I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but I have to say this every time. Thank you all so much for your support. I don't know how to express my gratitude any more than this. I was recently looking at the statistics and demographics of my story, just because I was bored, and I saw something that shocked me. Not only do I have a ton of readers in the U.S, but also readers in over 40 other countries. I simply can't believe it, it's amazing. I feel exhilarated, surprised and honored. Thank you so much. Okay, enough with the sappy stuff onto business.

One Piece © Eiichiro Oda

John S. James © The Plazmaster

After a few hours, the two little boats made port with the dock of Shells Town. Luffy tied the two boats to the docks as Makino talked with dock master about returning the boats to the captain of the cruise ship. The friends grabbed their packs and headed into the town. Makino was fuming, "Damned old pervert! Tried to cop-a-feel." Luffy and Nami both laughed. "You know what, I think a little bit of Belle-Mère rubbed off on you, Makino." Luffy commented. Makino blushed and went quiet. Nami decided to change the subject, she turned to Luffy, "So, Luffy, how do you plan on finding Zoro?" Coby chimed in, "Yeah, it's not like the Marines are going to have him out in the open. You do have a plan, don't you?" Luffy grinned, "Nope, hehe, not a one." All the three other companions dead panned.

Nami balled up her fist, raised it and slammed it down onto Luffy's head. "What the hell! What do you mean you don't have a plan?! I bet your plan was to charge in there and beat everyone up, wasn't it!" Luffy rubbed his head, "Of course not!" The others looked at Luffy surprised. "Anytime I have ever made a stealthy plan, it has epically failed. That's what I have you for, Nami. You're a lot better at this kind of thing than I am." Nami blushed and giggled at Luffy's flattery, "Okay, that's true, but don't think that comment earned you any brownie points, mister." Luffy laughed. "Okay. Before we can start making any plan, we need to scout out the Marine base." Makino and Luffy both nodded. Coby looked at the three friends like they were crazy. "What the hell have I gotten myself into," he mumbled.

They walked towards the base and reached its gates after about a few minutes. Luffy gave a long whistle, having not noticed the gate in his first lifetime, "That's a big gate." Nami was keeping her head on a swivel, taking in and noting everything. She walked along the wall connected to the gate and looked up, "Hey Luffy."

"Yeah."

"Can you carry me to the top of this wall? I'll most likely get a better view from up there." Luffy smiled, "Sure." He grabbed her, securely, around the waist and jumped up to the top of the wall, taking her with him. He scaled the height of the wall easily, reaching the top of the wall in no time and placing Nami down gently. The stood there as they looked down upon the practice yard below them. Luffy looked back down at Makino and Coby, "Hey, you guys may want to get up here. You'll want to see this." Makino scaled the wall easily as Luffy helped Coby up the wall. As soon as Coby saw what Luffy had seen, he almost fall back down the wall.

Luffy chuckled, "Hehe, I think I see my first mate right there. I guess you were wrong Coby. They are keeping him out in the open." In the middle of the yard was a man with his waist and arms tied to a wooden cross. Coby full on his butt when he saw the man, "That green haramaki and that black bandana. I only know of one man that wears those, Roronoa Zoro. He's a pirate bounty hunter and he has been the nickname The Demon because he is so ruthless and merciless. You'd have to be crazy Luffy. He'll cut you down as soon as you set him free." Luffy laughed as he pulled Coby back to his feet. Suddenly Zoro spoke, "Hey!" Coby squealed and fell back down. "Hey you, the boy in the straw hat, if you release me from these bonds I'll bring you any bounty you want or if there is someone you want dead I'll gladly oblige. What do you say? Do we have a deal?"

Luffy laughed, which shocked Zoro, "Nah, I don't any of those things from you." Zoro raised an eyebrow at Luffy, "Then what do you want?" But before Luffy could reply, a ladder clattered against the wall next to Coby. Then, a little girl with long black, tied back into pigtails, came up to the top of the ladder. She wore a marine blue hoodie/dress hybrid with green horizontal stripes and a white hood. She looked right and then left at the group of friends and held her finger to her lips, in the 'Shh' gesture. She then climbed over the top of the wall and dropped down to the other side. Coby and Nami almost jumped down after the girl, but Luffy stopped them with an outstretched arm. "Wait, watch and listen. We may learn something." He said pointed towards the unfolding scene in front of them.

The little girl ran up to where Zoro was tied up, she had a small bundle in her arms that no one noticed until now. She stopped in front of him and looked up at him with smile. "Hey Mister Zoro. I wanted to thank you for saving me, so I brought you some rice balls." She lifted the bundle to reveal to rice balls laying on a strip of seaweed. Zoro scowled, "Tch, get lost kid. I don't want them you hear. Now get out of here before you get hurt or worse." Nami looked pissed, "Asshole. He could at least be nice and just say 'No'." Luffy laughed. Nami turned on him, "What?!" Luffy shook his head, "Nami, Zoro is being nice or at least he is trying to be. 'Nice' is not an emotion a bounty is familiar with too often in their line of work. Besides, he's trying to protect the girl. See."

He pointed towards a sign next to the entrance to the yard. There was a warning plaque on the sign. Now how did I miss that? Nami shook the thought away and read the sign. Her face blanched as she looked back at Luffy, "But, shouldn't we…" Luffy held up his hand to stop her, "Don't worry, everything will be fine." The girl fidgeted, "But, it's my first time ever making something so I wanted…"

"What did I just say, you brat?! Get lost!"

"Oh tut tut tut. You shouldn't yell at little girls Roronoa. Didn't your mother teach you better? It's not nice. Hiehiehie" This high pitched voice belonged to none other than Helmeppo, son of the famous Axe-Hand Morgan, hero of the Marines. Helmeppo was a tall skinny lad with blonde hair styled into a weird horizontal pill shape. He wore purple suit pants and jacket and a pink button up under shirt. He also had on black shiny dress shoes.

Helmeppo walked over to the girl, "Oh, rice balls. How considerate." Before she could protest, he swiped up one of the rice balls and took a bite out of it. A look of disgust came over his face. Then he began spitting out the rice ball. "Bleh, bleh. What the hell?! Why was that rice ball so sweet?!" The girl began fidgeting, "Well it's because I like sweet things. So I made the rice balls with sugar instead of salt." Helmeppo was outraged. "What?! Rice balls are supposed to be made salt, not sugar, salt," he shouted as he snatched up the other rice ball and threw the two onto the ground and stomped on them. The girl fell to her knees, crying. Helmeppo straightened and fixed his suit, "Ehem. There, a perfect meal for the ants." Helmeppo smiled wickedly, "You're very lucky little girl. If I hadn't stopped you from giving those things to this," pointing at Zoro, "criminal, these two men would have to kill," he said pointing at the two marines. The girl quickly looked up with a terrified look on her face. Helmeppo then pointed towards the plaque, "Anyone caught, in the yard, helping or aiding a criminal is punishable by death." The girl froze in horror.

Helmeppo turned around and pointed to one of the marines, "You there, toss the girl over the wall." The marine began to protest, "B-but sir…" Helmeppo quickly turned on him and got in his face, "Did I stutter? I said throw the brat over the wall, or do I have to tell my daddy on you?" The marine hung his head in shame and walked over to the girl. As he picked her up, he whispered in her ear, "Curl up into a ball, okay?" The girl looked at him and nodded. Luffy looked over at Makino and she nodded, knowing what Luffy wanted her to do. She coiled her legs up underneath her and sprang into the air as soon as the marine had thrown the girl. She met the girl halfway through her arch, just above the wall.

Their combined momentum sent them flying backwards, Makino tensed up and prepared her body to hit the ground. She made sure her body took the brunt of the fall. When they hit the ground they skidded back about a foot. Makino looked down and smiled at the girl, "You okay?" The girl looked up and nodded. Luffy stood up and jumped down into the yard. The marine saw Luffy and yelled at him, "Hey you there. What are you doing?!" Helmeppo turned around to look at Luffy. Luffy, ignoring the marine, turned to Nami, "Hey Nami, you and Coby make sure Rika is okay. I'll join up with you guys shortly." Nami was about protest but sighed instead. She nodded and motioned for Coby to follow her as she jumped down off the wall.

Luffy turned back to Helmeppo and walked towards him. He stopped when he was about five feet away, which caused the marines to partially draw their sabers. "I'll only ask once more, what are you doing here?" Luffy ignored the marine, again, and just stared at Helmeppo. After a few seconds he spoke up, "You're Helmeppo, right?" Helmeppo nodded, not surprised about being recognized. "I know your dad, Captain Axe-Hand Morgan; hero of the East Blue; the man who caught Captain Kuro, the man of a thousand plans." Still Helmeppo wasn't shocked. "Though it's sad really, how he lost his hand and jaw in that very fight." Now Helmeppo was caught off guard. That info was classified, only available to high ranking marines. He found his voice and asked, "Who are you?"

Luffy smiled, "Me, I'm the grandson of a marine. When I heard that you had captured the infamous 'Demon Hunter' Zoro, I had to see it for myself." Hmm, Helmeppo thought, his grandfather must at least be at the rank of Captain to have access to that kind of info. "Hiehiehie. If that's all you want then fine. Men stand down, he is no threat, are you…" Helmeppo thought a minute, "I seem to have not caught you name." Luffy grinned, "It's Luffy." Helmeppo smiled back, "Luffy is harmless. Come we have other business to attend to." Helmeppo turned around and walked towards the exit. As he did so, he waved a hand back at Luffy, "Well, see you later Luffy." The marines rushed off to catch up with their captain's son.

When they left Luffy turned towards Zoro, whom was smirking. "Hehe. So, you're the brat of some marine officer, huh?" Luffy shrugged and shook his head, "Yes and no. My grandfather is the marine, but my father, well… he's another story for another time. Anyway, I'm not really glad my granddad's a marine, it just makes my life even harder." Zoro cocked an eyebrow, "Why's that?"

"Hmm, oh, because I'm a pirate." Zoro burst out laughing, "Bwahaha, now ain't that ironic!" Luffy joined him, "Yeah that is funny. Hey Zoro, why don't you just break out of those binds? You're not as weak as they make you out to be." Zoro stopped laughing and sighed. "Well you see, I made a deal with that boy, the captain's son, that if I can survive out here for ten days he'll let me go." Luffy laughed, "I couldn't survive a day without food."

"Hehe. That's the difference between you and me." Luffy stretched and yawned, "Well, if you're not busy, I want you to join my crew." Zoro almost burst out laughing again. "Me, join a pirate crew. That'll be the day." Luffy shrugged and began to walk away, "I'll let you think about my offer. I'll be back later."

"Wait!" Luffy turned back towards Zoro. He motioned towards the rice balls. "Toss those to me." Luffy smiled and shook his head as he walked back over.

XXX

When Luffy returned to the town he found his friends hanging out at the local tavern. The bar was owned by the mother of the little girl, Rika. When he sat down with the three he told Rika how Zoro had requested the rice balls, ate every last grain and complementing her handy work. Rika became giddy with joy, "Really! He really liked it?!" Luffy nodded, which caused Rika to squeal again. Makino sighed, "Maybe the rumors about Zoro were wrong after all?" Rika slammed her hand onto the table, "Those rumors are lies. Mr. Zoro is a really nice guy, after all, it's my fault his tied up." The three friends looked at Rika curiously, "How is it your fault, Rika?" Nami asked. Rika went on to tell about the promise Zoro and Helmeppo made when Zoro had saved her and her mom from Helmeppo's feral wolf pet and in exchange for not executing Rika and her mother, Zoro agreed to be arrested for ten days.

Luffy smiled at the group, "See, I told you Zoro wasn't so bad." Nami sighed and leaned against Luffy's and snuggled into his shoulder, "I guess you're right." Luffy chuckled and kissed Nami on the top of her head. Rika gasped, "Are you two dating?" Nami blushed while Luffy chuckled and nodded. Rika's mother had been walking over to the table and when she overheard that last bit. "Well I think it's nice to see such a nice couple nowadays. We don't see too many of them." She said as she placed down the food that they had ordered.

Suddenly the doors slammed open as Helmeppo barged in yelling. Luffy had to keep himself in check as he had to listen to that brat bad mouth his first mate. He started to tremble with rage as he tried to restrain himself. Nami noticed this and turned to Luffy, "Hey Luffy are you okay?" Luffy shook his head, "I'm this close from beating the shit out of that asshole." Nami was still confused, "Huh?" But as soon as she finished everyone heard the next words come out of Helmeppo's mouth, "Hiehiehie, You Know I've feel like it has gotten quite boring around here." Then he snapped his fingers, "Ah, I just thought of something. I think I'll have Roronoa executed tomorrow. That shall be quite entertaining!" He said as he began to laugh. Luffy finally snapped.

Before anyone realized what had happened, Helmeppo flew backwards and slammed into the wall behind him, his face very swollen. From what most everyone could piece together was that Luffy had spun around, jumped onto Helmeppo's table and slammed his fist into Helmeppo's face. Helmeppo looked up, while holding his face in pain, at Luffy. "Y-you, you just hit me. No one has ever hit me, not even my daddy!" Luffy lifted his fist and took a step forwards, only to be held back by Coby and Makino, "Maybe it's time someone started, you punk." Helmeppo stood up and began to laugh, "You don't get do you? You're a dead man once I tell my daddy about this."

Luffy broke out of his friends restraints and grabbed Helmeppo by his collar and lifted him up. "No, you don't get it!" He said it so forcefully that Helmeppo flinched, "There is two things you should know. One, the only thing that will ever kill will be old age, and Two, I'm here for three reasons; to rescue Zoro, to get a map of the Grand Line and to knock your father off his god damn high horse. So go ahead and tell your father, tell him to prepare to have his ass kicked. He ruined the image of what it means to be a Marine and he ruined my friends, Coby's, dream, making him ashamed of becoming a Marine. For that he will pay!" He threw Helmeppo out of the tavern, onto the ground. Helmeppo quickly scrambled up, out of the dirt, and ran towards the Marine Base.

Luffy turned back around towards Rika's mother and bowed, "I apologize for the trouble I have caused for you." She waved her hand dismissively, "No, no. It's nothing. I'm actually happier that someone finally stood up to him." Luffy smiled and nodded his head. He turned towards his friends, "Coby I want you to stay here. I don't want my actions hindering your chance at becoming a Marine." He waved at Nami and Makino, "Come on guys, our first mate's waiting." The three friends left the tavern and headed towards the base. All Coby could do you stare at his friends in amazement.

XXX

Zoro heard the group before he saw them. He looked up to see Luffy and co. "Hmph. I told you already, I'm not joining your crew." Luffy laughed, "Shishishi. Zoro let me tell you three reasons why you will join my crew. One, I will hound you until you agree to join my crew. Two, unless you ever want to see your swords again, you'll join my crew." Zoro strained against his restraints at what Luffy said. "Three, when you join my crew, I promise you that we'll help achieve your dream." Zoro suddenly stopped struggling. How the hell does he know about that? He sighed, "Well, even if wanted to leave, I can't. I made a deal with the captain's son-," But Luffy interrupted him before he could finish, "He lied." Zoro was confused. "He just announced that he is going to execute you tomorrow."

Zoro was stunned, yet a small part of him wasn't surprised. He sighed again, this time in defeat. "Fine, if you set me free and return my swords to me I will pledge myself to you." Luffy smiled. "But, if you or any of you crewmates comes between me and my goal, I promise I will make your life a living nightmare." Luffy just smiled again, "Aw, that won't be a problem." Luffy turn back towards Nami and Makino. "Okay, Nami. I want you to sneak into the base and find the map of the Grand Line." Nami nodded and ran off. "Makino, I want you to stay here. When all hell breaks loose, they might try and kill Zoro off early." Makino nodded in agreement and began to check all of her guns. Zoro looked at Luffy, "And what about you." Luffy laughed, "Shishishi. Me, I'm gonna go and start a coup." Then Luffy stretched his arms to the top of the base and shot off towards it.

Zoro could only gawk, "Wh-what is he?" Makino giggled, "Luffy, he's going to be King of the Pirates." Zoro just shook his head and laughed, "King of the Pirates, huh?"

XXX

While Luffy and Nami went about their task, we join Coby as he is marching down the road towards the Marine base. His fist clenched in balls, "I'm not just gonna stand around while my friends bring down this corrupt Marine base." He strode proudly forwards to the wall.

XXX

Nami had finally found the safe containing the map after about half an hour. She could all the ruckus Luffy was making upstairs. Which was the perfect distraction for her to sneak around. As she opened the safe, she was met with disappointment. The map had been replaced by a note with Buggy the Clown's mark on it. The note said that Buggy had stolen the map over a week ago. She crumpled the note in her hand as she punched the wall, "Damn it."

XXX

Luffy finally made his way to Helmeppo's room. He thought he remembered where it was but he had grabbed Helmeppo just in case. But, he hadn't needed it. As he looked down at Helmeppo in his hand, he noticed that the boy had fainted. He shrugged, dropping Helmeppo to the floor. He looked around the room for Zoro's swords. He saw them leaning against a window. "Ah, there you are." He walked over and picked up the swords and tied them to his back. Something out the window caught his attention. When he looked, he gasped. He quickly set himself up to shoot out window and into the courtyard.

XXX

Coby had finally scaled the wall only fall off on the other side and landed on his back. Makino, having seen what had happened, rushed over to his side, "Coby, what are you doing here?" Coby picked himself up and dusted himself off. He grinned, "You guys didn't think I would let you do this without me." Makino shook her head and chuckled. They both walked back over to Zoro. "So kid, why are you here?" Coby began trying to untie Zoro's bonds. "These Marines are a disgrace and a sham. My dream was to become a Marine. But now, I just want to help Luffy bring this base down." Zoro laughed at Coby's dedication.

Suddenly Coby felt someone shove him to the side when he heard a shot ring out. He looks over to see Makino holding her arm. She had pushed him out of the bullets path, but in doing so put herself in his place. Luckily she only caught the bullet in her arm. At the entrance to the courtyard stood the entire base of Marines, all aiming their guns at the three friends. Standing next to the group was Captain Morgan, leader of the Marine base. "Reload men." He looked at the trio, "You two are charged with the crime of abetting a criminal, which the punishment is death. And you Roronoa Zoro, you were already sentenced to death, this will just be an early execution."

He turned back to his men, he saw that they had finished reloading. He grinned evilly, "Okay men, prepare to fire." Coby began to tremble as Zoro swore under his breath. Morgan shouted, "Aim, Ready!" Coby looked at Makino, "Are we gonna die?" Makino shook her head, "No, Luffy would die before he'd let any of harm come to his friends." As soon as Morgan said, "Fire," a speeding blur whizzed by them and landed in the path of the bullets. That blur was none other than Luffy. Luffy grinned as the bullets entered his body, then to everyone's, except Makino, shock the bullets kept going, stretching his skin.

Luffy laughed as his skin snapped back, sending the bullets ricocheting back towards the Marines, "Shishishi, that won't work on me!" The marines were now scared shitless. "What the hell is he?!" One Marine asked. Morgan growled at this unexpected turn of events. Zoro then asked Luffy, "What the fuck are you kid?" Luffy turned towards him and smiled, "Oh me. I'm a rubber man." He said, stretching his cheek as if to prove the point. The Marines were afraid even more now, "He has devil fruit powers. How are we supposed to fight against that?"

Luffy drew one of Zoro's swords cut Zoro's bonds. He then handed him his swords, "Thanks. Shall we?" Luffy nodded, while cracking his knuckles, "Let's. They hurt my aunt."

(I'm not going to replay the battle scene since I left it the same as the canon. Yeah I'm lazy, so what. ;P)

After the battle had ended, Nami came walking out of the base and stared at the scene of hollering and cheering Marines. She walked over to Luffy after seeing all the destruction, "Hey, what happened out here?" Luffy looked at her and grinned, "Well, me and Zoro fought and kicked Morgan's ass. Then we found out that Morgan had been ruling the town and his own men in fear." Nami just shook her head at this and sighed. This is why we are going against the world government.

Suddenly Zoro passed out and fell to the ground. Nami gasped, "Zoro, what's wrong?" Zoro then mumbled, "So…hungry." Nami sweat-dropped while Luffy just laughed. "Nami, you and Coby drag Zoro to Rika's place to get him some food. Makino, you go with them and get yourself patched up, Okay?" Makino nodded. "I'll join up with you guys in a bit. I still have some business here to attend to." Nami gave him a worrying look but nodded anyway.

As the group left, Luffy turned towards the Marines, "Hey, who is highest ranking officer here now?" A dark skinned man stepped forward, "Me, why do you ask?"

"You may not believe me but I'm the grandson of Vice-Admiral Garp. My name is Monkey D. Luffy" The man's jaw dropped as he deadpanned, "Seriously?" Luffy nodded. "Then why attack us?" Luffy smiled evilly, "Because I'm a pirate." The Marine just shook his head and sighed, "The grandson of a high ranking Marine is a pirate, hehe. Oh the irony."

"But seriously," Luffy continued, "I did it because Morgan was destroying Coby's, my friend with the blonde hair, dream of becoming an honorable Marine. The Marine raised an eyebrow, "And is he a pirate too?" Luffy shook his head, "No, he was kidnapped by a pirate named Alvida and forced to serve aboard her ship. I rescued him when I defended a cruise ship from Alvida and her crew." The Marine nodded in understanding, "He looks like an honest lad with a good heart. I'll see what I can do to get him stationed here."

Luffy held up his hand, "If you don't mind I'd like to contact my grandfather and get him to take him in. I think he'll appreciate a new recruit and I have a feeling he'll like the kid." The Marine shook his head, laughing. "Okay," he turned to the other Marines, "someone bring me a snail to contact Vice-Admiral Garp."

XXX

When the gang met up at the tavern, Luffy told Coby what he had done for him and the boy started to cry tears of joy as he thanked Luffy. Nami just smiled in admiration at her boyfriend's selfless attitude for his friends. When the Marines came by to pick up Coby, they unfortunately had to tell the pirate group that they to leave by the end of the day or they would have to arrest them. They said they didn't want to do it but the Government policy demanded it.

The group said not to worry and that they had expected as much, being pirates and all. Coby said his goodbyes to the group before heading out with the Marines, marching towards the base. The crew left the tavern and walked threw town trying to decide what to do. Zoro turns to Luffy, "So captain, just how many crew members do you have?" Luffy held up his hand with all five fingers, "Five." Zoro looked around confused, so he quickly did a head count just to make sure, "Uh Luffy, if that's true then where is the fifth member?"

As if on cue, a crackling noise filled the air. Then, a blue sphere began to take shape and grow a few yards in front of them, with the air around the sphere being distorted like a mirage. Zoro's hand quickly went to his swords, Nami assembled her bo staff both preparing for a fight. Nami looked over and saw Makino and Luffy were just standing there like this type of thing happened all the time. Before she could question them, the sphere had stopped expanding. It was floating about half a foot off the ground, it was about 7-8 ft. tall and 3-4 ft. wide. The townspeople stopped what they had been doing and stared at this strange phenomenon.

Suddenly, the outline of a door appeared on the front, or what they could assume was the front, of the sphere. The door opened inwards and man stepped out of the strange craft, closing the door behind him. The sphere then quickly shrunk to the size of a baseball and sank into the chest of the young man. The man turned around to face the group and stretched. He stood on his toes, his arms in the air, as he stretched out his back. "Ergh-Ah. It's great to finally be able to get out of the old girl. It's nice to get some fresh air once in a while."

The man looked to be Caucasian with a golden tan, he had to be around the age of 20 or 21 and stood about 5'8". He had a five o'clock shadow on his childish yet weathered and aged face. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown and he had shoulder length brown hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing a brown and tan straw cowboy hat; a black silken bowler shirt with a rising red flame design that started at the bottom and stopped halfway up the shirt; black cargo pants with a chain, on the right side, attached to a belt loop trailed down into his pocket; black combat boots; around his shins were bands of gleaming metal rings wrapped around black leather and a denim jacket.

He also wore a sword belt with two swords on it, one on each side, called scimitars. The blades were curved weighted on the ends. The blade of the sword on his right was a mix between blue and black, with the triangular cross guard, hilt and pommel being a pure onyx black. The pommel was shaped into the likeness of the head of a hunting cat, a panther, with a brilliant cut ruby held within its maw. The sword on his left looked rather plain compared to the other one. Zoro swore he saw the blade glow a faint light blue, but he put that question aside for now. The cross guard matched the shape of the other sword, but it and the pommel were silver with a brown leather grip. Embedded in the pommel was a whirlwind cut, sky blue sapphire, which seemed to be the source of the glowing aura.

The man began walking towards Luffy, both hands resting on his swords. When he was about five feet away, Zoro drew one of his swords, stepped in front of the man and pointed his sword at him. At least he would have if the man was still in front of him. The man had somehow, in the blink of an eye, appeared behind Zoro on his left side. He brought up his hand and clasped Zoro's shoulder, "So, you must be Zoro. Good form, but you're a little slow on your draw. We can work on that and more."

He removed his hand and turned back to Luffy. They both brought their hands together, grinning like madmen. Then they both started laughing like old friends. This caused Nami and Zoro to relax, with Zoro sheathing his sword and Nami putting away her staff. "How've you been Luffy? You haven't changed a bit yet you still look great." The man said. Luffy chuckled, "Thanks and I've been fine. Started gathering my crew together." The man nodded looking at the group, "I can see that."

"Anyway, how about you? You definitely look different." The man laughed at Luffy curious nature. "Well, actually it's been about twenty years for me since we last met, but I've been great." Nami took this moment to speak up, slightly annoyed, "Ähm, Luffy. Would you like to you friend?"

Luffy sweat dropped, then he turned around and laid his arm across the man's shoulder, "Sorry guys. Let me introduce you to our fifth crew member. Our quartermaster." The bowed towards the three, "My apologies, my name is John S. James, a pleasure to meet you all. Although I've already met Makino before." He said as he walked forward and wrapped Makino in a hug, which she returned. "Hello James. It's great seeing you again." James backed away and turned to Nami and Zoro, "I met up with Luffy and Makino at their village about a year ago?" This caught Nami's attention. "Wait, you just contradicted yourself. If you met Luffy a year ago, then how were you gone for twenty years?"

James raised an eyebrow in Luffy's direction, he sighed. "I guess Luffy forgot to tell you about me. Well I can explain later in greater detail, but for now and for time's sake, I'm a time traveler." Zoro scoughed at the notion. He looked at Zoro, "Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet a fellow swordsman Zoro." Zoro just shook his hand. He then turned to Nami as he took her hand in his. He brought it up as if to kiss her hand but stopped halfway after feeling a very strong KI. Instead he placed his other hand on top of her and shook it. "And you must be the lovely Nami. Luffy talked a lot about you." Nami blushed but noticed James was sweating quite a bit. "Are you okay?" James chuckled, "Well it's kinda hard to miss the hostility being sent my way."

Nami raised an eyebrow and looked over at Luffy. The boy was sending mental daggers, from his eyes, in James's direction. Nami sighed at her boyfriend's overprotective attitude. James stepped back and bowed, "It's nice to meet you all." Nami smiled while Zoro just grunted. "Well it's nice to have you on our crew James." Nami said. Then a thought struck her, "Luffy, if James already has an official position on the crew does that mean we all do?" Luffy nodded, "Well, except for Makino. I haven't thought of one for her yet. But, you're the crew's Navigator and Zoro is my First Mate." Everyone approved of this decision. James smiled, "That's right and we're the Straw Hat Pirates." Nami looked at Luffy, "Straw Hat Pirates?" He smiled and pointed at his hat, "Yeah, the name of our crew." Nami laughed and shook her head.

James looked over at Luffy, "So, do we have a boat yet?" Luffy nervously scratched the back of his head, "Well you see, the thing is…" A tick mark appeared on Nami's head, "Luffy, where is the money I gave you?" Luffy gulped and quickly pulled the stack of beli's out quickly, "I-It's o-okay Nami, I-I still have it all here. The problem is that this is barely enough get us a ship for three people, let alone five." Nami sighed, not surprised. James put his hand on his chin and thought for a minute then snapped his fingers. Everyone looked at him as he pulled out a scroll and unrolled it on the ground, to reveal some sort of seal. He then performed some weird hand signs before slamming his palms onto the seal. A flash and a cloud of smoke appeared around the scroll. When the smoke cleared, sitting on the scroll was a pile of belli stacks.

Everyone was shocked by what just happened, but Nami quickly snapped out of it as her eyes turned into Beli signs. "James, just how much is that?" James thought for a moment, "About 300 million, why?" Nami was now drooling at the sight, then Makino spoke up, "Um, James how did you get so much money?" James shrugged, "Bounty hunting." Zoro chuckled and nodded his headed in understanding, "Easy money?" James nodded, "Easy money." He grabbed about fifty thousand beli's and in another puff of smoke, sealed away the rest of the money into the scroll. He rolled the scroll and placed it inside his jacket. He motioned for them to follow, "Well, come on. We've a boat to get."

A few hours, some negotiation, and about twenty-five thousand beli later, the crew were standing beside a medium sized frigate. It had two crew quarters and a captains quarters, along with a small kitchen and a crow's nest. Zoro whistled, "Not bad, pretty decent ship." Everyone began to explore the ship. Zoro, James and Makino set up their stuff in the crew quarters, while Luffy insisted that Nami share the captain quarters with him, since they were already dating. They met on the deck later to discuss their plan. James, standing next to the wheel, spoke up first, "So captain, what's our heading?"

Luffy grinned, "Orange Town. Captain Buggy the Clown owes me a map. Also his treasure would make for some nice compensation." Nami giggled at this as everyone else laughed as well. "Well crew, prepare to set sail." When they shoved off they saw that Coby had come to see them off, as well as did the group of Marines. The crew waved goodbye to them and looked ahead towards their adventure.

Hey, to all my readers; I would like to apologize for the long awaited update, but I've got new job and haven't had time to prioritize my free time. So basically, I've been lazy, sorry. But I'm already have the next chapter on paper and just have to type it up. I also have plans for other stories when I finish the first arc of this story. I'll have several summaries next chapter for you to look at, and let me know what you think about them. Until next time, you should…Oops, Spoilers. Ta-Ta.