Author's Notes: Yes, yes, I am very very aware about how late this chapter is. Honestly though, I have had to go through a lot of school work. However, I was able to get this chapter completed at last. I know this one isn't much, though it does help to eventually help set up more in the future. With that being said, please enjoy:

Chapter 24: Going Merry vs. X-ecutioner

"Surprised?" Crump asked.

"Almost as surprised to see that this story's finally continuing." Eddy groaned.

"Though I didn't imagine I would ever see you again, Double D." Crump said, standing tall and proud on top of his ship as it loomed over the tiny little pirate vessel. "I was certain that the incident on the moon would be the last time we would even see one another again. But just four years later, this battle is still going on. What's with that?"

"You two know each other?" Robin asked curiously.

"Yes yes, he's Lord Crump. He was Groudus's right-hand man and one of the worst villains we faced." Double D said.

"So he's a bad guy?" Luffy asked.

"Quite."

"I've faced worse." Eddy said.

"He looks like nothing special." Usopp said boldly, while controversially backing away.

"Nothing, am I?" Crump asked. "How can you say that while my ship is here? How can you say that when you're faced against an amazing army that will sink that pathetic ship?"

"I don't get it." Adelle stated from standing far away on her father's boat. "Who's that?"

Snowhill stood aside his daughter, with a serious, but confused expression all the same. "I'm not quite sure."

The Sergeant began to walk toward the door of the ship that led inside.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to steer Battleship 9 toward land. We might be able to get a better view of this over there."

She watched as he walked back inside of his ship, and then turned back to see the pirate ship and the battle ship in the background, starring in awe.

"What does it feel like to be trapped hopelessly?" Crump asked. "Does it burn?"

"Man, what a egomaniac." Eddy sighed.

Double D glanced on the side of the ship. A single word was written on the side: "X-ecutioner." The sock-hated boy looked up, peering at Crump. "I don't get it. Groudus was defeated, the Shadow Queen is gone, and 4 years passed. What in the world do the X-nauts want now?"

The crew of X-nauts on the top of the ship all gave confused stares at one another. A few of them began to whisper amongst themselves.

"Who do they keep calling X-Nauts?"

"I don't know."

"What kind of people would call themselves X-nauts?"

"That's us, you dummies!" Crump shouted angrily.

"It is?" one of the soldiers on the deck asked.

"…what are they, stupid?" Zoro asked from his ship.

"NO!" Crump shouted. "They can't remember anything, thanks to you jerks!"

Luffy gave a confused look. "What'd we do?"

"NOT YOU!" Crump shouted. "THEM!" He pointed to where Eddy, Double D, and Goombella shouted. "Them and their good for nothing friends!"

"We did something?" Eddy asked.

"I can't remember." Goombella asked. "What did we do?"

Double D shrugged. "I don't know."

"I'll tell ya what you did!" Crump shouted. "It was a dark day, and that sock-hat-wearing-fire-face-loser was just about to attack…"

FLASHBACK

As Double D hovered above them all, his hands began to shake. He growled even louder and they formed into fists. His legs, not responding, shook as well. It looked as though his entire body was filled with blind rage.

Suddenly, around him, a small cyclone of flames appeared. Dancing lights and sparks encircling him as he gave out a shout.

"Fire… it's appearing around him before he cast a spell." Vivian thought.

"For this to come to pass, he must be filled with complete anger." Rolf thought. He gripped the floor.

"Dad…" Eduardo jr thought.

"Brace yourselves!" Mario shouted. The heroes gasped and all stayed low.

The flames reflected off Groudus's glasses. "…Troops! This is a waste! Retreat for the Shadow Queen's crypt!"

All of them began to rush into the dark passage.

Double D shouted again. His voice was now distorted.

"INCINERATE!"

Every bit of flames that surrounded him erupted. An enormous amount of fire shot in all directions. All of the unfortunate soldiers who didn't escape where hit instantly. The flames continued down the passageway, taking out all of the soldiers. Groudus, in the middle of descending a staircase. He turned around and saw the wave of fire taking out the troops behind him. He held out his scepter as a last resort to protect himself.

Though he wasn't burned by the flames, he began to fly down the remainder of the staircase. He gave a loud shout as his large body crashed through a red door at the base of the stairs.

Marie looked at the door. She saw it burst open abruptly. She gave a shouted as Groudus flew in screaming. He hit the red carpet on the floor, coming to an immediate halt.

Eddy's smaller body, unable to take the inertia of the landing, broke free of Groudus. He spiraled across the chamber until he smashed into a wall. His apparently limp body landed in a sitting position, leaning against the cold stone wall. His arms and legs fell limp in his position, how a doll would look if sitting. His head turned to the side.

END FLASHBACK

"So these are the same troops we fought in the Palace of Shadow." Double D spoke.

"What's the Palace of Shadow?" One of the X-nauts asked.

"See?!" Crump asked. "That attack on them did a lot of damage to them. They all were nearly killed! They were lucky that they didn't die, even if their memories were erased!"

"I'm sorry." Double D said. "But you brought all of your troops all the way across the galaxy just to come after me?"

"Yes, I have!" Crump said. "I went to the ends of existence to challenge you, Double D! Not only did you nearly wipe all of them out, but you also blew up my home, stopped all my plans, and sent me flying into space!"

Double D sighed and looked up at him. "But I-"

"Enough mindless chattering!" Crump shouted. "All troops, attack!"

The X-nauts gave collective shrugs, then all simultaneously jumped from the decks and threw themselves towards the Going Merry.

Zoro began to unsheathe his katana, Nami taking what at first glance appeared to be a blue pipe, and Usopp reaching for a Slingshot. The others just went into battle poses, prepared for the attack.

The first troops to land ran toward them, staring the first strike. Double D, who was in first, jumped from where he stood and landed on one of them. He placed a hand on his Eye of Wisdom headband and shouted: "Firebrand Strike!"

As he kicked, his shoe exploded in a very minor blast of fire, causing the unfortunate X-naut to fly off like a missile. The troops behind him threw themselves to the deck to avoid being struck with him, and watched as their comrade flew into the ocean.

Eddy was surrounded by X-nauts already, looked back and forth as they closed in. "Weapon, weapon, I need a weapon!"

The mast, which was nearby, had a repair mallet handing on it's side.

"Good enough." he said. He reached for the mallet and chucked it without a moment's hesitation. He spiraled in the air, and struck one of the enemies on the chest. However, it's thick jacket prevented any pain, as it simply fell back down on the deck.

"…" Eddy stood with an amazed expression, before turning around and running, with the enemies on his tail.

Meanwhile, the sound of a car engine turning on was audible. Inside of the van sat Mac and Bloo. Mac had a very nervous expression on his face. "Bloo, this is stupid!"

Bloo was sitting in the driver's seat. The Van was already surrounded by X-Nauts, some of whom were actually climbing on the top of the van.

"BLOO!" Mac shouted in both anger and fear.

"I did this before." Bloo said. He had turned on the ignition and grabbed the wheel. He jumped down to where the pedals where (he was too short to reach them from the seat). Without even caring that he couldn't see, he laughed and jumped on top of the gas, immediately flooring it.

"BLOOOOOOOOOO!" Mac shouted, trying to shield himself.

The van broke free of it's supports and rushed down the deck, sending all of those who were clinging to it off. They were speeding down the very short deck, about to drive off the rail.

Mac grabbed the wheel and made a sharp right turn. The van's tired squeaked and made a sharp turn to the right. Mac was too scarred to let go of the wheel, forcing the van to continue to make circles around the ship's mast, with both of them screaming. Any of the X-nauts nearby were either struck or ran from the chaotic scene.

A few of the troops were nearby Zoro, all of whom were pointing laser guns at him. The green-haired swordsman stood in an odd position, holding two swords in his arm, and a third sword in his mouth.

"What kind of fighting is that?" one of his enemies asked.

"Santōryū." he simply said. He took a step back and prepared for his attack. "Oni.."

He rushed forth, swiping with his two katana is his hands and keeping the one in his moth firm, to strike any directly in front of him. He completed his battle cry as he completed the strike: "…Giri!"

Any of the X-nauts surrounding him were thrown back, and the ones closer were sliced, making many of them fall on the spot.

"Good work!" Usopp shouted, hiding behind one of the walls. "Keep going!"

"Get out here and help!" Zoro shouted with an angry tone of voice.

Crump growled and slammed his fists on the rails of the X-ecutioner. "Unit two, get in there!"

More X-nauts began to flood from his ship, landing on the Going Merry. These troops were dressed differently, some wearing red with Black Xs on their shirts, and some wearing Lab Coats.

"The elites and the scientists." Double D stated upon seeing them.

"Big deal." Luffy said. He placed one of his hands on the opposite shoulder, then began to spin it: "Gomu Gomu no…"

Crump raised in eyebrow. "He's fighting with his bare hands?"

"…Pistol!"

His right arm shot forward like a standard punch, But didn't stop shooting forward-his arm began to stretch outwards, further and further, stretching farther and farther away from him. It struck one of his farther opponents in the chest, causing the X-Naut to fly backwards, off the rails, and into the water.

Everyone outside of his crew looks astonished. Even Double D, who was used to seeing odd attacks at that point, stopped fighting and stood with an amazed expression. "What in the world-"

"I have stretching abilities!" Luffy shouted. "I'm a-"

Double D was stuck in the back by a laser at that point. He shouted and reached backwards, trying to stop the attack. Though the laser wasn't too strong, it did burn. Thus was evident by the fact that the back of his shirt was smoking from the blast.

"I can tell you later then." Luffy said, resuming his battle stance.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!" Usopp shouted.

The brave liar was now surrounded by a few troops, all of whom were pointing their lasers at him.

"Don't! Don't shoot! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! Don't shoot!" he shouted in fear.

Usopp looked to the left and spotted Robin, standing casually nearby.

"DO SOMETHING!"

Nico Robin closed her eyes and gave a dangerous looking smile. She rose both of her arms so that they created an "X" shape in front of her, letting her hands point outwards. "Viente Fleur."

All of a sudden, to the soldier's complete surprise, hands began to sprout from the walls and deck of the Going Merry. They continued to appear until about 20 were surrounding the troops.

"Wha-what is this?!" one of them asked.

"Please allow me to demonstrate." Robin said with a pleasant smile.

Two hands that were on a nearby wall suddenly reached and grabbed an elite X-naut. They effortlessly picked it up, making sure that it was incapable of walking. Then, they retracted, and tossed. The X-naut flew and landed on the floor, rolling as it did so. It rolled right into the nearby enemies, causing them to fall down on top of one another.

The hands vanished from the walls, and Robin finally opened her eyes. Still holding the pleasant smile on her face, she looked to see what she had accomplished.

"Yosh, good work Robin!" Usopp shouted with a thumbs up.

"Honestly…" She sighed.

It was about then that the headlights of the van caught Double D's attention. As he forced a blast of fire into another enemy's face, he stopped and took a glance at the van, which was chaotically spinning around the mast.

"BLOOOOO!!" Mac shouted. "Stop this van!"

The blue imaginary friend wasn't focusing on the driving part anymore. He was trying to get his head over the dashboard while still holding the gas pedal all the way down."

"Mac, stop screaming, I can't concentrate." Bloo whined.

"The brake!" Mac shouted. "HIT THE BRAKE!"

"Which one's the break?" Bloo asked back. He looked up and saw Mac struggling to hold the wheel in place.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Bloo asked.

"Keeping us from getting killed!" Mac shouted back in anger.

"I'm the driver, give me the wheel!" Bloo shouted back, slapping Mac's arm's so that his lost his grip. The wheel began to spin freely, breaking the Van from it's circling pattern.

"Oh wait, that was a bad thing." Bloo said. He looked up to see the ocean strait ahead of him. "…….AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Nami and Goombella quickly turned and saw the Van speeding toward them. Nami just froze in fear, with a mouth agape. Goombella jumped in and gave her a headbonk, forcing both her and Goombella out of the path of the van. It shot past them as it's two passengers continued to scream as they drove on their insane trip.

The van was speeding right toward the figurehead. It struck the back, and a loud crunch could be heard. The ship's head broke and tilted downwards, creating a ramp. The van shot the ramp and launched upward and into the air.

Bloo jumped off the gas and back into the driver's seat. He looked out of the window and saw both of the two ships beneath the van. It felt the same as one would feel during take off in a plane. Mac was also looking out of the window as well, but with a frozen look of terror on his face.

"WHOA!" Bloo shouted. "AWESOME We're flying!!!"

Crump continued to watch as his troops fought their futile battle. "Darn it, Darn it, Darn it!"

He was interrupted by the sound of a car engine revving. He looked up into the sky and saw the Van falling towards the X-ecutioner. Mac was screaming at the top of his lungs, while Bloo eagerly shouted: "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"HOLY SHNICKER-SPIDERS!" Crump shouted. He jumped out the way just in time for the van to fall where he stood. It had come to a stop this time, since the wheels were punctured and Bloo fell into a daze.

Crump growled and approached the site where the Van crashed, and angrily flung the sliding door open.

"WHAT ARE YOU, CRA-"

Crump realized that they were both knocked out in their seats, but otherwise alive and in good health.

"Of all the stupid-line three, get in there and fight!" Crump shouted.

"No, wait." a voice said. "Cancel the attack."
" Cancel it?" Crump asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio. "Are you nuts? We have them on the ropes!"

"Listen to me, Lord Crump." the voice said. "Get out of there. Take those two children with you as hostages."

"But we're winning." Crump said.

"No, you're not." the voice replied. "Order them all back and get out of there at once. That's an order."

Crump sighed. "Alright, alright."

"Now what are they doing?" Adelle asked.

"It looks like they are retreating." Snowhill remarked as he watched the X-ecutioner through his binoculars. He has anchored the Battleship 9 on the shore, and was watching the chaos from the beach.

"So, are they criminals now or what?" She asked.

"I don't know…" Snowhill said. "They are going though. I'm going to pursue them."

He pointed at Adelle. "Stay here. If I catch you leaving this beach, you will be in more trouble then you can imagine."

The blue-haired young girl sighed. "Fine, whatever."

The tall sergeant nodded, then began to run further into land where the X-naut's ship was sailing towards.

Adelle wove curiously at him, keeping a smile until he was out of site.

"…ok, now that he's gone…" she said, changing her expression. She walked over to the Battleship 9 and climbed in.

"I think I will go pay those Straw Hat Pirates a visit."

"What happened?" Eddy asked.

"Oh dear." Double D and Robin replied.

"Those idiots!" Zoro and Sanji shouted at the same time.

"Sooooo cool!" Luffy shouted.

Eddy sighed. "I swear, when I get my hands on them, I'll-"

"W-WAIT! Now isn't the time for that!" Usopp said. "We need to go after them! They took your friends!"

"…this means that they are ahead of us." Double D said. "I'm willing to bet that Beldam is here too somewhere. This is bad."

"Let's think this through." Goombella said. "They have two of our friends, and must have some sort of lead toward getting the star. But what we don't know is where our other allies are, if they have them, or what other tricks they have or their sleeves."

"Who cares?" Luffy asked. "All we have to do is stop them!"

"He makes it sound so simple." Double D remarked.

"I like the way he thinks." Eddy replied with a smirk. "A take-no-prisoners, get right to the point guy."

"I'm hungry." Luffy said simply.

"But a bit stupid." Eddy added in.

"So… what do we do?" Nami asked.

"It's obvious. We get out there, beat up those X people, get some meat, then go back to the grand line! Let's go!"

"Aye!" His crew shouted back.

Double D and Eddy stood near the front of the ship. The two of them peered onward, gazing ahead at the land they were sailing towards.

It looked as though the ocean ahead was immediate greeted by very tall cliffs, towering over the comparably smaller Going Merry. In front of the cliffs were a series of spire rocks, each peaking out of the ocean like towers. On the tops of the cliffs was a massive collection of plant-life. Trees and grass peeked over the sides of the cliffs, and even taller trees could be seen further into the distance and horizon.

"This is it, Peru." Double D said.

"Oh wow, it's a jungle!" Nami remarked.

"What odd rock formations…" Robin commented as she looked closer at the cliffs and spires.

"Usopp, find us a landing spot." Nami began to direct. "Zoro, get the anchors ready."

Ten minutes passed by, and the crew had successfully landed the Going Merry by the side of the cliff. The precipice that was parallel to the ship was lower in height, so much so that they could reach the top by jumping from the crow's nest.

"Chopper, Zoro, watch the ship closely." Nami said. "The rest of us are going to explore."

"Got it!" Chopper shouted enthusiastically.

"Whatever." Zoro replied.

By that point, Luffy had launched himself onto the cliff, and the others were following him. They began to hike into the jungle, looking carefully as they walked.

"Luffy." Double D started a conversation. "What was that back there? Your arm stretched."

"Oh." Luffy said. "I'm a rubber man. I ate the Gomu Gomu fruit."

"The what?" Eddy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a Devil's Fruit." Robin cut in, explaining. "They are scattered all around the Grand Line where we live. They are cursed, and eating one gives a person special powers, but at a cost…"

"Cost?" Goombella asked.

"Yes." Robin said. "Anyone who eats a Devil's Fruit loses their ability to swim. They become hammers in water."

"Doesn't that sound… odd?" Double D asked. "Why would there be fruits like that on a world that only has islands?"

"We don't know." Robin said. "Luffy's gives him the ability to stretch his body as he sees fit. Among our crew, both myself and Chopper have also eaten Devils' Fruits."

"What can you two do?" Eddy asked.

"Chopper is a reindeer, and is only in a human form because of the fact that he ate this fruit. He's capable of transformation into his Reindeer, human, and semi-human forms. And myself… well…" She gave a chuckle and closed her eyes. Making an "X" shape with her arms in front of her, she poised herself.

Just then, a small hand popped up from the ground between a field of flowers. Everyone watched in curiosity as the hand reached for a nearby flower, and picked it gently from the grass. The hand that sprouted threw the flower from that spot. Nico Robin opened her eyes and rose one hand outward, to catch the flower that the sprouted hand threw. By this point, the sprouted hand had vanished in an elegant flow of flower pedals, which flew into the air with a mysterious beauty.

Her pleasant smile remained as she held the flower she picked before herself. The woman's gaze switched to her spectators who watched in awe.

"So… beautiful…" Sanji remarked as she watched.

"I ate the Hana Hana Fruit." She said in an alluring voice. "I can make any part of my body sprout from any surface I decide, like a blossom."

"Amazing." Double D said. "I can't even wonder how many of these other abilities you have back in your world."

"Yeah, it's crazy." Zoro stated with a serious voice. "We have spent quite a lot of time talking here. Shouldn't we be going now?"

"Right!" Luffy shouted.

Robin opened her hand, letting the calming breeze blow the flower out of her hands and wave gently to the ground. "Yes, let's go."

After walking further along the pathway, the group had come across a small town. Citizens were busy going about their daily lives, going too and fro from place to place. It looked to be a simple society, where a long street was populated with houses on either side. Rows of stalls and merchants lined the outer perimeters of the street.

"It's some kind of merchant town." Eddy said. "Sweet!"

"¡Oye¡Mire esto!" called a voice somewhere within the crowds.

This caught the groups attention.

"It looks like something is going on." Double D said.

They could see a man running down the street with a newspaper in hand.

"¡Mirada¡Asombra!" he shouted as he ran. The man reached the group, handing them a spare paper. "¡Lea por favor!"

Eddy looked at the man. "Gracious (mispronouncing "Gracias")"

The man gave them a confused look, before turning back into the city. He continued to shout in Spanish as he ran in, handing newspapers to everyone he came across.

Double D held the paper, looking at it. "I guess something big is going on around here."

"What does it say?" Goombella asked.

Double D skimmed the first page. "I don't know. I can understand basic Spanish, but I can't read this too well."

As he turned the first page, Double D laid eyes upon a large picture beneath a title written in bold capital letters. The picture was that of a very large gem floating above a grassy ground. Though the black and white print made the color of the star undeterminable, Double D was certain what it was.

"It's a Crystal Star! There's a Crystal Star on the second page!" Double D shouted.

"GIMME THAT!" Eddy shouted dramatically, swiping the newspaper from Double D. "…he's right, it's a star. Just as I thought."

Double D immediately took the paper back. "…but I can't tell what this article is about. I can read a few words here… but that's it."

"What does it say?" Luffy asked.

"Well… um… something about a "catch"… and I think I can recognize the word "Incas" in here." he said.

"What's an Inca?" Usopp asked.

"They were an ancient empire that used to exist here. All that's left of them are ruins further in Peru. I don't know why, but this article might be hinting at some kind of connection." Double D said.

"Maybe, maybe not. But an article we can't read is useless." Eddy said.

"Then at the very least, it's useless to Crump and his goons too." Nami added.

"She's right." Goombella said. "At any rate, we better go search for a translator of some sort. Maybe they will be able to help."

"Ok, let's do it then." Luffy said. "To a translator, then the star, then those X guys!"

Author's Notes: Yay for breaking the 4th wall! And yes, I suppose it wasn't to great of a battle scene, but that was all that I came up with for now. There will be some more twists and turns coming up soon.

Secondly, I apologize if the Spanish sounded a little weird. I don't know Spanish either, admittedly, and had to use a translator, so please correct me if I did it wrong.

Third, as I am looking on how the forums appear, it would appear that the current-most requested crossover is BoBoBo. While I'm not too aware of the show or know too much about it, I can't assure it will appear. However, it may happen, though I would admittedly need to do quite a bit of research on the subject. I already have the third crossover planned out (the England saga), and the Japan one comes after that. If I do put BoBoBo in, it would likely be there, but if I don't put it there, I may also place it elsewhere. Nothing's assured, but at this point, it may be likely.

That's all I have to say on that point. Please review, just as always, and I continue to appreciate your patience and continuous reading!