirate King died." Smoker stared at him blankly, though his gaze got a little sharper. A few seconds passed, before Luffy frowned and leaned over, "Don't know where? Aww…" He started walking away.

"Wait." Smoker sighed, as the smoke coming from his cigar started forming a trail, "Just go ahead and follow the smoke."

"Oh really?! Thanks Smokey!" Luffy ran off. Smoker turned to watch him go, a contemplative expression on his face.

A few minutes later, Luffy had predictably lost the smoke trail. "Man, now I'm lost. Again." Luffy grumbled, "Oh well, I'll find it eventually." He picked a random direction and his eyes widened when he saw a bar named Bar Gold Roger. He walked inside, and saw that it was a dark, gloomy building. The lighting was off or broken, and the entire place was dilapidated. Inside the bar itself, there was only a single old fart covered in age spots sitting by a human skull. "What are you doing here, old guy? You work here?"

"Scram." The crotchety old man said, "This ain't a place for runts like you." He grabbed a bottle and started pouring himself a drink, "Besides, we're closed for good as of today."

Luffy blinked, "You guys go under?"

"It didn't go under!" The man nearly spat, "I'm shutting it down myself. Now get lost, brat!"

"Relax, I was just curious about the name." Luffy said, ignoring the orders and sitting down, "Maaan, I just wanted to go to the execution platform. How do you even get this lost?" He looked over, "Hey, what's that on the table?" Luffy grinned, "Is that a skull? How cool!"

The old man looked at it, "The last remains of a man called Killer Giant. A villain who sent hundreds of Pirates to the afterlife." He grinned, "But Gold Roger sent him to his grave with a single blow." He threw his arms up, "With absurd speed too! This guy was famous for the huge blade he used, but their fight ended in the blink of an eye! This wound was what did him in," Luffy grinned even wider. The skull had a deep crack in it, "But the guy was a scoundrel. With his last breath, he muttered, 'Roger, my hat's off to you! May you have honor as the eternal Pirate!'"

"So cool!" Luffy was hanging on to every word.

"Eric Down, the man known as king! Silver Silver, the world's greatest gunman! The giant Gowns brothers! All of them tough as nails and feared as demons! But to Gold Roger, they may as well have been infants." Luffy was visibly trembling in excitement, "Would ya like to hear more? Very few believe this tale nowadays."

"It's fine! Just tell me!"

"Hold yer horses kid!" He swirled his drink around, "Gold Roger… in those days…no…even now I suppose…he was the only man who never feared the Grand Line." He reminisced nostalgically, "Back in those days, the Grand Line was a mysterious sea that no ship ever returned from. They were all just swallowed up. It was a sea of evil that people feared and which few men dared approach."

"Old man, give me rum. One bottle will do."

"You're sure drinking happily, Roger."

The dark-haired man chuckled and brought the whole bottle to his lips and took a deep drink. Some wine spilled out of the sides of his mouth. "Of course I am. I'm about to take a little stroll into the Grand Line." The bartender's face fell in horror, "You can't imagine how excited I am."

"Woah! You're going there?" His jaw was having trouble working, "Into that sea of evil?"

"What, is there something wrong with that?" Roger grinned madly.

"Well, not exactly…" He shrugged a bit, "But no one has ever come back from there! You should just forget about it."

Roger started to laugh, "Why do you think I'm going? Now give me more rum. A barrel will do."

The old man chuckled, "And after saying that, he drank the place dry, and set sail all too casually the next morning." He scratched his chin, "When I heard later that he'd conquered that sea, I was more happy than surprised. Far more excited than I should have been at my age!" He swirled his drink again, not even noticing Luffy fidgeting, "And twenty-two years ago today, he died on the execution platform." He sighed, "Ever since that day, every idiot thinking themselves strong has tried to do what he did. They all tossed their hats into the Pirate ring and marked the beginning of the Great Pirate Era!" He slammed his glass down, "And now look at all of them! An entire town full of nothing but cowards and scum! Men crazy enough to challenge that evil sea are all but gone now! That's why this bar is closing down for good today."

Luffy grinned, "I'm leaving for the Grand Line too." His grin widened to the point it was practically splitting his face, "Gold Roger's so cool! He's how a Pirate should be! That's why I set out. I'm going there, and I will find One Piece!" The old man stared in shock as the ghostly image of Roger appeared over the boy, "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

"Those are some mighty big words! And in this bar of all places!" The old man laughed.

"I only said what I meant." Luffy replied easily.

"Kid, if there are still guys like you in this world, then maybe closing up shop is a little premature." He got up and walked behind the bar, "I haven't been in such a good mood in ages. What'll it be?"

Luffy chuckled lightly, "I don't usually drink alcohol. I save it for special occasions."

"How about this then?" He put two cold glasses of milk on the counter, "A toast! To the Eternal Pirate King!" He slipped off his beanie and raised one of them.

Luffy grinned and grabbed his glass, before clinking it together with the other glass, "To the Eternal Pirate King!"

-]|[-

"Oh, it's you." The old man scowled. The glasses were drained, and Luffy was long gone now.

"What a warm hello…" Smoker piped up in amusement, "…for a regular patron of yours."

"Cut the crap! You here to shut us down?" The old man growled.

"Don't hold a grudge old timer. It's not my fault Pirates nowadays are all cowards and weaklings."

The old man chuckled, "Not all of them."

Smoker blinked, but put that aside, "I only come here as a loyal customer." He blinked again as the old man walked away, noticing the dregs of milk in the glasses, "Oh, you had a patron?" His grin widened slightly, "How rare." He paused for a second or two, "Anyway, I'd like a glass of rum."

"There's no alcohol here for you!"

"Don't be so iron-hearted." His smoke wafted away and grabbed a bottle off the shelf, "Today's a special day. Wouldn't you agree?" He popped the cork off and began chugging as the old man stopped messing with whatever he was messing with. He put the bottle down with a smirk, "Ah, that's the stuff." He looked down to one specific seat, "I remember it even now… how Roger looked at the end. It was a humid day, just like today. His hands were shackled as he was led down Main Street towards the town square, where the execution platform awaited. Yet he walked like a triumphant general!" Smoker could still recall the feeling of absolute shock he had felt as a child, watching the Pirate King walking to his doom and smiling. "Wealth…fame…power… Gold Roger had attained everything the world had to offer. And even though he was walking to his death, he remained a King of great pride."

Inherited will… The tide of the times… People dreams! As long as people seek the answer of freedom, these things will never cease to be.

"Any last words?" The soldier asked.

Gold Roger's grin widened as he turned to the man, who involuntarily took a step back. He held up his hands, "Take these off for me. They itch beyond belief."

"I cannot do that!"

"What, you think I'll run away?" he chuckled, "Ya sure know how to make a guy feel lonely." He walked forwards and turned, before sitting cross-legged. "Well, let's get this over with then." The guards crossed their long blades close to him.

"HEY! PIRATE KING!" Roger lifted his head slightly, "What did you do with all your treasure?! Is it in the Grand Line? You got it didn't you? That great treasure!" He ignored the yells from the guards to shut up.

Roger started chuckling lowly, before it turned into a great belly laugh, "My treasure? You can have it if you want it."

"Don't speak without permission!" The soldiers yelled, starting to panic.

"Find it! I left everything this world has to offer there! Everything is in One Piece!" And then the panicking guards pierced him with their blades, and there was silence. Everyone watched in shock, before a great, resounding cheer rang through the plaza. And the guards who had killed the man couldn't stop staring in shock, as even in death, the great king smiled.

"That's how it all began." Smoker continued staring at that one seat, the one that had sat Roger so many times.

"Hey! There's a few new wanted posters! Put them up somewhere visible!" A Marine had walked in, and then a shiver went down his spine as he dropped the three sheets of paper, "Ah! Captain Smoker! I apologize for my rudeness!"

"Huh?" Smoker walked over and picked up one of the posters. He stared at it, his voice a little gruffer, "That Straw Hat… He was Monkey D Luffy!" He ran out of the store, dropping the paper as he went for the old man to stare at in glee.

-]|[-

Zoro was now firmly in the teeth-grinding portion of his day. Every single store he'd tried so far all had stupidly expensive swords, none of which he could even dream of affording at this point. Even with Luffy claiming they'd all get a cut of the loot, he wasn't sure he would have time to find the others and convince Nami to part with the seven goddamn million he would need just for one of the swords he saw. He walked into yet another store, and the owner greeted him with the standard salesmen's pitch and smile, "Welcome, welcome! Old swords, newer swords, brand-new swords! We have them all, and over two-hundred years of sterling reputation! Please come in and look around!"

Zoro sighed, "I have 100,000 Beli! Sell me two swords!"

The owner's – a balding man named Ippon-Matsu – excitement crashed and burned faster than a ship Luffy decided he didn't like. "100,000? 50,000 will get you a blunt blade." He scowled, 'This guy's a bum. What an amateur.' He scowled more, "The 50,000 Beli blades are over there." He pointed carelessly. Zoro turned just slightly as he explained that he was low on cash at the moment, and Matsu's eye caught on to the blade at this waist, 'No way! That can't be! Play it cool!' "Sir, may I see that sword?" he asked, just barely able to keep his voice even.

Zoro eyed him with a much sharper gaze, "Why are you shaking?" He reluctantly handed Wadō over and watched with a sweatdrop as the man's composure broke as he drew it.

'THIS IS IT!' He screamed in his head, 'Keep cool! This is your big chance! Don't mess this up! This sucker walked in with a legendary sword! Just talk calmly.' He coughed, "This sword's no good." Zoro grabbed him by his collar with a growl, "Sorry, I lied." He coughed again, "Look friend, maybe we can work around your lack of funds. This sword here is decent. It's nothing special, but it might be worth something." He said, "I'll give you 200,000 Beli for it, and then you'll be able to purchase three 100,000 Beli swords." Zoro eyed him darkly, "Er…How about 500,000 then?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Zoro glared at the man, who suddenly realized he might have tried to cheat the wrong person. He started to tremble under Zoro's gaze.

Zoro went to grab the blade back, but a body crashed into the counter and practically screamed, "No way! Could it be!" Zoro almost cringed. Kuina's lookalike was next to him again. She lifted her glasses in excitement to stare at the magnificent blade, "This is…"

"Wadō Ichimonji." Zoro finished the statement, finally taking his precious sword back.

'He knew!' Matsu thought in panic.

"Where did you find this, mister? This is one of the Ō Wazamono grade swords! It's worth ten million!"

Zoro tucked it back into his sash, "It belonged to my dearly departed friend." He glared at Matsu, whose face had turned pasty white. The girl had also paled, bowing her head in condolence, "Now where are your 50,000 Beli swords? I still need two more."

"Three swords? You must really like them." The girl stated needlessly with a sheepish smile, "Just like that Bounty Hunter, Zoro! Oh, where are my manners! I met you earlier and didn't introduce myself then either! My name is Tashigi!" She bowed to him.

"Roronoa Zoro huh?" Zoro smirked lightly, "I hear that name often."

Tashigi nodded as she collected her own sword – Shigure – from Matsu. She walked over to Zoro, who was unsheathing a katana, "He's a famous Bounty Hunter." She sighed, "It makes me angry, to think of a sword being used to make money. It's evil! Those blades must be crying!"

Zoro eyed her from the corner of his eye, "And what makes you so sure he was a Bounty Hunter because of greed?"

Tashigi blinked, "I…well…"

Zoro snorted, "What if it was just a couple dumbass Pirates who attacked him? Was he supposed to just let those bounties go to waste?" He shrugged. That was as close as he could get to the truth without coming out and saying he was Zoro.

Matsu had finally calmed down and grinned, "I like bad guys! This shop used to be full of guys looking to sail the Grand Line!" he growled which distracted Tashigi, "Then that monster took over and look what happened! No more customers!"

"Captain Smoker is not a monster!" She whirled around and yelled at him, "He just ate a Devil Fruit!" Zoro listened intently as he went through swords, "In any case, I'll use this Shigure to hone my skills! Then I'm going to collect all of the Meito that have fallen into evil hands! I'll collect all of theSaijo Ō Wazamono, Ō Wazamono, and Ryō Wazamono swords in evil hands even if it kills me!"

Zoro quirked a grin, unseen to the other two. She certainly had spunk. "This one too then?" He had the handle clenched tightly.

She gasped and whirled around, waving her hands rapidly, "It's not that I want the swords for myself! I just don't want evil men to have them!" Zoro chuckled before his hands closed around a handle and he stopped cold. "Oh, that sword! I've seen it in my book!" She opened it and rapidly flipped to a certain entry, "It's Sandai Kitetsu! You have to take this one!" She turned to Matsu, "Why is this sword inside this barrel? This one is worth at least a million! It's a Ryō Wazamono!"

"No! I can't sell that sword!" Matsu roared, a cold sweat dripping down his back.

"What, why not?" Tashigi asked after rearing back.

"That sword… it's…" Matsu started, but Zoro interrupted him.

"It's cursed." He said, not giving away how he was feeling, one way or the other.

"You've heard of it?" Matsu asked him in surprise.

"No…I can tell."

Matsu shook his head rapidly, "Either way, the Kitetsu trio are all excellent blades, but all three are cursed! Famous swordsmen all over have lost their lives because they wielded those blades! These days, no sane swordsman would use one, and if they did they wouldn't be around for too much longer!" He sighed and looked down, "I'd like to get rid of it myself, but I'm afraid I'll be cursed for it."

Tashigi bowed deeply to Zoro, "I apologize! I was pushing so hard for you to get that one! I didn't know it was so dangerous! I could have killed you!"

Zoro was eyeing the sword with a faint grin. It was a katana with a very faint pattern on it that looked vaguely flame-like, "This sword… I like it." He broke into a full grin. "I'll take it."

"What!" They both gasped, "Are you a fool! I can't sell you that blade! If you died it would be like I killed you myself!"

His wife showed up and punched him in the head, "You're the fool! Just get rid of the thing!"

Zoro grinned as wide as Luffy did sometimes, "How about this then? My luck against this blade's curse. Let's find out which is stronger!" He threw it into the air and it spun like a buzz saw. He held out his arm and closed his eyes. "If I lose, then I wasn't meant to go any farther!"

Everyone in eyesight panicked. Tashigi covered her mouth and looked on with wide eyes, while Matsu screamed in panic, holding his head, "Are you a fool! You'll lose your arm!"

The blade hit its apex and started falling. It danced around Zoro's arm and embedded itself into the floorboards to the hilt. Zoro grinned madly again, "I'll take it."

Tashigi felt her legs give out underneath her and she slowly slid to her knees and watch in pure awe as Zoro effortlessly pulled the blade out of the floorboards and sheathed it. "Wow…" She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed, "Just…wow…"

Zoro turned to her, still lightly smirking, "Hey…how about you pick out another one for me?"

Tashigi shook herself, "Ah…sure!"

"No!" Matsu said and ran off, before coming back. He set a katana on a ceremonial stand and sank to his knees behind it. He bowed to Zoro, "Our shop is nothing fancy. This is the best blade we have! It is Yubashiri, a Ryō Wazamono. It has a black lacquered sheath and I will guarantee its sharpness! Please take it and Kitetsu as my apology for trying to trick you!" He looked up and stared firmly into Zoro's eyes, "It's been a long time since I've met eye-to-eye with a real swordsman! I pray for your good fortune!"

After Zoro left, Tashigi had a weak, sheepish grin on her face, "I…I just can't get up."

-]|[-

Luffy stood before the execution platform, having finally found the main plaza, "So that's where the greatest Pirate in history died." He grinned, "The place where it all began!" He started stepping forward, intending to make the climb without using Geppo when a voice rang up behind him. Luffy turned and waved, "Oh hey, it's you again! Hiya!"

Smoker eyed him without changing expressions, "So, you're the man with the highest bounty in East Blue, huh?"

Luffy blinked, "Yeah, I'm Luffy. You need something Smokey?"

A tiny tic mark popped up on Smoker's head, "The name is Smoker. I'm a Navy Captain, and I'm in charge of this town. You're under arrest."

Luffy eyed him seriously, "Nah!" He grinned and put his hands behind his head, "Don't feel like it." He smirked, "I'm about to head for the Grand Line, so I can become the Pirate King."

Smoker stiffened, "Pirate King?" He glared at the boy in front of him, "Then I'm afraid you'll have to get past me." He cracked his knuckles, "You don't get to the Grand Line unless you can beat me."

"Don't feel like it." Luffy whined, "This is a nice town. I don't feel like messing it up. Go away Smokey!"

Smoker blinked. What in the world? "I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

Luffy stared at him, before sighing and closing his eyes. Luffy vanished and before Smoker could do a damn thing, a sandal crashed into his jaw with the force of a dozen cannonballs. He lifted off his feet and rocketed through the air, "Guh!" His eyes were unfocused as he crashed down on the other side of town and dug a trench through the street he landed on before crashing into a building. At that point, he finally managed to focus enough to activate his devil fruit and dispersed harmlessly into smoke rather than crashing through it. When he reformed, he was on one knee and panting hard as his vision swam. He got to his feet and stumbled momentarily before his vision finally cleared up after he shook his head. "Damn." He rubbed his aching jaw, "It's been years since I've been caught off guard. I underestimated the brat." He then looked around and deadpanned, "And he knocked me across town. Damn it!" He sighed, "Idiot! I got cocky!" He pulled out a baby Den Den Mushi, "All units converge on the Main Plaza! I repeat! All units converge on the Main Plaza!" And with that, he took off running.

Back at the plaza the townsfolk were watching in a mixture of shock and horror as Luffy lowered his foot from where Smoker's face had been. "Shishishi!" He laughed and turned back to the platform. He began climbing, and in no time at all, he was staring at the entire town from the top of the platform. He began laughing as he sat down, "What a view!"

"Hey you! Get down from there!" A policeman who had just shown up and not seen him kick Smoker across town roared through a megaphone. Several people backed away from him rapidly, clearing the area.

"Why?" Luffy asked him seriously.

"That Execution Platform is under World Government jurisdiction! Get down from there right no-rghhrr!" A heavy, spiked iron mace smashed right into the side of his face and sent him flying.

It was held by a rather beautiful woman with long black hair and a very curvy body. She was wearing a coat with stylized hearts all over it and a cowgirl hat. "Don't be so mean, mister policeman." She smiled brightly up at Luffy, "I've found you at last, Luffy! It's been a long time!"

"Eh?" Luffy blinked owlishly at the woman, "Who are you?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"Surely you haven't forgotten this face!" She exclaimed.

"…" Luffy stared hard, "Sorry, don't know you, lady."

She pouted outrageously, and the watching crowd had hearts come out of their eyes, "Well, even if you don't remember me…I'll never forget you. You were the first man to ever hit my lovely face." Luffy's eyes widened in shock. When the hell had he even met her, much less hit her? "Yeah, and I really felt it!" She put her hand to her cheek, "And it was so hard!" She grinned and spread her arms out, "Now tell me…who's the most beautiful woman on the entire sea?!"

The entire massive crowd yelled, "YOU ARE!"

"That's right!" She yelled joyously, "There's not a man alive who wouldn't grovel at my feet, and I do love strong men…" She grinned up at Luffy, "So I'm going to make you mine, Luffy!"

Luffy chuckled lightly, "You certainly look different, Alvida." He finally realized who this woman was, "What Devil Fruit did you eat?"

"Different?" Alvida asked cluelessly, "Well, I suppose my freckles are gone."

Luffy sweatdropped, "I don't think that's it…" He waved his hand back and forth.

She grinned, "But I'm surprised that you managed to tell I ate a fruit. I don't look that different, do I?"

But before Luffy could confirm that yes, she did look very much different, an explosion rang through the square. A massive chunk of one of the fountains hurtled right for Alvida as the crowd panicked, "Oh no! Lady Alvida is doomed!" The infatuated folk screamed in fear.

But she was just standing there calmly, a light smile gracing her lips. The chunk of carved stone hit her…and then slid right by her harmlessly and continued on to destroy a part of the town. "Hey, watch it." She pouted.

"You don't have to worry!" A new voice rang out, and this one Luffy recognized immediately. He bit back an irritated groan, "Her silky-smooth skin can never be marred, so you don't need to worry."

Alvida threw her coat off while winking, revealing a bikini top and a rich purple Captain's coat, "That's right! I partook of the Sube Sube no mi! My skin can no longer be marred by any attack." She grinned and crossed her arms, "But if you're going to become my man, there's someone you have to beat first. We teamed up just to find you."

Buggy threw his cloak off and stood there in all his glory, "Nothing but thoughts of your death have filled my mind since you defeated me, Mugiwara! Those thoughts gave me the strength to return to my crew! It was an epic adventure, full of laughter, tears, and friendship and…WHY AM I SAYING ALL OF THIS TO YOU?"

"How should I know, Buffoon?" Luffy had his cheek resting in his palm, while that elbow rested on his knee. He picked his nose with his other hand. He was the very picture of boredom.

"IT'S BUGGY!" Buggy roared over Alvida's rather loud giggling, "You won't be so insolent after I'm through with you!" The rest of his crew surrounded them and pointed guns at the civilians, "Freeze, landlubbers! You're about to see how ruthless I can be!" He grinned madly as he saw Cabaji in place on the tall building behind the scaffolding. This plan had been weeks in the making and had involved much risk and personal debasement. They had been forced to get rid of any identifying features such as his face-paint and their clothes while they waited for Luffy to inevitably arrive. Buggy himself had to sneak to various places trying to find a specific item they needed for this to work. With Luffy having revealed himself as a Devil Fruit user like himself and a dangerous one at that, Buggy had searched high and low for a set of stocks lined with Kairōseki. They would nullify the bastard's powers, which would especially be necessary if his worst fears came to pass and the brat ended up being a Logia. Buggy had managed to steal them from one of the Marine's bases on the island a mere couple days ago. Covering his trail had been absolute hell. Now it was all up to Cabaji.

The man in question jumped off the roof above the platform, aiming the stocks at Luffy's neck. They had been modified with blades, so they would pierce whatever ground Luffy was on and pin him to it, trapping him with no leverage to make an escape. Then they could execute the man to their leisure. Buggy eyed the descent in anticipation practically shivering at the thought of having the man who humiliated him at his mercy.

Luffy just looked bored. While Buggy and Alvida kept their cool, the rest of their crewmates and peons were clearly following something falling with their eyes. He casually threw himself forward with his hands, uncrossing his legs and letting them hang off the platform rather than sitting directly in the center. A thunk behind him and Buggy's horrified scream had him smirking. He turned his torso and reached behind him to grab his panicking attacker by the face, muffling the man's gasp. He hauled him up and smashed him once onto the platform head-first, before holding him dangling over the side of the platform, "That was dangerous!" Luffy admonished in a whiny tone, "You could have hurt someone!"

"CABA-CHAN!" Buggy yelled in horror as Alvida looked on, awestruck.

Cabaji's arms shook as feebly tried to get Luffy to let go of his face, before Luffy squeezed. Hard. The man went slack, and he threw Cabaji away from the scaffolding. Buggy caught his first mate and stared at his nemesis, rivulets of sweat running down his face.

-]|[-

"Why do I have to carry the heavy end?!" Usopp was feeling pretty grouchy and was yelling at Sanji. There he was, having a good time buying supplies and equipment and materials to experiment with when the blonde chef had found him. He'd been forced to abandon his venture to 'help' carry the lazy-ass chef's massive Elephant True Bluefin Tuna.

"After all those pushups with that stupid Marimo on your back, you shouldn't be complaining." Sanji smirked as he smoked, "Anyway, I saw a weird guy riding a lion in town."

A few meters away, Zoro was looking around wondering why the crowds had thinned so much this early in the day.

A few meters from him, Nami was carrying her massive bag of clothes, "Man, the pressure has dropped way too low. This is going to be a massive storm. How did it build up this quickly?" She sighed to herself, "Maybe it was a Devil Fruit." She stopped momentarily, "And that's too terrifying a thought to continue on. We better hurry back to the ship, otherwise we might not be able to set sail today. Now where the hell are they?" The four of them then met with little expressions of surprise, "Oh, there you all are. Where's Luffy?"

"He said he wanted to see the Execution Platform, right? That's here, isn't it?" Zoro asked. Nami noticed the two new blades he had found.

"Oh, there he is." Usopp said dully as he pointed, "And he's surrounded by enemy Pirates,"

Nami facepalmed, "Why is he on the platform? That idiot." She then put on her best smile, "Oh Sanji-kuuuun!"

Sanji gasped and fell to one knee before her, "Yes Nami-swaaaan?" Amusingly, Usopp didn't even budge since he had been carrying most of the weight anyway. His face did turn red in anger though.

She dropped her bag into his arms, "Get that to the ship safely for me. You and Usopp head back now. We need the ship ready to sail."

"Anything for you, my beautiful flower!" The love-struck man replied and took off, leaving Usopp to carry the huge fish by himself.

"Damn it Sanji! Get back here and carry your own damn fish!" Usopp took off behind him with a more uneven gait.

Nami sighed and took her staff out, before vanishing in a Soru.

Near the platform, Buggy was grinding his teeth looking at the look of pain on his commander's face, "Grrrrr…ALL PIRATES, SHOOT MUGIWARA!" They all – bar Alvida who was still looking at Luffy in admiration – whipped out their pistols and aimed at the bored boy on the Execution Platform. Buggy figured Luffy had to be either a Logia or a Paramecia, and he could only hope he was guessing right, "FIRE!" Buggy sprayed the air in front of him with angry spittle as he made to pull the trigger on his gun.

"CYCLONE TEMPO!" A woman's voice rang out and all of a sudden, all but Buggy, Cabaji, and Alvida were picked up by a massive wind and hurled away. The wind didn't affect Alvida in the slightest, merely whipping around her smooth body. Buggy managed to stab the ground to keep from being blown away while holding on to Cabaji. The miniature cyclone ended, revealing two sticks in the cross formation flying in the air, which were caught by a leaping orange-haired girl who landed in front of them, smiling cheekily, "I'll thank you not to touch my Captain." She stuck her tongue out at them cheerfully.

Cabaji had awoken as he was whipped about in his Captain's grip and he growled – Luffy's palm-print still an angry red on his face – while unsheathing his sword. He yelled at the orangette, remembering her from the Buggy crew's humiliation all those weeks back, "You damn traitorous bitch, Nami! I'll show you not to hurt my crew!" he leapt into the air, ready to scissor-slice her pretty head off.

"Sanjūroku Pound Hō!" A lazy voice called out, and a dull air blade – more of an actual cannon really when Zoro used the blunt version – smashed straight into Cabaji and sent him flying, "You're still more of a clown than a swordsman." Zoro commented lazily as he materialized by Nami. "Get some skill before you show your face, moron."

-]|[-

In one of the buildings, the Marines had gathered. Smoker had finally gotten back to the plaza and Tashigi had been found by one of the grunts. They all were near a window overlooking the plaza, "Mugiwara is stronger than I thought." He said angrily. They watched as the tornado appeared, and he almost bit through his cigar. "So, it's true. I see why more than the Captain got a bounty now. I should have taken him seriously from the start."

Tashigi was rubbing her eyes, having lifted her glasses up. She blinked owlishly, "Did that really just happen?"

A Marine grunt saluted behind them, "Sir, it does not appear to be caused by a Devil Fruit!"

Smoker growled, "Of course it wasn't. Did you not see the two sticks she used?" The grunt blinked, "If possible, try to get that weapon from her. The Higher Ups might be interested in learning from it."

The grunt felt a shiver go up his spine, "So we're still going after them, Captain Smoker? When will we attack?"

Tashigi spoke up, "Initially we were going to let them take each other out and just clean up, but Luffy's crew seem to be on a whole other level. Just the three of them are more than a match for that entire massive group. We're going to have to fight."

"SIR! Roronoa Zoro has been spotted as well!" Another grunt with binoculars called.

Tashigi gasped and snatched them away, "!" She grit her teeth, "HIM?!"

"They're all monsters!" A much newer grunt was trembling in fear as he eyed the plaza.

"Don't worry." Smoker grunted, "We've never let a single crew escape, and we're not about to start today. Get ready for battle!"

-]|[-

"Caba-chan!" Buggy found himself yelling again as he faced the three Straw Hats.

Nami and Zoro were both in front of the platform while Luffy was grinning happily up top. "Oii, Luffy! Are you done playing around yet?" Nami called, "We have to get out of here!"

"Eh, why?" Luffy called down in surprise.

"A massive storm is approaching! If we don't leave soon we might be stranded here for a couple days!" She called back, not taking her eyes off of the two remaining Pirates. Indeed, the clouds were very dark now and positively roiling overhead. The way Alvida was staring at Luffy dreamily made her heckles rise. Unlike Luffy who hadn't recognized her at all at first, Nami had recognized her clothing style and mace. Now knowing that Devil Fruits existed, it wasn't too much of a skip in her mind to connect the dots. She certainly wasn't about to have an evil bitch like Alvida stare at her Luffy like that.

"…" Luffy pouted. He had wanted to explore a bit more before setting out. Oh well. He stood and shot both fists into the air beside his head. He grinned madly, "I'M GOING TO BE… THE PIRATE KING!" He roared out. Smiles broke out on their faces as the plaza froze and stared at him in shock. The utter audacity of shouting those words at the top of one's lungs on the very platform where the previous King had met his end brought awe into many hearts that day. It felt very much like watching a new chapter unfold, right from the place the old one had ended.

And then lightning struck the platform, "LUFFY!" Nami screamed in shock as the entire execution platform burst into flames. The clouds had slowly been roiling and darkening overhead – far quicker than they rightly should have – and now the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour. Nami stared at the burning platform in disbelief, tears indistinguishable from the now-pounding rain drops starting to pour from her eyes as she watched the large structure collapse. Luffy's hat floated down and landed at her feet.

And then the rubble exploded. A giant beam of plasma erupted upwards and punched a hole straight through the clouds. After it petered off, smoke was rising from the cylindrical hole and Luffy jumped out, looking a little mad, "Stupid lightning." He mumbled as he bent over and picked up his hat. He hadn't even been able to put it on his head yet when Nami flung herself into his arms.

A random civilian turned to another in flabbergasted awe, "Hey, do you believe in god? How the hell did he survive that?" The man next to him was green-haired with tattoos and sharp teeth, and he was visibly trembling in excitement. The more uniform civilian was summarily ignored.

"Come on, let's SET SAIL!" Luffy roared, and the three of them took off running, leaving a catatonic Buggy staring at the remains of the rubble in shock.

Alvida shook herself and yelled, "Hey, wait for me! I want to join you guys!" She was also summarily ignored.

-]|[-

"Intercept them!" Smoker roared, "Don't let them get away! A quarter of you, go for Buggy and Alvida!"

"Sir, they're headed west where the first division is, but the downpour has gotten all of the gunpowder wet! Most of them had to retreat back to base to get more!"

Smoker ground his teeth, "That leaves the port unprotected! Damn it!" He looked skyward, "And they'll have a tailwind on top of it! It's as if some higher power is willing their escape!" He roared to the sky, "WHITE LAUNCHER!" His lower body turned into smoke and he rocketed away, yelling out, "As the Captain of this Division, I'll stake my reputation as the White Hunter! I WILL NOT LET THAT MAN LEAVE THIS ISLAND!"

-]|[-

As they were running, a giant plume of smoke enveloped the plaza. Smoker appeared with his lower body turned into smoke, and he used it to propel himself at great speeds. His Kairōseki Jitte was grasped in a tight fist, and he appeared in a blink in front of Luffy. Luffy's eyes widened and his hand flashed to his back, yanking out his pipe. The two weapons hit each other so hard that a shockwave emanated out and pushed back the rain for a second, "You again?" Luffy whined, "Out of the way! We're heading to the Grand Line!" The bubble their shockwave created disappeared and the rain pelted them again.

Smoker growled, "I've never once let a single Pirate slip through this island, and I'm not about to start now!"

Luffy growled and he knocked Smoker's arm and jitte back with his greater strength, "Maybe if you weren't so worried about your perfect attendance record, Nami wouldn't have had to suffer for so many years under that stupid shark! Were you getting a share of that damn rat's bribes?" All thoughts of immediate escape had fled from Luffy's head. Now he wanted to pound Smoker's face in for a bit. Smoker's eyes narrowed angrily as Luffy's pipe smashed through his face, dispersing his head harmlessly into smoke. "Tch, you're a Logia, huh?"

"That's right!" Smoker's disembodied head said before he reformed, "And this time, you're not catching me off guard! White Out!" An enormous cloud of smoke started billowing from his arms and surrounding the three Straw Hats.

Nami growled, "We don't have time for this! Cyclone Tempo!" She threw he two staff pieces once more, and the massive wind she kicked up blew the smoke as well as Smoker backwards.

"Ready! Fire!" The rest of the Marines that had surrounded them aimed specifically for her, since they saw that her weird weapon was capable of blowing their Captain back.

Zoro growled and flashed in front of Nami, who had been prepared to simply weave around the projectiles with Kami-E. All three of his swords were out and the plaza was filled with the sounds of his blades slicing every single bullet fired clean in half and cancelling their momentum. The Marines backed up in terror at the demonic look in his eyes, "You did not just shoot at our navigator." It was definitely not a question. One Marine even fainted.

"Roronoa Zoro!" A female voice screamed. Zoro's eye twitched as the Marines released exultations of relief. He turned to her and grinned when he saw her sheathed sword, "You were making fun of me!" She screamed at him, "I'm going to take Wadō Ichimonji away from you!"

Zoro laughed darkly, "I'd like to see you try." He flashed the entire twenty-meter distance between them in less time than it took her to blink and his new sword Yubashiri crashed down towards her head. She let out a little squeak of shock and blocked it, though the blow forced her to one knee. With a grunt of exertion, she pushed back and Zoro back stepped a couple times.

She growled, "After all that talk about how you weren't a greedy man, you're revealed as a Pirate! You tricked me! You never said you were Roronoa Zoro!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "And when exactly did I do that?" He sounded amused, "I told you I heard the name often, didn't I?" He sheathed two of his blades and took Wadō from his mouth.

"A scoundrel like you doesn't deserve a Meito like Wadō Ichimonji!" She hissed and swung sideways at him.

Zoro lifted his blade and deflected it easily, "Scoundrel?" He snorted, "There you go with your assumptions again!" His blade flashed and Tashigi gasped as the right sleeve of her jean jacket fell apart. She ground her teeth as she realized what that meant. That could have been her arm just as easily. He was playing with her. That was the size of the gap between them. Zoro stepped back and started sheathing his blade. Her eyes widened, "I thought the same as you once, but the past few months have changed that. Just because I'm a Pirate now doesn't make me a bad guy." He grinned fiercely, "My dream is on the Grand Line. I don't give a damn what other people think of me." Tashigi's eyes widened even further when he gave her a short bow and walked away.

Her surprise lasted a couple steps before she snarled and bellowed at his back, "Why won't you take me seriously?! Is it because I'm a woman?!" Zoro's shoulders stiffened and he turned back, glaring at her. "I may not be as strong as a man, but to go easy on me is an insult! I DIDN'T PICK UP THIS SWORD TO PLAY GAMES!"

"LIKE I CARE ABOUT THAT!" He roared back, looking much like a Fishman with his sharp shark teeth. She jerked back at the volume, "That damn face! You look just like her!" She gasped as he clutched on to Wadō. He couldn't possibly mean she looked like the previous owner, could he? "And you even say the same shit she used to! Stop being a damn copycat!"

"How rude!" Tashigi screamed in his face, their duel forgotten. "I live for my own goals! I didn't know your friend or what she was like, but if anything, she was copying me!"

Zoro growled and stalked forward like a man possessed, "She used to do the same shit you just pulled! She beat me every time and yet she bemoaned how I'd surpass her just because I was a man! Stop insulting my skill!" Their foreheads were now smashed together, and lightning was sparking between them. Suddenly he backed off almost making her trip, "If you want to prove women can be just as good as men, then you better get to the top!" She blinked in shock, "I will be the world's greatest swordsman!" He yelled at her, "So you better pour your damn soul into that blade if you want to take this one!"

She couldn't stop staring at him, mouth slightly open. That… not a single person had ever actually acknowledged her dream. No one had ever believed she would have a chance at it. Every single person she ever fought had mocked her right up until she won. Even her fellows always seemed like they were merely humoring her. She shook herself, "You're just going to walk away?"

Zoro rolled his eyes, "Do you want me to kill you?" He let out a sigh, "I'm not a murderer, damn it! Go away!"

Tashigi's reply was cut off by Nami. "Damn it Zoro! We have to go! Stop playing with your girlfriend and get over here!" Both swordsmen stiffened and stared at her. Tashigi's jaw dropped as she eyed Nami standing above the smoking forms of her men, a small amount of lightning still crackling around them.

"What did you say, you damn witch?" Zoro eyed his crewmate with one eye twitching.

Before Nami could reply, a loud bang from above drew their attention to the fight between the two Logia.

As Zoro was defending Nami, Luffy had surged forward and caught up to the reformed Smoker. His pipe flashed once more and the resulting shockwave from the two weapons connecting with one another cracked the stone underneath their feet. Smoker grit his teeth as it immediately became clear that Luffy's physical strength was on a whole other level compared to his own. He was quite sure that if his jitte wasn't made of Seastone, it would have shattered after the first hit, much less the second. His arm jerked back and Luffy's body swung in a crescent arc, his left heel screaming through the air and connecting with Smoker's face.

His foot blew the smoke apart, and Smoker's disembodied voice rang through the howling wind, "WHITE BLOW!" His jitte was thrust forward with smoke from his arms propelling it at much greater speeds than would otherwise have been possible.

"Kami-E!" Luffy danced around the jitte which penetrated into the cobblestone and cratered it. Luffy tumbled through the air and landed on his feet a couple feet away, "Rankyaku!" Luffy's leg flashed upward and a crescent-shaped blade of wind flew towards Smoker. The kick cleaved Smoker in two and then split the building behind him cleanly in half, "Damn it, you stupid smoke! Stay in one piece!"

Smoker chuckled gruffly, "Never fought a Logia, have you?"

"I am a Logia!" Smoker's eyes bugged out as Luffy blurted that piece of info out, "I just don't rely on it like you, stupid!" Smoker growled as Luffy laughed, "Shishishi! I don't know if I pity or envy you, Smokey! Your fruit isn't destructive, so you can use it all you want! But that means that it's all you use!" He grinned as Smoker started gritting his teeth, "I'm strong even without my fruit. You may have beat every Pirate you've met so far, but you're not winning here!"

"Stop underestimating me!" Smoker roared furiously as he yanked his jitte out of the ground, "I've trained my body to the breaking point! You won't be laughing so hard when you're in the slammer!" He turned his lower half into smoke and propelled himself upwards, intending on creating a massive dome of smoke so that there would be no way for any Pirates to escape him.

But as he was rocketing up, Luffy simply flashed into existence above him with his leg raised high for an axe kick. "You're too slow!" Luffy roared gleefully and sent his leg crashing down. Smoker tried to get his jitte into its path but Luffy's heel caught him in the knuckles. This time, Smoker managed to turn to smoke quick enough, but that meant his jitte was knocked clean out of his hand and far away from the battlefield. "Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed at the look of rage on Smoker's face.

"Stop laughing Straw Hat!" Smoker growled, "Even if I don't have my jitte, you won't escape! You still can't hit me!" He roared, "So I'll keep you here until the weather gets too bad for you to sail in! White Out!" Another massive plume of smoke shot from Smoker, intending on engulfing Luffy. This time, the smoke kept pouring out without end.

Luffy was about to try to cut it with a Rankyaku, when one of Zoro's Pound Cannon attacks blew it back slightly. He looked down, "Luffy! We have to go!" Nami screamed at him, "The weather's just going to get worse!"

Luffy growled at the words, and his right arm turned golden and began shining, "Enten Enten no Taihō!" Another sun lit the dark sky up. A titanic beam of plasma raced at the smoke cloud and barreled right through it. The smoke completely vaporized as the beam passed through it. Smoker just barely managed to make a panicked dodge as he saw the smoke not slowing the beam at all, and it saved his life.

The slightest sliver of the beam grazed his arm and he shrieked in agony as his jacket's sleeve disintegrated. His skin turned lobster red and started bubbling. Now, Smoker had been hurt before. After all, he didn't always have his devil fruit, and kids could be pretty damn mean. But he had never experienced the sheer agony that accompanied such a savage burn. He clutched his arm and howled as he fell from the sky. His last conscious thoughts before crashing through a building were, 'He burned me! But how?! Even regular fire can't hur-!'

Luffy on the other hand, was staring at his smoking fist dumbly, "That…was bigger than usual." He blinked in shock. He then noticed Smoker falling and clutching his burned arm, and he almost felt a little bad. Still, he slapped a grin on his face as he raced to his crewmates, "Sorry Smokey, looks like my fruit wins!" Tashigi and Zoro had separated, and she was looking at Luffy as if she had seen a ghost, "You might want to go grab him. That burn looked bad." Luffy said casually. Tashigi seemed to struggle with herself for a moment and threw Zoro one last look before running past them.

Luffy, Nami, and Zoro all grinned at each other and took off towards the coast. They had gotten about half a kilometer when the three froze. In front of them was a man in a black coat. Only his face could be seen. He had a massive grin on his face and tribal tattoos down the left side of his face, "Quite a fight." The man said, his grin not wavering.

Luffy stared at him expressionlessly, "Thanks." A grin rose on his face as he stared at the man, "Here to see me off?"

"How could I not?" He looked to the sky, "The Pirate King, huh? How fitting. The world is awaiting our answer."

"Shishishi!" Luffy started running past him with a bright grin on his face, followed by Nami and Zoro who stared at the man cautiously. He didn't turn around.

"GO AHEAD!" They heard behind them. They almost didn't hear it as the wind began picking up. It was howling much louder now. "FOLLOW YOUR CHOSEN PATH TO THE END!"

"Who was that Luffy!" Nami yelled to be heard over the howling.

"Shishishi!" Luffy only laughed, not responding to his navigator's question, drawing quite a bit of confusion from her. They burst onto the pier and blinked as they saw a lion and a man with a weird hat laying on the cobblestone covered in lumps. The ship was already rolling on the heavy waves, barely held to the pier by a fraying rope. Luffy grabbed his two crewmates and leapt out, using Geppō to get them back onto the ship, and even he had some minor difficulty doing so in the wind. "SET SAIL!"

"Hey Luffy…" Nami grinned and pointed at the island, where Marine Ships dominated the wharf, with one in particular being of a much higher quality than the others, "What say we leave the Marines a going-away present?"

Luffy grinned back, and aimed his finger at the ship, as if his finger was a gun. His tongue was out of his mouth in concentration and one eye was closed, "Bang!" So maybe it was a gun. A bright, compressed bullet of plasma shot out of his finger as his arm jerked. It seared the rain as it screamed towards the bigger ship, and when it hit the mast, exploded with a roar. Scraps of wood soared through the air as the main mast rocked and fell sideways into the drink. A few more scorching bullets fired at the other ships had the Marines in very poor condition to be chasing them anywhere, much less to the Grand Line. Luffy and the rest of the crew laughed, "TO THE GRAND LINE!"

-]|[-

"There's a light there!" Usopp pointed out as the ship came very close to capsizing.

"Excellent!" Nami grinned, her hair matted down from the rain. Luffy was eyeing her the way he normally reserved for meat. "Beyond that light is… the entrance to the Grand Line!"

Sanji rolled an empty barrel onto the deck and grinned, "Okay! Shall we have our launching ceremony for entering that great ocean?"

"Do we have to do it in the middle of a huge storm?" Usopp was looking rather blue.

Sanji ignored him and put his foot on top of the barrel, "To find All Blue!" He said.

Luffy grinned and placed his foot down, "To be the King!" he roared gleefully.

Zoro was next, "To be the World's Greatest Swordsman!" His confident smirk never one wavered.

Nami put her foot right next to Luffy's, "To map the entire world!"

Usopp's foot shook as he found a space, "T-to be a Brave Warrior of the Sea!"

"WE'RE GOING TO THE GRAND LINE!" They roared as one and lifted their feet straight over their heads, before bringing it crashing down and shattering the barrel.

-]|[-

"Crap!" Luffy yelled, "The light is gone!"

"Well, it's a lighthouse." Nami chuckled, "The lights have to go off some time." She went right back to frowning though, as she grabbed Luffy – who was idiotically hanging upside-down from Merry's sheep figurehead using nothing but his legs – and hauled him inside. "Listen up!" She said, "As silly as it sounds, it appears as if all of the rumors I've heard about the Grand Line's entrance are true! Even this map I stole says the same thing! The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!"

"We have to run into a mountain?" Zoro asked, a dull look on his face. Usopp was busy running around in a panic.

"No, there's a canal." She sighed as she continued pouring over the map. "It's a massive canal riding up the Red Line!" She declared.

Luffy had a gleeful look on his face, "We're going up a mountain?! WHOOO! It must be a mystery mountain!"

"That's stupid Nami!" Usopp's face was puffing up, "Canal or not, ships don't sail up!" Nami glared at him and he quailed. He busied himself with trying to turn the ship with the rudder. He then started trying harder. And harder. Until he was howling and grunting while trying to move it, not noticing the growing number of tic marks on Nami's head.

Zoro stared at the map, "Didn't you get this thing from that stupid clown Buggy? You sure we can trust it?"

Nami nodded, "The guiding light was definitely pointing straight for the canal. This is…the Reverse Mountain!"

"A little help over here!" Usopp finally shouted, his head growing titanic for a moment.

Nami growled, "Sanji will you just give him a hand, so he'll let me think in peace?"

"Haiiii, Nami-swaaaan!" Sanji pirouetted to Usopp and helped him with the rudder, his one visible eye a heart. But he couldn't budge it either, "Eh?" He blinked, "Isn't this current a little strong?"

A lightbulb lit up above Nami's head, "That's it!" She yelled, "These monstrously powerful currents must be the key! If all four of the world's oceans point towards the Red Line and Reverse Mountain, then when they collide at the top they'll all spill out onto the Grand Line!" She bit her lip, "But Reverse Mountain is a Winter Island, so all the currents that collide into the Red Line will only be able to flow down to the depths." She sighed, "That means we only have one shot! If we miss the canal, we'll splatter right into the Red Line and sink!"

"I've still never heard of ships going up mountains before." Zoro said stubbornly.

"I've heard some things." Sanji grinned, "Half of the people heading to the Grand Line don't make it. This must be why."

"Why don't we just head south?" Zoro asked, pointing to the clearly-open seas that they could just cross to hit the Grand Line.

"No way!" Luffy denied, forming an X with his arms.

"That's right!" Nami sighed in relief, "There's a very good reason why we can't do that!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed, "It would feel all wrong if we cheated!"

"That's not it!" Nami lightly punched him in the head.

"Hey, why is the storm gone all of a sudden?" Usopp asked in shock. Nami froze.

"Usopp…what did you just say?" Nami turned creakily towards the window, like a robot.

"Hey, the storm is gone!" Zoro had walked out and looked up at the sails, "Where's the wind? They're not moving at all."

"Eheheh…ehehehe." Nami started laugh-crying, "We're in the Calm Belt."

"The Calm Belt?" Luffy asked, before turning around, "Hey look, the storm is still raging over there!" He pointed behind the ship.

"GET BACK TO THAT STORM!" Nami screamed, "GRAB SOME OARS AND PADDLE!"

"But the weather is great!" Usopp protested. And then the ship shook. They all stumbled as the Going Merry rocked on waves that hadn't been there a second ago. "An earthquake?! On the sea?!"

Nami sank to her knees and started crying, "It's too late." She sobbed piteously, "They're already here." The shipped rocked again, much harder this time, and started rising into the air. Giant walls of water rose and churned around them as well before they ended up hundreds of meters in the air.

Most of the occupants of the ship turned blue, "THEY'RE HUGE!" They were right on the nose of an unbelievably massive Sea King. The one whose head they were on could have flossed its teeth with the Lord of the Coast Luffy had killed on the first day of his journey. It was a pale white with black stripes. There was a golden frog somewhere and even one that looked vaguely liked a puffy, furry flamingo.

Nami looked over to Luffy and gasped, "Even Luffy is scared!" She turned white.

Indeed, Luffy was trembling. That made a massive shiver go down all of their spines. They had never seen Luffy be scared of anything other than his grandpa. And then he turned around and revealed a giant smile and a stupid amount of drool leaking from his mouth. He was literally dribbling on the floor, "WHY ARE YOU DROOLING?!" They all yelled furiously.

Luffy swallowed and had meat in his eyes, "I remember now. Grandpa said that Calm Belt Sea Kings taste the best!"

"WE'RE NOT CATCHING ONE! IT COULDN'T EVEN FIT IN THE SHIP!" Luffy had the most heartbroken look on his face any of them had ever seen.

Sanji and Zoro had gathered all of the oars on the ship, "When they go down, we paddle as fast as we can!" Zoro said tightly.

"No, we're catching a Sea King!" Luffy declared angrily.

And then the Sea King sneezed and shot their boat back towards the storm. Usopp almost fell off but Luffy hurried and caught him as the ship flew through the air and over the other Sea Kings. From one second to the next, it went from bright and sunny to monsoon. "Oh good. It's only a storm we have to deal with." Usopp sighed in relief.

"Now do you get why we have to use the entrance?" Nami moaned from her position on the floor.

"Yeah, I get it." Zoro wasn't quite curled up into a ball, but he was clutching Wadō in a white fist.

And Luffy? "NOOOOO!" Luffy cried, rushing for the rudder, "Turn it around! We have to go back!" Nami dove onto his back and tried to pin him, but he just dragged her along, "Must! Eat! Sea King!"

Nami bit him in the neck and he stiffened, "If you don't stop it right now we're not having alone time for a month!" She hissed in his ear. Luffy groaned and fell with her on top of him, sobbing into the floorboards.

"I SEE IT! THE MYSTERY MOUNTAIN!" Usopp yelled.

All of a sudden, both Nami and Luffy were on their feet, thoughts of the mini-argument they had entirely forgotten, "IT'S HUGE!" Luffy gasped.

"I can't even see the top!" Nami yelled, "To the rudder! We have to make sure we don't crash!" The ship rocked as the currents underneath them intensified dozens of times. Merry was no longer under their full control and was racing towards the titanic rock wall in front of them.

"Nami! What do we do?!" Usopp yelled as Nami stared dead ahead, noting a small crack running up the wall.

She grinned as she realized what was about to happen and yelled back confidently, "STRAIGHT AHEAD!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Zoro had a pair of binoculars in his head and a dead look on his face, "You can't be serious…" He mumbled, "It's really flowing up…" The current was roaring up the mountain, completely defying gravity. Ten stone arches framed the entrance they were racing towards.

"MOVE STARBOARD! WE'RE OFF COURSE A BIT!" Luffy yelled, "MOVE US STARBOARD!" He could barely be heard over the roaring of the ocean waters.

Sanji and Usopp pushed and pulled with all of their might, but the lever they used to control the rudder snapped in half. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami all went wide-eyed in panic as Sanji and Usopp crashed into one of the doors. "Shit!" Luffy yelled and jumped off the side of the ship.

"Luffy!" Nami gasped and raced to the rails.

Luffy had fallen just enough to where he was just barely holding the ship with both hands. His back was pressed firmly on the ship, "GEPPŌ!" His roar overpowered the waves and a massive impact rocked the ship to the right. "GEPPŌ!"

"LUFFY!" Nami screamed in panic, "YOU OVERCORRECTED! WE'RE TOO FAR TO PORT NOW!" Luffy jumped back on the ship in a panic and made to go to the other side but stopped as he saw Zoro jump off instead.

Zoro hung himself off the side of Merry on the opposite side and drew Wadō. "Sanjūroku Pound Hō!" He roared, purposefully making the wind blade as dull as possible. The waves practically exploded as the wind blade hit the water and pushed Merry slightly to port.

"That's perfect Zoro!" Nami yelled before another overcorrection could occur. Luffy hauled Zoro back onto the deck and slapped him in the shoulder with a grin. They sailed right in between the arches and had to steady themselves as the ship rocketed up the mountain. Sanji and Usopp had their arms over one another's shoulders and were dancing and hollering in glee. Nami let out a relieved sigh as they broke through the clouds and left the storm below them. "Now we just need to ride it to the top!"

"WE MADE IT!" They yelled in glee as they raced to the bow to watch.

"We're even above the clouds now!" Luffy exclaimed in awe. Indeed, they could no longer see the ocean behind them, and there was nothing blocking the sun above.

Nami sighed, "Oh, this would be such a nice place to tan if it wasn't cold. I wish we could come up here whenever we wanted. It's gorgeous!" They watched as the summit came ever closer and eyed the beautiful sight of the water at the top occasionally flash-freezing. They passed the summit and the ship flew up like a breeching whale, before pounding back down onto the waters going down into the Grand Line.

"This is it guys!" Luffy yelled gleefully, "The greatest sea of them all! It's up ahead!" They crashed into the sea of white in front of them, breaking right through the puffy clouds. All of them had massive grins on their faces and were letting their joy be heard.

And then they heard the groaning. "Nami-swan! I see a mountain up ahead!" Sanji yelled in panic.

"No way! There's not supposed to be anything in front of us! After the twin capes it's just ocean!"

"Then what the hell is that?!" Zoro pointed with a slightly blue tinge to his forehead.

They blinked as the dark shadow came into full sight once there were no more clouds to go through, "IT'S A WHALE!" The whale was quite possibly on the same level as some of the smaller Calm Belt Sea Kings. It was so huge that Merry could have fit entirely on just the tip of one of its massive, sharp teeth. It had a round eye and blue skin. The tip of its snout was covered in a crisscrossing of heavy scars.

"I can't see its eyes!" Nami yelled, "It can't have seen us yet!'

"There's a hole to our left! We can squeeze by it! Hard to port!" Zoro yelled at Usopp.

"THE RUDDER'S LEVER IS BROKEN!" He screeched in terror.

"PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!" Zoro roared as he and Sanji tried to help move the tiny stump of broken wood.

"I have an idea!" Luffy yelled and he dove onto Merry's bow, "Geppō!" He roared and kicked. The ship slightly slowed, but the current pushing them forward was just too strong. This time Luffy was fighting it directly, rather than trying to adjust their direction. Luffy's single effort was miniscule, "GEPPŌ!" He roared again, pushing even harder. He just kept yelling it, over and over, slowing the ship just slightly each time. His eyes widened as he ran out of time and was forced to haul himself back onto the ship. Merry had slowed just enough that a crash wouldn't be catastrophic, but there was definitely a casualty. Merry's figurehead snapped upon hitting the whale, even as the ship bounced back. Luffy eyed it as it spun through the air and landed back on the deck, his eyes darkened by the brim of his hat.

"We're saved!" Zoro yelled and grabbed the paddles, "Let's go before it's too late!" The ship paddled to the side, and they froze as they looked at the whale's massive eye. It was simply sitting there calmly without moving.

As they paddled, the whale started to wail. Its call was like the loudest foghorn they had ever heard. The sheer power of the sound waves rocked the ocean and the ship. Sanji cringed as he grabbed hold of his ears, as did the rest of them, "MY EARS!"

The whale calmed and Nami let out a shaky sigh, before turning slightly blue as she looked at Luffy, "Luffy…what are you…"

Luffy had a furious look on his face, "You… WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY SPECIAL SEAT?!" He roared at the whale and let loose a Rankyaku. He didn't even bother yelling the name in his fury. The blunt kick smacked right into the whale's eye. Nami turned white and stared at him with a gaping mouth.

"YOU IDIOT!" They screamed as a whole as the whale continued staring out at nothing. When they stopped, everything was quiet for a moment. And then the massive pupil looked down. And it snorted angrily.

Luffy was growling furiously, "HOW WAS THAT YOU DAMN BASTARD! BRING IT ON!"

"SHUT IT YOU MORON!" Usopp and Zoro had their eyes popping out with their teeth sharpened as they both kicked him in the head.

"BWOOOOOOO!" The whale roared as it opened its massive mouth, sucking in thousands of gallons of water. The ship rocked as they were once more caught in a current, this time straight into the whale's belly.

"NOOOOOO!" The Straw Hats wailed in panic as they were sucked in, "Luffy!" Nami screamed as she saw Luffy fall off the boat. He managed to catch himself onto a tooth with Geppō and then started climbing the whale just as its maw closed.

"I'll save you guys!" Was the last thing they heard from him. Luffy flew up the side of the whale and started pounding it as its massive head started descending, "HEY! GIVE ME BACK MY FRIENDS WHALE! NO! DON'T DIVE, STUPID!" He roared, stomping hard enough that it tried to shake him off. It actually felt the impact. "Eh?" His head tilted to the side as he eyed a…hatch? What in the world was a hatch doing on a whale?

And then the whale finished its dive.

-]|[-

"What do you think?" Nami asked hesitantly.

"What do I think?" Zoro asked, his tone dangerously even, "I think I'm going to cut Luffy when we see him."

Usopp was too busy stuttering to himself to answer, so Sanji said, "Well, I was pretty sure we were just swallowed by that whale." They then eyed the island that they were casually nearing with deadpan looks on their faces.

"Is this a dream?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, probably a dream." Zoro confirmed. There was a house on the island, as well as a fold-up chair.

"Then…what are those doing on the island?" Nami asked blankly.

"A Dream Island." Zoro replied.

Usopp sighed in relief, "Yeah, what a nice Dream Island."

"Dream Clouds?" Sanji asked, looking at the sky.

"Dream Clouds." Usopp confirmed. The sea in front of them exploded, revealing a giant squid, "Dream Squid?"

Beat.

"DREAM SQUID?!" They all yelled. Nami and Zoro drew their weapons while Usopp scrambled back in fear. But before they could act, three harpoons penetrated the squid and killed it instantly, "Looks like there's someone there after all." Zoro grinned.

"Where's Luffy?" Usopp moaned, "I want to go home!"

-]|[-

"What the hell is this?" Luffy's head was tilted so far to the side his ear was almost on his shoulder. He turned around and then around again, "Why is there a hallway inside a whale?!" He started running forward into the darkness.

-]|[-

Slowly, the sounds of light grunts and the yanking of rope could be heard from inside the house. Then, a very stocky and tough looking old man stepped into the light. The very top of his head was the shiny color of bald skin, and he had white hair descending down his shoulders. He also had two tufts growing on his chin going opposite directions, with a very fat lower lip/jaw compared to the upper side of his face. He was wearing a red shirt with a purple and yellow design on it, shorts, glasses, and a seaweed neckless with some pieces of jewelry on his arms. If it wasn't for the flower growing out of his head – yellow transitioning to purple near the stem, which was his head – he might have looked like a normal old man.

"A flower?" They all tilted their heads in puzzlement. The great squid the old man had killed was still lying between the island and the ship. Sanji started to sweat as their eyes met. The old man's gaze seemed to be boring straight through him, into his soul. The old man started to pace to the right, not taking his eyes off of the Straw Hats. Every second that passed, the feeling of dread running down Sanji's spine intensified. And then the old man sat down and snapped open a newspaper, completely ruining the dramatic tension, "SAY SOMETHING YOU JERK!" Sanji roared.

The old man tilted his head their way. Usopp yelled at him, "You wanna fight, you old bastard?! We've got cannons!"

The old man's eyes snapped open furiously, making Usopp cringe away. After a few seconds of soul-piercing staring, his rough voice rang calmly in the air, "You better not, or someone will die."

Usopp turned blue, while the rest of them got ready, "Oh, and just who would that be?" Sanji asked lightly.

"Me." The old man said, almost sending Nami face first into the boards in exasperation.

"Listen you!" Sanji roared again. He looked ready to jump out and strangle the old man, "This asshole is fucking with us."

"Hey, calm down dartboard." Zoro chuckled, "Hey old man! You got any idea where we are? Who are you?"

His eyes snapped open furiously again, piercing their souls. A few seconds passed, "Isn't it polite to introduce yourselves first?"

Zoro blinked, "Oh…right. My bad. I'm…"

"My name is Crocus." The old man said, "I'm the lighthouse keeper of the Twin Capes. I'm 71. My sign is Gemini."

"Can I cut him?" Zoro held Wadō in a trembling hand furiously as Crocus was saying that his blood type was AB and going into increasingly more irrelevant information.

"Where you are? How dare you run your mouth while barging into my private resort. Does it look like we're in a rat's belly?"

Usopp cringed, "So we really were eaten?" He looked around, "But this doesn't look like the inside of a whale's belly."

"I don't want to be digested!" Nami cried out.

Again, Crocus's eyes snapped open furiously. This time, the Straw Hats all yelled out, "WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT!"

"Haven't you ever heard of a running gag?" Crocus groused in disappointment.

"THAT WAS A GAG?!"

Crocus nodded to the side, "There's the exit, unless you rather go out the back end." Indeed, there was a giant metal door on the side of the sky.

The Pirates finally looked at it in puzzlement, "The fuck?" Zoro couldn't help but ask.

"Why is there a door in the sky?!" Nami growled angrily. She was really feeling made fun of right about now and was almost ready to start flinging tornados around.

"It's painted!" Usopp gasped, and they all took a closer look. Every detail of the sky was completely frozen, down to the seagulls. "It's all painted! On the inside of a whale's stomach! What the hell?!"

"Call it a doctor's playful mind. It's a hobby." Crocus said lackadaisically.

"What the hell are you even doing in here?!" Nami roared at him.

Zoro facepalmed, "Let's just get out of here." He mumbled through his fingers. And then the entire area started to shake and churn, "What!"

Crocus sighed, "Back at it already, Laboon?"

"Look!" Usopp yelled, "The island is a ship, and it's made of metal! That must mean that wood will eventually dissolve in this stomach acid!"

"What do you mean, old man? Who is Laboon? What's happening?!" Sanji yelled at him.

Crocus looked at them calmly despite the churning of acid waves, "Laboon is the name of this whale." He sighed and looked down, "He's ramming his head into the Red Line, just as he's been doing for over four decades!" Their eyes opened wide in shock.

"That's right!" Nami gasped, "It's head was full of scars and its cry sounded mournful!"

"Is he trying to kill this whale from the inside?!" Usopp growled angrily.

"The whale isn't our responsibility!" Zoro said, "We just have to get Luffy and get out!"

"What did that idiot old man just do?!" Nami squeaked in shock, "He jumped in! He's going to get digested!"

-]|[-

"Damn it!" Luffy roared as he smashed face-first into yet another metal wall, "What the hell is this stupid whale doing?!" He had enough and punched one of the walls with his fingers extended, clawing right in and rooting himself to it. Even with the tremendous rocking, the only thing taking damage now was the wall. "Damn it, I have to find them! They have to be in here somewhere!" He jumped and roared, "Geppō!" Now he rocketed forward, not touching any of the walls at all.

Far ahead of him, two strange-looking individuals were standing with their backs to the doors. "Yosh!" The slender male of the group had a bit of a ditzy sounding, effeminate voice. He had red-orange hair and green clothes, with a golden crown on his head. Two swirly-looking nines were drawn on his face, below his eyes. "Our infiltration has been successful, Miss Wednesday. Behind this door is the stomach, and likely the old man. We must eliminate him! Everything is for this whale!"

"Yeah, Mr. 9!" The female was a gorgeous, slim and curvy woman with blue hair drawn up into a ponytail that fell down to her bum and black eyes. Her shirt was a spaghetti-strap with swirls all over it, obviously meant to draw attention to her more-than-generous chest. She also had a green coat with a furry collar over her shoulders. "This whale is a precious sweet honey for our town!" They both held rather large guns in one hand with their pinkies extended.

"Okay, Miss Wednesday? We'll open the door with a 'three, two, one baby!' Don't let down your guard!" Nine told her.

"Roger, Mr. 9! I'm ready at any time!" She replied firmly.

Speaking of guards being up, "OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Huh?" The two weird people said, and then started screaming in panic as Luffy came out of the darkness like a speeding bullet and hammered straight into them before they even had a chance to get out of the way.

Inside the stomach, Crocus was climbing up an iron ladder near the huge exit door when the smaller door on a platform burst open and spat out Luffy and the two idiots playing at being secret agents.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled happily.

"Oh, hey guys! Everyone's alright!" Luffy waved cheerfully, not really being heard over the hollering of the two he'd crashed into.

"Oh no Miss Wednesday! We're going to land in the acid sea!" Mr. 9 screamed in terror.

Luffy got tired of it and kicked out to the side, sending himself speeding towards the ship. "This is a crazy whale!" He declared as the other two splashed into the acidic drink.

Nami punched him, "It's your fault we're in here you idiot!" She sighed, and then grabbed him by the cardigan and kissed him in relief. Sanji immediately started sulking and drawing imaginary circles on the ship's floor in dust.

Zoro sighed, "Should we grab those two weirdoes over there?" He pointed at the two idiots who were trying and failing to swim because they refused let go of their huge, heavy guns.

Sanji laid eyes on the female and his visible eye turned into a heart, "YES!" He leapt in the acid and saved the girl, while the man had to grab his pants and was violently kicked up and down as Sanji swam back to the Merry. They heard the overblown foghorn that was the sound of Laboon roaring furiously reverberate through the stomach.

Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. The entire area calmed down, and the waves stopped roiling. Within a matter of a few moments, the entire acid ocean went back to being pristinely smooth, "Hey, the whale calmed down!" Nami said happily, "Maybe we can get out of here now!" She was leaning against Luffy who was leaning against the railing with his arms around her waist.

"Yeah…but first." Zoro stared down the two agents, "We saved you for the time being. But now, who are you?"

Miss Wednesday was cringing away from Sanji, who was officially in love-struck mode. "Mr. 9…these are Pirates!"

"I…I know…Miss Wednesday! But if we talk to them…perhaps they'll understand…" Nine was quite shaky.

"You thugs are still here?" Crocus sounded quite angry as he appeared again, "While I draw breath, you shall never harm Laboon!"

"Who's that old man? And who's Laboon?" Luffy asked, out of the loop.

His crew couldn't answer him, because the blue-haired girl let out an evil-sounding giggle, "Even if you say so, we can't leave!" She stood up with her gun clicking on the boards.

"Taking down this whale is our mission!" Both of them still had their trigger-hand pinkies extended out, as if they were about to drink from a cup of tea. "We won't let you interfere with our whaling mission this time! We'll open an air vent in his stomach!" They stood next to each other and aimed at the stomach. For some reason, they aimed at where the old man would actually be able to block, rather than the rest of the giant stomach. Luffy got behind them with a grin and poked each weapon so that they were pointing at each other. Neither noticed while the rest of his crew held back snickers, "Let's go baby!"

BOOM!

Two fried idiots, coming right up!

-]|[-

"Laboon is an Island Whale." Crocus said as they all sat on his island ship, waiting for Laboon to rise out of the ocean, "It's the largest whale in the world, and it normally only lives in West Blue. These guys here-" he indicated the tied-up agents, "Come from a nearby town. They've been trying for nearly a year to kill Laboon for his meat. Laboon would probably feed their greedy bellies for two or three years." He glared at the singed-looking agents, who were trying to make themselves look very small, "But they won't succeed. As long as I draw breath, they won't hurt this whale!"

"But why does Laboon keep pounding his head on the Red Line? What is he trying to do?" Nami asked.

Crocus sighed unhappily, "Laboon came through Reverse Mountain with a certain friendly Pirate crew. He was really young back then. You could have fit him on a dinghy." He smiled as he reminisced, remembering how the Pirates would often ride Laboon while waving mugs of alcohol around, "They had been traveling together for a couple months by then. Laboon had gotten separated from the rest of his pod and had come to see those Pirates as his family. But the Grand Line was even scarier then than it is now. Their ship had been damaged by the Reverse Mountain and so they stayed here with me for almost a year. We became great friends during that time. When the Pirates left to continue on their trip, they left Laboon here with me, promising to come back for him after they made it through the Grand Line. Laboon understood and waited patiently for three years for them to come back as promised. And then four. And then five." He shook his head, "That was fifty years ago. He still thinks his friends are coming back." He finished quietly, drawing a gasp from Nami and a few others. Miss Wednesday in particular looked surprisingly shocked and saddened at the tale.

By now, they had made it past the huge doors and were at the final set leading to the outside world, "This waterway is cool! Why did you build it inside a whale?"

"Laboon is too huge. I'm a doctor, but even I wouldn't be able to treat him from outside!" Crocus replied.

"Doctor!" Luffy grinned, "Want to join us on our tr-"

"Fat chance, idiot. Who would look after Laboon?" Crocus snorted, "Besides, I'm too old for this shit. That's a young man's adventure."

"A real sky!" Luffy ignored the harsh words to yell gleefully at the bow of the ship.

"What do we do with these idiots?" Zoro asked, pointing to said idiots.

Luffy waved a hand back and forth, "Eh, leave em tied up for now. Don't want them trying to hurt the whale again." Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 blanched. Luffy noticed something that had fallen near his feet. It was some kind of glass bauble on a purple leather band. He picked it up and examined it curiously.

Crocus glared at them, getting expressions of fear from the two who weren't focused on Luffy, "You should just toss them overboard." Then he sighed again and turned, "No matter. Idiots have been trying for years to kill Laboon. I'll never let them." Luffy grabbed the two after putting the bauble in his pocket and hauled them over his shoulder as they all disembarked from Merry. There were a few repairs that needed to be done on the ship before they could set sail, so there was no sense staying aboard.

"So, he's been waiting for fifty years huh? They've sure kept him waiting a long time." Luffy said as he relaxed on a rock. Nami was curled up next to him and looking curiously at the item Luffy had handed her, since it looked kinda like one of those compass thingies Makino had tried to teach him to use.

Tried.

"This is the Grand Line." Sanji snorted, taking a deep drag from his cigarette, "Those guys said they'd be back in a couple years. It's been fifty. That's all the answer you need." He exhaled, "They're dead. He'll be waiting here till the end of time."

Usopp banged his mug on the table. It was only the fact that it was mostly drained that kept him from spilling his drink, "You don't know that! They could come back! Don't be so damn cynical! It's the heartbreaking story of a whale who lost his friends!"

Crocus sighed sadly, rubbing at his eyes, "I'm afraid that reality is crueler than that. A long time ago, news reached me from a reliable source that the Pirates had failed. They escaped the Grand Line."

"What!" Nami screeched furiously, "And they just abandoned poor Laboon here?! How cruel could they be!" Luffy's way of thinking had influenced her far more than she had thought. She was seething, "How dare they leave their nakama behind!" She then stopped, her anger dulling for a moment, "Wait a minute! They would have had to cross the Calm Belt to escape without coming back here!"

"That's right. That's the only reason their fate is uncertain." Crocus confirmed despondently, "But even if they're alive, they'll never come back here. The seasons…the climates… the ocean currents… even the air currents! Everything about this place is a nightmare! This is an ocean made to break everyone trying to come across it! The weak of heart – men who would rather risk the Calm Belt than stay a second longer – are devoured by this sea!"

"So, they did abandon Laboon!" Usopp roared furiously, "And even after fifty years, he still believes in those jerks! It's way too cruel!"

"Why not tell him?" Nami was clenching her fists hard, "He can understand, can't he? Why are you keeping it from him?"

Crocus gave her a look, "Why do you think he roars and hits his head on the Red Line?" he asked sadly, "I did tell him. Everything. But he won't listen. He's convinced this rock face is the only thing keeping him from his friends. He refuses to face the truth." He looked down, "After all these decades…if he accepts it, he'll lose his reason for having waited for so long. He has no way home… and even if he did, he has no home any longer. He'll never be able to find his pod." Crocus had a stiff upper lip and a calm look to him, but it was clear that he was only just keeping himself from crying as he stared up at Laboon, who was simply sitting quietly there with his head pointed straight up, "Look at those scars on his head. If he keeps ramming his head on the Red Line, he'll surely die. We've been together for fifty years. I can't abandon him, even if they lied to me too."

CRASH

Luffy had gotten up from his place next to Nami, but his foot had hit the ground so hard that they felt a mini tremor. His face was shadowed by his hat as he took another step before he leapt up into the air. The ground he was on shattered and cratered, sending shocks of fear racing up the spines of the two agents.

"What is he...?!" Crocus yelled, eyes going wide in shock.

Luffy flew towards Laboon – who hadn't noticed a thing – and did a front flip, "RANKYAKU!" His heel dropped, and a massive wind blade raced through the air and sliced a gouge in Laboon's hide.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Every single other person there roared in fury and terror.

"!" Laboon's eyes started to tear up slowly, before he got a slightly mad look in them, "BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Laboon roared in agony and started to thrash, sending massive waves in every direction. Laboon stiffened and glared at Luffy, before diving and sending his tail over to slam into the air-hopping boy. Luffy met the tail with a punch, and the resulting shockwave almost bowled over the two agents.

"WHAT IS HE?!" The two terrified people screamed.

Laboon breeched and threw himself at Luffy, who met him with a kick. But even he couldn't overpower a whale like that when it was at ramming speed. Laboon crashed head first into the Red Line with Luffy under his head and shattered the rock. "LUFFY!" His crew yelled in fear.

Suddenly, Laboon was thrown off, revealing a dirty, but otherwise perfectly fine Luffy. He was grinning widely, "Rankyaku!" He roared again, sending a blunt wind cannon this time at Laboon, who rocked back, before charging forward and squishing Luffy against the Red Line again. Laboon drew back and started swimming forward, roaring in fury all the while. But what Luffy did made him stop in confusion. He threw his hand up and yelled, "It's a draw!"

"Bwooo?" Laboon just looked confused.

"I'm strong, aren't I? You are too, aren't you boy?"

"Bwooo!" Laboon roared back.

"You really want to win, don't you?" Luffy grinned, "So our fights not finished yet! We have to fight again!" He walked forward, "Your old friends are dead, but now you've got a rival!" Laboon's eye started to tremble, "We'll definitely have to battle again to see who the strongest is!" Tears started to leak from the giant whale's eyes, "I'm going around the Grand Line now! When we come back, I better not see that you've continued hurting yourself! GOT THAT!"

Laboon threw his head towards the clouds and let out the happiest cry Crocus had heard from him in decades.

-]|[-

Luffy's 'modern art' had made a comeback, with his misshapen Jolly Roger painted on Laboon's head, "There!" He yelled happily. He was completely slathered in paint, and was holding a gigantic brush, "That mark is our contract, so you better not scuff it up! Don't go ramming your head and erasing it! Got it?"

"Bwooo!" Laboon chirped – could chirp really be used when Laboon was so damn huge? – in agreement.

Nami was smiling happily at how much better the whale looked now. It wasn't quite the way she would have done it, but perhaps nothing else would have gotten through to the massive creature. She gave Luffy a quick kiss before she exclaimed, "Time to plan the voyage!" She got a map out and placed her compass on the table.

Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 were sitting there – still tied up – and mumbling to each other while alternating with staring at Luffy in fear. Sanji was busy in the kitchen preparing his Elephant Bluefin while Usopp was making some repairs to the ship. Zoro was…sleeping. Quite deeply too, if his snores were any indication.

Nami's scream jarred everyone in hearing. Sanji came out of the ship carrying a huge plate in each hand, one on his head, and even one with a leg. How he managed to get around with his one-legged pirouetting was beyond understanding, "Nami-swaaaan! Whatever is the matter my goddess? If it's lunch you want, it's ready."

As the Straw Hats gathered around, Nami was panicking, "The compass is broken!" She pointed to it, and it was spinning more than Sanji, "It won't stop spinning!"

Miss Wednesday finally got past her fear to start laughing quite loudly. They turned to her with questioning glares, though Nami idly mused that she had quite a good Queen Bitch Laugh, "You silly Pirates! Did you come here intending to throw your lives away? Are you really a navigator?" She asked Nami condescendingly. Nami's eyes narrowed angrily.

"While she is being quite abrasive for a prisoner-" Crocus glared at her, making the girl clam up again, "She has a point. Did you not do any research? That useless thing would be better served at the ocean floor here on the Grand Line. It's not broken, but that doesn't mean it's useful."

Nami gasped, "Is it the magnetic field?" She cottoned on almost immediately.

"Exactly." Miss Wednesday replied, though much more timidly this time at the reminder, "Every island on the Grand Line is rich in magnetic minerals. Every single island has its own magnetic field, so it's impossible for a regular compass to properly read the planet's field."

"And to make matters worse, none of the currents follow any regular patterns. Neither do any of the winds. As a navigator, I'm sure you realize how dangerous that is. If you were to set sail without knowing this, you'd perish for sure. Without any direction, your journey would be completely hopeless."

"I didn't know." Nami rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "So we're stuck here? How can we navigate if our tools don't work?"

"You need a Log Pose." Miss Wednesday said.

"What's that?"

"It's a special compass." Crocus said. He would have continued, but Luffy – mouth full of the ignored Bluefin – interrupted him.

"So, it's a weird compass?" He asked through his chewing. Crocus nodded, telling him that it did look kind of weird. Luffy swallowed the meat in his mouth, "You mean one of these things?" he held up the Log Pose he'd gotten back from Nami in question.

"Yes, that's it!" Crocus confirmed.

"WAIT! THAT'S MINE!" Mr. 9 screamed in panic, as Miss Wednesday stiffened.

Nami stuck her tongue out at them, "Pirate!" She chirped cheerfully as she grabbed it from Luffy, pecking him on the lips. The two agents deflated. "So, this is a Log Pose huh? It has no markings."

Crocus had his arms crossed, "It doesn't need any. Every island on the Grand Line has its own unique magnetic field. Therefore, you must record each magnetic field on your journey, which will lead you to your next island. Each one connects to the next in the chain. The Log Pose is the only thing you can depend on in the Grand Line in terms of navigation. This mountain is the starting point, and you pick one of seven different paths here. But no matter which path you choose, all paths converge on one final island in the end. Raftel. In all of history, only one man has led a crew on that perilous journey and made it to the end. Gold Roger!"

"That must be where One Piece is!" Usopp crowed in excitement.

"It's certainly a theory." Crocus said, "No other legend is as tempting as that one! But only one man has ever made it. No one else has reached that island."

Luffy grinned, "Make that two, old man." The two stared each other down, and a wide grin appeared on Crocus's face as well. The two agents looked flabbergasted, but after watching him punch out the whale they couldn't just flat out doubt him. "Anyway, I'm full! Let's set sail!"

Sanji and Usopp finally turned to the plates and their eyes bugged out, "YOU ATE EVEN THE BONES?!" Sanji growled furiously, "Luffy, you bastard! This tuna was supposed to be for Nami-swan to enjoy the most!" He kicked his Captain square in the face, shooting him past Nami.

"We'd better be careful with this. Our entire journey rests on this staying saf-" She was saying, right as Luffy flew past her so fast that the Log Pose shattered. She stared at it blankly, a dead smile on her face.

"My Log Pose!" Mr. 9 screamed furiously.

"Damn it Sanji!" Luffy roared. He vanished from this air and kicked Sanji in the jaw right back, flinging him into the air.

Nami's arm dropped and she reached under her skirt and assembled her staff, "CYCLONE TEMPO!"

"WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!" Miss Wednesday was right back to being utterly terrified as Nami flung a freaking tornado at Sanji, sending him crashing into the Red Line. As the grit cleared, he was ass over teakettle in a crack on the Red Line and his one visible heart-eye was spinning.

The terrified Nami buried her anger and turned to Crocus, "What do we do! These idiots bro-"

"Relax." Crocus chuckled. "You can have mine as thanks for helping Laboon. It's not like I ever go anywhere anyway."

Suddenly, they heard a strange clacking sound from above. Mr. 9's jaw dropped, and he broke into a flop sweat. Miss Wednesday also stiffened up and let out a little squeal of fear, "Oh no!" He yelled, "It's the Unluckies!"

All of the people there – Laboon included - looked up and saw what appeared to be a spotted otter riding a vulture wearing aviator goggles. "Oh, it's an otter riding a vulture." Nami said blankly.

"Huh, it is an otter riding a vulture." Luffy chuckled to himself.

"Why is an otter riding a vulture?" Zoro asked, and then his voice somehow went even more deadpan, "Is that a bomb?" The otter had a sort of shell in its hand which it was whacking on something hard the vulture was wearing. That was what was causing the clacking sound, and then the fuse on something lit up and was thrown directly at the two weirdoes with the crew. Zoro sighed, "Is everything trying to kill us today?" He asked no one in particular as he unsheathed one of his swords, ignoring the two idiots screaming their heads off. He swiped twice with it and sheathed it. The first blade was sharp, and it cut straight through the explosive and ruined the ignition mechanism. The gunpowder in it dropped uselessly to the ocean. The second blade was blunt, and it smashed straight into the vulture and knocked the two animals right out of the sky. The otter screamed in terror as the smoking vulture descended with swirls in its eyes, before being silenced by the Red Line.

The two agents gaped at Zoro, before turning to each other and whispering urgently, "Is everyone in this Pirate crew terrifying?" She hissed.

"What do we do, Miss Wednesday? Do we even try?" He didn't have to elaborate. He knew she would understand. But Miss Wednesday suddenly felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She just barely managed to stop herself from grinning to herself.

She turned to Luffy, "Excuse me, Mr. Captain?"

Luffy looked at her in boredom, "Eh, just call me Luffy. What's your name anyway?"

She blinked, surprised that he didn't know that by now, "I'm Miss Wednesday. This is Mr. 9."

Luffy stared at her blankly, "Your real name, dummy."

"Ah…!" She balked, "We…we can't say! I'm sorry! Our work requires us to be secretive! Our company's motto is 'mystery!' That's all we can say!"

Luffy continued staring at her, arms crossed, before finally waving a hand back and forth, "Fine, fine. What is it?"

"Could we please hitch a ride on your ship back home?" She asked, bowing her head, "Both our boat and our Log Pose are now gone, so we can't get back home. It's not far from here! It's one of the first islands on the Grand Line, called Whiskey Peak. We just want to go home! We promise to repay you!"

"I wouldn't trust them." That came from Crocus obviously, "They've been up to no good since they got here."

"Plus, they tried to kill Laboon." Nami said, and the two balked. Nami walked to them, "Why should we help you?"

"It's fine." Nami turned to Luffy in surprise. He was grinning lightly at Miss Wednesday, "We'll take you to Sake Summit then. It's as good a route as any, isn't it?" The girl's face lit up in joy.

Nami sidled up to him, "Care to explain? And it's Whiskey Peak." She whispered in his ear.

"Shishishi…" He chuckled, "Just a feeling. This could be fun."

She smiled back, and disengaged, "Alright then! Time to set the Log Pose."

"You sure you want to take these two? Once you choose a route, you can't change it." Crocus tried advising Luffy again.

"It's fine!" Luffy grinned, "If we don't like it, then we can just sail around again."

Crocus couldn't help but break out into a grin of his own, "Alright then. Make sure to set the Pose using the map."

"It's all set already." Nami smiled happily, "It's pointing to Whiskey Peak!"

"Well alright then!" Luffy grinned and hopped off his rock, "Let's set sail! Thank you for everything, flower guy!"

"Thank you for the Log Pose!" Nami waved as they all piled onto the repaired Merry, Luffy at the bow on his special seat. The ship's rope reeled back in, and they took off at a good clip. Laboon's cries behind them could still be heard, even when they could no longer see the whale.

As the ship disappeared into the horizon, Crocus turned serious, "Could that bunch of Pirates be the ones we've been waiting for? He has a weird aura to him, eh Roger?"

-]|[-

As the newest of the chapters that got hit with the editing hammer, this one didn't have very much done to it. Some scenes changed due to changes in previous chapters (like getting rid of the mention of Shanks losing his arm). Along with that came some grammar corrections.

That's a wrap! We've finally made it to the Grand Line! Whooooo!

So, we saw the return of scaredy-cat Nami for once! She may be more confident, but all non-Monkey-Ds of the crew are not quite to Luffy's level. Sea Kings that big will definitely scare the soul out of you.

Luffy didn't get almost executed!

Pffff

As if I even considered going with that scene.

I'm sure some of you may think that the smile during his execution was a character defining moment for Luffy, but I kind of disagree. It seemed that way because we saw it from an outsider's perspective. We got an insight into Smoker during it. But for Luffy, it wasn't anything special. For him it was just Tuesday.

Let's see… I hope Luffy getting a hit on Smoker without his fruit wasn't too much of a surprise. Remember, even in canon Logia have to choose to become their element. Most Logia train that to an instinct, so that they can do it unconsciously. But Smoker never met anyone as fast as Luffy AND Luffy had been completely relaxed before it happened. Once he had his guard up fully, it didn't happen again. Hope you guys enjoyed the real fight between them!

Why could Luffy hurt Smoker? Remember, smoke is merely the particulates that fire was not hot enough to burn. Plasma is way hotter than fire. That's why Smoker was neutral to Ace but is in a losing matchup to Luffy. Speaking of which, I created a fruit that is ending up a wee bit more powerful than I had honestly intended it to be. I couldn't look at EVERY match up when I was coming up with it, but I did look at a fair number. It has at least one direct counter which I'm sure as fuck going to have a blast with, but it has elemental advantage against more fruits than I had intended originally.

Oh well. You live and you learn. It also has a few neutral match ups too.

Zoro and Tashigi also got a bit more screen time with each other than in canon, and I'm sure our sword nut has some things to stew over. I have some vague ideas, but it won't be until later that I decide one way or the other.

-]|[-

Cheers all!

Vortex out