A/N: I realized I didn't give a timeline for this story. Since we don't know what all is going to happen at Dressrosa, and there's a lot more complication involving Law and all the alliance stuff in the story, this will be set after they resurface from Fishman Island.
The next day was one of the rare days that it didn't rain on Arasai. It was still overcast, however, and the occasional low, long rumble of thunder still echoed across the sky. Gabriel decided to pass by the Marine training base located in the city. He partially transformed to his Angel of Life form, leaving out the halo and wearing sunglasses to prevent anyone from noticing his glowing eyes in order to avoid suspicion. So far, the Marines knew of his regular form, his Angel of Death form, and his Angel of Prophecies form. All three were featured on his wanted poster. But, due to never using it in battle, the Marines were still unaware of his Angel of Life form. Gabriel took advantage of this whenever near Marines in order to remain unnoticed.
The Marine training base had hundreds of wanted posters pinned to its northern wall next to its gate. Some, like his, were left alone, since he was not part of any organization. Others were grouped with many other posters, which usually meant they were either organizations or a pirate crew. The leaders of the organization or the captains of the crew were always posted a little higher than the other posters in order to signify their rank so that that Marines would know who was most dangerous from the organizations and pirate crews. The total crew's or organization's bounty was listed above the leader. Gabriel often passed by the base in order to find out more about various pirate crews that he could potentially join. He started doing so more often lately, due to his newfound desire to permanently join a crew.
One particular group stood out to Gabriel for two reasons. First of all, it was a rather small group, yet it still had a considerably large total bounty. Second of all, the leader, a man named Monkey D. Luffy, was wearing a straw hat, which made Gabriel remember the Jolly Roger that he had seen on the pirate ship from the night before. He began thinking. He was pretty sure he had heard the name Luffy before.
'Luffy…Luffy…I know I've heard that name before. Where was it?!' he wondered.
Then it hit him. Straw Hat Luffy. He had heard the name multiple times before. He was one of the 11 Supernovas, he was the one who defeated Crocodile, he was the one who openly declared war on the World Government, he was the one who wreaked havoc on all three pillars of the World Government, he was the one who punched a Tenryubito, and he was the one who fought for Fire Fist Ace's freedom in the Whitebeard War. He had even heard that his war declaration was solely for one of his crew members. That sounded very Whitebeard-like. And the wanted poster sure made him look very cheery. Gabriel wondered if, possibly, this could be the crew that he could join. And, luckily, he had seen their ship just the night before on its way to this island. It seemed like destiny was telling him to join their crew. He would have to try to find them once they docked and see if he found them to be a good enough crew to be his permanent nakama. He began to look at the other members of the crew to see who his possible future nakama looked like.
'A reindeer? That's…interesting. Why is that poster so much older? Nico Robin?! Dang, they've got someone like her in their crew? Wow. Sogeking? Why's he in a mask? Surely that's not his real name. Dang, that redhead is sexy!'
Then Gabriel burst out laughing at the drawing labeled Sanji. He wondered if he really looked anything like that. Surely a guy wouldn't have such a weird looking eyebrow. And why did they draw him with a cigarette in his mouth? Surely it would have been easier to do so without one.
As Gabriel continued to look at the various crew members, his desire to meet them all increased. The few that he had heard about beforehand, Robin, Luffy, and Zoro, were all exceptionally dangerous people. Gabriel wondered if he would even be able to keep up. Also, many of them looked rather cheerful and laid back. They seemed like they could very well be a crew that he could feel comfortable with for the rest of his career as a pirate.
So, as he had nothing to do until the Straw Hat crew arrived, he decided to do some training. He had been trying to create a new form that would be similar to his Angel of Death form, but more defensive. It would hopefully increase his speed and strength, not to the same degree of the Angel of Death form, but increase his durability and resistance to pain to a large degree like Tekkai of the Rokushiki Martial Arts. He was also hoping to work in the wingless flight that he got in his Angel of Life form, but that was very difficult.
"Land!" Luffy shouted excitedly from his ship on top of the lion figurehead.
Nami looked through the binoculars and found the port on the island.
"Turn the rudder ten degrees to starboard! Hoist up the sails!" she demanded, and immediately, the ship was alive with activity.
"This thunder rumbles my bones! Yohohoho!" Brook said as thunder rolled through the sky as they continued toward the port.
"Wait, there's a Marine ship docked here. We should probably try to find a secluded area to drop anchor instead of docking in port," Sanji said as he noticed the Marine ship in port.
"Unfurl the sails again. Hard to starboard! We'll bank around the side of the island and try to find a wooded, secluded area to drop anchor by," Nami said, and again Usopp, Sanji, Luffy, and Zoro went to work doing what she had said.
Gabriel lay on the ground in his normal training area. He had always trained in a wooded area near the shore. It was very secluded and no one else had ever showed up when he had trained there in the past, so he continued to use it as a training spot. He had been working on the transformation for a couple of hours, and hadn't gotten anywhere, but was exhausted and laying on the ground, covered in sweat.
As he lay there, looking up at the gray, gloomy sky, he heard a loud splash not too far away. Assuming it came from the shore, and that someone was dropping anchor there instead of docking at the town's port, he figured that a pirate crew was about to wonder into his clearing. He quickly transformed into his Angel of Life form, flew up into a very thick area of vegetation, and then reverted back to his human form. He watched the clearing quietly, waiting for the pirate crew to walk through, wondering if it could be the Straw Hats. Suddenly, a red and blue streak flew through the clearing, leaving behind an echo.
"MEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" echoed all around the clearing.
Gabriel couldn't help laughing a bit as he continued to watch the clearing, not sure who in the world had just sprinted through the clearing at such blazing speed. Soon, two others came walking through the clearing. The sexy redhead Gabriel had seen in the wanted posters, and what he assumed had been the man that was drawn for a wanted poster. The drawing had been highly over exaggerated, but the man's eyebrow was oddly curled. He was smoking at the moment. Maybe he did that a lot, hence the cigarette drawn in the wanted poster. He was wearing a very nice three-piece suit, all black with a silver tie. While Gabriel thought his eyebrow was weird and wasn't a huge fan of smoking, he had to admit that this person had good taste in clothes.
'I wonder if he wears suits all the time like I do…' Gabriel wondered.
"Nami-swaaaaan, I need more than that for cooking supplies," the blonde man, Sanji if Gabriel remembered correctly, whined.
"No! If I give you more than the 10,000 beli share, how am I supposed to buy more clothes?!" Nami (Gabriel had made dang sure he remembered her name) replied.
"But if you give me more, I can make even more and better food for you and Robin-chan!" Sanji said, hopefully.
Nami seemed to think about this for a while, but still refused. Sanji pouted as they disappeared under the thick vegetation. A group of two, Nico Robin and the reindeer, followed. The reindeer looked very different than his wanted poster. Instead, he looked more like an actual reindeer now, though he still had a large hat on, but it was slightly different. They were chatting about various books they could buy while in town. Soon after they passed, they were followed by a very odd group of three. An extremely tall skeleton with a large afro and dressed very exuberantly, a cyborg with blue hair that was also extremely tall, and the long-nosed guy from the wanted posters. They were chatting animatedly and making jokes. Soon after they passed, Gabriel expected the last Straw Hat, assuming the first was Luffy, to come. But Roronoa Zoro never passed. Gabriel guessed he must have stayed behind to guard the ship.
Gabriel jumped back out into his clearing, where he would have more space for his wings, and transformed into his Angel of Prophecies form, and headed back towards the center of the town. From how they had acted as they headed towards town, Gabriel already started liking the Straw Hats. Luffy apparently loved meat, a sentiment that Gabriel could definitely relate to. And Sanji apparently loved suits, since his drawing had also been wearing a suit. This was another sentiment that Gabriel could relate to. He also always wore suits. He preferred darker suits like black, very dark blue, and a dark charcoal gray, with various shirt colors and a tie that fit well with the coat he was wearing. Of course, the colors changed when he reverted to his different Zoan forms, but they always reverted back when he changed back to his human form. He usually very carefully cut holes in the back of his shirts before reverting to his Angel of Prophecies form in them so that the wings didn't rip the shirts, and he kept his coat unbuttoned most of the time so that it also wouldn't rip from his wings.
Gabriel, although he knew he shouldn't since he hadn't even met them yet, was already starting to get excited about possibly joining the Straw Hat Crew. The Log Pose for Arasai set in a very short three days, but Gabriel had always been able to easily make friends in the pirates' short times on the island before joining them. The Straw Hats seemed to be the kind of crew that would also be easy to befriend. The only problem was that the Marines from the day before were still all over the place on the island. Also, while eavesdropping in his Angel of Prophecies form the night before, he heard that the marines had also noticed the Straw Hats on their way to the island, and had called for three more warships accompanied by a captain, a commodore, a rear admiral, and a vice admiral. So, apparently, soon the island would be swarmed with Marines, which might cause the Straw Hats to spend a large amount of time on their ship. This would prevent Gabriel from being able to befriend them.
Gabriel landed on top of the hotel he was staying at. He knew the owner really well, so he got to stay there at a very low price, which was helpful. He had earned a lot of loot from the pirates he had defeated, but he typically blew it all rather quickly on suits (he had very expensive taste in his suits; he preferred the finest silk) and upkeep on his katana, which he took very good care of since he considered it one of his most valuable treasures. As he stood on top of the hotel, just as he was about to revert back into his human form and get something to eat and hopefully coincidentally run into one of the Straw Hats, he saw, probably about 30 miles from shore, the three Marine warships. He quickly flew to the shore and squinted his eyes to see if he could tell who was on the ships. They were arranged in a v, and he saw the three officials on the front ship. Standing at the bow, looking very ready to hunt some pirates, were Captain Tashigi, Commodore Yarisugi, Rear Admiral Sicily, and Vice Admiral Smoker.