A/N: OMG! Almost four hundred views, ten reviews, twenty-one favorites, and twenty-seven followers?! Gah, you guys make me so happy! I want to thank you all for your kind reviews, adding this story to your favs, following it, and taking your time to read it. It is all greatly appreciated.

*Bows*

Because of all your kindness, I decided to continue this story and here is a new chapter! I'm not completely happy about this one because something tells me that I could've done better. I'm still trying to improve my writing skills, but I hope I don't disappoint you guys with this chapter.

Now, without further ado…

Here is the chapter you've all been waiting for! (At least I hope so)

~ "A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it."

-Nikki Giovanni

Chapter 1: Rupture

The next time she awoke, the pain was gone.

In its place was the warmth of freshly applied bandages and straw brushing against her back. The sound of loud snoring and the chirping of birds filled her ears. Sunlight splayed across her face, leaking in through the giant entrance hole of the cave she was within. Lucy blinked, pushed her body up with her forearms and surveyed her surroundings. Her eyes widened when she recognized the form of Natsu, wrapped up in bandages like her and sleeping on the pile of hay that they both were lying on; snoring peacefully with a small smile on his face and a bubble forming at the tip of his nose.

She smiled fondly at the all too familiar sight and with the reassurance that her friend was okay and wouldn't wake up anytime soon, she inspected the rest of her surroundings. It was a cave, and they were lying right at the foot of the entrance where abundances of sunlight filtered through. Beyond the cave there was a line of giant trees that she had only seen grow in jungles.

What surprised her, though, was the fireplace placed at the front of the cave entrance, cooking up two giant pieces of meat the size of ships.

'That's huge!' she thought in awe.

"Ah! You are awake!"

Lucy froze.

Her eyes widened and her body tensed up in fear when a giant- a GIANT of all things appeared at the side of the cave entrance, smiling down at the diminutive Celestial Spirit mage who could only gape in shock at the gargantuan being standing in front of her.

"E-Eh!"

0o0o0o0o0o

"He literally appeared out of nowhere."

"A devil fruit?"

"It's… possible. But so far nobody has figured out what happened. It's just speculation at this point."

Vice-Admiral Momonga rubbed his temples and sighed in frustration. When he had been given orders by Fleet Admiral Sengoku to head Sabaody Archipelago in order to investigate a disturbance reported by the marines stationed there, he had expected it to be a very easy task. Come and go.

He hadn't expected it to be this much hassle.

According to the marines stationed at Sabaody, a strange light had appeared above the sky which nearly blinded all the citizens in the Archipelago before disappearing mere seconds later.

Afterwards, something big and heavy impacted with the ground in Grove 66, where the local marine headquarter is located, causing Groves 50-79 to experience a minor earthquake while the groves below those numbers felt only small tremors that they didn't even acknowledge. However, Grove 66 was the one that suffered the brunt of the earthquake as it scattered furniture and supplies within the base all over the place.

They investigated what caused the disturbance and found a small crater in front of the base where they saw an odd sight.

An unconscious man, sprawled in the middle of the small crater.

Momonga had never seen him before in his life. Nobody has actually. He wasn't a wanted man that was for sure. But similar facial features to one of the Yonkos made him believe that one of his family members was. Nevertheless, he would have to consult Sengoku about this. Even if the guy wasn't responsible for any criminal activity, Momonga had the feeling that he would still be facing charges for being related to one who has.

He stared at the group of marines huddled around the strange man checking for any injuries, which at this point seemed to be minor. He was tall, with shoulder-length orange hair and a stubbly beard. His clothing, though torn, consisted of a long, black, high-collared cloak with shoulder plates, loose fitting pants, and an armored waist-guard bearing plates similar to the ones on his shoulders, tucked inside simple boots. There was also a strange black stamp on his chest that Momonga had never seen before in his life, perhaps it was a sign of allegiance to a type of group nobody's ever heard of. He knew he hadn't.

The most notable thing about him, though, were the his prosthetic limbs, his left arm and leg to be specific. Some of the doctors were examining said prosthetics carefully, making sure that they didn't ruin anything within them that would mess up their function. It was not uncommon for people of the sea—pirates and marines alike—to lose limbs during their travels. Still, most usually replaced them with wooden prosthetics. Especially pirates because mechanical ones were hard to come by and expensive.

Momonga was usually a very serious man who never let his emotions overtake him on the job, but he couldn't help but feel slight sympathy for a man he was sure never caused any wrong, but was going to be sentenced just for being related to a monster.

"Who would've thought that Red-Haired Shanks had a brother?" he muttered.

And then the man's eyes opened...

And all hell broke loose.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The first thing she noticed when consciousness began to drift in, was the warmth. A few rays of sun came through the window blinds and over her face in an effort to awaken her from her sleep. Her eyes twitched in discomfort over the contact. She groaned and promptly shifted to the side, wrapping her blankets even more tightly to her frame.

Wait.

Blankets?

Her eyes snapped open and her body sat up from the bed which she was on. She scanned the room she was in, which was only occupied by the bed she was lying on, and a small desk next to it with a chair.

'W-where am I?'

The last thing she remembered was the dragon about to wipe her and her guild out completely. She was sure for a second that she had been a goner, so how was she still breathing and moving? Did somebody stop the blast a second before it could meet its target? What about Acnologia? What about her guild? What about her fa-

*knock knock*

She jumped slightly at the sound of someone knocking on the door that led into her room and immediately buried herself in the covers, turned away from the door and closed her eyes just before it opened.

The door squeaked as somebody entered the room, the smell of smoke coming into the room almost made her eyes watery and nose crinkle in disdain but another, more pleasant smell made it tolerable; one which made her aware of the emptiness in her stomach. The sound of footsteps closing in on her made her body almost tense up in anticipation.

"My, my I thought for sure that you had awoken," spoke a teasing female voice. She did not acknowledge it and kept up her façade of being asleep.

"Tsk, tsk, and here I was hoping that the Takoyaki I made wouldn't go bad. Oh, well, guess I'll just have to eat it by my-"

*groooooooowwwwrrrrrrrrr*

Her face flushed in embarrassment at her stomach's loud demand for food once it was mentioned as a mirthful chuckle coming from the woman filled the room. 'You bastard,' she cursed her stomach and sat up from the bed. Her eyes turned to look at the woman standing next to her bed, holding a plate full of the food she mentioned earlier that almost made her mouth drool.

She was a relatively slim and tall woman with short black hair, with two tufts pointing upwards and holding a cigarette with her index and middle finger to her mouth. She was wearing a pink, cleavage revealing t-shirt with a black spider on it, which was rather difficult to see due to the black jacket she was wearing on top of it, with the collar and the cuffs similar to a crow's wings, and light-violet lines running down the sleeves; her stomach was exposed. She also wore a yellow beaded necklace, pants that have a kind of giraffe pattern, and a belt with a white cardigan tied around it.

The woman was smiling at her in amusement as she took one small puff of smoke that made her nose crinkle again.

"Well, what do you know? You are awake."

"Where am I?" she interrupted brusquely.

The woman's smile did not falter at the rude tone of voice, in fact, it seemed to have gotten slightly bigger. "Currently, you are in my home, which I took you into after I found you outside of my bar unconscious and injured," she motioned to her body and that's when she first realized the bandages that were wrapped tightly around her body, and the clothes she was wearing that clearly did not belong to her. That shirt was way too many sizes too big for her.

"I would have lent you some of my own clothes to wear, but I am far too fond of them to lend them to a stranger."

"Oh," she blinked. "Thank you?"

"You are quite welcome. It would not be have been proper of me to leave you lying on the ground where many of my customers pass by. It would prevent me from sleeping at night."

She sweatdropped, 'So it was just to keep face?'

"My name is Shakuyaku, but you may call me Shakky. What is yours, child?"

"Cana Alberona."

Shakky nodded. "Here," she handed the plate of Takoyaki to Cana, who took it hesitantly, "from the looks of things, you must be hungry."

Cana stared at the plate of food in her hands, which at the moment, looked like a pile of gold that she desperately wanted to dig into. However, she knew that every pile of gold did not come without consequences.

"It's alright, it's not poisoned or anything," Cana gave her a doubtful look. "If it was I wouldn't have eaten some earlier."

Warily, she took one of the picks holding one of the enticing-looking octopi-filled balls and slowly took one small bite. Her eyes widened as soon as the food made contact with her tongue, and in less than one second, the rest of the ball was gone inside her mouth and into her stomach.

"It's-It's delicious!"

Her hand moved to grab another one, and another one, another one.

It was so good. Exquisite. Never before had her tongue been subjected to such a heavenly taste. One which she was sure was cooked up by the angels themselves.

"I am curious.," spoke Shakky as Cana continued to gobble down the food, "what were you doing unconscious right outside of my bar?"

Cana gulped down another takoyaki piece. Her hand holding another piece paused midway to her mouth as soon as she heard the question asked. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, her mind sorting out through her memories during Acnologia's attack that might explain such an occurrence as well.

"I," she began, "I don't really know. All I remember was my guild and I fighting against this huge dragon at Tenrou Island before it tried to blast us away."

She did not miss Shakky's eye brow raise at that statement, "Dragon? A dragon attacked you? And here I thought I had seen and heard everything."

Cana chuckled dryly, "I know right? It was shocking for us, too. I thought my friend was just pulling my leg the entire time he said he was raised by a dragon."

"Raised by a dragon?" Shakky repeated with a hint of awe in her voice. "Now I really have heard everything. I always believed that dragons were a thing of legends. Stories."

"I did too. But, I guess legends can sometimes turn out to be true," smiled Cana.

Shakky chuckled. "I guess so. But, you mentioned a place called Tenrou Island? I've never heard of an island named like that. And a guild? What type of guild? One for carpenters(1)?"

Cana stared at Shakky in disbelief as if she had grown a second head, "no offense, but… do you live under a rock Shakky-san? I'm talking about the Fairy Tail guild, Tenrou Island is a landmark of ours."

Shakky shook her head. "I can assure you I do not. I know very well of just about anything that goes on this world. It is a hobby of mine to read the newspaper every day, and I can assure you that I have never heard of Tenrou Island. Nor the Fairy Tail guild."

Cana's eyes widened and a feeling of dread began to encompass her entire body. How- how could she not know what she was talking about? Everybody knew of the Fairy Tail guild! Whether if it was for their destructive tendencies or their reputation as the strongest guild in Fiore everybody knew who they were. Nobody could not know who they were.

Yet, here was this woman standing before her telling her that she had never even heard the name Fairy Tail before.

She chuckled humorlessly. "You're joking, right? Cause if you are, it's not funny."

Shakky's expression turned grim. "I can assure you I am not joking, Cana-san. I don't find such humor funny when it comes to messing with a person's feelings in such a way, especially on a lady like yourself. I am being completely honest when I tell you that I have never heard of the name Fairy Tail or Tenrou Island."

Hysteria began to mar Cana's expression. Her whole frame began to shake as she took in what Shakky just told her.

"Fairy Tail!" she yelled. "You know! The strongest guild in Fiore! The most destructive mages around!?"

"Fiore? Where is that?"

Cana froze. Her entire body rigid. She could feel her airways begin to constrict as breathing became difficult and her heart began to pound painfully within her chest, ready to burst out through her rib cage. Sweat dripped down her brow in trepidation as she began to register what was going on and coming to an understanding. A not so pleasant understanding.

"W-where-where am I?"

"I already told you in my-"

"No," she whispered in a broken voice. "I mean where am I? Where is your home"

Shakky blinked before she nodded in understanding, and responded solemnly to the agitated girl in front of her.

"You are in Sabaody Archipelago. Located in the Grand Line."

0o0o0o0o0o

Momonga's left eyebrow twitched.

Throughout his career as a Vice-Admiral he has faced many powerful men and women. People with the capability to move mountains and destroy islands with a punch. Marineford had many of those, and some certain pirates fit in that category of monstrous strength. He did, however, try his best to avoid such situations in which he would have to face somebody who was clearly way past his level as Vice-Admiral and leave it to somebody more capable of defeating him/her.

One thing that he noticed about these extremely powerful people though…

"Hahahaha, my bad, it was an accident! You guys just surprised me! Hahahaha!"

… They were all idiots.

The man that had been unconscious just seconds before stood atop a pile of rubble and knocked down marine soldiers, laughing his head off as if he hadn't just committed one of the most heinous crimes anybody would not dare do.

And right after Momonga was thinking that he was an innocent civilian, too. What a cruel act of irony.

The whole area around him was destroyed. The marine base was missing more than half of its structure. The ground was cracked and uneven as if the earthquake from before had manifested again, only much more powerful. And most of the marines who hadn't been fast enough to avoid the disaster were knocked down and lying on the floor, unconscious. The few remaining conscious marines were standing behind him, gaping in shock at the sight before them.

And the cause of this mess was standing right in front of him… Laughing…

To say that he wasn't shocked or feeling a sense of unease would be a lie. One second the man's eyes were closed, and the next they burst open and with it, an invisible and explosive force that demolished almost everything within a mile radius.

Should he be worried? Yes. Was he frightened? A little. Would he run? Hell no!

He was a marine! A Vice-Admiral! His rank was among the highest of the Navy! He would never back down! Especially to the brother of a bloody pirate.

With a new sense of resolve and determination, the man cleared his throat and addressed the chortling man.

"Silence!"

The man immediately froze and stopped laughing, but a sheepish grin spread across his face when he saw Momonga's irate expression.

"Heh, sorry. I got carried away," he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Momonga stared at the man, before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing in annoyance. "What's your name?" he asked.

The man smiled widely, "Gildarts Clive. Pleasure to meet you, umm…"

"Vice-Admiral Momonga of the Marines," he answered proudly.

Gildarts raised a left brow.

"Marines? Huh? Never heard of a guild with a name like that. Are you guys new? You put other ranks on your mages beside S-Class?"

Momonga blinked in confusion, "Guild? No. Don't you- don't you know that the Marines are?"

Gildarts didn't skip a beat, "No."

Momonga's eyes widened in bewilderment. Whispers began to go around behind him as the remaining standing marines expressed to each other their astonishment upon hearing Gildart's response.

This had to be a joke! Surely this guy was pulling his leg! There was no way—no possible way—that a person in this world who had never heard of the World Government existed! No. Way. At. All. They were soldiers of a WORLD-WIDE government! One that reached almost every corner of the world. From Fishman Island all the way to Skypea. Either this man was living under a rock or…

"Mr. Cilve do you remember anything besides your name before waking up here?"

Gildarts nodded, "Yes. My guild and I were taking part of the S-Class Trials at Tenrou Island like we do each year-"

"Tenrou Island?"

"Hai," Gildarts nodded.

Momonga hummed in thought. He never denied—except to civilians—that the World Government could be a shady one at times. They had secrets that were hidden even from him. Tenrou Island was a place that he had never heard of before. Not from the files he has read back at Marineford or from the comrades he has stationed in other seas, including the New World. For all he knew, Tenrou Island could be another one of the Marine's deepest secrets.

"Anyway," Momonga's snapped back to attention as Gildarts continued his story, "during the trials, we were attacked by Grimoire Heart. We kicked their asses of course," he smiled proudly, "but then, a giant dragon came… and…"

Gildart's froze. His eyes widened in realization and his mouth gaped in shock. Momonga raised an eyebrow in curiosity over the man's change in stupor, and was about to question it until-

"MY GUILD!"

Momonga jumped slightly in surprise at the yell. And before he knew it the collar of his uniform was being gripped tightly by a hysterical Gildarts.

"Please tell me, have you seen the rest of my guild?!" Momonga continued to blink in shock, the man's voice rising more as his panic grew, "We're part of the Fairy Tail guild! Are they around here?! Where is here?! Oh Kami, what if they died during the blast? What if-"

"O-oi!" Momonga attempted to grab his attention and grabbed Gildart's wrist which was still clinging tightly to his uniform.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said sternly, "You were the only one around here when we found you. The marines who witnessed your appearance did not report anybody else showing up within the vicinity."

Gildarts calmed down once Momonga finished and slowly let go of his uniform. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were shadowed by his long hair, but Momonga could tell that his fear didn't lessen any bit with his words. In fact, it might've grown.

"I have to find them." He whispered lowly. His head then sprang up, a determined look in his eyes that startled Momonga.

"Can you tell me where I am? And where Tenrou Island is?" he asked.

Momonga narrowed his eyes, his lips formed into a thin line and his posture straightened with authority, "I cannot allow you to leave."

Gildarts looked startled at Momonga's response, "Huh?"

"You're gonna come with me to Marineford where you shall face trial."

Gildarts blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Hell, he blinked a fourth time just for the heck of it; confused until the Vice-Admiral's words finally registered in his brain and what their meaning was. He frowned, eyes narrowing dangerously as the atmosphere around them turned completely tense.

"What?"

Momonga didn't waver at the man's threatening tone of voice, and met his glare evenly. "You said earlier that you did not know who the marines are. I don't know if you hit your head before landing here and went crazy or lost your memory, but the marines are soldiers of the ocean that answer to the orders of the World Government— a political organization comprised of the majority of the world at large, ruled by the Gorosei. We detain criminals like yourself, in order to make the world a safer place."

"I'm not a criminal!" he retorted, "I'm an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail!"

"I have never heard of the name Fairy Tail in my life. Nor the term S-Class Mage," Gildarts flinched in shock, "As for you not being a criminal," he motioned to the destruction around them with his hand, "Even if you weren't one before, you are now held accountable for the destruction of a Marine Base, an intolerable crime might I add." He then pointed his finger at an outraged Gildarts, "And, we have reason to believe that you are related to the Yonko Red-Haired Shanks, one of the most dangerous pirates in history."

Gildarts's angry expression vanished for a second, replaced instead by a childish confused one, "Shanks? Who's that?"

Momonga ignored the man's confusion and motioned with his right hand for the remaining marines to ready their weapons. The sound of guns clicking filled the air and Gildarts eyed each Marine warily.

"You don't seem like a bad man. Nonetheless, you are a dangerous one, with a power that not even you seem to be able to control. I will give you a chance to surrender and come peacefully, and I assure you that you're punishment will not be so severe." Although Momonga highly doubted that statement due to how the World Government treated those who are related to well-known criminals. Just ask those who took part in chasing down Gol D. Roger's unborn son.

Gildart's eyes were downcast, once again being shadowed by his hair. His body had grown rigid and was shaking, not out of fear, but out of sheer anger.

For the tiniest of a second, Momonga felt hesitance shut down his mouth and the rest of his body as a feeling of alarm caused chills to roll down his spine. Something told him that messing with this man was a rightdown bad and stupid idea. But he soon shook the feeling off and held his hand up for the Marines to hold their fire and wait for a response from the 'S-Class Mage.'

For a long time he just stood there; stiff. The air was so tense Momonga swore he was about to be choked by it. Nervous sweat began to roll down the temples of the Marines. Fingers laying atop of triggers, ready to pull if necessary—which seemed most likely at this point.

Momonga's hand began to tremble from anticipation. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Gildart's head sprang up once again making everybody flinch from the furious expression on his face.

"No."

*BOOM!*

0o0o0o0o

"Gegyagyagyagya it is great to see that you are awake and well!"

Lucy Heartfilia has seen many things throughout her short life. She did live in a world of magic where practically anything was possible after all. And though the stories of ginormous warriors were common and her Guild Master could practically transform into one, never has she seen an ACTUAL giant in person.

He took the appearance of a man, with a long beard and dressed in a Viking attire and a helmet that went over his eyes, and wore the biggest smile Lucy has ever seen. He was so large she was sure his hand was bigger than her body.

She didn't bother to hide her awe as she stared at the gargantuan being before her that could practically squash her with his foot. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her mouth gaped like a fish out of water. To be in the presence of such a marvelous creature was both amazing, and completely frightening.

"Gegyagyagya," and that laugh, so loud and booming and utterly unique it was a wonder the ground wasn't quaking in its intensity.

"There's no reason to be afraid, Little Human. I wish you no harm. Here," he took out a large leaf placed the giant cooked meat in front of her, "I am sure that you are hungry. Please, eat at your heart's content, it's been a long time since I've had any visitors."

Lucy nearly choked on her own saliva. The thing was as large as a dragon! Did he really expect for her to eat all that?!

*Growl*

Lucy blushed. Though based on how her stomach reacted upon the sight of the inviting food, she was sure that she could finish just about every little piece right now. Nonetheless, she so wasn't sure she was willing to take the risk.

"It's okay," the giant smiled, sensing Lucy's unease, "I don't bite. My name is Dorry."

Lucy stared at the giant warily before giving an answer of her own.

"I'm Lucy."

"Lucy, huh? What a weird name! Gegyagyagyagyagya!" the giant chuckled.

Her face flushed in anger and her eybrow twitched in annoyance, "Like yours is any better!"

Immediately the giant stopped laughing and he stared down intently at the tiny girl beneath him.

"Eep!"

Lucy, realizing what she had done and who she was speaking to, froze. Sweat began to drip down her brow as she began to shake in fear.

"G-gomenasai!"

She clutched her head with her arms for protection, and waited for the giant's foot to come down on her and end her life for her offense. Imagine her surprise when he let loose a hearty laugh instead.

"Gegyagyagyagya! You're right!"

Lucy blinked at the giant laughing in glee, with no intent to hurt her in anyway.

"You're a funny human," he smiled down at her.

"U-um, Thank.. you?" she smiled sheepishly.

"So," he took his own piece of meat and took a bite out of it, "how did you guys get here? I saw no ships nearby and you were lying unconscious in the middle of the forest."

Lucy hummed thoughtfully as she ripped out a small piece of meat, "I don't know." She put the piece of meat in her mouth and chewed, smiling in relief as her empty stomach slowly began to fill up. Then, she looked up at the giant munching on his meal while quietly observing her. "Say, where are we?"

"Hm?" he swallowed his food before answering, "We are at an island called 'Little Garden.'"

"Little Garden?" she asked, "I've never heard of that name before. Is it near Fiore?"

Dorry raised an eyebrow, "Fiore? Well, I've never heard of that place before. So I can't say it's near it."

Lucy's eyes widened, "Never heard of Fiore? How- But Fiore is a country! How could you not heard of it?"

"Country? Little Human, there really aren't any countries left in the Grand Line, except for Alabasta and a handful of others, but none of them go by the name of Fiore."

"G-Grand Line? What's that?"

Dorry looked startled, "you don't know what the Grand Line is?"

Lucy numbly shook her head.

"I think you hit your head to hard, Little Human. The Grand Line is the largest ocean in the world."

Lucy's eyes widened. Her whole body went numb as he finished his sentence. She had never heard of the name 'Grand Line.' And if it really is the largest ocean in the world as he says it is, then surely she would've at least read it in books, right? But yet, she hadn't. And to top it off, Dorry had never heard of Fiore. There was only one explanation that would fit her situation. Yes, they had already been caught in this sort of predicament before. And it was one that filled her with horror.

"Mmm."

Lucy flinched as she heard a groan and the sound of movement shuffling behind her.

"Ah! You're friend is awake! Maybe he can help us!"

Great. Just great.

0o0o0o0o

"You really left a mark on those marines, young man."

Gildarts flinched and turned around from the pile of unconscious marines. There, by the destroyed gates that had once led to the marine base, he saw a man approaching, smiling at Gildarts in amusement.

"Oh, you saw that, Ossan?" he blinked.

"And much more." He smirked, "I hope you realize that the World Government won't forgive you for this. They'll chase you down and won't stop until they catch and imprison you."

"Yeah, I figured," he said solemnly, observing the downed bodies of the marines that had threaten him just a few moments ago.

"How about I help you?"

Gildarts raised an eyebrow at the old man. "Help me? Why?"

"You remind me of an old friend."

"Let me guess. His name is Shanks?" he deadpanned.

He smiled sheepishly. "Heh heh, yeah."

"Look thanks for the concern ossan, but I don't want to drag you into any trouble... which I just found myself in," he muttered the last part to himself quietly.

The man chuckled, "there is no need to worry for me. I may not look like it, but I am still strong for my age and capable of defending myself. The marines don't bring me much worry"

"…Oh?"

He calmly walked towards Gildarts who tensed in anticipation. He stopped just a few steps in front of him, however, and made no other move. "Look at it this way, you don't seem to know much about where you are or how to manage. It may be that you lost your memories or some other cause. I'm going with the latter. Anyway, I can help you by telling you everything you need to know, and how to navigate your way around so you can avoid the marines."

Gildarts hummed in contemplation at the offer, thinking of how tempting it was. The old man was right, he knew nothing of the place he found himself in. For all he knew he could be on the other side of the world, or even a completely new one like Edolas. Moreover, he was probably not the only one of his guild here. Most likely they were in this same world. Lost just like him. With no clue of where they are or what to do.

He had to find them. But he wouldn't be able to do so unless he learned the culture and geography of this new world he found himself in.

"Alright," he decided, "I'll go with you."

The man smiled in accomplishment and held out his hand for Gildarts to shake. "My name is Silvers Rayleigh. Pleased to meet you…"

"Gildarts Clive," he took his hand and shook it. "Gildarts Clive, huh?" Rayleigh smirked, "I have a feeling that name is going to become well-known across the Grand Line pretty soon."

"Trust me Rayleigh-san, that is the last thing I want."

Yet, that was what he got.

0o0o0o0o

Marco 'The Phoenix' wondered how he got into this sort of troublesome situation.

Since when was he a babysitter?!

He was Marco the Pheonix! 1st Division commander of the Whitebeard pirates!

So how did he end up being in charge of taking care of the couple of strays they picked up from the waters just a few hours ago?

"Don't make that look Marco. If it wasn't for you, they wouldn't even be here."

Oh, right. He was the one who saved said strays, so technically he was the one responsible for their well-being until they dropped them off in the next island. At least according to Pops. So yeah, Ace was right.

"How are they, yoi?" he asked as he approached the commander of the Second Division, who had been standing outside of one of the many infirmary rooms of the ship, making sure that their visitors didn't try anything. Which was not likely to happen since they were both too weak at the moment to do anything at all.

Ace looked at the door he had been guarding with a grim look on his face, "The guy woke up about an hour ago, but he hasn't talked or even eaten the food the nurses gave him. He's just been sitting next to the old man the entire time he's been awake. And, he's reeeally insistent on being alone."

"I see."

A few hours ago, they had found these two guys in the middle of the Grand Line. An old man and a guy about their age; wounded pretty badly, especially the old man. The odd thing about it though, was that there was no ship nearby. No sign of wreckage or anything that might clue them into what happened to them. And the fact that the youngest one hasn't talked about it didn't help them at all.

"And the old man, yoi?"

Ace sighed, "Hasn't woken up yet. His injuries were the worst of both of them. The nurses have no idea when he might wake… or even if he will."

Marco nodded grimly and looked at the closed door, staring at it intently in thought.

"You wanna go in to talk to them?" Ace asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Pops told me to."

He grabbed the door knob and was midway to twisting it open when Ace placed a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around to see Ace giving him an unusually serious look, "Look, whatever these people went through, it's obvious it was bad. So don't lose your cool if the guy doesn't give you any answers."

"Do I ever lose my cool, yoi?"

Ace smirked, "I'm just saying." With that, he turned and walked away to get back to his division. Marco watched him until he vanished down the hall, and turned back to open the door.

The sound of a heart monitor beeping steadily was the first thing to greet him before the room came into full view. It hadn't changed since he first came in two hours ago when the patient was declared to be stable.

Said patient hadn't moved. His unnaturally small frame was still lying on the bed, wrapped up in blankets and bandages. An IV was inserted into his wrist, that pumped morphine into his system and a breathing mask was strapped to his face. His expression was peaceful this time compared to earlier, the pain medication having done its magic. He stared at the small form for a while before his eyes shifted to the side to see their other patient sitting on a chair next to the bed, his eyes glued to the patient lying on it.

Just like the patient in the bed, the guy was wrapped up in bandages of his own. He sat quietly, not even acknowledging Marco's unannounced presence in the room, staring intently and unwavering at the still body on the bed.

Marco sighed and took a chair. He sat on the opposite side of the bed from where the mysterious guy was sitting, who didn't even bother to look up at him.

"You guys were in pretty bad shape, yoi." He said after a while of awkward and tense silence.

He got no reaction.

"My name's Marco. What's yours, yoi?"

Again, nothing.

After a while, Marco sighed in exasperation over the guy's noncompliance to start a conversation.

"Look, whatever you guys went through, I'm sorry that you had to, ok?" he stared at the guy, trying in some way to make eye contact, but it was useless when the other person's eyes were completely averted from yours. "We can help you. But, we can't allow strangers on this ship. We don't know what danger you pose to our crew. For all we know, you could be marines bent on attacking us and killing pops," he clenched his hands into fists, "I can't allow that."

Nothing.

Not one shift of movement. No loud intake of breathe. No word. Nothing.

Marco sighed. "Suit yourself." He stood up from his chair and made his way to the door, ready to tell Pops that their conscious freeloader was not going to give them any answers.

"Laxus."

Marco stopped in tracks. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. He turned around to look at the young man who had spoken. He hadn't moved, but it was obvious that it was him who had spoken. He was the only other conscious person in the room who was capable of speaking after all.

"What?"

"That's my name." Yep, those lips definitely moved.

"Laxus Dreyar."

Marco stared at the newly introduced 'Laxus Dreyar' in surprise and smirked.

"Well nice to meet you Laxus."

He took the door knob and twisted it. He turned around before he closed the door shut behind him to look at Laxus.

"I'll give you some time before I come back and ask you more questions. But for now…

"Welcome aboard the Moby Dick."

PLEASE READ!

A/N: You guys have no idea how long this chapter took to write. I was so frickin' busy with homework and a bunch of other stuff that I had almost no time to write this chapter and… HOLY CRAP MORE THAN SEVEN THOUSAND WORDS! This is the longest chapter I have ever written. Then again, it's not like I've written that many.

Anyway, what did you guys think of this chapter? I sort of have an idea as to what I want to do, I'm just having a difficult time putting it all together.

And there is one problem...

At first I was planning on having Natsu and Lucy join the Strawhats during the Little Garden Arc (the events in this chapter happen a long time before the Strawhats find themselves in Little Garden, which is why Ace is still with Whitebeard and hasn't gone on his chase for Blackbeard. ) But, then I realized that I did not know if that was the right way to go. So I decided to ask you guys if you could help me with this dilemma.

Should Lucy and Natsu join the Strawhats during the Little Garden Arc? Should I have them leave the island on their own and join up with them later? Or just have them continue their journey on their own (which would be difficult since I'm not creative enough to make my own arcs)? Should I have them join Luffy and then split off? Give me your opinions. They're all welcomed and appreciated.

One thing I should mention though, is that if I decide to have them join the Straw hats, then we won't be seeing much of both of them next chapter since this happens before Ace goes searching for Blackbeard and by the time the Strawhats reach Little Garden, Ace is already well into his search.

Again if I made any mistakes, please point them out to me so I can fix them. I did reread and reread the chapter, but if there's a mistake I didn't catch, feel free to tell me. I am aware that some of these characters may be OOC (I have trouble writing characters' personalities) but although some may think that Laxus may sound a bit OOC, I promise you there is a reason for that. But the reason will be revealed in later chapters.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I have made a Wattpad account and just posted my first story. I'm quite proud of it actually since writing original stories comes easier to me than writing fanfiction (I have a difficult time writing fanfiction! I don't know why, maybe it's just that I have trouble capturing the scenes and writing the characters' personalities). If you want to read it, the link to my story and wattpad profile is in my fanfiction profile. The title of my story is 'Withering Roses' and I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could go take a look at it and vote if you like it :).

Well now that that's done, I shall leave you guys here with a little preview of what you will see in the next chapter or the chapter after that.

Preview:

"Ho? Soooooo, you're the one who defeated Vice-Admiral Momonga?"

Gildrats felt a bead of sweat drip down his brow as he stared cautiously at his would-be opponent. Despite the guy's idiotic personality, Gildarts knew better than to judge an opponent based on how they acted. And this guy… this guy was definitely no joke.

"You seem strooooong. And scaaaary."

"I could tell you the same thing."

"Why thank you." Gildarts tensed up when the strange man took a step closer, feeling a sense of unease overtake him.

"Soooo, tell me, 'Shanks' Brother'…

"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

Gildarts could indeed say that he has.

And it was not pleasant.

Please Review! It makes me so happy! \(^.^)/

Update (10/30/14): Fixed a few things that were bothering me.