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.


"Okay!" Bard announced to the wind blowing through the maze with a smile on his face, "I'm lost! How can I solve this problem?"


"Gather around everyone! We need to take stock!" Marco was perched on a rock addressing the group which was lax not only a Captain, but a first and second-mate as well.

"Bard got lost within a minute because we couldn't keep up with him. Rezland and Araly went off together to search for him in the direction he ran. Since the rest of us are accounted for, I move that we just find our own way out and wait for the other's to get to town after us."

The group grumbled in agreement as Marco stepped off the rock. That's how meetings usually went for the Buster Pirates, with one pirate re-elaborating on the situation and giving an obvious option. Whether or not everybody agreed didn't matter, that was the only option available to give most of the time. With the decision made, the group started marching forward toward an intersection.


Bard decided to climb the walls and find the most obvious way out from above. An admirable effort provided that the walls of the maze were perfectly vertical and relatively smooth. Bard couldn't quite climb and his jumps lacked the appropriate height to get a view of the whole terrain. To this new frustration, he punched a hole in the rock wall, giving him a new idea.


"I blame this on you," Rezland said to the angry girl running behind him.

"How on earth is this my fault?" She said very loudly.

"Well, you brought that dumb-ass onto my ship and made him take it over!"

"I did no such thing! No one can control Bard when he wants to do something!"

Rezland was silent for a moment as he re-gathered his thoughts. He was about to speak, but Araly beat him out.

"Besides, he'll find a way out of this maze. Nothing's ever stopped him before." Rezland turned back to notice that Araly's pace had slowed a bit as she was catching her breath. Rezland stopped and started to catch his breath as well. When Araly was breathing normally again, she initiated a new conversation.

"By the way, why did you kidnap me back on the Marine base?"

"I didn't," Rezland said still breathing. Both started walking. "I just grabbed someone as collateral so they couldn't shoot at me."

"So if they had opened fire on you---"

"That's right! You'd be my meat shield." Rezland was rather unprepared for Araly's short fuse erupting in flames so quickly. A swift rock to the head gave him a simple lesson and minor concussion as if to say 'serves you right'. Araly skipped off merrily, just to spite the now rising and groaning Rezland.


Bard was almost up to the top. After several failed attempts and minutes of mental preparation, he was well on his way to the wall's edge. The holes that his punches made were crumbling and cracking underneath him, though he was far too cocky to notice. As his grip tightened on the ledge over head, he heard the sound of running under him. He looked down to find himself some five-or-so meters above the ground, and spotted the rushed ponytail of Araly jogging past. Bard pulled himself up and rested himself on the edge of the wall, about to call out, when he was cut off preemptively by another familiar voice.

"Wait up!" Rezland came running into frame now, waving his arm. When he got to Araly he put on hand up to face and leaned over to catch his breath. Bard went unseen and just watched from above.

"We're going…the wrong way…moron." Rezland said in-between his panting. Araly looked angrily at him, then turned around in a huff.

"How are you so sure that this isn't the right way?" She said smugly. Rezland stared at her with contempt.

"Because I have an internal compass that has never, not once driven me from the right direction. Who do you think was navigating for the crew before you and Bard came along?"

"One of the other guys?" She answered seriously. Rezland caught himself from vaulting in to the ground and straightened himself up.

"Just trust me. I know how to get out of this place but I need you to cooperate with me." He extended a hand in friendship, with a soft smile on his face.

"I'm going this way" Araly said as she pointed in the direction Rezland had labeled as 'wrong' before. Rezland's finger was limp and his mouth agape with anger. He drew in his arms and clawed his fingers in anger.

What the hell is her problem?

Bard couldn't hear most of the discussion, being a good distance out of sight, but could make out that the situation had been resolved and Araly had won. Rezland slumped after her, mumbling under his breath.

Bard stood back up and felt himself falling slightly. This is when he noticed that the holed he punched in the rock face had worked themselves into a series of connected fractures which were now causing the wall to fall apart. Before Bard could appropriately balance himself he started to tumble down into the quickly building avalanche.

Rezland and Araly turned around with horror on their faces as they watched the mass of rock and gravel rushing towards them. Bard regained his balance and was half-running half-surfing on top of the avalanche. He smiled and waved at them like he didn't know what was happening.


"What was that?" Marco asked to the wind. Araly and Rezland came sprinting through the ranks of pirates, knocking most of them back before Rezland perked up to their existence.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY! RUUUN!" Rezland was off and running again. The pirates stared in curiosity for a moment before they found out what exactly was so scary. At the sight of the wall of rock rushing down the path of the labyrinth, with wide eyes, the crew started shouting and sprinting away from their gravely death. Bard was still hoping merrily along the rumbling wave after his men. He yelled for them in vain, trying to get his voice over both the thunderous avalanche and the terrified screams for dear life from the pirates.

Araly was the first to reach the exit, though in her blind fear she hadn't noticed that there was in fact an exit, she was just running. Rezland was following after her, but he noticed when he got out of the maze. Momentarily ignoring the panic echoing out from the maze, he looked down the hill to the massive, wooden coastline. From the water hitting against the elevated shore to the tents and mini-villages built among the trees, and the far spread city in-between. Paradiso Isola, the Pirates Haven.

The entire crew went speeding past Rezland, still standing and admiring the scenery like an idiot. Rezland's consciousness we perked again with Bard landing next to him and snapping around as he cracked his fists in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Rezland shouted over the approaching thunder from the valley.

"I'm gonna fight back the avalanche to protect the village down there. It's the least I could do since I caused it." Bard said, focusing intensely at the incoming wave of rocks.

Rezland was frozen in shock. His eyebrow twitched and he felt a tremendous heat rising up from his gut. He grabbed the weapon strapped to his back and swung it down hard on Bard's head, blunt edge first, of course.

"You're just all kinds of aggravating, you know that? Your just gonna punch an avalanche to stop it? Then what, punch the debris from the avalanche before it makes a new avalanche? You're out of you mind!"

Bard recovered and revved his arm back, ignoring Rezland the whole time.

"Baaaaaard…"

Rezland could actually feel the power coming from Bard. It was a huge pressure on his chest that formed from looking at Bard's murderous glare. Bard's back foot snapped forward, digging into the ground, and he thrusted his fist forward, sending an explosive wave as he contacted the rushing rock.

"BUST-AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The wall dissipated and flew back into the labyrinth. All the debris rained in a fine dust over the mountains as Bard stood triumphantly in a crater. Rezland had been knocked back and down the hill, landing on his rear next to Araly. Rez looked up to notice that Araly had been watching the whole thing with wide, amazed eyes. All the pirates who were nearby and saw the avalanche get decimated were staring in a similar way.

Bard hopped out of the crater he made and looked at amazement to the town. The ground was now hidden by the army of cheering, shouting pirates that had emerged from the woods and the town not to long ago. Bard looked around at his growing audience and smiled. Then, upon seeing his crew saluting him eagerly, including Rez and Araly, he reaffirmed his position. With one suave and overly muscular pose, Bard leaned back with his arms at his side and feet together, flexing his entire body.

"RRRRAAAAAAHHHH!"


The crowd cheered along. Tonight was going to be a great night for the new pirate captain. The cheers were so loud that Max was momentarily stirred when he fell out of his chair, then went right back to sleep on the deck.