Vivi and Kia followed the strange music, coming to a clearing nearby a waterfall. An extremely pale man with horrible fashion sense stood playing a violin, with two men kneeling on the ground behind him, as if waiting for him to finish. The ground rumbled as animals came racing towards them, and the two that were kneeling stood up.

One was huge, tall and broad, though he seemed older, he was extremely strong based on the muscles in his arms, which he showed off by wearing a sleeveless tunic. He had a collar of spikes around his neck and bracelets of spikes on both wrists. The other man, was also tall, but very slim. He wore fine clothes, had a menacing look about him, and a large sword sheathed at his back.

Animals that were herded to them cowered in front of the two men, as the pulled weapons out and began to attack. The music continued, and we watched in horror as every animal's antler or horn, whether on the top of their head, or their face was cut from them. The two men continued, attack after attack, getting their trophies and kicking the living animals into the river to sweep over the waterfall.

Vivi and Kia looked at each other in horror, then ran out yelling. "Stop! Leave them alone!"

"We've asked every animal we've come across, and no sign of Vivi, Kia, or Chopper!" Usopp lamented.

"Or the treasure!" Nami added.

"Come on, we'll find them eventually." Zoro stated, continuing the hike upwards. "Wait." Everyone stopped. "Did you hear that?" They all listened intently, hearing the sound of talking.

"Voices!" The crew continued faster, eager to see if their friends were close. They came upon a strange scene. A table, in the middle of a clearing, set with a fancy tablecloth, piled high with what looked like bones. Kia and Vivi and a strange looking man were seated there, though only the man was eating. A few of the Straw hats winced as the man bit into the bones in front of them.

"Vivi! Kia!" They called, coming forward to greet their friends, only to be stopped by two other men standing in front of them.

Luffy peered around the men, and looked at the seated man. "Are those bones good to eat?"

His crew groaned. "Always thinking with your stomach!" Sanji said.

"How dare you barge in here!" The man shouted, rising up from his seat. He came forward to glare at Luffy. "Just who do you think I am?"

"You'd better watch it, or you'll get what's coming to you," one of his henchmen said to the group.

Nami glanced over to her other female crew members, catching both of them rolling their eyes. Hers widened in surprise and the leader reared back to punch Luffy, and instead punched his silent henchman, who didn't even notice.

The leader, wailed in pain, as his minions tried to comfort him with condiments from the table. The crew looked at their seated companions in confusion, but only received shaking heads in return.

"Aha! Now you know how dangerous I am!" The Straw hats looked back to the leader as he tried to play off his bungle. "Would you like to know more?"

"No thanks," they all said in unison.

"Okay, I'll tell you! I'm a brilliant inventor and biologist, and an expert treasure hunter. I'm the world's ultra genius, Baron Butler!"

"World's ultra genius?" Luffy asked, impressed.

"And I'm general Hot Dog," the large muscle man added. "The world's strongest."

"What," Zoro deadpanned.

"And I am Snake," the thinner man introduced himself. "The most handsome man," he said as he flipped his limp hair. He had tattoos on his face and hands, and his hair laid so flat to his head, that it seemed to be tattooed there as well.

"The most handsome?" Sanji asked sarcastically.

"Yes," he answered, though it hadn't been a serious question. "I am so seductive, that no woman escapes me."

"Are you looking for the king's treasure?" Nami asked him.

As his eyes looked to Nami, he fell to one knee in front of her, grabbing her hand in between both of his. "Of course fair lady!"

"Oh? You're so handsome! Will you tell me please?" she asked, and the crew around her looked at her in shock.

"I can only tell you if you join our crew, we tell no one but our own crew."

"Of course, I'll join!" Nami said with a smile, and Sanji looked like he would murder someone.

"No way!" Luffy said. "You're a bad guy!"

"What?" Baron Butler said. "What makes you think that?"

Luffy looked at Nami, the guys around him, taking in Kia and Vivi sitting still at the table, and the pile of horns and antlers. "Just a hunch."

Nami hit Luffy over the head, as Baron Butler raged at the sky.

"Sir Butler, these people seem like dimwits."

Butler looked at Snake and Hot Dog, as they fell into place behind him once again. "Too bad. I can't tell dimwits about the treasure," he said.

"Please?" Nami asked.

"No!" he yelled.

Luffy stood back up. "Fine. We're leaving. Kia, Vivi! Let's go!"

Baron Butler gave an evil grin. "They can't. They are part of my crew now."

"What?" the Straw hats asked, looking at their friends for confirmation.

"No we're not!" Vivi yelled.

"Yeah, it's not our fault you told us everything! We didn't even ask!" Kia added.

"Silence!" Butler yelled, pulling out his violin. "Horn eaters, kill them!"

"AAH!" Usopp screeched.

Luffy stretched out his arms, wrapping around Kia and Vivi's shoulders, and pulling them to him. They upended the table as they flew over to their crew, knocking into everyone and sending the entire group over the cliff into the water. They quickly found a large branch, pulling Luffy, Vivi and Kia onto it.

"I'm sorry Vivi my dear, Kia my heart! If I had realized you were tied up, I would have gone to you at once!" Sanji lamented.

"It's fine Sanji," Vivi said, pulling the ropes that Zoro had cut off her.

"Yeah, no worries," Kia added, rubbing feeling back into her wrists. "It wasn't much of a problem, we were simply waiting for a good time to escape."

"Look!" Nami said, pointing to the shore. The shore was full of animals, all injured from having their horns removed, and falling over the waterfall.

"That's their work," Vivi said angrily. "Butler controls the horn eaters with his violin, making them round up any animal with a horn. Snake and Hot Dog then cut the horns off and push the animals over the cliff."

"Butler said that the treasure is actually a horn of an animal," Kia added. "That's why they are doing this."

"Wait, but that means Chopper is in danger too!" Usopp said.

"Oh no!" Nami cried.

"He'll be fine," Luffy said, unconcerned. "He's strong."

"He is?" Usopp questioned.

"Yeah, he's one of us. So he's strong. Right?"

Zoro smirked. "That sounds right to me."

"I have to agree," Sanji said.

"But shouldn't we still look for him?" Usopp asked.

"I know!" Luffy said, pointing to the shore where the talking bird and his companions stood watching them. "Let's ask the animal king!"

The crew looked at each other, then at the hippo, who looked nervous by the attention.

"I still can't believe you're the animal king, Chopper!" Nami said. The crew all nodded as they continued to eat the fruits that Chopper had brought out for them. They were all so happy to be reunited, even though the kid and the animals seemed less than thrilled.

"Not just anyone can become royalty after all," Sanji said. "I myself am more of a prince type, coming in on a white steed, saving beautiful princesses…" Kia rolled her eyes as Sanji lost himself in his own fantasy.

"Idiot."

"What?!" Sanji exclaimed, turning to glare at Zoro. Kia could hear Vivi beside her give a sigh, tired of the two of them always fighting.

"Just shut up and eat… prince."

Sanji glared, then turned back and muttered, "so says the brainless muscle-head."

"WHAT?!"

Vivi and Kia both sighed now as the two of them started fighting again. Sometimes it was funny, but lately it had been so often, the entire crew were getting sick of it.

"Hey, is there any meat?" Luffy asked. Nami, Vivi and Kia shook their heads, as all the animals ran away.

"Luffy, you idiot, you scared them!" Nami yelled at him.

"Besides, haven't you had enough?" Kia asked, noting how large Luffy had gotten, his body stretching to hold all the food he had been consuming.

"Nah, I'm still hungry!"

An explosion suddenly rocked the ground, and everyone turned, seeing a huge plume of smoke. Chopper took off, and his friends immediately followed.

They ran down to a smaller plateau, noting that Butler, Hot Dog and Snake were standing before a group of cowering animals, the same ones that had run from the group just minutes before.

"The animal king will surrender to me, or I will have the horn eaters attack everyone!" Butler shouted.

Nami looked around, looking for the monster trio. "Where did those guys go? Right when we need them to fight!"

"We need to destroy that violin…" Vivi said. Kia didn't respond, as she was watching Chopper. He was scared, she could see it. But he also was growing more and more determined, the longer he saw the scared animals. He jumped down to join Butler, wearing the crew's jolly roger as a cape, dressed in some of Mobambi's ridiculous fancy clothes.

Butler looked at him in disdain. "Who are you?"

"I'm Tony Tony Chopper!" Chopper called, standing tall before the human towering over him. "I'm the animal king. Call off the horn eaters!"

Butler laughed snidely. "Of course your majesty, once you defeat them of course!"

Chopper paled as he saw the horn eaters coming straight at him. Kia hurriedly jumped down to join him. "Chopper, run!" she said, standing in front of him. He wasn't moving, so she said, "Operation Decoy!" trying to get him to snap out of it. She waved her arms like a fool, and walked away from Chopper. He wasn't moving, so she needed to make herself the target.

"No! Kia!" Before she could look back, Chopper in his human form, had picked her up and started running, turning sharply before the horn eaters, leading them away from the others.

They could hear the violin play, Butler probably giving the horn eaters direction to pursue them. "Chopper! Why'd you pick me up? I was trying to be a decoy! I don't have horns, they wouldn't have attacked me," Kia said.

"I couldn't let you get hurt for me Kia," Chopper panted. "Besides, Sanji would kill me if I didn't protect you."

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "You can put me down now, I can run," she said.

"I've got you," he replied.

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji finally joined the others, once Luffy's body digested his food, and his huge body shrunk back to normal. They had been stuck in the doorway the entire time.

"What's happened?" Luffy asked.

"I guess, Chopper really is a coward." Mobambi said sadly. "The girl tried to help him, but he just grabbed her and ran away, instead of fighting."

"We'd better go rescue them," Sanji said.

"You coming?" Luffy asked Mobambi.

"Me? But I'm weak. I can't do anything."

"So what?" Usopp said. "So am I, but I'm not scared!" Nami and Vivi pointedly looked at his shaking limbs. "that's nothing," he muttered.

"You never know unless you try, right?" Luffy asked with a grin.

"Don't be stupid," Mobambi muttered, looking away.

"Okay runt," Luffy replied. "Being a friend isn't just about staying together."

Vivi watched as their three strongest friends went after Kia and Chopper. She thought about what Luffy had said to Mobambi. She hoped that she would remember it when she eventually had to say goodbye.

"Um… Chopper?"

"Yeah?" he panted. He was definitely getting tired.

"It's hard to explain, you'd better just look."

Chopper glanced behind to see the Butler and his henchmen riding on the backs of the horn eaters in the front of the pack, and that they were gaining.

"Kia, quick! On my back!"

He stopped in front of a cliff side, setting her down and crouching in front of her. She jumped on his back, and he started climbing up the wall in front of them. Sometimes climbing, sometimes jumping, they quickly made their way to the top. Turning and looking below, they jumped back as Hot Dog's chain weapon flew by and bedded itself in the rock. They watched as the three men began climbing using the chain as a rope, following quickly up the cliff behind them.

They started running again, but Kia soon had to stop, a cramp in her side. "Go Chopper. I'll just hide somewhere," she said with a wince.

He looked at her, and nodded, helping her onto a tree ledge shaped oddly like mushroom. "I'll come back soon," he said, "once I get them away from you."

Kia nodded and he hopped down, and ran away. As Kia moved further in, the ledge beneath her suddenly broke, and she screamed as she fell down to the ground, landing awkwardly on the rubble. As she stood, something wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides, and she fell over again. Looking up, she saw Snake, his flexible sword around her, cutting slightly into her skin.

"Scream again, or I'll tighten it," he threatened. Kia just glared, refusing to open her mouth at all. Before he could do anything, she heard Chopper yell, "Kia! Are you okay?"

"Chopper, run! They'll get you!"

Snake dragged her upright, as Hot Dog found and began beating Chopper, punching him again and again, Chopper's little body flying back with each strike. Hot Dog held onto her arm, dragging her forward as Snake used his sword to back Chopper up onto another tree shelf hanging over the cliff edge. Kia saw a blur of color, and turned just in time to see Sanji kick the ledge, grabbing her and tossing her back to the ground as he and the ledge fell over the side. Kia scurried over to the side, to see Snake getting to his feet, glaring at Sanji standing over him.

"Who the hell are you?" Snake said angrily.

"A prince," Sanji replied with a little salute in Kia's direction. She couldn't help but giggle.

"What a show off." She turned to the voice, seeing Zoro hanging by one arm from the cliff side, Chopper in his other arm.

"Sanji! Zoro!" Chopper cheered happily. Zoro vaulted himself and Chopper up, dropping Chopper suddenly as he dodged an incoming attack from Hot Dog. Kia watched Zoro smirk, as he told Chopper that he would take care of Hot Dog.

Chopper started running, only to be caught by Baron Butler moments later. Butler grabbed Chopper's antlers, ready to break them off. Chopper tensed, ready to cry out, and Kia screamed his name, running for him. But she was too late.

"Gum gum ROCKET!"

Butler was shot off of Chopper, skidding across the ground and smashing into a rock.

"Luffy!" Chopper and Kia both said in relief.

"Chopper!" Usopp, Nami and Vivi came running up behind Luffy. Chopper looked so happy, as he squealed their names. "You guys came!"

Butler stood up yelling, pulling out his violin, and calling the horn eaters back again. The crew took off running, Luffy getting hit and bouncing away. Kia wasn't in their path, so she turned back to Sanji and Zoro. Knowing they could handle themselves, and they would be angry rather than grateful if she interfered… but she wanted to see them fight. And not like she did when they sparred. A real, life on the line, fight.

She went to the cliff edge, noting that both were now down in the shallow water, Snake edging Sanji towards the shadows of the trees, and Hot Dog edging Zoro out into the open field. She climbed down slowly, to make sure she went unnoticed.

She found a tree near the edge of the grove that provided good cover, and peeking around it, watched as Sanji exchanged blows with Snake. She wondered why Sanji was fighting the swordsman instead of Zoro, but then remembered how offended they each had been when these two had introduced themselves. Sanji obviously wanted to bring down the man who claimed to be the most handsome.

As Sanji went in for a kick, Snake up and disappeared. Sanji stood, glancing around, and Snake appeared behind him, his sword swinging. Kia winced as Sanji avoided serious injury, but he was definitely cut in many places.

She heard speaking behind her, and turned to see Hot Dog taunting Zoro, his chain wrapped several times around Zoro's torso. He stepped back and kicked out at Zoro again and again. They obviously were powerful kicks, but Zoro simply took them, standing back upright after each one.

She turned back around, checking on Sanji. He was getting up from the ground, Snake standing over him.

"Why do you keep fighting? I have obviously beaten you." His face took on a sly grin. "It's for one of those girls isn't it? Or perhaps all three? You keep fighting for them."

Sanji sat, a smirk on his face. "You don't get it. I vowed to protect my friends with my life. I'm fighting for all of them."

"Don't make me laugh." Snake sauntered forward, leaning down slightly. "You're weak, and you can't protect anything."

Sanji looked up, spitting his lit cigarette into Snake's face, making him reel back. Before Kia could blink, Sanji's foot followed, and she could hear him growl out "Weak?!"

He followed that kick with another, landing on his hands and flipping into another kick to Snakes's face. "Just who do you think you're dealing with!"

"Impossible," Snake muttered from the ground, his nose broken, and his face bloody. "How can you even move, after all those cuts I gave you?" he managed to ask before he fell unconscious.

"Idiot," Sanji replied, making sure the cigarette he spit out was properly extinguished. "Your cuts were nothing compared to his. Now who's the weakling?"

Kia held in her giggle, and turned back out to watch Zoro, as Sanji looked for his sunglasses. Zoro seemed to still be in the same predicament, he had the chain wrapped around him, and his face was bleeding from a cut somewhere. Hot Dog gave a flying tackle kick, sending Zoro falling back into the water. He turned, assuming he had finished him off, but turned back sensing Zoro back on his feet.

Zoro it seemed had finally had enough, and flexing his arms, shattered the chain that was around him.

"How in the …." Hot Dog asked.

"Kicks that can split steel? Don't make me laugh," Zoro answered with a smirk. He pulled his bandanna from his arm, and tied it over his head. He pulled out a sword, and challenged, "Let's see how strong you really are."

Hot Dog's face went red, and he went straight for Zoro, kicking with his might. For all his bravado, Zoro slipped, and went down on one knee. Hot Dog saw it as a weakness and tried to exploit it.

"You are weak from my kicks." He sneered at Zoro. "All your friends are done for, and you can't help them."

"I don't need to help them," Zoro replied. He tore the remains of his shirt aside and pulled out the other two swords. Kia had to admit, it was quite a sight. "They are strong… stronger than you'll ever know."

"What?!"

"Strength isn't about power, or techniques." Hot Dog didn't want to listen to a lecture, and jumped for Zoro, kicking out. "It's in the SOUL!" Zoro yelled, slashing out and blocking the kick, sending Hot Dog falling back.

"No!" Hot Dog yelled as he stood. "I'm the world's strongest! Now, you die!" He spun around, building momentum and launched himself at Zoro.

Kia watched in awe, as Zoro grinned. It was these moments, that he lived for. He spun his swords around, doing a complicated movement involving turns and slashes, calling out "Whirl…. Wind!"

Hot Dog was slashed, the wind from the swords carrying him up in what looked like an actual tornado.

"How… how? My kicks are the most powerful!" He landed with a crash behind Zoro, already out cold.

Zoro took his time, sheathing his swords. "I know a guy, who kicks way harder than you ever could." He went to pick up his torn shirt. "A really annoying guy," he finished. Kia was keeping her laughter in, but snorted out loud, and Zoro turned to glare at her. "Kia," he stated. "Tell anyone I said that, and I'll cut you."

Now she really laughed, because it was an empty threat, and they both knew it. He got more and more annoyed as we went to join the others, because she just couldn't stop laughing. She would calm down, and then look over at him and start back up again.

They rejoined everyone else as Luffy bazooka-ed Butler out of sight. The animals were cheering, and Mobambi was apologizing for losing the king's treasure. The animals didn't care, they wanted him to stay, because he was their friend. Kia stood next to Zoro, smiling as the kid tried to convince Chopper to stay with them as well, then realizing he couldn't, tried to push him away to make it easier to say goodbye.

The noise stopped them all, and they watched as the plumes of water from the underwater volcanoes shot up all around the island. She wasn't sure exactly how it happened, and would explain it as the colors of the sunset reflecting off the mist from the plumes, but the water looked golden. They all looked around in awe, the golden crown surrounding the island, and the animals explained that it was the answer to a prophecy long ago, and that Heaven had accepted their new king.

"Mobambi."

The boy looked at Chopper, as he walked over, tears streaming down his face.

"We'll always be friends Mobambi, even if we're far apart." Mombambi continued to bawl, and soon enough Chopper had joined him, wailing, as they watched with small smiles on their faces.

The crew had to go, even if they wanted to stay and celebrate, but they had no time to spare. The animals filled the ship with fruit, worrying that if would go bad before they could eat it, but Luffy just asked for more, and they were happy to oblige.

"What an adventure,"Vivi said, as they sailed off. The crew sat together on deck, Luffy on Merry's Head, looking out on the horizon.

"And no treasure to make it worthwhile," Nami commented.

"What? We got the real treasure back!" Zoro said.

"Real treasure? What did you find?" Chopper asked excitedly.

"You, Chopper. And-" Luffy said.

"And Vivi and Kia!" Sanji sang, interrupting Luffy.

Kia looked at Nami and Vivi and they rolled their eyes, then giggled.

"What's so funny?" Zoro demanded.

"Oh yeah, I meant to tell everyone…" Zoro tensed and glared daggers at Kia.

"What's that?" Usopp asked.

"I got to watch Sanji and Zoro fight those two henchmen, and it was really impressive."

"Oh, thank you Kia my love!" Sanji swooned. Zoro just watched, waiting for her to tell what he said.

"AND… it was really funny, because after they beat them, and they were out cold on the ground… both Zoro and Sanji talked to them, and insulted them." The crew looked confused, and Sanji tensed as well.

"So what did they say?" Usopp asked, glancing at both Sanji and Zoro, unsure what the issue was.

Kia just laughed, the looks she was getting was too much. "Pretty much the same thing.Now who's the best?" she said in a fake, macho sounding voice. The others laughed, and Sanji and Zoro both gave grateful smiles.

"Pretty dumb to copy what I said," Sanji said to Zoro as he walked to the kitchen.

"What?!"

The girls rolled their eyes again, as the wind picked up.

"On to Alabasta!" Luffy called out.