A/N: Thank goodness this is done. It was just so boring to write, but it is done. This might actually be the first purely transitional chapter I've done, but it was necessary I guess. Also a lot about Ace is revealed in this chapter. Oh, you guys can make up what you think happened to Johnny and Yosaku because I hate them too much and didn't mention them.

Had mixed reviews last chapter and that's to be expected considering what went down. No comment on the possibility of a harem.

Devlin Dracul: I'll give you a hint. The 5th Yonko is not a pirate.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Duh.

The rising sunlight filtered through the trees casting long shadows throughout the small forest. A lone swordsman walked slowly through the wooded area without a hurry of any kind. In fact, the man was whistling a somewhat off key but never the less carefree tune. As he reach the destination in mind, it only took a quick glace to spot the creature he was looking for under a small rock formation. Walking at the same leisurely pace, the green haired swordsman made his way over to the ex Arlong Pirate.

"Oi, octopus. Wake up."

The slouched over Hatchan came out of dreamland with a start and immediately raised his hands over his head. Zoro rubbed his face in irritation.

"Oi, if I was going to hurt you, you'd be in pain already. The marines are probably going to show up today so I suggest you leave." With that being said, Zoro turned around walked towards where he had camped out with Sanji. That lousy cook needed to be woken up and sent to the kitchen early so that when they left in probably 3 more hours, breakfast would already be done. Before he could disappear in the forest again, Hatchan scrambled up and reached out for Zoro's arm. However, it was batted away before he could grab hold.

"What do you want fishman," asked Zoro in an uninterested tone. Tears started to pour out of Hatchan, and his voice became choked up.

"Why?! Why didn't you kill me like the others?! Why help me even now, when you didn't have to?!"

Zoro answered without hesitation. "Because Nami asked me to spare your life. If she didn't want you to die, one of the bastards that killed her mom and forced her into slavery, I figure you must have done something worthy of forgiveness." Then the green haired swordsman kept walking until he reached the tree line, a grin forming on his face. "Plus I happen to be pretty fond of swordsmen," then he disappeared, leaving a crying Hatchan behind.

It took about 5 minutes of leisurely walking for Zoro to make it back to where he and Sanji had camped out last night. The cook was currently resting his head on a log and had his jacket laid over him like a blanket. Light snoring sounds could be heard if you were close enough. This version of Sanji was the only one Zoro could tolerate easily. Of course drunk Sanji was also cool.

Once over there, the swordsman kicked Sanji hard enough in the side to wake him up and a little extra just in case. The blond groaned a bit and rolled, causing his head to slide off the log and into the damp grass.

"MMMmmmhh, Geeerrmma siiix~" murmured Sanji, still half asleep.

"Oi curly cue ball, stop spouting nonsense and get up."

Sanji's eyes fluttered before he attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Still groaning, he sat up and looked around. The small amount of sunlight filtering through the trees made him cringe a bit as his eyes adjusted to light again. Finally, he stood up, dusted himself off, put his jacket back on, and lit a cigarette that magically appeared in his mouth. After a rather deep drag and exhale, Sanji looked towards Zoro, acknowledging his existence.

"Cook, start making food. We leave in three hours or less. Preferably less."

This message having been given, Zoro walked off, disappearing in the thick foliage. Sanji stood in the clearing for another three minutes, puffing small clouds of smoke, trying to remember what the hell happened last night and why he had such a bad headache. After nothing came to mind, he shrugged, dropping his cigarette and stamping it out before walking towards the Going Merry.

Meanwhile, Zoro appeared in town where everyone was cleaning up after two nights of celebration. Everyone who he walked past waved and smiled at him, not forgetting he contributed to their new found freedom. He would grunt out a response to each greeting, and ask if they had seen a certain long nose story teller around. Eventually, the swordsman ran into Nami's only sibling, who was also helping out in the cleanup.

"Have you seen Usopp," asked Zoro tiredly. As soon as they were on the sea again, he was taking a nap. Unless Luffy decided more training was in order,

"Hmm, you mean the long nosed guy? Yea, I think he is in the alley beside the bookstore over there," she said while gesturing further down the strip. Zoro nodded in thanks before moving in that direction. However, he was stopped by Nojiko grabbing his arm.

"Don't you want to know where Luffy and Nami are?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow.

"No. Luffy doesn't sleep long or at all, so it would be pointless to go wake him up. As for Nami, I don't want to hear her mouth if I wake her from her 'beauty sleep.'" With that, he shoved his hands in his pockets and marched off to locate and awaken Usopp.

Nojiko smiled smugly and placed a hand on her hip. "Shame, he would have saw something pretty interesting."

Luffy's eyes snapped open and instantly began looking around where ever the heck he was, because his memory was failing him completely. Everything looked kinda fuzzy and grayish for a second until he realized that he wasn't using Observation to enhance his vison for some reason. Immediately everything became clear again once he activated his Haki which usually was never inactive so that was weird. But then came the next shock. His Observation locked on to someone laying right beside him. In fact this person had both slender arms wrapped around his torso and their face was pressed into the crook of his neck breathing peacefully. Breathing in deeply, the scent of tangerines invaded his senses.

Oh

He looked down to see perfect orange locks sticking up at somewhat random ends. Along with that perfect orange hair was the flawless sleeping face of his navigator. Damn she's cute. Without thinking he pulled Nami closer to him, enjoying this a little more than what was healthy. What time is it? How did I sleep so long? I should probably start getting ready to leave…why do I not want to move?

After an internal battle that lasted all of six seconds, he decided to just wait until Nami decided to wake up. Until then he would just lay here and stroke her hair lovingly. It was fifteen more minutes before Nami started to slowly come out of sleep. First squirming a bit in Luffy's arms, then muttering a little, before gently opening her eyes.

"Hello beautiful," whispered Luffy just loud enough for it to be audible. She slowly looked up and let her eyes lock on Luffy's. For the first time since they had met, Nami didn't see any turmoil in his eyes or a wall holding back a three oceans worth of pain. Right now he was completely open and it made her shiver with attraction.

"L-Luffy," stuttered out Nami, still slightly mesmerized. She attempted to sit up until the realization struck that she was completely naked. Her face instantly began to burn with embarrassment, which got a chuckle out the Strawhat captain. He slowly slide out of bed despite the protest by Nami.

"We leave in about three hours, so get ready. Wouldn't want to forget anything right," asked Luffy while putting on his shoes and jacket. Then he walked out of the room and closed it behind him so Nami could get dressed without further embarrassment. The fact she was getting embarrassed even after he had saw every inch of her body already was completely ridiculous to Luffy, but whatever made her comfortable. Wasn't like he knew much about females anyway.

Shrugging, he went about making a nice pot of tea, thinking Nami probably wouldn't mind. The act was so ingrained into his brain it was basically a reflex.

"Ace, I hate sleeping! All I see is the Doctor in the dark!"

"Is that why you've been trying to force yourself to drink coffee?"

"Yea, it helps me to stay awake but it taste like dirt. What am I going to do? I don't want to sleep."

"Well I'm not going to encourage you to keep going without sleep, but until those nightmares stop I guess I'll help you look for an alternative."

*sniff* "T-Thank you Ace."

"Count on me Luffy, I'll always be there when you need it from now on. Just count on me…

Lost in thought, Luffy almost didn't realize that his water was done. Turning off the heat, he removed the pot and poured the water in a mug he found. Then dipped the teabags he had found in the water until it turned from a clear liquid to a murky brown.

"Something that acts like coffee?"

"Yea Makino, maybe something that's hot to."

"Hot…isn't Luffy afraid of fire?"

"Well yea but this might be a good chance for him to overcome that as well. I'll help him with it as long as it takes. Even if I don't leave a 17, I'll stay until he can look at fire again without screaming."

"Oh Ace. Luffy is lucky to have a brother like you. Okay, I have some tea Earl Gray tea leaves in the back, boil some water with the tea leaves in it then ask Luffy to try it."

"Gotcha."

Luffy brought the mug to his lips, savoring the flavor. Tea for Luffy was almost like cigarettes for Sanji. After the sip, he reached into his jacket and after a bit of searching through the pockets, he located a folded piece of paper. Putting down the mug, he carefully unfolded the paper until the Ace's face on the bounty poster was fully visible.

"Ace…"

"Is that your brother?" Luffy jumped a little. Apparently he was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Nami come from her room, now fully dressed. The girl walked over to the pot, pouring her own cup of tea before sitting next to Luffy at the table.

"Uh yea, that's my brother Ace."

Nami had to admit, the guy was pretty good looking. Must run in the family. She was so caught up in his looks that she almost missed the number under his face. Almost.

"H-H-Hellfire Ace! 750,000,000 berries!? This is your brother?!"

"Yep, that's my big brother. That number would probably be higher if he hadn't joined Whitebeard though."

Nami was nearly on the verge of fainting. When she first met Luffy, his strength had amazed her to no end. It still did. But now came the knowledge that everyone related to Luffy might be as strong as or stronger than him. What star were they born under?

"L-Luffy, didn't you say that you and your brother use to spar each day?"

"Shishi, yea. That takes me back."

"Did you ever win?"

Luffy took a sip of tea and pondered that. "Yes, but only three times. One of which was a draw. My Observation easily beat his, but because I never developed Armament Haki and he did, it was hard to even damage the guy. That's why I started trying to use Kings Haki like Armament in way to break his defenses easier, so it really came down to a battle of wills at that point. In fact, the three times I did win was when I made a new gear he didn't know how to counter yet."

95% of everything Luffy just said flew way over Nami's head, so she didn't even try to question it. Rather, she did the far simpler task of focusing on sipping tea and admiring Luffy's good looks. Right now his hat was off, which gave a rare view of his messy black locks.

"Hey Nami, why did you want that octopus guy to live, if you don't mind me asking."

This question snapped her out of the stupor and brought her to a much less comforting place. Luffy place a hand on top of hers, noticing that she was slightly troubled. The small gesture did wonders to calm her down.

"Well, around the time I started to mature, some of Arlong's fishmen got drunk one day and decided that I would be the perfect target to release some pent up frustration on. Four of them attacked me while I was in my map room and tried to force themselves on me. I tried to fight back, even stabbed one with my pen, but it only made them angrier. T-They ripped all my clothes off and were about to...well you know, but then Hatchan came…

"You guys shouldn't be doing that."

"Come on Hachi, I haven't busted a nut in like three weeks! We promise not to hurt her too much if she plays along of course."

"I said STOP!"

The four turned around fully to see an enraged Hatchan, which was more horrifying than expected. Especially considering no one had really seen him truly mad before. The four of them probably wouldn't be able to win this fight and if they did, it was Arlong himself which they would have to answer to.

"Whatever Hachi. Never took you for a human sympathizer. "

The four slinked off to find an easier target. After they had left, Hatchan went to the side of a crying Nami.

"Are you okay?"

*sob* "J-J-Just leave m-me alone," spoke Nami through tears, curling up into the fetal position. Hatchan respected the response and left without another word…

"…And that is what happened."

Nami looked up to see Luffy reaction and if he would think less of her. What she saw was a fire behind her captain's eyes, as if someone had stepped on his hat.

"I wish I could kill them all again."

Luffy abruptly stood up and walked towards the table which his hat was perched on. He picked it up and was about to place it on his own head before walking back over to Nami and placing it on hers. Then he leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead, after he located his sword in the corner, placed the sheath on his back, and headed for the door.

"I'm going to the ship a little early. See you in a few." And with that he went out the door, leaving a flustered and flushed Nami in his wake. After a few seconds of being alone, she reached up and touched the brim of Luffy's treasure. The act brought up a warm feeling that even beat the still steaming tea in her mug.

Outside, Luffy walked away from the house and was about to head towards the Merry, but decided to go where the cliff was instead. It kinda reminded him of the cliff at his hometown and had a nice view of the ocean. As the captain made his way up there though, he noticed that the spot was already occupied. It was the man he saved from those fishmen from earlier, the one with all the stiches coving his body, sitting cross legged at a humble grave.

Luffy walked up beside Genzo and sat down as well, each one looking off into the distance. It was at least a full five minutes before someone spoke.

"Nami is going with you I take it."

"Yes."

Genzo sighed. "You make her smile and I can tell you truly care for your crew members, so I won't object to her leaving with you."

"Tha-"

"However, if you ever take away her smile, I will find and kill you."

Luffy grinned a bit and stood up. "Then you'll never have to leave this island then."

Then Luffy walked away, leaving a slightly less uneasy Genzo.

Zoro was awakened from his nap when a soft thud alerted him to another crew member coming aboard. Since Usopp and Sanji were already here and Nami was probably still saying goodbyes, it had to be the captain.

"Oi, what took you so long," asked Zoro without opening an eye.

"I was enjoying the view," responded Luffy with a bit mirth behind his words. That was much too cryptic for Zoro to try to decipher at the moment, so he didn't question any further. It wasn't as if he would have gotten to say more anything because the raven seemed to get distracted by something that wasn't yet on the horizon.

Even without opening an eye, Zoro sensed his captain's shift in demeanor and touched the hilt of Wado, sheathing and unsheathing the blade. It was maybe a minute after this that a Navy vessel appeared on the horizon, still a few miles out.

"Navy incoming. About 30 marines. I don't any of them are particularly strong though. What do you think?"

Zoro stopped his ministrations for a second and thought. "I don't think they are here to fight. Surely, they would have sent at least five battle ships if they were going to actually try to take you on. If I had to guess, I'd say that they were here to pick up that rat marine from earlier."

Luffy scanned the shore and sure enough Captain Nezumi and the three remaining marines that were still alive were signaling to the incoming ship. Looks like Zoro's intuition was spot on.

"Speak of the devil."

As the Navy ship got closer, Luffy was better able to read their auras and discerned that the marines aboard were quite fearful. Guess they must have heard about him in some way, shape, or form. Although if he already had this type of reputation, surely a bounty had been issued right? Eh, he'd find out sooner or later. Ace had a pretty high first bounty at 91,000,000 berries, so I hope I can best that.

The Navy ship finally pulled up at the shore about 200 hundred yards away from where the Going Merry was stationed on the docks. Nezumi and his men were all but carried onto the ship deck, begging the whole time to just get the hell off the island.

"Please! P-Please pull anchor and leave! We have-"

"Leaving so soon?"

Everyone on the marine ship screamed and fell to the floor. The ones holding rifles actually threw them down and placed their hands over their heads as if expecting a bombing. After realizing no attack came, they looked up to see a hatless Luffy standing on the railing of the ship. The captain of this vessel attempted to speak up, but his voice caught and died in his throat. However, he did make enough noise to catch Luffy's attention.

Finding his voice, the marine captain spoke. "I-I-I…we need to reclaim t-the Arlong P-Pirates b-bodies." Luffy's grin grew wider.

"Well why didn't you say so?" The pirate captain raised his open hand to the air as if expecting something to fall from the sky. Sure enough a small rounded object seemed to be descending from the sky, falling rather quickly until landing perfectly in Luffy's hand. Holy crap I can't believe that went so smoothly!

In his was the skull of Arlong, which he had asked Zoro to throw to him for dramatic effect before coming over here. At first, the marines believed this skull to be human and nearly shit themselves before realizing that it was clearly different. For one the teeth were way to sharp and it was much bigger than a normal humans.

"This is what's left of the Arlong Pirates. The rest are chilling at the bottom of the ocean with Arlong Park if you're interested."

Luffy then casually tossed Arlong's skull to the closest marine, who immediately fumbled and dropped it, acting as if he touched a hot stove. The rest were still frozen in fright. Saying nothing else, the Strawhat captain geppo'd back to his ship. Though it only took him a few seconds, when he looked back, the Navy ship was already in full retreat.

"Oi Luffy, where's your hat," asked Zoro, appearing have not moved from his pervious resting postion.

"At Nami's house."

"Why?"

"I woke her up this morning," replied Luffy, not lying in the least.

"And you forgot your hat?"

Luffy paused for a second. Everyone on this ship knew he wouldn't just forget his most valuable item in the world. "Nami still seemed a bit down, so I lent it to her." Not a complete lie.

The swordsman stood up and walked past Luffy towards the stairs that lead the kitchen, stopping just before reaching them. "Be careful Luffy. You're treading waters more dangerous than the Grand Line." For a split second, a wave of silent coolness went pass, following Zoro's warning. But then it was gone as quick as it came.

"Cook! When is breakfast going to be ready?!"

"It'll be done when it's done shitty swordsman," yelled Sanji through the closed kitchen doors.

For about an hour or so, the inhabitances of the Going Merry waited for the last crew member to show up. During this time, villagers came to the docks and waited to see the pirates off and to say last goodbyes to Nami.

"Uhh, when is she going to get here," sighed Usopp, ready to get back to sea. Luffy, who was currently sitting with the tangerine trees planted yesterday, sighed in boredom as well. The lack of excitement was kinda like going through withdraw, considering it had been mostly action since setting off to sea.

"Luffy! Use your Haki to see if she is on the move!"

The captain chuckled a bit. "Why don't you try using it?"

This actually got Zoro to come out of his nap and look down from the crow's nest and Sanji to perk up in the kitchen. Had Usopp already unlocked the move and surpassed them? Usopp on the other hand threw his hands up in exasperation.

"You say that every time I ask you to search for something with Haki. You know I can't use it!" Zoro and Sanji gave out a collective sigh of relief and went back to doing their respective activities. Luffy stood up and jumped to the deck next to where Usopp was standing.

"Shishishi, don't worry Usopp, she's on her way right now. See?"

The sniper turned towards the island again and squinted his eyes and sure enough, a small, fast moving, orange dot appeared in the distance. Didn't look like she had any intention of stopping too. "Why isn't she-"

"Open the sails! Open the sails!"

Luffy grinned and went to work pulling up the anchor and opening the sail, Zoro and Usopp helping as well. The small crowd suddenly became a buzz with "we have to thank you" and "she left the money!" As the girl came closer, some of the people attempted to stop her, but none succeeded. Then, at the end of the docks, she leaped impressively high and landed on the rail. Without turning around, Nami slowly lifted her shirt until it was at the top of her stomach, surprising her crewmembers and the ones in the crowd. This also happened to be the moment that Sanji peaked out kitchen because his pervert sense (type of Observation Haki that allows the user to know when a female within a 3 mile radius is getting undressed) was tingling.

Even more surprising was when a few dozen wallets fell out of the lifted shirt, causing everyone present to check their pockets. Realizing it was indeed their wallets having been taken, they began yelling good natured curses at her until the ship was too far away. It was only after the rush of adrenaline that hunger began to set in the young navigator and she asked if breakfast was ready. Amazingly, breakfast miraculously was done when Nami asked, despite it not being done when Usopp asked two minutes ago.

On the way to the door that led to the kitchen/dining area, Nami slowed and waited for Luffy to pass by. As soon as she was behind him, the orange haired girl removed his straw hat from her head and placed it on his own. Then she placed a quick kiss on his cheek before moving swiftly through the doorway.

Seeing that no one had seen, Luffy decided to act like that didn't just happen and walked in with a neutral face and took his place at the table beside Zoro and facing Usopp. Looking to the left hand corner, he noticed that Nami was still fighting back a blush from her pervious actions. Seemed like no one noticed that so whatever for now. Thinking objectively, there actually might be a problem if the others found out about this. If an argument ever broke out and he took Nami's side for logical reasons, they could say she was getting special treatment. More thought was needed.

Looking down, it appeared as if breakfast had been served. A seafood curry on top of rice, assorted sandwiches, bean sprouts, other veggies, and several types off meat. Sanji sure knew how to deliver when it came to meals. However, just as Luffy was about to inhale what was currently in front of him, Zoro asked a question that had been on everyone's mind.

"So captain, where are we headed to next?"

"We have nothing else to do in the East Blue, so I say that we head to the Grand Line from here."

Usopp butted in the conversation. "But don't we need to stock up on supplies? We won't really know what to expect in terms of places to buy things in the Grand Line."

Zoro nodded. "I also need to buy two more swords."

Nami put in her two cents. "And I need more map making materials."

Luffy scratched the back of his head knowing they were right. It was just he didn't really want to stop for discomfort in seeing a certain man. Sanji, having heard the story already, knew why the captain probably wouldn't want to head over to Loguetown. Leaving the East Blue would probably get a whole lot harder.

"You're right guys. There is no way around going to Loguetown before heading for the Grand Line. However, I want all of you to be cautious of the surroundings once we get there."

"Why," asked Usopp, a little scared now.

"Because of a certain Marine who knows my face. The Navy Captain Smoker."

A/N: I promise that next chapter will be more eventful and probably super long. I sure hope Zoro's warning isn't foreshadowing… Also to clear something up right now, Luffy isn't afraid of Smoker, so don't think that is the reason to want to avoid him.

Also, can anyone guess what Luffy's starting bounty will be?

Next Chapter: Sanji, Smoker, and Samurai part 3