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.


Morning came with the chirping of happy birds in the clearing fog and the stinging burn of the sun in Rezland's eyes. He had always slept below deck in the dark for maximum comfort and low early morning possibility of waking up. Now, he was temporarily blind. Bard was still sleeping soundly, meaning loudly in the case.

Rezland rose up and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes angrily. It was far too bright outside. Then the light faded slightly. He perked up his head and looked out the window. Thick clouds were moving across the sky slowly. None of them looked like rain clouds, but the wind seemed to be evident of a storm coming in soon.

There was a thud behind him. Rez turned around to notice that Bard had rolled out of his bed onto the floor. Only slightly stirred, he drifted back off to sleep. Rez had half a mind to wake him up, but decided against it when he felt his stomach churn.

"Damn, that food really soaked up that booze. I need a restroom." He scurried over to the hatch, leaving his large weapon in the room for the sake of a faster trip, and slid down the ladder. Not a second or so later, the door to the room opened and Araly walked in wiping the sleep from her eyes. She spotted Bard on the floor and giggled. He always did that as a kid, and usually ended up squashing her older brother.


Zan had slept in an alley last night at the edge of town. The sun swiped across his eyes from a crack in the wood beside him and he jumped up, fully awake. An assassin can't let a thing like exhaustion or tiredness get the best of him at any time. He exited the alley, unnoticed, and slipped into town.

The small city was slowly waking up. Quite a few people were already out in the streets, carrying fishing poles, and heading to the docks to catch their lunch. Most of the food and booze was free, and stolen, but these were obviously the kind of pirates that didn't want their skills dulled by luxury. Other pirates were meandering through the narrow side streets and into the various shops in the Town Square.

As he walked, Zan could feel a shifting in the air. It was a kind of shifting that the assassin was otherwise used to, because he would be the one causing it. It was the drifting winds of an assassin on the move, quickly darting and weaving in and out of cover and sight. Zan could consciously feel the approach from behind him, and prepared himself.

A scrappy looking young man with his face buried in a red-and-green striped muffler and tattered clothes walked past. He coughed loudly while passing as well, holding his hand against his muffler. Zan kept his guard up, anticipating a sneak attack from behind and ignoring the passerby he nearly armed himself against.

A door behind him opened up and he heard a loud, stretched out yawn. As he turned his attention to this, the ill wind faded. Instead, a pressure was forming in his hands, forcing them to clench as he looked at the yawning citizen. A full head taller than him with golden hair and wearing a sleeveless black coat.


Bard was going out on the town with Araly, who was still trailing behind. She wanted to see just what kind of city a mass of pirates could build. Bard was also interested to observe the goings-on of a pirate-only population. Considering that he heard no cannon fire or gun shots for the longest time, he had already ruled out that they fought exclusively.

Araly skipped out, wearing a deep-blue dress and sandals that the bartender had given her upon her arrival. It was them man's late wife's dress that she loved, so he gave it to her out of kindness and the fact that she looked remarkably similar. Her hair was done up in a ponytail that fluttered lightly in the breeze.

She grabbed Bard's arm and dragged him off into the streets, neither noting the man leaning against the wall behind them. Zan slipped into the tavern while no one was watching, and walked stealthily out of the wall.


"Wow! I wonder how long this all took to build." Araly mused as she spun around admiring the rugged majesty of the buildings. People were walking and talking to and fro, some carrying bundles and baskets of unknown objects. There was a weapons shop across from an armorsmith, an ammo store next to a gun store, a fishery next to a bakery. Everything was arranged so conveniently it hardly seemed like the view of a pirate town to her.

"Pretty long, I'd say." Bard responded neutrally. He wasn't to interested in anything until he saw the docks. This was the reason for the cliff-side inlets, the dock was full to the brim with every kind of ship thinkable. It was hard to tell where the wooden roads ended and where the ships began. The only possible signs would be the sails and flags, but right at the dock was a line of shops that specialized in ship repair and maintenance.

Bard whistled at the sight, but Araly's attention was caught elsewhere. She saw a lovely looking lady dressed like royalty. She was seated underneath an umbrella and sitting on a blanket in the middle of the street. No one else seemed to be paying her any mind, though. Araly left Bard to go talk to her, not that bard noticed.

She approached the elegant lady in her red kimono and waved a polite greeting.

"Hello, ma'am. Nice day, isn't it?" As if on cue, the umbrella wedged itself from the wood it was spiked into and flew away into the cluster of ships. Araly slapped her hands to her mouth in embarrassment and shock. The elegant lady just looked after her escaping umbrella and tittered with her hand to her mouth.

"My. You're quite the jinx, aren't you?" Araly jumped and tried to feign innocence. She put one hand in front of her, forgetting her manners and waving it spastically.

"I-it's not my fault! I was just trying to make conversation and the wind…" The elegant lady cut her off and motioned her to sit.

"It's alright. That wasn't my only one. Would you like to share my lunch with me dear?" Araly was momentarily speechless by the request, but recovered and bowed politely with thanks.


Bard walked down the dock, admiring all the ships. He thought carefully to himself as to which kind of ship he wanted for his crew. The one they had at the moment was great, but there were only a few cannons and it was far too small. As he mused, a rag wearing young man brushed against him with a fishing pole. He coughed violently, then walked down a gangplank and across the mass of ships.


"What else you got, bar-man?" Rez asked in a still desperate voice. The bartender, looking very annoyed, announced the same thing as the last few times this question came up.

"All we got right now is bread and fish! The merchant ships haven't come in yet! If you don't want any of that," he slapped his hand down on the counter, "go find your own food."

Rez just sat there with his chin on the bar and whimpered, while a shirtless man munched on fried fish and bread beside him. Suddenly, the man stopped eating and spoke up to Rez.

"You know, the fish isn't too bad." Rezland peered over as the man took a drink. He raised up and rested his arm on the bar.

"I ain't got anything against fish, I'm just tired of it. And bread's to bland without meat."

"Well, the booze is good." He replied, taking another sip.

"Who drinks this early?

"Some people." The door was nearly thrown open as a large man in a trench coat walked in followed by several others. It looked like a bison leading a pack of weasels. The large, heavily bearded man with a dirt-colored coat and snake skin slacks stomped up to the bar and slammed his hands down with a resounding crash.

"BARTENDER!" he screamed. The bartender casually approached the huge man with a smile. His smile was wiped off when he was lifted to eye level with the behemoth of a man as he screamed his demands at him.

"Give me a barrel of ale and crate of yer finest meat!" The bartender scrawled something onto a notepad in his hand and reiterated the gentleman's order.

"So, that's a drink and an order of fish. What about the guys behind you?" He said, waving his pen at the lanky, stalky guys that were huddling around the bar with menace in their nearly toothless grins. The giant man threw the poor bartender against the racks of shelved wine and booze on the wall. Rezland started to stand up, as did the man at his side.

"Do you know who I am, you punk! Leroy, tell this ungrateful varmint who I am!" One of the weasly men stepped up onto the bar and sat facing the stunned bartender.

"This here is the Lawless Rugby of the Dustbowl Pirates, Legend of the North Blue with a terrifying bounty of 42 million berries! His name strikes untold fear into the hearts of all that hear it! Now you go back and get what his majesty ordered you or we'll…"

There was a crack of thunder that ran through the whole town. The wind picked up, the dark clouds started rolling in over the mountains, and pirates were scurrying for cover. Once the air settled back, the lanky man was lying on the floor with blood seeping from his cut lip. Rezland had become fed up with his nasally voice and decided to sock him to shut him up. The giant man looked down at his fallen underling, then back up at the two. Zan, with his hand blades at the ready, and Rezland preparing out one of his gun-blades.

"I got the big one." Rez said.

"I got the rest." Zan replied.


The bartender and all customers at the bar stared on in shock as the two brave warriors were charged by a stampede of angry bandits. They both smiled and charged back.