Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.


All of the former Buster Pirates were crammed in the marine base's jail. In separate cells, which were specially guarded with elite members of the base, which happened to be the poor saps that drew short straws at the meeting regarding the matter. The marines stood nervously, visibly shaking in front of the opposite cells, guarding the monsters.

Rezland had been accustomed to spending the nights in the roomy cells of the marines, but always managed to escape somehow. Bard, however, was crushed. As far as anyone could tell, his smile was gone, though his face was covered in the shadow of his own despair so no one could tell anyway.

Why he mumbled internally, why did Captain Mars do this to me? I wasn't helping him escape, I was trying to help him get captured. And I succeeded! Man, this sucks. I just want to---

"MEN!" Mars had entered the room very loudly for the time of night that it was. The guards quickly snapped to attention, but couldn't stop shaking. Mars stomped over to them and gave a quick salute while still marching in between the cells.

"Get some sleep. I'll take over from here." The marines gave each other startled and relieved looks, which shifted quickly to terror as Captain Mars shouted "GO!!!" at them again. They ran out of the room in opposite directions. When the doors slammed shut and the moon was the only light that the prison had, Mars gave off a wide grin to Bard.

"We sure had them goin, huh kid?"

Bard raised his head with a look of pure confusion on his face. Rezland fell off his stone bed and vaulted into the floor.

"Wait," Rezland said into the solid floors of his jail cell, "what do you mean?"

"Well," Mars replied casually, "I may be a marine officer, and upholder of stern and swift justice and symbol of the righteous fury of the World Government…" Mars pulled out a ring of keys from his coat pocket.

"…but I'm still a nice guy."

He smiled at Bard, who smiled widely back as Mars opened his cell door. Bard walked over to him and got his handcuffs unlocked as well.

"Won't they kill you for this, Captain?" Bard was a bit worried about the situation as a whole, but was outwardly pleased that Mars wasn't abandoning him after all. Mars walked past Rezland's cell and on to the others to free the rest of the pirates.

"Truthfully there," the captain began in a sagely tone, "I could care less if they find out that this was my fault. Heck, I don't really care if they do kill me. Less paperwork."

Bard looked rather worried about Mars. He was the only person on the Grand Line besides Araly that he could really trust. As the pirates quietly scurried out the exit and towards the docks, Mars walked up to Bard, staring him straight in the face.

"Son," he began smiling, "let's take a walk."

He put an arm around Bard's shoulder and led him out of the jail and through the empty mess hall. Rezland just stared in total shock that he had been so callously forgotten. He wanted to scream, but noticed the key ring just within his reach on the floor. Then he just sneered a toothy sneer and reached for the keys with his feet through the bars.


Mars and Bard were sitting on a rock outside the base where a ship was stealthily docked among some rocks. The pirates from before were told to wait for Mars to give an all clear signal and then board the ship and set sail as quickly as possible. Until then, they hid in the brush next to the beach.

"Bard," Mars started as he was staring at the ocean, which was shining brightly form the moon's reflection, "do you have a dream?"

Bard pondered over this for a moment, but before he could formulate a reasonable answer, Mars interrupted him.

"Why is it that you came all this way? To beat up pirates and spread a message of justice and peace at the risk of your own life?"

Bard gave a have attentive nod, still thinking of a better reason.

"Or did you just want to see this fantastic world of ours? All the wonders and mysteries that exist on this fantastic ocean…stop me if I guess it."

Bard had his answer, and decided to stand while explaining it.

"I came here because I was asked to." Mars just looked at him and snorted amusedly. He stood up with Bard and they both shared a solitary moment, gazing at the sea of adventure.

"And," Bard added thoughtfully, "to become stronger." Mars checked his reaction to see that Bard's eyes were lost at the sea.

"How would you like to chase that dream of your, Bard?" Bard looked down at the Captain, who was now walking towards the ship with his hands behind his back. He answered with a confused nod, which Mars had somehow been aware of. He raised a hand in the air and snapped his fingers, the signal for the twenty-odd pirates to scurry out in a hurry and board the ship via the rocks it was next to.

"Then go chase it, Bard!" Mars said enthusiastically while turning. "Chase it, and never stop chasing!"

Mars' words rang loud and clearly through Bard's ears. Slowly, a smile reemerged on his already tensing with eagerness face.

"RAAAAAAAHH!!!!!" The scream was familiar to Bard, who twisted almost immediately in the direction of its origin. He saw Rezland making a full sprint for the boat, carrying a full sack over his shoulder. He ran up a nearly vertical rock face and jumped with a slam onto the deck. It seemed that stealth never occurred to him when regarding his escape, as the Marine base was blazingly lit up and blaring a warning signal.

Mars slapped his hand on his face and grabbed Bard by the arm. He led him closer to the ship and handed him a bundle of black cloth. Bard clutched the cloth in his arms to find that there was something inside the cloth.

"Get on the ship. I'll try to buy some time." He jerked Bard towards him, putting his other hand to Bards back and stomped his feet in to the ground while pushing Bard forward. "Now…" He released his hand from Bard's arm and pushed him through the air, sending flying to the ship.

"GOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


Bard flew almost square onto the ship, gracefully on his feet, just as Rezland landed on his foot and knee opposite Bard. They looked at each other for a moment, then focused their attention on the sack Rezland was carrying, which was yelling and squirming. He dropped the sack onto the floor, which was opened from the inside by a very venomously angry young woman.

"Araly! You came to see me off!" Bard said with a dimwitted grin on his face. That grin was replaced with total fear and shock when Araly turned toward him with her demon look on her face. Before she could act her emotions, however, the ship started rocking loose from the rocks. Araly fell straight to the floor, followed by several unprepared pirates.

Bard rushed to the side of the deck to see that they were starting to move from the shore. Near the brush and shrub behind the base, a fleet of marines carrying rifles came rushing through, most of which had torn clothing and blackened faces. Rezland must have caused quite a scene at the base before escaping. Bard spotted Captain Mars shouting orders to the marines, and sneaking in one last smile at Bard while giving a command to fire. Each rifle exploded in the marine's hands, and a dense cloud of gunpowder encircled the area.


When the marine base was out of sight, the pirates cheered loudly. Freedom was theirs again, and all thanks to that generous marine. Bard was at the back of the boat, looking towards the island they were just on, when he remembered his package from Mars.

He opened it up to reveal his coat from Araly unfurl, with the golden dragon pattern on the back looking almost luminescent in the light, as well as a paperback book and odd-looking instrument which dropped to the deck floor. He picked up the strange looking thing on top of the book, which he recognized as the same thing the marine navigator used to get them to the island base, a 'Log Pose' he had called it.

I should give this to whoever is steering the ship.

The book had a faded cover, with no visible text. Bard opened it to a random page, which was filled with pictures that nearly made him shoot blood out his nose from the embarrassment. It was, after all, the first time he had seen a naked woman. He tried to close the book but only succeeded in turning it to a different page, this time without pictures. The only word on the aged and faded parchment was 'Rokushiki'


"I've had enough of this ocean," Araly declared to the demented pirate that had earlier kidnapped her and was now holding back her hair as she leaned over the side of the boat, "I wanna go home."

Rezland had apologized several hundred times within the several minutes that they were all out to sea, but had to do most of the through the busted lip and lumpy head Araly had given him.

"Good luck with that," Rezland said almost sarcastically, "the only way out of this ocean is in a box. Believe me." He looked away as Araly moaned and spat out the remainder of her dinner into the water below. Then she sat up, wiped her mouth and looked at Bard, who was staring back at the sea thoughtfully with his arms crossed.

As long as he can keep me from dying, I think I can manage being here.


The next morning marked the new life for Bard and Araly. A life of fighting, running, and chasing after their dreams without ever looking back. Tomorrow, they would be pirates!