Kitsune here! First off, I want to thank you all for all the amazing reviews! I am SO SO sorry I didn't answer them all in person like I normally do. Between the last chapter and this chapter a lot of things have happened in my life and, well. Family came first. Then my animals, then work, then my friends, THEN me. So...it was get you guys a chapter, or answer reviews. I loved the feedback on pies though! I'd forgotten about savory pies completely! MMMMM meat!

I do want to address one question that did come up. Someone asked if I was going to introduce Blizzard into this story because I have Stefan. The answer to that is no. Blizzard is the creation of another fanfction writer. I'm not even sure who. Stefan is actually a character created by Oda in answer to a question asked him by a fan once. So, Oda's Stefan is kinda canon, and I won't be stepping on another writer's toes using him.

Question of the chapter: "How far do you travel on AVERAGE to visit your friends?" I drive about an 1 hour and 15 minutes to 2 hours. And that's considered local. To visit/see friends I only see at a con? 4-5 hours driving, and I'm going to fly out to see others this year (it would be a 20 hr drive)


Haruta

Haruta would be the first to admit that having the little Strawhat brat on board definitely made things a bit more exciting. The brat got into everything, asking questions when he wasn't following around his brother or Marco like some kind of demented puppy. Honestly, after the whole hair-thing, she was surprised Marco let the kid within a hundred feet of him. (Not that it would make much of a difference seeing the kid could STRETCH and all.) He did make things interesting. Not to mention Ace smiled a whole lot more with his brother on board. It was a different smile, too. Not his usual cocky one, but an almost soft one...and Haruta was NOT jealous. Not at all. She was just starting to miss the hide and seek games, and she hadn't talked properly to Ace since his kid-brother had shown up because the idiot didn't have time…..she was NOT jealous. Ace just needed time to catch up with his little brother before he remembered that the brat was obviously not as amazing as he remembered and he had a ship full of awesome brothers and sisters who were way more fun than some scrawny hat wearing idiot that probably wasn't even really a Captain….Alright. So maybe she was jealous. Just a little.

Haruta knew she wasn't really being very fair to the brat. Oyaji liked him, Thatch liked him (but he kind of liked everyone so did it count?), Vista and Izo spoke well of him too. Jozu had even told her that the kid looked pretty decent in a fight. Hell, Marco seemed to be fond of him, and he only liked crewmembers. But the problem was, Haruta hadn't seen the kid do anything all that special. Not that she'd gone out of her way to spend time with the brat. He seemed like a total idiot, always grinning and being a pest when someone wasn't reining him in. How was that someone who had earned a place as one of the most dangerous rookies? She honestly didn't see it at all. What she did see was the brat poking Stefan in the head while the giant dog attempted to sleep.

Ace was nowhere in sight nor was Marco, so she wondered what the hell the kid was doing. If he didn't stop, Stefan was going to bite his hand off. As if sensing her thoughts, the great white beast opened one eye and just looked at her before shutting it and turning his massive head, leaving her shocked. Stefan was rarely so tolerant. The brat pouted for a second and then tugged on the dog's mustache. That got a reaction, but again, not the one she'd been expecting. Even as she lunged forward to pull the boy back from irreparable harm, the dog jerked his head up and licked the teen with his great big tongue before the other could react. Straw hat now dangling on it's string, the dark haired youth fell to his butt and just laughed as his hair stood up even weirder thanks to the slobber.

"Shihihihi! You win!" Stefan wagged his tail.

Haruta glared down at the teen. "What the hell do you think you're doing? He could have taken your fool head off!"

Those dark brown eyes just looked up at her blankly, obviously not understanding the danger he'd been in. "Playing."

"WHY?!" With a look and a hand gesture she sent the dog away, leaving the teen to pout after him but she didn't care. True she knew very well that the dog slept in the room with Ace and his brother, and that the kid occasionally was seen riding the beast. Stefan was not a harmless pet, though. He was a war-dog, trained to be vicious to non-crew members as a last line of protection for Oyaji in case the Marines ever thought to sneak an assassin on board again. He was a relatively well behaved monster when people were watching, but over half the crew couldn't touch him….Haruta had honestly thought she'd been about to watch the kid die. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I was bored. Ace is sleeping, 'n everyone else is busy." The boy shrugged, something flitting across his face before it was replaced with the bland look again.

"So you thought it was a good idea to bug a giant monster dog?! Rubber or not, he could have killed you!"

"Stefan's my friend. He won't hurt me." The boy was an idiot. Even if what she'd seen suggested that it was true. They'd all thought Teach was their friend, too….

Half of her wanted to just turn and walk away. Wasn't her problem if the idiot didn't take things seriously. The other half knew that she couldn't just walk away and let the kid get into who-knew-what kind of trouble without someone watching him. Unfortunately, being the first one across him kind of did make it Haruta's job. "You're coming with me."

"Cool! Where are we going?" The teen bounced to his feet, eager to do anything. She could use that.

"How about you and I have a nice friendly little spar while we wait for your brother?"

"Really? Awesome! Ace wont let me play with anyone. It's not fair!" She twitched at his words. Sparring wasn't a game. It was serious business and helped the crew get stronger, stay alive, and protect each other. This snot-nosed brat was obviously not cut out for this life if he thought it was just for play, and she was going to prove it to Ace.

"Just shut up and follow me. You're attracting too much attention with all your shouting." Haruta might as well have been talking to a wall. By the time they got to the sparring deck there was already a crowd.

Haruta knew she was at an unfair advantage. The brat fought with his bare hands and here the Twelfth Division Commander was with a sword. Rubber might be useful against stuff like guns or jitte, but against a sword? She could cut him up easily. Not that she would, just draw a little blood. A friendly warning that it wasn't a game. Being a pirate was serious and dangerous despite how they all acted most of the time, and if the kid kept on like he was he was going to get himself killed…. and it wasn't like she really cared one way or the other. But this was Ace's kid brother. Even if the brat pissed her off, even if she kind of wanted to put him in his place and show Ace that he wasn't some cool rookie, the brat didn't deserve to die. Wasn't his fault if his crew was heartless enough to take advantage of that open and trusting nature Ace had told her about. (Here she'd thought he'd understated it, too.) She was just going to teach him a lesson is all.

"Ready?" She asked, ignoring the crowd and the whispers that were saying she was crazy and Ace was going to kill her. She knew what she was doing.

The brat bounced on his heals. "Yep!"

She lunged forward a blinding fast slash to start with and was only mildly surprised when the teen just swayed out of the way. She followed that up with a thrust, a horizontal slash and a chop, all of which the teen nimbly dodged, though just barely. When he let fly a rubbery punch she spun out of the way and to the right, slashing at his chest and landing a grazing blow even as she dodged a well timed kick from a leg that was much too long and bent funny. She'd have to be a little careful herself it looked like as she danced out of immediate reach.

The teen felt the cut on his chest, looking at the blood on his fingers with that silly stupid grin. "You're fast!"

"You're not too bad yourself, brat." She grudgingly admitted. She wasn't holding back that much and had expected to land more blows.

"Thanks!" The grin turned blinding.

Flicking her sword she closed for another flurry of blows. Scoring just twice out of the dozen she aimed and narrowly avoiding a black eye when the teen actually managed to step on her sword and momentarily pinned it to the deck. They separated again, and Haruta looked at him with newfound respect even as part of her acknowledged the crewmembers that had gathered to watch had fallen silent. It looked like the kid wasn't useless after all.

"Where'd you learn to fight against someone with a sword like that?"

"Zoro." That didn't help her much. It must have shown on her face because the kid blinked. "He's my Nakama. Zoro fights with three swords though, and he's not as fast as you. It's fun. Except, Nami doesn't let us spar much because she says we destroy shit. So on islands only. I watch Zoro and Sanji go at it all the time though. They're funny!" The kid grinned, pretending he was holding a sword. "Stupid Love-cook!" He swung the imaginary sword, then tugged his hair down and curled his lip slightly. "What was that, Shitty-Marimo?" Bringing a leg up he demonstrated a powerful looking kick at the same hight that his imaginary sword had been before looking at her. "They fight all the time."

"Riiiight…." He was still an idiot. Just- maybe, maybe Jozu hadn't been talking the kid's skills up just to make Ace feel better. Speaking of that fight, Jozu had mentioned the kid had some interesting skill or something. "Hey, Luffy?"

The boy shifted, ready to fight again. "Yeah?"

"Jozu said you had this attack that almost worked on Ace?"

"Shihihi! You mean Second Gear?" Sure, if that's what he wanted to call it. She nodded. "Wanna see something cooler?"

Haruta did NOT like the grin on the kid's face as he bit his thumb. It wasn't nearly half as worrying as the shouts she heard coming from the doors leading below deck that told her Ace was up and heading this way though. "No, wait! Stop!"

Her shout fell on deaf ears as somehow the kid's hand just expanded to insane proportions before he pulled back and let a punch fly. One she was too stunned to actually dodge, so it was a good thing that Luffy was distracted by a resounding punch to the back of the head which sent him crashing to the deck. Haruta gulped, looking at the enraged Ace that glared at her from over his brother's form.

"WHAT THE HELL Haruta?!" The Second Division Commander snapped.

"We were just sparring, Ace."

"Bullshit! He's all cut up! You hurt Lu-"

"Ace, whatcha do that for?" Luffy whined sitting up. He looked… smaller. A lot smaller. "We were having fun!"

Ace shifted his glare down to the diminutive form at his feet and blinked. Reaching down, he picked Luffy up by the back of his vest and held him at eye level, a look of confusion on his face. Luffy had somehow been shrunk down to true child size. It made the pout very amusing as he huffed at his much-bigger brother. "Luffy? What happened to you?"

"I shrunk." He was a Captain alright. Captain Obvious. "Put me down!" Even his voice sounded younger.

"Oh God… Someone get the nurses and fix this!" Ace yelped, holding his brother out from him with a look between amusement and actual fear.

There was a pop kind of noise and suddenly Fire Fist was holding a very annoyed full sized version of his brother who he quickly dropped. "Ah. All better. Being tiny sucks."

"What was that?"

"Third Gear. I wanted to show Haruta, cause she likes fun things, right?" He turned to her, a wide smile on his face and eyes dancing. "Isn't it amazing? I get super big! But then I get super small because of it. So I gotta be more careful in battle with it, 'cuz I'm vulnerable like that. BUT! I'm working on it, and it's been real useful, too." He beamed at Ace. "You didn't tell me sparring with your Nakama was so much fun, Ace! I wanna keep playing!"

"Yeah?" Haruta gulped as Ace gave her his best predatory look, the one that sent Marines running before turning to his brother. "How about you and me against Haruta?" His tone was playful as his grin, one mirrored by Luffy and Haruta was actually a little scared.

She was definitely more excited then scared, though. She grinned right back, ready to play.

NAMUR

There was always that little thrill when another ship was seen before they knew if the fools were going to try their luck or not. Namur knew that generally they turned and ran, pirates and Marines alike. Though it was a little more ironic when the Marines ran, what with them swearing to "Remove the Pirate Threat" or whatever it was they said. (Wasn't it something about Justice?) So, inspite of the fact that it almost always lead to disappointment for the crew, everyone got ready for a fight when those on outlook gave the cry that they'd spotted a ship.

When the ship continued towards them, drawing close enough to see the pirate flag of some vaguely known crew excitement grew. Cannons were readied even though no one was planning on using them. Why cut the battle short, after all? Oyaji sat in his seat, grinning in good cheer as his sons raced about on deck deciding who would take forefront in the battle, and who would stay in reserve. Naturally, everyone wanted to be first into battle. It was a good thing then that the Whitebeard Pirates all realized that doing so would cause their enemies to be completely crushed since it was only one ship. If it was a Marine vessel, that would be fine, but since it was another pirate crew, they'd give them the chance to retreat. Finally it was decided that the Second and Eighth Division were more then enough to handle the challengers. First and Fifth were on direct standby, Fourth was on navigation, Third and Sixth were on defense and Seventh was on repair (and boy did they complain about it even though it was their turn). Ninth was on medic and Eleventh was on resupplies while Tenth, got the mixed blessing of feeding the horde after the left the Twelfth thru Sixteenth Divisions with nothing to do, and most of them followed the Tenth Division went below deck to get out of the way and make more room, or as Thatch put it, to sulk like the snot-nosed brats Oyaji called them.

Now if only they could convince the other snot-nosed brat on board to go down below deck, everything would be perfect. Unfortunately, the youngest pirate aboard the ship seemed bound and determined to fight. Namur had to admire the spunk it took for the little guy to glare up at Ace, arms crossed and frown on his face as the Second Division Commander railed at him.

"Luffy! For the last time, would you get your ass below deck already?!"

"I don't wanna!" The boy huffed, unphased by Ace's obvious temper. He supposed it came from years with living with Portgas, in which case, the kid had his sympathy. "I want to fight Ace!"

"NO! Oyaji tell him no!"

"I don't have to listen to Giant Old-mustache! I'm a Captain, too!" On second thought, he could have been right when he had to fish the brat out of the water repeatedly. Strawhat was either stupid or crazy.

"I'm your big brother, and I say you do!"

"Gahahahaha! How about a compromise, Ace?" Newgate grinned, standing and walking over to the two bickering brothers.

Ace continued to glower. "What?"

"Luffy can sit with me." He gold eyes twinkled. "As a Captain, you know how important it is to trust your crew, yes?"

"Of course!"

"Then trust mine to do this like I do. Of course we will be ready to step in if needed."

Ace just opened and closed his mouth like a fish, obviously wanting to argue the point. Namur took pity on him and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, turning him away. "Oyaji'll watch him. He'll be fine."

"You don't know that! This is Luffy. He could get in trouble sitting still." He didn't doubt it for a second, either.

"Well, it's a good thing he's sitting still with the strongest man in the world, right?" The fishman pointed out. "If anything happens to him, then we're all going to be in trouble. I doubt it's going to be a problem. These guys are just some no-name pirates, right? Bet your little brat of a brother has a bigger bounty then they do." His words had the right effect. Ace straightened, once more the collected cocky Second Division Commander and not the worried big brother and nodded.

It was a good thing, too, the ship was closing in fast. "Shit. My men and I will take the aft, alright?"

"Fine." He dodged a grappling line. "Bet I can take out more than you."

Ace just laughed. "In your dreams, Namur!" And then he was gone and the battle was on.

Namur grinned, spooking the two pirates before him with the look before he charged. The battle was going very well. The enemy wasn't all that pathetic being able to give a good fight, but nothing that he felt overly concerned about. Some of his brothers were shooting off jokes at each other in fact, and he could hear Oyaji's distinctive laugh reverberating across the deck. All in all it was shaping up to be a fantastic day and it wasn't even noon. (That reminded him about lunch and he absently wondered if the Tenth was working on it while he used fishman-karate to knock away his current opponents.)

He didn't know why it caught his eye, but he was glad he noticed it. One of the men in his Division was about to be attacked from behind. As a Whitebeard it was the highest insult. Unfortunately, Namur was too far away to do anything about it and there was no way John would be able to hear him shout a warning over the battle going on around them. Still, that didn't mean Namur wasn't going to try. He was a Commander for a reason dammit! The shark fishman tossed aside the man he had been fighting (he was half dead anyway) and took off towards his subordinate in a race against what his gut told him was the inevitable conclusion.

He flinched, slowing slightly as the sword fell towards the exposed back of John's head. The man was too busy fighting off the person in front of him to notice the killing blow about to be delivered, and Namur was still too far away to even shout out. The only consolation was that it would be fast. That, and Namur was going to kill the bastard that did it. He forced himself to keep watching as the sword raced towards the skull ready to cleave it in two, only for it to suddenly vanish from sight. Namur blinked, and suddenly the Strawhat brat was there at John's back, glaring around, daring anyone to come close. It took a split second for him to process what had happened and by then he had reached their side. John offered him a cheeky grin, unaware of both how close to death he had been and the presence of his unlikely savior. He turned his attention to the teen.

"What are you doing?" John half spun around to see who he was talking to and yelped in surprise.

The young Captain grinned. "Helping!"

"You were supposed to stay with Oyaji!" He half-growled. Not that he wasn't thankful. Still, Ace would have his head if anything happened to the kid.

"It was too boring there." The boy pouted. "Then I saw this guy was gonna get killed and I wanted to help. So I did." The infectious grin was back.

"I was?" John parried a blow with his own sword, shooting the teen a surprised look over his shoulder. "You did?"

"Shihihihi!"

John pulled out his pistol and fired off a shot, clipping an enemy in the shoulder. "Err…. Thanks?"

"No problem! Just don't tell Ace, k?"

"John, get back to it. You, brat! Let's get you back to Oyaji before your brother finds out you joined in."

"Awwww."

"Don't whine at me. You're lucky I'm not sending you below deck." Namur grumbled. "Ace is going to kill me for this."

Getting the boy to follow him across the deck on a normal day was challenging enough. Namur didn't know what he was thinking doing it with a battle raging on around them. Honest to God, he swore there were water fleas with greater attention spans then the giggling fight-happy fool. It took threatening to take his damn hat away to get him to stop butting into every scuffle, and he still stopped every now and again to watch. (He wondered if Ace would mind if he put a leash on the kid. A sea stone one… or if he'd ever contemplated it himself actually.)

So he wasn't worried at first when the brat disappeared from right behind him at first. Namur just turned around biting back a frustrated sigh as he resolved to just pick him up and carry him. It took him a moment to catch sight of the teen- just a flash of red and blue- before he vanished from view. Over the side of the rail between the two ships. Namur was in the water seconds after the boy, spotting the length of chain caught around his middle he realized immediately what had happened. Devil fruit users were always limp in water, but Namur knew something was off even as he kicked them to the surface. The teen wasn't limp like he'd been before, he was almost stuff. Like a corpse. That alone told him the damn chain tangled around the idiot was sea stone even before he hauled them both onto the deck and dropped the other who just lay there choking and gasping like a fish. He found himself frowning down at the boy, already used to the kid quickly bouncing back from a dunk in the sea. It was odd that it bothered him so much, even knowing he'd be alright as soon as the chain was removed. Luckily, Namur had pulled them up on the enemy ship which was mostly empty. He had figured it would be safer than having to worry about someone (namely Ace) noticing the young Captain's condition for now.

"Hold on a second, brat, and I'll get you free." Namur tugged at the chain, feeling a little cruel when the boy let out an involuntary moan. It was wound tighter around his middle then he had originally thought.

The cool press of metal at the base of his neck caused him to freeze and suggested that his idea hadn't been so smart after all. "Well well well. What have we got here?"

"Looks like a fish and a drowned rat to me." Out of the corner of his eyes he saw shoes. There were at least two.

"A big strong fish-freak I bet if he's on Whitebeard's crew." The one behind his said before snorting. "Then again, the old man's gotten so pathetic recently, I'm not surprised to see water leaches on his ship."

"Shut up-" Of course Strawhat would pick now to speak, drawing attention back to him.

"The rat's alive! And here I thought you'd killed him, freak." The sword pressed closer. "Didn't finish the job?"

"Leave the kid out of it." He bit out, flexing his hands. He was at a disadvantage with the blade already cutting slightly into his skin and another sword pointed right at the brat's head.

"I don't take orders from fish." There was a pause. "But a fish like you? Get some good money for you I bet. Do what I say and we'll let the brat live, mmm?"

Namur stood slowly, hands to the side even as he felt rage bubbling. He could easily take these idiots. The urge to do so was almost overwhelming after the insulting things they had said about his people. Not to mention they had the audacity to think they could sell him as a slave! Him, one of the Commanders under Whitebeard. Oyaji would never stand for that. That decided him, the insult; the slur to his Oyaji. He'd kill them before this went any further and possibly sink their damn ship for good measure.

"Oiy, Keshlaw!" Namur still couldn't see the one who'd spoken, his view blocked by the pirate who'd come around from behind him and was now attempting to chain his hands together.

That one didn't even look up from what he was doing. "Yeah?"

"This guy….ain't he that Strawhat-kid everyone's been looking for?" Namur went cold at the next words. "I hear the Noble he punched wants him real bad… might even be willing to double his bounty."

"You don't say. It's a good thing he's already gift-wrapped for us then, eh?" Keslaw glanced up at Namur's face, a sick glint in his eyes. He must have seen the rage there, but he just smirked. "Don't even think about it, fish. You so much as twitch funny, and Tamar there will run your little friend through."

He would, too. All Namur could do was continue to glare helplessly as the bastard finished securing chains on him. He felt the kid's eyes on him the whole time, wide and full of fear and felt his heart clench. It wasn't just that Ace was going to kill him for this, either. For all he knew the brat was a pirate and far from innocent or weak, he wanted to protect him from this. And he couldn't, not if he wanted Luffy to live.

Tamar, the pirate that had been standing over Luffy tugged on the chain still tangled around the teen's waist. "Get up."

The reply was quiet. "No."

"I said 'GET UP'!" Tamar yanked the chain so hard Luffy was dragged forward. "Or do you need some motivation, eh? Be a good little captive and we won't have to hurt your fish friend, got it?"

"No!" The boy shook his head, tugging weakly against his bonds.

"Luffy. It will be alright." Namur tried, not wanting see the teen get hurt.

"NO!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you, brat."

The shark fishman braced himself for the blow. Being a fishman meant he could actually take a lot more damage than a normal human and not be too hurt. It didn't mean that being stabbed in the gut was something he was going to enjoy. He refused to flinch, though. Luffy was being pretty brave, even if he was scared, and Namur found himself proud of the boy that just a week ago he thought of as a pest. He'd gladly take the blow.

"Leave him alone!" Luffy shouted. "STOP IT!"

Everyone froze as the shout carried loudly across the battle. Namur found himself staring at Luffy in shock as the boy glared at the man who'd been threatening to stab him. Now the man was out cold at his feet, victim of Conqueror's Haki along with who knew how many others. "Luffy?"

The boy's head snapped up, anger replaced by concern. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He noticed the boy was panting heavily even as he easily snapped the chains around his wrists. "What did you do?" He asked, knowing the answer anyway. What he really wanted to know is why he didn't do it sooner.

"I told them to stop?" Luffy cocked his head to the side, brow wrinkled in confusion even as Namur finally untangled him from the sea stone. "Hey, why'd they fall asleep?"

"LUFFY!" Ace was there, checking his brother over in a flurry of motion, looking over at Namur worriedly. Namur shrugged, letting his fellow Commander know he wasn't hurt. "Lu! Are you alright?"

"Fine."

Ace punched him hard. "YOU IDIOT! Stay put next time!"

"But Ace….!"

"Don't 'But Ace' me!" Ace shouted back, dragging his brother along as he vaulted onto the Moby Dick.

Luffy looked around curiously. "Why are all the bad guys asleep?" He didn't even notice everyone was staring at him.

"Because of your Haki you moron!" Ace snapped, temper obviously frayed as he herded the other to Oyaji's chair.

"My what?" There was that head-cock again. Namur didn't want to believe what it could mean.

"Haki, brat." Oyaji grinned down at Luffy. "I thought you were going to stay?"

"Someone was gonna attack one of your men from behind." Luffy's eyes got hard. "I don't like that. So I did something about it."

"Then I owe you my thanks for saving one of my sons."

"It was fun. Until the water and the chain and the asshole calling Namur a fish." The young Captain sounded angry. "So what if he's a fish-guy? I think he's cool!"

Namur was not going to admit to the warm feeling that gave him. Not at all. "Thank you, Luffy." He turned to look up at Oyaji. "He used Haki when one of the men that caught us was about to stab me."

"No one threatens my friends." Luffy's calm words had Namur rethinking the fear he'd seen in the other's eyes earlier. It hadn't occurred to him at the time it had been fear for him, but now that he had time to think about it it made sense. "All I did was tell them to stop." The teen shrugged.

"Great!" Ace threw his hands up. "My brother's first use of Haki, and he doesn't even know what the hell he did!"

"You keep saying that! What is it? Can I eat it?"

Rakuyo

Rakuyo suppressed a yawn as his time on watch finally drew to a close. "Longest four hours of the day."

"You said it." Laughed Thatch. "At least morning watch gets me out of helping in the kitchens for breakfast though."

"Ugh."

"I take it by that that you're off to bed right after this?"

"Yeah." The Seventh Commander nodded. "Stayed up all night doing paperwork before my shift. Need a break."

Thatch placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Right. Don't worry about reporting in, I'll take care of it. Get out of here."

"Thanks, man." He said around another yawn. You'd think after all this time that he'd know better than to pull an all nighter right before a shift. Which, he did, but he hated to just leave the work there with Macey...she had a tendency to eat things when left alone. Taking her on watch didn't work, either. She was too distracting half the time. Speaking of, he should probably get the weapon out of his room, grab some breakfast and then hit the sack for a few hours.

As he had expected the Devil-fruit altered morning star flail was waiting for him when he opened the door to his cabin. Sharp metal teeth clanked at him as the 'tail' wiggled. Grinning he pet the weapon while checking the room for damage. Other than the usual- leg chewed off the chair again- nothing looked too bad. A whistle had Macey curling around his body like some sort of serpent, chain wrapped around his waist and ball hovering in the air while the glowing eyes looked around.

Rakuyo wasn't paying too much attention to what his weapon was doing as he made his way across the deck again towards the entrance for the galley. It was only when the sharp teeth closed in on his hair and tugged did he pause to see what had gotten the weapon's attention. Turning, he spotted Ace's younger brother and current deck brat sitting on the figurehead all alone. The set of his shoulders was closed off, and Rakuyo wondered what was going on with the normally hyper active brat. Still, he had more important things to worry about. Like coffee, for instance. He figured after a good meal if the brat was still there and he was still feeling awake enough he might go see what was bugging the kid. Of course, that meant the whole time he was eating he couldn't stop thinking about it, even as he tossed the scraps to Macey who happily chomped away, almost taking his fork with them. (That would have been bad. He'd already lost about a dozen forks that way this month alone, and no one was amused.) Still, distracted thoughts and all, he took his time. It was well over a half an hour before he left the galley for the now warming deck, feeling much better.

The kid was still sitting there. "Huh. What do you think, May?" The weapon just looked up at him, obviously no help. Rakuyo sighed. The kid looked deflated compared to his normal self, and he knew it wasn't the time. Hell, it wasn't that he was hungry either. So something was up with the teen. Well, it wasn't like he really needed sleep, right? He walked up next to where the kid sat on the figurehead of the Moby Dick, careful not to spook him. "Hey there. Mind if I join you?" Dark eyes stared at him for a moment before returning to the sea and the kid shrugged wordlessly. He might not have been the brat's actual brother, but it still set alarm bells off in his head. He hid it behind a grin and a lie. "Thanks. I like coming out here sometimes after my morning shift. Good way to relax."

Silence stretched between them, and he didn't push. If there was one thing he'd learned being a Commander it was how to be there for the men under him. Sometimes it meant getting them to talk, and sometimes it meant spending hours just like this, and even though he knew the kid was a Captain in his own right he also knew that Oyaji was more then ready to adopt him. So, in a way, this was part of his job. At length, Macey got bored. He should have expected it just sitting there. Rakuyo didn't notice at first when the weapon unwound itself and snuck over to the other person sitting with them, but he almost laughed when the weapon gave a careful nudge before ducking back behind him when the boy turned. There was confusion in those dark eyes.

"Sorry about that. Macey here just wants to say hi I guess." He pat the monstrous weapon fondly as it clanked happily in agreement. "Bet you've never seen something like her before, huh? She's a-"

"Weapon that ate a devil fruit, right?" The kid's eyes lit up a bit, catching him off guard.

"You've seen one before?"

"No, not really." A shrug. "Franky fought a sword that ate a fruit at Eins Lobby, though. He's still complaining about that. Oh! And Chopper and Usopp said something about a gun that was a dog? That was way back in Alabasta, though." The kid grinned widely, holding out a hand for Macey to sniff. "I'm Luffy! You're so cool! Wanna join my crew?"

"Hey now! Macey and I are a matched set, you know, and I'm not leaving Oyaji." He smirked at the kid even as the weapon accepted an enthusiastic petting. (So much different then it's reaction to Ace. Macey was still wary around the Logia type.) "Names Rakuyo, by the way."

"Nice to meetcha!"

"I didn't know that there was a weapon-type all the way over in Alabasta. Not surprised about Eins Lobby, though."

It was like someone had flipped a switch, the way the kid seemed so happy all of a sudden. "Mmm! I thought Usopp was telling me a story at first. He's good at that, you know. He and Chopper had to fight these two guys, right? Well, one of them was this ugly mole woman, and this other guy had this gun. Except it was a dog, too. Well, Chopper and Usopp got the gun-dog, or is it dog-gun, to shoot both of them!"

"Alabasta, huh…." It clicked in his mind why it sounded so familiar. He remembered Ace talking about how his brother had been there to beat up Crocodile, and the look of relief/disappointment when the paper came out about the Marines taking care of the Coup. "Sorry that that Marine beat you to Crocodile." He offered. "But the guy was a Shichibukai, best let the government dogs clean up their own messes, right?"

"Huh? Who are you talking about?"

Looked like the rumors were true and the kid really was an idiot. "White Chase. He got promoted to Commodore for taking out Crocodile and stopping that war, too."

"White Chase?" He saw it the moment the name clicked. "Oh! You mean Smoker!" A wide grin, full of happiness, which was not something pirates normally felt when talking about Marines. Let alone ones who beat them at a hunt. Rakuyo had a feeling there was a story there. "Smokey got promoted? That's great! Shihihi! Except, he didn't do any of that."

"He didn't?"

"Nope." Strawhat leaned on Macey and beamed at him. "My crew did! They stopped the war and I took out Croc. But I like Smokey. Sand-croc locked us up in a cage together and he wasn't a lot of fun then, but he helped us out I guess. Sanji and Zoro said that his men pretended to not know we were hiding in the palace after the war and didn't try to capture us which was really nice of them. Except then these other Marines had to come and ruin it."

He felt a headache coming on, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he had been up twenty-four hours straight and everything to do with the fact that this rookie was telling him that he was the one to take out a Shichibukai. Bringing his total to two. Rakuyo almost found himself hoping the kid was exaggerating his part in it. (Ok, he really was hoping. He had vague memories of a run-in with Crocodile once, many years ago. The man was not someone to be taken lightly.) "So how did you do it?"

"Well, there was a bomb or something and he was gonna make everyone go BOOM, but Nami, Vivi and them all stopped that."

"Right." That made absolutely no sense, but he remembered reading something about the Marines taking credit for finding a bomb and with the help of a Royal Guard safely detonating it. So if he replaced the Marines with the Strawhat crew, it was probably closer to the truth. "But how did you defeat Crocodile? He's a logia type."

"Well, the first time we fought, after he stabbed me, I managed to grab him." Luffy grinned widely, obviously proud of himself.

"The first time?" He was ignored.

"Then he tossed me in a sand-thing and I almost drowned in it."

Why did he ask? He was getting sympathetic pains for Ace listening to the kid. "How did you get out?"

"Robin." Came the reply, like it was the most natural answer in the world. "The second time I had this huge barrel of water. It was amazing! Shihihi….I think I pissed him off though."

"Oh really?"

"Yep. He started ranting about what it meant to be a pirate and stuff. Then he dried me out. Like a squid." It was amazing how the little shit was still grinning at him like that like nothing was wrong. If Ace ever heard this story- he didn't even want to think about that. "A little water and I was fine. Course, by now everyone was fighting and I had to go hunt the bastard down. That was annoying, because I didn't know where he was, and he took the king, too. All that thinking must have made me sleepy or something cause I definitely fell asleep for a bit." He found himself actually wanting to hear something like 'and then Smoker came and we beat him up.' but something told him it wasn't going to happen. Ace could never hear the details of this story. He'd go busting into Impel Down to kill Crocodile. (And at this point, half the crew would probably go with him, too.) "The bastard did it all for some stupid rock with squiggles on it. He stopped being a real pirate and hurt my Nakama for a shitty rock." The carefree look turned hard as stone, a look that promised pain to anyone who got in the kid- no, in Luffy's way. "So I sent him flying. A little poison wasn't gonna stop me. I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."

"Sure, you are." Hard to argue with that kind of conviction, even if he didn't think that Luffy was anywhere near his goal. Besides. Oyaji was going to be king.

"First, I have to find everyone." He showed Rakuyo a scrap of paper. The Seventh Division Commander instantly recognized it as a vivire card. "We're all supposed to meet at Rip-offs with Rayleigh. I need to find my crew." There was a quiet desperation in Luffy's voice, and Rakuyo realized why he'd been sitting out here, all alone.

He knew as well as the other Commanders that Luffy was not under any circumstances to leave the Moby Dick right now. But that didn't mean he couldn't comfort the young Captain. "Hey now. I'm sure they're just fine. Probably having the time of their lives, too, I bet." Luffy's brows wrinkled. "Well, think about it. For whatever reason, Kuma sent you here, to your big brother, right? What could be more fun for you then that?" He didn't add safer. He wasn't the only one suspicious about the Shichibukai motivation, either. "Bet he sent your friends to really cool places too."

There was a moment of hesitation. "You think?"

"Yeah. Oyaji's got people out looking for them, anyway. So it's not like you're doing nothing, right? Don't worry so much, Strawhat."

Whatever Luffy was going to say Rakuyo never found out. "OIY! LUFFY! Where'd you go?!"

"Ace?" The boy's head whipped around, grinning. "ACE!" And he was gone, leaving Rakuyo sitting there shaking his head and Macey making almost sad clanking sounds.

"Don't worry. You can play with him later. First...Let's go find Oyaji. I think I have some things to tell him."

WHITEBEARD

Whitebeard couldn't say he was surprised that Shanks had actually taken his challenge to heart and actually shown up. He knew as well as the other Yonko that the two of them meeting was going to cause quite a stir among the Marines. He just honestly didn't give a damn. It was no secret that Shanks was still in touch with Mihawk after all these years, and though the brat was a Shichibukai, Whitebeard knew the swordsman was likely to warn his former rival of any big changes going on. So Shanks may in fact have new news on Blackbeard, news he needed in order to keep Ace from doing anything reckless. Not that he was going to ask for the information mind you, or be overly welcoming. Marco was still a little ruffled that the upstart 'Rockstar' hadn't recognized him just because of the ink Luffy'd managed to 'accidently' dump on his head, and as a father he was allowed to be a bit rude to Shanks in return. Especially since he was seen as the very indirect cause of most of the Division Commander's increased paperwork of late.

Getting half the Commanders to agree to keeping Luffy below deck for the meeting had also been a challenge worthy of blaming on Shanks. Ace had warned him of the brat's worship of the other Yonko, and while he could understand it, it did make things harder. Everyone seemed to enjoy keeping a secret from the teen though, if for no other reason than to prevent him from getting his hopes up in case Shanks didn't want to see him. Already Whitebeard saw that protective fire in many of his sons' eyes when it came to the boy. If Shanks so much as said one thing negative about the brat, there would be war, he knew it.

Still, the man did know his booze, you had to give the brat that. And he wasn't stingy about sharing a good vintage as a show of good faith. (Alright, he liked the brat; he was similar to Roger, but mellow. Different like a stout and a logger.) "So, what do you plan to do about Blackbeard?" Shanks asked at length.

"Teach?" Whitebeard grinned down at him. "What makes you think there's a need do anything?"

"The man is a Nakama-killer."

"Attempted Nakama-Killer." He felt compelled to point out. "Thatch has made a full recovery."

The dark look didn't leave the Red-Hair Captain's visage. "He's lucky then. I know how dangerous the man can be. Or have you forgotten that he's the one who gave me these scars?" Both men glowered at each other, unbudging. "You should be going after him with everything you have, Newgate."

Whitebeard's frown deepened at the familiarity. "Are you saying I'm wrong in letting my son handle it? It was his request as Division Commander."

"Ace?" The younger man looked shocked. "You fool! Portgas is a hothead with a short temper! The kid's not ready to face someone like-"

"You underestimate my son!" Newgate snapped, swinging his bisento with it's deadly blade as a warning.

Shanks intercepted the bow (naturally with ease) darting forward as his own temper flared, sending even the great Moby Dick rocking. His eyes were like ice. "Do you honestly think Ace'll stay calm when he learns the man is after his little brother?"

They pulled apart warily eyeing each other before Newgate huffed as he returned to his seat. "So it's true, then? He's after that Strawhat brat?"

"Yes!" Shanks looked worried exasperated and proud all at the same time. (It was an expression not uncommon on Ace's face, in fact. Thatch had jokingly dubbed it the brother-complex.) "Mihawk said that since there's an opening on the Shichibukai, the Marines called a meeting. One of Teach's lackeys showed up and nominated that fat bastard, and Sengoku agreed. IF he could prove his worth by bringing a big name pirate."

Newgate leaned forward. "But the brat's a rookie."

"A rookie that took out a Shichibukai and declared war on the world government." Shanks pointed out. "This was also before he punched a Celestial Dragon. The Marines are pissed."

"Hmmm. So they want to remove him before he becomes a real problem." Whitebeard mused, taking a sip of his drink. "It's two Shichibukai, by the way."

"What?"

"Gecko Moria. I'm not sure on the details, but apparently the man crossed paths with the Strawhat brat and lost."

"WHAT?! L-Luffy! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Ace had the same reaction."

"Great! Now he's missing, and your problem is after him! What the hell!" Shanks shouted at him. Newgate just laughed. "This isn't funny, Whitebeard! That kid… Do you have any idea who he is?"

"Of course I do, brat!" Whitebeard bit back, stopping Shanks before he could start dropping names. "You worry too much, eh? Isn't he the one you bet your arm on? The future King?"

He could just make out Shanks' mutter darkly. "Only if he lives long enough."

Shouts could be heard from below deck, and Whitebeard knew that his family's attempts to distract the little Strawhat Captain were starting to fail. The kid didn't like being cooped up in one place for too long, after all. He took a swig of his sake, eyeing the other Yonko and weighing if letting him know that Luffy was on board was a good idea. (Probably not; Shanks would fight him for the kid, he was sure of it. Who knew what Luffy would do, either.) Finally he sighed. "I'll take your words about Teach into consideration Shanks."

Shanks grudgingly nodded. "You'll keep an eye out for Luffy, too?"

"Ah. My allies know to keep an eye out for those Strawhat brats. My son is worried about them."

Standing, the redhead gave him a rueful smile. "I bet he is. Well, I'll be off now. Best not to make the Marines too nervous, right? Just… don't let Ace do anything stupid. I don't want to have to explain it to Luffy if something happens to him."

He waited until Shanks was already on his own ship, unable to hold back on teasing the younger Captain. "Not to worry, Ace's brother is sure to keep him too busy to get into trouble for now." Akagami just looked at him, confusion written across his face as the two ships pulled away from each other and Whitebeard answered it with a knowing grin and a booming laugh.