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Deadly Drinking Pirate

Vivi, a Princess and a Pirate

Previously on Deadly Drunken Pirate,

'Damnit. I know that Luffy isn't that dumb like Usopp and Ero-cook to fall for such a stupid party. I wonder if Alvida and Gin saw through it too.' Zoro said as he breathing raggedly with sweat covering him from head to toe. 'So why haven't they came yet? At least that Miss Monday was a good opponent, unlike that Igaram pushover.'

Miss Monday is a tall, muscular woman with dark skin and pink hair pulled into short twin-tails. She wears a short dress with a magenta and white diamond pattern, and three green flowers. A distinctive feature of hers is her soft high-pitched voice more commonly associated with small, frail girls (which helps when it comes to disguising, as seen when she posed as a nun without her true size and strength being noticed).

And now Zoro was exhausted and surrounded by the rest of the bounty hunters that features both Mr. Nine and Miss Wednesday, pushovers as well, and some ridiculous like Mr. Beans and his partner Miss Catherina. She was an average woman, dressed in a religious habit. She wears a black long dress with long sleeves, and a veil that covers her hair. She was also seen with a cross that doubled as a poison container. And Mr. Beans was just a midget dressed like a kid to lower Zoro's guard down; too bad it didn't work.

'Now I really need backup…' Zoro was going to complain about this until everyone heard something in the distance. It was like someone was screaming at the top of their lungs. But not in the way of getting attacked, more like a woman moaning in sexual delight. That was why Zoro was blushing and the bounty hunters were too once they were all knocked out, left to foam at the mouth.

"Sorry about that Zoro, we got carried away." Zoro sighed while re-sheathing his swords and finally relaxing his stance. He had a good feeling of what happened when he saw Luffy flustered like Nami only the navigator looked like she was sore at the base of her legs.

"I figured and you better have something for this little…" Zoro halted his speech when Luffy smirked and revealed one of the bottles left unopened during the party. Fighting over half a hundred bounty hunters had gotten Zoro thirsty and ready for a drink once again. And soon the trio were on top one of the houses with Zoro drinking that bottle by the cup that Luffy had savaged from the party house.

"Seriously Luffy. If you could knock them out, even during your release…" Zoro dragged out to see Luffy and Nami blush but nod, "Then why did you leave me to fight them. I don't have that power and I just started my Haki."

"Because while you did do the punishment exercise, you didn't get us any fish until the next town." Luffy said simply and Zoro felt like his head was knocked loose of his neck; the swordsman should have known better. "Besides, you got a good workout if these were real bounty hunters." Zoro knew that tone of voice. "The fact that they fainted so easily, you will have to bargain with us if we don't want to tell this to Sanji."

"Yeah~!" The girl chirped. "I can't wait to tell Sanji-kun about how you were sent ragged by a bunch of weaklings that called themselves bounty hunters~!" Zoro groaned, thinking of the extra hard training from Luffy or the money he will have to pay Nami.

"Whatever." Zoro then drank the wine from his barrel cup, the only thing that was good tasting in his mouth. "So why do you want to get stronger if you already this far ahead, even to most Grand Line pirates. You even managed to injury Hawkeye."

"I still couldn't win Zoro." Luffy said in a modest tone. "And to answer that question, let's say that another Warlord that is named Doflamingo is around the same level as Mihawk." Luffy then said, "Then there is another Pirate that is one of the Yonko named Whitebeard. He can face against pirates as powerful as Mihawk and Doflamingo easily. He is at the same level as my grandpa, the Fleet Admiral and the other Yonko members."

Now Zoro and Nami were shocked and shaking on reflex. They all saw what Mihawk is capable of and now Luffy said that there are still pirates that are strong enough to win easily against the Greatest Swordsman in the World!? "That is why I need to get stronger. Because this world just has this crazy food line of who is strong and who is stronger. Only the strongest can become the Pirate King."

"Got it Luffy/Luffy-kun." Both Zoro and Nami said. They just will take their captain's word, he is the worst there is to lying they know. But while Luffy and enjoying a good bottle of wine with his swordsman and his girlfriend, with whom he just got much 'closer' to, a certain pair were on the ground in ropes. In fact, there was a second pair in ropes too.

"I can't believe that the pirates just knocked us out and then tied us in these ropes. It is like they are giving the much better treatment than the rest of the guys." Mr. Nine said as he, Miss Wednesday, Igaram/Mr. Eight and Miss Monday were all in ropes for sure.

"Not to worry. I got in more enforcements and they should come right about…" Igaram said as a third pair emerged but were freed from ropes and battle wounds. "Now." He smiled before turning to his audience who were in awe; like they never saw them before. "I present…

"Mr. Five!"

Mr. Five is a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair in short spiky dreadlocks. He wears a brown trench coat with a pink cravat and a pair of sunglasses, regardless of the time of day. Like the other officers, his number is shown both on his clothing and his body. He has a "5" on his coat; this number is also tattooed on his right shoulder.

"And Miss Valentine!"

Miss Valentine is a woman with short blond hair and dark eyes. She wears a yellow and orange hat, as well as a yellow dress with a lemon-like pattern, lemon earrings, and white high-heeled shoes.

"They will surely kill these pirates and spare us! Right?" Igaram then turned to the newcomers with a smile of hope for a 'yes'.

"As if." But instead, Mr. Five and Miss Valentine both said and turned a little deadly for the comfort of the defeated assassins in ropes.

"Let me guess." Luffy said in a flat, deadpan tone. "You are here to dispose of failures that are still alive. That fits the style of cold-blooded killers like you." Instead of answering, both Mr. Five and Miss Valentine laughed.

"You are smarter than what you let on, Mugiwara. Or do you prefer, the Liber Glade?" Mr. Five sneered at Luffy with his crew non responsive while his captives were in deep shock. They all thought that Zoro was the real captain but even the Pirate Hunter was reported to be nothing against the deadly Liber Glade who was able to poison Krieg and send Arlong into a deadly, drunken daze before being beaten (Wow! A pair of triple alliteration! I'm good!).

"I don't care. You will not kill them. After all, one of them is a princess in disguise." Now everyone was shocked and they all followed Luffy's thumb pointing to Miss Wednesday! "I have a talent for detecting negative thoughts and let's just say, the secrets just speak to me whatever I want to listen in or not."

Now Miss Wednesday was covered in sweat and was completely helpless to get out of this situation with her arms and legs still tied up. She couldn't even turn away as there were eyes glazing at in every possible direction. Then Mr. Five had a vicious smirk.

"I think that we lucked out Miss Valentine. Now that one of our own is a princess, we will get our paycheck and a ransom in the millions!" Mr. Five laughed maliciously and was joined by his partner. But before they could even approach Miss Wednesday, Luffy got in their way. "Move. That's our gold mine you blocking."

"Murder, kidnapping, ransoming, human trafficking, stealing…" Luffy simply said, "You all are no different than evil pirates. Ones that makes pirates like us look bad." Then Luffy stopped before smirking. "And no wonder. Your boss is none other than a pirate. Crocodile, am I wrong?"

Now that shock brought down the world and shattered the very atmosphere. No one could even move from their stance. "Dammit! How did you figure that out! Now we are doomed!" Mr. Five charged to grasp Luffy by the collar. "We are going to die and it is all because you couldn't keep your mouth shut!"

"Exactly." Despite being surrounded by people scared out of their wits and glaring at him, he spoke in a calm tone. "You couldn't shut up. You couldn't stop the train of thoughts in that head of yours. Then you had to think of the name of your boss, the rest is history."

Mr. Five gritted his teeth. His boss never warned him about the Liber Glade reading his mind and getting top secret intent so easily. Then again, there hasn't been a practice or exercise to build up a mind shield for something like that. "W-whatever, we are going to die! Now our Boss will know about this and send…!"

"A vulture and sea otter? Is that what you terrified of? All because these are called the Unluckies?" Luffy smirked and then pulled, out of nowhere, an unconscious vulture wearing a helmet and a sea otter with sunglasses like its partner. "Now then…"

Luffy then sent his hand into the sea otter's fur and pulled out a couple of pictures. Focusing his expression, Luffy smiled. 'I don't know about the vulture. She can be a good lunch. But I think that I will adopt the sea otter."

"Luffy? What are you…?" Nami learned not to try and get on her captain's bad side. After all, he is a gentleman and yet doesn't care if he was fighting a woman. She stopped when Luffy twisted his rubber arm to show those pictures. They all were of himself, Zoro and Nami, all in prefect likeliness and resemblance.

"We could always get a painting partner for Usopp." Luffy twisted his own head, like in an exorcist horror movie. But his crew was used to it and everyone else were only slightly crept out. "First things first." Luffy then twirled the sea otter and sent it flying like a slingshot, right onto the King's Gourd.

"Next…" Luffy never got to finish when Mr. Five grasped him on the face. That was when Mr. Five's hand exploded, a lot like a bomb the size of his hand was detonated right into the pirate's face.

"Go!" Mr. Five pointed as his partner rushed with speeds that matched the likes of road runner. Then Miss Valentine jumped up, about half the height of a skyscraper.

"Ichiman Kiro Puresu!" She shouted once she raced down to the town road like a meteor, right on Luffy!

Meanwhile, everyone could only do two things; one, wait for the smoke to clear and two, listen to Mr. Five's annoying rant. "Ha-ha! I knew that you underestimate me and my Akuma no Mi! The Bomu-Bomu no Mi!" Not caring that no one was listening, Mr. Five went on.

"With it, my body lets off explosions that are as strong actual bombs, only stronger! And since I blow up at will, I can't be affected by explosions myself! Cannonballs can't even hurt me!" Mr. Five laughed after that rant. And to further annoy his audience,

"And Miss Valentine's power is the Kilo-Kilo no Mi! She can control her own weight, ranging from 10 ounces to 10 tons! You will just be crushed like a bug!" Mr. Five continued to laugh until he saw what not only shocked him but everyone else.

Once the smoke cleared, Luffy was not crushed. Instead, he was the one crushing. Crushing Miss Valentine's throat that is. "10,000 kilograms? You are insulting me. I feel those like pebbles in the wind." Luffy then simply flicked his finger into Miss Valentine's stomach, caving it in and knocking her out. "But you are also insulting yourself. Which is why I have plans to keep you."

"Hey!" Mr. Five proved to be foolish as well as impatient to ruin Luffy's moment when the former felt ignored. "I was the one that blew up in your face! I can take you on and-!" Just like with before, but in reverse, Luffy moved fast enough to grab Mr. Five on the face, interrupting anymore of Mr. Five's rants.

"I am the one that is going to blow up in someone's face. Yours." Luffy said with a sadist tone that made Mr. Five sweat slightly. "And because of your own impatience, you will get the hard way. After all, I also have plans for you." Luffy then raised Mr. Five significantly and twisted the potion of the assassin's body to face the ground face first, and land face first he did.

Once the anticlimactic scene was over, Luffy walked over to Miss Wednesday and Mr. Eight and grasped their ropes, pulling them off like the string on a spinning top. "Now while we pack up and blow this dirty Popsicle stand, you better explain why the princess and her aid are doing with assassins." Luffy said and used the pair of ropes to tie up Miss Valentine and Mr. Five.

"Wait! What about us!?" Mr. Nine shouted while Miss Monday growled, trying to be intimidating. But they both were silenced by Luffy's own glare. To them, they were trying to stare down an angry Sea King.

"All I have to say is that you two make the cutest couple. Here…" Luffy then pulled out a simply knife, obviously not his, and threw it at their feet. "Once you get out, we will be long gone. That means, you two will have the place all to yourselves. You will thank us later."

Luffy then stretched his arms to retrieve Mr. Five and Miss Valentine while approaching his crew and newly released captives. "Come on, these two will just be a distraction. A talk with a princess should never have such vulgar witnesses like them."

"What!?" Mr. Nine shouted while his feet barely got the knife but this time, everyone glared back. "Never mind." And then Mr. Nine hurried to free himself while Miss Monday breathed down his neck to hurry up. That was to be the last anyone has seen of that strange pair that looked indeed like a cute couple.

XXXXX

"And that's it?" Luffy said once Miss Wednesday, real name to Vivi, finished her story. That she wasn't an assassin, but a spy. A princess that infiltrated the ranks of this organization of fellow spies and real assassins that are called Baroque Works. The reason? Apparently, Baroque Works has this sinister plan for Vivi's desert home country that is named Alabasta. Vivi wanted to find out what and how she can get her country ready for what could be best called, a 'false civil war'.

"Yes." Now that Vivi had ditched the accent and hair style, she looked barley anything like the so-called assassin named Miss Wednesday. Vivi looks much younger than 'Miss Wednesday' and far more beautiful with her hair let down. "I just figured out who the boss is and that only spells more trouble for my home. I guess that I don't need to share the name." Vivi then looked at Luffy with a mixture of emotions; anger for the danger of his own unveil all the way to confusion that Luffy did while confident that there was no danger. Just what kind of man is Luffy?

"You could explain two things actually." Luffy responded. "The first one is plainly and painfully obvious. Your aid is a crossdresser, why?" His audience looked like their eyes were inked out black at the mere thought of a guy like Igaram being a cross-dresser. "Look." Luffy then pointed for everyone to see a nightmare come true: Igaram, with woman's clothes and makeup!

"It's going *ahem ahem* ma-ma~! It's going to be okay Princess." It was hard to take Igaram seriously with this ridiculous attempt to pass himself as Vivi. The Straw Hats couldn't stop themselves from laughing while Vivi was trying to talk her aid out of the disguise and that he was going to take the fall for her failure.

That was when the Straw Hats stopped laughing and got serious again. Even with the Unluckies out of the way, there is still a good chance that Baroque Works is aware of Vivi and Igaram failing to capture the Straw Hats and trying to abandon the organization. But Igaram was as stubborn as he was foolish, he went and took the only other ship than the King's Gourd in order to take the only way out of Whisky Peak.

Meanwhile, Nami had to take Vivi through the town in search of her pet duck. Luffy went for the rest of his crew while Zoro took both Mr. Five and Miss Valentine onboard the King's Gourd and make preparations to leave the dock. And while they were at it, there was an explosion at the mouth of the river where the water becomes the sea.

In the shadow of the flaming wreck of Igaram's ship, there was a slender woman in her late twenties, giggling. "A decoy? That is too ridiculous to even laugh at." The shadow of the flame prevented any more detail about her to be visible.

XXXXX

Once Zoro got both anchors out of the water, with his bare hands and sheer strength, "Hey! I found them!" Zoro heard his captain's voice which was followed by the sound of a couple of bodies landing hard on the deck. It was Usopp, Gin and Sanji; all were still out like drunken animals and all had Alvida on the top of the pile, out like lights as well.

"Seriously Captain. They still haven't woken up?" Zoro remarked while smirking to see that Luffy was not shooting the disappointed glare his way, but to the pile of bodies.

"Nope." Luffy said, with disappointment clear in his tone. "When they do wake up, I am going to have to double their training for all this. I might even have use my powers to build up their alcohol tolerance, the hard way." Luffy then huffed and leaned on the railings, on lookout for Nami and Vivi. He never saw that Zoro silently nodded while relieved that some, in this case, some people got the punishment from Luffy and it wasn't Zoro this time.

But then Zoro heard the argument between two women and joined Luffy to see Vivi and Nami yell something about a duck. When Luffy called out, they both got this as a respond. "Apparently her duck has gone missing! Now she is refusing to leave without him!"

Luffy had no idea about a duck until Zoro pointed to one. A duck indeed but was as big as a horse that had an aero helmet on his head and a saddle on his backside. "This duck?" Zoro finally spoke up and pointed at it. When the duck waved 'hello', the women recognized the duck perfectly; they even yelled out in disbelief that they were searching the town for nothing. "Was on board before me."

Vivi confirmed that now her duck was on the ship, it was time to leave. She explained about the river leaving out of Whiskey Peak so Luffy and Zoro turned the massive ship into that direction. That was when, "Hey! The ship is leaving!" That was the unforgettable voice of Usopp the sniper.

And pretty soon, Usopp was joined by Sanji and Gin who both protested leaving Whiskey Peak. They spoke about all the 'story telling', the 'wonderful women' and the 'staring contests' they were winning until a certain chill came over them. And it was Alvida who noticed and cringed to see Luffy staring them all down like the devil himself.

When the others looked up once they felt Alvida stiffen up, they were sweating buckets all over. Luffy then gave them a beating like never before and returned his focus back on navigating the King's Gourd off the island. "Did you give them the short version?" Nami asked like an innocent kid and Luffy smirked.

"I left out most of the details." Nami just giggled and pecked her boyfriend on the cheek. She was enjoying that Luffy looked so sexy when he was acting the mischievous monkey kind that he was.

"Too bad you are taken because you are so sexy." Then a woman's voice was heard. And Luffy was wondering why he didn't recognize the signature that the voice seemed to originate from.

"I am taken Nami. By you. And thanks for the compliment." Luffy smirked at Nami again but lost it when he saw that Nami was confused. Come to think of it, that voice was much too deep to be Nami's. Than who…?

"I see, the Mr. Captain has a relationship with Miss Navigator. Truly a couple that are lost without each other. I always dreamed of being the lucky girl." Luffy and Nami finally heard that voice well enough to look up. And they saw, with everyone else finally aware, that they had a stowaway.

One that Vivi seems to recognize out of the other pirates. "M-Miss Sunday! The Boss's partner!" Luffy then got a little smile on his face.

"Crocodile's?" Luffy muttered. "She is much too beautiful to be some crime boss's bad girl." Even though he spoke that in a low tone, Nami pulled her boyfriend closer and showed a pout. Because of that, they both never noticed that this 'Miss Sunday' had a slight blush on her tanned cheeks.

Miss Sunday is a tall, slender, yet athletic woman with shoulder-length black hair. Her eyes were blue and she has a long, thin and defined nose. Finally, her limbs are very long, especially her legs, contributing greatly to both her overall height.

Miss Sunday wears a gold arm band with white strings attached to it with the letter N on it. She also had a similar one with BW on it, which could be for Baroque Works. Her outfit was composed of a skimpy cowgirl outfit consisting of a purple cleavage-exposing corset and matching miniskirt, both with white ornaments hanging from them, and a white fur-lined coat paired with a white cowboy hat and white high-heeled boots.

"Sorry Miss Navigator, I meant what I said. Your man is devilishly handsome. I am getting a little hot under the collar. And every other one too." Miss Sunday said in a seductive tone. It took Luffy's hand on her opposing arm to stop her from clutching and possibly crushing Luffy's. And while the captain was settling his girl's nerves, everyone showed their own uneasiness; by pointing guns and other weapons at Miss Sunday!

"Back off guys." Luffy then tried to settle his crew. "If she became a Warlord's partner, she is not at all what she gives off. Back away, now!" Luffy growled in an effort to get his crew to obey him. But it was not necessary when Usopp, Sanji and Zoro were suddenly thrown over the railing that Miss Sunday was sitting on; and she didn't even move a muscle!

"What the hell was that!?" Gin shouted and steeled his nerves, which was difficult. Not because of Miss Sunday's subduing three of their own already but because Luffy was spreading his Killer Intent at them. He already proved to them in the East Blue that he was more than capable to killing everyone he invited/hired/'convinced' to join his crew.

"The Grand Line, that's what it is Gin. And for the last time, back off!" Luffy shouted from the top of his lungs this time. And finally, the Straw Hats backed down and away from Miss Sunday. "Now then, what's the Boss's girl be doing with a band of pirates like us. Are you cheating on him?"

Miss Sunday laughed in a cruel manner. "Oh no. I am just his right hand and second in command. I am still single and allowed to do what I wish, unless the Boss gives me my next orders." Miss Sunday smirked to see the pirates back on guard, with the exception of the cook. That idiot cook with blonde hair just made Miss Sunday chuckle like a sadist. "What I am here for is to give you this."

Miss Sunday threw a strange item that Luffy caught in a similar manner to a frog's tongue catching a fly. It looked a lot like Nami's log pose but instead of a globe attached to a bracelet, it was like the globe was part of an hourglass. "An Eternal Pose…" Luffy muttered with an angry tone for some reason.

"Right. Unlike a Log Pose, this will always point to a single island from any other location." Miss Sunday said but before anyone could comment on this 'stroke of good luck', Luffy crushed the Eternal Pose in his hand. This caused his crew to go silent in shock and Miss Sunday to raise her eyebrow. "That was not nice. I gave you a gift and you reject it?"

"We know where to go." Luffy said. "Besides, you are our enemy. And our enemies have no right to decide our course. You will just lure us into traps or see to it that we will never make it to Alabasta." Luffy explained with a calm tone that showed just how little he trusted of Miss Sunday.

Nami and Vivi were about to scold Luffy for his actions but after hearing him out, they lost any words they wanted to say. It was true and it was also trusting an enemy too much; they could have been led on a while goose chase if they kept that Eternal Pose from Miss Sunday. Of course, that same dark chuckle was heard again.

"That is rather smart for such a bad boy your captain is. But your luck is running out." Miss Sunday spoke with a sinister smile. "It is about where your Log Pose is going to lead you." Nami looked down and wondered what it could be that a woman like Miss Sunday is satisfied about; it could be bad news. "I happen to know exactly where it is pointing. It is pointing at Little Garden. Now we longer need to worry about you or your princess friend. Not one of you will make it to Alabasta."

And with that, Miss Sunday jumped off the side of the King's Gourd to land on a massive turtle. "Let's go and tell the boss that the Straw Hats are heading in this direction." The turtle nodded and swam away with speeds contrary to the very nature of turtles. All the while, Miss Sunday was comfortable, making a phone call to her boss.

XXXXX

"Of course, I can't forget about you two." Luffy said the next morning, staring down both of his captives aka Mr. Five and Miss Valentine. They were still bound but instead of fully tied up, only their legs and arms had rope tied into knots. "I hate for the two of you to rot away with scum like that of Crocodile's gang." Luffy smirked to see that saying the boss's name had gotten them both to give up on talking back.

"W-what are y-you g-going t-to d-do to u-us?" Miss Valentine stuttered. The memory of being knocked out with such force in her stomach was fresh in her mind. And now she is afraid of what Luffy will really do, going all out; they all always do.

"Since you are part of an organization lead by a Warlord, a pirate, it means you two are no more than lowly pirates yourselves." Luffy got straight to the point. "That is why you are going to be with my crowd." Sensing both of them about to protest, Luffy quelled such emotions with a burst of KI their way. "And because you are now my pirates, I am going to train to the ground. That is what I am going to do. I am going to train you so you won't just one trick ponies like you let off at Whiskey Peak."

Luffy first turned to Mr. Five. "You say that you safely self-destruct any part of your body. But you didn't try to use that ability to repel my move to silence you. Have you ever thought of such a thing? It can help against sheer numbers, armies are cowardly without their numbers." Luffy smirked to see that Mr. Five had no real answer to give.

Then he turned to Miss Valentine. "So you can freely control your body weight without affecting your body shape or mass." She nodded with the speed of a woodpecker and Luffy smiled wider. "I see that you were able to get the drop on me since you gain a boost in speed once you used your lower limit of your powers. That is just dandy but have you ever thought of being able to use that power on a selected part of your body. With that, you befit from both your lightest and your heaviest weights."

Seeing that he made his point, Luffy then moved his arm in a blur. That caused the ropes to come undone, releasing both Mr. Five and Miss Valentine. "Good that I got that cleared. Come, it is time for breakfast." Luffy was about to open the door to the mess hall after climbing to small staircase when he turned back to them both. "And if you want me to take it easy on you later today, you better not try anything and not hide anything from any of us."

And then the Straw Hats had their breakfast. Thankfully, Luffy had a spare table and table cloth for times that are more mouths to feed in a sudden. And while the Straw Hats don't seem to mind Vivi, a princess, eating with them, they were a little distant from the two newly unbound captives that Luffy said to be part of their crew. They were still not trusting those who were once part of the same criminal organization that have the likes of Miss Sunday as their boss.

That is, until Vivi, ignoring everyone whispering to her, approached them with her plate still covered in food. "Hey. Are you two alright?" Vivi asked. She was definitely not the stereotypical princess; they will never associate themselves with the 'commoners' but not Vivi.

"We will be fine." Mr. Five said, playing with his food instead of eating it. "If only we didn't have to dread Straw Hat's torture that he calls training as soon as we have our breakfast. I don't even feel hungry, how about you Carol?"

Vivi was surprised to hear Mr. Five call his partner such a casual name instead of the codenames. "The same, Frank." Miss Valentine, or Carol, responded. "For once, I wish that I didn't have to eat. Everything I went, I was starving to death every single day."

"Well, at least you won't starve on Mr. Luffy's ship." Vivi said meekly. "I am sure that he can be rough but he is at least fair about it." That also didn't help until they all felt someone familiar staring down their backsides.

"Funny you should say that after how you only know me since you tried to kill an innocent whale without an inch of remorse." Luffy said in a tone that spoke for all present. Vivi was trying to settle down two new crewmates in a way that is not even helping herself. That is considerably low and swallow. "But you're right of course. I don't let anyone starve to death or anything while you are on my ship. Besides, you want to get strong and not stay weak for the rest of your lives, right?"

Silence reigned in the dining room, with a cook that was only a few steps from scolding Luffy for being 'mean' and 'disrespectful' towards Carol, not really caring about Frank. "Yes." Frank spoke that time. "We wanted to be strong and Baroque Works promised that. We thought that we gotten somewhere by being one of the top five, under Mr. Zero. The Boss or Crocodile if you are getting tired of hearing it."

"Whatever, do you have any dreams?" Luffy said which took both them and his crew off guard. "I mean it. We all have dreams that draw us to the ocean and sail its seas. We pirates that seek fun had a dream that keeps them going. Dreams are what makes life fun instead of just staying in one place, doing one thing for all of our days."

"W-well…" Carol stuttered, she really wanted to answer to Luffy but her voice was as shaken up as the rest of her body. It took until Frank rested his hand on his partner's shoulder.

"We do have dreams. I want to help others by becoming a firefighter. Someone to rush into danger and save lives." Frank said. "But the problem is that while heat, fire and explosions can't hurt me, it's all I can ever do." Frank said in an honest tone and then nodded towards Carol.

"I want to become a chocolatier, a chocolate lady." Carol said at last. "After all, chocolate is something to be both received and given on Valentine's Day. And that was what happened to me on the Valentine's Day when I met Frank." Luffy smiled to see a pair so close together, they can be mistaken for an active couple. "He was the first and only person to actually want to be with me, someone that always seems to be down on her luck and down on her life; someone that nobody else wanted, even as a friend."

After another moment of silence to take this in about the pair, the Straw Hats used to see as nothing but more no-good assassins, Luffy spoke up again. "We are pirates. We are always all alone on the unforgiving sea. To not be friends is something unspeakable. To treat each other not as friends is unforgivable. To a pirate, being enemies instead of friends is like committing a sin itself."

Luffy allowed his crew to take all this in. "But we are not sinners for having dreams. For wanting to sail. For wanting to live the life of freedom to do as we truly wish. To be whom we really are. We are not slaves out here. We are not held captive. That is why we are pirates, so we can make our own laws. And at the top of our list of laws, never give up on your dream. Ever."

Once Luffy was finished, his crew all smiled and cheered from their seats. All of them, including Vivi, Frank and Carol. And once the air was clear of distrust and animosity, the dinner of pirates were all getting to know each other, truly. The Straw Hats learned a whole lot about their new crewmates than they ever dreamed off; there were just so much they had in common than they ever thought.

After the massive dinner that finally helped the pair and princess open up to the Straw Hats, both Frank and Carol were put to training. Training to better control their abilities, to find out techniques and uses they never dreamed off and to become much better people. It took a week but Luffy pulled a miracle by having the pair become real sailors; being able to live on the open sea, enjoy the breeze and preform any duty granted to them. Luffy is truly a miracle worker.

XXXXX

And just as Miss Sunday said, they reached Little Garden by following Nami's Log Pose.

"Well…" Luffy remarked once they reached the next island in the Grand Line. "I can see why this can be called a garden. Not with all the plants and flowers." Luffy said and his crew just didn't have flowers on their mind.

"Whatever Luffy. But why do they called this 'Little Garden'. What is so little about it?" This time, most of the crew actually agreed with crude swordsman.

"Well this is the Grand Line. They invented a new definition of impossible. After all, a giant can caused this a 'little garden'." Luffy said and once again, his crew was baffled. They just couldn't argue with their captain anymore.

"Well that can be true, Captain." Everyone then turned to a sorry sight. Both Frank and Carol, looking like they were in a marathon and were ran ragged and covered in sweat. "After all, we will born here in the Grand Line. We did hear that Giants do exist here."

"Whatever you two." Luffy waved off. "We need to find someone to ask or something the rather about the Log Pose. Every island in the Grand Line has different periods of time for the Log Pose to reset and point to the nearest, next island." His crew nodded and so did Frank and Carol; because for those two, it means their training with Luffy is postponed until then.

Of course, their welcome service had a lot to be desired. It was bad enough that a massive bird though they were a snack, not even caring if they all ducked out of its way. Then they got the nasty feeling that they were being followed and stared at. And one pair of eyes decided to show the Straw Hats the rest of its body,

"A…a tiger!" Nami and Usopp found themselves backing up to the opposite side railing along with Carol. Who would have thought that they would make such a close crowd of cowards? But all that was not necessary when that same tiger only followed the King's Gourd down the stream before it roared in pain, before falling with a pool of blood gushing out the side facing the sky.

"W-what just happened Luffy!?" Nami asked of her boyfriend who didn't even looked disgusted or shocked, but concerned.

"I am sure that he was just waiting Nami. He was holding in all that pain until he saw me." Luffy then put his hat on his chest, the traditional act of saying prayers to the newly deceased. "He was getting close to that age of his long life."

"You have been here? In the Grand Line before?" Usopp finally walked up to his captain about that encrypted talk.

"Usopp." Luffy said sternly. "When you get drunk, your mind is as gullible as a child and as forgettable as your great-grandfather. What better way to keep a secret?" Luffy asked and didn't give anyone the chance to answer as he approached the kitchen. "Now I am going out. I need to see what else is to Little Garden while we wait for the Log Pose."

Once Luffy exited the kitchen door, he saw Vivi in front of him. "Luffy, can I go with you?" Now this was surprising. "I need something to do during the wait too. And I am not the type to stay in one place for long."

"Vivi, you shouldn't say such things in front of Nami." Luffy said as the first order of business. "I don't want the wrong idea to be spread on my ship." Luffy then turned to Nami and nodded in assurance which caused his girlfriend to release a sigh she was holding in. "Now about that walk in the jungle, you will need an aid so we won't get separated."

"Of course Luffy, Carue will come with me." Vivi turned to face the large yellow duck on deck who suddenly had all eyes on him. This caused the poor soul to nearly faint in shock. Of course, Carue found himself carrying Vivi through the jungle anyways; thankfully, Luffy had made another meal if he was to have company.

"What a girl, she's so brave." Usopp remarked while both Nami and Carol adding their own two cents as Vivi is a princess who breached the enemy ranks in an effort to help her country.

"Come on guys. We need to get training somehow while we are not sailing." Zoro said to get the attention of every other male crew member. "Unless you could stay with the girls and tell that to Luffy as to why you were training." Sanji, Gin and Frank were the ones that got the memo and actually followed Zoro into the jungle, leaving only Usopp who was still too cowardly to leave the King's Gourd.

"What a way to show your manliness." Alvida said sarcastically. "And too bad I have to keep an eye on you three. Captain's orders." The trio just nodded and sat on the deck in a sullen manner. Somehow, even the ship didn't feel safe in this jungle called Little Garden.

Then they saw it. The shadow of something far bigger and more dangerous than tigers and dinosaur birds. So big that it completely covered the deck of the King's Gourd, a ship bigger than most other ships in the entire world. When Nami, Usopp, Alvida and Carol turned to see what it was, they could only scream.

"EEK!"

"YARRGH!"

"GA-BA-BA!" That booming voice had blocked out all those screams and it could only be one thing. It was a giant, a giant had found them!

End of Chapter 12.

*My first update in August! I am glad that I still got it. Tell me what you think!*

Translations:

Ichiman Kiro Puresu – 10,000 Kilogram Press

Akuma no Mi –Devil Fruit

Bomu-Bomu no Mi – Bomb-Bomb Fruit

Kilo-Kilo no Mi – Kilo-Kilo Fruit