Hi again!

New changes! I figured out the Strawhats are little too young, so I add few years to them. It goes like this Zoro, Sanji – 20 years, Nami - 18, Usopp – 17, and lastly Chopper - 15 years. The others stay the same age.

Beta'd by ninjabunny11

lany-chan – of course canon Sanji would be jealous! He finally gets his photo on his bounty poster! At first I was tempted to have Sanji the same picture, but he was in the marines HQ, it would be weird if the marines didn't have his photo. Really shame thought.

Cinnamon-Fudg3 – don't worry about it and thanks for saying so as always.

I'm also grateful there weren't any negative comments on the number of bounty. So thanks people, you're the best!

Last time:

"This is some article. To actually go and compare you to us from the beginning is a little too much yoi. Don't take it the wrong way, you have all potential and you're strong, but our Pops is considered the strongest man in the whole world," I said to her.

"After the guys get their hands on this, they'll probably start asking to spar with you and your crew, yoi," not knowing what else I could say.

Zoro's POV

"I'm not lost, dammit! It's just the rooms that keep moving!" I shouted, annoyed.

The two pirates gave disbelieving gazes and continued to drag me to the kitchen. "Yes, you're clearly not lost, and that's why you walked at least 10 times around us. Even thought we were in a dead end."

We finally made it to the 'commanders' table' as they called it. My nakama were already here, sans curly-brow (not that I cared about him), together with Izo, Haruta, and Marco. To my chagrin, they had heard my conversation.

"That's Zoro for you!" Luffy said, looking thoughtful (which was never a good sign). "I often wonder if he ate the Lost Lost fruit or something, but he can still swim…" My crew (the jerks) started openly laughing, while the Whitebeard commanders glanced at them, bewildered.

"I wasn't lost! How many times I need to say it? The others just keep giving me the wrong directions!" I yelled, irritated.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Nami said, waving it off. "Thanks for finding Zoro," she just had to add to the pirates next to me.

"I wasn't lost!" I yelled one more time, the others ignoring me as they started eating while the commanders shook their heads.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Izo asked. "You're a crew of such haphazard personalities, and sometimes I have to wonder if you get along. Why do you sail together?" I looked at him, considering his words.

"Your own crew isn't ordinary either, if I may say so," Robin said with that secretive smile of hers. "But I understand what you mean. We've received this kind of reaction many times."

I pulled up a chair and leaned against it, propping my feet onto the table. "Someone once said that from the outside, we don't appear to have any teamwork, since everyone moves independently from the Captain. That might seem like a problem, but… What does 'teamwork' really mean, anyway? Is it just about rescuing and protecting each other? To me, that sounds like kids playing around. Everyone should do what they can with their lives on the line and then say to the next guy: 'I did what I could. Now it's your turn. If you don't finish it, I'll come kick your ass'. And that's something you can count on with this crew. Especially with a Captain like Luffy leading the way," I said, giving my opinion. The rest of our crew nodded. Chopper especially was staring at me with a starry-eyed smile, and I smirked, knowing that he'd remembered our conversation back in Alabasta.

"This is just how we work," Nami chimed in. "Everyone has their own talents. We have different hobbies, personalities, and dreams, and that makes us who we are. To someone else, we may appear to be a bunch of strangers on the same ship, but along our travels, our dreams have become one and the same. If someone went and accomplished their dream, it would be meaningless until all of us accomplished ours as well. Take Zoro, for example."

"You completed your dream? What was it?" Haruta voiced what the other commanders were probably thinking. I didn't feel like satisfying their curiosity, so I just replied with, "Yeah, I did."

Whitebeard's POV

I talked with Kingdew and Curiel about Hand Island. They were to scout the island before we anchored the ship. Sabo came in the middle of the discussion, saying that Luffy had taken him there and they had already made a mess. Well, mainly Luffy did; he had simply "obtained" some secret documents about the giant cannon that the marine base had. Yes, had. By the look of things, Luffy had destroyed it. Sabo had taken the blueprints to prevent the marines from building another dangerous weapon. He had also found some documents on one devil fruit the marines seemed interested in: the Yami Yami no Mi.

So I had to talk with the two commanders again and make a complete change of plans. After the chaos on the island, who knew how people would react when they saw us, especially the marines. I never thought there would be an even bigger trouble magnet than Ace, yet Luffy had exceeded my expectations. And I wasn't even talking about how she managed to get my crew to like her. It would certainly be entertaining to have her on board for another month.

"Are you sure this is true?" I asked her, not wanting to believe that one of my sons could be so rotten to the core.

"I told you before that I can't be sure of the reliability of this information," she said. "I can only confirm it when I meet with him" I stared at her, waiting for her to continue. "My DF powers allow me to tell what kind of person you are. Friend or foe. Loyal or traitorous." I thought about it. That would surely prove whether Teach was guilty or not. But… "I know you have no reason to believe my claims. I'm only asking for a meeting with this person. Whether you listen to me or not is your decision."

"Very well. I will allow you to meet with him, but answer this. Why do you care?" I asked my final question.

"If the reports are true, he could mean big trouble in the future. I would rather find out now, before he betrays you and make a big mess of things. I may be a pirate, but I hate when people get betrayed by their nakama," she said seriously; the cheeky brat.

I made my decision. "Teach is not on the ship right now. He should be back in a month. You can stay with us for the time being, I'm sure your brothers would appreciate it."

"Kay, Pops." she said and I raised an eyebrow at her choice of my name. "If we're to stay here, it's easier to call you like this. Besides Ace and Sabo call you that." I laughed and took a swig of my sake as she left.

Haruta's POV

We were talking with the Strawhats over dinner when Sanji and Thatch made their way over to the tables. "Where were you two?" I asked them.

"We were in the kitchen. You have one hell of a cook, Luffy." Thatch said with a whistle.

"You're not so bad yourself, and you have some interesting recipes," Sanji said to him in return. We gaped at the cooks; Thatch never shared his recipes with other cooks. He must have really liked the kid.

"Right back at you. It's obvious you picked them up from all over the Grand Line," Thatch said, laughing.

Luffy suddenly jumped from her seat. "Right! Zoro, Sanji! I almost forgot! Today's news coo brought your new bounties. I wanted to tell you sooner, but couldn't find you. Marco, do you still have them?"

"Yeah, I've been holding onto them; you vanished before I could give them to you." he said and handed the bounties to each respective person.

"The hell! Why do you have a bigger bounty than me?! You're just a shitty swordsman!" Sanji cried out once he saw his and Zoro's posters.

"It's not my fault you spent all day lazing around with marines. If you had wrecked some ships like those of us in the New World… Who am I kidding, like you could do that." Zoro said to him and they started another argument… with swords and kicks…

"Oh, my… I looked like a model here. It's nice!" Nami said happily before exclaiming, "Wait, that's not nice! I have a bounty on my head! The bounty-hunters are going to come snapping at my heels! Luffy, this is all your fault!" Nami cried out, depressed.

Robin chuckled. "It's nice to see they updated my poster," which caused Nami to be more depressed.

"That's not the only thing updated," the ginger mumbled.

It went on like this for a while, and I wasn't sure if it was safe to walk over to the group. It was killing me; I wanted to see their bounty posters too! I saw Luffy contently looking at her nakama, so I made a move to ask her. "What is your bounty, Luffy?" and like that there was silence, everyone wondering the same thing.

"Luffy's is quite the case. We might have some problems in the future with people wanting her head." Marco said this chuckling and I glanced at him. He seemed to be enjoying this.

The silence was broken when Namur came into the room. He noted the chaos in the room, turning to the nearest bounty and reading it aloud. "Pirate Hunter Roronoa wanted for… 625.000.000 beli?!" he cried out, completely surprised. "What the hell have you done?"

"Wow Zoro, you have such impressive bounty! I only have 28.000.000 beli." Chopper said with stars in eyes before quickly turning depressed.

Zoro calmed him down. "Don't worry Chopper. I'm sure it'll go up with time."

"Besides, the marines see you as a SUPER pet and SUPER doctor, not a fighter. When they come to know how strong you are, it'll be as high as ours. So don't worry Chopper!" Franky added and Chopper blushed, calling Franky names while doing what I had quickly come to recognize as his 'happy dance'.

"Wheew, who did you kill to get so much. You have a bigger amount on your head then some commanders," Thatch said, amazed.

"So, how does it feel to be a captain with a lower bounty then your crew-mates?" asked Namur in a challenging tone. Was he still mad at her for being rude? He should have known by now that it was part of her personality and she wasn't trying (purposely) to get on our nerves.

"Don't make fun of Luffy!" Chopper shrieked, and the rest of the Strawhats turned to Namur with anger in their eyes. Obviously, they didn't care about her reward. They would probably tease her later about it, but they were family and that something only family could do. Meanwhile, Luffy frowned.

"If you don't like me, then just say it. Don't beat around the bush." she said, looking Namur in the eye.

"Fine. I don't like you. You're just some weak little girl and I don't get why people like them are following you. It's clear that at least the cook and swordsman are strong. But you are rude to people and you don't show respect to others. I can't comprehend how someone like Ace and Sabo can be related to you!" he yelled at her with anger.

I tensed up for three reasons. First: the things he yelled at Luffy. Second: Ace and Sabo had woken up and were making their way to Namur with a very murderous look. Third: Luffy was smiling, and it was a bright smile with dangerous edge that had her brothers stop in their tracks.

"Ace, Sabo. Please stay out of this. I don't want you to fight your crewmates because of me. Besides it wouldn't change anything," she said to them and they nodded.

"So what? Are you saying you're going to fight me? Don't come back crying to me if you have some boo-boos," Namur taunted. I could see Ace, Sabo and Marco stiffen. It was obvious they didn't like the way he talked to her. They weren't the only ones.

Ace's POV

When Sabo and I finally woke up from our sleep attack, we instantly noticed that Luffy was nowhere to be found. Then our stomachs grumbled and we realized it was dinner time. With that, we came into the mess hall, knowing Luffy would be there. What we didn't expect was the little speech Namur said to her as we came inside.

I was ready to pummel him for talking like that about our little sister. Sabo, ever the calm one, looked ready to kill him. Maybe Marco was right, saying that we have a sister complex, I thought before dismissing it. That was when we saw Luffy's smile, her hat covering her eyes. We gulped; she was downright pissed, and that never ended well. I wondered what made her so angry. She wasn't one to get angry just because someone called her weak. She would simply laugh it off.

After Luffy and Namur agreed to fight each other, I grabbed some food and went back to the deck to watch the spectacle. Sabo and I had grown up with Luffy, so we knew that she was strong. I may have made fun of Luffy sometimes, but I never underestimated her. She had been strong even we were brats.

Now, after years of training with Jii-chan and the other marines, she was probably on a completely different level.

But Namur is one of the commanders. I couldn't help but feel anxious. Rumors of the match had quickly circulated through the ship and everyone was already on the deck, waiting in anticipation. They were all wondering about how strong Luffy was. Pops was watching, curious as well.

The two got into their fighting stances and we made a wide circle around them. Pops was made a referee, but that only meant he would announce the start and end of the fight. There was no point in trying to enforce any other rules among the Whitebeard pirates.

"Oi, Luffy! Don't overdo it," Zoro yelled and I translated it as 'Good luck'. Luffy nodded in understanding.

"Okay, stop the bets," Pops shouted. "Namur, Luffy, this is a no-rules, no-holds-barred fight. The first one to go down, loses. Begin."

The second he said it, Namur lunged at Luffy. She didn't move; she just watched him as he made his way to her in blink of an eye. "LUFFY!" Sabo and I yelled, trying to warn her or get her moving, anything.

Namur was a hair's breadth away from touching her and she smirked and vanished, reappearing behind him, kicking him in the back and sending him flying. "If you want to fight me, at least take it seriously," she said to him and I gaped. I hadn't even seen her move.

"Could you follow her movements? I didn't see anything," Sabo said and got many shakes of the head.

"Zoro, Sanji, and our Captain have often been dubbed as the monster trio, for being an unstoppable team in battle," Robin added, her eyes shining with absolute trust in her Captain. "But that doesn't mean they are any less strong when they are not fighting together. Luffy will be fine by herself, so you don't have to worry about her. You would be insulting Luffy by underestimating her."

"It seems you're not just talk. This was quite a punch you gave me." Namur said, getting up from a pile of rubble.

"With a single punch, she managed to damage the ship. I can see why she didn't want to fight here. The shipwrights will have my head for not stopping this, yoi," Marco said lazily.

Namur started using Water Shots to try and hit her, but he kept missing. No, not missed; she moved so she wouldn't get hit. They quickly moved to close combat next, exchanging and blocking blows. After a while, they jumped away from each other. Namur's breathing was a little faster and Luffy had drops of sweat on her forehead.

Neither had escaped every punch as Namur had bruises on his arms and legs. Luffy looked fine, if you didn't count the bleeding scratch on her cheek. Otherwise she seemed like always, but with how fast they were fighting, I wasn't sure if it was the only injury she had. Also, thanks to Luffy's powers, she could have already healed from some hits already. It was only a matter of time before her cheek healed as well.

There was whistling and clapping, all for the show the two were making. "You're a pretty good fighter," Luffy said, obviously having a good time. "You're strong and precise, though the Water Shots you did earlier could use some improvement."

"Luffy, don't compliment your opponent in the middle of the fight," Ussop scolded.

"What's wrong with complimenting your opponent if they deserve it? I do it all the time," said Zoro, with some of the Strawhats nodding in agreement

"It seems I need to take back what I said. You're strong," Namur said, which made Luffy furious for some reason. She went to punch him in the stomach with Haki. Namur had his breath knocked out from him.

"I don't care if you call me strong or not. But you insulted my nakama, calling them stupid for following me as a captain! And you said Ace and Sabo couldn't possibly be related to me!"

There was a stunned silence; this we weren't expecting. Namur wasn't either.

"She's right, somewhat," Marco mused out loud. "Namur never said outright that the Strawhats were stupid, but he made it clear with his words. And the other thing he did say."

Pops started laughing. "It seems like you owe her an apology, my son." Namur looked chagrined, bowing his head in apology.

"You're forgiven then, but don't insult my nakama again, or next time I'll fight you seriously," Luffy said, completely satisfied, and walked toward the mess hall, most likely so she could eat. The Strawhats following behind her, chatting merrily.

We stood dumbfounded. "She wasn't fighting seriously?!" Thatch numbly repeated. "It seem like the little sister of the monsters is an even bigger monster."

"Yeah, she's almost as scary as Jii-chan when she acts like this," said Sabo and I had to agree with him. What the hell had the marines taught her?!

"Just who is this Jii-chan? You two never speak about your family, other than your fathers, and that was only once." asked Izo.

I smiled grimly. "Jii-chan adopted me when I was little, then later Sabo when he started living with Dadan, our caretaker."

"He's a marine, so he wanted us to become marines as well," Sabo continued, rather distressed. "He got pretty mad every time we told him we wanted to be pirates. I was wondering why he never paid us a visit these past few years. I'm starting to think Luffy was behind it. But now there's nothing to stop him. I have no doubt he'll come after Luffy and us any day now."

"If he's a marine, he won't come here. He would have to be insane to talk with you in the presence of Pops, especially if he's a marine." said Marco, and I would have really liked to agree with him.

"That won't stop him. So be ready to meet another member of our crazy family," I said and headed after Luffy.

"Oi, won't you tell us who it is?" yelled Haruta and Sabo answered behind me, "And ruin the surprise? No way!"

Sabo's POV

I sat at the table to the left of Luffy, while Ace sat on her right. It was then I noticed the bounty poster on the table. I smiled when I saw it was Luffy's, but quickly growled. Why did the marines have to pick a picture of her that looked so sexy? Now, not only would the marines and bounty-hunters would want to capture her for the bounty, the perverts would want her as well! And who knew what they would do with her photo?!

I smelled something burning. "Ace, stop the flames. The chair is catching on fire!" Marco said to him and the flames went out. Thatch helped out and threw water at Ace. I was about to scold him too, but my eyes stopped at the number on the poster.

I choked on air. Everyone looked at me, most likely taking in my shocked face and my eyes popping out of my sockets. Then I yelled. "960.000.000 BELI!" They were thrown back by my sudden yell, but not understanding why exactly I was screaming such a number. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO, LUFFY!" Ace looked at the poster, already knowing what I was yelling about, but not wanting to believe it. Then he started yelling too.

"WHAT THE FUCK LUFFY?!" Ace's yell could probably be heard even in East Blue.

"It's not like she doesn't deserve it," said Marco, already used to our outcries. "She defected from the marines and she's responsible for taking down Enies Lobby, punching a Tenryuubito, and setting Mariejois on fire. Those last few stunts must have made the Celestial Dragons angry, so it's no wonder they want her a lot. Besides, all of us saw her fight with Namur. It's obvious that if it went on, Luffy would have won."

"I know," I said, "her crew told us the stories. But 960.000.000 beli on her head as a first bounty?! That's just crazy!" Everyone (sans Marco and Luffy) did a double-take at my words. Then there were yells of 'the fuck, she IS dangerous' and 'are the marines crazy'.

The yelling woke me up a little and I was slowly calming down, but I still wanted answers. Why would marines give her such a big bounty? Even if she did all of this, it felt a little off.

"That old geezer!" Ace suddenly hissed, and everyone turned their attention to him.

"You think so too, Ace?" Luffy gently asked, smiling at him. The rest of us just dumbly stared. What the hell were they talking about?

"It would make sense. Besides, it sounds just like him to say such things in a fit of anger." Ace rubbed his forehead and I could almost feel the light bulb appearing over my head.

"What are you guys talking about? Is there something more than these 'stunts' or what?" asked Thatch.

"Yeah," Luffy answered, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her fists. "Like Ace, I guess you could say I carry the blood of a 'demon,' as the marines would call it. But I won't tell you who he is. I want it to be a surprise the next time we see Jii-chan. Hmm… I wonder if Uncle would come as well….?"

"Don't even joke about it, Luffy!" Nami punched Luffy upside the head for good measure. "Your Jii-chan's crazy and I don't want to deal with another so called 'uncle'!"

"Uncle? I didn't know we had an uncle," I asked my little sister and she grinned.

"Yup, he's a cool ossan. Thought I'm not sure he would let you call him 'uncle'. I like him a lot, he looks lazy all the time and naps, like Zoro!"

"OI!"

"Because of him, being at Marineford wasn't so bad, you know. He even gave me presents on my birthday. I hope he comes soon; he promised he would bring that," she pouted; I wondered who was this stranger and what that was.

"Well, I think some of us have had enough excitement for one day. Tomorrow, the Second and Fourth divisions will be going on the island for provisions, and the First will be on standby," Pops said, ending our discussion. He was right; it had gotten pretty late.

Ace and I sighed, knowing what was in store of us. After all, Luffy liked to use us as her personal pillow, as we had found the previous two nights. Though I liked cuddling together like the old times, the mornings were hard on me. And in more ways than one, if you know what I mean. Ace and I were only lucky that Luffy was so oblivious and innocent, otherwise I would have to worry for my health.