Nami couldn't believe it. Even after everything she'd done, this pirate was still willing to help her. Not only that, but he'd taken out everyone in Buggy's crew, including Buggy himself, like it was nothing. She'd been surprised when he'd pulled out a staff similar to hers, but the way he'd used it left her breathless. She was pretty good, if she said so herself, but he was on a whole different level. He used it like it was an extension of his arm, twirling it expertly between his fingers and smoothly swapping from one hand to the other without even looking. She was sure he'd even taken some out without looking, but everything was over so fast she couldn't be sure.

He was strong. Stronger than anyone else she'd ever seen. A small part of her mind wondered if he was stronger than Arlong. She pushed that thought away as soon as it popped up. No matter how strong he was, Arlong was a fishman. Besides, while this pirate might have helped her this time, that didn't mean she could trust him.

"Luffy!" Nami's head jerked up at the sudden voice, glancing away from the treasure she was finishing piling into bags to see who had yelled.

"Zoro! You made it!" Her eyes widened as she took in the green hair, three piercings, and three swords strapped to the newcomers waist. The crewmate he'd been talking about was Roronoa Zoro the pirate hunter?!

The green haired man looked around and smirked. "Looks like I missed all the fun. Try and leave some for me next time."

Luffy laughed. "Sure thing."

Zoro turned his gaze to her. "So who's this?"

"That's Nami, a navigator."

The pirate hunter nodded. "She coming with us?"

"I want her to, but she doesn't like pirates."

Nami finished packing up the treasure and made sure the bags were tied securely. Standing, she turned to face the two. "I'm not going to join your crew, but I'll cooperate with you while it serves my purpose." Luffy grinned happily and nodded. She tossed one of the bags over to him. "These bags are heavy, so you can carry one."

Luffy blinked at the bag. "Wow, you're giving me half?"

"No I'm not! Didn't you hear what I just said?!" He laughed and didn't respond. Nami sighed and hefted the last bag over her shoulder. The walk down to the docks was quiet, but comfortable. Nami was glad that this town was free of Buggy's reign. Now they could return to their homes and their lives. She gripped the bag a little tighter. Soon her town would be free as well. She was so close to her goal.

When they got to the pier, she headed towards the boat she'd stolen. "Is this your boat?" He glanced back at Luffy. "It's cool!"

"I stole it from a bunch of pirates."

"We've been waiting for you thief!" Nami stiffened a little, looking up at the three people who'd appeared on the ship. "We knew you'd come back if we stayed here!"

"You know them?" Luffy jerked a thumb at the trio.

She laughed nervously. "Kind of."

"Kind of?!" They turned towards Luffy and Zoro, smirks falling off their faces as they screamed and jumped into the sea, swimming away as fast as they could. Nami looked over at them, an eyebrow raised in question, but they both shrugged. Deciding it wasn't that big a deal, she climbed aboard her stolen boat. Setting down her bag of treasure, she went about preparing to sail.

"Hey Nami," She paused and looked over at Luffy. "Here." He handed her the bag of treasure she'd given him to carry. She frowned when she took it, remembering it being heavier. Luffy grinned and pointed towards the dock. "I left a bit of it for the villagers to help rebuild their town."

She wanted to be angry. It was her treasure after all, but he was right. The money would be put to good use fixing up what Buggy had destroyed, and it wasn't like he'd left all of it behind. Still. "It's my treasure! Don't go around giving it away like you own it!"

Zoro laughed along with Luffy. "Oh, and Nami," She sighed and turned back to the black-haired male. He was grinning up at her. "I'm hungry. Do you have any food?"

"Don't you have your own provisions?!"

Zoro shrugged. "We finished them."

She felt her eyebrow tick. "AND YOU WERE GOING TO SAIL OFF WITHOUT RESTOCKING?!" Slapping a hand to her forehead, she pointed back at the town. "Go find a store and get some supplies!"

"But we don't have any money."

She hit Luffy over the head. "YOU'RE PIRATES AREN'T YOU?!" He frowned and she felt like smacking her head against the mast. "The treasure you left will cover it. Just go."

"But that's for them to rebuild their town."

"IT'LL BE ENOUGH! EITHER GO GET SOME FOOD OR STARVE!" She growled as she watched them both run off, a headache forming. She wondered if she made the right choice in sailing with them.

"We need to plan things more."

Luffy looked over at Nami. "What do you mean?"

"Are we going to the grand line like this?"

He thought about it and nodded. "We'll need more meat."

"And booze," Zoro added.

"I'm not talking about food supplies!" She sighed. "The place we're going, the grand line, is the most dangerous place in the world! Every pirate in this world wishes to get the treasure there, so we need to get a better ship first. We're also short on crew members and this ship doesn't have any equipment. No matter what you think, we can't possibly be safe."

Luffy nodded. "What do we do then?"

Nami sat down and pulled out a map. "We have to prepare first, and plan for the journeys ahead. There's a village due north. We should go there first. First thing to do when we get there is look for a better ship."

Luffy threw his arms in the air. "And eat some meat!"

"Is that all you think about?!"

"Hey Luffy." He turned towards Zoro. "Since we still have some time before we reach the next island, let's keep training." A wide grin spread onto Luffy's face. He happily pulled out his bo staff and assembled it, twirling it a few times as he walked over to his sitting swordsman. He waited while Zoro tied some of their bandages over his eyes in a make-shift blindfold. Grin widening a touch more, he coated the tip in haki and quickly brought his staff down onto his swordsman head. He made sure it was hard enough to hurt, but light enough he wouldn't accidently knock him out.

"What are you two doing?"

Luffy laughed and continued smacking his swordsman from different angles. "Training."

She raised an eyebrow. "How is that training?" Luffy hit Zoro again. "It looks like you're just hitting him."

"It's," Zoro grunted as he was hit again, "Supposed to – ugh – help you – damn it – predict an enemies – ugh – next move." Luffy went to hit Zoro again, but just clipped the edge of the swordsman head as he tried to duck out of the way but wasn't fast enough to avoid it completely.

"You almost avoided it!"

Zoro rubbed his head where the staff had hit him, a grimace on his face. "Not completely."

"Predict an enemies next move? Really?"

Luffy paused hitting his swordsman and turned to Nami. "Wanna see?"

She shrugged. "Why not?" Luffy grinned excitedly and all but tore off the bandages over Zoro's eyes, wrapping them around his own. He bounced a little in place, waiting for his swordsman to start. He listened as Zoro drew his swords, ignoring Nami's yells about how they shouldn't use real swords in case someone got hurt.

He moved just enough to avoid Zoro's first strike, jumping over the second and letting himself fall and roll out of the way of the third. He kept this up for a while before grinning widely and coating his hand in haki, catching the next strike instead of dodging. He took off the makeshift blindfold and grinned at the gaping Nami.

"You – your hand – what?! You caught his sword with your bare hand! And why the hell did it turn black?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Zoro sheathed his sword and put the blindfold back on. "It's called haki. That's what we're training."

Luffy took his bo staff back out but didn't start the training again right away. "Wanna try it Nami?"

"HELL NO! YOU'D BASH MY SKULL IN!"

"I wouldn't hit that hard!"

"Oh yeah?! Then why is your staff coated in that same black stuff that was able to stop Zoro's sword?!"

"It's what?!" Zoro ripped off the blindfold and turned towards him. Luffy quickly hid his staff behind his back, laughing nervously. "What the hell?!"

"It's to help you learn how to use it yourself!"

"You told me meditating would do that!"

"It will! This is just to help you learn it faster!"

"Damn it Luffy!"

Luffy stared out at the island. "Wow! There's really an island here!"

Nami raised an eyebrow. "What did you expect? We followed the map, so it won't be wrong."

"Is there a village here?"

She checked her map and nodded. "Looks like there's a small village."

Luffy hopped off the little boat with Zoro after making sure it wouldn't float away. His swordsman stretched. "Been a long time since I last stood on firm ground."

"That's because you were sleeping all the time!" Luffy laughed and glanced towards the presences he felt up on the cliff. They were pretty weak, so he wasn't worried, but Makino had said it was rude to not introduce himself. He'd never really listened to it before, but now that she was gone he was doing his best to try and remember everything she'd told him. He waved at them with a grin. "Hi! Do you have any meat?!"

Three of the presences ran away. Luffy huffed. He just asked a question. The last person stood up and started yelling at them. "I am the great pirate fleet leader, Usopp, who is in charge of the security of this village! I'm also known as 'The Great Captain Usopp'!" He walked forward until he was standing in front of them. "It's bet if you don't try to attack this village, because my eighty million men are not going to forgive you!"

Luffy frowned and tilted his head. "But you're the only one here." After the other three ran away, there was nobody else around them.

Nami scoffed. "It's obviously a lie."

"I've been caught!"

Luffy laughed. "You're funny! We're not here to attack anyone. We just wanna get some meat."

He dodged Nami's fist with a grin. "We're here for a ship!"

Usopp let out a sigh. "Well, if you're really not gonna attack the village, then I can show you somewhere to eat."

Luffy wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Perfect! Lead the way!"

They followed the long-nosed male up the cliff and towards the village. "So what kind of ship are you looking for?"

Luffy spread his arms. "A big one! And some companions too! But first meat!"

"And some sake," Zoro added.

Usopp led them into a restaurant and waved at the woman behind the bar, asking for some food and sake. He waited until they were all situated at the table before he said, "Sounds like a big adventure! There's only one place where you can find the stuff you want in this village. Although it's not a very big ship, it's not that small either."

Luffy dug into the food almost the second it was on the table while Zoro downed one of the bottles of booze. Nami turned towards Usopp. "Where?"

"There's a mansion not far from this village that belongs to a wealthy family. The ship belongs to the mansion's owner. Although we say that she is the owner, she si a pitiful young girl. A weak and sick girl that always lies on the bed."

"Eh? Then how come she's the owner of the mansion?"

Luffy lifted his empty plate. "Another plate of meat!"

Zoro raised his glass. "I want some more booze."

"Are you listening to me?!" Usopp shook his head and continued. "I think it happened around a year ago. That girl's parents died of sickness, leaving her a large inheritance, a mansion, and over ten servants." He leaned back with a sigh. "Even if you're really rich, it doesn't exempt you from sorrow."

Nami sighed. "Never mind. Let's forget about searching for a ship in this village. We'll go search somewhere else."

Luffy grinned. "Okay! But we're not in a hurry. I still want some more meat! Let's buy some more meat for our supply!"

Usopp leaned forward. "Oh yeah, you said earlier that you're looking for companions?"

Luffy blinked in surprise. "Is there someone who wants to be our companion?"

The long-nosed male slammed his fist onto the table and grinned. "Let me be the captain, and I'll join you!"

Luffy, Nami, and Zoro all hung their heads. "Never mind."

Usopp frowned and stood up. "Well, everyone knows me around here, so eat as much as you want. I have somewhere to be, so I'll be going on ahead."

"Thanks! More meat!"

Luffy happily chomped down on the meat as Usopp left. It was only a little while longer that three presences gathered under the window outside. Luffy ignored them as he continued eating. He didn't look up until the same three presences slammed open the door and shouted, "The Usopp Pirate Group is here!"

"Who are they?"

The kids marched up to their table, fake swords raised. "H-Hey pirates! What did you do to our captain Usopp?! Give us back our captain!"

Finally finishing the last of the food, Luffy happily sat back. "That meat was so good!"

"M-Meat?! He…He ate the captain!"

Zoro leaned his head on his hand and grinned at the three. "Your captain…"

"W-What did you do?!"

"We just…ate him."

Luffy and Zoro laughed as the kids screamed and looked at Nami, who yelled back at them before turning to yell at Zoro for telling them that. She then went on to explain to the kids that their captain had left earlier.

"He probably went to the mansion then."

"Mansion?" Nami leaned forward on the table. "The place where the sick girl lives?"

"Yup!"

Luffy looked down at the kids. "Why does he go there?"

"To tell lies!"

He frowned in confusion. "Isn't that a bad thing to do?" Makino had always told him lying was bad.

The kids shook their heads, smiles on their faces. "No, actually it's great!"

"How can that be great?" Nami didn't seem convinced.

"The girl from the mansion has been very depressed since her parents died."

"Captain goes there to tell her lies and get her to laugh."

Nami propped her head against her hand. "So to restore her spirits, he's been going for a year to amuse her with made up tales?"

"Yup! I like his nosiness."

"I like captain's cowardice."

"I like his lies!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What kind of strong points are those?"

Luffy grinned, leaning towards the kids. "So the lady is feeling better already?" The kid nodded. "All right! Then let's go to the mansion and ask for a ship!"

Nami slammed her hands on the table. "No! Didn't you just say you'd give it up?!"

Luffy ignored her and ran out the door, heading towards the mansion. If the lady was feeling better then she could give them a ship! He stopped in front of the gates, tilting his head back to see how high they were. He tried to remember what Makino had told him about asking for things. "Good afternoon, please lend us a ship!" He waited for a few seconds, but nobody answered. Shrugging, he started climbing the gates. "Let's just go in."

The kids stared after him. "Then what's the use of that greeting?"

Nami sighed. "We can't stop him."

"Since we can't stop him, we'll have to follow him." Zoro shrugged and made for the gate to start climbing as well. Nami sighed again but followed as well.

Once they were all through, they followed the path towards where Luffy felt two presences, voices getting louder as they got nearer. "Captain!" The kids yelled and pointed towards Luffy. "We brought this guy here!"

Luffy grinned towards the young woman leaning out of the window. "Oh, so you're the ojou-sama?"

Usopp ran over and put an arm around Luffy's shoulders. "These guys heard of my reputation and travelled far to see me here. They're the new members of the Usopp Pirate Group!"

Luffy frowned. "No! That's not it! I have a request for you."

"A request? For me?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, we need a big ship!"

He was interrupted by someone else. Luffy frowned a little at the man. He was stronger than anyone else he'd sensed on this island. Still pretty weak, but Luffy had started to think everyone on this island was weaker than Nami. "You can't just barge into the mansion like this! Please get out! Or is there something you'd like to say?"

Luffy grinned, deciding this guy's weird strength in the small village wasn't anything to worry about right now. "I want a ship!"

The man frowned at him. "No way!" Luffy huffed as the man turned towards the lady and Usopp. "You…you're Usopp. The villagers talk about you. About how much of a liar you are. I've heard about your father as well. You're the son of a filthy pirate." Luffy's interest was piqued. Usopp was the son of a pirate? "I'm not surprised you turned out this way, but you had better stay away from ojou-sama!"

Usopp's face contorted with rage. "Did you say filthy?"

The man continued as though he hadn't heard. "You and ojou-sama belong to different worlds. Is it money you're after? Name your price!"

The lady slammed her hands on the window sill. "That's enough Clahador! Apologize to Usopp right now!"

"There's no need for me to apologize to this uncivilized person! I'm telling the truth!" He turned back towards Usopp. "I feel sorry for you. You hate your father, don't you? Because he's a dumb treasure hunter who deserted his family and village!"

"CLAHADOR!"

"I won't let you say another bad things about my father!"

"Why are you so angry? You're not very smart, are you? You should have just told your usual lies and say that your real father is a travelling merchant or that you and he are not blood related."

"SHUT UP!" Usopp ran forward and punched the man across the cheek.

Clahador sat up, holding the spot Usopp punched. "See…you're so violent! Like father like son!"

"SHUT UP! I'M PROUD THAT MY DAD WAS A PIRATE! I'M PROUD THAT HE WAS A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA! YOU'RE RIGHT THAT I LIKE TO LIE, BUT I'M PROUD OF HAVING A PIRATE'S BLOOD IN ME! I DON'T HAVE TO PRETEND THAT I'M NOT! I AM THE SON OF A PIRATE!"

Luffy blinked. "Oh yeah! That guy! Now I remember!"

The butler guy smirked. "You said pirates are brave warriors of the sea? Don't twist the truth! It's because you have that kind of savage bloodline that you like to lie so much and use violence whenever you're enraged! I believe you only get close to ojou-sama for the money."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Who cares what your motive is! The fact that your father is a pirate is more than enough reason for me to kick you out!"

Usopp grabbed the front of Clahador's suit and pulled his fist back for another punch. "I dare you to say that again!"

"Usopp! Please stop! Please don't use violence!" The long-nosed man hesitated, looking back at the young woman. "Clahador isn't a bad person. He's just concerned about me. That's why he's a little extreme." Luffy wondered about that. Something about the butler was just rubbing him the wrong way. It wasn't his place to say anything though.

Clahador slapped Usopp's hand away. "Get the hell out of here. Savages like you are not welcome here! I'll let you off this time, but I warn you! Don't come back here ever again!"

Usopp glared at the man. "Fine. I understand. I'll leave even without you telling me to!" He turned and made his way towards the gates. "I'll never come back here again!"

The kids started screaming at the butler. Luffy wanted to punch him for what he'd said about pirates, but Zoro was dragging him away towards the gates. Sticking his tongue out at the man as they left, he caught sight of Usopp disappearing over the hill and ran after him. He needed to confirm something.

He found the long-nosed male sitting under a tree, staring out at the ocean, and grinned. Quietly scaling the tree, he hooked his feet on a branch and let himself fall so he was hanging upside down in front of the other teen. "Hi!"

Usopp screamed and fell backwards. "What are you doing?!"

Laughing, Luffy put his hands down and unhooked his feet, walking forwards on his hands. "Your dad is Yasopp, right?" Luffy fell and rolled into a sitting position.

"H-How do you know that?"

He grinned. "I've known him since I was a kid!"

"Really? You know my dad?!"

"Yup! You look just like him! No wonder I thought you looked familiar. I just realized that a moment ago."

"Where is he now?"

Luffy shrugged. "Dunno. But I'm pretty sure he's on Shank's ship! Yasopp is one of my favorite pirates in that crew!"

"R-Really?!" Usopp sat back on his hands and sighed happily. "So he's on that red-haired Shank's ship huh?" There was a moment of silence before Usopp jumped up. "RED-HAIRED SHANK'S?!"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah. You know Shanks?"

"Of course! He's a great pirate! Is my dad really on his crew?!"

"Yeah! His shooting skill is the best. Yasopp never misses anything within his range." He thought back to when Yasopp showed off his sniping skills and when he would get drunk and brag about his son. "Yasopp was a really popular pirate!"

"Is that really true?!" Usopp stood up and faced the sea. "To tell you the truth, even though he left me for the sea, I'm always proud of my dad! But that bastard Clahador looked down on him! He looked down on my pride!"

Luffy nodded. "Yup. I don't like him at all!" He turned towards the other teen. "Are you giving up seeing that ojou-sama?"

Usopp sat back down with a sigh. "I don't know. Maybe if that butler apologizes and begs me, then I'll consider."

Luffy pointed at the base of the cliff they were sitting on where he felt the butler's presence. "That butler?"

"Yeah that one." Usopp shot forward, grabbing the edge of the cliff with his eyes wide. "Why is he here?!"

The two listened as Clahador and another weird looking guy started talking. Luffy frowned. This other guy was stronger than the normal villagers as well. He didn't know what was going on, but he had a bad feeling.

"So are you prepared?" The butler pushed is glasses up.

The weird looking guy nodded. "Of course! We can start operation Assassinate ojou-sama at any time." Luffy's eyes narrowed. He knew he didn't like that butler guy.

"Assassinate is such an ugly word."

"Ah, right. Accident! We'll call it an accident! Isn't that right, captain Kuro?"

"I gave up that name three years ago. Don't call me that again. You're the captain now."

Luffy tilted his head. He thought the butler's name was Claha-something, so why were they calling him Kuro now? He turned to Usopp. "What are they talking about?"

Usopp frowned. "You heard them, why are you asking me? I think I've heard the name captain Kuro somewhere. I think he's the pirate famous for his careful planning before robbing and plundering, but I heard he got caught by the marines three years ago and got executed." The two down below kept talking about how they'd planned it and what was going to happen. "I've heard a horrible plan!"

Luffy rested his chin on his folded arms. He didn't really get what their plan was, but he could tell it was bad. He glanced towards Usopp. "What's going on? It doesn't look good."

"Kaya will be killed…the village will be under attack…not good…not good at all!"

Luffy frowned, flashing back to when his own village had been under attack. Gritting his teeth, he stood up. He ignored Usopp telling him to get back down and glared at the two at the base of the cliff. "HEY! YOU TWO! DON'T YOU DARE ATTACK THIS VILLAGE!" Usopp tried to pull him back down, hiding behind him when the butler saw him.

Clahador fixed his glasses. "Did you…hear anything?"

Luffy nodded. "We heard everything!" He ignored the long-nosed teen yelling behind him and kept glaring at the two below.

The weird looking one pulled out a ring and started swinging it back and forth. "You two, take a look at this pendulum." Luffy squinted slightly, trying to figure out what it was. "When I say one, two, Jango, you will fall asleep…one…two…Jango!" Luffy felt his eyes close as a wave of sleep overtook him.

Here comes Usopp! Also, if the Haki training sounds a little awkward, it's because Luffy doesn't really know how to explain Haki. Because of that Zoro only has a rough idea of what he's learning.

So a lot of the dialogue comes from the manga, as I stated last chapter. Again, you'll see a lot of the changes happen with the fights and how Luffy reacts - which will also start to influence/change the way his crew reacts to situations.

Don't forget to let me know what you thought!

~Akirafanatic