Twelve Red Lines

by Vikingr

I expected to die when I went into the water. Instead, I was rescued by a crew of people who I knew only as characters in a story. But what does it take to become worthy of being a Straw Hat? And why are so many little details not matching up to what I know?

25. Shanty

Shanty: a song with an alternating solo and chorus, of a kind originally sung by sailors while performing physical labour together

The Keeper of Worlds: Sesehihihihihi! The insanity is growing, and we've no way of knowing how far it will be going... And yeah, Jones wonders that too. She's sure gonna try, at any rate.

Taiski: This probably isn't what you meant, but hopefully still fun regardless.

EvilpuppyofDoom: Sort of, I guess? What is a Sherlock Scan?

gamelover41592: Well, I need to start building Robin's trust and belief, so telling her early was the smart move. As for starting your favourite saga... Eheheheh, not just yet. Sorry.

Draco Oblivion: *shrugs and grins* What can I say? Sometimes you need a needle, other times you need a sledgehammer. The trick is knowing when to use what, and it's something I have a lot of experience with. And believe it or not, I didn't mean to ship-tease Jones/Smoker. It just kind of happened.

Awareness Bringer: Oh, don't worry, she will.

Resisting the Borg: I'm glad to satisfy your need for cuddly. As long as doing so doesn't actually involve me hugging people.

Gerbilfriend: You're welcome. And I'm sorry I got a song stuck in your head.

tylermech66: Yes, Jones really should find a way to make that clear. The problem is, it involves having a conversation with Lisa that she's not comfortable with, not being the girl's mother or aunt or anything.

Anime no Akuma: Thank you very much. And don't worry, I don't plan to end things at Jaya. I have plans up to Film: Gold so far; I'm gonna take this to the end. And beyond.

kuriboh1233: You know what? New standing rule for this fic. If I don't specifically state that Jones gave someone her snail number, assume she did so offscreen, because I meant to but missed it because I have a lot on my mind. If I do specifically show Jones giving someone her number, expect it to be important enough to the plot that I remembered and gave it a scene. Heheheh... *rubs head sheepishly* Sorry about that.

Twilight0Wanderer: Nah, I think Sabo's just a better teacher than Ace in general. *rubs head sheepishly* Sorry about the chemistry thing; I haven't done it in years, so while I remember certain things, there are plenty I forget or get mixed up. And wow— the idea of giving Johnny and Yosaku exploding salts... *evil grin* I might do that in the future. Thank you. And yes, writing the ballroom and drunk scenes was a lot of fun. I'm glad people like them. The code... Yeah, I need to have them do that. It would be very useful. And fun, sometimes. Maybe Robin can be in charge of that, since Jones has a million other projects on her mind. As for Jaya... Sorry, but you'll have to look forward to it for a while longer. Got a couple other things up my sleeves first.

xanothos: Thank you very much!

Dragondancer81: *strikes good guy pose* YOSH! THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MY MOST YOUTHFUL READER!

GreenDrkness: Thank you. *grins* I see London, I see France, I stole Smokey's underpants! *now wishing I'd thought to include this in the last chapter*

bookloverinfinity: Bounties? I have a bet going with some friends about whether I can get to Sabaody without getting bounties. We'll see whether I manage that, or whether I stumble around Ennies Lobby.

Insanity Lord: Well, according to a Senpai of mine from ninjutsu, hangovers go away faster with physical activity, and I'm pretty sure running from Smoker and getting a ship ready to sail count. Then again, having never actually been drunk myself, I have no way of knowing if he was pulling my leg. My apologies.

Ninuhuju: *grins and bows* Thank you.

Bombadilo Baby: Eh... Yeah, there's a few unexpected additions left. I know, I know— don't make the crew to big, otherwise it'll cause problems with a lack of focus. It's hard, yeah, but I'm working on it and I think I can manage. And I just have so many fun things planned. Thank you— I'm glad my story is good enough that people are willing to consider it even if it's not a genre they usually read.

Azurai Wolf: Thank you very much. And yeah, updates do come faster right now; I'm unemployed. Currently searching for a job, but no luck yet.

NightmareKnight1: Yeah, you're not the only one. But I couldn't think of anything to add that would give any more closure, so... *shrugs* I'm still learning; sometimes I goof.

starelight: My depression tends to cycle in two-to-three year periods. Jones will have some down episodes based on events that occur around/to her, but as for a day where she just wakes up feeling that way... Unless there's something else involved (illness, certain types of stress), it's possible she won't have something like that until after the timeskip. Then again, the period containing Jaya, Skypiea, and G8 is very stressful...

FairyGirl960: Thank you very much.

AgentDreamX: Thank you very much. And the similarity to Jack Sparrow was exactly what I was going for.

Barid: I've given up trying to tell people who they're supposed to ship. Partially because certain scenes will turn into shiptease no matter how I do them. Go ahead and ship whatever you want— for now. There are actual romance plans in the works though, so I apologize, but some ships will be sunk in the future.

rosewillow narusasufangirl: No, it never occurred to me to give Jones the Gamer ability. Despite all her D&D references, it's more fun for me writing her like a mini Deadpool. Plus, I didn't know what that ability was until you asked about it and I looked it up.

Kakusei: *snickers* I enjoy planting my ideas in the left field. They seem to grow better there for some reason; maybe it's the insanity in the water, or the BS I fertilize them with. *grins* Thank you very much!

Fencer22: Oooh, a late vote on the rap battle. I think you just broke the tie for second between me and Evan too, unless he has late votes as well. Thank you. *rus head sheepishly* Yeah, I know drama isn't my strong point. But if my characters are, I'm glad they make this story worth reading. As for future stories... This one's priority, but I may be working on a couple SIs in other fandoms someday.

GildedGhost: Thank you very much! I've found that the best way to keep Jones from being bland is just to be myself. I'm smart and I can fight, but I'm also terrified of people, and overall, I'm weird. Not enough that you notice at first, but if you talk to me long enough, you'll notice I have a few screws loose... Or missing entirely. And the absentmindedness helps too; probably my biggest flaw, it can be both amusing and a huge pain in the ass. As for your worry over what would happen if certain major players found out about Jones... She's starting to realize that could be a problem too, although for different reasons at the moment.

Shugopop: *bows and grins* I'm glad to entertain. And I loved that line as well.

Anon-45: Thank you. That's part of what I was going for. I also like the triple-layered symbolism of it.

I was back in my high school physics classroom. Numbers swam before my eyes, making zero sense. I'd always been better with concepts than math. Square root of what? How did that relate to the energy of…? I didn't get it. Sketching out a free-body diagram helped- right up until my teacher glanced over my shoulder. "What's that Jonesie?"

"Free-body diagram." Couldn't he see that? He was the one who'd taught us how to draw them.

"Of what?" My teacher shook his head. A thick finger traced woogedy lines and criss-crossing arrows. "The unit we're working on doesn't use free-body diagrams."

I drooped and sank into my seat as he walked away. But… But it made more sense this way. I needed to see things, to touch them for them to make sense. Sighing, I continued what I was doing. Just because he said this unit didn't use free-body diagrams didn't mean I couldn't. That said… I couldn't wait to get to biology class. Next period. We were dissecting pigs today; that would be much more fun than trying to figure out physics. Physics sucked.

…Beep…

The dream I had last night stick in my head as I practiced with my powers, making me laugh. Oh, teenage me… What would you have said if you could see me now? I know we hated physics class, but by all the gods, I was glad we'd taken it. I wouldn't be able to do nearly as much with my powers if we hadn't stuck it out.

Rain ran into my eyes, plastering my hair to my forehead. I was clinging to the side of the mast in the middle of a storm. Not usually the brightest idea, I agree, but Nami had assured me there wouldn't be any lightning. So I grinned up at the dark clouds and stuck tighter to the wet wood. I always loved the rain…

Eventually my focus ran out, and with it, my ability to control friction. I dropped from the mast, landing heavily on the deck and glancing over at Nami's hourglass. Looked like about forty-five minutes. Five more minutes than yesterday. I grinned. Excellent. Now, next force. Raising my hands, I took a deep breath and prepared for the technique. "For-!"

"If you drop the air pressure while I'm busy taking measurements, Jones, you really won't like what happens." Nami glanced up from her mapmaking and pointed at a barometer on the corner of her desk. The umbrella that was keeping her papers dry rocked slightly in the breeze. I lowered my hands, sheepish.

"Sorry…" Alright. Well, there were still other forces I could practice with. Actually, with Jaya looming over my head… Yeah, it might be a good idea to get a better handle on gravity. It was one of the properties of his fruit after all; best to be able to hold him at bay a bit. Scrambling off, I went looking for two of the best training partners I could hope for on the ship. At the moment, at least. "Ace! Zoro! I need your help with something!"

Putting down his weights with a sigh, the bosun glanced at me from his position by the rail. "What is it?"

"We have an opponent coming up soon whose fruit allows him some level of manipulation of gravity. Since my fruit similarly allows manipulation of gravity and the main method of fighting this guy involves not touching him, I need to practice with gravity so I can keep him from pulling people in." Of course, my powers only seemed to affect things I was touching, so I could probably only protect one or two people at once, but that would still be better than nothing.

"Alright. What do you need the fireball for though?"

I paused and thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose it doesn't have to be Ace. But I need to practice fighting as a team with people while screwing with gravity, so we need a third."

"Shitty Fireball's on the snail right now," Sanji informed me, lighting a cigarette as he approached. "He's calling the shitty phoenix to tell him to meet us at Jaya."

"Oh." Well, I didn't want to disturb that. Having Marco, Namur, and Haruta around could only help my plans. "Well, you'll do then."

Zoro and Sanji both shot me flat looks at that. They spoke in unison, creating an eerie, irritated echo. Although I couldn't really tell if it was me or each other they were irritated with.

"You want the shit cook to help? I'd rather spar with the war dog!"

"You want me to work with Moss-Head? No way Jonesie, not a chance!"

I scowled and folded my arms. "I need to practice this with people who are significantly stronger than me so I actually have a chance of using it in what's coming up. Ace is on the snail, Ghin's busy in the rigging, and Luffy's sleeping off his midnight watch. That pretty much leaves you two- Usopp and Nami are best at range, and I can beat Johnny and Yosaku if I can separate them."

"What about Robin?" Zoro demanded, "You seem to trust her. Or Lisa, or Chopper, or Drifter and Geier?"

"In order," I ticked them off on my fingers as I listed the reasons, "Robin's a stealth operative, not a frontline fighter; Lisa's mainly support and busy practicing how to throw a proper punch anyway; Chopper's playing floor hockey with Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku and like Hell am I getting in the way of that; and Drifter and Geier… Well…"

Jerking a thumb over my shoulder, I drew Zoro and Sanji's attention to the poop deck. Geier was perched on a rail shrieking at Ruatha, her feathers fluffed up in irritation. My dragon was listening intently, but didn't appear to have any idea what the vulture was saying. Off to the side, Drifter was laughing his furry ass off, chittering up a storm with his Stetson askew. "I'm not exactly sure, but I think they're trying to teach my baby how to fly?" Which was something I'd been dreading trying, so I was glad someone who knew what they were doing had joined the crew.

Groaning, Sanji blew a series of smoke rings. "Fine. I'll work with Moss-Head if you think it's so important. But I'm not happy about it. What do you need me to do?"

"You and Zoro are gonna spar; I'll be hopping around doing my own thing, playing with forces to try and help or hinder you. And don't worry," I grinned, "I'll switch sides periodically to keep it fair."

Looking back at Zoro revealed that the bosun had his bandanna tied around his head and was in the process of drawing his swords. He smirked around the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. "I dunno Shit Cook; this actually sounds like a pretty good plan to me."

"That's only cause I haven't kicked your ass yet." So saying, Sanji launched himself at Zoro, a flying side kick. The bosun blocked with two swords, uncrossing them rapidly to fire the cook back.

I jumped as high as I could as Sanji stepped in with a rapid flurry of mid-level kicks, reducing the force of gravity on myself as I did so. It didn't allow me to float like Miss Valentine- possibly because I lacked a parasol- but it slightly increased the height of the jump and greatly increased the length of time it took me to come down. I managed to get high enough that when I descended I landed on Zoro's shoulders- right at the moment he thrust Yubashiri forwards, forcing Sanji to drop to the ground. My presence caused Zoro to falter for a moment, allowing Sanji to get a kick in as the cook flipped back to his feet. A steel-toed shoe made heavy contact with the bosun's ribs; Zoro staggered back.

"Keppler's Law!" I increased the force of gravity on Zoro and myself as the bosun attacked again. He grunted in surprise, but adjusted rather well- probably all the weight training. Even if he could move though, it was noticeably slower. Sanji easily dodged twin horizontal strikes due to the suddenly sluggish attack speed.

Releasing my manipulation of gravity, I jumped off of Zoro's shoulders and ducked out of the way as he and Sanji suddenly struck each other at once, swords and shoes meeting with a tremendous clash. And then a thought occurred, as I scrabbled out from between them, splashing through the puddles on the deck. Gravity was just the force of attraction between two objects- there was gravity between all things, not just planets and whatever was on top of them. It was just usually negligible. So theoretically, even if I could only affect myself and what I was touching, I should be able to alter my own gravity to draw objects towards me.

That was how Blackbeard's gravity techniques worked, after all.

"Keppler's Law!"

Both Sanji and Zoro staggered in surprise at the sudden pull. I ramped my personal gravity just as they became locked foot-to-swords, forcing both of them to break stance in order to resist being drawn towards me. They still managed to keep fighting as I did so, with Zoro slicing the buttons off of Sanji's powder blue dress shirt, and Sanji kicking Zoro in the collarbone had enough to leave a vaguely foot-shaped bruise. Unfortunately, gravity is a bit indiscriminate- by turning up my personal gravity, I drew more than the bosun and cook towards me.

Merry's mast creaked and started to bend. Ghin cursed as he was drawn down out of the rigging by a force he wasn't used to, landing beside me with a heavy thud. Nami's tangerine trees began to slide slowly across the deck, as did her desk. Her umbrella bowed noticeably in my direction. Any pens, papers, or tools the sailing master wasn't holding came much more quickly, flying through the air towards me as if they'd been dropped and were falling- which was essentially what had happened. Blood running cold, I quickly released my hold on the force before it could do any actual damage. There was another loud creak as Merry's mast straightened- luckily I hadn't bent her too far. The pens that had been flying at me fell to the deck with a clatter.

That was when Zoro and Sanji paused in their fighting, freezing mid-technique to turn and look at me. Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth. "We're gonna be fighting someone who does that?" Even the rain tapered off after he spoke, as if it too was startled by this revelation.

"Not exactly." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "We're gonna be fighting someone who does that much better than I can, and who's lived years in the New World on the crew of the world's strongest pirate. And who can neutralize Devil Fruit powers while touching people."

While Zoro, Sanji, and Ghin all stared at me in disbelief, I went over to the rail and patted it. Shouldn't have done that- not on the ship. I hadn't thought- but when Blackbeard used gravity techniques, they drew everything in. Destructively. I should've realized that trying something like that on board the ship could've damaged her. And I was hoping to find a way to save her, too. "I'm sorry Merry; so sorry…"

A line unravelled somewhere above. Falling down, it flicked me in the forehead before coming to rest on my shoulder. Ghin grumbled and sighed as he got to his feet.

"This has got to be the weirdest ship I've ever worked on. Lines always coming undone everywhere… An anchor that fouls about twice as often as is likely… But she never seems to get too far off course." Shaking his head, the rigger, grabbed the line that had fallen on my shoulder and began making his way up into the rigging to return it to its proper place.

Sanji danced like a noodle, hearts in his eyes. "That's because Nami dear does such an excellent job!"

Speaking of our wonderful sailing master… Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of glowing red from behind Nami's desk. Click. Click. I turned to face that direction just as Nami snapped her Clima-Tact together. And she looked furious. "Jones… You wrecked my map."

Tabarnak. Okay, playing with gravity while on the ship was a really bad idea. Lesson learned. "Sorry!" I bowed low, unable to meet Nami's glowing red eyes. "It was an accident, I swear! I didn't know what would happen!"

But I should've, and Nami knew it too. "You didn't know what would happen if you suddenly made yourself the biggest enter of gravity in a hundred meters? You didn't think that might pull everything towards you like a three-dimensional whirlpool?" The Clima-Tact was suddenly aimed at my head. "I was almost done and now I have to start over! Idiot! Thunder Tempo!"

A small bolt of lightning snapped towards me. I knew it wouldn't be enough to do any real damage… But I still hated the way it felt. My whole body stiffened and went numb as the shock hit my shoulder, sending me crashing down on my back on the deck. "Ow… Nami, I already said I was sorry!"

"I know, I know." Wow… The sailing master still looked angry, but she was calming down at a remarkable rate. "But dammit Jones, you need to learn to think. You have a brain, unlike some people on this ship; why do you only use it to torment, terrify, and turn enemies? It's not just about the map- what if you'd sunk the Going Merry?"

"Because I'm a goal-oriented idiot." Rising slowly, I rubbed my shoulder. "I didn't mean to… And I'd sooner cut off my arm than lose Merry." Hopefully Murphy didn't hear that, or I'd be going the way of a Skywalker in the second movie of a trilogy.

Nami opened her mouth- probably to say that was a little extreme, no matter how much I loved our ship- but she was interrupted before she could say anything by Ghin's voice from atop the mainmast. "Land ho!"

What? That couldn't be right! I ran to the bow and squinted off into the distance. Sure enough, there was a thin band of brown and grey on the horizon. An island. But… But we hadn't had the falling ship almost land on us yet! Surely nothing I'd done could've butterflied that away. Actually… I was more likely to have brought it on us faster, if we'd been approaching Jaya while I'd been playing with gravity. Conclusion: this wasn't Jaya. I let out a little sigh of relief at that, since I didn't think we were ready yet. And I still needed to get Sanji to teach me how to make cherry pie. So… What filler had my writer thrown our way this time?

Sanji huffed and leaned on the rail, lighting a fresh cigarette. "We could use some more bacon," he observed drily. "And pork chops and ground beef and steak and mutton chops and sausage and bananas and cabbage and pork ribs and-!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and sheathed his swords with a clink. "Yeah, we get it- Luffy snuck in and ate all the meat again. But where'd the bananas and cabbage go?"

Drooping, Sanji pointed at me. "Bananas get mushy quickly anyways, so that's not unusual, but someone likes sauerkraut. A lot. Which I didn't take into my calculations when we were shopping in Alabasta."

"Hey!" I raised my hands defensively. "It's good with just about any meat that doesn't already have sauce- plus anything where the sauce is mustard-based."

Lisa, approaching from where she'd been training on the other side of the ship, stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Eww… Jones, you're gross and you have no taste buds."

"Just because I can't cook doesn't mean I have no taste buds!" Although she was probably right, given my history. "And sauerkraut is good for you."

Up on the poop deck, Drifter paused momentarily from laughing at Geier and Ruatha. The otter held up a sign. Jones can have my share of the sauerkraut if she likes. Forever. Cabbage is disgusting in any form.

"You're a carnivore, shitty River Dog," Sanji growled. "I'm not gonna bother making a share of veggies for you when you neither like nor need them."

Good. But you better still make me a share of anything that involves carrots- I actually like those. Fruit too. And if you use my being a carnivore as an excuse to lessen my access to the maple syrup stash, we will have problems.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Sanji waved a hand and headed for the whipstaff to bring us in to port.

Luffy bounced sleepily up from the men's cabin as Ace emerged from the galley. "Land?" was the captain's one-word question. I pointed to the horizon in answer. Grinning widely, Luffy climbed onto his brother's back. "Land ho! I smell adventure!"

Ace shook his head and reached up to pat his little brother's head. "You always smell adventure, Lu."

"That's cause anything can be an adventure if you try enough!"

The island didn't seem any more familiar as we approached. It definitely wasn't Jaya, which was all I could say about it. Similar, though. A small island, covered in a busy, ramshackle town. And while it didn't scream pirate port the way I was sure Jaya would, it was certainly no marine-controlled island. I could hear the parties and bar fights taking place from the Going Merry. Plus… Something smelled. Like… Rotten onions that were left in the garden through the winter and you're pulling them out by hand mid-May- that level of smell. I pulled my bandanna up over my nose as we came in to dock. It didn't help.

As we drew closer, I could see people in the streets. Dozens, hundreds of them, packed together in a writhing mass I was surprised was able to fit in the town. Certainly it couldn't always be like that- there had to be some sort of event going on that drew so many people. I sighed and sank down behind the rail, curling up into a little ball with my chin on my knees. A weight appeared in my chest rather suddenly- I didn't particularly want to be dealing with a large number of people at the moment. "Dibs on guarding the ship!"

Nami raised an eyebrow as she glanced in my direction. "Why-? Oh. Crowds. But I thought you were getting better with that sort of thing? You didn't seem too badly off at the party in Alabasta."

"Some days are always better than others." I fought the urge to cover my ears with my hands as noise of the town became louder and louder. Proximity wasn't my friend. "Alabasta was a good day. Today… Today the thought of strangers makes me feel like my head might explode."

…

Nope, the temptation to cover my ears was too strong. I gave in, my hands muffling the conflicting, overlapping sounds of music and brawling and yelling and laughing. I couldn't- without my hands over my ears, my brain couldn't separate out one auditory cue to focus on; everything smashed into me at once. I groaned. I hated when this happened, and it had come out of nowhere.

Luffy pouted at me from his post on Ace's shoulders. "But if Jones stays back to guard the ship, she'll miss all the cool adventures!" His eyes narrowed accusingly. "Or is this a boring yucky island and Jones knows so she doesn't want to go?"

I shook my head, hands still glued to my ears. "No. Or maybe. I dunno. This island wasn't in the manga or the anime; it could be a movie, or a video game… Or my writer may be just making up an original sidequest. Hard to tell. All I can say is that it's probably not boring, but even that's not certain."

A whale spouted somewhere aft of the Going Merry as Luffy considered my words. I was mildly surprised; even though he appeared to be thinking hard, his face wasn't turning red. Eventually, his eyes lit up. "So this is a part of the adventure where Jones doesn't know what's gonna happen? That means you have to come!"

"But then, who'll guard the ship?" I protested weakly.

Luffy thought for a moment more, then shook his head. "Merry's fine on her own. It'll only be for a few hours, I promise! Merry can look after herself that long!" A line somewhere above came undone as the captain made his declaration, falling to drape across his head. Up in the rigging, Ghin growled an incoherent string of explicatives.

Opening my mouth to form fresh protests, I paused when both Nami and Ace started shaking their heads. The sailing master shot me an exasperated look. "Jones… I know you're good at arguing, and you're a stubborn idiot, but do you really think you can get Luffy to back down once he's made a decision?"

"If I can just outla-!"

"Even if you have the stubbornness and patience to wait him out- something I wouldn't be so confident about," Ace cut in, "The rest of us don't. Just give up and accept that you're on the receiving end for once- you're not leaving this island without visiting it any more than I'm leaving this crew before whatever you've planned for Teach." The freckled pirate spat the name of his former crew mate.

"Fine…" Hmm… Actually… Had I picked up earplugs back in Loguetown? I thought I had, but I'd never had cause to use them, so I wasn't sure. They might help a bit… And something thick and fluffy to wear, so my back didn't feel so vulnerable. "Just let me get my coat."

"But it's a spring… island…" Nami shrugged helplessly as I walked past her, headed for the cargo hold.

"He shoots, he scores!" A ball whizzed past my ribs as I climbed down the ladder, thunking into a makeshift net someone had hung between two barrels. Chopper spun around in a celebratory dance not far away, his hockey stick held above his head. Behind the doctor, Usopp stood ramrod straight and rubbed his nose as he grinned at a panting Johnny and Yosaku.

"I told you we'd beat you," the gunner informed the hunters. "Chopper's got hockey in his blood."

Wincing, Yosaku put a hand on the side of his chest. "I claim injury. Still not a hundred percent."

Chopper immediately went from celebrating to concerned. "Are you okay? Sorry Yosaku… I tried not to do anything that would aggravate your injuries, but I was having so much fun. Sorry…"

"It's fine, it's fine." The green hunter waved the reindeer off. "Just need to sit down for a minute." Yosaku turned his words into action even as he spoke them, perching himself on a crate and leaning back against the wall. Johnny sat beside him, forehead creased in worry.

And, well, the truth was that Yosaku wasn't healing particularly well. He was up and about, sure, and he could spar or play a bit if no one got too rough with him, but the burns from fighting Mr Five were slow to leave. Not just slow either; even the ones that had already closed completely had left behind a complex web of raised, whitish scars. He brushed it off every time anyone said anything though. And he had been getting better, slowly. Eventually he'd be alright.

"What's the score?" I asked as I headed to my corner to retrieve my coat. Everyone's faces immediately brightened.

"Eight-three," Chopper announced proudly. "We're all getting so much better! I can't wait to play hockey on ice again though!" The reindeer's face reddened; he popped into Brain Point and wrung his hooves sheepishly. "Um… We will go to more winter islands, right Jones?"

"At least one, maybe two- that I know of." I shrugged into my coat. It was a fair bit warmer than warranted by the weather, but it helped with some of the sensory overload. I started digging around in my utility belt to see if I had any earplugs. "But I don't know everything. We're coming in to port at an unknown island now, as a matter of fact."

"Unknown island?!" All four hockey players scrambled up to the deck, even Yosaku appearing to forget his pain. Three looked eager; Usopp looked like this was the worst news I could've given him. I placed a hand on his shoulder as we emerged onto the deck.

"You okay Usopp? You look kinda pale."

"Wha-?! It's nothing." The gunner moved as if to brush me off- then slumped when I shot him a flat look. "Okay… It's- I know you never give us spoilers if you can avoid it, and things don't always go the way you seem to expect, but… It's reassuring when I know you have some idea what's going on. Even if you don't know exactly… Between Luffy being so strong and you knowing so much, I guess I'm always confident everything'll turn out alright."

Oh. Oh. I squeezed Usopp's shoulder reassuringly. "You don't need to be worried. Just because I don't know what's coming doesn't mean we won't get through it just fine. You guys got through everything just fine without me here, and there were a lot fewer of you."

"Even-?"

"Yeah, even you." I grinned- which was probably more unnerving than reassuring- and shook Usopp gently. Hmmm… Maybe a minor spoiler would help cheer him up- nothing about upcoming adventures, just a little personal thing. "You may not be as strong as everyone else, but you're still a great pirate. One of the last islands I saw in the story… You had just earned the title 'God Usopp.' How's that for doing fine?"

"AAAIIIYEEE?!" Usopp's jaw dropped to the deck. "GOD?! WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?!"

"Sorry, can't answer that one. Spoilers." My grin broadened. "All I can say is that you'll get there by practicing what you do best. And I'll help you train if you like, to make sure you earn that title once again."

Picking his jaw up, Usopp paled further. "I'm not sparring with you and Ghin in the evenings, if that's what you're suggesting! Or even if you're with Johnny and Yosaku- I don't have a melee weapon!"

"Blatant lies," I chirped. "You have your hammers. But that wasn't what I was suggesting at all. I was thinking we'd try and work on your Kenbunshoku Haki."

"I'm not blindfolding myself and letting you hit me either!" Usopp shook my hand off and stepped away. I shook my head.

"Again, not what I'm suggesting, although it's similar. You're a sniper, not a melee combatant; it's more useful for you to blindfold yourself and then you try and hit me. From the crow's nest."

"Oh." Usopp relaxed. "That makes sense, I guess. Sure. Just… Make sure Nami won't kill me if I accidentally get her with a marble."

"Easy enough." I waved his concerns away. "We'll just do it when she's working Haki exercises with Chopper, Johnny, and Yosaku. I hope you don't mind sharing me with Lisa, Drifter, Geier, and Ruatha though. Not sure about my baby, but the others all expressed interest in learning too."

Usopp nodded. "Sure, sure. I don't mind. Have- has anyone had any breakthroughs yet?"

"Unless you count Luffy's Fists of Love becoming ever more painful, not yet."

X

Once the Going Merry was safely docked, our crew moved out as a unit. The first stop was the market, where we quickly cleaned out several merchants of their supplies. Some of the locals stared and grumbled, but… Well, nobody in their right minds would argue when Sanji, Zoro, and Ghin were all glaring at them, Luffy was drooling, and Nami was haggling like a devil with a merchant who was nearly in tears. Seriously, the one butcher hid his face in his apron and sobbed as we left.

After we'd taken everything back to the ship, we went out to a bar not far from the shore. It was even louder in there than in the rest of the town. So many people pressed close in an enclosed space, most of them smelling of spilled beer as they yelled and laughed at each other, their voices echoing off the walls… My coat was stifling, but I didn't want to take it off. Even with it on, the sensory overload was getting to be too much. I sunk as deeply into the fluffy fabric as I could, grabbing the hand of my nearest crew mate as Ruatha climbed onto my shoulders and wrapped his tail around my- well, he was large enough now that he preferred wrapping it around my ribs to my arm. And he had to place one foot on each shoulder now, instead of perching like a parrot on one side. My baby was getting so big…

It was Robin's hand I grabbed. She glanced down at me, startled. My face heated up; I dropped her hand like it was a hot coal.

"Sorry… I- Sometimes I don't do so well in crowded places- especially bars. It's better if I stick close to someone, but if…" I trailed off and shrugged, trying to sink even further into my coat. It wasn't possible, but Ruatha helpfully rested his head on top of mine and spread his wings, hiding my face.

"I see…" Robin paused thoughtfully. "You didn't seem to be so badly off in Alabasta."

"Once Smoker got to me, no. I was busy trying to get into his head- and later stealing his underwear… Remind me never to drink unknown substances again. But I did start the party by hiding behind a curtain."

The archaeologist shrugged. "I didn't see any of that. Remember, right before the ceremony, you told Ace to take me somewhere so we wouldn't get caught by the marines. I had a lovely evening in the palace library- the Nefertari family has some interesting books about the origins of the World Government. Although I'm not sure how much of the account was true…"

Robin lapsed into silence for a moment. Then, without any warning, she reached out and brushed her hand against mine. Not holding, no… But inviting me to do grab her hand again if I needed. My eyes stretched wide as I looked up at her, stinging as my surprise stretched them a little too far. "You…"

"I know what it feels like to be terrified of people," Robin smiled, deliberately mirroring my words to her about joining the crew. "Although usually it's because I'm worried someone will try and capture me and hand me over to the government."

Lacing my fingers through hers, I forced a reassuring smile as Ruatha folded his wings and stopped shadowing my face. "We won't let that happen, you know. Never. You're one of us now."

Zoro had found us a table in the back corner of the bar. We converged on it like a swarm of locusts- although without the eating everything in sight part. And if there'd been anything edible in sight, I wouldn't even be able to say that. Luffy was hungry. But then again, when wasn't he? Robin's hand trembled slightly as we sat down around the table. "How can you be so sure? You're so certain, and while I have to accept that you know things that should be impossible, it still makes no sense."

"It won't mean as much if I tell you beforehand. You have to see and understand it yourself."

Robin didn't answer. I released her hand when a barmaid came to take our orders, placing my hands in my lap and focusing on my breathing and the feel of my earplugs. I stared at the table and hoped none of the drunk people would pay attention to us- a tall order when our crew included a humanoid reindeer, otter, a vulture, and a dragon the size of a medium-sized dog. Robin pulled her cowboy hat down over her face and tilted her head forward, making her face hard to see. Ace, though also wanted, took no such precautions

Then again, who in Paradise would challenge the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates?

A barmaid came to take our orders; I think Sanji choked on his own blood when he caught a glimpse of her outfit. I mean… Sheesh, that scrap of orange fabric barely counted as a bodice. The barmaid chuckled, a bemused smile on her face, when the majority of the crew ordered milk and virgin drinks. Zoro, Nami, and Ghin were the only ones who ordered alcohol- strong sake, rum, and gin, respectively. I snickered at Ghin's choice of drink, refusing to explain myself when he shot me a questioning look.

Ruatha leaned over my head and tried to steal a sip of my piña colada when it came. The barmaid laughed, quickly covering her mouth and schooling her expression into a pleasant smile as she handed Drifter and Geier their milk. I had to give her credit- not many people, Grand Line or no, would've been able to serve the animals at the table without question. The otter held up a sign with his thanks scrawled on it as the girl nodded and left.

"So…" Johnny asked, fidgeting. "How long's it take for the pose to set around here?"

"Not sure," Nami said absently, glancing at her log pose. "Why? Something making you nervous?"

"No. But Big Sis Jones looks like she's gonna hock up her lunch if we have to stay here for too long." The blue hunter was promptly swatted over the head by his partner.

"You shouldn't say things like that," Yosaku admonished with a wince. "It's rude."

Johnny looked sheepish. "Sorry Bro. Sorry Big Sis."

I waved one hand in a don't worry about it manner. Damn… We really did need hand signs. It would certainly make it easier for me at times like this, when I didn't trust myself to talk much. So hot… I leaned back against the wall- I'd situated myself right in the corner, so no one could get around behind me. To my left, Robin pulled a small book out of her pocket and started to read. I glanced at the title, but it was in a language I didn't understand.

For the next several minutes, I focused on my drink and my dragon, trying to block out the sounds all around me. It was- It had been a while since I'd had a day this bad. Before coming to the One Piece world, I think. Not the day I'd… My scars twinged at the thought. Not that day, but maybe a week or so before. Having my crew mates around helped in some ways, but also contributed to the auditory overstimulation. Especially Luffy, as he loudly whined about wanting something cool to happen and being hungry as he clung alternately to Ace and Zoro.

"Shut it, Shitty Captain," Sanji huffed. From the jerking motion and confused look that followed, I think he kicked Luffy in the shin under the table. "We just had lunch before we made land; you can wait a couple hours for dinner."

"But… Fine…" Luffy pouted when Ace whispered something in his ear. Zoro, Sanji, and Nami looked at the freckled pirate in awe.

"What did you say to him?"

Ace leaned back on a wall and pushed his hat back, folding his arms and smirking. "Told him I'd help him train later if he behaved. Show him some tricks I picked up from Pops."

Zoro whistled; Sanji bit hard on the butt of his cigarette. Nami pulled out the notebook I'd given her for Haki notes to scribble something down. "Wow… I can't believe it's possible to motivate Luffy the same way as Zoro or Jones. Training, eh?"

"Probably only works for me," Ace yawned. "You're his crew; I'm his big brother."

Nami looked disappointed at that. Crossing out part of what she'd just written, the sailing master put her notebook away and sighed. Robin smiled- but also looked a bit confused. "Is motivating the captain really such an issue?"

"Not for everything… But for some things, you have no idea."

For the next few minutes, we drank in relative silence. I did my best to relax, fixing as much of my attention as I could on the table. Wood grains like worn, ancient fingerprints impressed itself into my memory; there was a dark stain from some sort of liquid near the edge. Once I was done my drink, my right hand automatically rose to fiddle with my necklace and the tip of my bandanna. Ruatha nibbled on the edge of my hat, but for once I didn't tell him off. The familiarity was reassuring.

What happened next was sort of amusing. Lisa and Nami finished their drinks in unison, thudding their glasses down with twin loud clanks. The two redheads looked at each other, with the little one cocking her head to the side. "You saw them too?"

"Of course I did," Nami replied. The sailing master rubbed her temples. Then she voiced something I'd been thinking since Alabasta. "We really need to look into alternate forms of communication. Hand signs, maybe a written or verbal code… I'd suggest all three, but I'm not sure some of the boneheads on this crew could handle it."

Zoro growled in protest. Luffy let out a yelp at the same moment. "Oi! What's that mean Nami?"

"It means you wouldn't know subtlety if it slapped you upside the head!" Nami snapped, crumpling a napkin into a ball and bouncing it off Luffy's head. "We need ways of communicating that marines and other crews won't be able to pick up, but I'm not sure you'd have the mental capacity to learn!"

"Stingy…" Luffy pouted. "I could- I remember stuff if it's cool or important. Secret codes are cool! But… Why'd we need them right now?"

Lisa leaned in close and hissed quietly. "Because weird people keep coming by and showing the barkeeper something, then he leads them into a back room. Wouldn't be out of place in a higher-end club, but it's weird for a place like this. Especially since the door's concealed."

Drifter frowned and held up a sign. Even knowing you were a Baroque Works agent and are no ordinary twelve-year-old, I am disturbed by how well-versed you are in the workings of criminal activities in bars.

Shrugging, the little painter fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "Three trained me in a lot of espionage and investigation type things. I didn't like it, but since we were more a planning team than a combat team…"

Nami nodded. "Personally, I think it's some sort of unlicensed gambling ring or something. We could make a lot of money there if we played our cards right- assuming we could get in."

"I thought we had lots of money," Chopper said quietly. Nami hummed.

"We do- for now. But between our medical expenses, food, Jones' tendency for clothing damage, and Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku's experiments, it'll run out faster than you'd think. And I refuse to be a broke pirate. Any opportunity to get money is one we should take."

Usopp frowned. "But whatever it is… How do we get in?"

"Just leave that to me," Nami told him with a mischievous smirk. The sailing master rose and left our table, heading up to the bar. She adjusted her shirt on the way, tugging it up, down, and around in a way that showed a fair bit more abdomen and cleavage than before. When she was talking to the bartender- too quietly for the rest of us to hear, on the other end of the room as we were- she leaned forwards onto her elbows on the polished wood. I had no illusions about where the bartender's eyes were focusing as they spoke.

Nami returned a few minutes later, looking smug. "He says he'll let us in, but not to blame him if things go horribly wrong. And he told me the password to give at the end too."

Luffy beamed and thumped one fist into his opposite palm. "That's all we need then! Silly bartender; things don't go wrong. They just get interesting!" Ah, our captain the optimist.

Ace sighed and shook his head. "Do you even know where we're going, Lu?"

"Of course! We're going on an adventure!"

Geier hissed and jumped up on Zoro's shoulder as we rose as a unit and headed for the bar. There wasn't a lot of room for her to fly in here, and she wasn't fond of walking if she could avoid it- vultures can hop around better than some birds, but it still looks funny and is undignified as Hell. The bosun scowled as sharp talons pricked through his clothing, but said nothing. Although when Drifter climbed up on his other shoulder, a green eyebrow rose.

Shrugging, the otter held up a sign. What? I'm a Hell of a lot smaller than you hosers; I might get stepped on.

The bartender led us into the storage room and to a hidden door disguised as a giant barrel. He handed Sanji a lantern before opening the door for us. "I wish you kids would reconsider, but if you really want to go through… I wish you good luck."

That made Usopp nervous. "Wait- what's that supposed to mean?!" The gunner's knees started shaking. But the bartender didn't answer him; just closed the door behind us as we went in, leaving us in darkness except for the light of the tiny lantern.

It was a long tunnel, with walls hewn roughly out of brown stone. Damp and cool; it was like being in a mine. I ran my hand over the rocks as we walked, feeling the strange mix of roughness and slickness. It was totally quiet except for the sounds of our footsteps and the occasional drip of water. Like a mine with no machinery. After the sensory overload outside, this was a welcome change. I loved it, even if Chopper and Usopp were clinging to each other and jumping every time a drop of water splashed on the floor.

Robin smiles when one particularly large drop fell on the back of Johnny's head, sending him leaping to Yosaku's arms- only to remember at the last moment that his partner was still injured, try to redirect himself, and end up faceplanting into Ghin's back. "It is a rather creepy tunnel, isn't it?" Her eyes danced; her tone suggested that rather than creepy, she found the wet stone just as comforting as I did.

We walked for about fifteen minutes before we came to the end of the hallway. A man stood by the door there- a man who was not-so-subtly hiding a knife behind his back. His face paled a little when he saw Ace strolling along behind Luffy, but to his credit, the door guard didn't move from his post. Not even when Ace grinned your typical D grin and nodded in a clear show of intimidation.

Nami stepped forwards, pulling two coins out of her pocket and showed them to the guard. He relaxed, sheathing his knife and stepping to the side. "Right this way please." He opened the door with a slight, gruff bow.

As soon as the door opened, I wanted to run back into the tunnel. So loud. The room beyond was a multi-tiered cavern, hollow-centered with rooms and balconies circling the perimeter, with the whole thing decked out as some sort of pirate-themed restaurant/bar/gaming house hybrid. And it was full. Crews occupied almost every table- mostly human, but there were some fishmen, longlegs, longarms, and even a couple giants down on the lowest level. One of the fishmen was an orca-breed- funny, I hadn't known they could be mammalian like that. Orcas weren't fish.

There was a small Viking longship hanging from the ceiling. Thick chains on either end suspended it on a sea of air, with long oars projecting over the sides. They didn't fall though; must've been held in by oarlocks or ropes or something. It was a nice decoration.

Robin noticed the direction of my gaze and followed it up. "Ah, yes… I thought this place looked familiar."

"You've been here before?" Johnny asked, cocking his head to the side. The archaeologist nodded.

"Yes. At one point a pirate crew I was using for transport came here- it's usually just a gambling den, but once a year… Once a year, this island is the starting point of a grand nautical race, with pirates and bounty hunters competing for a great prize. Of course," Robin smiled, "I have no idea what that prize is. The crew I was travelling with came nowhere near winning it."

A sleazy, greasy man in a pinstripe suit approached our crew. He had a blonde woman in a skimpy red dress hanging off one arm. "Never seen you kids around here before. You here to bet, or to compete?"

Luffy bounced forwards. "To compete, duh! It's more fun!"

Sighing, Nami grabbed our captain by the ear and hauled him backwards. At first he didn't move, his ear simply stretching in her grip. Then he flew back with a resounding snap, flailing as he soared past Nami and crashed into Ghin. The sailing master smiled and stepped up to the suited man.

"What our esteemed captain means to say is that we'd like to enter, of course- and to bet on ourselves, if doing so is allowed."

"Of course!" The suited man's eyes lit up in an unpleasant way. Once again I wished we had a way to communicate silently. This guy's face screamed that he was up to something. Thankfully, Nami spotted this too.

"On second thought, we'll just be entering. How do we sign up?"

The suited man looked disappointed, but he didn't pressure us as he showed Nami to a large book. "Just write the name and description of your ship here, and have your captain sign here."

Once that was done, the man handed Nami an eternal pose. "Here; this points to the goal. The race starts at dawn tomorrow. As for tonight… Entrants get free food and drink on the bottom floor- within reason."

"Yes!" Luffy did a little dance before jumping over the rail, heading for the lowest level in the fastest way he knew. The rest of us sighed. Ace paused for a brief moment, then shrugged and vaulted over the railing after his brother. Nami glanced around before the rest of us headed down the more sensible way- AKA, a nearby staircase.

"Can someone go after them please? Luffy's idea of within reason is… Well, we all know Luffy."

Almost everyone let out a little chuckle at that. Sanji danced like a boiled noodle. "Don't worry Nami dear, I'll keep the shitty captain under control!" He spun around and jumped over the railing, eyes turning into pulsing hearts. Zoro rolled his eyes.

"I'll go too." The bosun glanced at me and Ghin. "Jones, War Dog- you coming?"

"S-sure."

"You bet, Moss-for-Brains."

The three of us jumped over the rail as well, falling several stories downwards. For a few seconds, I was able to forget the crowding, the noise, the overall over-stimulation. Free fall was always glorious. Whether it was a couple meters from practicing friction-climbing on the mast, or many stories from a rooftop or balcony, I loved it. So much fun. The only thing that could possibly be better would be flying under my own power- or Ruatha's, when he got large enough.

All too soon, my feet impacted the floor. I absorbed most of the force, bending my knees and rolling forwards to dissipate the rest. Zoro frowned, puzzled. "Don't your powers keep you from hurting yourself by falling?"

I felt myself wilting; if I'd been a cat or a dog, my ears would've laid flat. Why? Because I really didn't think anyone who had no Devil Fruit and could still tank a five-story fall without having to do more than bend his knees on the landing. Seriously, Zoro and Ghin didn't even roll! "Yes, my powers protect me. But that doesn't mean I should let myself get lazy. What if someone slapped seastone cuffs on me and pushed me off a wall?" Although I had to admit that pulling the occasional superhero landing just because I could was fun.

That made Zoro crack a smile. The bosun reached over and patted my head, like I was a good little child who'd just understood the importance of a kata rather than a woman five years his senior. I made a face; Zoro and Ghin both chuckled as I swatted at the former's hands.

We found Luffy, Ace, and Sanji quickly- the D brothers had already acquired a table and were ordering large quantities of food, while the cook was mediating so the poor waiters didn't faint. I plopped myself down beside my captain, back to the wall, and waited for the rest of our crew to arrive. One of the waiters glanced at me, a polite afterthought to the D brothers still clamouring for his attention. I sort of took pity on him- while I did add to his growing list of orders, I picked something simple. "Could I get some fish and chips please? And chocolate ice cream?"

"Of course Miss." The waiter scurried away with his fellows.

Ghin smiled and huffed, poking me I the forehead. "Ice cream? What, are you too hot? You'd feel better if you took your coat off, you know."

"Cooler, yes. Better, no." I examined the tablecloth carefully, tracing the faded patterns on the threadbare fabric with one finder. My honorary brother grunted in acknowledgement.

"Ah. Right. Anxiety. Bad day. Well, tell me if there's anything I can do to help you calm down." Ghin sat down beside me and moved to place a hand on my arm. A chirp from Ruatha stopped him; my dragon reached down and licked the rigger's hand, prompting a wince of disgust.

The rest of our crew arrived in short order and arranged themselves around the table. When the waiters came with what Ace, Luffy, and I had already ordered, everyone else selected their own meals. Looks of exasperated disbelief crossed the faces of the three boys working the tables, making me snicker. I guess they'd thought all that food was for our whole crew, rather than most of it being for two young men. And that wasn't even counting all the other tables yelling for food and drink in ridiculous amounts. I almost felt sorry enough for them to jump up, put on an apron, and help, and it looked like Sanji felt the same.

Keyword- almost.

As I ate, I found my gaze drawn to a nearby table. It was the only one in sight that had only a single person, rather than an entire crew sitting around it. Tall, skinny, male; he had light brown hair, and was dressed in a yellow jacket that clashed badly with it. A top hat perched atop his head. I couldn't see his face from here- his back was to me, and he was hunched over the table, eating something. I wondered why he was by himself. Could he be competing in a sailing race all alone? That sounded… Difficult.

After a while, Johnny saw where I was looking. His eyes went wide as he followed my gaze; he elbowed Yosaku urgently. "Bro… Bro… Is that who I think it is?"

Glancing up, the green hunter froze. "I dunno… D'you think it's Shuraiya Bascud?"

"Yeah."

"Then yes, I think it's who you think it is."

Usopp frowned in confusion. "Who's Shuraiya Bascud?"

The hunters rolled their eyes in unison- although in Yosaku's case, the movement was accompanied by a wince. "Only a famous Grand Line bounty hunter. The Pirate Executioner, he's called. We've been following his stories in the magazines for years."

Hmmm… A big-name bounty hunter in a pirate sailing race. I wondered if he was after anyone specific, or just here to catch a quick meal ticket. Either way, one to keep an eye on. But more importantly… "Magazines? I thought the only ways news got between islands were the daily paper or den-den mushi."

Yosaku shook his head. "Nah. Different organizations put out magazines too- me'n Johnny used to subscribe to one for bounty hunters. Had stories about special captures, the latest weapons, an updated bounty list… A few years ago, Shuraiya Bascud showed up as an up-and-coming rookie to watch."

Western name order, not Japanese as was common in the East Blue. Interesting. I had no idea if that would be important; probably not. Shrugging, I focused on finishing my ice cream. Just in time too. I was just finishing the last spoonful when Luffy's usual food-snatching antics spilled over to the tables near our own. He grabbed a plate of fried chicken from a nearby crew's captain, consuming it all in one rubbery gulp. The other captain took offense at this.

"Hey!" Standing up, the other captain flung furniture and people alike aside as he stomped towards Luffy. "Kid! You're gonna pay for that!" He hauled Luffy up by the back of his vest. My captain, oblivious to anything not falling into the category of food, stared dumbly at the man who was holding him and swallowed what appeared to be a whole turkey, bones and all.

Ace wasn't nearly as oblivious, and took a great deal of offense at the manhandling of his brother. Jumping to his feet, the freckled pirate spat out a fish bone and socked the man holding Luffy in the face. "Leave Lu alone, asshole!"

Fire leapt up on the ends of his hair and in the pupils of his eyes. The man he'd punched flew backwards, smashing several tables before coming to rest, embedded several centimeters deep in the stone wall of the cavern. One of the tables smashed belonged to the Shuraiya fellow Johnny and Yosaku had pointed out. The bounty hunter rose, turning to reveal a thin face with a hook-shaped tattoo on his left cheek. He opened his mouth to say something- and then froze.

Actually, the whole cavern froze. Every set of eyes in the room was suddenly focused on us, and you could've heard a pin drop in the silence. Then the whispers started, hissing like the crackle of embers against damp leaves. Whitebeard, many of them said, Yonko. Fire Fist. Other than that, I couldn't pick out any words. Ace scowled, daring at anyone to challenge him for his protection of Luffy. As for my captain… Luffy looked upset for a different reason. Not that I could tell what it was at the time.

Shuraiya collected himself quickly, offering a wry smile and a thin hand. "Fire Fist… It's an honour to meet you. Never thought I'd see one of the old man's division commanders in my neck of the woods."

Ace eyed the bounty hunter's hand cautiously, not touching it. "Visiting my brother and his friends."

Looking at his own hand and wincing, Shuraiya pulled back and continued as if pretending Ace hadn't just blown him off. "Of course, of course… Well, if you're here to enter the race, I wish you luck."

Luffy, still looking upset about something, shoved to the fore. Ace shot his brother a bemused look as the rubber boy folded his arms. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Thanks. Now go away."

"You're rude." Shuraiya didn't seem offended, though, despite his words. "You're lucky your big brother's here, else I might have to teach you some manners." A brief cracking of the bounty hunter's knuckles left no question as to what he meant by that.

"I don't need Ace to protect me," Luffy snapped. I wondered what had gotten into him. "You wanna go? Fine. Fight me- right here, right now."

While I and my crew mates stared in confused disbelief, trying to figure out what was going on in our captain's head, Shuraiya raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? A no bounty captain like you… Your crew probably isn't worth my time. I'm here for much bigger prey."

Ah. So he was looking for someone specific.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy's scowl deepened as he launched an attack at the bounty hunter. He almost looked like he was gearing up to fight a major opponent like Arlong or Crocodile, rather than brawling with a bounty hunter in a seedy bar. I seriously wished I had a mind-reading fruit just then- I would've paid good money to know what had gotten into my captain.

The rubber fist clipped Shuraiya's tattooed cheek; the bounty hunter spun to dissipate most of the force. Leaping across the space between them, Shuraiya fired a kick into Luffy's chest. My captain took the hit, responding with a kick of his own that his opponent couldn't dodge at such close range. Shuraiya flipped over, landing briefly on his hands only to launch himself to his feet. Luffy was right on his tail though, not letting the bounty hunter have a second to regroup. Rubber knuckles met flesh as Shuraiya countered Luffy's punch with one of his own. Both combatants were thrown backwards by the impact; Luffy landed in an upside-down heap by Zoro's feet, while Shuraiya flipped a few times before coming to a rest by the base of one of the chains that held the longship up.

There was fire in his eyes as Luffy got back to his feet. Ghin frowned, finally voicing the question we were all thinking. "Don Luffy… What's going on?"

Luffy didn't answer. Instead, he charged at Shuraiya, yelling wildly and upending chairs and tables in his path. All the people in the area scrambled to the sides of the cavern so as to watch the fight without being in the line of fire.

Rubber fists thudded against steel chain. Shuraiya had pulled himself up using a couple of higher links; the bounty hunter snapped a kick down into Luffy's head from his new position. Then dark eyes widened in surprise. The kick hadn't affected Luffy at all. Ignoring the bootheel that had slammed down between his eyes, my captain reached about halfway up the chains and grabbed on, aiming himself at Shuraiya.

"Gum-Gum Rocket!"

"Yeargh!" Shuraiya tried to lever himself up out of the way, but was too slow to dodge completely. Luffy's attack sent the both of them flying. I think they landed in the longship high above- the boat started rocking wildly back and forth, and one of the oars fell down. It landed on some random pirate's head on the other side of the room.

Then one of the pulleys from which the boat was hanging tore free of the ceiling. One end of the longship started to fall, followed shortly by the other end as one of the chains' anchors ripped off of the floor. I saw Luffy and Shuraiya dangling from the sides of the longship as it descended, still kicking at each other as they fell. All that did was make the boat swing back and forth, so that it crashed into a balcony about halfway up rather than making it all the way to the floor.

For a while after that, nothing really happened. I could hear muffled voices and a couple of impacts, but had no context for what was going on up there. No words… Nothing. Lisa grabbed my hand and looked up at me, opening her mouth to ask something- probably what was going on and if Luffy had gotten into a fight with someone powerful. Which I wouldn't have been able to answer. Before she could ask, though, a loud yell sounded above.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Luffy was flung off the balcony, flailing his arms like bald wings. This didn't slow his fall in the slightest. My captain hit the floor face-first, bouncing across the stone several times before finally coming to a halt against a wall.

By the time the rest of us reached him, Luffy was on his feet. His face was shadowed by his hat; a small frown creased his features. Before anyone could ask him what had happened up there, he held up a hand. "Nami… We have to win this race. 'Kay?"

"Of course." The sailing master nodded, hands on her hips. "We could beat these idiots in our sleep- and since we'll be awake, winning'll be a breeze."

"Good." Luffy headed for the stairs, his back unusually stiff and a slight stomp in his step. "Come on guys; let's go. I'm not hungry anymore."

The rest of us had all finished about the time the whole debacle started, so we made no protest. And frankly, Luffy saying he wasn't hungry was a little worrying. He was always hungry. Robin raised an eyebrow as we made our way out of the hidden meeting place.

"Captain… Did something happen up on the balcony?"

Shrugging, Luffy hunched his head down between his shoulders and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Nah, nothing. The guys here are just assholes is all. I wanna beat them and show them they're wrong."

X

Whatever he said though, however he brushed off our questions, it was clear by the time we got back to the Merry that something was wrong with Luffy. As soon as we got back to the ship, the rubber boy climbed up to the crow's nest, flipping himself up over the side to land with an audible thud. The very top of his straw hat shone over the edge in the light of the sunset. Usopp frowned.

"He, uh… He knows he doesn't have a watch today, right? Early shift tonight's supposed to be mine." The gunner rubbed his nose, nervous.

Ace bit his lip and stared up at the crow's nest. "He's sulking. I've never seen Lu sulk before- I can't decide whether to be proud he's growing up, or if I need to be worried."

"It- It must have something to do with whatever happened on the balcony…" Chopper wrung his hooves. "Or maybe with that Shuraiya person… Should someone talk to him about it? Find out what's wrong?"

For a moment there was silence. We all stared at each other, considering. Then, suddenly, it was like a dam had burst. "One, two, three, not it!"

"Not me!"

"Nope!"

"I have next watch- I need my sleep."

"Not it!"

Trust me, you wouldn't want me to.

"SCREEEEEEEEE!"

"Not it!"

"Not it!"

"Ni zey!"

"Not me!"

"Hell no!"

"I'd rather not."

Ace clapped a hand on my shoulder before I could say anything. "Well, Jones, it looks like it's up to you."

"What?!" I squawked, spinning to glare at the firecracker. "He's your baby brother- you do it!"

"Well, actually… According to him, we're all family, so he's your baby brother too." Ace rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And I… I don't know how to handle this. Lu's never sulked before, not like this… I don't think me trying would be a good idea. If something like this happened back on Dawn Island, I would've asked Makino to look in on him, but since she's not here…" The freckled pirate shrugged helplessly.

I wanted to protest that. Makino was the closest thing to a mother Luffy'd ever had- there was something seriously wrong if I was the nearest substitute available. I looked over at Nami and opened my mouth, but she shook her head before I could get a word out. Ghin and Zoro yielded the same result. And Robin… The mysterious smile she flashed when I turned my pleading gaze in her direction made me worry that if I asked her to talk to Luffy, the captain would end up traumatized. I slumped, defeated. "Fine… But just so you know, Ghin is the mother hen on this ship. Dealing with sulking teenagers isn't in my contract."

Several of my crew mates laughed at that as I started making my way up the mast. Sanji huffed. "You don't have a contract, Jones. None of us do."

The rest of the crew went belowdecks before I'd even made it up to the crow's nest- probably wanted to get an early night, the better to prepare for the race tomorrow. All except Ruatha, of course, although the dragon was still getting ready to sleep as he wrapped himself more comfortably around my shoulders. Merde… Neither Luffy nor I was supposed to have a watch shift tonight. Then again, it was probably less important for us to be well rested than some of the others- and if we fetched Usopp after, that pushed Zoro to third watch and Johnny and Yosaku to predawn, meaning Ghin would get a full night's sleep, and if we were aiming for speed the next day, having our rigger in top form was probably a good idea.

But tabarnak… I had no idea how to talk to a sulking Luffy. So I clambered over the edge of the crow's nest on the opposite side from my captain, looking over at him before I pulled myself all the way in. "Captain… Is it alright if I sit here?"

Luffy nodded, but otherwise didn't respond. He was curled up in a ball, his chin resting on his knees. I didn't say anything when I sat down across from him, my mind humming as I tried to figure out what to do. He looked so young… And he was. Seventeen, and a childish seventeen at that. Luffy could've been upset about anything- could be related to his responsibilities as a captain, or it could've been some juvenile insult thrown by another pirate to get a rise out of him. And I wasn't sure how to ask…

The moons were high in the sky before either of us made a move. Sighing, Luffy fidgeted and sunk deeper into his knees, until his eyes were barely peeking out between straw and knobbly bone. "Jones… Why did you stop me from getting a bounty?"

Oh. Oh. Tabarnak, so that's what was going on. Someone had said something… Maybe it had been Shuraiya underestimating our crew, or maybe something up on that balcony. "It- it was an accident. I was- It was back in Cocoyashi Village. Those marines I gassed… Their captain was the one, in the comics, who phoned headquarters about what you'd been doing and got you a bounty. He was working with Arlong to extort money out of Nami's village. Seeing him in person… I just got angry. I wanted to do something, anything- both to help, and because I hate being bored, left out, useless. So I stopped them from stealing Nami's treasure, even though I knew she'd probably have gotten it back anyway afterwards."

Now I was curled up the same way Luffy was, barely able to see anything as I peered out a narrow gap between my hat and my knees. "I didn't mean to… Although I will admit to taking advantage of your lack of bounty at times when dealing with marines. But I never made a secret of that. Sorry…" I wilted and drooped, not sure what I should do or say.

A heavy sigh sounded from the other side of the crow's nest. Luffy's face was completely hidden by his hat now, his forehead pressed against his knees. I was left staring at an expanse of pale gold straw. "I know you're just tryna do what's best. And its kinda fun watching you talk at people sometimes, even if bits of it make my head hurt. But… That Shoe-guy… He thought we were weak because I don't have a bounty. He thought I needed Ace to fight for me. We're not weak and I don't. But until I get a bounty, I'll just be Ace's little brother. To everybody. I can't be pirate king if the whole world thinks I'm just Ace's little brother."

My heart sank. I'd never thought about that- hadn't thought much about the "no bounty" deal at all, really, except for that it made dealing with Smoker so much easier. And the few times it had crossed my mind, late at night when I was alone on watch, I'd just assumed that it couldn't last. I mean… Ennies Lobby. It would be near-impossible to get through that without getting prices on our heads. But… The point Luffy was making… I felt awful. "Sorry Captain… I didn't think of that."

Luffy didn't even have the energy to hit me with a Fist of Love, which I half-expected. He just sighed again. "I know you didn't mean to… But you did, and I'm not… Sometimes I don't like it. I'm more than just 'Fire Fist' Ace's baby brother."

"I know." Scooting around the crow's nest, I sat close beside my captain. Touching, even; my right side was pressed to his left, and I wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Not for the first time, I was struck by how small Luffy was. Scrawny and wiry… "And someday the rest of the world will know too. There are other chances coming up for you to get a bounty- we'll be doing things Ace could only dream of. I'll try not to mess any of them up- although I can't make any promises. And just think- at the rate we're going, with the things that're gonna be happening to us… You'll probably get the biggest starting bounty in history, once the marines figure out how we duped them."

Nodding, Luffy sagged against me. Rubber arms wrapped around me on reflex, competing with Ruatha's tail for space. My dragon opened up a sleepy eye, snorted, and went back to sleep. My captain leaned heavily against my side. "I want to be different now though. You're you- even if you say you'll try not to inv- inter- do stuff, you can't help it. Like me looking for adventure. Someday I'll get a bounty, but I might have to wait a while. I don't like waiting…" Luffy growled in frustration and yanked his hat further down over his ears with his free hand.

"Sorry…" I really didn't know what else to say. Frowning, Luffy turned his head to face me.

"Don't apologize. You're you; changing that would be like asking Zoro to fight with a Devil Fruit instead of his sword." Luffy made a face. "Ergh, I'm thinking again. That never used to happen." He rubbed his forehead. "I- I don't know what to do. I don't want you to stop being you, don't want to keep anyone from doing what they think's best, but I want us to be different. I can't be pirate king if people don't know who I am. I need a bounty."

Yes… Yes, that was definitely a problem. And one I didn't think I could fix, aside from just waiting for nature to take its course. Barring any massive alterations, we'd be attacking one of the three main government strongholds soon enough; that should get us bounties. But how to reassure Luffy in the meantime…? I was silent for several long minutes as I tried to think of what to say.

Nothing. I had nothing. Sighing, I held Luffy tighter. "People will know who you are. And you will be king of the pirates. I promise."

But my captain was too maudlin to be so easily reassured right now. "How can you know, though?" Dark brown eyes bored into mine. His voice was thick with resigned worry. "You said the story wasn't even done when you came through, and then you're changing things…"

Luffy was shaking against me. And really, I couldn't refute him. The things I was arranging, without even asking him, usually… I'd been under the impression that he wouldn't care about my plotting, would just tell me to go ahead as long as it didn't interfere with his adventures, but maybe I should've asked him first. Merde. I was a terrible Straw Hat. And now I was shaking too.

Tabarnak… No. That wasn't allowed. I couldn't let anyone see me uncertain; it would do nothing to help Luffy's newfound lack of self-esteem. Forcing a smile wouldn't do any good here- my captain would be able to tell if there was any falsehood in my face or voice. So instead I clamped down on the remains of my fear of touching people, and reached up to poke the scar on Luffy's face with one finger.

"Do you remember the day you got that?"

"Yeah… Wait- you know that too?" Luffy's face brightened noticeably. He nodded to himself almost immediately. "Yeah, you have to know. It was before you started changing things, and it was important."

"You wanted to prove to Shanks you were man enough to sail with him." I couldn't help but smile at the memory. "And when he saved you and gave you Hat… Shanks believed you could do it too. He wouldn't have put Gol D Roger's hat in danger for just any rookie, after all."

Eyes blowing wide, Luffy plucked his hat off his head and stared at it. "You used to belong to the pirate king?!" My captain demanded of his hat in disbelief. He beamed and hugged it close for a moment before plopping it back on his head.

Since the hat couldn't answer, I spoke for it. "Yep. Roger gave Shanks that hat when Red Hair was just a cabin boy on his ship. That was the hat Roger was wearing when he met his first mate, the day they set out on their grand adventure- long before the title pirate king was even a stray thought. Now… Would Shanks really give something so precious to someone he didn't think had what it takes to be the next king of the pirates?"

"No…" Luffy shook his head. His face slowly brightened, until he was beaming at me with that familiar D grin. "Shanks is the best, so he'd only let me touch Hat if he knew I could be the best too. And I will become king of the pirates, even if I make it all the way to Raftel without a bounty!" He pumped his fist in triumphant determination.

Ah, there was the headstrong captain I knew and loved. I grinned along with him. "Of course you will. But I don't think you need go that far, Captain; there are some things coming up that it would take a bloody miracle to get through them without getting a price on at least some of our heads. I'm sure you'll have a bounty soon enough."

"Shishishishishi! Yep! And it'll be higher than anyone's! Even Dad's!"

"Sesehihihihihi! That particular goal will take a lot of work- but if anyone can do it, you can."

X

Dawn was bright and clear on the day the race began. We all took our positions, yawning, as Nami checked the eternal pose to the goal. Hmm… Partia. Not an island I could ever remember hearing about. The sailing master glanced around as she took our bearings. "Okay everyone- it looks like we need to head around the island. The pose is pointing straight at the shore."

"Or we could just go up that canal," Ghin pointed out. Sure enough, not far from the Going Merry, a narrow canal rose up the side of the island. Like Reverse Mountain, water flowed upwards to the center of the island, indicating strong currents somewhere beneath.

Luffy bounced on the figurehead. "Yay! Another mystery mountain! Let's go, Nami, let's go!"

"Alright- after all, it's not the first time we've done this, and I doubt it'll be the last. Ghin, Sanji bring her about!"

"Aye-aye Sailing Master!"

"Of course, Nami dear!"

Chopper leaned on the rail as we headed for the canal, staring at the currents in fascination. "I've never seen water flow uphill before."

Usopp beamed. "This is nothing. On our way into the Grand Line from the East Blue, we had to go up a mountain ten times this high! And the current was much faster- we nearly crashed into the side on our way into the canal!"

"Really?!" Chopper's eyes turned to stars. He jumped up and clung to Usopp's leg. "That's so cool! I bet you saw lots of awesome things before getting to Drum Kingdom, didn't you? Tell me more, tell me more!"

"Well, at the base of Reverse Mountain, there's an old man with a flower sticking out the back of his head, who lives in a lighthouse with a giant whale…"

I turned my focus ahead as Usopp started telling Chopper about some of our early adventures. Somewhere uphill, just beyond a rise, I could hear the clamour of dozens of voices shouting over the roar of the water. It wasn't as bad as the day before, but I still had my earplugs in to block out background noise and help me focus.

And then we were over the rise and floating along through part of the town. People lined either side of the canal, cheering and jeering. Most of them seemed to be shouting mild insults at us, hoping someone named Gasparde would win. He must've been a favourite or something- I heard a bunch of guys yelling that they'd bet every beri they owned on him. Well, sucks for them. We may be no-bounty rookies, but we were the Straw Hat Pirates; we were going to win this thing.

As we moved further uphill, I saw other canals running alongside the one Merry sailed in. Not parallel; they were all angled slightly, so that every canal would converge shortly before the top of the mountain. Each had at least one ship sailing up- many had two or more, with the crews eying each other warily. Several had cannons at the ready. Ah, so it was one of those kind of races. I glanced over at Zoro.

"Looks like an anything goes type of game. Thoughts?"

The bosun considered the situation for a moment, looking out over the ships visible in the other canals. Then he smirked. "I dunno… We've only got one cannon, and our gunner's busy telling stories to our doctor. Most of the other ships are twice the size of ours, with three or four times the crew. Some of them are fishmen or giants…" Zoro shrugged and tied his bandanna around his head, his smirk morphing into a dark grin.

I matched his grin with one of my own. "Sesehihihihihi! You're right- they don't stand a chance!"

As the canals merged and the ships drew closer together, I spotted Shuraiya on one of the leaders. Standing at the bow of that particular ship was a large blond man with an imposingly blockish chin; he wore a marine jacket with the kanji for justice crossed-out on the back. Hmm… Guess Shuraiya wasn't working alone then. Odd- aside from the Accino family, I didn't think bounty hunters usually worked in crews. The ship Shuraiya and the man who could only be an ex-marine were standing on had the name Salamander painted near her bow; gently puffs of smoke and steam rode from a couple pipes amidships, and she had paddlewheels visible on her sides. She still had a couple of masts, of course, but they appeared to be secondary.

That was… Wow. I hadn't been expecting to see steamships until we got to Water Seven.

And the Salamander wasn't the only odd ship either. There was the Web Panic, a large ship with curiously split sails; she appeared to be captained by the orca fishman I'd noticed at the bar last night. Also worthy of note was a surprisingly small ship being crewed by two giants- it appeared to be pedal powered.

Nami followed my gaze, her eyes lighting on the Web Panic and her crew. The sailing master frowned. "Willy… He used to come by Cocoyashi sometimes- I think he and Arlong were rivals."

Zoro raised an eyebrow at that. "So he's one to watch out for, then?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to tell." Nami shrugged and waved us off, but I could see her keeping a close eye on Willy and his crew as we guided the Going Merry into position.

A loud horn sounded as all the ships gathered together at the top of the mountain. Even with my earplugs in, I winced at the volume. Too much… Luckily it didn't last long. That was the signal; as soon as we heard it, every ship in the race began shooting forwards with all available speed.

Lisa, up in the crow's nest, was the first to see it. "Everyone hang on!" the little painter called down, following her own advice by securely entwining her arms in the ropes that held our flag to the mast. "We're going over!"

"Going over what?!" Johnny and Yosaku demanded in perfect unison. Of course, they still made sure they had a secure grip on the nearest rail.

Their question was answered a few seconds later. Many of the ships in front of the Going Merry fell away without warning, their crews crying out in joy and terror. Then it was our turn. Merry drifted forwards to the edge of a waterfall- one of the highest waterfalls I'd ever seen. It looked to be nearly twice the height of Niagara Falls. Wow… Gripping the rigging tight with both hands, I jumped up on the rail just as we started to tip forwards, leaving me hanging out over open space. Up at the bow, Luffy wound his arms and legs securely around the figurehead.

"Shishishishishi! This is fun!"

"Sesehihihihihi! This is amazing!"

The rest of the crew didn't seem to share our enthusiasm. Drifter and Geier took to the air as Merry leaned over the falls; Ruatha fluttered his wings like he wanted to join them, then settled for digging his claws into the rail when he couldn't become airborne. Usopp and Chopper squeaked and hugged the mast. Robin smiled mysteriously and held herself down with a plethora of arms, while Sanji shook his head and held tight to the whipstaff. Ghin, aloft in the rigging, secured himself with a number of lines. Nami checked the ropes that secured her Tangerine trees in place, then held onto those. And Zoro… Shoved Ace roughly below when the freckled pirate started looking like a narcoleptic fit might be imminent. Then the bosun folded his arms and… held himself onto the deck through sheer determination not to fly off, I guess.

For a long time- maybe a minute- we were in free fall. The Going Merry descended bow-first towards a broad river below. Something about the light reflecting off the water and trees below made her figurehead look almost green as we fell. Then Luffy, clinging to his hat with one hand, yelled back to the rest of us.

"Someone get us level! Merry's gonna smack down face-first!"

But how were we supposed to do that? The only thing I could think of was the anchor, but that was at the bow- doing anything with it would either make us fall faster, or flip us over in a way I doubted would be comfortable. It was Nami who had an answer.

"Jones! Your powers work on gravity, right? Make the bow lighter and the stern heavier until we level out!"

What? That- I didn't know if that would work, but it was worth a try. But how…? Closing my eyes, I visualized the Going Merry in my mind, pretending the ship was an extension of my body. Higher gravitational pull on the rudder, lower on the bow… "Kepler's Law!"

Slowly- far too slowly, in all likelihood- the Going Merry rotated in the air. I started panting; my head ached. Eventually I couldn't hold it anymore; I dropped my control of the force and sagged against the lines I was holding, exhausted. We weren't quite level at that point, but it was as close as I could manage. Soon afterwards, Merry hit the water about three-quarters of the way towards her bow, sending up an enormous splash. A second splash followed as her stern touched down; tremors ran through the ship. The impact was great enough that I actually absorbed a charge of force through the Going Merry.

CRA-KACHOW! CRA-KACHOW!

KA-POOM! KA-POOM!

As soon as they hit the river, ships started attacking each other. Cannonballs flew through the air, along with boarding parties and, in one noticeable case, a dozen oversized spoons. I was so glad of my earplugs- being surrounded by cannon fire wasn't my idea of fun at all. With Usopp still clinging to the mast with Chopper, though, we weren't one of the crews that went on the offensive. Instead, Nami and Ghin focused on speed, calling instructions to the rest of us as the Going Merry wove her way through the knot of other ships out towards the sea.

Not that we managed to weave very far. A long, heavy rope shot forwards from one of the ships behind us, the end tied in a noose. It was wielded by a man in a fluffy blue and yellow jacket. He laughed as his noose looped over one of Nami's tangerine trees. "Ahahaha! The race has just begun and you're already one of the last in line! How'd you kids like them apples?"

Everyone else sweatdropped at that, and I really wished I could. Johnny turned to stage-whisper to Yosaku. "He does realize he's one of the few people behind us, right Bro?"

"I wouldn't count on it. He doesn't seem to bright."

The guy with the noose squawked indignantly and hauled back- although what good he thought that would do, I'll never know. You can't hang a tangerine tree, and trying will only get you electrocuted by an irate Nami. As it was, things never got that far. Zoro darted forwards to cut the rope at the same moment Usopp fired a pachinko ball at the guy holding the noose.

"Lead Star!"

"Gya!" The man fell backwards, releasing the now-noose-less length of rope he was holding in favour of clutching his bruised forehead.

DA-KAKAKAKAKAKAKA!

A second later, Drifter and Geier strafed the rear of the noose ship, the vulture's machine gun ripping the rudder to shreds. Unable to steer, the noose-man and his crew flailed helplessly as their ship slowly turned sideways. This turned them into an impromptu obstacle for the one or two boats coming along behind; the Going Merry was soon making her merry way away from a three-ship pileup.

Up ahead of us, the giants in their pedal boat crashed through the stern of a schooner. They appeared to have some sort of drill bit on the front of the pedal boat that spun as they surged forwards, making ramming possible. Much of the schooner was flung back and to the side as debris; its crew were left clinging to boards or scrambling to try and stay afloat on the bow of the ruined ship. The giants laughed and skipped over the waves as they ploughed on.

Puffing and spewing out black smoke, the Salamander pulled ahead of all but the swiftest clippers. It was like watching something out of a Victorian period movie. A little bit of the black smoke drifted back, making me cough; I pulled my bandanna up over my nose to keep the stinking fumes out.

Steamships and clippers, though… How was a little caravel like the Going Merry supposed to keep up with those? We had to, but realistically speaking, we were technologically speaking at least two hundred years behind as far as shipbuilding went. How could we…? Hmmm… Maybe something with Devil Fruits? Not sure. Maybe once we were clear of the island, Nami, Ghin, and I could put our heads together and think of something.

X

It turned out that there wasn't a lot to think about. A caravel like the Going Merry could only go so fast under full sail- and 'so fast' wasn't actually particularly fast at all. About fourteen kilometers per hour. Compared to the thirty kph a schooner could make, or the forty-one of a clipper, we weren't even worth mentioning. Still, we pulled with all we had.

Which was kind of… odd, actually. We Straw Hats almost never operated with all hands on deck- only when there was an emergency, like when holes appear in the middle of the ocean, or it starts to rain brains. I shuddered and suppressed that memory before it could go anywhere. But here we were- no one was playing around, or cooking, or sleeping. Everyone had something to do as we struggled to make the Merry sail like a racer instead of an old merchant vessel. Unused to this, we kept getting in each other's way; Zoro tripped over Drifter more than once, and Johnny and Usopp kept running into each other. Half the time, Geier and I would grab the same line when really only one of us was needed. Robin had hands everywhere, but they kept poofing away whenever one of them got rope burn or was stepped on, leading to lines suddenly flapping loose in the wind.

Overall, it was a mess, and we probably weren't moving any faster than normal.

Ghin groaned as Lisa, Chopper, and Yosaku all tripped over each other rushing from place to place, resulting in a three-pirate pileup. "And this is why even Krieg had a musician." The rigger rubbed his temples.

And, naturally, Luffy's eyes lit up like stars at the word musician. Even if he was pretty confused. "What? I want a musician! But how would that help?"

"Singing helps keep a beat while you work," Ghin explained. "Fiddles and drums are even better though. We might not trip over each other quite as much if we were all following the same rhythm."

"Ooooh…" Luffy nodded in understanding, an adorable rubber bobblehead. "Okay then. But we still don't have a musician… Hey! Ghin, you can sing! You do it!"

For a moment, it looked like our rigger might refuse. Then he shook his head and sighed. "Fine. But don't expect me to do this all the time- you want regular music, find us a fiddler or something, dammit"

Of course, Luffy didn't really pay attention to that part. Clapping his hands, the rubber boy nearly lost his grip in the line he'd been tying; he was saved from falling to the deck only by virtue of having his legs wrapped around it. Not that such a fall would've hurt him… "Yay! Ghin's gonna sing for us!"

Sighing and shaking his head again, Ghin spend a minute drumming a lively beat on the mast with his fingers. Once he'd been at it for a few seconds, enough to be comfortable with the speed, he nodded and opened his mouth.

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor,

What shall we do with a drunken sailor,

What shall we do with a drunken sailor,

Early in the morning?"

I felt my blood heat up, accompanied by a strong urge to beat my head on the nearest surface until I was able to bust through the Fourth Wall and grab my writer by the front of her shirt. Because really? I wasn't sure if the last time Ghin sang was a shenanigan or not, but this? This most certainly was. That was one of the most famous sea shanties in the English-speaking world- did you really expect it to fly under the radar, other me? Or do you just not care anymore?

"Chuck him in the long boat 'til he's sober,

Chuck him in the long boat 'til he's sober,

Chuck him in the long boat 'til he's sober,

Early in the morning!"

It did seem to be working, though. With everyone moving at the same pace, there was a near-instantaneous drop in collisions and pileups. Ghin continued to sing as he got back to work- and one by one, everyone else joined in. I guess Drunken Sailor was popular in the One Piece world too.

"Put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him,

Put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him,

Put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him,

Early in the morning!"

Not long after we'd gotten into the swing of things, Nami snapped her Clima-Tact together and stood behind the mainmast. "I wonder… Maybe this will help? A square sail goes fastest with wind right behind it, after all. Even if I can't add very much… Breeze Tempo!" The sailing master aimed her weapon, holding it kind of like a bazooka; a strong, persistent wind flowed out of the rod, adding just a little more power to the already full sail.

"Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under,

Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under,

Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under,

Early in the morning!"

Somewhere behind us, a whale spouted. It was barely audible over the roar of the wind and the hum of the lines. Even Merry seemed to be singing along- or so it seemed to me as I tensioned one of the shrouds. The sturdy little caravel bobbed in the waves, doing her very best to reach speeds she was never designed for; I patted her on the mast as I raced to my next task.

"Heave him by the leg in a running bowline,

Heave him by the leg in a running bowline,

Heave him by the leg in a running bowline,

Early in the morning!"

"Heh," Sanji huffed, "Maybe I'll try that next time Mossball doesn't get up for lunch."

"Like you'd be able to get that close to me, even if I was asleep." Zoro flicked the end of a loose line at Sanji before getting back to work, knocking the cook's bangs up for a moment to reveal both eyes and both swirling eyebrows. It only lasted for half a second. Sanji looked like he was about to retaliate, but a frown from Nami stopped him.

"Give him a taste of the bosun's rope-end,

Give him a taste of the bosun's rope-end,

Give him a taste of the bosun's rope end,

Early in the morning!"

Ah, irony. I love it, when it's not happening to me. Tiny footsteps raced across the deck as Lisa ran to check the chip log. "Ten knots!" the little painter called out excitedly.

Ten knots? That was eighteen kilometers per hour! A caravel couldn't go that fast! As soon as I thought that, I tripped over a line that had come loose. Rolling forwards, I landed face-to-figurehead with Merry; the cheerful sheep seemed to throw me a reproachful look. Or maybe that was just the angle. Either way, I mentally apologized to the lovely little ship as I raced to retie the line that had tripped me.

"Soak him in oil 'til he sprouts a flipper,

Soak him in oil 'til he sprouts a flipper,

Soak him in oil 'til he sprouts a flipper,

Early in the morning!"

She's resting a little low in the water, Drifter reported after a quick scramble down the side of the hull. Should we try to lighten her up?

Usopp considered this for a moment, then shook his head. "It wouldn't make a difference. Besides, most of the weight's probably food; we can't afford to lose any of that- not with Luffy on board."

Fair enough. The otter thought for a minute. Then… How about the booze? There's lots of that too, and unlike food, we don't need booze to live.

Zoro caught a glimpse of that sign and growled. "Oh, no. Don't you go touching my booze, Hairball."

Fine, fine. Sheesh… Touchy hoser, ain't ya?

"Put him in the bilge and make him drink it,

Put him in the bilge and make him drink it,

Put him in the bilge and make him drink it,

Early in the morning!"

"Need a hand?" Robin offered when she saw me struggling with one of the halyards. The archaeologist didn't wait for an answer; a dozen limbs bloomed around me to help me haul the line into place. Once it was where it needed to be, I froze for a moment to stare at her.

"Did you just make a pun?"

Robin didn't answer my query, just smiled mysteriously and walked away. A few seconds later, I saw her holding another line steady so Chopper could tie it off. Her hands- her real hands, not any of the ones produced by her powers- were rope burned and covered in blisters.

"Put him in bed with the captain's daughter,

Put him in bed with the captain's daughter,

Put him in bed with the captain's daughter,

Early in the morning!"

"Huh?" Luffy looked confused as he hung upside down from the yardarm, groping for a corner of the sail that had come loose. "But I don't have a daughter."

"And you never will!" Ace vowed loudly from the deck. The freckled firebrand was busy trying to re-secure Nami's tangerines; some of them had been knocked loose as we picked up speed.

Ruatha and Geier screeched with laughter at that; Yosaku facepalmed. "Big Bro Luffy… Big Bro Ace… It's just a part of the song."

Johnny nodded. "Besides, it doesn't mean a real daughter anyways. On marine ships, that's what they call a cat o'nine tails."

Sanji looked disappointed- I guess he was imagining spending a night with a pretty pirate maid. Luffy, meanwhile, was still confused. "What's a cat o'nine tails?"

Johnny and Yosaku answered in unison, twin looks of disbelief on their faces. "A whip, Big Bro. A whip with nine heads. Lots o'crews use it to punish sailors who try to incite mutiny and stuff."

"Oh…" Luffy's face fell. Then he brightened. "Then no wonder I've never heard of it! No one on Gramps' or Shanks' crews woulda done something like that, and I know none of you guys would either! So good crews don't need one!"

"What shall we do with the drunken sailor,

What shall we do with the drunken sailor,

What shall we do with the drunken sailor,

Early in the morning?"

Soon the Going Merry was running at a steady twelve knots- half again the highest speed I expected from her. Twenty-Two kilometers per hour… I bet no other caravel in history had managed that, both on Earth and in the One Piece world. The question was… How long could it last? The Merry hadn't been built for such speeds. Would this race damage her? Worry coiled in the pit of my stomach; I hadn't yet come up with a way to save the dear little ship.

X

A storm rose up in the late afternoon- a pretty bad one, too, although not up to the levels of insanity Paradise could occasionally reach and the New World saw eight times before breakfast. Probably about level with the worst storms I'd known back on Earth. Thunder cracked like cannons going off high above our heads; every few seconds, spidery fingers of lightning split the sky. The clouds were nearly black, and the rain coming down was so heavy it formed a dense mist on the water. Wind howled and whistled through the Merry's lines, an angry banshee choir that whipped up twenty-foot waves. The Going Merry's rolling deck was slick with puddles.

Luffy was up in the crow's nest-not that he could see anything through the wind and rain. He was the only person who could be up there safely; the mast had already been hit by lightning three times. My captain stood out bright against the dark clouds in his yellow raincoat.

"See anything?" Nami called up, shielding her face with her hands. Luffy shook his head.

"Nothing! Nobody!" He may have said something more as well, but those were the only words I could pick out over the roar of the wind.

A line snapped. The end flicked Usopp in the face as it whipped away, hard enough to bruise him and knock him over backwards. Yelping, the gunner flailed and made a grab for the errant bit of rigging; he was just splicing it together when Chopper cantered over to him.

"You okay?" Chopper hollered, "It didn't hit your eye, did it?"

Even though they were right next to each other, Usopp didn't seem to know what Chopper had said. "No, you're not in the way! You're doing great!"

I'd been using my powers to keep myself from slipping almost since the storm started. Have I mentioned before that I love my Devil Fruit? I really love my Devil Fruit. Catching sight of a knot that looked strained, I jumped up and grabbed hold just as it came unravelled. A few seconds later I had it retied. Dropping back down, I slipped on the edge of a rail and keeled over backwards, my store of force exhausted. Hands bloomed out of the rail and grabbed me before I hit the water, pulling me back aboard. I shot my rescuer a tired smile.

"Thanks Robin."

"Of course."

The storm seemed endless. I have no idea how long we sailed through it, struggling to keep on course. There was no sign of any of our fellow competitors either, no way to know whether we'd fallen behind or pulled ahead. Merde… With the rain as thick as it was, we might not have seen someone sailing right beside us. Then, after the mast had been hit by lightning for a fourth time, Luffy called out eagerly.

"I see something! It looks like an island- a big one!"

Turning her head with a snap that flicked runnels of water off the hood of her raincoat, Nami looked at me. "Jones- verify!"

Ah, yes, our dear sailing master still thought I had some level of lightning resistance due to my Devil Fruit. If I did, I had yet to see any evidence of it. Nonetheless, I saluted and punched myself in the leg a few times, building up the charge I needed to Spider Climb up the mast. I swung up into the crow's nest beside Luffy and squinted into the shadowy distance.

"Where?"

"There!" Luffy pointed dead ahead. And yes… There was definitely something there. It looked like nothing more than a black blob against the near-black of the horizon. Jagged and imposing- and bloody well familiar, which an island I'd never heard of shouldn't be.

Crisse de calice de tabarnak d'osti de sacrament de trouvvierge. We'd been had! I may not know what movie or video game or whatever this race was based on, but I'd seen that filler a dozen times. I jumped over the side of the crow's nest, falling to land in front of Nami with a splash and roll.

"Turn us around! That's not Partia!"

The sailing master looked at me oddly. "So there's really something out there? But… If the pose is pointing straight at it, it has to be the finish line!"

"I don't know what's going on here- but that's why I know it's not the finish line! I've never seen or heard of Partia, but that shadow's pretty familiar! It's Navarone- the G8 marine base!"

Eyes going wide, Nami spun and shouted at Sanji. "Fifty degrees to starboard, now!"

"Of course Nami dear!" The cook shoved the whipstaff over; Merry's hull creaked as she turned sharply around. Strain from the wind and the sudden change of direction made several lines snap or unravel; Ghin, Johnny, and Yosaku raced to fix things.

Robin came over, holding out her hand. "Miss Navigator, if I may?"

Nami hesitated for a moment, suspicious, then handed the eternal pose over. Robin examined it carefully, picking at the plaque. It didn't take much for the little strip of brass that read Partia to come unglued and revealed another plaque, this one secured to the wooden casing with screws.

Navarone.

A sharp intake of breath; Nami looked from Robin to me. "Okay, you were right. But then… What do we do?"

"No idea." I shrugged helplessly. When I looked up at Robin, the archeaologist just shook her head.

I wondered when the noise of the wind had started dying down.

Zoro, who'd been busily re-securing Nami's tangerine trees after their anchors broke, looked up at us. "Can't Chopper sniff out the other competitors or something? He's got a pretty good nose."

The little reindeer squirmed happily by the rail. "Compliments won't make me happy, bastard!" He settled down quickly though. "No, seriously, do you know how hard it is to track people through rain like this? Nearly impossible, that's how! The only thing that could be worse would be finding lichen in a blizzard! And the only other competitor I got a good enough whiff of to even have a chance of sniffing him out was that Shuraiya guy Luffy fought at the bar!"

Drifter hung upside-down from a line by his tail, waving a sign. Otters don't have eyebrows, really, but he managed to raise one anyway. But… You're a reindeer. Finding lichen in a blizzard is what you hosers do, isn't it?

Chopper shot Drifter a flat look. "It's a metaphor! But yeah, I guess…" The doctor's ears dropped as suddenly the whole crew was looking at him. "What? You don't really think I can-?"

"Aw, I'm sure you could do it Choppy!" I picked up the tiny reindeer and cuddled him like a teddy bear. His decision to shift to Walk Point to get away made this harder, but I held on. "You have the best nose on the crew by a long shot."

"Let go! Your compliments won't make me happy, asshole!" Chopper spent a few seconds squirming free of my arms. When he'd finally regained his freedom, he jumped and bucked in a little circle, a deer version of a happy dance. "Okay, fine. I'll try. But don't blame me if I can't find Shuraiya, or if doing so leads us back into the marine base."

X

We caught up to the Salamander during a lull in the storm- and it was nowhere near Navarone. Personally, despite my encouragement, I was amazed at how good Chopper's nose was. The little reindeer stood at the bow, snout twitching, as we skimmed forwards through the fading mist. He swung his head back and forth, triangulating the scent, until…

"There!"

Not five minutes later, the fog opened up to reveal the Salamander, her steam engine puffing idly into the rain. Some of the falling drops left greasy black residue; they tasted like soggy coal dust. Despite her burning engines, the Salamander wasn't moving. She waited like a spider in the middle of the waves, bobbing patiently as the Web Panic appeared from another direction. Cannons fired from the incoming ship; most of them splashed harmlessly down around the Salamander, but a few hit home. Or they should have.

A wave of green slime rose up from the Salamander's deck, forming a high, shiny wall. The cannonballs that hit it were stopped dead. Then the wall reformed into a long tentacle with the cannonballs in the tip, rising up high before lashing out and down. The Web Panic smashed in two. Loud yells filled the air as her crew clung to her sinking timbers.

A ridged wake formed in the water, centered on a black fin. Willy the orca fishman leapt out of the water as he neared the Salamander, swinging a mace as he flew through the air. But the fishman didn't get a single strike in, against the steamship of any of her crew. Twin columns of green slime rose up as he neared the Salamander, smashing into him from either side like giant hands clapping over a mosquito. They held there for a long moment- several moments, actually. Long enough to strangle a man. When they released, Willy fell limp into the sea.

He didn't resurface.

More tentacles of green slime rose up and lashed out, quickly obliterating what was left of the Web Panic. Soon the stormy waves were littered with bits of flotsam, torn canvas, and tangled lines. By the time the Going Merry drew nearer, I could see no sign of any of the men from the sunken ship. But I've always had a good imagination; there was no doubt in my mind about what had happened to them.

I frowned at the steamship as the Going Merry drew nearer. So… They had a logia aboard. Interesting. What element would manifest as green slime? There was nothing I could think of off the top of my head, so we'd just have to wait and see.

Up at the bow, Chopper was twitching. "I smell… I smell blood."

Ruatha crooned and clambered up onto my shoulders, wrapping his tail securely around my ribs. Luffy descended from the crow's nest just as Ace came up from below. The freckled pirate was yawning. Everyone made our way over to the rails. Sanji lit a cigarette with a huff. "So, Shitty Captain… Now what?"

Luffy looked out over the water and shrugged. "I dunno. We kick their ass and make them tell us where the real finish line is, I guess."

"How do you know they'll know?" Robin wanted to know. Luffy shrugged again.

"I don't. But they're pretty far off from where we were, and ours was wrong, so if they're out here, they either know where the real island is, or they're lost like Zoro."

"Oi!" The bosun scowled at our captain. Nami found a bottle somewhere and threw it at the swordsman's head. Hollow glass collided with bone with a heavy thud.

"Can it! You get lost easy and we all know it. Just because we've been taking pains to keep it from happening too often since Syrup Village doesn't mean it's not true!"

"Only four of us were even there for that!" Zoro protested. Nami raised her eyebrows in response.

"So you're saying that since only five of us were there when Jones cooked, we should let her in the galley unsupervised?"

Zoro turned a little green at that. Looking away, he growled. "Fine. Objection withdrawn."

A clamour arose on the Salamander as we drew closer, yelling and thudding and clanging. It sounded like a fight, maybe. I saw a few flashes of yellow- Shuraiya. As we got closer, I got a better look. Yes, it was definitely a fight. Shuraiya was jumping around with a shovel, swinging and kicking at one of the other crew members, a tall man with partial armour and a very pointy nose. I wondered what had happened there- or maybe the person he'd been searching for was on the same crew. That could be messy.

As I watched, Shuriya was thrown into the mast. His shovel broke I half; when he slid down to the deck, he left a bloody stain on the wood. I looked to Luffy, wondering what he'd want us to do. He and Shuraiya hadn't gotten off to a good start, and we didn't know the bounty hunter's story… The rest of the crew all looked to our captain too, periodically glancing over at the steamship to keep an eye on the situation. Silence fell over the Going Merry. Not that I thought the crew of the Salamander would've noticed either way.

Panting heavily and bleeding, Shuraiya delivered a punishing kick to the head of the man he'd been fighting. The bounty hunter's opponent went down. Not giving himself a chance to rest, Shuraiya launched himself at the large, blockish man with the defaced marine coat. A huge fist knocked him into the deck with a dismissive thud. The bounty hunter twitched, but didn't seem to have the energy to rise.

Yosaku whistled as he caught a good look at the man who'd so easily pulverized Shuraiya. "That's- Johnny, is that General Gasparde?"

The blue hunter glanced up and nodded. "Yep, looks like."

Who? Drifter cocked his head to the side as he held up his sign. Geier clacked her beak a couple of times. When a number of us shot him confused looks, the otter shrugged. What? I don't pay attention to bulletins from other countries- I'm royal police, not a bounty hunter.

"General Gasparde was a marine captain," Yosaku explained, "Up until he killed a bunch of other officers from his unit and took off with the ship and any soldiers and prisoners who swore loyalty to him as their captain."

Nami's eyes turned to beri symbols. "Another bounty we could hand in?"

"No." Luffy said it quietly, but we all heard him. Nami looked like she wanted to demand an explanation; before she got a chance, my captain shot me a pleading look. I bit my lip and nodded to show I understood. Bounty or no bounty, Luffy was tired of that particular charade. But in order to mollify the sailing master, I had an excuse on hand.

"It was a good plan in the beginning, but we can't do that right now," I told Nami gently. "Soon- the next island I was aware of, so this race is throwing me off- we're gonna be involved in something big. Several somethings, actually, including a journey to an island that flies. The next time we're likely to meet any marines, it probably won't be friendly. Sorry… We'll have to find other ways to get funding from here on out."

Nami hissed, blowing bangs out of her face as she slumped with disappointment. Luffy blinked at me gratefully; I inclined my head and touched the edge of my hat. Then my captain frowned at me.

"Jones… You said we were heading for a flying island. Did you just break the spoiler rule?"

Tabarnak. Oops. I chuckled nervously. "Eheheheh… Sorry…"

"Fist of Love!"

Heavy rubber slammed into my head, ploughing me face-first into the deck. Yeah… Okay, I deserved that. By the time I'd peeled myself free of the wood and regained my feet, Luffy's attitude had changed completely. My captain was dancing around, eyes shining like stars.

"Island in the sky! Island in the sky! So cool!"

KRA-KOOM!

A cannonball whizzed past the Going Merry and crashed into the water just to her port side. Gasparde's crew had finally heard and seen us approaching. Luffy immediately stopped his dancing to become the competent, semi-serious warrior that he was. Ace looked on silently, an approving smile on his face- mixed with a hint of amused surprise.

"Usopp, man the cannon! If they shoot again return fire- right down the barrel of their gun, if you can!" The way he said it, Luffy had no doubt in his mind that Usopp was that good. "Drifter, Geier, take out their rudder! Sanji, Jones, Johnny, Yosaku, go aboard and rescue anybody these assholes captured! Zoro, Ghin, refi- repre- keep them from boarding the Merry in turn! Nami, Lisa, Chopper, be ready to deal with anyone who's hurt! Robin, keep the other guys on deck distracted while I go for that General guy! Ace, help her, but don't take my fight!"

The funny part was, Ace actually started obeying that order without even realizing it, leaping over to board the Salamander alongside me, Sanji, and the hunters. Freckled skin momentarily paled, grey eyes going wide. Ace facepalmed hard enough that both his forehead and his hand momentarily flickered into flame. "I always swore I'd never serve under my baby brother… Pops is my captain, not Luffy… What'm I doing?"

"Ruveyzun los kinbok," was Ruatha's opinion- not that anyone knew exactly what he was saying. His voice was getting deeper; what would once have been a chirp rumbled against my neck and the back of my head. "Yolkaronahs los draaz."

"Thank you for that uplifting… Whatever you said," Ace snorted at my dragon. Some of the pirates belonging to Gasparde's crew began closing in, yelling wildly; Ace turned to face them, his fingers pointing like a child playing at being a cowboy. "Fire Gun!"

Tiny bullets of flame shot out, burning faces and hands and forcing the other pirates to take cover. Except there was no cover; back on the Going Merry, Robin had her arms folded as a myriad of hands bloomed from every visible surface of the Salamander. They grabbed for any target they could get, preventing the men from moving, and occasionally choking the ones who were unlucky enough to have their throats within reach.

"Treinta Fleur: Strangle!"

DA-KAKAKAKAKA! Machine gun fire split the air as Drifter and Geier strafed the rear of the Salamander, bullets pinging off metal and tearing through wood. I saw a flash of brown through the Merry's gun port at the same time as some of Gasparde's men tried to reload one of their deck cannon to fire at her. Before they got a chance to finish, an eight-pound shot flew forth from our merry little caravel, accompanied by a loud whoop from her gunner.

KA-CHAKOW! CLANG! BRR-KOOM! The air exploded as Merry's cannon fired; a second later, the cannon that the crew of the Salamander was trying to reload exploded as well.

"Take that! I, the great Usopp, can hit any target my captain asks for, no matter how unrealistic and weird!"

Leaping over arms and entrapped pirates, I ran behind Sanji as we headed for the main hatchway. Johnny and Yosaku headed for a smaller entrance nearer the bow of the ship. As I followed the cook, an idea started to form in my mind. This was a steamship, complete with belching black smoke… That meant there had to be coal on board. I wondered how much of that I might be able to liberate while freeing any prisoners.

X

Luffy's feet slapped against wood as he jumped over to the ugly ship that reeked of smoke. He landed not far from Shuraiya. The bounty hunter was desperately struggling to rise, despite being clearly too beaten and exhausted to do so. Narrow, dark eyes glared up at Luffy from beneath bangs matted with rainwater and fresh blood. "You… What're you doing here? Go away! Gasparde's mine!"

Glancing up at the General guy- who was simply looking on in cocky, slightly confused amusement- Luffy crouched down beside Shuraiya. The rubber boy poked the bounty hunter's cheek. "Nope. He's mine now. Get in line."

Standing back up, Luffy felt something warm wrap around his ankle. A hand. He looked down at Shuraiya, who was clinging to his leg with what little strength he had left. The young captain frowned. "What're you doing? You can't fight anymore, and I have some bones to pick with this asshole. Let me deal with him."

"No!" Shuraiya was angry, desperate- and that anger was giving him the strength to slowly inch his way back to his feet. He released Luffy's ankle as he rose. "I- I have to be the one to kill him! It's my- my revenge! All I have left! I have to kill Gasparde- and then die myself. It's the only way to make things right!"

That was a very strange thing to say- and Luffy lived with Jones, so he knew all about saying strange things. "That's stupid. Whatever he did, killing him and yourself won't fix it. No one can fix anything if they're dead. You wanna fix whatever happened? Live."

"I can't." Luffy couldn't tell whether the words that came out of Shuraiya's mouth were supposed to be a whine or a snarl. "What he did… Me living… No matter what I do, no matter how hard I fight, it's not something I can fix. And what I've become hunting him down… The world has no place for men like me."

"You're being stupid." Luffy pushed Shuraiya over backwards. It didn't take much- the bounty hunter was barely standing as it was. "If you don't like who you are, do something about it. Try harder, cut your hair, do something different that makes you closer to who you want to be. As long as you're alive, you have a chance to make things better." Man, Luffy was getting more experience than he'd ever thought he'd need at this. First Ace, then Jones, now Robin and Shuraiya… Did he somehow attract people who needed the will to live talked back into them, the way rotten fruit attracted flies?

Shuraiya tried to rise again, opened his mouth to protest… So Luffy cracked him over the head. The bounty hunter went down, eyes spinning, slumped against the rail of the Salamander. Shaking his head, Luffy turned back to face Gasparde. "You think about that while I beat up the General guy."

The large blond no longer looked amused. He stared down at Luffy with narrow, beady eyes. They reminded the rubber captain of an angry boar. "You're going to beat me. Really? How and why do you plan on doing that?"

"We had a fake eternal pose that pointed at a marine base. You didn't." Luffy cracked his knuckles with a rubbery pop. "I think that means you cheated- you made it so we got the fake pose. And even if I'm wrong… You did something bad to Shuraiya, so you're probably an asshole. So I'm gonna beat you."

"Heheh. Well, you're right- I am the one who arranged for you and all the other crews to get fake poses." Gasparde smiled- or, Luffy thought it was supposed to be a smile. It was hard to tell with that blocky face; the expression also looked kind of constipated, or like Gasparde was trying to eat his own nose. "As for your complaint about the bounty hunter… I don't remember ever doing anything to that whelp. And even if I did, why should you care? You're not friends. In fact, from the way you two were going at it in the bar last night, I'd say you were enemies."

Luffy glanced at Shuraiya out of the corner of his eye. "He underestimated me and my crew because I don't have a bounty," the rubber captain said quietly. "He thought I needed Ace to fight my battles for me, that I'm weak. I hate that- but I don't hate him."

"You, though…" Luffy glared up at Gasparde, "You're an asshole. I hate assholes- pirates, marines, anyone."

"And how do you know that?" Gasparde spread his arms wide. "All I've done is fake a few log poses in order to win a race- surely even goody-two-shoes kiddie pirates like yourself lie and cheat on occasion? To get something you really want?"

"So what you really want is money?" Luffy snorted. "That's a pretty lame dream." Yeah, Nami liked money, but it wasn't her dream. Her map was her dream.

Gasparde snorted. "It's not a dream, boy. Rookies like you, high on dreams- you're all such suckers. Money, power… I may hate the sea, but if I can have those, I can rule it. Dreams don't matter. The only thing that matters is who's on top, and I intend to make sure that's me."

Not another one. Luffy groaned, barely able to resist the urge to facepalm. "Why are there so many of you assholes? Axe Guy, Claw Guy, Krieg, Arlong, the dummy marine who was after the dragons, that weird family on Clockwork Island, Crocodile… You guys all piss me off! Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Luffy snapped a punch towards Gasparde. The other captain didn't raise a hand or weapon to block, didn't try to get out of the way… All he did was start laughing. "AHAHAHAHAHA!" And an instant later, Luffy knew why. Instead of hitting flesh, his punch sank into sticky green goo- which then hardened around his hand, preventing him from pulling it back.

"You'll never beat me with just a silly little paramecia fruit, boy." Gasparde smirked down at Luffy. Grabbing the rubber boy's stretched arm, the older captain dragged him in. "I ate the Candy-Candy Fruit- it's a logia. Everyone knows those are the most powerful kind of Devil Fruits." Once he had Luffy drawn in close, Gasparde slammed a punch into his stomach. The rubber boy flew backwards, arm still trapped. His back slammed into one of the masts of the Salamander hard enough to break it. The upper part fell sideways, tip coming down to drag in the sea as the wood snapped in two.

Standing up, Luffy spat out a couple splinters that had gotten in his mouth when the mast fell. "Punches won't work on me. I'm made of rubber."

Pulling hard on his still trapped arm, Luffy brought Gasparde skidding across the deck towards him. When the older pirate was close enough, the rubber boy stuck out his tongue and licked Gasparde's nose. The blockish captain was left stunned. As for Luffy…

"Ew! That's gross! I thought you said you were made of candy!" Blech! That was bitter and nasty! Like eating Chopper's medical experiments, or Johnny and Yosaku's pranks!

A swift kick to the stomach sent Gasparde staggering backwards and allowed Luffy to pull his hand back. Huh. So the bitter candy guy was only sticky sometimes. Maybe he couldn't turn into candy when he was surprised or grossed out? Well, Luffy could work with that.

"You little-!" Candy limbs deformed, then hardened into shiny green spikes. Gasparde lunged forwards, stabbing rapidly at Luffy. For a few minutes the young captain could do nothing but dodge- and even that wasn't really enough. For someone so large, Gasparde was fast. Out of every five stabs, two nicked Luffy as he failed to leap away quite fast enough. Shallow lines were soon dripping blood down his arms, legs, and sides; his vest was full of tears. And then one of the candy spears got him right below his right collarbone.

That one hurt.

"Argh!" Luffy skidded backwards on the rain slicked deck, automatically reaching up to clutch his wounded shoulder. Dark red welled up around his fingers. Ace- who'd been busy knocking out the last few of the crew members he and Robin had been fighting- looked over with concern.

"Do you want me to handle him, Lu?"

"NO!" Luffy did not need his big brother to fight his battles! He was a pirate captain now, dammit! Gritting his teeth, the rubber boy jumped at Gasparde with a snarl. "Gum-Gum Axe! Gum-Gum Rifle!"

A twisting, spinning rubber fist crashed into Gasparde's chest a second after Luffy's foot smashed down on the man's collarbone. Both limbs stuck fast. Green spikes of candy flew forwards, aimed at Luffy's face- Gasparde was using part of the candy as squishy, stretchy tentacles, then hardening the tip. Luffy wrenched himself free and rolled backwards just in time to avoid being impaled.

Gasparde made a face. "Ouch. That twisting one actually hurt a little." Then he shot more spiky tentacles at Luffy, forcing the rubber boy to dodge and leap around the deck. Like the animals for which his family was named, the young captain took to the tangled rigging in an attempt to make himself harder to hit. It helped a little- the lines bounced and twisted in the wind- but keeping a grip on the sopping rope was hard. And he'd still have to drop down to use most of his best attacks.

"Gum-Gum Spear!" Jamming his feet down towards Gasparde's head nearly got him stuck again; Luffy snapped his legs back and hit the deck in a roll, more candy tentacles chasing him. Eventually he took shelter behind a cannon, hoping for a brief reprieve. Dammit, how was he supposed to hit this guy?!

This was one of the times that Haki stuff Sabo had taught them about might be useful, wasn't it? But no one had managed to use it yet. Luffy growled. "Gum-Gum Gatling!"

Hitting fast seemed to keep him from getting stuck right away, at least. The problem was that he didn't seem to be doing much damage to Gasparde, and eventually the green candy goo caught Luffy's hands once more. Gasparde drew him in and grabbed him, holding him up with one hand. The older pirate flung Luffy over the side of the Salamander; rubber fingers barely managed to close over the rail fast enough to keep the rubber pirate from falling into the sea. Noticing this, Gasparde raced over, one hand morphing into candy spike tentacle as he prepared to strike. Luffy planted his feet on the hull of the ship and stretched back, preparing for a Gum-Gum Rocket that would hopefully knock Gasparde into the water.

KA-POOM!

Something inside the ship exploded, sending everyone on deck reeling. Ace, who'd been standing right on top of whatever blew up, was flung clear of the Salamander; Nami had to dive into the water to pull him out. Several of Gasparde's unconscious crew members were sent flying as well. The blond captain, meanwhile, staggered and spun as he struggled for balance. Seawater rushed into the hole the explosion had made in the hull; the Salamander slowly started to sink.

"Gum-Gum Rocket!" Luffy flung himself into the air. Once he was flying, he immediately reached down to grab the mast, which he heaved up to his level and aimed like a spear as he came down next to Gasparde. "Gum-Gum Bouquet!"

Wood stabbed through candy syrup with a sickening squelch. Droplets of green flew everywhere. Gasparde coughed violently, convulsing for a minute as the broken mast stabbed into his back. He was definitely in pain- and some of the oozing syrup had blood mixed into it this time. Then, ever so slowly, green goo began pushing the mast out of his body. Luffy watched in amazement as it fell away, taking a significant portion of the Salamander's rails with it.

"Ouch…" Gasarde's voice was hoarse with pain; he spat out a mix of blood and candy, and he didn't seem able to stand up straight. "That really hurt. You'll pay for that!"

More candy goo tentacles chased Luffy around, whipping and stabbing. The young captain held his hat on with a frown as he dodged. This was getting annoying! The candy man only had a couple of tricks, but they were pretty damn effective- Luffy couldn't seem to hurt him badly at all! Well, the mast had, maybe, but he wasn't likely to be able to pull something like that again. Grabbing the second mast- the one that was still standing tall- Luffy swung himself over the serpentine mass of goo tentacles and struck downwards. His only hope was that Gasparde, unable to stand straight, wouldn't be able to react in time if he attacked from above.

"Gum-Gum Spear!"

"Gya!" This time, Luffy's attack knocked Gasparde's face into the deck. The rubber boy paid for it though; one of the candy spears caught him in the thigh as he was coming down, punching a hole in the big muscle. Luffy winced as he landed, unable to put his weight on that leg.

KA-FA-THOOM!

Another thing inside the ship exploded, tearing the Salamander's hull clean in two. She started sinking much faster now, water rushing into her broken halves. Luffy and Gasparde were both sent staggering. The rubber boy grabbed onto a line to keep himself from falling into the water as the part of the ship he and the other captain were fighting on went nearly vertical. On the other section, he saw Johnny and Yosaku emerge from a hatch. Both were streaked with tar and coal dust; there was a small child in baggy, grubby clothes tucked under the green hunter's arm. Little fists pounded uselessly against his side as Yosaku carried the kid towards the Going Merry.

"Put me down! I have to go get Grandpa Biera!"

Yosaku shook his head. "Sorry Li'l Sis- I have my orders. Gotta get you out. Don't worry 'bout your grandpa though; Big Sis Jones or Big Bro Sanji will get him out."

Johnny leapt to the Going Merry and held out his arms; Yosaku threw the child to his partner before jumping over himself. The kid- from the way they were shrieking, Luffy thought they might be a girl, but he couldn't tell- struggled hard, almost making Johnny drop her. She even bit the blue hunter as he guided her over to Chopper to be checked out.

More spiked candy tentacles shot at Luffy as he dangled from the unbroken mast; the young captain swung himself out of the way and released his hold, flying across to cling to one of the Salamander's rails. There was nowhere to stand, really, with the segments of the ship going vertical as they sank, so it took Luffy a minute to spot his opponent. Ah, there. Gasparde was standing on a cannon not to far above the rising waterline, stiffly preparing to climb up the rails.

A hatch near Luffy's dangling feet popped open, revealing Sanji. The cook had a cigarette clenched between his teeth, though it was unlit; he was also carrying what looked like two sacks of flour. Luffy wondered what those were for. Sanji huffed as he looked out over the remains of the Salamander.

"Looks like you need to finish this quick, huh? Dammit, I told Jones to try and stall." Reaching around carefully, Sanji placed the bags of flour up on the rail beside Luffy. "Here. Found his log while I was down there; this should help with the shitty Devil Fruit it said he had."

Then the cook spied Shuraiya, still unconscious, draped across a cannon just above the waterline. "Want me to get that one, Shit Captain?"

"Yeah…" The bounty hunter probably didn't count as a prisoner, but since he wasn't actually on Gasparde's crew, they should save him too. Although with him and the little kid and the grandpa the kid had mentioned, they'd have to stop at a nearby island to drop people off before continuing on their adventure. But that was fine; it wouldn't take long.

Sanji nodded and dropped down to where Shuraiya lay. Heaving the bounty hunter up onto his shoulders, the cook glanced back at Luffy. "Need anything else while I'm here?"

"No, I think I'm good."

Nodding and leaping away, Sanji bounced through the Salamander's rigging on his way to the Going Merry. Luffy turned his attention to the sacks his cook had left behind with a frown. How was flour supposed to help him fight a man made of candy goo?! Flour wasn't a weapon! It was for making bread! Shaking his head, the rubber boy calmed himself down. After all, Sanji was a cook. If anyone knew about flour and candy, it was him. So when the next candy spear tentacle tried to stab him, Luffy flung one of the bags of flour in its way.

Fabric tore violently at the impact, sending a shower of white powder cascading down. Some of it also puffed up in Luffy's face, surrounding him with a cloud of white that made him sneeze. It didn't last long though; the rain weighed the floating powder down soon enough.

Down below, Gasparde was now covered in caked bits of flour. Kind of like Ace had been the one time Makino tried to bake with them. That memory made Luffy smile. His opponent, however, was most certainly not smiling as he climbed slowly up the rails. And then Gasparde flung out more spear tentacles. Luffy grabbed the remaining bag of flour and swung out of the way, wondering what he'd done wrong. The flour didn't seem to be doing much to the candy man at all.

Maybe he needed to be closer?

Swinging down through the rigging, Luffy flung his remaining bag of flour right in Gasparde's face with enough force that the bag exploded. White powder erupted around them, engulfing the candy man completely. When the rain cleared the air, Gasparde was still white. Unlike Luffy's rubber body, his candy goo made at least some of the flower stick to his skin and clothes in a thin layer.

Then Luffy kicked Gasparde in his ugly face and grinned, because that worked and he didn't stick and Sanji was a genius. He loved his crew so much!

"Gum-Gum Gatling!" Luffy let fly with a flurry of punches as he fell from the rigging to land on the slick surface of the mast proper. Gasparde curled in on himself and covered his head with one arm- but every punch still hit something and Luffy still wasn't getting caught in sticky candy goo. The older captain eventually managed to grab one of Luffy's arms and yank him closer with a loud snap; the rubber boy turned this into an opportunity to launch an elastic-assisted flying side kick into his opponent's gut before grabbing onto the rail.

Gasparde tried punching him again, but Luffy didn't mind that so much. With no more stabbing candy spears, the blond man couldn't open up any new wounds- although the ones Luffy already had bled a little more heavily when he was hit or if he moved around too much. He should probably get to Chopper so the reindeer could close those up.

Releasing his hold on the rail, the rubber captain pulled his arms back as he fell, preparing an attack. "Gum-Gum Bazooka!" He struck Gasparde in the chest at point-blank range. The older pirate, already weakened by flour and the injury to his back, was knocked clear of the rails and sent flying down into the sea. The candy pirate landed in slate grey water with a deceptively small splash.

Flinging his arm back, Luffy groped for the rail- and missed. He didn't have time for a second try; the rubber pirate hit the water face first, a glorious belly flop. His body felt suddenly heavy. Flailing sluggishly, Luffy slowly sank into the water ahead of the broken ship. A trail of blood bloomed through the water behind him.

X

"This one's all clear!" I shouted as I emerged from the galley of the Salamander. "Looks like no one's been there for a while- the bread's got mold on it!" And I'd been too slow to prevent Ruatha eating some of that moldy bread- I really hoped my dragon had a good immune system.

"Could be they just don't have a good cook," Johnny offered as he poked his head out of the head. "Not every crew can have a Big Bro Sanji, after all. Oh, and the head's clear too."

"Ouch! God fucking dammit!" Yosaku's voice echoed from inside a nearby cargo hold. There was a loud thumping noise, then rapid footsteps echoed against wood. The green hunter emerged into the hallway covered in grease and coal dust, a little girl tucked under one arm. She was gnawing on a loose bit of his sleeve in an attempt to escape. In his other hand, Yosaku held a battered flintlock pistol. "This Li'l Sis tried to shoot me!"

I crouched down and poked the girl in the forehead, startling her into giving up her attempt to chew through Yosaku's coat. "Hey, calm down. Are you a crew member or a prisoner?"

"What? Who're you?!" The little girl tried to bite my finger. I pulled my hand back; Ruatha hissed. Paling, the little girl froze, eyes blowing wide with fear.

"My name is Jones; these are Ruatha, Johnny and Yosaku. If you're a prisoner, our captain sent us to get you out."

"I, uh…" the little girl couldn't meet my eyes. Actually, her gaze was fixed on Ruatha's. "Grandpa Biera'n me are Gasparde's… We tend the steam engine! He makes us… Can you really get us out?"

"Of course we can. And I bet our captain is kicking Gasparde's ass right now." I ruffled the girl's hair. "So… Where's your grandpa? We'll get him too."

"Down… Grandpa's down in the engine room!" The girl rubbed her eyes, fighting back tears. "You go through the hold Yo- Yosaku found me in- there's a hatch on the other side. I'll show you."

Sanji joined us before we could go two steps, popping out of a nearby door. "That cabin was a shitty mess- but it's clear. Only thing was Gasparde's shitty captain's log." The cook huffed and smirked. "I must be cooking with too much honey lately, cause my fingers are pretty sticky." Sanji pulled a small book out of his pocket and waved it around.

"Anything useful in there?" I asked absently. Most of my attention was on wondering whether or not there would be any of Gasparde's crew mates guarding the engines. Sanji nodded.

"Five years ago, Gasparde ate a shitty Devil Fruit. Candy-Candy Fruit. Our shitty captain could be in for a nasty surprise."

A Candy-Candy-? Wow. That was weird even by Devil Fruit standards. I had no idea whether that would be a paramecia or logia type. Frowning, I looked at the cook. He shook his head before I could say anything. "Already working on it Jones. Leave it to me; I know candy and stuff better than you. I'll get the shitty captain what he needs, since he'll prob'ly still insist on fighting the candy shithead on his own. You just keep worrying about the prisoners. Galley's clear, right?"

"Yeah, the galley's clear." I waved the cook on. Johnny, Yosaku, and I continued into the cargo hold with the little girl. Ruatha hissed at shadows as we walked, his fangs gleaming with saliva, almost daring something to come fight us.

We were halfway across the room when, somewhere below our feet, something exploded. A hole tore open in the floor; the blast flung me and my dragon away from the hunters and the girl. I closed my eyes and covered my head, rolling as I hit the floor. Ruatha shrieked and clung to me so tightly that his claws carved slices out of my shoulders. Heat blistered and rolled around me momentarily, like being caught in a sauna that had also been lit on fire. It was mostly gone an instant later My roll nearly carried me into the sea; the explosion had left a section of hull splintered and gone.

In my not-so-professional opinion, it looked like a boiler had just blown. Or maybe a large pipe, at the very least.

When I looked up, Johnny and Yosaku were on the other side of a fifteen-foot gap. The girl was dangling over the open space it revealed. Yosaku hauled her up; she fought against him as he held her back. "I need to get Grandpa Biera!"

"Where's the hatch?" Johnny asked as Yosaku wrapped his arm around the girl's shoulders. "Where's your grandfather?"

The girl pointed at my side of the hole. She tugged against Yosaku's grip, almost pulling free and tumbling over the edge; her face was streaked with tear stripes in coal dust. Then the ship began to list as water rushed in the hole in the hull. The girl stumbled against Yosaku as the floor tilted. Water began to fill the room below; clouds of steam soon followed.

I had no idea if the Salamander had multiple boilers, or if the one that had already blown was finished with us. Merde, I barely even know how boilers and steam engines work. Off to my left, I could see a hatchway leading down below; it must be the one the girl meant. By the time I decided what to do, the ship was listing well towards me, her floor at a good thirty-degree angle. Barrels rolled across the floor of the hold as I got to my feet. I increased the friction between myself and the wood to compensate for the angle.

"Johnny, Yosaku, get her out of here!"

"But-!"

"Big Sis!

The little girl tried to bite Yosaku again to get away. She couldn't do anything though, and I wasn't about to risk her if the boiler had any more surprises or companions in store. I couldn't do the Voice like Sabo, didn't have the authority of Luffy or Zoro's power. All I could do was shoot the hunters a glare, my eyes as wide as possible as my scars twisted my face into a fearsome snarl. Ruatha hissed to emphasize my words. "That's an order, sailors! Get her out of here! I'll find her grandfather!"

Johnny looked like he was about to protest; Yosaku kicked him in the back of the leg and nodded towards the door. With one last glance back at me, the hunters headed back out the way we'd come. When the girl didn't immediately follow them, Yosaku picked her up under his arm. She continued to squirm and protest on the way out.

I went for the hatch- then decided at the last minute that it would be faster to just jump through the hole. Waist-deep water sapped my strength as I landed. It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other, swinging my head from side to side and looking for any sign of a man old enough to qualify as a grandfather. Ruatha crooned with concern. Going down the hatch instead of jumping wouldn't have helped with that, though. The water was everywhere.

Limp muscles forced me to lean on whatever I could in order to support myself as the water grew deeper. I climbed on top of barrels and crates when I could; they offered a small amount of relief. It helped that about half the ship was uphill from me. The water was shallower in some areas, or at least not rising as fast. My head spun. So weak… I usually love my powers, but this side effect was a bitch of an inconvenience. In an effort to make me feel better, Ruatha slithered down off my back, walking beside me and letting me lean in him. That helped a little.

Staggering around a heap of crates, I found myself standing between towering heaps of coal. Directly in front of me was a massive boiler, a brilliant fire roaring away beneath her. An old man stood in front of the boiler, leaning on a shovel and wiping a mix of sweat and coal from his forehead with one hand. The water was up to his knees, cold and clammy; he didn't seem to notice. Steam rose up in front of him where the water met the firebox.

"Sir!" I sloshed through the water towards him, nearly falling to my knees. Tabarnak… My muscles felt like they were made of overcooked spaghetti. Ruatha more or less held me upright with his head, crooning sadly and looking up at me with blue eyes full of reproach. "Sir, is your name Biera?"

The old man turned to look at me, his greasy, threadbare cap flopping over his eyes. "I- Yes. Who told you that?"

"Your granddaughter. I'm here to get you out." I leaned heavily against one of the heaps of coal to give Ruatha a break. On a whim, I slipped several handfuls into one of my pockets. The Salamander was going down; it wasn't like she'd need them anymore, regardless of what was happening between Luffy and Gasparde.

Biera's eyes widened with fear. "You- you knew Adelle was a girl? But her disguise-!"

"May be enough to fool a bunch of morganeers who don't give a damn, but doesn't hold up when people actually care. Now come on; I have to get you out of here."

"No." Biera turned away from me, back to the boiler. He coughed into his sleeve before continuing. "I've been with this girl since the beginning, and I'll see her through to the end."

"I can't let you do that." Stumbling forwards through the rising water, I made to grab the old man by the arm. Biera turned slightly; I would've staggered past and landed on my face had he not grabbed me by the back of my bandoliers and held me upright.

"You're a Devil Fruit user, aren't you? Get out of here; if you stay much longer, you'll lose all strength and drown."

"Your granddaughter wants you out, and my captain ordered me to rescue any prisoners I could find." Trying to straighten, I couldn't really manage. My breath was coming in heavy pants as I fought the ocean-borne fatigue; salt water swirled around my waist and inched upwards. It was level with Ruatha's head now; my dragon swam circles around me and Biera, paddling with his wings and tail. "I can't leave you here."

"You must." Biera pushed me back the way I'd come, towards the hatch that I hadn't used. That light force nearly overthrew my balance.

I was just getting my feet back under me when something pinged beside me. Biera hesitated; I froze and looked around. A bolt rolled on top of a crate in front of me. I glanced back at the old man. "The thing that blew earlier… Was it an auxiliary boiler type thing, or a pipe?"

"Auxiliary boiler?" Biera raised an eyebrow. "The Salamander only has one boiler."

…

Tabarnak.

Concussive force blasted into my back, sending me tumbling into the water in front of me. Biera landed on my back. Heat washed over us; so much heat. Almost like being tackled by Ace again. The shriek of tearing steel set my ears to ringing. It was followed in less than half a second by a hundred cracking, popping noises as wood split and splintered. The plopping noises that came afterwards, as bits of wood and steel fell into the water, were massively anticlimactic.

When I raised my head, the floor was tilting even more than before, water rushing up towards my neck. I didn't have the strength to move anymore; I could barely hold my head up. Ruatha tried to help, nudging me with his head, but he wasn't strong enough to move me yet. Even from where I was, I could see the source of the new influx of water. The ship had been split in two, a massive chunk missing where the boiler had been. My half was sinking slightly more slowly than the other, but that doesn't mean much when you can't swim.

Biera pulled a bunch of life preservation rings from a hidden corner. He squashed himself through about six of them, then shoved two more over me. Grabbing my hand, the old man began dragging me through the water. "Come on Missie. Let's get out of here."

My brain was going hazy; it took a few seconds for me to process those words. "But I thought you said-?"

"That I'd see this girl through to the end? Aye, that I did. But I have no intention of going down with her now that she'd gone." Biera continued to pull me along, dragging me through the water. Ruatha chirped happily and swam after us. "I don't mean to die just yet. Of course, getting out of here would be easier if I didn't have a Devil Fruit user to shepherd around- you should've left when I told you."

"Sorry…" I tried to move, to walk under my own power, but with that much seawater, it just wasn't happening. Not until Biera started heaving me up a ladder, pulling me out. The feeling came back into my limbs as we rose to the next level, where there wasn't much water yet. Of course, it was coming up quickly, and we'd brought a fair bit with us. My clothes felt like they were made of soaked lead. The floor continued to tilt, steeper and steeper, until we were basically climbing doorways and hatches and light fixtures like some bizarre funhouse ladder. Ruatha, unable to reach most of the holds, climbed back to his accustomed place on my shoulders; I winced as his claws stung the slices he'd made earlier.

It probably only took us a couple of minutes to get out to the deck- although it felt like forever. Once we emerged from the hatch, Biera immediately began climbing the rails and things towards a nearby landing craft. I made to follow- and then froze at a loud cry from the other half of the sinking ship.

"Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

I saw my captain slam Gasparde down into the water, watched with mounting horror as Luffy missed when he tried to grab a rail. The smack when he hit the water was a loud, echoing noise, even over the wind and rain. Red bloomed in the water; my blood ran cold.

"LUFFY!"

What followed was what I'm going to declare the greatest derp of my life. Despite having just gotten my strength back after being pulled out of the water, I immediately forgot about by Devil Fruit and dove in. Ruatha keened as we fell, wrapping himself around me more tightly and opening his wings. He couldn't stop our descent, though; he didn't actually know how to fly yet, and even if he did, he wasn't large enough to carry me. He tried though… My poor little dragon flapped until he dislodged a few scales, his wings straining.

He probably would've kept flapping even longer, but then I hit the water and started sinking like a brick. Ruatha immediately unwound from my shoulders and swam under me, trying to push me upwards. He was too small though. I waved weakly towards Luffy, barely visible through the blue-grey water. "Him. See if you can save the captain." Of course, all that came out of my mouth was a stream of bubbles, so I don't think Ruatha heard or understood.

The last thing I saw before my vision went black was my dragon opening his mouth as if to scream, a bubble the size of a beach ball shooting out far faster than I thought bubbles could go.

X

Burning lungs. That was the first coherent thought I had. I shot up, coughing- and immediately bounced my head off something that felt like a heavy winter tire. Opening my eyes, I found myself staring into deep pools of darkest brown. My captain. Luffy was in the same state as me- dazed, drained, and coughing up enough water to fill a kiddie pool. But at least we were both alive. The surface beneath us bobbed up and down in the waves of the slowly-abating storm- the little landing craft Biera had taken from the Salamander.

"Monah!" Within a second of sitting up, Ruatha ploughed into my chest. My dragon started licking my face, tail lashing happily. I grabbed his snout and shoved him off.

"Down boy! That's gross!" Wiping dragon spit off my face, I turned to look at Luffy. "You okay captain?"

"Yep!" Luffy beamed and bounced in place. Then we both turned to the stern of the little boat, where Biera was sitting and steering. The old man chuckled and shook his head.

"You kids are lucky I managed to get you out in time. I'm an old man, you know; I'm not as strong as I used to be, and you two are heavier than you look."

"Shishishishishi! Thanks old guy!" Luffy waved enthusiastically, even though Biera was sitting less than half a meter away. Then my captain bounced to his feet- nearly capsizing the tiny boat in the process- and shaded his eyes as he looked around. "Hey! Can you guys see the Going Merry?"

I looked around, but I couldn't see anything over the waves. And Ruatha's attempts at searching were adorable, but fruitless- they did nothing besides make him look like a cute, scaly periscope. Biera just shrugged; he'd never even seen the Going Merry, probably. When no one answered him, Luffy immediately began yelling.

"OI! NAMI! ZORO! GHIN! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!"

For a few long seconds, no one answered. I was just starting to worry that we'd gone too far for them to hear us when voices echoed across the water. They were followed seconds later by the sight of a Jolly Roger bobbing above the waves. "Luffy? Sanji, turn us fifteen degrees to starboard! I see Luffy and Jones!"

The Merry came around quickly, pulling up alongside Biera's little boat. Zoro dropped a couple of lines, which I tied to each end of the tiny craft so the bosun could haul us up. We'd barely taken a step on deck when the little girl I'd sent with Johnny and Yosaku jumped at us and tackled the old man in a forceful hug. "Grandpa Biera!"

"Don't worry dear, I'm alright." The old man hugged his granddaughter- then immediately proved his words wrong by coughing into her greasy cap. She flinched and looked up at him in concern.

Chopper came trotting over before the little girl could say anything to Biera. "Sir, you most certainly are not okay. Please come with me and let me perform an examination; I'm a doctor."

"You're a doctor?" Biera's voice was dubious. Then the little reindeer shifted from Walk Point to Heavy Point, and the old man's eyes went wide. Biera pried himself free of his granddaughter and patted her on the head. "Alright. You stay here Adelle. I'm sure I'll be alright with the reindeer doctor."

Nodding and wiping watery eyes, the little girl stepped back. Biera patted her one more time before following Chopper to the galley for his checkup. Oddly enough, Shuraiya- who was curled into a bony ball at the base of the mast- flinched at the sound of Adelle's name.

Luffy marched over to stand in front of the bounty hunter, folding his arms. "I dealt with Gasparde. Just like I said I would."

Shuraiya's voice was quiet and raspy, choked. "I didn't ask you to."

"Yeah. But I did anyway." Luffy frowned. "Now I just have to decide what to do with you."

Flinching, Shuraiya looked up for the first time. "I- I'm sorry about what I said about what I said- about you and your crew, I mean."

Luffy shook his head. "That's not what I meant. You said you want to die- I don't like that. People who give up hope - it's such a waste. Everyone's good for something, and the only way you can make your life better is by fighting for it."

"There's nothing left for me to fight for," Shuraiya snapped. "Gasparde's men killed my sister ten years ago- avenging her was all I had. And you even took that away from me."

My captain looked like he was about to say something, but he was stopped by Ace putting a hand on his shoulder. "What was your sister's name?" the freckled pirate asked.

Shuraiya blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Tell me about your sister," Ace ordered gently. "What was her name? What did she like to do?" Stepping away from Luffy, the firecracker sat down by the base of the mast, at right angles to the bounty hunter. "I lost a brother once, you know. Lu and I both. Course, we were lucky; we got Sabo back."

"Adelle…" From raspy to shaking- Shuraiya seemed like he could barely get the words out. "My sister's name was Adelle Bascud. She liked dancing, and she loved to sing- even if she was a bit clumsy and tone-deaf." The bounty hunter ended his description with a forced chuckle. Although it sounded more like a strangled cough.

Adelle sniffled, peering over at Shuraiya. "You… Grandpa Biera says my name is Adelle Bascud. It was on my bracelet when he found me."

"Found-?" Shuraiya's head snapped up. His eyes were filled with- hope?

"Grandpa Biera pulled me out of the water when I was little. He brought me on the Salamander when Gasparde captured him, and convinced the pirates I was a boy and his assistant so they'd let me live." Adelle reached into the pocket of her overalls and rummaged around for a minute, then pulled out a string of dirty beads. She dangled it in front of Shuraiya hesitantly; the bounty hunter's face lit up.

"I- That bracelet. I made that for my sister's fourth birthday."

Rising, Shuraiya leaned forwards as if to hug Adelle- then pulled back at the last moment. He looked at his own hands as if he didn't recognize them, distaste filling his eyes. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Shuraiya glanced at the deck off to one side. "I- I'm glad he was there to save you."

Adelle just stared up at him for a long, long time. After a few minutes, she cocked her head to the side, puzzled. Shuraiya frowned. "What's wrong?"

"If you're my big brother… Why did you stop?" The little girl motioned towards the bounty hunter's hands. Shuraiya slumped and turned away.

"Because I don't deserve to hold you. Not after some of the things I've done. I- I'm not proud of the road I took chasing Gasparde."

Flump. Adelle collided with her brother's back, wrapping her arms around his waist. Shuraiya stiffened, stunned. "I'm not proud of some of the things I did either," the little girl said quietly. "The night before the race, I stole a pistol and went looking for bounties- Grandpa was sick, and Gasparde said if I brought him the head of one of his competitors, he'd give me the money to get medicine. But I couldn't find any posters for people I thought I could fight."

"No…" Somehow turning in his sister's arms, Shuraiya bent down to hug Adelle tightly. "You shouldn't have had to do that. I- I'm glad you didn't find anyone; it means your hands are still clean. I'm sorry- so sorry."

"What're you apologizing for?" Adelle pulled back. Then she held out her greasy, coal-encrusted hands. "And whose hands are you calling clean? I spent all my life digging in the coal and fixing the boiler- I bet your hands are all soft and fluffy like a towel!"

"Hey! Who're you calling fluffy?!" Shuraiya smiled in spite of himself. Sticking her tongue out, Adelle poked him and raced off across the deck; her older brother hesitated for a moment, then took off after her.

From his position by the mast, Ace smiled. He watched Adelle and Shuraiya for a moment, then pulled his hat forwards over his eyes in preparation for a nap. Chuckling, Luffy sat down and took his place beside his older brother, tugging golden straw down in a mimicry of orange felt.

"Shishishishishi!"

X

Sailing on towards Partia- we'd managed to get the real eternal pose from the wreckage of the Salamander- we were met with sunny skies as the storm faded away. There was no sign of any other pirate crews as we sailed. Probably most of them had sunk each other, and the remainder had been tricked by Gasparde's fake poses and run into Navarone. I didn't say anything about that to Luffy though. He probably would've been unhappy if I commented and explained our easy win.

Of course, that assumed there was still a race to win. It could very well have been a hoax orchestrated by Gasparde, void after his defeat.

Leaning back against the rail, I put the finishing touches on a couple of manuscripts and set them off to the side. Now I just needed to send them off. It was a little later than I'd hoped for, but it should still work. With nothing else to do until I was called for steering or rigging related purposes, I pulled one of the lumps of coal I'd taken from the Salamander out of my pocket. Seeing all that coal had given me an idea; now I wanted to test it.

Before that, though, I drummed my fist on my knee for a while, until I'd built up enough force to make myself feel sick. I'd need a lot of it for what I wanted to do- wasn't even sure if one full charge would be enough. Completely enclosing the coal in my hands, I began releasing force from all sides, as steady as I could.

"Under Pressure!"

Compressing the coal drained my charge quickly. Straining my attention, I absorbed the friction between myself and the deck, turning that into more pressure between my hands. I slid across the Merry as I focused on my task. Adelle, Biera, and Shuraiya stared; everyone else ignored it as just another one of my shenanigans.

The coal heated up between my hands- first pleasantly, then uncomfortably. As I applied more and more force, the lump slowly shrank. This made it easier to wrap my hands around my burden, but also meant I was more subject to the heat. I held on as long as I could; when the heat finally became too much to bear, I released a final burst of force and dropped the coal.

Except it wasn't coal anymore. What landed on the deck was a tiny, steaming stone that glittered glassy, slightly yellowish light. I grinned. So my idea was right. Pulling out the other lumps I'd taken, I got to work.

It took several hours to complete this task- I had to pause after every couple of stones and shake my hands out to release the heat. Even so, I had minor burns by the time I was done. I also had a bad headache and a trickle of blood running down from my left nostril, but I didn't care. I was ecstatic. Because this? This meant my powers didn't just make me bullet-proof; they made me Nami-proof as well.

Rising, I gathered my stones and practically skipped over to where Nami was marking our course. Ruatha galloped along beside me. I dropped the handful of stones I'd made onto the sailing master's table, clearing my throat loudly to make sure she heard me. Nami jumped; she'd been rather intently focused.

"There. Paid in full."

"What?" Nami glanced up at me, then down at the stones. "Jones… What's this? What do you mean, paid in full?"

"My debt. You know, the one you slapped on me for accidentally taking down the wall in the bathhouse?" I nodded towards the stones. "Those should be more than enough to pay 50,000,000 beri."

Blink. Blink. Nami shook her head in disbelief and shot me a very odd look. "Jones… You know I didn't mean that, right? I was surprised and angry- I reacted without thinking. That sort of thing… If you could ask Nojiko, she'd tell you I threatened her with debt five times a day. But unless I actually lent you money first, or something else that you lost or broke and I expect you to replace, you don't have to pay me back. Sorry; I had to explain that to a couple of the guys, but I didn't think you of all people would need a heads up."

…

WHAT?!

"Wait- you're saying that I don't owe you money?" I wiped away the blood trickling down from my nose. Nami nodded.

"That's exactly what I'm saying- although I'll certainly accept if you're offering." The sailing master considered me for a long moment, then sighed and rubbed her temples. "That comic of yours- it showed someone legitimately getting in debt with me, didn't it? So you were afraid of the kind of interest I might charge. But it didn't show everything…"

"Apparently not…" My brain went numb, shell-shocked. I moved on autopilot to scoop up the stones. Well, that was a few hours of my life down the toilet. Although I suppose it wasn't a complete waste, since technically I'd been training with my Devil Fruit.

Nami reached out at the last minute to grab my wrist. "Wait! Jones… Are those diamonds?"

"Eh? Umm… Yes."

"Where did you find diamonds in the middle of the ocean?" My hand opened on reflex when Nami pressed a certain point on my wrist. The sailing master examined my stones intently, her eyes sparkling as if made of the same substance.

"I made them." Shrugging, I picked up the largest stone and held it in front of my eye. It wasn't good quality- definitely yellowish, and there were cloudy lines running through it- but I personally find them more interesting that way. "The Salamander was a steamship; it ran on coal. Compress coal for long enough and it becomes a diamond. Compression's a force, so I just sped the process along a little. Or, well, a lot."

"If I swung that way, I'd kiss you." Nami was still staring at the stones in my hand. "I'm still tempted, honestly. Do you know how much money you could make? You can make diamonds. As long as we could find coal, we'd never have to worry about going broke."

"Until I flooded the market with diamonds and they were worth barely more than chips of jasper." As I said it, my blood ran cold. Not because of the possibility of flipping the economy upside down- that might be fun- but because if occurred to me what the Celestial Dragons might be willing to pay for someone who could create diamonds. My fruit was considered useless because most people in the One Piece world didn't have a decent science education, but if the people in power knew what it was actually capable of… And I was probably just scratching the surface.

Nami may not have known what I was thinking, but she certainly understood the economic consequences. Probably better than I did. "Okay, new plan. We'll occasionally sell off the best diamonds- just enough to keep our funds from running dry. The rest, you use for whatever you want- experiments, weapon edging, jewellery."

"Y-Yeah… Probably the best plan." I placed the large diamond I'd been examining down on Nami's desk. My hands were shaking. "Here. That one's yours."

"Aw… Thank you. It's beautiful." Nami picked up the stone as I walked away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her snuggling it to her cheek.

I went around the ship then, giving one of the diamonds to each of my crew mates. Reactions varied wildly- Robin stared at the stone, a dazed, bewildered smile on her face, while Lisa jumped up and hugged me, then ran off in search of Usopp in the hopes he could help her set it in a necklace. Zoro, Johnny, and Yosaku all tied the stones to the sheaths of their swords- not Wado Ichimonji in the case of the bosun, of course. Sandai Kitetsu. Usopp began work setting his into the buckle of his bag; Sanji clipped his to his tie, and Ghin chuckled and glued his into the lightning bolt carving on the armband I'd made him. Drifter tucked his into his pocket, a small smile on his furry face. Geier's expression was harder to read, but she bobbed her head at me before slipping her diamond into her helmet. When I gave Chopper his, he danced around for a minute before rushing to look at it under his microscope. And Ruatha… Well, Ruatha hoarded the stone I gave him like the dragon he was, coiling himself around the little diamond and hissing at anyone who came near.

Luffy was the last one I found, still sitting by the mast with Ace. The freckled pirate appeared to be asleep. I tossed the last of my home-made diamonds to my captain; he caught it on reflex, blinking in confusion. "Huh? Jones? What's this?"

"I made a thing. Been giving them to everyone."

"Oh. Cool." Luffy smiled at the diamond for a minute, then reached up to tuck it into the ribbon of his hat.

"You know," Ace murmured, raising a corner of his hat, "Most people wouldn't be so cavalier about giving diamonds away."

"Yeah, I know. Nami and I already talked about it; decided this was for the best because reasons."

"Huh. Well, in that case, where's mine?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, all out. Guess I only made enough for the crew- unless you wanna fight Ruatha for his."

"Heh. No thanks."

My mouth quirked up to one side as I shook my head. "Tell you what- bring me a piece of coal and I'll make you one special. You're still my favourite, after all."

Ace chuckled and dropped his hat back down. A second later, low snores emerged from under the brim. Luffy smiled and leaned in close to whisper to me. "Don't tell Sabo, but… Ace was always my favourite too. Sabo was the nice one, but Ace's more fun. Even when he was kicking me off cliffs and stuff."

It wasn't long after that that we got to Partia. The island was small, quiet; it had a single town with a small port and about two hundred brightly painted buildings. We brought the Merry in close, anchoring her just a few meters offshore. Biera and Adelle got ready to lower the old man's boat into the water and head to shore; I stopped them, eyebrow raised. "You guys aren't planning to head off alone, are you?"

"Well, yes." Biera pushed his hat out of his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "We can't exactly expect you to stick around to help us get settled."

Luffy stood up and walked over to lean on the rail. "We won't stay long, but we won the race, didn't we? I don't see anyone else here. We should at least pick up what we won."

"Plus I have a couple packages I need to mail." I quickly scribbled out some addressed and slapped them on the books I wanted to send off. Although I wasn't sure what would happen to the one labelled "For the Largest Gaming Company Available." Pretty certain the one addressed to "Vice-Admiral Jonathan, Navarone" would get to its intended recipient, though.

KRA-POOM!

The sudden sound of cannon fire made me jump and cover my ears. And I wasn't the only one. Everyone from Robin to Adelle looked around sharply. Tabarnak. There, on the horizon. Marine man o'war, first-class. I glanced up at our sails and flag, but it was too late to try to hide. We'd already been seen.

"Merde." Palm met forehead with a resounding smack. Of course… Of course something would happen to keep me from sending my packages off.

Luffy, meanwhile was bouncing with excitement. "You mean we're finally gonna get chased by marines? Like pirates should be?"

"Hey!" Usopp threw a bottle at the captain's head. It bounced off with a hollow thwack. "We've been chased by marines before! What about the guy who wanted the dragons?"

"Nah. He was just an asshole."

Shuraiya shook his head as he, Adelle, and Biera got ready to depart. "You're a very strange pirate crew, I'll give you that. And I've seen my fair share, so I know what I'm talking about." Then the bounty hunter held out his hand to me. "Here. Those manuscripts- I'll send them off for you. It must be difficult for a pirate to walk into a post office."

"Eh? Oh, thanks." Surprised, I handed the packages over to Shuraiya. He tipped his hat.

"Don't mention it. I- I want to start over, be a better brother for Adelle now that… Now that I actually have her. No more bounty hunting for me. It'll take time, but…"

Adelle hugged her big brother from behind. "But I'm sure he can do it! Come on Shu-Shu, we've gotta go!"

Zoro and Ghin helped the little family lower their boat to the sea. Once the tiny craft touched the water, Shuraiya launched her away from the Going Merry with a powerful kick. I winced at the shock of force that ran through our ship's hull. It was certainly understandable- they needed to be well away from us before the marines spotted them, in order to avoid questioning- but I wasn't fond of the potential damage to the Merry, however slight it may be. And Shuraiya kicked like Sanji, so the damage wasn't exactly slight.

Yes, I could tell from the amount of force running through the hull that Shuraiya and Sanji were roughly equal in strength. The more force I absorbed and played with, the better I was getting at measuring it. Still couldn't do the math, though.

The little boat shot away from us, nearly skipping across the waves for the first few meters. Adelle and Biera waved goodbye as they approached the shore; Luffy waved back so enthusiastically that he nearly sent himself tumbling overboard. Shuraiya, meanwhile, just smirked and tipped his hat.

Waiting those few seconds so the little family could get to shore without being seen around our ship cost us though. By the time the Going Merry got moving, the man o'war was close enough that I could see the faces of her men. And identify at least one of them- pretty sure that grumpy mug at the bow belonged to Lieutenant Drake of Navarone. And since we were in the harbour, which was technically a bay… Yeah, getting out past a man o'war would be a difficult trick.

Ghin apparently agreed, since he was already climbing into the rigging, voice a-roar. "All hands on deck! Up anchor! Nami, whatever you did with your weather-stick this morning, you'd best do it again- I'll make sure you've got a full mainsail to work with. Johnny, Yosaku, keep an eye on the mizzen! Sanji, to the whipstaff- point us nine degrees to port!"

Everyone rushed into position. I had no orders, and Lisa was already on her way to the crow's nest, so I headed up to help Ghin aloft. That is, until the sight of a sleeping Ace at the base of the mast made me pause and smile. Because yes. Just yes. I wasn't my beta reader, couldn't maintain that all-encompassing silliness she loved so much- but every once in a while… Aye, every once in a while, her logic was just the thing. Sorry Blue; I'll be taking a page out of your fanfic for this one.

Instead of climbing into the rigging, I kicked Ace in the ribs. His body turned to flames just after impact, although being asleep, his reactions weren't instantaneous. The firecracker opened one eye to stare up at me. "What was that for?"

"Get to the stern. We need to try something." My voice was flat and even, but I had the biggest shit-eating grin you ever did see lighting up my face.

Ace stood, his eyebrows creased together with concern. "Should I be worried? You're smiling like Lu when he thought he invented a new way to cook alligator. It didn't work. Explosively."

I shook my head. "Nah, nothing to worry about. This'll either work exactly how I think it should, or nothing'll happen at all. What I need you to do is brace yourself against the stern rail and throw fire back- as much and as hard as you can. Kinda like a primitive version of your Striker."

"That… That might actually work." Ace's eyes were wide; his eyebrows rose up to hide under his hat. "Alright, let's give it a try."

Beaming, I made my way to the stern alongside my favourite character. I yelled loudly as I did so, a warning. After all, if this worked, it wouldn't do to have anybody flying overboard. "EVERYONE GRAB ONTO SOMETHING! BRACE YOURSELVES!"

It said something about the organization- or lack thereof- of the Straw Hat crew that no one hesitated in listening to me despite me not being one of the ranking officers. Even Ruatha and Geier gripped tight to the rails with their talons. Usopp, lines wrapped around his arms and his knuckles white from the grip he was exerting on the ropes, shot me a nervous look.

"Um… Er, Jones… What're you doing?"

"Either making my beta reader proud or blatantly ripping her off. Probably both." I waited until Sanji had turned the ship before tightening my own hold on the rails and giving the command. "Alright, Ace- NOW!"

Fire roared out of the freckled pirate's hands. At first that's all it was- a roar. Heat and noise to make me wish I could risk covering my ears; it felt like my face was getting an instant sunburn, my eyes narrowed to slits as I squinted back at the flames. And then, like a rocket beginning its rise into the air, we moved. Slowly at first, then faster and faster as the Going Merry overcame inertia. Within about thirty seconds, we were flying past Lieutenant Drake's man o'war, our ship practically skipping over the waves. The motion- and the rhythmic impacts it created- made me ill; I vomited over the side as excess force built up in my system.

Right. Blue had this as one of the reasons her version of the Going Merry couldn't be saved. Excessive use of brakeless Ace rockets. Osti de tabarnak de calice, I'm an idiot.

"Shishishishishi!" Luffy, clinging to the figurehead, apparently loved the speed and bouncing. One hand held his hat to his head; his other three limbs were wound around Merry in a tight knot of a hug. Despite my nausea and my misgivings about the ship, I couldn't help but smile. Luffy's laughter is that infectious.

It helped that the look on Drake's face as we went whizzing by was hilarious. I don't think he had time to identify us as anything more than a fire-propelled blur- certainly not to see our individual faces. His jaw dropped to the deck of his ship and his eyes bulged out; dark skin paled several shades. Hell, I think even his sideburns were running for cover- I'd have to ask Chopper if that was a thing in this world.

Then the Going Merry bounced off the crest of an unusually high wave and we were suddenly airborne, still shooting forward under rocket power. Not high, and I doubted we'd be up for long, but for a few seconds, I got a glorious preview of what a Coup de Burst might feel like later on. And despite the shock of force from that wave making me hurl again, my smile grew into full-blown laughter.

"Sesehihihihihi! Houston, we have liftoff!" That said, we were never doing this again. Bad Jonesie, bad!