Chapter 9

Story Start: The Baratie

Walking out of the exit closest to the direction of where I had left the Merry, I put a hand on the railing and vaulted over. A foot over the water my feet landed on a wide strip of tape that was attached to the ship that went all the way over to the arrow boat construct a hundred feet from the ship. Keeping the ramp I had made earlier rigid, I walked with my hands in my pockets with a frown on my face.

Nami had betrayed us. I hadn't known her for even a week but the fact that she had tried to steal the Going Merry had really pissed me off. It would have been bad enough if she had tried to pull this stunt off while we were on an island like the one with Loguetown where we could have tried to acquire another ship. But she had done this at the Baratie, a ship out at sea, where we wouldn't have even been able to pay for passage with one of the customers back to land because all of our money was kept on board. (And she had the nerve to grab the Bounty Hunter Duo's treasure as well as our own.)

Maybe if I hadn't been so angry I would have realized that we could have used Johnny and Yosaku's smaller but still serviceable boat until we could get a bigger one again, but I was just too pissed at the moment to do so.

Reaching the arrow construct, I turned part of the arrow head section into a stair way and walked up to the Merry's railing. Still attached to the mast, Nami had her head bent with her eyes closed, evidence of tears on her face. When my feet hit the Merry's deck her head snapped up and she looked at me only to try to recoil at the furious look I was giving her.

Walking forward with a scowl on my face, I said "Not that you actually give a damn about any of us but Luffy, Usopp, and I took care of the Krieg Pirates. We're fine by the way."

Reaching her, I ripped her tape gag off. Nami gave a yelp of pain but immediately after asked "Just you three? What about Zoro?"

"He's recovering from getting stabbed over the heart then slashed from shoulder to hip by Fucking 'Slice A Mountain In Half Before Breakfast' Dracule 'Hawkeye' Mihawk, AKA the World's Greatest Swordsman, AKA one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea." I said with a growl as I kneeled down and made the spike of tape keeping the construct in place pull out of the ocean floor followed by the giant boat turning into a series of six foot tall paddle wheels along the Merry's side, along with a row of 'dock bumpers' made out of tape wrapped rolls of cloth.

As the paddles began working to slowly bring the Merry closer to the Baratie, Nami's face both paled and gained a confused look and she asked "Why would someone like that be HERE?!"

I let out an aggravated huff and explained "Evidentially, Krieg's fleet of fifty ships woke him up from his nap when they entered the Grand Line and he took umbrage at that. He got 49 of them but a freak storm threw the flagship back into the East Blue and having something resembling professional pride he went after them. I don't know HOW he tracked them down to the Baratie from wherever they had been hidden before but he sliced that galleon apart like it was a sheet of paper from about a thousand feet away, if not farther. That's just how far away he was when Usopp picked him up with his Observation Haki after he sliced apart Krieg's ship and he was coming towards us at that point. Actually, given that this is Fragging MIHAWK we're talking about, he probably has good enough Observation Haki to have gotten a lock on their signatures and tracked them that way. Anyways, when that happened, Zoro had the monumentally STUPID idea to challenge the guy to a sword fight. Idiot's lucky Mihawk didn't stab him all the way to the heart and be done with it. Dumbass that he was, Zoro didn't pull back even with a dagger in his chest and Mihawk was evidently impressed enough to let him try one last time against his actual weapon."

I let out a scoff and said "Zoro got two of his blades shattered and a cut across his torso for his troubles. Then the monumental idiot sheathed his remaining sword and turned around to let Mihawk slash him AGAIN and got opened up from shoulder to hip for his trouble. Dumbass was lucky I was close by or he would have fallen into the drink. As it was, I had to use my threads to stitch him up in order to keep him from bleeding out."

"But he'll live right?" Nami double checked.

"Yeah, he'll live. I guess the saying about God loving idiots is true." I muttered as there was a soft bump as the Merry lightly touched one of the Baratie's docking area. Lines that had thin cloth coverings snaked out and attached themselves to docking cleaves and I finally stood up.

Walking to the main mast, I gave Nami a hard look and said "Luffy for some obscure reason is willing to hear you out for why you tried to run away. I strongly suggest you be completely honest with him because I guarantee you that we'll ALL be using our Observation Haki to ensure that you are."

With that warning given, I had the cloth wrapping around the mast flow around it until it was only wrapped around Nami then removed the cloth around her legs so that way she could walk on her own. Keeping one hand on her left shoulder, I walked her off the Merry and into the Baratie's dining area towards where everyone else was enjoying a post-fight meal.

To the surprise of no one who had seen him around a woman, Sanji immediately noticed me and Nami's entrance and just as quickly became angry. Storming over with a furious look, he demanded "Matthew! Why have you tied up the lovely Nami like that you barbarian?!"

He was stopped cold when I glared at him, strips of cloth rising from my coat like vipers ready to strike turning obsidian black as they did so and I said coolly "She tried to steal our ship Sanji. Our crew's Captain has decided to at least hear out her reason for trying to abandon us here but this is a Crew matter. Which means that until you agree to sail with us it has nothing to do with you. Am I clear?"

Sanji gave a small swallow and said "I understand." Stepping back, he muttered lowly to himself "Doesn't mean I like it though."

Walking past him, I sat Nami down at the table the other Straw Hats were seated in the seat opposite Luffy, her cloth bindings shifting so that her arms were now free but her torso and legs were secured to the chair and back. Facing her was Luffy with Zorro on his right and Usopp on his left.

I moved to the chair by Usopp and saluted Luffy as I said "Prisoner secured Captain."

Luffy frowned, probably at me calling Nami Prisoner but gave me a nod regardless and I took my seat. Luffy then turned that frown at Nami and it became disappointed as he asked "Why'd you try to steal the Going Merry Nami? I thought we were friends."

Nami looked around at all of angry faces around the table, gave a small swallow, and opened her mouth. She closed it again a moment later. This repeated for a few minutes before she closed her eyes and sighed as she said quietly "Oh, fuck it."

If any of us had looked at the totally not eavesdropping Sanji, we would have seen him blanch at Nami cursing like that. Instead, everyone at the table gave a collective blink, even Luffy.

Nami though just looked down at the table as she kept speaking and explained "My home island was taken over by a fishman pirate named Arlong and he forces everyone to pay him money as 'taxes'. If you can't pay him then he kills you. He killed my mother because she didn't have enough for both her and me and my sister. When he discovered my ability to make maps he claimed me for his crew and made me a deal. If I could collect 100 million beris then he would sell my home town to me. It's coming up on the time where the next 'tax day' is set and even I have to pay the tax or one of the people of my home town will be killed in my place. That's why I stole the Going Merry, I need to get back home to pay or one of the people I'm trying to save will die before I have a chance to free them."

Every single word Nami said rang as truth to our Observation Hakis.

"T-that's..." Usopp said, unable to get the words out.

I however had no such problems as I said with a scowl "That's fucked up."

All of the angry looks on our faces were still there but now we were all angry for Nami's sake rather than at Nami herself.

From the next table over, Johnny and Yosaku traded a look, nodded, and then Johnny said "Say the word Big Bro Luffy and we'll help you filet these fishman pirate bastards."

I huffed in amusement and said "Not going to lie Captain, that mental image is rather appealing at the moment."

"I've never fought a fishman before, could be fun." Zoro drawled as he flicked Wado Ichimonji an inch out of its sheath.

Usopp grit his teeth and said "We need to stop this guy Luffy."

Luffy didn't so much as twitch at our words. He just kept his gaze on Nami, who hadn't looked up, instead keeping her gaze at her clenched fists that were on the table. After half a minute, Luffy asked "Why didn't you tell us Nami?"

Nami let out a bitter laugh and said "Because I didn't want my friends to be killed. Arlong can't be defeated. Anyone who tries just winds up dead. Only I've survived trying and that's because I'm both useful to him and he finds it amusing. And believe me, I've tried to kill him. Daggers, guns, hell, I even managed to get my hands on some pufferfish poison. He called it delicious!"

I felt a brief flash of conflict in Sanji with my Observation Haki at the mention of poison. Me and Zoro flicked our eyes towards him but a moment later we turned our gazes to Luffy to see what our Captain would do.

Luffy kept his gaze on Nami, remaining silent for ten seconds before he asked "Matt, can you make Merry go faster than normal?"

"Easily." I said immediately.

"Good. Because I want to get to Nami's island as soon as possible so that way I can kick this Arlong bastard's ass." Luffy said, standing up and cracking his knuckles.

Nami snapped her gaze up in a panic and said "You can't, he'll kill you guys!"

"He's welcome to try." Luffy said darkly, Zoro nodding with an eager grin on his face as he also stood up.

"Guess we've got our orders then." I said as I stood up along with Usopp, an action mimicked by the Bounty Hunter Duo. Walking around the table, I removed the bindings keeping Nami seated and gently cajoled her up to her feet.

A moment later, Luffy was on her other side pulling her into a fierce hug. Nami stiffened in his grasp but before she could do anything, he pulled back and said to all of us "There's a few more things I need to do, but I want us ready to go in thirty minutes."

"Aye Captain." The male members of his crew said, me and Usopp going so far as to salute him. Johnny and Yosaku both gave their affirmations as well and I powerwalked out of the restaurant. As the others followed me out, I said "Zoro, Usopp I need you two to secure everything that's loose on our ship. Johnny, Yosaku, you guys need to do the same with your boat as well. We're going to be going VERY fast on this trip."

"Got it." the other four males said and quickly hopped aboard their respective vessels. As they got to work, I sent a 'carpet' of cloth out over the water and strode onto it. I then sent my flying carpet out to a thousand yards since I was going to need some space to work with. Oh sure, I could just stick a couple of propellers on the back of our vessels and call it a day, I could even make a pair of the arrowhead constructs around the ships like I had earlier to bring the Merry back to the Baratie quicker. But A, that had been for a quick 'sprint', not a marathon, and B, I REALLY wanted to make a statement as we arrived to kick a bunch of fishman asses.

Once I was sure I was far enough from the Baratie that I wouldn't accidentally send it rocking as hard as it had when Krieg's galleon was destroyed by creating what I had in mind, I reached into my pocket for my cell phone and pulled it out. A quick search later, I had the needed dimensions and proper shape and once I put my phone back in my pocket, I closed my eyes for a moment.

Then my eyes snapped open and I dropped to my knees slamming my hands down on my carpet. Cloth and tape surged out of the underside of the carpet, and a dark shadow appeared in the water as the mass of fabric began to rapidly spread outwards generating small but numerous waves as it continuously pushed water away from it. Within half a minute it was 263 meters long and 38.9 meters wide in the middle. There was a brief pause for a moment, really only just long enough for the surrounding water to pour back in over the submerged mass, then the water exploded upwards as the construct surged out of it, the hull of a ship rapidly forming, quickly followed by massive turrets and a large superstructure in the center. The carpet under my feet began going vertical in a wave like motion that allowed me to stay in one spot even as it moved sideways until I was crouched on the very corner of the cloth.

As the cloth reached just over 183 feet in the air, it went from plain brown to a white background with a red sun in the middle, beginning to flap in the ocean breeze as I stood up and finally released my control over it. And with that, I was now standing on a short pole on top of a VERY convincing replica of the World War II Japanese Battleship Yamato.

The deck of the Baratie was filled with its chefs looking out at my creation in awe. Even Zeff was impressed if my Observation Haki could be believed. Standing next to them, my Captain's own emotions of awe fueled glee shined on my emotional radar like a beacon, a beacon matched by the twin stars in his eyes that I could see all the way from where I was standing. Nami was next to him and I could feel nothing but shock from her. Forming a quick line from the flag pole I was standing on to the deck beside the group of guns at the middle of the ship, I quickly zip lined my way down.

Removing the line once I reached the bottom, I crouched down with my hands on the deck. A moment later, the hull split open and doors pushed out then slid to the side revealing a hollow chamber in the Yamato, kept dry by the fact that the doorway opened a good ten feet above the waterline. A ramp with rollers on it formed on both sides of the doorway, with the water ramp dipping into the water fifty feet away then leveling out for another thirty feet, widening as it did so until it ended with a pair of poles marking out where a boat should be directed to. That done, I took out my cell phone and pulled up the Morse Translator app on it.

As I typed out my message, I muttered to myself "Sure hope they have Morse Code in this world." Once I had my message typed, I set it for flashlight than held my phone up into the air and the light on it began turning on and off.

•- •••• • -• •-• • •- -•• -•- -••• •-• •• -• -• -••• - •- - ••• - - •-• •- - •-• ••-• - •-• •-•• - •- -•• •• -• -• *

Fortunately, a moment after the message ended, I saw Nami bring her hand up to her mouth and let out a series of sharp whistles.

••- -• -•• • •-• ••• - - - -•• **

I listened to the response and when Nami finished brought up the app's Morse alphabet. A moment to translate what I heard later, I nodded in satisfaction and closed the app, going to my TV app instead and began watching the series of three minute episodes of the 2003 Star Wars Clone Wars as I leaned against the gun beside me as I waited for the two ships to be brought over.

Twenty five minutes into Luffy's half hour, I looked up as I heard the sound of paddling. Seeing Zoro. Luffy, Usopp, and (to my pleasure) Sanji rowing the Merry over with Johnny and Yosaku paddling their ship over behind them, I hopped over the rail, a line of cloth attached to it slowly growing in order to keep my decent to a manageable level as I dropped down to the top of the ramp. As the Merry approached, I lowered the rollers at the first part of the ramp, allowing her to float onto the first part of the ramp without touching them. The rollers then lifted back up, taking the Caravel's weight and moving her forwards. As the Merry passed the flat part of the ramp and reached the ascension point, I did the same procedure for Johnny and Yosaku's boat.

When the Merry reached the bottom of the interior ramp, she reached a split in the path the rollers took, turning to the right while the smaller vessel behind her turned to the left, both moving down the roller paths they were on until their sterns were ten feet from the split. Once there, the rollers lowered themselves, and consequently the ships, down to the 'ground' of the channels I had made and clamps of cloth half as long as the ships came out of the floor on either side of the ships, gently making contact with the ships' sides before adding pressure. A few moments later, multiple strips of tape shot up then over the decks of the ships before attaching on the other side, further securing the vessels. Finally, bands of cloth came out from the chamber walls, wrapping around the masts from all four directions and pulling taut to keep them from swaying. Overhead, a pair of banners with the words "Please remain aboard your ship." and a red circle changed so that way the words were now "You may now exit your ship" and the circle turned green.

As this happened, the ramp outside began to shrink, the cloth retreating until the effect reached the doors and stopped. The doors slid closed at that point and it was only the fact that sections of the roof overhead were made out of cloth set in a mesh configuration letting in sunlight that the chamber wasn't consumed in darkness.

As the crews of the two ships disembarked from said ships, I blinked in surprise when Gin of all people followed the rest of the Straw hats off of the Merry. He must have been in one of Merry's rooms on the way over from the Baratie because I sure as heck hadn't seen him when she got on the loader ramp.

As everyone walked over to me, I nodded at Luffy and said "Captain, Lady and Gentlemen, welcome aboard the Yamato. Now before anything else, can someone tell me why you guys brought an enemy combatant aboard this vessel, and without any form of bindings at that?"

"Gin's going to be one of us." Luffy said firmly.

"Un-huh." I said, giving Gin another look, said (apparently) former Krieg Pirate giving me a flat look back. Shaking my head, I clapped my hands together and said "Right then. As I was saying before, this is the Yamato, or rather, a ship transport with an outer shell that looks like the Yamato. Given that we're apparently on a schedule I thought it'd be better to transport our ships like this rather than just sticking propellers or paddles on our ships and spinning them really really fast. Easier on the masts when we reach the kinds of speed I'm planning on you see."

"That makes sense." Nami said with a nod of her head.

"Yeah, I'd rather not damage Kaya's ship." Usopp said in agreement.

I nodded at the pair before I turned to a stair case that was set into the chamber's wall and was wide enough for three people to climb side by side as I said "Well then, let's go above deck and Nami can give me directions."

As the others followed me up the stairs, I said quietly to Luffy beside me "Are you sure about bringing Gin along? We ARE going to be going into the Grand Line at some point in the future after all, and he didn't exactly have a good time of things the first time around. He might not be able to handle going back to that mad house of an ocean."

Luffy looked behind him as he climbed the stairs before turning back forward and said "He'll be able to handle it. Gin's strong."

"Well, you're the Captain, I just hope you're right." I said before falling silent again. Like I said, Luffy was in charge here. That said, I think I'll hold off on telling Gin my origins until I was sure he wouldn't be taking off to escape the insanity that was sure to come from traveling with the 'main characters' of a "Big 3" Manga/Anime. The third island in the Grand Line should be long enough to know if he would be staying with us for the long haul or not ...

Once on the top deck of the ship, I created a cloth lift that took us all up to the bridge level which was the only other part of the ship beside the holding chamber that wasn't solid cloth. Once there, I went to the wheel that I had put in there and placed my phone on a holding pillar next to it with the Compass app running. That done, I looked to Nami for direction and she quickly gave me the proper heading.

Now knowing which direction to go, I concentrated and the propellers at our back began spinning. I kept our speed low at about five knots as we made a wide turn but once were pointed in the right direction I 'locked the wheel' on Yamato's rudder then began steadily increasing our speed. As I reached ten knots, a second app popped up in banner mode at the top of my screen, numbers steadily ticking upwards as the GPS software in my phone began tracking our speed. (Somehow given there were no satellites overhead.) I ignored the app that I hadn't downloaded to my phone, assuming that Taifun was just being his 'helpful' self and instead focused on continuing to smoothly increase our speed.

Seven and a half minutes after starting the acceleration I hit seventy five knots and said "I don't think I can get us any faster Captain."

"Don't worry, you're going plenty fast enough." Nami said somewhat weakly. When I glanced over towards her, she was staring at my phone with wide eyes and a slightly slack jaw.

I glanced over at Luffy who shrugged back and said "Eh, if you say this is the fastest we can go then it's the fastest we can go. Just keep us at this speed Matt."

"Aye Captain." I said with a nod before looking back forward. As I did so, I made a bunch of chairs and hammocks form behind me for the others to rest in while making a chair right behind me for me to sit in as well. At Nami's request, I made her a cloth table and seat beside me and she took out a map from...somewhere and quickly began making calculations for our route, muttering under her breath about devil fruits making a mockery of how fast ships should be able to travel given their size.

I shook my head with a slight uptick of my lips when I heard her but kept my attention focused on keeping the Yamato's propellers spinning at speed, pushing us ever closer to our next fight.

END

Author's Notes: So, since Gin is so popular, (There was only one vote for him to not be a straw hat in any of the stories) he'll be in ALL of the One Piece stories. (I got something special to bring Gin in for Flames). I'm going to make another poll for the Bounty Hunter Duo now so go have a quick vote for that poll.

*When ready bring boats to ramp for loading

** Understood