Author Notes:

Zane: Shell Town, another one of those great places to visit but you wouldn't want to live there, and our heroes are about learn why.

GammaTron: And it starts with a pain in the ass daddy's boy getting spanked.

Chapter 5: "Pirate Hunter Zoro and the Shell Town Tyrant, Morgan"

Mornings were always a bad thing on a pirate ship. Especially if that ship had Brook as a crewmate.

"Yohohoho! Wake up everyone!" Brook called as he walked into the men's sleeping quarters to see all of them asleep, "Time to greet the dawn!"

Franky threw a pillow at Brook in his sleep. If Brook was still alive, his left eye would have twitched.

"And the power-tune we will be bringing you this week is that famous song, 'Black Handkerchief of Happiness!'" Brook said to an imaginary audience on the radio, "Everyone, feel free to join in!"

He pulled out his violin and began to play.

Shiroi~ hankachi~ (Oh, White Handkerchief) Mitsukaruna yatsu ni (Don't let him find you!) Nigero~ (Run away) Shiroi~ hankachi~ Tsukamaruna, tako ni (Don't let let the octopus get you!) Sore sumi da ika mo kita zo (Watch out for the ink! Look, there's a squid as well!) Mata sumi da (That's the ink aagain!) Shiroi~ hankachi~ Sumi darake shiawase no kuroi hankachi~ (It's the all inked Black Handkerchief of Happiness)

"SKELETON!" Franky roared.

"Yohohoho! This is my cue to exit, stage left!" Brook laughed as he ran off and away from the mad Cyborg.

"Does he always do that?" Max groaned as he and Koby placed their glasses on.

"Yep!" Ash laughed.

"Isn't it great that he cares so much about us that he'll wake us up for a great day of adventure?" Luffy asked with a laugh.

"PIKACHU!" (NO IT'S NOT!)

"MONFERNO!" (SCRATCH!)

Monferno pounced on Luffy and began to scratch him. Luffy screamed as he ran out followed by an enraged flaming monkey warrior. Kame yawned before going back into his shell as Charizard, who was outside on the last part of night watch, watched Franky chasing Brook around the deck.

"ALRIGHT, KOBY!" Luffy cheered, patting his new friend on the back.

"Nice job, Max, Koby," Ash said, "You got us to Shell Town easily."

Indeed, the Thousand Sunny was docking into the harbor of Shell Town's port. There wasn't must to be said to describe the place, though, save for the towering Marine fort further inland.

"You guys really need to get a Navigator," Koby stated, "One of the vital components when traveling the seas is knowing your way around them."

"Whatever," Ash replied, waving Koby off.

"Let's get something to eat," Luffy said.

Koby sweatdropped.

"Are they…" Koby began.

"Sadly yes," Max sighed.

"Now that was great!" Luffy and Ash cheered.

"Indeed," Brook, once again clouded in the gaseous form of Mi to block out rays of sunlight, nodded, wiping the remains of food from his teeth, "Excuse me."

He burped. Everyone else in the tavern stared at the group in shock.

'IS THAT SKELETON ALIVE?!' Many thought, 'AND IT EATS AND BURPS?!'

"We'll go our separate ways here," Luffy informed Max and Koby.

"Good luck with becoming Marines, you two," Franky added while giving them a thumbs-up.

"Here's some advice; when you fight, try thinking at the top of your head. Like my afro! SKULL JOOOKE!"

"SKELETON!" Franky roared, giving chase to the fleeing Yomi-Yomi no Mi consumer around the tavern.

"So what was that guy's name again?" Ash asked.

"I think it was Zoro," Luffy replied.

Instantly, everyone in the tavern screamed and ran to a corner, shaking in fear.

"Ix-nay of the Oro-Zay," Max whispered.

"I think the Marine Captain here is named Axe-Hand Morgan," Koby said.

Instantly, everyone in the tavern screamed in fear and ran to another corner, shaking in fear.

"Now that was fun!" Luffy laughed.

"Pikachu, I'm cutting you off," Ash said as he put the half-empty bottle of ketchup in his backpack.

"Pika, Pikachu?" (Why, Mister Floothy?) Pikachu asked on Ash's shoulder, his face red with an ear pointing straight down and another pointing to the right.

"You're drunk from the ketchup."

"PI-PIKACHU!" (ME NO MONK!) the Electric Mouse argued before giving a hiccup.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Koby whimpered.

"Why?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.

"I can understand why they freaked when it came to Zoro," Koby informed, "They think he'll escape and try to destroy the place."

"But…" Ash began.

"Why did they freak when you said 'Morgan?'" Max pondered as they stopped in front of two large gates with the Marine symbol (a blue seagull) on it.

"Well…This is good-bye," Koby sniffled.

"Not good-bye, so to speak, but see you later," Brook said, "Who knows. Maybe one day you'll have a face as beautiful as mine! BUT I DON'T HAVE A FACE FOR I AM A SKELETON! SKULL JOOOKE!"

"I should be used to it, but meh," Franky shrugged as he chased Brook around with a rusty pipe.

"I'm going to look for Zoro," Luffy informed as he walked off.

"Same here," Ash added, following his older brother off.

"Ah! Wait!" Koby and Max yelped, chasing the two.

"He could be deep inside of the base for all we know!" Max argued.

"Or he's right there," Luffy interrupted, currently looking over the large wall with Monferno, "I think…"

The four looked at each other before getting up there as well. Koby and Max fell off in shock.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked.

"The green harumaki…" Koby gulped.

"The black bandana…" Max paled.

"IT'S RORONOA ZORO!" both cried in fear.

Franky stopped chasing Brook and the two looked as well. In the middle of the courtyard was a cross. Tied up to it was a man around 19. He wore a white sleeveless vest with gold lining it. He had dark green pants, black boots, three gold earrings on his left hear, and two black belts with gold on them. On his neck was a pair of blue goggles. Green hair stuck out of the bottom of his black bandana, shading his eyes. He had two belts on his wait, one raised higher than the other on one side. Both were brown with gold lining them with one having the lower part of it having a gold design connecting it. He had dried blood on his body and outfit mixed in with dust and dirt. Pikachu and Monferno sniffed the air.

"Monferno…" (He smells like steel…)

"…Pi-Pikachu." (…Once you get past the smell of blood.)

"So he's Zoro, huh?" Ash asked.

"Those ropes look easy to break out of…" Luffy said.

Everyone heard something tap the wall. They turned to see a little girl climbing up a ladder. She shivered a little in fright from seeing Brook before making a sign that said for them to be quiet. She hopped over the wall and ran over to Zoro.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Zoro asked.

"I made you some Oni-Giri, Nii-san," the girl replied, showing two pink rice balls, "They're my first ones. I hope you like them."

"I'm sure he will, Rika," a voice said.

The girl and Zoro flinched as they turned their heads to see a girl around eighteen walk up. Ash, Luffy, Franky, and Max's jaws fell while Brook's jaw fell on its hinges and landed on the ground in front of the wall. The woman wore a standard Marine outfit, the white shirt, blue pants, and white and blue hat. She had aquamarine eyes and her orange hair in a tiny tail on the left side of her head.

"Rika, why are you here?" the woman asked, "You know Zoro-chan isn't allowed to eat anything until he gets out."

"I'm sorry, Onee-chan," Rika apologized, "But these were the first ones I ever made and I wanted Nii-san and you to try them."

The woman giggled as she patted the girl on the head. Rika gave the woman the one of the Oni-Giri and she hid it in a secret compartment in the cross Zoro was tied to.

"Don't worry, Rika-chan, I'll give them to him later," she smiled, but a chill ran down her and Rika's spines when they heard the sound of footsteps growing closer. He was a skinny and lanky-looking young man with light blond hair shaped like an oval on top of his head. He wore snappy violet colored uniforms with white shoes and a rubber band ring on his left hand.

"Well, well," the man sneered, flanked by two Marine grunts, "You'll give what to who now?"

"Helmeppo," she growled, subconsciously moving in front of Rika as if to protect her.

"You'd better be talking about giving Zoro here a hard lesson about taking food from strangers when he's not allowed a crumb," Helmeppo chided, his glance falling on the cowering Rika and the remaining rice ball in her hand. In a swift motion, he swiped it from her and took a bite. The next instant, though, he gagged and spat the chunk he bit out onto the ground, and then repeatedly stomped on it.

"Disgusting!" he shrieked, despite Rika's crying. "That thing was way too sweet! You're supposed to make Oni-Giri with salt, not sugar! Misty, throw her over the fence now!"

"What!? That's just going too far!" the woman, Misty, called back.

Helmeppo responded by pointing at a nearby signpost with the Marine insignia on it, "'By order of Captain Morgan, this man is not to be approached or given food, water, or any other form of aid for one month,'" he read from the sign, "'Disobeying this law is a crime warranting in public execution. Signed, Marine Captain Morgan.' Just by setting foot in this courtyard, she defied my daddy's order, and practically sealing her certificate of death. I'm being the merciful one here by letting her off with just a few scrapes and bruises. Or maybe I should let daddy know about this little incident and see if he's in a more merciful mood."

"…Sorry about doing this, Rika, but rules are rules," the woman apologized as she picked Rika up.

"That's okay, Onee-chan," Rika forced a smiled.

She then tossed Rika over the wall from the spot she was standing at. Brook jumped into the air and caught Rika before landing on his feet.

"Good thing I'm just bones," Brook said, "Are you okay, little girl?"

Rika gave a small sound of fear as she shook like mad.

"So you know Onee-chan?" Rika asked as the group sat in a tavern.

"Yeah. She's the first friend I made when I went on a Pokemon Journey a few years back," Ash replied, "I kinda…well…"

"Ash and Pikachu destroyed her bike when they were running away from a flock of Spearow," Luffy, Brook, and Franky interrupted/finished for him, all three having heard the story more than a few times.

"So why is Misty working here?" Max asked.

"You see…It's my fault Onee-chan and Nii-san are there," Rika replied with guilty look forming on her face, "Captain Morgan's son was letting his ravenous wolf out. It attacked me and Nii-san and Onee-chan killed it with a sword and a hammer. Nii-san said he would go for a month without food and tied up while Nee-chan agreed to work there for a month in trade of the captain's son not telling his father to not kill anyone."

"The only bad guys here are Morgan and his son," Franky frowned with a snort, pausing in his drink of cola.

"Everyone is afraid of going against Captain Morgan for risk of being killed," Rika said.

"Then Brook has no problem," Ash joked.

"Ash-san~!" Brook whined, tears coming from his sockets as he was in a blue corner in fetal position, "That's my joke~!"

"Eh-heh-heh-heh...Gomen nassai," Ash sweatdropped.

"Who dares raises his head? I'll tell my daddy!" a voice laughed with a snort outside.

The group looked to see two Marines, one being Misty, and Helmeppo.

"Do you wanna be like Roronoa Zoro?" the man asked, "I'm going publicly execute him in three days as an example of going against me and my daddy!"

"Why that no good…" Franky growled as Misty looked at Helmeppo in shock.

"..." Ash and Luffy walked outside.

"Didn't you say you'd give Zoro a month before letting him and that girl on your left go?" Luffy asked, pointing at Misty.

'Ash? Luffy?' Misty pondered, 'They're here?'

"Oh please, that was just a lie," the man replied, puffing his cheeks as he laughed, "I'll let her go, but I'm still going to kill Zoro."

Luffy and Ash slammed their fists into his face, sending him into the wall of a building.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Misty barked, whacking the both of them on the head before whispering, "About time someone struck him."

"I'M TELLING MY DADDY ON YOU TWO!" the boy shouted.

The male Marine ran off, carrying the threat-shouting boy, with Misty, who secretly winked at the two.

"WHAT DID YOU TWO JUST DO?!" Franky demanded.

"I've made up my mind," Luffy replied, "Zoro and Misty will be our nakama."