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by 2ilver8ox

Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy has agreed to go back in time some years when he was first starting out as a pirate. It is clear this decision was based due to his dead crew, no doubt he wishes to stop their demise. All details are on his contract but he has agreed to take me with him and off this godforsaken rock. (Time travel) (Fix it fic) (OC) (All anime and movies) On hiatus

12. El Drago

GOLDEN LION PIRATES

Marines

Word on Morgan's chin: Möwe, the German word for Seagull. Pronunciation like of like "Mehve"

The man who captured the fake Kuro of a hundred Plans was Chief Petty Officer Morgan, This lead to his promotion of Lieutenant Commander. There seems to be a kindred spirit between them.

Marine Hierarchy

Marine Officers (Top of the Marines)

Fleet Admiral

Admiral

Vice-admiral - Rear Admiral - Commander - Lieutenant Commander

Marines (Bottom of the Marines)

Warrant Officer

Master Chief Petty Officer - Chief Petty Officer - Petty Officer

Seaman First Class - Seaman Apprentice - Seaman Recruit

Chore Boy

OOO

"Sanji! I want more meat!"

"Shut it, Luffy, you already got your meat. Nami-swan on the other hand~ Would you care for a refill!"

"Don't mind if I do!"

"Can I have one too?"

"Don't bother, Usopp. Swirly brows wouldn't know good service if it kicked his ass…"

"I'LL KICK YOUR ASS, MOSS HEAD!"

"Shishishishi! Come on, Sanji! Food!"

"You better know who is paying for this, Luffy!"

"Aww! But we just got here! Oyal, pass the sauce!"

Blood, death, gore, utter travesty.

"Luffy, let's go!"

"Where's Oyal?"

Fire. Too much fire. Everything is burning. Nothing left.

"Who?"

"Zoro, where's Oyal? Zoro? Zoro!"

Never ending, never stopping, first to go, first to fall.

"Nami! I can't find Zoro! Nami… Nami please!"

Lost, so very lost and confused. Where is she, where are they. They have been just going in circles!

"Usopp! Help me! I can't do this alone!"

Alone, that's what he is. He is alone and nobody is coming. Nobody is coming to save him.

"Sanji… please… please… don't leave…"

It hurts. It hurts so much. Everything is on fire. Everything is burning and he is just watching!

He should have burned, he should have died. Not them. Anything but them!

This is just like last time. With Sabo, With Ace, with everyone! Everyone just burns because he is so weak!

Please take me, take me, take me, take… me…

He isn't strong enough, he isn't fast enough, he isn't... enough!

"Luffy."

Weak.

"Luffy!"

Useless!

"Luffy, wake up!"

Worthless…

SMACK!

Luffy's big black eyes snapped wide open. His face was stinging, "Wha-?"

Zoro and Usopp are leaning over him. What are they doing out of bed? Are they getting a midnight snack? Luffy tries to question them but for some reason, he can't seem to feel his face… or anything really.

Usopp is pale and shaking a bit, what's wrong with him? Who scared him like that? Luffy tries to say something funny to cheer up his best friend but nothing comes out.

"Luffy," Zoro voice is firm but soft? Why is he looking at him like that? "Breath with me," he is holding Luffy's hands. No, he is gripping them, like it is taking everything he has to keep them in place. Why can't Luffy feel that?

"Breath," Zoro commands... and Luffy obeys. Oh, he wasn't breathing before for some reason… Weird.

He sees rather than feels his chest lift up and out. Shanky at first, but it starts to smooth out. Now that Luffy is breathing again, the blood rushes to his head and his thoughts start getting back on track.

He had a nightmare. And Zoro and Usopp heard it.

Shit.

"I'm okay," Luffy crocks out, which would have sounded much more convincing if it didn't sound like he was dying. Damn, his throat hurt.

Zoro's hands finally loosen his death grip on his wrists, allowing him to have some movement. They left marks that quickly went away from his rubbery skin.

"You're a terrible liar," Usopp whispers as he helps Luffy in a sitting position on his hammock and gives him a glass of water that seems to appear out of nowhere. Luffy wants to shrug him off cause he doesn't need help because he is fine. The other half of him wants to grab him and never let him go.

Instinct won out as one of his hands takes the glass and downs it in one gulp.

The three kinda just stared at each other for a moment, not sure what to do next.

"Are you… ya know...uh..." Usopp is the one brave enough to break the silence. Bless his sweet spring soul.

"Yeah," Luffy tries for a reassuring smile.

"Liar," both harmonize.

Luffy drops the fake smile. Come on he is an adult! Like an actual adult! Who has done adult things! Like... um… okay, maybe not that many adult things but damn if he isn't technically the oldest in the room. He really should be able to lie just like Grandpa lies, "Ah, well, I guess, not…"

Zoro takes over, "You don't have to tell us, it's not our business," he folds his arms, "...but..." he adds hesitantly at the end.

"You can come to us if you need to," Usopp picks it up, "We're nakama after all!"

Luffy feels his heart melt. Nakama, that's right. They are here and alive and safe and he is going to destroy the world in order to protect them. He doesn't want to worry them, though. He doesn't want to burden them with a past they don't even know of, but…

He can still smell burning flesh. His hands are shaking and he can't make them stop. He is one step away from crying because he is a big cry baby and he can still hear his nakama call out for him to run and he didn't want to, he didn't want to, he-

He is so selfish.

"Can I share a hammock with you?"

Both look at Luffy. Then each other, shrug, and back at Luffy, "Sure thing."

Luffy limps out of his hammock and slides ever so gracefully onto the one right under him which belongs to Usopp. Zoro is sleeping on the floor like a weirdo, but he gets under Usopp's hammock without question. Usopp squeezes in right next to Luffy, it is a bit snug but Luffy is light enough not to crush Usopp.

Luffy drapes an arm out so it lands right on Zoro's chest. He can feel him breathe. Big deep breaths. In and Out. In and Out. And Luffy tries to match those breathes with his own. For anyone else the position would have been uncomfortable, but not to a rubberman.

If either crew member notices Luffy's breathes turning shaky or his lax position being a bit forced, neither said anything. Usopp ran his fingers through Luffy's hair, trying to remember what his mother did for him when he had nightmares. Zoro took the deepest breathes he could make, trying to make sure Luffy's hand moved with each breath as a testament to his presence.

Luffy slowly stops shaking, he slowly stops thinking about how terrible he was as a captain and how he didn't deserve such wonderful namaka. He slowly feels his heart stop racing. They were alive and here. He just has to keep reminding himself of that. They are here. He was going to get stronger. He is stronger. He will get stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and finally be able to prot-

He can't protect them.

It's a terrible thought but he can't get it out of his head. He hates it with every fiber of his being. He hates himself for it being true.

No, even if he turned into a monster he can't hold on to them forever. He could be the strongest most powerful monster in the entire universe but he can't always be there for his crew. What was he going to do, keep them in a box and never let them leave from his sight? That's not freedom.

He thought about not recruiting them. Just let them live their lives off the Grand Line. He can still do it. Tell Zoro it's over and good luck with Mihawk. Give Usopp the Merry and tell him to be careful. Have Nami go home with all the gold and destroy Arlong park in the middle of the night without any witness. It would be all so simple.

But he is selfish and doesn't want that. He didn't force his crew to be here. He wants them and they want to come along. Even if they don't want to come this time he will always want them.

He needs to do more than become a monster.

But what…?

I am so selfish. I am so selfish in taking you guys again. I won't let you go, I can't let you go, I will never let you go…

OOO

"Shoulder back!"

"They are-"

"Knees bent!"

"I'm trying-"

"Head straight!"

"If I could just-"

Zoro pushes their shoulders back with too much force for such a minuscule position before they could say anything else. Really! They understand the perfection of form and that every advantage, no matter how small, counts but they were a millimeter off!

Frustration is illogical like that.

"You have to have proper footwork, else you are going to be pushed around like a tin can," he explains in an exasperated voice.

Oyal tries to keep a cool head, "I understand that and as you can see I am trying-"

Oyal stumbles back as Zoro gives them a light shove from the front, "You're not putting any force into your steps. Man, your reaction time is slow!"

Oyal quickly tries to recover from the stumble, "I mean… physically," mentally she can't turn her mind off.

Zoro shakes his head, "Again, and this time, don't let me move you."

Oyal braces themselves for another shove, feet in position, shoulders back, knees bent, ready for the frontal assault.

Zoro moves too fast for them and shoves them from the side. They completely lose their balance and stumbles to regain their footing before hitting the floor. It was clear that they are utterly disarmed. Humiliating.

"You said you were going to push from the front!" keeping their voice in check is becoming harder.

"No, I didn't. I said: don't let me move you. You have to be prepared for any attack," he grabs their hand quickly, putting it in an iron grip, "What if an enemy just grabbed you like this," they try to pull out instantly. He doesn't let go, "You wouldn't be able to break away, would you?"

They feel a horrible feeling in her chest. They don't like being held like this. Powerless. Vulnerable. "Let go," they manage to say.

Zoro either doesn't notice or care, "You have to break my hold."

They pull against him again, but it was pointless, he is stronger than them, "I don't like this."

He finally lets go of her wrist. Oyal takes their hand quickly away. Their wrist felt like it was on fire. They are being illogical. Letting their feeling get in the way like that. Zoro would not harm them. They have no reason to feel this way. Pathetic.

He held out his own wrist, "You grab me like I did to you,"

Oyal tries not to show their hesitation to touch someone so soon.

Zoro sees it anyway, rolling his eyes, "Come on, I don't bite."

"I know that!" Oyal snaps grabbing his wrist quickly.

"Tighter," Zoro orders, "Really, try not to let me move."

Oyal highly doubts they can make Zoro do anything but they tightens their grip anyway.

Zoro moves his wrist quickly out of their grasp like it is nothing, "Like that," he grabs his own wrist for them to see, "Right here were the fingers met is the weakest part of any grip. If you move fast enough and hard enough you can break anyone's hold," he held out his hand, "Now you try."

Oyal is hesitating again but puts their arm willingly in his strong grip, she tugs. Nothing.

"Harder," Zoro commands.

They tug again. Useless.

"Come on," Zoro shook her a bit, "Do it like your life depends on it! Do you wanna die?"

That wakes them up a bit. No, they don't want to die. They don't want to fight in the first place. They don't want to be captured or attacked. And they really don't want to lose. They had waited this long to be free and they aren't going to lose it just like that!

They pull hard enough to make themself stumble. They catches themselves before falling and feels a little foolish for putting in so much effort when they weren't in danger. Looking so panicked in a training session-

"Keep doing that," Zoro nods, looking somewhat approving for the first time that morning, "You need to act like your life depends on it because in battle it does. Aren't you the one who says to be prepared for anything?"

"Understood, Windchimes," If there is one thing Oyal has learned about what they did and did not like it was that using their own philosophy against them, especially by a certain green hair swordsman, was exceedingly frustrating.

Zoro, rather than be humiliated by the supposed insult, snorts, "If you're so mad, do something about it, kid."

"I am not a kid, I am-" 800 years old, "- I'm 16!"

Zoro does not look impressed, "Sure,"

Most of that morning went as such, with Zoro barking orders and Oyal attempting to follow. He got them started on hand to hand self-defense before even touching weapons, "I don't even want to see you hold a weapon with that kind of posture," For a man who said he wasn't going to take advantage of his first mate position he sure is being bossy!

The rest of the crew wisely did not intervene.

"Poor kid, she was so young," Usopp observes from his safe distance, fishing pole in hand.

"We need more food," Nami checks the supply listings, "We have enough to last us a day or two but we are really cutting it close."

"I'm hungry!" Luffy whines.

"You're the one eating the most!" Nami snaps.

Luffy had mastered the art of making his stomach shut the fuck up. He actually has been starving for the past three days but he remained a good boy and did not eat everything on board within those days. Sanji would have his head if his stomach was the thing to let the crew go hungry. No, he was going to make Sanji so proud when he sees him!

"The clouds look so yummy," his mouth starts drooling at the sight. Sure, he isn't going to eat the food they had left but damn if that was going to stop him from complaining about it!

"I got one! I got one! I finally got one!" Usopp screams as he tugs on his fishing line mercilessly catching Nami and Luffy's attention, "This pole is really heavy! This has to be the largest elephant tuna in the world!" Usopp visibly struggles to pull, "Brace yourselves, you're going to eat until your stomachs explode!" and gives one last desperate tug on the abused line!

THUD.

...for an empty bottle of whiskey to pop out and land on the deck.

"Just kidding," Usopp pleasantly smiles.

"I'm never going to fall for that joke," Nami turns to her map.

"Wait! Wait!" Usopp goes back to where his line lie, "It's here, I got it this time! It's coming!"

Nami checks her coordinates again, trying not to look too suspicious. If she was right then the island should be around here. She is sure Luffy wouldn't mind a little… detour. She hasn't told him about it but she is the navigator after all. This stop is on the way to the fish-ship or whatever he is looking for. She is well in her right to make this trip. They just didn't need to know about it.

She lifts the binoculars up to her face, scanning the horizon again. It has to be here… somewhere.

She peers into the endless sea… and then into endless eyes.

"AH!" she jerks back a little, "LUFFY!"

"Are we there yet..." he tries to sound like an adult asking a question and not whining. He can't feel Sanji's presence at all and he was hungry! He wants food!

She seizes her offender by the shoulders and tosses him around a bit like a limp noodle, "LUFFY! YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK! JUST LET ME WORK!" she wasn't really that scared but he still spooked her and that was unacceptable. Nami does not get spooked so easily.

Normally Luffy would just let Nami work, but he is bored. And hungry. And doesn't want to be alone with his thoughts after last night. Usopp is busy with fishing and Zoro is training with Oyal. He wants to do something too! Neither of them said anything this morning but… Luffy still felt bad for crying and waking them up.

He needs to stop being so worried about protecting his crew. He can't protect them forever, that much he understands. No, he needs a permanent solution.

He... has... to... think! Maybe he should ask Oyal for help but... he looks over to them as they are struggling with their training.

He is still being swung back and forth, just watching. He wants to hang out with them. But Zoro seemed pretty serious about training her. He was still surprised she asked Zoro to train her in the first place. The only person who ever trained Luffy was Grandpa, Ace, and Rayleigh.

But then again, Oyal is pretty weak so they are probably getting all the help they can get. They need the training to get stronger. To protect themselves and stuff.

They need... training... to get stronger... protect themselves.

They need to protect themselves! Training! He needs to train his crew! Of fucking course!

Luffy grabs Nami's hands that are still strangling him, "NAMI!"

Nami stops her swinging immediately at Luffy's suddenly serious tone, but she still held him up. She knows he isn't mad about the swinging, this is like the fifth time she manhandled him this week, so she wonders what was up.

"Give me your staff!" he barks.

That is not what she was expecting, "Huh, why?"

"Trust me!" Luffy has his irresistible smile again and Nami sighs. She hates that face but she can't say no to it.

"Whatever, it can't be that bad," She finally drops the boy down reaching for her disassembled staff. They may be in the middle of the sea but even she knows to have it on her person at all times. She grabs the three poles and puts them together into the bo staff, "Here," she throws it to Luffy, "Don't break it."

Luffy catches the bo staff effortlessly, holding it in his hands for a bit. He weights it, gives it an experimental swing, and looks like he is thinking something over.

Thinking done! He does a kickass half flip with the bo as his anchor, quickly moves the staff like it was part of his body, flipping it, twisting it, and end the move with ramming the point serval time in a matter of five seconds.

When his form was done he hit the end of the pole to the floor with a commanding thud, now the center of attention and his crew's amazement. Even Oyal and Zoro pause their training to watch.

"SINCE WHEN CAN YOU DO THAT?!" Nami refused to be upstaged in something like bo staff wielding.

Luffy shrugs, "I have been using poles as weapons since I was like… 7 or something… right?"

Oyal nods, "Yes, it was 7."

"Stop distracting everyone!" Zoro shouts, "And you, back into position."

"Not even going to question this," Usopp puts all his focus on his fishing pole.

Luffy takes a stance, "Now you do it!"

"Like hell I can do that!" Nami is pretty sure half of that requires a rubber body to perform.

"Sure you can, here follow my movements," Luffy holds the pole out eagerly. He can't wait to get started.

Nami took the pole back hesitantly. She had only started using this weapon a couple of years ago when running and jumping wasn't cutting it when she started messing with the big fishes. She learned the basics but really she just wanted a weapon that was non-lethal and easy to carry. It's not like she had a master or anything.

But Luffy looked so determined, grabbing Usopp's fishing pole, "Hey!"

"Just borrowing this," he got into the first position, pole in hand, "Ready, Nami?"

Nami sighs, "You're not giving me a choice here, are you?"

Luffy smiles, "Nope!"

Nami thought so, thus she got into the same basic pose as Luffy did.

"So do this," Luffy makes a sweeping motion with the staff, right over his head.

Nami copies, a little off.

"Again, slower."

Nami does, slower this time, then faster the second time, making sure she got it down.

"Great!" Luffy is ecstatic! She is really following him!

And that is how the day could have been spent. An easy day of training and talking and fishing. With Luffy giving Nami the best pointers on how to use her bo like Ace and Sabo did. With Oyal and Zoro bickering about form and the importance of exactness. With Usopp whistling to himself and never realizing he should put bait at the end of his hook if he really wants to catch something. A nice day.

But then those three fucks just had to board Luffy's ship.

Luffy felt them from miles away. Four in a small ship, now boarding from the back. Shit, before he could hear The Voice of All Things like it was a person right next to him. Now, it is all muttered. Stupid young body! And he couldn't feel a sea king anywhere near for him to eat. Stupid self-preserving fish!

Luffy doesn't say anything, continuing his lesson. He wants to see where the three on board are going. Ah, going to the treasure room, he sees. Ah, they are stealing Nami's treasure! Okay, not the worst but still that's Nami's and when she finds out she is going to be pissed and then everyone gets in trouble.

"Wait, a second," Luffy stops their sixth position, "Nami, can I have your pole for a sec?" Nami, breathing a little heavy but not winded, gives him her pole without hesitation.

"Thank you," Luffy then thrusts the pole into the side of Merry, a millimeter away from a certain three stooges noses. They weren't even trying to hide on their escape, walking in broad daylight, the morons.

His crew was at a standstill, now taking notice of three men with bags of gold on their back. One of the three was a man with pink hair in a somehow casual tux, one with a pompadour and a pink cowboy get up, and last was a purple haired with glasses and a green vest. All look at the pole in front of them, so close to impaling their faces, rather than at the crew.

Then the screaming broke out.

"LUFFY, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!"

"I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL!"

"IT WAS DAMN IT, BUT NOW I HAVE TO FIX THAT HOLE!"

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS?!"

"THAT'S MY GOLD!"

"This counts as a dramatic entrance."

"RUN FOR IT!"

The three jump off the ship without further ado, with not so much as a so long, as they made their grand escape…

...is what would have happened if a certain green haired swordsman didn't grab them by the scruff of the necks, "Not so fast," choking them a bit as they hung in the air, Zoro throws them down to the floor harder than necessary.

"My treasure!" Nami is immediately at her treasure's side that they dropped, "My babies, my precious, did they hurt you? Shhhhhh… It's okay, you're safe now."

Oyal cautiously get closer to her, "Nami… they are objects."

"Shut up, Oyal! I need comfort!" Nami turns her anger on the three, "Thieves! How dare you stealing a girl's hard earned treasure!"

Usopp lifts his brow, checking on Merry's newest wound, "Hard earned? That treasure was stolen in the first place."

Zoro huffs a laugh, "That's true!"

"It's mine!" Nami screeches.

BANG.

A gunshot interrupts the whole conversation. There is a deafening silence except the sound of a body dropping to the floor.

The thud echoes a bit as the crew realizes the gunshot came from one of the three stooges, the one with pink hair holding a smoking pistol.

"Okay," the guy says, hand steady, "No one's making any sudden move, else I-"

Usopp kicks the body a bit, "Come on, that's enough,"

"Must you encourage his behavior?" Oyal shakes their head, "So dramatic."

Nami huffs, "Whatever, as long as the treasure isn't damaged."

Zoro just laughs and laughs.

The men start to sweat a little at the sight. A little out of confusion at the indifferent crew, some out of anger for being underestimated, and a bigger part of fear for reasons even they can't understand, "Hey! That was a perfect headshot! And if you don't want to face the same fate then I-"

"Come on, guys! You can't just rat me out," said the should-be-corpse on the floor, "I was going to scare them and everything!"

The pink stooge stumbles back to his fellow stooges in shock, "The hell! I was sure I shot him!"

"You, did," Oyal reassures, "He just doesn't… you know… die like that," It would be a pretty pathetic way to go for a rubber man to be shot to death.

Luffy shakes his head, adjusting his straw hat, "Anyway, more importantly," he shoots his arm at the purple haired of the three, grabbing onto his shirt mercilessly and bringing him right to his face "You have something I want," all previous mischievousness went in favor of deadly seriousness.

The tone of the conversation shifts as the Straw Hats see the quick change in demeanor. Zoro puts up his guard immediately, ready to take action at any moment. Usopp gulps a bit but refuses to back down, whatever the danger, he is ready… to hide. Nami doesn't move from her treasure but her eyes sharpen, taking in everything about these guys that could be used to her advantage. Oyal doesn't recall anything that would suggest this behavior, what could Luffy sense about these men who are so mediocre? Unless... could they have...?

The stooges gulp at the overwhelming force, "Do-Do you mean...?" the purple stutters out.

"Yes," Luffy grip tightens, "Give it to me. Now."

Purple moves so fast even he couldn't comprehend he was already grabbing the small hand-held package and handing it to the captain. None of his crew members voice any objections as Luffy took it gracefully. He drops the man not so gracefully, who crawls back to the other two as soon as he hits the floor.

Luffy face is unreadable as he takes the very normal looking bag. He carefully unties the flimsy knot and puts his hand in... His crew leans in unconsciously, wondering what got their captain so worked up…

"Riceballs!" Luffy happily sung as he pops one in his mouth like it was candy.

"THAT'S ALL YOU WANTED!" Everyone, minus Oyal, shouts on board.

"What the hell," Pinky says, "it's like his body is made out of rubber or something."

Luffy, munching, pops another one in his mouth, "Yeah..." munch, "it's because..." munch, "I'm a rubberman after all."

"Rubberman?" Cowboy questions.

"He must be a devil fruit user like El Drago!" Purple reasons.

"Ah good, you already know what that is," Luffy sighs in relief. Finally some competent East Bluers.

"I am starting to regret waking up this morning," Nami puts a hand to her face, "Training wasn't this tiring."

"I expected nothing less..." Oyal mutters, feeling equally as cheated.

"Also," Luffy shoves the empty bag into an unwilling Usopp's hands.

"You could have left me some!" the sharpshooter shakes the bag as not even a rice grain fell out.

Luffy stretches his arm, in favor of ignoring him, "Gum Gum-" right at their ship, "Pistol!"

The fist rams right tough the wooden boards grabbing on his target.

"AAAAAAA!" A screaming, crying little boy pops out. Luffy slams him on the ground with the grace of a sack potatoes, "Now, that's everyone!"

"Luffy!" Zoro shouts, his attention over the horizon, "We got company!"

There is an over decorated golden ship in the distance, with a helm of a golden lion and a flaming skull. While being very bright and extravagant it is actually quite a bland design overall and almost forgettable. Like no effort was placed in the actual ship's design. Nevermind that though, it is coming closer with a single person standing on the front, lifting his arms up.

"Well, that can't be good," Luffy puts his hands on his hips. How many more interruptions are they going to have before they get to Sanji! He wants his cook!

The three stooges panic at the sight, sweating more profusely than before, "It's El Drago!" "That pose! He's gonna-" "He's gonna use his devil power!" "We got to run for it!"

Before any of the crew could react, or they just didn't care, the three stooges threw themselves overboard.

Usopp starts to sweat a little, "They must be worried about something to jump off like that," he turns to the guy still standing on the head mast. Who was glowing…

The forgotten kid on the floor gets up, "Wha-" he picks himself up looking around, eyes landing immediately on the said glowing guy, "AAAAAAAAA!" and starts screaming.

The said glowing man starts screaming but instead of just being annoying and a little stupid, it shot a fucking laser. In their direction. Fast!

"3rd Gear!" Luffy is faster though! He put his thumb to his mouth and-

Nothing. It took him months to perfect that move! Improvise! He can't lose Merry, especially not in the East Blue!

Luffy grabs onto one side of the Merry with both hands, "Gum Gum-" he slings himself back, far off Merry's deck and right over the ocean. Laser moments away, everyone is panicking, yes, even Oyal, "Slingshot!"

Luffy pulls himself forward quickly, zooming right across Merry's deck in the other direction. The force makes Merry rock just out of the way of the laser cannon. It carves to her right, obliterating the stooges' dingy and makes the ocean wave bounce from impact, but she is safe!

Luffy… not so much. He had to sling himself off Merry to keep her safe, that means right into the ocean.

"LUUUUUUFFYY!"

"Oh hey, Zoro!" Luffy just now noticing his stowaway hanging on to him, "When did you get on?!"

Instead of answering, they are rudely interrupted by hitting the ocean waters and just like that the Pirate King is as harmless as a sinking rock.

Zoro quickly grabs onto this sinking rock he calls a captain tightly and swims to some loose wood floating above. The landing disoriented him but he still has the strength to pull Luffy and himself to lean on the wood, safe from drowning. He keeps his hand on Luffy's back as he coughs out the water from his lungs.

Luffy gulps in the fresh, breathable air, "Thanks…" he doesn't raise his head resting on the wooden board, "I thought I was going to die!"

Zoro grips him a little tighter at that, "What was that guy?" his harsh breathing slowing down.

"Oh, what is this?" Luffy looks over his other shoulder to see… oh, it is the kid, "Why am I getting so many freeloaders?"

"You hit us!" Zoro snaps only to quickly calm down, "It's one of those stupid guys, right?"

The dead weight immediately comes alive at the accusation, "How dare you say that to the great pirate Tobio!" He jumps off of Luffy standing proudly on the wooden board.

"Pirate?" Luffy and Zoro pull themselves on the board as well, sitting cross-legged. It looks like the remains of the stooges' ship, that was right next to Merry. That thing is long gone now. And their sight of the Merry. Sucks.

"Yeah!" the brat continues, he looks pretty normal when it came to appearances. Brown eyes, big eyebrows, vest and shorts, the only thing going for him was the flaming cape he had tied on his back, "I'm trying to find the treasure island," he says with flair, only to slump his shoulders at the next second, "but I was caught by El Drago and forced to wor-" his face morphs into anger, shaking his head, "No, wait! That's not what happened! I pretended to join them in order to find the treasure island, that's it!"

"I wonder where The Merry is?" Zoro isn't really paying attention.

Luffy laughs, "I hope we can find some grub while we're gone," Don't have to hold back on eating if there is no one there to stop you.

"ARE YOU GUYS EVEN LISTENING?!"

Luffy rubs his nose sneezing a little salt water out of it.

Wait.

Luffy inhales deeply in his nose… "That smell," he can't stop his stomach from rumbling then and there.

Zoro notices, lifting his head up as well, taking a quick whiff, "That's…"

Luffy looks to Zoro.

Zoro looks to Luffy.

A shared smile grows on their lips.

Tobio is right to fear it, "What… What are you-"

Both rip a board of wood from their makeshift raft like it is a toothpick and start hauling ass. And by hauling ass I, of course, mean rowing like hell in the direction of said certain aroma.

A Speedboat is nothing. Nami's future Sky Breaker wishes it could reach these speeds. The raft was coming apart bit by bit at these speeds, the front was lifted, threatening to topple over at any second. Tobio holds on to dear life, knowing he had no hopes in slowing them down.

Because these were men on a mission. Ride or Die. Well, one man on a ride or die mission and the other following in suit because hell he is tired of bread and cheese for the past three days.

"ODEN!"

Tobio looked over to see a familiar sight coming up in the distance, "Oden?"

They did a complete circle around the ship-restaurant, to make a perfect parallel park right in front of the humble store. There were some clothes hanging to the side, showing signs of a simple but comfortable life that lived within. And to fit this aesthetic was a simple and comfortable old man managing the front.

Both monsters were panting on their board, looking for their reward.

"What's all this commotion?" the older gentleman pushes past his curtains to see the sight before him, "Tobio?" he said his voice hinting at concern. He had a clear tan from hard days in the sun and a bushy mustache to go with it. He wore a bandana covering a probably balding head and an apron to show his great statue in making and selling food. Overall plain, but he had an air of someone who took pride in their work.

"Grandpa Ganzo," Tobio greets a little sheepishly.

Like that the gentle concern is gone, replaced with a stern look, "How many times are you going to run away before you are satisfied?" he shakes his head, clearly used to these disappearances by now, "You always run and later come back in a few days like that."

Zoro looks to Luffy.

Luffy looks back.

Luffy and Zoro could not give less of a shit as they jump on the little restaurant. Luffy on all fours like a dog, throwing all dignity to the wind while Zoro acts like a man who could jump seven feet vertically without a running start, taking their respective seats.

"Shut up!" the kid stomps his foot maturely, "I'm only here because my underlings are hungry! So I thought I'd feed them some oden!" The kid lies as fluently as Usopp.

"Underlings?" Ganzo questions finally taking notice of the two eating at his stand, "Hey! Don't eat without my permission!"

Both boys, mouth full of oden, stop mid-bite. It is too late as they had plates filled with the delicious oden. Luffy especially had a hard time not stuffing his face full of the food.

"DELICIOUS!" he is crying at this point. Three days of starving himself and finally he gets to eat some real food! Two meals a day! Two! No one should be subjected to live like that! Not even his worst enemy!

Ganzo huffs at the compliment but gets behind the counter anyway, "At least let me serve you," and gets back to frying his oden.

Zoro isn't nearly as food deprived considering he had a normal stomach but he does raise a brow at Luffy's reaction, "Hey, hey, what's the tears? I know the food we had isn't all that good but we still had enough," two meals a day isn't ideal but humans could survive with that.

Luffy isn't 'the most humans', however, "It's just… really good!" He said instead of saying, oh you know, I have been kinda of starving myself so we won't lose all our food until Sanji gets here. That might put a damper on things.

Zoro looks at him intensely. He can tell his captain isn't lying but he ain't telling the truth either, "Luffy. Just how hungry are you?"

Luffy feels himself shrink under Zoro's gaze, trying to channel his inner Usopp, "No, no! I am, uh, I am perfectly fine! And, um, eat with manners!" Good, good, keep it up Luffy! "And I definitely didn't starve myself to preserve food," Nailed it!

"You were starving yourself to preserve food," Zoro deadpans.

Luffy gasps loudly, "How did you find out?!"

Zoro closes his eyes slowly and then opens them again.

He punches Luffy in the back of his head. It bounces right off the table like a ball and makes chair topple and fall to the floor, head smashed into the floor.

Luffy had to grab his head to lift it up, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"For being a moron," Zoro rolls his eyes in annoyance, "What good is a captain if he isn't at his best."

Luffy got his chair back up grumbling, "There wasn't enough food!"

"Then tell us! We should have squeezed a few more pennies out of the thief for food," Zoro went back to eating his oden calmly.

Luffy's mouth drops, "You're right, Zoro!"

"I mean, that's no big-"

"I have to be selfish in different ways!"

Zoro stops eating, "What?"

Luffy hits his fist in his hand, "If I can't be selfish and take all the meat then I have to be selfish and find all the ways to get more meat!" he nods solemnly, "Thank you, Zoro."

Zoro feels a sweat drop, "That's not really what I-"

But Luffy is already going back to his oden with gusto. It is really good! That much is true! It reminds him of Sanji's food! Not as good considering Sanji is the best, but so close! He could tell the time and love that were put into making the meal. This man cooked with pride and it shows!

"I've never had such a good oden!" Luffy starts picking from the frier directly when the plate just got in the way. Manners-manners, he's hungry! "You're grandpa's has the best oden in the world, kid!" which is also true, considering Sanji has never made oden before so he can say it is the best!

Tobio sniffs at that not taking part in the eating despite taking a seat, "He is just a stubborn old man. His oden is good, but that's all he is good for."

Ganzo sniffs right back not bothering to respond.

Zoro eats his oden at a more slower, normal human rate not paying attention to anything going on around him, besides getting some hot food in his belly.

Tobio didn't seem to care he didn't have an audience, "Every day he works hard making oden, but for what?"

Luffy takes ⅓ of the oden straight from the frier.

"There ain't that many customers out here."

Luffy takes ⅔ of the oden straight from the frier.

"I'm tired of this poor beggar's life!"

Luffy has taken all the oden straight from the frier.

"Ah! That was good!" he gives one last swallow, patting his stomach with a big grin.

Zoro looks away from his food for just a second to see the damage, "The hell! You ate all of it!"

Tobio continues, seeming only to be speaking for his own sake, "I'll never be a man like Grandpa," he says with conviction, standing on his seat, "I'll be a great pirate like Woonan!"

Zoro stops glaring at Luffy long enough to hear the last part, "Woonan? That gold pirate?"

That was his fatal mistake as Luffy eats Zoro's food with three plucks of his chopsticks within the span of a second.

"THE HELL!" Zoro grabs on to Luffy's rubbery throat, "Oh no you don't! I get your hungry but a man has to eat!" both falling to the floor, chairs and all simultaneously, wrestling and kicking on the floor.

"It is said that the legendary pirate Woonan stole 1/3 of the world's gold," Tobio monologues the exposition, "He only stole gold from evil men! So if you weren't evil he wouldn't steal from you. He is a very proud pirate like that."

Ganzo puts another plate of oden on the table, catching Zoro's attention from their little tumble as he happily goes back to his seat to dig in.

Luffy remains laying on the floor, sitting in his turn-over seat like a sideways gentleman, "So he's a pretty strong pirate, huh?" he said thoughtfully, his hat covering his gaze from the harsh sun.

"I thought he died a long time ago," Zoro speaks with his mouth full. Rude.

"He's alive!" Tobio had a fire in his voice, "I'm sure he is somewhere on the gold island right now!" he points right at Zoro.

Ganzo stops cooking at that.

"I heard that El Dragon is going to the island," Tobio grins at the thought, "And I have a pretty good idea where that is! And it's there that I'm going to ask Woonan if I can join his crew!"

Luffy swings his chair right back up as if he was never laying down to begin with, "Alright, sounds legit. I'm going to meet that Woonan guy too."

"Huh," Zoro questions but does not take his eyes off his food. He is wiser now.

"If he's a good guy, I might take him along," Luffy continues on casually.

That caused everyone to stop for a moment, letting the bold statement sink in.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Tobio is having none of this, "WHY WOULD WOONAN JOIN YOUR CREW?"

"Because I'm going to be King of the Pirates," Luffy says just as casually but with no less conviction.

Ganzo's jaw drops. He can't believe what he was hearing.

"Pirate King…" Tobio whispers.

"Yeah," Luffy continues, "I'm going to the Grand Line and find the One Piece, you know the usual stuff," he turns back to his empty plate, "So naturally if this guy is as legendary as you say, he could be a candidate for my crew."

Tobio is having none of that, "Cut the crap! This isn't a joke you know!"

Ganzo hasn't said anything but watches with interest now at his grandson. "I don't need your mocking!" he stomps his foot, "If you think I can't do it just say it!"

"Huh?" how is that relevant to anything, "What are you talking about?" Luffy is talking about being Pirate King, not... whatever the kid is talking about.

Zoro reluctantly takes his eyes off his food to look this brat in the eye, "Hey kid," the brat shrinks in fear of the obviously more intimidating male's intense stare, "I know it's hard to believe but he's serious as they come."

Luffy's big earnest smile isn't helping his case, but that's just who Luffy is. He is a big goofball who takes food off other people's plates and he is going to be the Pirate King. That's just how it is.

Tobio doesn't look very convicted but he shakes his head and doesn't say anymore, "Yeah, okay..."

Ganzo certainly isn't so silent, "You can do whatever, but you can't forget one very important thing," that catches everyone's attention again, "Do you have any money to pay your bill?"

Zoro flinches at that and Luffy just smiles on.

Ganzo got out an abacus out of nowhere and started counting, "125 kamodoki, 153 seaweed, 302 fishball, 102 white radishes, konjac, fish cakes, eggs, etc, etc…" his finger moving lightning fast, abruptly slamming the math tool down.

"I, Ganzo, prepared this oden with my soul," his face is as stern as the law, "Added up, it costs… 11 berries. Pay up."

Apparently a man's soul costs 11 berries, "11?!" Zoro stands up at that unbelievable number.

Luffy remembers Chopper's bounty being 100 berries and him being really sad about it. He said it wasn't enough to even by a candy bar, "That's… cheap, right?"

"It is cheap!" Zoro pushes on, "It's less than getting a nosebleed," whatever that even means, "but…" he sits down dejectedly, "We don't have any money."

Ganzo slams his hands on the counter, "No money?!"

Luffy stands up proudly, "No money!"

"Don't brag about it!" Zoro snaps.

"Well, it can't be helped…" Luffy reaches in his pocket searching for something.

Zoro eyes widen, "Do you actually have something?"

Luffy has something alright.

It is a rock. With Future King of the Pirates (Luffy) written in black marker, "Thank you for the great meal. This is a token of my gratitude, keep it," he says solemnly.

Gazon twitches.

"Thanks again," Luffy jumps back on his makeshift raft turning back to his partner in crime, "Hey Zoro what's the hold up, come on!"

Zoro, who is not used to dinner dashing, hesitates. Another fatal mistake on his part. He is making too many of those today.

Ganzo grabs his trusty lasso (I don't know) and reels Luffy in, "THAT'S CALLED AN EAT AND RUN YOU PUNK!"

OOO

Across the waves and the water is a golden ship full of money grabbers and more importantly morons.

"Are you complaining about my vocal training?"

"Of course not, Boss!" a certain not-a-cowboy informs their boss, "It's just... you almost hit us, El Drago!"

"It's your own fault for being there!" said boss returns. This boss-man was one of the larger humans, towering over 8 feet easily. He had a long red mane of hair and sharp teeth in an overly large mouth. He does have the making of a lion as his attire considered of fine clothes and gold-plated armor. He had golden claws for gold's sake!

"I guess you're right," Pinky refuses to disagree the with devil fruit user, "But we did miss out on some treasure."

"What! You missed out my gold!" the grown man slams his fist down.

"That gold is mine!" another voice whisper-yells to herself just out of earshot.

"Shhhhh!" Another other voice whisper-yells back, "We can't get caught or else they will eat us!"

"We are not going to get eaten!" she reasons.

"You look at those teeth and tell me that!" he hisses.

El Dragon unravels a map with his golden nails, "Are we there yet? It should be around here somewhere," he doesn't really ask to know, he asks more for the sake of showing off his displeased sneer.

The female voice gasps, "That map…"

"Now is not the time to be ogling," mutters the younger, "We have more pressing issues than finding some far away treasure isl-"

"I see it!" the crow's nest shouted with absolutely perfect timing, "Woonan's Gold Island!"

"...well, that's convenient..."

El Drago stands up, "There it is," and gives an unoriginal evil laugh, "Quick, start to the coast and dock! Today we find the treasure!"

Nami with a cat-like smile and Usopp shaking in his boots look upon the island in amazement as the crew got closer and closer to the coast. They were clearly hidden out of sight in such a familiar fashion as the stooges were this morning. Just off to the side and hoping no one is smart enough to look around corners giving them a clear view of the seemingly ordinary island in the distance. The golden treasure that is said to even make a Celestial Dragon drool was somewhere on that piece of rock.

Nami snickers, "Now that we know were the island is, all we need is the map!" she pulls her trusty binoculars and looks on the coast

"Yeah, right!" Usopp hisses, "What, we are just going up to him and say, 'Hey, can I see that map for a moment I promise we will give it back?' Impossible!"

"The Going Merry!" Nami gasps.

"What does she have to do with anything?"

"No," Nami points, binoculars still in hand, "There she is!" she saw that the Going Merry was beached on the side of the island, "Hopefully, Oyal is there too."

"Yeah, probably safer than we are," Usopp mutters. He is glad that the Merry is safe at least. He didn't know what he would do if anything happened to her.

The ship rocks a bit as the Golden Lion Pirates finally dock on the island and make their departure. It looks to be about twenty men all together including the Captain, a large swordsman, and the three stooges. Too many for Nami to make a quick steal and run. No, they need a plan.

Nami huffs, "Well, they are going ashore now," she puts her binoculars away, "Come on, Usopp, let's follow them!"

Usopp keeps himself from crying, "This isn't worth the money…."

Nami takes him by the shoulder and looks him deep in the eyes, "Listen!" she shakes him a bit but not as much as Luffy, he isn't rubber after all, "This isn't some punk ass pirate's treasure! No! This is the Great Gold Pirate Woonan's treasure!"

Usopp grabs her wrists to stop the shaking, "Great Gold Pirate? Woonan?"

Nami nods, berry signs in her eyes but there was something else as well. Desperation? "Woonan robbed all his enemies of their gold in countless battles," she continues on wistfully, "Legend has it that the gold he stole piled up as high as a mountain and lit up the ocean at the night as bright as day. However, over the course of a few years… he faded. He hid all his treasure on a small island and then died. These rumors are still alive though, and even now many pirates are still trying to find this island. There's said to be a map drawn by a member of Woonan's crew. Whoever gets that map can locate the treasure."

Usopp gasps for a second, brain trying to keep up with the exposition, "Then... how did you know we were headed near here?"

Nami takes her hands off Usopp's shoulder, looking away embarrassed, "I may have... sorta guessed that his treasure was here..."

"You guess?!" Usopp doesn't know whether to be mad or exasperated. Why not both, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GUESSED?"

"Shhhhhh!" She puts a finger to her mouth, "Okay, in hindsight it was risky but think about it!" She started listing off on her fingers, "He had to stay in the East Blue because he never left for the Grand Line, it had to be a none Marine island else the marines could get custody of it, but it still has to be large enough to carry all the gold. That leaves very few islands and this just happened to be on the way," she puts her fingers down, "It was only logical!"

Usopp crosses his arms, "...you had Oyal help you, didn't you."

Nami turns her head away, frown firmly in place, "We were just having a girl talk, that's all."

"Girl talk that includes treasure hunting," he points out.

Nami jumps off the ships, "That treasure isn't going to find itself, Usopp!"

"Hey! Wait up!" Usopp follows in after her as they make their way right behind the Golden Lion pirates. They went behind tree by tree, out of sight and in cover. They end up behind one tree looking around it with Nami leaning over Usopp who squatted down to get a better look.

El Drago stops outside the forest, "Gorishi, read the map," he tosses a coin the swordsman's way.

The larger swordsman takes the coin and reads the map out loud, "The great pirates - Woonan's greatest treasures. - The treasure sleeps - Look to the hill from the south. - If the whale faces west - Then the tail… the rest is burned off…" he rolls the map back up.

"The tail faces east," Usopp finishes instead.

"Huh?" Nami looks down.

Usopp looks up, "If the whale faces west then it would be obvious that the tail would face east," he shrugs, "Just makes sense," he got a smug grin, "Which means the treasure is in the opposite direction to where the whale faces."

"I know that," Nami hisses, "How stupid are these guys,"

Considered the leader was singing, "Gold Gold Gold~" over and over again. Very.

Usopp puts a hand to his ear, "Hey do you hear that?"

Nami put up her binoculars to take a quiet look because she hears it too, "Usopp…" she stops at one direction.

"Yeah..." he didn't like that tone in her voice.

"That's Luffy and Zoro over there isn't it."

Usopp looked to where she is looking, not even phased at the sight of what they were doing, "Yup, that might as well happen."

"Okay," she puts her binoculars down, "Let's pretend we didn't see them."

Usopp agrees without complaint, "Good idea."

"Excuse me," a voice broke through.

Nami and Usopp got whiplash in that voice!

Oyal stood in the middle of the pirates seemingly coming out of nowhere, holding their map, "Yes, logically you should head east as that is the usually opposite direction of a whale's front, however without further information-"

El Drago gave his cartoony laughs, "Perfect! Men, we have a course!" He leers down at the smaller girl, "You're coming with us to make sure you're not lying."

Oyal gives the map back to the swordsman who puts it away, "I literally just read the paper you gave me."

"OYAL!" Both Nami and Usopp whisper-yell at the sight of their astronomer surrounded by gold loving pirates. They quietly get closer with each tree till they were just one tree away from the pirate group.

"Onward!" El Drago makes a show of going east as his crew followed obediently, "Gorishi, make sure the brat stays in line, kill her if she makes any moves."

The swordsman nods, pushing Oyal behind.

"Annoying," Oyal mumbles. They went willingly along anyway.

Usopp and Nami could only watch as the group barely passed them and into the forest, disappearing from sight.

"She's going to get killed!" Usopp put both hands in his hair trying not to panic.

Nami nods, her hand to her chin, thinking, "She can't take them on her own but..." she lifts the map with her other hand, "She caused a damn good distraction."

Usopp blinks, "When- How- You are right next to me!"

"Just now," Nami twirls the map with a cute grin, "They guy put in his back pocket alright, not my fault. He was practically begging to be robbed."

Usopp put his face in his hands, "I can't believe you," he groans, shaping up, "Come on, let's go get her."

Nami tucks the map away, she knows that Usopp and she against twenty plus pirates aren't going to help anyone. She doesn't have her bo staff, thanks Luffy, and Usopp only had so many bullets. But then again they don't need to help anyone, they just need to be sneaky, "One more distraction coming up!"

The two followed the band of dangerous pirates by themselves for another unspoken reason. It seemed like a better idea than messing with whatever shenanigans Luffy and Zoro are doing at the moment.

"Two sea kings!" Luffy shouts on top of his very dead beast, "That should be enough to pay for the meal."

"Four or no deal," Gaizon shouts right back, "That just covers the meat and only one meat. I will still need other supplies for all this meat anyway," he starts listing them off, "Seaweed, fish, seasoning, all of that coming out of your pocket."

Gaizon is probably the only man that could make someone standing on a dead sea king feel powerless, "But they are so hard to find in the East Blue" Luffy whines swinging bo- staff in hand childishly.

Zoro is on his own sea king huffing right next to him, feeling pretty pathetic. His captain had somehow conjured up two sea kings right in front of them and was able to take one out with a single hit. It took Zoro a whole 5 minutes to finish his. 5 minutes! 300 seconds. 299 seconds too long. Pathetic.

"Come on, I agreed to work it off," Luffy tries again.

"I already have enough workers," he points to Tobio cleaning some dishes on the coast, "Eat and runs should pay up."

"I didn't run!" Zoro defends himself.

"You didn't pay either!" Gaizon shouts back.

Zoro ignores the jab trying for a different angle, "I see how it is. You want us to pay by looking for the gold here."

Gaizon feels a vein pop, "Shut up! That's not a reason either!"

Luffy nods his head, "That a great idea!" He throws the bo staff far in land and jumps from his sea king to the beach already making a break for it at the forest, "Come on Zoro! We'll pay you back old man, just wait, I'll definitely pay you back for the oden!"

"Get back here!" the old man shouts uselessly.

Tobio looks at them longingly, from his dish washing. Gaizon is having none of that, "Don't you start daydreaming too. If you keep that up you won't grow up like me."

Tobio glares, standing up from the water, "I never decided I want to sell oden!"

"Don't talk back to me!" Gaizon points his finger, "Just do as you are told!"

"Cut the crap! All you care about is oden!" the brat kicks over his tower of plates, breaking a few, "I've had it. I'm going to find Woonan and- " he steps on the plates for extra measure, making sure they are all broken, "I'll never come back again!" he runs into the woods right after Luffy.

Gaizon stares wordlessly at the broken plates, his face unreadable.

Zoro is left standing there on his sea king kinda awkwardly, "l guess I'll… go now," and jumps down, making his own quick pace to the woods.

He runs all the way, easily catching up to Luffy and Tobio, "Oh Luf-" only to pass out as a bo staff fell on his head.

"Huh, Zoro?" Luffy looks down, "What are you doing sleeping? We got the treasure to find," he noticed the bo staff he threw, "Ah there it is!" he picks it up, "I thought for sure it would go to Nami."

Tobio raises a brow, "Why would you think that?"

"Instinct," Luffy says completely serious.

Tobio looks at both of them. They were weird and kinda dumb but… "Hey, You're strong right?"

Luffy put the bo staff on his back, "I sure hope so!"

Tobio looks at his feet, "I have to be strong to join Woonan's crew, right?"

Luffy chocks his head.

"I don't think I'm strong enough to join the way I am now…" Toibo silently admits like he is embarrassed at the confession.

"Then just get stronger," Tobio looks up to a causal Luffy, "I have my dream and you have yours," he gives his biggest grin, "The only way to keep going to your goal is to keep walking forward."

Tobio looks at him, face changing into frustration, "Stupid, it's not that easy."

"Never said it was," Luffy points out, "Probably, the hardest thing in the world, but if you don't move forward…" Luffy look him dead in the eye, "Where else are you going to go?"

Tobio was taken aback by this, not sure what to say.

"Now," Luffy picks up Zoro over his shoulder, "Which way is the treasure!" he put up his Haki trying to get a feel for the island. Oh! She would defiantly know, "Follow me!"

And like that the three were off!

Oyal had been wandering around this cursed island for what seemed like an eternity. After flying off the Merry at its crash landing, they had a 78% chance of falling in the water, they were quite fortunate the percentage wasn't any higher. But now they were captured by some idiotic pirates and were as lost as Zoro!

"Stupid Windchimes. This is 67% his fault and I have evidence to prove it... While it could be argued that most of the evidence is bias but when in a certain light are very useful to my cause. In this experiment I-"

"Who are you talking to?" A fake cowboy interrupts.

"The most intelligent person here. Myself," Oyal snaps. They were in the middle of an explanation yet these pests are throwing them off her track. How annoying.

Oyal ignores it all trying to focus on something, anything, else! They had to keep walking, keep moving, otherwise, they will stop. And stopping leads to thinking, and thinking leads to being alone with their thoughts, and their thoughts lead to their calculating the chances of them being stuck on another island (67% and rising) without any aid (89% and rising) without anyone (90% and rising) alone again and if they are alone and they don't think they can handle-!

"Stop," they breath heavily, shakingly, "Stop right now. Stop thinking and just… walk."'

"She's scaring me." "Is she talking to ghosts? She looks like one." "Just ignore her, she can't hurt you." The pirates whisper not to subtly to one another.

"There's something there!" Pinky shouts as they reached the end of the hill.

It would seem they have finally stumbled upon some castle-like ruins. Using castle is the loosest term considering it looks more like a large clay house. It appears nice overall but it also looks like it served no purpose but to be looked at, no one would ever actually live in this place. In fact, it looks almost… fake?

"There is a 32% it is in there," They don't see any gold from here, but is definitely not a place they would put gold if she could.

Pinky sneers, "What does that mean."

"I hate repeating myself," Oyal mutters, "32%. You know… taking variables and calculating the chances of something happening?" they speak slowly because this guy is clearly a few cards short of a full deck.

Pinky's sneer turns into a full-blown growl, "What you say! We are here for the gold!"

"Wrong," El Drago says, "The gold is all mine!"

The crew quickly backtracks, "Of course! The gold is all yours!" "All the gold for El Drago!"

"Hey, there's someone there!" a random lakey calls out.

And that someone was... Usopp, "H-HALT!" he says with only a quiver in his voice, "This is the home of the Great Gold Pirate Woonan! And I am here to warn you to go back~!" he ends his performance strong with a spooky tone.

"Where's the gold? We want it!" Purple shouts back not giving a shit.

Usopp puts his thumb and finger under his chin, "Of course as any pirate would," he jumps to point at them, "But shall you want it even if it guarantees death?!"

"Huh?" El Drago starts picking at his nails, "This guy is annoying. Gorishi, take care of him."

Gorishi starts taking out his sword as Usopp starts to sweat more, "Wait, wait, wait! I came to warn you that the gold is sick!"

El Drago lifts a hand to stop Gorishi, "Sick? What does that mean?"

Usopp chuckles darkly, confidence coming back tenfold, "Oh-ho, you don't know. It is a long and tragic tale of how Woonan himself died," Usopp got down on his knees nearly crying, "He achieved the whole's gold but it caused him to change! OH POOR WOONAN! THE SICKNESS TOOK HIS LIFE AND HIS PRIDE!"

Laying it on a little thick there aren't you?

"That's terrible!" El Drago gaps in horror.

"The sickness made it so everything was gold for him. He ate gold, he drank gold, nothing in the world mattered beside gold, gold, gold!" Usopp gave a shaky breath, "I, his last crew member, promised to warn each traveler through here about this curse," his voice became grave and deadly, "Enter... if you dare."

None of the pirates move at the dare. Most shaking out of pure fear of turning mad and one swordsman not getting paid enough for this shit.

"I see," El Drago nods, "But I love gold so that's fine."

"REALLY?!" Everyone, besides Oyal and Gorishi, shout at the clearly deranged man.

"We'll send in the girl first," El Drago looks over Oyal, "She can be easily sacrificed for the sake of my gold," he shoves Oyal towards the doors, "Go on, tell us how it is."

They start to move, hope filling her, 76% of escaping with her crewmate, "Wait… Not so fast, Gorishi!" he flips a coin to the ground, "Make sure she doesn't try anything."

So he does have some intelligence. The human giant picks up the shiny coin from the dirty ground and smiles, getting out his large sword. Oyal doesn't move, 54% chance and lowering.

"That, um, that's not necessary!" Usopp tries to put up a bravo, "After all the God sickness could affect anyone! I-"

"Don't care!" El Drago shouts, "I don't pay this guy to think. I pay him to follow my orders. So move."

Oyal knows their glaring would be overlooked so they tumble forward to the castle entrance where Usopp was.

"What are you doing?" they whispers quickly as they both made their way in.

"SHHHHHHHHH!" Usopp put a finger to his mouth, "We got those morons by the throat now we need to book it!"

"The chances of winning a fight with these guys are 12%. Chances of running 51% and lowering. Distraction is advisable. Capture leads to an 85% chance of still being harmed," Oyal lists off.

"I KNOW!" Usopp whisper-yells as they started going to the back of the fake castle barley out of range of their unwanted guest, "That's why we are not fighting and getting the hell out of here!"

Once they reach the back of the fake castle, the inside is completely hollowed. Out of the corner of Oyal's vision they saw another familiar face.

Nami was in the shadows waiting but stops at seeing Usopp brought one guest too many.

Gorishi looks around the bare building, glaring wordlessly at Usopp.

"Ah! You must be wondering where the gold is!" he wordlessly got the message, "It is actually in that room, my friend!" Usopp pointed the only side room with a door on it.

Gorishi follows his pointing lifting a single eyebrow at Usopp. Shit, they had to get a smart one.

Usopp put a hand to his chest, "Hey I'm not opening it. Do I look like I want to get Gold Sickness."

Gorishi quietly takes out his sword and points it at Usopp.

32% and lowering, "I'll do it," Oyal starts making their way to the side room.

Gorishi put the sword down, satisfied with the change as he got behind Oyal. They try to look over her shoulder to see what Usopp is planning but she can't see past the giant. The logical thing for him to do is run, he wouldn't be able to fight this man and there is nothing in this room for distractions. Her chances are looking dimmer and dimmer.

They take the doorknob slowly and carefully opens the door... to an empty room.

CRASH!

They feel someone grab their arm as the ceiling seems to be falling apart. But it was not an ally's.

"RUN!"

Despite the roof coming down on Gorishi, he was still able to grab their arm. But for once Zoro's lessons helped as they aimed for a weak spot. The throat.

A quick jab took him by surprise, loosening his grip. Oyal rips their arm out of his grip and runs! Shit! They were going to bruise like a banana. But they keep running.

Usopp was a distance away gesturing to a hole in the wall. They assume he is the one to cause the ceiling to crash.

But now they are running out of the back of the building, out of sight and out of mind into the forest. Where another familiar face was waiting for them.

Nami grins, "Getting into trouble already Oyal?"

"Not I," Oyal puts a hand to their chest, "I think I am the victim here."

"WHAT THE HELL, NAMI?!" Usopp huffs, finally getting his breath.

"What?" she asks oh-so innocently.

"You had to crash the roof?" Usopp gestures to the partly ruined roof, "We were still in there, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah, I knew you would be fine" she points to the new hole in the ceiling of the castle, "Pretty neat, huh? Usopp's bullets come in handy when used right," she giggles, "And by used right I mean making bombs out if it. Come on, we only got so much time until-"

"GET DOWN!"

Usopp tackles both of them to the floor as the top of the building is incinerated. There's a deafening sound as a laser just barely misses their heads by an inch. The light is bright enough to make every shadow disappear.

Once the light is over Usopp gets off the two of them, Nami following quickly, both looking back.

They see El Drago, his mouth still wide open, at the end of the crater that he just created. He slowly closes his mouth from the initial laser, a cruel smile now on his face, "Got tired of waiting."

"RUN!"

Nami is the first to get up, grabbing Usopp and Oyal by their hands, pulling them along.

"AFTER THEM!"

And they're off!

"Come on!" Usopp and Nami had a head start considering their longer legs and stamina but Oyal is not far behind. Sadly neither are the pirates chasing after them.

Usopp made the mistake of looking back, "They're getting closer!" They went straight into the forest dodging tree after tree.

Nami had the best control, "SPLIT UP!"

Usopp goes left, Nami keeps straight, and Oyal goes right.

Oyal runs as fast as they can. The chances are not in their favor. Nami weaponless, Usopp being more of a long range fighter, and Oyal being... well... unprepared does not lead to a positive outcome.

If they keep running, what then? Get captured? Were they just going to wait to be saved? They can. It is the most logical thing to do. Perhaps they will go easy on them. It is hopeful thinking but being captured by force is undoubtedly worse. They shouldn't let their emotions run their actions. They shouldn't let stupid things like pride effect that facts that they would be safer keeping their head down and -

Just stay in line and follow orders.

No, capture is not an option. In fact… they don't hear footsteps behind them anymore…

But there was something else... killing intent. They make the mistake of looking back as the giant swordsman gave a huge swing RIGHT AT THEM!

They try to dodge. They have the angel and mathematics behind the swing in their mind. But they just aren't fast enough.

For all the feeling that they have remembered, they started categorizing what they liked and didn't like. Certain foods, feelings, even sights.

They forgot what pain felt like.

They remember they didn't like it.

Their arm was hit. It could have been their back but it was their arm instead. And then they knew pain again.

They see rather than feels themselves stumble, almost falling. No. They need to run. They need to stop feeling. They need to turn off their emotions and it is too much and too fast and they are just messing up everything, they thought they could handle this but they can't-

They stumbles into a bush. They could hear footsteps follow them.

Stop thinking.

Stop feeling.

Do.

"Chartí Camouflage."

Gorishi saw where the kid was hit, walking slowly to the bush they stumbled into, confident he got his prey. He isn't too worried, he barely touched them. Probably.

He looks down to where the kid fell into the bush… to see nothing, "Huh?" He puts his hand out. Nothing. No blood, no track they are just… gone

He grits his teeth walking farther inwards. No, nothing that suggests he should pay attention to the breathing behind a certain tree.

The thing about categorizing is that one must remember it is a man-made concept. One puts people into categories to make it easy for them to identify with what they know. Making the unfamiliar familiar.

That being said Devil Fruit categorizations are a man-made idea but that cannot be so. Devil fruits are in a realm on their own. A logia devil fruit and a paramecia devil fruit are still the same at the end of the day and someone claiming they are different does not make it so.

They aren't a master. Making paper from their body was easy, but making their paper change colors was... a little more complicated but not impossible. Paper covered their entire body like a mummy in a amtuar camo color, hiding perfectly into the bush they were hiding in… if one doesn't look too closely.

They just had to look like a bush anyway. They know what a bush looks like and what colors they need. They just needs to stay still.

They touch their shoulder. Last second decision. Making their arm into paper, it is cut all the way to where the bone should be, making it limp and very much useless. But cutting paper is much more desirable than cutting flesh. They need to recover somewhere.

With that Oyal tries to think about that while trying not to pass out from pain. They are sure Zoro would just wave this off and not even notice or Luffy would just get back up again saying, 'huh.' Hell, even Nami would just have something as simple as this scratch barely slow her down.

Making their surroundings into paper comes a lot easier when there are things like trees or physical objects. But they can't keep it up, they need to move and run away. Gorishi is bound to find them soon, the second they pass out their camo will be gone and they will be done for.

He is going another round at the tree, one much stronger, one more.

They run. They hear him follow a second too late but gaining speed. Please. Please. Please.

They hit a wall.

Well, that's not right. They are sure walls don't breathe or feel warmer.

They look at a smiling face, "There you are!"

Luffy puts down Zoro, who seems to be in a daze as his legs support him unconsciously.

"I followed Nami's presence here. I thought that if anyone knew where a treasure could be, it would be her," he laughs a bit, "Anyway this is Tobio, the boy," he gestures to the small boy, "And I saw that you were on the way so I thought I would pick you up-" Luffy takes a once over Oyal, his eyes turn colder despite his smile still in place, "You're hurt," it isn't a question.

Oyal nods wordlessly.

"Who?"

They point to the swordmaster behind them. With a clear view of the destroyed castle, still being destroyed by a red-haired man with a big mouth. A red-haired man who stops to laugh something about gold.

"That's his boss?"

They nod again.

Tobio gasps, "That's El Drago!" he hides a bit behind Luffy, "He's the one that shot the laser this morning."

Luffy slaps Zoro hard on the back. He coughs a bit at the force but wakes up, "Huh? Where-"

"Zoro!" Luffy smiles, still genuine but there is coldness over his gaze, "Kick that guy's ass for me, I got to take care of the other guy."

Zoro looks to the noob in front of him, all question dying on his voice, "Sure," he gets out his swords and ties his bandana on his head.

"Tobio, take Oyal to go see Nami and Usopp. They are back that way," he points to the uphill climb.

Tobio hesitates, "But Woonan's castle-"

"No one is inside, no gold either. It's empty, a fake," Oyal explains.

Luffy nods, "Go."

Tobio nods, no more questions asked, trusting the rubbery freak. Oyal silently thanks him that they would not be around for this. Their senses are on overload and they just want… a walk.

Luffy walks towards the swordsman guy, "Excuse me," and goes straight for the red-haired moron.

Gorishi looks at him only for a moment but he knows in his heart his fight is with the swordsman right in front of him. He draws his sword.

Neither move, both waiting...

CLANK.

The next second their faces are inches apart, only their swords between them.

"Not much of a talker," Zoro says flawlessly despite a sword being in his mouth.

Gorishi grunts.

Zoro smirks, "Better for me."

Luffy walks to the top of the hill seeing the big mouth guy lasering up the castle's remains, still yelling about gold and just being obnoxious in general.

Luffy takes a deep breath in... and hold it, "SHUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUP!" he shouted somehow louder than the guy with a laser mouth, "You're hurting my ears, Lion"

"Lion?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he doesn't sound sorry at all, "I meant to say kitty cat."

El Drago is not amused, "What the hell are you?"

Luffy smiles, "Luffy, Future Pirate King," he thumbs behind him, "That's Zoro, Future World's Greatest Swordsman."

Said man is in a duel with the other's best swordsman, but he makes the time to wave, "Yo," mouth full of sword.

El Drago raises a brow at who he was fighting, "Gorishi?"

Cowboy looks over, "That style…"

Purple picks it up, "That- that's the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!"

"Just Pirate now!" Luffy corrects, "Non of the Pirater Hunter nonsense!"

El Drago scoffs, "It doesn't matter who he is. There's no one more skilled with the swords than Gorishi," he tosses a coin in his direction, "Gorishi, cut this guy into pieces. I will give you 200 gold for every cut! And if you kill him, it'll be 500!""

The swordsman gives a merciless smile and jumps right back into action. Taking a direct hit on Zoro with a force so powerful he is able to push him into a wall.

"Damn powerful," Zoro is able to hold him off but he can't attack back like this.

El Dragon sees Gorishi winning, "Make that 1,000 piece of gold!" the faster he gets this over with the better.

Gorishi gives another burst of energy at the promise of riches, pushing on Zoro so hard the boulder behind him starts to crumble. Any other human would be crushed under the weight but not Zoro. No, the boulder is the first to break, turning into pebbles under both men's force. Now Zoro was on his back, his chances of getting up turning slimmer and slimmer.

But Zoro never breaks his hold. He has a sword inches from his face yet he doesn't yield. He doesn't even blink.

"Die!" The first time Gorishi has spoken.

Zoro narrows his eyes, "What are you ashamed of?"

Goshi flinches but doesn't stop.

Zoro continues causally, "I have faced many people before, I can tell when someone's heart isn't into a fight," Gorishi's grip loosens for only a second, "You… you are ashamed to draw your sword for gold. You've given your pride as a swordsman!"

Gorishi says nothing. What is there to say. He is right.

El Drago is getting impatient, "Gorishi, why are you hesitating? Kill him!"

Goshi's grip loosens only once but it is all Zoro needs to push the giant back so hard he slides a few feets. Zoro gets back on his feet with ease.

Maybe it is that Zoro is still in training mode, still pointing out the flaws he sees but he doesn't let up his criticism, "You definitely have skill. But without your pride, you also have hesitation, And that split moment is the unmatched difference between you and me!"

Gorishi anger boils for he knows his words ring true. He gives one last stroke, one way to prove himself a swordsman.

In return, Zoro gives no mercy, all three of his swords range true as he blazes right through Gorishi.

Everyone waits in pause missing who stroke first, but Luffy knows it was over before it even began.

Blood spurts out of Gorishi's chest as he falls to the floor.

Zoro puts away his swords, "I avoided your vital organs," he explains, "When you've regained the pride in your sword, come and challenge me again. I'll take you seriously then."

Luffy grins, he is already talking like Mihawk. How cute! "Good job, Zoro!" he turns to his own prey, "Now it's your turn."

El Drago starts to glow, "Now, you're really angering me."

"So I think you should know, Woonan's not here," Luffy rails on, "In fact the whole thing is empty."

Woonan pauses his attack, "How would you know?"

"Checked it myself," not physically, but yeah.

El Drago snorts a bit, annoyed but not discouraged, "Should have known. Woonan died a long time ago."

So did I, "You never know until you see," a philosophy he learned to live by. If he doesn't see a body anyone could be alive. Sabo being a prime example of this, "If someone out there still believes in him, he could still be alive."

El Drago is not as poetic, "What kind of shit are you babbling about?"

Luffy shrugs, "Nothing you would understand I guess," he puts his hat down, letting it hang on his back.

El Drago stops playing around giving out a loud roar, a bright laser directed right at Luffy.

And he takes it.

"He hit him!" Pinky screams, a safe distance away from the actual fight. The straw hat brat is sent flying in the sky no doubt to his death...

...that is if a rubbery arm wasn't holding on to a rock to the side.

Shit eating grin in place, a far off, "Gum Gum.." is heard.

"ROCKET!"

Straight into El Drago's chest. He's sent flying right into a boulder right behind him. Making an impressive crater .

"You…" El Drago crushes the boulder around his crater, huh, he is tougher than he looks then, "Stop playing around!"

He gives another laser burst at Luffy who dodges it easily this time.

"Nah! Gum Gum..." he pulls a hand back, "Pistol!" Right into the bastard's face with all his pointy teeth.

The guy sees this coming a mile away though, in fact he opens his mouth to bite his hand off! However, he made a huge miscalculation...

He didn't account for this guy knocking all his fucking teeth out.

"That's gotta hurt," Zoro smirks with malicious glee, taking a seat on the sides of the fight, enjoying the show.

Mouth bloody and toothless El Drago spits out the loose teeth. Seven white sharp beautiful teeth fell on the floor, covered in blood, "Bas-rad!"

He is down but not out. He jumps back up again, he didn't get to where he is by backing down. He puts his high end manicured gold nails to use as he tries to stab the straw hat bastard.

Tries being the correct word as he can't land a single hit on the guy.

He moves like paper in the wind, unable to be cut, making every movement more desperate.

"I can't believe it..." Cowboy says in awe.

"The captain is really getting beat," Purple finishes.

Luffy, despite his fun, is losing space as he keeps dodging back and decides enough is enough. He falls on his back with one last dodge and lifts his legs in the air.

They wrap around El Drago's neck and within a split second Luffy pushes him with the arms into a spin, keeping him in a headlock.

Luffy lifts himself off the ground, El Drago in tow and starts spinning him like a top and flying him high in the air where he completely fucked off.

….

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" a certain crew question what the absolute hell they just bore witness to..

"You done?" Zoro asks lazily.

Luffy lifts a finger, "Wait for it…" he moves a little to the right.

Just like that laser come down one last time mere inches from where Luffy stood.

"THE GOLD IS MINE-" El Drago comes down pissed, embarrassed, humiliated, disgruntled, and-

Doesn't expect the brat to be right in front of him.

"Gum Gum... " So he really doesn't expect the kid heading butting him in the face "BELL!"

With one last breath the Gold Lion El Drago falls to the floor like a bunch of broccoli.

Luffy puts his hat on his head, "Now, I am done."

And he really is. He made sure that the guy was completely out this time. Doesn't want a repeat like with Morgan.

The entire Golden Lion pirates stand there in fear, shock, and sweating, "El Drago…" the Pinky starts.

"...Has..." Cowboy adds.

"...Lost." the Purple finishes.

Luffy and Zoro just glance at them, as the crew feels fear overrun their senses, "Let's run away!" "Run away! "Run!"

And they all run away screaming, kindly picking up Gorishi as they do.

OOO

The boy, Tobio, takes Oyal uphill both in silence. Their shoulder has been forming back together nicely but there is still a nip in their jacket. They are trying to focus on their steps, 784, 785, 786, 786, 787, 788, 789, 790, 791, and so on.

They get to 1,987 by the time they are at the top of a hill and find two others waiting for them.

"Oyal there you are!" Nami runs over, "Glad to see you got away. We were just figuring out the message here," she waves the map in her hand.

Usopp smiles, "Yeah, those idiots didn't even know there was a whale up here, so…" he points to a very out of place stone whale on the hill, "They never saw the tail pointed north, what a bunch of morons!"

Nami nods, "Glad we spotted that before… I was thinking something completely different."

Usopp tilts his head, "What were you thinking?"

Nami waves him off blushing, "Just that the map has burnings on the sides and... you know... old pirates tricks," she starts to wave her hand, shaking her head, "Doesn't matter now, we found out the riddle so we'll get rewarded," she sees Oyal hasn't said anything, "You... okay?"

Oyal puts up a neutral face, "I am fine... just nipped my sleeve," they gesture to their ripped jacket.

Nami touches it lightly, seeing no other physical wounds "I'll fix it once we get back on the ship, how does that sound?"

Oyal nods again, their cold demeanor melting a bit.

Nami looks down at the boy next to Oyal, "Who are you?"

"Tobio," he says pretty plainly.

"And…" Nami motions him to go on.

"Just Tobio."

"Okay," Well that explains nothing.

Oyal doesn't say anything and just nods as Tobio takes over the talking, "Uh… those others guys were back with El Drago I don't know how they are…." he shouldn't have left them there but Luffy sounded so commanding when he told him to go back.

Nami shakes her head, "Those poor bastards."

Usopp places a hand to cup his face, "True true, I thought they were dumb, just geez…"

Tobio flinches, a feeling of anger coming up on him, "Hey, those are your crew, remember! If you don't think they can do it then why are you sitting on your asses!"

Nami glares at him, "We were talking about El Drago, kid,"

Tobio anger vanishes, "Oh… uh, right, me too."

She rolls her eyes, "Anyway by the looks of the tail they treasure should be," she points to a large mountain like area, "There."

And see they could, as they watch Zoro fight a larger male.

Tobio watches in awe, "He's… so strong!"

Nami smirks, "You haven't seen anything yet!"

All too soon the battle is over leaving Luffy to El Drago.

Oyal does not care to watch, they have had enough battle today despite knowing that missing information on how to take on an enemy is wasting time. They just... can't right now.

An explosion is heard from a distance, "For crying out loud," Oyal sags her shoulders, "what a bother. Are they almost done yet?"

Usopp tilts his head, "I wonder what kind of fruit he has."

"The Scream Scream fruit," Nami supplies.

Everyone looks at her.

She continues unfazed, "They say it has the power to transform shouting into a power of destruction. The rumors turn out to be right."

"So you have heard of him," Usopp guesses.

Nami shrugs a shoulder, "Hard not to hear of a pirate that takes most of the gold. Made sure to keep out of his way."

But by the sounds of it, Luffy is doing a great job.

"He took him down! He really did!" Tobio is jumping at that point, dangerously close to the edge in his excitement.

And right he is, as an unidentified flying object soars into the sky right at them.

CRASH!

"Ah! What a ride!" Luffy says getting up as Zoro, who is getting way too used to being man handled gets up as well.

Luffy takes another once over at Oyal, eyes not as cold anymore, "We have fun don't we, Oyal?"

Oyal thinks about this, "I have never been more stressed in my entire life, captain."

Luffy laughs, "Another emotion! Soon you are going to feel all of them!" he looks over to his sharpshooter and navigator, "Oh, Nami can I borrow some money,"

Nami immediately goes into business mode, folding her arms, "Why?"

Tobio glares at all of them, "They didn't pay for their meal, no one forgot about that!"

Luffy sags his shoulders, "I gave him two sea kings!"

"Meat isn't money!"

"It is better!"

Nami claps her hands, "Alright enough chit-chat, we got treasure to plunder!" and starts making her way to the mountain cliff.

"You aren't touching of any Woonan's treasure!" Tobio follows angrily.

"It's his, It's his," Usopp is quick to calm the child down, "If he is still alive, I mean."

"He is!"

Oyal follows Usopp slowly reaching for his arm, "Uh..."

Usopp looks at her as they lower their hand down, "Huh? Are you trying to grab on?"

They say nothing, tongue caught in their throat.

He grabs their hand, "Come on," and starts leading them down the hill as well.

They make good headway on the steep cliff side. The hard part is climbing the nearly vertical side, "No, Luffy you are not slingshotting us up there!" at a slow and steady pace.

"The wind better not throw us off," Usopp clutches to the side of the hill.

Oyal calculated the situation, "The chances of us being thrown off are-"

"I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!" Usopp stops them.

"We'll finally get to meet this guy!" Luffy grins. Someone strong for his crew. He hopes they can lend him a hand… if they are cool enough obviously.

"If he is still alive," Zoro mutters.

"Either way, he is a pirate so I am totally taking that gold," Nami whispers for only herself to hear..

Tobio misses a step and almost falls to his doom before Usopp catches him, "Careful!"

"This is getting too hard on the kid," Zoro is having trouble with the winds so of course a kid can't handle it.

"No, it isn't," Tobbio quickly defends himself, "If I quit now I can't join his screw!"

"Hey quit squirming you're going to fall!" Usopp has to hold on to the cliffside and the kid.

"Hey let's rest up here," Luffy points to a cave on the side of the cliff.

No one complains and they quickly stop in the safety of the shelter, only to find a familiar sight.

"Grandpa?"

Gaizon looks at them not surprised in the slightest seeing them up so high, "So you finally made it."

Everyone takes a seat, Tobio trying to make sense of the situation, "What are you doing here grandpa?"

Gaizon lets out a long sigh, looking far older than he is, "Burying treasure in the highest place has always been his way of doing things."

Tobio mouth falls open, "Grandpa… you knew Woonan?"

Gaizon looks down in reverence, "We grew up in the same village."

The Straw Hats eyes widen at the information, but they refuse to speak up in hopes they could hear the rest of the tale. It is not everyday someone knew a famous pirate so young.

"Last I saw him when we were kids, we were fighting about something stupid and of course it was near a cliff…" Gaizon look in the distance as if reliving the memory, "We both fell off that cliff just hanging on by his pirate flag on a tree branch. It couldn't hold the both of us so... I let go and let the sea take me."

Luffy's jaw drops, "Did… did you die?"

Nami slaps her forehead with her hand, so Usopp is the one to slap Luffy in the head, "He's still alive, you idiot!"

Gaizon doesn't pay heed to the interruption, "By chance, a ship passed nearby at that time. It was the first miracle in that village."

Luffy pouts, "So you didn't die," What a lame story.

"NO SHIT!" Literally, everyone shouts.

Gaizon sighs, "When I woke up three days later. Woonan was already long gone, starting his journey. And I haven't seen him since."

Oyal tried to think, making connections that seem… strange, "And when was this exactly?"

Gano looks at her, "About 40 years ago. Why?"

40 years ago. 20 years ago the PIrate Era started with the death of the Pirate King. Another 20 years ago should have highlighted his golden years, "Around the same time as Gold Roger started getting a name," Oyal mumbles, "Curious."

Tobio couldn't believe this. His boring old grandpa who refused to even fight Dine-and-Dashers actually knew his hero. The Woonan! A man of such pride and freedom and his grandpa was friends with him!

"The Woonan I remember changed since then. That stubborn, obstinate boy wouldn't try my oden. But now… I think that man would eat it now," Gaizon gestures to his oden that lies safely in it's pot, tied to his head, "This pot of oden which I've put my life into."

Luffy could respect that. A good chef puts his soul into his food. The best flavor.

Gaizon gets up, "Now let's not waste our time here. Or the oden will get cold."

Luffy agrees excitingly, "Okay Let's go!"

Everyone agrees to the climb with a new spirit. They climb up the top where a flat area shows a single house in the middle, "A plateau then" Nami notes. In the house are empty rooms that show no evidence of anyone living there. Except for a single fireplace the size of a man on the other side of the wall.

Nami looks in each room with great care, "Nothing!"

Zoro looks back at the center room, "No chairs, no tables, nothing. Just that fireplace," He raises a brow at it, getting a closer look. When he gets to its side he sees the problem with a critical look and pauses for a moment.

He gives it a light push and it glides like water on glass, moving aside to a hidden passageway underneath with a big arrow pointing to the treasure.

Usopp and Luffy clap in an approving, "That's amazing!" "How did you find that!"

"Any idiot should be able to find this!" Zoro shouts at the praise.

Oyal ignores all of them, "The passage leads far below. It must have been a basement."

Tobio starts to feel his hope rise, "Woonan should be down there then. I can't wait to meet him!"

"Along with his mountain of gold!" Nami giggles.

Tobio leads the way as Nami smartly grabs a torch to the side. It is a long way down and it seems never ending until they reach a large wooden door.

"It's here," Tobio states, nervousness finally creeping in.

Luffy looks on, "Behind this door… is Woonan."

Both Tobio and Gaizon share a nervous glance, one about to meet a friend long gone and the other meeting his hero.

Nami has enough of the suspense, "I'm going to open it," as she opens the unlocked door easily.

What is inside shocks everyone but at that point doesn't surprise anyone.

There in the middle of an empty room is a bone dry skeleton dressed completely in pirate garb.

Usopp is the first to make a step in, "This is…"

Tobio shakes his head, "This can't be him!" he cries, "It's a fake, it has to be!"

The grandfather puts a hand on his grandson's shoulder. He doesn't say anything because he knows Tobio knows as well. The boy cries on.

"Hey, what's that," Usopp breaks the moment by pointing to behind the walls. The rest of the crew comes in to see what it is. Now seeing hundreds of words written all around the room.

"No doubt about it, Woonan's handwriting," Gaizon observes. He couldn't ever forget that chicken scratch.

"To the people who came here for gold," Usopp starts reading the chicken scratch, "My name is Woonan. Formerly known as the 'Great Gold Pirate. Formerly? What does he mean by that?" Usopp interrupts himself.

Nami picks it up, "But now I'm just a man waiting to die. All the gold I've gathered has been returned to its rightful owners," she cries at the last part.

"Illogical…" Oyal whispers.

"This was a battle," Usopp takes control again, "To fulfill my childhood dream. And to build a mountain of gold, the likes of which have never been seen before. But as I sit before it, the words a man once said to me come to mind. "Gold can't laugh, it's just like a rock." It's true. The thing I devoted my entire life to… It wasn't the gold. It was the adventure to find the gold."

You could hear the man through his message. A man with no regrets.

Zoro picks up, "There's no gold here anymore. But instead, a treasure that's even more valuable. To others, this might be worthless. But to me, this is plenty. Please do not destroy this place. This is where my most precious treasure sleeps."

They all look behind them to see Gaizon already picking up what so-called treasure is in Woonan's hands. He unfolds a ripped up flag, with a skull and fire all around it.

Gaizon can hear Woonan's voice in the last of the message, "Gaizon... Since the day you saved my life… deep in my heart, I've always believed that you were on the same boat as I was, by my side through all these adventures. Because of this, I have no regrets about living my life this way."

Gaizon looks at the skeleton and for a brief moment doesn't see a dead man but Woonan, smiling, not an ounce of regret in his face.

Usopp grabs Tobio's shoulders, "My goodness, your grandpa's a great man!" he gushes trying to lighten the air, "He is the only person in which the legendary pirate trusted!"

Zoro sees the contrast, "One is a great pirate. One sells oden. But… they have the same pride."

Tobio looks at his grandpa in a new light, "Grandpa…" he feels tears well up again, "I…." he rushes forward hugging his grandfather, "I'm sorry!" he cries into his grandpa's legs.

Gaizon looks at his little boy, "Tobio… Live the way you want to live. And I'll… I'll always protect you."

Tobio looks up to see his sincerity and smiles.

The Straw Hat pirates find that they couldn't stop their hearts warming at the sight, each giving a big smile.

OOO

"So what shall we do with them?"

"Sink their ship and leave them for dead?"

"That's… pretty brutal."

"HEY WE ARE RIGHT HERE!"

Oyal and Zoro look at the kneeling crew, "We know," both comment.

The Golden Lion Pirates are all kneeing obediently on the beachside waiting and hoping not to be destroyed. El Dragon is still out cold and Gorishi is in no position to fight, leaving them completely helpless as their ship got ransacked by a certain pirate girl.

Oyal continues their conversation, "I just find it illogical that he gave all the gold back."

Zoro shrugs, "If that is what he wanted, why question it?"

"Because it isn't coherent," Oyal may not understand emotions but they knows pattern, "He was known for stealing from evil men. Why would he give it back to them?"

Zoro huffs, he hates these kind of riddles, "I don't know, maybe they weren't that evil or something."

Oyal isn't satisfied with that answer, "It could help if we found out where the map came from," they ask pointedly to the fearful crew.

The morons are smart enough to get the message, "We ransacked Woonan's crew," Pinky said, "The last guy alive was holding on to it."

"Illogical!" they barely raise their voice but their frustration is evident, "If you really have ransacked and killed Woonan's crew then they should have known there is no treasure! Why give their lives for a grave? In fact, how are they still active today? Woonan died not long after Roger supposedly, so have their crew been sailing for the past 20 years captainless? What is the sense, where is the logic? How are none of you questioning this?!"

Everyone kinda just stares at the kid in silence letting the rant sink in, "It… seemed like a good idea at the time," Pinky tries.

"Zoro please hit him."

"With pleasure."

WHACK.

Oyal starts mumbling to themself, "His crew was still active? We don't have an exact time of death but this would lean more for after Roger. If he is the same age as Gaizon then evidence would suggest he started around the same time as Roger and continued his gold hunt after Roger twenty years ago. What was he doing this whole time? How could the movement give him such a low bounty if the legends were true? What was his end goal? Did he never go to the Grand Line or was he based here in the East Blue for some reason? Did he have… other motives?"

Luffy put his head on their shoulder, "What are you muttering about?"

Oyal was thankful for their slow reaction time, therefore not jumping from Luffy's sudden appearance, "Luffy… do you think Woonan, was more than a pirate?"

Luffy furrowed his brows, "What do you mean?"

"Something more… revolutionary…" Luffy's contract barely had any information about the Revolutionaries, even with his father being the leader. Luffy had information he should have but at the same time not nearly enough to make any huge guesses to what to do about them. They are a huge third party that Luffy never bothered with and Oyal desperately needs and fast.

Luffy sees what they are getting at, "You think… he worked with my dad?"

"Probably, without exact dates it is hard to tell if your father was even starting the revolution at that time," they lowers their voice trying to estimate the dates, "They were most likely active 20 years ago and Woonan was alive then… it is just… do you know how the Celestial Dragons get rich?"

"Nope!" Luffy says proudly.

"Well it explains in your contract," they needed to catch up with how the world work after 800 years and sadly it would seem very little has changed, "It says that islands that are protected by the World Government pay a fee to the Dragons, supplying them with most of their wealth."

"And?" Luffy pushes on.

"And Woonan only stole from evil men. It is very hard to find someone more evil than The Celestial Dragons. Woonan stealing from them would bring in more believability of his immense wealth," Oyal starts drawing a connection, "However, his low bounty says otherwise, harming or stealing from a Dragon leads to great consequences as you know," Luffy hums, "He also only stayed in the East Blue, but if there was third party involvement such as the government not wishing to disclose this information or someone covering for him. Then at the end he could have, perchance, returned the money back to the people of the East Blue rather than keeping it for himself."

They sigh, "This is all just speculation from deduction. I don't have any evidence to back this theory up," they turns their head to see if Luffy was still there, "... did you understand any of that?"

Luffy hums as thoughtfully as he could, "Hmmmmmmmmmmm, Woonan would be so much cooler if he did steal from those Dragon bastards."

Oyal huffs, "...yes, I suppose he would."

"Okay, grave built!" Gaizon and Tobio come out of the woods, making sure their friend/hero is safely buried, "Woonan can rest in peace."

Nami comes up at the same time with Usopp in tow as he is having more trouble with the giant bag on his back than she is, "Okay! Ready! It's not a mountain but it will do."

The Ex-Gold Pirates cry seeing their gold in the hands of another and powerless to stop her, "Our gold…."

Zoro huffs, "You never change.." he says not unkindly.

"Ah, excuse me for a moment," Oyal has one last thing they wants to do. They go to the passed out figures, laying a card on each of their chest, Three of Clubs on El Drago. And another Three of Clubs of Gorishi.

"S…" they don't flinch at the rough voice from the not-as-passed-out-as-he-seemed man

"Is there something you wish to say?" he may have cut them but… well this is far more interesting.

"Sorry…" is all he says.

"If you are so sorry, please explain" they are curious after all, "Why did you work for him?"

Gorishi closes his eyes as if thinking about it causes him pain, "I needed the money…" he gives a pained breath, "My tribe… we can't survive on our own."

He says very little but it is enough to paint a picture, "Your tribe can't pay the Celestial Dragon fees and cannot be protected by the world government," he nods, "You're taking up jobs over the East Blue and sending the money back to your tribe," he nods, "Your homeland is still being a place of lawless land as there are no Emperors to claim it and therefore making it an easy target," he chokes out a sob, nodding one last time.

Oyal stares at him for the longest time, "You are no longer going to be a pirate are you?"

He shakes his head.

They nod, "You are… weak now, but you are not useless," they take out a letter and places it next to the card on his chest, "I shall see to it that you are useful. The same goes for him," they point to El Drago.

"Attention!" they stand up quickly as if the conversation never took place, "Your crew has been disbanded, your captain is out of commission and your strongest fighter is leaving. Thank you for your time."

"WHAT'S WITH THIS POLITE ACT?!" most of the ex-pirates shout, "YOU CAN'T JUST FIRE US LIKE THAT!" "YEAH WE ARE LOYAL TO EL DRAGO TILL DEATH!"

"He doesn't have any money to pay you anymore," Oyal says as an afterthought.

"Well, I'm out." "It was a fun ride, guys." "I think I'm going back to carpenting."

"It's pretty pathetic how fast they gave up," Usopp sweatdrops watching that sad display of pirate pride. He turns his attention to the only people worth paying attention to on this island, "So, Tobio, Do you still want to be a pirate? Or…."

"Sell oden?" Zoro offers.

Tobio smiles, "I'll think about it later," giving no specific answer, "If I live my life seriously like Grandpa I'm sure I'll find out one day. Right?" he laughs a bit.

Usopp gives a laugh too, "Wise words."

Nami takes a hand full of gold, "That's right," she holds the gold to Gaizon, "This is payment for their meal," she turns to her captain and first mate, "This is a loan by the way, so I expect payback with interest."

"A loan?!" Zoro snaps.

"Three times in return, that's fair right?" Nami orders more than asks with sparkling eyes.

Zoro sees the gold coins in the oden sellers hands, "You're overpaying him!"

Gaizon shakes his head, "No, I can't accept the money now," Both blink in surprise at that, "I've talked about it with Tobio and the two punks will owe us the money. Without interest."

Nami glares at the boy who just smiles back, "This is so that we will be able to see each other again."

Luffy felt his brain pop, no wait… this is an idea! He smiles, "Why wait?"

They all look at him.

Luffy rubs his hands together, "I know the perfect place to take you guys… if your interested?"

Tobio looks at his Grandpa, Gaizon looks at his Grandson.

"What do you have in mind, mister eat and run?" Gaizon folds his arms.

OOO

I would like to thank The Patient One, Miep42, and MadGirl for editing!