Disclaimer: I Do Not Own One Piece. And rights to FMA for the Joke

Chapter 19: Enter: A New Friend?

"I'll get you for this, Aro…" Ezerial growled, trying not to lose his balance.

"Would you have rather climbed down by hand?" Aro said, shifting her scythe slightly on her back.

"Not really, but if my sword breaks because of this—"

"Then it wasn't a good sword." Aro said with a laugh. Guzen watched the two, perfectly still and perfectly balanced. Ezerial's great sword laid on the cord, pointed down. Aro stood in front, hands behind her head now, Ezerial stood in the middle, shaking slightly from lack of balance, and Guzen stood on the handle, full height and not batting an eyelash.

"I made this sword myself, I know that it's a good sword!"

"Then why are you worried?"

"Because it wasn't made for SURFING!"

"We're not surfing, we're grinding!" She noticed the ground coming closer. "This is my stop!" She jumped off to the right, a few yards above the ground.

"Hmm." Guzen jumped off to the left. Both landed safely and started towards the end of the metal wire. Ezerial suddenly got very shaky.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" He jumped at the last second, and his sword sunk into the soft earth. He landed in a jog fashion. Once he stopped, the he turned back. His jaw dropped, "My sword was to never touch the ground!"

"Well," Aro said, hands behind her head, "It just did. Have to sacrifice to gain, right?" She walked past him.

"…Equivalent Exchanged…" Guzen walked past him on the other side.

"This isn't the study of alchemy…" He went and pulled his sword out of the ground, knocking the dirt off by tapping it on the wire.

"No, but it is the law of earth." Aro looked around; "Keep your eyes peeled for any kind of—"

"Tracks." Guzen pointed to a set of cart tracks. Aro went over and got on all four. She gave the tracks a small sniff. Ezerial walked over, and touched the inside of the track.

"It's them." Aro said standing.

"Basically fresh." Ezerial got to his feet as well.

They all gave a silent nod, and took off down the cart tracks.

---

"They want me to what?" Cap raised an eyebrow.

"Meet them in Iryoku." Luffy said, taking a bite of food.

"Are you sure?" Luffy answered with a nod. Cap sighed, "Right… I'm guessing that Shira's on her own now…" He stood, taking one last look around the Rusty Bucket.

"What does that mean?" Nami said, tilting her head to one side. He only smiled at her.

"Good luck to you, Luffy." He turned and then headed outside. The Straw-Hat Crew watched him leave.

Cap headed over to his cart, fully loaded with his belongings. He stretched, "A pirate's life for me…" He climbed aboard and took hold of the rains. With a flick, he rode off at a somewhat hurried speed.

---

"Lost the tracks…" Ezerial gave an annoyed sigh.

"And the sent…" Aro gave an annoyed sigh as well. Guzen followed behind the two, silent like always. She gave another sigh, "So much for interception…" Guzen looked at Ezerial, waiting.

"Guess we'll just have to go to Iryoku and hope to stop them…" He put his hands in his pocket. As if held by a string, both Aro and Ezerial's heads suddenly hung.

"We're nearly out of luck already…" Guzen smiled as he heard them talk at once. It quickly left though. He looked between them and up the path. Slowly, his head started to tilt to the side.

"Wrecked cart." He said. Aro and Ezerial looked up, and blinked.

Up ahead on the path was a wrecked cart, a man sitting next to it, trying to fix it. The man had ash brown hair spiked up in the front and spiked back everywhere else. His clothes consisted of a white sleeveless shirt, a plaid jacket tied around his waist, baggy black jeans and black combat boots where the jeans were tucked, making a small poofy spot at the tops of the boots. He was crying while he tried to fix the cart.

Aro smiled, "Here's our luck for the day!" She ran up, "Hey! Did you drive this thing?"

"Yes!" answered the man, looking at her with deep but bright blue eyes. Upon closer inspection, he couldn't be more than 17. "And the person who paid me to drive him to Iryoku crashed it and stole My Jane!"

"Who?"

"Jane! They took her way!" He sobbed, returning to repairing the cart.

"Would his name happen to be Veldoro?"

"Whose name?" He looked back at her, blinking away some tears.

"The man who you were driving to Iryoku."

"Oh, yeah, that was his name…"

"Well, which way did they go?" Aro asked as Ezerial and Guzen joined her.

The man looked to his right for a second, raised his hand and hesitated. He looked to his left, and did the same. He then crossed his arms, pointing in both directions, and gave a sheepish grin, "I forget."

Aro and Ezerial nearly fell over, both with shocked looks. Guzen looked at the man, blinking; "…What's your name?"

"Kise Kori! What's your name, pretty lady?"

Guzen's eye twitched and he pulled out a Fire Bomb. Aro jumped to him and hugged him; "He's the only one that knows where Veldoro and the others went!" Guzen hesitated and put the die up. Aro looked at Kise with a grin.

"… Where who went?" He tilted his head to the side. Ezerial fell over. Aro gave a nervous laugh.

'Just what we need…' She thought to herself, keeping her smile, 'A short-term memory loss tech.'

"OH! The people I was driving this cart for!" He said, scratching his head with one of Guzen's cards, "I'll lead you to them." Guzen blinked and snatched the card back. Kise blinked, "Hey! That's mine!" Guzen frowned at him. "Fine! You can have it! I have my Jane—JANE! THEY TOOK JANE!!!" He started crying.

Ezerial got to his feet, and looked at the other two. They nodded, and all three hit Kise on the head at the same time. "Stop crying." They said at once.

---

"Veldoro, they're sure to be following us…" LeStine said, finished up the shot in Serisha's arm. "Kise is sure to tell them which way we went…"

"I doubt he will," Serisha said, frowning at the needle as LeStine pulled it out of her arm, "He has the memory of a goldfish. He remember us." LeStine didn't say anything as he bandaged Serisha up. She sat on a fallen tree while LeStine knelt in front of her.

"That Kitty isn't very nice." Kit and Kat said together, one on either side of Serisha. "She likes to say things that mess with your head." LeStine stood, and motioned for Serisha to switch places with one of the twins. She did so, and he knelt in front of them, changing the bandages.

"I know that. I'm not worried about her. You all are loyal servants. You won't betray me, will you?" Veldoro turned away from them, looking down at the small town below of Iryoku. Serisha jumped up and took his free arm, for the other had Robrion's ice cold body held safely and with ease.

"I'll always be with you, Vel-kun!" She rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. Kit and Kat looked at each other. LeStine looked at the twins and back down at his work.

"Enron is waiting in Iryoku with some people he thinks would help us out quiet a lot. LeStine." He looked over his shoulder at LeStine who didn't look at him at all.

"Yes, Veldoro?" He asked, finishing the bandages.

"I want you to take the twins to the entrance gates. Take hold of that and wait for more orders."

"And what about Kitty?" The twins asked, shoulder to shoulder, faces holding the look of a child waiting to know how something worked.

"If Aro and the three arrive, I want you two to take them out. LeStine should have administered the poison to at least two of them."

"Only one of them drank, Veldoro…" LeStine got to his feet and faced Veldoro.

"Then you shall fight and make up for the failure to get both of them."

"I don't fight, you know that."

"Silence!" Something filled the air and LeStine did as he was told. "Serisha and I are going to find the animator. I want you three to do as you are told!" He turned and started towards Iryoku. Serisha followed silent as possible. LeStine's hands balled up and his arms were shaking with anger.

"LeStine?" Kit asked, standing.

"Are you alright?" Kat asked, also standing.

LeStine didn't answer, but continued glaring at Veldoro until the setting sun made him disappear form sight.

(Authors Note: So this didn't get up as soon as I hoped, sorry! –bows- Gomen.)