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?

29. Rising Action

Rising Action: a series of events building towards the point of greatest interest.

LittleAngel2292: Yes, Mihawk. ^_^

Gamelover41592: Thanks.

Gerbilfriend: Thanks. I'll still be trying to update faster in the future. Just... Had a lot going on, the last few months.

Krazyfanfiction1: / Thank you very much.

Sideshowmail: Thank you for your understanding. Here's Jaya.

trilbybard: Thanks! And thanks for all the information about Roman culture.

ClairvoyantMarauder: Don't worry about long reviews— I think they're wonderful! Thanks!

Luffylover: Thank you very much. Hope your reread is all caught up though, cause it's go time!

AnerianJames: True, very true.

Guest (January 6): *is covered in bunnies and kittens* Thank you! And you're welcome!

JOtakuAnime: Can't find a door? Sorry, I'm confused... Although from the emoticon you left, I take it this is a good thing?

Dragondancer81: You need wait no longer.

FairyGirl960: And here it is.

The Keeper of Worlds: Jones will never quite be managing that, but her powers are scary enough without it, ne?

Sage McGavin: You win... Ruatha snuggles! *baby dragon poofs over to hug you*

rosewillow narusasufangirl: That would be an interesting omake idea, yes. I might try it someday...

AckSed: Eheh... Sorry? And thanks.

Insanity Lord: Don't worry, that's not how Jones' story is going to end.

Modnartenstein: I agree... Every once in a while, I've been slipping up on characterization. I'm trying to do better, but sometimes things still slip through the cracks. Thank you very much!

ShinigamiMaster: Thank you very much! And it is indeed GO TIME!

tanithlipsky: It was Ruatha wishing everyone a merry Christmas. Sorry...

The Pyro Jawsome: No, not bad. *protects your head from smacks*

deant33: Rectify? There are more ways to get someone's attention than simply with a large bounty. Rest assured, Patient and I have everything well under control as far as attracting the interest of characters such as Law and Jinbe. But yes, when the Straw Hats get bounties, they'll be pretty enormous. After all... Won't the government be scared when they realize that not only was such a powerful pirate crew flying under the radar, they occasionally approached the marines for funding?

Awareness Bringer: It did. But I can get it back easily enough. Thanks, though.

A/N: I'm back! Sorry it took so long, everybody— a lot of things have been coming up the last couple months. Family stuff, work stuff, depression stuff... But it should be all settled now, and hopefully I can get back to updating a little more frequently again.

Also, I've made some changes to a few of my old chapters. Chapters Dramatic Irony, Chorus, and Alliteration have seen some tweaking— especially Alliteration, which has a whole new scene— which went up around when I posted this chapter, so if you haven't read those since before February 18, 2018, you might want to reread. Later than that, though, and you're probably good.

"Jones…" Sanji asked cautiously, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out how to fold an egg." I stared at the small, white object in my hand intently, wondering what folding an egg meant. It couldn't mean actual folding- you can't fold something so round and brittle.

"But you don't need to fold an egg for this recipe." The cook reached over to the bowl where I'd been making the pie filling a few minutes ago. Tasting it, he frowned. "Jones… What does a dash of salt mean where you come from?"

"Eh?" Distracted from my egg considerations, I glanced up at Sanji. "It means just a little bit. So I just sort of… flicked the shaker like this to get a little bit out." I demonstrated the motion with my egg.

Skin smacked against skin as Sanji facepalmed. "That's way too much. Ergh…" The cook dragged his hand down his face. "Look, I hate admitting defeat to that shitty swordsman, but it's been over a week and you're not getting any better. If the island you're expecting's close, you're never gonna learn in time. Look… Whatever you need cherry pie for, just let me do it."

"It's not something you can do." I put the egg down on the counter. My voice was low; I couldn't look Sanji in the eye. "Not something you would do. Please don't ask me why. You won't like the answer- or me, afterwards."

Sanji's visible eye went dark. He stared at me for a minute before giving a slow shake of his head. "It's not that hard to guess. Something I'd be mad about, and all those apple seeds… You're gonna poison a bastard, aren't you?"

"Ideally, aye." I shrank in on myself, waiting for an explosion. And Sanji certainly looked angry. Brow creased, bangs casting shadows over his face, one foot tapping on the floor in agitation. He let out a loud huff- then slammed the foot that had been tapping into my side. I tumbled across the galley, nauseous, ribs afire, rolling to a stop upside down against a table leg.

"Why?"

Just one word, full of accusation. I flinched and opened my mouth; Sanji's stare hardened. "And don't give me any of that 'no spoilers' shit. That may be fine most times, but for something like this… If you're gonna do something like that, when you know I hate misusing or wasting food, you better have a damn good reason."

That- That was fair. That was more than fair. That was far better than what I would've expected- I hadn't planned to tell Sanji if I could avoid it because I knew he'd flip his lid. I'd expected far more than a single kick, to be honest… Although more could be on the way. At least this way I got a chance to explain. My ass was probably still grass for messing with the sacred domain that was the kitchen, though…

"There's a man on Jaya that both Ace and I want to kill," I began. A weight grew in my chest; breathing became difficult. "A man we need to kill. And this is our only chance."

Sanji began tapping his foot again; the cook leaned in a bit, so there was nowhere else for me to look. "Keep going."

I gulped. "His name is Marshall D. Teach- Blackbeard. He tried to kill one of Ace's crewmates. Would have succeeded, but apparently my accidentally warning people meant Thatch survived. And," I took a deep breath, fighting against the weight in my chest, "And if we don't kill him on Jaya, Blackbeard's actions will directly lead to Ace's death, as well as Whitebeard's."

"White- You mean this guy can kill the strongest man in the world?" Sanji's visible eye bulged in surprise. "And you think you can poison him?"

"Not just poison," I said quietly. "That's part of it, but… I'm not stupid enough to think that'll work by itself. But it'll help. With that, and the mines, and help from Ace and his crew- some of them are coming to meet us… I think we can do it. We have to do it."

The muscles in my neck and jaw clenched involuntarily. My eyes burned. "We have to," I repeated bitterly. Looking up at Sanji, I had to fight hard to keep the tears from falling. "I'm not letting Ace die… Not letting Luffy go through six layers of Hell, fight his way through a world-scale war and poisons that will shave years off his life only to have his brother die in his arms when none of us are there to help him."

Shuddering, the cook took a step back. "We wouldn't- why wouldn't we be there?"

My eyes were burning more intensely, my throat constricting; I rubbed my face on my arm in annoyance. My sleeve came away wet. "At Sabaody… At the Sabaody Archipelago, the crew was separated. Everyone was sent to different places, one by one, scattered around the world. Even- Even working together, you couldn't protect each other. It took two years for the crew to get back together again. Two years where Luffy had to deal with his brother's death alone."

"Shit…" Sanji lit a cigarette with shaking hands. He didn't say anything for a few long minutes, just smoking and staring. I was too upset about other things to comment, or to try and avoid the smoke. Of course, that just made breathing harder.

"So…" I asked tentatively, "Is my reasoning good enough that you won't kick my ass from here to Pluto?"

"Where's- no, not important." Sanji shook his head. "Fuck, I- shit. Jones- Jones, you're crying."

I reached up with both hands, wiping away hot wetness. The burning in my eyes was getting worse; now that they'd spilled over, the tears wouldn't stop. Biting back a croak, I hid my face in my hands. Tabarnak. This- This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to cry in front of people, wasn't supposed to be weak. But somehow, thinking back on what would happen if we didn't deal with Teach…

It had been bad enough when they were just characters in a beloved manga- and I'd cried then. No way was I letting it happen now that they were real people- real friends. Not when I could change things.

Something warm brushed over my cheeks, as if someone was trying to wipe away my tears. I glanced up, but Sanji was too far away to be touching me- and I'd had my face in my hands, anyway, so he wouldn't have been able to. Invisible arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind.

Sanji took a few deep breaths. "This- This is big. Shit. I guess… Maybe just this once… Fuck, poisons were always my shitty sister's thing."

"You don't have to do anything." I shook my head, my voice thick with tears. "That's- That's why I wanted to learn- I didn't want you to have to get involved. Didn't want you to have to compromise…"

The cook levelled a flat look in my direction. "But you can't. Even if we could get your shitty cooking up to scratch, you wouldn't be good enough to hide the taste of the shitty cyanide. No…" Sanji sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "No, it has to be me."

"Sorry…" I cringed, curling into myself and biting the inside of my cheek. Sanji sighed again.

"Shit… I know you're just trying to protect people, but… Just, shit." The cook was at a loss for words. He sighed for a third time, shaking. "This one time- Just this once, I'll do it. But you sure as Hell better make sure we win, got it? If I'm gonna… Shit."

"Don't worry." I fought to keep my voice even- it was caught somewhere between a growl and a croak. "Blackbeard's not getting out of this alive. Not with what I've been planning, the way I've been setting things up. The only problem is separating him from his crew…" That was the one thing I'd never been able to figure out. It would make life so much easier if I could, though.

Nodding, Sanji sat down. His face was dark. "Go- Go train or something. Make sure everything's ready, that you're absolutely sure we can beat this shithead."

"San-?" I reached out, unsure, wanting to comfort the cook but not knowing what to do. Head snapping up, he glared at me.

"Just go. I need to be alone for a bit." A single blue eye flashed with annoyance as the atmosphere suddenly got heavy. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Letting out a startled yelp, I bolted from the galley before the cook could decide that he was upset enough over the idea of poisoning Teach to kick my ass.

The door slammed shut behind me with a hollow, wooden bounce.

Out on the deck, the difference in atmosphere was jarringly apparent. No one was worrying about poisons or Teach or the Paramount War. No… Out here the sun was shining, Ghin was sewing, Ace and Luffy were playing tag, Johnny and Yosaku had managed to light an aluminum bucket on fire, and Zoro was training with a starry-eyed Toma.

"Again!" the bosun barked. He only had one sword drawn, to better match his student- Yubashiri, I noted idly.

"Hai Sensei!" Toma rushed at Zoro with great enthusiasm. The boy jumped high in the air, flipping over as he soared, before bringing his sword down towards Zoro with a heavy two-handed strike. "Ryutsuisen!"

There was a loud clash of steel on steel as Zoro blocked, knocking Toma backwards. The small swordsman landed unsteadily on his feet, skidding across the deck to come to a halt by the mast. His shoes left marks on the wood, like the ones you sometimes see on the floors of high school gymnasiums.

"Better." Zoro nodded his approval as he sheathed his sword. "You do surprisingly well for wielding a blade that's far too long."

Toma bit his lip and let out a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah… Saga-sensei always said I'd grow into it, but… I haven't. Not yet, anyway."

"Well, you're what? Thirteen? You've still got time." Zoro smirked. "And do you know what makes you grow up tall and strong?"

"What, Sensei?"

"Push ups. Lots of them. Now, down and gimme… How many did Saga usually make you do?"

Biting his lip, Toma thought for a minute. "Didn't do them too often… Probably… Sixty?"

"Then we're doing eighty." So saying, Zoro got down on the deck with his student. Muscle and bone creaked quietly as they began. "One, two, three, four, five, six…"

A small hand slipped into mine- Lisa, just emerging from belowdecks. The painter giggled and shook her head at our swordsmen and their antics. "If that was true," she said quietly, "you'd be at least as tall as Robin."

"Brat…" I tousled Lisa's hair affectionately, forcing a smile to cover my misgivings about getting Sanji involved against Teach. No sense in worrying her. "I'm still taller than you, aren't I? And you do hardly any. What're you up to, about ten at a time?"

Lisa stuck out her tongue. "You're taller than me 'cause you're old. And I can do fifteen. Besides, I don't need to do lots of push ups- I fight with my paints, not my fists."

"Yeah, but Luffy told me to make sure you could fight and stuff if you needed to. What if you run out of paint?"

"Then I'll run," the little girl said simply. "I haven't been slacking off at that. I nearly caught Usopp this morning!"

"Heh. Good girl." Hmm… That was a thought, actually. Lisa was small, non-threatening- who suspects a little girl? And with her paints… I think I just found a solution to the problem of Teach's crew. "Hey, Lisa, do you have any paints that would be good for keeping a bunch of bloodthirsty madmen away from us while we take out their captain?"

She thought for a moment. "I could do a Svefnthorn Bindrune that combines Calming Green, Hallucination Hot Pink, and Forgetful Fuchsia- it's a new colour I've been working on," Lisa explained when I shot her a confused look. "Or there's always good old Betrayal Black if you wanted to make them help us."

My mouth fell open with a hiss. How had I not-? Because she'd never used it that I'd seen, either against or in service to the crew. My memory of the comics was getting muddled, slipping, against the far more vivid memories of things as they'd happened to me.

It was a good thing I'd written all my charts at the beginning of the journey. I think they had everything important in them.

"That is perfect," I hummed. Picking Lisa up, I spun her around. "Thank you! Thank you, you adorable little mad genius!"

She blushed and looked away, mumbling. "Put me down. I'm little, but not that little!"

"Eheh… Sorry…" Sheepish, I returned Lisa to the deck. She immediately wandered over to where Toma's shoes had marked the wood, letting out a sigh.

"And now I need to repaint Merry. Just great… Eh, at least I have lots of Comforting Brown."

Nami glanced down at us from the poop deck, where she'd been measuring our speed. "You use your hypnotic paints on the ship?"

"Of course. I don't have any others. Don't worry; there's so many different ones everywhere that they mostly cancel out."

"That is not reassuring," the sailing master muttered.

Seconds later, a great yell went up from where Johnny and Yosaku were dealing with their burning bucket. Which was no longer a bucket so much as a heap of molten metal rapidly being consumed by brilliant orange flames. The hunters flailed simultaneously in their panic

"AH! HELP! WE CAN'T PUT IT OUT!"

"Did you try spraying it with water?" Usopp gestured at the hunters' guns. The master gunner was perched on a rail, fishing- and also staying as far from Nami as he could while still being up top. The pair had trained together earlier and the result was… not pretty. Usopp's hair was still smoking.

"THAT JUST MADE IT BIGGER!"

Thud. Ace landed on the deck between Johnny and Yosaku, raising a hand to tell Luffy to stop chasing him for a minute. "One sec, Lu. Gotta save your ship." Picking up the flaming globule, Ace raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you guys do?"

"We were trying to see if we could recreate the gems Big Sis makes-"

"But we couldn't remember exactly how to do it. So we mixed iron oxide-"

"And aluminum and heated them up, but-"
"It caught fire and wouldn't stop!"

"Interesting…" Ace stared at the molten blob of burning in his hands for a minute before shrugging and throwing it out to sea. It landed in the water and floated on the surface, still burning, as everyone watched. Thankfully Ace had managed to get it all, so there was none left on the deck. Just a charred circle for Lisa to paint over.

I marched over to the mast and slammed my head against it aggressively. Because of course. Of course the goofball hunters would accidentally make thermite on the deck while I was still trying to come up with a way to save Merry. This was… Ergh… This was impossible. There was no way to save the ship, was there?

No. I couldn't let myself think like that. Resting my forehead against the mast, I ran one hand gently up and down smooth wood, like I was petting some strange dog. "Sorry Merry. I don't mean to give up hope. I will find a way to save you."

One of the main lines came undone, falling to drape around my shoulders in a sort of loose coil. Ghin shot up from where he'd been sitting with a snarl.

"What the Hell is going on with those lines? I know I tied that properly! How do they keep coming loose?" Stomping over to me, my brother plucked the loop of rope off of my shoulders, shoving whatever he'd been sewing into my arms in the same motion. "Here- go try that on while I fix this. Again."

"Umm… Okay?" I stared at the pile of stuff in my arms. Heavy and black, with hints of purple and gold… Leather and canvas and round studs of Wootz steel. "What is it?"

"A way to keep you from wrecking your shirt and flashing everybody every time you get in a fight," Ghin grunted as he made his way aloft. "Hopefully, anyway. Should work better than what you've got now."

I opened my mouth to protest, only for Nami to shoot me a glare. "If you say that you don't wreck that many shirts, Jones, I swear to God…"

"Fine, fine…" Shaking my head, I wandered into the gun deck to change.

Unfolding the pile yielded several different pieces. Mostly of black leather armour, studded with Wootz steel, with a few abstract fire shapes appliqued in rich purple. A brigandine, vambraces, greaves, and sabatons- although I doubt Ghin actually knew all those names. There were also fingerless gloves- probably to keep me from burning my palms every time I made gemstones- and a long, heavy coat. Pants and a shirt, heavier than what I currently wore but otherwise similar in appearance, were at the bottom of the pile

And they fit perfectly. Which was weird, because at no point that I could remember had Ghin taken my measurements. Confused, I stomped out onto the deck once dressed and shouted up into the rigging.

"GHIN! YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR HOW YOU KNEW-!"

"I asked Sanji!" was the slightly aggravated response. "Gave him a headache, but apparently you still count as a lady enough that he could figure out your measurements."

"Oh…" Well, okay then. I deflated, because there was nothing I could say to that. Knowing a woman's measurements was a canon ability of Sanji's.

Giggling, Luffy bounced over and latched onto my back, chin on my shoulder and limbs wrapped around my waist. "Shishishishishi! Jones looks cool!"

Blue eyes blinked blearily from where Ruatha had been sleeping by the rail. My dragon was on his feet in an instant, snorting and growling at the sight of someone other than himself on my back. Whining, the young reptile charged me. More than a hundred pounds of bone, muscle, and scale crashed into my chest. "Monah! Zokulaad!"

"Gah! Ruatha, down!" I was forced backwards by the assault, which led to Luffy becoming squashed between my back and the wall. Not that I think he minded- my captain was still giggling like a madman. Ruatha, naturally, ignored my command and proceeded to lick my face. Eugh… Dragon spit never stopped being gross.

"And so the armour meets its first test," Robin observed quietly. "Although, if the complaint is that Baryshnya Witch ruins her shirt frequently, I'm left wondering why she would require armour on her arms and legs."

"Because of him." Ghin dropped to the deck, jerking his thumb at Ruatha. "He's growing fast, and I just know that as soon as he's big enough, Jones will be riding him. The odds of us being able to get a dragon-sized saddle before then are very low- hence the leg armour. Should keep a certain injury-prone someone from ripping her skin open on scales."

Robin nodded. "And the arms?"

"Only a matter of time before she forgets herself and tries to block a sword without her sais. Surprised it hasn't happened already."

"OI!" My indignation gave me the energy I needed to finally shove Ruatha off and unwrap myself from Luffy's arms. "I'm not that ba-!"

"You are." Ghin thumped one fist gently down atop my head. "And the fact that you can't see it worries me."

I didn't dignify that with a reply. Huffing, I spun on my heel to poke Luffy in the forehead. "Come on, Captain. Let's us and your brother train some more to fight Teach. And… Well, anyone else who feels like joining in, you probably should."

Ruatha climbed up on my shoulders with a loud, prideful chirp as the crew slowly gathered round. Even Sanji emerged from the galley when he noticed what everyone else was preparing for. We'd been doing this every day for the past week- carefully, so as not to damage the Merry too much, but it wasn't something that could wait until we were on an island to spare her completely. Once everyone was gathered, the signal was a loud cough. And then we started.

The melee fighters- i.e. most of the crew- coalesced into a close-quarters free-for-all. Johnny and Yosaku kept to the edges of that, using both their swords and their spray guns- filled only with water for training, of course. And beyond them were Nami, Usopp, and Lisa, staying well back and firing into the fray. Drifter and Geier tore in from the top, providing a small amount of air superiority.

And, well, even though this was important training, it was fun. I couldn't keep from laughing as I ducked under a swing from Chopper's hockey stick, only to get squirted full in the face by Johnny. Coughing up water, I snaked one of my sais out to deliver a sharp crack to the blue hunter's shin, making him yelp. Yosaku's sword descended towards me; I didn't need to worry, though. Toma blocked it before I could even move, spinning to strike Ghin with the pommel of his sword in the same motion.

My brother barely noticed the hit, too intent on knocking Zoro and Sanji's heads together. They immediately turned on him, creating a three-monster pileup that was only untangled when Luffy gleefully tackled them into the mast. Not even pausing, the trio that had just been at each other's throats turned on our captain.

A bunch of slingshot bullets flew harmlessly through Ace's shoulder to ping off Chopper's antlers as the reindeer transformed; green paint spattered across the deck as Lisa tried and failed to hit Usopp with a bindrune. Yelping, the gunner responded by firing a pot of oil. He hit his mark, coating Lisa and a great part of the decking around her. Not a second later, Yosaku slipped in the oil and went sliding into the back of Ace's knees, taking him down as the Logia was focused on prying Drifter off his face.

Arms bloomed from the deck and rails, grasping at limbs. Robin wasn't exactly sparring- more providing a hazard that the rest of us had to work with. It forced the rest of us to jump and spin, dodging in ways we weren't used to, never staying in one place very long. My new long coat flared dramatically as I danced through the forest of hands.

"Screee!" Geier swooped down, striking at Nami with the curved, blunt outer edge of her talons. The sailing master stepped out of the way, jabbing up with her Clima-Tact before spinning to fire a bunch of Heat Balls into the melee. I spun around to dissipate them. "Mutoryu: Tatsumaki!"

"You're getting better at that," Zoro grunted, catching simultaneous strikes from Johnny and Yosaku and flinging the hunters into Chopper. The reindeer squeaked and popped into Brain Point, allowing the gadgeteer swordsmen to fly over his head.

I didn't get a chance to respond. Sanji's foot slammed into my side, harder than usual- it had taken a while to get him to hit me at all during sparring, so the change was jarring. Not unexpected, though; not with what we'd been talking about a little while before. I flew into the mast hard enough to set my head spinning; my ribs ached.

Alright, now it was time. Charging back into the fray with a shake of my head, I turned up my personal gravity. Not enough to start bending and damaging the Merry- I'd learned my lesson the first time- but enough that everyone definitely noticed it. Movement became sluggish; smaller members of the crew, like Lisa and Toma, were slowly drawn towards me. Chopper popped into Heavy Point to prevent me from sliding him across the deck.

The increase in gravity was a cue for everyone to switch to the specific anti-Teach formation we'd been working on. Luffy and Ace fell back to the middle distance with Johnny and Yosaku, attacking with tiny fireballs and compressed blasts of air. Zoro, Toma, Sanji, and Ghin kept in close, preventing me from getting past, closing me in. Robin dismissed her hands and switched to throwing knives, with which she had uncanny accuracy. Nami, Usopp, and Lisa maintained their distance; Drifter dropped from Geier to land on my face as a distraction, while his partner alternated between swooping attacks and retrieving Robin's knives. Chopper hung back to provide medical support, occasionally firing his puck at me as an additional distraction.

Of course, I was not Teach, so we weren't able to prepare to counter all of his techniques. I also had nowhere near his strength or experience; even assuming total defense, focused just on protecting myself and maintaining my elevated gravity, I could only keep my place against the crew onslaught for about thirty seconds. After that, I was laid out flat on my back, panting. But at least people were getting used to fighting in formation together. That had to count for something.

"Nice one," I wheezed after a concussive blast from Luffy's Gum-Gum BB nearly knocked me over the rail. My captain beamed.

We continued that way, with me standing in for Teach and being repeatedly knocked flat or blasted over the side, until I was too bruised and exhausted to continue. So… About half an hour. At that point I lost focus on the force of gravity, as well as the ability to walk in a straight line.

"Grey yob," I slurred, weaving back and forth and doing my best to stay away from the rails lest I fall over. My vision was doubling- or maybe quintupling. "All fitty o' ye."

Ace caught me before, despite my best efforts, I nearly stumbled over the starboard rail. "Are you sure this is going to work? Teach is usually a lot more aggressive than that. Lasts longer too."

I stared at the freckled pirate with spinning, slightly crossed eyes. "Well, if you wanna learn how to manipulate gravity and stand in the middle, be my guest. 'S his Devil Fruit I know how to counter- sensitive to pain and poisons 'cause it absorbs stuff, allows gravity manipulation, and nullifies the powers of others. I don't know nothin' 'bout how he fights without his fruit."

Thinking for a minute, Ace curled his fingers like he was trying to imitate a cat's paw. "Teach has these wicked claw things he likes to use up close. Not sure what they're called. He was pretty good with them- strong enough to be a commander, if he wanted. Could've had my spot. Rumour has it he's the one who gave Shanks his scars. Pistols too… But I don't think he's as good with those."

"Then the main thing is still not to let him touch you," I pointed out, "It's just important for Devil Fruit users for different reasons." I didn't confirm or deny Ace's suspicions- although I saw Luffy's eyes go hard at the mention of Shanks.

No one could really refute that. Ruatha trotted over and reached up to lick my face. My dragon was the one member of the crew who didn't spar- he refused to attack me for any reason, even in jest. Zoro looked at me, one eyebrow quirking up.

"So, Jones… You've got the rest of us running a pretty sound strategy, as far as I can tell, but… What're you gonna do when we fight this guy?"

"And the shitty dragon, too," Sanji added. The cook made a face as he realized he and the bosun were thinking along the same lines.

"Zu'u marzuh ahrk klaan rigir!" Ruatha stomped and snorted, flaring his wings. The little dragon chomped at the air, his claws flashing as he stomped and pawed at the deck. "Dii raxxe los zahkriihe! Dii juskke, niigolle!"

I smiled and patted my dragon on the head. His display of aggression was adorable; I just wished I knew what he was saying. "I'll be hanging in the middle distance with Ace and Luffy, mostly. Trying to counter his gravity techniques. Since I have to touch people to do any damage, I can't fight him up close at all. I can try throwing things and shooting him, but… eh, we'll see."

Zoro and Sanji both nodded their understanding. Then they shot each other looks of disgust, which held for an instant before the cook launched a flying kick at the bosun. Steel clashed against shoes as the two began to spar again. Their trajectory carried them into Ghin, who spun around and smashed Zoro and Sanji with his tonfa, launching them over the rails.

Possibly because my head was still spinning from training, I wondered if I could use gravity to haul them back. Not that flying overboard would hurt Zoro and Sanji, but if Luffy or Chopper went over… Staring at my airborne crewmates, I turned up my personal gravity. My control was shot; I very quickly went over the threshold of too much, setting the mast creaking as Merry tried to bend with the excessive force.

And while Zoro and Sanji did arc back towards the ship, they still landed in the water.

Nami immediately swatted me over the head. "Jones, cool it! You're about to break the ship!"

"Ergh… Sorry…" I dropped the force, rubbing my temples. My hair clung to my face, dark gold with sweat; my head ached weakly, and I felt ill. My vision was going a little blurry and dark… I must've overdone it.

Off to my left, Usopp squeaked as Zoro and Sanji climbed back aboard. He wasn't looking at the cook and the bosun, though. No- No, the gunner was staring up at the sky. One by one, everyone followed his gaze. Several jaws dropped to the ground; Sanji gave voice to what most of the crew was probably thinking.

"Oh, shit."

I grinned. Finally. My writer was finally getting back to the main plot.

Johnny and Yosaku turned to look at me- I must've snickered or something to draw their attention. The hunters glanced from me up to the darkening sky. "Big Sis, did you-?"

"Nope. I swear by all the gods it wasn't me." I was still grinning. "That was gonna fall whether I was here or not."

For a moment no one reacted as the sky grew darker. Then Nami turned and yelled at Ace, momentarily forgetting that Luffy's brother wasn't part of our crew and thus didn't really have to listen to any of us. "Fire blast off the stern, now! Get us out from under that thing!"

And Ace had seemingly also forgotten that he wasn't one of us, seeing as he immediately raced to obey. Shooting a column of flames from his hands, the freckled pirate sent the Going Merry careening forwards for a few seconds. We jetted out from under the growing shadow, force singing through my bones as the sturdy little caravel accelerated and decelerated rapidly.

Poor little ship… I patted her mast consolingly.

SPLASH!

Before we'd fully finished moving, the shadow suddenly vanished. In its place were high waves and cold spray that rained down on us after a ship many times the size of our own crashed into the water. A name, the St. Briss, was visible on the side in peeling white paint; of course, being inverted, it was a bit difficult to read. Upside-down and full of holes, the St. Briss quickly sank beneath the waves.

Not without leaving behind some traces, though. A few barrels and broken boards bobbed among the waves; fraying rope drifted among the foam like a tangled mass of seaweed. The water took on a faint iridescence in the area- something oily leaking from within the wreckage, perhaps?

Nami turned to me, her eyes morphing into beri symbols. Glowing beri symbols. "Jones… You said that ship would've fallen even if you weren't messing with gravity? So you can give us a treasure rundown? Or…" The sailing master's face fell, "Or were we not able to retrieve anything?"

I glanced over at Luffy. The captain thought for a moment, then nodded. "Go ahead Jones. I don't care about that stuff- 'cept if you were gonna tell us what the One Piece is. I don't want that spoiled."

"Don't worry. I couldn't tell you what the One Piece is even if you wanted me to- story wasn't finished, remember?" I smiled. "All I know is that it definitely exists."

Luffy pouted. "Even that's more than I wanna know…"

"Sorry, Captain…" I cringed. When there was no sign of further chastisement, I turned to Nami. "Treasure rundown… Unknown amount of monetary loot and lots of things that are potentially useful if they're not broken- and even if they are. We might be able to repair them. Make sure that if anyone goes down, they pick up any odd-looking shells they see."

Lisa frowned and leaned over the rail to check the lead line. "But… The water's almost two hundred meters deep. No one can stay down there long enough to pick up any treasure- you'd never be able to hold your breath that long."

"Big Bro Luffy could," Johnny pointed out. "He can inflate like a balloon."

"Not when he's underwater," Yosaku reminded his partner with a roll of his eyes. "Devil Fruit powers don't work when you're wet."

A thoughtful look crossed Usopp's face. "But… What if they don't have to get wet…?" he muttered to himself, "And… If we could send air down to people, eliminate the time limit…"

The gunner snapped his head over to look at the hunters. "Johnny, Yosaku, come on. I've got an idea."

Not waiting for a reply, Usopp grabbed the hunters and dragged them off to their tinkering area, presumably to make diving suits. Out of barrels and rubber tubing, if memory served. Which was my cue… "Before you go anywhere- Johnny, Yosaku, did you have any luck on the mine situation?"

Yosaku paused, clearly straining as Usopp continued tugging at his arm. "Sure thing, Big Sis! We got a bunch of different ones done- they're in the crate beside your barrel of apple seed powder." Unable to resist any longer, the green hunter trotted after Usopp before the gunner yanked his arm off.

"We colour-coded them!" Johnny yelled helpfully, waving over his shoulder. Usopp rewarded him with an extra hard yank.

"Don't take credit for what I did! You wouldn't know the difference between teal and tangerine if it stole your sunglasses!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Johnny winced and glanced back at me. "Oh! Big Sis! Don't put the blue one and the orange one beside each other! Bad things happen!"

"Noted!" Giving my head a final shake to clear any lingering fuzzies, I turned on my heel and headed for the hold to grab the supplies. "Ace, get the Striker ready. Sanji… I'm sorry…"

My heart felt heavy as I descended the ladder. I hated having to ask this of Sanji… If only I could cook… But… I couldn't… I failed. I failed and because of that, one of my friends was going to go against his moral code because he trusted me enough to believe in my plans. Cooking… Something like that shouldn't have brought up such a heavy emotion. But it did.

I owed Sanji for this. I owed him everything.

It took two trips to retrieve the supplies- I may have gotten stronger during my time in this world, but no matter how strong you are, climbing a ladder requires a number of hands greater than zero, which means carrying two things at once while doing so is right out. Especially when those things are a barrel and a crate, both large and full of dangerous stuff. The mine crate was especially precarious- it was poorly balanced, one side significantly heavier than the other. But at least the Tinker Team had thought to include instructions as well as colour-coding things. A piece of paper had been stapled to the side of the crate, covered in a mix of Usopp's flowing writing, and the barely-decipherable scrawls of the hunters.

Ace looked at my luggage with raised eyebrows as he lowered Striker into the water. "You know Striker's a single-person boat, right? I mean… It'll hold, but we're not gonna be comfortable. At all. Where are we going, anyway?"

"Jaya." I carefully placed the crate of mines as far from the engine as I could. It was still a bit close for comfort. "We need to head there ahead of the rest of the crew to set things up."

Nami stared at me. "You- how do you plan to get anywhere ahead of the crew without a navigator?!"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Ace beat me to it with a roll of his eyes. "I have a log pose too, you know." Holding up his wrist to demonstrate, he inhaled sharply as he caught sight of the little glass bubble. "What the-?"

His reaction prompted Nami to look at her own log pose. The sailing master's face went pale. "Mine- mine's broken too. We're doomed."

Ace shook his head. "Nah, just means there's a sky island nearby. Annoying though; makes it hard to find where we're going."

"Sky island?" Luffy asked eagerly. "Jones mentioned those a while ago! But it was spoilers… And now my head hurts…" My captain frowned and rubbed at his temples, his face an adorable mask of frustration.

Both log poses were pointed upwards at a fifty-degree angle, clearly not aimed at anything remotely close to sea level. Tabarnak… I'd forgotten about that bit. How the ever-loving fuck were Ace, Sanji, and I supposed to get to Jaya ahead of time without a working pose? In canon… In canon, the Straw Hats got an eternal pose from the monkey guys after salvage.

Osti d'épais de marde, I was an idiot!

Or… wait a second! Skypiea was once part of Jaya, and it floated pretty close to directly overhead. Close enough for me to work with, at least. Now… How high up was the White-White Sea? I pulled out the charts I'd made before Loguetown, skimming down the weathered paper and salt-faded ink.

Ten thousand meters.

"Nami, you have a slide rule, right?" I pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and a pen.

"Of course. Why, though?" The sailing master shot me a strange look as she pulled out the tool in question. It was well-used, well-worn wood, and looked a little different than my dad's slide rule that I used to play with, but it would do.

"Because I'm gonna do some trig." I stuck out my tongue as I started writing down calculations. I hated trig. But… But if my mom hadn't insisted I take that class in high school, all my plans against Blackbeard would've been for naught. So I guess it was useful. Sometimes.

Nami handed me the slide rule with a hum of confusion. "What good will that do? I mean… Sure, I could use it to shift the readings to something on our plane of reference, but how does that help us if they're pointing at something in the sky? We can't get there!"

"Are we almost at the sky island Jones talked about?" Chopper asked in eager unison, hugging Luffy. Toma stared at them.

"What do you mean, sky island?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," I answered absently, "An island in the sky. Which just happens to be floating above a proper sea-level island, so if I can figure out roughly where Skypiea is, I can figure out how to get to Jaya. Luckily, I know how high up it is…"

Let's see… If our angle was fifty, and the angle from Jaya to Skypiea was ninety, that meant the third angle was forty. And the side I knew was ten thousand meters… If I used fifty, I had my angle and my opposite, so I could use the tangent…

tan 50 = 10,000/x

tan 50 = 1.191753593

1.191753593 = 10,000/x

x = 10,000/1.191753593

x = 8,390.996312

So, we were just over eight kilometers from Jaya. Roughly. Glancing up at the sky, I took note of the position of the sun. It was already afternoon, so that meant west was in a general… that way direction. Assuming sunrise and sunset worked the same in this world as they did back home- despite being here for several months, I'd never thought to ask about that. Compare the position of the sun to the general orientation of the log poses, if one ignored the fact that they were pointing upwards- because Jaya and Skypiea were the same island and in roughly the same spot…

"Okay. I can get us there." I glanced at Ace. "Or at least close enough to see it. Math might not be exact. How fast does your Striker go?"

"Hundred and twelve kilometers an hour."

So he could get there in… four and a half minutes. Roughly. Excele-! Tabarnak! Without warning, I dropped my calculations to the deck and marched over to the mast in order to slam my head against it.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"I am an idiot! I am an idiot who is going to get us all killed!" Crisse de calice de tabarnak d'osti de sacrament de trouvvierge! How had I forgotten? No way would we be able to approach Mock Town unseen… Not when the Striker travelled on a column of roaring flames that would draw the attention of everyone for miles.

A sound like cracking knuckles heralded Chopper changing forms. Once in Heavy Point, the reindeer slipped his hand in between my head and the mast. "Jones," he asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

"I forgot about Van Auger," was my reply, slightly muffled by a furry hand. "Bastard'll snipe us as we come into port. Ace is not easy to hide."

"Who the Hell's Van Auger?" Ghin's voice, slightly exasperated. Probably at my forgetting something so important and not letting everybody in on my plans.

"Blackbeard's bastard sniper. At least as good as Usopp- possibly better. And uses a gun. Even if he can't hit us, he'll spot the Striker coming into port and warn the bastard." Which I couldn't allow. Because if Teach knew we were coming, we wouldn't get a chance to set up. It would be a full-frontal assault, without the whole crew- without our backup that I'd still seen no sign of.

This… I hadn't really thought this out nearly as well as I thought I had, had I?

"Aren't you bullet-proof, Baryshnya Witch?" Robin asked softly. "Why would a gun matter?"

"Again, more the problem that if Auger sees Ace, everything's down the tubes." Osti d'épais de marde… No. No. I wasn't letting this chance go to waste. There had to be a way to salvage this.

Back when we were at the police academy, they taught us to always take out the sniper before sending in a retrieval team. Drifter wandered over and poked me in the ribs with one of his signs. If you draw him, Geier and I can find him and take him out.

The vulture shrieked her agreement, wings flaring as I raised my head. But… "No. No, that won't work. He spends his days taking potshots at birds for fun. Unless you can outfly a bullet, that won't work."

Both animals visibly deflated. I reached out to pet Ruatha as I tried to think, running my fingers through feathery scales. Drifter was right, though… The best way to do this was to knock out Van Auger before making land. But who and how? Who could cover eight kilometers quickly and still fight at the end? Or preferably knock him out before he fought back, since I wasn't sure we had anyone who could fight one of Blackbeard's crewmates one-on-one yet.

Oh. Tabarnak. That would work. That would feel like shit, but it would work. I shook my head, chuckling ruefully. Secret plans, missions of revolution and espionage, and now acting as the vanguard for the vanguard… As much as I hated the title, I was falling right into the role of the pirate king's ninja, wasn't I?

"Never mind- I've got an idea. It'll take me a few minutes to get ready though." I bashed my fists together, absorbing the force that raced up my arms. "Once I'm done, Luffy, I'm gonna need your help."

"Sure!" My captain bounced eagerly. "What for?"

"I'm gonna need you to slingshot me to the next island. Which should be… Over there, according to my calculations." I pointed. It was a big risk- my math was rough, so there was a good change I'd land in the ocean. But… I had to try, and I couldn't ask anyone else to do it when the same dangers- more dangers, given that only Luffy and I were bulletproof- would apply to them. And my powers would work for this, where Luffy's might not do as well.

"Okay!" Luffy jumped up and flipped in the air, hooking his legs over a line so he ended up swinging upside down. Brown eyes scanned back and forth, picking out the best spots to anchor himself when the time came. Or possibly imagining some detailed daydream about cool insects- I couldn't tell.

Sitting myself at the base of the mast, I continued bashing my fists together. It would've been faster to ask someone else to help- Ace or Luffy or Zoro or Sanji or Ghin- but… With any of them, there was a risk I'd overload and have to start over. I needed as much force as I could hold without going over, which meant I needed to build it up slowly.

Most of my crewmates busied themselves preparing to salvage the St. Briss- Zoro lowering the anchor, Nami scanning her charts for nearby reefs. Sanji fidgeted by the rail, growing more uncomfortable as he realized the number of things I'd forgotten to account for until the last minute. Sorry… I wanted to reassure the cook, but I didn't know how. And then Ace crouched in front of me, narrow grey eyes staring into my soul.

Had I been a lesser pirate, I would've jumped back and tried to hide behind the mast- Ace was that serious. As it was, I raised an eyebrow and kept bashing my fists together, squashing down my anxiety as hard as I could.

"Are you sure this will work?" Ace's voice was low- low enough that I doubted anyone else could hear him.

I had to think for a minute before I nodded, which didn't seem to reassure him. But when I answered, my voice was firm and even. Because I was sure this would work. This was a fanfiction written by another me, after all- if I didn't understand how the writer did things, no one did.

"Yes. I'm as sure this will work as I am that Luffy will be King of the Pirates. Just… Promise me one thing." Because there was one thing that could still screw up my plans, no matter how successful I was with Van Auger. "Promise me that no matter what, you won't lose your temper and go after Blackbeard before I give the signal."

Embers flickered to life at the ends of Ace's hair; he huffed indignantly. "What makes you think I would?"

"Because he tried to kill a member of your family," I snapped, a little louder than I meant to. "Where I come from, he succeeded."

Ace didn't answer with words, but the embers flared up into actual flames, and his eyes began to glow orange. I paused in my force gathering to poke him in the forehead.

"I know what Thatch means to you; what all the Whitebeard Pirates mean to you. They're your family- your brothers, just as much as Sabo and Luffy. So I know how angry you are, and that you have every right to be." My voice cracked a little; my eyes were burning. "But if you let your temper control you, if you attack early… The plan will fail and you will die!"

"That's just fine with me," Ace snapped back. "And you know why! If I die avenging and protecting the people I love, that's the best thing I could possibly do! It'd mean a monster like me was actually worth something!"

"So that's where I got that attitude! I was wondering!" I took a deep breath to calm myself; losing my temper at Ace about losing his temper was a wee bit counter-productive. "Has it ever occurred to you that it works both ways? How Luffy and Sabo and Thatch and Marco and Namur and Haruta and Curiel and Izo and Pops and all the others would feel if you died? They! Love! You!"

Ace froze in shock, so I ploughed on. "Do you want to know what happened to the Whitebeard Pirates after you and Pops died? The crew fractured. Marco tried to hold part of it together, to take down Teach and get revenge, but it didn't work. And then this asshole momma's boy of a Warlord appeared and started hunting down the remnants of the crew one at a time, killing them and claiming to be Whitebeard's blood son."

"And the root cause of that… The root cause of your death was your temper. If you hadn't gotten so angry at Banaro Island when Teach threatened Luffy, you might've been able to think more clearly and come up with a way to beat him or escape. Hell, if you'd managed that, Luffy would never have been at risk coming after you in the first place! And during the Paramount War, if you hadn't gotten so angry when Admiral Akainu started badmouthing Pops, you would've been able to get Luffy out of there instead of having to shield him with your body!"

"I didn't think-!" Ace was pale between his freckles, a sickly bluish white. My throat constricted.

"No. No, you didn't think, and that's the problem. Did you know that in the stories, you never saw Sabo again? You never learned he was alive? Without me there to get him involved in Loguetown, he didn't get his memories back until he saw the article reporting your death in the newspaper. He loves you so much that even when he couldn't remember his own name, the thought of your death made him physically ill."

My eyes were burning; I bit my lip in an angry attempt to keep them spilling over. As for my voice… Hoarse, even beyond usual from the ammonia scarring. Spent. I could barely speak, barely breathe.

And Ace… Ace didn't actually seem to be much better. His eyes had returned to their usual grey, the flames in his hair flickering out. And while there were no tear tracks on his cheeks, his lower eyelashes looked strangely shiny.

"I… All that… Because of me?"

"Yes. Your brothers love you."

Ace heaved a heavy sigh. "But- But I don't deserve- My blood…"

"The only ones who care about that are some assholes sitting atop a mountain. And most of them, the biggest service their blood could do would be to stain the ground. Don't listen to a thing the government says about your blood and your birth father. His identity has nothing to do with who you are."

"But… But I'm a freak and a monster." Ace suddenly seemed so much younger- as if, rather than a twenty-year-old man crouching in front of me, it was a ten-year-old boy. A ten-year-old boy in desperate need of a hug.

"Who bloody cares? So you're a monster- Ruatha's a monster. Chopper's a monster. Zoro and Sanji and Ghin- all monsters. I'm a monster. And Luffy's a monster too. And I'm sure there are others on our crew, and will be more in the future."

Black hair lit up with orange embers once again. "Don't say that about my br-!"

"Being a monster isn't bad," I bulled ahead. I was on a roll now, even if my voice wanted to give out and my eyes were burning so much I could barely keep them open. "It means you have the strength to protect your friends and family! It means you're different and interesting!"

Luffy glanced down at me from his place in the rigging. Despite comically swinging upside down, his expression was serious. "Monsters are cool, Ace. I like monsters."

The rest of the ship had fallen eerily quiet at this point- no footsteps, no voices, no movement. Even the waves seemed to be sloshing more quietly. But while a small corner of my mind registered that this probably meant everyone else could hear us, for the most part, neither Ace nor I cared.

"If you hate people for calling you a monster, that's fine. But don't go looking for death because of them; the best way to spite them is to live. And even if dying to save someone you love is worth it, don't you think that person would much rather you save them and live, so they don't lose you?"

Ace rolled watery eyes, a strange noise bubbling up in his throat. "Hello Pot, my name's Kettle- Luffy told me what you did on Little Garden."

"That was different!" My voice broke loudly midway through a rather soggy yelp. "Completely different backgrounds!"

"Oh, really?" Ace didn't look pleased to have cornered me- but at the same time, he didn't stop either. "But wasn't I your favourite character because you knew a bit of what it felt like? Because the things you went through were lesser versions of what I did? Doesn't sound completely different to me."

"At least you had someone," I murmured, my gaze falling to the deck. Ah- the strange, fruit-shaped knots of the Going Merry's planking. I'd almost forgotten how familiar with you I was. Oh look, there was a bunch of cracks that kind of made the shape of a banana. That was new.

"And what do you mean by that?" Ace's voice had gone quiet again, but now… Now I could almost sense my crewmates straining to eavesdrop.

"When you were a child, you had Luffy and Sabo. Then you left, but you had the Spade Pirates. And then you had the Whitebeard Pirates. They all loved you. They loved you so much. Even when you actively tried to push them away…" Fuck you, Ace. You were supposed to let me rant at you until you got the message, not turn this back on me.

"And you didn't? Have anyone, I mean?" Ace's eyes bored into my soul. Like Luffy at his most intense… Must be a D thing.

"What I had was a controlling family that considered me a freak and a failure, and tried to force me to live up to expectations I didn't even understand." The bitterness burned on the back of my tongue. "By the time I had any real friends, I was fourteen- and then most of them were taken from me a couple years later, split up in the name of education. I had a couple others at my new school, but even then… Even them, I hadn't seen in over three years…"

Warmth… Invisible arms wrapped around me from behind, holding me tight. The marks along my forearms were burning almost as much as my eyes now. I rubbed my arms together, uncomfortable, my gathering of force nearly forgotten. Had to turn this away, off myself before I broke. So I took a deep breath and resumed snapping.

"But that's not important! The important part is that right before you died, you realized exactly how much people loved you. You finally learned how many people wanted you to live, came to terms with the fact that you being born was a good thing. Do you want to know what your last words were?"

Ace froze, eyes blowing wide as his skin paled, if possible, even further. "You- You know-? You remember something like that?"

"Word. For. Word." I forced myself to keep steady, to try and bore back into Ace's soul with my own gaze. He flinched… Then nodded for me to continue. It took a minute for me to do so- there was a lump of emotions in the way, blocking my throat.

"Old man, everyone! And you… Luffy. Even though I've been good for nothing my whole life, even though I have the blood of a demon within me... You guys still loved me! Thank you so much!"

A little gasp, like someone had kicked him in the stomach. Ace glanced up at Luffy, blinking rapidly. And then… And then it was like a dam burst.

Tears spilled over as Ace watched his brother swinging back and forth in the lines. The freckled pirate was shaking, wet spots forming on the wood where hit tears fell. Ace lowered his head and buried his face in his hands.

"I promised him I wouldn't die," Ace said softly. He didn't need to say who he was referring to; I knew. "I promised I'd always be there, that I'd never die…"

Any other words became unintelligible as Ace sobbed. I couldn't hold on any longer either- my resistance broke down, with tears streaming down to stain my new armour. Not quite in control of my actions, I leaned forwards and wrapped my arms around Ace's shoulders, rubbing his back soothingly. He stiffened under my hands before returning the embrace, seeming to melt with a strangled groan.

Part of me wanted to say something to reassure Ace- promise that he wouldn't die, that he'd always be there for his brothers. But I couldn't get any more words out. So I just held tighter, clinging to the freckled pirate as if letting go would mean both our deaths. His return hold was slightly painful- squeezing a little too tight, making my bones grate together uncomfortably- but not enough that I could muster the energy to protest.

And then there was a heavy thud, and warm, rubbery arms wrapped around us both. Luffy pressed so close that it was like the three of us were merging into a single person. His arms wrapped around three times, squishing me even more uncomfortably than Ace had. I couldn't breathe!

"Never seen Ace cry before," Luffy murmured, mystified.

"Aazse… Monah…" Ruatha scrambled over and clambered up onto my shoulders, wrapping his tail and wings around my neck. Rough scales brushed against my cheek as my dragon nuzzled my face.

Two more pairs of arms wrapped around Ace and myself- smaller than Luffy's, and not as strong. Lisa and Toma, both with tears in their eyes, although the young swordsman kept glancing fearfully at something over my shoulder. They were followed by charging footsteps across the deck of the ship, which culminated in Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku tackle-hugging everyone. Something small and warm and fluffy worked its way into the almost non-existent gap between me and Ace. Chopper. Tiny hooves wrapped around both our arms.

A heavy hand rested on my head, rough fingers running through my hair. Glancing up through wet eyelashes, I saw Ghin staring down at me, a soft expression on his face. He was humming a song I didn't recognize- something soothing. Across, Nami was performing a similar function for Ace, brushing his hair with her fingers as she hummed the same strange tune.

Zoro, Drifter, and Geier didn't join the hug- or, well, not at first, and Zoro and Geier managed to avoid it completely. The vulture perched on the swordsman's shoulder; both looked like they were looking forward to disembowelling whoever had made me and Ace cry. Drifter was with them for a few seconds… Right up until Luffy decided that Chopper alone wasn't enough fluff and stretched out an arm to drag the otter into the center of the hug pile. Drifter squirmed in ineffectual protest, grumpily poking people with a sign. Which we summarily ignored in favour of hugging him and petting his thick, soft fur until he gave up and started purring.

I am a police officer! Not a teddy bear!

Sanji was harder to see- the cook was leaning against the wall by the galley door. He was wearing oven mitts- funny, I hadn't noticed him go into the kitchen while Ace and I were talking- and his face was stormy. A vein kept twitching in the side of his jaw.

Leaning my head into Ghin's hand, I caught a glimpse of Robin out of the corner of my eye. She was standing as far from the group hug as she could get and still be on deck, watching us. Her eyes were shiny, and the expression on her face… Resigned envy? When she noticed that I could see her, the archaeologist looked away, pulling a small book from one of her pockets and burying her nose in it to avoid my gaze.

"Ace… Jones…" Luffy's voice drew my attention back to him. "We all love you. Forever. And we're gonna fight together, and we're gonna win, and Ace can keep his promise about not dying. So don't cry, ne? As long as we're together, everything's gonna be alright."

Several lines came untied at his words, sliding past each other and falling with loud hisses and thuds. They ended up draped over the hug pile and everyone's shoulders- even Robin's. While most of the crew just rolled their eyes in resigned acceptance of our strange ship, the archaeologist jumped in surprise. Ghin grumbled something about needing to re-tar the lines and make sure the blocks that held them were in good shape.

"Pendejo… I'm supposed to be the one comforting you." Ace's voice was thick and wet. He released one arm from around my shoulder to rub at his eyes.

Luffy didn't respond with words- just gifted Ace with a sunny smile and leaned forwards to press his forehead against his brother's. Usopp, however, was more than happy to take over the task of talking people up.

"Yeah! I mean, I don't know what the plan is, but we're together and we're awesome, so how can it fail? With the great Master Gunner Usopp on your side, you'll never lack for cover fire!"

Johnny and Yosaku nodded in unison, like eager bobbleheads. "Yeah! And we can make more of that stuff that lit the bucket on fire for Big Bro Ace! With that stuff around, your fire powers will be unstoppable!"

Lisa fidgeted at my side. Releasing her hold on me and Ace, the little painter whipped out her art supplies and started mixing. Seconds later, she began splashing colours on everyone's faces before we could blink. Everyone was too stunned to stop here, despite how badly the paint tickled as it swiped into face and dried.

"WHA-?!"

"It's war paint." Lisa did herself last, painting bright flames across her face and hands that were far too realistic. Seriously, they looked like flames Ace could've made. And when I looked at the rest of my crewmates, everyone else was covered in similar patterns.

What does it do? Drifter tried to wipe the paints off his fur, but they had already dried. The otter stared at Lisa, eyes narrowed, familiar with her work as Miss Goldenweek.

"Bullfight Red to get us ready for battle, and Get-Well-Soon Gold to help everyone feel better."

What about the orange?

Lisa shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. Haven't really played around with it. But it looks cool with the battle colours, and I can't make flames without it."

That just raised the uncomfortable question of how Lisa developed and tested her paint colours, but I decided to put that out of my mind for now. Or try to- it took several false starts to achieve true suppression, including being terrified that she tested them on herself, and wondering if the Going Merry was secretly infested with brightly coloured rats who had personalities matching the emotions of Lisa's paint colours. And judging by the look of terrified confusion on his face, Toma was having similar thoughts. The boy actually pulled away from Lisa, reaching up to touch the paints on his face.

A rush of good feeling ran through me as the paints took effect. Warmth and comfort- but not a calming kind. No, this was the comfort of the dojo, full of energy. I was surrounded by friends, about to go fight some bastards with my awesome powers. This was going to be fun! I was so pumped! I needed to finish building up force for my idea for taking down Van Auger. The group hug slowly broke up as everyone was infected with the aggressive comradery of Lisa's paints, allowing me to resume bashing my fists together like a braindead thug.

"Wouldn't it be faster if someone helped?" Ghin asked, thumping me lightly on the head. I absorbed the force and glanced up at him.

"Maybe… Oooor, I might lose control, explode, end up in the water, and have to start over again after someone fishes me out." I made a face and smashed my fists together once more. "Trying to get right on the edge… Otherwise this won't work. Still might not…"

It might've just been the nausea building up as I got closer to the edge, but… I was suddenly terrified. What if I missed the island? There would be no one there to fish me out if I landed in the ocean… This was a bad idea. Very, very bad idea…

But also the only one I had to deal with Van Auger. So I had to try.

It didn't take too much longer for me to achieve the appropriate level of head-spinning, barely-able-to-walk nausea that accompanied me nearing my limit. I rose gingerly, edging over to stand beneath Luffy. He frowned down at me.

"Jones… Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"No. But I'm sure that if I don't try it, my plan is going straight to Hell. And it's too late to turn back now…"

Luffy's frown deepened. "Jones… I know you don't like asking for help and stuff… And I let you do lots cause you're smart and I trust you… But… After this… After this, I want you to at least tell me your plans, 'kay? Even if I don't understand… I'm the captain. It's my job to look after everybody, not yours."

I flinched at his voice, so full of reproach. He was right, wasn't he? I had been overstepping my authority more and more… "Sorry, Captain…"

"Don't be sorry. Nothing we can do about it now. Just be better next time." Luffy nodded to himself and flipped right way up as he descended to the deck. "Where'd you need me to shoot you, again?"

"There." I pointed up, at a gap between two lines. It would give me an angle of ascension of about thirty degrees- hopefully that would be enough.

"Okay…" Luffy's voice was dubious. "I don't see an island or anything, but you science better than I do… If you're sure…"

"Science isn't a verb…" I muttered as I got into position. My captain ignored me.

Grabbing onto the Merry's mast, Luffy positioned himself behind me at an angle and stretched. "I don't like this…" he grumbled as he pulled back, stretching to nearly the other end of the ship. "I can't see the island… What if you miss? Can't you get there somehow else?"

"Nope. Trust me, I would if I could." My everything was shaking… White nibbled at the edges of my vision.

"Mmrph… Fine…" Luffy shook his head. "I trust Jones to know what she's doing… But I don't like it."

"You could always order her not to," Ace reminded him, "You are her captain."

I rolled my eyes at the freckled fireball, debating whether or not to remind him that he wouldn't have listened to Whitebeard had the old man ordered him not to go hunting Teach. But I decided against it. Instead…

"Ace, you're gonna need to head over on the Striker about fifteen minutes after Luffy launches me." Hopefully that would give me enough time. "Bring Sanji, and maybe someone else if you have room- we'll need help to prepare the battlefield, and Sanji's gotta make the pie."

"It's already in the oven," the cook said irritably from his place by the galley door. He lit a cigarette with a huff. "Figured you'd forgotten how long they take to bake, so got it in while you and the shitty firecracker were yelling at each other. Idiot… Did you think I could just make it on the spot once we got to Jaya or something? Guess that's another reason you couldn't make the shitty pie…"

Maudit… Well, if Sanji had already fixed things, I didn't need to worry. I flinched involuntarily at the cook's words. "Sorry…"

He didn't respond. Sighing, I glanced at Luffy and braced myself for impact. "Whenever you're ready, Captain."

"Okay…" Luffy looked doubtful, but thankfully, he didn't follow Ace's advice. "If you're sure we have to… Gum-Gum-!"

He shot forwards with a rubbery snap. I finished the name of the technique just before he slammed into my back. "Intercontinental Ballistic Missile!"

I released the force I'd gathered as Luffy slammed into me, sending me flying harder and faster than either of us could've done alone. The wind stung my face as I soared out over the sea; I squinted against the sting in my eyes. Unruly blonde bangs plastered against my face, making vision even more difficult. My eyes watered, and my skin stung from the force of the wind.

When I reached the top of my arc and felt myself beginning to fall, I arched my back like a skydiver, holding my arms out to the sides like wings. And then… Then I turned the force of gravity on myself down. Not enough to make me lighter than air and set me rising, but enough that I was more or less neutrally buoyant- like a zeppelin. Except most zeppelins aren't flying forwards at terminal velocity.

And as much as my eyes were burning, I loved this. I'd always wanted to fly, really fly- no airplane, just my body and the wind. And while this wasn't technically true flight- I had no method of propulsion or steering- it was closer than I'd ever thought to come. The wind stole my breath away; despite that, I managed to find enough air to let out a burst of laughter.

"SESEHIHIHIHIHI! THIS IS AMAZING!"

Of course, keeping my arms from sheering off from the wind resistance meant I was absorbing a fair amount of force. It might've been more comfortable to keep them tucked in- although then I'd run the risk of rolling over as I flew, leaving me unable to see where I was going. I wondered if releasing that force would allow me to steer at all… But how?

It took me a little less than three minutes to cover the distance between the Going Merry and Jaya- although about halfway through that time, my heart jumped into my mouth and began beating like a military drum. Why, you ask? Well…

I'd gotten the distance to Jaya right, but my estimate of the angle the ship was approaching at was off by several degrees. Meaning I was soaring past several hundred meters to the left of the island.

For someone who could swim, this might not have been a big deal- getting to shore would take a lot of effort, but it wouldn't be impossible. For someone with a Devil Fruit… Merde. I was seriously regretting my life choices. For the last minute of my flight, I played desperately with forces as I tried to find a way to steer myself closer to land. All I succeeded in doing was setting myself spinning as I turned gravity back on and descended.

A bullet whizzed past my ear as I spiralled towards the waves, unable to right myself. Well… On the bright side, I'd at least caught Van Auger's attention. Fat lot of good that would do now, though. Only one thought ran through my mind as the water rose up to meet me:

'Spin, spin, spin, SMACK!'

My momentum ran out off the shore of Mock Town. Hundreds of pirates and rogues would bear witness to my bizarre fate; I would be forever remembered as the idiot Devil Fruit user who fell from the sky. Well, there were worse fates. Not that I was thinking of any, at the moment.

Spin, spin, spin, SMACK!

Funnily enough, the sea echoed my thoughts as I plunged into her, the resounding SMACK! of my textbook-perfect belly-flop setting my ears to ringing. I coughed from the impact- and immediately found myself choking on a lungful of salt water as I sank deeper. Cold… It was so cold. I tried to struggle, but my limbs felt so heavy… I could barely move.

Reds faded out, then oranges, yellows, greens… I was left in a faerie world of delicate blue and purple bubbles as I went down. My vision began to go black; my lungs burned. After maybe thirty seconds of weak, ineffectual struggling, I could hold onto consciousness no longer.

The world went black.

X

Luffy bit his lip as he watched Jones fly away. He hoped she knew what she was doing… Maybe he should have ordered her to stay back. What if the island wasn't where she thought it was? She would drown, and it would be his fault for not stopping her. The young captain groaned and gripped the edge of his hat.

"I just made a huge mistake, didn't I?"

Nami stared out at the horizon, and the black-and-purple speck rapidly disappearing towards it. "It's Jones… I'm sure she knows what she's doing?"

That… Something like that shouldn't have been a question. Nami's voice wasn't reassuring at all. Luffy bit his lip harder; a second later, he tasted blood.

"If you're so worried," Ace asked, "Why didn't you tell her to stay?" Luffy's brother was busy doing a last-minute check of the crate Jones had put on the front of his little ship.

That… Luffy wasn't sure. His head began to ache as he went through things. Why didn't he order Jones to stay back, or to at least find a better way? Because… Because Jones knew things, knew so much, and the way she acted… As if as long as she didn't think about the things that could go wrong, nothing would go wrong. But that wasn't true, was it? Even if you didn't think about the bad things, they could still happen.

He'd never thought he could lose Sabo, when he was little. But he had. He'd gotten him back, but that didn't change that he'd lost him first. They'd had so many years stolen from them…

And maybe… "Lisa's paints're doing things to my head."

The little painter looked sheepish. "Sorry… Side-effects of war paint may include increased aggression, lowered inhibitions, heightened energy and perceptions, excitement, and an inability to properly analyze whether an idea is good or not."

Luffy nodded. He wasn't entirely sure what all those words meant, but the ones he did know definitely felt right. For some reason, as soon as Lisa stopped speaking, Toma's jaw dropped. Zoro's apprentice looked at the painter with an expression of dawning horror. That was weird.

Zoro glanced over, arms folded. Luffy felt so small under his bosun's stare… A part of him wanted to seep through the cracks in the deck and hide in the hold. Not that Zoro looked angry, per say, but… He was stern and crackly and dark, and Luffy didn't like it when his friends were like that. It made him feel like he'd failed…

"You're not the only one to blame." Zoro's voice was low and flat. "We all give Jones too much leeway because of what she knows. Yeah, she's our quartermaster and a good talker, but…"

"Agreed," Sanji huffed. Luffy looked at his cook with surprise; Sanji agreeing with Zoro so easily was weird. "Jones… The shitty witch has good reasons for what she does, but her methods…She needs to talk to the rest of us, work things out, not just spring things on us last minute and expect us to go along."

The cook was biting hard on the butt of his cigarette. Luffy flinched at the bitterness in Sanji's voice. And… that was the first time he'd ever heard his cook refer to a girl using the word 'shitty.' Jones must've done something to really piss Sanji off.

Lisa stared worriedly from Luffy to Zoro to Sanji. "Should we really be talking about Jones behind her back like this?"

Sanji snorted. "She makes all her plans behind our backs. I think we're allowed."

Ghin frowned at the blond. "You're awfully bitter all of a sudden, Shit Cook. Something happen?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." While there was a lot of heat behind Sanji's words, he didn't kick Ghin the way he usually would have for asking about his feelings. Luffy frowned. That just confirmed that something was definitely wrong. And his next words thoroughly confirmed it.

"There were spoilers involved."

Oh, dear… If it was something bad enough that Jones was spilling spoilers, yeah… Luffy flinched. There was something wrong there, if Jones needed to break that rule… And he didn't particularly want to know what it was. But if Sanji was this bitter, then as captain Luffy might have to get involved.

"What should we do, though?" Luffy looked at his crew mates one by one. He was met with multiple different expressions- confusion, anger, reluctance, conflict.

Nami bit her lip. "Well… Ordering her to tell you about her plans beforehand was a good start. Should probably change it to her keeping us all in the loop, though."

Almost everyone nodded- although Ghin and Lisa were slightly more hesitant. Then Drifter held up a sign. And maybe add a caveat that we- and especially you- be involved in forming said plans.

"But I don't like planning," Luffy grumbled. "It's too complicated. And Jones is good at it… Right?"

"Just because she's good at something like that doesn't mean she should be given completely free reign," Zoro said flatly. "Just imagine what would've happened if Kuro or Krieg was left to do stuff because they were good at it. I'm not saying Jones is as bad as them, but if you just let her keep doing whatever she wants… Well, I won't follow a woman who's prone to underhanded plotting, whether she has good reasons or no- but I can't follow a man who won't stand up for himself when he needs to. Even against his friends."

Luffy found himself drooping, unable to meet Zoro's eyes. His bosun was right. Even if he wasn't the sort to give lots of orders, he needed to know that they would be obeyed if he did. He needed his crew to respect him as a captain and… He couldn't tell if Jones did or not. She said she was sure he'd be king of the pirates, but… could he be, if he just let one of his crewmates run rampant?

Sighing, Luffy raised his eyes to meet Zoro's. "Saa… You're right. After this- After this, me'n Jones need to have a talk."

Zoro nodded in approval. All over the ship, other members of the crew looked relieved as the tension was largely put on hold. Except Sanji. He still looked like he wanted to stab someone to death with a spoon, but if he didn't want to talk about it…

Oh. Wait. This was one of those things he needed to be a more assertive captain about, wasn't it?

Wandering over to Sanji, Luffy planted himself in front of the cook. "Ne… Sanji? I know you said there's spoilers involved, so I don't wanna know those, but… I need you to tell me a bit of what's wrong, 'kay?"

The cook didn't immediately respond, so Luffy prodded him gently. "It's got to do with Jones, right? And I'm tryna figure out what to do about her. So you've gotta tell me. Captain's orders."

Grumbling, Sanji tossed the butt of his spent cigarette into one of the trays Chopper had placed around the Merry for that purpose. "Shit… Fine. Shitty witch wants to poison a bastard- has some big overkill plan to make sure he ends up dead. But she can't cook for shit… So I got the story outta her and her reasons are good- good enough that just this once, I'm willing to be in on that shit. But it still leaves a shitty taste in my mouth."

Wow… But… Food was so important to Sanji. What could-? Luffy groaned internally as he accidentally figured out the spoiler. "Does this have something to do with when Ace and Jones were crying earlier? And she was talking about him dying?"

Oh, no… Luffy's heart was suddenly tearing in two directions. On the one hand, he wanted his brother to be safe and alive, even if that came at a high price. On the other, though… He couldn't allow his crewmates to bully each other into going against the things that made them, them. The rubber boy reached up and placed a hand on Sanji's shoulder.

"Sanji… You don't hafta listen to Jones if you don't wanna. If her plan makes you uncomfortable, we'll find a way to make something else work instead."

Frowning, the cook sighed. "It's too late. The shitty pie's already in the oven."

Luffy opened his mouth to suggest something, but Sanji cut him off with another heavy sigh. "And no, I won't just get rid of it. Throwing the shitty thing out's even more of a waste than poisoning the bastard. It's just a shitty deal all 'round."

Oh, no… Luffy wasn't sure what to do with that. Letting out a little sigh of his own, the rubber captain gave his cook's shoulder a comforting squeeze. Sanji huffed. A few seconds later, the cook pulled away and went to the galley to check on his deadly dessert.

For several long minutes, the ship was engulfed in awkward silence. The only sound was that of Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku tinkering away. It made Luffy fidgety; he didn't like his crew to be uncomfortable. As soon as this Jaya island was done, they needed to fix this.

Then, about five minutes after Jones left, Usopp suddenly jumped up and raced across the ship, yelling. "We did it! We got the suits watertight! So if anyone wants to dive for treasure and stuff, we can!"

"How many people can go down?" Nami demanded. Usopp froze.

"Ah… Um… Three." The gunner rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "We only had enough empty barrels and rubber to make three suits- I wasn't about to use the barrel Jones was storing powdered apple seeds in."

Luffy bounced over excitedly before anyone else could say anything. This was just what he needed- adventure always helped him think. Maybe something in the sunken ship would help him figure out what to do with his crew.

"I wanna go!"

Usopp grinned and rubbed his nose. "Sure thing, Luffy! The Great Usopp and his helpers have created a surefire way to keep even Devil Fruit users moving and breathing under water. Although you won't be able to use your powers…"

"That's fine. Not like I'm gonna be fighting down there- just digging through a bunch of old stuff."

Nodding absently, Usopp rubbed at his chin. "And Jones said something about picking up shells… Wonder what that was all about…"

Luffy flinched. A small part of him wanted to tell everyone just to ignore that, simply because it was Jones who said it and he was trying to rein her in. But at the same time, the things she said were usually useful… Groaning, the rubber captain rubbed his head. Shanks had never mentioned how hard being a captain was.

"I'll go too," Zoro offered, stepping up beside Luffy and placing his hand on the rubber boy's shoulder.

Grateful for his bosun's continued support, Luffy found himself looking around for Sanji. But… the cook was in the galley, putting the finishing touches on the pie he'd made for Jones' plan. That made Luffy feel… A little lost, actually. Sanji was a good man to have at his back, even if Zoro and the cook fought worse than cats and dogs.

Nami's eyes were glowing beri symbols, though, so it didn't take Luffy long to find a volunteer to fill out their party. The sailing master licked her lips. "Ancient treasure… Who knows what's down there? It could be worth a fortune!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Not gonna stay up here and keep an eye on the log pose?"

Rolling her eyes, Nami tapped on the thick, mesh-coated glass. "It's not changing any time soon, and we won't be moving until everyone's back up. It'll be fine."

Getting into the suits Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku was… interesting. The main body of the suit was a large barrel, with rubber hip-waders and sleeves sealed on with some sort of resin. Once they'd squeezed into that- Luffy and Nami had a much easier time than Zoro- there was another barrel worn as a helmet. It sealed on with a heavy brass attachment at the neck. A very long hose came off the top of that, trailing and looping over to a small pump operated by Yosaku.

"Are you sure these things will hold?" Nami asked. Her voice echoed strangely through her barrel.

Usopp nodded and flashed a thumbs-up. "Of course! Between my technical know-how and Johnny and Yosaku's chemical expertise, there's nothing that could break these suits!"

"If you say so…" Nami didn't look too convinced- although she still waddled over to the rail with Luffy and Zoro, the diving suit turning her usually graceful strides into something heavy and stiff.

Grinning, Luffy jumped over the rails and plunged into the water, his bosun and sailing master following a second later. The rubber captain felt a brief thrill of fear as water splashed up around him. It was reflexive- for so many years, water rising up around him like that had meant an inability to move and breathe. Luffy held his breath, bracing himself.

But then the water rose up past the faceplate of his helmet barrel and he could still breathe. He could still move- he wasn't even wet. This was amazing.

Luffy was eager to look around as he sank beneath the waves. He'd never been able to dive, to see the world under the sea. And it was beautiful. All blue and green, with flickering shadows like nothing Luffy had ever seen on land. It was like being inside a giant sapphire.

Dozens of fish spiralled through the water, of every shape and size. A school of tiny silver flickering things scattered below Luffy's feet as he descended, hundreds of shimmering darts. They moved almost faster than his eyes could track.

He wondered if they were tasty.

As the trio sank deeper, the broken hull of the fallen ship rose up out of the depths like a shadowy ribcage. It was no longer upside down; no, the great hulk had rolled onto one side as it plunged through the water. A few artifacts- cannon, ammunition, a great brass bell- were scattered around it on the seafloor. Small amounts of silt floated on the currents, not yet settled after the ship's descent.

"So cool!" Luffy bounced sluggishly through the water, feeling weightless. Picking up the bell, he gave it a loud ring. Distorted sound spread through the waves, a perfect accompaniment to the puffs of silt thrown up by the rubber boy's footsteps.

Nami drifted over and tapped him on the shoulder. When she spoke, though, Luffy couldn't make out the words. Her voice was too distorted. Huh… This was a time when talking with their hands would be a really good idea. He should get someone on that. Maybe Lisa- she was little, but she'd been a spy-type for a while, so she might know how that worked.

"What?" Luffy pressed his barrel helmet close to Nami's in the hopes it would help him hear her better when she repeated herself. It didn't.

Rolling her eyes, the sailing master jabbed a finger at a shell lying in the sand, then traced a series of lines over one of her forearms with her forefinger. Oh. Right. Jones had said to pick up any odd-looking shells. They must be important somehow. But… Luffy's head started to ache as the troubles he'd been worried about topside followed him to the depths of the sea.

"Grr… Mmm…" Finally, the rubber boy nodded. He'd demand an explanation from Jones later, but if the shells were important… Luffy made the movement very big and obvious, since normal head motions didn't register through the stiff suits.

Nodding back, Nami bent to retrieve the shell- then straightened with a snap, clutching it tightly in one hand. With her other, she pointed at something over Luffy's shoulder. Spinning around, the young captain almost knocked himself off his feet as he got tangled in his breathing hose.

When he saw what Nami had been pointing at, Luffy sighed and charged sluggishly across the seabed. A slow, skidding tackle sent him crashing into Zoro's knees, knocking the bosun off his feet before he could wander off into the darkness. Although… He probably couldn't get too far, since his breathing hose was still attached to the Going Merry. Luffy didn't want to take chances, though.

Zoro glared at his captain, yelling something that came across as a garbled roar. Shaking his head, Luffy responded even though he knew his bosun couldn't hear him. "Don't wander off and get lost!"

The pair clumsily got to their feet; Luffy kept a grip on Zoro's hand and hauled the swordsman back towards the sunken ship. Nami shook her head at them as the approached, reaching out to untangle their breathing hoses. Her faceplate fogged briefly as she sighed. Then all three pirates entered the St. Briss through a hole in the side.

Once inside the ship, it was much darker and very hard to see. Luffy groped about with one hand, sliding his feet so he didn't trip over anything. That was a big concern- there was stuff scattered everywhere. Barrels and crates and cannon had been tossed about as the ship crashed down. Most were barely visible in the dark and the silt.

His other hand held the bell. Now that they were inside, he was less worried about Zoro wandering off, and the bell was pretty. He could hang it on Merry somewhere; she'd probably like it.

Rifling through the supplies scattered everywhere made Luffy wish Usopp had managed to equip the diving suits with pockets. There was so much cool stuff! Pretty shells and gems and weapons and art- although the weapons and art were mostly ruined by age or their sudden encounter with water. Luffy paused for a moment at the sight of one of the less damaged pictures- a portrait of a blonde woman, protected by thick glass.

She looked a bit like Sanji. Maybe she was one of his ancestors.

Nami had picked up a ratty sack from somewhere among the debris, which she was filling with shells. The sailing master also periodically tapped on and shook various chests and crates, frowning. Some of them she left where she'd found them; others, she tossed into a pile in the middle of an old net. Probably the ones that had treasure in them.

Zoro was going through a stash of weapons that had been scattered through one corner. Muskets and swords- older and in a different style than anything Luffy had ever seen before. Some of them were quite pretty… Or would've been, if they hadn't been rusty and pitted with age. The rubber boy could see a scowl on his swordsman's face; Zoro was muttering something as he picked up, then replaced each weapon.

A large fish raced out from behind a barrel as Luffy tried to pry open the lid, a thick streak of dull gold nearly knocking him over. He yelped and backpedalled, flinging the barrel lid at the fish as he tore it free. He missed.

Out of the barrel floated an oddly coloured, dusty fluid. Inside were… pickled herring. Ancient pickled herring. Seriously, this ship had been in the sky for how long? Luffy doubted even Sanji could make something that old taste good.

Wafting the greenish fluid away so he could see again, Luffy moved around the barrel to a set of broken shelves. They didn't have much of anything on them, though- or at least, nothing that was in one piece. Except one box. There was one box that was still whole, and a very odd box at that. Luffy picked it up, turning it over in his hands. It was a very sturdy box with a heavy lock on it; the way it was made almost appeared watertight. The rubber captain shook it to see if he could figure out what might be inside.

Distracted with trying to figure out the gentle thumping produced by shaking the box, Luffy didn't notice the shadow approaching through the water. Not until a large hand reached out to grab the box from him. Startled, Luffy jumped back, drifting slowly through the water. Standing before him was a large man, wearing a much cooler looking diving suit than the heavy barrel suits Usopp had made. Although its helmet was just as awkward, with a tiny faceplate that prevented Luffy from seeing the newcomer at all.

"Oi!" Luffy shouted indignantly, "I was here first!"

Of course, the newcomer didn't hear him. Instead, the towering man wound up as if he intended to punch Luffy. The rubber captain growled and stepped in with a roundhouse kick- just because he couldn't use his powers didn't mean he wasn't going to fight back! His crew got here first! Finder's keepers!

Before either Luffy or the newcomer could make contact with their attacks, the surface on which they were standing suddenly shifted. Out of the corner of his eye, Luffy caught a glimpse of Nami quickly wrapping up her pile of treasures and scrambling to get out of the ship, hauling her net behind her. Zoro followed soon after- the swordsman groped around his waist for a moment as he looked around, before realizing he didn't have his swords at the moment, and couldn't see what he was trying to fight anyway.

A second shift upended the wrecked ship and sent it rolling. Luffy abandoned the idea of fighting the stranger for salvage, scrambling for the opening he'd entered by so as to avoid tearing his breathing hose. And it was a scramble. Having never learned how to swim, Luffy was forced to climb over broken shelves and rolling barrels. An ancient cannonball, falling through the water, nearly hit him in the head as the ship shifted around him; wood splinters drifted in the spiralling currents.

And then Luffy was free, jumping sluggishly out of the hole in the hull of the St. Briss. The rubber boy, still clinging to the bell and box he'd picked up, kicked off the side of the ancient ship as hard as he could to launch himself upwards. It rolled under his foot- but not from his kick. No, it rolled towards him, adding to his momentum, as a giant turtle rose from the bottom of the sea.

"So cool…" That was even bigger than the turtle Robin had the first time they saw her! What ever happened to that turtle anyway? Maybe she'd been borrowing it from someone, and it had gone home now. Yeah, that had to be it.

Something latched onto the back of Luffy's diving suit- he couldn't turn his head to see who or what- and hauled him to the surface. The rubber boy found himself deposited on the deck of the Going Merry. Taking his helmet off and crawling out of his suit, the captain shook his head. Ah, it was so nice to be able to see all the way around him.

Ghin was standing behind him- probably the person who'd pull Luffy out. Not far away, Usopp was aiming his slingshot at the giant turtle as it rose out of the water. The gunner's knees were shaking. There was no sign of Ace, Sanji, or Lisa- or Ace's little boat, for that matter. They must've left to do their bit of… Whatever Jones' plan was.

Not far from the Going Merry was a much larger ship. Its figurehead was a monkey holding cymbals, and there was a monkey face with crossed bananas painted across the mainsail. Potted plants were strewn about the edges of its upper decks; the lower deck had a bunch of strange devices lined up by the rails. Pumps and winches and other things that Luffy didn't understand.

The stranger who'd tried to grab the box from Luffy clambered up the side of the large ship. Removing his diving suit revealed a muscular, very hairy man with a fleshy face. And… A tail? So he wasn't a man; he was a-

"Cool! I didn't know monkeys could sail!" Luffy bounced on the rail of the Merry, doing his best not to fall in. Judging by the way Zoro grabbed the back of his shirt, his crewmates didn't trust him to look after himself, though.

Mouth open to shout, the tailed stranger froze and started blushing. "Aw, shucks… Thanks dude!"

Then he shook his head. "Oi! Your compliments won't distract me, asshole! You jerks were salvaging on my turf! No one steals loot from Salvage King Masira of the Saruyama Alliance!"

"Shut up! We were here first!" Stomping on the rail, Luffy tensed, ready to jump over to the other ship to fight. And he wasn't the only one.

Nami actually growled one hand on her net full of chests and crates. "Under World Government Law, Article 1989, Subsection 23, the salvage of a ship dating less than eight hundred years in age is property of the one who found it- regardless of location. You may patrol this area regularly, but we found the wreck first, so we have right of claim!"

"You wanna try and back that up, Little Girl?" The monkey man clenched his fists and pounded his chest, glancing at the space between their ships as if to judge the distance in between.

Luffy's crewmates didn't take too kindly to the implied threat to their sailing master. Usopp switched from aiming at the retreating turtle to the salvage equipment on the monkey's ship; Zoro and Toma drew their swords. Ghin had a pistol drawn in one hand, while the other spun one of his tonfa. Johnny and Yosaku both had their spray guns set to 100%- whatever that meant. Geier hissed and flared her wings, Drifter clinking his clam blades together on her back. Chopper popped into his Heavy Point and extended his hockey stick, smacking it menacingly against one palm. Off to the side, Robin crossed her arms in front of her chest. Beside Luffy, Ruatha snarled and pawed at the deck.

And on the other deck, the monkey crew was just as ready for a fight. Two dozen men- as large and hairy as their captain and wearing the same orange jumpsuits- drew swords and cocked pistols. They also yelled loudly with wordless enthusiasm, reminding Luffy of actual monkeys. Whooping and stomping… It was almost enough to give Luffy flashbacks to the monkeys Grandpa used to make him fight.

KRA-KACHOW!

One of the guns went off. The bullet soared over the heads of Luffy's crew, punching through a corner of the mainsail to embed itself into one of Merry's horns. Gold-painted wood cracked.

"That was a warning shot!" Masira shouted as the man beside him reloaded a musket. "Next ones go into your heads if you don't hand over the salvage and get off our territory!"

Oh, that was… No one threatened his crew! Luffy stretched over to grab the rail of the other ship, preparing to Rocket over. "Fuck off, asshole! We're not giving you anything! And stop blowing holes in my ship!"

About to haul himself over, Luffy was suddenly frozen when the monkey men went stiff. Looks of abject terror began to grow over their faces; one of them began frantically rifling through a stack of bounty posters. All the monkey men were staring at something in the sky behind Luffy's head. The rubber boy didn't turn to look, though- he wasn't about to take his eyes off anyone who'd threatened to shoot his crew. Not for a second.

A strange whistling noise filled the air as the monkey men grew paler. It was followed by an eerie, yet heartening song. "KREEEEEEEAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAA!"

Heavy wingbeats filled the air. The monkey man who'd been looking through bounty posters dropped all the papers he'd been holding with a squeak.

Bright blue wings swooped low over Luffy's head in a blur, led by a spear of flaming gold. A bird the size of a large swan shot over both ships, circled around, and landed on the rail beside Luffy. The force of its wingbeats actually knocked him back onto the deck, making him release the monkeys' boat. His arm snapped back, nearly hitting him in the face.

Across the way, the monkey men had all gone eerily silent. Except for one that appeared to be whimpering for his mommy.

Bright blue and gold flames started at the tips of the bird's wings, crawling slowly upward with a soft, soothing hiss. They formed a mesmerizing dance as they moved; Luffy couldn't look away. Behind them, rather than ash, the flames left pale skin and magenta cloth. Once the flames reached the bird's torso, they also moved down its legs, revealing blue pants and a turquoise sash.

The last place the flames passed was the bird's head, leaving a long face with sleepy-looking eyes. And… Hair shaped like pineapple leaves? So cool! Luffy's mouth started to water; he shook his head to get rid of the feeling. Now was not the time!

…

Pineapples were yummy…

Shaking his head again, the rubber captain got to his feet with a growl. He had more important things to think about than tasty fruit! Luffy narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. "Who're you?"

Sleepy eyes blinked at him. "You… You must be Luffy, yoi. Where's Ace?"

"Not here," Luffy snapped. "Now answer! Who are you?"

In the few seconds it took for the bird man to speak again, Luffy was acutely aware of everyone's eyes on him. Most of his own crew were just confused- although Johnny and Yosaku looked like they might be about to piss themselves in fear. The other crew, though… All the monkey men looked like they'd just seen a ghost. A ghost who was about to eat them, then get its head cut off by a bigger, scarier ghost.

The bird man smirked and shook his head. "Eheh… With what Ace told us, I shouldn't be surprised, yoi. My name's Marco; I'm on the same crew as your brother. He called me and a couple of our brothers who were in the area about a little problem we've been having, yoi."

Oh… This guy was… "You're here to help fight the Beardface guy Jones hates? They've… Already left to do some of her sneaky plan stuff."

Nami finally broke the silence by tossing a bottle that bounced off the back of Luffy's head. "Don't trust random birds who turn into people just because they say they're part of Ace's crew! He could be lying!"

Johnny and Yosaku, both trembling, shook their heads in unison. At some point while Luffy wasn't looking, the blue hunter had jumped into his partner's arms. "N-No, Big Sis. That- That's Marco the Phoenix… He's the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates."

The silence returned as Nami froze, her eyes wide. Marco shook his head, chuckling. "Well… You're certainly interesting, yoi. Most rookie crews would've gone running before I even finished transforming. Not that doing that would necessarily get them away, yoi."

The way he smirked as he said that reminded Luffy of Benn Beckman. A smile grew across the rubber boy's face. Meeting other pirates was so much fun. And at least, seeing one of them… Yeah, he could be confident that Ace had a good crew to look after him. They might not do it quite as well as Luffy and Sabo would've done, but if Ace was happy, that was what mattered most.

"Where a-?" Luffy's question was interrupted by a shout from the other side of the Going Merry. Or rather… Below her rails. The voice wasn't one Luffy recognized.

"Hey Marco! Where'd ya go?"

"I'm up here!" Marco's voice somehow managed to be as sleepy as his eyes even when shouting.

A short boy in a frilly green jacket jumped up from a small boat bobbing below the Merry. His boots made a light tapping noise as he landed on the rail, perching like a bird. A light sabre hung from his hip; catlike eyes smiled at Luffy from under coppery bangs. Then suddenly the boy blurred green, lunging forward faster than Luffy could properly track. The rubber captain barely had time to let out a yell of surprise-

"Eeeyaaah!"

-before a pair of wiry arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tight. The green boy hummed happily, dancing in place.

"So this is Ace's baby brother! He's so cute! Can we keep him, Marco?"

Luffy squirmed in the unexpected grip. The other boy was surprisingly strong, though- strong enough that Luffy actually wasn't sure he could escape without starting a fight. And he didn't want to start a fight right now. Or at least, not with Ace's crew mates.

Zoro, however, seemed to have no such issues. The bosun drew Wado Ichimonji and pointed it at the green boy's head. "Unhand my captain. Now."

Sighing, the newcomer released Luffy and took a step back. He pouted playfully, feline eyes lit up with mirth. "Spoilsport…"

Chuckling, Marco reached out to pat the green boy on the head. "Better luck next time, Haruta. Maybe try with someone who doesn't want to challenge Pops for Roger's crown, yoi."

"Fine…"

Still chuckling, Marco shook his head. "Where's Namur? I thought he was with you."

"I'm here." This third voice was low and rumbling. A blue-grey hand, shiny and dripping with water, rose up to grab the rail of the Going Merry. Its owner climbed into view a second later- a towering shark fishman with a large, blunt head. Six knife-like teeth jutted upwards from his lower jaw, emphasizing a slight underbite; he had the number eight tattooed on the left side of his neck. As grumpy and serious as his face looked with its huge teeth and spiky hair, it contrasted with his playful white and blue shirt.

Nami stiffened and went pale at the sight of the fishman, taking a step back. Luffy tensed. He didn't think Ace's crewmate would hurt her… But with what Arlong had put her through, it wasn't surprising she was scared. The rubber captain edged between his sailing master and this Namur person, just in case something happened.

And he wasn't the only one. Behind him, Usopp reached out to grab Nami's hand, while Ghin rested one of his hands on her shoulder. And scared as they were, Johnny and Yosaku moved to stand on either side of Luffy, all but blocking Namur and Nami from seeing each other.

"Should we be expecting anyone else to show up?" Zoro asked, still holding Wado Ichimonji. Marco shook his head.

"Nah, Pops just sent out the three of us and Ace. Which brings me back to my earlier question, yoi- where's Ace?"

"He went ahead," Chopper piped in, resting the butt of his hockey stick on the deck like some sort of walking staff. "To… I think it was Jaya? There were some things Jones wanted people to set up before the fight, so Ace, Sanji, and Lisa went with her."

Marco looked concerned at that, his sleepily playful expression morphing into a frown. "If Blackbeard's already there, that wasn't a good idea, yoi. Ace… Isn't known for sticking to a plan once he loses his temper."

Luffy nodded solemnly. "I know. But… I think he will this time. He'n Jones… Talked. And then we hugged them, 'cause they were both so sad. So I think Ace'll be alright this time."

"If you say so…" Marco huffed, not looking convinced. "I'd still feel better if we got moving sooner rather than later, yoi. In case there are any issues."

That made sense. Nodding, Luffy pointed in the direction Jones had asked him to launch her. "Jaya's… Over there somewhere. Not exactly sure how far. Just a minute, though; we gotta handle something."

Turning back to face the monkey ship, the rubber boy cracked his knuckles. "You guys threatened Nami and hurt Merry. I don't like you."

Much to his surprise, most of the monkey men cowered. Masira whined and bowed. "Please… Don't hurt us. We didn't know you were connected to such a powerful crew."

Luffy's eye twitched. There it was again, the same as with Shuraiya- people underestimated him because his crew didn't have a bounty, only respecting him when they learned about his older brother. Growling, the young captain launched himself over to the monkey ship and got right up in Masira's face.

"That shouldn't matter," Luffy growled, grabbing the large monkey man by one of the straps of his jumpsuit, lifting him slightly. "I am me, and my crew is my crew. I'm more than just 'Fire Fist' Ace's baby brother, and my crew is awesome without needing help from his. Just 'cause we don't have a bounty doesn't mean you can walk all over us."

Whimpering, Masira nodded. "Yessir!"

This guy… He may look cool, but he was a coward. And not really a bad guy, even if Luffy didn't like him much. Bit of an idiot, too. Luffy dropped Masira with another growl. "Good."

Turning away to head back to his own ship, though, Luffy just didn't feel right. Masira wasn't worth fighting, really, but… He'd still threatened Luffy's crew. Spinning back around, the rubber boy slammed a single punch into the monkey man's head.

"THAT'S FOR THREATENING MY CREW AND SHOOTING MERRY!"

A quick leap carried Luffy back to his own ship. Behind him, Masira's crewmates gathered worriedly around their captain. He seemed alright, though. His eyes were spinning and Luffy's fist had left a giant lump on the top of his head, but there was no bleeding, and Masira remained more or less conscious.

Marco shot Luffy an appraising look as the young captain straightened his hat. "No bounty? How'd you kids manage to get this far like that, yoi? I'd've thought anyone related to Ace'd be causing all kinds of chaos if left to their own devices."

"My quartermaster's a sneaky ninja spy person who keeps meddling," Luffy grumbled. Damn… There was that feeling of being annoyed at Jones again. "I know she wants to help, but… Ergh."

Luffy clutched at the edges of his hat. This was so frustrating! But he didn't want to think about it right now. Later, when they were all back together again- then he could deal with this. "Let's just get going…"

"Without even letting me aboard? I'm hurt." A new voice- this one very familiar- sounded off Merry's stern. It was accompanied by the hollow thump of wood on wood- in this case, a small skiff bumping against the hull of a much larger caravel.

Excitement raced down Luffy's spine, washing away his annoyance. He launched himself up to the poop deck and reached over, grabbing a leather-gloved hand to haul his blond brother aboard. "SABO! YOU CAME!"

"Of course I did." Sabo ruffled Luffy's hair as the rubber boy enveloped him in a hug. Blue eyes glinted harshly. "Jones said Ace might die if this fails- I'm not about to let that happen."

Unlike when they'd seen him in Alabasta, Sabo was carrying three pipes. Luffy was a bit confused by this. How could Sabo use three pipes at once? Unless… "Can you fight with a weapon in your mouth like Zoro? So cool!"

Sabo chuckled and pressed their foreheads together for a moment before disentangling himself from Luffy. "Shishishishishi! No, silly. I got these for you and Ace. Didn't Jones say something about it being not a good idea for Devil Fruit users to touch this person? So I went to Dawn Island to pick them up."

A smirk split his face, making the old scars twist and knot. "Dadan wasn't particularly pleased. Old bitch tried to club me- I think she thought I was some fresh meat trying to make a move on her turf. Then when I finally got her to settle down long enough to explain who I was, she started screaming at me for being an ungrateful brat and abandoning my brothers, and how she didn't miss me at all." Sabo's smirk broadened. "Of course… That second bit would've been more believable if she wasn't bawling her eyes out. Sentimental old hag."

Luffy couldn't help but snicker. That sure sounded like Dadan, alright.

Still smirking, Sabo passed Luffy one of the pipes he was carrying as he took a look around. "I see you've got someone new since Alabasta. Who's the kid?"

Toma jumped to attention before Luffy could answer, stumbling over his words as his face flushed red. His eyes kept flicking over to Marco, as if something about the Whitebeard pirate made him nervous. Well… Ace's crewmates were pretty tough, so that might be it.

"My name's Toma, sir! I'm a swordsman, apprenticed to Roronoa Zoro!"

"Cute…" Sabo's eyes danced. "And I see some of Ace's other brothers are joining the party as well. A pleasure to have you aboard, Phoenix, Cat-Eye, Maelstrom."

Marco, Haruta, and Namur all looked at Sabo with narrowed eyes. The Phoenix cleared his throat. "And who might you be, yoi? This was supposed to be a family affair."

Sabo's smirk morphed into a pout. "You mean… Ace didn't talk about me?"

The three Whitebeards shook their heads. Haruta fiddled absently with one of the frills on his jacket. "Nope. Pretty sure I'd remember him talking about someone with your fashion sense. Nice coat, by the way."

"You as well." Sabo tipped his hat with a sigh. "Well… It is Ace of which we speak. I suppose that if he thought I was dead, he wouldn't want to talk about me very much. I'm his and Luffy's other brother, Sabo."

"Sa- the crossed-out S." Namur grunted in understanding. "So that's it. But… Can you fight?"

"Shishishishishi! Oh, Ace… You're such a sap." Sabo shook his head with a fond smile. "And there's no need to worry about me, gentlemen- I can hold my own. Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army… Although I'd prefer if that bit of information never left this ship."

Marco smirked at that revelation, his eyes calculating. Haruta whistled. As for Namur… The fishman was much harder to read. But Luffy was pretty sure that was a nod of approval.

Sabo smiled and tipped his hat once again; then he turned and looked at Luffy. "So… Anyone else we're waiting for, or is this it?"

"Nope. Can't think of anybody else." Luffy bounced in place, taking a few experimental swings with his pipe. It felt so familiar… Like he'd just stopped using it yesterday instead of months and years ago. "Let's go!"

Ghin nodded. "Yeah… Before Jones manages to get herself gutted or something." The rigger spun one of his tonfa anxiously.

Luffy's crewmates nodded and quickly took up their usual positions- albeit after hauling Sabo and Haruta's little skiffs onto the deck. Nami took great care to stay as far from Namur as her duties would allow. That was… Understandable, but worrying. Luffy's face heated up as he tried to think of a way to help her not be so scared. At least the fishman didn't seem too offended by it; he stayed politely by one rail, occasionally offering to help someone but mostly just staring at the horizon.

Yosaku pointed at the monkey ship as the Merry pulled up anchor and started on her way. "Should we… do anything about them?"

"Nah." Luffy shook his head as he climbed into the rigging. "They're idiots… But they're not bad. Let's just leave 'em."

Still shaken, but doing her best to hide it, Nami glanced up from her charts. "Alright… If Jones' calculations were anywhere near correct, we should be at least seeing this Jaya place in about half an hour. Hopefully the away team won't have done anything stupid by then."

That made Sabo laugh. "Ace is with them. He may have gotten better since we were kids, but I wouldn't place any bets on that."

Ghin snorted. "Funny… I was just about to say almost the same thing about Jones."

Ruatha, who had been stealthily edging towards Marco, paused to sweatdrop, his wings drooping. "Monah los mey…"

X

Sanji kept a careful eye on Lisa as the Striker jetted forward. Not that this was hard- due to the limited space, the little girl was forced to sit on his lap the whole way. And it wasn't like she was a Devil Fruit user, unable to keep herself afloat if she fell overboard. Still… The cook worried. He couldn't live with himself if he allowed a lady to come to harm, and that went extra for young girls.

"Are we there yet?" Lisa fiddled with The Pie- since she was on Sanji's lap, it had to be carried on hers.

Sanji could hardly bear to look at the thing. He hoped- prayed- that the old geezer would understand. Cooking… The kitchen was sacred. Tampering with food was a sin. But… But if he hadn't, a man his shitty captain loved might very well die. What Jones had said… Luffy going through Hell alone, only to have his brother die in his arms, with none of his crew there to support him…

Well, Sanji may not have loved his own brothers enough to know what that was like, but the thought still made him shudder. Possibly because rather than Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji, the faces that came to mind when he thought of brothers now belonged to men he could actually respect. The moss-head, the war dog, and the shit captain. As much as he fought with them, it was a different sort of fighting, and he actually found himself reluctant to lose them.

And while he didn't have the same feeling for Ace, he didn't want his captain to be in that kind of pain.

"Not yet!" Ace answered Lisa, yelling a little to be audible over the roar of his flames. "Soon though! See that line on the horizon? Pretty sure that's it!"

The freckled pirate adjusted their course in a smooth motion. And… Well, for all that he was a bit angry at her for springing the shitty poison pie thing on him, Sanji couldn't help but be a bit impressed. Jones had predicted the location of the island down to a couple hundred meters. That was something he'd thought only his darling Nami could pull off.

Lisa bit her lip and stared at the rapidly growing landmass. "Do… Do you think she can really handle the guy she almost forgot?"

"We'll find out soon enough." Sanji's voice felt heavy. "Shithead was some sort of sniper or something, right? If she failed, he'll be taking shitty potshots at us as soon as we get in range."

Behind them, Ace laughed. "Come on you two, have a little more faith in your crewmate! I'm sure she knows what she's doing!"

"She thinks she knows what she's doing," Lisa mumbled, fidgeting. "But every time Jones wanders off alone, she gets herself almost killed… What if, one of these days, it's more than just almost?"

The little girl slumped. Sanji rubbed her back soothingly. He… Couldn't really deny it, though. Ever since he'd met the Straw Hat crew, letting the world-walker do her own thing had always resulted in more scars and bleeding. Chemical burns, dinosaurs, Ace… Sometimes it seemed like Jones had a dea- oh. Right. At one point she had.

Jaya grew rapidly closer and closer, until the three pirates were zipping by under her very cliffs. On one of the promontories above stood a very strange house. It was… Oddly flat, like a giant painting. Sanji didn't get a good look at it, though. The Striker passed far too quickly.

Now that they were close to the island, Ace seemed to be looking for something. Not slowing down, though, which made Sanji roll his eyes. Stupid New World shitheads with their stupid Haki… If the freckled pirate would just slow his ass down a little and tell Sanji and Lisa what he was looking for, they might be able to help.

"What's the matter, Shitty Fireball?" the cook demanded. "Trying to spot that Blackbeard shithead or something? I thought you promised not to attack before the rest of the crew showed up."

"Give me some credit!" Ace snapped. "I'm looking for a decent battlefield- no point having all these mines if we've got nowhere to bury 'em!"

Oh. Okay then. Sanji felt a little sheepish. He should've thought of that. The cook bit his lip, growling at his own oversight.

And then they rounded a peninsula and were suddenly within sight of a large, somewhat shabby town. Ace still didn't slow, his Striker darting across the bay- great for minimizing their chances of being seen or hit, not great for Sanji's paranoia as the cook examined all the rooves in sight for potential snipers. He didn't think he saw any, but he couldn't be sure… The only thing distinct enough for him to pick up at the speed they were going was a couple blocks a little ways inland that looked like they'd recently had their buildings reduced to rubble.

There were no gunshots, though, and no bullets splashing down around them, so that was probably a good sign.

Ace finally started to slow down once they were out of sight of the town, pulling into one of a number of small bays. The soil, when the pirates disembarked from their craft, was loose and sandy- easy to dig in, and more importantly, to hide the locations of their digging. A few scattered trees and rocks provided minimal cover.

Ace carried the crate of mines inland a little ways before stopping and nodding. "Alright. This looks like as good a place as any. We're close enough to town that Jones should be able to lead Blackbeard here, and we can sort of hide, if it's an ambush she wants."

The freckled pirate immediately began digging, setting up the mines at random locations. Rolling his eyes, Sanji moved to help, kicking holes in the ground for the devices to sit in. Lisa followed, placing the mines and filling in the holes.

"How will Jones know where we are, though?" the little girl wondered, biting her lip. "To lead that Blackbeard guy here… And… The rest of the crew, too. Do we have a way of signalling them?"

Ace froze; Sanji felt all his limbs go heavy. Because… They didn't. They really didn't. How had no one thought of that? Being able to tell everyone else where they were was kind of important. Groaning, Sanji felt a strong temptation to wander over to the nearest tree and start banging his head against it.

He didn't, but the temptation was there.

"We're all shitty idiots…" The cook rubbed his temples. "And Jones is the shittiest idiot of all. I could kill her for all she puts us through."

Well… Not really, although currently it felt like it. He wouldn't, though- she was family. And… technically a lady? Sometimes? Sanji was still confused on that point. Although… The shitty geezer had let her work for a few days, while he usually didn't allow women as employees because the Baratie could be so rough. Was it because the rest of the crew had been there to protect her? Or had Zeff understood her gender issues without being told?

The old man was pretty insightful like that, sometimes.

Hopefully he at least wouldn't be upset with Sanji for kicking her, when they met again. The blond chef winced. Sparring was one thing, but to actually lose it like that and kick a- sometimes?- lady… Even if it was because of the poisoned food, Zeff probably wouldn't be happy… Although Jones could certainly take a hit, so maybe things wouldn't be too bad…

Shaking his head, Sanji pulled his thoughts back to the matter at hand. How were they supposed to get the rest of the crew to this spot? Because if the guy they were after knew Ace, anything to do with fire might make him pull up stakes and vanish. Especially if he knew people might be after him.

"I can get Jones," Lisa offered as she buried a mine with a bright red dot on the cannister. "She'd… The sniper was probably in that town, right? So she'll be there somewhere. Not sure what to do about the others yet, though."

Ace glanced up from the pile of orange mines he was planting in a weird starburst pattern. "That's… Better than nothing. Don't your crew have signals at all though? Codes or hand signs or, I dunno, semaphore or something?"

"No." Sanji took care to keep the blue mine he was burying well away from Ace's mass of orange ones. He wasn't sure why Johnny and Yosaku said they'd react badly to each other, and he didn't want to find out. "Does yours?"

"Um… Kind of? Ship has a set of semaphore flags, and we're all taught how to use them." Ace shrugged. "Don't always need it though, with everyone who has Ha… ki…"

The freckled pirate suddenly rolled on his back, laughing. "Bwahahahahahaha! Okay, never mind! We're good! Marco, Haruta, and Namur should be meeting them before they get to the island- they'll be able to sense me and guide the ship."

That… sounded far too easy to Sanji. Then again… This was New World level bullshit Ace was talking about, and they were still in Paradise. That might work. "You sure about this, Shitty Fireball? What if they don't stop at the ship and just come straight here?"

Ace waved a hand dismissively, fighting to get his laughter under control. "Nah, it'll be fine. Even if they do that, Marco can fly; we can just send him to go get Lu and the rest."

Shaking his head, the freckled pirate tossed a green grenade up and down in one hand. "You guys… Sometimes you overthink things. I don't know how that's possible for a crew under Lu of all people, but somehow you've managed."

"Shitty Fireball!" If they hadn't been on a field halfway-seeded with mines whose functions they didn't understand, Sanji would've lunged over there and kicked Ace in the head. As it was, he settled on a harsh glare. "None of us have that Haki stuff. Why would we think of it?"

"Oh… Right." Ace suddenly looked sheepish. Shrugging, the freckled pirate went back to work building the minefield.

Brushing her hands on her skirt, Lisa looked up at Sanji. "I guess it's only Jones we need to tell after all. So… Can I go?"

A large part of Sanji wanted to tell her no, that her going alone into a strange town was too dangerous. She was just a little girl. But at the same time… At the same time, at that age, his sister had been able to take down a full-grown man with very little effort. So Sanji knew better than to underestimate little girls. And while Lisa was nowhere near as physically strong as Reiju, she did have her mind-control paints.

She would be fine. Probably.

"Alright." Sanji hoped he wasn't making an enormous mistake. "But if there's any sign of trouble, you run back and get me. Understand?"

Lisa rolled her eyes. "I know. Sheesh… Between you and Ghin, it's a wonder any of us girls get to do anything. At least when Luffy and Zoro get worried, their answer is just train harder."

The little painter got up to leave, picking her way very carefully between patches of barely-visible disturbed dirt. Right before she disappeared through a narrow band of trees, she turned and looked back at Sanji. "You know you guys don't need to worry about me so much, right? I may be little, and not all that strong, but I was a high-ranking member of a criminal organization for a reason."

Her skirt and pigtails spiralled around her as Lisa spun back and flounced off through the trees. Pink and red soon disappeared from view. A cold pit of worry swirled in Sanji's stomach. He hoped the little painter would be alright. Veteran criminal or not, she was still just a little girl.

X

My lungs burned as I regained consciousness. Someone was thumping none-too-gently on my back; it made me a little nauseous from the force buildup, but at least it got the job done. I coughed and gasped, spitting up what felt like several litres of water as I oriented myself.

Lying on my side. Packed dirt under me. The smell of fish and too many people- I was lying on a street near a dock. My glasses were covered in water, my vision blurry. Even so, I could tell from the colours that the people near me weren't people I knew.

"What did you do that for?" Female voice- whiny, roughly my age, used to getting her way. "What the fuck're we gonna do with some kid?"

"She's young enough to be malleable, and did you see her fly in?" Also female, slightly older- maybe early thirties- and decently educated. This voice was coming from behind me; she was the one slapping me. "She has some kind of Devil Fruit. Save her… If she's in debt to us- to the boss… Imagine what we could pull with a flying Fruit user on our side."

Someone whistled. The woman behind me stopped slapping and pressed two fingers against the side of my throat as I coughed. "She's stable now. Should be regaining consciousness soon- if she hasn't already."

Ah. A medical professional. Well, if she already knew… I opened my eyes fully and sat up, still coughing. Removing my glasses, I groped around for something to dry them with. The only patch of dry cloth I was wearing was- somehow- the inside of my white lion armband. I peeled it off and wiped my glasses clean, shoving the armband into one of my many pockets as I replaced the lenses on my face, bringing the figures around me into focus.

"Why do I feel like someone just retconned my backstory?"

Three women and a half-dozen men, all in their twenties and thirties. Most had assorted tattoos and rough, brightly coloured clothing. All of them were staring at me, unsure of what to make of the leather-clad girl who'd fallen from the sky. And what I'd just said may have something to do with it too. One of the women- a busty blonde- jabbed her flawlessly manicured finger in my direction.

"Who the Hell're you?"

"The one-horned, one-eyed, flying purple people eater," I groaned. Sitting up made my head ache. "Osti d'épais de marde… Who're you?"

"Show some respect!" Blondie had a screechy, annoying voice. And she was wearing perfume that made my nose hurt. "Otherwise we'll gut you like a spring hare! This ain't no fishing village you got pulled up in- this is Mock Town. All of us- we're pirates!"

Pirates in Mock Town. I rolled my eyes. What a surprise. Anxiety rose at the back of my throat; I squashed it down. I'd told Ace fifteen minutes; that meant I'd had a budget of no more than twenty after travel, and I had no idea how long I'd been out. There was no time to panic.

"Look… Thanks for pulling me out and all, but I'm kinda in a hurry. So kindly move your butts."

I stood up, already scanning for the church. That was where Van Auger was, wasn't it? Up on the church steeple, taking potshots at unassuming gulls. As if on cue, a distant gunshot echoed, confirming my suspicions. But blondie stepped in before I could move and jabbed me in the chest with her bright red nails.

"Hey! I said show some respect, you little bitch!"

"And I asked you to get yer arse outta my bloody fuckin' way." I don't get annoyed enough to go colonial often, but I was now. The snarl tasted like week-old bacon on my tongue. "Now ye'd best move, and if ya touch me again, Imma feed ya those pretty nails, painted lady."

…

Wow. My writer had never written me going full colonial before. She must've been stuck in some wicked traffic today- that's what usually brought out this level of frustration.

Blondie didn't seem to take me seriously, from the way she reached forward to grab me. I didn't let her; snatching her arm as she moved in, I twisted her wrist with my right hand and dug the blade of my left into her shoulder, bringing her in to my hip. A quick half-circle rotation put her on the ground, her arm in a three-point lock as I knelt over her.

"Warned ya."

My captive's friends drew an assortment of knives. Growling, I clubbed Blondie over the back of the head, releasing a burst of force to knock her out. I jumped to my feet, drawing one of my sais. If I had to fight my way out, so be it. I didn't have time for this.

"What the fuck's going on here?"

A voice I did know cut through the air, making all the pirates around me freeze. A stocky blond man shouldered his way through the crowd, followed by a skinny man with a massive knife at his hip. Bellamy and Sarquiss. This was just getting worse and worse.

"That chick that fell outta the sky…" One of the men closest to me said nervously, pointing. "As soon as she woke up, she started threatenin' us and throwin' her weight around like a fuckin' wildcat."

"Really?" Bellamy marched over to me and leaned in, shoving his face right into mine. "And where does some worthless no-name little bitch get off yipping at my men? Do you know who I am, yappy bitch?"

Oh… Fuck this. I holstered the sai I'd drawn. There was no time to talk, no time for a big fight. Van Auger was more important. I reached up and poked my finger into Bellamy's forehead, pushing him out of my personal bubble and rolling my eyes.

"Of course I know who you are. Bellamy the Hyena, AKA Doflamingo's lapdog. Unfortunately for you, I'm here for much bigger prey." I shoved force down my finger in a big burst, far faster than what I usually used with this technique. "Hooke's Law!"

Bellamy's springy limbs extended violently, firing him into the air. The blond pirate's crewmates stared dumbly, following his trajectory into the distance. A quick burst of force through my foot shook everyone, sending Bellamy's crew stumbling and staggering, forcing their attention to their own balance. I shoved through the crowd as they were distracted, disappearing around a corner before they could shift their attention back to me.

Now… Where was that church?

It didn't take long to find the church once I got my bearings- it was the tallest building in Mock Town by at least a story. In pretty sad shape, though. As I approached, it was easy enough to see that the shingles were worn and chipped; a few of them had fallen off. The stones of the walls were pretty rough too- some had bullet holes in them, and others were cracked or covered in smears of blood.

A couple blocks over, Bellamy crashed down into a row of houses. Rickety things that they were, about six of them collapsed under the impact.

One good thing about damaged stone, though- the cracks and holes made decent handholds. I smiled as I reached up, grabbing the lower ledge of a window as I wedged my toes into a crack. How had Ghin known to make my gloves fingerless? I hadn't actually done a whole lot of parkour lately… Too focused on my Devil Fruit and my plotting. But if I was going to climb, I preferred to have at least a little bit of my own skin free to feel the stone. Felt more secure that way.

From the window ledge up to a hole where half a brick was missing, one foot propped on a badly eroded carving, the other on some sort of decorative ledge. Yes, in hindsight, I could've Spider Climbed up the wall by manipulating friction; I wasn't thinking of that at the time, though. Too busy thinking up a way to take out Van Auger. I needed something that would keep him from touching me- didn't know whether the Blackbeard crew was already able to steal Devil Fruits or not, or how the technique worked.

Grabbing the top of the decorative work above the window, I jumped and swung, using my gripping hand as a pivot. I managed to grab the edge of the roof with my other hand, then snapped my first hand up to join it. Planting my feet on the stone, I pushed myself up and over. Worn shingles shifted under me as I scrambled up a steep incline to the ridgepole of the building.

KRA-CHOW!

A gunshot sounded from the other side of the steeple. Glancing up, I could just see the edge of a black hat poking out around the corner. My heart leapt into my mouth as I edged up over the ridgepole and slid partway down and around. A chill ran through my blood. Anxiety- what in the Nine Hells was I thinking? I'd never done something like this before. I was terrified. What if it went wrong? Tabarnak, what if I lost hold of me doing some of these things? If I even could… Maybe I couldn't. Probably, even… I really didn't want to do this anymore…

But I was already there, and Van Auger had just turned to glance at me with his perpetually bored, ever-so-punch-able face. So I needed to do something, and I'd promised myself at Cocoyashi Village that I'd never run away again.

"Can I help you?" Van Auger's voice was as flat as his expression, indicating only the slightest of interest. Not even asking who I was. Rude.

That was okay though. What I was about to do was a Hell of a lot more than rude.

I didn't answer his question. Instead, I raised my right hand level with his neck as if to grab and choke him, feeling the pressure of the air around us. Van Auger was no fool, though- on the Grand Line, someone making strange hand motions probably meant a Devil Fruit. The fact that mine was simply for theatrics meant nothing. Swinging his rifle in my direction, the sniper opened his mouth to speak. I didn't let him.

"I find your excess of animal cruelty disturbing. Force Choke."

Okay, not the best one-liner I'd ever heard. But I couldn't think of anything to say as I dropped the air pressure around Van Auger to rock bottom and past. I was basically creating a localized vacuum, centered on his head.

KRA-CHOW! KRA-CHOW!

Van Auger fired off two shots as soon as he realized he couldn't breathe. One hit my forehead, the other over my heart. I flinched. Even with my powers, that smarted. I could feel the bruises blooming, and I nearly lost focus on the air pressure as force coiled in my stomach.

Yep, nothing quite like two point-blank shots from a primitive sniper rifle to wake you up.

Wind whipped up in a spiral around the church- you can't create a localized drop in air pressure without at least some minor effects on the surrounding environment. I ignored the howling and the whistling as best I could. All I did was stare at Van Auger, carefully holding my expression as blank and neutral as I could.

How long without oxygen did it take for a human to pass out again? Five minutes? Ten? Well, even if Ace passed by while I was still strangling Van Auger, it's not like the sniper could warn his captain when he had no air with which to shout. Not that he was trying. No, Van Auger seemed to have placed priority on shooting me again; he was busily reloading his gun as he struggled to breathe.

KRA-CHOW! KRA-CHOW! KRA-CHOW! KRA-CHOW!

Four more bruises bloomed on my chest. I kind of wanted to vomit, now, from all the force I was absorbing. But I couldn't. Doing that would mean dropping the connection with Van Auger, allowing him to breathe again.

"Tabarnak! This was so much easier for Vader!" Growling, I narrowed my focus, redirecting the air pressure I was removing from Van Auger's face to form a narrow, incredibly high-pressure band around his neck, constricting his trachea. And probably some major blood vessels- I was pretty sure his jugular was around there somewhere, at least.

Since shooting me wasn't working out for him- and I was honestly a bit curious to see what he thought about that, since I clearly wasn't a Logia or using Haki- Van Auger stepped in and tried to hit me with the butt of his gun. He wasn't moving too well, though. Slow, unbalanced, unsteady, his face red as he fought for air.

Blocking something like that wasn't hard, even with most of my mind focusing on the pressure around my target. Empty mind- mushin. The ability to react quickly without thinking. Something Sensei had been trying to drum into my head for years, with varying amounts of success. I knocked Van Auger's rifle aside as he hit me, nearly wrenching it out of his hands as his grip weakened. A good kick to the chest knocked the sniper back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of orange in the bay. Probably the Striker; hopefully I was proving sufficiently distracting for Ace to go by.

Once more, Van Auger stepped forward and tried to club me with his gun. He was even shakier this time. Stumbling on a broken shingle, the sniper went down on one knee, still trying to hit me. His gun slammed into the side of my leg, but there was no strength behind it.

And then his eyes rolled up in his head and Van Auger keeled over sideways. His face was very red; a trail of blood leaked from his left nostril. I dropped control of the pressure immediately, panting and rubbing my head as splitting pain bloomed in my temples. I'd never done that much with pressure before…

Merde. That hurt.

Limp, Van Auger slowly slid off the roof. I didn't reach down to grab him in time- before I'd even removed my hands from my temples, he'd gone over the edge. There was a loud, wet crunch a second later. Then… Nothing. He hadn't woken up from the fall. As for whether it had killed him… Unlikely.

Still… I jumped down to check. Not that it mattered in the long run- I was after Blackbeard, not his sniper. Van Auger wasn't the planner; him surviving wouldn't lead to the Paramount War, wouldn't lead to Ace's death. But… I should at least know if he was alive, as far as fights in the immediate future were concerned.

There was a bit of blood on the street, but not much. When I bent to take Van Auger's pulse, the sniper's heart was beating a rapid fluttering rhythm. Unconscious, struggling to get over oxygen deprivation, and there was a large lump on his head where he'd fallen on it. I wouldn't envy him when he awoke. Not sure when that would be, though. Hopefully not for a while.

A few soft footsteps sounded behind me as I straightened, coming to a halt several meters away. I didn't turn to look- there were no sounds indicating threats, and this was Mock Town. A pirate paradise. No one would interfere in a brawl unless it was in their interest to do so. Especially if the obvious winner seemed threatening enough.

I tilted my head so my hat shadowed my eyes, even though I knew the person behind me wouldn't be able to see it. "Move along. Nothing to see here."

Yes, my voice was back to normal. Annoyance doesn't tend to stick around long after you Force Choke someone off a roof. Tends to really work out the aggressive urges.

"Really? Looks like a whole lot of nothing lying there on the street." The low, cold voice made my blood freeze and my heart start to race. I clenched my fists. Suddenly, I was very glad I'd taken my armband off to dry my glasses.

"W-What of it?" Keep calm, Jones, keep calm. Don't panic, don't turn, don't do anything that could jeopardize the plan. Just… Bluff your way through this. Then get to Ace as fast as you can.

"You know that man had a crew, right? A crew that might not take too kindly to some random kid laying out their sniper."

"He's still alive," I said quietly, "So there's no need for anyone to make a scene. It was just a bit of a… philosophical disagreement."

My hands shook. The next few seconds felt like hours as I waited for the man behind me to respond. All I could think was that I needed for him to please, please go away, although I knew that wasn't about to happen.

"I'm curious…" The voice was largely amicable, but there was an edge to it that sent tremors through every major nerve center. "How does a kid like you take out a veteran sniper like that? I heard six gunshots- and I know that man doesn't miss. What kind of Devil Fruit do you have, hmm?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Biting my lip, I tensed every muscle in my body to keep from shaking.

"Then let me make my question clear. In the last half hour, I've seen a girl fly over the horizon and splash down into the sea… A man get launched across town as if fired from a cannon… And the same girl who fell from the sky knocking a man unconscious without actually touching him. It almost looked like he was choking… So… What kind of Fruit does that?"

"A powerful one." I tried to bolster my voice, make myself sound confident and threatening. It failed, though.

"Clearly."

I had no response to that, so I said nothing. The man behind me waited for almost five minutes in near-complete silence, giving me plenty of time to think. The only sound I could hear was his breathing. And then…

"Whether it was a philosophical discussion like you said… I don't care about that. He's alive, so that's fine by me. What I do care about is that you're a bright kid with a powerful Devil Fruit. So I'm going to be perfectly honest. Whatever your Fruit is, I want it. Which means now you're in my sights, you've got two choices. First choice- I kill you and hope your Fruit respawns nearby. Trust me, I can- I know some tricks for dealing with powerful Devil Fruits, and they work really well on Paradise rookies like you."

More silence. I waited a while, to see if he was going to offer more information. He didn't. So I sighed and asked. "And what's option two?"

"That? Oh, that's easy. You join my crew."

"And if I refuse?"

"I refuse your refusal." I shuddered as I felt the rancid grin boring into the back of my skull. "You join… or you die! ZEHAHAHAHAHA!"