A/N: Thank God! The last of the new recruit intros! Why did I add so many again?

Chapter 32: Under His Flag

"Hey, come back! Or at least slow down!" Hook and Sonosuke drew a lot of stares as they chased the unusual hamster. The looks went unacknowledged though, as both men were more concerned with keeping up with the curious creature as it scuttled ahead of them. "What's with this thing? Why tell us to follow him, then run off like this?"

"If I recognize that hamster," Sonosuke spoke up, "I think I can guess."

Eventually, the merry chase led the pair to a dead end. As they looked around for where the hamster had disappeared, a sinister laugh echoed through the alley. "Excellent work, Jum-P! In your efforts to exert my will, you have brought to us the very targets we need most!"

"Huh?" Hook hummed in confusion as he looked around, while Sonosuke looked pointedly up in annoyance.

"I thought so…" Hook finally followed Sonosuke's gaze to find a curious man standing on the roof, overlooking them. The hamster they had been following was now chewing on a sunflower seed in its tiny clutches as it sat on the man's shoulder. The figure himself was a striking one: dressed in earth tones with a dark undershirt showing from his unbuttoned overshirt, black boots with silver buckles, one sleeve rolled up to reveal his left arm was wrapped in bandages, black wavy hair with a crop of white at the front, and eyes as red as cherry tomatoes. Although, his most notable accessory had to be the long purple scarf that waved in the wind behind him. "You did all of this," Sonosuke sighed, "to make a grand entrance, huh, Tanaka?"

"Of course, Forge Master!" Tanaka called out, extending his hand like a king making a decree. "I must show our new ally in freedom my determination to assist him in this world! Now, where is he so that I might display the great power he has recruited onto his journey?"

"He's right here," the irritated Sonosuke gestured to Hook. "He's wearing a disguise to avoid the Navy."

Tanaka squinted at Hook for a moment before nodding. "Ah-ha! I see! You found it exhausting to have the common masses bask in your glory, great seafaring savior, so you masked your presence. Truly an astonishing mind!" Tanaka took a flying leap off the building, his cape fluttering behind him. He hung in the air, looking as graceful as a gazelle… before he plummeted into the garbage below, disappearing in the mass of ignored refuge bags. The only part of him not swallowed up by the pile was his hand, holding Jum-P above the waste.

As quickly as he fell, he was back up on his feet, seemingly ignoring his ungraceful fall as he posed dramatically. "Rejoice, Iron Fist! For before you stands the being that will stay by your side until your dreams are made manifest! Before you stands… Tanaka, the Forbidden One!" Once more, his voice echoed off the walls of the buildings surrounding them. When the echo dispersed, the trio fell into silence, only the sound of Jum-P's nose twitching could be heard. Finally, Tanaka glared at Sonosuke. "You invoked my name earlier, draining excitement from my introduction. You better mind yourself, Forge Master."

"Yeah, whatever," Sonosuke waved away the glare he received, while Hook wondered why Tanaka kept calling him 'Forge Master.' "If that's all, we still haven't found the money Rantaro lost…"

Tanaka crossed his arms, threw back his head, and laughed. "Ah ha ha! I'm afraid you are misinformed, Forge Master. You have no leads on our missing boon, but I have acquired not only the culprit but his exact location!"

"Whoa, really!" Hook blinked. "But how? This place is huge! I can't imagine you ran all over town trying to figure out…"

"I did no such thing, savior," Tanaka smirked confidently. "For now it is time to resurrect this introduction… BEHOLD! My Four Dark Devas of Destruction!" At his call, his scarf wiggled before three other hamsters joined Jum-P on the man's shoulders. "My loyal familiars! They are my eyes and ears! If needed, they will even bring woe to my enemies! This is the power I will bring to your long journey, noble savior!

"You have already Jum-P," said hamster waved as Tanaka pointed at each hamster in turn. "This is San-D," the orange and white one waved excitedly at Hook. "Maga-Z." The grey and white one seemed to look Hook up and down like he was judging him before turning his nose up at him. "And this is Cham-P." The last one took up Tanaka's entire shoulder, whit his orange fur making look like an overripe tangerine from Nami's grove. He seemed either slow or sleepy because he didn't notice Hook immediately; rather, he blinked as he looked around his surroundings, before noticing the newcomers. Only then did he wave with the hamster equivalent of a dopey grin. "Using my familiars, I can learn and reach even where Forbidden One and brigands like you and I cannot go. This is what makes me an approachable ally on your dangerous quest."

"So these guys are like little furry spies?" Hook smiled. "That's pretty cool! It's nice to meet ya officially, Tanaka."

"More importantly," Sonosuke said, "you said you learned something? What did you find?"

"Like I explained before," Tanaka stated, all four of his 'Devas' disappearing into the folds of his scarf. "I found the orchestrator of this event. And he is not too far from us…"

At a nearby cafe, a man was arguing with the waiter. "Sir, for the last time, you need to pay for your meal and drink!"

"And I keep telling you, I didn't order this much!" The man argued as the veins in his temple pulsed.

"Your son told us you would be cheap enough to not pay for his meal," the maitre d' tutted, "but I underestimated your cheapness! Do you want me to call the police and report you trying to dine and dash?"

"This isn't an eat-and-run!" the man argued. "I will pay for my meal, but that's it! And I don't have a son!"

"What are you talking about?" the waiter looked perplexed. "The small young man who was sitting here when you went to the restroom said…"

Walking away from the restaurant, belly full of good food, the 'child,' snickered like the little gremlin he was. "Nishishi! A good lie, good food, and quality entertainment? Boy, Loguetown! You really spoil me on my last day here!"

"Hey, you!" A hand grabbed the boy by the shoulders, spinning him around and face-to-face with his current accuser, the man from the restaurant.

Adopting a meek expression on the fly, the boy looked up through his messy purple locks at the man. "Hewwo, sir~ How are you, today~"

"I had to pay for your meal and mine, you little shit!" the man called the 'boy' out, not bothering with noticing he was drawing an audience.

The small teen did notice and grinned behind his mask as he concocted a way to get out of his predicament. Suddenly, he sprouted tears of pain, howling at the top of his lungs as he grabbed the arm the man had just touched. "Ooooooow! My arm! My wittle arm! You hurting meeeeeee!"

The entire crowd jumped at the outburst but recovered quickly to scowl at the offending man. "What the hell! Is he hurting that child!?"

"You awful man!" a woman chimed in. "How dare you manhandle a child!?"

"I-I didn't!" the man defended as gestured a little too close to the boy.

This lapse was capitalized by the kid throwing himself back like he was slapped. "Waaaaaah! He hit me!" the messy-haired boy hiccuped. "The pain! The ag~o~nyyyyyy!"

At that point, the crowd was whipped up into a frenzy, completely surrounding the man to either chew him out or stomp him flat. As for the 'young boy,' he slipped away with no one the wiser of his departure. As he adjusted the black-and-white bandanna around his neck, he whistled a merry tune. "Loguetown is the town of fools~" he sang to himself. "And nobody's smart than me~! Nishishi~"

"Not very watchful, though," a voice said to the kid's right.

He turned to look at Hook in his "clever" disguise with a neutral expression. "Hm? Hello, Mister? Do I know you?"

"You should, Kokichi," Sonosuke stood on the other side of the sneaky gremlin. "That's Hook from before."

Kokichi's face brightened up at seeing the other man's face. "Oh, Uncle! There you are! Where is everyone? I thought we were supposed to wrap things up and head to sea."

"Before that…" Sonosuke growled before he flicked his wrist, causing a knife to come out of his sleeve and into his hand. "Did you know that the Crazy Diamonds and that damn rooster's men almost started a gang war today? Something about being framed for robbing our shipmate Rantaro? Ringing any bells?"

Kokichi looked away in thought. "Hmmm… hmmmmmmmmm… Ah! Now that you mention it, I did run into somebody with a large sum of Beris! I heard them mention something about taking the money and blaming Bartomeleo's gang. I bet they figured nobody'd notice them running away!"

"Wait, hold on! This is getting plain silly now," Hook said as he grasped his head. "I'm losing track of all this. Rantaro was mugged, and after he was mugged, you took the money, right? But, how come you didn't tell anybody else?"

The short teen smirked at that. "Because I thought it'd be funny. And it was!"

Sonosuke moved, ready to threaten the smiling idiot at knifepoint if Hook hadn't moved at the same time to grab his arm. "You ugly-ass cockroach! You know what the money means, and you just played around with it like a game!? Where is that bounty, you-!"

"Hey, Sono-guy! Calm down!" Hook scolded. "Let's ask before you tear him apart. But, if I don't like the answer…" Hook gave Kokichi a side-eye that spoke of pain. Kokichi's response was a flat-out, unworried grin.

"Hey hey. Don't worry! It's all~ taken care of. I was going to tell somebody, but when I saw Sakakura going into the alleyway, I figure it would all come out eventually. Also, wasn't it hilarious!? Seeing you all run around, focusing on all the wrong things? Nobody even bothered to look my way! Ahhahahaha!" Kokichi laughed loud enough to draw some looks.

"I don't see the humor," Hook said plainly, even as Sonosuke still looked ready to strangle the small boy. "More importantly, where's the bounty?"

Almost like flipping a switch, Kokichi's giggle fit stopped on a dime. "Oh, I gave it to Kuwata."

Sonosuke struggled futilely in Hook's grasp. "Seriously? Why didn't you just say that? And if you had it and were unnoticed, why not just hold on to it yourself?"

"What are you, crazy?" Kokichi gave the green-haired man a smug look. "This town's full of muggers and pickpockets! You want 'widdle ol' me' to go around with 100,000 beris in my pocket with no way to protect myself? Are you an idiot, Uncle?"

Sonosuke made to say something to that, but Hook's growing annoyance at having to play referee earned the poor man a heated glare boring into him. As he finally cooled off, Hook asked, "Ok, that's fine. But where's this Kuwata now?"

Outside of a church, a crowd of people dressed in all black was coming out with solemn expressions. Many of them had tear streaks down their faces, and their shoulders sagged like a great weight had been draped across them. A few of the mourners did take time to toss unsure glances at the odd man out of the crowd – and not just because he wasn't dressed in all black like the rest of the crowd.

While he was wearing black trousers, the two silver belts conveyed a more casual look than a formal one. His white shirt may have been for more serious events once, but it was too worn at the elbows, and the missing buttons showed the man's bright orange shirt to all, which matched his bright orange hair. His look was completed with a labret, a spherical piercing through his bottom lip, and six more visible piercings on his ear.

Despite his appearance, the man looked somber, gazing at nothing as he bowed his head in respect. He only looked up when he felt a presence next to him. "Hm? Sorry, am I in your way, man?"

"So, you're Kuwata, right?" the man asked, ignoring Kuwata's raised eyebrows as he continued. "Those other two said you'd be easy to find, and I guess you would in this crowd."

"How'd you know my name?" Kuwata asked. "You a fan or something? Heard me play before, or…" The carrot top got his answer when the man lived his fake glasses and mustache quickly before replacing them. "Oh, captain! Sorry, didn't recognize you."

"Clakaka. Yeah, that's the point of this." Hook looked around at the thinning crowd. "Anyway, I have to ask. Where's…"

"Mr. Kuwata? Where'd you go?" The pair's short conversation was halted as a young lady walked by. Like everyone else, she was dressed in all black, her eyes red from what looked like a lot of crying. IT didn't take her long to spot Kuwata and make her way over. "Ah, here you are. And, whose this? A friend of yours?"

Kuwata shifted, looking away as if trying to decide what to say. "Well…"

"I'm James Hook," Hook said simply. "Sorry for your loss and all."

"Oh, that's all right," the girl said before shaking her head sadly. "Actually, no, it's not right now. Thank you for coming. I'm Naegi Komaru."

"Oh! You're…"

"Hm?" Komaru blinked at Hook's half-sentence. "Did you say something, sir?"

Hook smiled at the girl in a way that eased the tension. "Nah, it's nothing. It's nice to meet you, Komaru."

"If only it were better circumstances," the girl said as sadness crept into her voice. "Sorry, I'm usually more… upbeat."

Hook nodded. "Can I ask who…"

"My brother," Komaru said. "It happened at sea, and there wasn't a body to recover. At least, that's what Mr. Kuwata told me." She looked at the man in question, who looked suddenly exhausted as weariness etched onto his features. "He really wanted to bring in some extra money for our family… Mom and Dad told him not to worry, but he was willing to try anything… even become a pirate."

"Why not a Marine?" Hook blurted out; Kuwata looked at the teen in shock, but Komaru nodded like this question was familiar to her.

"He… actually did try. At the Navy base in town. The captain there… he said he wasn't looking for new recruits. When he insisted, the Marine told him 'You don't have it in you. Give up and pick a tamer job.'" Komaru smiled sadly. "He was right. Makoto, my brother, was way too nice to be something as hardened as a Marine. But, he was determined to make some money to help our family, and…"

"He became a pirate," Hook supplied when Komaru's voice gave out. "That's what happened?"

"Yeah…" the mourning girl nodded, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. "Mom, Dad, me – nobody could convince him this was a bad idea. He was always so stubborn when he wanted to help… While no one could stop him though, Mr. Kuwata and all of Big Bro's friends dropped what they had in Loguetown and joined with him. They promised to keep him safe…"

Kuwata, looking even more broken up as the grieving girl went on, finally burst and said, "Komaru, I'm-!"

"You've already apologized already, Mr. Kuwata. A lot already," Komaru pointed out. "And you've more than made up for it by delivering what Makoto earned at sea."

"Uh… yeah! It was the least we could all do!" Kuwata said with only a small amount of faked bravado. "Makoto really worked hard to earn that cash, so don't even worry about it!" Even as Kuwata papered over his real emotions for the sake of not upsetting Komaru further, Hook was half listening to the conversation as he recalled the talk that had led to this moment.

"His name was Naegi Makoto." That was how Ryuji started the conversation with Hook. As the crew and members of Cocoyashi stocked the Merry for the next leg of the journey, the pair sat on the ground between buildings and away from the busy town center for privacy. "The guy who… you know, back at the Baratie."

Hook nodded. "OK. Good to have a name with the face. But what's that-?"

"You should know he never set out for anything as romantic as adventure or dream-chasing," Ryuji explained. "It started a while back, way before any of us were even born. Naegi's parents wanted a house to raise their kids in, but they didn't have the money. So, they got a loan, with the promise it'd be paid off within 20 years. Otherwise, the Naegis lose the house.

"Well, 19 years and two kids later, those guys were nowhere near close to paying off that amount. Got so bad that his sister was looking for waitress jobs… although there's only a few that could earn her a lot of money in such a short time… none that Makoto was comfortable letting her try."

"Uh-huh," Hook hummed. "But what's this got to do with us?"

Ryuji scratched his cheek, looking a little flustered. "Well, uh… I know it's a lot to ask for guys that just joined and all, but… well, 100,000 beris is way more than any of us have ever seen…"

"Really?" Hook snickered. "That's probably the smallest amount we've gotten in a while! We're pretty loaded right now… if you can get past Nami anyway."

"Oh, we got a lot? Good, that might make this easier…" Ryuji paused then shook his head. "Nah, man. That don't make this any easier. Look, Captain-"

"Hook's fine. I don't mind it."

"Okay, Hook," Ryuji amended. "We were kind of thinking… could we give the 100,000 to Makoto's family?" While Hook raised an eyebrow, Ryuji was already up from sitting and began to bow, his head on the ground to match his knees. "I'm sorry if it's asking for too much since we're only just joining and all, but please! We all sailed with Makoto as a promise to protect him! After everything he tried, he was so sure he could make enough money and send it back to his family!

"Makoto… his family doesn't deserve to know he couldn't do anything! He tried to leave them with hope! We can't-!" Ryuji's voice broke as he broke down crying, though not looking at Hook's unreadable face. "We don't want to have to come up empty-handed! We'd feel like real shitbags if we went and told them he died for nothing! So… we promise to pay it all back! Every cent! If you want to take it out of whatever shares we get later, then-!"

"Ok, fine," Hook said as he leaned back.

Ryuji's rant caught in his throat as he looked up at the man with watery eyes. "W-what!?"

"I said it's fine," Hook repeated. "Nami's probably gonna kill me, or have Sanji do it, she really has him wrapped around her finger… but yeah, sure. We'll get by." Hook seemed to consider the conversation over as he said nothing more. It was only under the other blonde's incredulous look did he talk again. "Hm? What is it? You need more or something-"

"Captain – Hook – you, and I mean with all respect… what the eff!" Ryuji blinked at Hook's puzzled expression. "I… you're really okay with us asking this? You didn't even say what we're supposed to do to pay back-"

"Don't worry about it," Hook waved him off a second time. "You don't gotta. It's fine."

"Kind of wish you'd stop saying that…" Ryuji muttered as he wiped his eyes.

"Guys like your old captain might have done it like that," Hook added with a brilliant smile, "but you're on my crew now! That means I take on your debts and shortcomings too! The next time something like this happens, just let me know and I'll handle it!"

Ryuji gaped at Hook's altruism. 'This guy… is he for real? From here to Loguetown, any pirate would have used way less just to put us all in eternal servitude! But Hook…' Ryuji stopped to remember he was begging the pirate who held back on his former captain just to prove a point for a favor. 'Damn… going with this guy… won't be like before, huh?'

"Actually, I guess there's one thing you can do," Hook spoke up, once more forcing Ryuji to toss his notions about this man into the trash. "As long as you sail on my ship… don't go losing if you can help it." The words were said not from a place of overconfidence like Krieg, but almost like a fact they cannot decline.

Ryuji sat on his knees, his eyes still watery and his nose still red, and saluted Hook, even as he looked at the salute with a wrinkled nose. "A-aye aye, Captain!"

"Stop calling me captain! It's Hook!"

"So, it's enough, right?" Kuwata asked.

"And then some," Komaru stated. "Dad's thinking of using the rest of the beris for repairs to the house, or even a few things Mom had her eyes on as a gift. It… it doesn't make up for Big Bro not being here. But… it's nice to know that his actions brought us something. I wish I could thank him in person."

Hook chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he knows, Komaru."

At the Loguetown Navy Base, the men and women stationed there stepped aside as a lone figure dragged another individual inside the building. As they came up to the desk, a pair of Marines began to whisper between themselves. "Whoa! You gotta be kidding me! Is that… Eldoraggo!?"

"It can't be!" the other Marine muttered. "But, then again, this is her we're talking about…" Indeed, the man being dragged was Eldoraggo, captain of his own crew. While his face was indistinguishable from the multiple swelling bruises all over his face, the golden claw-like nails and dazzling if impractical armor was a good identifier. As for the person dragging him, she was perfectly fine; not a single hair out of place, nor a scratch or contusion to speak up.

"That's the Iron Queen for ya! She's like a human battleship!" the first Marine said as he mopped his greasy brow. "I'm glad she's hunting pirates and not us!" Both men froze on the spot and nearly swallowed their tongues when the figure's red eyes glanced their way.

Satisfied that nobody was talking behind her back, she hoisted Eldoraggo off the ground to show him to the receiving officer, who looked just as surprised as everyone else. "Eldoraggo of the Roaring Pirates. 10,000,000 beris for his capture."

"O-of course!" The resource officer counted out the correct reward as two Marines came to slap handcuffs on the downed pirate.

They were halted in their action when the small lady raised a hand. "You might want to use stronger equipment on him," she stated. "He's a Devil Fruit user, fires blasts of sound from his mouth. I hardly think you all are able to handle something like that… unless your captain is in the area."

"No, he's patrolling the streets today," the officer answered, though it was clear in her gaze she had already figured that. "And sadly, while I don't know how you've heard of it, we don't have any of that in the base." More to himself, the desk clerk muttered, "We finally get HQ to send us one, and the whole ship is late!"

"Gold~" Eldoraggo crooned in his sleep, causing many of the rank and file to pull out their weapons and point them at the stirring criminal.

Turns out it was unneeded, as the Iron Queen stomped on the rousing man's face hard enough to break one of his fang-like teeth! The attack sent the man back into La La Land and left the Marines gaping at the sudden viciousness displayed. She shrugged under their looks. "Even his yawning could be dangerous. If you don't have the right equipment, then at least get enough chains to muzzle this beast."

The men gulped at the image painted in their heads, but the desk clerk recovered first. "What are you all standing around for! Back to your stations! And you two grab as many chains as we can get around here!" As the men began to scatter, the Transponder Snail began to ring. The officer grabbed the handset off of the hook and answered. "Hello… huh?" He blinked at the woman standing before him, still waiting for her bounty reward. "It's… for you. How'd they know you'd still be here?"

"One of my sisters' great gifts you might say," she said with a warm smile, finally breaking her icy facade as she received the handset. "Hello?"

"Hey, Makoto! It's me!" said the voice on the other end, the snail mimicking her, down to the fluffy pigtails.

"Ann. What's going on? If you're hungry, I only just got the bounty…"

On the other end of the line, the cake-sampling girl, Ann, shook her head, then remembered Makoto couldn't see her through the snail. "Actually, I can curve my appetite for now. I got a hot tip, and it sounds like something big's going down! Meet me and Haru near Execution Square!" Smiling, the bubbly girl added, "I think the Pride Hunters are about to have some serious windfall!"

A/N: Huh. Two Makotos in one chapter? And two characters that are voiced by the same person in the English dub of their respective games? Did I plan this!? Nah, it really is a coincidence. Although, a shoutout to Cherami Leigh Kuehn, whose got one hell of a spread of voicework when it comes to Anime Dubs and Video Games. So, with the last of the intros behind us, we move into the last half of the Loguetown arc. See you all there!