"Buchi! We need to go! Ronoroa is-" Jango's words died in his throat as he saw the heavy-set man on the floor, a tiny puddle of blood forming right under him.

Jango shakily looked up to Zoro, the man cleaning the blood of his single blade with a swipe down, blood flicking off it cleanly.

"H-how did you beat me here?" He mumbled, taking a few steps back and falling on his ass. "H-how did you know where we were!?"

Zoro looked confused, just looking at the man. "...you're with him?"

Jango looked horrified, even through his heart shaped glasses. "N-no! Of course not! I-I'm just a traveling merchant, you see!"

Zoro seemed to buy that, shrugging his shoulders.

"C-captain!"

Jango's heart dropped as Buchi managed to wheeze, slowly looking up at him. "I-I'm not done yet! Hypnotize me!"

The hypnotist gulped, rushing to pull his chakram out. "WhenIsayonetwoJangoyouwillbehealedandstronger!"

Zoro only raised an eyebrow, slowly walking over to grab the rest of his blades.

But Jango was faster.

"One, Two, Jango!"

Buchi's roar shook the island.


Usopp wilted, his legs shaking as he waited outside of the Black Cat's ship, both Luffy and Nami insisting on pillaging the pirate ship.

Or, rather Nami had, demanding that Luffy came along to carry whatever loot the crew had for her. The monster of a man didn't seem that compelled for it, but just shrugged and hopped aboard, mumbling about how it could've been an adventure.

That left Usopp alone in the field of broken pirates, brow sweating, hands twitching, and legs shaking in the wind.

That was the sight Sham came back to.

He saw the full glory of a young, skinny man in overalls and frizzy hair in a hairnet, glaring daggers in his direction.

For the first time since Kuro left, Sham felt real fear.

Usopp readied his slingshot in a panic that wasn't quite visible from a distance. "Y-You there!"

"Y-you did this?" Sham mumbled, dropping the firewood in his arms and raising his hands above his head, standing up straight. "You took all of us down without even letting them call for me?"

"Yes!" Usopp screamed, lying out of habit more than actual thought. "And if you don't give up now I'll do much worse to you!"

"Usopp!"

Sham's instincts kicked in, and at the moment the sudden yell had taken the sniper's attention away, he moved.

Much to the attacking Cat pirate's horror; along with Usopp's focus getting pulled away, Luffy's scream caused the long-nosed man to lose his grip on the slingshot's pouch, the lead ball he had loaded into it flying through the air in a flash.

The hunchback didn't even have time to react as the ball crashed into his throat, crushing his trachea.

Usopp didn't notice his killing blow, looking up to the figurehead of the galleon. "Yeah?"

Luffy looked down, then to the new guy that was hunched over on the ground, clawing at his throat, then back at Usopp. "nice shot!"

Even Buggy grumbled an 'impressive' with the side of his mouth.

Usopp looked confused, then noticed that he had let go of his slingshot, looking at the man on the ground, then back at his slingshot. He hissed through his teeth, taking a deep bow.

"Sorry!"


Zoro took a few steps back as the man that was on the edge of consciousness mere seconds ago gripped the ground, his fingers cracking the stone under him as he rose to his feet.

"Oi, Oi what the hell did you do!?" he asked, glaring towards the Hypnotist that now looked vaguely worried.

"I gave him the push he wanted." The replacement captain mumbled, taking another step back.

Zoro wanted to slash him and be done with it, but that was the moment Buchi got to his feet, the Cat pirate's muscles bulging. And for the first time, Zoro could see that all the 'fat' he had seen was actually muscle as his torso heaved, muscles growing defined as the man flexed them with another roar, slamming his foot down.

Both cliffsides flanking them shuddered, and a large chunk of rock collapsed, kicking up dust and earth that hid all combatants.

Zoro hissed, gripping his sword tighter, trying to see where the attack would come. One sword wasn't going to cut it anymore.

Buchi's assault came fast and viciously, the man swiping at him and almost taking him off his feet. A greater feat was how Zoro's unnamed sword had managed to not shatter under such an immense force.

The swordsman groaned, fighting against the clawed hand gripping onto his sword and trying to bash his head with it. It was only thanks to all the muscle training Zoro had suffered through that allowed him to put up a fight.

Then, Buchi reminded him that he was fighting against just one hand, the other forming a fist and slamming into his chest with enough force to send him flying up the wall and causing it to collapse into the path leading to the village.

He grumbled, slowly rising to his feet as he shook off the concussion, visibility clearing as the dust cloud kicked up by the rockslide settled. Buchi looked ready for murder, his pupils shrunken and eyes bloodshot, Jango was nowhere to be found.

More importantly, he could see the rest of his katana behind Buchi.

"There you are."

He rushed forward, the world blurring as Buchi slashed down once more, but this time the swordsman was prepared, using the back of his blade to shove the attack to the side, rather than taking the brunt of it.

Even so, the interactions of the forces caused him to stumble, having to tuck into a roll to avoid cutting himself on his blade before dashing to where his other two swords had landed.

Gripping Wado had never felt better.

Shoving the white blade's grip between his teeth, he settled into a familiar stance.

As useless as the Cat pirate was, he had shown Zoro his fallacy. He had looked down on him, and he was sure if the man still had a bit of sanity left, that punch he withstood would've had his claws out.

As it stood, he was facing no more than a beast that growled while sizing him up and down.

Luckily, Zoro knew how to handle beasts, even ones of this strength.

His teeth gripped onto Wado tighter as he got into his stance.

" Tiger... "

Buchi rushed to his doom, and Zoro became one with the wind.

"Hunt."

The world faded back in, Zoro idly sheathing the one sword he still could as he heard the man topple over behind him.

"...I feel like I'm forgetting someone…" he mumbled, turning back and heading to the bleeding and unconscious man to grab the rest of his scabbards.


"Why did you do it?"

Kuro would've laughed in the face of the ram-person after stabbing him if he could even breathe without feeling unimaginable pain.

He opted to wheeze instead, confined to the bed by his broken body. "I wanted peace of mind."

Merry shook his head, gripping at his own tie, tearing up a little. "Did you not have it?!"

Kuro smiled, even now they thought he was their friend. Oh how wrong they were.

"I always hated you. And I wanted to strangle that brat upstairs since the day I set my eyes on her." He coughed, forcing his neck up to take a good long look at the butler, enjoying the look of utter terror his eyes held. "I only wish the poison would have killed her faster."

Merry took a step back, gripping the handle of the door. "W-what is wrong with you?"

"I can't get up and kill you, that's what's wrong with me."

Merry shuddered, shaking his head, fear and disgust fading into wrath. "I'm going to call the marines, and everyone on the island is going to watch and cheer as you hang."

Kuro only shot Merry a smirk before letting his head land back on the bed he was trapped in.


Back in the archives, Robin's face soured, raising her hand to rub her eyes, closing the book as she focused on the eye she had left in the room Kuro had been left in.

Even after all the years she had been truly alone, it still stung to see true betrayal. Especially in cases so… unnecessary.

Kuro did what he had because he was a bloodthirsty monster that wanted to live off the riches of an orphan of his own making.

He did all of that cause he was a monster through and through, not a victim of circumstance.

Even with that fact, she hated how much of herself she could see in the stoic calculating manner of the pirate.

She paused, one of her eyes sensing the assumed pirate captain rushing off to one of the public docks.

Sighing, she pushed with her powers, creating eye after eye in a silent chase before she managed to get more than a glimpse of the man, an arm sprouting on his ankle and grabbing into the other, causing him to stumble and fall on his face.

The arm disappeared and was replaced by another, a mouth growing on the palm of it, another two sprouting to its sides, one's palm blooming into an eye while the other had an ear.

She placed her mouth on her palm, and connected through to her remote mouth. "Are you with Kuro?"

The man attempted to slash at the hands with a chakram, his motions halting as another hand grabbed his wrist. Deciding to make the questioning easier, she grew another hand with an eye on the man's chest, glaring into his sunglasses.

"Are. You. With. Kuro?"

The man shuddered, and paused just long enough for the experienced assassin to know he was lying. "N-no."

The hand grabbing his wrist tightened, and Robin decided that she was going to make this one fast and mostly painless.

The Marines could take care of him when Merry summoned them.

The eye on the arm growing from his chest disappeared, and the hand gripped at the man's throat, fingers pinching the arteries leading to his brain with expert precision.

Robin dispelled the ear and the other eyes too, not wanting to watch the man struggle in vain as more and more hands grabbed at him and held him down.

Soon enough, she could feel the man cease to struggle, his heartbeat slowing until she was sure he was knocked out.

Sighing, she dispelled her arms and glanced to the bookshelf of the archives. Then shook her head, dispelling the clouds that were forming in her head. He was a pirate, aiming to poison and kill an innocent girl. He had deserved it, maybe he deserved even more.

Unlike most of her victims these last few years.

She knew she had to do it to survive, but it didn't make it weigh on her any less. Her eyes slowly pulled down and landed in the book she had on her lap.

At least this was a welcome distraction, it had been all her life. Shaking her head, Robin returned to the snippets of the history of the young village.


"Oh, hey Zoro!"

Zoro yawned, rubbing his eyes and watching Luffy arrive, seated on the figurehead of an unfamiliar ship, bouncing up and down between the horns of the ram.

The swordsman smirked, tapping his scabbards to his shoulder. "Took you long enough!"

Luffy shot a grin, pulling out a pirate flag depicting a cat from his pocket and waving it around. "Foooound 'em!"

Behind him, Nami looked happier than ever, still counting the paper bills she had managed to recover from the enemy ship. And if Zoro could see past them and into the kitchen, he would've seen Usopp still slightly paler than usual.

The swordsman rose to his feet, the swords clicking to their place on his hip. "Got one here too," he mumbled, scratching his head idly and kicking the unconscious form of Buchi. "Saw another, but he disappeared."

Nami almost fell from the boat as she leaned off the railing from the front, screaming at him. "YOU LET ONE GO? WHAT ABOUT KAYA?"

Zoro shrugged. "Merry can probably handle them."

Luffy shook his head with a snicker. "You're hopeless, y'know Zoro?"

Buggy snorted from his hip. "You're the last one that should say that, ya flashy bastard."

Luffy laughed, making even the clown smile.

"HEAVE TO!" Nami called, suddenly realizing how close they had gotten to the shore, Luffy leaping down to man the lateen. Nami barked at Usop to heave the steering post toward starboard, the boat suddenly turning and losing all of its momentum as the wind left its sails. The lanteen and the rudder fought against each other as Merry simply bobbed up and down on the calm waters.

Whistling, Zoro appreciated the sight, watching as Luffy hopped up to the crow's nest and quickly reefed the sails. "...you three got a handle on that fast, huh?"

"It helps that Nami is the best!" Luffy cheered, suddenly appearing behind the woman, tapping her shoulders proudly. "Best Navigator ever!"

Usopp hollered from his spot too, rushing out to cheer Nami on, the navigator blushing and acting bashful at the sudden shower of appreciation, before she snapped back to reality and bonked the two in the head.

"Weigh the anchor first you dumbasses!"

"Sorry-" both managed to mutter out at the same time, Buggy bursting into laughter at the pain of the captain and the sniper.

Zoro shook his head with a smirk. "Whipped."

"Quite."

The swordsman almost jumped as Robin seemingly appeared next to him, smiling cryptically. "We should hop aboard and help out, shouldn't we, Mr. Swordsman?"

Zoro gripped his chest, panting lightly. "Yeah, I guess, I should check for the other guy first though."

"Oh my, sorry to disappoint, I already handled that."

The man scoffed, disappointed at the loss of a fight, and began to walk towards the ship. "He didn't seem that tough anyway."

Robin giggled at the pouting man, looking up to see Luffy staring back at the two. "So, this is your new ship, then?"

" Our ship, if Kaya lets us keep her." Luffy amended, tapping the figurehead of the Going Merry.

Robin smiled softly, finding amusement in the unspoken offer. "I thought you were just going to accompany me to Alabasta?"

Luffy smiled with a shake of his head. "You'll always have a place with us, Robin."

"You offer it so casually, Captain-san," Robin countered, smile still on her lips. Thinking about just how much weight the words Luffy had said meant to her, when the man himself probably didn't even mean it that way.

Luffy laughed his classic laugh, smiling from the railing. "It's 'cause it's true! Hop on, we've got places to be!"

Robin's shoulders shook with mirth.


"What's your game, Straw Hat?"

Luffy squinted down at the head on his hip, Buggy looking back up at him with unblinking squinting eyes. "What do you mean, heady?"

"Don't give me pet names you bastard!" Buggy grumbled, still keeping his voice low enough so the rest of the crew couldn't hear the two as they circled the island. "What's your plan? You're not seriously gonna set sail with this rag-tag group, are you?"

"No, we need a musician first!" Luffy chirped back, smiling. "And maybe a cook too. Why are ya asking?"

Buggy blinked, deciding to ignore just how important the musician was for the captain, and squinting harder at him. "Just tell me one thing, you simple, simple monkey. Why do you want to be the king of the pirates?"

"'Cause then I'll be the freest man in the world?" Luffy offered with a tilt of his head, before the coin dropped. "Oh! Also cause I want to be-"

Buggy listened on with awe as history repeated itself, Luffy's eyes shining as he said the exact words his late captain had said before his execution. Before Buggy could ask if strawhat had heard that from anyone else, the navigator called out for another important sail move, the captain jumping to his feet.

For the first time in a long time, Buggy smiled genuinely, eyes a little misty with memory. For a mere moment, he didn't mind being a head tied to a belt.

He was sailing with the next Pirate King.

This time, with one less annoying red-haired bastard that needed a good kick on the ass, too!

Deep in the New World, Shanks sneezed while drinking his ale, hissing as the alcohol went up his nose. Every member of his crew paused before bursting into laughter at their captain's misfortune.

As Luffy hopped around, it came to the head dangling from his hip. "Oh wait, I don't have legs to kick ass with right now. Head joke!"

On a large galleon covered in fog, a skeleton grumbled, starting to re-tune his violin.


Merry didn't meet them at the mansion's private docks, the pirates going through the new motions of weighing anchor and actually docking a decently-sized vessel against the island with gusto. All throughout, Luffy had a grin that threatened to split his face, giggling and laughing during the entire process.

Nami looked at the man fondly, relishing at how much enjoyment he was getting from it, even as Usopp tapped her arm and gestured at him with worry in his eyes.

"I-is he ok?" The sniper whispered, gesturing at the captain who had hopped off the Merry and onto dry land. Luffy cackled as he looked up at the boat with his fists on his hips.

"Yeah, he's just having fun," Nami answered, a smile on her lips and a gentle admiration in her eyes. "He's just like that."

"He is quite adorable, isn't he?" Robin added from the side, the other two shooting her a curious glance. The older woman just smiled in response.

Usopp took a step back from the two and got closer to the swordsman, who had managed to find a comfy position against the railing and was getting ready to take a nap. "...are those two…?"

Zoro opened his eyes with a gentle grunt, looked up at Robin and Nami chatting silently, then back to their new crewmate. "Don't know, don't care."

Usopp blinked, shaking his head and looking to the skies for an answer. His only response was a call to land by the ship's captain, who had finished enjoying the sight of Merry bobbing on the sea.

"C'mon guys! Let's give them the good news!"


"Usopp!"

The long nosed man almost burst into flames from a furious blush as his childhood friend weakly hugged him, leaning against him for support. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Luffy laughed from the corner and Merry smiled softly as the two hugged, Robin almost hiding in the shadows while Nami stood closer to Luffy then she probably would've a few hours ago. Zoro had chosen to remain with the ship to guard it instead.

But something was off.

Usopp thought he didn't deserve any of this.

"K-Kaya please, you should thank Luffy instead, he did all the work," the man offered, gently taking her by the shoulders and guiding her back to her bed. "I just manned the rudder!"

Merry smiled softly with a gentle scoff. "I'm guessing that threat is all handled then, Sir Straw Hat?"

Luffy perked up, realizing that he was the one being asked, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, beat the whole crew to hell! Broke their masts too, they'll be stuck back there till the marines get them."

"Speaking of!" Nami interjected, shoving her captain almost to the side. "I- we've got a request!"

Kaya and Merry turned to the navigator, and Luffy silently feared for their bank accounts.

"We took care of all the pirates, but can't turn them in for their bounties, right?" Nami started, her eyes shining with hunger. "How about you turn them in for us, and give us something of equal value?"

Kaya blinked. "...you want a reward?"

Luffy's eyebrow twitched, and he gently tapped Nami on the side of her foot, the woman understanding without the need for speech. "Nothing extravagant of course, juuuust the Going Merry, and a small portion of their bounties "

Luffy's face soured and he huffed gently, Nami twitching at the reaction she couldn't even see behind her. "And also a full fridge?"

Luffy beamed.

Kaya laughed gently, Merry smiling with a shake of his head. "That's the least we could do! I'll start the preparations right away!"

"How un-pirate like…" Buggy grumbled from his spot on Luffy's belt.

He had a ghost of a smirk on his face.

Usopp was still trying to figure out what he was feeling as Merry left for the pantry, Luffy giving him a sidelong glance before ushering the other two crewmates out.

Leaving Usopp with Kaya.

"...how was it?" Kaya whispered, pulling Usopp out from his bout in self-reflection. "Being a brave warrior of the sea?"

Not knowing what to do, the sniper slowly took a seat on Kaya's bed, looking up at the ceiling. "I can't answer that without lying"

Kaya giggled gently. "I like your lies."

He smiled and looked back at her. "...But I want to tell you the truth this time."

She looked at him with misty eyes, sniffling and coughing gently into her fist. "The sea is calling to you, isn't it?"

Usopp looked away, clenching his fists tight, willing his voice not to crack. "I… need to do this, Kaya. I want to finally be what I lied about being…"

Kaya laughed, tears slipping down her cheeks. "You already are, in my eyes."

"I want to make your ideal of me real, Kaya," the sniper mumbled, turning to face her once more, tears visible in his eyes.

Kaya put more force behind her movements than she ever had, and leaned in, catching his lips with hers.


"You sure that was a good idea, Luffy?" Nami mumbled, all three returning to the Merry quietly.

Luffy stopped whistling the soft melody etched into his memory back when he was five, and shot her a small smile. "I can't force him to the sea, Nami."

"You did with Zoro?" She countered with a slap that met empty air.

Robin giggled. "She's got you there, captain"

Luffy took a longer stride and turned around, pouting at the two women while walking backwards. "You two never let me finish, do you?"

"It's cause you take too long, ya flashy monkey!" Buggy shot back from his hip, earning a laugh from Luffy.

"Fine, fine!" He chuckled, smiling wide. "I can't force him to the sea with us, 'cause he's already called to it!"

Nami groaned with a face-palm. "You really stretch logic to say 'no' don't you?"

Luffy laughed harder, almost tripping over. "It's cause you look cute when you're confused!"

"I- you!" Nami's teeth clenched as her face reddened. "Get over here you!"

Luffy burst into laughter as Nami chased after him, her fist raised high ready to smack him, Robin chuckling as she followed their trail.